Feeding the Sheep - Blessed Life 5
1 Peter 3:9
[This is the 35th message of this series]
This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet.
1 Peter
[This will be the 5th of a series within a series]
Living the Blessed Life
Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to not repay evil with evil.
We have an old saying "two wrongs don't make a right". This is true. What good will it do if we repay someone who wronged us by doing something wrong back at them? If anything, this will make us worse than them.
Intent
Remember some people may have only done us bad, unintentionally, not meaning to, by accident or even because of things beyond their control. When we repay them with evil, we are the one with no excuse because we did them harm intentionally.
We are not to be judge, jury and executioner.
Remember some people may have only done us bad, unintentionally, not meaning to, by accident or even because of things beyond their control. When we repay them with evil, we are the one with no excuse because we did them harm intentionally.
We are not to be judge, jury and executioner.
Love
The blessed life is started and founded in love -- love for people who make mistakes, love for people who fall short of the glory of God, and love for every single one of us.
How can payback be a fruit of this blessed life?
God loves us all. How could we repay anyone who God's loves with evil? If anything we ought to extend the same courtesy we received. We ought to love who God loves. And we hate what God hates. As the old saying goes, we hate the sin but not the one who sins.
God won us over by showing us kindness, kindness when we didn't deserve it. By the same token, we too will win others by showing them kindness.
One Way
This is the way. And this is what living the blessed life is all about, as we have previously talked about, being rich in the important things and being poor in the unimportant.
The heavens rejoice over one sinner won over to Christ. Heaven too rejoices when one
lives out a life which leads sinners to know Christ, and leads them to give their life over to Christ
This is the blessed life. More on this on the next lesson of this series.
The blessed life is started and founded in love -- love for people who make mistakes, love for people who fall short of the glory of God, and love for every single one of us.
How can payback be a fruit of this blessed life?
God loves us all. How could we repay anyone who God's loves with evil? If anything we ought to extend the same courtesy we received. We ought to love who God loves. And we hate what God hates. As the old saying goes, we hate the sin but not the one who sins.
God won us over by showing us kindness, kindness when we didn't deserve it. By the same token, we too will win others by showing them kindness.
One Way
This is the way. And this is what living the blessed life is all about, as we have previously talked about, being rich in the important things and being poor in the unimportant.
The heavens rejoice over one sinner won over to Christ. Heaven too rejoices when one
lives out a life which leads sinners to know Christ, and leads them to give their life over to Christ
This is the blessed life. More on this on the next lesson of this series.
Romans 12:19
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
Image Credit: godlovesprofit.com
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