1 Peter chapter 3, in verse 8 Peter returns to the general audience of all believers to whom he's writing this letter. Remember how it began in chapter 1 verse 1, Peter to the strangers scattered throughout and then he names the various regions of the Roman Empire. So it was a general letter written to all believers everywhere. But we did find that beginning in chapter two and verse 18, through verse chapter three and verse seven, that Peter has been focusing on several groups of believers who may not be viewed as those who are actually suffering. Christians as a whole were exposed to suffering throughout the Roman Empire. We know that. Persecution, oppression, imprisonment, and even death were common experiences for the true followers of Christ. And Peter wants us to be aware and remember that there are different kinds of suffering. It's not all the kind that the Romans were imposing upon the Christian people. But there are different kinds. And he mentions three different groups and offers counsel to them as we've looked at slaves and servants. That was a group who were being mistreated often and suffering, particularly those slaves and servants who had come to faith in Christ. He writes to them, gives them counsel of how to deal with their being mistreated. He also speaks of wives. You've heard this mentioned. who are believers and their husbands have rejected the authority of God's word in their life and they too are exposed to a kind of suffering that they are enduring as Christians at that time. Husbands as well, he mentions them in verse number seven of chapter three, who are believers but their wives reject the authority of God's word over them. These saints may not be classified as the suffering, typically, but Peter constructs this part of his letter here for us to identify their unique kind of suffering. And he has provided godly counsel for them as they endeavor to live out their faith in these difficult conditions. In verse number eight, Peter returns to his general audience. He is no longer speaking to a specific group of believers, but to all believers, and this would include, of course, the three groups that he has just been counseling. We are all pilgrims, we are all strangers, we are all God's elect. wherever you're located, whenever you hear these words, whatever your circumstances might be. And so here Peter continues to add, as I've mentioned, Peter is really big on adjectives that describe the character or the character traits that distinguish true believers in the world. There have been many of them. that have led up to this point in our study. And in verse number eight, he gives us five more adjectives that we can look at and can help us to distinguish what true believers are like. It describes God's people. This is how we recognize God's people. That's what all these adjectives are about. Even the ones that we have this morning in verse number eight. And so I'll read verses eight and nine, then we'll come back and look at verse eight closer. Finally, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise, blessing. knowing that you were there unto called so that you would receive, inherit a blessing. And so here in verse eight, he's speaking to ye all, but everyone, you all, Of course, this has limitations to it when you think about it. Believers at the eastern part of the Roman Empire will probably never interact with believers that are on the western part of the Roman Empire. The five qualities that are mentioned here are all relational in nature, meaning You need to be interacting with other believers in order to show these qualities. So when he says, be ye all these things, he's speaking to groups of believers that will function with all of these things. Wherever the gospel is preached, then, as well as today, converts will eventually be made. And these new believers will eventually gravitate together for instruction, for fellowship, and for worship. These groups of believers throughout the Roman Empire eventually formed churches that consisted of believers who were located in an area where they can come together and share life together. I mean, churches are referred to by Paul particularly as a community of people. We spend time together. We share a journey together. We share life together. We're a community. A church is a family. We treat each other like a family. We lean on one another. A church is like a body of Christ. We are connected, intertwined, functioning. as a body of believers under the headship of Christ. Churches are a spiritual temple. Both Paul and Peter talk about this. where we have come together and we form a spiritual temple that God dwells among us by his spirit as we worship together our great redeeming God, his wonderful gift of his son, and the gracious spirit and word that he has provided for us. So we are a spiritual temple. These relationships the community, the family, the body, the temple. These relationships require all of us to be or behave in a manner that protects our relationships. While every believer is responsible, as he says here, to be ye, but we're all responsible to be this way, yet these traits can only be seen and experienced in a group setting. Believers on the western coast can't do that with the eastern coast people in the Roman Empire. But every group of believers that have been formed and gathered together, these become relational things that must be practiced. And so as he speaks through his letter, he is writing to these different groups. We are a church, we are a group of believers, and these things apply to us as well this morning. And so the first adjective that he gives here is found in this phrase, all of one mind. this particular Greek word translated this way, speaks of harmony or agreement, being in agreement. That's the goal. When we sense disagreement or discord, we must do everything in our power to bring about harmony. That's the goal. Be ye harmonious. That's what he's saying. This is not one note and everyone plays the same note. That's not harmony. Harmony has different notes, but they harmonize. We don't all have to be exactly the same. We may be very different in a lot of ways, but there still should be harmony. That's the directive that we are given here by Peter. All. that make up our body of believers this morning should be characterized as having one mind. We are committed to harmony. We are committed to agreement. And whenever that is not there, we are diligent in seeking to bring it about, as Paul said in Ephesians that you heard read earlier. And we know this is not always easy, but this is always to be our goal. Be of one mind. Be ye all of one mind. All must be actively pursuing unity in order for us to protect and promote our oneness. There cannot be oneness without this commitment to being one. We all know that trials and sufferings in a person's life can weaken our resolve to be of one mind. It's sad, but it's true that suffering has often broken friendships, marriages, churches, where you have people suffering And they're not able to contain or maintain their unity because they are suffering and their response to the suffering is very different. And so it often leads to division. Look at Romans chapter 12. This is a great chapter that corresponds with what we're hearing from Peter this morning. Look at Romans chapter 12. Paul says it here in verse 16. Be of the same mind one toward another. It's not complicated, it's pretty clear. Peter has said it, Paul has said it, Christ taught it in the Gospels. Be of the same mind. This is not stated as a recommendation. This is stated as a directive. This is imperative. Nobody here this morning can decide whether they want to do this or not. Everyone is responsible who professes to be a believer. This ought to characterize you. Peter's talking about adjectives that characterize the saint. This is one of those traits, is your commitment to oneness. It's for everyone to do toward everyone. And so he says it here, be of the same mind one toward another. To the church at Rome, he's implying that everyone in the church at Rome ought to be practicing this. And Peter, of course, says, to be ye all of one mind. We cannot overlook anyone when it comes to this unity. We cannot say to ourselves, well, that person's a little bit more difficult to get along with, so I'll practice it being one with everybody else, but that person I don't think I can do it with. Some are easier to get along with than others. That's a normal, natural thing. but we're not given the option of choosing which ones we want to be one with. We must be very proactive and pursue this oneness. We must be open to making adjustments so that we can find that one-mindedness. And sometimes it takes conversation, it takes discussion, it takes getting together and working through issues. We know that on a more intimate level with our wife or sometimes even with children in our home. But this is true also of the church. If you have any sense that there is something between you and another brother or sister that is not right, it is your job to go and make sure you make it right. that you come away from that conversation, you have found a place of agreement. You are now harmonious. You may not see things exactly the same, that's not required, but you are in such a state of mind that you're in harmony with your brother and your sister. This is something that we do and should be doing all the time. This is what Christians are to be characterized as. You know them as a Christian because they seek oneness. That's their spirit, that's a part of their nature. They want oneness in their relationships with their family. It's interesting when you read the book of Acts and you go through Acts, which is the beginning stages of that church and its development, the concept of agreement or one-mindedness shows up 11 times. and the establishment and advancement of the early church. They were all seeking agreement, coming to one mind. That was a critical part of the early church, and it ought to be with us today. We know what the goal of the devil is. We've lived long enough to know his plan. He hates unity. There is no question in my mind. The scriptures make it clear. The devil by nature is divisive. He brings discord. He sows discord. He hates unity. And we know that God hates those who cause unwarranted division among brethren. We should all be known as those who are unifiers. That's the first trait. The adjective that Peter gives us here, another quality of believers is they are unifiers. He gives a second quality here in verse number eight in the phrase having compassion one of another. This is another adjective. Greek phrase or word that's translated into this phrase for us is that there is compassion that we show to one another. Having compassion, as Peter describes it, means that we always have a measure to show or to give to one another. We are having compassion. It's a constant thing that is going out of us. It's not something that we have to muster up. It's there. And we are having compassion on our brothers and sisters. And this is more than being sympathetic, looking at something and seeing it for what it is and having sorrow for it or having certain concerns about it. You can show sympathy, but the idea here is in compassion is greater than sympathy. In fact, it's better described in the word empathy. And this is a word that is used to describe that you're able to feel the pain. You're interested in their pain. You're capable of entering into their pain. It's not just having sympathy, a sentiment about someone's difficulty or suffering. Look at, go back to Romans 12 again. We'll do this a few more times, but go back to Romans 12. You may want to just keep your finger there, I guess. Romans chapter 12 in verse number 15. The whole 12th chapter is about this relationship of body-life. In verse number 15, he says that we are to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and we are to weep with them that weep. That's the compassion that Peter is talking about. This is being empathic. This is empathizing. Entering into. These are human emotions, are they not? When we read about rejoicing and weeping, those are human emotions. These are feelings. God has gifted us as humans to have feelings and emotions. That's a gift from God. Easily perverted and distorted, but it's a gift from God. And as a gift from God, it is a part of God's nature to have these same qualities that he shows to us all the time. And that we are now to take those and express those to our brothers and sisters, to the rest of his children. We are told here by Paul to share with them, right? Rejoice with them. that rejoice, and weep with them that weep. We actually choose to enter into their pain or joy and share it with them. We often ignore these things. We often get uncomfortable. I think men, maybe more than women, get a little more uncomfortable with human emotions. It's a little more awkward for us at times. but we cannot allow that to be an excuse or make a reason why we don't do it. We don't have that option. If we're not comfortable with it, then it's something that we need to seek God's grace in our life in order to develop it more fully. And even if you're bold enough to ask God to develop it in you, Because if you go that far, I guarantee you, you're going to learn some things in a very painful way so that you might be able to enter into it with other people. How does God develop this in us? Paul understood this really well in 2 Corinthians chapter one. Look at this passage. to be able to enter into others' difficulties and pain and sorrow, and to feel it with them. We're often too busy to take time to do that. We see it, we think, well, I probably should, but don't have the time. Or maybe I'm too uncomfortable, I don't want to do this. And so we avoid it. That's a wrong, that's not the trait of a Christian. A Christian is having compassion. They are ready to enter in to another person's pain and sorrow. Paul writes here in 2 Corinthians 1, beginning in verse 3, he says, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, How many mercies has our Father shown to us, not just one, endless mercies. They're new every morning. He gives mercies to us. He's the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Blessed be this God, who comforted us, verse number four, Paul writes, who comforteth us in all of our tribulations, our trials, our sufferings, so that we may be able to comfort them, others, who are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves were comforted of God. So you see, there's a design and a plan here that God is working out in our life. Our experiences are not meant to be isolated experiences from the rest of the body. Verse five, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. And so whether we be afflicted, brethren, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you were partakers of the sufferings, you will also be of the consolations." What is he saying? He is saying that God has us all on a journey, and our journey includes suffering, trials, And as we go through those trials, we bring ourselves to God and seek strength from him to help us in our trials and our suffering and our pain. And God finds ways to do that for us. Now, Paul doesn't say it exactly here, but by implication of what he's saying, it's God brought it to Paul by other means. because Paul becomes the means of bringing it to other people and you become the means of bringing it to other people. God by design has structured his church to be a place where having consolation, having compassion is a normal thing. We are all ready to give. to impart to others what has been imparted to us. That's the spirit of the church. That's the trait of a Christian. We don't go through things in life and then hold on to them and never share them or pass them on. God by design has done what he's done to enable you to pass it on, to bless somebody else, to bring the consolation of Christ to another life. just as it had been brought to you. God will grow our reservoir, our capacity to enter into these great consolations of Christ, but they are only experienced as we go through the sufferings of life. And so Peter's big on suffering. So these are important principles for us to understand. That we are a people who have compassion. We are having compassion. Right now, having. I mean, not that we ought to, having compassion. This is how you identify God's people. We are having compassion on one another right now. Go back to 1 Peter 3, verse number eight. He gives a third quality here that we could identify Christians, their character, their Christian trait, they have this quality, is that they love as brethren. This is something you can recognize. When you walk into their body of believers, they love each other. Look at them, look how they treat each other. Look at their expressions of concern and interest in one another. They love as brethren. The typical Greek word when we see the word love in the New Testament, most often it's the word agape or agapeo or some form of that word. This is a different word. It's the philadelphos, brotherly. The focus here is on the brotherly affection. Just translate it, brotherly love, but it's about brotherly affection. We like each other, right? We like each other, we care for each other. We've got each other's back spiritually. We, I mean, that's the spirit and the atmosphere that you find in a church where people are demonstrating the qualities of a Christian life. And so Christians are to treat one another as a family. This is a little bit twisted and distorted for many of us today because of the so many broken homes, dysfunctional families. It's hard to understand how to love as a family because they never experienced it or saw it worked out before them. While there's no excuse, even if you haven't had it, exemplified or experienced it. It may make it harder for some, but Peter does not give us exceptions, but calls on all of us to have genuine affection for all members of our spiritual family. That's brotherly love that we are to have for one another. And again, like other things, are some easier to Get along with and love as a brother than others? Yes. Peter doesn't allow those kinds of excuses here, nor does Paul. Peter doesn't break our spiritual family down into different groups. He just simply says, all deserve to be loved as brethren. All of them. Every one of them. Are you looking around? Every one of them. deserve to be loved as a brother and sister in Christ, as family. There should be no doubt when people walk into our church, we are a family that loves one another. That ought to be a trait of our body. Look at Romans 12 again. In verse number 10, Paul uses the same expression when he says, be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love. There's that same philadelphus that is used by Peter, kindly affection to one another with brotherly love. He sort of enlarges our idea of what brotherly love is here with these added words. And here it means to cherish your kindred, right? Cherish your kindred. This is your kindred. Cherish your kindred. Cherish them with brotherly love. Peter uses this again and look at 2 Peter chapter number one, Peter uses this word. Remember in the outlining here, Peter is giving a list of qualities again. He does it with this Greek word chorus, which is very similar to our understanding of a choir and how the different parts of a chorus are added. You've got the tenors, first tenors, second tenors, altos, first and second, sopranos, first and second, baritones. You've got all these different groups that are being added to make a beautiful sound. But here he uses the choir and the addition by using different spiritual qualities. Add this, you hear the music of this addition as you're listening to Peter. And so he gives it here in chapter 1, verse 5 of 2 Peter, and besides this, giving all diligence, add, there's that Greek word chorus, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. And you hear the beautiful music of a life being played, right? And to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and brotherly kindness, love. There it is, brotherly kindness precedes, this philadelphos precedes agape in this list. It comes before. Is it important what Peter is teaching us here? Absolutely, that this should characterize our life. that we ought to be a people who love one another with fondness, affection. We cherish the kindred. It's impossible to say, I love someone, but I'm not sure I like them because that kind of eliminates that right here. You're to love them, you're to like them. These are your cherished kindred. You can't be selective, have preferences. We are to love as brethren. The fourth quality that he gives here is pitiful. That's a kind of an odd word that we all probably have different ideas and thoughts about, but the word that translated here, the older English has more significance to it maybe than what we think of it today. when he says, be pitiful, be pitiful. A Christian family, a church family is to be full of pity. The idea is to be tender hearted, not cold nor harsh in our treatment of those around us who deserve our pity. This is spoken of as a positive quality here, that we can look upon a brother or sister who's in a desperate condition. It may be of their own doing, but we do not turn away. We do not walk away. We do not become hardened and insensitive. We pity them in their misery. Paul uses The same Greek word that is translated in Ephesians 4.32 as tenderhearted. Someone in a pitiful condition may need to be corrected for being careless and bringing their condition on themselves, but being tenderhearted should be our disposition when someone is in misery. We cannot treat our brethren with harshness and coldness even when they fall, even when they make bad decisions and bring chaos into their life. Some do. Satan gets the better of them and he defeats them. Another phrase used to describe someone who has this trait of being full of pity is that they have bowels of mercy. Bowels of mercy. And again, an odd expression, but when you look at Colossians chapter three, if you look at it just for a second, Colossians chapter three in verse number 12, We are encouraged to put on Christian character. It kind of envisions our active involvement in the development of these traits in our life. We don't sit around waiting for them to grow on their own. We are engaged in their development. And here, Paul, writing to the church, tells them to put on, therefore, there is an activity of clothing themselves with something. Put on, therefore. Clothe your life as the elect of God. So, this is characteristic of God's elect, what he's about to say. These are the traits of a true Christian character. As the elect of God. As those who are holy and beloved of God. They put these things on. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy. First thing out of the gate. Bowels of mercy. And he expresses these in the plural, bows of mercies. There's kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing, forgiving, and putting on charity over it all. Eight garments that we are responsible to put on. And the first one is bows of mercies. It's hard to imagine that anyone has received the mercies of God doesn't have this. The mercies of God upon your life are great and they are many. I think Danny alluded to that in our songs this morning. How is it that we could receive the mercies of God, his pity? The Lord shows pity toward his people. He is tenderhearted toward us. That should characterize us. And so Peter says it, and Paul as well. We have a nature that is sensitive in response to conditions that our brothers and sisters are in. Some of them born into it, some of them fall into it. But deep within you, you feel their pain. You feel their pain. And you long to show mercy, not just one, mercies. That's being pitiful, full of pity toward your brethren. Galatians 6 tells us that there are some in our church who will fall and we must be able to enter into their fallen condition and recover them out of it. You that are spiritual, enter into those sometimes filth holes where they lie and you help them out of it. Remembering yourself lest you become also tempted. Be pitiful brethren, be tenderhearted, have bows of mercies toward those who are in distress. There are some similarities between having compassion and being pitiful, but they're not exactly the same, and Peter wants us to know that by giving us both classes or traits of character that ought to be in a believer's life. We're having actively compassion all the time. And we're also expressing pity, compassion that expresses engagement, enters into the problem and helps the person in it. We're not shying away. We're not walking on the other side of a brother in need. We are entering in. We're there because we're family, right? because we love each other. We are pitiful, full of pity. And we are finally, the fifth quality, adjective that he gives us here is we are characterized as being courteous, courteous. A word that has sort of evolved over the years to mean different things. This adjective is a compound Greek word of humble and mind. Humble and mind. Courteous is how the humble-minded treat others. With common courtesy. That's how they treat one another. We show in our words and in our actions a common respect for each other. We don't talk down to believers. We are courteous. In fact, you remember in Colossians 3, we read a moment ago where the eight garments, right after the vows of mercy comes what? Humbleness of mind. There's that word, the idea. This is something we do always, and we must not think more highly of ourselves than we should think. A person who shows common courtesy is a person who has a humble mind. When you don't have a humble mind and you think higher than you ought to think, you're going to be a little abrupt. You're not going to be as courteous as you ought to be to your brethren. But these are the Five additional traits that Peter gives to us in this little verse as believers in a church that have gathered together and they formed this body-life experience as a community and as a church, as the body of Christ, as a family. This is how they conduct themselves. You can characterize the Christian in that church this way. Here's what he looks like. Here's how she conducts herself. These are the five traits that Peter has emphasized for us this morning. And then in verse 9, we'll be brief with this, but he gives us a prohibition here. So we have five traits, characteristics of Christian brethren who live together as a family, a community of believers. And this is something that must not ever happen. This must be avoided at any cost. Not, it comes right out strong, not, do not, This is prohibited. Do not render evil for evil or railing for railing. We don't pay back, that's the rendering idea. We don't pay back. They did this, so we do that. No, not in this family, Peter says. No, we don't do that. We don't pay back bad actions with bad actions and bad words with bad words. We don't do it. We may be tempted to do it. That's human nature, right? Someone said something that really offended you and kind of cross-grained you and instinctively you'll want to respond in kind, similar way. No, Peter said, don't do that. Don't do that. Either in word or actions, don't do it. It's not allowed, it's prohibited in this family. And in fact, we practice the opposite. Contrary-wise is the word that he uses here, but contrary-wise, we do the opposite. Here's what we do. We give a blessing. We give a blessing. This is that eulogy idea where something is spoken well. We look at them, we find something good to say. We look at them and find something good to do for them. But contrary wise, eulogize, bless them. What a powerful thing that is. Paul in Romans 12, you don't have to turn there, but it says this is kind of giving what people don't deserve, not what they deserve. Let God take care of the wrong that has been done. That is not your job. It's your job. Give a blessing. That's humbling. Do you realize how your pride wants to defend itself, right? You've been injured. Do you want to respond? Do you want to injure them? That's pride. But we are being taught here what is consistent with the character of God's own people. God hates pride. He hates pride. So don't respond in pride and give back what's been given to you, but contrary-wise, give a blessing. Heap coals of fire on their head, kind of is Paul's idea. I mean, overwhelm them with good. Consume them with good. Give a blessing. And then he makes this observation, which is worth noting here. He says, knowing, that is, you are aware of this truth, are you not? Knowing that thereunto we have been called to do this. And then he adds another phrase, so that you would inherit a blessing. So, Peter is saying, Bless those who would take advantage of you, injure you, do whatever it is they... There may need to be a conversation if they're a brother or sister. We may need to sit down and discuss the matter, that is true. But bless them. It's not about getting even, it's not about getting back. And when you bless them, do you realize that you're setting yourself up to inherit one? one in your column, that you would inherit a blessing. How is that going to play out in your life? I'm not really sure, but maybe it's this. And if it's only this, I'm totally good with it. The next time I say something stupid or do something stupid, that person responds to me with kindness. I've inherited that blessing. I've given it to someone else and it's come back to me. Maybe there's more to it than that. Maybe there's more eternally. But he says, knowing, right? Knowing that you are there unto called so that you should inherit a blessing. You can't out give God. You can't out give doing right as if somehow you're gonna give more than you give back. And here's the simple statement that says, when you bless someone, you're gonna inherit the same blessing back of some kind to your life. And I don't know any of us sitting here that doesn't need that, that kind of kindness to be shown to us, that kind of mercy, forgiveness to be shown to us. We are all pilgrims this morning traveling through this world. God has brought us together and formed us into a group, a church, a community of believers, a family, a body of Christ. And we together are exposed to manifold trials. Every one of you, as we go through life, you have your own experiences and tests and trials along the way. And as a body of people, we need to be attentive and aware of our brethren and what they're going through. You need to be transparent about a struggle that you're going through that invites brethren to pray for you and to walk with you. And to help you on your journey, we share this together. And so, be this kind of believer. Be a unifier, be compassionate, be a lover of the brethren, be full of pity, be courteous, and always ready to give a blessing to those who would say or do something that is not what they should have said or done. And that may come from a brother or sister. Bless them. Don't. Don't respond in kind. That is prohibited. Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for the exhortations that we receive from it. We ask this morning that we would be a people more in keeping with that which you desire us to be as a body of believers, that we would be attentive and sensitive to each other as you desire us to be. Forgive us for our failures. Strengthen us by your word and spirit that we would be more faithful to the calling that has been given to us. To walk worthy, we ask in Christ's name. Amen.