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Love and the Gospel (1 Peter 1:22-2:3)

Scott Kercheville
07/26/20 - Sun AM

In a story for the Atlantic called “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake” David Brooks argues that the detachment of the nuclear family from extended family has been a mistake. Throughout history, extended families lived near one another — working family farms and businesses together. Grandparents were useful and cared for, moms and dads worked alongside aunts and uncles, cousins grew up learning and working together, and the many children had many hands to catch them when they fell. There was abundant economic and emotional support.

But as society became more industrialized and jobs moved to the cities, extended families started splintering. Throughout the 20th century people started valuing independence and dream-chasing over sticking with the family. People freed themselves from the family’s expectations. But, Brooks says, “We’ve made life freer for individuals and more unstable for families. We’ve made life better for adults but worse for children.”

There were once many hands to provide, cook, clean, care for and support kids. Now mom and dad are alone as they live life and carry the load that the extended family used to carry with them. Divorce has skyrocketed and children are being dislocated further from their family stories and from a sense of belonging to anything. Children are often not raised with a sense of being committed to anything larger than themselves - which is a very lonely way to live. Instead of becoming economic contributors to the family, children are raised with the expectation that they will run away and chase their dreams.  They are free to endure the anxiety and pressure of “dreaming big” and “finding themselves” in a world without borders. We are free from the family to chase the wind.

And so Brooks wisely insists that detached nuclear families are freer from responsibility, but are also without embodied economic and emotional support.

But, not being a man of God, his ultimate solution rang hollow. He rightly saw that people should broaden their definition of kin and form closer-knit communities with people around us. But there was no substantive base underlying the new communities he suggested, except the common desire to be in community. The sense is: “just get in community and be there for each other so you are supported.”

Peter is addressing Christians as exiles in the world. And as you can imagine, Brooks’ piece touches on a serious challenge for people who are marginalized by society and exiled from home. Scripture clearly illustrates the solution: not only should we care for our biological family, the Christian community is also our family. And while Brooks is unable to help beyond “get in community and redefine kinship,” Peter tells us how we should redefine kinship, why we should love one another and how we can grow in our love for one another. As we read 1 Peter 1:22-25 together, notice how the word “seed” is not talking about plants but the Father’s seed that generates rebirth.

1. Love Earnestly Because of Your Common Seed (1:22-25)

There are many purpose statements throughout the Bible explaining why God has done what he’s done. Verse 22: we were purified by obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly, familial love. But we all have been born from seed from so many different fathers. We are so different. Why would we look at and love one another as brothers and sisters? Notice verse 23. We have been given a common rebirth through the Father’s imperishable seed. This makes us kin and makes sincere brotherly love possible.

And here’s what is so neat — Peter says that this seed is the living and abiding word of God. That’s a wild way to describe God’s word. Unlike human fathers’ seed that perishes, God’s word is seed that abides and is so powerful it inseminates and gives new birth to people throughout all generations.

In order to enrich our vision what Peter means by speaking of God’s word like this, he quotes Isaiah 40:6-9. In Isaiah 40 and later, Isaiah speaks to a future generation of exiles who feel forgotten by the Lord. But Isaiah comforts them with a word, good news from God. “I reign as king. I will end your warfare, hardships and oppression. I will forgive your iniquities. I will redeem you from exile and bring you home. And then Isaiah says, “Flesh is grass (people are unreliable)... but the word of the Lord (my promise, this good news) remains forever (it will outlive you, you can rely on it).

Notice the end of verse 25. Peter says this same word, good news that was preached to those exiles has been preached to us. God reigns as king in Jesus. You too are under the thumb of Babylon, but God will deliver you. He will deliver you from your sins and from the grave. And Isaiah and Peter are both reminding us: this word of God — good news — is not going to fade away like the plans of men. It endures. God reigns and will deliver.

When received, this good news is so powerful to us, that it is like seed from the Father that causes us to be born again to imperishable life to the Father. Red, brown, yellow, black, while, male, female, rich, poor — this new birth makes us family and it means we ought to love one another sincerely with a deep, brotherly, familial love. 

When we struggle with sincere familial love like this for one another, why is that? Let me put my finger on two possible reasons. First, we don’t love like this when we allow another word, another explanation of reality to reorganize our thoughts and lives. How we forget the power of various idealogies, political persuasions, and secular ethics. Do we feel different, estranged from the people in this church? Consider: maybe we aren’t letting the same good news give us new birth. Maybe we have given our ears and eyes to other promises and hopes than the Christian hope; to other ideologies and politics than the framework of God’s kingdom; to other ethics and priorities than the Christ’s. We must take care that we are not divided by different idealogies, politics and ethics. In fact, we must take extra care that we are not united under them too. Our world is being turned upside down right now and there are many people dressed in sheep’s clothing vying to reshape our worldview. If we will listen very closely, we will hear a dragon’s voice behind the sheep’s clothing.

Second, maybe we don’t love sincerely and deeply like this because we just forget we are indeed kin. Our superficial differences get in the way. Maybe we see ourselves as the family of those who share the same superficial differences. While we seek to rescue the lost, we must remember that those who do not receive God’s seed are not God’s children and are not our family. They persist in the futile ways inherited by our forefathers. Not us. We may look different - but we are family. 

I love the example Jesus sets in Mark 3:31-35. (ESV) “And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

We live in such an era of independence. We are pioneers forging our own paths to seize our dreams that fulfill us. We can get so lost trying to create our own personal legacy. But our obedience to the truth has made us kin and joins us with God’s legacy. This “chosen family” here is our legacy. Your children are my legacy, and mine are yours. Let us love one another sincerely, earnestly. Now,  in 2:1-3 Peter tells us to put away unloving actions.

2. Put Away Unloving Actions, Long for Spiritual Milk Instead (2:1-3)

Since we were purified and born again by the Father's seed, let's put away unloving actions. We are family and exiles together. Let's not have malice — evil behavior toward one another. Let's not deceive one another — lying to and tricking our family. Let's put away hypocrisy — be genuine and not two-faced. Let's put away envy — why not look at one another’s situations and stuff and rejoice in how God has blessed our family? And let's put away slander — why busy ourselves by spreading junk about each other? It is amazing how this all works in theory — until we have an actual wedge between one another. That suddenly becomes an excuse to treat one another differently.

We are exiles and we cannot survive apart from one another. These behaviors are poison that will destroy our new birth. But just as our Father gives us seed to produce new birth, he gives milk to nourish us. Verse 2: long for the pure spiritual milk. This is most likely another description of God’s word. To be clear, he’s not saying you should desire the milk of the word versus the meat of the word — that’s what is happening in Hebrews. Peter is enriching our vision of God’s word: see it as milk. 

Consider how powerful this makes God and his word. Peter has described God’s word as both seed and milk. And by implication this makes God a Father who gives us his seed and a mother who nourishes us with milk. 

If we aren’t careful we may miss something subtle here. We may be tempted to pit the word of God and love against one another. Some get agitated, “They are all about love but they don’t know the truth.” Others are arrogant, “We may not know much of the truth, but we love each other.” Do we see what Peter is saying here? What purifies us for brotherly love? Verse 22: obedience to the truth. What makes us family and motivates us to love one another? Verse 23: the word of God. What urges us to put away unloving actions and to grow in our salvation? Chapter 2: God and his nourishing milk, his word. We are to live in a flow and balance: hear the truth and live the truth; meditate on the word, live out the word.

There is a danger of hearing the word and not being a doer of it. There is also the danger of being like every generation of Israel before the exile: creating a new standard of right and wrong apart from the word and doing what is right in our own eyes.

So what should we do? Long for the milk like newborn infants. Cindy was just saying the other night that in this wild time when people are saying so many things, it is such a comfort to return to the word and know what is true, real, right. I treasure my memories of my parents and grandparents in their old age humbling feeding on God’s word. When my grandpa died in 2014 I went into his office and noticed his Bible on his desk. The Bible was only a few years old, but it was used up with notes everywhere. And lest you think my grandpa was always lost in his office secluded from the world, he was not. He was as involved as anyone in loving the brothers and sisters.

But why should we long for it in this way? That by it we may grow up into salvation. When we think about salvation we normally think salvation from hell. Peter is thinking, “No, salvation is something you grow up into.” Salvation is not just what we are saved from, it’s what we are saved to. We are being saved from our childish, selfish ways to be grown ups who perfectly love God and his family. We are saved, but not really, not yet.

This milk is how we continue “tasting” the Lord. Jesus is said to be the word of God because if you have what someone says - their words - then you can truly know and experience them. If we have tasted that the Lord is good, we should return to the milk. When David was exiled from Israel by Saul he almost lost his life when he sought refuge among the Philistines. But he cried out to the Lord and the Lord rescued him from his troubles. In Psalm 34 David then urges: taste and see that the Lord is good! 

Conclusion

In the many afflictions of exile it is easy to lose our way and seek out different sustenance. When we stop returning to God’s nourishing milk we stop growing up. We start dying. And we also lose the seed that makes us kin with the Father’s children.

Apart from the word of God, we are stuck with Brooks’ solution. He concludes, “Everybody should have membership in a forged family with people completely unlike themselves.” What a lonely, God-forsaken way to move through life - clawing for chosen family with people who have hope only in this life and in the comfort of community now.

We are exiles. But we can have a hope, community and good news that endures eternally. Let us long for the word of God like milk so we can be one with the children of God.