Taste & See the Goodness of God

Introduction

Background to Text:

In the first chapter of I Peter, Peter encourages a group of believers who were going through great suffering and turmoil. This was brought on in the fact that they were scattered due to persecution, and strangers, not feeling at home in their homeland.

Peter reminds them of their position in Christ, their hope in what their future ultimately holds in heaven, and challenges them to live out their faith and be holy and love others because of their salvation.

Last week we looked at the Word of God, and how the gospel contained in that Word saves us, but we also recognized the longevity of the Word, in that the Word is eternal, it will never fade away.

So now Peter is going to take this thought at the end of chapter 1 and continue it into chapter 2 as he talks about the importance of God’s Word and the work it does in our hearts.

So this morning I want us to look at a sermon entitled: “Taste & See the Goodness of God.”

READ I PETER 2:1-3

PRAY

-Have you ever been skeptical to eat something because you weren’t sure how it would taste?

-I remember the first time I had sushi. I was in 7th grade. I was in Mr. Jenkins class. We were learning about oriental culture, and our teacher thought it would be a good idea to let us try out sushi.

-Most of us in the classroom had never tried it before. Most in the class wouldn’t try it. It smelled. It looked funny. It was foreign to us. I got the courage though to try it.

-Of course, we learned that when you eat sushi, you don’t eat it in little bites. That’s offensive to the chef. You stick the whole thing in your mouth at once. So I did.

-I was also introduced to wasabi. It looked like green playdoh. I got my chopstick and stuck about a tablespoon of that stuff on there. And I put it in my mouth.

-Needless to say, my mouth was on fire, and I hated sushi. It was the worst thing I ever put in my mouth.

-Years later, I was at a Japanese restaurant and my wife told me to try some sushi. I had already done that, and I wasn’t falling for that trick again.

-But she ordered something, probably shrimp tempura or something like that. And I made the decision to taste it, and because of that experience, I’m now a sushi lover, but still pretty picky on what kind I have.”

You could say my tastebuds changed a little over time. What I once hated, now I love. What I was once unwilling to partake in, now I would willingly partake in. Because I have a taste for it.

In these opening verses, Peter shows us what the tastebuds of a believer should look like. As these people would taste of God’s grace and goodness by taking in the Word of God, it would give them even more of an appetite to grow in the Lord and live a life for the Lord.

Instead of verse 1 being their behavior, what Peter would challenge them with the rest of the chapter would be their desire instead.

The goodness of God changes our taste buds! And we see that in this passage.

Transition

So this morning I want us to look at Four Items from these verses that will help us in having the right pallet spiritually.

There Should Be A Great Appetite for God’s Word (v. 2a “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word")

Here Peter is giving us an illustration of a baby and their desire for milk. Now, if you’ve ever been around a baby, you know that when it’s time to eat, IT’S TIME TO EAT! It’s about like when it hits noon at a Baptist church on a potluck day, watch out! It’s time to eat!

What happens if they don’t get their food right away? They scream, they cry, they throw a fit, they get mad. They have to eat, right now! The interesting thing about babies is, they eat constantly.

It’s like every couple hours, if that, they have to eat. They eat all throughout the night. They eat all day long. It’s a huge part of their little lives. They have a great desire for that milk.

Peter, by no accident, uses this same idea to describe the same type of appetite, and desire that we should have when it comes to the sincere milk of the Word.

I think it’s pretty easy to understand that Peter is talking about the Word of God. As Peter closed out chapter 1 he was talking about the Word that would never fade away.

And now he’s saying, with that same word, the living and abiding Word of God, we ought to have a hungering, a craving, an appetite to devour the Word of God!

Jeremiah 15:16 KJV 1900

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

Job 23:12 KJV 1900

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

I don’t know about you, but I’m real excited that in about the next 30 minutes or so we’re going to load our plates and stuff our face to the glory of God! I love eating. I love food.

But did you catch what these two men in the Bible were saying? Just like you’d eat food. Just like it would satisfy your belly. They said, the Word of God feeds their soul in the same way, and they had a craving for it.

So with that being said, I wonder, Do you get just as excited about getting into the Word as you would about eating your favorite meal?

Let me ask you this, are you just like a baby, who needs that milk constantly and desires it all day long, could that describe your longing for the Word of God?

There’s some days we fail to even open the Word once, let alone crave and desire it as a baby would it’s milk.

Our taste buds are off. We don’t desire God. We don’t desire His Word. Do you desire His Word? Do you desire it like Peter is describing here?

There Should Be A Great Appetite for God’s Word.

There Should Be Growth in God’s Word (v. 2b “that ye may grow thereby”)

How do we grow? This is real simple isn’t it? How does a baby grow? They eat! As they eat, they get the nutrition they need, and they grow. As they grow, they are healthy.

Isn’t it just natural for babies to grow? What’s unnatural is for a baby to not have an appetite and to not grow properly.

-When I was in Jacksonville I met a man in our church, a deacon, and he told me about his daughter. I believe she lived to be in her late twenties if I remember right.

-He said she wasn’t supposed to ever live to see that point of her life. But by the grace of God she did. She had a rare disease. When she died I believe he said she was only 40 pounds. 27 years old.

-When you hear something like that, I think you understand, there’s a problem there. She had problems with teeth crowding her mouth. Problems with joints.

-While from what I understand, she was a great witness for Jesus and God used her dilemma for His glory. What she faced was unnatural. It wasn’t normal.

I wonder spiritually, if we could see a physical depiction of our soul, what would it look like? Would we be malnourished? Would we be healthy? Would we be thriving? Would we be weak?

It all depends on how your appetite is. Because if you’re not eating, guess what? You’re not growing.

-You remember the old Sunday School song:

-Read your Bible pray everyday, and you’ll what? Grow, Grow, Grow.

Just as it is natural for a baby to desire milk and grow because of it eating that milk. This is the same truth of believers as well. It should be natural within us to desire the Word and grow by it.

The word that saved us according to 1:23 is the same word that sustains us. It brings health to us spiritually. And when we neglect God’s Word we malnourish our soul. It causes us to be unhealthy Christians.

There Should Be A Great Appetite for God’s Word. There Should Be Growth in God’s Word.

When We Partake of God’s Word, We Experience His Goodness (v. 3)

When we partake of God’s Word, what does it taste like? The taste of the Word is described in verse 3. What is the Bible supposed to taste like to the soul? The taste is God’s grace. We taste His goodness. His mercy toward us.

When we get into the Word of God, we see the goodness of God. Now, I think it’s important to note. Even the lost can read this book. Anyone can read this book.

But for those of us who are saved, we see this book in a whole different way. Because this book, isn’t just a bunch of beautiful words strung together, it’s much more than that.

Hebrews 4:12 KJV 1900

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Word of God is alive! It is the book we live our lives according to. We follow this book by faith, believing that what was written, was written for us

Romans 15:4 KJV 1900

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

This book is our life! Spiritually it is what feeds us. When you take in this book, and you find God’s mercy and grace it gives you an appetite to come back for more!

-I guarantee you, there’s going to be something on that table back there today that I’m going to say, “I’ve got to have some more of that!”

Because it tastes so good! Because it’s so wonderful!

When you get into the Word, and you live out the Word, and you see God work in your life through the Word, you’ll want even more of the Word!

When you experience God’s goodness by growing in this book, it’ll be like the best thing you ever put in your mouth, you won’t be able to get enough of it!

Psalm 34:8 KJV 1900

O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

You know why some of you may not have an appetite for the Word this morning? Your taste buds are out of whack. When you take in the Word, you’re not tasting God’s mercy, grace, and goodness.

That’s what your daily Bible reading should be described by. Maybe instead of asking, “Are you reading your Bible?” We should instead ask, “What does your Bible reading taste like?”

Does it taste like cardboard, or does it taste like a big steak dinner? This book was not just given for our information, it was given for our transformation.

And if you have no desire to get into this book. If you have no desire to hear the Word preached. Maybe your taste buds are off.

What causes our taste buds to be off? Well, I think verse 1 answers that question. Things like: Malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander. All of these would cause us to spit out the Word.

Since We Have Tasted of God’s Goodness, We Should Put Away Wickedness (v. 1)

Wherefore. This is in reference to what Peter just got done talking about in the previous verses. He talked about the purifying of our souls. And since we’ve been saved, we should love one another.

He talked about our new birth in Christ by the word of the gospel. Now he’s saying, “Because of your salvation, put away this wickedness from your life.” He’s going to show them what the opposite of loving others looks like.

Notice what he addresses here:

Malice-desire to hurt people; mean spirited. Really this whole list stems from malice.

It’s interesting to note that all of these sins, except slander, are inward sins deep in the soul that can be concealed from others.

Deceit-wanting people to believe what is not true. This deceit is displayed through hypocrisy. You see how both of those go together?

Hypocrisy-species of deceit; hypocrisy says, “I don’t want you to know the real me”; fear of being known; insecurity

When we are deceitful and hypocritical we want people to accept us for who we aren’t. The way to overcome this deceit is by the milk of the word.

When we’ve tasted of the goodness of God, and we’ve experienced His kindness and grace we are then satisfied by who God is that we don’t have to go around trying to gain the acceptance of others.

We don’t have to go around faking who we are any longer because our appetite now is all about God’s mercy and grace. We are caught up in the fact that God has given us a new birth, and that our acceptance is found in Him.

Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, but then notice the last two that go together:

Envy-this is different than deceit, this is not about self; feeling about others; resentful of successes of others, this is displayed through slander.

Slander-put others down so we don’t feel so put down

But when we taste of God’s mercy, grace, and kindness in our lives these actions will be foreign to our minds. We’ll be so wrapped up in God’s goodness in our lives that we won’t have time to think about what we don’t have.

Think about it, these people were suffering, while it seemed the wicked were succeeding. No doubt they looked at their situations and envied after them. And thought they deserved what they had.

But what they needed to focus on, was not what others had in the temporal, but focus on what they had in the eternal.

They needed to look at the book and see the goodness of God and meditate upon His kindness and mercy toward them.

You know you have a good intake of the Word, when verse number 1 is distasteful to you and your soul.

The remedy to malice in your life and mine is this book! When we taste God’s goodness our tastebuds will change and we’ll have no desire for the things of verse 1.

Conclusion

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Read with Tongue

A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book The Wonders of the Word of God. The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read Braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in Braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as he brought one of the Braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue. At the time Robert Sumner wrote his book, the man had “read” through the entire Bible four times.

Psalm 119:97 KJV 1900

MEM. O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.

What does your Bible reading taste like? Are you seeing God’s goodness, grace, and mercy? If not, your tastebuds are off, get in the Word, grow in the Word, and you’ll find a greater love and appetite for the Word as a result.