God’s Word Creates a Living People

Introduction

Welcome

Announcements/Prayer Requests

Starting Point Class 2/1

Business Meeting 2/15 with fellowship after

Student apologetic conference this weekend

So far in our study of 1 Peter we’ve seen that we have a living hope in Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ calls us to live a holy life as we follow after Him and glorify Him through our words and actions. The good news of Jesus Christ has to change everything about us, not just internally but externally as well. Not just individually but corporately as well. How many of us have heard someone say this following: I love Jesus, but I hate the church

Many of us have!

Let’s think through this and be as charitable as possible. Are there churches out there who have genuinely hurt others because they have supported sinful behavior and abusive actions? Yes. We have to understand that our actions have consequences and there have been many people hurt because Christians failed to “practice what we preach” and others have been hurt as a result.

We know that churches are full of ____ people! And people are _____ sinners. We will never find a perfect church and if you do find one, don’t go to it because you’ll suddenly make it imperfect, because we’re all sinners, your pastor included. We’ll have problems because of our sin. That’s not to excuse churches and congregations to be jerks to other people, that’s not what the Bible calls us to do. But it is to remind each one of us that our hope is not in ourselves or our church building… our hope is in Jesus Christ - our perfect Savior! Yes, we love Jesus. And guess what? Jesus loved His church.

Ephesians 5:25 CSB

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her

Jesus hasn’t given up on the Church - in fact, it’s His bride. Sure, the word church here isn’t in direct reference to a singular body of believers, but all who are in Christ by grace through faith… but where do Christians gather to grow with one another and fellowship and worship? Local churches. The local church is God’s plan A. I want to be as gracious as possible as I say this because I know that there have been many issues with abusive churches and pastors and those issues can cause genuine scar tissue that takes time to heal from… but genuine Christians cannot love the groom (Jesus) and be divorced from the bride of Christ - the church. It’s not possible. Many times that people make this statement, it is made because churches have stood on Scripture and not wavered on controversial subjects in an ever changing world. People will say that they “hate” the church because the church told them what they could and couldn’t do. Churches don’t have that amount of power… but Jesus does, and godly churches will stand on the Word of God and do so with courage and speak the truth in love. A friend shared this, “A church that never challenges behavior, calls sin what it is, corrects believers who persist in clear wrongdoing is not being gracious - it is being downright negligent. Biblical love speaks truth.

Tim Keller once shared this, “Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can’t accept; but Christians should reverse that, allowing the Bible to examine us, looking for things God can’t accept.”

As we stand on the Word of God as a congregation, we see that we’re a living people called do certain things within this body called the church. The Word of God examines us and changes us. This evening as we continue looking through 1 Peter, let’s see what the Gospel does within the church

1 Peter 1:22–2:3 CSB

22 Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, 23 because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you. 1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, 3 if you have tasted that the Lord is good.

We Must Submit to the Word (1:22-25)

Peter tells us in verse 22 that something changes in us whenever we are saved by grace through faith in Christ - he uses the word “purified.” The question we have to ask is this: Who has been purified, according to God’s Word?

Born-again followers of Jesus Christ!

What is the purpose of our purification?

To be set apart and holy as our God is holy (v. 16) and to dedicate our lives to our Father

If we go back to Ephesians 5, we see this truth before us through God’s Word

Ephesians 5:26 CSB

26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

Some might be a little confused by this in verse 22 because it says that you have purified yourselves… (Indicative in verse 18 - we used to have an empty way of life, but now we are redeemed! This is God’s work) We know that we are not born again by our good works and personal power - it is God’s power that saves and purifies sinners. What then does it mean for us to be purified by our obedience to the truth?

To repent and believe in the good news

Acts 2:37–38 CSB

37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We love our church of Christ friends, but we disagree with their notion that baptisms is what saves… that is not the point of Acts 2:38 - rather the point is that people must repent and demonstrate that through action and belief. To identify with Christ as He commands. We must be purified by God and this is only true of those who submit to His Word.

Look at verse 22: As we submit to God’s Word, we are purified by Jesus in order to love one another

You love one another

It’s one thing to say that you love others, but it’s another thing to actually mean that statement. This should be the characterizing mark of believers and of churches - that we truly love one another as John 13:35 tells us

John 13:35 CSB

35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Danny Akin calls Christian Love: “Passion In Action!”

Now, we all know people who practice love and acceptance but they do so devoid of the truth of God’s Word - we’ll get that in our study of Hebrews once we arrive in chapter 13… but love for others by itself doesn’t mean that we’re in the right. We have to have the right basis and that is to obey the truth of the enduring Word of God. As people who have been saved and who do obey God’s Word, we have confidence in our salvation not through our goodness and greatness, but through God’s grace as verse 23 tells us that we have been born again through the living Word. In our world we know that after life comes what? Death. The grass withers especially in the summer months and eventually it dies. Flowers fall. Death seems to win the cycle. But Peter, quoting Isaiah 40 here, shares that those who have been born again by the Word of God, have a living hope because our hope does not die but instead endures forever.

Think back to John 4 with the woman at the well, what type of water did Jesus offer her?

Living Water that satisfies and never runs dry

This is what God does - He satisfies and provides us with an eternal hope that never fails or runs dry. His Word endures forever and always provides what we need, when we need it.

Hebrews 4:12 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God’s Word is living and active. It doesn’t rise and fall like the grass. It doesn’t come and go like a vapor. It stands with strength and endures forever! Because of this, we must live our lives under the authority of Scripture. We build our life on it’s solid foundation. We submit to it! This word is the Gospel according to 1 Peter 1:25.

Why do some have a hard time submitting to God’s Word?

So, why did we start by looking at the local church? Here’s why: Whenever we are born again, we are born into a new family - an adoptive family - with God as our Father because His Son loved us enough to take our place on the cross and pay the penalty we owed in full. Churches are full of born again people who have been adopted into the same family. Based on this text, what are 3 things that born again believers united in the local church should do?

Obey God’s Word

Love one another constantly

Proclaim the Gospel

The reason that we do these things under submission to God’s Word, is because of love! Listen to what a 2nd century Christian said to the Roman Emperor, Hadrian.

“Christians have the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself graven upon their hearts; and they observe them, looking forward to the resurrection of the dead and life in the world to come. They do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor covet the things of others; they honour father and mother, and love their neighbors; they judge justly, and they never do to others what they would not wish to happen to themselves; they appeal to those who injure them, and try to win them as friends; they are eager to do good to their enemies; they are gentle and easy to be entreated; they abstain from all unlawful conversation and from impurity; they despise not the widow, nor oppress the orphan; and he that has, gives ungrudgingly for the maintenance of him who has not. If they see a stranger, they take him under their roof and rejoice over him as over a very brother; for they call themselves brethren not after the flesh but after the spirit. And they are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Christ; for they observe His commands without swerving, and live holy and just lives, as the Lord God enjoined upon them.”

That’s the kind of Christian that I want to be - and that’s the type of Church that we need to be at South Gate! A people who submit to God’s Word and who live out God’s Word because at the end of the day, God’s Word remains. CT Studd famously put it like this, “Only one life, 'twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last!”

Physical churches should be comprised of people who have been born again, who stand on God’s Word unapologetically, who love one another, and who proclaim the truth of the Gospel in hopes that others would be saved and purified as well! This is the good part of the text sharing some of the purposes for the church that Jesus died for - the church matters, and we must love the church and those inside of the church, even when it’s hard…

We Must be Satisfied by the Word (2:1-3)

As Christians, so far in 1 Peter 1, we’ve seen some incredible truths: We have a living hope, we are called to live a holy life, we are now a living people and we have a new family. These are great truths to reflect on… but it’s not like all of our problems cease to exist whenever we become a Christian. Just because we’ve been called out of the world, it doesn’t mean that we don’t still live in the world. We still face problems. So, how do we prevail against them? Simply by being satisfied by the Word of God.

What are things that people believe will satisfy them in this world?

Relationships

Money

Material items

Time

Experiences

What is the fundamental flaw with each of these earthly things?

They are not capable of satisfying us!

Restless is our heart until it finds rest in thee - Augustine

Ecclesiastes 1:14 CSB

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

It’s like chasing the wind - we can’t ever catch it. It doesn’t satisfy because it cannot satisfy.

Look at what we find in the first few verses of chapter 2 - we must not only stand on God’s Word and put on brother love… but we must also rid ourselves and put away 5 things malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. To be faithful people in a fallen world, we must dress accordingly! Why would the Bible prescribe for Christians to get rid of these things?

Because they are worldly and fleshly and NOT Godly!

John MacArthur - Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you!

Consider what these things represent… they represent our old life before Christ. Our sinful habits of yesteryear. We remove these garments and put aside these hindrances and sins that we used to put on and walk in. Think of Hebrews 12:1-3, it’s the same language here… Lay these things aside and don’t go back to them.

There are 2 extremes we have to fight against here:

Legalism

If I can just work hard enough and do this myself, then I can earn God’s favor through my awesome actions because I’m certainly better than this person who is still working and struggling with this process. We have to remember that it isn’t our power in the first place because we can’t keep God’s laws perfectly and make ourselves good enough to be saved.

Antinomianism

The extreme opposite of Legalism is this. Essentially what this person says is that, well I prayed the prayer and I believe that Jesus died for my sins on the cross, therefore, it doesn’t matter how I live today. I don’t need to obey God’s Word because there is grace whenever I mess up. What does this lead towards? Complacency and stagnancy! This person fails to “rid themselves” because they don’t think there’s a problem with delayed obedience - otherwise known as disobedience.

These are the extremes we fight against and the way we fight against them is with the Word of God. We know that our only hope to put away these vices is to be changed and led by the Word of God as verse 2 tells us!

How can God’s Word help us put away these fleshly desires?

Move from the why to the how

We cannot save ourselves (justification) but we are called to play an active part in our sanctification as we die to self and follow Christ and look more and more like Him as He increases in our lives and we decrease. You cannot grow in sanctification apart from the Word of God! So often people want to become stronger Christians and deepen their faith and not have the struggles that they have, but they fight with their Bible closed and sitting on the shelf. It doesn’t work that way! We, as believers, should hunger and desire the pure milk of the Word.

Why would Peter call the Word of God pure milk here?

A newborn needs milk to survive… a new Christian needs milk to survive and grow… we are dependent upon the Word because ONLY the Word will satisfy. We must understand this as a new believer. We don’t need more self-help strategies or motivational messages or terrific TED Talks, we need the Word because it satisfies and it helps us grow. Regardless of how long you’ve been a Christian, you should crave and hunger for the Word of God! The fancy word in view here is sanctification - that is the present tense of salvation as we progressively become more like Jesus day by day as He increases and we decrease. So, we have to ask ourselves: Do I desire the pure milk of God’s Word? There are times when the Word convicts me, but I know that the Word always changes me and this is what I need!

Eat Your Bible - as a little plug here, this is why we have launched a Bible reading plan for the year and it’s not too late to get that going (especially for the New Testament plan as it’s just 1 chapter a day!)

Reference stats that go along with consistent Bible reading:

1 day a week (Sunday only) = not much difference

2/3 days a week = minimal difference

4 or more = massive!

Check out these stats!

Feeling bitter -40%

Thinking destructively about self or others -32%

Feeling like they have to hide what they do or feel -32%

Having difficulty forgiving others -31%

Feeling discouraged – 31%

Experiencing loneliness – 30%

Overeating or mishandling food – 20%

Having difficulty forgiving oneself -26%

Thinking unkindly about others – 18%

Experiencing fear or anxiety -14%

Drinking to excess -62%

Viewing pornography -59%

Having sex outside marriage -59%

Gambling -45%

Lashing out in anger -31%

Gossiping – 28%

Lying -28%

Neglecting family -26%

Overeating or mishandling food -20%

Overspending or mishandling money -20%

Giving financially to a church +416%

Memorizing Scripture +407%

Discipling others +231%

Sharing their faith with others +228%

Giving financially to causes other than their church +218%

Donald Whitney, “No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture.” We are made by God and we must know the God who made us and we learn about WHO He is and about WHO we are through His Word!

Plug: Search the Word - Daily Grace Co. Bible study is phenomenal here as is “How to Read Your Bible for All Its Worth” by Gordon Fee

The more we read and meditate on the Word and build our life on the Word, the more that the Word changes us and the more we grow and the more we realize the goodness of our God! This helps us in every aspect of our lives as we fill ourselves with the Word and we get rid of worldly things that we don’t need in our lives!

The Church Must be Word-Centered

This text is about the Word of God and the people of God… so what better way to conclude than by looking at this simple truth:

What do we do whenever we gather for church?

If we are born again and submit to God’s Word, love one another, and proclaim the Gospel, what do we do whenever we gather? We do those same things - but the central thing that we do is not events for the sake of doing events, it’s not singing just because we like the song or the singer, it’s not fellowship just because we like food, the central thing that a New Testament church does is preach the Word. Every Sunday that you are here, there will be a sermon from Scripture that exalts Jesus Christ and points us to the hope of the Gospel. Of the 52 Sundays of the year, you will likely hear a few messages that are based on a doctrine (doctrinal sermon) or maybe even a topic (think of Easter, as we look at the topic of the Resurrection), but more times than not you will hear a sermon that is not isolated by itself but a part of a chapter and book of the Bible that we are going through as a congregation. Sequential Exposition matters and it has proven to be the most faithful manner of preaching the Word of God in a way that stays true to the intent of the text. Every Sunday the Word reigns supreme and that is most clearly seen in the reading and teaching of Scripture. That might be a culture shock or it might not, but that is what Christians have always done because we desire the Word of God to help us grow. You can tell the spiritual maturity of someone by how much they crave the Word of God. Matt Merker put it like this in his fantastic book on Corporate Worship, “We gather to read the Word, pray the Word, preach the Word, sing the Word, and see the Word.” (Think baptism and Lord’s Supper on “see the Word”)

The Word of God must be the center of everything that we do as a congregation. That might not be as flashy or as traditional as some places like to do things - but your pastor will be judged by our God one day for the way that I pastored and shepherded this church. I know that other places might do things a little differently or that things might have been done differently in the past perhaps! Our goal can’t just be status quo - our goal must be to be Word-Centered in everything that we do. God’s Word endures forever. God’s Word is sufficient - it doesn’t need an update or revision. God’s Word still changes lives. Look around you - why are you here? I pray that it’s because you have been changed by God’s Word and you desire to grow in God’s Word and see God’s Word continue to change lives in this community through the ministry of this church! This is the power of the Word - it creates a living people and it never returns to our Father void. If you love Jesus, you will love His bride, the church. And I might be biased… but I love this church!

Why does God command us to love one another? Why must this be a mark of Christians, and specifically, of members of a local church?

If we don’t love people, where should we look first?

How does God’s Word help us love one another?

Why can we trust that God’s Word truly does endure forever?

How does desiring God’s Word help you grow to be more like Jesus?