1 Peter 2:1-12 – Milk & Stones
Do you ever get a craving for something? I don’t mean something like, ‘oh, I’d like to have a cool glass of water right now,’ or ‘gee wouldn’t it be nice to eat a good steak tonight,’ or even ‘man I wish I was somewhere else right now.’ No, what I am asking is do you CRAVE anything? The kind of feeling I’m thinking of is something that gets your stomach all turned in knots just thinking about it; your mind races and cannot stop thinking about it (okay, turn that part of your brain off for now). It’s a deep desire, a pressing need, a longing, a yearning, or like I refer to sometimes as a real hankering for something. Some people have cravings for certain foods, like chocolate or other sweets, perhaps a favourite meal; I mean they REALLY want these things. Anyone here have a favourite food? Perhaps these foods give you a bit of a rush or a feeling of comfort that can’t be satisfied by anything else? We can crave other things too to get that ‘rush’. Maybe it’s a physical activity, like an extreme sport or other dangerous activity. I believe that’s one reason people race cars or jump out of airplanes or get on the back of a bucking bull…they have a craving for danger. And there are surely many other cravings we could mention.
But today, I want to ask if you crave the Word of God? Do you have a deep desire to get into it, and when you do, do you have trouble putting it down? Do you get a kind of euphoric feeling when you read something that perhaps you have not read before?
Turn in your Bible to 1 Peter, chapter 2. We’re going to take a look at the first 12 verses today, and see what it’s like to CRAVE the Word of God.
1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
The Living Stone and a Chosen People
4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame."[a] 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,[b]"[c] 8and,
"A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall."[d] They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Peter 2:6 Isaiah 28:16
b. 1 Peter 2:7 Or cornerstone
c. 1 Peter 2:7 Psalm 118:22
d. 1 Peter 2:8 Isaiah 8:14
• Before we can have a craving for the spiritual things of God, we have to clean house a bit. We need to get our hearts and minds focussed on the things of God, and to do that, we have to get rid of the things of the world. Peter gives us a list, not an exhaustive one by any means, but a pretty clear list of things that really should not be part of our lives at all. Malice (the desire to hurt someone else), deceit (lying), hypocrisy (saying one thing, but doing another), envy (wanting what someone else has), slander (saying things that hurt others’ reputations). These are things that should not exist in any way, shape or form in a Christian’s life, and not anyone’s for that matter. Who wants to be with folks that exhibit these kinds of morals? Wouldn’t we rather be people of character that others can trust? I hope so. We need to take a good look inside at who we really are, and what we are really like in our character, especially if we call ourselves followers of Christ, and see if there are any of these or other not-so-desirable traits in our lives, and if there are, we need to change those habits. Like dirty diapers, we need to get these things as far away from us as possible.
• Because if we don’t, then anyone who sees us acting in ways that contradict what a Christian should be, is going to judge us and think, what difference does it make to be a Christian? They’re just like everyone else, there’s no difference in their life that I would want to have…hypocrisy is one of the most dangerous things to have going in our lives. To say we are believers and act like it with one group, then when we’re in a different situation to act completely different, that’s a strong indictor that we need to re-think what it means to be a Christian.
• But if we ARE true believers, if we really have given our lives to God and put our faith and trust and our very being into His hands, then we have been what the Bible calls ‘reborn’ or ‘born again’. And as newborn babes, we need to be fed like an infant is fed, with milk. Babies crave milk, their mother’s milk. Any animal that feeds it’s offspring with milk is very aware of how much that new baby CRAVES milk. They want it, they need it, they drink till they can’t drink anymore, and their very life depends on the pure milk that their mother alone can offer them. Babies get so much from milk; it not just fills their bellies and stops them from crying because they’re hungry, they get nutrients to help them grow strong and healthy. Babies that drink formula are often heavier than breast-fed babies, but not necessarily healthier. Breast milk contains specific antibodies that protect babies from disease and allergies, and is area-specific to where the infant lives to protect him from diseases in his local environment. Milk contains at least 100 ingredients not found in formula. Need I go on? Milk, good, pure, natural milk, is best for babies.
• And the same is true for new baby believers. They need good, pure, spiritual milk to help them grow up in their spiritual lives. And that milk is the Word of God. They need milk to protect them from the disease of sin, like we just talked about getting rid of form our lives. There is more spiritual nutrition contained in the Bible than we could possibly imagine. Everything we need for life is found in the Word of God. It contains all the specific answers to al the questions we could have, all the situations we might find ourselves in, and it’s all pure, and true, and safe for us to digest.
• And it tastes good! So much in life might taste good at first, but soon loses its flavour, or we get bored with it. Not so with the Word of God. It is fresh every day. It is the most perfect food for our appetite for truth, for knowledge, for instruction, for finding God’s will…it’s all in there. And I believe the more we read it, the more we’ll want to read it. The more we get from it, the more we’ll want to get more. We’ll crave it, desire it, long for it. The Psalmist says in Psalm 119 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Do you like the taste of God’s Word?
• Now we move from milk to stones. In verses 4-8, Peter (whose name means ‘the rock’) speaks of the ‘living Stone’ (capital ‘S’). That ‘Stone’ is Jesus Christ. He is the One that the people God sent Him to rejected and crucified. He is the One that God sent to be the Solid Rock that we could stand on when the world seems to fall apart around us. The term ‘stone’ gives a sense of stability and security. I love the old hymn, On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand…and the other song too, more of a children’s song, but the message is very powerful, speaking from a parable of Jesus…the wise man built his house upon the rock, the foolish man built his house upon the sand. And when the rains came and the floods came, which house stood firm? Which one collapsed? What is YOUR house built on, what is going to happen to the structure of your life when the rains and floods of trouble come? If we build on the Rock, the Lord Jesus, our lives have a foundation that will not crumble when shaken up by whatever may come our way, whether that’s sickness, loss of a job, loss of our savings, or even the loss of a loved one. IF we choose to believe, to trust, and obey what He says in His Word, and live our lives like Him, we will stand firm.
• Because that’s exactly what we are, we are LIKE Him. Look at verse 5, you also, LIKE LIVING STONES…we are like Jesus. At least that’s what we are supposed to be! We are to be like Him in the way we live, the way we act, the way we work, the way we play, in every way, we are to be like Jesus. Remember what we learned just a couple weeks ago, we are to be holy, just as He is holy. How’s that going?
• We are special to God, so very special. We are His creation, but so much more than that, we are His children. And He loves His children, and wants them all to come home to be with Him forever. In verse 9, Peter gives us a beautiful analogy of who we are to God. First, we are chosen. It feels good to be chosen. Do you remember those commercials where a bunch of kids are standing in line, being chosen for two teams? And the last one to be chosen is a poor little kid names Albert. He feels awful, because he is the last one to be picked out of the crowd. Later though, we flash forward in his life and we are taken to a big hockey arena, and the crowd is cheering who’s name? Albert, Albert, Albert! Now he feels pretty good. Well, there’s someone calling out our names…and he wants us to be on His team.
• We are a royal priesthood. I listened to Jamey’s message from last week that he gave while we were away. He mentioned a great truth; that we are all on equal ground when it comes to our standing before God. No one is above or below anyone else. We are all priests in God’s eye, called to share the truth about God to all we meet, and live lives that exhibit His truth.
• We are a holy nation. We are a unique country as God sees us. Set apart, that’s holiness, to live our lives for Him in obedience to His Word as our constitution and statement of faith.
• And we belong to Him. God owns us. He paid for us by the blood Jesus shed on the cross. That was another message…bought and paid for. We are His. And God protects what He owns, nothing can snatch us out of His hands. No one can take our salvation from us. We belong to God. And our purpose is found in giving Him praise and spreading His love and light to the world. Once we were in darkness, before we knew God. Before we had a real purpose we wander around trying to find it. Oh we may think we have found it, but as time passes, so does the feeling of security in things that are temporary, things that don’t really satisfy our desires, things that don’t fulfill our goals. Things that are not what God intended for us. But when we receive the mercy of God, we find purpose, we find fulfillment, we find who we were meant to be.
• Have you heard the call? Have you answered the call? Have you stepped out in faith and said, Yes Lord I will join your team? You can do that right now, here today, while you listen, or while you read these notes. Simply say to the Lord, forgive me God, I have not lived my life in the way that You want me to. I have sinned against you by not obeying Your Word. Please forgive me. I want to live my life for you from this day forward. In know it will be hard, but I also know that You will be with me to help in the tough times and the good times. I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son, thank you for sending Him to die on the cross for my sins. I believe that You raised Him from the dead, and that He will one day return to this earth as King of kings, and Lord of lords. Come into my life, be Lord of my life from this day and forever. Amen!
