Sunday: Living as a Christian
First Peter 2:1 begins with “therefore,” meaning that what follows results from what came before. First Peter Chapter 1, we saw, was a tour de force in regard to what Christ has done for us and how we should respond to what He has done for us. In the next chapter, Peter picks up this theme and takes it further.
Read 1 Peter 2:1-3. What is Peter telling us about how we should live?
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Peter uses two separate images to show that Christians have a double duty. One is negative, in that some things are discarded; the other is a positive, in that we should seek to do something.
In his first image, Peter urges Christians to rid themselves of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking (1 Pet. 2:1, NKJV). In doing this, Christians will conduct themselves differently than do many of those around them. Because they have discarded malice, they will not desire to harm others but, instead, will seek their good. Because Christians have discarded insincerity, they will not act to deceive others but will be straightforward and honest. Christians will not envy those who have more than they do. They will be content with their life and flourish where Providence has placed them. Nor will they make statements that deliberately damage another’s reputation.
The second image that Peter uses-that of a baby hungry for milk (1 Pet. 2:2)-provides the positive side of his instruction. Christian life is not merely a matter of giving up bad things. Such a life would be empty. No, it is a matter of seeking spiritual nourishment but with the same intensity that a hungry baby cries out for milk. He points readers to the source of that spiritual nourishment (see also Heb. 4:12, Matt. 22:29, 2 Tim. 3:15-17), the Word of God, the Bible. It is in the Word of God that we can grow spiritually and morally, because in it we have the fullest revelation possible, at least to us, of Jesus Christ. And in Jesus we have the greatest representation of the character and nature of the Holy God we are to love and serve.
| How are these two ideas related to each other: that is, why would seeking spiritual nourishment from the Word help us lay aside the bad actions and attitudes that Peter is warning us about? |
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I think of the Word as the true Manna from heaven which feeds us.
Live as a Christian : Sunday lesson April 9 2017
Peter previews us to put away our weaknesses aside, such as envies , evil speaking, so on and so on.
Peter is telling us to live as Christians, we need to live by the power of the Holy Spirit. He will help us to follow God's instructions with love and wisdom.
The Holy Spirit is the sword to the flesh through the bones and through our souls, enabled to penetrate get rid of all the filthiness in our lives.
The Lord gives the ten commandments with others instructions applying with disciplines. If we abide with God's loving rules with all our hearts and our souls, the Lord will be please with us and will be saved. The only person we need to impress is our loving God. After that, it does not matter what other people say or think. We only need Jesus's approval. Amen Alleluia. God is with us.
There is no condemnation for all that walk in Christ and not after the flesh but "after the Spirit."
Just as our bodies are made up of the food we eat, so are our characters made up of what we take in to nourish them.
Gods Word gives us all the necessary spiritual nutrition to develop sound Christ like thoughts and actions towards ourselves and others. It is the primary road map, guide and principal instruction manual of life for us. As Christians we can't develop or reflect the character of Christ without direction as it's found in Gods Word.
As you increase in his word, you decrease in desires of the world. Our minds were wired in that regard, you act on the abundance of your knowledge (..out of the fulness of the heart/mind..), the more we sink deep into the mine of truth the more sin in us is revealed in us , the more the longing for righteousness of God to cleanse us. Let us drink from the fountain of life and eat of his flesh then his life will be imparted on us.
Jesus said that man lives not by bread alone but by every word that procedes from the mouth of God. It would seem that the Bible alone would not suffice as the "Word of God" but must be accompanied with the Spirit of God Himself.
The Devil, himself, has quoted the Bible. Let's make sure we don't do it the way he does to present falsehood and ungodliness. Let's do it the way Jesus did in Spirit and in Truth and not selfishly motivated.
Let's receive the Word of God whether it be scripture or nature or life's experiences with the motivation of the Holy Spirit in our thoughts and feelings.
There appears to be a continuation of Peter's exhortation in 1 Peter 1: 22 right into the second chapter. Peter exhorts followers of the Lord to rid themselves of vices such as malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking (1 Peter 2:1) because they offend true genuine love that he exhorts Christians to have in 1 Peter 1: 22. He proceeds to use the analogy of a baby to express a specially tender relation God wants to have with us. As he does this, Peter invokes the sentiments expressed in Isaiah 40:11. Moreover,his message is that its not enough to avoid evil but we must have a childlike spirit of needing milk to grow. We need to spiritual nourishment in the Word of God (refer Matthew 22: 29, Heb. 4:12, 2 Tim. 3:15-17). The Word of God enables us to grow spiritually and morally, making it possible for us to represent the character of our Lord Jesus in our lives.
I see useful advice here:
1)to stop eating not only non-nutritious but also poisonous food;
2)let God substitute for us the bad food above for nutritious food; and
3)like babies who should rely on mothers milk, not to look for our own food(picking anything we come across in the world to eat), but totally rely on God for the good food
Praise the Lord for all His useful advice. Amen brother.