Growing God's Way PART II
Prerequisites for Growth
I Peter 2:1-3
READ TEXT
PRAY
The first item to which I would draw your attention is the imperative in the passage.
We must always look for the command first.
Then we can see how God would have us change our lives.
In verse two, we are commanded to "desire the sincere milk of the word."
The way we are to desire the sincere milk of the word is, "As newborn babes."
Illustration: I had little opportunity to feed our first two children. Tiffany had that well under control. I had only to bring them to the bedside. However, as Allyson was two months early, I sat up with her in the ICU and bottle fed her for the first days of her life. I learned a few things about how newborn babes desire their milk.
1.) They are not happy without it.
2.) They devour it when it is available.
3.) It is their primary concern in life.
This is how we must desire to study the Word of God.
Now, I want to direct you to the object of verse 2.
We are commanded to desire the sincere milk of the word for this purpose: THAT YE MAY GROW THEREBY
It is God's purpose that we grow.
He requires it of us.
He is glorified by our proper growth.
Let us recognize that God is intent upon our growing and specifically our growing his way.
This morning, I want to challenge you from Scripture, to see some mandatory prerequisites to growth.
It is verse 1 that gives us the 1st clear and practical instructions by which we can grow God's way.
We must:
1.) Lay aside the obstacles to growth.
Illustration: Recently, I had the opportunity to go to the local trash dump. I usually enjoy going to the dump. There is always some odd item that someone has thrown out that arouses my curiosity. This last Sunday afternoon was no exception. As we drove out I noticed a bicycle parked on the side of the road with a sign beside it. The sign read, "Organic kick stand." Upon further investigation, I discovered that there was a stump from a tree that had grown around the bicycle, which was holding it up at the moment. Evidently, this tree had grown around the obstacle until the bicycle had become a permanent part of the tree.
I believe many Christians are growing the same way that this tree did.
There is a substantial obstacle in their life: a sin, a habit, an attitude even a circumstance that compromises their testimony.
And yet they leave that obstacle in its place and grow around it until it has scarred and deformed their spiritual life to the extent that they cannot bear fruit and cannot fill out God's plan for their life.
The especially repugnant obstacles which God points out for us are:
> Malice - denoting extreme enmity of heart, ill-will, a disposition to injure others without cause, from mere personal gratification, or from a spirit of revenge.---Webster.
> Guile - Deceit of all kinds.
> Hypocrisies - feigning to be what we are not; assuming a false appearance of religion; cloaking a wicked purpose under the appearance of piety.
> Envies - A negative attitude toward someone because they have something that we don't
> All Evil Speaking - It would include all unkind or slanderous speaking against others.
Of course there are many other items that the Holy Spirit may be pointing out in your own heart, things that must be removed before you are allowed to grow freely and in a manner that glorifies God.
Realize this, if we grow our way we will end up scarred and deformed and of little use for the glorification of our God.
On the contrary, if we are determined to grow God's way, we will remove the obstacles that He signifies and we will indeed growth into an object of glory to God.
Now we see that if we are to grow God's way we must first lay aside the obstacles to growth.
Secondly:
2.) We must desire the Word of God.
As we noted earlier, this is the command in the passage and deserves special attention.
It is often said in the world that we cannot fight our feelings.
God's Word insists exactly the opposite.
We can and must shape our own desires.
Several times in Scripture we are commanded to desire this or that.
Never does God command us to do something that He does not empower us to do.
It is entirely possible and necessary to shape our desires.
> By immersing ourselves in the word.
> By disciplining ourselves to read the word.
> By praying for God to change our hearts.
Finally we see the concluding verse which serves to motivate us to obey the instructions in the previous verses.
It is the grace of God that drives us.
We tasted it when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior.
If you have not tasted His grace you must make that decision today.
Then His grace can motivate you to grow God's way.
Prerequisites for Growth
I Peter 2:1-3
READ TEXT
PRAY
The first item to which I would draw your attention is the imperative in the passage.
We must always look for the command first.
Then we can see how God would have us change our lives.
In verse two, we are commanded to "desire the sincere milk of the word."
The way we are to desire the sincere milk of the word is, "As newborn babes."
Illustration: I had little opportunity to feed our first two children. Tiffany had that well under control. I had only to bring them to the bedside. However, as Allyson was two months early, I sat up with her in the ICU and bottle fed her for the first days of her life. I learned a few things about how newborn babes desire their milk.
1.) They are not happy without it.
2.) They devour it when it is available.
3.) It is their primary concern in life.
This is how we must desire to study the Word of God.
Now, I want to direct you to the object of verse 2.
We are commanded to desire the sincere milk of the word for this purpose: THAT YE MAY GROW THEREBY
It is God's purpose that we grow.
He requires it of us.
He is glorified by our proper growth.
Let us recognize that God is intent upon our growing and specifically our growing his way.
This morning, I want to challenge you from Scripture, to see some mandatory prerequisites to growth.
It is verse 1 that gives us the 1st clear and practical instructions by which we can grow God's way.
We must:
1.) Lay aside the obstacles to growth.
Illustration: Recently, I had the opportunity to go to the local trash dump. I usually enjoy going to the dump. There is always some odd item that someone has thrown out that arouses my curiosity. This last Sunday afternoon was no exception. As we drove out I noticed a bicycle parked on the side of the road with a sign beside it. The sign read, "Organic kick stand." Upon further investigation, I discovered that there was a stump from a tree that had grown around the bicycle, which was holding it up at the moment. Evidently, this tree had grown around the obstacle until the bicycle had become a permanent part of the tree.
I believe many Christians are growing the same way that this tree did.
There is a substantial obstacle in their life: a sin, a habit, an attitude even a circumstance that compromises their testimony.
And yet they leave that obstacle in its place and grow around it until it has scarred and deformed their spiritual life to the extent that they cannot bear fruit and cannot fill out God's plan for their life.
The especially repugnant obstacles which God points out for us are:
> Malice - denoting extreme enmity of heart, ill-will, a disposition to injure others without cause, from mere personal gratification, or from a spirit of revenge.---Webster.
> Guile - Deceit of all kinds.
> Hypocrisies - feigning to be what we are not; assuming a false appearance of religion; cloaking a wicked purpose under the appearance of piety.
> Envies - A negative attitude toward someone because they have something that we don't
> All Evil Speaking - It would include all unkind or slanderous speaking against others.
Of course there are many other items that the Holy Spirit may be pointing out in your own heart, things that must be removed before you are allowed to grow freely and in a manner that glorifies God.
Realize this, if we grow our way we will end up scarred and deformed and of little use for the glorification of our God.
On the contrary, if we are determined to grow God's way, we will remove the obstacles that He signifies and we will indeed growth into an object of glory to God.
Now we see that if we are to grow God's way we must first lay aside the obstacles to growth.
Secondly:
2.) We must desire the Word of God.
As we noted earlier, this is the command in the passage and deserves special attention.
It is often said in the world that we cannot fight our feelings.
God's Word insists exactly the opposite.
We can and must shape our own desires.
Several times in Scripture we are commanded to desire this or that.
Never does God command us to do something that He does not empower us to do.
It is entirely possible and necessary to shape our desires.
> By immersing ourselves in the word.
> By disciplining ourselves to read the word.
> By praying for God to change our hearts.
Finally we see the concluding verse which serves to motivate us to obey the instructions in the previous verses.
It is the grace of God that drives us.
We tasted it when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior.
If you have not tasted His grace you must make that decision today.
Then His grace can motivate you to grow God's way.
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