In the 1st chapter of his letter, Peter concentrates on the fact that his readers have been born again. At the end of the chapter he emphasizes that it was the Word of God that was the source of their born again experience. Now at the beginning of the second chapter he continues to bring his focus upon the Word of God and the part that it now plays in the believer’s life since they have been born again. Look at 1:23-25. “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring 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 off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word which was preached to you.” The Word of God has been the source of our spiritual life and now it becomes the source of our spiritual growth.
A popular billboard and TV ad asks the question, “Got milk?” For the Christian, the question to ask isn’t “Got milk?” but “Got growth?” Do you read God’s Word and find that you are not getting anything out of it? Is it like dry toast to you? Can you take or leave the Word of God? Do you find yourself with more desire to read the Sun Chronicle than the Bible? Do you want the Word of God to come alive to you? Do you want it to make an impact in your life? Peter says that there is a breath of fresh air through God’s Word that’s here for all of us if we follow what he says. Don’t miss that, “if we follow what he says.” We must note three items in this passage if we are to desire the Word of God as God intends for us.
1. The Prerequisite to Desire the Word of God
In verse one, the first item that Peter notes is the prerequisite to desire the Word of God. Peter says that this prerequisite is the putting off of our sinful behavior. We see it clearly here as he says, “Putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.” The word that Peter uses to describe this action, “put aside,” is also used to describe the taking off of clothing. Consider what you would do if you had a shirt that was on fire. Would you be concerned about unbuttoning every button? No you would rip that shirt from your body as quickly as you could which would mean tearing the shirt if necessary. That’s the way that Peter wants us to rip this sin out of our life. He is following the same pattern for growth as he outlines in 2 Peter 1. He says in that passage, “Add to your faith, moral excellence.” After he says to add moral excellence Peter says to add knowledge to your faith. Do you see the progression? First we add moral excellence and then Bible knowledge to our faith. Peter says that before we desire the Word of God we must be putting off the sin in our lives that rules us. If we gain biblical knowledge (without moral excellence) without changing our lifestyle, we are living a lie. We will know a lot about what the Bible says but won’t be applying it to our lives. We might talk a great talk but pride will keep us from real spiritual growth. Perhaps there is some Christian here who needs to clean up their life before they start before you start declaring how much they know about the Word of God.
Peter says that sin will hinder the growth that God wants to see accomplished in our lives. Do you have malice in your life? Malice is hatred with a view to hurting another. Are you harboring bitterness or hatred in your heart? Jesus says that is the same as having committed murder. Is there hatred in your heart for someone? This could be hindering your growth through the Word. There is no room in our hearts for both malice and a desire for the Word of God. One will crowd the other out. So you had better choose carefully.
This list of words that Peter gives us follows a pattern. Deceit and hypocrisy are related. They both refer to the idea of being two faced. The word hypocrisy originally referred to the stage player who wore a mask to portray another person. Both words have their ground in cover up. They describe that what is on the outside is not really what is on the inside. In the overhaul of the Queen Elizabeth (not the woman but the ship), a smoke stack was being removed and as it was set down, it collapsed. The entire stack crumpled. What had been left of the stack was mostly just 30 layers of paint. No one took care of the inside, but merely covered the outside. And because of this it decayed from the inside out. This is hypocrisy. When we make the outside look good to cover up the reality of the corruption inside this is hypocrisy. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees of this very thing. He said that they cleaned up the outside of the cups and dishes but left the inside unwashed. This is how hypocrisy works. It blinds us to our true condition before God. We end up comparing outward appearance to other people’s outward appearance and we forget that God looks on the heart.
Peter describes the Word of God as pure spiritual milk. The word pure is the same word he uses in verse 1 (deceit), but with the negative prefix on the front (nondeceitful). This is the reason why Peter says that you must strip off deceit and the related sin. How can you desire something that is without deceit when you yourself are full of deceit? So a repulsion of that which is evil should characterize our lives as believers. How can we embrace the evil of this world and embrace the Bible at the same time. Peter says you can’t. Can we really watch videos that portray adultery and murder and other vile behavior in a good light and think we will remain unchanged? Tell me, is adultery OK just because it occurs on a sinking ship called the Titanic? How can we believe that our thinking will be pure? How can we believe that we will have the desire to read a pure book when we pour impure thoughts into our mind? In Psalm 101, David says, “I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.” How often have we allowed that wicked thing to come into our houses and have said, “It is only a small thing, it is only a little wrong?”
Next envy and slander finish the progression in this list of words. Can you see it? Malice causes you to be bitter against someone. This bitterness causes you to act deceitfully and hypocritically as you deal with this person as if nothing was wrong. By now you may be envying that person for what they have and you lack. And this causes you to slander them. You make up rumors about them to get back at them or maybe you tell the truth about them in a hurtful way. However it starts, it is a destructive cycle and trap. Peter says, get rid of all this. It will hinder your growth in the Lord. It will block out your ability to desire the Word of God.
There is a story I recently read that told of a man back in the time that the telegraph was the express means of communication. He applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the office that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large busy office filled with noise and clatter, including the sound of a telegraph in the background. A sign on the receptionist’s counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man filled out his form and sat down with the seven other applicants in the waiting area. After a few minutes the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally, the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. They themselves hadn’t received a request to enter for an interview and assumed the young man had made a mistake and would be disqualified. Within a few minutes, however, the employer came out and told the other applicants that the job had been filled. They began grumbling, and one spoke up, saying, “He was the last to come in and we never got a chance to be interviewed.” The employer replied, “I’m sorry but for the last several minutes, the telegraph has been ticking out, ‘If you understand this message, come right in. The job is yours.’ None of you heard or understood it. This man did and the job is his.”
Peter is saying to us that when we allow sin to grow in our lives and we do not seek to put it off as a filthy garment we will not be able to hear or understand the Word of God because the noise of our sin will block out the still small voice of God in His Word.
2. The Command to Desire the Word of God
Next in verse 2 we see the command to desire the Word of God. Peter says here, “long for (or desire) the pure milk of the Word.” I think that it is important to notice that Peter gives us a command to desire the Word of God. Some may think that desire is an emotion and therefore we are unable to choose to desire something. But desire is an act of the will. As Christians, we can choose to desire what is right and shun what is evil. This is why Peter gives us a command to desire the Word of God. If we do not desire the Word of God it is our own fault.
In this verse we can observe two points concerning the command to desire the Word of God
A. Act according to our nature
The first point that we can observe concerning this command to desire the Word of God is that Peter is urging us to act according to our nature. He says, “Like newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word.” As we looked at earlier, Peter has already linked this section to the fact that we have been born again through the Word of God. So now he says to act according to your nature.
Peter says to desire the Word like a newborn baby desires milk. Peter is not using the term baby here in a derogatory sense as the author of Hebrews does. In that letter he tells his readers that they are still spiritual babies in need of milk and not meat. Peter doesn’t make a comment about their current spiritual maturity, but he tells them that in the same way a baby craves milk, you are to crave the Word of God. In the same way a baby desires physical nourishment you desire spiritual nourishment. If you are spiritually alive then you ought to desire spiritual nourishment and things aren’t right without it. We are to act according to our nature.
If we have been born again by the Spirit of God through the Word of God then we ought to be acting like a child of His. If you are not then you need to repent and begin to do so. Repentance should be an ongoing part of the life of every believer. We should be willing to forsake our sin that the Scripture says so easily besets us and turn back to Jesus.
A newborn craves milk every few hours. It is sometimes difficult for parents to keep up with such a schedule. What kind of desire do you have for the Word of God? How do you look upon reading God’s Word? Is it a burden or a joy? Do you say, “I can’t wait till I get a chance to read the Word” or do you say let me get it over with? I remember when I was back in college after I had gotten saved. I had a great desire to know His Word. I used to carry my Bible everywhere and when I got a free minute I would read it, hoping to get in another chapter. It was alive and exciting to me. (Dave Fischer; crew team). I used to read 20 chapters a day and it was great. What happened? I began to grow like Peter said I would. I continued to see God changing my life. God was working in me. I was like a little baby craving milk. I need to be more like that today. We all do. But too often we put other things in front of the Word of God. We have convinced ourselves that we are too busy for the Bible. We plan the Bible out of our lives. And this occurs to the detriment of our own spiritual life and to the detriment of those around us who need us to share the Word of God with them.
We need to make time to read the Scriptures. All the excuses of our lives just won’t cut it. Peter says that we need to desire the Word of God.
B. It is necessary for growth
The second point we can observe from this verse concerning the command to desire the Word of God is that Peter says it is necessary for growth. He says this here at the end of verse 2, “So that you may grow in respect to your salvation.” A craving for milk is a sign of a healthy baby. Sometimes when things are wrong with a baby, he will stop nursing or eating. We have to remember that Peter is giving us a command here. He doesn’t say that we must wait until we feel like reading the Word. I have failed to read the Word of God when I should have. I was too rushed in the morning and too lazy in the evening. There is nothing that causes your desire to read the Word of God to wane more than neglecting to read it. Before you know it you’ve missed a few days. And then it becomes easier to miss it. It can happen to each one of us because we are all good justifiers.
If we are not feeding ourselves on the Word of God we will not grow in our spiritual lives. We must feed ourselves on the Word of God. It is necessary. And if we don’t want to be malformed Christians then we need to read the Word of God, not just someone’s commentary on it. We need to read the Word of God itself. I recently read a news article about two infants who had suffered brain damage because their vegetarian mothers were not able to supply enough nourishment through nursing them. This is what happens when we neglect to read the Word of God. We become malnourished Christians. The daily bread booklets that we have here are a good supplement to your Bible reading but they cannot be your only source of spiritual nourishment. If you are not consistently reading the Word of God (and not just those little passages that they give you in the Daily Bread) then you will not grow. And it evidences itself in your life. If you are neglecting to read the Word of God you will be stunted in your Christian life. It’s that simple. Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is living and powerful and it is this life imparting quality of the Word of God that causes us to grow spiritually. When we are in the Word of God consistently we find ourselves growing gradually into the likeness of Jesus Christ. God uses the Bible to lop off that which does not look like Christ and to sculpt in Christlikeness.
So if you have been neglecting to read the Word of God, for whatever reason, put off your excuses and desire the pure milk of the Word so that you may grow in respect to your salvation. God has not given us any other way.
3. The Reason to Desire the Word of God
Thirdly, we see the reason to desire the Word of God. In verse 3 Peter gives us the reason to desire the Word of God. And that reason is that in your salvation you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. This should be our ultimate reason for desiring the Word of God. If (or better, “since”) you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
The word translated kindness, shows the constant mercy and readiness to help on the part of God. And this picture of God’s kindness is fully seen in our own salvation of which God has granted us. Peter is saying that the great love that God showed for us in salvation ought to cause us to desire the Word that He has given to us.
If we dwell upon just what it was that God has done for us in salvation we will see just how great this kindness is. God Himself, in the person of Christ, took the harshness of the penalty of death upon Himself, so that we might be brought back to Him. And He did this while we were still enemies against Him! Could you think of going so far as to giving your life for someone who hates you? This is what God did. He took the penalty for our sins upon Himself and then He drew us to Himself to be part of His family. He shed abroad His love into our hearts. He gave His Holy Spirit to dwell inside us. He worked in us to change us. How much more does He have to do for you before you will realize how much you need Him and His Word in your life?
Since you have tasted the kindness of the Lord you should desire His Word. Has God been kind to you? Has He spared your life from eternal punishment and given you eternal life with Him? Do you realize just how great that is? Does He work in your midst to glorify Himself through your life? Do you see Him working? If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord then desire the pure milk of the Word.
If you have truly tasted of the kindness of the Lord, do you understand that in His Word He reveals more and more of His kindness to you? The demonstration of God’s kindness to us in salvation should to cause us to seek His Word even more. And as we continue to look into the Word of God we will see just how much more of His kindness He reveals to us. The Scripture says that in His light we see light. There is an increasing degree of joy that we find in God when we first choose to delight ourselves in Him and in His Word. And so Peter wants us to discover that joy in His Word that only God’s Spirit can give.
So what have we discovered today? Peter is describing the key to growth in the Christian life is through the Word of God. First, is there some sin in your life that is preventing you from desiring the Word of God? If there is, then you must forsake it and turn back to Christ. If you are harboring sin, you are facing away from Christ. You need to turn back to Him.
Next, you need to desire the Word of God. You need to commit to reading the Word of God daily. And thirdly, you need to recognize that the reason you should desire to read the Word of God is because God has shown His great kindness to us in salvation. The Word of God brought to light by the Spirit of God is the means that God uses for our spiritual growth. Want growth? Get the pure milk of the Word.