To Be Holy is to Be Friendly

Introduction

Introduce Self

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Connection Point: I love seeing God move in ways only God can. last week we had a great time down at Casey field. If you missed it, you really missed out. Not just on the fun but that night, one of the people in our church got the opportunity to connect with someone who literally had her prayer answered because we were there. Don’t ever underestimate what God can do when His people get together.

Today we are going to continue our series on being Set Apart by jumping into 1 Peter 2.

Last week we saw that to be holy is not to just do things that appear holy. Holiness is a by-product of the pursuit of Jesus and that pursuit will look different for each of us. We don’t need to judge others in their pursuit, we need to cheer them on.

Today we are going to see another therefore statement, which will point back to last week and help us move forward in our understanding of holiness.

If what we call a holy lifestyle is the outward reflection of our inward pursuit of Jesus, also described as a by-product of our pursuit of Jesus, then the what happens to us as we live that holy lifestyle.

I’m speaking at a high school gradution this Friday night and I’ve decided to speak around the theme of who you become in and after high school.

I’d like to ask you think back to your high school days or at least your graduation day.

It was on your gradudtion day that your academic success was recognize. You put in the work and you go the diploma. During that time you were not only being moldedd and shaped into what aa high school graduate is, you as a person were developing. Yes you lived the life of a high school student while pursuing the diploma, but who did you become between 9th-12th grade in pursuit of that diploma?

For me, I was definitely not who I was when I entered 9th grade. I was also not the greatest peerson I should have been buts a story for anothe day.

You in the pursuit of a goal we may find ourselves achieviing it and along the way we are making choicces and decisions becuase of it, andd in doing so our character is being developed and molded.

As you pursue Jesus aand living a life that is set apart for Him, you are going to have your character and person cchanged as you yield to the Holy Spirit of God.

Just like every person that pursues a high scchool diploma does not turn out to be the same person once they have it, not everyone turns out to be the same Christian as they pursue Jesus.

Have you ever met someone that has lived as a Christian for many years but their face doesn’t know it? Or maybe the way they approacch people or interact with them?

Maybe your one of those people here today.

You’ve lived a life for Jesus for however long yet instead of joy being produced, you’ve found yourself discontented with the way things are going and that is coming out in your interacctions with others.

You don’t find yourself joyfully speaking about the Lord to other people, you don’t desire to interact with others becusae they aare different, or you have discovered it takes more musccles to frown than mile so you’ve decided to make the public square your gym and exercise your face on the daily becuase no gainz no pain…right?

Maybe you are just beginnign your journey and unsure of how its’ going to turn out.

Whoever you are, I hope today you will see that following Jesus with your life is a wonderful journey that should produce Joy.

Living for Jesus can be a wonderful journey that creates feelings of happiness and joy, not becuase of our circcumstances but beccuase of our ocntentment.

I believe that if you will take the scripture and information you recieve today and choose to have joy, be friendly, you’ll find yourself happily living for Jesus.

With that as our foundation let’s see what Peter said here

1 Peter 2:1-5 “1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings

Exegete:

This first verse employees that werre wherefore, or therefore, that points us back.

Becusae of purusing Jesus and living a holy life as a by-product, becuse of the foundation your pursuit is built on as the word of God, becuase of these things...

lay aside this list.

Now some of these words we don’t use in our modern vernacular so let’s define them for our understanding.

Malice means hostility

Deceit means decepting or dishonest

hypocrisy means to be insincere

envy mean jealousy

and slnder means defamation. Talking about someone for the purpose of defaming them.

There is a description that we can use to describe a person that enccompaasses all of these poor qualities.

I would desccribe them as unfriendly. Too say the least.

They are unfriendly. Have you ever met someone that is hostile, dishonet, insincere, jealous, and a gossip and thought “Man, I love being around them.”

they are unfrienddly.

Hear the opposites or antonyms of these words

Malice doesn’t mean friendly

Ddeceit doesn’t mean honest

Hypoccrisy doesn’t mean open and fair

envy doesn’t mean contentment or, new word I learned, compersion. describing how you cana feel joy for another person

and slander doesn’t mean speaking kindly of others.

It’s easy to describe someone that is friendly, honest, fair, content, and speaks kindly of others as friendly right.

This verse is really Peter just telling them to be friendly.

Illustrate:

personal story of flower bed at home

Any of you enjoy gardening? Whether that’s flowers or food.

When you are growing a garden, you plant certain seeds in there right? You don’t just grab a bunch and say “well, I hope something sticks”

And after you plant the seeds you have to work them right? water the soil, and pull the weeds that start to grow.

Those weeds that grow up, do you have to really work on those? They just grow on their own don’t they?

If we are not careful, the weeds of hostility, deception, insincerity, jealousy, and defamation can begin to grrow in us.

Apply:

We don’t have to focus on them, what we end up doing is losing focus on the reason we planted the gardden in the first place.

When you lose focus on Christ and why you are pursuing Him, you can find yourself with thesee unfriendly qualities creeping up in our hearts.

And it’s no ones fault but our own. You have to own this. you can’t pass this off aand say “Well if they were better people I wouldn’t have to be hostile toward them. If they weren’t being so successful or if I could be successful I wouldn’t be jeaalous of them.”

God will work in your heart as you open it up to Him. When you open your heart often to Him, daily, the more you find the work on the weeds is done for you becuase you aren’t feeding them. You’r feeding the friendly qualities God works out in your heart.

This point is meant for you to remember when you begin to feel unfriendly and is a play off of a saying I grew up hearing. Pleae don’t think this is a bible verse somewhere.

I. Friendliness is next to godliness

As you pursue Jesus and live a holy life, you should find yourself being friendly becucase that is a represenation of God to those around you.

Warren Wiersbe said “When Christians are growing in the Word they are peacemakers, not troublemakers and they promote unity of the church.

What’s this look like? Well, it means you don’t see aa post on facebook someone made and then share it with another person to ask if its about them. You do make time in your life to interact with others in a friendly manner. You don’t get involved in with the arguments on social media that lead to no where.

Being friendly because God and for God is a conscious choice for you to not behave based on how someone else is acting, but based on how they will see Jesus through you.

That understanading, mindset, and abilty comes from an understanding of the Word and leading of the Holy Spirit.

it starts with a choice though.

Peterr describes that choice in verse 2

1 Peter 2:2-3 “2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

Exegete:

Newborn babes. have you ever seen a baby when they want milk?

They are very vocal and expressive about their need for something. Sometimes it’s a guessing game to figure it out but nonetheless, you know they desire somthing.

He is saying to desire the sincere milk, the basic truth of the word, that you can grow.

and let me ask you…have you ever structured a sentence this way? “If so be ye…”

I don’t. In a more modern veernacular it oculd be saaid “If you have tasted tha the Lord is good”

meaning …if you know the Lord is go. Now I’m not a grammarr expert however how I understand this is

If you believe the Lord is good you will desire the Word.

What do you believe about the Lord? What do you believe about Jesus?

If you are here today and a follower of Jesus then you must believe He is the Son of God.

Roman 10:9 “9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

if you believe He is the Son of God, do you believe He is good?

If you believe He is good wouldn’t you desire to know more about Him and know Him more?

You believe your spouse is good or maybe a friend right? Is that why you make time for them in your life?

Why do you make time for them? Yes, they are good but you make time for them beccuase you desire to be around them.

You see…there is the choice…desire

Illustration:

Imagine you're at a buffet with a wide array of delicious food options. There's a juicy burger, a plate of crispy fries, and a slice of decadent chocolate cake. Now, imagine that your stomach is growling, and your taste buds are tingling with desire.

Here's the funny twist: Just as you're about to grab that burger, your 4-year-old daughter walks up to you with her adorable puppy dog eyes and says, "Daddy, can we please have broccoli instead?"

In that moment, your desire takes a sudden shift. The thought of being a healthy role model for your daughter, the desire to see her grow up strong and make good food choices, starts to outweigh your initial craving for the burger.

You have a choice to make. You can give in to the initial desire and indulge in the burger, or you can choose to prioritize the greater desire of being a positive influence on your daughter and opt for the healthier choice.

This silly scenario illustrates how desire is more than just a fleeting emotion. It's about making intentional choices based on our values and priorities. While our desires might change and fluctuate, we have the power to evaluate them, consider the long-term implications, and choose what aligns with our greater aspirations.

Not only can you understand desire as a choice based on this silly story and your own experiences, there has been research into it

Psychology today"Desire: The Misunderstood Emotion"

Summary: This article on Psychology Today explores desire as a motivational state rather than a pure emotion. It highlights the distinction between emotions, which are often considered to be relatively short-lived, and desires, which are seen as a driving force that influences our behaviors and choices over a longer period.

Apply:

If desire is a choice based thoughts and feelings then would this not strengthen the argument that we saw last week that what we are pursuing is more important than what we re doing becuase what we re purrsuing is what will ddeterminee what we do.

Wee can’t make those decisions though if we view desire as a feeeling.

II. Desire is a choice, not a feeling

You will choose to desire the Word based on how you feel about God.

And there is no Christian here who would tell me that they have a negative view of God. However, do you hve a better view of God than you do of anything else that would keep you from pursuing Him?

When you choose to desire God and pursue Him, you’ll find yourself living thaat lifestyle of holiness and becoming for friendly.

For some, that means growth. That means changing attitudes, that means changing the daily choices you are making in order for others to see Christ in you.

Peter describes this perfectly here

1 Peter 2:4-5 “4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

Exegete:

Coming to God as the living stone, the cornerstone upon which our faith is established and built, are being built into a holy priesthood, a spiritual house.

Peteer shows that there is a growth proccess in the Christian life and that growth happens aas we deepen our rlationship with Jesus.

And we are growing in Christ so that we can make spiritual sacrifices. What are those?

Romans 12:1 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Our physical bodies. The way we eat, the way we take care of ourselves, and trruly all of who we aree.

Heb 13:15 “15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

The praising of God with our lips

Heb 13:16 “16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Good works

Rom 15:16 “16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”

People we win to the Lord.

We grow into giving these sacrifices as we grow in our faith and relationship with the Lord.

How we grow deeper in our relationship with the Lord will change over time, and that’s ok. The foundation is the Word but there may be a seaason where you need to mediate on sccirpturee and not just keep reading.

No matter the method of growth, there must be a desire to grow and then when you do grow, you’ll find yourself more willing to make sacrifices that result in seerving others.

Illustrate:

Notice what Peter says you and I are being built into. A holy priesthood.

The priests of the Old Testament were the represenatives of God to the people. They served the temple and the people bcuase of their deidcaation to God.

John Maxwell made a statement in a talk he gave recently that goes like this

“You have to do the work on the inside for the you to serve others on the outside.”

Apply:

As you prusue Jesus he will chng eyou on the inside and it will be seen on the outside.

The blievers in modern day northeern turkey would have seen this as an admonishment to pursue aftere Jesus the way the priests did. To be dedicated to Him and serve others as priests did.

For you today and I today it is the same principle.

Choosee to desire God and pursue Him. Grow in Christ and be friendly as you invest in otheers.

God doesn’t grow you for your benefit.

III. God grows you so you can grow others