Word Fueled Life
Notes
Transcript
Scripture reading
Scripture reading
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Got Milk?
Got Milk?
Commercial
Good advertising campaigns appeal to a hope that we have don’t they?
The Got Milk adds included photos in magazines and billboards of world class athletes sporting a milk mustache conveying the message,
If you hope to have a strong athletic body, or if you hope for your children to be strong, you’ll make sure they drink milk
Shampoo and conditioner makers say “If you hope to have shiny and silky, and beautiful hair, you will use our product.”
Car manufacturers convey “If you hope to look cool or tough, you’ll drive our car.”
Our consumerism in this country is literally based on our unfulfilled, worldly, hopes.
And I guess in the case of my favorite Got Milk commercial the message is if you ever hope to get the PB off the roof of your mouth you’ll have milk always at the ready.
So I use that illustration this morning because as we continue on this morning in our series on hope out of 1 Peter, we are once again going to see these two worlds of hope and milk colliding.
Recap
Recap
We left off last week at and v. 23.
And so far in chapter 1 we’ve noticed how Peter has mentioned hope 3 times in 22 verses.
in v. 3 we saw how Peter opens his letter praising God the Father who has according to His great mercy, caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!
And we saw in v. 13 that Peter tells these persecuted christians to set their hope fully on the grace that will be brouight to them at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And then again in v. 21 he tells them that God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory, so that their faith and hope are in God.
So Peter says, Your faith is anchored hope that comes from the historical event of the resurrection of Christ. Your hope is in the his return at some point in the future, and your lives in light of that hope should reflect that hope that you have.
And as we talked about last week, Peter tells them that a hope filled life is a holy life.
15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
So once again this week as we read the text we are going to cover, remember who Peter is talking to and how he’s encouraging them to stand strong in their faith as it’s anchored to their HOPE.
The Text
The Text
We are going to pick up this week in starting in v. 22.
And I also want to note before I begin reading that while I typically preach from the English Standard Version, today I will be reading from the NASB because I believe that version more accurately conveys some key points of the text that I will point out to in a bit. So if you are reading on your phone or if your neighbor is using the NASB you try to read from that.
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
And I also want to note before I begin reading that while I typically preach from the English Standard Version, today I will be reading from the NASB because I believe that version more accurately conveys some key points of the text that I will point out to in a bit. So if you are reading on your phone or if your neighbor is using the NASB you try to read from that.
1 Peter 1:22-
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you. 1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
So Peter here once again reminds them of the same thing he mentioned earlier in the chapter, that they have been born again to that living hope, except this time around he includes some additional information as to what led them to that point.
And in the
He tells them earlier in the chapter that they have a living hope which includes an inheritance that is imperishable, that is unending right? It never fades, it never rusts, it never wears out, and he says what is true of that inheritance is also true of the message through which they were born again. the imperishable, living and abiding word of God.
And then he quotes and 8
,
6 A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
6 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
This is the word which was preached to you.
Not
Since you’ve been born again of the word which was preached to you, the good news of the gospel, the word that they preached, the word that we now have written for us, he says love one another.
But that isn’t all he has to say regarding the word.
Now remember the chapters and verse numbers were put in at a later time, Peter didn’t write this and put that big chapter 2 there in the middle of this thought. And while those who put these chapters and verses in tried to place them where a conclusion of a thought was, they were not inspired, and I believe that often times they kind of missed including the whole point inside the chapter where it goes.
1 Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
The Kindness of the Lord
The Kindness of the Lord
The Kindness of the Lord
The Kindness of the Lord
OH taste and see that the LORD is good!
How do we do that? How do we Taste and see that the Lord is Good? I mean Peter here seems to think it an obvious answer, in fact some translations render this as SINCE you have tasted.
OH taste and see that the LORD is good!
Without God’s word what would you know about Him. Would we know His characteristics? Would we know His love? Would we know His incredible grace and mercy?
Without God’s word what would you know about Him. Would we know His characteristics? Would we know His love? Would we know His incredible grace and mercy?
Sure we could look around at nature as Paul says in and see God’s eternal power and divine nature but what else would we know?
It’s a great day today, I get to talk about two of my favorite things, God and food, and I don’t have to worry about making you hungry because if you can smell the kitchen you probably already are hungry.
But I was thinking about this idea of tasting that Peter talks about and my mind went to a cookbook full of recipes.
This last week I was looking around in my freezer for something to put on the smoker and I was looking for chicken legs, but we had was chicken breast.
.......
As I read the recipe, and looked at the photos, I could almost taste what this was going to be like. I had an idea of what those ingredients, when combined together would be like, but If I really wanted to taste it I had to make application of what I was reading on the paper. Only when what was on paper became a reality in my kitchen would I be able to experience the taste.
And so I did, I put all the ingredients together, and oh was it good...
Now we often times shy away from the word experience and feelings because we there are many in the religous world today that misuse them to the point that they are completely unbiblical and dangerous, but is there anything wrong with experiencing God, experiencing salvation, feeling joy, as He is presented to us out of the pages of scripture? Absolutely not!
In fact, I would argue that if we are not experiencing these things, that something else is going to creep in as Peter warns in v.1.
Putting Aside Poisons
Putting Aside Poisons
Malice
Deceit
Hypocrisy
Envy
Slander
Long for the pure milk of the word
Long for the pure milk of the word
Newborn babies
GROW!
Are you in the same place spiritually that you were a year ago?
A hope filled life is a WORD FUELED LIFE
If you feel like your hope is gone