“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for 'All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.' And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

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. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."   1 Peter 1:22-2:5

WE ARE A FAMILY...

Because we recognize that God has ordained the institution of the nuclear family and called us into the greater familial community of the body of Christ, we celebrate and strive to build strong families within individual homes and across the generations within our church.

1 Peter 2 posits that the focal point of salvation is to develop a genuine love for believers. This is clearly stated after the celebration of the glory and goodness of the gospel message from 1 Peter 1:13-21. This love would put to death certain attitudes, it would lead to a desire of continual growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ, which consequently will lead to a glad surrender to Christ as these living stones (individual believers) are fashioned into a wonderful temple of worship in the kingdom of God. We are to “put away” the five attitudes mentioned in verse 1 which tear at the social fabric of unity and joy in the church: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.

In verse 2, we are to continue to long for the pure milk of the Word so that we can grow up in full stature as disciples of Christ since we have tasted that the Lord is good (v. 3).

“God is glorified not only by His glory being seen, but by His being rejoiced in...when those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. God made the world that he might communicate and the creature receive His glory…both with the mind and the heart.”  Jonathan Edwards, Miscellany, p. 448

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” C.S. Lewis, Is Theology Poetry?

How to develop an ongoing love for the Lord which leads to sincere love and responsible living (i.e. responsible living as a “living stone”). That’s part of a marvelous superstructure (the body of Christ)

1. Live with eternity in view (v. 1:24-25).

“...it is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things - if they are what you tap real meaning in life then you will never feel you have enough. It’s the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age starts showing you will die a million deaths before they finally plant… The insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they are evil or sinful. It is that they are unconscious. They are default settings. They are the kind of worship you just gradually slip into day after day getting more and more selective about what you see and how you measure value without ever being fully aware that that’s what you’re doing.”  David Foster Wallace 

2. The daily “putting aside” of destructive attitudes and the embrace of truth, goodness, and beauty (the kindness of the Lord); the daily re-choosing or glad surrender to the things of the Lord (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, Joshua 24:15).

3. The appetite to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

“I call piety that reverence joined with love of God joined with love of God who's the knowledge of his benefits and deuces.”  John Calvin

Those who pursue God ardently have tasted His goodness. For Peter, Christian growth is not a mere call to duty or moralism. The desire to grow springs from an experience with the Lord's kindness, an experience that leaves believers desiring more.

4. Embracing responsibility (a living stone…fueler or drainer...); “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

Q: What is the second petition?

A: Your kingdom come. That is: So rule us by your Word and Spirit that more and more we submit to you. Preserve and increase your church. Destroy the works of the devil, every power that raises itself against you, and every conspiracy against your holy Word. Do all this until the fullness of your kingdom comes, where you shall be all in all.  Heidelberg Catechism, Question 123