April 30th Weekly Word
Spiritual Milk — God's Word and God's People
"Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation — if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:2).
Three years ago this coming Sunday, our youngest daughter was born. In one respect, it feels like no time at all. On the other hand, it seems odd now to consider that there was ever time that she wasn't here with us. But, of course, there was that time, and when she arrived everything changed. One of the primary concerns back then was making sure that she was feeding well, which is a concern for all parents with newborns.
But it's not just a concern for newborns on the physical level. Peter makes clear in our upcoming epistle reading that feeding well is a spiritual consideration for Christians too. You see, he's connecting this metaphor of spiritual milk to what he said earlier in the chapter about God giving us "a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
Now Peter isn’t limiting the need for spiritual milk to recent converts. Rather, he’s instructing all believers to feed on that which moves us toward experiencing the goodness of the Lord.
But what is this spiritual milk? Well, earlier in the chapter Peter tells us that it's the "living and enduring Word" that has brought about this new birth in us. So God's Word is one of the main things we feed on that allows us to experience his goodness and sustain us as believers. The exhortation, then, is to feed on Scripture with the eagerness of those who know it is our sustenance.
But that's not all. Our reading also connects this necessary nourishment to the shared life of God’s people, where we grow together into Christ. You see, Peter proceeds in this chapter to articulate an ecclesiology (which means the theology of the church) that is so interconnected that it can be described as one spiritual house — made up of God's people, formed as living stones with Christ as the cornerstone.
Now that is unity. That is interdependence. And as it pertains to our original metaphor, it points to church community as one aspect of the spiritual milk that helps us experience the goodness of God and "growth into salvation."
So friends, let's eagerly feed on the spiritual milk that nourishes us by means of God's Word and connection with his people. And as we do so, may God's goodness be revealed in our hearts and lives.
Darin+