It’s Time To Grow Up Series

“It’s time to grow up”

1 Peter Sermon Series, Part 4

1 Peter 2:1-3

Introduction

- (v22) THEREFORE! … We have been purified by obeying the truth

-- We’ve cast off the things we desire to fully accept what He has for us

-- Why? Because of our sincere love for the Father we love one another!

-- APP: “Love God, Love People”

-- We have been granted an imperishable gift – one that never goes away

-- Why? Why would we be purchased and desire this imperishable gift?

- v24-25, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

- We are perishable, we are not eternal, and we will one day die and be gone

-- This is a fact, it is does not change, and our belief in it is not required

-- Just like the flowers come and go – we are compared as being the same

- But, something does remain and it remains for all of eternity … Word of God

-- John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

- Why does this matter? v25b, “And this is the word that was preached to you.”

-- APP: It has already been preached and already been given to us

- So, how does this apply to what we need to be doing, TODAY?

- Read 1 Peter 2:1-3

∆ Point 1 – Remove the Wickedness

- Commanded to rid ourselves of 5 specific behaviors of life today

-- When you see what these all mean, something interesting unfolds for us

1. Malice, GR: “kakian” – evil, wickedness

2. Deceit, GR: “dolon” – guile, treachery

3. Hypocrisy, GR: “hypokriseis” – play acting, acting out

4. Envy, GR: “phthonous” – jealousy

5. Slander, GR: “katalalias” – evil-speaking, backbiting

- Something interesting to note about all 5 of these attributes:

-- They all involved us judging others; not one of them exalts Christ

-- Every one of these attributes sets us in direct opposition to one another

-- Therefore, “Love God, Love People” isn’t even possible with these

- Peter writes to the church to remove ourselves from acting this way

-- To be un-self-absorbed; to promote one another; to un-exalt ourselves

- What Peter reminds the church of, again, is … “It ain’t about us!”

-- 1 Peter 1:22, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.”

- Now, right before we start thinking of someone who should be hearing this …

-- STOP! This is not written for “someone else”: it is written for you and I

- Remember, God never once asked us to pre-judged one another before He does

-- We are called to love; to lift up; and in the process to glorify Christ

- TRANS: How? Peter reminds us of this very specifically; speaks of our birth

∆ Point 2 – Remember when …

- Peter asks us to remember when we were spiritual babies (v2a)

-- At one time, you were an infant in the Word of God and we should live

-- Sure, we all like to think we have arrived; but that’s the pride of sin

-- APP: We never stop learning; once we do, we begin to die … spiritual

- A spiritual death is FAR greater than the physical one

-- It is where we tell God we’ve learned all we need and do not need Him

-- Again, don’t start thinking of some who should be hearing this; it’s for us

- Consider your own spiritual birth; the few days following your salvation

-- Remember how we craved the nourishment of the Word?

-- Remember how it fed and comforted us when we needed it?

-- Remember when we cried out to God and His peace comforted us?

-- Challenge: So when did it become routine, stagnant, and “old hat”?

- Some need to be reminded of their birth; reminded of what God has done

-- Dare I say: Some may even to recommit to following Christ … again!

-- Why? Because we’ve drifted and we’ve turned off the things of God

- We’ve turned away from who God is, to focus on who we think we are

-- James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

- Passages like this are not fun to preach; because they mean everything to us

-- They are a spiritual thermometer; a doorway into the places God wants to be