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Peter has been addressing our relationships. He gives more instructions for the way Christians and Messianic Jews should be relating to each other. We are to be a united and loving community that knows the truth.

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

All of you should be of one mind. We are to think the same way about the things that are really important. Being of one mind doesn’t mean we have to agree about everything – like worship styles, end‑times views, spiritual gifts or eating certain foods and observing days and holidays. It means we agree about the primary doctrines of the faith. When we are of one mind, our small differences fade in importance. When we are of one mind, together we are able to proclaim the Good News of salvation and build Messiah’s Community. Unity strengthens the Community of Messiah for effective witness and service.

Sympathize with each other. To sympathize means to have feelings of concern and compassion for others. It means entering into others’ experiences – rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. We are to feel concern and compassion for our brothers and sisters – not be indifferent to them. This emotional sensitivity creates trust and care and strengthens the relationships in Messiah’s Community.

Love each other as brothers and sisters. We are not merely fellow believers. We are children of the same Father. Our relationships with our fellow believers are to be real, genuine and close – like relationships between brothers and sisters within a good, loving family. Brotherly, sisterly love is caring and sacrificial. When we have this brotherly, sisterly love, we create a unique and attractive community, show the reality of our new birth and point people to the reality of Messiah. Messiah said, “They will know you are My disciples by your love for one another.”

Be tenderhearted. Tenderheartedness means having a loving and compassionate heart for others. Instead of reacting harshly or indifferently, the tenderhearted believer is kind, gentle and patient. When we are tenderhearted, we are sensitive to people’s needs, quick to forgive, slow to take offense and slow to criticize.

Keep a humble attitude. A humble attitude is the opposite of a proud attitude, an attitude that exalts self, demands recognition and resists correction. A humble attitude is an attitude that recognizes our dependence on God and values others above ourselves. A humble attitude means that we aware that all that we have and all that we are come from God’s grace, not our merit. Someone with a humble attitude listens before he speaks, serves more than seeks honor, and delights to lift others up. Humility protects us from pride, and enables peace and love and unity to flourish in Messiah’s Community.

All of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.

Now Peter teaches us how to respond to those who hurt us. It’s natural for people to hurt those who hurt them, to insult those who insult them. However, that’s not the way for God’s born again, new natured people to respond. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. Peter tells us to resist that natural urge to strike back when attacked. Instead of responding to evil with evil, to harm with harm; instead of returning an insult with an insult of our own, we are to respond with a blessing. God wants His people to overcome hatred with love. If we do this, we will please God and He will bless us.

Peter reinforces what he is teaching by quoting Psalm 34. For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”

If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days – and who doesn’t? – do what God wants. Blessing comes from obedience, living the way He wants us to live.

Keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Speaking evil means using words that hurt others – gossip, slander, angry outbursts, insults, mockery or unnecessary criticism. It means speaking words that tear down rather than build up. Speaking evil poisons relationships, spreads division and displeases the Lord who hears every word. God wants us to use our words to encourage, comfort and bless. Telling lies is wrong because God is truth and hates lies. Lies go against the nature of God, distort reality and destroy trust. Instead of telling lies, we are to speak the truth in love.

Turn away from evil and do good. This means that those who are committed to obey the Lord are not just to turn away from evil but actively do good. We are not merely to reject what is wrong – we are to pursue doing what is right. Doing good means helping those in need, being generous to the poor, carrying others burdens, speaking words that encourage and uplift, proclaiming the truth of the Good News to everyone we can and serving our brothers and sisters in Messiah’s Community. Doing good is love in action.

Search for peace, and work to maintain it. To search for peace means to actively pursue peace in our relationships – with God and with other people, especially with our brothers and sisters in Messiah’s Community. Searching for peace requires humility, patience, forgiveness, sacrifice and a willingness to listen and understand rather than win arguments. We are to search for peace. God wants us to be intentional, active peacemakers, not passive observers. We are to search for peace because God is the God of peace, and He wants His children to reflect His nature. Messiah said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

When we search for peace and find it, we are to work to maintain it. How? By keeping our hearts from pride, anger and bitterness; by quickly forgiving offenses; and by praying continually for peace and love and unity to prevail in Messiah’s Community.

Searching for peace and maintaining it takes effort – but it produces tremendous results for Messiah’s Community – stability, joy and a wonderful unity.

For the Scriptures say, “If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

The consequences for obeying these commands? And for disobeying them? The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.

Obeying these commands brings God’s favor and blessing and divine protection. The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers means that God observes the righteous, is pleased with their obedience and will protect them and answer their heartfelt requests. We please God and our lives are strengthened, our relationships are healthier, and our prayers are effective when we follow the Lord’s ways.

On the other hand, rejecting these instruction leads to the withdrawal of God’s favor and blessing. The Lord turns his face against those who do evil is a warning that those who persistently do what is wrong displease the Lord, distance themselves from Him with the result that He removes His favor and blessing. That leaves them far from God and vulnerable to the many dangers that come from living a fallen world that is controlled by dark demonic powers, a world that is in rebellion against God and under a curse.

Peter told us not to respond to evil with evil but respond with blessing and do what is good. He follows that up with a question and an answer to his question. Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats.

Most people will not want to harm us if, not only are we doing good, but eager to do good – but some might. If that happens, and we suffer for doing what is right with a good attitude, God promises to reward us. Therefore, Peter encourages us not to be afraid of their threats. Human threats can be powerful and intimidating, but the faithful know that God’s approval and blessing are greater. Knowing this enables us to not give in to anxiety or fear. Knowing this enables us to face hostility and intimidation with calmness.

And to help us overcome those who threaten and intimidate us and cause us to suffer, there’s something else we can do. Instead, you must worship Messiah as Lord of your life. Messiah Yeshua is Lord – the Lord of all, the Lord of everything, and the Lord of our lives. When we worship Messiah Yeshua as the Lord of our lives, we focus on Him, and His authority, His power and His care. When we worship Yeshua as Lord, we shift our attention from the power of man to harm us to the security of God’s rule. Worry and fear come from focusing on what people might do to us. Peace and calm come from focusing on the Lord Yeshua and what He can do for us.

More instructions for our interactions with non-believers: And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Our hope, our confident expectation of living forever in God’s eternal kingdom – may cause non-believers to ask us why we have this hope. Peter instructs us to always be ready to explain the reason for our hope. How do we do that?

We tell them about Yeshua. We tell them about His life, teachings, miracles, death and resurrection. We tell them about how our lives have been changed for the good. We tell them the bad news and the Good News. We tell them about the reliability of the Word of God, this special divinely inspired book that is faithful and true.

Now, sometimes people may ask about our hope in a harsh or disrespectful way. “You Christians, you Messianic Jews actually believe you will live forever in the kingdom of a dead Jewish carpenter? Tell me why.” If that happens, we may be tempted to respond aggressively or with irritation and annoyance. Peter tells us not to do that. Answer with gentleness and respect – like Yeshua would have answered. A calm, gracious, thoughtful response demonstrates that God is working in us, we know the truth and our hope is real.

More instruction about how to deal with people who speak against us: Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Messiah. Our conscience is the moral compass God has placed within us. It’s an inner witness that helps us discern right from wrong. When guided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, our conscience keeps our motives pure and our actions aligned with God’s will.

To keep our conscience clear means doing what is right and resisting what is wrong. It means living with honesty and integrity. It means avoiding hypocrisy and hidden sin. It means quickly confessing our sins and repenting – turning to the Lord and doing what is right so nothing hinders our fellowship, our communion, our relationship with the Lord. When our conscience is clear, even if people falsely accuse us, our consistent obedience and honesty and godly lives will show that their accusations are false.

Peter reminds us of an important truth he already stated – one that he doesn’t want us to forget: Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong! Life is full of suffering. We can suffer as the result of doing things wrong; and we can suffer for doing things right. When we suffer for doing what is right with a good attitude, our suffering produces good things and God will reward us.

To help us understand this, Peter points to the greatest example of suffering for doing what is right. Messiah suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.

Yeshua suffered – not because He did anything wrong – He didn’t do anything wrong – ever. He never sinned. No, He suffered even though He did everything right.

Yeshua, the Perfectly Innocent One, died for the guilty ones, the real sinners – you and me.

People suffer. Animals suffer. In fact, the whole world is suffering. That suffering usually doesn’t produce anything good. However, Yeshua’s suffering produced amazingly good things.

Unlike the animal sacrifices of the Sinai Covenant, which needed to be repeated day after day, year after year, century after century, Yeshua’s sacrifice for our sins was once for all time.

Yeshua suffered for our redemption, for our salvation, suffered to bring us safely home to God, so we can live forever in His eternal kingdom. Amazingly good things happened as a result of Yeshua’s suffering for doing what was right.

Peter’s point is – if the righteous suffering of Messiah brought us great salvation, then our faithful endurance in suffering for doing good will also bring blessing to many others and bring honor and glory to God.

And of course, Yeshua’s suffering for doing what was right wasn’t the end of the story. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. Yeshua suffered and died, but was raised to life – a greater life than before.

And if we suffer like He did, the same will be true for us – now and in the future. Now, we can experience a Spirit-filled life. We can live a life that overcomes, a life that produces the fruit of the Spirit, a life in which the Spirit guides our decisions, teaches us the truth, comforts us in suffering, and gives us spiritual gifts so we can strengthen others. And this life in the Spirit now will be even better when we are raised with Yeshua and enjoy the fullness of our great salvation in the future.

Let’s pray:

Father in Heaven, thank You for Your Word. Help us be of one mind, united in truth and love. Give us tender hearts, compassion, humility, and the strength to bless when we are wronged. Enable us to speak so that our words build up and bring peace. Teach us to turn from evil, do good, seek peace, and maintain it. Strengthen our witness so we gently and respectfully share the hope we have. Keep our consciences clear and empower us to suffer for doing good. May our lives bring You the honor and glory You deserve. Amen.