1 PETER 2: 1-3 [Renewing Hope Series]
DESIRING ETERNAL GROWTH
[Philippians 3:7-14]
God's imperishable Word stands forever. This imperishable Word was the content of Peter's preaching (1:12, 25). He preached the Word for God's Word has life. He preached the Word for God's Word gives life. He preached the Word for God's Word nourishes life. Thus the Christian's life should be a spiritually growing life. But in order to grow in eternal ways we need eternal nourishment. Just as we were all conceived by the eternal Word of God, as newborn babes, we're to continue in the Word of God. Lived out truth produces growth (CIT).
Mark Twain is quoted as saying, "Most people are bothered by those passages in the Bible which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always notice that the passages in the Scripture which trouble me the most are those which I do understand." His statement is a commentary of this passage. The question is, what are we going to do about it? [Cedar, Paul. The Preacher's Commentary Series, Vol. 34 : James / 1 & 2 Peter / Jude. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1984, S. 133.]
Birth must be followed by nurture. And just as a natural baby requires milk in order to be nourished and to grow, so must a spiritual baby have the milk of God's Word in order to be nourished and to grow up in Christ. That is a contention which Peter makes so directly and plainly that none of us can miss it! [Ibid. 133]
God therefore invites us to take four specific steps.
I. LAY ASIDE EVIL, 1.
II. LONG FOR THE WORD, 2.
III. GROW UP SPIRITUALLY, 2b.
IV. LIVE THE LIFE, 3.
Verse 1 speaks to the believers need to repent from our fallen human condition in order to experience the life-changing power of God's Word. "Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,"
New life in Christ calls for continuous repentance. "Therefore, rid yourselves." The verb used [is apot¨ªth¨¥mi which] means "to get rid of, to cast it off, to discard." How we rid of sin is by repentance. True repentance must always begin with putting off evil and turning from it.
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1). To repent means we turn and keep turning from every form of sin.
Do you realize how many of our problems would be resolved if we took that counsel seriously? If we would only flee from sin, our lives would be so much more full and blessed. Sin deprives us of God's best, and yet often we play games with sin. We brush as close as we can without being burned. But sin is never without consequence. What we sow, we reap. "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption" (Gal. 6:8).
Peter listed five sins that destroy the Christians and the churches growth and effectiveness. They are sins of attitude and speech, which if harbored drive wedges between believers.
The kinds of sin which we all should lay aside or cast off begins with "malice" (kak¨ªa), a general word for depravity and wickedness. It's wicked ill-will. Malice is a desire to hurt someone with words or deeds.
Next it lists "all deceit." Deceit (dolos) or guile is deliberate dishonesty. It is a desire to gain some advantage or preserve some position by deceiving others. It refers to a hidden agenda. The biggest and best deceiver in the world is Satan.
The list also includes hypocrisy. Hypocrisy (hup¨®kriseis) depicts play acting or acting a part. It is pretended morality and love. A desire to hide what really is.
We also need to lay aside "envy." Envy (phth¨®nos) is "jealousy, resentful discontent." Envy is a desire for some privilege or benefit that belongs to another with resentment that another has it and you don't.
The list concludes with "and all slander." It can be translated as "a defamation of character" or "slander of every kind." It is evil speaking (katalali¨¢), which is often disguised as a rumor or private information, though in reality it is backbiting lies. Slander is the desire for revenge and self-enhancement, [often driven by the deeper desire to deflect attention from our own failings. The worse light we can put another in by slander, the less our own darkness shows.]
All of these forms of sin deal with that which is untrue. Sin is always deceitful and untrue. God is the source of all truth and Satan is the source of untruth. From the time he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden, Satan has shared lies, deception, and half-truths with mankind. If we are to enjoy the life of truth and love and hope, we must cast off all the evil. [Cedar, S. 134.]
None of these works of the flesh have any place in those who are born again. Rather, in obedience to the Word, believers are to make decisive breaks with the past. Yet the break to rid ourselves [to which Peter is calling us] is not a one time event, but it is to be a life long process. [We need to "put aside" ANY behavior that hinders us from growing as a Christian.]
[The way that God liberates us from evil desires is to give us a vivid image of what Christ can do in our lives. The closer we come to Christ, the more He replaces our desires with His.]
How is that going to happen? Is there a way or instrument that God uses to enable us to move on from our past attitudes, habits and sins?
II. LONG FOR THE WORD, 2.
In place of these destructive attitudes we are charged in verse 2 to have a craving for the Word of Life. "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,"
The strong word translated "long for" [epipoth¨¦¨ ] means to have an "intense desire for, to crave." As we turn away from evil, we must take the second step of repentance; we must turn to God. In fact, we must not only turn to God, but we must do so with resolution and aggressiveness (Heb. 12:2).
[The word epipoth¨¦¨ is used by Paul in Romans 1:11 when he writes, "I long to see you" and when he writes to young Timothy, I am "greatly desiring to see you" (2 Tim. 1:4).]
If you're a parent, you know how NEWBORN BABES crave milk. Through the years God gave me four babies. Though born in different places and years apart, each of them came with a built-in craving for milk. In the middle of the night, they want milk. When you're trying to study, they want milk. Every few hours they want milk. We didn't teach them to like it. We didn't have to beg them to take it. They just came with an inborn craving for milk.
They send out notices when it is feeding time. And if we're a little late in coming, the house or apartment is filled with the sounds of insistence. Then, when Mom or the bottle finally arrived, they went after it for all they were worth. And they don't stop until it is empty or the craving is fully satisfied.
Their desire is basic instinct and their behavior is instinctive. They want milk from mom without having been taught to do so. They don't decide when they want food, they only respond to that basic drive. And that most basic need is satisfied when they take in their milk.
In the same sense, the Christian hungers for food for the spirit. He does not always know what it is he hungers for. He is only aware of a terrible emptiness. Augustine prayed, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds rest in Thee." The milk of the Word, like a mother's milk, nourishes us from the life of the One who gives it.
Peter doesn't say if we're newborn babes, or when we're newborn babes, or while we're newborn babes but rather we're to continue all the days of our lives as newborn babes, craving the sincere milk of the Word.
We begin the Christian life by means of a spiritual birth. As we are born again "by the word of God" (1 Peter 1:23), so we grow by the milk of that Word. Should there not be a natural craving for the Word that comes with the new birth experience?
The brother of a friend of mine received Christ. He had a strong desire to know God's Word. In fact, the day he was born again, he stayed up all night reading the gospels. I wonder, how long has it been since you or I have craved God's. Word like that? Lord, help us to develop a craving for the pure milk of Your Word.
Hopefully, every Christian is a growing one. Having begun as spiritual infants, we progress through the childhood stages of faith as we move toward maturity. While the Bible expects the ability of a full-grown digesting of the meat of the Word, there's a sense in which we should never lose our babyhood craving for its genuine milk. The ideal is a mature believer with an unsatisfied craving that never leaves. In fact you should pray for an inner craving for the Word of truth to be sustained in you all the days of your life.
The child can only act instinctively; he cannot direct his appetite and he cannot determine the source of its satisfaction. Christians, however, can determine whether they will or will not feed themselves on the "pure milk of the Word." They can decide, therefore, whether they will feed themself on the food of the world or the food of the Word.
That's why we are to lay aside the slow-burning anger of malice, the trickery of guile, and the divisiveness of hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking. The degree to which those attributes exist in our lives will be the degree to which our hunger for the Word will be diminished.
No matter how good the meal my wife, Lori, prepares for me, if I stop off at McDonald's on the way home and score a couple of Quarter Pounders with large fries--and super-size the whole deal--when I get home, I won't be interested in what she's made.
When people stop reading or studying the Word, it's because they're eating the junk food of the world. That's why Peter says, "First lay aside the junk and then you will desire the milk of the Word." [Courson, Jon: Jon Courson's Application Commentary. Nashville, TN : Thomas Nelson, 2003, S. 1552]
A maturing Christian has a sense of deep longing, even as a baby deeply longs or craves for milk.
A spiritually healthy Christian is a spiritually hungry Christian. If you are not hungry, you are not healthy. I know if I am not physically hungry, I am usually SICK!
[Paul also refers to the Word of God as nourishing milk in Corinthians 3:2. "I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it". As babies need physical milk, so spiritual babies need spiritual milk so that they may grow up to maturity and begin to need and enjoy the nourishment of solid spiritual food.]
The desire which God wants us to have is for the pure milk of His Word. The word "pure" ¨¢dolos is a technical term that was used to describe unmixed. It means "unadulterated," "undeceitful," or "genuine." In other words, the pure milk of God's Word is truth as opposed to the evil or non-truth which we are to put off. As newborn babes, we should have that powerful desire or craving for the pure milk of God's Word.
[Pure [adolon] is deliberately contrasted with "deceit" [dolon] in v. 1. God's Word does not deceive; neither should God's children.] Christians should approach the Word with clean hearts and minds (v. 1) in eager anticipation, with a desire to grow spiritually. Just as we would not offer a baby impure milk, so God has not supplied an impure word. It is pure in the sense of being genuine. We can trust it totally. What Peter longs for is God's word, pure without human traditions or falsehoods added to it or anything else that would destroy its purity.
Having been born again, and recognizing the eternal value of God's Word, we are to rid ourselves of malice and deceit, and crave God's Word as a newborn desires milk. Peter wanted his readers to be as eager for the nourishment of the Word as babies are for milk. After believers cast out impure desires and motives (v. 1), they then need to feed on wholesome spiritual food that produces growth.
III. GROW UP SPIRITUALLY, 2b.
Why are we to crave the pure Word? The same Word that regenerated us is also instrumental in our spiritual growth. Verse 2 continues, "So that you may grow in respect to salvation,"
Notice we are told to long for this milk so we can grow in respect to salvation! A little girl fell out of bed one night. When her mother asked what happened she responded, "I guess I went asleep too close to where I got in." That's the problem of many Christians. How we need to be challenged to start growing as Christians again.
Peter declared that the purpose God has for every Christian's life is for us to grow in respect to salvation. Growth is expected of Christians and Peter indicates spiritual growth is tied to our final salvation. Spiritual growth in salvation does not pass away with death. It extends into the next world as well as this one. The Word will grow us into fuller and fuller expression of the salvation that has been given to us.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT) promises that, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work."
The Word teaches us what is truly important in life.
The Word shows us those things in our lives that must change.
The Word corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us how to live right side up.
The Word turns us from babies into mature Christians.
The Word is our spiritual food and without it we will die spiritually, but with it we will grow and become strong. Oh God gives us a passion for your Word again!]
God is concerned that we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ--that we no longer be spiritual babes or children tossed about with every wind of doctrine. Instead, that we may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head--Christ. And that we grow to become more and more like Him, measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13--16).
That is what Peter is addressing. He wants us to "grow up" spiritually. The verb which Peter uses for grow [is aux¨¢n¨ which] he also uses in his second letter when he concludes, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet. 3:18).
Many Christians do not enjoy the full benefits of their salvation because they don't grow up spiritually. They miss God's best for them. The blessings they get as spiritual babies seem to satisfy them. If only they realized the good things God has in store for those who, in the words of Hebrews 5:14, "are of full age"!
In his book Don't Park Here, C. William Fisher tells about driving in his car with his 4-year-old son at his side. "Byron, what do you want to be when you grow up to be a man?" he asked. The youngster replied, "I don't want to grow up to be a man." Surprised, his father asked, "Why not?" Byron replied, "Because then I couldn't ride my tricycle!"
Fisher wrote, "As I drove on, I thought, 'I'm sure I enjoyed my tricycle when I was 4, but I'm also sure that I enjoy much more the power and performance of my Olds today. '" Fisher then made this spiritual application: Many Christians cling to "their religious tricycles when they should be enjoying the surge of power and effectiveness of an Olds relationship."
We grow up as Christians by praying, studying God's Word, sharing the gospel, and obeying Christ. Let's not be satisfied to remain at the level we were when we first knew the Lord. Trikes are for tykes in the Christian life as well as in daily life. [RWD. Our Daily Bread. Radio Bible Class.]
How long have you been a Christian? If you were to chart your spiritual growth, would it show steady progress? What can you do today to grow more like Christ?
Peter also teaches us the need to...
IV. LIVE THE LIFE, 3.
The craving to grow seems to have something to do with tasting the kindness of God as verse 3 indicates. "if -since- you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
[Verse 3 is a quote from Psalm 34:8, which commands us to "Taste and see that the Lord is good."] They had taken a sample, having experienced God's grace in their new birth, and had found that indeed the Lord is good. They had tasted of the kindness [chr¨¥stos] of the Lord through His Word. Those who don't taste and see that the Lord is good never acquire much of a craving for the Word of God.
If we stop feeding on the word we stop growing so get a taste for the savory kindness of God as is found in the Word of God. If the word of God is powerful enough to create new Christians (through new birth), then the word of God is powerful enough to create desire in languishing Christian souls.
Let me share an effective approach to those who are agnostic or opposed to Christ. Simply encourage them to "taste" of the Word of God and what it tells them about Jesus Christ. Before anyone rejects Jesus Christ, they should at least explore His teachings and take a little taste of Him. Only then can you know whether He tastes good or bad. Only then can you authentically decide to follow Him or reject Him.
When we taste of the things of the Lord, we find that they are good and satisfying. Tasting leads to the deep desiring and craving for the pure milk of God's Word. [Cedar, S. 136.]
IN CLOSING
As I consider this passage, I am deeply impressed with the supreme importance Peter places on the Word of God. It is the Word of God which the Spirit of God employs to bring about our new birth. It is also the Word which produces spiritual growth. The Scriptures are supremely important to the believer. The Bible calls itself food. The value of food is not in the discussion it arouses but in the nourishment it imparts.
It is sad when Christians have no appetite for the Word and must be fed religious entertainment. Sometime children have no appetite because they have been eating junk food. May we lay aside the attitudes that hinder our appetite for the Word and spiritual growth.
