First Peter chapter five, the last verse. Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with all that are in Christ Jesus, amen. What was the first thing you did when you came into the service this morning? I suppose that's a moot question since there are so few of us here today. But generally speaking, what's the first thing you do when you come in? Unless you come in after the service starts and then you just come in and sit down. But isn't it common that we shake hands with one another? Maybe the first thing that we do is we smile and then we stick out our right hand and we have a few handshakes. Use your right hand, not your left hand. Unless you're Steve Kilgaard and you're trying to just be silly, you'll stick out the left hand from time to time. You may have modified your handshake depending on the person that you were facing. In some cases, it's a light handshake. Very little squeeze to the hand. On other occasions or for other people, it's with a firm hand and Brother Berg particularly likes to pump really hard. That's just the way he does it. That's all right. And for others, in other cases, you might shake hands with the right hand and even put your left hand over the top to signify a closer fellowship between the two. But are you aware that there are other greetings in other societies? In Japan, Barbara might know about this. In Japan, a bow is common, the common way of greeting. And in Zimbabwe, there might be the clapping of hands as an agreement, or a greeting, I should say. In Malaya, to put your hand over your heart, in meeting someone is a sign of greeting. And in Thailand, it's to put your arms close to your chest and put your hands together, something like this. In some places, a kiss on the cheek is common. And in some of those some places, two kisses, one on each side of the face. I wonder if there is protocol in regard to which side you start on. Is it the right side or the left side? Does it depend if you're righty or lefty? I don't know. In many places, that kiss on the cheek has become an air kiss. So there's actually no contact between the person's lips and the beard, but there's a rubbing of cheeks sometimes, maybe not. In some cases, there is the rubbing of noses or the bumping of noses. In some societies, there's the bumping of foreheads. Not too hard, I hope, but that's just the way people greet people in some places. In 9th century Tibet, a king named Lang Dharma who was known to have a black tongue, maybe from the things that he was eating, or maybe from disease. This man was a cruel king, not very welcomed among his people, but he was the boss, he was in charge, and then he died. The monks in Tibet, believing in reincarnation, began greeting each other by sticking out their tongues to show that they were not the reincarnation of that wicked king. And from what I understand, it is still acceptable in Tibet to greet someone by sticking out your tongue. Try that in this country. It's not going to go over very well. We have different ways of greeting. In the world, there are a number of different customs and many more besides those that I have just mentioned, but we're Christians. And we are not obligated to follow the customs of the world in any regard. We're supposed to do things the Lord's way. And Peter tells us that the Lord's way is to greet one another with a kiss of charity. So why don't we kiss one another? I have never seen anyone in this church, other than close relatives, greet another person with a kiss. And yet here we have it in the word of God. There was not one holy kiss exchanged this morning, nor last week, or the week before. Well, there was last week because my daughter and granddaughter were Let's table that for a few minutes. Why don't we kiss one another and just consider what Peter is saying here. Greet one another with a kiss of charity. Is it that we do not kiss because some Greek expert has come along at some point in time and told us that a kiss or this kiss is not really a kiss as we think of it. That is not the reason why we don't kiss. Because the word kiss means exactly what you think it means. It's referring to a kiss of some sort. Granted, there is a difference between kissing on the lips, kissing the back of someone's hand, or kissing their cheek. But still, the meaning of the Greek word is exactly what you think it is. It involves the lips of the kisser. Sometimes they call this the kisser. There isn't one Greek word for kiss of the hand and another Greek word for the kiss on the lips. There's not one Greek word for a kiss between friends and a kiss between spouse, spice, spouses. It's all one word and we know exactly what it means. Well then, do the words of charity. Greet one another with a kiss of charity. Does that change the nature of the kiss? Well, in a sense, it does. Of course, the word charity is agape and it is often translated love. Peter essentially says greet one another with a kiss of love. But obviously that is not referring to a passionate kiss, a fleshly, sensual, sexual kiss. He's referring to greeting one another as brethren with that special love that exists in Christ Jesus. Paul also speaks of greeting one another with a kiss. But he always, and I emphasize that, Paul always identified that kiss with the word holy. Paul never referred to greeting one another with a kiss without using the word holy. Romans 16, 16. Salute one another with a holy kiss. The churches in Christ salute you. 1 Corinthians 16, 20. 2 Corinthians 13, 12. 1 Thessalonians 5, 26. Greet ye one another with a holy kiss. The word holy takes away any thought about sensuality. It refers to something separated from the world. It is holy. It is separated unto the Lord. It is a godly kiss. It is a kiss intended to be a blessing to the other person, not to the person who is offering the kiss. And as we shall see in a minute, it is designed to be uplifting. encouraging. There is a ministry in the Holy Kiss. In nearly all my research, comments were made that it was the man who greeted other men with the Holy Kiss. Those articles in encyclopedia and lexicons and commentaries said that in greeting one another, women kissed only women and men kissed only men and that would certainly limit the sensuality aspect of the kiss. But I have to admit that while that might be true, I can't find any evidence of that in the Bible. There's no proof that it was limited men to men, women to women. Yes, we see Naomi kissing her daughter's in-law. and Joseph kissed his brethren after he revealed himself to them down there in Egypt. And there are at least a dozen other Old Testament examples of men kissing men. But we also see Jacob kissing Rachel the first time that they met. It wasn't necessarily a passionate kiss or a fleshly kiss. It was an expression of the abounding joy in Jacob's heart that the Lord had led him to the woman that was going to be his wife. His kissing of Rachel was more like his kissing of the Lord himself, thanking the Lord for his leadership, protecting him on this long journey and delivering him right to the house of his relatives and to this woman that he was going to marry. Moving on, Was Peter implying anything particularly special with the word greet? Greet ye one another with a holy kiss. I refer to how we greeted each other when we came into the auditorium this morning. There is quite often some handshaking. There was some handshaking. Now think back to the last time that we were here. For some of you, it was Wednesday. For some of us, it was last Sunday. When it was time to go to our respective homes after the church service in the evening, after the church service in the morning, how many of us shook hands a second time? We came into the service, we shook hands. It's time to go home, do we shake hands again? That doesn't usually happen in a Baptist church. It happens in the business world. It's pretty frequent in the business world. When you're speaking with your financial advisor, for example, after the meeting, he and I shook hands and we went our separate ways. But notice where Peter puts this exhortation. It is at the end of his epistle. And the fact is, every New Testament reference to this kiss of love is toward the end of an apostolic epistle. It's never at the beginning. That's because of the nature of the Greek word aspadzomahi, greed. The word greed is most often translated salute. And it's used in the preceding verse, 13, where it's translated salute. The church that is at Babylon elect together with you, saluteth you. It's the same word as greet in verse number 14. My online Bible study program defines the word by saying, to greet is to draw to oneself, to salute one, greet, bid welcome, bid welcome, wish well to, receive joyfully to welcome. So the word and the kiss can be used to say farewell or hello. It's similar to aloha in the Hawaiian language can be used either way and is used either way. In Luke chapter 1 verse number 40, which we looked at last week, pregnant Mary visited pregnant Elizabeth and as she entered the house, she saluted her cousin. She greeted her in entering the house. And as Paul was on his last journey to Jerusalem, his ship stopped at the city of Tyre where he spent seven days in fellowship with the brethren and quote, when we had taken our leave from one another, we took ship and they returned home again. That then we took our leave is that same Greek word. greeted one another by saying goodbye. So as I say, the word refers to either bidding farewell or welcome. Now let me add one little wrinkle. When Paul was in Ephesus on one of his visits, the whole city was in confusion. They were in riot. They were ready to kill the Christians. They were ready to tear Paul apart. He could have been killed in all of the melee, but the Lord spared him. And then in Acts chapter 20, verse number one, we read, after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them and departed for to go into Macedonia. The word embrace in Acts chapter 20 and verse number 1 is this same Asbad Zomahi accurately expressing Strong's definition of the word. To enfold in the arms, to salute, to welcome, to embrace, to greet, salute, and to take leave. In other words, The greet could also include another way in which some Westerners greet each other with a hug. It includes a hug. Each time that I see my daughter and my granddaughter, we hug. And since we're already so close, we kiss. It's just natural. I see the two things going hand in hand. arms and lips, so to speak, the hug and the kiss. But I only do that with my closest relatives. What am I trying to say thus far? It is that you probably understand what Peter is saying here. There is nothing surprising here. There are no hidden meanings other than perhaps that hug. But then I need to ask, Why was it necessary to exhort these people to greet one another in this way? In order to answer that question, we need to remind ourselves of the cultural situation of the day. It is similar to ours, but again, different. In the membership of our church, we have a variety of people. We have some adults that have a high degree of education and we have others with not so much. And then we also have children who are still in school and we don't know how much education they are going to get. We have business owners. We have people who have employed others and there are other people who have worked for employers all of their lives. We have Americans. We have a Canadian. Most of us are of European descent, but we rejoice to see our Native American brethren. And when others from other races come in, particularly when we know who they are, there's joy there. There's acceptance of these people. America has been called a melting pot of racial and cultural people, and we have gotten used to that. but there still exists a wretched, sinful, bias, and prejudice, racial, and cultural, and prejudice even based on physical appearances that disturb our society. But the differences in races and cultures, economic strata, and personal freedoms was far more polarizing in Peter's day than it is in ours, despite the fact that it's still here. Christianity was in the process of breaking down those barriers and those differences, but it was still in its infancy. In other words, there may have been an underlying reluctance within some congregations to fully embrace one another. Those churches, like today's, had their cliques for whatever reason. They had their cliques and some people rarely violated the clique that they were in. For dozens of reasons, there may have been a hesitancy to embrace or kiss some of the saints. Were there any homeless saints there? Any diseased people? I mean, not with colds, but long-term diseases. Any unclean, any unkempt saints in the congregations? Some of the brethren may have refused to kiss other brethren for any number of reasons. And thus, throughout the apostolic epistles, Paul, Peter, others keep saying, greet one another with a holy kiss. You do it. This is our exhortation. It is important. Peter was telling the Philemons of Galatia, and I hope that's not too far over your head. Peter was telling the Philemons of Galatia to kiss the Onesimuses who were there. The slave owners were to greet their slaves who were in Christ Jesus. He was reminding the Jews among them that the Romans and the heathen believers were now their brethren. Greet each other as equals in Christ. Some of those people in Bithynia had formerly been called barbarians. and now they're children of God and fellow church members. Greet those barbarians as believers in Christ. Paul wrote to the Colossians, since ye have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him, there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision or uncircumcision. Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. With your greeting, you're telling your personal servant that you are delighted that he has put faith in Christ just as you have done. You are telling your employees that you are no more a child of God than he is. You former Pharisees are reminding that illiterate former idol worshiper that you are now one in Christ. Mr. Roman soldier, you may be a spiritual babe in the family of God, but even the most mature among us love you and accept you. Greet ye one another with a holy kiss. Make sure that no one is excluded, no matter what other superficial differences there are between you. and make sure that your greeting is real, genuine. I use this only as an illustration, but in 2 Samuel 20, we have the description of one man's kiss of another. And Joab said to Amasa, aren't thou in health, my brother? Smile on his face. And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. And Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's left hand. So he smote him in the fifth rib and shed out his bowels to the ground. If I can put it this way, there is a vulnerability that is involved in properly greeting someone, some other person. We have to get off our high horse in order to properly shake hands. We have to get close to one another. And we put ourselves at risk to catch the virus that is in that other person's hand or on his lips, not to mention the sword that he might have in the other hand. The Lord Jesus knew full well that when Judas came up to kiss him, that it was betrayal carried in that greeting. When Philemon kissed his former runaway slave as a brother in Christ, he was admitting that they had become equals in the sight of God. and Paul had to write a short letter reminding Philemon of that current situation. Philemon had to jeopardize his employer rights, shall we say. The kiss of charity was an act of humility and acceptance which probably was really important in that society. Furthermore, there was not a saint of the Lord who was not in need of some encouragement. Persecution came from many directions. Many of the saints had become destitute because now they were believers in Christ. They needed constant uplifting. They needed support. They needed pumping up, if you like. And there still isn't anyone who doesn't need a virtual hug now and then. Not just now and then, Every time we meet, the exhortation, a needy exhortation is, greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. But admittedly, we don't use that form of greeting. We don't kiss one another. How can we justify our disobedience to this exhortation? As lame as it sounds, I know that it is, I think that kiss was a cultural expression for which we have an equivalent greeting today. Our handshake in this country is exactly the same thing as clapping hands in greeting someone in Zimbabwe. or putting our hands over our hearts in Malaya. Our handshake can be as sincere or as insincere as the kisses were in Peter's day or Joab's day. In this case, Again, I know it sounds pathetically weak, but our method of greeting is not really any different from the holy kiss of charity. In this case, the intention is the important thing, not the physical act. I know that's a dangerous statement to say and we have to guard its use when we're talking about its application in other areas. But sometimes the letter of the law can be altered while maintaining the spirit of that law. And this is one of those cases. Let me use an example. Let's say that the Apostle Peter came to our church service this morning. Let us even say that he was the first one here. I'd give him a key, and he was in when Judy and I arrived. There he was at the top of the stairs, and as I came up the stairs, he was there to greet me. He has come to publicly read 1 Peter chapter, 1 Peter, his first epistle. He came to read that to us. And he has the mind of God. He knows our weaknesses, our foibles. He knows our sins. And he reads all the way through this letter and he'll get down, he knows full well that he's going to say, greet one another with a kiss of charity. He knows whether or not we are consistent in obeying. And he has the authority to correct us. He is the apostle. And then I came up the stairs. Standing in the doorway, I find the Apostle Peter. And as you may know, I've had a cold all week. And I don't want Peter or anyone else to blame me if they come down with the symptoms of a cold next week. So I didn't proffer my hand to you. In fact, in some cases, I kept my hands in my pockets just so I'd chain them up a little bit. I gave no one a hug. I gave no one a kiss because I don't want to put anyone in danger of this virus. You don't have the sturdy constitution that I have to throw this thing off in five days. Working on it anyway. Do you think the apostle Peter would rebuke me for not shaking his hand under these circumstances? Don't the circumstances change the exhortation somewhat? I'm trying to point out that this kiss is something which is open to use within a particular cultural environment. Shaking each other's hands should be just as sincere a greeting as a kiss on the cheek. And in fact, by not shaking hands, I was expressing my love for you because I don't want you to have this particular virus. And the same would be true if we were in the habit of kissing each other. But kissing is not our custom. It's not our habit in this country. We mean exactly the same thing with our handshake that was meant in the New Testament with a kiss. And even if we don't greet one another with a holy handshake, if the proper intent is present, I don't think Peter or Paul or the Lord Jesus would rebuke me for not shaking your hand this morning. I have no problem telling you to greet each other with a hearty handshake. I will exhort you to do so. And ordinarily, I'll give you an example of doing that myself. I don't believe we have in any way disobeyed the precept Peter is laying down here by shaking hands rather than kissing one another. Does that make sense?