I Peter 2:1-3
(A Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)
July 11, 2013
1. There
is an old story about a younger man whose wife was out of town...lived next
door to an elderly couple, and since this man’s wife was away the elderly
couple invited the younger man to have dinner with them one
evening...throughout the dinner the younger man noticed that the older
gentleman constantly referred to his wife with such endearing words as “honey...darling...sweetheart...pumpkin
...”...as matter of fact, not once during the entire evening did he
address her by her given name...the younger man was impressed by the tender way
the older man addressed to his wife, especially since the couple had been
married almost 70 years... while the wife was off in the kitchen, he said to
the old gentleman, "I think it's wonderful that after all the years
you've been married, you still call your wife honey and darling and sweetheart
and pumpkin."...and the older man lowered his voice and said in a
very confidential tone, “There is a reason I do that. Actually, I forgot her name about 10 years
ago!”...
2. That
story reminded me that sometimes we forget things which are very
important...and one important thing we have a tendency to forget is who we
really are...the Psalmist said, "I will give thanks to Thee, for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made." [Psalm 139:14]...and what a
unique and complex creation we are!...
--We are physical beings...expressed
through the five physical senses of touch, taste, sight, sound, and, smell...
--We are emotional beings...expressed
through feelings and relationships with other people...
--We are spiritual beings...expressed
through our relationship with God...
To
be healthy person and happy person, we must nurture and take care of each part
of our natures--physical, emotional, and spiritual...
3. As we continue our journey through the NT
letter of I Peter, we’re going to focus just on one part - the spiritual side
of nature...it was Augustine, the 4th century Christian theologian/ philosopher
who made the famous statement about "our hearts being restless until
they find their rest in God."...what he was saying is there is
something in us that cries out for God...that cry cannot be silenced and it
must be filled with something...and unfortunately, most people in our world try
to fill that void in their lives, which is in reality a desire for relationship
with God, with lesser things--
--recreational
activities, hobbies, and travel will not fill that need for God in our lives...
--material
possessions will not fill it...
--vocational
or academic or athletic achievement will not fill it...
--even
human relationships cannot fill our need for God...
To
be a whole person, to be a fulfilled person, we must nurture the spiritual side
of our beings...I Peter 2:1-3 tells us some things we must do to the nurture
the spiritual side of our natures...(text)...
T.S.
- Notice I Peter 2 begins with the word “therefore”...that word takes
us back to the end of chapter 1...in that chapter Peter reminded his readers
that they “have been born again”...now, in chapter 2 he says
since they have experienced the new birth, made an initial commitment of their
lives to Christ, the next step in their spiritual pilgrimage is to nurture
their new spiritual natures...and from this part of God’s word, want you to see
what we must do to nurture our spiritual natures...
I. To nurture the spiritual side of our
natures we must take some things out of our lives
1. Look again at I Peter 2:1...not surprising
Peter begins comments about spiritual growth by talking about the need to face
up to and deal with our sin problem...listen again to what said, "Therefore,
putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all
slander...."...the starting point of nurturing our spiritual
nature is getting out of our lives those things which are contrary to it...
2. Notice what Peter says do with these
things..."putting aside" translates vivid
word...literally it means to lay aside or to get rid of...in the 1st
century world the word was used to describe--
--the
taking off and laying aside of a soiled garment...
--the
removing and burying a dead body...
--the
locking away of a criminal...
3. In
using this particular word Peter was saying, “To nurture your spiritual
nature, you must understand that there are some things which must be removed
from your life.”
1. No such thing as person developing
spiritually apart from conviction that there are some things in our lives which
need to be abandon...some things from which we need to turn away...the Bible
often uses the word repentance to describe this turning away from
sin...it's interesting that every major spiritual awakening in history began
with God's people recognizing their sinfulness and turning from it...for
example--
‑‑one
of great spiritual awakenings in Israel's history came during reign of Josiah...beautiful story of
this movement of God's Spirit told in 2
Chron. 34...in remodeling Temple found
book of law ...convicted by words...v.19
says, "And it come about when the king heard the words of the law
that he tore his clothes..."...then
in v.34 told, "And Josiah removed all the abominations from all the
lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel
to serve the Lord their God."... conviction of sin and repentance
was beginning of that resurgence of Israel's spiritual life...
‑‑on
day of Pentecost great movement of God's Spirit...over 3000 people became
Christians...Acts 2 says happened because when heard gospel preached "they
were pierced to the heart" (convicted)...when asked Peter what
should do, said "Repent and turn to Jesus..."...conviction
of sin and repentance was foundation of the awakening and nurturing of the
spiritual natures of all those people...
‑‑mid
1700's great revival in New England...known as the Great Awakening…conviction
of sin and repentance played key role...Jonathan Edwards, one of leader said, "Multitudes have had
their consciences awakened...many notoriously vicious people have been reformed, and become externally quite
new creatures..."
2. And point is to nurture our spiritual natures
must allow God take from lives those things which hinder spiritual
development...
1. There's interesting thing about list of sins
in v.1...not single word deals with physical sin...sins of
spirit/heart/mind...they are not sins of the flesh like sexual immorality or
drunkenness...instead they are sins of the spirit...basically list describes
person with attitude problem with people...picture of person out of fellowship
with God and people...look at list...
‑‑malice
‑ general term for evil...often used describe person hostile toward
others...defined as "the vicious nature which is bent on doing harm
to others..."...rest of the words in this list of sins describe
such person..
‑‑guile
‑ to be deceitful...two‑faced...picture of person not trustworthy...will do or
say anything for personal gain...
‑‑hypocrisy
‑ someone playing a role....concealing true motives...
‑‑envy
‑ called last sin to die...means resentful greed...
‑‑slander
‑ vicious and destructive talk about someone else..
3. Ray
Summers, in his commentary on I Peter made an interesting observation about
that list...wrote, “One of our problems is that as we grow older the sins
of the flesh burn themselves out, but the sins of the spirit seem to
burn themselves in.” (BBC, I Peter, p.154)
3. What want you see is not only outward,
obviously immoral things such as adultery or murder or theft or drunkenness
hinder spiritual development...also private sins of the heart, things like
malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander must be taken out of our lives if we're
to nurture our spiritual natures...
II. To nurture the spiritual side to our
natures must put some things in our lives
1. Not negative process of just taking
away...must replace what taken away with
something positive...v. 2 says are to
put into lives "pure milk of the word"...
2. Difficult phrase to interpret...best
understood in light of 1:23...there told
had been born again...now that they are spiritually reborn, like new babies
should desire milk...
3. As one writer put it, "Just as the
proper food for newborn infants is their mother's milk, so the appropriate
nourishment for those born again by the word of God is the milk of the
word."
1. Two important thoughts in v.2 want point
out...
--first,
to nurture our spiritual natures, we must sincerely desire to do so...notice
the phrase "long for"...spiritual development doesn't
happen by accident...comes in response to our desiring it...God is not going
force us or coerce to nurture spiritual nature...it will take place in
proportion to our desire for it to take place...
--second,
nurturing our spiritual nature involves filling our minds with right food...v.2
says it's the "pure milk of the word
which causes us to grow in respect to salvation"...will not
grow spiritually without proper nourishment... apart from right spiritual food...if do not allow God
feed us… if do not read Bible...pray...learn from our brothers and sisters in
Christ, our spiritual natures will not be nourished...
CONCLUSION
1. It
is important to remember that of the three parts of our nature—physical,
emotional, spiritual—only the spiritual side of our nature is eternal...our
physical bodies will eventually pass away...our relationships with others
invariably change with time...but, the spiritual side of our nature is destined
for eternity...
2. Therefore,
it is vitally important that we nurture the spiritual side of our nature...how
do we do it?...according to I Pet. 2:1-3 we do it by--
--by
taking our of our lives those things which hinder our relationship with God...
--by
putting into our lives those things which enhance our relationship with God...
