A Call to Holy Living (Part 1)

Introduction

When it comes to battle in war…a “passive” warrior is an oxymoron....

Similarly…a soldier does not lose his focus on things civilians focus on…but he lives to seek his commanding officer...

He knows his identity and his role...

FCF: Why do we struggle with passivity? How can we be holy as God is holy?

The call to obedience and holiness is rooted in the realities of grace.

Truth statements (vs 1-12) come before commands (the rest of the letter).

Peter has told these suffering Christians who they are in Christ and the living hope they have…now he tells them to respond by getting up and getting to work for the kingdom of God....he calls them to live out their identity as his holy children.

Key Point: By setting our hope on the return of Jesus in the future, we will be able to live holy lives in the present.

1 Peter 1:13-16 “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

PRAY

1. Set your hope completely on the return of Jesus (vs 13)

The main command of verse 13 is to set our hope on the grace that will be given to us when Jesus returns....the way we can do this is by “preparing our minds for action” and “being sober in spirit”

“prepare your mind for action”

Original meaning: Gathering up your loose garments that you would wear in the home to get ready for an activity.

Refers to the Passover, being ready for the Exodus and journey to the promise land.

Practical Meaning: “Rolling up the sleeves of your mind.”

This implies spiritual attacks will come against the mind.

We must have a war-like mentality. We must be ready to fight!

Illustration: take off the warm-ups before starting the race

We must remove the sin and corruption in our minds from the world and replace them with things that will help us be ready for the “race” -Scripture… This is the reason for the “therefore” to point to the hope we just read about.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

We must understand that the “warm-up” period or “sitting on the bench period is OVER” its time to prepare our minds for action and GET IN THE GAME.

APPLICATION: What are the sinful thoughts you need to remove from your mind that are hindering you and weighing you down from being ready for action??

“be sober-minded”

Ask question for a response: what does it mean to “be sober” or “sober up?”

Self-controlled

Peter relates sober mindedness on being focused on what matters and the necessity of sober-mindedness to resist temptation.

1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Means to be “in the zone,” “to have laser focus on one thing”

Illustration: “We are saving money to go on a luxurious vacation”

APPLICATION: Is your focus fully on eternal things, or temporary things? Are you living like an eternity amnesiac?

The person who prepares their mind for action and is sober-minded will set their hope on the return of Christ.

Since we have removed the sin from our minds and prepared for action and have a laser focus we will be able to set our hope FULLY on Jesus’ return and him alone.

Hope can be understood synonymously with faith. What we hope in is who we put our faith in.

So we set our hope on the grace that will be revealed to us…but what is the grace that will be brought to us at Christ’s return?

Glorified bodies!

1 Corinthians 15:51-58 -perishable to imperishable, mortal to immortal, sinful body to sinless glorified body.

No more sin! No more death! No more tears! No more pain!

We will see our Savior and reign with Him!

Revelation 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””

1 John 3:2-3

This is the glory that awaits us as believers, why would we want to place our hope in anything else?

As we set our hope on the future grace that awaits us at the return of Christ, we will have the present grace to not waste our lives on temporary things but live for the eternal reward by pursuing lives of holiness.

2. Be Holy as God is holy while you wait for Jesus’ Return (vs 14-16).

Peter gives two commands to pursue holiness…one negative and one positive.

Negative Command: “Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.”

Christians must not live like unbelievers....because they are now OBEDIENT CHILDREN.

We must take off our old self and put on the new self (Ephesians 4:17-24).

Notice it is not “become like obedient children” but “AS obedient children”-remember your identity.

passions are lusts and desires…not just sexual but all kinds of selfish indulgences and cravings.

We can’t just “follow our hearts”

“Our heart is only as trustworthy as what controls it.”

APPLICATION: Who/what is controlling your heart? What past thoughts, desires, and actions are you conforming to from your life before Christ?

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE-GOD’S CHOSEN AND ADOPTED SON OR DAUGHTER.

PUT YOUR PASSIONS UNDER CONTROL OF GOD AND HIS WORD.

Positive Command: “Be holy as God is holy”

Because the Holy one has called us and made us his children, we must be holy as he is.

Peter quotes this phrase from Leviticus 11:44-45.

Holy can be defined by...

being set apart…completely and utterly different…in a category by yourself...

Full moral purity.

In Leviticus, God called his people to be set apart from the other nations, to be different from them and to practice moral purity.

For us, it is the same command today. EXPLAIN

Don’t miss the call to be holy in ALL YOUR CONDUCT.

Every aspect of your being.

Offer your entire self (body and soul) to God as a living sacrifice of worship.

Notice that if God’s holiness is the standard, we cannot compare ourselves to anyone else…but we must compare ourselves to God.

Prevents self-righteousness.

Helps us see our need for God’s transforming grace.

Though don’t forget the difference between positional holiness and progressive/practical holiness.

Positional holiness: Justification

Progressive/Practical holiness: Sanctification

Therefore, the command is not to be holy by doing good things BUT to demonstrate the reality that we have been made holy through the righteousness of Jesus in living holy lives in our ethical behavior.

Illustration: Graysen imitating me in working out…repeating every word I say.

Essentially, we are to imitate God like a young child imitates their parents....for God is our Father and we are his children.

Response

Set your mind on eternal things.

Don’t get distracted by temporary things.

Stop acting like your sitting on the bench.

Remember the grace that awaits you.

Remember your identity.

As obedient children-don’t live like an unbeliever....your not one! or are you?

Make God’s name holy in all you do. (Hallowed be your name)

We should represent God’s holiness in every aspect of our lives.