THE CHRISTIAN RESET
1 Peter 2:1-3
Every New Year people, and even in the church, start by getting themselves ready by improving on what they lacked in the previous year. Many Christians like Julie and I, are starting to organize what books we are going to read over the course of this year. Julie’s pile is much bigger than mine. We will get ready to go through the Bible again, which I believe is a great way of growing in the Scriptures. Not to say, that there isn’t going to be some road bumps as you try to fulfill all this. We do this, because in the new birth, we always want to strive to do better; not to win favor with God, but to honor Him as such.
This is the challenge for the born again Christian, as Paul address in chapter 2 of this letter. The born again child is born of incorruptible seed which is a genesis or new beginnings. (1:21-22) This is where we get the doctrine of regeneration. In order to embrace the things of God, meaning spiritual things a new birth is required, a birth brought forth by the supernatural power of God through the Spirit. R C Sproul said in his commentary, “If you are not reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit, you are not truly a Christian, and if you are reborn of the Holy Spirit, you are a Christian.” It’s this transformation and regeneration work that God does in the new birth; which this seed plants a love and delight in God’s Word. This is the mark of the truly saved as Jesus said, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32. Paul echoes this truth when he said, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,” Rom 7:22. This is the believer’s delight; this is the believer’s hymn, as we begin each New Year and as we live out the Christian life each day.
This is the dominate theme of the longest chapter in the Psalm 119; and as you get halfway through it we read this, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word! Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules. I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts. Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.” Psalm 119:97-112
Peter’s desire and our desire
should be marked
by faithfulness to the Scriptures.
As Peter opens this chapter (v1) with “So” or “Therefore.” is to summarize the imperative of holiness, reverence, and love. This is referring back to (1:23-25) God’s word being the source of our salvation. The transforming work of the Spirit through the written Word of God. The Word of God that creates new life, or the new birth in you and me. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” James 1:17-18. The Word of God is the source of the believer’s continual spiritual transformation. “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” John 17:14-19
The Scriptures contain many
reminders about the
saving power of the word in
your life.
The Scriptures reveal the ongoing commitment to the Scripture as the only guiding power in the Christian life. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Tim 3:14-17
“Therefore” is a concise reminder to remember that saving power of God’s Word lives in our lives. In order to do that properly, or proceed each day through the Word of God, Peter calls us to something as we spiritually grow in His grace.
Eliminating Our Daily Sin That Hinders Our Obedience To The Word Of God. (v1b)
Striving to eliminate any sin on one’s life is a prerequisite to sustaining the desire for God’s Word. Peter says we are to put away those things that hinder our growing in grace and desire for the Word of God. “Put away” refers the Christian new life that cannot grow unless sins are renounced.
Putting away and longing
for something else.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we read, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And we are to replace it with “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Eph 4:31-32. Putting away as Peter says here is like stripping off soled garments, which is what Paul had in mind when he said, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Col 3:8-10. Peter expresses here the importance of what is before us by using the word “All” though. This word “All” is used three times in the New Testament to emphasize the seriousness and entirety of sin. Here in this text, Heb 12:1, 2 Tim 2:4. Sin is a major hindrance to your spiritual growth, this why we are to be eliminating it in our lives daily. And we are to be putting away with what hinders our desire and obedience to the Word of God.
What are we to put away all of?
We should put aside five things with which we all struggle.
Like a soiled shirt, we are to strip off these things that hinder our walk, as
Jesus said. “Watch
and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak." Matt 26:41
All Malice…this wording is used 11 times in the New Testament to indicate wickedness that comes from within. See it’s not from outside influence; but from within, as Paul address to the church in Rome when he said, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:28-32
All deceit…. is the means to bait or fishhook their prey. It denotes a “dishonesty, falsehood or betrayal.” Luke uses the same term when citing Paul’s rebuke of Elymas the magician for being full of deceit. Elymas was trying to turn away the deputy from the faith found in Christ. Trying to prevent the influence of the truth on his mind; or to prevent his becoming the friend and patron of the Christians. In Acts 13:9-10 we read, “But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?”
All hypocrisy … is exampled by play acting. A hypocrite tries to deceive others about their spiritual state. They pretend to be more righteous than they actually are. Jesus often described the Pharisees in this way, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” Matt 23:27-33. It’s that fake church face, which takes more energy to hide than to be truly genuine about your faith in Christ or your non-relationship with Christ.
It’s that typical response, “I tried to be good, I’m a good person; or I went to church, I’m not as bad as that person.” Along with malice, hypocrisy, has to go as well, because many are deceived in thinking they are saved when in fact it’s the complete opposite. A hypocrite will elevate themselves above others; and even go as far to claim they are sinless. Why do you think John penned these words, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:6-10
4 & 5. All envy and all slander…. are twins, the primary motivation for envying and slandering is jealousy towards them. Envy defines the attitude of those who resent other; while slander is someone who whispers, back-bites others, with gossip to hurt. When we envy someone we tend to speak badly about them, we slander them; and in doing this we fail in the simplest level of the born again life.
And all evil speaking; speaking against others was the fear
Paul had for the Corinthian church.
“For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you
may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy,
anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.” 2 Cor 12:20
And this is something that should not reflect or to be apart of the Christian life. John Calvin wrote, “Having laid aside the works of your former life, such as malice, deceit, dissimulations, envying, and other things of this kind, devote yourselves to things of an opposite character, cultivate kindness, honesty..etc. He in short, urges this; that new morals ought to follow a new life.”
This is the evidence of the
new birth and this
new life produces this…..
Admitting Our Sincere Need For The Word Of God. (v2)
This milk is not for the body, but for the soul. “Pure milk” is the desire to spiritually grow, this is always marked by a hunger and craving for to be in God’s Word. This isn’t just some dipping your foot into the shallow end of the pool, this desire is to be emerged in the Word of God as our necessary food. The intensity that Peter is trying to give image too is that like of a baby you seek this food to survive.
Example of this intensity……
In Job 23:12 we read,
“I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the
words of his mouth more than my portion of food.”
Psalm 1:1-2 reveal the intensity of the heart to desire God’s
Word, “Blessed
is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of
sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the
LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Jeremiah wrote,
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and
the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.”
Jer 15:16
The Christian life recognizes that the Word of God is our food that gives us the resources to face the next moment or day. The Christian life through the word of God develops a deep seated desire for truth. The Christian life is like the infant child having a strong desire for milk, so the born again man or woman should have that similar thirst for the word of God. For the baby their next feeding becomes their great passion and when they don’t get it, they will let you know to drop everything until they do get. In the same manner we ought to desire with a passion for the Word of God just as a baby does for its bottle.
Why? It’s this milk of the Word that…….. Brings to memory that our God is the Source of our life. 1 Peter 1:25. Eliminating sin in life is needed for genuine spiritual growth. 1 Peter 2:1. Like a new born baby we will never survive without the pure milk of God Word. 1 Peter 2:2a. We need to be fed by substance without impurities to help us grow into the image of His Son. We need this because this is what helps us grow according to Peter, “that by it you may grow up into salvation.” (v2b)
“May grow” is a passive verb, literally means “it may grow you” Peter is longing for the church to be mature, to adult-like strong. As Spurgeon said, “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” This word is used in the same way at the closing of Peter’s second letter when he commands the believer in how to grow, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18. You will not grow as a Christian unless you are nurtured by the Word of God; there is no substitute for that. No easy 10 steps to Scriptural knowledge, it comes by studying, and reading God’s Word, and by surveying the blessings of His truth for your life. It’s through His Word that the child of God grows to understand in respect to their salvation. The Word of God will grow you into a full expression of your sanctification when it comes to your salvation.
To help us understand what Peter is saying, we need to refer
to what Paul said to the church in Philippi. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always
obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you,
both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling
or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine
as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of
Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” Phil
2:12-16
This is only possible to grow in understanding of your salvation if you have tasted that the Lord is good. (v3)
“Tasted” at salvation is where we truly taste and experience how gracious the Lord is to those who trust Him. R C Sproul wrote in his commentary, “If indeed you have been born of God’s Spirit, if indeed the Spirit has put a taste in your mouth for the things of God.. apart from that, you can have no taste for spiritual things.” The world around doesn’t care about spiritual things, the milk of God’s Word is not high their priority list. Remember what Paul wrote, “But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Cor 2:9-16
The world is not seeking after this, and if you have tasted this, you will know that God is good and His grace is sufficient as the Psalmist said, “In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Psalm 44:8. Remember what our Lord said? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matt 5:6
What motivates you go to
church?
What motivates you to start this year off right?
I hope and pray it will be with a desire to be killing sin your life, so that you can grow in the milk of His Word with a greater intensity to know Him more and the grace He gives.
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