Growing Up
Sermon Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Scott Strickman
Sermon Series: Spiritual Vitality
1 Peter 2:1-10 (ESV)
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Sermon Outline
How can you grow spiritually (v2) so that you are maturing?
1. Nourishment
v2 “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation”
v3 “if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good”
2. Endurance
v1 “So put away...”
v4 “As you come to him… rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious…”
v10 “Once… but now…”
3. Worship
v5 “offer spiritual sacrifices”
v9 “But you are… that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you…”
Prayer of Confession
Our Father, we are grateful we are your people. Thank you for calling us out of darkness. We confess that apart from you we are stuck and without hope. Even after all you have done and shown us we still struggle. We are pulled down by desires within us. We are pushed down by others whose words and actions send us astray. We thank you that you sent Jesus, so that even his rejection means our acceptance by you. We remember him, and long to grow up into the salvation to which you have called us. Feed us today as we remember Christ. Strengthen us for endurance and nourish us to use our energies to offer the whole of our lives to proclaim your excellencies. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
What is needed for spiritual growth?
What prevents or hinders spiritual growth?
Have you “tasted” the goodness of God? Have you had any realization or experience of something of God’s goodness? What aspect of your experience of God do you want more of?
What things in your life are feeding and nourishing the growth of harmful desires and ways? What keeps you from putting those things away?
How are you affected by rejection? Is your devotion and growth hindered in any way because of people in our world who oppose some of God’s ways? How so?
How is the rejection of Christ by people and his acceptance by the Father meant to be a help to those who follow Jesus?
Do you believe God has called you? Where do you struggle to see the full goodness of the new life you have been invited into?
How is the Lord’s Supper a means to help you remember and recommit? What kinds of things can you remember, or what should you look for or seek to experience as you gather with the church to take communion?
What does it look like to offer spiritual sacrifices? As you think through how you spend your time and where you go, what are ways you can live the whole of your life offered to God for His glory?
What are ways you can proclaim the excellencies of God? What can you do?