GOT MILK?
1 PETER 2:1-3
INTRODUCTION… Some History of Milk (healthyeating.org + milk.procon.org)
3100 BC Cows and milk were used in Ancient Egypt and other ancient cultures as a normal part of life.
1700-1200 BC In the Bible, the land of Palestine was described as “flowing with milk” which shows how important it was to life.
1525 The first cows in the New World arrived in Mexico by the Spanish and were also set into the wild.
1624 The first cows were brought to the Plymouth Colony for settlers.
1679 Jesuit priests bring dairy cattle to missionaries in Baja, California. Milk becomes a staple of the local diet.
1850s Before the Industrial era, nearly every family in the U.S. has its own cow—and debates rage over whose turn it is to milk the cow.
1864 French scientist Louis Pasteur invents pasteurization; by the early 1900s, it’s required by law in dairies across America.
1912 The year Oreos are first sold. Milk and cookies will never be the same.
1950-1960 Wax-lined milk cartons come into use by most milk manufacturers.
1957-1963 Like most mothers, June Cleaver serves her children milk at every meal on Leave it to Beaver.
1993-present The milk mustache gets serious street cred as everyone from models to pop stars appear in dairy advertisements.
Why in the world am I sharing with you some highlights about the history of milk? “Milk” is the primary word in the passage we will look at today. The Apostle Peter uses a metaphor about milk to describe for us some basic teaching about the Christian life. We are only looking at 3 verses today, so I thought we would read from 3 different translations today to get a full view of what the Apostle Peter is saying to us. Sometimes reading a passage in a different English translation can help us understand the words on the page. This is something you can do when reading the Bible on your own. The YouVersion Bible App allows you to do this easily or you can use the website biblegateway.com to look up one passage and read it in different translations. It is important when reading the Bible to understand the words you are reading.
READ 1 Peter 2:1-3 (YLT)
Having put aside, then, all evil, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envyings, and all evil speakings, 2 as new-born babes the word's pure milk desire ye, that in it ye may grow, 3 if so be ye did taste that the Lord [is] gracious.
READ 1 Peter 2:1-3 (KJ21)
Therefore laying aside all malice and all guile, and hypocrisy and envy and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby, 3 if so it be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
READ 1 Peter 2:1-3 (NIV1984)
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
THE KEY WORD: “CRAVE”
One of the important words as we look at 1 Peter 2:1-3 is the word “crave.” The word that is translated “crave” means “to intensely long for” or to “desire after.” The Apostle Peter commands us as followers of Jesus Christ to have an intense longing and desire for the things of God. This is idea that we should have a longing after God is not an idea unique in this passage.
We see this same word used in the Old Testament. It is the word in Psalm 41:2 which says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” It is the same word in Psalm 83:3 which says, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalm 119 says in three places, “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times” (verse 20), “I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands” (verse 131), and “I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight” (verse 174).
We see this same word used in the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 5:2 shares with us, “Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” James 4:5 questions us, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?”
The picture we get from the word used in this passage is that we need to develop a craving in our lives for God and not for the things of this world. 1 Peter 1:2 tells us to get ride of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. Peter’s list is not random, but rather a list of sins that seem to dig deep into our lives and get under our skin permanently. These sins become part of who we are as people and often change our personality. The Apostle Peter is commanding us in our lives that if we desire to seek after an authentic relationship with God, we have to get un-addicted to the habits of sin and addicted to craving God and what He desires.
* Malice and anger are addictive and we find new issues and new people to dump into.
* It becomes comfortable to lie and deceive until we don’t even realize we are doing it.
* Hypocrisy can become a way of life so that we don’t know any other way of living.
* Envy can come quickly in our hearts and take root and be directed at many people and things.
* Slander may roll off our tongues as easy as truth or any other types of words.
Instead of having out lives steeped in and craving emotions and habits like malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander, we need to crave the things of God instead. This is no easy task. If it were easy to slough off temptation and sin, Jesus Christ would not have had to come because we could work our way to perfection and into Heaven. One of the main points the Apostle Peter is making to us is that the Christian believer is someone who fundamentally craves God more than what sin and this world has to offer.
ILLUSTRATION… The Orange Jumpsuits (p)
I was thinking about this “intense longing” this week and had an experience I would like to share with you. On Wednesday morning, I went to the Tampa Courthouse downtown to support someone in their legal issues. I entered the courtroom at 830am and about 10 minutes later a group of prisoners in orange jumpsuits came in one of the back doors and they sat on the left side of the courtroom. As the court cases proceeded, they would take prisoners out who had their court issues handled and bring new prisoners in. Do you know what each and every prisoner did as soon as they walked in the room? Do you know what each person clad in orange did the whole time they were sitting in the chair waiting? Every single one of them craned their necks to see if family or friends were in the court room. They looked and looked and squinted and searched for any familiar face. They longed and craved to see someone in support of them. Each one longed to see a familiar face. Each orange jumpsuit person did it.
ILLUSTRATION… Some Facts About Milk (www.milkunleashed.com)
* 99% of all U.S. households purchase milk.
* The average American consumes almost 25 gallons of milk a year. That's 400 glasses!
* The average cow produces 90 glasses of milk each day or about 200,000 glasses of milk during its lifetime.
* Milk is rich in nutrients essential for human health, including Vitamins A, D, and B12, minerals such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, and protein.
* Drinking milk is a great way to protect your perfect smile because milk reduces the level of acidity in the mouth, combats plaque formation and reduces the risk of cavities.
* Regardless of whether you choose skim, 1%, 2% or whole milk, the calcium and nutrient content is the same.
* Rumor has it, Queen Elizabeth II of England each day drinks milk from cows raised on her Windsor estate. When grandchildren William and Harry went to Eton, the famous public school, she had milk sent from the Royal cows every day for the Princes' breakfasts.
THE KEY PHRASE: “PURE SPIRITUAL MILK”
In this passage, the Apostle Peter tells us that we are to crave something in particular. Peter does not just throw out an intense word like “crave” and give us no direction for our intense longings. He tells us that we are to crave “pure spiritual milk.” What does he mean by that?
The full metaphor, even drawing on Peter’s language from chapter 1 saying that we have been “born again,” is that we need to be like a healthy new baby craving his or her mother’s milk. A newborn baby craves the milk of the mother which they eat and grow. That is the normal way it works with human beings. The Apostle Peter uses that common experience and makes an important spiritual point about the lives of believers.
We do not see it in English, but part of the phrase of the original language is that we are to long for the “milk of the Word.” Peter uses that picture of a newborn baby longing for mother’s milk to share with us that as believers, we should crave knowledge, truth, and teachings found in God’s Word. Everything we need to understand God and to grow in our faith can be found in the Bible. All the spiritual sustenance we need can be found in the Bible. Growth comes from the teaching about Christ and God the Father that is at the core of the Word (or the Bible).
This “pure spiritual milk” enables us to “grow up in our salvation.” I hope we realize that being a Christian in an authentic relationship with God is not something that is just downloaded into us or something that just happens on accident. Growing in faith is not automatic. Becoming a better person in Christ is not a given eventuality for each person.
Growth in our spiritual lives is a life-long process.
Growth in our spiritual lives depends on our appetite for Godly things.
Growth in our spiritual lives is directly related to how much we understand the Bible.
Growing up in our salvation means that as Christians you and I are constantly in a state of learning more about Jesus and more about God. We do not know everything all at once. Some things we will never know. I do not think, and this is me speaking, that faith is an exact science. Every single person is different and every single person’s spiritual journey is different based on their life experiences, personality, and their willingness to follow God in faith.
ILLUSTRATION… A Milk Story (p)
My mom tells a funny story in our family that revolves around milk. I went to college after high school and my nuclear family went from 2 parents and 2 kids in the home to 2 parents and 1 child in the home. My mom tells the story about grocery shopping in the weeks after I went to college. She planned the meals and such and bought the groceries. She shopped as normal and bought things as normal. She also bought milk. The milk in the refrigerator spoiled in the weeks after I left for college because no one drank it. They figured out very quickly that the one drinking all the milk in the house was me! I was the one desiring the milk and drinking it all. I was gone and the drinker of all the milk was also gone. My mom went from buying 2 gallons of milk in grocery shopping to half a gallon.
ILLUSTRATION… Got Milk? Advertisements 1993-Present
The most famous advertisements about milk in America are the “Got Milk” advertisements which began in 1993. Got Milk? is an advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow's milk, which was created by the advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, and was later licensed for use by milk processors and dairy farmers. In 1995, the milk mustache ads began.
Many celebrities have lent their faces to the Got Milk? campaign. Here is one of a young Brett Farve before he retired 6 times from the NFL [show picture]. Here is one of Ron Howard [show picture]. Here is a good one with a bunch of Elvis impersonators [show picture]. You have to know that back in the day Hanson got in on the action as well… mmm bop… [show picture]. The one of the Manning men is pretty fun [show picture]. And who can beat Ronald McDonald with some kids [show picture]. The purpose of these advertisements is to highlight the benefits of milk and show that even famous people drink milk.
APPLICATION
READ 1 Peter 2:1-3 (NIV1984)
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As we apply this metaphor that the Apostle Peter has put in front of us, one point of application became very clear to me. As we think about babies and their eating habits, what do we know? We know that babies must have a steady diet of their mother’s milk to survive. Babies eat on a regular schedule and when they do not eat they cry and get cranky.
You and I must adopt the very same craving for God’s Word as a baby has for the mother’s milk. We must develop in ourselves the need to read God’s Word and study it. We must become addicted to discussing the things of God with fellow believers.
As I was thinking about this, I realized that Psalm 119 in the Old Testament is not only the longest chapter in the Bible with 176 verses, but is a chapter in the Bible filled with one message… Love God’s Word. I want to read from Psalm 119 and as I do, I want each of you to pray as I read. Pray that these Words from the Scriptures ring true in you and develop a craving for the pure spiritual milk of the word which will make you grow up in your salvation.
Pray these words to God as I read them.
Repeat the Words I say, but repeat them not to yourself, but towards God.
From Psalm 119:
Verse 10: I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
Verse 18: Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
Verse 20: My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times.
Verse 27: Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.
Verse 35: Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Verse 36: Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
Verse 37: Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.
Verse 73: Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.
Verse 104: I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.
Verse 124: Deal with your servant according to your love and teach me your decrees.
Verse 131: I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.
Verse 146: I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes.
Verse 170: May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise.
CONCLUSION
