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The Ephesian Connection
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Even as every life form reproduces after its kind in the physical realm, so also God scatters His word as seed to bring forth a great harvest. He seeks fruit having the same nature as the seed He has sown. Even as apple seeds ultimately produce apples, so also the word of God brings forth children of God. And since we as His people are those who bear His word to others, we have a great responsibility to share it accurately. We are literally involved with the reproductive process of divine life.
for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass, the grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord abides forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.
In a cyclical sense, all flesh is like plant life. Even as grass dries up and flowers fall from their stems, so also the human body wears out and eventually dies. But God’s word does not; it is eternal. And we have been born spiritually from this imperishable word of God. We are not merely flesh, we are also the product of the eternal Spirit and the word of God. The new birth that we have experienced is a miracle. The minute we heard and received His word with faith, something changed and we became new creatures. While we continue to have bodies of flesh, we are now born of God. And as His new creatures, our life source is now from heaven. Notice what Jesus said about His disciples.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We know that Jesus came from heaven. But now through Him that is where our citizenship lies. We are now a people of heaven, even while living on the earth. And His intent is to get our thoughts and actions to align with the reality of His work in our hearts. The miracle of the new birth is to both bear fruit in us and then become visible to others in practical ways.
Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.
We must put away all the attitudes from our old lives that no longer fit our new identities. Even if we have lived many years, if we have just come to know the Lord, then we are spiritual babes. And all of us no matter how mature spiritually, must hunger for God’s word in the same way that a babe longs for milk. In the above verse Peter was not writing only to the immature but to all those in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, etc. (See 1Peter 1:1). All were to long for the milk of the word. An infant does not have to be persuaded, it makes known all on its own quite stridently its desire for milk. Such craving is equally crucial for us as God’s people if we would grow in respect to our salvation. While sitting under Bible teaching is certainly necessary, it is not enough for spiritual growth. We must also hunger for His word just like an infant does for milk. And if we do, we will grow spiritually.
Spiritual hunger will cause us to then search the Scriptures for ourselves and to examine carefully what we are taught. But in doing so, we must not rely simply on our natural abilities to analyze, to examine, and to evaluate. Since such abilities did not enable us to discover His kingdom in the first place (He had to reveal it to us – John 3:3), why should we rely on them now?
Another characteristic of a baby is its helplessness. When sincere believers grasp their total inability to comprehend the Kingdom of God apart from revelation, they will long for the milk of the word. They will recognize that if God does not give insight, they will never understand how to walk before Him. And as they long for understanding, they will realize that this seemingly strange realm of the Spirit where they have been catapulted is like a whole new world that needs exploring.
But there is always a danger of losing our sense of helplessness once we begin to acquire greater knowledge concerning the things of God. It was not when He was a babe lying in a manger that Jesus said He could do nothing apart from His Father (John 5:19) but when He was the fully mature Son of God, standing in His role as the Messiah of Israel, and perfectly manifesting the character of God. Jesus never lost this sense of dependency on His Father. But we often do because we tend to rely more on what we know than on He who has revealed it to us. This leads to pride instead of humility. Again, in Peter’s epistle, he was writing to believers, some of whom were mature elders in the church. All of them, both young and old, were to become like babes who long for milk so that they might grow. When we lose this hunger, we need to again be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Faith will literally come to birth in people’s hearts when they hear God speak to them. We who share our faith must not simply impart knowledge, but reveal Christ Himself who is the Truth. To accomplish this, our hearts must be filled with the presence of God, the Holy Spirit sent from heaven to reveal Christ. The Kingdom of God is properly presented whenever the one who speaks for Him recognizes his own personal spiritual poverty. When one seeks a word from the Lord, knowing that he has nothing to minister apart from revelation, then God will delight in speaking to him. As that individual is then faithful to deliver the word, a supernatural extension of the Kingdom of God will occur in those who receive it in faith. As a result, our call is to humility before God. To such people He gladly reveals His truth and authority. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. By His grace we will seek only the increase of His government, His kingdom, and His glory. And in so doing, we will seek nothing for ourselves.
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