Message given at last Sunday's Church gathering, 9th August 2009.

                                                                   Evening Fellowship.

                                               Spoken and Written by: David Hayman.

 In 1 Peter 3: 8-12 the apostle gives us the essential keys to really enjoying life and having a 'good day'. This is a sentiment expressed throughout the world probably millions of times every hour when you buy lunch or get off a bus but how can this desire be turned into a reality when as one writer put it, "How goes the average day depends mainly on external circumstances"? The same writer goes on to give the example of a mailman's wife who bids her husband a good day and then 15 minutes later a dog "sinks his fangs into the mailmen's leg". The writer concludes this all as foolishness.  He touches on a truth that we do not have control over many of the circumstances we find ourselves in but Peter declares to us that God, on the other hand, is. Peter exhorts us that if our ways please the Lord he will be working to order our circumstances to make for a happy day!

So starting in verse  8, Peter begins with being of one mind (v8) this involves learning to listen to others and not being self-centred and self-willed. In our flesh we find it so easy to be disagreeable and negative about everyone else's ideas except our own, but with this attitude we won't learn the mind of Christ. Nicodemus the Pharisee began to realise this about himself and his colleagues as they condemned Christ without having heard him speak, he said  "Does our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he does?" (John 7:51) Being compassionate is next on the list, which means being touched with the needs and sufferings of others, this is followed by love and then pity, knowing how to put ourselves in other people's shoes and treat them how we would want to be treated. Peter then continues with our response when people do or say evil and hurtful things to us, that we should not fight back with the same ammunition. But on the contrary we should bless, and this means to show kindness and look upon their neediness and misery and to pray for them for salvation; knowing that someone who speaks bitter words or does nasty things is themself miserable and bitter on the inside.

Peter sums up in verse   10 that to love life and see good days we need to stop doing evil with our mouth (lies, deception, gossip, slander etc, etc...), we should avoid evil in all its forms whether it be sexual, or in business, whether it be secretly in our mind or whether it be in bad attitude or rebelliousness,  self-will , pride or a grudge. We should do good which is to do what is right and what is according to the Lord's will and heart. We should seek peace and follow it. One trap for Christians is to think that God has a 'one of the boys' type of judgement where he overlooks evil that Christians do but punishes unbelievers because they are not part of his crew. That's why in  1Peter 1:17, the apostle says that God judges every man without respect of person's according to their work, whether they be a believer or not.

Not all trouble can be avoided. There are changes that the Lord wants to work in us that we will only learn through difficulty. Furthermore  Paul the apostle says that the suffering he entered into through fellowship with Christ was a treasure and something to be desired (Ph'p 3:10). But the suffering that we should actively seek to eliminate is the trouble the Lord brings upon us because of evil things that we are doing. Paul said in  1 Corinthians 11:31-32 if we would judge ourselves then we should we not be judged by the Lord. So as we keep a careful eye on our own heart and attitudes and correct ourselves where we go wrong we should save ourselves from the Lord having to do the chastening. We should acknowledge our sins to the Lord when we become aware of them, and look to him for mercy to cover us and take us on. And remember what the end of every verse says in  Psalm 136 "for his mercy endureth forever"  How's that for reinforcement - all 26 times!

Jesus Loves You

God Bless