with me to 1 Peter, chapter 2. I also encourage you all, as returning there, to be mindful and keep not only our pastor and his wife, Pete and Joyce, but also and their travels in Europe in the past couple of weeks, and the Lord will be with them and bring them back safely to us as well. 1 Peter 2, I'm going to read verses 1-3. I don't think I'll get past verse 1 this morning, but let's read verses 1-3 to set the context. In fact, I want to read, really, verse 25 of chapter 1 down through verse 3. But the word of the Lord remains forever, and this word is the good news that was preached to you. This good news of the gospel that Peter talks about in all of chapter 1, that God has chosen us in Christ and has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ. from the dead because this good news this gospel was preached to you. Paul says so or therefore for this reason put away all malice all deceit all hypocrisy and envy and all slander like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up to salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. I've titled my sermon this morning, The Preparation for Temple Construction, and this is the first part. As we look through this context, we'll see that Peter is dealing with here the construction of the new temple, which he says is the church. Now, this past week, just a couple of days ago, I took Amy for our 20th wedding anniversary to Manitou Springs down there. We had a very nice dinner in a restaurant. And we came out and I looked up on top of the mountain, and there's a house that's sitting up on this mountain, up on, it looks like, on top of a rock. It's way up on top of this narrow peak. And I said, look at that house way up there. It looks like it's an eagle's nest. It's just sitting up on top of that hill. How in the world did they ever get that house built up there? And I just began to imagine as I was thinking about this sermon, the amount of earth that had to be moved, the rocks that had to be removed, the hindrances that had to be taken down just to build the road to get up to that very high peak where they built that beautiful home with that incredible view, I'm sure. And that's exactly what Peter leads us into here as we consider the building of the temple, Christ's holy church. As we look at it in this context, Peter begins here not with a construction, but with a destruction, not with a gathering of materials to build the temple, but with the removing of hindrances. that must be put out of the way if the temple is going to be properly constructed. You know, a vast amount of literature has been produced by the church and about the church in the past few decades, and much of it is concerned the growth of the church, and most of it is centered or focused on the numerical growth of the church. as it is popularly called, the church growth movement and those associated with that movement, have assumed that the numerical growth of the church is God's highest priority. And so everything is focused on how do we structure our church and our programs to grow the church into a megachurch, to get it as big as we can so that God will receive the glory. Now, it's true, of course, that Christ said, I will build my church and a building, which is the same metaphor that Peter uses here in this context, obviously necessarily requires individual bricks which represent individual people. There's no question that our desire with Christ ought to be to make disciples of all the nations. And this, in turn, requires that we preach the gospel to all people. And by God's grace, we seek for God to win others for the kingdom of God through Christ alone, through the feeble means that God has established through the preaching of his word. We are concerned with numerical growth. We ought to pray that Christ's church will be filled with people. But in this passage, Peter is not so much focusing on the numerical growth of the church as he is with the spiritual growth. Now, the picture that Peter presents us here in this chapter is that of building up the new temple of God, which, as I've said, Peter shows us is the church. Now, As with that illustration, if you've ever been near a building site, before you ever see the construction begin, there is also that process of deconstruction and demolition. And so we notice that the first thing that Peter says we need to consider in our spiritual growth together, in the building up of the temple, which is the church, Christ's body and The temple of the Holy Spirit. The first thing we need to consider in our growth is are not those things which we need to do, but rather those things which we need not to do. Or more accurately, these are the ways that we acted together before we were born again. And while these things do promote growth of worldliness and godlessness, They do not promote the growth of God's house or the church. These things that Peter mentions in this list, putting aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy and envy and all slander. The first thing that we see here, then, is this command. Peter gives us an imperative, a command, a command to dispense or put away all hindrances. And then he explains what those hindrances most commonly are with this, what I call a catalog or a list of destructive hindrances. But first we look at this command. Peter says, so because you've been born again and because he's about to talk about the building up of the body of Christ together, the building up of the church together because of this, these things, he says, therefore, put away. All of these things move them aside from your practice and from your life, put away. All hindrances. all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander and so on. This is a participle that has an imperative force that Peter uses here. In other words, it is a command. Because we've been born again, we must put aside these things that are not compatible with our new spiritual identity, both as an individual and specifically in this context as a member of a newly formed community. And all of these things that Peter mentions here are things which affect the way that the community treats one another. How do you treat one another? How do you think about one another? As holy bricks being built up in the temple that is filled with the Holy Spirit, how is it that we relate to one another in that context? If we think about ourselves rightly as individuals who have been born again, we have died to sin and been raised together with Christ through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. And now we're being built up as a temple of the Holy Spirit. What place? Do any of these things have in our midst? What place do they have in the life of the church? The words Peter uses here, put aside. It's almost a stock phrase of the apostles for putting away the old and putting on the new. Now, Paul uses this word also in several places, but with a different metaphor. Paul talks about, for example, taking off the old clothing in Ephesians 6 and putting on the armor of God. Peter and James seem to use it more in the sense of washing filth from the body, almost as a ritual purification or baptism, making oneself clean and pure and fit for worship and the service of God. It's very possible, in fact, that there is great baptismal symbolism at work here. When we're baptized, as we know so well from our pastor's teaching on baptism, when we're baptized, it's a symbol of our dying to ourselves, being cleansed of the filth of sin and being raised together with Christ to live in the power of Christ. through his death and his resurrection to the newness of life. But this is not simply individual obedience, as is clear in the context. This cleansing has to do with the way we relate to one another. And in Peter's theology, the way we relate to one another cannot be artificially separated from the way that we relate to God in worship. You know, as believers growing up in America, so much of our theology is formed by our culture, or at least it influences our theology. And let's face it, we live in a nation that is highly individualistic. In fact, when we read the New Testament in particular, we see all the you in the New Testament, you this, you that. We tend to think of ourselves first and foremost. But what we must keep in mind is that you in the New Testament is rarely in the first person. It's almost always in the third person. It's almost always in the plural. And so if you've ever been to Philadelphia, you know, back there, they say use guides. And if you've ever been to the South, you know, they say you all or y'all, because It's a plural way of saying you, and that's the way that we ought to read the New Testament. When we think about our sin, when we think about the practice of these things that Peter is talking about here, we ought to first and foremost think about the way that it affects one another. How does my sin affect my brothers and sisters in Christ? How does it affect the body? And that's exactly the conclusion that Peter is drawing here as he moves from this list of sins and talks about how it's a cancer that affects the whole body of Christ. Well, then let's look at this list that Peter gives to us here, which is really a catalog of destructive hindrances. Notice what he says first. So then he says, Because you've been born again, because you're being built up to be the spiritual temple of God for true worship unto God. Put away all malice. What is this idea of malice? Another word or a synonym for this is wickedness. This is really ill will towards others. It is the desire or even the consequent actions to see others come to harm. rather than to be built up in favor and grace. This is no doubt the result of wicked jealousy that springs up in our hearts. It causes us to think ill of others rather than to think well towards them and to think about and act in such a way that they would actually receive a blessing from us rather than a curse. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice, Paul says, and be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ Jesus also has forgiven you. The truth is, you may actually have a good reason as far as the world is concerned. To feel angry and to feel ill will to feel malice towards your brother, maybe your brother or sister in Christ said something unkind to you at some point in your spiritual growth together. Maybe you just don't like that person, the way they do certain things, whatever it is, you may have an opinion of that person, and because of that, you have ill will or malice in your heart toward that brother or sister in Christ. And you may have a good reason to even feel that way. But Peter says, even though we may feel that way, and as far as the world is concerned, you may have justification to feel that way. He says we need to put it aside as one who has been born again in Christ by the Spirit of God. You have an obligation to your brothers and sisters in Christ to put away malice Wash yourself by the Spirit of God through his word, through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be washed of your malice towards one another. Put away your ill will towards your brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm convinced that it's one of the most difficult things for us to do. And this is why Christ taught us to pray and to consider the words of his prayer as a model for our own thinking, that when we pray to God through Christ, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Well, next Peter mentions Another word, he says, put away all malice or and all deceit, or in some translations guile. Put away all deceit and guile. In First John 147, Philip, who was appointed by Christ as a disciple, brings Nathanael to meet Jesus. And John tells us that Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him. and said of him, Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile or no deceit. Now, in that same context, it's clear that Jesus is comparing Nathanael to Jacob, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham. Maybe you recall the story in Genesis 25. When Jacob was born, he came out of the womb holding on to the heel of Esau, his twin brother. And so the word Jacob really meant heel grabber and heel grabber in the Hebrew at that time was a euphemism for deceiver. One who deceives. Now Jacob literally means may God protect. But his name was also a play on words. Because Yacheb, as opposed to Yachov, means heel. And so in the Hebrew language, his name came to mean heel grabber or deceiver. Now, if you know the story of Jacob, you know that his life, his whole life, everything he did, everywhere he went, especially in the early years of his life, was characterized by deceit. He was always working the angle, as we say. He's always trying to get himself ahead and get something from others. That is, until God humbled Jacob. He later wrestled with Christ, who dislocated his hip. Jacob, until that time, was a winker and a manipulator. One always trying to work out things for his own benefit and obtain the blessing through his own cunning. and power. When Jacob, however, was humbled at Peniel at the time of his entrance into the promised land, and I believe that that's where Jacob was converted, that God not only changed his disposition, but he also changed his identity. After that time, Jacob was no longer called Jacob the deceiver, but he was called Israel, the one for whom God fights. For we who have been born again in Christ, there is simply no place for deceit and manipulation in our behavior towards one another. To the contrary, we must learn to be like Christ in whom there was no guile and no deceit was found in his mouth. And how do we do that? We do that by being straight shooters with one another. To speak the truth in love to one another. Nevertheless, we speak the truth. We speak the truth without guile, without deceit, without trying to posture ourselves and get ahead and get our way. The way that we treat one another is with truth in love. We must realize that in the promised land that is in the church, there's no place for those that are seeking their own benefit. at the expense of others. In chapter two of First Peter and verses 21 and 22, Peter makes this very clear when he says, For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for him for you to follow in his steps. Who committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth. And then in chapter three in verse 10, Let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile or deceit. Now, the next three vices that Peter denounces are all kind of unusual because they're plural nouns. He says an envy, slander, excuse me, hypocrisy and envy and slander, in other words, What Peter really is saying here is put away all kinds of hypocrisy, all kinds of envy, and every form of slander. Now, what is hypocrisy? Well, hypocrisy is acting apart. It's concealing a real motive, saying one thing while really meaning something else. Perhaps the easiest thing to do in church is to act the part. Never really mean it from the heart. You know, I think one of the most stinging examples in my own heart of this, and I think we could all probably concur, is how many times we meet a brother or sister in Christ and we ask them, how are you doing? And they say, fine. Do we really even care how one another are doing? in our spiritual life and our growth together in Christ. And I would say that many times we don't really even care. When we get into a conversation with another brother or sister, half the time we're thinking, or most of the time, most of us are probably thinking about, what am I going to say next? Rather than thinking about, how can I build up this brother or sister in Christ? Another way that this is often Manifested, I think, is when we say to a brother or sister, I want to pray for you or I'm going to pray for you this week about this situation that you're going through. And then we don't even think about that person for the rest of the week. I think all of us are guilty of this. I want to say that this is really the hypocrisy, I think, that Peter is speaking of here. Hypocrisy is putting on a mask. It is masking our spirituality. It is trying to look good in the eyes of others, trying to look like we're mature and we're spiritual in front of others. But in reality, when we go our way, we really don't care. I want to say that this is a terrible sin, I believe, in the church today. And it's probably a sin of every one of our hearts that we need to put off. in Christ, that Christ was not a hypocrite. When Christ spoke, he spoke the truth. When Christ took an oath, he kept that oath. When Christ said, I'll pray for you, he prayed. We ought to think about this in terms of the way that we relate to one another, because the way we relate to one another is directly related to the way we worship God. Worship with hypocrisy is not the true worship of God. And so he says, put it away. Matthew 15, Jesus was very straightforward with the scribes and Pharisees and said to them, you hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you saying this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. See, Jesus knew the heart He knew the hearts of these men. Well, Jesus knows our hearts also, doesn't he? And he says, put away the hypocrisy that characterized you before you were born again. This hypocrisy has no place in the building up of the body of Christ. Stop playing church, start loving God with all And loving your brethren is those that with you have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Next, Peter says, put away all kinds of envy. Now, what is envy? Well, it's similar to covetousness, the 10th commandment, which is really kind of an umbrella commandment that covers all of the commandments. It's kind of at the root of why we disobey God's law, because we want our way rather than God's way, we want to obey our law rather than God's law. And envy is very similar to this. In most cases, being jealous towards others and even perhaps hateful because God has given them something he hasn't given to us. In Proverbs 14, 13, the proverb is tells us that a heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bone. See that picture that he gives there, how stark it is if you've ever known someone with a terrible disease of cancer and you've watched them waste away their body being eaten away by that disease. You know how horrible it is. And that's what he relates it to. He says envy in our hearts is like a cancer. It just rots away the body. And to put that in Peter's language here, it rots away at the infrastructure of the temple. It's like termites that get into the wood and begin to eat a pound a day of that wood. And they slowly but surely caused the infrastructure of the building to be deteriorated and compromised. And so pretty soon it's good for nothing but to be torn down. Peter says, don't let envy. Enter into your hearts, don't let that sin of jealousy and envy. I wish I had their gift. I wish I had their whatever their spouse or their house or whatever it is. Don't let envy enter your heart because it destroys the body of Christ. It eats away at what we are intended to be truly loving one another from the heart. It's possible that Peter saves the best for last, or in this case, the worst for last. For next, Peter says, we need to put away all kinds of slander. I've already mentioned that This is a plural noun, all sorts or all kinds of slander. So Peter's emphasis here is clear. Put away all sorts of all slandering. There has perhaps been no more destructive force in the life of the body of Christ. Then to putting down of other believers through the defamation of their character. The word that Peter uses here is actually a compound word. It's a word that is composed of two Greek words. One, kata, which means down, and lalea, which means to speak. And so the word literally translated would be something like to speak down. There's an old Jewish saying that says, refrain your tongue from backbiting. For there is no word so secret that shall go for naught, and the mouth that belieeth slayeth the soul. James 4.10 says, Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law. It speaks against the very character of God and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you're not a doer of it, but a judge of it. That's just like Satan, isn't it? In the Garden of Eden, who became a judge of the law. I will not obey God's laws. He's revealed it. But rather, did God really say? And that's exactly what this is. Peter and James both tell us here that to speak ill of one another is to judge the law. Why? Because it's to judge the character of God. Slander is a verbal expression of a critical and judgmental spirit. It is a slaying of the soul. Now, you may have heard it said that sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt me. Is that true? All of us know that that is a blatant lie because all of us have been hurt by the words of others, haven't we? A careless word spoken, a hateful word spoken from someone else. This is exactly what Peter is driving at here. Watch your words to one another. Be careful about the way you speak to one another and about. One another. Because it is our words that either build up. Or tear down, maybe that's why Peter saved this, because the image in Scripture is so potent, it's so ubiquitous, it's all through Scripture. of how we ought to speak about one another. And here he gives us this picture of building up the temple. How is the temple to be built up? Well, Peter shows us here in terms of means, in terms of what we actually do, the temple is built up by the way that we speak to one another. We need to be clear, however, about what this is not addressing. This does not mean that we should not evaluate all of life, including the behavior of other people with discernment. It doesn't mean that we're forbidden to recognize sin. To address sin, to rebuke sin, and when in private loving appeals for repentance fail, we are commended by God to publicly rebuke and discipline sin. So let's be clear about what Peter is not saying here, because our culture today says that if you say that someone else is sinning, that you are being slanderous against them and defaming their character. That's not what Peter is saying. In other words, there are some people who want to protect sin. And in the name of so-called love, they call any confrontation of sin an act of judgmentalism. And they should say they say that we should never speak against another person's sin. How can you say that person is sinning? Aren't you being judgmental? When you say that that person is sinning against God. In First Corinthians, chapter five, and I just want to read this. is to remind you of what this does not mean in first Corinthians chapter five verses nine through thirteen. All speaks in the context of. The body of Christ. And he says, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters. Since then, you would need to go out of the world. But now I'm writing. that you not associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. That's a difficult passage for modern ears to assimilate, because as soon as you start speaking of sin and evil, the modern mind says that that's being slanderous, that that's speaking ill, that that is tearing down, it's being judgmental of your brother. But in fact, we are to exercise as Christians a righteous judgment, righteous judgment. How do we righteously judge? Well, we righteously judge with God's standards, not our own. As soon as we bring our own standards in and start even to build fences around God's law and say, well, my interpretation is that we shouldn't do this, that, this or this that is not strictly forbidden in God's law. And we judge our brother and say, can you believe that brother or that sister in Christ that they're doing such a thing? That they were out, whatever, dancing or whatever, all that fundamentalism drags along in building fences around the law. And we talk about them as, and tear them down. Now, most of us in this room are not involved to this day in much of those fundamentalist debates, and yet they're probably, Our other areas, perhaps areas of doctrine, where we tend to adopt a very critical and difficult spirit towards brothers and sisters in Christ. We must be careful, brothers and sisters, that we do not tear down our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our goal is to build up, not to tear down. We must address sin in the context of the body for what it is. But there are many other things, areas of immaturity we talked about a little bit in Sunday school this morning. That we must exercise great caution and care in the way that we talk to and about one another. Slander does not mean that we abandon the truth for the sake of so-called peace. Many people today have that mistaken notion that saying a teacher is wrong about a doctrine is the same thing as slander. In Romans 16, 17, Paul says, I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learn and turn away from them. Slander is not disagreement with someone or the disputing with someone over doctrine. It is rather the defamation of someone's character. We have a right to say that something is wrong. In fact, we have an obligation to discipline someone who is stubbornly wrong and causing dissension on account of their wrong doctrine. What we do not have a right to do is to say about that person that they're stupid or inferior or any other thing that tears them down and makes them look foolish in the eyes of others. We have no right to rip a person's character. to pieces and make them look foolish. In the 1828 edition of Webster's Dictionary, Noel Webster defines slander in this way, a false tale or report maliciously uttered intended to injure the reputation of another by lessening him in the esteem of his fellow citizens, by exposing him to impeachment or punishment, or by impairing his means of living. That is a wide definition that we ought to consider. This is maliciously hurting someone's reputation with lies. John MacArthur offers these words, James words do not forbid exposing sin with righteous intent, but rather lying with malicious intent. It refers to mindless, thoughtless, careless, critical, derogatory, untrue speech directed against others. So when we bite. devour and tear each other down with lies or speculations, things that don't relate to you and I living obedient lives to the word of God. We're simply critical and judgmental and hurtful with our words. This is what Peter and James are speaking against. This is what the word of God says we are not to engage in. And by the way, this is not just from the New Testament and Leviticus 1916. Moses said, You shall not go about as a slander among your people and you're not to act against the life of your neighbor. I am. How many people have lost their job, have lost their standing in the community, have lost their standing in the church because of malicious slander. Against. He says, as born again, believers being built up in the body of Christ. Guard yourself against Put it away as far away from you. As God has removed our sins east from the West and Psalm 1519, the sin of slander is tied to the wicked as God is speaking there against the wicked, he says, you let your mouth loose and evil and your tongue frames to see you sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. And so, Paul says in Romans 14, 19, let us pursue the things which make for peace and for the building up of one another. This is our calling, brothers and sisters in Christ. We've been washed of our filth, and Peter says all of these things are filthy. It's not just immorality. It's not just drunkenness. It's not just these things carousing that they speak of in so many other places. It's the way that you treat one another. It is filthy. Put away that filth from you. And recognize that you have been born again with Christ. And being born again with Christ, you're being built up as a temple to the worship of God. And so these things must not characterize the body of Christ. Why? Because God's spirit dwells in our midst. God's spirit dwells. All of his glory is manifested when the temple is being built up and you are loving one another, building up one another, encouraging one another, praying for one another, doing all of these things that He commands us to do because this is what Christ does for us, isn't it? That Christ, yes, he rebukes our sin. But then he builds us up with words of sweetness and tenderness and encouragement and love. And we have all of the love of Christ, which makes us to be made in his beautiful image. And that's what the temple is, the glory, the manifestation of Christ in our midst. And so in conclusion, Peter says all of these things must be put away. They simply do not fit the character of a person that's been born above. Our sanctification in Christ is a cleansing process. We're going to see in the next few verses as we move along, Next time that through this cleansing process, we're being prepared for a very special purpose. In verse five, Peter says we're being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. On account of this high calling, says Peter, we must put away all those things which are hindering us from growing up into this glorious temple for the praise and glory of God and his son, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you and we admit to you, God, how full our hearts are of all of these things that Peter has mentioned here. Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, How often, Lord, we have thought wrong thoughts, evil thoughts, wicked thoughts about one another. We've not loved one another the way that we ought to, with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, as we ought to love you. And we can, as we have confessed even this morning, we have received the grace of Christ in the gospel. that all of our sins have been forgiven, all of our transgressions have been laid upon Christ, who bore all of these things against himself, even as he hung on the cross and was slandered and hated and spoken ill of. He bore all of it for us. So that we might be raised together with him in the newness of life, not to speak ill. Not to envy, not to hate, but to love our brethren, to build up one another as a spiritual house that's being built up by Christ himself through the preaching of his word. We pray, God, that you would continue to make us the people of God ever conscious of our frailties, ever conscious of the intent of our heart, so that we may confess each day to you through Christ by his blood alone, and that we may set our hearts as Peter commands us, even in this passage, which is the command of Christ to put away all of these hindrances, to demolish these things which stand in our way. We know, Lord, in our own power we cannot do it. And we look to Christ, the only one who is able to do it. And we plead your mercy through him. Give us, Lord, the sanctification, the power of your spirit to obey and to be a church that looks like our Savior, we pray, so that your glory may be manifested in us and through us for all of the days and years to come and through the ages. You might be pleased with the sacrifices that have ascended from this place. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.