Strength

1 Peter 2:1 CSB

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.

INTRO—

“STRENGTH”

April 19, 1995 — I remember where I was when I heard the news…just exiting the chapel at seminary. The lady in charge of student services came into the commons area and announced that the federal building in OKC had been bombed. The first thought that went through my mind = ‘There’s a daycare in that building.’ Little did I know that my mother-in-law was in downtown OKC taking Rhonda’s Grandpa to a doctor appointment. Since then…168 killed. Many other victims. Numerous trips to the memorial & museum site.

The mission statement of the National Memorial & Museum: “We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.” [Seen on the exterior of the 9:01 & 9:03am gates at the ends of the reflecting pool.]

Strength was needed that day and many days since.

The strength we need as sojourners in this life comes from…

[[…Growing; Fitting; & Standing]]

GROWING [1 Peter 2.1-3]

“Grow up into your salvation” (v. 2) [grow up with respect to your salvation; that you may grow thereby]

Growing—Avoiding hinderances to gaining strength (v. 1)

Malice (all) , Deceit (all), Hypocrisy, Envy, & Slander (all)

Problem: These hinderances…many think of the majority of these as strengths themselves.

Malice…Deceit…Slander (Slander—speak evil of; defame)

Growing—By the pure milk of the word (v. 2)

‘Desire…like newborn infants’ [Do we know when a baby is ready to be fed??]

So that we grow (grow up)…So, a word about maturity, etc.

Hebrews 5:11–14 “We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.” (U = vv. 13-14)

[Strength GROWS through the word.]

FITTING [1 Peter 2.4-8]

“you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (v. 5)

‘Are being built’ — (οἰκοδομέω) constructed; formed; fashioned [verb, present passive indicative with the personal pronoun = emphatic—You, YOU, are being fashioned, built (fit together)]

Recognize (realize) that GOD is—& always has been—about the business of building us into the spiritual house he intends us to be.

v. 6 = Isaiah 28:16 “Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.”

v. 7 = Psalm 118:22 “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

v. 8 = Isaiah 8:14 “He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

Jesus is a pretty good builder…Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

[Strength for us is secured BEING FITTED TOGETHER by God as a living stone of his house.]

STANDING [1 Peter 2.9-12]

[[v. 8b = “They stumble because they disobey the word…”—BUT]]

“Now you are God’s people” (v. 10)

Jude 24 “Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy,”

Standing—chosen, royal, holy, God’s people, receivers of mercy. (vv. 9-10)

Standing—abstaining from sinful desires (v. 11) [standing with a prepared footing]

Standing—honorable conduct among Gentiles (v. 12) [lit = “The conduct of you among the nations keep good”]

Remember, as ‘strangers’ [foreign citizens] AND ‘exiles’ [sojourners]…WE are AMBASSADORS (representatives of a different kingdom).

…Counteracting—being slandered as evil-doers

OK, Peter— (v. 1) rid yourselves of…all slander // (v. 12) so that when they slander you… [we don’t want to create a problem for ourselves (disqualify ourselves) through the obstacle of doing the very thing we condemn as wrong (sin, sinful)] <<when we do…>>

CONCL—

STRENGTH… Growing, Fitting, Standing…

Legos — a bag of…an instruction book…a plan to arrange specifically…a finished, distinguishable object…!

So fun; so cool; so amazing!

…APPARENTLY (“Obviously”) we are being ‘set up’ to discover what honorable conduct among the nations looks & acts like as a “stranger exile” [ambassador] in our lives…

INVITATION:

Salvation

Strength

Standing

1 Peter 2:12 CSB

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.