1 Peter 2

Verses 1-3, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Newborn babies have such a strong fleshly desire to be fed. We should have this same desire for the word, our spiritual food, if we have tasted the grace of God. If you have no desire for the word, then you have no real understanding of His grace. God may have revealed Himself to you, but your heart must be changed. The word, when received in faith, will cause us to grow, the same as milk will cause a baby to grow. Evidence that you are growing in knlowledge and grace is that you have left behind your old ways and no longer walk as you once did...in malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and speaking evil of others. You are no longer self-seeking, but seeking the will of God. But those who continue to do these evil things are not growing by the word and show evidence that they do not have a personal, daily walk with the Lord. They may know about Him...but they do not know Him.

Verses 4-5, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  When we are rejected by men for our desire to live godly, rather than our wickedness, we know that God is building us up for His purposes. And when Jesus is our foundation that we build our lives upon, we will not be easily shaken. He continues to build us up into sanctified vessels that are useful for His purposes, and we are to offer sacrifices which are pleasing to Him. This becomes difficult if we resist Him and have to keep laying the foundation over and over again, never maturing. Hebrews 6:1-6, “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”

Verse 7-8, “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.”  Notice that those who are being disobedient are also appointed unto the same word. The difference is that they will stumble over Jesus rather than falling upon His grace. They act as though His commands are a burden, rather than readily obeying out of the love and gratitude they should have in their heart for the Lord. When confronted about their sin, they act as though they are struggling to obey, when in actuality their flesh has already won. Yielding to God ends the struggle, but that is the one thing they will not do. They have chosen to serve their flesh...and it is indeed their choice. God's will is that none would perish and that everyone would come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), but not all will seek His will. Matthew 21:44, “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

As His children, we need to represent our Father to the world. Verse 11-12, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”  True children of God should not be driven and controlled by fleshly lusts. Where is your testimony when those who are unsaved see you participating in them and acting like the rest of the world? Because of Christ's death on the cross, you are now free from the power of sin and death. Telling someone that you are born again, but acting like a powerless victim of sin, is no witness at all and may cause others to blaspheme God rather than glorify Him as God. The unsaved needs to see you victorious over sin, not enslaved to it. Then they will want to know your God.

Temptations will always be there, but we cannot give into them. We fight against them with the truth of the word, and do not give our flesh free reign. Satan is aimed at weakening you spiritually by attacking your flesh. He tried the same thing with Jesus when His flesh was weak from hunger. Matthew 4:1-4, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But He answered and said, 'It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” ' ”  Of course the temptor will tempt you when you are at your weakest, waiting until you are in just the right place with just the right people there to encourage you to give in to your temptation. Our response is to bring our thoughts and desires into obedience, yielding to our Father. There is strength in saying no and yielding; and as soon as you do, the struggle is over. Those who are still struggling are simply not yielding, but still obeying their own desires, which leads to death. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  Remember that self-control IS a fruit of the Spirit.

We need to live quiet, peaceable lives, submitting to God and ALL authority that He has placed over us. God's will for us, according to the word, is “that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God” (Verses 15-16). And if you have truly been born again, you should no longer live to serve your lusts, which only results in bitterness and evil hatred toward others. Titus 3:1-7, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  If you are struggling today, choose to fully surrender and yield to the authority of God immediately. He desires to pour out His Spirit on you abundantly, but you have to want it and ask.