This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you back to day three of our look through 1st Peter chapter 3.
Today's scripture that we're going to look at needs a big red urgent stamped
across it. The truths that are contained in 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 8 are
vital for every one of your relationships, every single day.

The truth is our relationships are fragile in this world. You don't have to be a
rocket scientist or a psychologist to understand that one. And broken hearts
come because of fragile relationships.

That's not only true of dating and marriage, but it's true of relationships with
everybody in your family, relationships with co-workers, with friends. Our
relationships too often seem to bring more pain than joy. So what do we do?

Just give up on relationships? Give up on people? Well that's running from the
problem and also running from one of the greatest sources of joy in your life.

It's not answering the problem. So in verse 8, you see in very simple terms,
five attitudes to strengthen fragile relationships. What do you do?

Verse 8 says this, "Finally, all of you live in harmony with one another. Be
sympathetic. Love as brothers.

Be compassionate and humble. " That's how you do it. You strengthen every
relationship in your life.

Let's look at these five. First he says, "Live in harmony. " Harmony is having
the same mind.

It's thinking in the same direction together. The word points to having a unity
in the midst of our diversity. We're all different.

We're all wired differently and made differently. It points to an ability to
build relationships in spite of and even in light of our differences.
Relationships that are built upon absolute unison and in agreement.

We have to be all alike all the time. They are extremely fragile because we're
going to disagree at some point. So they're very easy to break.

You strengthen a relationship when you recognize the value of harmony. That we
may have differences of opinion, but those differences can actually work
together. You begin to value the differences of others and even praise God for
those differences.

That adds a foundation of strength to every fragile relationship that you have.
Now this is especially important in the midst of change. It's especially
important in the midst of growth.

If you're in a growing family, if you're in a growing church, that means that
you not only have to learn to harmonize, you have to learn to re-harmonize. If
you're singing and you change keys, you've got to learn to re-harmonize in that
moment. It's like taking a small band and turning it into a large orchestra.

You might still have the same instrument in your hands, but everyone has to be
on their toes really awake to learn how to continue to play with harmony. Growth
changes relationships. Growth in your family, growth in a church, it changes
relationships.

So you have to learn to re-harmonize. Growth changes traditions. You have to
learn to re-harmonize.

Growth brings new people into the mix, so you have to learn to re-harmonize. You
recognize the value of the differences of the people that are around you. That's
one of the ways that we strengthen fragile relationships.

Second way is through sympathy. Now harmony is having the same mind. Sympathy is
recognized we have the same hurts.

We're all hurting. The moment you just look at your hurts, the relationships are
going to get more and more fragile. You recognize everyone you talk to today is
hurting in some way.

And sympathy is more than just a pat on the head. It's going to be okay. It's a
true suffering with others.

Or it can also be a true rejoicing with others. Sympathy with the good that's
happening in their life. It's not just crying for someone, it's crying with
someone.

It's joining with them. Sympathy adds to relationships the strength of knowing
that you're facing this together. And to be sympathetic, you have to open your
heart to others.

And that hurts. There's no doubt about it. That hurts because when they hurt,
then you hurt.

There is a price to be paid for strong relationships. But the price is worth it
because it strengthens your relationships. If you keep relationships on a
surface level, they're very fragile.

They'll break almost instantly. But when you go to the depths of sympathy, of
hurting with someone, you have strengthened that relationship to its core. And
he talks about a third thing that strengthens relationship.

He calls it brotherly love. That means to be of the same family. Because the
word he uses here, the word phileo, is the word for brotherly love.

Family love in the New Testament, in the Greek language. We use this word phileo
in our city named Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Family-like love.

And that's the kind of love that strengthens every relationship. We're to treat
one another as one of the family. And when it comes to family, you may love
them, you may hate them, but you're stuck with them the rest of your life.

So there's this idea that in love, we're going to go through this together no
matter what. Now some of you need to begin to treat your families that way. Many
of us need to because we have struggles in our families.

But he's saying here that we need to treat every brother or sister in Christ
that way. Phileo, this family love, is the recognition that we belong to each
other. When you hurt, I hurt.

When you have joy, I have joy in my life. It's one of the third ways to
strengthen every relationship in your life. That is the third way.

And then there's a fourth way. He says you have to be compassionate. And to be
compassionate is recognizing that we have the same need.

We all have the same need for compassion in our lives. Compassion is
kind-hearted mercy. It is the willingness to give mercy to someone else.

And mercy, you might recognize that word from what God does for us. God gives us
his mercy. That's his undeserved love.

I don't deserve God's love, but he gives me his love. And if you're waiting for
people in your life to deserve your love before you love them, you're going to
have the most fragile relationships you can imagine. Because there is going to
come a day when they're undeserving.

We all have days when we're undeserving. And there's going to be a day when
you're undeserving. So you have compassion.

You have this kind-hearted mercy. Those who build strong relationships with
others recognize that we all have the same needs for mercy and forgiveness. They
don't demand perfection.

They accept unconditionally. Now, they don't accept everything and say it's all
right, but they accept everything and say despite that, I'm still going to love
you. Let's work through this together and get to a new place in your life.

This gets to the issue of forgiveness. Some of us, our relationships are fragile
because we just can't find it in ourselves to forgive. When you can't find it in
your heart to forgive, you've destroyed a relationship, obviously, probably more
than one.

You've also rejected the gift of the Lord because he tells us that he has
forgiven us so that he could give us the gift, the power to be able to forgive
others. Unforgiveness, it's like a bitter cancer that eventually destroys all of
your relationships. It makes them the most fragile relationships possible.

So ask, ask God right now for a strength to forgive that you don't have in
yourself. I know you may feel I can't do it. That's okay.

We can't do it on our own strength and power. Ask Jesus for a strength to
forgive. Now, you may be feeling I'm not willing to do it.

Tell Jesus you're not willing and listen to what he has to say. Let him work in
your heart. He can bring you to a place of forgiveness that will be healing for
all of your relationships, healing for your life.

Then Peter talks about a fifth thing that you and I need to do in order for our
relationships to be stronger, be humble. And that means that we recognize that
we have the same worth. Humility recognizes that other person is as important as
I am.

That startling revelation that everyone else in this world is as important as
you are will change your relationships forever. The word humility originally
comes from the idea to bow down. When Christian love, Christian friendship bows
down to one another, the only time Christians should knock heads is through
bowing down towards one another.

We're trying to be humble towards each other. We're trying to have this attitude
of unselfish love, the kind of humility we've been talking about the last number
of days together. The humility that recognizes who I am in Christ, my strengths
and weaknesses, who you are in Christ, your strengths and weaknesses, but also
who we are together.

Love by Jesus, humbly recognizing that undeservingly we have been given his
love. Now as we pray together, I want to ask you to pray with me for
strengthening of every one of your relationships. God can do this through these
five simple things.

So just pray, God, I pray for these five things in my life. That I recognize
that we can have the same mind, that we have the same hurts, that we can be of
the same family, that we have the same needs, that we have the same worth before
you. And so I ask for these things in my life.

I ask for a spirit of harmony, the ability to rejoice in the differences that I
have with others. Give me a spirit of sympathy. Lord help me to truly feel what
other people feel, but also hurt when other people hurt.

God give me a family kind of love towards others that's going to stick with
people no matter what. Give me a compassion towards others, a tender hearted
mercy, a forgiveness like you have towards me. And God give me a humility.

I ask for this through the power of Jesus Christ, knowing that he had all these
qualities and knowing that I'm not going to have him without his power in me. So
I ask that the power of Jesus would put these qualities into my life. Let your
spirit empower me to have these five strengthening, relationship strengthening
qualities.

I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Tomorrow we're going to talk about one thing to
never do and one thing to always do in your relationships.