Title: "Living Word "
Big Idea: Purified Soul, Sincere Love, a New Birth, Desire For a New Life, Spiritual Growth.
1) The Word Produces - a Purified Soul (vs.1:22)
2) The Word Produces - a New birth (vs. 1:23)
3) The Word Produces - Spiritual Growth (vs. 2:2)
Read Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:22-25-1 Peter 2:1-3 3 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, (1:23) having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
(1:24) because
"All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
(1:25) But the word of the Lord endures forever."
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
(2:1) Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, (2:2) as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, (2:3) if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
NKJV
1) The Word Produces - a Purified Soul (vs.1:22)
1 Peter 1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, NKJV
a. Peter's use of the word "purified" is not implying that our soul was filled with the righteousness of God. but the this "purification" takes place as we empty ourselves of all the impurities which defile our soul. This emptying of self creates a place in which is filled with the spirit of God. The evidence of the infilling of the Holy Spirit is demonstrated in the "sincere love" of brethren.
(Illustration) When a person plugs in a power cord to an appliance the electricity flows from the source through the individual conductors to the appliance and infuses the appliance with power to operate. Without that power the purpose and use of the appliance is useless. God infuses us through the conductor of the Holy Spirit, it is the power of God that empowers our lives to fulfill the task of "sincere love". "To know God is to Love with a pure heart".
b. The words "have purified" are from the perfect tense verb in the Greek. That is, a pass completed process that is consistent and habitual obedience to the word had resulted in the purifying of their soul. Obedience will produce results so that their souls were in the present state of purification. They also rectified an existing evil practice in their lives that of hypocritical affection for their Christian brethren. The lesson for us is that our obedience of God's word are heart of life is being purified and this purification process puts sin out of our experience.(Word studies in the Greek New Testament)
c. Sincere Love-The Greek word used to define the "sincere love" means an "unfeigned" (anupókriton) or a genuine love, free from hypocrisy. There is no motivation to love one another than the love of God in and through us.
d. This love that flows from God is able to overcome all the fleshly desires, however purification process is not just external but must begin with our spiritual heart and allow it to work it out in our lives. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3 "ye must be born again" The regeneration process must start with the dying to self and the things of this world and become new through the "new birth". We are a new creation and all that we were has passed away. Then we must begin the process of living in and through the Spirit.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV
e. We have two wonderful "assistants" to help us: (1) the Word of God and the (2) Spirit of God. The same truth that we trusted and obeyed to become God's children also nurtures and empowers us. It is impossible to love the truth and hate the brethren. The Spirit of God produces the "fruit of the Spirit" in our lives, and the first of these is love (Gal 5:22-23). If we are filled with the Word of God (Col 3:16 ff) and the Spirit of God (Eph 5:18 ff), we will manifest the love of God in our daily experiences.
(from The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright © 1989 by Chariot Victor Publishing, and imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. NKJV
Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, NKJV
John 7:37-38 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. KJV
2 Corinthians 6:6 by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, NKJV
Text Illustration:
THE "STREAM OF FORGIVENESS"
Mirosalv Volf wrote a fantastic book on forgiveness titled "Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace." In the book he uses the beautiful imagery of a stream to show how God's character (love) is poured into us by His Spirit and becomes our character.
God is certainly the fountainhead. The stream of love and forgiveness flows from Him because it is His nature and character. Mistakenly, we often think we are at the end point of the stream ... the recipient ... the forgiven one. But, truth be told, we all stand mid-stream. We are indeed recipients but not the end ... we receive His character and then as it becomes our character we pass that same love and forgiveness on to others. We forgive even as we have been forgiven (Col. 3:13).
2) The Word Produces - a New birth (vs. 1:23)
1 Peter 1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, NKJV
a. The phrase "born again" appears 3 times in the New Testament, (1) John 3:3 , John 3:7 and 1 Peter 1:23. Jesus said that in order to see the kingdom of heaven we must be born of water and the Spirit. While there may be a difference. The term "be born again" (Jn 3:3) consist of three words in translating, the first two "be born" (Strong's # 1080) or to regenerate. We are all sinners (Rom 5:12) and the payment for that sin is death and eternal separation for God. Jesus told Nicodemus that unless we are "regenerated" we cannot see the kingdom of God. However the regeneration process must begin not just today and go forward but it must start at the beginning, Jesus did not say that you must "be born" sinless but He said must "be born again" therefore He is saying that the regeneration must tack place as if we born into this world "new". As if we were starting this life all over again. We were not to be born not of corrupted seed (the flesh) but of the spirit of "incorruptible seed."
Illustration: A farmer prepares his field for spring planting. He plows, disk, he fertilizes and he plants the seed. All this preparation and expense in order to harvest his desired crop. However when he goes to buy his seed he see seed that is bargain priced and seed that is premium priced. He decides to purchased the bargain and priced to save the money. He discovers too late that the bargain was no bargain at all. When harvest time comes he discovers he has lost everything. When we live a live without Jesus we will discover too late that we have lost everything But the price for the premium seed though expensive was actually free, it was paid for by another, Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, NKJV
3) The Word Produces - Spiritual Growth (vs. 2:2)
1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, NKJV
a. The "new birth" gives us a desire for the Word of God. Peter uses the analogy of a baby that is born into this world, from the moment of birth the baby has a hunger. When we are "born again" we have a hunger to know more about God. God has given us His Word in order that we can have a closer relationship with Him as we learn more and more about Him. When we have a spiritual desire for the "pure milk of the Word" it enables us to grow and mature as a Child of the Most High God. Paul stated in 1 Cor 3:2 that spiritual babies are not able mature into teachers of the precepts of God.
1 Cor 3:2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; NKJV
Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. NKJV
Heb 5:13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. NKJV
Text Illustration: There are no short cuts to maturity.
It takes years for us to grow to adulthood, and it takes a full season for fruit to mature and ripen. The same is true for the fruit of the Spirit. The development of Christlike character cannot be rushed. Spiritual growth, like physical growth, takes time.
When you try to ripen fruit quickly, it loses its flavor. In America, tomatoes are usually picked unripened so they won’t bruise during shipping to the stores. Then, before they are sold, these green tomatoes are sprayed with CO2 gas to turn them red instantly. Gassed tomatoes are edible, but they are no match to the flavor of a vine-ripened tomato that is allowed to mature slowly. (Sermon Central)
Conclusion:
Text Illustration:
One day Billy and Ruth Graham were driving through a long stretch of road construction. They had numerous slowdowns, detours, and stops along the way. Finally they reached the end of all that difficulty, and smooth pavement stretched out before them. This sign caught Ruth’s attention: "End of construction. Thanks for your patience." She commented that those words would be a fitting inscription on her tombstone someday.
As a matter of fact, those words fit all of us as believers, because in this life we are "under construction." When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we begin the lifelong process of spiritual growth. The Holy Spirit works in us to remove our selfishness (Philippians 2:4), to renew our thinking (Romans 12:2), and to develop qualities in us that are more and more Christlike (Colossians 3:5-14). Paul described this process as a work of God. He said, "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
As we travel heavenward, let’s cooperate with God’s construction of our lives. When His work in us is complete, "we shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2), perfectly conformed to our Savior’s likeness. —VCG . (Sermon Central)
