*Intro: We brought Josiah home last Thursday evening the 18th. As you might guess, the first night home was a bit tough for him. But, the hardest thing for me as his dad was that there was a 12-13 hour stretch on Friday that he didn’t eat. Kim would attempt to feed him and he had no interest. I talked to the Pediatrician and he said as long as Josiah seemed content, not to get too concerned. And, while I trust our Pediatrician 100%, he still couldn’t convince daddy to not be concerned. I had to run a couple of errands that afternoon during the non-eating stretch. While I was going through town, I was praying and crying out to God about my son not eating, reminding him that it was vital. There have been times in my life, where I have heard the Lord clearly speak to my heart. This was one of those times. He simply said to me, “I needed you to understand how a father feels when his child isn’t eating.” I was completely captive and taken aback at this point because to be honest, I expected something comforting from Him. In response, I began to repent of the times in my life lately where I have not been eating and doing what is vital in my own life spiritually.
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:1-3
Barriers to a Healthy Christian Appetite/Diet
1. Malice
a. Malice = maliciousness, evil, wickedness that is not ashamed to break laws, naughtiness
b. Defined as the intention or desire to do evil or ill will
c. Malice is shown in many ways.
i. Toward your family
ii. Toward your enemies
iii. Toward society in general
iv. Toward yourself
d. We want to be able to justify our actions, often by saying that the source of our malice had it coming to them.
e. How often is malice born out of hurt? Someone has been hurt by someone else and so they see the need to continue the cycle. HURTING PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE.
f. Any anger that you refuse to deal with is eventually going to destroy you or destroy someone around you. It will come out at some point.
2. Guile
a. Guile = guile, subtilty, deceit, craft
b. Defined as sly or cunning intelligence
c. How many times do people use craftiness or cunning approaches to get what they want out of an individual or a situation?
d. Genesis 3:1 describes the serpent (Satan) as being more crafty than any other.
e. Deception and guile are very closely associated with manipulation.
f. There are people who love to play on the weakness or ignorance of others in order to benefit themselves in some manner.
3. Hypocrisies
a. Hypocrisies = hypocrisy, dissimulation, condemnation; the acting of a stage player
b. Defined as the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.
c. We often focus on spiritual or religious hypocrisy, but take note here that Peter refers to the plural. What other areas of hypocrisy?
i. Social hypocrisy – when a person fits in with the crowd they are with just for the sake of appearance.
ii. Relational hypocrisy – telling someone what they want to hear so you can get what you want form them.
iii. Economic hypocrisy – desperately trying to keep up or fit in economically to the point of causing hurt, pain or sometimes even destruction.
4. Envies
a. Envies = envy or prompted by envy
b. Defined as feelings of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities or luck.
c. There are some people that the last thing they want is for things to go well for other people. Misery loves company.
d. Envy will drive a person to try and make someone else’s circumstances as bad as they see their own.
5. Evil Speakings
a. Evil Speakings = backbiting, evil speaking, defamation
b. This is often translated as BACKBITING. Pastor Rodney’s definition of backbiting: “SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT SOMEONE BEHIND THEIR BACKS WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE THE GUTS OR CLASS TO SAY IT TO THEIR FACE.”
c. We need to learn to talk to God about people in prayer instead of talking to people about people in gossip or backbiting.
*These sins that we are told to lay aside are all common in that they are sins committed against man. Our biggest struggle oftentimes is going to be the ones we commit against one another.
*Lay aside these things and desire and partake of God’s Word. This exhortation from Peter comes right on the heels of his explanation of the purpose and power of God’s Word in chapter 1 22-25. It is by and through the Word that we have been given life.
*If the Word of God is the initial source of life, should it not also serve as the sustaining source of life? That is God’s intention, but we so often get so many things in the way of the Word and the benefits of the Word.
