Love Covers A Multitude of Sins

1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up conflict,
but love covers over all wrongs.

James 5:20
remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Apostle Peter continues to teach the church how to prepare for the end of everything, 1 Peter 4:7. Apostle Peter asks the church to love each other. This is advice emanating from the possibility that it had been reported that they didn’t love each other. You cannot be preparing for the end of the world and you have issues with another person. You cannot be heaven bound yet you have grudges and infighting within the church. Apostle Peter tells the church to love each other. Do you love each other in your church?

They are not just to love each other, they must love each other deeply. It must not be the formality love of declaring love when you do not mean it. They should not be loving each other for Public Relations purposes. Love where you visit a bereaved home to fulfill the requirement and not necessarily to comfort them. Love where you only greet your neighbor in church when it is a request from the preacher. Apostle Peter tells the church to love each other DEEPLY. Do you love each other deeply in your church? Do leaders and fellow members love you deeply? Do you love your leaders and fellow members deeply?

The love command seems simple and a light issue, until you realize it is connected to being ready for the next life that God has prepared for us. No love for each other no eternity. Lack of love for each other means we are not converted. Lack of deep love for each other means we do not have the Holy Spirit. Lack of deep love for each other means we are not growing in faith. We either love each other deeply or we perish as hypocrites.

How we treat each other in the church, says more about our faith than any creed or list of fundamental beliefs. Core beliefs are empty rhetoric if within us we are unable to love each other deeply. The following verses emphasize how we treat each other in the church. Bottom line is that we must love each other deeply. Love a member of another race, tribe, and political affiliation deeply, so deeply that you will not hurt them with posts on social media or words and actions anywhere else.

1 Peter 4:9
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
1 Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Apostle Peter speaks to the church and in a few words he says, treat each other nicely. Serve each other. Communicate to each other nicely. That is what happens when you love each other deeply. People who love each other deeply have the Spirit of God and are ready for translation into a better life, eternal life.

In our key text today, Apostle Peter mentions that when we love each other deeply, love will cover a multitude of sins. These words are repeated in scripture both Old and New Testament. Love covers a multitude of sins.

We are sinners and we sin against each other. When you catch a sinner, you can punish them and one way is to expose them so that they are embarrassed and ashamed. When we expose sinners, they look terribly bad, while we look good in comparison. This is what attracts many people to expose sinners. Expose mistakes. Expose scandals. Blow whistles over malpractices. Many times they have no solution, they just derive pleasure in looking good for having embarrassed a fellow believer. The love that heaven-bound people have is different. That love covers a multitude of sins.

Sinners can be corrected and rehabilitated without being embarrassed. If you note a person is in serious sin that would be scandalous, you tell them and help them so that they reform without getting the shame of being exposed. Exposure does not rectify bad behavior. It is not the divine way of doing things. Love covers a multitude of sins!

When you have a child with bad behavior, you hide it as much as possible. You do not announce to everyone that my child is a glutton. Love covers a multitude of sins. Why do you expose a leader or a fellow believer? Is it revenge? Is it self-righteousness?

Spouses hide each other’s wrongdoing. When a spouse exposes their partner, they have failed miserably in that partnership. There is no love. To tell the world that my spouse is so bad because he or she does this and that is a sign of immaturity in faith and life in general. Why tell the world about the weaknesses of your spouse? Many times its revenge and an attempt to blackmail, hurt, and embarrass. He doesn’t perform. She is dirty and careless. That is a sign of immaturity and lost love. Love in its true sense covers a multitude of sins!

Church members are sinners saved by grace. Church leaders are sinners saved by grace. When they worship together they will discover many sins of each other. They will discover that the person everyone believes is good and perfect is actually struggling with some sin. Exposing and embarrassing doesn’t make the church look good. Counseling and supporting each other to overcome sin is a better way. Love covers a multitude of sins!

Jesus covered the sins of a woman caught in the act of adultery, John 8:3-4. Jesus did not expose her by delving deep into the details of how, when, and with whom she committed adultery. Jesus made the moment bearable by going straight into forgiving her and forging a way forward. Jesus covered her multitudes of sins, John 8:10-11.

Love doesn’t cover one sin or two here and there, it covers a multitude of sins. That means it will be repeated several times. Keep covering each other. Have your sins been covered by your church leaders and members? Have you covered the sins of your church leaders and members? Love according to the Bible, covers a multitude of sins.

How does your church process the discipline of a member? Does it seek to protect dignity by covering a multitude of sins or does it expose, and embarrasses in a manner that the disfellowshipped member may never return? If someone has confessed to abuse of alcohol and drugs, must the details be shared with the whole church and embarrass even their family? If immorality is confirmed, doesn’t that suffice? Must details be shared without care and concern for their personal dignity? Love that is heaven-bound can still discipline while covering a multitude of sins.

Isaiah 58:1
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

Shout to my people, not their neighbors. Declare their rebellion to them. Tell them their sins. That is how we correct. not telling others. Tell the sinner not others. Correct the one who did wrong and not another. Lover covers from others. You cover what you know. You know you sinned, I know you sinned, I cover you as I help you overcome that challenge. Love covers a multitude of sins!

May God make the church a place of genuine deep love. A place where it is safe enough for sinners to come for healing. A place where as we correct each other, we also cover not one or two but a multitude of sins. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

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