Here’s an excerpt from our latest release, Saving the Saved: An Exposition of 1 Peter by Dr. Dave Anderson. This book is already available on Amazon.

I. BARRIERS TO SPIRITUAL GROWTH (1 Peter 2:1)

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, . .

Too many weeds can keep the soil from growing well. They can choke the seed. The soil needs cultivation; the weeds need pulling. Here are the weeds that can be barriers to spiritual growth:

  • “Malice”—kakia—ill will toward a brother or sister; an attitude not becoming members God’s royal family. We have certain expectations for the conduct of a royal family. Will the world ever look the same at the royal family of England since the tawdry affair of Prince Charles and the death of Princess Di? Pulling the curtain back to see the sordid world of royalty made us want to turn away and say it isn’t true. But what about God’s royal family? Shouldn’t there be a certain degree of the decorum and mutual respect among its members? Ill will toward one another does not promote or create an atmosphere for growth.
  • “Guile”—dolos—a devious approach to people which covers a hidden agenda
  • “Hypocrisy”—hypokriseis—living a lie; professing one thing, his life doesn’t harmonize with his lips; he wears a mask.
  • “Envy”—phthanos—an evil eye towards someone who has some position, power, or possession you wish you had; envy is the running buddy of self-promotion.
  • “Evil Speaking”—katalalias—putting others down; the verbal action which reduces others to a common denominator lower than myself; it is the vomit coming out of the mouth of one with the internal stomach problems just mentioned.

Any one or a combination of these weeds will be a barrier to growth. It must be removed for the seed to grow properly.

To change the analogy for moment, if you see a little kid playing in the dirt, you don’t give it a second thought because kids play in the dirt. They scrub themselves in dirt. Dirt is a toy to a kid. But if you see a 21-year-old man playing in the dirt, rubbing himself with it and trying to eat it, you would be justified in thinking said guy had some serious issues. But the only difference between the child and the man is time. By the age of twenty-one, a person ought to know that dirt is not a toy.

Unfortunately, we have too many Christians who have been saved too long still playing in the dirt and having fun with it. We could understand if they were brand-new baby Christians, who didn’t yet know that dirt is something you don’t play with. But Christians can’t be exposed to the truth of God’s Word week after week and month after month without knowing mud when they see it. And God isn’t just trying to keep us out of the dirt pile. He wants to show us something so much better that we would never want to play in the dirt again. Friends, these attitudes are like dirt. To have been a Christian a long time and to display these is like watching an adult play in the dirt. It’s like watching the little kid who opens his mouth and sits there with a dumb look on his face while the dirt comes out. But he’s an adult, and this dirt will keep him from growing. He maybe an adult, but he’s a spiritual dwarf.

II. FOOD FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH (1 Peter 2:2)

as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, . . .

“. . . as newborn babes”—notice it does not say they are newborn babies. They were to act as though they were newborn babies and their insatiable desire for milk. In the word for “desire”–epipotheō— the preposition epi intensifies the meaning of the main verb, which is potheō, meaning “to long for or desire.” We might think of a “burning desire” or “eagerly desire.”

And what is this milk we are to eagerly desire? It is described as logoikon, the root being logos (word). God’s Word. What is the basis for consistent growth in the Christian life? Some would say it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Until then, we are like Peter before Pentecost: up-and-down. Others would say the key to consistent growth is plenty of praise and worship. Unless we stoke the emotional fires of our spiritual temperatures, we will always be blowing hot and cold. Still others will tell us the key to consistent growth is to have plenty of Christian friends. Everyone knows one log burning alone soon dies, but several logs burning together make a bright light. But what does 1 Peter say? God’s Word. It is the only means presented in the Scriptures themselves that can bring one to maturity (Hebrews 5:12-14), stability (Ephesians 4:11ff), equipping for service (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and holiness (John 17:17).

Fellowship, prayer, witnessing, praise and worship, spiritual gifts—all these help provide an atmosphere for growth, but the life is in the seed; growth comes from the seed; everything else softens or prepares the soil for growth of the seed. After hanging around Christian circles for over fifty years I have observed that mature Christians have one thing in common other than the indwelling Godhead–an abiding knowledge of God’s Word. I know some who would argue with this, but unless we want to contradict Ephesians 4:11ff, the statement is true. Why? Because Ephesians 4 defines immaturity as a Christian that can be blown about by every wind of doctrine. Does this mean someone needs to go to seminary to become a mature believer? Of course not. But they need exposure to God’s Word somewhere–sermons, Bible studies, radio, TV, podcasts, personal study.

Someone will surely say, “But I don’t have a burning desire or an eager desire for God’s Word. Is there something I can do to get it?” There is, actually. It reminds me of after I got engaged to my wife of fifty-two years. I had always been a skinny basketball player (6’4” and 185 lbs). I had never weighed over two hundred pounds. I wanted to impress my new bride on our wedding night with bulging muscles. We planned to marry on my graduation day from Rice University, nine months away. So, I put together a diet plan to gain weight but not fat. To do that I had to stimulate my appetite.

At first, I had to force it. I started with breakfast in the morning at Baker College, one of the men’s colleges at Rice, where for $.50 I could eat all I wanted. But I couldn’t just eat sweet rolls. Instead I put ten soft-boiled eggs in a glass, stirred it up, and drank it. To that I added some bacon, a sweet roll, orange juice and milk. Next was lunch. A block from our campus was Foot’s Cafeteria where I could get one meat and one dessert, but all the salads and vegetables I wanted for $1.04 (1966-67). So, in addition to my meat and dessert I had five salads and thirteen vegetables. I repeated this regimen for dinner. I soon discovered that my digestive system was shooting so much acid into my stomach to handle all this food that at midnight it was burning me up inside, so I cooked a pound of round steak and  drank a can of Nutriment. In addition to all this food I also began to lift weights. After nine months of this I had gained fifty pounds, but my waist stayed the same. I couldn’t wait to impress my new bride. So, on our wedding night, as I began to disrobe and flex my muscles, all I heard her say was, “Could you turn out the lights, please?” But, but, but, but. . . .

I know, I know–pretty pathetic. Oh, what we men will do to impress a woman. But lest all this effort be wasted, the Lord did have a lesson in it or me. Just as we can stimulate physical hunger, it occurs to me that we can stimulate spiritual hunger. How? Not that complicated, really. Just two things: 1) Exercise more than normal; and 2) Eat more than normal. When I first got to seminary, I didn’t know Genesis from Revolution, but I knew I needed to learn the Bible. So, I studied. But it was drudgery and discipline–had to make myself do it, like eating health food and taking supplements. But as time went on a hunger was growing within me. It took a couple of years but feasting on God’s Word became like eating Homemade Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream. For those of you who don’t know what that is, the Bible calls it manna. I couldn’t get enough. I had trouble putting it down. That hunger has never left, but it is something that had to be developed. You don’t start out with meat and potatoes. As Peter says, you start off with milk, like any newborn baby.

You know, sucking is one of the main pastimes of babies. Have you noticed that? You say, no, it’s crying. Well, it’s been a long time since I helped raise one of those little suckers, but that’s why they call them little suckers. They suck. Do you remember what a binky is? It’s how you fake them out when you want them to be quiet. Why are they crying? Because they usually want some milk. So, you pop all those fake plastic things in their mouths. Put a little honey on it, and it lasts longer. But they suck. They suck for years. If it’s not a bottle, it’s a binky; and if not a binky, it’s their thumb.

Want your spiritual life to grow? Want to avoid spiritual dwarfism? Then be a sucker. I don’t mean a sucker in business, but a sucker in the Christian life. But don’t be a sucker for binkies. Don’t be  faked out by sucking up something just because there’s a little honey on it. Go for the milk of God’s Word. That’s the only way to grow.

But why, we might ask? Why should I grow? What is the goal?

III. GOAL OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH (1 Peter 2:2c-3)

. . . with respect to salvation . . . if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Why should you grow? Because that is one way to save your life for eternity. Specifically, this portion of the book of 1 Peter (1:13-2:11) is about growing in holiness. As we allow the Word of God to purify our lives, we are growing, and we, by power of the Holy Spirit, are saving our lives and their significance forever. The words “with respect to salvation” are not in the NKJ but are found in the Majority Text for those of you with some background in textual criticism.

The “salvation” is the same “salvation” Peter has talked about in 1:5, 9, and 10. It can’t mean getting into heaven or that issue would be based on the amount of our spiritual growth. No, it refers to how much of our lives on earth will be saved for eternity, that is, will count forever. James 1:21 uses “salvation” or the word “save” in exactly the same way. There James says we should receive the engrafted Word which is able to “save our lives,” expressing the concept almost exactly the way Peter did in 1:9.

Is kingdom living a top priority in your life, or are you saving your life for this world? Tony Evans says:

God’s kingdom is lived from the perspective of heaven, not earth. That’s why Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). The pagans may run after the physical, visible things in life (see v. 32), but we are called to prioritize God’s kingdom . . . If you lose sight of the kingdom, God’s perspective gets lost and you start focusing on the physical and temporal things in life. When that happens, your judgment begins to be skewed and your decisions become  short-sighted. Rather than fulfilling your God-ordained destiny and purpose, you end up with wasted time, effort, energy, and emotions.47

One way to answer the question about whose kingdom I am living for is to see whether I give God the first fruits or the leftovers. It is like the farmer who had two prize-winning calves. He was so excited that he told his wife, “Honey, I’m going to let the Lord know that I recognize these calves are gifts from Him. We are going to give one calf to the Lord and keep the other.” A few weeks later he came in dejected. His wife asked, “What’s wrong?” “Honey, the Lord’s calf just died.” Well, it’s always the Lord’s calf that dies, isn’t it? When we have to make choices, the Lord loses unless we prioritize His kingdom and His glory. As we grow in Christ, His priorities become our priorities, and we are saving our lives for His kingdom.

One final word as we finish this lesson. “. . . if indeed we have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The word translated “gracious” is “chrēstos,” which usually means “kind, or tender-hearted,” although the word is only used 4x in the epistles. Again, context is king, and this is a context of eating (taste) and drinking (milk). It doesn’t make a lot of sense to say we have tasted that the Lord is kind or gracious in a context of eating and drinking. However, I like the suggestion of a dictionary of primarily extra-biblical Greek (Liddell and Scott), which says it means “satisfying.” Ahh. Perfect.

When we spend our lives going for the gold in this world, we may well find life very unsatisfying. Jeremiah tells the people of Israel they have been trying to slake their thirst in broken cisterns: “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). The water they are drinking can never satisfy, and the water they are drinking will never be enough because the cisterns from which they are drinking are broken. But Jesus tells the woman at the well that if she drinks of the water He offers her, she will never thirst again. His water satisfies.

I can’t tell you how many men I have talked to that have grabbed for the brass ring and reached it, many before the age of fifty, only to find themselves unsatisfied. “Is this it?” they ask. “Is this all there is?” Again, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” The word “filled” (chortazō) means “to eat one’s fill, to be satisfied” (BDAG). I think it would be fair to say that certain secular endeavors can be rewarding, but I question whether they can fully satisfy the craving of the human heart for an intersection with eternity. Nothing else satisfies like the manna from on high.

When one tastes that the Lord satisfies in a way this world never can, he or she wants to live for nothing else. That doesn’t mean they want to retreat from this world and live in the desert like the desert mystics in early church history. Quite the opposite. When one has been cured of cancer, he wants nothing more than for others to enjoy this same healing. They charge into the world to spread the good news. Only the Lord satisfies. Want a taste? Put His kingdom before your own and the sawdust in your mouth will turn to manna.

CONCLUSION

You know, the seven dwarfs could probably have kept on going just fine if Snow White hadn’t stumbled onto them. She changed their lives forever. They had to get their eyes off their own immature attitudes for which some of them were named and risk a little something to help someone else.

Spiritual dwarfs can go on remaining spiritual dwarfs all their Christian lives. And grumpy attitudes like the ones listed here can guarantee dwarfism. Spiritual dwarfs can go right on doing their work, feeding themselves, and let the world go right by without ever reaching out to make a difference. During the week they can get up in the morning singing, “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go.” Or on Sunday morning they can get up and sing, “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to church we go,” completely oblivious to Father Time ticking away the days of their lives. The problem is their lives can pass right by without ever having an impact that will count in the life to come. It took Snow White to tell them there’s another world out there. And Jesus Christ, pure as the driven snow, tells us there is another world out there. He says, we don’t have to stay dwarfs forever. We can spit the mud right out of our mouths, become suckers for the milk of the Word, and grow with the goal of saving our lives by having an impact in the other world. Jesus even might say:

It’s time to grow up!
So, take time to grow up.
And that’s redeeming the time.

47 Tony Evans, The Kingdom Agenda (Chicago: Moody Press, 2013), 33.

Serving Him with you until He comes for us,
Fred Chay, PhD
Managing Editor, Grace Theology Press