Growing up

1 Peter 1:22-2:3

'We don't do God', Alistair Campbell famously said when Tony Blair was asked about his faith.

Perhaps it was that comment that really brought to the fore the question of whether faith could ever be a public matter or whether it is entirely a private thing.

First of all, we need to understand that those who say, '”we don't do God” in the public arena are actually imposing their own faith – their very dogmatic and unyielding faith – on everyone – their faith, their belief, their creed that faith should be private. Which actually means that every other faith should be private, but theirs is allowed to dictate – and I use the word deliberately – dictate all government decisions and national ethics.

One of the reasons this attitude has gone unchallenged is that for far too long people have imagined that Christianity is a private thing – a matter between me and my God. There are still thousands of church services where people arrive and quite literally speak to no-one, recite the words of the service, and then go home with no more than a 'good morning vicar' at the door. 

Many people say, 'I can be a Christian without being a member of a church', or they think that church can be peripheral to their Christian life. But the reality is that when anyone comes to faith in Christ, they become as much a member of the church as the Archbishop of Canterbury! God doesn't ask us if we'd like to fill in an application form to become a member of a church, he just signs us up.

The imagery and language of the Bible shows us that every Christian is an integral part of his or her local church:

• In 1 Corinthians, Paul says the church is the 'body of Christ', and every Christian is a part if his body with a particular function and role within Christ's body – an ear or an eye; a hand or a mouth.

• Here in 1 Peter 2:5, we're told that when we come to Christ, we become like 'living stones being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through JC.'

• In ch 1 vv3 & 23 we read that God has given us “new birth” - we have been adopted into his family – God is our Father, we have brothers and sisters in Christ, and so we have family responsibilities.

So no Christian can say, 'Sorry, Lord, I don't really want to be a part of Christ's body. I don't want to be a living stone in your spiritual temple. I don't want to be your child or a member of your family – I don't like meeting with other Xns, I don't like your church.' If you say that, you're saying, 'Lord, I don't want to be a Christian. I want to sever my ties with you and your Son, Jesus.' To be a Christian means belonging to God's people. And Peter's focus from 1:22 – 2:12 is what it means for us to live as God's people in the church.

Peter begins this section by reminding us that each individual is a member of God's holy people – we have purified ourselves by obeying the truth.

But hold on a minute! Surely Christians don't purify themselves – we can't rid ourselves of the stain of sin, only Jesus can do that for us through the work of the Holy Spirit. After all, isn't that what Peter taught in v2? – 'you have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.'

While the Bible teaches us that God always takes the initiative in our salvation, it also tells us that we have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to listen to, trust and obey God's word. In fact the essence of Christian faith is to trust and obey God's word of truth.  And 'the truth' here in v22 refers to the truth of the gospel – the headline news that God has come to earth in Jesus his Son to deal with our sin and guilt, and to reconcile us to God. So when Peter says we've purified ourselves by obeying the truth it's simply another way of saying that we've purified ourselves by believing the gospel. Rather than calling God a liar and disobeying his truth, we've admitted that he's right, and we've agreed to obey what he says about our need for repentance and faith in Jesus.

Now, notice what Peter says happens as soon as we do that – as soon as we obey the truth, we have sincere love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the inevitable consequence of being reborn into God's family.

The apostle John says, 'We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers & sisters [in Christ].'  He's very blunt about it, 'Whoever does not love his brother does not know God.' And, 'If anyone says, 'I love God', but hates his brother, he is a liar. Whoever loves God must love his brother.'

So you see it's impossible for anyone to say, 'I'm a faithful Christian but I don't go to church.'

When I was a child, we had a cat called Benjamin. And when Benji began to get fatter & fatter we wondered why. Then we noticed him in the garden of a house just down the road – not once, but again and again. And we began to see less & less of Benji as he spent more & more time with the Wicket family. Eventually, he stopped coming home at all. He didn't want to play with us, he didn't want to sit on our laps. Benji demonstrated by his actions where his true home was, so we he left us and was adopted by the Wickets.

Now that may be a silly illustration, but if our true home is with Christ and his people, we'll want to be with them. That will begin with Sunday mornings where we learn together, pray together and talk to each other. But 'sincere love' surely extends well beyond that – we can't really say that we have a sincere love for people we see for one hour a couple of times a month or even once a week.

And so Peter reminds his readers that they should – they must – “love one another deeply from the heart.”The love that is there because we're all children of the same Father, must be worked out in practice. You cannot say, 'I love my brother, and I know he's been coming to church for a couple of years, but can you remind me what his name is please?' Just as it's easy to neglect our natural family, so it's easy to neglect our spiritual and eternal family. But it should not be so.

And it should not be so, says Peter in v23, “because you have been born again, not of imperishable seed (that is, not because you've been born of your father & mother), but you've been born again of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” This birth-through-the-word is more permanent than birth from a mother & father. For, v24, “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 for ever. And this was the word that was preached to you.”

Peter's point here is that our natural life is short, and our life with our earthly family will all-too-soon end in death. But God's word has given us new birth into his own spiritual, heavenly family. And God's promise lasts forever – even though we die, God's word will sustain us for all eternity in our life with him & with his people. So earthly families are temporary. The church family is eternal.

As you know, there were 5 of us born to my mum & dad. Three of us have been born again by God's eternal word, and we will live as brothers in Christ forever. But unless my other 2 brothers repent and believe God's word, we will be eternally separated when they or I die. And you – if you have been born again into God's family – you are my brothers & sisters forever. You are my eternal family, and I am your brother in Christ. “Therefore” says Peter at the beginning of chapter 2, 'Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.' “In light of the fact that you have been born again through the living and enduring word of God, begin to live now as you will live in the new heavens & new earth.”

After one of the candidates in The Apprentice had appeared in the boardroom before Lord Sugar, he said, “you can be ruthless and cut-throat and know that it doesn't get taken out of there. Ultimately, your conscience has to go out the window and you have to fight for your life… you have to dig up the pettiest detail in order to defend yourself. That's the way it goes.”

And indeed that's the way it does go – because we're sinners, we will always tend to promote ourselves, to make ourselves look good at the expense of others. So when Lord Sugar's candidates get back in the boardroom there's a superabundance of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind! But as the church, we've been set apart by the HS to be God's own people. We are his temple; his holy priesthood; his family – brothers & sisters of Jesus. So surely it's unthinkable that we should behave like malice-filled, deceitful, hypocritical, jealous, slandering pagans.

And yet we know that that kind of behaviour lurks within each of us. 

If you were fortunate enough to be born into God's family, and have always known him, you'll still know what it is to want to promote yourself at the expense of others.

If you've been a Xn for many decades, you'll know how easy it is to slip back into those ways.

And if you've only recently become a member of God's family, then you will probably be having a real struggle to overcome your old habits – I hope you are!

So how can we begin to live this new life? How can we put a stop to those old ways?

Remember the power of the word of God, how it gives new birth into God's family? Remember how God's word is imperishable, living and enduring?

Well then it shouldn't be a surprise that what God started in you by his powerful word, he continues in you in the same way. So, 2:2, 'Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.'

The healthy new-born baby has one over-riding desire – milk. Any failure to satisfy that desire will give a loud and sustained reaction! For the new-born, milk is not a fringe benefit, not a special treat, but absolutely essential to health and growth. So Peter's telling us here that if we're going to grow up in our salvation we have to feed on pure spiritual milk – literally the pure milk of the word.

A baby only refuses to drink if there's something wrong – if it's sick. So with us – if we don't want to read the Bible and study God's word, then there's something wrong. We're not healthy Christians. We're ill. And if we continue to refuse to feed on God's word, the consequences are not that we'll just remain a spiritual baby - a baby doesn't remain a baby if it doesn't get milk. It dies. So, as Christians, it's a case of grow or die. But as we feed on God's word, we grow up – we grow up into mature Christians. And that means we grow into the image and likeness of Christ, we grow in our joy and love of Christ. We begin to understand more fully who Jesus Christ is and, but the power of the word of God, we begin to become more like Jesus. As we begin to see more clearly the hope to which God has called us, so he shapes us into what we shall be.

One of the signs of a genuine Christian is that they love God's word, and if you've truly tasted that the Lord is good – if you've begun to know & experience the goodness of Christ, you will want more of him and his word.

So why not decide now to feed on God's word every day this week – and beyond. Set aside some time, pray that the HS will show you new and wonderful things about the Lord JC, and read your Bible. As you read, ponder who God is and what he's like.

If you do that, God's promise to you is that you will grow up as a Christian. Attitudes towards your brothers & sisters in Christ will change – perhaps not immediately, but gradually your thinking and then your behaviour will begin to change. And you will begin to enjoy your church family much more because your heart will be much warmer to our Father in heaven, and to your brothers & sisters.