We're seeing in our world a lot of unrest. And I think that we all know this. There's a lot of fighting going on. In one area in particular is that against the Jews. We've seen demonstrations on college campuses. We've seen protests in parades, in tree lighting, school teachers going and locking themselves in the room for fear of the students. We see people being fired because of what they posted in agreement with what's going on with Israel. And then we see that the Department of Veterans Affairs attorney is being investigated for something that was posted, a video that was posted. This uprising is not because of a group of people did something wrong to others. It's because they're Jews. Because they're Jews. Surely, there is a lack of love in our world today. There's a lack of love. If there was ever a time, the words of the 1960s song, what the world needs now is love, sweet love. It is now. It is now. I dare say that even among believers, there's fighting and quarrels. And that's not unusual. because James speaks of this. James chapter four, verse one says, what is the source of your quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and you do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You do not ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your own pleasures. Note the problem with the fighting quarrels isn't the lack of anything. It is selfishness. It is selfishness. They want to satisfy their own pleasures. And to do so, they fight and they quarrel. And this is true not only with unbelievers, but believers as well. Otherwise, James wouldn't be addressing the people who are believers. This is a heart issue. This is truly a heart issue. And loving does not come easy. It really doesn't. Many of you can attest to the fact that it is especially difficult with family members. You may have experienced during Thanksgiving time, during the dinner, that there was a little bit of tension. Not only can there be tension among blood relatives, there can be tension among the spiritual family as well. We live in a world of conflict and loving others is difficult at times. Opinions on the way the nation is going or the politics of one party or another can disrupt the love for one another. Peter addresses the issue of love in the first letter to the church members in modern day Turkey. The topic of love is not something new, So what is being said this afternoon is not going to be something new to you. My purpose this afternoon is the same as what Peter had when he says in his second letter, I'm stirring up your sincere mind a way of reminder. This is gonna be a time of remembering what God has told us concerning love. So, you're not gonna hear anything new. I'm sorry to say that this isn't gonna be any great revelation. So, let's proceed. The time that Peter writes his letters is during the time Nero was in power. And at first, Nero, he did well. He did well in governing. He was popular with the people at first. In his acceptance speech, he said, I am going to eliminate the ills of the previous regime. Sounds like a great politician, doesn't it? We've heard that before. He tickled the ears of the people. As time went on, power got to his head. He ended up killing his wife and he killed his mother, especially his mother because his mother was influencing him in the governing of the people. He wanted to govern the people without her. So what do you do? You eliminate. So that's what he did. Then there was the Great Fire in Rome in 64 AD. Think of the Chicago Fire in 1871. There were three square miles of Chicago that were burnt down. Well, the Roman Fire was even worse than that. Worse than that. Then some claim that Nero started the fire. And when these rumors went around, He started, Nero started to blame the Christians and killing them in unspeakable ways. Nice guy. Nice politician. It was either shortly before or after the fire in Rome that Peter wrote his letters to the churches. It was a time of upheaval in the Roman Empire, both politically and economically. They could have all sung the song, What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love, but it wasn't written back then. As stated, Peter's letters were written to believers. If you turn to 1 Peter, we'll spend some time in there, as well as some other passages. 1 Peter, chapter 1. First Peter chapter one, verse one says, to those who, oh, I may wanna just forewarn you, I'm working out of the legacy Bible, so it's gonna be a little bit different than the New American, but it's real close. Anyway, let me go on. To those who reside as exiles scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen, who are chosen. Then in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We see here Peter's letter is not written to unbelievers. It's written to believers, to the chosen, to those that were born again. That's who he's writing to. He goes on here in this first chapter talking about their salvation that they have. You know, we need those reminders of our salvation. We need to be reminded that God has chosen us and has caused us to be born again, verses 1 and 3. We see here also the sanctifying and setting apart action of the Holy Spirit in verse 2. God's Son's precious blood was the payment for our salvation, chapter 2. If you will note, all three of those verses we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit involved in our salvation. All three. Peter reminds them in chapter one, verses four and five, the inheritance that is reserved by God in heaven for them. For those going through persecution, he was encouraging them. Look at the inheritance. Look at what's coming ahead. It's good for us to be reminded of the inheritance that awaits us as well. One of the Christian virtues, he encourages these chosen ones, is to have love one for another. Maybe you may be thinking that during a time of persecution that these people would be loving one another because they're all in the same boat, they're being persecuted, and there's comfort with one another. But I dare say that he is exhorting them to love, and love is difficult. because of what it requires. What it requires. Let's look in chapter 1 of 1 Peter, verse It says, since you have, in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for love for the brethren without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart. So who is Peter addressing? Let's take a look again, who's Peter is addressing. Starting in verse 18, knowing that you were not redeemed or ransomed, with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct, inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as the blood unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. He, referring to Jesus, was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but appeared in these last days for sake of you, for the sake of you, who through him, Jesus, are believers in God, who raised him, Jesus, from the dead, and gave him, Jesus, glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Peter's talking to believers here, and we see that within the context of verse 22. where he exhorts them to love. These chosen ones have love for the brothers and sisters and describes that love as being sincere, without hypocrisy. This love that they have for one another is not fake. It's not a fake love. The word for love here is the love of Philadelphia or the brotherly love. They have brotherly love for one another. That is fantastic. They've got a brotherly love for one another. They love as family members with one another. It's a good family. They have a tender, fond, good memories towards one another. This relationship is based upon obedience in the truth. since you're brothers or sisters, you're not gonna let an outsider come in and beat up on you, your family. Now, I beat up on my brother, but he provoked it, okay? But if anybody dare touched him, I would touch them. Why? Because he was my brother. He was my brother. These believers have a fond affection for one another. This love has an element of feelings inherited with it. It's an affection for one another. Note that they have a sincere brotherly love or a love without hypocrisy. No falseness about it. It is genuine. It is genuine. So what does a false or insincere love look like? Well, you act like you love them, but you really don't care for them. And if you don't see them ever again, that's just fine with you. You speak nice words about them, but then you turn around and you talk bad about them to someone else. You do something nice for them with the thought, well, they owe me one. They owe me one. You say that you love them, but you make up excuses for not doing something for them when you have the ability to do so and you have the time to do it. This is not what these believers are practicing. They had a sincere, non-hypocritical love for one another, and Peter acknowledges that. These are the type of churches you would walk in and see hugging and talking, conversations, laughter. You'd feel welcomed at the first church at Pontius or Bithynia. You'd feel welcome. But Peter provokes them to go to the next level and demonstrate a fervent love. Fervent means earnestly or intense love. It is action. It comes from the verb meaning to stretch out, to stretch out. Peter is telling them to stretch out an earnest love to one another. Go the extra mile. There is an intentionality and a beeline focused in loving one another. loving one another. By the way, Peter's not referring to the brotherly love here, that they have demonstrated well towards one another. This type of love is a love of action, and it's a love of self-sacrifice. And it's a self-sacrifice for the other person's benefit. John 3.16 is a great verse for the definition of this agape love. For God, in this way, so loved the agape, the world, that he gave his only begotten son. That was a self-sacrifice. That whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life, our benefit. He sacrificed for our benefit. Parallel to this is Romans chapter 5, verses 8 through 9, but God demonstrated His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That was the sacrifice. That was the sacrifice He made. Much more, and then verse 9, much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. There's the benefit. We've been justified. We will not encounter the wrath of God. That is agape love. That is self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. That's what Peter is driving at here. He wants them to have a fervent, self-sacrificing love for the benefit of others. to remind us to whom Peter is exhorting them to stretch out this self-sacrificing love. Is it to unbelievers? No, he's not talking to unbelievers. He's talking to believers. We need to take this to heart, because he's speaking to us. He's speaking to us. Where does Peter say this love comes from? Look at the end of verse 22 there. He says, from the heart. From the heart. Where does the quarrels and the fighting come from? It comes from selfishness. Where does selfishness comes from? It comes from the heart. Peter is saying that we should love from the heart. We should love from the heart. This is a love that man cannot produce. We can't produce this love. Why? Because we are so self-serving. We are so selfish. We devote ourselves to our own well-being. Whatever is good for me, that's good, and you've got to serve me. This is a love that comes not from us, but from someone else. Hold your finger here in 1 Peter and turn to Philippians chapter two. Paul echoes this issue about selfishness. Philippians chapter two, verse one. says, therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there's any consolation of love, that's agape love. If there's any fellowship of the Spirit, if there's any affection and compassion, fulfill my joy that you may think the same way by maintaining the same love, that's agape love. being united in spirit, thinking on one purpose, doing nothing from selfish ambition or vainglory, but with humility of mind, regarding one another as more important than yourselves. That sounds like self-sacrifice. Not merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others. Do you look out for your own interests? Yeah, to a certain extent, but you're supposed to be looking out for the interests of others, not being selfish, not being self-centered. This love comes from only one person, and that is God. That is God. 1 John Chapter four, verse 15 says, whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we have come to know that we have believed and loved which God has in us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. God is love and he abides in us through the Holy Spirit. That's where we can love one another and do it with an agape love. That self-sacrificing, that serving of others for their benefit. Note that we have that love, that agape love, We know that's come through the Holy Spirit. The fruit we bear through the Holy Spirit is love. Galatians, we know Galatians chapter five, verse 22, talks about the fruit of the spirit, and it says, there's joy, there's love, there's joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. This fruit does not describe a selfish heart, but it is one that's selfless. So Peter's encouraging these people that are going through really difficult times during times of persecution to stretch themselves out, to sacrificially love the believers. I wanna note that Peter is demonstrating that love. In these two letters, Peter does not describe the conditions he's living in. He's in a Roman prison at this time. It's not exactly the Hilton. In ancient Rome, prisons would often be used as areas to hold prisoners until they faced punishment, which usually meant death. Prisoners were treated horribly. Prisons would be filthy, underground, poorly ventilated, and hot. The prisons would be divided into an outer and inner areas. The inner parts of the prison would be more secure and darker. Prisons would not have had individual cells as we think of today. They would have groups of prisoners chained together. Prisons would often be overcrowded. They were designed to psychologically and physically torch a prisoner into confession. Prisons would also be designed to strip the prisoner of dignity. Very little rations were given to a prisoner, so families and friends had to supply the prisoner their needs. They didn't have TVs in their cells. Prisons were meant to be a fate worse than death, all to discourage crime. This is where Peter is. Peter doesn't write them, well, you think you have it bad. You ought to come to Rome and be in prison with me. This is terrible. You'll know what persecution is like if you were with me. Peter doesn't say that. He doesn't make any reference to himself except in one place. In his second letter, chapter one, verses 13 to 14, it says, I consider right as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder. Knowing that the laying aside my earthly dwelling is intimate, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has indicated to me." Peter knows he's going to die soon. It's close. In fact, his second letter are the words of a dying man. And just as a side note, it's interesting to do the study on The second letter, Peter writes, because those are going to be the things that are on his heart to these people, the words of a dying man. He wants them to emulate a love towards one another as Christ had for us. He wants the best of them. He devotes time and thought as he writes, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, these letters, and he calls them beloved. Beloved. The term beloved here is an endearment term used in a relationship between parents and children. The root comes from the word agape. Peter counts these people as his children, his beloved ones. the love that he has for these children. He encourages them. Now, you may think, well, okay, I got the encouragement to love, how do I do it? What do I do? Ha, Peter's right in there. If you turn to chapter four of 1 Peter, he gives some ways. Now, this is not an exhaustive list. but it's a list that we can start with. Chapter four, starting with verse eight. Above all, keep fervent. Same word. Keep fervent. In your love, same word, agape. So he's saying, stretch out your love. He's telling them, a second time. Be fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks as one speaking the oracles of God, whoever serves as one serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever, amen. Some observations in this passage as he gives some practical things that we can be doing. Verse eight says, keep fervent. He reminds him again. Verse eight, love covers sins. Forgive one another. Forgive. Even if they've wronged you, you're forgiving them. Give grace to others and where they're at in their Christian life. Give grace to them. Don't be judging them because they aren't doing things just exactly like you think they should be doing or that you're doing. Give grace to them. You don't expect a two-year-old to act like a 10-year-old. You expect some maturity as they grow older. Do the same thing with our brothers and sisters. Expect them to be growing, but they may not be on the same level. Give grace to those people. Verse nine, be hospitable. Give to others in and outside your home. Note that Peter says to do this, how? Without grumbling. He attaches an attitude with this action. Be hospitable. Don't grumble. Don't grumble. That is what he's driving at here, is wanting them to be grateful for being hospitable. I want to be hospitable, and I'm grateful that I can do it. I'm grateful that I can be hospitable. There's a desire here also within this to be hospitable, to enjoy the company of one another. Maybe some of you have had the pleasure of going overseas. I've been to a number of different countries, and I have been amazed at the hospitable actions of those in those other countries. From the very poor in Ecuador, a family giving a couple of eggs, that's all they had, a couple of eggs. They were giving a couple of eggs. A family in Belarus who we've come to know gave and have given us Christmas gifts. They both work just to make ends meet. They give because they desire to do so. They're being hospitable. Now, in both cases, I can clearly tell you that I have much more, much, much more than they have. But they gave from what they had. They gave from what they had. I tell you what, it's an exceedingly humbling experience to go through something like that. Let me go on, verses 10 and 11. Use the gifts you have. Some might think that, okay, I've got a gift, but I don't know what it is. Keep in mind the gifts of the spirit are for service of the body, service of the body. So I would start, in doing some sort of service for our church, for our church members. Start there. You may have to try a number of things before you find something that you can really devote your heart to doing, but seek that out. Heaven forbid, you may have to start a ministry that's not in existence right now. Wouldn't that be terrible? serve one another, serve the body of Christ here. That is loving one another, self-sacrificing for one another for their benefit, for their benefit. Verse 11, God is glorified in your service to others. It is He that gives us strength and the joy in service. The ultimate focus of your service is the glorification of God, not yourself, because then that's selfishness. It's the glorification of God. As I stated, this is not an exhaustive list. I'm sure you can think of other things that you can do. I was just madly brainstorming some things, praying for one another. Praying for one another. You might want to start off with your care group that you attend. Pray for one another. In a care group, you should be knowing some of the needs of those in that group. Pray for them. Encourage them. And not just pray, come back and follow up. How's that going? How's that going? I've been praying for you. I've been praying for you. Maybe a couple other items. Helping in cleaning up after a church social. Helping in the nursery. Helping teaching the children. Taking meals to others. If you can't think of anything else, I'm sure if you got a hold of the elders, or if you got a hold of Jeff Faust, that he would be more than happy to give you some ideas. There's always things that can be done in this church. And I would encourage you to seek out and to serve one another. An agape love, a self-sacrificing love. Okay, you may say, okay, what's the motivation here for doing this love, for having this fervent love for one another? Well, drop down to verse, go back to chapter one of 1 Peter. Verse 23, after he tells them to fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. That is through the living and enduring word of God. Your salvation should be motivation. It should be motivation. All the benefits that we have in salvation should encourage us to love one another. God demonstrated his love towards us. That's overwhelming that our creator did that for us. His choosing before the foundation of the earth the Holy Spirit setting aside us unto salvation. Jesus' sacrifice and spilling of blood, it's done all in order that we might glorify God and that we are benefited by not seeing the wrath of God and we spend eternity with him. I would say that's pretty good motivation. And as I close, I want to close with the same thing that Peter did in chapter 4. One word. Amen. Let it be so. May we love with agape love, fervently for one another. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for your word and the instruction it gives us that we might glorify you, that we might honor you in all that we do. Father, I pray that we would have patience, because love is patient, that we'd have a long fuse that we'd be kind, we'd show acts of kindness to those in need. We would not be jealous when somebody has or gets recognition we think we deserve. May we not be jealous. May we not brag. May we not be a windbag. May we not be arrogant, boastful of actions that we do. not unbecoming, not rude towards one another, that we respect one another. Father, we need this as today we do not respect each other as we should. Father, may we not desire or seek our own desires, our selfishness. May we not provoke. May we not become angry with one another. That we might not keep records of things done to us. Father, may we rejoice in righteousness and truth. May we bear all things. May we suppress the gossip of others. May we believe all things. May we think the best of others. May we hope all things and endure all things as trials come and push us. Father, may we As a body of believers, may we love one another with a fervent, stretched out, agape love, serving one another, even if it means it takes some of our time, which we value so greatly, but we take that time for others. In your name I pray, amen.