Sunday, July 30, 2023 | Gus Hacker

1 Peter 1:22-2:3 (NIV):

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

“All people 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 endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 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.

Your spiritual growth through the Word promotes love for one another.

It begins with obedience to the Word and continues to grow through obedience to the Word.

2 Peter 1:5-11 — It all leads to love.

Hostile characteristics that oppose love:

(1) Evil behavior/malice — wanting to see someone else hurt, revenge

(2) Deceit — rooted in hatred, tell something that isn’t true to mislead someone

(3) Hypocrisy — to wear a mask, projecting an image onto others

(4) Jealousy/envy — James 4:2 — envy creates fighting and war

(5) Unkind speech/slander — speaking evil behind someone’s back

Peter says to GET RID OF THESE!

These things oppose our spiritual growth.

The way we treat one another has a direct impact on our relationship with God.

We will never grow spiritually with these in our lives.

Sin will choke out our appetite for the good Word, similar to spoiling our dinner by indulging in junk food.

When our horizontal relationships are messed up, our vertical relationship will struggle.

A healthy infant is a hungry infant.

If we aren’t hungry for God’s Word, we will not be a healthy, growing Christian.

Two greatest commandments: love God and love others.

Dusty Bibles always lead to dirty lives.