Harvest Pointe Christian Church, Milford Ohio is a non-denominational Christian Church (Church of Christ) on the Eastside of Cincinnati OH

Note: Due to technical difficulties an audio version of the sermon on 04-25-10 is not available
A Reason to Deepen | Series: I Peter | 04-25-10

A Reason to to Deepen
Series: I Peter:
Finding Your Way in a 'Whatever' World
I Peter 1:13-2:3

Why we need to grow deeper in the Christian life.
1. To have the strength to withstand the trouble that comes our way.
2. To appreciate the best that God has to offer.

  I. Deepen Mentally.  "prepare your minds for action"
   
 II. Deepen Morally.   "Be holy, because I am holy."

Four motivations for holiness
1. A desire to resemble God.  I Peter 1:16, Ephesians 5:1
2. A reverent fear of judgment.  I Peter 1:17
3. A recognition of the futility of unholiness.  I Peter 1:18
4. The loving sacrifice of Jesus.  I Peter 1:19-21

III. Deepen Socially.  "love one another deeply" 

Full Text 

Last week we began studying the book of I Peter.  As we covered the first twelve verses of chapter 1, we focused some on the fact that we have been born again and we have a reason to hope in Christ. 
Verse 13 begins with the word, "Therefore."  That transition word conveys the idea that since the previous principles are true, here is the action or attitude that should follow.  In other words, BECAUSE we've been born again and BECAUSE have a hope of eternal life in Christ, we need to grow to maturity and deepen our spiritual roots. 
It's sad when people have been Christians for years but there has been very little spiritual growth in their lives.  Their thinking is just as shallow as it ever was.  Their behavior isn't much different than when they first came to know the Lord.  Their relationships are still pretty bad.
The Apostle Paul expressed frustration with the Corinthian Christians' lack of spiritual growth when he wrote in I Corinthians 3:1-2, "1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."
In this letter, the Apostle Peter encourages his readers not to be stunted in their growth, but to move on to maturity in Christ.
There are two primary reasons
Why we need to grow deeper in the Christian life.
The first is
1. To have the strength to withstand the trouble that comes our way. 

Jesus told a parable about a farmer who sowed some seed.  He told about the different types of places the seed fell.  In Mark 4:5-6, of one type Jesus said, "5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root."  Then Jesus explained the meaning of this illustration in Mark 4:16-17.  "16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away."
In other words, if you don't deepen and mature in your Christian life, your faith may not survive the next round of troubles that strikes your life.  When your job disappears, when that loved one dies, when disease attacks, you'll be bitter and blame God or you'll be weak and yield to temptation. 
The second reason we need to deepen is
2. To appreciate the best that God has to offer.

In John 10:10 Jesus said, "… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  If you're just skimming the surface of the Christian life you're missing out on the abundant life God wants to give you. 
Our text today closes with Verses 2 and 3 of I Peter 2.  "2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."  If you're saved and you've tasted that the Lord is good, go on and grow up and you will experience so much more.
When our boys were young, all they wanted was McDonalds.  You get tired of the same thing all the time so during a special occasion we were out and we talked the boys into trying steak.  BIG mistake! Suddenly we had boys with Champaign tastes and we were on a beer budget!  But, they were wondering why we hadn't made them eat steak before!  There was something out there that was much better than McDonald's.
And there's much more to the Christian life than what some are experiencing.  They've been satisfied with having been saved, but salvation is much more than a life insurance policy for eternity.  It isn't just about getting you into heaven.  It's about getting heaven into you here on earth.  It's about looking more like Jesus as the years go by. 
Peter challenges us to grow up in our faith and see how good God really is.  Let's see three areas where we need to grow deeper in the Christian life so we can experience the abundant life that God wants to give.

I. Deepen mentally.  "prepare your minds for action"

I Peter 1:13.  "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." 
Our society places more emphasis on feeling than thinking.  Commercials, music, art, movies are all about feeling.  There are commercials that you have no idea what it is for until you see a "Swoosh" at the end.  It gives you a feeling.  From car ads to drinks, the message is, "We are selling you a feeling."  It's even fun to mop your floor!!!  If you are honest, Barach Obama became President, not because of what he said, but because he sold people on a feeling that they could be a part of changing history.  There are songs on the radio that make us feel good, even though we don't know what the words are.  We like movies based on how they make us feel.  How hard did you laugh?  Did it scare you?  Did it get you pumped?  How many tissues did she need?
And that translates into how we make decisions in life.  "Follow your heart."  "Do what you feel is right in your gut."  "If it feels good do it."  Even church services and sermons are evaluated more on how it makes us feel than what we learn.
God has given us emotions as a very good gift.  Excitement, fear, laughter, sadness, anger, romance, & joy are all God-given feelings.  The Bible says there's a time to weep and a time to laugh.  We are blessed with the ability to experience a variety of emotions.  And some people are much more emotional than others.  Different temperaments have a greater capacity for feeling.
But God has also given us the capacity to reason, to think.  Isaiah 1:18 reads, "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD. …"   We are told repeatedly in Scripture that wisdom (the ability to apply knowledge to every day life) is more valuable that anything else.
When Solomon took over the Kingdom of Israel from his father David, God told him he could have anything he requested.  In II Chronicles 1:10 Solomon prayed, "Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people"  God was so pleased that Solomon did not ask for wealth, riches, status, victory over his enemies or long life, that He blessed Solomon with all of those things.
Peter says, "Prepare your mind for action."  The King James translates that literally, "Gird up the loins of your mind."  Back then, men wore robes, which got in the way when you were running or working.  So a man would reach between his legs and grab the end of his robe in back and pull it up and tuck it in his belt in front.  This was called, "girding the loins".  It freed up his legs for action.
In the same way, we are to prepare our minds for action.  Most of the time when Christians fall to temptation it's because they yield to temporary emotions.  How many of you ever sat down with a friend who was having an affair and you asked, "Why in the world would you do this when you have a wife and two little children at home?"  And the guy says, "Well, I sat down with my wife and girl friend and we reasoned it all out together and having an affair was the logical thing to do!"  You haven't heard that and you never will.  What you hear is, "The chemistry just flowed and we fell in love."  "I followed my heart."  "I had to do what makes me happy." 
When people base their decisions on their feelings, it often gets them in trouble.  "Why did you just up and quit your job?"  "It wasn't fun any more."  "Well, do you have another job, yet?"  "No." 
"Why did you go so far in debt for that 4X4 pick-up?"  "I saw it and got so excited because it was just what I've always wanted.
If we are going to survive the challenges to the Christian life, we've got to deepen mentally to the point that we override temporary, fluctuating emotions.  As we deepen in the Christian life we move from being emotionally driven to being Scripturally-driven.
You probably expected me to say driven by reason.  But that's not always good either because human reason can be faulty, too.  Proverbs 16:25 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death."  We are to be Scripturally-driven.  We are to prepare our minds to respond according to God's commands.  I Peter 1:14 says, "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance."
Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave. He wound up in Egypt, serving Potiphar.  Potiphar's wife tried to get Joseph to sleep with her.  Now, here is Joseph who is an unmarried single young man.  If he responded to his feelings, he would have yielded.  If he relied on logic, he could have rationalized it.  "This is to my advantage."  "It's accepted in this culture."  "She'll get me in trouble if I don't."  "I'm not really a slave any way.  I shouldn't even be here."  "It's God's fault I'm in this predicament.  He shouldn't have let this happen to me."
But Joseph did not respond based on his feelings. He did not respond according to his reasoning.  Joseph responded Scripturally.  He said, "I can't do this thing against my God!"  And he turned and ran.  He had trained his mind for an obedient reaction when the temptation came.
To prepare your mind for action means you program your mind to respond based on what God wants you to do and not your feelings and reason.  How do you do that?  The word "prepare" is in the present tense.  It conveys the idea of a continuing action.  You keep on preparing your mind.  Read the Bible regularly.  David wrote in Psalm 119:11, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."  Get involved in a small group.  Read some deeper books by men like C.S. Lewis and Chuck Colson.  Saturate your mind with God's Word so you think more and more like God and then you will respond like God.

And when people start talking about things like The Da Vinci Code, you will have a logical, Scriptural response.  I Peter 3:15 says, "… Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. …"  Emotion reacts, "This is different and exciting!"  Reason listens with skepticism.  But we need to prepare our minds for action and dismiss that kind of shallow speculation immediately.  The Da Vinci Code is all about a child Jesus had.  But  the Bible says in Acts 8:33 that Jesus had no descendants.  For the mature Christian driven by Scripture the issue is settled.
In Ephesians 4:13-15 we are told to prepare for works of service "13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ."  You see, when we grow and mature in Christ, we are not carried away by the latest fad.  Our minds are prepared for obedient action.
Secondly, we are also to
II. Deepen Morally.   "Be holy, because I am holy."

I Peter 1:15-16 reads, "15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
What is meant by the word "holy"?  We speak of the Holy Bible or Holy Land.  The word "holy" means set apart as distinctive, pure, sacred-belonging to God.  We usually think of holiness in negative terms.  We use a whole lot of "doesn't do's".  A holy person doesn't get drunk, doesn't do drugs, doesn't cuss, doesn't commit adultery, doesn't lie, or cheat.
Admittedly, not doing sinful things is a part of holiness.  The Bible says in Ephesians 5:3, "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people." 
But holiness doesn't just mean the absence of immorality.  It doesn't mean you're weird.  It doesn't mean you've got to dress like a puritan and be odd for God.  Holiness is more.  Holiness is a passionate pursuit of God's virtues in this world.  Holiness is becoming like God.  God is generous.  God is impartial.  God is faithful.  God is merciful.  God is humble. God is pure.  God is love.  True holiness is powerfully attractive.  It is a moral courage and sacrificial love and sheer joy that make people sit up and say, "Wow!  So that's what being a Christian is like."  It's being like Jesus whose goodness drew people to Him like a magnet.
Holiness is not something that happens instantaneously.  It's something you develop as you deepen in Christ.  It's been said that the Christian life is a gift and a growth.  The gift of salvation is instantly given.  But the growth takes a life-time. 
If you have a rough background you probably have some habits that you brought with you into your new life in Christ and it may take a while to remove them and replace them with God's character.  But as we grow in Christ we move from conforming to our own evil desires to conforming to God's character.
If a one-year-old child learning to walk stumbles and falls, we laugh and help him to get back up and try again.  No harm done.  But if a ten-year-old repeatedly stumbles it's a sign something is seriously wrong.  And if you've been a Christian for ten years or more it's time to walk in holiness. 
Beginning with verse 16 of our text, Peter gives
Four motivations for holiness. 
1. A desire to resemble God.

Verse 16 reads, "for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"
If a child admires his father he will soon be talking, walking, and resembling his dad.  If we love and worship the Heavenly Father it's only natural that we resemble God more and more as we mature.  Ephesians 5:1 says, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children."
The second motivator for holiness is
2. A reverent fear of judgment.

I Peter 1:17.  "Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear."
If you know there is a surveillance camera on you - recording your every move - you are more likely to behave.  God knows everything you think and do.  That's a motivator to holiness.  Sometimes we do the right thing out of love for God.  Sometimes we do the right things for fear of judgment.

The third motivation to holiness is
3. A recognition of the futility of unholiness.

I Peter 1:18.  "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers."

Peter calls the ungodly life an empty life.  A life of sin leads to emptiness.  There lacks a meaning and purpose for it all. 

The prodigal son partied with his inheritance until the money and the friends ran out.  Then he experienced an empty stomach and empty soul in the pigpen and came to himself and said, "This is stupid.  I've blown it.  I'd be better off as a servant in my father's house.  I'm not staying here one more night."  And he went back home.  Sometimes people have to go through that empty feeling before they conclude it's just not worth it.  The cost of sin is way out of proportion to the pleasure it produces.
The fourth motivator of holiness is
4. The loving sacrifice of Jesus.

I Peter 1:19-21.  "19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God."
The cross was not an accident.  It was a part of God's plan before time began.  Jesus Christ denied His personal desires and willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross for us because He loved us.  It's certainly not too much to ask for us to sacrifice some personal pleasure for the One who sacrificed His all for us.  Gratitude is a powerful motivator to holiness.  Only Jesus loved you enough to pour out His life-blood on your behalf. 

Thirdly, we are to
III. Deepen Socially.  "love one another deeply"

Verse 22 says, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart." 
One of the most difficult lessons for children to learn is to be unselfish.  Little children think the world revolves around them.  They have to be taught to go against their nature and share. 
The same is true of us spiritually.  One of the most difficult lessons of the Christian life is to put others ahead of self.  I want my needs met, my music sung, my kind of sermon preached, my seat reserved, my time respected, my child honored.  If we don't get our way, we can throw an adult temper tantrum.
John Ortberg, in his book, The Life You've Always Wanted tells about a cranky old Christian named Hank who complained about everything for years.  There came a period when his primary complaint was that the music in the church was too loud, Hank protested to the staff, the deacons, the ushers, and eventually even visitors to the church.  He was told by some of the leaders that it was inappropriate to complain to strangers and he should limit his gripes to intimate friends.  But he didn't have many.
They thought that was the end of it but it wasn't.  Ortberg writes: "One day a secretary buzzed me to say that an agent from OSHA was here to see me."  Hank had actually called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and said, "The music at my church is too loud," and they sent a federal agent to check it out.
"We don't mean to make light of this", I told him, "but nothing like this has ever happened before."  "Don't apologize," he said.  "Do you have any idea how much ridicule I faced around my office since everyone discovered I was going out to bust a church?"
(Don't anybody here get any ideas!)  But Hank had been in church for years and had not grown beyond his own selfish interests.  He'd wound visitors and damage the church's reputation if he didn't get his way.
Orberg wrote, "Hank could not effectively love his wife or his children or people outside his family.  He was easily irritated.  He had little use for the poor and a casual contempt for those whose accents or skin pigment differed from his own.  Whatever capacity he once might have had for joy or wonder or gratitude atrophied.  He critiqued and judged and complained, and his soul got a little smaller each year."
If we are deepening as Christians, we move from being self-centered to other centered.  The Bible says in Philippians 2:3-4, "3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."  As you mature in Christ, your love of people deepens and becomes like Christ's.  It is the Word of God growing in you and giving your life direction.  That's why Peter closed this chapter by writing in Verses 23-25, "23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25but the word of the Lord stands forever."  And this is the word that was preached to you."  People do not last in this world.  Only the Word of God does.
I Peter 2:1 says, "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind."  In order for your love to deepen, you need to get rid of these wrong attitudes that alienate you from people. 
Do you know who is a good example of someone who deepened in all three of these areas?  Simon Peter, the author of this letter.  When he first came to Christ he was driven by emotion.  Peter was up and down like a yo-yo:  confessing Christ as Lord one minute and telling Him he was wrong the next.  But he became a man of obedience and consistency, willing to give his own life to be faithful to Christ.
And he wasn't a very holy man at first.  He was egotistical, demanding the center stage.  He was a fisherman knew how to cuss and fight.  He would get mad at the drop of a hat.  But when he grew to be like His Heavenly Father, he insisted no one honor him.  He took abuse without retaliating.
When Peter first came to Christ, he wasn't very loving.  He was prejudiced toward people who were different than him.  But Peter deepened in love and sensitivity.  He entered the home of a Roman soldier and shared the Gospel with him.  He stopped at the sight of a lame beggar and helped him.
Peter personally demonstrated what he meant when he talked about growing deeper in our faith.  Peter has a right to encourage us to move on from our new birth in Christ and spiritually grow deeper.
Have you been born again?  Are you ready to begin that growth in Christ?  If so, come believing in Jesus and we'll help you confess your belief in Him and be baptized into Him.  Or if you've already done that and would like to place your membership with us, we invite you to walk forward as we sing.

Based on a 08/22/2004 sermon by Bob Russell of South East Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky.