Untitled Sermon (15)

Maturation

1 the action or process of maturing.

b: the emergence of personal and behavioral characteristics through growth processes

I should not be saved and satisfied

Spiritual Growth has nothing to do with my Tenure

Spiritual Growth has nothing to do with how much I Know

Spiritual Growth has nothing to do with how busy I am

Spiritual Growth is matching my practice with my profession

A Mature Family Knows what to Reject

1 Peter 2:1 ESV

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

1 Peter

To put Away: to stop oneself bring in a state or condition: conceived of as divesting oneself of a garment.

To lay aside to take off

1 Peter 2:2 ESV

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

The Apostle Pete Hits us with a Quintuple of things that we as believers MUST Reject

Double= Two

Triple = Three

Quadruple = Four

Quintuple

Sometimes children have no appetite because they have been eating the wrong things. Peter warned his readers to “lay aside” certain wrong attitudes of heart that would hinder their appetite and spiritual growth. “Malice” means wickedness in general. “Guile” is craftiness, using devious words and actions to get what we want. Of course, if we are guilty of malice and guile, we will try to hide it; and this produces “hypocrisies.” Often the cause of ill will is envy, and one result of envy is evil speaking, conversation that tears the other person down. If these attitudes and actions are in our lives, we will lose our appetite for the pure word of God. If we stop feeding on the Word, we stop growing, and we stop enjoying (“tasting”) the grace that we find in the Lord. When Christians are growing in the Word, they are peacemakers, not troublemakers, and they promote the unity of the church.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 400). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

1. Malice: The perverting of virtue and moral principles from their purposes to evil ends.

malice

Malice (Oxford )

■ noun

The desire to do harm to someone; ill will.

Law wrongful intention, especially as increasing the guilt of certain offences.

1: desire to cause pain, injury, or distress to another

2: intent to commit an unlawful act or cause harm without legal justification or excuse

2. Deceit: cunning , treachery bait for fish, hence, any cunning contrivance for deceiving or catching, as the net

Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Soanes, C., & Stevenson, A. (Eds.). (2004). Concise Oxford English dictionary (11th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Deceit: cunning , treachery bait for fish, hence, any cunning contrivance for deceiving or catching, as the net

3. Hypocrisy ⇔ acting n. — insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have. Falseness

‘playing a stage role’) in our lit. only in a neg. sense to create a public impression that is at odds with one’s real purposes or motivations, play-acting, pretense, outward show, dissembling

g‘playing a stage role’) in our lit. only in a neg. sense to create a public impression that is at odds with one’s real purposes or motivations, play-acting, pretense, outward show, dissembling

Deceit is speaking a lie but Hypocrisy is living a lie

4. Envy — spite and resentment toward the success or possessions of another. Jealousy

5. Slander= abusive words falsely spoken that damage a person’s reputation.

the act of speaking ill of another, evil speech, slander, defamation, detraction

the act of speaking ill of another, evil speech, slander, defamation, detraction

1 Peter 2:3 ESV

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Have tasted : to experience ⇔ taste v. — to experience, perhaps especially the first motions of; conceived of as perceiving something by the sense of taste.

Psalm 34:8 ESV

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

God has Been to Good to me

God has Been to Good to me

For me to live in Malice

For me to live in Deceit

For me to live in Hypocrisy

For me to live Envious

For me to live Slanderous

1 Peter 2:11 NLT

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.

A Mature Family Knows what to Receive

1 Peter 2:2 ESV

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

Like Newborn infants:

1 p

We enjoy the same nourishment

God’s Word has life, gives life, and nourishes life.

We should have appetites for the Word just like hungry newborn babes! We should want the pure Word, unadulterated, because this alone can help us grow.

1 Peter 1:23 ESV

since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Matthew 18:3 ESV

and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Desire isn't just merely wanting something but it is Longing for it

Long For: to desire strongly or persistently.

A Mature Family Knows It’s More than Meets the Eyes

1 Peter 2:4 ESV

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,

As You Come to Him :Verse 4, the first phrase, “I came to Christ … I came to Him,” and that is exactly the expression that Peter has in mind.

Certainly it begins at the time of salvation when you come to Christ, when you come in faith.

In Jesus said, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

The Bible says that Jesus calls men to come to Himself. In , “I am the bread of life, he who comes to Me shall not hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

Verse 37, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me.”

Verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

Verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Verse 65, “For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” In 7, I believe it’s over in verse 37, Jesus says, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me.”

Verse 65, “For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

In 7, I believe it’s over in verse 37, Jesus says, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me.”

In coming to Christ we enter the realm of spiritual privilege. Not only the realm of spiritual duty but the realm of spiritual privilege.

Now the idea here, as I said, is that initially you come to Christ in salvation.

But that is not the total meaning that is conveyed in the verb. The verb here with its pronoun means to come with the idea of remaining, or to come with the idea of staying. Or to use the words of the Apostle John both in and , “Coming and abiding … coming and remaining.”

So the idea here then is of coming to Him to stay in His presence, coming to Him to remain in intimate personal communion, fellowship and abiding.

In fact, this word proserchomai is used of drawing near to God for continuing worship. It’s used that way in Greek translations of the Old Testament. One form of this verb is the noun proselyte which means a person who was afar off who drew near.

So what you have here then is that spiritual privilege begins when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ and it is sustained as you remain there.

So what you have here then is that spiritual privilege begins when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ and it is sustained as you remain there. We could say it this way, coming to Him is a phrase in which Peter implies the whole movement of the inner life toward communion with Jesus Christ. The whole movement of the inner life toward communion with Jesus Christ, that’s where spiritual privilege begins. That’s what makes us have the advantage over all the rest of the world. We are the privileged, we are the favored and we are the blessed.

We could say it this way, coming to Him is a phrase in which Peter implies the whole movement of the inner life toward communion with Jesus Christ.

The whole movement of the inner life toward communion with Jesus Christ, that’s where spiritual privilege begins. That’s what makes us have the advantage over all the rest of the world. We are the privileged, we are the favored and we are the blessed.

Living Stone: Now he identifies the one to whom we come, notice in verse 4, he says, “And coming to Him as to a living stone.” And he is using an analogy here. Quite an interesting one, by the way. And with this title he begins to touch an amazing combination of images revealed from different Old Testament texts. This idea of the living stone sort of launches his thoughts about this matter of spiritual privilege. And also I might add, he will having mentioned the living stone recall three Old Testament texts that refer to Christ as a stone, and he shows what spiritual privileges are related to Christ in the image of a stone. And those will unfold for us as we study through the passage, but here he introduces the idea, he says as you come to Christ you are coming to a living stone. The word stone, lithos, the common word for stone is the usual word, mark this now, for a stone used in a building. It is sometimes also used for a carved precious stone, but it is commonly the word used for a stone used in building a building, a stone that is chiseled, that is hammered and that is sawn in order that it might perfectly fit in the building of an edifice. And of course you know in ancient times they built buildings by stone. The way they did it was not necessarily with mortar but simply stones that were so perfectly fit together and so heavy that they simply stacked upon each other and were immovable.

So here you have a stone used for building … a stone that is perfectly shaped, perfectly designed, perfectly hewn out to accomplish its purpose. The curiosity, however, is that he calls it a “living stone.” And that is a paradox, isn’t it? In fact, we think of a stone we think of something that is not living, we even say that something is as dead as a stone, or something is stone dead. Stones are not living, and that’s the paradox. A stone has no life but this stone is a living stone. With all the solidarity of the stone it is yet alive. And though this stone is the perfect stone that becomes the cornerstone in the building of the edifice of the church, it is nonetheless not just a stone but a living stone. This stone lives. Why? Because it is Christ and Christ lives because He rose from the dead. He is a living stone. He is alive from the dead. He has living relationships with living people. He gives life which He has in Himself to all who believe. He is called in that spiritual rock that was there in the wilderness from which the water came to assuage the thirst of God’s people.

So here is a stone, a solid rock, a perfect building stone on which God can build His church. And yet it is not a dead stone but a living stone, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is that living stone by virtue, as you know, of His own resurrection from the dead. Having been raised from the dead He is alive forever more. And says death is no more master over Him. And says the last Adam, being Christ, became a life giving spirit. Not only is He alive but He gives life. And because of His life we live. By the way, Peter has already talked about a living hope, 1:3; a living Word 1:23; and now he talks about a living stone.

Now I might add as a note that you’ll notice there’s no “the” there, not “the” living stone, but it should read, “And coming to Him as to living stone,” not just one among many but when there is not a Greek definite article “the,” it is emphasizing the quality, the character. The idea here is the stone is Christ and the emphasis is on the quality of that stone as being alive. Anyone who touches Christ by faith, anyone who receives Christ by faith is made alive with His own life. He is a living stone. God has given to us, says , eternal life and this life is in His Son.

Now you say, “Well if … if we’re talking about Christ as living, why use the analogy of a stone?” Because Peter also wants to talk about Christ as the foundation of the building of the church and he wants also to explain Old Testament passages that do that very thing.

But let’s note for this time, anyway, that all our spiritual privileges are in that living stone … all of them. Now follow what he says. Strange as it may seem, tragic as it is, the living stone was rejected by men. That is why they are not the privileged. That is why the world does not have spiritual privileges. That is why they do not have the advantage that we have. They are not favored. They are not blessed by God because they have rejected the living stone. Thus they have rejected the foundation of God’s church, God’s building. Thus they have rejected the only one who can give them life. Certainly when Peter says this he has in mind predominantly the Jewish nation, the Sanhedrin, the leaders, the priests and the people who followed them who rejected Jesus Christ, who crucified Jesus Christ having spit upon Him and beaten Him. And so he says this living stone, this perfect cornerstone in God’s building of His eternal house, this living stone who alone can give life was rejected by men. And all who have rejected Him since fit into the same category as those original rejectors.

The idea here is very interesting. Let me give you the picture. When men set out to build a building they would then begin to work on the stones. And they would want stones that fit perfectly. But the most important stone of all was the cornerstone because the cornerstone set the lines for the building. And it was the perfection of the cornerstone that maintained the perfect symmetry of the rest of the building. The cornerstone was like the plumb line in every direction. Obviously it would set the direction for both sides as well as upward. And if any of the angles were off, the building would be off. If the angle was not a perfect right angle, if that was the design, then the building would go on into askewed form. If the vertical angle was not proper, the building would either collapse outward or collapse inward. So every angle had to be absolutely perfect. And all of those angles were set by one massive cornerstone to which all other stones must agree.

Now the idea here is that here came the leaders of Israel wanting to participate in the building of God’s glorious spiritual temple. And in looking for the cornerstone, the Messiah, Jesus came along and they examined Him. And with all of the fine view that they could muster and with all of the angles that they could perceive and with all of the measuring instruments that they had in their religion, they assessed the suitability of Jesus Christ to be the Messiah who would set the cornerstone for the spiritual Kingdom of God. And when they had concluded their assessment, they concluded that Jesus was not adequate and so they rejected Him. As far as the Jewish leaders were concerned, He did not pass their calculations. And so they rejected Him. The word here for rejection embodies all of that because it is the Greek word which means “rejected having been examined,” or “rejected having been tested.” Their rejection was contemptuous. Their rejection was filled with venomous hate. Nothing was so unthinkable to them then that this Jesus could possibly be the cornerstone of God’s Kingdom … this foolish man, this poor man, this man who literally scathed them with His denunciations of their religious system, this weak humble man, this man who ultimately went to a cross and died, it was unthinkable that He could possibly be God’s cornerstone. This man who wouldn’t even overthrow the Romans, this man who couldn’t even establish Israel’s freedom from the bondage of its invading army … and so they rejected Him.

But, though He was rejected by men, look back at verse 4, He was choice and He was precious in the sight of God. This is an interesting phrase in the original, it reads “but He was elect and He was precious by the side of God.” God examined Him, too. And God took out the measurements of His own perfection and God measured Jesus Christ and God said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am … what?… well pleased.”

This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He was elect. That’s what choice means. He was chosen. Christ, Mine elect … God said. Chosen, ordained by God, precious, entimon means costly, it means highly prized, it means rare. And so God looked at Jesus Christ and said He was perfect for the cornerstone. Every angle is perfect. He is the cornerstone. And because God affirmed His perfection, God raised Him from the dead and made Him the living cornerstone. And all we see here is the stupidity and the ignorance of men. It reminds me of two men who walked in the Louvre Museum in Paris. One of the curators there, a man of great appreciation for art stood as these two men stared at one of the great masterpieces of art. And one turned to the other and said, “I don’t think much of that painting.” To which the curator replied, “Dear sir, if I may interrupt, that painting is not on trial, you are. The world has already assessed the quality of that painting, you only demonstrate the frailty of your measuring capability.”

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

And that’s the truth. Jesus isn’t on trial. The stone is perfect but every man who measures it is on trial to see if his system of measuring is adequate. Their’s wasn’t and men today continue to reject the one whom God said is choice and precious. This, He said, is My beloved Son. In God says, “Kiss the Son.” In he says, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.” One of Peter’s themes was God’s acceptance of Christ. In , Peter loved this subject apparently, he said, “You have nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men Jesus and you put Him to death.” But he said, “God raised Him up again.” You may have rejected the stone, God hasn’t. In 2 again, verse 32 he says, “This Jesus God raised up again and has exalted Him to the right hand of God.” In 4:11 Peter says, “He is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, but which became the very cornerstone.” Then he says, “And there is salvation in no one else.” In 5 he’s after that same subject again. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death.” He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a prince and a Savior.

A Mature Family Knows Who they Are

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter

1 Peter 2:6 ESV

For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

1 Peter 2:7 ESV

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”

1 Peter 2:8 ESV

and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Chosen Generation/ Race= race of people — people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock.

Class Kin

Royal = belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler.

priesthood = the body of religious practitioners invested with ministerial or priestly authority.

Holy Nation=people group — a large group of people based on various cultural, physical, or geographical ties.

In A Mature Family Everyone Knows Their Place

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.