Growing Up Into Salvation I. Base Text: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 II. Understanding the Text A. Review 1. 1 Peter 1:1-9: great encouragement in the midst of trial; hope of the Christian based in the resurrection, salvation ready for the final day 2. 1 Peter 1:10-12: Great value of salvation, desire of angels to investigate it 3. 1 Peter 1:13-21: first application: set hope fully on grace, be holy in conduct, conduct self with fear throughout life, ransomed by blood of Christ B. Loving One Another (1 Peter 1:22-23) 1. It is necessary to "unpack" this thought 2. Basis: "having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth" a. First of all, demonstration that soul cleansing cannot be separated from obedience b. Primarily, however, demonstrates what is necessary before we can act as we should: commitment to obeying the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Romans 6:16-23) 3. Purpose: "for a sincere brotherly love" a. Purification through obedience is to lead to real, honest love b. 2 Peter 1:5-7: faith to be supplemented with virtues, ultimately to brotherly affection and love 4. Command: "love one another earnestly from a pure heart" a. Possible only because of obedience, purification b. Love not to be superficial c. Value of love: 1 Corinthians 13:1-10 d. God as love, implications in 1 John 4:7-21 5. Reason: born again not from perishable but imperishable seed, word of God a. Being born again, we are to act born again b. New creature, new values (2 Corinthians 5:17-20, Galatians 2:20, 1 John 4:7-21) c. Our love and attitudes will be different from others because their basis is different from the world d. The world and its values will perish; God and His values remain forever (1 John 2:15-17) C. The Word of God (1 Peter 1:24-25) 1. Peter then focuses on the nature of that Word 2. Citation of Isaiah 40:6-8 3. The Word as enduring, humans and their ideologies as fading 4. Babylon in original context no longer there, even though it seemed imposing at the time 5. Same with Rome in Peter's day 6. A good lesson for everyone 7. Word of God as that which was preached to the Christians D. Put Away Insincerity (1 Peter 2:1) 1. Remember: chapter, verse divisions come later; material related to what comes before 2. "So": conclusion to what comes before 3. All of chapter 1 probably relevant in some respect, most particularly vv. 22-23 4. We cannot have sincere, earnest love while being malicious, deceitful, hypocritical, envious, and slanderous 5. We cannot be holy with those attitudes, for that matter 6. Malicious: devising and/or practicing evil 7. Deceitful: being a con or deceiving people in any way 8. Hypocrisy: either doing one thing and saying the other, or putting on a pretense while living the opposite way 9. Envy: desiring the possessions of others 10. Slander: speaking evil of a person with the intent to destroy their character 11. We must not engage in any of these! E. Pure Milk (1 Peter 2:2-3) 1. After saying what Christians should not do, he tells them what to do 2. Image of Christian as infant desiring milk 3. The milk the "reasonable" or "logical" milk; hence, spiritual milk 4. The message of the Word to grow into salvation 5. Question: relationship to Hebrews 5:12-6:4? 6. While Christians should grow to maturity, should still always yearn for the pure message of God to continue to grow up to salvation 7. Peter uses same image as Hebrew author but for different purposes; it is not a bad thing to be as an infant in this passage! 8. Peter is not denying our need as Christians to grow and mature (cf. 2 Peter 3:18), but we are to always desire the message of God in its purity! 9. This desire only possible if we have tasted that the Lord and His ways are good! III. Applications A. Obedience - Purification - Love 1. Peter affirms how obedience is necessary for purification and thus salvation 2. Are we striving to be obedient? 3. If we are obedient, we will proceed to desire to exhibit sincere love, and to do so 4. Are we exhibiting that sincere love? 5. Are we demonstrating that we have indeed received the imperishable seed? 6. Or are our lives dominated by worldly attitudes, mindsets, and activities that will perish and not lead us to eternal life? B. The Word 1. Do we yearn for the Word as Peter says we should? 2. Do we recognize it as true food and drink that really sustains (cf. John 6:54-58)? 3. Have we really tasted the Lord and decided it is good, or have we found Christianity unpalatable in some way? 4. Do we seek to be entirely sustained by God and His Word? IV. Conclusion A. Thus we see 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 1. Obedience leads to purification and should lead to love 2. The Word is imperishable 3. Let us put away evil, yearn for sustaining message of God B. Let us love all men and seek to be sustained by God's message! C. Invitation/songbook Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one another earnestly from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22). Peter had great confidence in the faith of the Christians of Asia Minor. They had proven obedient to God in Christ. They should therefore love one another from a pure heart. Christians are called to obey God in Christ not merely for the sake of obedience, but to love God and to love one another. How can we better love one another in Christ? 2: You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23). Christians have life not from bread or from plants from the earth, but from the message of the word of God found in Christ and in the witness we have received in Scripture. God is life and those who come to Him in faith receive life in Him. We do well to put our trust in the life we have found in God in Christ. How can we find life in Jesus? 3: "For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word that was proclaimed to you (1 Peter 1:24-25). Peter quoted Isaiah 40:6, 8 for the Christians of Asia Minor. Neither Isaiah nor Peter were really concerned about botany; they were speaking of the nations of the earth. Isaiah wrote to Israelites enduring Babylonian exile; Babylon was ascendant, but its days were numbered. When Peter wrote, Rome was a great power; but it would also fall. Nation-states rise and fall; their propaganda eventually gets exposed for its presumption. Yet the word of God endures forever, and we have received it in the Gospel. Why must we see the difference between the propaganda of a nation-state and the word of God which endures forever? 4: And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation (1 Peter 2:2). Since Christians are born again through the Word of God to love one another, they do well to avoid all that is evil and to grow up into salvation in Jesus. Peter's message in 1 Peter 2:2 used similar imagery to the Hebrews author in Hebrews 5:11-14, but for different purposes. Peter would have all Christians continually sustained by the "spiritual milk" of the Word of God. We thus do well to continually seek the word of God as made known in Christ and in Scripture. How can we grow up into salvation in Christ?