Focal Passage: 1 Peter 4:1-11
When I was in elementary school I received a report card every six weeks. In addition to the fear and trembling activated by the grades, there was a preprinted set of behavioral concerns that teachers could mark each grading period. Multiple times I earned a checkmark by the box reading, “Needs to refrain from unnecessary talking and movement.” It was a convenient way for teachers to say, “Troy needs to stop goofing off and do his work!”
Thankfully, a few marks for bad behavior in elementary school did not wreck my life. The intervention of godly parents regularly pointed me toward God’s expectations! In a much more critical scenario, Peter exhorted his readers that enough time had been spent “doing what the Gentiles choose to do” (I Peter 4:3).
The immoral behavior that marked their lives before Christ had no place in their new lives in Christ. Their clean break from a sinful lifestyle was met with slander from old friends who were surprised that they no longer joined them in godless living.
Rust
While I have heard Christians talk about their dramatic breaks from sinful pre-conversion lifestyles, I have also known believers who tried to justify their ongoing love affair with certain sins. Instead of evicting those practices from their lives, they went to the Bible to try and build a defense for particular vices.
Although they claimed that these choices were marks of their freedom and maturity in Christ, they betrayed a veiled immaturity that refused to let go of certain acts of self-indulgence. As Paul warned the Romans, “we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die” (Romans 8:12b-13a).
Although the Bible includes several behavioral prohibitions, they do not stand alone. Any time the people of God are told to avoid something, they are called to embrace God’s holy alternative. In this chapter, Peter exhorted his readers to “maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins” (4:8). His language echoed Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses.”
People who are committed to love you will give you the benefit of the doubt (in spite of your flaws) and respect you as innocent until proven guilty. On the other hand, the people who do not love you are convinced you are guilty as they build the gallows and try to discover sufficient reasons for your execution. They have a solution looking for a problem.
I learned this lesson the hard way. While trying to pastor a church that was divided between the people who supported me and the people who wanted the previous pastor back, I experienced the difference love makes.
Instead of embracing the biblical mandate to love me even though I was different from the last pastor, my critics idolized their personal preferences and divided the church.
After I left that church, the ball was in my court. Would I be as unloving as my detractors? It took some time, but when God turns your heart away from self and toward others He removes your desire to defend your self-indulgence or nurse your grudges. B&R
