"ONE ANOTHER"
J.Renton
1 Peter 1: 22-25; 2: 1-3; 4: 7-11; 5: 5,14
This very interesting epistle was written by Peter to sojourners of the dispersion, Hebrew believers who suffered governmentally. The Jewish nation suffered and these believers suffered along with the nation as sojourners of the dispersion in these various Roman provinces. But Peter addresses them as elect. Publicly they would be of no account, despised, but he says "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" chap 1: 2. The elect are persons who are the subject of divine, sovereign selection. Though of no account publicly they were divinely selected. That is our position today, not of much account publicly but elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Elect, I understand, governs these three expressions; elect according to, by and unto. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" involves God's purpose; "by sanctification of the Spirit" means that these believers who had received the Holy Spirit were by that means sanctified, set apart for divine purposes; and "unto" is the objective; "unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ". Peter goes on: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope... to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in the heavens for you". They had no inheritance down here, they had had to leave their native land which meant so much to Jews, but they have a heavenly inheritance which they await. It is not yet entered into in this setting, but they await this heavenly inheritance. What a remarkable people they were! They are poor, despised publicly, but what an inheritance they had! Not all the wealth in this world could compare with a heavenly incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance. The apostle Peter would lift these believers up from their circumstances and occupy them with what was glorious, what belonged to them. He goes on to speak about "Jesus Christ: whom, having not seen, ye love". We have just sung a hymn of appreciation of our Lord Jesus Christ (No 54) and all of us entered into it. We are together in the fact that we are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ". We have a heavenly inheritance, and Jesus Christ is the One whom, having not seen, we love. It is a great moral triumph for God, that although we have never seen our Lord Jesus Christ we love Him and we intend to be here for Him for His pleasure.
Peter goes on to speak about the Holy Spirit "sent from heaven". He sets out these things before these believers, and we know these things. We enter into these blessed realities: heavenly inheritance, love for our Lord Jesus Christ whom we have never seen. Peter could not say that because he had seen Him, but he wrote to those who had never seen Him. But we are going to see Him one day, see a blessed Man who has secured our affections. Meantime there is the presence of the Holy Spirit here.
Now in the verses we have read Peter views these persons who have such great blessings as set together and therefore refers to "one another". Thus we are greatly privileged to have one another, dear brethren. That cannot be said about all who are faithful at the present moment. There are individuals who are the only ones walking in the truth in some localities. What a test that must be! Do they not long and pray to have persons to walk with? And there are some who have - a few and they long for more, but many here are privileged to have a number to walk with. O, what a favour It is! The question is, do we fully appreciate one another, for while it is a great privilege, it is nevertheless also very testing. We would not be without one another surely, but to work out things with one another is quite a challenge. Peter says here "Having purified our souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love". Mark the expressions! "To unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently". This is a very simple exhortation but how important it is! This is positive activity. To unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently", has its own challenge to every one of us. Were we all on this line we would get the best out of one another. The fact is that we can so act that we can get the worst out of one another. I have seen in our locality the worst coming out in persons through the lack of love. But we can get the best out of one another where there is unfeigned brotherly love". We were speaking in the reading about mutuality. These verses in Peter about one another do not come far short of what we had in the reading about the truth of the body. Only Paul teaches as to the body, but Peter has his own way of bringing to bear the truth by way of exhortation. So he exhorts: "Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth to unfeigned brotherly love, love one another out of a pure heart fervently; being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible". Think of being born of incorruptible seed, born by the living and abiding word of God"! This is born morally from an incorruptible origin; it is birth morally, constitutionally; we thus belong to this distinguished family. He exhorts them earlier as children of obedience"; not only obedient children but "children of obedience", children that belong to the family of obedience. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living and abiding word of God". He goes on to say all flesh is as grass... but the word of the Lord abides for eternity".
Then he comes to certain ugly features. He says "Laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings". Persons who are alone in a locality and have none to walk with have not the same occasion to give rise to these feelings. These ugly features, dear brethren, relate to one another, because malice operates towards persons; there is no occasion to use guile if there is no other person. And so as to hypocrisies, there is no opportunity to appear what we are not if there is nobody to appear to. Envyings involve other persons. The fact of the matter is, dear brethren, that a local company can be an area for the same ugly features to operate as in a political meeting or in a social club. One of the plagues in Egypt was the plague of dog-flies, which might be like these ugly features that are found in the world. At the introduction of that plague God made a separation, or deliverance or redemption (see note to Exod 8: 23). He made a separation that no dog-flies were in the land of Goshen where the children of Israel were. These features are prevalent in the world today, they are characteristic of the world, but let us be on our guard because these same features can operate in our local settings. Paul in both the epistle to the Colossians and the epistle to Ephesians warns against malice, which is the inward working of enmity, ill-feeling, that kind of thing. Peter says here "Laying aside" these things; they are ready to operate, ready to take advantage of any opportunity. They are to be definitely laid aside. It says in Colossians "out off" these things, including malice (see chap 3: 8), put off, and in Ephesians "Let" these features "be removed from you", removed from you, chap 4: 31. They are ready to operate and cause disturbance, and militate against the functioning of the one body. They are real dangers. There is to be a separation as in the plague of the dog-flies. There were no dog-flies among the people of God but there were in Egypt. Let us be watchful dear brethren, for these ugly features are in every one of our hearts; I know they are in my heart. If any say they are not in their hearts they do not know their own hearts because they are there and the enemy would use them to disturb. "Laying aside therefore", Peter says, these features, "as new-born babes desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word, that by it ye may grow up to salvation, if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good". There is the positive, mental, milk of the word, what is pure, the pure mental milk of the word. Let us be committed to what is pure, for the more we are committed to what is pure the less opportunity there is for these wrong feelings to arise towards one another.
Peter is concerned about conditions among believers, just as if he were here today he would be concerned about conditions in our localities. So he says in chapter 4 "the end of all things is drawn nigh: be sober therefore, and be watchful unto prayers; but before all things having fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins". How many things could be covered if we had fervent love among ourselves. Some things that come into public would not need to come into public were there "fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins". Love would cover all that can possibly be righteously covered. Somebody said that love covers confessed sins. That would be true too, I suppose, but it is not put that way here. Peter is stressing the great possibilities that can be realised by the operation of love. "Love covers a multitude of sins", not a few sins but a multitude of sins. I am just going over the scripture, it speaks for itself: "but before all things having fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins". We were reading recently in Genesis 9 about Noah. Ham saw what was unseemly and if he had covered it nobody else would have known about it. But he told his two brothers outside; they covered Noah. "Love covers a multitude of sins". We need to explore how many things can be covered by love. How many things can be righteously covered by love so that things are not exposed that do not need to be exposed.
Then he says "hospitable one to another, without murmuring". Hospitable one to another. We are exhorted elsewhere: "Be not forgetful of hospitality; for by it some have unawares entertained angels", Heb 13;1,2. We are to be hospitable to strangers, persons from a distance. John also in his third epistle commends Gaius for what he had wrought towards the brethren and that strangers, but this in Peter's epistle is "hospitable one to another". This is hospitality locally, this is brethren locally, entertaining one another. There is a certain disadvantage, I can see, if we see one another only at the meetings. To meet at the meetings is good of course, but there is another line that can promote confidence and prevent distance coming in. "Hospitable one to another, without murmuring". We were speaking last night about Paul at Ephesus for three years, speaking publicly and in every house. He must have visited households, not necessarily invited. That is another side. It used to be a feature when I was young that brothers would call at the home without being invited and just show interest like a shepherd. Young people get to know a brother who visits in a way they could not in the meeting. But this Peter speaks of is "hospitable one to another". This is inviting one another to our homes, so that we enjoy the company of one another, besides what takes place in the meeting. It is a preventive of distance coming in for we can come to meetings and take part and yet some distance can exist between us, but this is not so likely in the home. In the home we get to close quarters, get to know one another, get to love one another. In fact if any sense of distance comes in between brethren it is a good thing to invite to the home, to have a meal together, just to sit down together, to get the restoration of brotherly confidence if that has been lacking. "Hospitable one to another, without murmuring". I remember a time in our own city many years ago when there were difficulties and certain sides were taken, some thought one way and some another way and there was a kind of pitched battle when we came together, whereas much could have been done by being in homes with one another and get to understand one another. This is of all importance, dear brethren. It is not far removed from what we had in the reading; it is part of the practical working out of the truth of the one body. I just say again "hospitable one to another, without murmuring"; then he says "each according as he has received a gift". It is almost like "the working in its measure of each one part", Eph 4: 16. "Each according as he has received a gift, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of the various grace of God". It is very like Romans 12: "having different gifts" (v 6). It is all promoting what is good and profitable, good stewards who have something to give, "ministering it to one another". Let us increasingly value one another, dear brethren.
In chapter 5 we have "Likewise ye younger, be subject to the elder", that is a very necessary and comely feature. Then he says "all of you bind on humility"; he does not stop there but he says "bind on humility towards one another", towards one another; bind it on, "bind on humility". This is most difficult; to keep humble is most difficult; it says bind it on towards one another. We speak about self-judgment and how important it is! The most difficult person to judge is oneself. I might have a pretty fair judgment of my brethren but it is far more difficult to judge myself; it is the most difficult thing of all, to have a right judgment of self. It may be a lifelong lesson to have a right judgment of self. We tend to be lenient when judging self. "All of you bind on humility towards one another; for God sets himself against the proud, but to the humble gives grace". Humility, to quote, is not thinking little of self; true humility is not thinking of self at all. How difficult that is! "God sets himself against the proud" - that is very serious - "but to the humble gives grace. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the due time; having cast all your care upon him, for he cares about you". God does not only care for us, He cares about us, we mean something to Him.
Lastly we are exhorted to "Salute one another with a kiss of love". That is a fine expression; "Salute one another" is a positive activity towards one another. "Salute one another" involves respect for one another. Paul writes "Salute one another with a holy kiss", 2 Cor 13: 12. Peter says "Salute one another with a kiss of love". You will find in Mr Taylor's volumes a reading in Edinburgh entitled "Administration in the Assembly" and there follows later in that volume an address he gave; 'A holy kiss'. Actually the address took place first. The address was given on the Wednesday evening on "Salute one another with a holy kiss", and the reading 'Administration in the Assembly' took place on the Thursday evening. If we are going to have right administration, things done rightly amongst us for the pleasure of God, we need to salute one another with a kiss of love. "Peace be with you all who are in Christ".
We have just gone over these exhortations, dear brethren. It is what Peter would say to us; it may be what the Lord would say to us at the moment; it may be what is needed in our localities, the right value of one another, fervent love for one another. In one sense all we have is one another. We maintain separation which is really sanctification but we have one another. Let us make the most of one another, let us get the best out of one another, let us love one another fervently, let us salute one another with a kiss of love. May the Lord encourage us, for His Name's sake.
LONDON
20 February 1982