Wayfaring Strangers
A study of 1 Peter
Part 7
“Got Milk”
1 Peter 2:1-3
Today is part 7 of our on-going study of 1 Peter
Titled Wayfaring Strangers
We have learned that Peter was writing to the believers who were scattered because of their faith
And how we
As believers in a hostile world
Are also wayfaring strangers
Over the last few weeks we have taken a hard look at how we as believers will face hard times
And how with the help of God we can learn to not only overcome these tough times
But actually, grow in spiritual maturity because of them
We looked hard at our salvation and exactly what that means
Seeing that salvation is initiated by God
He chose us
The Holy Spirit spoke to our Hearts
Convicted us of our sins
Caused us to reach out to Christ
Who in turn cleansed us from our sin the moment we accepted him
We saw how this salvation was planned before the creation of the world and how the
Old Testament prophets wrote about it
But did not understand it
And we also saw that we while we have received this gift in full
But we also will not fully grasp what we have received until Jesus returns
Chapter one is about hoping in Jesus in the midst of suffering.
Chapter 2 begins unwrapping what we are to become in Christ
How we should act
Talk
Live
Now that we have been redeemed
In Days past God spoke through his prophets
But now
He primarily speaks to us through his Word
The word is what guides us
Gives us the rules for living a righteous life
The word answers life’s most difficult questions
And if taken in daily
Will change our lives
We should crave God’s word
If you have ever come to me for counseling
You know I will ask about your quiet time
It is imperative, if we want to grow in spiritual maturity
If we want to become more like Jesus
That we put the word in us
Desire the word of God
Crave it
Long For it
None of us have a desire problem
We all crave something
Long for something
The problem is we desire the wrong things
We crave the wrong Things
We long for the wrong things
And we get ourselves into tight spots
By Not acting like the believers that we are
Let’s read 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 1-3
Peter says
Because you have been born again
Because God sent Jesus to forgive your sins
Because you have received the guarantee of a priceless inheritance
That you should prepare your minds for action
Exercise self-control
Fear God--- expand on this
Love others just as God loves you
And
Chapter 2 verses 1-3
“So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
Just a few short verses 3 in all
That if lived
If applied
Can change our Lives
Verse 1a
“So get rid of all evil behavior”
So, what is evil behavior?
When we think of evil behavior
We often want to think of people like the shooters at the recent mass killings
Or Hannibal Lector from silence of the Lambs
These are indeed examples of evil behavior
But
In the world today, there is often a fine line between good and bad
God is very clear on the difference
All types of sexual immorality including porn , written and visual fit in this category
God says don’t
And we
Should not
Other types of evil behavior are
Lying
Stealing
Manipulating
Gossiping
Back biting
Grumbling
Complaining
Causing division and dissention
Self-worship
Placing other things in the place of God in your life
Selfishness
Self-centeredness
Addictions
I could go on and on
All of these things are evil because they take our focus off of God
They destroy our witness
When we as Christians do these thing
Even though God says don’t
What we are telling the non-believing world is
I call myself a Christian
But I don’t really believe God’s word
Peter says get rid of it
Get rid of it
Get rid of it
And he gives us the way in just a few more verses
But now he continues with the things we must get out of our lives
Verse 1d
“Be done with all deceit”
Deceit
Webster’s dictionary defines deceit as ----
“the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.”
Concealing the truth
And misrepresenting the truth
The world says what they don’t know won’t hurt them
God says deal truthfully in all areas of your life
Relationships are built on trust
Deceit has no place in a Christians life
Verse 1c
“hypocrisy”
The word hypocrite comes from the word hypocrisy
Webster’s says it this way
“the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform;”
In simple terms saying one thing and doing another
Let’s get real
We all have areas of hypocrisy in our lives
But in order to grow in spiritual maturity
And show the world that we are Bona Fide believers
We must identify those areas
And then take action
To rid ourselves of this hypocrisy
Verse 1d
“jealousy”
Webster’s says this about being jealous
“feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages.”
When we are jealous of what others have or have accomplished
We are saying
God
You did not give me your best
And this can build a wall between us and God
And once again
Destroy our witness
Why
Because Jealousy produces
Anger
Bitterness
Hatred
Low self esteem
And a focus on unhealthy, unbiblical things
Instead of thanking god for what we have
We like spoiled little brats
Say I want that!!!
Peter says get rid of it
Verse 1e
“and all unkind speech”
Rudeness
Harshness
Foul, profane and vulgar language
Dirty jokes
Lewd remarks
Cut downs
Insults
Back handed remarks
Slander
I wish the nursery rhyme
Sticks and stone can break my bones
But words will never hurt me were true
Words can build others up
Or tear them down
Unkind words can destroy self esteem
Unkind words can destroy our witness
Unkind words tear others down
We as believers are supposed to build them up
This includes social media
It is amazing that people will write something about someone that they would never say to their face
We need to speak love and life into people
Not hate and death
So how do we rid ourselves of these things?
Peter gives us a good plan in verse 2
Verse 2
2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,”
Crave God’s word
Open God’s word
Read God’s word
Think about God’s word
Apply God’s word to your lives
Peter tells us to long for the word because it will kill sinful desires and grow us into our salvation.
Remember we talked last week about not fully understanding salvation
Or receiving all it has to offer till Christ returns
This is what Peter means
Some take this verse to mean there are levels of salvation
This is not true
You are saved when you accept Christ as savior
But like babies must learn to rollover
Then crawl
Then walk
Then run
We grow into our salvation
Simply meaning we understand it more
Prayerfully appreciate it more
And desire to become more like the one who gave it to us
Peter describes the word as Milk
Pure spiritual Milk
Not contaminated by the world
We Desperately Need This Spiritual Milk
The world desperately needs this spiritual milk
There is possibly not a stronger craving in the world that that of a newborn for milk
Watching a calf or a colt
Struggle to its feet
Just a few minutes after being born
And instinctively searching for the source of the life-giving milk it needs
Peter tells us this is how we should crave the word
Treating it as a necessity
As Life Giving
If that calf or colt I mentioned took getting the milk it needed as unimportant as many Christians take receiving the pure milk of God’s word
Not many calves or colts would make it through the first days of life
Every one of us are told to long for
Yearn for
Thirst after
crave the word.
Do you have strong desires for the word?
Peter compares us to newborn babies.
You don't have to tell a baby to desire their mother’s milk.
They will make it loud and clear that they want to be fed.
They will nurse on demand if you let them.
But nursing is not just for feeding; it is also for comfort and relational connection with the mother.
When they lose their appetite we become alarmed, something must be wrong
I want you to notice here
Peter does not tell us to just read the bible
Or even just study the bible
He tells us to long for it
Desire it
Once again, the issue is not with our desire
But that we desire the wrong things.
Why should we get rid of evil behavior?
Why should we throw out deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy and all kinds of unkind speech?
We should we crave the life-giving Word of God
Peter gives us the answer in verse 3
“3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”
We should do these things because we have received a taste of God’s kindness
Because God loved us enough to give his Son Jesus as sacrifice for us
We should desire these things because we are not going to receive what we deserve
We should
Because we are new creations
With a new heart
Have a new desire
And that desire is to be more like Christ
In all we say and do
And here is our instruction manual
If you are not craving the word
It does not mean you are not saved
Salvation comes from placing your faith and trust in Christ
But it does mean you are lacking key ingredients needed for growth
Desire
You can be moral and appear religious, but you are not fooling God.
If you are a Christ follower, your faith will be like those Zambian Kids I talked about some time back
Stunted
Sin destroys our appetite for God and the word destroys our appetite for sin.
This book kills sin but you must spend time in it
study it
mediate on it
and apply it to your life
Close from the heart
Pray
