1 Peter 1:1 (CSB), “To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. . .”
In my yard, I have this gigantic tree that is called a “Chinquapin Oak.” Chinquapin is the Indian word for gigantic. When we first moved to our house over twenty years ago, the tree was already quite large. But now its branches have grown over our neighbor’s backyard, and it's crowding their trees. This is a tree that was probably planted before I was born, and will be around long after I’m gone! There aren’t many around. Even though they grow big, and live long, they start off growing unbearably slow.
Every few years it produces acorns. It makes the squirrels go nuts! They wage war, and just pound the branches for food. You can hear them squawking and chasing each around all day long. Those greedy little boogers rain down acorn pieces all day long. So far, I’ve only been able to salvage a few dozen acorns. But this year I decided to try and multiply my Chinquapin Oak. In my back yard, I’ve started dozens of oak seedlings. If they take root, I’ll have to disperse them around the city. There just isn’t enough room in my small yard for them to grow and flourish.
When We are Scattered Like Seed
This morning we're in Week 5 of our Stand Firm series, and our text is 1 Peter 1:22-2:3. As I read these verses I was struck by this simple idea, that one of God’s strategies in human history is to allow his people to be “scattered” (dispersed), until the whole earth is filled with his people and with his glory. This is the very thing that happened early in the book of Acts. When persecution broke out against the church, the church scattered. But everywhere the church scattered, God’s people proclaimed God’s word, and the church multiplied!
If you (or I) were scattered, we probably wouldn’t enjoy it much. Who enjoys being an alien, stranger, or an exile in an unfamiliar place? But what if God has a purpose in it? It’s really sad to say goodbye to folks. It’s really sad to be the one scattered. Nevertheless, God is at work! These verses in 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 give us a sweeping perspective of how God grows his Kingdom. How the Christian life begins, then grows, then matures, and multiplies.
I want you to envision four stages of growth. First comes “birth.” Then comes infancy. Then maturity. Then comes multiplication. Think of birth. Think of a baby. Think of an adolescent. Then think of an adult. Or… think of a seed, seedling, tree, and an orchard or grove of trees. These believers were chosen and scattered for a purpose! To flourish! To multiply! And you have too!
Now, to really grasp these verses, you have to understand that Peter doesn’t lay out these verses in linear fashion. In verse 22 he begins complementing these scattered believers for their maturity. So next to verse 22 in your guide write “Maturity/Adulthood.” Then, in verses 23-25 Peter expounds upon how they even became Christians in the first place! So next to verses 23-25 write “New Birth.” Then of course, there is an unfortunate chapter break. But just because there is a chapter break, doesn’t mean there is a break in Peter’s thought flow! The verses numbers are arbitrary, added by editors, and not part of the original text. In verses 1-3 Peter expounds upon how they grew from infancy (through adolescence) toward maturity. So next to verses 1-3 write “Infancy/Adolescence”
Now you might ask yourself, where does Peter talk about Multiplication? Well, the whole passage is about “how” disciple multiplication occurs. If you want to make and multiply disciples, your job is to shepherd a person through birth, through infancy/adolescence, on through maturity/adulthood! Peter (the Apostle) is modeling how to encourage people to grow from lone seed to sprawling orchard.
Let’s consider each of these four stages, but in the order Peter presents them. Peter begins talking about maturity, so that’s where we’ll begin.
Stage 3: “Maturity” is Obeying God’s Word/Truth.
1 Peter 1:22 (CSB), “Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly. . .” Keep in mind, these believers are “mature” disciples. So how did they become mature disciples? And why is Peter even assuming they are mature? Well the reason they are mature is because they “show sincere brotherly love for each other.” They are learning to love one another “constantly” and “from a pure heart.” Jesus once said, “By this all people will know you are my disciples if you love one another.”
But how did they become pure in heart? Peter reveals a profound insight. He says, “. . . you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth.” It strikes me that so many believers are trying to mature through knowledge alone. But the cornerstone to transformation isn’t in just gaining knowledge, its in obeying the truth you know. In the same way, you’ll never be able to “feel”, nor just “think” your way into Christian maturity. No, you have to “obey” your way into maturity. There is no “obedience-optional” sanctification. No, instead, as we obey, the Holy Spirit of God meets us, and enables us, more and more. The Spirit isn’t sanctifying and purifying us “apart” from our obedience, but rather though it!
Okay. okay. This is a lot to contemplate. Peter takes us back to Stage 1.
Stage 1: “New Birth” is Hearing God’s Word/Truth.
1 Peter 1:23-25 (CSB), “...because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.”
As a young man, I often felt spiritually dead inside. It had absolutely nothing to do with my parents, or my church. No, I was dying because I was letting anger grow in my soul. Greed. Lust. Impurity. Deceit. Envy. Bitterness. Slander. Idolatry. The reason I wasn’t growing in love for other people was because I was growing in hate for who I was, and what I was becoming. I remember how powerless I felt—though I hated who I was becoming, there was very little I could do about it.
In Genesis 1:2 (CSB) were told how in the beginning the “earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Those words don’t just describe the beginning of physical/material reality… they describe the beginning of spiritual life too. That our lives are often formless, empty, dark to the innermost depths of our soul. We are for all practical purposes void of life.
Yet there in our darkness/despair, unbeknownst to us, hovers the Spirit of the living God. And the defining moment is simply this. Genesis 1:3, “Then God said. . .” Then God speaks! Lazarus lay dead in the tomb, four days. But then Jesus spoke. I’m going to tell you that at a point in my life, when I was beginning to most hate myself, I literally, opened up God’s Word, and began clumsily reading and listening to God had to say. God’s Word began creating, shaping, forming, resurrecting dead parts of me I didn’t think would ever come alive again.
What my parents and church and pastors did right, was they kept proclaiming God’s Word to me. Allow me to go a little Old School KJV a moment. Isaiah 55:11 (KJV) says, “so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” The imperishable, living, enduring word of God penetrated the hardened layers of my heart, it germinated, and gave birth to a whole new spiritual man! And out of the dark, watery depths of my soul sprung the beginnings of life and love and every good thing.
No proclamation… no life. No “thus says the Lord”… no life, no new birth, no creation. The word is the spark that sets you whole soul on fire for God.
Okay. okay. The Word awakens my dying soul. I become born again.
Stage 2: “Infancy/Adolescence” is Desiring God’s Word/Truth.
1 Peter 2:1-3 (CSB), “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, 3 if you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
These verses “so” capture the crisis and drama of new life. On the one hand, here the Holy Spirit is stirring all these new thoughts, feelings, values, desires deep within us. But on the other hand, we’re overcome by the toxicity of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. As a young believer, I was deeply discouraged by the ever-lingering power of my sinful nature. I wanted to love. I wanted to walk in truth. I wanted to be authentic. I wanted to be at peace with myself. I wanted to control my tongue. But, no matter how valiant the effort to muster up willpower, to fight back my flesh… I failed.
In large part I went to Bible College because I was a miserable, failing, young believer. I was stuck. In time, I discovered the truth of 1 Peter 2:2—a truth that has been staring me in the face the whole time. The more I’d focus on the sin, the greater the power and desire to sin became, and Satan easily defeated me. But the more I’d desire the pure milk of the word, the more God’s Spirit would unlock growth and every good thing within me.
You see, when I hungered and thirsted for the Word… God’s Spirit caused me to hunger and thirst after righteousness. It became the most beautiful, amazing, attractive thing in the whole world to me. The more I hungered and thirsted after word… the more I tasted “the good” God had planned for me since before time began. Righteousness became more and more satisfying, and the sin became less and less fulfilling.
Do you notice the common thread? The whole key to new birth is… God gives us New Birth through his Word! The whole key to infancy and adolescence is… we keep developing an ever greater taste for God’s word! The whole key to maturity and adulthood is… we purify ourselves, God’s Holy Spirit sanctifies us, we grow to profoundly love God and sincerely love people… by obeying the Word! So then, what do you imagine might be the key to Multiplication?
Stage 4: “Multiplication” is Baptizing/Teaching People to Obey.
Matthew 28:19-20 (CSB), Jesus final words to Peter/Apostles: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Multiplication is teachings other be hearers/doers, just like us.