Peter Barnes | 1 Peter 3:10-12
SERMON NOTES
SPEAKING, DOING AND PRAYING
1 Peter 3:10-12
What do we want out of life? 1 Pet.3:10a, citing Psalm 34. Note Deut.30:15-20. Augustine says in his Confessions: ‘All men are united by one purpose, temporal happiness on earth, and all that they do is aimed at this goal, although in the endless variety of their struggles to attain it they pitch and toss like the waves of the sea.’
1. Blessing through speaking.
– 3:10b; see Isa.6:3-5; James 3:2.
– Matt.12:34; Isa.30:10. Alexander Haig (Secretary of State when Ronald Reagan was President of the USA): ‘The loss of candour is grievous, and in my opinion it may yet prove to be mortal, because if we cannot discuss our problems in plain speech that describes reality, it is unlikely that we will be able to solve them.’
2. Blessing through doing.
– 3:11; a negative (‘turn away from evil’) and a positive (‘do good’ and ‘seek peace’). Friedrich Nietzsche wrote Beyond Good and Evil.
– contrast Nietzsche and the Bible – Gen.39:9; Eph.5:11; Gal.6:10; Heb.12:14. The Bible is practical – 1 John 3:17-18.
3. Blessing through praying.
– 3:12. Compare to Isa.1:10-20; James 5:16.
Here is the way of blessing for God’s forgiven people: speak in the presence of God; do what is good before God; and so pray in the knowledge that He hears you.