It’s Time to Grow Up 1 Peter 2:1-3

In 1901 J.M Barrie wrote a story called The Little White Bird in which he introduced the world to a little boy named Peter Pan. The story has been told and retold so many times through the years. I first learned about Peter Pan from Disney, of course. They released Peter Pan before I was born, in 1953, but like me, many of you can probably remember seeing Peter Pan for the first time.

Peter Pan was a free spirited, fun-loving boy who had the ability to fly and refused to never grow up. In the movie, Peter visited the Darling family who lived in London. There were three Darling children, Wendy, Michael, and John. Peter convinced Wendy and her brothers to come with him to Neverland where they could live with Peter, Tinker Bell, and the lost boys. They would have endless adventures fighting pirates and they would never have to grow up for the rest of their lives. At one point in the story Wendy began to be disillusioned with the life she was living. She was troubled about missing her mom and dad, about never growing up, and she and Peter began to have their problems. 

One night, Wendy was telling all of the boys their favorite bedtime story: it was about three kids who flew away to Neverland, and who returned many years later to find their mother and father waiting for them with open arms. Peter didn’t like the story at all! It upset Wendy to the point where she decided to take her brothers, John and Michael home immediately.

Peter Pan and the lost boys took Wendy and her brothers home and Mr. and Mrs. Darling were waiting for them, overjoyed at the sight. Mrs. Darling told Peter Pan she would adopt him and all of the lost boys, but Peter would have not of it. In J.M. Barrie’s book we can read about what happened next.

Mrs. Darling came to the window, for at present she was keeping a sharp eye on Wendy. She told Peter that she had adopted all the other boys, and would like to adopt him also. ‘Would you send me to school?’ he inquired craftily. ‘Yes.’ ‘And then to an office?’ ‘I suppose so.’ ‘Soon I would be a man?’ ‘Very soon.’ ‘I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things,’ he told her passionately. ‘I don’t want to be a man.’ (Barrie J.M. Peter Pan. Chapter 17)

“I don’t want to go to school and learn solemn things. I don’t want to be a man.” It’s an old, old story isn’t it? In 1983, Dr. Dan Kiley wrote a book called, The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up.  Articles are now being written, in 2024, some forty years after Dr. Kiley wrote his book, and 123 years after J.M. Barrie created Peter Pan, about Peter Pan Syndrome and its manifestation among Millennials and “Gen Z.”  

There’s a reason I’ve shared all of this with you this morning and it is because we have seen all of the problems created by the refusal of followers of Jesus to grow up in Christ manifested in the Body of Christ throughout the history of the Church. Refusing to grow up spiritually will lead to all kinds of problems for us as individuals, and even more importantly, in our relationship to the Lord and the other members of the Body of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, a Peter Pan Syndrome church if there ever was one,

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11 CSB)

This morning we are turning the page of Peter’s letter to the scattered church living under the thumb of the Roman Empire. We will only cover the first three verses of 1 Peter 2. Let’s get busy. Read along with me.

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3 NIV)

Having chapters and verses in the Bible is helpful in some ways for us modern-day readers of God’s Word, but they can also pose a problem in other ways. Today’s Scripture is an example. 1 Peter 2:1 is in actuality a continuation of what Peter was teaching at the end of 1 Peter 1 and not a new train of thought.  Peter has just reminded the brothers and sisters in Christ that they have been purified “by obeying the truth” so that they would “have sincere love for each other” so that they would “love one another deeply, from the heart.” He’s reminded them they have been born again through the “living and enduring word of God.” Now, in verse 1, we read, “Therefore…” God has given you new birth, a new purpose, you are God’s own possession, therefore…

1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. (1 Peter 2:1 NIV)

Look at each of those descriptive behaviors that Peter tells them to rid themselves of in their relationships with one another. “Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.” Are these not the behaviors that poison and destroy our relationships with one another? If we are to love one another sincerely, not two-faced love, but sincere, authentic, genuine love, then we have to get rid of these behaviors. If we are to love one another deeply, from the heart, then we have to get rid of these behaviors. I want us to clearly understand each of these descriptive words from a biblical perspective before we move on. 

First of all, Peter says we are to rid ourselves of “all malice.” The Greek word for malice is “kakia” and it means “wickedness” or “evil.” Our legal system describes some behaviors as being done “with malice aforethought.” “Malice aforethought” means that the crime was planned. In Proverbs 6:14, we read about those who are described as “worthless” or “wicked.” 

14 Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. (Proverbs 6:14 NLT)

We could also say, “Their perverted minds plot evil…” The Greek word, translated “malice,” has to do with the evil thinking that leads to all kinds of evil behavior towards another. Peter says to get rid of “all malice.” Malice, any kind of malice towards another, should never enter our minds.

Secondly, Peter says to get rid of all deceit. The Greek word translated “deceit” is the word, “dolos”  and it means, “trickery, cunning, or an attempt to distort, hide, or undermine the truth.” This word comes from a word which means to bait a hook. This is what you do when you go fishing. You are trying to disguise the hook so you can catch the fish. William Barclay tells a story about a time when the Greeks baited the men of Troy.

When the Greeks were besieging Troy and could not gain entry, they sent the Trojans the present of a great wooden horse, as if it was a token of good will. The Trojans opened their gates and took it in. But the horse was filled with Greeks who in the night broke out and dealt death and devastation to Troy. That exactly is dolos. It is crafty, cunning, deceitful, clever treachery. Dolos is the trickery of the man who is out to deceive others to attain his own ends, the vice of the man whose motives are never pure. (Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible)

Next on Peter’s list is hypocrisy. The Greek word, “hypokrisis” means “insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have.” You are familiar with this word because we looked at it last week. The word was originally used of actors in Greek theater who would switch masks as they switched roles. Jesus used this same word when He blasted the Pharisees, who Jesus knew as nothing more than religious actors. In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus said,

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:27-28 NIV)

The Pharisees were religious actors. They were quite convincing to those who watched them recite prayers and never, ever eat a slice of bacon or pepperoni pizza because they were keeping “kosher,” but Jesus saw right through them. Peter lets us know that we are to get rid of “all hypocrisy.” 

Peter also says we are to get rid of envy. One of my old dead preacher friends once said, “As hypocrisy has its spring in claiming to have the good we lack, envy seeks to deny and defame the real good of others” (William Kelly) William Barclay says envy…

…looks at a fine person, and is not so much moved to aspire to that fineness, as to resent it. It is the most warped and twisted of human emotions… a mean word. Euripides called it “the greatest of all diseases among men”. The essence of it is that it does not describe the spirit which desires, nobly or ignobly, to have what someone else has; it describes the spirit which grudges the fact that the other person has these things at all. It does not so much want the things for itself; it merely wants to take them from the other. The Stoics defined it as “grief at someone else’s good.” Basil called it “grief at your neighbor’s good fortune.” It is the quality, not so much of the jealous, but rather of the embittered mind.”(Barclay, William. Daily Study Bible)

There is not a single person who has ever lived, other than Jesus, who does not know what it means to envy. This insidious mindset even impacted the relationships of Jesus’ disciples. In Mark 10:35-41 we read a story about a time when James and John asked Jesus if He would let one of them sit at His right hand and the other at His left hand when He ushered in His Kingdom. The other disciples were listening in and in verse 41 we read,

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. (Mark 10:41 NIV)

This mindset, which I’m sure all of us can identify with, has got to go. There’s no place for envy in the mind and heart of the followers of Jesus. Envy will destroy sincere love, deep love from the heart. 

Last of all, Peter says “slander of every kind” has got to go. The Greek word translated “slander” is the word “katalalia.” Literally it means to speak against another person in a way that belittles or defames their character. Words spoken about another person when the person isn’t there to defend herself. Gossip spread with no accountability. This has gone on forever. More than 150 years ago, Pastor Spurgeon wrote,

There is a little mischief in the village about Miss A or Mr. B, and Mrs. Tittle-tattle is up as early as possible, and calls on Mrs. Scandal, and says, “Have you heard the sad news? I hope it is not true.” “No, I have not heard it.” “Well, don’t mention it to anybody else. I hope it is not correct, but I have heard so-and-so.” And the two sit down, and they make such a breakfast over it. And they both say they hope it is not true, while all the time they are as glad of it in their hearts as ever they can be. They go on telling others they hope it is not true, and telling them not to mention it to anybody else, until they do all the mischief before they have stopped to inquire whether or not they are telling lies.

We Christians have mastered the art of gossip by wrapping it in wanting others to pray for the poor soul. Peter says all slander, all lies, all disparaging, belittling, demeaning comments about another person, they must go. All gossip, even gossip wrapped in the hypocrisy of wanting others to pray for the person you’ve set your sights on, it has got to go! When Peter says, “rid yourselves,” he uses a Greek verb that was used for stripping off dirty clothes. Paul uses the same word in his letter to the church in Colossae. 

8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:8-12 NIV)

I love how Paul demands that we get rid of our old wardrobe while he lays out our new clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. If you are in Christ and you are going to grow up, then it is out with the old and in with the new. 

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

If you are a new creation in Christ then you don’t have to go out and buy a new wardrobe, it has been provided for you in Christ! Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience–all of these attributes, character qualities, were all embodied and personified in the person of Jesus. No person who ever lived, lived with a greater compassion, was more kind, humble, gentle, and patient than Jesus. If you are a follower of Jesus, the Bible says these very qualities will be produced in you through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Let’s move on to verses 2-3 in our study.

2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:2-3 NIV)

I want you to notice something before we dig in. In verse 1, Peter laid out the horizontal sins of our old nature that we need to put off if we desire to love one another sincerely, deeply, from the heart. In verse 2, we find the vertical key to our spiritual growth which will draw us closer to the Lord and to one another. 

I want to ask you, “What is your desire for the Word of God, the pure spiritual milk Peter refers to in this verse?” Do you only pick up the Bible whenever you find yourself in a jam, not knowing what to do or where to turn? Do you have a Bible, but if the truth were told you never actually read it? Can you look back over your life and remember a time when opening God’s Word was like opening a Christmas present when you were a kid? You were excited about what you would find, what the Lord would teach you, and it made you hungry for more? Peter told those who were living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and Asia that they were to crave pure spiritual milk like newborn babies. 

Anyone who has ever witnessed the birth of a newborn baby knows what the word “crave” means. At the moment of birth that little bundle of joy, the one who is responsible for the tears of joy that have flowed down the cheeks of moms and dads since the first baby came into the world, wants but one thing! He could care less if his vitals are all in order. She won’t pause for a second to thank the doctor and nurses for helping her make it into the world. He wants milk and as much of it as he can get! Babies instinctively, from the moment of their first breath, know how in need they are of their mother’s milk. She doesn’t understand that her mother’s breast milk will provide essential vitamins and immune fighting nutrients to strengthen her frail little system. He doesn’t know the psychological benefits he will gain by snuggling up next to his mother, skin to skin.

Eventually the baby will progress on to other foods to help sustain him, but throughout the time he is nursing, there will be nothing stopping his insatiable appetite for the pure, wondrous milk from his momma. Mom has a headache, so? I’m hungry! But, it’s 3 am? I know, I’m hungry! It’s only been three hours since you ate. Don’t test me mom! I’m hungry! 

All of us in this sanctuary this morning have grown beyond our mother’s milk, but we still have those cravings don’t we? We get hungry and finding food becomes our number one priority. Connie says I get “hangry” when I don’t eat. There are often valuable lessons for us to draw from the physical realm that have application in the spiritual realm and this is certainly one of those. We are to crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word. We are more than physical beings and we desperately need the goodness of God’s Word for every aspect of our life. 

As the Hebrew slaves we ending their years of wandering in the wilderness and preparing to move into the Promised Land, Moses told them, in Deuteronomy 8:1-3.

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:1-3 NIV)

Why did God cause them to become hungry and then, at the right time, feed them with manna? The answer is found in verse 3, “to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Towards the end of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds them again of the indispensable nature of God’s Word. 

45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you– they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:45-47 NIV)

Now, those Moses was speaking to didn’t have the Word of God as you and I have the Word of God. God communicated with His people primarily through the prophets. We have records of God speaking directly to Abraham, Moses, Noah, Jacob, Rebekah, Laban, Job, and others, but God primarily spoke through the prophets. In New Testament times, God spoke through Jesus and His apostles after Jesus was resurrected from the grave. They all treasured God’s Word. In Psalm 119 we read,

103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. 105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:103-105 NIV)

It is impossible for a follower of Jesus to be absolutely at peace living a life filled with malice, deception, hypocrisy, envy, and slander and experiencing a hunger for the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word at the same time. It is just not possible. The two are at war with one another. The more we crave God’s Word the more we will desire to turn away from the behaviors that tear at our relationship with the Lord and one another. The more we crave the devilish behaviors we discussed earlier, the more we will turn away from God’s Word. 

I have reminded us many times of the importance of first understanding the people, places, and times of those who first received this letter from Peter. They were not a homogenous group of people who shared so much in common. They were a diverse group as were most every congregation who received one of the letters we have preserved in the Bible. Just to give you an example. Galatia is one of the Roman provinces who received this letter from Peter. When Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, he reminded them, 

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28 NIV)

There is so much that can go wrong when you bring diverse groups of people together. The truth is actually this: There is so much that will go wrong when you bring people together…period! But, something takes place when a group of Jesus’ followers comes together with no desire for position, popularity, or power and they love one another with a sincere love, they love one another deeply, from the heart. It doesn’t matter what nationality they may be, what ethnic group they come from, what economic bracket they belong to, or what age they may be–Their identity is found only in Jesus and their desire is only to serve Him as they love one another. 

So, burn the old wardrobe, put on those new clothes, and crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word which alone is able to nourish our hungry souls and soften our wayward hearts. If you are not a follower of Jesus, won’t you confess your need and desire for Him this morning?

Mike Hays

Britton Christian Church

April 13, 2024