Growing Up In Jesus

--- We'll go ahead and open your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. We're gonna read in a minute. I'll give you the title for today's chapter. Last week we titled chapter 1, While We Are Waiting and today we're gonna title chapter 2, Growing Up and Proclaiming. I wanted to use something super clever like the obvious you know cultural got milk you know since that's what we're talking about but I decided no we're just gonna stick with some of the words that are in here. So as we read as we start reading in chapter 2 there's an obvious direct link back to chapter 1 and the whole love one another earnestly and because chapter 2 begins with in some of your Bibles it might have the word therefore or in the ESV it is

Lord help us process this whole chapter today and speak to our hearts about those things that you want us to just roll over in our hearts and to grow and especially to obey Lord we ask in Jesus name Amen. Have you ever read one of those poem type things that are in written in phrases and if you read it from the top down it has a particular story or meaning and then if you read it from the bottom up it might have a different kind of story or or it might be complimentary or whatever like this is a really short one sin will keep you from the Bible. The Bible will keep you from sin. You can read it frontwards or backwards. Well the reason I brought that up is I want to ask your permission to read these verses from the bottom up this morning. They have the same meaning a complimentary meaning but I think it was really going to help us to study it that way so here's how it would say from the bottom up. I have to find it. It would say if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good then long for crave that pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up and as we grow up we put away all malice deceit hypocrisy envy and slander so we can love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Isn't that kind of fun reading it backwards that way so I want to study it backwards this morning from the bottom up and start with that phrase if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good because that's such a foundational phrase. Remember we said this letter is written to believers to people who have indeed tasted of the Lord and so this phrase makes it personal right off. Have you we ask ourselves the question have I personally tasted of God's goodness and his mercy toward me? Is that an experience? Have I taken it in? I have made it in a point a point of my life and I hope to get through my entire life to never have personally tasted an oyster. That is my goal in life so I can tell you all about them how they look. I worked at a seafood restaurant in the 80s and so oyster shooters were on the menu and I can tell you what they look like but I've never personally experienced it and I want to keep it that way but that is definitely not how our approach to the Lord. We want to be able to say yes I have tasted his mercy his kindness toward me his goodness and I am in fact born again and betrothed to the bridegroom. Well this is a reference to Psalm 34 which I think was a real favorite of Peters because it's not the only time he's gonna mention it in this book but again this foundation of intimacy relationship this is a great place for us to start. So then we back up to the next phrase longing for I love how the NIV says crave that pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up. Now milk here is not a contrast like it is when Paul wrote about milk for the infants and meat for the mature that's not what we're getting at here in what Peter is talking about is to crave that pure spiritual milk like the babies I talked about a baby craves milk and will let you know I need milk because by it they grow up it's how they grow and the pure spiritual milk for us is God's Word and by it we grow up we grow into maturity that is what we are supposed to be doing while we're waiting before we get to heaven and we especially want to grow in our spirits to make our spirit stronger or dominant over our flesh and our soul if you were in church Sunday we had such a great illustration of that Paul reminded us that we are triune beings just like God is we are made with a flesh and a soul which is our emotions and our intellect and our spirit and our goal is to make our spirit strong stronger than the flesh and the soul which always wants to dominate us always wants to call the shots in our lives how do we make our spirit strong through the pure spiritual milk that's one way we grow our spirits and this is in context to the end of chapter one we ran out of time a little bit to fully develop the end of chapter one but verse 23 says talks about the living and abiding Word of God so I want to use that phrase a few times here it remains forever that was preached to you God has chosen to use his living and abiding Word which he went to great pains to deliver to 40 different authors over 1600 years in written form so that we could have this and make use of it for our nourishment so that we can grow up so it's very precious to us I wanted to read if you're taking notes the reference here is first Timothy chapter 315 and 17 what the Apostle Paul told Timothy and he reminded him he goes hey Timothy from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ so first of all we talk about the pure spiritual milk the sacred writings they make us wise for salvation they help us understand salvation but then this passage goes on to say and all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training and righteousness that the man of God may be complete equipped for every good work so we also see that the Word of God helps us to grow those are all growing type words that we have there so it goes beyond salvation into training and they're both wonderful for us but I love this phrase in the ESV you know in the NIV which that that passage resonates in my mind all scripture is God breathed and that's great but the ESV says all scripture is breathed out by God oh I loved that different nuance as I read this and it kind of reminds us of the ministry of the breath of God and again Sunday Paul was talking about that that in the garden it says God breathed on Adam and he became a holy or a living being right and then after Jesus was resurrected in John it says that Jesus breathed on the disciples and said receive the Holy Spirit so I love how this is worded that all scripture is breathed out by God you are being breathed over by God himself when you put your place yourself in the place of the word to be spoken to be washed over you I love that you know we occasionally see people come to church for months sometimes years before they're actually born again I don't know I think there's one person in our church that has a record of like coming every Sunday for six years before the Word of God had that final impact the last breadcrumb was picked up and they're like I need to be born again it took a while but you know that that's the truth it's like I think about in the Pacific Northwest you know it rains and it rains and it rains and it rains and it rains and it rains and then all of a sudden one day the landslide right like one day it is soaked and the land and that's the way it is for us we in when we receive this pure spiritual milk there can be all kinds of landslides first of all to be born again to submit ourselves to God enter into his kingdom but you've probably experienced also other aspects of the grace of God where all of a sudden like you connected the dots in what the Word says and so I think it's really beautiful so it's good for us to ask each other like Paul said how's your spirit got milk are you drinking enough milk so and we need to obey you know we can we that I think accelerates our growth it's essential for a growth we can't just hear the Word We've got to obey and so the point is as we're working our way backwards the point of all of this is So that we get to brotherly love love one another from a pure heart I'm gonna let you have the time to talk about those relational Things at your own discussion groups. We might bring it up a little a little bit later But we're gonna change course here and talk about the kingdom now. We're gonna start to read verse I Can't read it five. I think four four verse four but talk about the kingdom of God as this building this Temple if it will and we're gonna listen for the repetition of living stones that we see in here so

So we come face to face with the reality that The church has a distinctly Corporate Togetherness flavor. It's like a building It's like a temple where each rock each stone is fitted closely together and God's church is only strong as each stone living stone is fit and functions the way that this the builder had designed it so we shouldn't have any concept of merely attending church or Watching church we should have a concept of being Church and being aware of what stones have been placed next to me Where has God fit me in to the body of Christ which brings up some problems? Because our close proximity to one another in this building kind of invades our personal bubble, right? Some of you are super social and super outgoing and you're just like looking around at all the stones that are fitted next to you It's like yeah, look at all these stones and some of us are like bubble invasion Like too much can't handle it. You know, so it's it can be it can war against our soul and the other problem we have is Is the lingering sin that we experience because we're in this hostile world these? Relational sins that we talked about at the beginning envy malice slander all of these things Stem from some kind of sin either I'm sinning against you or you're sinning against me And I have a sinful reaction to your sin is just this is what we struggle with right and so what we have to do is we have to Intentionally take to task all those relational sins that will war against us Being fit together in this building. We have to like Peter said in the first chapter we have to prepare our minds for action gird up the loins of our minds and we have to intentionally say and Purpose that we are going to attack those things before they rip us to pieces Right and why why do we need to attack that? Well, we have a purpose verse 9. Here's our purpose

this is where we get part of our title for today growing up and proclaiming This is what we're called to While we're waiting we are called to grow up through the pure spiritual milk and we're called to proclaim Proclaim that person that made such a change in us when he called us out of darkness So our purpose is to proclaim Christ his goodness his Excellencies excellencies was a little bit of a too big of a word for me this week. The NLT says goodness I like that proclaim the goodness of God not just talk about the historical person, but actually Display through how we live and who we are Christ likeness what he is like So for a lot of us this is going to happen in our families In our homes in our workplaces and that is why we're moving into this section about submission Because we're all little living stones that should look like the big cornerstone and We're spread out all over the place and you girls are spread out all over the place You have different families you have different work environments you have different relationships and social circles So we're spread out quite a bit So

so beloved I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war Against your soul and I love that verse again because again It's fresh in my mind from our study of 1st Corinthians on Sunday that we want to We want our spirit again to be dominant over as it says in here the flesh which wages war against our soul and so In order to do that I love the phrase back in verse 4 as we started verse 4 as you come to him In order for us to have our spirit dominant over our flesh and our soul We're just gonna have to come to him all the time. And so I like that It says as you come to him, it's an active verb not just once for salvation But as you come back to him for the power and the strength to conquer these relational sins that we opened up with To allow yourself to be fit together as a living stone wherever God put you it is a repetitive Thing so that might be a phrase that you can really grip in your lifestyle in our lifestyles as we come to him It's over and over. There's a story. I remembered from Reader's Digest in 1984 I want to read it to you a DMV examiner told about a teenager who had just driven an almost perfect test He made only one mistake said the examiner when he stepped or excuse me when he stopped to let me out of the car After breathing a sigh of relief the boy exclaimed. I'm sure glad I don't have to drive like that all the time And So you see what I mean sometimes we can like just gear ourselves up like we come to Christ and we say Lord help me be loving help me and we like get through a Family reunion weekend or we get through, you know, whatever it is and we're like no malice check, you know, no slander check It's like oh, I'm glad I don't have to do that all the time. I was exhausting But we do We do this is a lifestyle For us to walk in but the good thing is that we can come to Jesus all The time and so again backing up to verse 11. He says beloved as sojourners and exiles Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. So when they speak against you as evildoers They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation And this begins a distinct change in our letter if you looked at your outline this is the second sort of great Part of the outline is how to live as sojourners in this life We could spend all morning just talking about that aspect like we're strangers or foreigners or aliens. We're sojourners This isn't our home. Our citizenship is in heaven like that's a major point, but we got to get through the rest of the The rest of our chapter, but it is something good for us to remember in terms of in words of encouragement You know to be able to say that to one another this isn't our home We're just passing through that reminder is probably good because we belong to a different kingdom we serve a different King and so we need to ask ourselves what type of Honorable conduct and Good deeds does God want from us and so in this section of our Bible study? we're going to talk about the four sub themes that Peter laid out as our honorable conduct and that is submitting to authorities and submitting to masters which will finish today and then next week submitting in the home and submitting in the church And before we just jump into authorities and masters I want you to take your little study guide, and if you're on the note-taking page, just turn it back one page. And right in the middle there, I wrote just a little thing that I want to read to you that might help you with different terminology to describe this. And it says, humility, because we've been talking a lot about humility, right? It's in the title of our study. Humility is expressed through submission. And is the willingness to relinquish control. Releasing control takes faith. And through faith, we can entrust ourselves to God. Maybe one of those other phrases will help you kind of find a place to grip on what humility means. Maybe submission, being subject to, releasing control, that word control, right? And entrusting ourselves to God. You know what, none of those things are native to us. None of those things come naturally to us. All of those things are in the character of Jesus. And all of those things are part of what God is looking for us as we are holy, as he is holy. It is part of our conduct in this world while we're waiting. So let's get started.

Wow, that's just kind of clear. I mean, don't have much to add, do I? But I wish I had put another scripture in your study guide that I didn't, and so I just want to read it, and it's from 1 Timothy chapter 2, because I think it adds a very, very, very important thing. And Paul tells Timothy, first of all, then I urge you that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings, and for all who are in high positions that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives, and he goes on and on. I think that's a very, very important companion to the concept of submitting yourselves to authorities is pray for all those authorities. So we should be women while we're waiting who are in submission to governing authorities over us, but we should also be praying our little hearts out for those governing authorities. And this is so relevant for an election year. As this momentum gets going, we want to be women of great respect for everyone and great prayer for everyone. And he goes on, Peter goes on to say,

I don't want to get even more political, but I noticed that phrase in there, love the brotherhood, right in the middle of the whole emperor, king, submitting to authorities thing. And I kind of thought, aren't we done with that? We covered that at the end of the last chapter. Why are we revisiting this love the brotherhood? And then I kind of thought through what our lives are like in an election year. And when there are, you know, when there's occupations of wildlife refuges and people see that differently. And when there's an authority that makes a particular call on the basketball court, and we see that differently than one another. There are all kinds of times when we submit to authorities that we need to hold intention, love the brotherhood, love your fellow believers. This has to be an overriding layer over this as we walk through that. So it's very important. I'm glad he put that back in as a reminder. Well, let's move on to submitting to masters. In the next verse,

So we're coming to a really, really sober part of the letter, I believe, because we're talking about injustices that we suffer, injustices that people that we know suffer. And if you had someone that you loved in some kind of a social environment, let's just go ahead and say a work environment, okay? That was being unjustly treated, clearly, clearly, unfairly treated. We would say things to them like, we may, we may say things to them like, you don't deserve this. I wouldn't subject myself to this if I were you. Don't they understand who you are, how valuable you are? Might not we say something like that to someone that we loved, right? But I guess what I gleaned from my study this week is that while we're waiting, it's our task to proclaim His goodness, to walk out His goodness, and not just grip my rights at every turn. So I want us to think back to something, an episode that we talked about in our introduction where both Peter and Jesus were, had the double rebukes, remember that time when Jesus began to explain to Peter, hey, I'm going to suffer. I'm going to be treated unjustly. I'm going to be rejected. I'm going to be killed. And Peter said to Jesus, no, far be it from you, never should this happen. You deserve better than this. Don't they know who you are? I wouldn't subject myself to this if I were you. You're more valuable than this. He didn't really, but you get what I'm saying. If we say those things to Jesus, all of a sudden we see, well, Jesus would turn around and rebuke us and say it, say, get behind me, Satan, for you don't have in mind the things of God. Wow. That puts into perspective the injustices that we suffer, doesn't it? And so then the very next verse has some very sobering phrases for us.

So our Savior was a victim of injustices for a purpose, right? We are the benefit of that purpose.

I just don't have any words. I don't have any more to say to that. That is just so convicting and so clear. To this you have been called. Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example. Follow in his steps. Remember I said I felt like that rebuke from Jesus made such a strong impact on Peter that he never forgot that. He never forgot that Jesus said, the point is I'm coming to suffer. And Peter uses a variation of the word suffer 15 times in his book in these five chapters. No other New Testament book even comes up to half of that. Hebrews has seven in 13 chapters. This was born, buried into Peter's heart, the concept of unjust suffering and Jesus being an example for us. And I feel like I could have, I need a big dose of that being buried into my heart. That whatever happens to me, whatever circumstances I find myself in, I have been given an example and that phrase, to this you have been called. To this I have been called. And God knows just the type of lemon that it's going to take in my life to turn me to follow in his steps. He's good about that. So let's pray. Lord Jesus, it's so good for us to come face to face with you in the scripture and with who you are, with who you're character is with what we lack with what you desire for us Lord we just see this we want to see this clearly Lord Jesus and we want to truly walk in your steps but Lord you know we need such great empowerment to do that so we come to you and we ask you Lord that you would build up our spirits help us grow in our spirits Lord that we would be like you that you would turn us Lord into these little living stones that look just like that big cornerstone and are spread out all over all over the world Lord that we might proclaim your excellencies proclaim your goodness while we're waiting for you to come and get us Lord walk among us as we discuss in our groups Lord and I just pray that it would be a really profitable time in Jesus' name, Amen. ---