Born To Grow
(I Peter 1:22-2:3)
1. After a very difficult day at the office, a psychologist walked through his front door and said, "Honey, I’ve had a terrible day. All I did was listen to one problem after another. So, please, don’t tell me about any more problems. Talk to me, but just give me the good news." The wife quickly restrategized and said, "O.K. The good news is . . . two of our three children didn’t break an arm today."
· Rotarian, April 1993, p. 64
2. Story: Lee Iacocca once asked legendary football coach Vince Lombardi what it took to make a winning team. The book, Iaccoca, records Lombardi’s answer: There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: if you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself: If I didn’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his. “The difference between mediocrity and greatness,” Lombardi said that night, “is the feeling these guys have for each other.” Point: In a healthy church, each Christian learns to care for others. As we take seriously Jesus’ command to love another, we contribute to a winning team. [Sermoncentral, Todd Fetters]
What is Christian love? How does it differ from people pleasing? How does it differ from having a warm or cold personality? How does it interface with truth?
Main Idea: Christian maturity shows itself in Christian love.
I. Maturity Begins With BIRTH: Regeneration (22-25)
Perfect participles: a done deal
A. CLEANSING Through Repentance and Faith (22)
1. Now that you have purified yourself
2. Although God works in us to bring us to the this point, we do make a choice
B. Regeneration Through the WORD (23-25)
1. This occurred first; it is the underlying cause of repentance
2. The Word of the Lord endures forever
----old commentaries from centuries back ---
---it not only endures, it is always relevant ---it never even wilts!!!
C. The command to LOVE our brothers is sandwiched
1. Who are our brothers?
2. Some challenged to find their identity in their old peer groups (4:3)
3. Rich Christians found themselves fellowshipping with poor slaves…Jews with gentiles
4. The word for love here means, "brotherly love" which is heart-felt, not just duty
5. It is based on being socially connected, fellowship, knowing one another
6. Not the same as people pleasing, or having a warm personality; you do not have to be an extrovert to love Biblically, but you have to care and express that care…
John Piper summarizes: "So the picture is complete: the lamp of love is held up and made possible by two pillars. One pillar is God’s sovereign act -- his causing us to be born again through the living and abiding Word of God. The other pillar is our response to that divine act: as new-born children of God we hear the Word of our Father and obey by putting our hope in him. And when we hope in him -- that the future he plans for us is greater than all the glory the world can offer -- then our hearts will be clean, and we will be free to love each other earnestly from the heart."
II. Maturity Requires NURTURE (2:1-2)
A. Saying goodbye to ILL will (1) – like food that harms our health
It takes a SAFE environment for Christian love to thrive
Although we are supposed to put all sins away from us, these particular sins destroy good relationships. If we are characterized by these qualities, people will not open up to us, and we will not open up to them. I
1. Malice = wickedness, cruelty --put down humor often masks this
2. Deceit = a Greek word, meaning to "catch by bait" (tricky, manipulative)
3. Hypocrisy = to pretend to be whom I am not
4. Envy = jealousy or setting up a competition in my mind
5. Slander = defamation of character
"Pastor Ed can hardly remember anything unless he gets a note" is not defamation; it is true and does not attack my character.
"Pastor Ed does not have a heart for God" = defamation of character
B. Saying hello to the WORD (2) – food that nurtures our souls
• imagery: we nurse on the Word
• we gain nurture through the Word
• Psalm 138:1-2, " I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word."
• Nothing, other than a heart prepared by the Spirit, is probably more important than God’s Word when it comes to spiritual growth!!!
III. Nurture Means Advancing PAST Childhood (3)
A. Many Christians do GET this
• I Corinthians 11:3, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."
• When it comes to our physical bodies, we do not have much choice; they mature
• When it comes to our emotional/intellectual maturity, some people are mentally handicapped, but, otherwise, most of us mature, even though we do not know how; we have no game plan, just do what everyone else is doing
• But spiritual maturity is different; it does not result from the passing of time; if we do what most everyone else is doing, we will not attain it.
B. When we mature out of milk, we are ready for the MEAT of the Word
1. I Corinthians 3:1-3a, "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly."
2. Hebrews 5:11-14, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
3. Being an active soldier and training for the Lord promotes appetite for the Lord!
C. Failure to feast on either the milk of the Word or the meat is not due to INTELLECTUAL limitations, but not USING what one already knows
D. We must LEAVE behind those who are stubbornly immature
CONCLUSION
Simple tips to help you aim for maturity
1. Mailbox club lessons; a great way to start; put a note in the Pastor’s Box and Pastor Ed will have the first lesson in your church mailbox for next week. Free.
2. Daily Bible reading, at least one chapter per day beginning in John. After reading through the entire New Testament, and then tackle the Old. If you have a good study Bible (I recommend the Ryrie), the footnotes will answer many questions.
3. Come to as many of the following as you can. Take notes: Church services, Sunday School, Bible studies, Sunday night events, and special events. Many believers find that the Daily Bread helps them keep the Lord on mind during the week.
4. Use our church library. Commentaries by Warren Wiersbe are simple but solid (for studying a certain book of the Bible). Read books that will stretch your knowledge or your walk. Read within many categories (Bible, theology, Christian living, missions, etc.)
5. Don’t fill up on "junk food;" many – not all – television preachers, for example, are "junk food"; because someone is inspiring does not mean he is in line with the Word. Listen to WIWC radio (91.7) or WGNR for solid teaching. Moody hand picks who they want on their station, whereas television stations and many Christian radio stations sell airtime. WFRN is a great music station.
6. Connect to other believers in flock groups, Sunday School class, men’s/women’s groups, or by taking old-fashioned initiative. Serve based upon your gifts and abilities. Helping out will help connect you to others and will bless you as you serve Him.
