Acts of Grace. 1 Peter 2:1-3. Peter is warning Believers not to sin against the members of the Bride of Christ. We need to lay aside :

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1 Message 8 Part 2 Acts of Grace 1 Peter 2:1-3 Peter is warning Believers not to sin against the members of the Bride of Christ. We need to lay aside : All malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. All of these in reference to our relationship with Believers All of them we need to be rid of in general there is nothing good in any of these things, but Peter in particular is writing in reference to how we relate to the whole of the Bride of Christ. Peter tells us that we are to lay aside, put off, rid ourselves of these things. Again the focus is pointed to our own personal responsibilities as Believers. It s the same idea that James speaks of in James 1:21 where he calls for believers to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness like washing away the dirt on your face. It s the same idea Paul states in Romans 13:12 let us cast off the works of darkness,... In Ephesians 4:22 put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man Paul gives almost an identical admonition as Peter when he writes in Colossians 3: But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, In all of these, James, Paul and Peter each express the need for the individual Believer to stop doing the wrong thing; stop having attitudes or actions that you know are evil. And here in 1 Peter 2:1 as he directs the expression particularly in regards to our relationships with other Believers, in reality, this is elementary stuff. These are the baby steps of a new Believer. This is stuff that as a new Believer we should to have figured out early on and never go back to it. Peter lists five attitudes or actions that are pretty vile.

2 malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking These things are a sourness of spirit, a cancer to the soul that has to be completely eradicated from the life of the Believer even to the point of taking drastic steps to remove it. These are the types of sins that can destroy the very moral and social fiber of a fellowship they can destroy individuals, families and complete Church Fellowships. More than one Church has been destroyed because of the sins of those who continue to hold on to one or more of these evils. They also destroy the harmony and trust level required for a local Church Body to thrive and be a positive impact within their community. Beginning back in verses of the first chapter Peter in essence told us: Because you are a Believer and you should have within you and demonstrate in your life a sincere love towards other Believers, loving them with an ever growing, intentional, without ceasing kind of love; a love that is without corruption, always clean and pure. And because of that or in order to do that you need to: 1. Lay aside all malice: purposefully wicked ill-will, hostility with evil intent, having a total disregard to another person s well-being. There is a Latin phrase which translated declares: Malice is sour; it is the quality of an evil mind. I cannot imagine someone having the mind of Christ and carrying with them an attitude of malice the thought and idea of wishing harm to a Brother or Sister in Christ. That should be so foreign to us. That s why it is so important when we are harmed by a fellow Believer and you know that happens, instead of seeking vengeance - we need to immediately take that to Christ. 2. Lay aside all deceit (KJV: guile): a deliberate dishonesty which brings with it trickery, treachery, and deceitfulness. This word has with it the idea of the practice of sleight of hand for the purpose of either making the other look to be a fool or to hide a the truth to the advantage of the perpetrator. Peter is saying we ought not to treat people that way, particularly other Believers.

3 3. Lay aside all Hypocrisy: Hypocrisy is a great word, but a horrible lifestyle. Hypocrisy is pretense and insincerity. More than the words, Hypocrisy deals directly with the actions false actions committed in order to impress someone through deceit. The word comes from ancient Greek and Roman cultures were a single actor on a stage would hide behind different masks each mask representing a different character. In one moment he could be the hero, at the next the villain. In some instances hypocrisy is rendered as to wear a mask or to cover up one s faults or to pretend goodness Lay aside all Envy: The main concept behind envy is jealousy. Not the romantic kind of jealousy; it has to do with the feeling of resentment or hatred over someone who is in a position or has something which the other does not have one version describes it to desire another s happiness. Cain murdered Abel out of evil jealousy and envy God received Abel s gift yet rejected Cain s. Envy can easily lead to the next sin Peter lists: evil speaking 5. Lay aside all evil speaking: This deals with speaking about others in order to defame, belittle of bring damage to character. Some writers translate this as to shoot people with words or to spoil someone s honor with evil words. 2 It is the idea of slander and gossip. To me, the difference between slander and gossip: to slander someone is to spread information about someone, whereas gossip is to spread true things about someone that shouldn t be spread and usually none of your business. As I said earlier, all of these sins (malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and evil speaking) are more than just personal sins they directly impact others when they are carried out. When you stop and think about it, these are the very sins committed against Jesus by those who arrested Him, put Him on trial and had Him crucified. 1 Arichea, D. C., & Nida, E. A. (1980). A handbook on the first letter from Peter. UBS Handbook Series (50). New York: United Bible Societies. 2 Arichea, D. C., & Nida, E. A. (1980). A handbook on the first letter from Peter. UBS Handbook Series (51). New York: United Bible Societies.

4 Moved by envy, the Jewish leadership committed malice (hostility with evil intent) towards Jesus. Judas, through deceit and hypocrisy betrayed the Lord. At His trial wicked men brought false testimony (evil speaking) against Him. Before Pilate the Jewish leaders slandered Him all of this in an effort to destroy the very Word and Truth of God. Therefore, Peter says we must lay these things aside. And.. 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Most all of us have seen newborn babes, we ve seen how every TWO hours they have this little urge that OVERWHELMS THEM (and everyone around them)! FEED ME! FEED ME NOW! NO, NOT LATER FEED ME - NOW!! And they keep this up until that little urge is satisfied. When I think of it in that fashion I am convicted of the level of my desire for the Word of God. Man, do I desire His Word in my life like newborn babes, desire milk? Not only should we have a desire for the Word of God, but we should have a desire for the purity of the Word of God, not altered and adulterated by: False Doctrine, Bad or Shallow Teaching Wrong Understandings those don t help us grow. As a matter of fact, they stunt or deform our growth! When you hear false doctrine, bad teaching and wrong understanding coming out of the mouths of teachers or fellow Believers, are you able to discern truth for falsehood. You can only do that if you have a good knowledge of God s Word, the Bible. More often than not, false doctrine, bad teaching and wrong understanding come from an effort to make the Bible say something out of the context for which it s been written trying to make it say more or less than what the pure milk of the word declares. But sometimes these false teachers speak with and because of: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander.

5 We as Believers, those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious need to be those who are continually checking the Word taught to see if these things be true and right and in agreement with the balance of Scripture. The only way we can do that is if we are educated in the Word of God, familiar enough with God s love letter that comes from a personal desire for the pure milk of the Word and the growth that it produces. And we as Believers, who have tasted that the Lord is gracious need to demonstrate the truth of our love for the Savior through the relationships we have within the Body of Christ. We need to continually maintain that sincere love of the brethren, loving one another fervently with a pure heart. We as the Body of Christ and His Bride need to lay aside, put off, cast away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, evil speaking