Spiritual Growth Sermon: A Time to Grow

Steven C. Lombardo

Introduction: Growing closer to God is a lifelong aspiration. This sermon on

spiritual growth teaches about 3 key components to repeat as we grow through
our days here on earth to help us gain wisdom and desire to grow deeper in our
relationship with our savior. Use the sermon illustrations from this message as
you preach on spiritual growth. 

It’s important to grow. It’s important to grow up. Most of us, at different times, are
concerned with growing up. I think of the mother who was driving her four year
old daughter to preschool one morning. She also happened to be a medical
doctor and had left her stethoscope on the front seat. Driving along the street,
she noticed her four year old was quite interested in the stethoscope and was
playing with it. This mother and doctor began to think to herself, “Could it be that
my daughter will grow up to follow in my footsteps? It would be wonderful if she
would be like me.” Just then her thoughts were interrupted as her daughter spoke
into the stethoscope and said, “Welcome to McDonalds, may I take your order
please.”

Growing up! It was a few years ago now after I had been in pastoral ministry for a
while that one of my young children came to me with a thought provoking
question: “Daddy, what are you going to be when you grow up?” Now some of
you are thinking that the question was asked last week. But I assure you it was a
long time ago. What are you going to be when you grow up? Have you thought
about growth? I’m not talking about physical growth now, I’m talking about
spiritual growth. We hear a lot of talk today about church growth, building bigger
and bigger churches with more and more people. But even more important than
church growth is individual growth, personal, spiritual growth. This is a good time,
at the beginning of a new church year with classes and studies and prayer
groups beginning again. It’s a good time to raise the issue of personal spiritual
growth.

The apostle Peter raised the issue, and I call your attention to our text from 1
Peter 2:1-3. Peter is writing to Christians and having told them in chapter one
that they had been born again by the power of God’s Word, he then issues a
challenge to them. In 1 Peter 2:1, “Therefore, because you have been born again
by the power of God,” because you’ve been made a new person, because that
Word of God is eternal, “therefore,” and what does he say, “putting aside all
malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes
long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it you may grow in salvation, if you
have tasted the kindness of the Lord.”

Peter issues three commands to believers. He’s not talking to unsaved people
right at this point. He’s talking to believers. Born again people. And his challenge
is to grow. There are three commands that we want to look at here in our text
and I express them in terms of Spurn, Yearn, and Learn. If you would grow in
salvation, if you would have spiritual growth in your life, Spurn, Yearn, and Learn.

Putting aside — Spurning

(1 Peter 2:1)
Putting aside denotes the image of taking off a garment in order to put another
garment on. Putting aside, taking off. And note what believers are to take off. All
malice. That’s wickedness. Wickedness has to do with how people live who do
not know Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives. In the Bible the wicked are simply
those who do not know God. Whatever the particular sins in their life, that isn’t
the emphasis with the wicked. The wicked are simply those who do not know
God, who do not know Jesus Christ. Believers are to put off malice, wickedness,
the inclination to live like the world lives. God calls believers to a higher standard.
God calls believers to not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of their minds. Are you living just like the world lives? I’m not talking
about Sunday, but Monday through Saturday; do you live pretty much like your
unbelieving friends and neighbors live? Or is there a difference? Those who are
born again are called to be different, to put off all malice, wickedness. To live
different lives. To live lives that take sin seriously. To live lives where repentance
is a daily concern. To live lives that seek the honor of Jesus above all else. To
live lives that turn away from the world and its allures and instead turn to God
with whole hearted devotion and commitment. Putting aside all malice,
wickedness, not living like the world lives.

And all guile, guile is deceitfulness. Taking off that garment, of deceit. Deceit is
when you try to put one over on people, to your own profit and gain. To deceive
for your own ends, to not be honest, forthright, a person of integrity.

And hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is playing the actor. Going through the role of what it is
to be a Christian, but it’s only show, it isn’t reality. There isn’t any substance. It’s
being a Christian so that you look good in the eyes of the community, Maybe it
helps business. Playing the hypocrite, not being sincere in one’s worship. It’s
only a facade. You may sing the hymns, you may sit in the church, but there isn’t
a reality there. Hypocrisy — believers are called to put it aside, to let it go.
Envy. Someone has said that envy is the last sin to die. Envy is wanting what
someone else has. Jesus’ disciples were quite envious of one another. They
debated among each other who should have the greatest seat of honor.

And then all slander. Slander is literally talking down a person. Talking about a
person behind their back in such a way that you put the person down. It’s also
called gossip. Everyone believes gossip is wrong, but most everyone enjoys it.
Peter says that’s not the way truly born again people live.

Spurn malice, guile, hypocrisy, envy, slander; spurn it. Cast it off like you do an
old piece of clothing. All that stuff belongs to the old life. It doesn’t belong to the
Christian life. Let me ask you, where do congregations so often struggle? Where
do so often the hurts and the hindrances to ministry occur? Isn’t it in this area of
relationships with people. Living like the world. Being deceitful. Being hypocrites,
envious, talking about people, putting them down, putting other churches down.
Oh, when that stuff permeates a congregation, God isn’t pleased. And certainly
people aren’t growing when these kinds of sins are so prevalent. Spurn, if you
would grow, put aside these things that are so deadly to one’s spiritual life. These
things all have consequences. We’re seeing today in Washington the
consequences of sin. Sin always has consequences and “be sure your sin will
always find you out,” the Bible says if you’re born again, if you can say that Jesus
Christ is your Lord and Savior then spurn. Are you spurning the world’s
attractions? Are you living like a believer?

Longing for — Yearning for Spiritual Growth

(1 Peter 2:2)
There’s another command — Yearn. If you would grow, it’s not only to put off or
lay aside these sins, that so beset Christians, but it is to yearn. 1 Peter 2:2, the
first part, “And like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word.” The Word
translated long for is the same word found in Psalms 42:1, where the deer pants
for the water brooks, “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants after
Thee.” Are you finding a yearning in your heart for God? To know Him better, to
grow closer to Him? This longing for the Word of God is a passion, a passion for
the Word of God, a passion for Jesus Christ. That’s a challenge for us today
because there are so many things in our lives that cry out for attention and take
our energy and our passions. The one who is truly born again, Peter says, will
long for the presence of the Lord. He or she will long for His Word and will make
every attempt to get to know God better through the pages of His Word.
This is a time for growth. Studies are resuming. Opportunities for Bible
discussion are once again at hand. What’s your interest? Is there a yearning in
your soul? If there isn’t, my friends, that is a dangerous position to be in. God has
to deliver us from a Sunday morning only spectator mentality about the Christian
faith. Being a Christian is not dependent upon, nor is it summed up by, simply
sitting in a pew and looking bored with the preacher. That isn’t the Christian faith.
The Christian faith is living dynamically. It’s a yearning for God, to know God, to
be excited about God.

This is a hard message, but we need hard messages to shake us. There is so
much indifference and lukewarmness. And when God just gets the leftovers, if
we have time or if it works out or if I’ve got the money, or if I’m not doing anything
else, then God you get your due. You see the time is coming when only those
churches that are strong, filled with vibrant and committed people, will endure.
Like newborn babes long, yearn, desire. A little baby not only desires its mother’s
milk, but that baby has a powerful, instinctive urge for that milk and that’s what
Peter is talking about here. Having an urge, a passion for Jesus Christ, for His
Word. If you’re a believer, are you yearning for the Lord? Longing for the pure
milk of the Word. The Bible is pure. It’s unadulterated. It’s truth. The Bible will
only do you good. It’s good food for your soul. The church, you see, is not an
organization. The church is a living organism made up of people called out of this
world to have a passion for Jesus.

Peter says, “Spurn, put off the old life.” Peter says, “Yearn for the milk, the
nourishment of God’s Word.” Set your will that this year you’re going to learn to
know God better than you’ve ever known Him before. And if you set your will to
do that, He’ll reveal Himself to you in His Word.

That by it you may grow — Learning

(1 Peter 2:2)
And then, Peter says, “Learn. Learn.” Last part of 1 Peter 2:2, “That by it …,” that
is, the Word, “that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” Here it is. When
you are spurning the wrong things, when you are yearning for the things of God
and His presence, when you have a passion for Christ, then comes the learning.
You grow in salvation. If you’re not growing in your salvation, you’re dying
spiritually. Peter says, “People you were born again by the Word of God. But
now, grow in respect to your salvation.” And that’s what this life then becomes,
one of growing in the knowledge of God. Seeing Him increasingly as the greatest
and highest and most excellent treasure in all the world. Is it too late to learn?
No, it’s never too late to learn. No matter how old you are you can still learn
something!

I heard about a police officer who stopped a car that was filled with elderly ladies.
The car was traveling too slow on a major highway. The officer came up to the
car and talked to the driver. The conversation went something like this. The
officer asked, “Ma’am, why are you driving so slowly?” She replied, “Well, officer,
I’ve seen all these signs along the way that say 20 and that’s what I’ve been
doing. I’ve been going 20.” The officer replied, “Ma’am, those are signs indicating
the number of the highway. It’s highway 20. You’re going much too slow.” “Thank
you officer,” she responded. “Thank you so much I didn’t realize that.” But then
the officer happened to look in the back seat and he noticed three elderly ladies
with panic stricken looks on their faces and white knuckles from having held on to
one another too tightly. The officer looked back at the driver and said, “Ma’am,
what’s wrong with these ladies in the back seat?” Oh, officer, you see, we just got
off highway 101 a few miles ago.”

It’s never too late to learn. Never too late. And especially that’s true in terms of
the Christian faith and growing in the Lord. And so, my friends, the challenge is to
all of us, this is the time to grow. A time to be involved. A great time to be living
and serving the Lord. Spurning the sins, Yearning for the things of God, His
Word, and then Learning more of Him. It’s good to get to know Him right now.

There is a conclusion here in verse three of our text. The conclusion is also a
challenge, Spurn, Yearn, Learn: “if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord …,”
The word translated kindness is literally delicious. If you have tasted how
delicious the Lord is, The psalmist said in Psalms 34:8, “Oh taste and see that
the Lord is good.” Taste and see and Peter says here He’s delicious. He’s good
food for the soul. The bread of life for us.

Vance Havner, the old preacher, used to tell the story of some boys that a man
came upon in Africa during a time when diamonds were plentiful there. He
discovered that they were playing marbles, but they were not playing with
marbles, they were playing their game using diamonds. Could it be that we trifle
with the treasures of God? We play marbles using diamonds. We trifle with the
Word of God. We trifle with the holy things of God. We trifle with His treasures.
Peter says, “No, no more trifling.” If you’ve been born again, if you’ve really
tasted of the Lord and found Him to be delicious, then you will spurn, you will
yearn, and you will learn. If these commands do not characterize your life, if there
isn’t the spurning, the yearning, or the learning, the question then has to be
asked, “Are you really saved? Have you been born anew? Have you really come
to Christ and made sure that your sins have been forgiven?” If not, you can do so
today right where you’re at. To come to Jesus Christ in repentance. Turning from
your sins, inviting Him into your life and beginning to live with Him as the Lord of
your life.

To those of you who are believers, whose trust is Christ, this is the time to grow.
Let’s make the most of the time that God gives us.