Our church is an independent, non-denominational congregation focused on equipping believers to accomplish all God has for each individual. We emphasize growing to maturity through regular, relevant study of God’s Word, meaningful corporate worship, and fellowship. Del Rio Bible Church was established in 1997 by a … Read More »
The Best Relationship Advice Ever (Part 2)
Bible Text: 1 Peter 3:7-12 | Preacher: Pastor Joe Ricchuiti | Series: 1 Peter, The Best Relationship Advice Ever
1 Peter 3:8-12 is both great relationship advice and one of the best indicators of our spiritual growth. How do we respond when we don’t get our way? How do we respond when we don’t get what we want? How do we respond when we think we have been wronged (real or imagined)? This passage if incorporated into a person’s life, marriage, or the life of a church would revolutionize them.
The One Year NLT Study Bible has the following excellent summary of verse 8: “Peter lists five key elements that should characterize any group of believers. They should have one mind–pursuing the same goals; sympathy—being responsive to others’ needs; love—seeing and treating each other as brothers and sisters; tenderness—being affectionately sensitive and caring; and humility—being willing to encourage each one another and rejoice in each other’s successes. These five qualities go a long way toward creating peace in the Christian community and helping believers serve God effectively.”
The call to harmony (being of one mind, being like-minded) is a call to unity. Unity is not uniformity. True unity allows for differences of opinion in tastes, methodology, and program. True unity allows for diversity. We work for harmony despite our differences. Where no Biblical precept is being violated, we don’t make our differences a matter of character or of spirituality.
Humility has been called the attitude that makes all the rest possible. Humility is not thinking lowly about ourselves, it is the freedom to not think about ourselves at all, the freedom to accept and acknowledge our talents and gifts as from God and to use them unself-consciously. Humility is the key to serving others. It is the having the same attitude as that of Jesus (Matthew 11:29; Philippians 2:5ff). Pride will keep us from learning about ourselves, especially our weaknesses and blind spots. It produces defensiveness and limits our impact upon others and the scope of our leadership.
