Responding To The Living Word (1 Peter 1:13-2:3) -Sermon on 13/8/23 at FFMC

 Responding To The Living Word (1 Peter 1:13-2:3)

 Introduction

30 years ago a debate was held in Oxford University on the topic “Can we be good without God”. A Jew, Dennis Prager, engaged with an atheist philosopher, Jonathan Glover. Glover was arguing that religious beliefs were largely irrelevant things in a material, scientific world. Prager listened for a long time and then finally asked: "If you, Professor Glover, were stranded at the midnight hour in a desolate Los Angeles street and if, as you stepped out of your car with fear and trembling, you were suddenly to hear the weight of pounding footsteps behind you, and you saw ten burly young men who had just stepped out of a dwelling coming toward you, would it or would it not make a difference to you to know that they were coming from a Bible study?" The audience burst out in laughter and Glover conceded that, yes, it would make a difference.

 The Word of God makes a difference in our lives. When it is faithfully taught and preached and applied by the power of the Holy Spirit, lives are transformed. One requirement to flourish in a hostile world is for each one of us to be transformed by the living Word of God. Last week Pastor Ivan spoke about the blessings of the new birth. Today, we see how those blessings become ours through God’s word.

¹³ Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶ since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸ knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹ who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²² Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³ since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; ²⁴ for

“All flesh is like grass
    and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
    and the flower falls,
²⁵ but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

 

 3 things:

1. The Word of God is living and eternal
2. The Word of God is the good news of the gospel
3. The Word of God is nourishment to our souls.

 

 1. The word of God is living and eternal (v.23-25)

“…imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God”

²⁵ but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

 

The Word is ‘living and abiding’. . Everything in this world has no life in itself – all its life comes from somewhere else. We need to eat to live, and the food we eat - plants and animals - also get their nutrition and life from outside themselves. We cannot exist independently. We, and the world around us, are constantly aging, breaking down and wearing out. Only God has life in Himself, and His Word is an expression of Himself. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt 24:35). The words of men – our textbooks on biology and chemistry and physics and mathematics and accounting and psychology - will not have the same relevance in eternity as they have now. But because the Word of God is alive with the life and power of God, it will remain forever.

 Because the Word is alive in itself, it is abiding - ‘imperishable’. What does Peter consider ‘perishable’? When we consider things that are perishable, we usually think of things with a limited shelf life – with an expiry date, like food, or medications. In v.18 he says that even gold and silver are perishable. Even the most precious treasures cannot last till eternity. There is no permanent security in the things of the world.

 But what's the point of making such a big deal out of the Word's permanence? The point is that when you are born by a seed, you take on the character of that seed. It determines your nature. The Word of God that is imperishable, living and abiding, lasting forever. So if you have been born again through this Word, then you also will last forever. We have eternal life because through the Word we are connected to God’s life. Our outer body may age and fail, but our inner person is alive forever because we are in Christ through the transforming power of the Word. That’s why we are born again into an imperishable inheritance (1:4).

 The second reason why it’s a big deal is that it tells us how to live. If you are eternal – then it makes no sense to set your hope on temporary things, just as it makes no sense to take the extra effort to save a few dollars if you are a billionaire. This does not fit the nature that we now have. Those with eternal life must have an eternal perspective.

 Peter quotes the OT (Is 40:6-7). Green grass and flowers are beautiful, but they will fade. Our human talents and achievements – our sports stars and pop singers, our statesmen and our actors and actresses – they are glorious, but they are temporary. Also, there are people who look at the temporary glories of human life - wealth and fame and sex and food and turn away from eternal life. We also, are tempted to focus on good but temporary things at the expense of what is eternal – family, work, relationships, studies, leisure.

This is a challenge to us to look at how we prioritise our life – our time and our efforts and finances. If something is consuming us at the expense of God, we must turn away from it. Our priorities show what is important to us – what we value.

 

2. The word of God is the gospel (v.25b)

“And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

 ‘The root word for good news in this verse is ‘evangel’. The English word ‘gospel’ simply means the same thing – ‘good news’. Someone shared the ‘good news’ of the gospel with us – we were ‘evangelised’.

 We were not born again by looking at the Bible. We were not even born again by simply hearing it read. The Spirit worked through the Word of God -  through a process of us knowing, agreeing with and putting our trust in a body of spiritual truth.  Certain facts were involved. The heart cannot believe what the mind does not receive.

 In the verses at the beginning of today’s passage, Peter captures these truths that have given his readers life:

 God is holy  (v.15-16) “You shall be holy, for I am holy”

• God is Judge (v.17a) “who judges impartially”
• We were lost in sin (v. 14,19a) “passions of your former ignorance “ “the futile ways inherited from your forefathers”
• God has saved us (v.18a) “you were ransomed”
• Christ died for you (v.19a) “the precious blood”
• Christ’s coming to save us was planned (v.20a) “He was foreknown”
• Christ rose again from the dead (v.20b) “God…raised him from the dead”

 What does that mean for us? Firstly, we must realise that we cannot be real Christians if we don’t grasp a minimum amount of gospel truth. We must know the gospel if we are to be saved. Some people in church have never heard the gospel fully in the first place. We must understand that we are sinners, repent (turn away from our old life), and turn to Christ in faith, trusting in His death to save (Ac 2:38, 20:21). There is no salvation in simply believing in Jesus so that we have peace, joy and love. We cannot be embarrassed about gospel content. There is no ‘good news’ of salvation if we do not also proclaim the bad news of eternity without God in hell. If there is no judgment, people don’t need grace. We must never tire of or be apologetic about what God has done. If you are not sure if you are saved today, hear the gospel! And come to God in faith. He will save you.

 Secondly we are not only saved in the past by the gospel, but we now must live according to the gospel. The gospel is saving us in the present, and it will save is fully in the future, because salvation is not just being free from sin’s punishment, but also from sin’s power, and sin’s presence. Put another way, the gospel is not only about cleansing of past sins and going to heaven in the future- it is about the strength to live the Christian life now. The gospel was our pardon, and now it is our power.

 

The gospel must shape the life of the individual Christian and the church. If we acknowledge that we are sinful people we will not be so quick to point fingers and condemn others. If we received salvation undeserved we will not be so quick to demand that people are deserving before we give them something. If we understand that because Christ died and rose again we will be able to die to sin and draw on the power of His Resurrection.

This gospel cannot be assumed. “What one generation assumes, the next neglects, and the next rejects”. We only have to look at the decline of much of the church worldwide because Scripture truth was abandoned. We must not enjoy the benefits of the gospel in emotion and relationships and forget the truth In our teaching and in our worship songs.

The power of the Gospel to save us to the end leads us to the next truth about the Word of God:

 

 

3. The word of God is nourishment to our souls (2:2)

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk”

Peter calls the Word “pure spiritual milk”. Elsewhere, Scripture contrasts ‘milk’ with ‘solid food’ (1 Cor 3:2 and Heb 5:12) and scolds believers for not being ready for the latter. This is to warn us against staying childish – spiritual weaklings who never grow because we refused to engage at a deeper level with the Word. Here, “pure spiritual milk” is an entirely positive description of the Bible. Peter is saying that we must long for the word just like babies long for their good and proper nutrition. They have only one food they can depend on. Hungry babies cannot be reasoned with. They are single minded in their need. If you have tasted the goodness of God (3:3) in salvation, we should long for more of His goodness in our lives as we grow. We also are to have this single-minded longing and dependency for God’s truth.

The reason why we should long for the word is that “by it you may grow up into salvation” Babies grow physically because of milk. We only grow spiritually by reading, understanding and applying Scripture to our lives. There is no substitute for the place of Scripture –not wonderful spiritual experiences, not ‘times of fellowship’ and not deep worship sessions. There is no competition between the role of the Spirit and the role of the Word of God in transforming us. It is the Spirit who inspired the Word.  If you want more of the Spirit’s work in your life, you must have more of the Spirit’s Word in your life.

This verse tells us that Christian growth is not only possible, but expected. The living Word that caused us to be born again has the power to nourish and transform us. Day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, our lives should be show evidence of the power of the transforming Word. We should be growing more and more like Jesus in holiness, more and more hating sin, more and more useful to God’s kingdom. I pray that when I get older, no one will have to excuse my unreasonable behaviour by saying “Ahh he is old – old people like that”. I pray that I may grow in gracious behaviour, consideration for others, ability to forgive and kindness.

 

Conclusion

Some of us here are unsaved - the living word of God speaks to you because you have heard the gospel for the first time. Perhaps you had no idea when you ‘accepted Christ’ what the gospel was really all about. But now the Spirit has made Christ beautiful and desirable in your eyes. Come to Him! He will save you, and He will continue to save you to the end.

 Some of us are aware that you have wasted your time with perishable things and have been caught up with the fading glories and beauties of grass, or silver and gold. This is time to repent and to fix your eyes on what is eternal and imperishable. The living word of God is speaking to you.

 The living word of God also speaks to those of us who feel that our past experience, life situation, genetics and limited resources are just too much to allow us to ever change and grow spiritually. We may feel defeated, disillusioned and disappointed. Even complacent. You also need to turn afresh to the Word – it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. It will not fail because God will not fail.

 

Video: https://1drv.ms/v/s!Avz_WAuy5EM4kJ0J2W7dpBuzKgkMFw?e=ysKlb4