Lifestyle of Holiness

HBI - We have a living Hope that s based on us living a life of Holiness because of what Jesus has done for us.

Intro

What inspires us to live a lifestyle of Holiness? or do we even know what that means? Why is it that we strive to be more and more like God. What is the reason why we do this? People can want to know God, but do it for the wrong reasons.

look at the people who where all following Jesus throughout His minsitry? do you think they where all following Him around for the right reasons? often i think there where people following Him around for the miracles and what they could get out of it.

lets take the prosperity gospel for example. We have preachers teaching that if you obey and have faith In God you will never be broke another day again. Preachers like: Creflo Dollar, T. D. Jakes, Guillermo Maldonado, Joel Osteen, and Paula White, Kenneth Copeland. They teach people about seed money, that if you give to them and their church “plant the seed” then God will grow that seed and give you more then you could ever dream of. I mean that would be great, If I give to Jesus and invest my money in Him, the interest rate is incredible and my return on my investment will be 10 fold.

so many people have been led astray by this teaching, giving all they have in hopes that there return on investment will be more then what they give. This is a dangerous teaching because the Bible no where says that we arr to give for what we will get back, or even that what we get back will be on this side of eternity. If this where true, then I would sign up as well and sell it all to get back my millions. where do I sign up for this?

why are we following Jesus? is it for the wrong reasons, for what we can get out of it? what we have been learning about in 1 Peter so far is that we can have hope, a living hope in the midst of persecution and trials based on our eternal reward, our heavenly reward. but what we are going to learn today that this is also based on the fact that we are going to be living a lifestyle of holiness. We need to be striving to be set apart for God here and now as well.

Vs 13-16 - prepare

1 Peter 1:13 (CSB) 13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

There is a therefore so the question we always need to ask is what is it there for? This is one of te reasons why we need to take the bible within context, because if we did not, then we would miss out here. Based on what has gone on before is what this means.

Because of our living Hope and the salvation that we have received then...

Because of all that has gone on before, then we are to prepare ourselves for what may come our way, and there are certain ways that we need to prepare ourselves.

“Minds ready for action”. The old KJV says here to “gird up the loins of your mind”, isn't that a wonderful mental image. The meaning of it though has been lost on us sometimes I think. Although one thing about the KJV is the words they used are funny sometimes. But the imagery is accurate. we can go back to

Exodus 12:11 (CSB) 11 Here is how you must eat it: You must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.

This is in regards to the Passover when they where slaves in Egypt. At the time they where told that the must eat the Passover prepared to run at a seconds noticed. Bags packed, shoes on, kids in the van dad in the driver seat honking the horn wondering whats taking mom so long to pack everyone's clothes and carry them to the van.

famous English Idiom that would compare is "Pull yourselves together".

in this same way we are to be mentally and spiritually prepared. In light of our living Hope and all that it means we are to are to be prepared for the the spiritual war that we face. Fill your minds with the things of God, this is another way that we can prepare our minds. The idea is we need to prepare ourselves spiritually for the day Jesus is coming back, for that is where our living hope is based.

the next part says that we are to be sober minded. That is not just not drunk but carries the same connotations. sober minded would mean to be clear headed. to live with sound judgement in all areas of our lives. The main idea of all this you have to remember is that as we are setting our living hope on the end times consummation of Jesus ministry, these are things that we need to do.

this is what the rest of this means is that Our living hope is based on the return of Jesus, set your hope on this as you prepare for all things living our lives in such a way that we will be ready for anything that comes our way. minds and hearts ready and set for action.

But why do we do this? Why should we set ourselves up to be ready for whatever the world may do to us? The answer to that is in 1 Peter 1:14-16

1 Peter 1:14–16 (CSB)14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

We do this first of all because we are called to obedience. It tells us that as obedient children… Now I know kids like to listen all the time, we tell them that they are to obey their parents in the Lord for that is what God want them to do. but we are told to do the same thing as adults as well. We as children of the Lord our to do this because we are called to obedience as well. Obedience, whether we always like what we are called to do or not.

also we are called to do this because we are to live a lifestyle of Holiness. We can live a lifestyle of Holiness because the Revelation of Jesus in the end times is the content of our living Hope. We can only do this because of and through the blood of Jesus. This living hope is based on the fact that we will be living a lifestyle of obedience. The same wording used in

Romans 12:1–2 (CSB)1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

We went over this before camp this year, we drilled it into the kids head at camp. We are not to allow the world to mold us into what they want us to be. We are not to pattern ourselves according to our old life. This may be easier said then done. Some days it is easy to deny the temptations of our old life but other days the temptations are there pounding on the door and it is all we can do to not slip into our old life. Only through the strength of God can this be done.

but Verse 15 and 16 tells us that we are to be holy for the Lord our God is Holy. This is a quote out of Leviticus.

Leviticus 11:44–45 (CSB)44 For I am the Lord your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. Do not defile yourselves by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.

Be Holy for the Lord our God is Holy. It is a life long process. Prepare for action, strive to be Holy as Jesus is Holy, we do all this because of the Living Hope that we are called to. In light of the living hope which looks to the end, we are to obediently live a lifestyle of Holiness in all that we do. How is it though that we live a lifestyle of Holiness? By giving up our old life and putting on our new life in Christ. If we are not striving for holiness in all that we do then it must be known that we may not be able to find our living hope. This is a separation of all that is profane and goes against the Lord God.

Vs 17-21 redeemed.

This carries on the idea of living a lifestyle of Holiness. As we call upon the Lord (appeal to God) 1 Peter 1:17

1 Peter 1:17 (CSB)17 If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.

We are all to call upon the name of the Lord in all that we do as we strive to live holy lives. We are children of God and are reminded that we are to be obedient children of God and as obedient children of God we are to be Holy as God is Holy. Yet here we are reminder that as we live a lifestyle of Holiness that God loves us enough to allow His children to call Him father. But as we strive to do this, we cannot use our familiarity with God as an excuse to not live lives of holiness for Him.

Ephesians 2:10 (CSB)10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

We are not saved by our works but we will be held accountable for the things we do here on earth while serving the Lord. We will not be condemned for what we do as children of God, our condemnation was paid by Jesus. The Lord knows who is justified and who is not. We will be rewarded according to what we have done, our actions as children of God will be brought before Him.

18-21 continues this idea, that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus who it was foretold of since the beginning of Creation that He would die for the sin of those that would choose Him. Through Jesus we are redeemed and because of this we give God the Glory, because of what awaits us we strive to live lives glorifying God in all that we do This is what should inspire us to live a lifestyle of Holiness, we are redeemed by Jesus and it is this that Gives us hope.

Vs 22-26 - a life of love

To summarize so far why we live a life of Holiness, For what reasons we are following Jesus. As we live for Jesus, if we say we are followers of Jesus then we need to prepare our hearts and minds to be Holy. We must prepare our hearts and minds by filling them with things of God because of our call to live lives set apart for Jesus. We can not just sit there and expect Holiness to happen, we must set apart our hearts and minds and prepare to live holy lives.

see to it that as we do this we remember the only reason all this is possible is through the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for our sin. We are to live a life of reverence before the Lord our God, remembering that even though He is our father we are still to bow on our knees before Him. We are redeemed, we have a loving Holy Father and we are called to strive to be Holy as God is Holy.

and lastley, since we are running out of time.

1 Peter 1:22 (CSB)22 Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,

The conclusion of all of this says that as we have done this, then the next logical step is to love one another with the things that we have learned and experienced. It is a love that has been born not of perishable things but of imperishable it tells us in verse 23.

Why do you live a life for Jesus, why are you following Jesus? This is what the bible tells us we are why we are to follow Jesus. It is made clear what we are to do. When we meditate on all jesus has done, we should want to obey God.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Three: Staying Clean in a Polluted World (1 Peter 1:13–21))

I gave My life for thee,My precious blood I shed;That thou might ransomed be,And quickened from the dead.I gave, I gave, My life for thee,What hast thou given for Me?A good question, indeed! I trust we can give a good answer to the Lord.