Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Love | New Testament | 1 Peter 4

Episode Date: February 21, 2023

Is it harder to show love to people you don't know well or people you know very well? In today's episode, Tanya shares from 1 Peter 4 to discuss how to love others the way that God loves you. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Peter 4

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. What do you all think about love? Is it harder to show love to people you don't know well? Or is it harder to show love to your closest people? I can remember when my sister came to visit me at college and met my new friends. I think she was surprised when she saw how much we enjoyed each other.

Or at least she was surprised that the... were enjoying me. Was I not taking their favorite sweatshirt out of the dryer before it was done so I could wear it? Was I not always leaving my wallet at home and asking them to buy my Taco Bell without paying them back? Was I not pointing out their faults over dinner? Of course, I wasn't doing any of those things because I was trying. I was trying to make friends in a new place. I was trying to navigate a giant university. I didn't have to have to be a lot of them. I didn't have the freedom to go back to my room and be a lousy person because there was always someone in my room that wasn't by blood required to forgive me. Today we're in the book of First Peter, and I love to

read Peter's writing because he knew what it was like to experience real love with someone who knew him well. You see, when Peter was trying to learn from and follow Jesus, he did a lot of things that were selfish. But Jesus went out of his way to show Peter how much he was loved. And Jesus' love for Peter was a constant, despite the people that didn't like them or agree with them. And despite how unlovely Peter could be at times. In the book of First Peter, we have a letter Peter was writing to people who were living under exile. They were God's people, but they were living under Roman rule. And this was making their daily lives challenging.

They were constantly having to navigate living in a Roman kingdom which required submission to Roman authority and living as citizens in God's kingdom and believing God's promises. First Peter is a letter of practical instruction. It was written to encourage them in these difficult circumstances. Peter calls them Beloved. And today we're going to look at what he tells them about how to live with one another as beloved's, a collective group of God's people. Chapter 4. Peter says, above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you've received to serve others. Now, on one hand, he's telling them how to live in the context of being strangers and aliens in the land.

And on the other hand, he's telling them how to live with one another as they navigate those challenges. I think all of us have challenging circumstances to navigate. Maybe it's at work, maybe it's at school. But there are people in places that make it harder to live as God's people and harder to follow God's ways. So maybe we go out and we navigate these challenges and we ask God to strengthen us and help us. But then we might come back to our families or our close friends and treat them differently. Maybe we don't have the patience. to let them get by with the same things the world gets by with.

Maybe we hold them to a different standard. Maybe we even give them a version of ourselves that is less than lovely. If we're honest, it can be easier to forgive people we don't know well while holding grudges against people in our church or in our small group because we think they should know better. And maybe that's why Peter says, above all, love deeply, for love covers a moment. multitude of sins. It sounds a lot like the words of Proverbs 10, 12. Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers all wrongs. I think we can assume Peter was talking about how believers should

love each other, because the context for covering love comes from Jesus. God's love covers over our sins, which gives the motive for us to love one another. So how do we do that practically? Well, from 1st Peter chapter four, we're going to talk about three Cs that will help apply these verses. The first one, continual grace, second, commitment, and third, care. Let's start with continual grace, because this is the most counterintuitive way to love. I mean, the more someone irritates or disappoints us, the more we should harbor negative emotions that keep us safe and separate, right? Well, that doesn't match Jesus' teaching.

in Matthew 614 that true love overlooks a neighbor's fault. And it doesn't match Paul's teaching in 1st Corinthians 13 that love keeps no record of wrongs. But we live in a world where everyone is looking for faults, not overlooking them. And it's like the purple car syndrome. You may think to yourself, there really aren't that many purple cars on the road these days. But if you start looking for them, you'll be surprised how many purple cars there are. So it is with faults. When we start looking for them and our brothers and sisters, we will definitely find them. Not doing this is not only a way to show the world what God is like, but it's also a way to show our brothers and sisters in Christ what our good father is like.

It looks like believing people can change in the power of God's mercy and grace. Just because your sister cheated it sorry when she was 11. doesn't mean she's going to be a cheater when she's 30. Just because that person gossiped about you or hurt your feelings before doesn't mean you still need to harbor resentment today. Continual grace looks like listening with an open mind and being quick to repent. It looks like listening to what people are saying even when we don't like the delivery. It isn't looking around and comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we come out ahead,

because whatever we're doing isn't as bad as what they're doing. It does involve looking to God to be our standard for living and being humble and willing to admit our faults and grow up in him. Now another way we can love each other deeply is through commitment. We can show God's love when we've resolved to commit ourselves to people in their ups and downs. Standing with someone when they're being difficult is hard. standing up for someone when their opinions or their actions are unpopular is super hard. We need to pray and ask God to help us love people at all stages, of all ages, so we can

cultivate this kind of commitment in our homes and in our churches to stand with one another. Christian love provides a place for people to learn about themselves and to learn about God. It provides a shelter for all of us to grow up to be more like Jesus. Committed love also provides the protection our brothers and sisters need to live like Jesus out in the world and to use their positions and their voices for good. Overall, commitment provides a place for our friends to come for shelter and encouragement and prayer. In a world that cancels us for saying or not saying something, we can show God's love through persistent commitment to one another. And the last see is care. caring for one another practically.

Now Paul pulls on this thread when he says, offer hospitality to one another without grumbling, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others. When we do something generous for others without expecting anything in return, it covers over a multitude of wounds. The person that we're serving becomes someone who's been impacted by generosity. And we become people who want to do more of what is generous.

The trials and suffering that people experience are softened and mended when they're cared for in practical ways. This could look like food, phone calls, walks, people living in your house, picking up kids from school, meals, just an overall open heart that gives regardless. That gives friendship when the other friend is busy and can't return the text as quickly. That gives hospitality when it's not fancy and plain. that gives time when time is the most precious gift. So who could you offer continual grace and forgive for a past wound?

Who can you commit to love and stand up for whether they're popular or not? Who needs your care right now to get through something hard? Did you notice the C word that was missing? Yeah, that's right. complaining. Even though we do it a lot, it's never something the Bible shows as a way to live a life of love in God's kingdom. When we complain to one another, it does something to our hearts to harden them against others. It may feel good at the moment, but it's like eating greasy french fries for our hearts. But this doesn't mean we suffer in silence or just let people walk over us.

In the book of Psalms, we see David bring his frustrations before the Lord and wait for the Lord to create a more beautiful desire in his heart, a desire to believe God is good, a desire to trust God to care for him, a desire to rest in God's timing. We can learn from David in the Psalms how to bring our frustrations directly to the feet of Jesus. He shows us how to do this

because he does care deeply about the way we feel. He also wants us to look to him as our source of love. So friends, we have an incredible opportunity in front of us. We live in a time where the temptation is to exploit wrong instead of covering it with love. But we can build a more beautiful vision showing and reflecting God's love. Believing the kingdom has come with Jesus while we encourage one another and love one another, waiting for him to restore all things together. Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter.

Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday. that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.