The First Letter of Peter- 6

Subtitle: A New Spiritual People- part 3

1 Peter 1:22-25; 2:1-3.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, December 28, 2025.

We continue in this section where Peter admonishes us to be a part of the new spiritual people that Jesus is creating.  He does this through a series of imperatives, or commands.  We have looked at the first three.

1. Fix your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (1:13).
2. Be holy like obedient children of God (1:15).
3. Conduct yourself in the fear of the Lord during this time of your sojourn on earth (1:17).

Of course, there are more things that are attached to these three commands, but they are the core points.  Let’s look at our passage as Peter gives some more commands.

Fervently love one another from the heart (v. 1:22-25)

Peter gives them the same command that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples, particularly in John 13 to 15 on the night of his betrayal.  It is probably fresh in Peter’s mind just how wrong-headed he had been that night.  Yes, he believed in Jesus and was following him.  Yet, his flesh kept side-tracking him from where Jesus was leading.

We are to love one another as Jesus loved us.  On the night of his betrayal, we should first recognize that Jesus had risen and washed their dirty feet, something a servant should have done.  He loved them enough to do the lowest task among the group. Once we have absorbed this lesson, then we can move to the fact that Jesus physically was willing to die for them that they might live. 

Does this sound like something that is easy?  No, it is not!  One of the problems with American society is that we have exalted the idea of “falling in love” beyond any usefulness.  Today, people fall in and out of love without much thought.  They are simply led by the desires of their heart, which are often only lust.  Jesus is talking about a motivation that comes from Jesus Himself, rather than our own heart.  The love that Jesus gave to me when I didn’t deserve it becomes a motivation to give love to those others that he commands me to love.  In this case, he is talking about other disciples of Jesus.  If I have been forgiven much, then I should love Jesus much, so much that I am willing to love his other followers.  This is not a love of feeling, but a love of choice, a love of sacrifice.  Feelings will come and go, some good and some bad, but always we should make the choice to love.

Peter adds that this love is to come from the heart.  Some manuscripts have “from a pure heart.”  Both of these would be true.  There is an intellectual part to this choice to love, but we must not let hypocrisy and ulterior motives lead us.  Our heart has to embrace the decision.  We are not just intellectually seeing the vision that Jesus is laying before us but also capture that vision and making it our own.

We could say that acts which look loving, but are done in hypocrisy, are not truly loving at all.  They are self-serving actions in disguise.

Verse 22 starts off with “since you have in obedience to the Truth purified your souls…”  Peter reminds them of this prior action.  It is not in question, i.e., “since,” but the latter action of loving each other from the heart is in question (at least until we follow through).  The prior action is that they have purified their souls.  This may sound wrong.  Isn’t it Jesus who has purified our souls?  Yes, Jesus is the Purifier of our souls.  However, his work of purification involves the work of putting our faith in the “Truth” of the Gospel of Jesus. 

This is what is meant by “in obedience.”  The Gospel is first good news of what Jesus has done and has made available to us.  However, it is also a challenge.  Will you embrace this Jesus as God’s answer to your sin-sick soul?  Thus, it can be said that we purify our souls when we put our faith in Jesus.  It is understood that we could not do that, i.e., our works of faith would be useless, if Jesus had not done the foundational work of providing the foundation upon which we are putting our faith. 

There is also a work of the internal battle against sin that we are to engage with the help of the Holy Spirit, who was made available to us by the work of Jesus as well.  Like the Israelites taking possession of their inheritance in the Promised Land, believers are to take possession (purify) their souls that have been overrun by the giants and strongholds of sin.

We might not think about it in this way, but Peter says that we have purified our souls “for a sincere love of the brethren.”  The grammar depicts the sincere love of the brethren as a target, or goal, of the purifying.  

Think of it this way.  Jesus commands us to love one another, but my heart is filled with things that make it difficult to obey that command.  I am not enough like Jesus to do it.  However, I have put my faith in Jesus both for salvation and for the strength to war against the lusts that are in my own heart, all of this so that I can actually follow through on the work that Jesus has given me.  If you are going to do the hard work of fighting sin in your life, then follow through with the target of loving other believers.  This is what Jesus would do if he were here in the flesh.

Christians are not hypocrites that pretend to love people.  Instead, we are up front that without Christ none of us would love others.  It is his love for us that is transforming us and leading us in saying, “No” to our flesh, and “Yes” to the Holy Spirit.  We who have followed Jesus have also joined this new spiritual people.  Jesus wants it to be a community of love between one another just as the Father and He have always existed in a community of love between themselves and the Holy Spirit. 

We should not blame our lack of love for others on them.  Of course, we all have things that are hard to love, and we have things that are easy for us “to love.”  Our society has a sense of feeling good when helping others (the poor and powerless, etc.).  However, in our flesh, our target is not high enough.  Making yourself feel good is on the same level as drinking alcohol so that you can forget about your woes.  Jesus wasn’t making himself feel better when he loved us.  He was paying a price so that we could be set free from our sins.  His target was much higher than just his own human feelings.  This is why people can be so “loving” to one group but then spew vile hatred towards others.  Christians are not to be like this.  If someone spews hatred towards you, you are to love them as Jesus would love them.

Peter also brings up in verse 23 that they have been born again.  We should fervently love one another from a sincere heart because we have been born again.  We have been born from above, born of the Spirit of God, born of the will of the Father.  This spiritual life that has begun within us is working to express itself in our life through actions that are inspired by Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.

He goes on to point out that this new birth did not come from an imperishable seed.  This ties back to the phrase in verse 22, “in obedience to the Truth…”  Peter is helping them to see this metaphor that Jesus used in his parables in which the seed represents the Word of God, the Truth.

There are all kinds of seeds of “truth” in this world, but only the Word that comes from God the Father is “Truth.”  What word is planted in your heart and growing there?  The words of this world are all impotent and destined to fail, to perish.  However, the Word of God is imperishable.  Even when we ignore it, it accomplishes what it was sent to do.  Its living principle is not dependent upon us believing it.  Yet, we should believe it if we want to be on the good side of its potency.

This Word of the Lord is essentially the Gospel that they received.  Simultaneously, the Gospel, even all Scripture, is an analog of Jesus, the Son of the Most High, who is the Truth.  To obey the word of God (Scripture) is to obey the Word of God (Jesus Christ).  In fact, we can tie this back to prophecies in the Old Testament that refer to seed, but in this case, the seed is the offspring.  Genesis three promises that the Seed of the Woman would crush the serpent’s head.  Later in the same book, God promises that the Seed of Abraham would bring blessing to the whole world.  We also find the importance of the Seed of David that would eventually come forth to rule over Israel and the Nations.  In Jesus, this promised Offspring (the Anointed One) is also the One who is the Seed (Truth) of God.

Jesus is the Imperishable Seed.  If you believe on him, his imperishable nature will make you imperishable too!

Peter fills out what is meant by this imperishable seed by calling it the “living and enduring word of God.”  God’s Word is living versus dead.  It has life in and of itself because it comes from the Author of all life.  The words of men may make us feel alive, but they will not bear out in the end to be true life.

God’s Word is also enduring.  It remains, or stays, when all else fails and falls aside.  God’s Word remains as a stalwart signpost pointing back to Him, back to life, even as we stand on the cliffs of destruction.

This brings Peter to quote Isaiah 40:6,8. It emphasizes the contrast between humans, who are like grass, and the Word of the Lord, which endures forever!”  Sometimes in Scripture God emphasizes that the wicked are like grass (see Psalm 92:7).  They may look intimidating and substantial to us, but they are here today and gone tomorrow.  Theirs is temporary power, temporary success.  However, the grass imagery can also be applied to all humans (wicked or righteous).  Our time to impact this world is brief and short.  What we do is important, but we will also quickly be gone. 

This may sound cynical, but those who have placed their faith in the Word of the Lord, Jesus, will find that His enduring life is greater than our mortal, grass like nature.  Jesus will not leave us behind.  We have been born again by the Spirit of God because we have believed the Word-Become-Flesh that was sent by God the Father to us.  Though we are perishable in our flesh, the Word of the Lord will raise us up!  We will live because we are connected to the living Word of Life!

All of this is about loving one another.  It may feel like a worthless life, just loving other grass-people.  However, we can trust God and offer it up as an offering of worship unto Him.  We have truly born the grass image of Adam, but we shall also bear the image of Jesus, which is anything but grass!

Peter reminds them at the end of verse 25 that this is what they have received, the Living, Enduring Word of the Lord!  This really is the only thing we have to offer people.  My ideas, my thoughts, are here today and gone tomorrow.  But, when we proclaim the Word of the Lord to people, we give them something that will never fail them!  It is this Life of God that should drive our ability to fervently love one another from the heart as Jesus has commanded us.

Long for the pure milk of the word like newborn babies (v. 2:1-3)

A spiritual person needs to live upon spiritual food.  The Scriptures are our spiritual food because they speak of Christ and are from him.  To read and to embrace the Scriptures is to embrace Jesus Himself.  This spiritual food will enable them to grow.

Peter particularly speaks to them as newborn babies.  Many Gentiles were completely unfamiliar with the Word of God.  When they believed in Jesus, there were many things they did not understand and in fact were too hard for them to understand quickly.  Easier to understand things from God are like spiritual milk.  Newborns exist only on a diet of milk because their stomach is not able to digest more complex foods.

So, what are these easier to digest things of God’s Word?  In short, the Gospel itself is based upon an elementary understanding of God’s Word.  The Creator of humanity loves us.  Our sin has separated us from Him and brought about the pain and suffering we see.  He has sent Jesus to remove that separation and bring us back into a loving relationship with the Creator.  We need to share this good news with others.

Of course, there are things that are harder to digest, or understand.  In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Paul expected the Corinthians to be able to eat “solid food” by now.  Though Peter does not address solid food, we might ask ourselves this question.  How do spiritual babies get to a place where they can eat meat?  They do so through a steady diet of milk.  Peter is reminding them to desire the milk of the word, not so that they will remain in that state, but so that they will grow spiritually.  Believers are called to long, to yearn, for the pure milk of the word.

For what are we hungering?  A believer may start out hungering for the milk, but then other things that are not spiritual food draw our attention.  A new believer can become distracted by harder to digest truths that they are not ready to eat, but they can also become distracted by unspiritual food, the philosophies of this world etc. 

Here is another question.  Do adults still drink milk?  Of course, they do.  However, they will not be able to do adult work on a diet of milk.  As you grow spiritually, you are going to need to grow in understanding the Word of God.  This will take time, but it will also take intentionality and focus.  Make sure you are hungering for God’s Word at the appropriate level and not going after supplements that come from the devil, the world, and our flesh.

This spiritual growth is mentioned in verse 2 (“so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation”).  Babies take on the image of the ones by whom they were born.  We ought to take on the image of Jesus more and more.  We should be taking more and more possession of our soul as an inheritance given to us by God.  Our discipleship in this life is important, even though we have a greater inheritance in the age to come.

A person who is listening to the Word of God and being led by the Holy Spirit will grow in becoming more like Jesus.  This is not without difficulty and spiritual battle, but it is the work Christ is committed to doing within us.

Peter lists up front (vs. 1) some of the negative things that we need to battle against within our hearts.  These things not only get in the way of doing everything Peter has commanded so far, but they also get in the way of our desire for the Word of God.

We need to put aside all malice.  This is a general term for any ill-will (literally bad will) that we might have for others.

We need to put aside all deceit.  This is the type of activity that the devil employed against Eve in the garden.  Deceit has an ulterior motive underneath a nice-looking veneer.

We need to put aside hypocrisy, which is putting on an act rather than being sincere.

We need to put aside envy, which is often a source of hypocrisy and deceit.  We envy others when we desire what they have more than what God has for us.  There is nothing wrong in desiring something, but it becomes an idol when we sacrifice relationship with God in order to get it.

He ends with telling us to put aside all slander.  This word is more general than how we use it.  It simply means to speak evil of another person.

These are the things that we need to put aside or take off like filthy clothes.  We saw this language in our study of the Letter to the Colossian Church.  When these things fill our heart, we will not long for the word.  We need to take hold of them and expel them from our heart, but we also dare not let ourselves act upon their leading.

If my heart is not longing for the Word of God, then the response is to start cleaning while asking God for help.  None of us can do these things without the help of the Holy Spirit.

In verse three of chapter two, Peter says, “If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”  I don’t think Peter is questioning whether they have “tasted the kindness of the Lord.”  He knew that the Gospel had drawn them into putting their faith in Jesus.  They had even believed in the face of difficulty and persecution, which supports the reality of their faith.  Peter is actually reminding them or challenging them to remember.  Don’t let yourself be sidetracked from the original drawing to the Lord that you had.

To taste something requires you to take it into yourself.  It is one thing to know about apples, but it is quite another thing to eat one.  Taste is about intimate knowledge.  Of course, Peter is talking about spiritual things.  To taste the kindness of the Lord is to hear about it and then to take it into yourself by putting your faith in it, in Jesus.

The idea of tasting the nature of the Lord comes from Psalm 34:8. There, the psalmist refers to the “goodness of the Lord.”  When we trust the Lord, we will no longer only know about Him.   We will come to have the knowledge of experience.  Yes, there are bitter-sweet things that we experience in the Lord, but the Lord works them to the good for those who trust in Him!

God doesn’t just want us to know about Him.  He wants us to know the goodness, the kindness, that He desires to lavish upon us.  He wants us to experience His love by faith.

How does this relate to these mostly Gentile Christians?  God had cast off the Gentiles and handed them over to the false gods that they worshipped.  Yet, now, He was drawing them near to Him like children to a Heavenly Father.  We might accuse God of not being kind when He cast them off (us off), but then, we didn’t experience the wickedness and evil that was happening because of a rejection of His wisdom.

God is good even when He lets us go into the results of our choices.  Even in His judgment, He is bringing us to a place where repentance is possible.  His grace is without bounds, but it will not believe for us.  We must believe for ourselves.  The Word of God helps us to do this.

New Spiritual People 3 audio

The First Letter of Peter- 3

Subtitle: The Joy of Our Salvation- part 2

1 Peter 1:8-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, November 30, 2025.

We continue in this letter as Peter has described the great salvation and inheritance that we have through Jesus.  Not only should it cause us to rejoice, but it should also stir up a love for Jesus that is wrapped up in our faith in him.

Let’s look at our passage.

Praise to God for His salvation (v. 8-9)

Peter had just described that they were rejoicing in this salvation in the midst of trials and tests.  They were able to do that because they had faith in God.  Verse 8 commends them for the way their faith led to a love of Christ. 

This is done by placing two statements in a parallel construction.  The first statement is this.  You love him even though you haven’t seen him.  The second is similar.  You believe in him though you do not see him now.  This brings up the issue of our faith and its relationship to what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present.

The majority of those embracing Jesus Christ in the first century did not see his ministry, death, and post resurrection appearances.  Yet, they had come to love the Lord Jesus regardless.

Of course, Peter had seen Jesus in all of these aspects.  He had further seen Jesus glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration and ascending into heaven later.  Peter’s love for Jesus was deep and involved a past relationship with Jesus.  However, these people (like everyone who believes today) did not have that. 

How can you love someone that you have never seen?  It starts with receiving the knowledge that Jesus had done something for you that is both great and unthinkable in its quantity and quality.  To hear that someone laid down their life for you so that you can live is a shocking understanding.  Of course, it will be based upon the faith you have in the trustworthiness of those telling you about him.  Men like Peter, Paul, James, John, and the others more than proved their trustworthiness.  In the face of threats, imprisonments, and even death, they held fast to the testimony of the teachings and resurrection of Jesus.  On top of this, the Holy Spirit did great signs and wonders through them which brings up another side of faith.  The work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of people helps them to both understand and embrace Jesus in faith.  Of course, this is not a coercion, but an influence that we can embrace or reject.

This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 16.  Peter had declared that he believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Peter didn’t know the fullness of what those words meant, but he did believe.  Jesus commended him but notice what he says.  “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”  Jesus did not teach his disciples that he was the Messiah.  Rather, he did the works of Messiah and let the Spirit of God teach them.  Yes, they had seen Jesus, but in the end, they were putting their faith in what the Spirit of God was revealing to them.  To see Jesus or not to have seen Jesus is not what is crucial.  What is crucial is that we respond in faith to the evidence that is put before us by God.

Jesus knew that the majority of Christians throughout history would be in the position of believing in something they didn’t see.  The atheist believes that this is preposterous.  Yet, we believe in all kinds of things that we have never seen for ourselves.  It is how we are designed as human beings who don’t and can’t know everything.  Those who believe, without having the benefit of what Peter had seen, would be and are blessed even more.  This is why Peter is commending them.  Their faith in what Jesus had done led them to love him.

Yet, they cannot see what Jesus is presently doing for them.  Scripture tells us that he is seated at the right hand of the Father awaiting the command to take up the kingdoms of the earth.  Yet, he also intercedes on our behalf and sends forth the Holy Spirit for our enabling.  Technically, no one can see this naturally.  Stephen was given a vision of this, but he was being put to death.  Peter did see Jesus ascend into heaven and disappear out of his sight.  So again, believers through the ages have put their faith in a past and present work of Jesus, though they have not seen and do not see it for themselves.  They both believe in Jesus and love him.

I will say that, though we cannot see Jesus interceding and pouring out the Holy Spirit, we can see the effects of this through many powerful demonstrations of the grace of God, both in our life and in the testimony of countless believers through the centuries.

How can you say, no, to such a love?  How can we not reciprocate the love that God has lavished upon us through Jesus with our own hearts full of love for him?  We love Christ not just for what he has given us and will give us.  We love him because his heart is such that he not only gives us things, but he has ultimately given us himself.  His heart of salvation, that refuses to leave us in bondage to sin, was more than willing to pay an enormous price for us.  His greatest gift to us is a relationship of love that we can have with Him!

Verse 8 then describes that they greatly rejoiced with a joy inexpressible and full of glory.  How can one rejoice in the midst of trials?  Faith helps us to see what is on the other side of the trials.

How can it be said that our rejoicing is inexpressible and full of glory?  The glory is that which God attaches to our salvation by His grace.  It is the same glory of Christ who endured the ugliness of this world for our sakes and for the sake of the Father.  When he is revealed to the Lord in all of his glory, we will be at his side in glory as well.  We have nothing but glory ahead of us.  Though this world may heap shame and dishonor upon us, it is to our glory to carry that mocking, ridicule, and even persecution, as he did.  We walk the way of the cross by putting our feet into the footsteps of our loving Lord.  Even if we have the absolute worst experience and have been dealt the absolute worst hand in this life, none of that should matter to us.  What matters to us is what we do with it.  We must pick up our cross, our difficult lot in life, and carry it to the end for Jesus!

The joy of bonding with Jesus in his sufferings followed by glory is described as inexpressible not because we cannot attempt to describe it.  It is simply because our words fall short of the full reality and our vocabulary falls short of the description worthy of his love.  However, it is also because we do not know all the wonderful and good things that God has for us.  “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”  (1 Corinthians 2:9). 

Of course, the goodness of God is not just something that is off in the future.  His work in our lives throughout this wilderness is filled with His love, grace, help, and more.  How great our rejoicing will be when we understand all that God has done, is doing, and even yet will do in demonstrating His love for us!

Verse 9 then speaks of the salvation of our souls that we receive as an outcome of our faith.  This is pictured as something that is happening now.  It is not that God is miserly giving us a small portion of salvation over time.  Rather, it is what we spoke about several sermons ago.  Salvation can be seen as something we receive instantaneously at our initial faith in Christ.  It is like a status: we are a person who has entered into God’s salvation.  It can also be seen in the sense that God gives us title to it.  It belongs to us and no one can take it away.

Yet, salvation can also be seen as something that God is doing in us throughout our life.  He is saving us from our past life of sin and our present temptations to sin.  We should think of salvation in this sense as a kind of healing.  The spiritual hurts and wounds of the past take time to be healed.  God uses this life, its trials and tests, to help us heal spiritually.  In that sense, we are daily obtaining the salvation of Christ in our life as we put our faith in him, his word, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Of course, salvation does have a completed sense that is in our future.  At death, my soul will be completely healed and saved from sin, and at the resurrection, by body will be completely healed and saved from sin.  I will see Jesus and know him because I will be like him!  All of this because we are trusting Jesus.

May God strengthen our faith.  May we also guard our hearts and be careful that our faith in Christ is not shipwrecked during these trying times.

Praise to God for His salvation (v. 10-12)

Peter takes some time to remind them of the grace of God that we are receiving in these days of Messiah.  In other words, let’s talk about this salvation that you have obtained!

This salvation that we are experiencing is the same salvation that the prophets of the Old Testament sought to understand.  They knew that God promised salvation to those who trusted in Him.  This was in the face of the failure of humanity as a whole from Adam to Abraham and the failure of Israel as a special nation to God.  They were curious in every generation about this salvation.  Thus, they searched the Scriptures that they had at the time, looking for any clues that would give understanding about the salvation of God.  They also inquired of God in prayer about this Messiah. 

Peter describes two questions that they were seeking to have explained.  The first had to do with what person, or manner of person, would be Messiah.  What would he be like?  How will we know him?  What exactly will he do?  And the question would go on and on.  The second question had to do with the timing.  The word for time that Peter uses is not so much about chronology as it is about seasons.  Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, do follow a clock-like chronology, but they also have a purpose that is for something greater than a particular amount of time.  There is a quality to those periods of time.  Similarly, God has seasons in His dealings with humanity.  Yes, He would save humanity, but it would be done in seasons, seasons that had particular purpose known to God.

These prophets sought to understand the greater arc of God’s purposes through time.  This would help them to understand why Messiah’s coming was so delayed, but also to recognize when his coming was close.

Over time, God revealed a little here and a little there.  Progressively over the generations, from Genesis 3 to Malachi 4, God revealed to them some answers to these questions.  Notice that Peter describes it as the “Spirit of Christ within them.”  The summation of all this revelation is that Messiah would first suffer and then his glories would follow.  Messiah would not just come to be great and make others suffer.  Rather, he comes to reject the things that we think are glorious.  He then ingloriously dies on our behalf, showing us the way.  God’s glory is not like our glory, and if we want to be glorified, we will be quick to jettison the desire for “our glory.”  Our glory is focused on self and does not care for others except for the ways that they can accentuate our glory.  God’s glory is about saving others out of shame and humility and bringing them back into the glory that He made for them.

Now is not the time for us to seek glory.  Now is the time for us to join our lord in his path of suffering, not for suffering’s sake, but for the saving of others who are trapped in sin.  We too have an allotment of suffering before our day of glory.

And yet, this life is not all suffering.  We enjoy God’s goodness in so many ways, but particularly in the fellowship we have with Him and fellow believers.  Even after being beaten and put in the stocks, Paul and Silas lifted their voices in songs of praise to God. How could they do this?  They could do this because they saw the smile of their Lord Jesus and the inheritance that he held securely for them.  They could do this because they knew they were not at the mercy of the magistrates of Philippi, nor a jailer and his guards.  They were at the mercy and steadfast love of God Himself!

So, Peter tells us that the prophets recognized that God was showing them things that they would not see in their time.  Instead, they wrote them down for the generation that would witness and follow the days of Messiah.  They lived faithfully not knowing fully the details of Messiah.  They lived by faith in the Coming Messiah though they did not see him or know fully what he would be and do.  This, of course, is similar in every age, even ours. 

Peter connects these believers to that long chain of the glories of Messiah Jesus which are only continuing today.  He connects them to the glories of the revelation of Jesus that will occur at his second coming.  These are the things that were announced to them by people like Peter who came preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  This was all through the work of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

Peter even adds that these are things that even angels are curious to know.  Notice that he puts that curiosity in the present tense.  Angels are not omniscient, though they surely know much more than we do.  Of course, the devil would have a vested interest in figuring out exactly what God is going to do and when, but I believe Peter is talking about the faithful angels, just as he had been talking about the faithful prophets.  These angels don’t understand everything about God’s purposes, but they do their work on God’s behalf ministering to humans who are being saved.  All of the faithful, in heaven and on earth, seek to find these things out.

This brings us to a great section regarding how we are to respond to such great salvation.  Yes, we respond in faith, but Peter is going to get into specifics.

Let me just close by challenging you.  Don’t let the enemy get into your head when you can’t figure out what God is doing.  The devil wants to undermine, to destroy, to steal your faith.  However, God is building your faith and making it a strong bulwark that the enemy cannot breakdown. 

Why does God require so much faith?  Perhaps, it is because He wants us to have the joy of discovery.  We have had much revealed to us about what the future holds, but we have not been given an exhaustive understanding.  It is enough for us to know that God is with us, helping us, and bringing us to a good thing that is better than what we can do for ourselves.  If God be for us, who can be against us?  Or, even better, what does it matter who is standing against us?  We can have the same joy that David had on that day that he grabbed the stones by faith and went out against Goliath.  What are you doing today, Lord!  Let’s go find out!

Joy of our Salvation audio 2

The Letter to the Colossian Church- 11

Subtitle: Living out Your New Identity- 2

Colossians 3:12-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 5, 2025.

In the previous section, Paul had given us a list of the things that Christians need to put off, or to take off.  He generally mentioned in verse 10 that we should then put on the new self that is being renewed into the image of Christ.  The section before us gives a summary list of the virtues and character of Christ that we need to put on.  Essentially, we are putting off everything that is not Jesus and putting on everything that is Jesus.  In order to do that, we will need to get to know him by reading the Word of God and by spending time in prayer with him.

Let’s look at our passage.

Those who have been chosen of God (v. 12-14)

Back in verse 1, Paul used the conditional “if” to challenge them.  “If you have been raised with Christ, then set your mind on the things above.”  This was talking about having a heavenly perspective about things on the earth, doing earthly things for God’s purpose.  This is what the Lord’s prayer is getting out.  “Your Kingdom come; Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The conditional is not used to disqualify them, but rather to underline the importance of the command.

In verse 12, he does something similar.  Here, we have, “As those who have been chosen of God, then…”  This has the effect of tying the theological truth (you have been chosen of God) with a practical result in the way we live life- we will get to what that is in a moment.  Our theology should be logically connected to the way we live our life.  Our walk needs to line up with our talk.  We cannot claim to be a child of God while living like the devil.

So, who are these chosen ones?  God has chosen all those who will put their faith in Jesus, the Christ. 

There are some who challenge this understanding of God’s choice.  They believe it puts us in the place of saving ourselves.  They will typically say that the only reason you choose to follow Jesus is because God first chose you individually.  If He had not chosen you, then you would have never truly believed in Jesus.  At least, this is what they would say.  The problem here is that God from eternity past knew who would do what.  Yet, the contention of such theologians is that God chose people without any thought about what they would do.  He sovereignly chose some and didn’t others.  You may appear to choose Christ, but it is only because God first chose you.

I believe this is a misunderstanding of God and of His sovereignty.  All through Scripture, God is calling for us to choose Him.  “Choose this day whom you will serve!”  “Whose on the Lord’s side?  Come over here!”  The Gospel of Jesus is always presented as something we need to believe without coercion.

Thus, the character of God is such that He will not force us to come to Him.  Both because He is loving and because He is just, it is wrong to conceive of God controlling our ability to choose Him.  However, in the name of upholding the sovereignty of God- by saying He controls everything without anything from us- they actually end up limiting the sovereignty of God.  Essentially, they are saying that God cannot be sovereign enough to carve out a place wherein people can be free to choose Him. 

Truly, we cannot save ourselves even by believing.  The only reason faith can save is because God through Jesus did a real work of paying the price for sins.  A simple analogy is that of a meal.  If God never cooked the meal and put the plate in front of us, none of us are capable of feeding (saving) ourselves.  However, when God in His sovereignty cooks the meal, spreads the table, and calls whosoever will respond to eat at His table, the responding person is not saving themselves.  Rather, they are submitting to the sovereign choice of a God who is demonstrating His saving love to them.  When God puts the plate of grace in front of a person, they are able to believe and respond.   We are not save by our faith, but we are saved through it.

Paul further describes them as holy and beloved.  When you put your faith in Jesus, you become holy.  This does not mean that you walk on water and never sin.  A holy person is a person who has been set apart by God for His purposes.  Similar to a holy bowl in the temple of old, an Israelite should never take the holy bowls from the temple in order to impress people they are having over for dinner at their home.  The distinction is that there are common things that we all do, and there are holy things.  Christians are no longer to live their lives like everyone else, the common people.  We are to live our lives solely for the purposes of Christ.  In fact, the New Testament actually increases the concept of being holy because everything in our life becomes holy now.  We are to do all that we do for the purposes, glory, and honor of Christ.

You are also a loved one (beloved) of God.  The word for beloved is speaking of something done in the past that has continuing effects into the present.  You have been dearly loved by God by the work of Jesus Christ and the bringing of salvation to your door. 

In all of these things, being chosen, holy and loved of God, it is not intended to make us look down our noses at those who do not believe.  God’s love calls all to join the chosen and holy community.  He calls all to repent and join those who have stepped into Christ by faith.  Of course, none of us deserve to be in this place of His love.  However, we have been brought in through the work of Jesus and through our faith in him.

This leads up to a “therefore” moment.  Since you are chosen of God, holy and beloved, you should put on some things that we will get to in a moment.  This begins a list of virtues, or rather, the character of Christ.  It is using the language of clothing that was started earlier in the section on the vices we need to “take off.”  We undress our lives of the things of this world, and we dress ourselves with the character of Christ, the image of Christ.  We are taking off the works that our flesh generates and putting on the character and works that the Lord Jesus Christ generates through the Holy Spirit working in us.

Let me take humility- which we will talk about in a bit- for an example.  We are not called to put on humility as we might define it, or as the world defines it.  We are called to put on humility as it is defined by God and especially revealed through the words and actions of the Lord Jesus.  It is His image we are donning.  We look to him to understand the what and the why of humility.

This world loves to give lip service to love, toleration, justice, equality, and inclusivity.  However, the definition of these things, and how they are actually lived out, often lead to a perverted expression of them.  Seeking these things for the sake of saying we are doing them puts us in the driver’s seat.  It is a form of self justification.  Society will continue to adjust the definitions of these things according to the desires of their sinful flesh.  Christians are called to embrace Christ and let his humility be lived through us.

So what are we putting on?  First, we put on a heart of compassion.  There are two words here, even though some translations will translate it with one word.  The first word refers to a deep place in the guts of a person.  It is best translated as heart, but we might get a glimpse of the meaning in our description of “getting the butterflies.”  Notice that we do not speak of the butterflies as being in our heart, but rather our stomach.  So, the type of compassion they are describing comes from a deep place that is deep within you and is accompanied by a feeling in the pit of our stomach.  In this case, it is not the butterflies (nervous excitement of what is ahead).  It is compassion for someone’s predicament.  You did not cause their plight, but their misery has touched something deep within you and motivated you to action.

Compassion is the first word that God uses to describe Himself to Moses in Exodus 34:6.  That Hebrew word also has the emphasis on a deep-seated compassion for those in misery.

We want to be careful of only having a heart of compassion for people that we like, or for people in which it is socially acceptable to help.  Putting on the compassion of Christ will put you at a Samaritan well talking to a woman who is very far from God.  The people around you (even the woman herself) may protest that you shouldn’t do this.  However, Christ expressed the great compassion that God the Father had for her by giving her his compassion in the moment.

We are also told to put on kindness.  Kindness somewhat speaks for itself, but it speaks of a general disposition of goodness towards others.  A person who is kind has a kind of default setting.  They are predisposed to being good, benign towards others.

We are to put on humility as we said before.  This is a lowliness of mind towards others (and God).  Our position or standing does not influence the way we speak and deal with people.  We do not approach them as superiors, nor even as equals.  We come with lowliness of mind, knowing that God helps the humble, but resists the proud.

It is easy to think that you are humble when you think about God.  The real test is in our relationships with one another.  When we think we are smarter than others around us, when we compare ourselves to them and think that we are better than them, we will act in ways that are anything but humble.  How smart and how much better than us Is Jesus?  Yet, how humble was he in the face of men who were clearly wicked?  Did you deserve Christ to come down and serve you by taking your place on a cross?  No, you do not; none of us do.  Lay down your pride and judgments and simply serve others for Christ.

We also put on gentleness.  The gentleness of a person says nothing about how strong they are.  Gentleness at its core is not about weakness, but about control of strength so as not to cause injury.  What is true in the physical is also true in the way we approach one another.

Of course, we should remind ourselves that these virtues of Christ are not some kind of law.  When Jesus whipped the men out of the temple, it did not look gentle.  We are to be gentle with one another, but sometimes a strong word and strong action is necessary.  However, it must be the image of Christ and the Spirit of Christ that is governing our words and actions in that moment.

We are to put on patience.  The word here has the idea of a long fuse.  We need to be slow to anger (another virtue that God uses to describe Himself in Exodus 34:6).  You need to take off your short fuse and put on a long fuse, and not long as you define it.  We put on the long fuse of Christ with one another.

In verse 13, Paul moves deeper in the virtues, showing how they lead to virtuous actions.  It is not enough to think virtuous thoughts.  Such virtues will and must always lead to virtuous action.

Bearing with one another is the picture of someone who may need to be carried from time to time.  It is never convenient to have to carry someone, but love compels people to use our strength to help the weak in whatever form it occurs.  In fact, we all need to be carried, whether metaphorically or literally, at times.

What do I mean about a metaphorical carrying?  None of us are perfect, despite the attitude of some.  There is a certain heaviness that others experience in those less than perfect moments.  The choice to either overlook, i.e., not make an issue of something, or to bring up the issue, but with an attitude of love, is a heaviness that others must carry in the presence of my differences from Jesus.  Some of these are sin.  I am disobeying the commands of Christ.  Others are simply offenses.  My personality is grating on yours, and of course, those differences can lead to overt sinful choices.  When we ask for forgiveness and extend forgiveness, we are choosing to carry the weight of one another.  When we step in and help in moments that were even caused by the lack of foresight of the other, we are choosing to carry them.  We should make room for one another by not holding on to the sins and the offenses that others have done to us.  Perhaps we should think of it this way.  Our sinful flesh would rather hold on to the weight of the sins and offenses, never letting go, when Christ would have us drop the list we are keeping and carry a different weight, the burden of love for a person.

The best way to begin carrying a person is to pray for them.  Ask God to change your heart.  Ask Him to help you see what you can say, or not say, do, or not do.  Be committed to a good relationship in the name of Jesus.  Ask for wisdom on how what things should be overlooked as trivialities and what things need to be addressed in love.  Ultimately, be committed to carrying the weight of working things out with a person who may not be easy for you.  In fact, I am sure that all of us have people who have found it hard to carry us in such a way.

Paul’s next point of forgiveness is a natural next point as I mentioned above.  We all need to learn to forgive each other.  Of course, there are times when people persist in belligerence and refuse to get along.  However, Paul is calling us to this commitment of love.  Love forgives.  Love refuses to hold on to a record of wrongs.  Love never quits!

Paul says the same thing in another way.  “Whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”  Think about this.  Did Christ forgive you of your sins because you became perfect?  No.  It was first because he loves you and secondly because you responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We must be quit to let go of complaints in forgiveness.  If a person refuses to deal with offenses, we are still to move forward by keeping the door open for reconciliation.  Here is a prayer to try.  “Lord, this offended me, and it is hard to let go.  I turn this over to you and trust you with whatever happens.  Let me do only what you want me to do.  Let me say only what you want me to say.”

Verse 14 then states, “Beyond all these things…”  Some versions say “Above all these things…”  Since Paul has been using the language of clothing, it may be better to translate this as “On top of all these things…”  This final thing is like the outer cloak that everyone would recognize as your cloak.  It is the signature touch to getting dressed in the Character of Christ.  We are to put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

Thinking of love as if it were clothing may seem strange.  However, it makes sense.  Love is something that is not generally welling up from within our soul.  It is often the conviction of the Holy Spirit pointing us to this thing called love that challenges us to pick it up and clothe ourselves with it.

Although love will help people to have a bond of unity, this most likely refers to love as the virtue that ties all of these character traits together into a bond of perfection, or a unity of full maturity.  If we only contemplated these character traits as individual items on a list, they may be twisted beyond the point.  It is love that teaches us when gentleness must give way to a firmness and perhaps to a harsh word.  All of these things should be seen as facets of love which ties them all together into a perfect man, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Love is being committed to the good and well-being of another as God defines it.  Jesus said it best.  “Love one another as I have loved you!”

How did Jesus love us?  He did it with his whole heart, even when it hurt, sacrificially, undeniably, outwardly, etc., etc., etc.  He is calling us to love one another this way.

Some further exhortations (15-17)

In verse 15, Paul gives them an imperative. However, it is an imperative about letting something happen to you that God will do, if you yield.  You are the question here, not God.

We are told to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  The word for “rule” here has the idea of an umpire.  In other words, let the peace of Christ have such a position in your heart and mind that it is calling the shots and grading our attempts.

The Colossians were dealing with some men who were coming into their church and making judgments about how they were serving Christ and what they believed.  Some disconcerted Colossians were listening to these men and following their judgments.  Yet, Paul knew that these men were leading them into the philosophies of men and the legalism of religionists.

This admonition to let the peace of Christ call the shots in your life would be a protection against those who would try to trouble our hearts about whether we were acceptable to God or following Him correctly.

The peace of Christ can be seen in different ways.  First, it is the peace that Jesus creates between us and God the Father.  In Jesus, we can know that God the Father does not see us as an enemy.  He sees you as His child.  This knowledge can be a protection when others try to scare you about how God sees you.

However, the peace of Christ can also be seen as something that is an internal experience.  Just as Jesus stood up in the boat and cried, “Peace!  Be still!,” so we have many times when we need the Spirit of Christ to silence the internal troubled waters.  This comes as we spend time in prayer, seeking His wisdom and direction.

Finally, the peace of Christ can also be the external experience that believers have between one another. In the context of this passage, all of these have their place.  They work in a three part combination.  My relationship with God the Father leads to an inner experience, which can then lead to working for the external peace between brothers and sisters.  We have been called to this peace of Christ in one body (vs 15) by One Lord and One Spirit!

This is the work that the Spirit of God will do and is even now doing in our fellowship with one another.  However, you, I, need to cooperate with this purpose of His.

He qualifies this activity with the phrase, “and be thankful.”  This is the first of three times that he reminds the Colossians (us) to do these things while also being thankful.  Have you ever done something you were supposed to do, but with the wrong heart, perhaps begrudgingly?  Yes, we need to work for peace between us, but we need to do so without complaining to God about others.  Yes, this is hard, but God is in it.  Trust Him!  Give thanks that you are not doing this by yourself.  You are partnering with One who is greater than anything you may face!  Give thanks!

The second thing that we need to let happen is that we need to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly.  The Word of Christ is firstly the Scriptures.  Not just the words that are in red, but the whole thing.  All Scripture is God-breathed, and the spirit of prophecy is Jesus.  Read it and bring it into your heart and mind.  Take ownership of this need to have God’s Word dwelling in you.  Yes, churches and pastors are handy, but take time to go further.  Ask God for a love of His Word.  The idea of the Word dwelling richly in our hearts has to do with the fruitfulness of the Word of God.  It is a seed that is intended to grow the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  Take time to prepare the soil of your heart.  Till up the hard parts, roll out the big rocks, and spend some time weeding in your heart so that God’s Word may be fruitful in your life.  This is its normative effect.  This is why we do not read the word as a mere exercise in quantity.  Rather, we spend time praying about what we read and meditating on it.  We spend time fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit over what the Word is saying to us.

Paul adds to do this with all wisdom.  This does not mean our wisdom, but the wisdom of Christ.  This too is a part of our prayers and meditations.  They had received wisdom about the Scriptures from Christ and his apostles.  When others come along later and try to trouble the waters, wisdom would say to be careful.  You already have everything you need in Christ.  Turn back to Him instead of looking to a man on this earth.

He continues telling them to be teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.  Of course, we can teach and admonish without singing, but there is something about singing that takes God’s Word to the next level.  In some ways, it is a spiritual warfare that pushes out the enemy.  It is easy to say words that you don’t believe, but it is much harder to sing them.  In fact, a person may begin singing half-heartedly, but songs have a way of lifting us and calling us to a higher place of worship. 

Yet, notice the second occurrence of thankfulness.  “Singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  In the midst of heavy brothers, offenses, and forgiveness, in the midst of attempts to take off cruddy clothing and to put on the attire of Christ, we can sing with thankfulness and gusto because we are doing it for Christ!  He ain’t heavy; He’s my brother!  How can a heart sing this, say this, without first coming to grips with the Lord who has carried us all and made us to be brothers to Himself?  Even in the midst of stony hearts and hurtful actions, we can be thankful that the God is working out His salvation in us and through us!

Singing to Christ about the glories of who He is, what He has done, and how we are called to be like Him, can drive the devil out of a situation and put our hearts in the right way.

Verse 17 then becomes a summation to this section.  “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”  Everything I do or say should be done in the name of Jesus.

What does that mean?  “In the name” speaks to doing these things in His place.  You are to be Him in the lives of others.  Your goal should be to let Jesus do through you what He would do if He were there.  It also has the idea of doing it in the reputation of Christ.  Everything we do can affect how people see Christ.  Of course, this can be intimidating because we are not perfect.  Still, I am representing Him and should not act in such a way to dishonor Him.  What do I do if I have acted selfishly and not as Christ would have me?  Be honest.  Confess your error and ask for forgiveness.  Point people to the truth of Christ rather than yourself.

Finally, “in the name” also speaks to doing these things in His purpose, as an ambassador, and as a service unto Him.  If we were more conscious of this in everything we said and did, we would be far more circumspect in our actions towards one another.

He then reminds us for the third time to be “giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”   How can we get a heart like this, a heart that does tough stuff with a thankful and cheerful heart?  We can only get it from Jesus, one day at a time, one dying to self at a time.  May God help us to truly believe that He can help to transform our hearts over time and lead us in living out the image of God that He so perfectly revealed and is even now inspiring within us.

New Identity 2 audio

The Letter to the Colossian Church- 5

Subtitle: Christ's Work through Paul

Colossians 2:1-5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, August 10, 2025.

Last week, Paul was describing how Christ was working among the Colossians.  He ended chapter one writing about how Christ was working through him to help them.  This passage continues that discussion.

Paul's struggle for them (v. 1-4)

In Colossians 1:29, Paul mentioned that he was “striving” on their behalf, but with the power of Christ working through him.  This word is used again in chapter 2 verse 1, but now as a noun.  Paul has been in a struggle for them that has the sense of intense labor.  This struggle is about establishing the believers of Colossae as complete in Christ (1:28 and 2:10).

It will be clear as we go through this letter that Paul is not just thinking about being completed in the resurrection.  He is thinking of the present reality of being complete in Christ.  We are complete in Christ right now because we have everything that we need for life and godliness in this life.  I don’t need to find a guy in Tibet who has great wisdom.  I don’t need to go to secretsoftheearth.com and pay 5 easy payments of $999.99.  We have all we need because of Jesus.  Every believer in Jesus needs to have this understanding as foundational in their life.

Yet, Paul is not just struggling for them.  He speaks of “those who are at Laodicea,” a town that was roughly 10 miles away, and “all those who have not personally seen my face.”  Paul went to many cities and personally started many churches, but the work of Christ was bigger than him.  The churches he started spread the Gospel and started churches throughout their regions.  Also, this was a very mobile time in the Roman Empire, so it was common for Christians to travel due to business. 

So, why does Paul care about these Christians that he has never met personally?  It is because of the ministry that Jesus had given to him (1:23).  He was tasked with proclaiming the hope of the Gospel among the Gentiles (1:23, 27).  He cares because Jesus cares.  Christ is the source of this care, this struggle, to help them have everything they need.

Have you ever thought that there might be someone doing spiritual battle on your behalf that you have never seen?  Perhaps you would be surprised to hear prayers prayed by your ancestors for their offspring.  Jesus himself even prayed for those who would one day believe because of the words of those he sent (John 17:20).

Don’t look at the lives of others and complain that you don’t have what you need.  Instead, look to the heart of Jesus for you and trust that He is supplying all that you need.

Paul’s overall purpose is to establish them as complete in Christ, but verse 2 gives us an immediate goal: he wants to encourage their hearts.  The word for encouragement here is a verbal form of the word used for the Holy Spirit as our Helper.  It has the sense of strengthening in the various ways that we may need, whether strengthened in mind, heart, or deed.

The Colossian believers are facing threats that could discourage them from following Jesus.  That may be through false information about Jesus, or through promising things that are false.  We will see more about this as we go forward.

Just as he speaks of them as part of a larger group (those who have not personally seen my face), so he reminds them that their encouragement is not just an individual thing.  Their hearts are being “knit together in love.”  How is this happening?  It is the work of the Holy Spirit as we go through life.  He is working to tie our separate hearts into a unity of purpose that is centered on Christ alone.

When we cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in knitting our hearts together in love, we are enabled to receive something that God has for us.  It can be thought of as a target or as a place into which we can come:  “to reach all the riches of the full assurance of understanding.”

The Greek grammar requires extra words to bring the sense into English.  Some versions show this by putting these extra words in italics.  The grammar points to the riches of the full assurance of understanding as a target or end result of being knit together in love.  Thus, some versions will add the word “attaining” and others “to reach.”

This phrase is similar to the riches, or wealth, talked about in 1:27.  These are spiritual riches that come from our understanding of Christ, which full assurance is a part.  When we have the proper understanding about God’s will and the Anointed One He has sent, we will then have a full assurance.  Again, notice Paul’s emphasis on the fullness we can currently have in Christ.

This phrase is somewhat general, even vague, on its own.  The next phrase will make it clearer.  Yet, it is important to recognize the role of having full assurance and full understanding of what God is doing.  If you think you are lacking something, then you will be susceptible to the charlatans who come along offering something “more.”  It is similar to the idea of shopping while you are hungry.  It isn’t wise.

It doesn’t take a long time for a believer to have full assurance of understanding.  This is not about understanding every aspect to God’s Word and reaching a certain level of training.  We need to be careful what we hunger for.

I believe the next phrase is simply restating the prior in a specific way: “to reach the knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ.”  The mystery of God regarding Messiah is no longer a mystery.  Generations prior to Jesus did not fully understand what God would do through Messiah.  In Jesus, we have received that full understanding.  The mystery is revealed and the curtain is pulled back.  We ought to daily praise God for this revelation.  The Apostles were faithful to record what Jesus did and revealed to them about his purpose.

Just in case a person is missing Paul’s point, verse three drives the point home.  In Jesus, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.  This continued use of words like “fullness” and “all” is connecting us back to Christ and the Gospel about him.

We can grow tired of the “Jesus solution” that has been given to us from God.  A “new and improved Jesus” might be more alluring.  We might even have a hunger for a better solution.  Believe me, the devil is working overtime to put such solutions in front of you.  Beware!  No true knowledge can come from any source, but Jesus.  All we need has been written down for us.  We also have the same Spirit that moved upon Paul to write these words working in our hearts to receive it by faith and walk it out.

Thus, Paul says in verse four that he doesn’t want anyone to delude them through persuasive arguments.  This may come across as a general concern, but we are going to see in this chapter that Paul is aware that this is already happening in Colossae, Laodicea, and elsewhere.  People were traveling around, claiming to have something better, or a better understanding of the Gospel of Christ.

We see this still today.  These people are far more accessible due to the internet.  They can sound persuasive until someone like Paul begins to point out all the errors in their reasoning, which he will do in short order.

Paul’s joy (v. 5)

Though Paul is concerned that someone may delude them with persuasive arguments, there are things for which he is joyful.

He has not been there in person.  However, he has been in spirit.  He thinks about them, pray for them, meditates on what to say or to write to them.  Like a parent with a kid who has gone off to college, so we can carry the spiritual burden for others.  This spiritual concern has led to Paul having great concern for them, and yet also, great joy.

He rejoices in their orderliness.  Part of loving one another is doing things in a way that allows peace to reign among us.  God creates things, but then puts them in an orderly relationship with His creation.  These relationships among created things began as “very good!”  Believers are to let this new creative work of the Spirit bring an order to the chaos of the previous life of sin.

Our attitude and actions with one another should not be in ways that try to disturb or upset one another.  Their “love” for one another is not by their definition, but by Christs.  This kind of love will display itself in an orderly way.

Of course, a person can complain when they are corrected that a teacher is “disturbing” them and being disorderly.  This kind of special pleading is not being serious.  There are orderly ways to correct someone.  Of course, it will feel disruptive to them and because they are following their flesh and not the Word of God or the Spirit of God.  So, we are not talking about an orderliness that is defined by each one of us, trying to find a lowest common denominator.  Christ commands us to love one another in the way that he loved us.  He loved us enough to tell us the truth about our true condition and the only means of salvation.  He called us to repent.

We see this orderliness also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14, where Paul describes the operation of spiritual gifts.  “All things must be done properly and in an orderly manner” (14:40).  Also, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (14:33).  Some try to rule out many spiritual gifts as being disorderly.  However, they often have a view that treats some of the spiritual gifts as “no longer in service.”  In their minds, they no longer exist and are out of order in any exercise of them.  This again is a special pleading that says more than the Scriptures do about spiritual gifts.

Paul also rejoices in the steadfastness of their faith in Christ.  This may be because many of them have not been deluded (v. 4), at least not yet.  Just as God is steadfast in His love towards us by sending Jesus while we were yet sinners, it is good for us to display faithfulness to one another and towards Christ.  We are following His lead.  A faith that remains strong, even when buffeted by  ill winds and false teachings, is something that should lead us to rejoice.

These are the things we need to do in following Christ and bringing joy to those whom Christ has given the ministry of encouraging our hearts.

Christ through Paul audio