Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. To grow spiritually, we need nourishment. And the more we grow in our faith, the more we love the Word of God. It nourishes us in our faith because it is supernatural. It changes our lives.
Welcome to The Verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Jean Monroe. After exploring Peter's encouragements about holy living and loving one another. We now deal with a third vital aspect of Christian growth. Just as newborn babies long for milk, believers need the nourishment that comes from God's Word. Today, John deals with the obstacles we must remove and the spiritual appetite we must cultivate to mature in our faith.
Here's Pastor John Monroe. I've called this message, Read God's Word Daily. The Apostle Peter has been exhorting us to live holy lives and to love one another earnestly from a pure heart. How important it is in the Christian life that we're daily in the Word of God. I'm not talking about some mindless legalistic obligation, but rather having a hunger for the word of God.
just as a newborn baby has a hunger for her mother's milk. This brings us to the opening verses of 1 Peter chapter 2. And it's very interesting that before Peter encourages us to long for the spiritual milk of the Word, he emphasizes that there are some ungodly actions and attitudes which must be put away.
So let's follow his argument and learn about these things. I ask you to open your Bibles. to 1 Peter chapter 2. You say I don't have a Bible. You need to come with a Bible.
One of the things I've observed. Change in church life over the years is that we have more and more people coming with Starbuck cups in their hand to church than Bibles. That's not a trend we want, is it? Uh we all enjoyed Starbucks, but you need to come with a Bible. I just got a new Bible.
uh on uh Friday night. It's one with a Pages stick together a little bit.
So I put a marker on 1 Peter 2. It's embarrassing if the preacher can't find the passage. Um So I want you to find the passage, 1 Peter. Chapter 2, and you may need to do what I do, is to buy a Bible. It's the most important purchase you'd ever make.
Your own Bible? You can mark it. You'll get to love it. And we want to help you to do that. 1 Peter chapter 2.
In the first chapter of 1 Peter 1, as you know, if you've been following this series, Peter is giving a great exposition of our great salvation. He's writing to suffering Christians, persecuted Christians, and he is wanting them to reflect. On the wonderful blessings that they have in Christ, given by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And having set out these wonderful truths of the Gospel in the first twelve verses of the first chapter, Peter then turns to the practical implications of the Christian life. There are certainly things to be learned in the Christian faith that is essential, but these truths must be practiced.
To have an understanding of truth and not to practice the truth continues you in your immaturity.
So there are Christians who know their Bible. They can give the answers. They like to tell people that they know more about the Bible than other people. But sadly, they haven't practiced. It's like someone learning the theory of a sport.
and never actually playing the sport. They sound very, very wise sitting in the armchair, giving advice to others. But they're not. practiced. is to be practiced.
As you come here and as you read your Bible, Understand the truths, and then seek with the help of the Holy Spirit to put it into practice. Peter. As he moves from The truth of the gospel to the practical implications of that in verse 13, as we've seen before in chapter 1. He gives a call, a strong call to holy living. In an impure world, God is calling us to purity.
And the more we understand what God in Christ has done for us, the greater our resolve. I would say our greater our motivation will be to live a life Now we know you want to do that, don't you? Don't you want your life to please God?
So first He gives a call to holy living, as we've seen. Secondly, as we saw last week, as we looked at verses 22 through 25 of 1 Peter 1. He exhorts us to love one another earnestly from a pure heart. A pure relationship with God will result in loving God and loving others. And that love that you have for your brothers and sisters is to be sincere, it's to be deep, it's to flow, Peter says, from.
Purifying souls, verse 22 of chapter 1, having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere Brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. That is In the family of God. We're to love one another. And I challenged you to To do that. I challenged you last week to reach out.
in love. And I'm glad to say that at least a few of you have done that. Because some of you gave me examples, and here is one. It'll be anonymous. An individual wrote to me, and the subject was last Sunday's message on love one another.
I thought at least someone heard. Dear Pastor Munro, In your message last Sunday, You encouraged us to reach out to people different to ourselves. culture, skin colour, age, etc. He gives his wife's name and says, His wife and I can say. That we are very much on the receiving end of such love.
So we pray that love expands in the church. beyond what is already there. Although we are very old, foreigners in this land. and speak the local language badly. A young couple with four very young children, have adopted us as grandparents.
We feel very loved. When these little children run to us in church, sit on our knees in the pews, and even invite us to birthday parties. I thought, how wonderful. Here's a couple. elderly coming towards the end of their life.
coming from another country. coming to a place where they know no one. And uh this family with these children have reached out to them. It love. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
Are you doing that? I'm assuming you love your own family. If you don't, you've got a real problem. It starts there, doesn't it? A love for God, love for a family, but that love is to reach out.
beyond our little group. And I encourage you to continue to do that.
Now, here's the third exhortation, which brings us to chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. Peter exhorts us to long for the pure spiritual milk. A call to holy living. A call to love one another earnestly with a pure from a pure heart, and now a call to long for the pure spiritual milk. And that brings us to our second theme.
for the year which is read god's God's word. daily. Our first theme, love one another. Second theme, Read God's Word. Daily.
Our new birth is just the beginning of the Christian life. At the end of Peter's second epistle, he exhorts us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you want to grow. You want to please the Lord. You want your life to count, to be a blessing to others.
How are you going to grow in your faith? Peter's going to tell us. In verses 1, 2, and 3 of 1 Peter 2, he's going to give us great help. in growing in our spiritual life. He's going to give us the negative first.
and then the positive. Let's stand and read these verses. 1 Peter chapter 2. Verses one through three. Will you read with me?
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk. that by it you may grow up into salvation. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Eman, please receive that.
Now As you're reading your Bible, And you read 1 Peter 1, and you come into chapter 2, and look at verse 1, it's a bit of a shock, isn't it? I mean, he's telling us to live holy lives. He's telling us to love one another. He's telling us the importance of the abiding word of God. And then He gets very negative.
And I thought of that. I thought, here it is, writing to these persecuted Christians. Why would he need to say that? Do you think among Christians There is ever any malice. or deceit, or hypocrisy, or envy, or slander.
Do you think I church? Do we need to hear verse 1? Or should we just go on to verse two? No, the reality is Those of us who have been saved by God's grace. have experienced this new birth.
are called to this living hope that he talks about in chapter 1.
Sometimes can behave very, very immaturely. And he tells us to put away all destructive actions and antigens. I'm asking you, you individually, whoever you are, I'm asking you today to put away all destructive actions and attitudes. The very opposite of loving one another.
Now, what's the first? Put away, verse 1, all malice. And all deceit. The imagery here. is of putting away old clothes.
You receive a new wardrobe in Christ, you're born again. You've got these beautiful Clothes to put on, let's say metaphor. But you've still got your old clothes over here. And there is a tendency by you and me to sometimes put on the old clothes. They're very comfortable.
We like them. Notice what Peter says. Put them Away. These Old clothes are totally inconsistent with your new life in Christ. You're called to holy living.
You're called to love one another. You've called to reach out in love to your fellow brothers and sisters. Why then would you act in such a malicious and deceitful way? Throw away these clothes. You've been purified.
Verse twenty-two of chapter one. Purified. You've been redeemed through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And the first destructive actions and attitudes to be put away are malice. And all the seats.
See, these sins destroy. this vervant love for one another in the Christian community. What's malice? It's evil. It's wickedness.
Particularly malicious, vicious ill-will. towards someone. You say, well, that would never happen. I went Christians. Yes, it would.
Otherwise, Peter wouldn't have to write to the first century. Otherwise, it wouldn't be necessary for us at church to hear this. Do you ever want to harm someone? You want to hurt someone? Do you want to ruin someone's reputation?
That's malice. Put it away. Put away all malice. What's the next one? and all deceit.
The Greek word for the seed, translated the seed, is dalos. We have, at least in Scottish criminal law, the word dull. When I was a prosecutor, we would accuse someone, we would say the accused was acting. with Doll when he murders such and such. What is dull?
What is this? It's deceit. The man had a criminal intent. The mensrea was there. He deliberately wanted to kill this person.
It wasn't an accident. It was deceitful. Deliberate. deceptiveness. Any Christian ever do that in a business?
You're in business. You're a salesperson. You were deceitful. Uh you're you're at school. Jebber.
Copy someone's But the plagiarism The stage. Yeah. Man, do you ever deceive your wife? Brothers and sisters, as you serve together, is there ever any deceit? Look at chapter 2, verse 22 regarding our Saviour Peter Rice.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. One of the ways that deceit is manifested is in our speech, isn't it? Look at chapter 3. Verse 10. For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
Same word, dole, dolos. No deceit. when you're speaking. This is this is very convicting, isn't it? They are Are destructive of spiritual growth in your life?
They are going to keep you from the word of God.
So, malice and deceit are defeated away. Then he says, and hypocrisy. No hypocrisy among Christians. We thought of that last week: that Hypocrisy is playing a part, pretending to be someone. The opposite of sincerity, chapter 1, verse 22, he says that this love is for a sincere.
In Greek, non-hypocrisy. Your love is to be sincere, not hypocritical. All hypocrisy is to be put away. Hypocrisy is very common in Christian circles, isn't it? Most of us have probably been guilty of it.
pretending to be more spiritual than we are. That spiritual look. That inflection of the voice when we're praying. That appearance that we have when we think people are looking at us when we're worshiping God. That desire to gossip, but we use it under a concern for the person.
A prayer request. Pray for so-and-so. And we gossip. And we're not really concerned about praying for them, we're spreading gossip. Destructive of spiritual growth.
Your love. is to be sincere. Being authentic followers of Jesus Christ, not phony followers of Jesus Christ. No phoniness, put it away. You hate phoniness, I hate phoniness.
But it's so easy to be, isn't it? Hypocrisy, put it away. But there's more. Envy and all slander. Was envy, covetousness.
Longing to what others have. The Ten Commandment you shall not covet. Envy is the inward Attitude behind so much hypocrisy and deceit. Envy is wanting to have or be what others are or have. You envy their home, their position.
in life. The spouse Their girlfriend, their spiritual gift. How God is using them. You look on someone else and you're full of envy. Put it away.
That envy so easily leads to slander, doesn't it? What's slander? Evil speaking. and criticizing people unfairly. Gossiping about people.
You don't know all the facts. But you're making a judgment. And you're slandering your brother or sister. Your envy of them had led you to slander your brother or sister in Christ. Proverbs 6.19, the Lord hates the one who spreads strife among brothers.
Wow, that's convicting, isn't it? Are you a unifier? Or are you a critic? And your group? You criticize the elders.
You criticize the deacons. And this is hard for me to believe you criticize the pastors. and we deserve some criticism. The church is room. What do you think?
It's not as spiritual as you are. And you have a critical attitude, and you tell others about it. You don't go to the leadership with your concerns, but you call strife. The Lord hates the one who spread strife among brothers. Do you remember Napoleon's progress, John Bunyan?
has a character called the Mud Raker. And in one of the versions of Pilgrim Progress I have, there's a picture of the mud raker. He's got the rake, and he's in the mud, and above him is a crown. But he never sees that. He's always at the negative.
Always raking in the mud. There are people in churches a bit like that, aren't they? they gravitate to the Mud and the and the muck. Don't be like that, brother. Put that away.
That kind of clothing is totally inconsistent with loving your brothers with a sincere love. If you're serious about your spiritual growth, and I know you are. You and I have to radically deal with these sins. Put away all destructive actions and attitudes. You've entered into a new life in Christ.
These old clothes are totally out of fashion. God has given you so much more. Put on these virtues. These old sins are inappropriate in this family of love. We don't want them at church.
These sins impede your spiritual growth and ours. and they are destructive of loving harmony. in the assembly of the people of God. Just think. If these sins were put away.
Begins with you. And it begins with me.
Now that's the negative. What's the positive? Verse 2. Desire the word of God. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.
Our spiritual life begins with the Word of God. We're saved by the miracle of the new birth, which results from the living and abiding word of God. Chapter 1, 23, since you've been born again. Not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding Word of God. Verse 25: The word of the Lord remains forever, and this word is the good news that was preached to you.
The supernatural word as we hear the gospel. We embrace it, we embrace Christ, and our lives are changed. All else in life is insignificant. The glory, our own ambitions and dreams, they wither and die, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Paul describes it in Philippians 2 as the word of life.
It brings life to our souls. It nourishes us in our faith. We grow as we desire the sincere milk of the word. We have to long for it because it is supernatural, it changes our lives. to grow spiritually We need nourishment.
And if we're born again. God gives us a desire, doesn't he? For his word. And Peter makes it easy for us to understand because he uses the analogy of newborn babies longing for milk. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation.
This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe and the first part of a message titled, Read God's Word Daily. Just as Peter emphasized the vital nature of God's Word for our spiritual development, We want to help you deepen your understanding of scripture. particularly those parts that many find challenging. That's why John wrote, For the time is near, lessons from Revelation. A clear, accessible booklet to help you understand this often misunderstood book of the Bible.
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Now, here's pastor Jean Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Are you in the Word of God daily? I'm sure you had some food today for your physical nourishment. But what about spiritual nourishment? Are you neglecting that?
This is food for your soul, and is the basis for your spiritual growth. As you come to the Word of God and seek to love your brothers and sisters in Christ, make sure that these destructive attitudes such as deceit, hypocrisy and envy are put away. Today. Spend time in the Word of God. and grow in your love for others.
Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
