A Quick Note

I am in the middle of our busiest season of the year on the camp grounds, so I'll get back to this blog in early fall, when things slow down.  I do keep up with a once a week blog entry on my Journal Pie, however.

I Peter 2:1-3 - Growing in Christ

I Peter 2:1-3

Verse 1

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. (NIV)

So get rid of all malicious behavior and deceit. Don't just pretend to be good! Be done with hypocrisy and jealousy and backstabbing. (NLT)

Peter continues to address the people he was writing with their need of unity amongst themselves. They needed to be a community that displayed Godly love and supported one another after being in exile so long, and under such extreme conditions. They truly needed one another. Any evil activities or attitudes needed to be stopped. By “rid yourselves” he meant “QUIT!”

Any nature that wants to harm others, or envies others, has to be destroyed. Envy will often show itself by slandering another. Deceit and hypocrisy comes out of a person who wants to impress others by pretending to be something he/she is not. Such a person is two-faced and does not have pure motives for what he/she does.

A person who sincerely repents turns away from such ways and turns to a life of truth and love. When one possesses the mind of Christ, he/she seeks the good of others. The closer we walk with Christ, the more our desires become like His.

Verse 2-3

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it your may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (NIV)

You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk; now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness. (NLT)

Just as a baby craves milk, new born babes in Christ should crave spiritual milk, which is the Word of God. Babies grow when they are fed, and so do new Christians. The mind must be fed with the pure milk of the truth found in God's Word. It is a source of nourishment that can be trusted.

Once we find out how satisfying the truth of God is, we should long for additional nourishment. We have found God's grace through our redemption, and we know that He is good...all the time. May our spiritual cravings take us into His Word so that we may grow strong and wise through our time with Him.

The Distinctive Marks of a Christian - (I Peter 1:13-25) - Conclusion

When we claim the name of Christ we are identifying whose family we belong to.  God is a holy God and, as we represent Him to our world, we must also bear the family image of holiness.  In a world that is extremely materialistic and self-obsessed and deceitful, there is a cry for someone to be distinctively different, someone who will stand for truth and purity and integrity.  


It must grieve God's heart to look on His children and see how much they mimic the world's lifestyle.  He has called us to live a higher calling, a life that is set apart for His service.  After all He has done for us, and knowing He is our ultimate Judge, dare we live below our calling?  Through yielding to His Spirit's leading in our moment by moment decisions, we can walk as Christ walked and re-echo God's call to all of humanity to be holy and pure.

"Oh, to be like Thee, Blessed Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer.

Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee!  Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art!

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart!

The Distinctive Mark of Brotherly Love - I Peter 1:22-25 - Part B

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  (v. 23)


"Born again", just like "purified" from the previous verse, is a perfect participle in Greek.  This signifies one decisive act in the past that has abiding results in the present.  Because we have been born again is another reason why we should love one another.


Peter gives us a firm foundation to build on in this verse by indicating that God is at work in the life of a believer, through His eternal Word. This is not just a temporary work, but something that will last for all time and eternity.  Through His Word He is continually cleansing us and preparing us for our destination with Him.


For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever."   And this is the word that was preached to you.  (v. 24-25)


In these verses Peter quotes from Isaiah 40:6-8.  He reminds us that one day everything in life will pass away.  God alone is eternal.  We need to quit focusing on the temporary things and situations of this life, and begin focusing on God and His Word.  Our life in Christ is all that will last for eternity.


God's Word continues to speak to men down through the ages because it is truth, and truth never changes.  The Word is living and abiding because the Holy Spirit continues to confirm God's truth in us.

The Distinctive Mark of Brotherly Love - I Peter 1:22-25 - Part A

These verses give us the consequences of holy living in that Peter talks about the attitude of Christians toward one another.  After believers have received new life from God, they express this new life in new ways...such as in brotherly love.


Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  (verse 22)


The truth is what searches out motives.  It comes from God's Word and is the tool that the Spirit uses to bring about God's desired results in our lives.  God produces purification through His Word and His Spirit by our being yielded to the Spirit and not giving is to our own selfish desires and impulses.  Purity in the Old Testament referred to ceremonial purification, but in the New Testament it refers to moral purification, being delivered from the power of sin in our lives.  As we are obedient to truth, which is the living and eternal Word of God, we are purified and the love of Jesus compels us to love others.


As we yield to the Spirit, the fruit of love for our brothers is produced in our hearts.  This happens because we are filled with love for Jesus, which compels us to show love and kindness to others.  If we have little love for Jesus, we also have little love for others.  As we walk close to the Lord, love for Christ overflows towards others.  There is no substitute for love for our brothers in practical, everyday Christianity.  How much we give to the Lord's work, and how much time we spend in personal meditation, is without merit if we do not also love and serve others.  A Christian without love is not fruitful, or even usable, in God's kingdom.


This love must come from the heart and be sincere.  That means it is free from hypocrisy and evil.  When love comes from a heart that has been purified, it is genuine...one does not have to play-act.  Sincere love is selfless, not self-centered.  The love of God sets one free from focusing on one's self and refocuses on meeting the needs of others.  Just as Christ gave of Himself sacrificially, we are to follow His example and sacrifice ourselves by serving others with a love that is fervent.

The Distinctive Mark of Godly Fear - I Peter 1:17-21 - Part C

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  (I Peter 1:20)


God made provision for the cross before creation was ordered.  He was not surprised when man fell, but already had a remedy prepared for what He foreknew would happen.  Actually, all of history is based on the cross and Christ's sacrifice at Calvary.  God uniquely gave us history in reverse as the Old Testament retrogresses from the cross.  The New Testament progresses from the cross.  But in both the Old and New Testaments the theme is redemption by blood.


Proof that Christ preexisted comes from the fact that He was revealed.  He will be revealed again soon.  "These last days" refers to the period beginning with the first revelation of Christ, the incarnation, and extends to His second coming, or revelation.  In Peter's time people thought the second coming of Christ was near at hand.  When Peter said Christ was revealed "for your sake", he was giving his readers confidence that they were personally cared for by God.


Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.  (I Peter 1:21)


Peter gives two grounds for coming to God.  First of all we can count on God, have confidence in Him.  What God had done for Jesus by raising Him from the dead, He will also do for His obedient children.  And secondly, we can expect to share in Christ's glory, which gives us hope.  Glory is all that God has done to exalt Christ and give Him great honor.  The same will be ours.

The Distinctive Mark of Godly Fear - I Peter 1:17-21 - Part B

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  (I Peter 1:18-19)


The ransom price that Christ paid was not material, such as silver or gold, but it was His own precious blood, His very life.  He became our sacrificial lamb.  He did not die for His own sin, because He had no sin, but He became the atonement for the sins of others.  A slave could be redeemed through the payment of money, but the only escape we have from sin is through the payment of Christ's blood.  His blood was not called precious until after it was shed at Calvary.  Precious indicates it was of pure quality, of total perfection.


Christ was the perfect fulfillment of all Old Testament sacrifices.  The key phrase here is "a lamb without blemish or defect".  The lamb typifies the innocence, purity, meekness and suffering of Jesus.  Without spot or blemish corresponds to the Passover ritual requirement where the sacrificial lamb had to be perfect without any flaw.  In applying this to Jesus, it meant He was morally perfect.  This sacrificial outpouring of the blood of Jesus should humble us in gratefulness to God for what He has done for us.


to be continued...