Purified and Born Again

Gloria and I have a door leading from our house out to the garage. On that door are lots of marks at different heights with initials and dates written beside the marks. You’re way ahead of me—yes, you know it’s a growth chart. It’s one of the ways we kept track of our sons’ growth after we moved into our home 19 years ago. Our sons grew up in that house, and although that was years ago, we still keep this record of their growth. It’s a snapshot of our family’s life. Looking at those dates and heights instantly brings back memories of different seasons in our sons’ growth and our family’s lives. It’s important to recognize and celebrate growth.

Growth is a natural and expected part of a child’s life. As precious and delightful as babies are, they don’t remain infants—they grow up. It’s how God created us. If there is stunted physical growth we know that’s a huge problem and parents and doctors would start urgently looking for a reason and evaluating if the child is getting enough good nutrition.

We were also created to grow up spiritually. We celebrate when people experience new life in Christ, but as believers we are not intended to remain spiritual infants. Growth is a natural and expected part of our spiritual lives. It’s important to recognize and celebrate spiritual growth. But if there is no spiritual growth—no spiritual fruit in our lives—then there is an urgent problem that needs immediate attention!

Perhaps you are exploring Christianity and trying to put the pieces together and to figure out what it all means. Spiritual growth and bearing spiritual fruit might sound foreign to you. Or you may be a Christian, but spiritual growth isn’t really on your radar. You might think that is just for those church-ey people, those super spiritual types. Or maybe you’re a person who has experienced much spiritual growth and fruit in your life. Regardless of your background and experiences, I trust that the Lord can meet you where you are and lead you into a deeper relationship with Himself.

We are continuing our series in 1 Peter, chapter 1. Let’s see what God inspired the Apostle Peter to say about how we are to grow and mature in the faith and to live a holy life.

1 Peter 1:22-25

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 

And this is the word that was preached to you.

What are believers purified from?

• the evil desires we had when we lived in ignorance—when we were living in darkness and we didn’t know any better (v 14), and…
• The empty way of life that we inherited and fully embraced when we were held captive in the kingdom of darkness (v 18).

What are believers purified by?

• We were set free from that dungeon of sin by the precious blood of Christ! Which in verse 22 Peter calls “obeying the truth.” That is, the gospel.
• In response to God’s incredible grace we are to live lives of obedience to Christ and work diligently to increasingly bring all areas of our lives into alignment with the truth—that is the living and enduring Word of God.

What are believers purified for?

• A deep love for one another.

Did you see the repeated theme in this part of the passage? It says purification comes through:

• The truth (verse 22)
• The living and enduring word of God (verse 23)
• The word of the Lord endures forever (verse 25)
• And this is the word that was preached to you (verse 25)

A purified life results from obeying the truth, being born again through the living and enduring word of God—the word that endures forever. That was the word preached to the people in Peter’s day and it is the same word still being preached at Oak Pointe Church when we gather on Sunday mornings!

Purified, born-again believers are growing in their love for God’s Word. This is one of the essential markers of spiritual growth.

Do you make “to do” lists? Are you the kind of person who plans and schedules your tasks and activities for your day and your whole week? Are you the kind of person who, after completing a task that wasn’t on your to do list, you go back and write it in so you can mark it as completed?

Maybe you need to track and report your billable hours or to update your client relationship management system, or sales reporting system. Or you do it because it’s encouraging to see how much you have accomplished. It just feels good, doesn’t it? Regardless of why you do it, it’s helpful to be able to review your day or week and see what you spent your time on.

Whether you are a take charge person or more laid back, take-it-as-it-comes person in your work or daily activities, you cannot afford to be haphazard in your spiritual life. Think about it—how do you approach your spiritual life—do you ever stop and take stock of your progress? At the end of your day or week do you think about what the Lord is doing in your life? Do you look at different areas of your spiritual life and consider how the Lord is renewing and transforming you? Are you growing in your love for the Lord and for His Word?

Ask the Lord to increase your love for His Word. Spend time reading and studying and meditating and memorizing God’s Word. It’s not just an intellectual and academic exercise. Far from it!  As you spend time in God’s Word, the Holy Spirit transforms and renews you. As you spend more time with the Lord and His Word you’re going to find that your love for the Scriptures will increase. It’s a beautiful cycle: As you invest more time and attention to the Lord and His Word, your love for the Bible and your love and reverence for God will increase.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 

• Sincere love for each other – This kind of love is genuine and familiar.  It’s heart-warming and affectionate. The Greek word Peter used here for “love” describes a familial love—a love like parents have for their children and grandchildren—the kind of devoted affection family members should have for each other. 

Purified, born-again believers are growing in their love for the church family. This is another primary marker of spiritual growth.

In the second part of verse 22, Peter amplified the discussion about love into a whole new spiritual level by using a different Greek word for “love” when he said to “…love one another deeply, from the heart.” That kind of love is supernatural. It comes from God. It’s the love He pours out on us and how He enables us to love Him in return. It’s a godly, self-sacrificial love that is not based on circumstances and it does not ebb and flow. It’s the kind of love God demonstrated when He gave His One and Only Son to die on the cross for our sins.  That kind of deep, fervent love holds nothing back!

As I watch the Summer Olympics this year, I was struck by how incredible some athletes’ personal stories are.  They train at a high level with great intensity for many years. Their dedication to their sport is inspiring and some of the sacrifices they and their families make are almost unbelievable.

The way these athletes train and compete illustrates the Apostle Peter’s description of how we are to love each other. He wrote that we are to love one another deeply, from the heart. The Greek word he used (ektenos) is translated here as deeply and it carries the meaning of intensely, fervently, fully extended, or strenuously stretched out like an athlete giving their all. What a powerful word picture to describe how we are to love one another!

Living a new and purified life requires work. Improving your spiritual health requires intentional effort. It’s not haphazard and we cannot afford to be casual about it.

To be clear, God produces the good fruit in our lives by His Spirit, and He accomplishes it in us and through us, but we need to be wholeheartedly engaged in the growth process.

How are you doing in loving each other deeply and fervently? If someone who didn’t know you overheard you talking about the church and other people in the church what would they think? Would they be convinced by what you say that you have a loving and devoted affection for the other people in the church? Would they hear a deep, fervent, sacrificial love coming through your conversation about the church and your church family?

I’m going to challenge you a little with two questions:

1. Do you see Oak Pointe Church as a family and yourself as a family member?
2. Or do you view the church as a provider of religious goods and services and yourself as an independent consumer?

When a person is saved, they become a member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Because they are united to Christ and the other members of the body through their union with Christ, the expectation from Scripture is that they will also become a member of a local part of the body of Christ—meaning a local church. We have an incomplete picture if we think “it’s just me and the Lord.” No! When we belong to Christ, (the head of the church), we also belong to His body (the church).

In a practical sense, church membership involves a commitment that moves us from being passive consumers to becoming active contributors.  Commitment is important—commitment to the Lord, and commitment to His people.

Sadly, it is all too common for Christians to casually move from church to church based on convenience or personal preferences, never committing themselves to a local group of fellow believers, and never submitting and entrusting themselves to the leadership and care of the elders.

To neglect (or refuse) to commit to a church as a member reflects a misunderstanding of the believer’s identity in Christ, the nature of the church, and the believer’s responsibility to the local body of Christ.

Church membership is not like a Costco membership where you go when it’s convenient for you or if you need something. You won’t find rotisserie chickens for $4.99 at church, but you will be able find a spiritual family where you can become known and loved. We all need relationships with people whom we know and trust to have our best interest in mind, spiritual brothers and sisters who have access to our lives—the real and authentic us—and who can provide support, accountability, and genuine friendship.

When Gloria and I came to Michigan 19 years ago, we were looking for a small church. We had come from a small church in Ohio and that’s what we were comfortable with. Instead, the Lord led us to Oak Pointe. It was a big church, and we loved what the Lord was doing here, so we wanted to put down roots. But how do you do that in a big church? How do you get to know people—and become known—at a deep level? The answer is you get involved. We joined a life group. We started serving. We opened up our lives and shared them with other people, and they opened theirs to us.

1 Peter 2:1-3

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

This is an amazing section of Scripture. Let’s slow down for a minute and take a deeper look.

• Therefore – because you have been purified by the Lord and His Word, you are born again and made a part of a new family and your life transcends the natural, temporal, limited human life. You have been born into God’s eternal family!

Because that is true, you need to…

• Rid yourselves – cast away, lay aside, get rid of. The word picture here is to strip off as in stripping off and throwing away a raggedy old, dirty, useless coat.
• of all malice – This describes wide-ranging types of evil, and a wicked intent and desire to damage others.
• of all deceit – we know what this is—dishonesty, deception, camouflaging, and obscuring the truth to benefit ourselves.
• hypocrisy – wearing a mask, acting and pretending to be someone or something you are not.
• envy – resentfulness directed toward another person when they have something you want and think you deserve.
• And slander of every kind – evil speaking, gossip, tearing another person down. This has become an art form in our entertainment and media-driven culture. Not to mention the atmosphere in our divisive and corrosive political environment.

The Apostle Peter is describing different types of what I call spiritual junk food. When our spiritual taste buds are out of whack we are drawn to junk food like this. We might think it tastes good and satisfies us, but it doesn’t.  It cannot satisfy and it’s harmful to our spiritual health.

Consuming a steady diet of spiritual junk food leads to the spiritual disease of poisonous pride which is idolatry of self. I’m sure you’ve seen this disease—an unrelenting obsession about yourself—how you look, what you’ve accomplished, how important you are, how much money you have. The list is almost endless—it leads to embracing all kinds of sins—sexual sin of all kinds, being a workaholic, a shopaholic, being greedy, arrogant, gossiping—all of this produces a life marred by spiritual disease and disfunction.

The bad news is we all recognize this spiritual disease because we all have had a stage 4 case of it. The good news is Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, can heal us from our diagnosis of death through His life, death, and resurrection!

As the Lord graciously removes this spiritual disease and disfunction from your life, be intentional and whole-hearted about changing your spiritual diet. You don’t have to stay in that rut. You can leave it behind!

The book of Hebrews challenges us… Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:1-2a). 

The author of Hebrews tells us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” so that we can run our race. He is describing the same thing that Peter said “rid ourselves” of the spiritual junk food. What I want you to see is that we have to work at it—it requires effort on our part.

Purified, born-again believers are working to clean up their spiritual diet. This also is a marker of spiritual growth.

We must change our spiritual diet to detox from these spiritual junk foods. It’s no secret how to do that. It’s right here in this passage: Our real spiritual nutrition is the Word of God.

• A purified life (1:22)
• Imperishable (1:23)
• The living and enduring word of God (1:23)
• The Word of the Lord endures forever (1:24)
• Pure spiritual milk (2:2)

My mid-career stall and how the Lord graciously helped me to break the spiritual junk food habit of envy.

Cleaning up your spiritual diet is hard work. But you don’t have to do it alone. You can have a band of brothers and sisters to walk with you, support and encourage you on this journey. This is one of the reasons we place such a high priority on life groups here at Oak Pointe.

Life Groups are where we can grow together and learn together what it means to know Jesus and make Him known. It’s where we study the Bible together, experience meaningful community and fellowship, and learn to live together as brothers and sisters in the family of God.

If you are not already in a life group, I urge you not to wait. Don’t put it off. Go to oakpointe.org/lifegroups, or come see one of the pastors or elders and we can help you get connected.

This is also why we urge you to join a service team. We need to be loving and serving each other in the church family in tangible ways. This spiritual family works best when we are doing life together.

I grew up with a big extended family. I have 26 aunts and uncles counting both my dad’s and my mom’s brothers and sisters. When you add in their spouses and kids…let’s just say it’s a big number!

Family reunions are a big deal in my family. In fact, Gloria and I celebrated at one of our big family reunions over Labor Day. It was a delight to see our extended family members again this year and to celebrate life together. The family has continued to expand as each branch of the family tree and each generation adds children and those kids grow up and have their own children. Growth is a natural and expected part of life. Sometimes growth is recorded in marks and dates written on a door between your house and garage.

Spiritual growth is also a natural and expected part of our new life in Christ. This kind of growth is not measured by marks on a door, but it is weighty and important. Some of the ways we can evaluate our individual spiritual growth are a growing hatred for spiritual junk food, a growing love for God’s Word, and a growing love for the church family.

This is not a self-improvement project. You cannot do this by your own strength. Trying to just muscle up and do this on your own power will lead to self-righteousness, defeat, and despair. This is deep, spiritual transformational work that only the Holy Spirit can do in your life.

To experience this transformation—this spiritual healing—you must come to the Great Physician and ask Him and trust Him to do His redemptive work in your life. Ask Him to transform you through the power of His Gospel. Turn to Him in repentance and faith. Surrender your life and your will to Him.

Make your time with the Lord a priority in your life—a regular part of your spiritual diet. Read and study His Word. Spend time with Him in prayer. Respond to God in obedience and reverence! Make spending time with your spiritual brothers and sisters—and serving them in tangible ways—a regular part of your life.

Your pastors and elders are here to help you. We want you to experience the Lord’s transformational grace and power in your life. We want to walk with you and to help you grow in your love for God and His Word and for your church family.