Purging For Progress

Introduction

Spiritual progress, or more specifically spiritual growth that is manifest in improved relations within the body of Christ, requires some spiritual cleansing. The apostle’s instructions here are linked to his encouragement to brotherly love in the previous chapter. Love for the brethren is a pretty accurate metric for measuring spiritual progress. Throughout the New Testament we are reminded that we cannot separate love for God from love for a brother or sister.

1 John 4:20 ESV

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

This love is also the metric in which the rest of the world will assess our relationship with Christ, and either validate or nullify our claim to Christianity.

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Peter’s emphasis on sanctification and spiritual maturity in the midst of suffering takes a deeper dive into a more specific area of focus at the end of chapter 1. At the end of chapter 1 he turns to the social ramifications of regeneration:

1 Peter 1:22 ESV

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

The connection between love for others and our spiritual maturity is bidirectional. The more we grow spiritually, the more we should in fact love our neighbors. The more we love our neighbors, the more we will be able to grow spiritually.

However, it seems as though there is a point in which both of these things plateau and we falsely believe that we can neglect brotherly love and continue to grow spiritually. The point at which you fail to love one another earnestly and sincerely is the point at which you fail to grow. There is no shortage of Christians who aspire to grow spiritually and as a result become better husbands, wives, parents, friends, and people in general. However, there is a shortage of Christians who understand the impact that your attitudes and actions toward others can have on your personal relationship with Christ. So the question becomes, “how do we identify this plateau in our faith and how do we overcome it?”

The answer is fairly simple as Peter gives us a list of vices that threaten our spiritual maturity, while at the same time offering for us the supplement that helps us to grow and the motivation for it all.

I. Remove

As Peter begins a new thought he builds on previous context. Depending upon which translation of the Bible you are reading, verse one may begin with the word “therefore”. That is because he is linking this idea of spiritual maturity or “growing up into salvation” with the his previous idea of sincere brotherly love. He says therefore, we should remove malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.

We love lists. Lists help to eliminate some gray area in our thinking and give us a more clear target in which to aim. Contemporary Christianity is so list driven because we love the satisfaction of being able to check off the boxes. Faith is not list driven, rather it is love driven but the apostle Paul helps us to verify our faith by giving us a list. There are two types of lists in the Bible, vice lists and virtue lists. Virtue lists tell us how we should live and vice lists tell us how we should not live. Peter gives us this particular vice list to give us a an example of things we should remove or “put off” if we are to continue in the sincere and earnest love that was birthed in our spiritual rebirth. This list has to do with our attitudes and actions toward other people. It is a very important list because the things on this list can stunt your spiritual growth. You may not realize it but your actions toward Jimmy and Sally play a critical role in you relationship with Jesus. Peter lists 5 vices that we need to put off. These are vices of the mind and the mouth that we may have had before we met Jesus but we should be shedding since we met Jesus. It’s not okay to say, “well that’s just how I am.” You can say that, but don’t expect to make any progress in your walk with Christ.

Malice is to desire to do ill to someone or to wish evil on them. To sit around and meditate on someone else’s demise is stunting your growth. Let it go.

Deceit is knowingly causing someone to believe that you intend to do something that you do not actually intend to do. To lead people into this cloud of disappointment is more damning for you despite anything you may gain momentarily. Stop it.

Hypocrisy is being someone completely different than who you project. Hypocrisy and deceit are cousins. Hypocrisy is not human error, it is deceitful intent. It is saying one thing and knowing that you intend to act completely contrary to what you are saying. Just be true to yourself.

Envy is akin to jealousy and born out of covetousness. Always remember that what the Lord has for you is for you, and what he has for someone else i someone else’s. Be content with what God has for you.

Slander is the making a false statement against someone so as to damage their character. Slander and speculation are related because we cause much of our speculation to become slander when we don’t have any facts or any valuable reason for spreading what we speculate in the first place. Just don’t speak on it.

Your own spiritual progress may be halted by your attitude toward someone else. Too often we harbor these feelings and we put our minds and mouths where they don’t belong because we are angry or perhaps because we are just frustrated, but just remember it is hurting you more than it is hurting them.

II. Refuel With The Word

Secondly, in order to continue making progress after you’ve purged yourselves of these unhealthy attitudes and actions you must build your spiritual man with a nutritious diet.

1 Peter 2:2 ESV

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

Like newborn infants, does not imply that Peter is addressing only babes in the faith, rather he is likening the dependence that all Christians should have to the dependence that newborns have.

Spiritual milk, that is pure.

We have been saved and we are being saved.

III. Remember the Goodness of Jesus

Peter qoutes Psalm 34

Psalm 34:8 ESV

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

This longing to grow spiritually comes from experiencing the goodness of the Lord.

The more we taste God’s goodness, the more tasteless other worldly options will become. We must not fill our lives with cheap substitutes so that we lose our craving for the truth contained in God’s Word.

The condition for growth is the putting away of all that is evil in their relationships with others and the nourishing of themselves by the Word of God.