Lesson 4: Get Rid of Sinful Baggage

1. Lesson 4: Get Rid of Sinful Baggage! Hi everyone, My name is Jason and today we will be finishing up the 1st Chapter of 1 Peter where we will be learning about getting rid of all our sinful baggage. But before we continue let us pray� Hi everyone, My name is Jason and today we will be finishing up the 1st Chapter of 1 Peter where we will be learning about getting rid of all our sinful baggage. But before we continue let us pray�

2. Introduction John 13:35~By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." What should Christian love look like? I want all of you to break up into 3 groups and and answer the following question: (read slide)I want all of you to break up into 3 groups and and answer the following question: (read slide)

3. Scripture Reading In today's scripture reading, Peter starts off with a command for us to love one another. This command sounds good to the ears, but how do we really apply it to our lives today? Fortunately, Peter spells it out very simply, giving me the impression that his audience had the same problems that we do today: We started out on fire for Christ when we first believed, but some of us have stopped growing because of the distractions of our daily lives. Can I have a volunteer to read the next slide please?In today's scripture reading, Peter starts off with a command for us to love one another. This command sounds good to the ears, but how do we really apply it to our lives today? Fortunately, Peter spells it out very simply, giving me the impression that his audience had the same problems that we do today: We started out on fire for Christ when we first believed, but some of us have stopped growing because of the distractions of our daily lives. Can I have a volunteer to read the next slide please?

4. 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 22Now 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. 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. 1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 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. (thank the reader)(thank the reader)

5. Show Me the Love! Getting Rid of Sinful Baggage This section is titled, "Show Me the Love!" because that is what Peter is telling the audience to do. Remember that Peter was writing this letter to a mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles scattered throughout Asia Minor who were members of churches established by the Apostle Paul some 14 years earlier. These people had the gospel for over a decade, yet many of the churches were weak and immature. So Peter mocks them: You say you're Christian, oh yeah: Show Me the Love!This section is titled, "Show Me the Love!" because that is what Peter is telling the audience to do. Remember that Peter was writing this letter to a mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles scattered throughout Asia Minor who were members of churches established by the Apostle Paul some 14 years earlier. These people had the gospel for over a decade, yet many of the churches were weak and immature. So Peter mocks them: You say you're Christian, oh yeah: Show Me the Love!

6. Show Me The Love! 22Now 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. 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. PP: What is truth? Aletheia~ Alpha~Christ Letheia~Revealed The Gospel! What does it mean to obey the truth? Receive the Gospel Be holy! Live in reverent fear (read verses) I'm going to pull a Pontius Pilate ant ask, "What is truth?" (does anyone want to guess?) Well if you look up truth in Greek, it is the word a-leh-thee-I-ah, which comes from two words: Ah- Alpha~ the first letter in the Greek alphabet which means Christ in the NT And leh-thee-I-ah~which means "to be un-hidden" or Revealed So, Christ Revealed means: The Gospel! The truth is the gospel. So, what does it mean to obey the truth? (ask some people) It turns out that "obeying the truth" encompasses the both the gospel and teachings of Christ. The prerequisite is, first to Receive the Gospel, that would be very helpful in this case. The next two come from my previous lessons, which I'm sure all of you remember with crystal-clarity: To Be holy! We are to be set apart from the rest of the world because God is holy. And finally, To Live in reverent fear because He is a good Father who we don't want to disappoint, but He is also a Judge who discipline his children. Obeying the truth is not a single event in the past when you first received Christ, it is a continual process where you are being cleansed from your sins moment by moment. And it requires holiness and reverence.(read verses) I'm going to pull a Pontius Pilate ant ask, "What is truth?" (does anyone want to guess?) Well if you look up truth in Greek, it is the word a-leh-thee-I-ah, which comes from two words: Ah- Alpha~ the first letter in the Greek alphabet which means Christ in the NT And leh-thee-I-ah~which means "to be un-hidden" or Revealed So, Christ Revealed means: The Gospel! The truth is the gospel. So, what does it mean to obey the truth? (ask some people) It turns out that "obeying the truth" encompasses the both the gospel and teachings of Christ. The prerequisite is, first to Receive the Gospel, that would be very helpful in this case. The next two come from my previous lessons, which I'm sure all of you remember with crystal-clarity: To Be holy! We are to be set apart from the rest of the world because God is holy. And finally, To Live in reverent fear because He is a good Father who we don't want to disappoint, but He is also a Judge who discipline his children. Obeying the truth is not a single event in the past when you first received Christ, it is a continual process where you are being cleansed from your sins moment by moment. And it requires holiness and reverence.

7. Show Me The Love! 22Now 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. 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. Ektenos With intense strain Straining for the finish line Peter continues, his challenge to the audience: Since you are "obeying the truth" you have sincere love for your fellow believers? Right? So love one another deeply, from the heart. Deeply comes from the word, Ektenos, which means With intense strain. The imagery here is of a sprinter breaking free from a pack of runners leaning forward and Straining for the finish line. Love between believers requires all out effort, maximum dedication, but must be without selfish motives. It must come from the heart. Sounds really hard and not very profitable. Why should you do it? Because�Peter continues, his challenge to the audience: Since you are "obeying the truth" you have sincere love for your fellow believers? Right? So love one another deeply, from the heart. Deeply comes from the word, Ektenos, which means With intense strain. The imagery here is of a sprinter breaking free from a pack of runners leaning forward and Straining for the finish line. Love between believers requires all out effort, maximum dedication, but must be without selfish motives. It must come from the heart. Sounds really hard and not very profitable. Why should you do it? Because�

8. Show Me The Love! 22Now 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. 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. NT History Believers were discouraged due to persecution Peter returns again to the gospel message: (read highlighted verses) This was a basic truth that his audience already knew. So why did Peter have to say it again? The answer lies in both the OT and NT history. In the context of NT, The Believers were discouraged due to persecution from both the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman government. As such, members of the church were bitterly fighting among themselves or walking away from the faith altogether because they had lost hope of the promises of God's word.Peter returns again to the gospel message: (read highlighted verses) This was a basic truth that his audience already knew. So why did Peter have to say it again? The answer lies in both the OT and NT history. In the context of NT, The Believers were discouraged due to persecution from both the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman government. As such, members of the church were bitterly fighting among themselves or walking away from the faith altogether because they had lost hope of the promises of God's word.

9. Show Me The Love! 22Now 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. 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. NT History Believers were discouraged due to persecution OT History (Isa 40:6-8) God promised to restore Israel from exile and He did! But Peter reminded his readers of OT History by quoting from Isa 40:6-8. (read verses) You see, when Israel was exiled out of the Promise land by the Babylonians everyone lost hope. But, Isaiah wrote the "Book of Comfort" where God promised to restore Israel from exile and He did! But Peter reminded his readers of OT History by quoting from Isa 40:6-8. (read verses) You see, when Israel was exiled out of the Promise land by the Babylonians everyone lost hope. But, Isaiah wrote the "Book of Comfort" where God promised to restore Israel from exile and He did!

10. Show Me The Love! 22Now 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. 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. NT History Believers were discouraged due to persecution OT History (Isa 40:6-8) God promised to restore Israel from exile and He did! Peter's Point: God is reliable Be encouraged! This was Peter's Point: (read verses) The God who promised to rescue Israel and did so just like it was written in his word is the same God who promises to rescue you. God is reliable. So be encouraged! This was Peter's Point: (read verses) The God who promised to rescue Israel and did so just like it was written in his word is the same God who promises to rescue you. God is reliable. So be encouraged!

11. Show Me The Love! 1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 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. Christian Love: Anti-malice Be kind Anti-deceit Be honest Anti-hypocrisy Be real Here Peter lists all the sinful baggage that was loading down the believers in the Asia Minor Churches. (read highlighted verses) If we transpose this list we can see how Christians are to love one another: First we are to show Anti-malice This means Be kind to one another. This is easy to do when the recipient is nice to us. But Peter also wants us to be kind to Christians who are not very loveable. 2nd, we are to show Anti-deceit. This means we are to Be honest with one another. Proverbs 12:22 says, "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful." 3rd, show Anti-hypocrisy. Hypocrisy comes from the Greek word Hoopo-Cree-sis, meaning, "to reply back". This describes actors in a play: one would say his lines and another would reply back. Both were pretending to be someone the were not. So Peter tells you to Be real. In church context, this means that if we profess to be a follower of Christ, we had better be following Christ. I use to work under a manager who was short tempered, nasty little man. He died of a heart attack back in December and no one was sorry. When I went to his wake, I was shocked to find out that he was known as a warm loving greeter, a jovial Sunday school teacher and the fishing-buddy of the Pastor. You would never guessed it based on his behavior Monday thru Friday. In the middle of the eulogy I wanted to stand up and shout, "You hypocrite!" But in the midst of my self-righteousness, I started thinking about how I behave when I'm not at church. Am I for real? I want you to think about how you behave when your not at church. Are you for real? Peter's not asking us to be perfect people, just real ones.Here Peter lists all the sinful baggage that was loading down the believers in the Asia Minor Churches. (read highlighted verses) If we transpose this list we can see how Christians are to love one another: First we are to show Anti-malice This means Be kind to one another. This is easy to do when the recipient is nice to us. But Peter also wants us to be kind to Christians who are not very loveable. 2nd, we are to show Anti-deceit. This means we are to Be honest with one another. Proverbs 12:22 says, "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful." 3rd, show Anti-hypocrisy. Hypocrisy comes from the Greek word Hoopo-Cree-sis, meaning, "to reply back". This describes actors in a play: one would say his lines and another would reply back. Both were pretending to be someone the were not. So Peter tells you to Be real. In church context, this means that if we profess to be a follower of Christ, we had better be following Christ. I use to work under a manager who was short tempered, nasty little man. He died of a heart attack back in December and no one was sorry. When I went to his wake, I was shocked to find out that he was known as a warm loving greeter, a jovial Sunday school teacher and the fishing-buddy of the Pastor. You would never guessed it based on his behavior Monday thru Friday. In the middle of the eulogy I wanted to stand up and shout, "You hypocrite!" But in the midst of my self-righteousness, I started thinking about how I behave when I'm not at church. Am I for real? I want you to think about how you behave when your not at church. Are you for real? Peter's not asking us to be perfect people, just real ones.

12. Show Me The Love! 1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 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. Christian Love: Anti-envy Be satisfied Anti-slander Be trustworthy Christian Love continued: Next, we are to show Anti-envy. Envy is "resentful discontentment." I resent what you have and I am discontent with what I have. But Christian love demands that we Be satisfied with what others have and content with what God has given us. And finally, we are to show Anti-slander. Gossip, back-stabbing, character assassination. These run rampant in politics, work and school and sometimes even home, but it has no place in the church. Peter calls us to Be trustworthy. We need to be able to share our hopes and fears with each other in fellowship and prayer without it spreading throughout the Asian grapevine. We also need to praise people for what they do right instead of criticizing what they do wrong. And finally, if we have nothing nice to say about fellow believer, just shut up. Christian Love continued: Next, we are to show Anti-envy. Envy is "resentful discontentment." I resent what you have and I am discontent with what I have. But Christian love demands that we Be satisfied with what others have and content with what God has given us. And finally, we are to show Anti-slander. Gossip, back-stabbing, character assassination. These run rampant in politics, work and school and sometimes even home, but it has no place in the church. Peter calls us to Be trustworthy. We need to be able to share our hopes and fears with each other in fellowship and prayer without it spreading throughout the Asian grapevine. We also need to praise people for what they do right instead of criticizing what they do wrong. And finally, if we have nothing nice to say about fellow believer, just shut up.

13. Show Me The Love! 1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 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. What is pure spiritual milk? The word of God! Grow up in your salvation Ultimate salvation Sum total blessings & benefits received when Christ returns (read highlighted verses) What is pure spiritual milk? It is The word of God! Being that the "word of God" and all its variants has been repeated 5 times in today's scripture, leaves little doubt. For us, pure spiritual milk is the Bible. Like babies who crave milk, you should have a primal thirst to study the Bible. You need to devour the scriptures, so that they nourish your soul and you Grow up in your salvation. What does this mean? I thought salvation was reached when I first accepted Christ. Wrong-o! This is the third time Peter has introduced this concept of Ultimate salvation. It is defined as the Sum total blessings & benefits received when Christ returns. When you accepted the gospel, the Holy Spirit entered your heart as a guarantee of salvation, but until Christ returns and gives you a new resurrected body, you don't have the total package yet.(read highlighted verses) What is pure spiritual milk? It is The word of God! Being that the "word of God" and all its variants has been repeated 5 times in today's scripture, leaves little doubt. For us, pure spiritual milk is the Bible. Like babies who crave milk, you should have a primal thirst to study the Bible. You need to devour the scriptures, so that they nourish your soul and you Grow up in your salvation. What does this mean? I thought salvation was reached when I first accepted Christ. Wrong-o! This is the third time Peter has introduced this concept of Ultimate salvation. It is defined as the Sum total blessings & benefits received when Christ returns. When you accepted the gospel, the Holy Spirit entered your heart as a guarantee of salvation, but until Christ returns and gives you a new resurrected body, you don't have the total package yet.

14. Application Obeying the truth must lead to Sincere love for fellow believers. Repentance from self-centered sins A desire to mature through studying God's word. Let's bring this to a point of application (read left bullet points). Dr. Phil says, "How's it working for ya?" Are your Obeying the Truth of the gospel and the teachings of Christ? Do you have sincere love for all fellow believers; even those who are unlovable? Have you repented from the self-centered sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander? Do you have a desire to mature through studying God's word? Do you even know where your Bible is right now? What these questions are probing is: Are you growing as a Christian? Have you stopped growing or even slid-backwards because of all the stuff that is going on in your life? Peter lays a pretty heavy burden upon us. Being a Christian should be a transforming experience. We are purified by trying our best to live holy lives set apart from the world and living in reverent fear of the Lord. Are you obeying the truth: Show me the love!Let's bring this to a point of application (read left bullet points). Dr. Phil says, "How's it working for ya?" Are your Obeying the Truth of the gospel and the teachings of Christ? Do you have sincere love for all fellow believers; even those who are unlovable? Have you repented from the self-centered sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander? Do you have a desire to mature through studying God's word? Do you even know where your Bible is right now? What these questions are probing is: Are you growing as a Christian? Have you stopped growing or even slid-backwards because of all the stuff that is going on in your life? Peter lays a pretty heavy burden upon us. Being a Christian should be a transforming experience. We are purified by trying our best to live holy lives set apart from the world and living in reverent fear of the Lord. Are you obeying the truth: Show me the love!

15. Next time: The Chosen of God (read slide)(read slide)