The First and Highest Work of Love
8 Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-16 CSB
10 For the one who wants to love life
and to see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,
11 and let him turn away from evil
and do what is good.
Let him seek peace and pursue it,
12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against
those who do what is evil.
13 Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them or be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame.
The apostle Peter here tells us Christians how to live – how to live with fellow believers and how to live with unbelievers. Regarding our fellow believers he tells us to be “like-minded” – to be united in the teachings of our faith, of the Bible, of Christianity – and to be “sympathetic” to one another, to be “compassionate,” and to be “humble” before one another. The one phrase right in the middle of this sentence that sums it all up is “love one another.” A more literal translation of this word in the Greek would be “love as brothers” or “show brotherly love.” I prefer this translation because it implies there is a difference between “brotherly love” and “non-brotherly love” (or “love between those not related to one another”). Look at it this way: Most everyone would say there’s something about family that naturally brings out a love, a loyalty, and a dedication that is not found as often in non-family relationships. Something terrible happens to your next-door neighbors that you have known for 15 years, and your heart goes out to them; you do what you can for them; you love them. But usually the level of love goes up a notch or two or three if that same terrible thing happens to your son or daughter or your husband or wife or your mother or father or your brother or your sister. There’s something about family. And this is how we are to regard one another within the Christian church, for we truly are family, we truly are brothers and sisters in Christ.
And of course, we are to love others as well, even our enemies. So Peter reminds us here not to repay evil for evil or insult for insult (for evil and insults are more likely to come from enemies and unbelievers, though it happens among believers as well, unfortunately).
What Peter does next is tell us that Christians who love can expect a good life. He quotes Psalm 34:
For the one who wants to love life
and to see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,
and let him turn away from evil
and do what is good.
And he follows this by saying, “Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?” If you love your fellow believer and if you show love for the unbeliever, you will have it pretty good. People are not going beat you or belittle you or oppose you. Usually. Usually. But that will necessarily always be the case. As we have said in sermons and as Peter says in this epistle, there is a suffering that comes upon Christians is this life. And Peter says, that’s okay. He says, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed.” Followed by, “Do not fear them or be intimidated.”
To sum up so far: We are to love one another with a brotherly love, we are to love even those who are not Christians and may even do evil to us and insult us. And that typically means we will see good days; but not always, and that’s okay for we will still be blessed.
Now, I want to spend the rest of my time on verses 15. For it is here that where “the first and highest work of love” is expressed. That phrase, “the first and highest work of love,” comes from Martin Luther. Here is what he says:
The first and highest work of love a Christian ought to do when he has become a believer, is to bring others also to believe in the way he himself came to believe. In this way, the Lord desires to say: you have now received enough from me, peace and joy, and all you should have. … Hence I send you into the world as my Father hath sent me; namely that every Christian should instruct and teach his neighbor, that he may also come to Christ. By this no power is delegated exclusively to popes and bishops, but all Christians are commanded to profess their faith publicly and also to lead others to believe. (Lenker 11:359)
In verse 15, Peter first says, “in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.” You are a Christian. Christ has redeemed you. You are his. Because of him, you are holy in God’s sight. Your sins, through faith in Christ, are all washed away. And he is your Lord. Do not ever forget this. No matter where you are or what you are doing, remember he has done this for you and he is within. There is a throne in your heart, and Jesus, the holy one of God, is sitting on it. Do not forget this. “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy.” “In your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord,” for he is.
And then Peter says, “ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” This is where we see “the first and highest work of love” coming into play.
This is the verse that is quoted more than any other in support of what we call Christian apologetics. The word here translated “defense” is the Greek word apologia – apologetics. It means defense. We are to defend why we have the Christian hope that we do. We are to defend why we believe what we believe. Christian apologetics is defending the truth of Christianity. And more specifically, defending the truth that Jesus is who the Christian church and who the Bible claims him to be and that he has done for us exactly what the church and the Bible claims he has done for us and for our salvation.
Just several days ago, we had our Apologetics Conference at Bethany Lutheran College in Minnesota. The theme was “Why Does Moses Matter to Christians?” What was defended was the historical reality and the importance of Moses to truth of Christianity. We had almost 200 in attendance. Some of you were there. Some of you may have watched online. If I were to recommend just one of the sessions to you, it would be the first one by Chaplain Don Moldstad. His presentation is only 15 minutes long, but he does an excellent job of defending the historical reality of Moses and countering the unbiblical view that Moses probably did not exist and did not write the first five books of the Bible – a false view that is very common, including, unfortunately, within mainline and liberal church bodies. It is this false view that hinders many from taking the claims of the Bible seriously and also tempts true Christians with true faith away from Christianity and away from Christ. So the conference defended the biblical view.
Let me give you another example. I had a discussion with two men recently. One of them said that all religions worship the same God. The other man, who was a Christian, said, “You mean all Christian religions, right? You don’t mean, for example, that Christians and Muslims worship the same God?” And he said, “Yes, they do.” He basically had two reasons for believing this. First, he thought the God of each religion was essentially the same, though there were some minor but insignificant differences. Second, he had moral argument. He was convinced that differences between religions led to intolerance which led to hatred which led to war. Therefore, downplay the differences and help them realize they all worship the same God and there would be less hatred and less war. I should point out this man was an immigrant from eastern Europe after WWII. And there is some truth in what he says: many religions easily engage in hatred and violence because of their religion. But how do you respond to someone like him. How does one defend the Christian faith to this man if he asks you to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ?
First of all, it is not too difficult to point out that the definitions of God of the various religions contradict one another. For example, Christianity teaches that Jesus is true God and Islam teaches that he is not God. That’s a contradiction. They cannot both be right. They have different definitions of God and therefore they have different gods. And you can do the same with a definition of God of any religion and see that it contradicts other religions and always Christianity. If a person wants to live with a contradiction, that is up to him. But the gods cannot be the same God no matter how sincerely one wants to believe it.
I wanted to say two more things to this man, but I only had time for one. If I had had the time, I would have gone to resurrection of Christ, an event and a teaching that is not simply stated in the Bible but is also confirmed by many eyewitnesses, some of whom wrote down their testimony and essentially said: “I was there; I saw, I heard, I even touched.” People can dismiss such testimony, but it remains, and nothing has ever disproved their testimony. And as I have mentioned to you several times, the resurrection of Christ is the ultimate proof for who Christ is what he has done for us and our salvation.
But the other defense I gave to this man was to compare what other religions claim is the problem in the world and how the problem is solved. Christianity teaches that the problem is here – within the human heart. That man is desperately wicked and sinful. Whereas other religions teach that man is basically good or can become good or has some good within him by nature (and this is where this man was coming from).
But if Christianity is true – and it is – then the solution it puts forth is the only solution that works: That this God, who became man – this Jesus Christ – paid for and removed from us all our sins. He suffered and died for them all.
On the other hand, if man is good or can become good, then the solution lies within man and not with Christ alone. Just tap into that goodness. Or just create the right moral or political or economic structure so the goodness of human beings can grow and flourish.
But if this understanding of the problem and solution is true, God sending his Son to the cross was not necessary. But he did send his Son to the cross. And he did die there. And he did rise from the dead. And he did so for you, and you, and you; and your neighbor.
Christian apologetics: the defense of the truth of Christianity and Christ. Let me give you four reasons why we should seek to utilize apologetics.
First, God has given us our reason which frequently and naturally asks the question, “Is this true?” That does not mean reason and the answers it receives will convert anyone. It simply means we cannot avoid how God has created us, including allowing our reason to ask questions about spiritual and eternal matters. It can’t be avoided. It’s natural.
Second, apologetics is important for us and our children and our grandchildren who being challenged more than ever with false worldviews and false teachings. If we do not defend the truth to our children and grandchildren, there’s a wide open door for the lies of Satan.
Third, as Peter tells us, defending the truth of Christianity is important for the sake of the unbeliever. This is not to say he will believe because he will hear a good defense of Christianity. Most people will not believe no matter how much evidence is placed before them. But some may. And we have to remember that when apologetics is done right, the gospel of Christ – the power of God for salvation that can change an unbeliever to an unbeliever – is often right there with the defense.
Also, keep in mind you don’t have to have all the answers. Recently, two members have been challenged regarding what and why they believe. They came to me and said, “Pastor, do you have anything on this topic?” I still looking for some resources, but I was able to provide a few. Another one of our members was challenged by a Muslim apologist. He could answer most of the Muslim’s questions, but there was one he could not. He did some research and found the appropriate defense. Do not be afraid to ask your pastor or other people in the congregation who have resources.
Fourth, we use sound apologetics so we do not unnecessarily look like fools. We do not want to come off as is we do not have a brain. If we act as if we do not need to answer objections or questions, we are kind of denying how God created us. We are not opposed to science; we love good science. We are not opposed to logic and reasoning; we appreciate and use logic and reason. Let’s not give unbelievers opportunities to belittle needlessly.
However, there is one sense in which we will always be considered fools. This cannot be avoided. And we wear this foolish name as a badge of honor. St. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1,
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved… For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. … God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. (1 Cor. 1:18ff.).
Again, Luther calls evangelism “the first and highest work of love” of the Christian. Why? Because this is the one act of love that directly deals with the eternal welfare of our neighbor, his eternal destiny. As was said last week, sin is real, hell is real. But God so loved the world that he placed his Son on a cross – foolishness in the eyes of the world. “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.”
But remember, this foolishness is for your neighbor and not just you. Sin is real, hell is real, but so is forgiveness and eternal life. It is there for you neighbor. Therefore always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you for the sake of Christ.
Amen.
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