Sincere?

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22)

I. Sincere love is the result of obeying the truth.

A. The background of Peter’s letter.

            1. It had been their social custom for higher classes to look down on lower classes.

            2. But now, in their church, people of all classes find themselves mixed together.

            3. Yet God says all believers are spiritually equal: rich/poor, male/female, Jew/Gentile.

B. They overcame the hypocrisy of pretending to care about their brothers.  

            1. Their temptation would be to just pretend to have brotherly love (hypocrisy).

            2. But by actually obeying the truth, they purified themselves of this sin.

            3. The Greek word “sincere” literally means “not hypocritical” (an-hupócriton).

II. Sincerity alone is not enough.

A. An attractive excuse: “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.”

      1. This sounds wonderfully tolerant, and thus appeals to social fashion-sense.

      2. It also conveniently excuses one from seeking the truth and being challenged by it.

      3. It does, however, voice a legitimate disgust for hypocrisy.

B. But life teaches us that sincerity alone is not the standard.

      1. “Sincerity-alone” overlooks the connection between belief and action.

      2. It is a logically self-defeating claim.  (What if I sincerely believe that it’s not enough to             sincerely believe?  Am I then right, or wrong?)

      3. It is unrealistic: we would never make “sincerity” the sole standard in any other field.

C. More importantly, the Bible teaches us that sincerity alone is not enough.

      1. “Sincerity-alone” undermines the notion of absolute truth, on which Christianity rests.

      2. Pilate sincerely believed it was best to execute the innocent Jesus (John 18-19).

      3. Saul was a sincere anti-Christian before becoming Paul the Christian (Acts 9).

III. Sincerity should lead to sacrifice.

A. If they already love their brothers, why tell them to love?  There are two kinds of love:

      1. Sincere brotherly love (philadelphían).

      2. Sacrificial godly love (agapē).

B. Truth → sincerity → sacrifice

      1. It all starts with obedience to the truth of  God’s Word.

      2. Do you really see fellow believers here as your equals: brothers and sisters?

      3. Are you deeply, fervently involved – at a personal cost?

        [Note: section II above is largely drawn from ch. 6 of Avoiding Jesus, by Michael Green.]