“Put Away & Grow" – FBC Morning Light (11/9/2023)

The Call to Lay Aside Sinful Attitudes

Well, a good Thursday morning to you. Today we're reading in Ezekiel 23 and 24, and in 1 Peter chapter 2. I've been in the ministry, let's see, this is 2023, for 43 years. I started in ministry just after I got out of college in 1980.

I worked as a youth worker and eventually as a pastor and so forth. But in all those years, I have known Christians, professing Christians, who've been guilty of some pretty flagrant sin. I've known Christians who have shown malice toward others.

I have known professing Christians who have been guilty of slander, speaking evil of other believers and people they don't like. I've seen Christians who've expressed envy in their heart, envious of other Christians, envious of other churches, envious of unbelievers who have what they don't have, and so forth.

I've seen all kinds of expressions of evil. I've seen professing believers who've just been sheer hypocrites. They come to church and they give all the impression of being good people, good Christians, and yet engaged in shady business practices and trying to hide that, knowing that they were doing wrong.

In all of those cases, I know of other believers, many who were victimized by the slander or the malice or the envy, and they've had this question. It's like, that person must not be saved. They must not really be a Christian.

How could they be a Christian and do that? How could they be a Christian and talk about me like that? How can they be a Christian and be such a hypocrite? I understand the sentiment. Especially when you're the victim of another supposed Christian's slander or deceit or guile or evil speaking or malice.

It's pretty easy to respond that way. How in the world can they be a Christian? But here's what I want us to see, how Peter opens this second chapter in 1 Peter 2. He's speaking to Christians who are definitely believers.

He's not questioning their salvation at all. But he says to them, therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking or slander, laying all that aside, what does that tell you?

Doesn't that tell you that these are people who are actually guilty of these things? And Peter is aware of it? I think it does. I think it indicates that altogether. Why would he say it? Why would he bring it up?

No. Even Christian people can be guilty of malice and deceit and evil speaking and hypocrisy and slander. But he tells us, lay that all aside, and what is the remedy for it all? Because here's the thing, whatever it is of these things I am guilty, it must be put away and displaced by something much better, such as what?

The Pure Milk of the Word for Spiritual Growth

Now, go on to verse 2. Laying aside all of these things, he says, as newborn babes desire milk, as the understood rest of that comparison, that analogy, he says, as newborn babes have a strong yearning and desire for mother's milk, he said, you desire the pure milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.

What is it that will help you displace malice and envy and slander and evil speaking and deceit and hypocrisy? It will be the taking in, the nourishing food of God's Word. I want to encourage us today to be a people of the book.

Maybe the extent of your taking in of the Word is an occasional listening to these few minutes of devotional. I've just read two verses of the Bible. Those two verses, if you hear those, and you're convicted by those, and you say, okay, that's good.

But if that's it, is that it? Is that the extent of your nourishment? If all you had for breakfast this morning was a spoonful of Wheaties, how far would that get you in terms of the nourishing of your body?

Let's be a people who take in God's Word and want to, desire it, to yearn for it, so that we may grow. These practices, these attitudes of heart that lead to malice and lead to deceit and so forth, that these things would be displaced by the nourishment of God's Word.

Prayer for Help in Putting Sin Away

I encourage us to do that. Our Father and our God, we thank you for your Word and we thank you for the help it can be in getting rid of and laying aside practices that are debilitating to our spiritual well-being.

I pray we take in your Word. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen. Have a good rest of your Thursday. May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.