Part 6 1 Peter 2:1–12
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1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
This week we return to 1 Peter and we are in the second chapter.
If there is a therefore find out what it’s there for…The therefore in 1 Peter 2 is because of the love that is shown towards us in Christ. That we have been given eternal life through the Word that was preached to us and it is incorruptible, therefore eternal despite the fact we may corrupt ourselves, the seed sown in our hearts cannot be corrupted.
So, now we need to rid ourselves of all corruption that does not match the preached Word of God. Lay aside in the same way as we lay aside our clothes at the end of the day, lay aside these deeds that are mentioned.
Briefly these are malice which generally means the desire to harm someone. So, if you are cut up in the car or someone says something nasty to you and you desire to harm them, this is malice. The Greek word for malice is a bit more than this and generally means wickedness, depravity, and anything not morally right. So, this word malice is surprisingly full – yes, it can mean the desire to harm but more generally it is any kind of evil.
Deceit is about being skilled in deception, hypocrisy is play acting or pretending, envy is spite or resentment because of the success or possessions of someone else and evil speaking mentioned here is slander or defamation in trying to ruin someone’s reputation. These are the kind of evils that we and the world have to contend with every day from others but now all these things have to be laid to one side and cast off not to be put back on again in our own lives towards others. If these things are part of our lives then now is the time to stop. It is plain from what Peter says that some of things were evident in some Christians so, we too, have to be aware, and repent.
So, the opposite of these things should be done and what is the opposite? Love.
Preaching the Word: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude—Sharing Christ’s Sufferings The Look of Love
Love rejoices over another, is thankful for the other, reverently respects and demonstrates loyalty to the other. You could say that our earnest love resembles a strong, healthy family. Indeed, Peter intends for us to see it this way. Notice the familial terms given to us: In 2:2 we are likened to “newborn infants.” This idea goes all the way back to 1:3 where we are said to be “born again.” And in 1:22 we are called to relate to one another as brothers.
Verse 2 is something I have often preached about – to desire God’s Word like babies crying for their milk – in the same way as babies drink milk grow, so reading and desiring the Bible helps us to grow. I don’t think I need to dwell on this seeing it should already now be part of our lives – if we are going back in our Christian lives it is almost certainly because we are ignoring the Word of God. Paul goes so far as to say the divisive Church in Corinth:
2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
If we do not grow as babies grow then we will not get onto solid food which is the next stage in our growth.
3.
Our motivation for laying aside wrong doing and getting more of the Bible down our throats as it were is not out of some idea that we can get into God’s good books but because we are aware of how good God is to us – that He is gracious. And that is the centre point for us – His grace – underserved merit. This verse reminds me of
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Is this not true? We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and that He is gracious. These are the motivators for our good works, laying aside bad ones and learning and growing in Him. Love motivates us.
4
Peter quickly moves to the Saviour who was rejected by men and crucified but was the One who came to bring us salvation as if to press home how good the Lord is. Men rejected Him but He was the chosen one and precious.
5
And we have become part of this story being made into a living spiritual house both as individuals and together to offer up spiritual sacrifices and worship to God through Jesus Christ. We could not offer anything worthwhile to God ourselves but because we are bought with His blood we have been cleansed; not only cleansed but His Spirit lives in us and we can offer sacrifices of worship in Spirit and truth.
We are not those who offer profane incense to the Lord as we find in:
1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3 And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke, saying:
‘By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.’ ”
So Aaron held his peace.
The offering we give comes from the heart because of the salvation that has been won there. We can come with boldness into God’s presence without fear that we will be destroyed. But God is still holy and should still be glorified as the One in whose hands we are. But because of His Spirit living in us we know we have a Father who loves us and reciprocates His love in saying: Abba, Father.
Preaching the Word: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude—Sharing Christ’s Sufferings A Spiritual House
In one sentence Peter grasps the entire wealth of Israel’s identity and applies it not to Jesus alone, but to any man, woman, or child who comes to faith in Christ!
• When we come to Jesus—not the city of Jerusalem—we come to the “living stone.”
• When we come to Jesus—not to Judaism—we come into God’s kingdom.
• When we come to Jesus—not the ornate temple—we become God’s “spiritual house” and “holy priesthood.”
6
We do not need to worry for we have put our trust in Jesus who is the cornerstone of our salvation and we cannot build upon it anything that can destroy the foundation. What we work above it may not be perfect and we can build with stones, gold and silver or wood, hay and stubble or a real mixture as I think I will find mine is – but the foundation is still Jesus, He is the cornerstone that cannot be removed though the structure we build may not last the fire it will go through. Let us, then, build upon Him good things that will last and be eternal.
7-8
But for those who reject Him have no foundation and nothing to build upon and it will be too late to realise they have rejected the only One who can save them. Those who reject the word and therefore they are appointed to stumble and fall.
9-10
A guy had been feeling down for so long that he finally decided to seek the aid of a psychiatrist. He went there, lay on the couch, spilled his guts then waited for the profound wisdom of the psychiatrist to make him feel better. The psychiatrist asked a few questions, took some notes then sat thinking in silence for a few minutes with a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly, he looked up with an expression of delight and said, "Um, I think your problem is low self-esteem. It is very common among losers."
I’m not sure I would be too happy to hear this but he may have hit the nail on the head – we are losers and as a result we have low self-esteem. But after Christ won the victory of sin, death, hell and the devil we who received him are also winners. Strangely though some still have low self-esteem. And this should not be for ‘you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.’
In 1978 a story is told of a man who loved old books. He met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. "I couldn’t read it," the friend explained. "Somebody named Guten-something had printed it."
"Not Gutenberg!" the book lover exclaimed in horror. "That Bible was one of the first books ever printed. Why, a copy just sold for over two million dollars!" (By the way it is worth $25m today)
His friend was unimpressed. "Mine wouldn’t have brought a dollar. Some fellow named Martin Luther had scribbled all over it in German."
Now that is us – we are do not know our worth – we are invaluable to God for He sent His Son to buy us back from the marketplace of sin – and He paid the ultimate price, not in dollars or pounds but with blood and that of Christ Himself.
As God’s people we are chosen, we are royalty, we are holy, we are special, we are of the light and as a result we praise Him. We were those who went our own way but are now people of God. We who knew nothing of Judaism, the law, His Word have been brought near and we, who were outside of the people of God have received mercy.
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
We may have failed but because of Christ we can still gain the victory for it is not dependent upon us to get to Heaven for we have received mercy – and that by its nature is a gift – not earned – we have not received what we truly deserve but instead He has put us in His family:
He chose you. He has made you a King. He has made you a priest. He has made you holy. He has made you special. We are different from the rest of the world – yes the world is invited but most will have rejected their only hope – but hope lives on in us and hope that others will also know of the mercy that we have received.
Have you ever felt like royalty? I have. When Irena and I got married we went on honeymoon that was paid for by the Director of Telecom at some hotel near a lake in the mountains – and Irena and I would walk into the room and the waiter would leave who he was serving to serve us! We were given special treatment. In fact I was treated as a King by Irena’s mum too. We were not and are not royals but because of who we knew we were treated as if we were. But in Christ’s kingdom we really are kings, we are royalty.
11
The resulting life we live should be one of knowing we are simply passing through this life – this place is not our destination, nor is this world, we are travellers and here Peter begs us to realise this. As a result we need to be self-controlled for we are at war. These worldly things stifle the life of the Spirit in us. We are still in the world even if we are not of it.
12
The fact is that everything we do is being judged by the people of this world. They see what we do. And as a result they will give glory to God or not depending on the lives we led. Come judgment day they will have to concede they saw love in action in our lives because of Christ even if they did not receive the message that was preached.
Conclusion
One last story:
He was so different from the other boys in the school. He was always kind, helpful, willing, cheerful. Never in trouble.
One day he told the teacher how invading armies raided his homeland, and how his father and mother, a prince and princess, had been led away from their home to the place of execution.
Just before they parted, his father had said to him, "Remember, dear boy, wherever you may go, that you are the son of royalty. Never stoop to anything unworthy of your high rank."
We are now His people, chosen, royal, special; we have been given many privileges as children of the King – now we are to live as royalty leaving aside all manner of things that reflect this world, reflecting instead our Father’s image in Christ to the world.
Benediction
Benediction
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Helm, D. R. (2008). 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: sharing christ’s sufferings. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). 1 Peter–Jude. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 19:59 20 January 2019.