Faithfulness flows from faith and is rooted in grace, 1 Peter 1:13-21

1 Peter 1:13 (ESV)

13 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.

In this passage we are given three commands to follow:

Set your hope Be holy Live with fear

These three commands are grounded in the verses that have come before. The word, “therefore,” transitions us from what God has done for us, to what it looks like to live for Him.

God’s grace is the foundation for our faithfulness

1 Peter 1:1-12 reveals that we are saved by the grace of God, we have unfading and eternal inheritance waiting for us, and God is guarding us until the end according to His power and by our continual faith in Him.

All throughout the OT and the NT we see that God’s saving work precedes His commands for us. For example, before giving the people of Israel the 10 commandments, God reminds them of who He is and what He has done for them.

Exodus 20:1–2 (ESV)

And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Before telling Israel how God wants them to live in the freedom He has given them. He reminds them that He brought them out of Egypt an slavery… Like what we see in 1 Peter God calls His people to live a certain way, but He grounds their obedience to Him to the grace that He has shown them by saving them from Egypt and promising a land flowing with milk and honey.

The hope, holiness, and fear that Peter calls his readers to live with flow from their faith in God through Jesus Christ.

Another way to say this is that Faithfulness flows from faith. We will mention this again, but I wanted to bring it light here at the beginning if this passage because we are transitioning to a series of action steps that Peter encourages them to make. As a result, these are actions or responses that we need to make in our lives as well.

God calls us to respond to the truth of who He is and what He has done for us… and Peter gives his readers some perspective on what it looks like to live for Christ in the midst of chaos.

13 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.

Peter again calls to mind language reminiscent of the Israelites when God delivered them from Egypt. On the night that God rescued them from their slavery He told them to be prepared. In fact, God told the Israelites to be packed, robes and tunics tied up above their knees (girded), and to have sandals on their feet. They were to be ready to move the moment the opportunity to presented itself.

When Peter says that we need to prepare our minds for action he is telling us that we need to be ready to go, the word here resonates with the instructions God gave Israel… Christians are called to be ready and focused on the reality and truth of God.

The phrase “being sober-minded” is the opposite of being dull or desensitized to a message, person, or event.

If you lose sight of Christ and the promise that God has made through Him then you are likely to wander or drift from faithfulness to the Lord.

So, it is with a clear, focused, engaged, and committed mind that Christians are called to do this first command.

13 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.

Christians are called to look forward to God keeping His promises in Jesus Christ, not back to their old way of life or even a decision that they made a long time ago.

Christians believe God and trust Him completely with the future by being faithful in the present.

In 1 Peter the words hope and faith are used almost interchangeably. And, to have hope, or the source of hope, is to trust in the promise of God to show grace in the end.

Salvation is what we call an already and a not yet reality. We already have forgiveness and grace by faith in Jesus Christ, and we have not yet received the full inheritance of Christ, nor are we without sin and able to live perfectly for God yet. The grace of God has saved us and justified us, but he has not finished the work of sanctification… as Peter says we are waiting for a measure of grace that will be ours at the return of Christ— a grace that will finish the work of God in our own lives and the lives of others.

Trusting God completely for our future means that we live devoted to God in the present.

This is what it means to “set your hope” Setting your hope is about the way that you live, not just making sure that your thought life is sound.

In fact, if you look back at verse 13 you can see with some clarity now that we are only able to set our hope fully on God’s grace when we leave behind our way of life before we were saved and strive to live daily for the God who has saved us and has incredible plans for us.

1 Peter 1:14-16 (ESV) says,

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

The word choices are exactly what God wants us to have, and here Peter brings us to the place where we start connecting the dots between how we live and what we believe.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Being faithful means that we embrace a whole new way of life and leave behind the old ways we used to live.

This kind of language takes into account that grown men and women are hearing the gospel for the first time and then leaving behind entire philosophies, worldview, habits, and routines, The reason you have to leave so much behind is because we live according to our flesh and not our faith.

Faithfulness includes saying no to sin and yes to the ways of God.

Do not be conformed means that we don’t adjust our lives to accommodate or wrap around the ways of life that are contradictory to the ways of God.

Do not be conformed means that we resist evil and sinful desires, and in an effort to live faithful to the Lord we make hard decisions that include separating from relationships, habits, etc that go against the ways of God.

Saying no to sin and yes to God is a matter of obedience, and obedience is a matter of faith.

Peter doesn’t write about Christianity as merely a group of doctrines or truths to believe. He writes it being so much more than that, because it is so much more than that. Having faith is not just thinking something is true. Faith and hope are evidenced when you take action on the truth that you say you believe.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Christians are called to live differently than everyone else by living to please God in every part of life.

God’s command to those He calls provides clarity in how to live and why we do it. The call to holiness is not just an idea, it is grounded in the Word going all the way back to Israel and its relationship with God.

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Holiness not just God’s righteousness, purity, goodness, justice, etc. Holiness is the summary of all of God’s attributes.

Holiness means separate, and it describes the truth that God is no way like us. It’s true that God is morally pure and different than us, but it is also true that in every way God has revealed himself to us in His Word.

Because God is different, His people live different. What I mean is that because God is good, righteous, loving, merciful, gracious, just, pure, and patient; His children, Christians are to live like Him rather than like those around them in the world.

“All your conduct” really means all of your life. There isn’t any part of your life that operates by the same rules as before your salvation. For those who grow up in Christian homes, this is still true in your heart, but you were likely raised to do things that God wants you to do, possibly even in ways that He wants you to do them.

But, the truth is still the same. Christians are called to live according to God’s holiness, and that means living differently that those in the world who don’t know Christ.

Peter tells us to set our hope on the grace of God that is coming when Christ returns

He tells us to be holy in all of our lives

And, now he teaches us that we are to live with a measure of fear because God sees and knows everything that we do or don’t do.

1 Peter 1:17-19 (ESV)

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Christians live their remaining days here on earth with the final judgment of God in mind.

Peter continues to call to mind the return of Christ. He does this by telling us to set our hope on the grace of God that is coming when Christ returns. He does this by calling us here to live with not just the end in mind- like what will people say about me when I am gone. But, what will God say to me when He comes back and takes me home?

I have a feeling that this seems different to many of us because we are prone to focus our attention on how we responded to the work of Christ on the cross… and Peter does that too. But, its possible that we have emphasized the time when God saved us to the point that we have neglected the truth that Genuine faith reveals itself through the way you live your life. (Or works)

To help us keep in mind the way we live between now and when Jesus comes back, Peter says, if you call on him as father, then you will conduct yourself with a healthy fear of His judgment in the end.

We need to recover our fear of the Lord, and be reminded that God will not play favorites in the end, he will only judge according to the blood of Jesus Christ.

God’s judgement on your life depends totally on the work of Christ on the cross.

Peter says that Christians live with a real reverence and fear of the Lord, but they do so with the reality of their ransom in mind.

Through the cross Jesus has saved us. Like the people of Israel in Egypt, waiting ready for the Lord to free them God says that those who are saved are saved by the blood of Jesus, like the Israelites were saved by the blood of the lamb.

The blood from the lamb was painted on the outside door frame to their homes. And, the Lord sent His angel through Egypt and every home that had the blood of an unblemished lamb on the door were spared the death of their first born son.

Peter reminds us that like the Egyptians we have been ransomed by blood of the lamb, and as a result the way we live from that moment forward is different than without Christ.

And in case there was any doubt as to the source of our salvation, Peter continues to strengthen the case for salvation through Jesus with the truth that

God’s plan was to save us through Jesus before the events in Genesis 1 happened.

1 Peter 1:20-21 (ESV)

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

God’s plan was to save us through Jesus before the events in Genesis 1 happened.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Things we need to remember and reflect on:

Genuine faith reveals itself through the way you live your life.

Back to verse 17… “And if…” this is an encouragement and a warning.

Does your life resemble the life of someone who has been ransomed by the blood of Jesus?

Does your life resemble the difference and set apartness of God?

Do you live with your hope set on the grace of God that you will receive in the end? Or do you live with your hope set on the grace of God way back when… and your life doesn’t ever look like you really trust the Lord?

The difference between Believing in God and believing God.

Faithfulness flows from faith, and is rooted in grace

Jesus loves you