"How do I get to the place where I actually love others like Jesus loved others?”

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament called the book of 1 Peter. And it is in this section of this letter that we discovered the timeless truth that the hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that loves like Jesus. In 1 Peter 1:22-2:3, we see Peter reveal for us three reasons why, as followers of Jesus, the hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that loves life Jesus.

So far, we have seen Peter reveal for us the reality that we are to love like Jesus because we have dedicated ourselves to living lives that look like Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we are to set ourselves apart to genuinely love like Jesus loved. As followers of Jesus, as a result of dedicating our lives to look like Jesus, we are to love with the constant, consistent, and persevering love that Jesus had for us. As followers of Jesus, as a result of dedicating our lives to look like Jesus, we are to love others from the core of our beings.

We have seen Peter reveal for us the reality that we are to love like Jesus because we have been given new life by Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we are to recognize and remember that this new life did not originate from that which was perishable. Instead, as followers of Jesus, we are to recognize and remember that this new life originated from the incorruptible promises of God. As followers of Jesus, we are to recognize and remember that the promises and glory of God are eternal and not forgotten. And just as God fulfilled His promises to the Jewish people in exile by bringing them back to the Jewish nation, God is a promise maker and a promise keeper that will fulfill His promises in His timing.

Now a natural question that could arise at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great. I mean it sounds great to say that we are to love like Jesus because we have dedicated ourselves to living lives that look like Jesus. It sounds great to say that we are to love like Jesus because we have been given new life by Jesus. But how exactly do I get to the place where I live a life that actually loves like Jesus. Because, Dave if I am brutally honest, I have a hard time actually loving others like Jesus loved others. So, how do I get to the place where I actually love others like Jesus loved others?”

 If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that that is a great question. And fortunately for us, we see Peter provide the answer to that question in 1 Peter 2:1-3. Let’s discover that answer together:

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, ² like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, ³ if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

Now when Peter uses the word therefore here, he is basically saying “in light of the reality that the hope that we have in Jesus should lead to a life that loves like Jesus because we have been given new life by Jesus in fulfillment of the life giving and eternal promises of God, we need to do something as followers of Jesus that will enable and empower us to love like Jesus. And what we need to do is what Peter commands followers of Jesus throughout history to do in verse 2: long for the pure milk of the word.

When Peter uses the word long, this word literally means to have a strong desire for something. What Peter commands followers of Jesus throughout history to do is to have a strong desire for is the pure milk of the word. But what does that even mean? What is so interesting here is that the word pure refers to something that is unadulterated. In addition, when Peter refers to milk here, he is referring to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. Peter here is painting a word picture of a newborn baby feeding on physical milk to command followers of Jesus throughout history to crave, to strongly desire the spiritual milk of the message and teachings of Jesus.

Have you ever been around a baby when it is feeding time? Or better yet, have you ever been around a baby when it is feeding time and mom is not around? Have you ever been there? Have you ever been at that place where it begins as a small little cry that slowly and steadily escalates to an ear piercing scream? Have you ever been in that place where you are trying to distract that baby with a toy or with a funny face, all the while hoping and praying that mom would get home soon? Have you ever been in that place where, no matter what you do, you cannot make the baby stop screaming?

The reason you can’t make the baby stop screaming is because there is only one thing that will stop the baby from screaming and you do not have it, because you are not the mom. Simply giving a baby a glass of water will not work. And you wouldn’t even think about giving that newborn baby a soda, I hope. You do not want to give that newborn baby anything that would hurt that baby; you know that the baby can only have one thing, and that one thing is the unadulterated and unaltered milk that comes from momma.

And so you wait. And so you pray. And you rejoice when momma arrives. You rejoice because the only thing that can satisfy that craving, the only thing that can satisfy that newborn baby’s desire, is the milk that comes from momma. And it is the pure, unadulterated, and unaltered milk from momma that results in the physical growth and nourishment of that baby.

And it is here that we see Peter reveal for us the reality that we are to love like Jesus by desiring the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord. You see, 1 Peter 2:1, Peter reveals the things that will get in the way of us loving like Jesus and that reveal a lack of desire for the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord. 

In verse 1 Peter reveals the reality that we are to desire the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord by putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. When Peter uses the phrase, putting aside, this phrase literally means to rid oneself of something. Peter states that, as followers of Jesus, we are to rid ourselves of all malice, which is a mean spirited or vicious attitude. As followers of Jesus, we are to rid ourselves of all deceit, which is to take advantage of another through crafty and underhanded methods. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are not to be shady in our dealings with others.

As followers of Jesus, we are to rid ourselves of all hypocrisy, which is to create a public impression that is at odds with one’s real purposes or motivations. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are not to be a poser. As followers of Jesus, we are to rid ourselves of all envy, which is a desire to want what others have and not want others to have what they do have. And as followers of Jesus, we are to rid ourselves of all slander, which is to speak ill of, to defame or to slander someone.

Now what do all of the words on this list that Peter commands followers of Jesus throughout history to rid themselves of have in common? You see, the words on this list are all things that destroy relationships and destroy community. You cannot love others like Jesus loved others if you have a mean spirited or vicious attitude towards others. You cannot love others like Jesus loved others if you are shady towards others. You cannot love others like Jesus loved others if you are a poser towards others. You cannot love others like Jesus loved others if you want what others have and not want others to have what they do have. You cannot love others like Jesus loved others if you speak ill of, defame or slander others.

These attitudes and actions destroy relationships and community. And that is Peters’ point. Peter here is revealing for us the reality that we are to desire the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord by ridding ourselves of those things that destroy relationships and community. We are to desire the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord like a newborn baby craves their mother's milk.

And in the second half of verse 2 and in verse 3, we see Peter reveal the reality that we are to desire the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord so that we may experience spiritual growth. When Peter uses the phrase, so that you may grow in respect to salvation, salvation refers to our rescue from our rebellion by Jesus so that we can experience eternity in relationship with Jesus. This phrase refers to the possession of a genuine trust in Jesus and that Jesus has rescued us from our rebellion and into an eternal relationship with Jesus that transcends this temporary human existence.

You see, the promises of God not only initiate our life in relationship with Jesus. In addition, the promises of God sustain our life in relationship with Jesus, regardless of the circumstances that we find ourselves in as followers of Jesus. That is, as Peter points out in verse 3, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. With this phrase, Peter is alluding to a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Psalms. In Psalm 34:8, the Psalmist proclaimed the following:

O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Peter’s point here is that followers of Jesus are to crave the Lord for their spiritual nourishment, as God in Christ both conceives and sustains the life that we have as followers of Jesus. Peter is revealing the reality that, if we have truly experienced the grace and kindness of Jesus, that grace and kindness will produce within us a craving, a desire for the nourishment that comes from Jesus.

Because the timeless reality is that the hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that loves like Jesus. We are to love like Jesus because we have dedicated ourselves to living lives that look like Jesus. We are to love like Jesus because we have been given new life by Jesus. And we are love like Jesus by desiring the spiritual nourishment that comes from the Lord.

So here is a question to consider: Does the hope that you have in Jesus leading to a life that loves like Jesus? What does your willingness to love others like Jesus loved others reveal about how dedicated you are to living a life that looks like Jesus? Is the new life that you have as a result of what God has done for you producing a life that loves Jesus supremely and others sacrificially? Is the grace and kindness that you have experienced for Jesus producing a craving a desire for the message and teachings of Jesus? If the answer to these questions are no, then why not?

Because the hope we have in Jesus as a result of the new life that we have because of Jesus should result in a life that loves like Jesus...