Got Milk? 1 Peter 2:1-9 - Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and ⁵ like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷ This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the very head of the corner,”

⁸ and

“A stone that makes them stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (NRSVue)

Soy Milk by Kjokkenutstyr Net on flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0

At my house, we buy milk by the gallon. Even though there’s only three of us, we love drinking it. There’s something so satisfying about a glass of milk either with breakfast or before bed. Unfortunately, my doctor lectures me at every annual physical, that I should stop drinking it, because of the fat, calories, and cholesterol. 

If my doctor had told me that when I was a kid, I would have been thrilled, because I hated milk. My parents insisted that my sister and I drink milk at dinner. Why? Because they said so; but more importantly, because milk “does a body good,” as the old commerials repeatedly said. It helps give you strong bones and teeth, among other benefits.

Yet, the doctor does have a point: your nutritional needs in adulthood are not the same as in childhood. And there’s a good reason why you don’t have vendors walking through the stands at Acrisure Stadium selling milk to Steelers fans. Compared to sugary drinks and adult beverages, plain-old white milk isn’t appealing.

Keep that in mind, because in our sermon text from 1 Peter, he writes, “Like newborn infants, crave the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation.”

What is this “pure, spiritual milk”? It consists of the gifts God provides to nourish your soul so that your faith my thrive. It includes hearing and learning the Scriptures, prayer and faith practices, the Lord’s Supper, worship, fellowship, service. These are the ways that Christ lives and grows within you. And yet, we all know, this pure spiritual milk can appear awfully dull and boring in comparison with all the other pleasures, pressures, and priorities of daily life.

Last Sunday, our brother John Smail spoke about silver and gold, and how the pursuit of these treasures has shaped our world. Anymore, you need a lot more silver and gold to buy milk and other necessities. Silver and gold provide a degree of security in times of economic uncertainty, like we’re in right now. With enough silver and gold, you can make all your dreams come true.

But your spirit needs milk. Your flesh craves silver and gold. Your ego craves approval. Your anxious mind craves security and control. But your spirit needs milk.

And here is where Peter’s words really defy conventional wisdom: for as long as you live, you will be a spiritual infant. In other words, every Christian is a baby. 

Your faith—the life of Christ within you—must be cared for as you would care for a baby. 

In baptism, you received the gift of faith. If you were baptized in childhood, your parents promised to nurture that gift of faith in the same way that they were responsible for feeding, clothing, sheltering, raising, and educating you. In confirmation, or if you were baptized as an adult, you took personal custody of that gift of faith. Even as a responsible adult, your faith remains in infancy—and must be cared for as such.

You are responsible for the care and feeding—but the spiritual milk comes only from God. It’s not a question of if God will provide it. God always provides it. The only question is if you’re consuming it. Pure spiritual milk… or the sugary sweet; or the salty, deep-fried junk food of the world.

There’s a reason why Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” as well as, “you cannot live by bread alone, but by Word of God.” Your flesh as well as your Spirit will perish apart from God, no matter how much stuff from the world you are able to feast upon.

In a time like this with the world in chaos and everyone on edge, we as a church must ask if we are partaking as much of the spiritual milk and living bread as Jesus longs to give us, or are we leaving it on the table? At the Lord’s table, there’s more than enough of Christ’s Body and Blood for everyone to feast. Are we sharing this abundance with our neighbors, or are we leaving it on the table? Do we believe so strongly in Christ’s mission to feed a hungry world that we’re willing to invest and even sacrifice ourselves for the sake of his cause?

Like the milk you drank as a child, spiritual milk makes you strong in the Lord—and as we partake of it together, we are built into a spiritual house made of living stones. We are not just a place but a people feasting on the goodness of God. Outside of this house, there are bodies hungry for bread, and souls that are starving for salvation. Truly, I tell you, there has never been a time in our lifetimes that the world has needed the witness of the church as right now. The world cannot heal, and our children cannot have promising futures, without the pure spiritual milk of God’s goodness. 

There is nothing more satisfying that the goodness of God; and there is nothing of greater transformative power than the love we claim in Christ to share with the world around us. Thanks be to God for the pure, spiritual milk that nurtures of the life of Christ within you. It’s here for you to partake in abundance, together with the bread of salvation and the wine of forgiveness. Don’t leave it on the table. Eat and drink your fill. Then go, and invite others to the feast—for there is always enough of Christ to go around. Taste and see that the Lord is good!