Got Milk? - 1 Peter 1:23-2:3
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday September 13, 2009
Got milk?
1 Peter 1:23 – 2:3
Born again - your dead Spirit made alive by the Holy Spirit. Charts.
Some scientists tell is that man’s best hope for longevity of life is in the fusing together of man and machine – Cyborgs - $6M Man. As man is supplemented by machine, the quality/length of life will be enhanced. (Man focuses on outside). Peter doesn’t point to a connection w/ creation as being your best hope, but a connection w/ your Creator.
Life w/o God is temporary (regardless of how many bionic parts you have). v24 – the greenest/lushest/prettiest will wither and die – he who dies w/ the most toys is still dead. But new life in Christ is eternal. The Word of God, which is imperishable, has been planted in you/growing. You now enjoy eternal life - not just something to look forward to, but to live in now. Your spirit will remain alive even into and after death because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. He cannot die and you are so one w/ Him that you cannot die.
But we have a problem – so many who come to Jesus and have been born of the imperishable Word and have the eternal Spirit in them seem to have temporary/transitory spiritual lives. Being born again, having our spirits made alive by the Holy Spirit, should change everything, but so often we never really rise to the promise of our new life in Christ. And so here we are as Christians with an example in Jesus as to how we are to love one another, w/ a new nature that makes it possible to love one another, w/ a command to love one another, w/ the power of the Holy Spirit to love one another – and we don’t love one another. 1:22 is just a hope that we have/not a life that we live.
How can we love one another the way this passage outlines?
put aside malice/deceit/hypocrisy/envy/slander
Even though he is writing to believers who have been born again and have begun a new life, he still says to put away the flesh. Being born again imparts to you godly desires, but doesn’t automatically eliminate your ungodly desires.
There’s a struggle going on between the new/old desires – between the Spirit/flesh. There’s a struggle going on between loving people and wanting to avoid the relationship/responsibility that calls for.
These harmful dynamics keep us from loving one another - Malice: desire to injure. Ever wanted to hurt anyone? Guile/Hypocrisy: deceitfulness/phoniness – I say/promise one thing and do another
Envy: ill will as detraction – I want their good thing taken away
Slander: speaking against others
Gypsies put infants in jars to shape their growth and then sell them to carnival. These things will distort your soul.
These things stand in the way of loving another person. Even as junk food suppresses your appetite for healthy foods, so these things suppress the appetite for the things of God.
If we are to love one another - Long for the spiritually pure milk
The word “word” does not occur in this verse. Greek reads:
…long for the spiritually pure milk… ASV/CEV/ESV/NRSV/NIV
KJV/NASB tr. ‘pure milk of the Word’. This automatically makes us think of the Bible. And so the message arising from this passage has always been, “If you’re going to grow in your walk w/ Jesus, you need to read the Bible/long for its wisdom/truths.” And beyond any dispute/debate, this is true. But I want to introduce to you a different understanding of this verse and ask you to consider it.
Milk is predigested food. Cow eats grass/mom eats food and their bodies produce the milk. Milk is food that has already be processed and made ready for consumption.
Even as the mother’s body produces the milk, so spiritually pure milk is to be found in the body of Christ. You are surrounded by people who have been living/walking w/ Jesus for years and have been studying the Bible for years and who have had the Holy Spirit working in them for years. They have persevered thru hardship/ trial. Years of knowledge/experience/wisdom are in this room. This room is full of spiritually pure milk.
Could Peter be directing us not primarily to Bible reading/study, but to a living/dynamic relationship w/ the body of Christ wherein we feed/bless each other w/ what we have received from Jesus/what the Holy Spirit has done/what we have learned from the Bible/trials of life? 1J1:1-4.
He’s already directed us to love one another fervently 1:22. In our next passage, 2:4ff, Peter will speak of our corporate unity/purpose. He speaks of us coming to Jesus and now he speaks of us connecting w/ another in love 1:22, nurture 2:2, in worship 2:4.
This then brings us around to v1 - put aside those things that keep you from others/others from you and go to others and drink from what God has taught them and showed them. Share w/ me what God is teaching you. What are the three greatest lessons the Lord has shown you? What are the three greatest works He has done in your life? How have you remained married all these years? How have you had the strength to be a single mom/grandmother? How have you walked close to Jesus though you have cancer and the doctors give you no real hope? How have you walked close to Jesus in the midst of all the temptations around you?
Intense bonding between mother and child at feeding time.
You are to remain in this phase of intense desire. A newborn craves milk often and won’t be quiet until it is satisfied. Binkies don’t work and smiles don’t work and scoldings don’t work – only the milk can quiet down a newborn.
Taste and see that the Lord is good… Ps. 34:8
If you have tasted God’s kindness – you’ll want another taste.
Some of you have not been born again, but the seed is being sown in your heart this morning.
Download | Duration: 00:45:17
Got milk?
1 Peter 1:23 – 2:3
Born again - your dead Spirit made alive by the Holy Spirit. Charts.
Some scientists tell is that man’s best hope for longevity of life is in the fusing together of man and machine – Cyborgs - $6M Man. As man is supplemented by machine, the quality/length of life will be enhanced. (Man focuses on outside). Peter doesn’t point to a connection w/ creation as being your best hope, but a connection w/ your Creator.
Life w/o God is temporary (regardless of how many bionic parts you have). v24 – the greenest/lushest/prettiest will wither and die – he who dies w/ the most toys is still dead. But new life in Christ is eternal. The Word of God, which is imperishable, has been planted in you/growing. You now enjoy eternal life - not just something to look forward to, but to live in now. Your spirit will remain alive even into and after death because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. He cannot die and you are so one w/ Him that you cannot die.
But we have a problem – so many who come to Jesus and have been born of the imperishable Word and have the eternal Spirit in them seem to have temporary/transitory spiritual lives. Being born again, having our spirits made alive by the Holy Spirit, should change everything, but so often we never really rise to the promise of our new life in Christ. And so here we are as Christians with an example in Jesus as to how we are to love one another, w/ a new nature that makes it possible to love one another, w/ a command to love one another, w/ the power of the Holy Spirit to love one another – and we don’t love one another. 1:22 is just a hope that we have/not a life that we live.
How can we love one another the way this passage outlines?
put aside malice/deceit/hypocrisy/envy/slander
Even though he is writing to believers who have been born again and have begun a new life, he still says to put away the flesh. Being born again imparts to you godly desires, but doesn’t automatically eliminate your ungodly desires.
There’s a struggle going on between the new/old desires – between the Spirit/flesh. There’s a struggle going on between loving people and wanting to avoid the relationship/responsibility that calls for.
These harmful dynamics keep us from loving one another - Malice: desire to injure. Ever wanted to hurt anyone? Guile/Hypocrisy: deceitfulness/phoniness – I say/promise one thing and do another
Envy: ill will as detraction – I want their good thing taken away
Slander: speaking against others
Gypsies put infants in jars to shape their growth and then sell them to carnival. These things will distort your soul.
These things stand in the way of loving another person. Even as junk food suppresses your appetite for healthy foods, so these things suppress the appetite for the things of God.
If we are to love one another - Long for the spiritually pure milk
The word “word” does not occur in this verse. Greek reads:
…long for the spiritually pure milk… ASV/CEV/ESV/NRSV/NIV
KJV/NASB tr. ‘pure milk of the Word’. This automatically makes us think of the Bible. And so the message arising from this passage has always been, “If you’re going to grow in your walk w/ Jesus, you need to read the Bible/long for its wisdom/truths.” And beyond any dispute/debate, this is true. But I want to introduce to you a different understanding of this verse and ask you to consider it.
Milk is predigested food. Cow eats grass/mom eats food and their bodies produce the milk. Milk is food that has already be processed and made ready for consumption.
Even as the mother’s body produces the milk, so spiritually pure milk is to be found in the body of Christ. You are surrounded by people who have been living/walking w/ Jesus for years and have been studying the Bible for years and who have had the Holy Spirit working in them for years. They have persevered thru hardship/ trial. Years of knowledge/experience/wisdom are in this room. This room is full of spiritually pure milk.
Could Peter be directing us not primarily to Bible reading/study, but to a living/dynamic relationship w/ the body of Christ wherein we feed/bless each other w/ what we have received from Jesus/what the Holy Spirit has done/what we have learned from the Bible/trials of life? 1J1:1-4.
He’s already directed us to love one another fervently 1:22. In our next passage, 2:4ff, Peter will speak of our corporate unity/purpose. He speaks of us coming to Jesus and now he speaks of us connecting w/ another in love 1:22, nurture 2:2, in worship 2:4.
This then brings us around to v1 - put aside those things that keep you from others/others from you and go to others and drink from what God has taught them and showed them. Share w/ me what God is teaching you. What are the three greatest lessons the Lord has shown you? What are the three greatest works He has done in your life? How have you remained married all these years? How have you had the strength to be a single mom/grandmother? How have you walked close to Jesus though you have cancer and the doctors give you no real hope? How have you walked close to Jesus in the midst of all the temptations around you?
Intense bonding between mother and child at feeding time.
You are to remain in this phase of intense desire. A newborn craves milk often and won’t be quiet until it is satisfied. Binkies don’t work and smiles don’t work and scoldings don’t work – only the milk can quiet down a newborn.
Taste and see that the Lord is good… Ps. 34:8
If you have tasted God’s kindness – you’ll want another taste.
Some of you have not been born again, but the seed is being sown in your heart this morning.
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