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1 Peter 2 "Taste Test"
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1 Peter 2:1-3)
I understand my son's feelings very well, because we are
both in the same situation. As a foreigner, there are many foods that
I have never tried here in Japan. Because I am new here, there are foods
that everybody knows that I look at with fear and reluctance. Likewise
my son, because he is new here, on this planet, also is making the aquaintance
of many foods for the very first time. Both him and I, tend to make
a face, hold our nose, and avoid any food that we haven't tried before.
But my wife is patient and gently cajoles us to "Try it, you might
like it." And once in a while she succeeds and we try something
new. Actually this year I turned 30, so I have decided to try more foods,
and you know I now have the great pleasure of liking three new things;
coffee, kimchee, and hijiki. David writes in Psalm 34:8 "Oh, taste
and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"
You are invited to taste-test the Lord. How you do it is by putting
your trust in Him. Now, the very first time I tried hijiki (a kind of
seaweed) you know I didn't take a huge bite. I picked up a little piece
and together with some rice, I tested it out. But once I saw that it
was good I followed it with bite after bite. We even bought some more
to fix at home! Place your trust in Jesus, at first little by little,
trust Him with your emotions, trust Him with your finances, trust Him
with your future. Peter says, "if indeed you have tasted that the
Lord is gracious," -- then desire the pure milk of the word. Because
it is through the word that you will start to see other areas of your
life where you can taste more of Him, that is trust in Him more.
Peter says to lay aside malice. Malice is the attitude in your heart
that is glad when something bad happens to your enemy. It is a very
natural feeling, but when we look to the words of Jesus we find that
we are to pray for our enemies, and bless them. We think that if our
enemies are blessed, isn't that going to make things more difficult
for me? But trust in the Lord! Taste and see that He is good.
Peter says to lay aside deceit. Those little white lies that won't hurt
anybody but will make things easier for you. But when we look to the
words of Jesus we find that our "yes" should be "yes"
and our "no" should be "no". Trust in Him to protect
you even though you choose the harder course. Taste and see that He
is good.
Peter says to lay aside hypocrisy. We all struggle to do what we say,
to act as we believe, none of us is perfect. But we are much too quick
to see the hypocrisy in others and ignore our own. When we look to the
words of Jesus we find that he who humbles himself shall be exalted.
Trust in Jesus to raise you up, rather than trying to cut everyone else
down. Taste and see that He is good
Peter says to lay aside envy. I sometimes envy churches with big buildings
and lots of staff who can do lots of programs. It is easy to envy even
spiritual things. But when we look to the words of Jesus we find that
we are to serve one another, wash one another's feet, love one another.
Trust in the Lord, the last shall be first. Taste and see that He is
good
Peter says to lay aside all evil speaking. Insulting talk. But when
we look to the words of Jesus we find that, out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks. Fill up your heart with good treasure. Trust
in the word of the Lord. Taste and see that He is good.
Through the word you will see more and more areas of your life in which
you can trust in God more. This is how we grow. Desire the pure milk
of the word. Keep tasting and trusting, and see that the Lord is good!
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." (1 Peter 2:4-6)
Peter heard Jesus tell the Pharisees a parable, about
how a certain man had a vineyard, and after building a wall around it
and all the equipment for it, leased it out to some vinedressers. But
when the owner sent a servant to collect some of the fruit as rent,
the tenants treated the servant badly and refused to pay. The owner
continued to send servants but each was treated worse than the last
until some were even beaten and killed. Finally he decided to send his
only son, thinking that surely they would listen to him. But the evil
vinedressers thought, "This is the son, let's kill him and seize
his inheritance!" and so they killed the son as well.
The vineyard that God so carefully chose and protected was Israel. Remember
His promises to Abraham, deliverance from Egypt, mercy to David. But
time after time as God sent his servants, the prophets, to them, Israel
ignored them, beat them, or killed them. So finally God decided to send
His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. But as Peter knew so well, the
Jews did not receive the Son either, but crucified Him on the cross.
At the end of His parable, Jesus asked the Pharisees what would happen
when the owner of the vineyard came back. Of course he would punish
them and lease the vineyard to others. For, "Have you not even
read this Scripture: `The stone which the builders rejected Has become
the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD'S doing, And it is marvelous
in our eyes'?" (Mark 12:10-11)
Peter saw Jesus crucified. He knew that Jesus had been rejected. He
had even rejected Jesus himself. But then a marvelous thing happened.
When Peter arrived at the tomb on the third day, the stone had been
rolled away. Jesus Christ, whom the world had rejected had been chosen
by God, precious in His sight, raised from the dead, living, to become
the chief cornerstone.
And we come to this living stone, Jesus Christ, and put our trust in
Him. Because "He who believes on Him will by no means be put to
shame." You see we are also living stones. Not because we had any
life in ourselves but solely because we are connected to Him. As we
are built onto the cornerstone, Jesus, His life flows through us. Because
He has been chosen, we are chosen. Because He is precious, we are precious.
Because He is acceptable to God, we are acceptable to God.
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone." and "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. (1 Peter 2:7-8)
Peter gives us two contrasting views of Christ, one view
is that He is precious, but the other is that He is worthless, rejected,
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. My wife is the decorator
at our house. I can make suggestions but she makes the final decisions
regarding our interior. Recently I have been taking care of fish as
a hobby. I find it very relaxing to sit and watch the fish swim and
to putter around with the tank, cleaning or feeding or changing the
water. The aquarium is my treasure, it is precious to me. So I want
to have it in a place where everyone can see it. I would make it the
centerpiece of our livingroom. But to my wife, it is not as important.
She would like to put it in a corner, or if possible move it out onto
the balcony. If I were to insist on keeping the aquarium in the center
of the living room, my wife would revolt.
It is the same with Jesus. For us Christians, who believe, He is precious,
the center of our faith, the center of our lives. But for those who
don't believe, He is worthless, rejected. However, what increases the
difficulty is that God has exalted Jesus Christ. God has lifted Him
up, so that wherever they look, they are reminded that Jesus is Lord.
It is not like they decide once to reject Him, and He is gone. He is
the rock of offense, at the center of everything, spoiling the decor.
You see, it is not as if Jesus is a product on the shelf at the supermarket.
We are not deciding whether or not to buy Him and take Him home with
us. No! He is already there in the center of our living room, and our
choice is whether to let Him stay or kick Him out. The word says "Taste
and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who puts his trust
in him." Put your trust in Him, believe in Him, do not be disobedient
to the word of the Lord. Peter says that they are "disobedient
to the word, to which they also were appointed". Christ died for
them, He is their savior, they also were appointed for grace and He
cannot be ignored.
Jesus is either a precious stone, the most precious stone, more costly
than any diamond, or He is this huge ugly rock that is always in your
way. Either way He cannot be ignored. He is not a little rock that you
can toss aside. He is not a pretty stone that you can add to your collection
in the garden. He is always at the center, and you either love Him there,
or hate Him there. I suggest that since He is there already, you get
used to it. Start to trust Him, start to taste His goodness, and soon
you will find out how precious He is.
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