We'll be turning the Word of God to 1 Peter 3, verses 8 to 12, but it is important to be reminded of context. In chapter 2, Verses 11 and 12, Peter lays down a general principle for the Lord's people to live in this world. They are strangers and pilgrims, so he gives them a framework in which to live and operate in this world. And so he says in verse 11, dearly beloved, That is, brethren, brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, I beseech you, I appeal to you as strangers and pilgrims. This is what we truly are. And then he tells us how to live in this evil world. He says, negatively, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, and positively, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, with this goal, of course. that they may glorify God in the day of visitation. What a tremendous aspiration. What a great goal for the believer in this world. Striving, using every aspect of life and mortifying themselves and living out the grace of Christ in order that others will glorify God. Here is the ultimate motive in life. And there is nothing equivalent to this. There is nothing similar. There is nothing comparable to this. Here is the energizing principle of every true Christian. This is really how they are distinguished. The negative dimension, the positive dimension, but it's all woven together. It's worked out in life to bring glory to God, to see others glorify God. Well, of course, we may ask, how does this actually work out in practice? It's all very well telling us negatively, abstain from fleshly lusts positively, conversation honest, but how does it work out in practice? What does it actually look like? Well, Peter shows us from verse 13 onwards. He says, verses 13 to 17, here's what it looks like in society at the most basic level of our existence as citizens of the country that we're in. And then in the workplace, in verses 18 through 25, And then he comes in chapter three to the home. This is what it looks like in the home. So he deals with the wife and then he deals with the husband. Then, of course, he rounds it all off. He's reached the pinnacle of all our relationships. He says, now we come to the church. What's it look like in the church? verses eight through 12. So Peter is moved from the bottom to the top, from society to the church and all the various pieces in between. So how ought Christians to behave themselves in the church? And this is our subject, behaving in the church. Well, there are three things that Peter tells us we are to do. First of all, showing. Finally, brethren, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or reeling for reeling. There are attitudes, there are characteristics, there is a behavior that is expected, required, and demanded of Christians as church members. He says, be ye all of one mind. Well, how is that even possible? All of us are different intellectually, socially, mentally, educationally. There's a whole range of differences. How is it possible that all of these diverse peoples who have come to saving faith can be of the same mind? To have this one mind. Well, Peter tells us, having. We are to show the following. We are to possess and then live out the following characteristics. And there are five. The first is compassion for one another. In other words, we are to have sympathy, kindness, empathy, one for another. Too often we can be hard-hearted. Well, that's the way our culture makes people at times. Compassion. There's a kindness about the Lord's people. Second, love as brethren, as fellow pilgrims and strangers in the world, as those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to greet one another, love one another, he says. There's a certain delight and being with the Lord's people. The third is pity, be pitiful. Here it speaks of being tender-hearted, being benevolent. Don't close your fists and your eyes and your hearts to the Lord's people. And the fourth one, be courteous. This is just basic civility, decency, pleasantness. Some of the older ones would remember their parents constantly saying to them, now remember your Ps and Qs, your Pleas and Thank Yous when you're out. Behave yourself and if you don't, well, you'll get it when you get home. Courteous, being polite, civil, decent. Fifth. not rendering evil for evil or reeling for reeling. That is, to be without retaliation, not trading insults. In other words, there's a time to keep your mouth shut. In a sense, Peter is saying, if this is what is going to result if you say something, Rendering evil for evil, reeling for evil, say nothing at all. But that's what's going to happen. Keep your mouth shut. Rather, he says, blessing. But contrary-wise, blessing. We get our English word, eulogy, from this. Not the same as an elegy, but eulogy. That's something that's inscribed on a tomb. nice things about the person who has died. The point being, instead of insult, say what is praiseworthy. If there isn't, say nothing. These then are the characteristics of professing Christians, that they are, as strangers and pilgrims, they are, what we might say, decent, God-fearing people. This says Peter. is the better way to live. Why? Let's not forget that basic statement, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. There are characteristics that reflect that grace. Disposition of behavior. Our culture has become so violent and so wicked And it's everywhere, and everyone wants to be a millionaire by suing somebody else and always looking for a problem, somebody to blame. And we've become a selfish, self-centered, greedy, grasping, mean culture. And remember, these people are living in the Roman Empire, a wicked empire. an evil empire. Peter is saying, you don't need to be like that. You're children of God, strangers and pilgrims in the world. Here are the characteristics of God's people. And if there's one place we should see it, because the world is often biased and jaundiced. If there's one place we should see it, it surely should be in the church. Brother, brothers and sisters. So there are things that we should show. Second, he says, knowing. Knowing that ye are there unto call, that ye should inherit a blessing. Knowing that, that's an important construction that you find throughout our English Bibles. Curse in all kinds of places. When something is required, commanded, there's usually a reason given. And here's the reason. Do all of this, he says. This is what you should display. This is what should be seen. Because there's something that you know. You know, the idea that being a Christian is something fuzzy, wooly, inexplicable. It's just some sort of warm feeling that comes over you. That's not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity has content. It has consequences. There's a conduct that goes with all of this. Why should we have compassion and be pitiful and courteous? Why? Well, Peter says two things you know, you should know. Knowing that, he says, first of all, that God has called you to do this. It's not the church that's asking you to do this. Of course, if you're not doing this, then the church needs to ask why you're not doing this. But he tells us God requires it. What do you think God requires of each sinner whom he saves? Do you think that God saves a sinner and then having done this wonderful work, pats him on the back and says, now there you go, it's all over to you? Do you think that's what it means to be a Christian? When was the last time you asked yourself, what exactly is it that God requires of me? And the answer to all of that is before you. Compassion, love, pity, courteousness. Not rendering evil for evil or reeling for reeling, but contrary wise blessing. Because this is what God called you to do. Knowing that ye are there unto called. It's not the preacher. who's telling you to do this. It's not civil government that's telling you to do this. It is God who is telling you to do this. God has saved you and says, now this is what I require of you. And second reason. that you should inherit a blessing. God has promised you a blessed inheritance. These are astonishing motives. Why should you live in this manner? Because, you see, living like this, some might say, what a weakling are you? You have compassion. The world says, stand up and be counted, show everybody you're on top of things and you're the centre and you've all got it made for yourself. The gospel says, have pity, show compassion, be courteous. What a weakling, says our world. What will energise the Christian then to do these things? God says, put it all in the landscape of eternity. He has promised you a blessed inheritance. It's the very point the Lord Jesus Christ makes in John 14. There are the disciples, and they're facing an unknown future, an uncertain future, it seems. The Lord has told them he's leaving. How are they going to face tomorrow? And the Lord tells them, in the first three verses, the very first thing you need is the doctrine of the Trinity. It's the first thing you need, he says, to face the future. You believe in God, believe also in me. In other words, how you understand God is absolutely essential. That God has become incarnate. That God has come into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. The glory of God in the face of his son. That's the first thing you need to face the future. But then he says, the second thing you need to know, what I am doing for you. I go to prepare a place for you. That's what I'm doing for you. And then the third thing you need is in light of all of this, that I am coming again. In other words, he says to the disciples, you need to understand everything in light of eternity and everything in light of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you face the future. That's how you are to face tomorrow. All this theology is what you need. What you believe about God, what you believe about eternity, what you believe about the end of the world, that's what you need, he says. And this is what Peter is reminding us of, that ye should inherit a blessing. In other words, he's saying you need to balance everything that's happening in your life in light of eternity. The world says you should be like this, you should be like that, you should be like the other. The Christian says, no, not at all. God has called me to display these characteristics. He's called me to this, and there's a blessed inheritance that awaits me. And it's in that light that the believer proceeds to live out grace day by day. Effectual calling and eternity are the two key points of a Christian's life and thinking and outlook. The Christian says, God has saved me and I am travelling to my inheritance. So if I'm a child of eternity, if I'm the stranger and pilgrim in the world and I'm simply passing through, I don't need to copy the culture that's around me. I have no interest in being like the culture that is around me. I'm not interested in singing its songs and following its fashions and bowing to all its celebrities. None of these things interest me. No, this is what I am called to do. as one of God's people, compassion, love as brethren, pity, courteous, blessing. I can do these things because God has saved me. He has called me to this and he has promised me that when this short life is over, I shall enter into heaven. You see why it is and how it is. The only person who can be, as it were, counter-cultural is the Christian. They're the only ones who do not need to be influenced or shaped by the culture in which we live. Because we're pilgrims and we're strangers passing through. So it shouldn't really be difficult for these fellow pilgrims and strangers to be all of one mind. Is it really that difficult? Well, we'll come to that in a moment. So they're showing There's knowing, and then thirdly, wanting. Verses 10 through 12. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good, let him seek peace and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. He that will love life and see good days. Isn't this what we want? Isn't it? I mean, we don't surely say, oh, I want a hard, difficult life. I really, you know, I love all the pain, I love all the trouble, I love all the anguish. No one would say that. No one wants pain, trouble, trials, difficulties and problems. We want, a good life. He that will love life and see good days. But let me ask you, what do you really want? Is this how you would describe it? To enjoy life? To experience good times as we might say? Well everyone I'm sure will say, oh yes. But let me just remind you, The wanting is third. It comes after the showing and the knowing. There are no shortcuts. You see, there are some, and they would come and they would say, well, just ignore verses eight through 11, and we're just going to preach about health, wealth, and happiness. Do you want a great life? Here it is. No, says Peter. Here's the first thing. Do you have and are you displaying these Christian graces? There's the first thing. And then second, what do you actually know of being a Christian? Do you know about effectual calling? Do you know about eternity? Are these two key points significant in your life? Do they shape your outlook on life? And it's only then that he says, he that will love life and see good days. Well, how are we going to see this? How are we going to experience this? Well, follow the reasoning and the logic of the apostle. And the first thing he says is, watch your mouth. Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Well, there's the first problem, isn't that right? Difficult to hold the tongue, isn't it? Well, he said, this is the first step. You need to guard your mouth, watch your tongue. The second thing is avoid wickedness. He says in verse 11, let him eschew evil. Immediately you might say, but preacher, I thought you were talking about loving life and seeing good days. I am. This is what he means. Avoid wickedness. Why has God given us the law? To show us sin, so we know what we need to avoid. So when Peter says, to eschew evil, to avoid wickedness, he is saying you need to keep the law as a child of grace. Then he says also in verse 11, and do good. He doesn't say do good just to some people that you happen to like. That's called the sin of partiality. The sin that I suppose isn't often mentioned. Do good. Oh, I know parents do good to their children most of the time, I think. Children do good to their parents probably most of the time. Whenever they're not being smacked and chastised, then they get all whingy. But apart from that, they do good. Brothers and sisters tend to do good to each other. We can go on down through all the various relationships. Peter isn't saying, you know, just do good to the people you know, the people you like. He just says, do good. Do we do good? And then he says, seek peace and ensue it. That's difficult too, isn't it? Some people are a bit like a hedgehog. Not every time you approach them, there's a spike sticking out and they want to do you harm. Well, we still have to seek peace, best as we can. But then you might ask, these things are difficult. They are. So why should we do it? Well, look at verse 12. He says four. The first thing is the eyes of God are upon you. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous. The eyes of God are upon you. You know, children, when they learn that their mother can see around corners and has got eyes in the back of their head, because they always seem to know what they're doing when they shouldn't be doing it, And they get a sort of mentality, better not do that in case my mum finds out and I'm in trouble. But then they get older in the teenage years and they think they're the cool people and they don't really care whether their mum or their dad finds out. But then perhaps they may get into work and then it's a different story. Their foreman may find out and they might be in trouble. Well, this surpasses all of that. The eyes of the Lord are upon you. Here's a good reason for parents when you're disciplining your children to say no. When you've left home here and you're done at school or the street or the shop or whatever, remember the Lord is watching you. Well, Peter isn't dealing with children. He's dealing with everybody. Here's a stranger on a pilgrim and then he says, the Lord sees you. That's why you should do this. God sees you. Everything is open to God. Nothing can be hidden. Some of you are old enough to remember when you were young, things you could hide. We might laugh at it now because it maybe weren't too bad, the things we hid. But isn't that a characteristic since the fall, always trying to hide, trying to cover up? Peter says to the strangers and the pilgrims, God sees. What's the second? The ears of God. His ears are open unto their prayers. So God sees and God hears. But here is a very encouraging thing that God hears. He hears their prayers. There are things that we bring to God you can't mention to anybody else. Some things you dare not say because it might be an embarrassment. Some things you cannot say. They're too private, too personal. But the Lord hears. Very encouraging, isn't it? The Lord talks about going into the closet, close the door. Talk freely with God, and tell him everything that's in your heart, and everything that's on your mind. You take it to him, and he hears. The third thing is the face of God. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Sometimes wicked people, they seem to get away with many things. Sometimes even Christians get away with things they shouldn't, but they do, for not. But the face of God is against them. Against them that do evil. And that's encouraging too, isn't it? Remember all these things we have to do? Refrain his tongue from evil, his lips that they speak no guile, eschew evil, do good, seek peace and sooth. These are difficult demands. And we live in a world That's a fallen world. World of awkwardness, problems, wickedness, opposition, deceit, betrayal, backstabbing, it's all there. We have to negotiate our way through many things. But here's a reason why we don't quit. The face of God is against us. You know what it's like when two people fall out, they find it hard to look to each other. Isn't that right? You know, when a husband and wife have a quarrel, two children have a quarrel with each other, they just ignore each other, you know. They pretend they're not there. Their face is not towards them. And the parent has to get the two of them together and say, no, I'm telling you the way it is. And then at half an hour's time, they're cracking jokes with each other and all as well. But it's that point where the face is against them. Cross angry. The face of God is against them. There's our encouragement. All these people may get away with many things, but God is against them. Well, let's come to some applications. The first is this, none of these things is possible without grace. You know, the idea of what we might call the school assembly kind of religion, let's all just be decent people. You know, the politicians say, if we just give people more money and a decent house and clean up the neighborhood, everybody's going to turn out to be decent. It's absolute garbage. You can't do any of these things without grace. Education might make you more civilised, but without grace you're still a barbarian. You've only succeeded in becoming an educated barbarian, but your nature hasn't changed. If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To seek these things without grace is mere moralism. The liberals like to teach moralism. But the apostolic position is, while you must do these things, you can only do them in the context and the background of grace. If you have tasted the Lord as gracious, then I can appeal to you, I beseech you as those who have tasted grace, as strangers and pilgrims, as brethren. I can do that if you've tasted grace. But if you haven't, you can't do it. Let no one think that moralism is the answer. Being civilised is nice, it means your neighbour's not going to knife you while you're sleeping, that's good. That's why we have civil government to restrain such people and punish them. But what they need is a change of nature. Grace must change them. And so just as a parent says to their children, now, you have professed faith in Christ. Do you think that was a good thing you did? Do you think that was right that you did that? that the Lord was pleased with that, you appeal to them on the basis of that profession. And that's what Peter is doing with us. I beseech you, I appeal to you, if you profess to be a child of God, then you must be doing this. But without grace you can't. But then there's a second point. You can't truly do all these things if you're not a member of the church. As a citizen of a country, he says, you need to do the following. He tells us, as an employee, you need to do the following. As a wife, you need to do the following. As a husband, you need to do the following. Well here he says, if you're a believer, member of the church, you need to do the following. Brethren, have one mind. The adherent is and remains on the sidelines. So your status will shape, will govern, will determine how all these things are worked out. If you're not a member, you don't need to care whether you show compassion to the Lord's people or not. You don't need to care whether you're courteous or not. Of course, whether you're a member or not, you still should be courteous, but if you're not courteous, the most we can say to you is, friend, if you're going to be like that, don't come back. But if you're a member, then the church can say, now brother, now sister, This ought not to be. So we admonish. And then thirdly, how easy it is to spoil everything. What spoils all these wonderful virtues? Well, selfishness spoils things. Bad temperedness spoils things. Mockery, snide remarks. being disparaging, censorious, a carving mentality, being egotistical, smug, self-righteous. All these things spoil all these virtues. It's like going into a conversation with some people. The worst thing you can ask them is, well, how are you? The next three hours, they will tell you how they are. Even though you're maybe in pain, and agony, and anguish, maybe even discouraged, melancholic, they never say, so how are you? It doesn't seem to cross their mind. Because all they can think about is self. Me, myself, and I, and all three of us are having trouble. And I want to tell you, one hour for each. There's some like that. egotistical, self-centred. But let me remind you of this. When you read down through all these virtues, they don't cost you anything. Have you noted that? They don't cost you anything. They don't cost you anything to have compassion, to be kind and courteous. It doesn't cost you a thing. It's not going to cost you your job to be courteous. It doesn't cost you anything to be helpful. It doesn't cost you anything, as he says, but contrary wise blessing, that doesn't cost you anything. It doesn't cost you anything to watch your mouth, except maybe extra strength, patience and diligence. Doesn't cost you anything to watch your behavior. And yet, if any feel to do these things, it spoils many things. Ruins our witness, doesn't it? Oh, the press love it when there's trouble on the street because of a church business meeting that all went awry and they're all outside and have to get the police. Oh, the media love it, don't they? But all it has succeeded in doing is spoiling the testimony. If you have tasted grace, Don't spoil the virtues. And fourthly, there is no escaping the presence of God. Peter is quite clear, as I said a moment ago, God sees and God hears and God takes notice of what everyone does. But I want to emphasize two things here. First, his ears are open to the prayers of the righteous. And second, his face is against them that do evil. Well, here's a test if you're a child of God. Has God closed his ears to your prayers? Do not complain, God isn't listening to my prayers. if you're wrong on these things. Yes, there are times we need to take stock, we need to examine ourselves and say, well, if I think God is not hearing me, if God is not answering my prayers, well, what's wrong with me? Instead of saying there's something wrong with God. Isn't it fascinating how quick we are to blame God and how slow we are to blame ourselves? Peter would say to you, Hang on a moment here. Don't you start blaming God and whinging that God's not answering your prayers. What about all these things here? Is there compassion, love, pity, courtesy, blessing? Are you watching your mouth? Avoiding evil? Are you doing all of that? Oh, once we get down through that list, we really can't blame God So there's a test for us. And then finally, all this is so important, the church sings it. It's so important the church sings it. Because these verses, 10 to 12, Peter is quoting them from the songbook of the church, Psalm 34. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. And as ears are opened unto their cry, the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. This is so important. God has placed it in the songbook of the church so that the church is constantly being reminded. And as we sing this psalm, we are reminding each other, here are the things we should be doing. And are we doing it? There's not really much point in being a fan of singing Psalms if we overlook this point. That all these things are taught in the Songbook of the Church, so here's one doctrine. Here's one part of this epistle. It's as if Peter says, you sang this last week, and the week before, and you've sung it many times in your life. You're already familiar with these words. So are you doing it? Are you living out the psalm? You may sing the psalm, but are you practicing it, living it, experiencing it? May the Lord bless his word to your hearts.