Action and Holiness.

Opening:

Good-morning again. It is a fearful honor to be able to read and preach the Word of God on the Lord’s Day.

Introduction of the Passage:

This morning we are continuing on in our study of Peter’s first epistle. We will be in 1 Peter 1:13-16. This morning I will be preaching out of the ESV. So if it slightly different from your version, that is why. While you are turning there, I want to remind you of a few things.

First, Peter is writing this letter to the church as a whole. They had been scattered due to persecution. Peter is reminding and encourage them of the beauty of their salvation in Christ. He is also writing to call them to holy living.

Second, I want to remind you of what we have covered. Peter went into great detail about the joy that salvation brings. He reminded them they were born again to a living hope. He told them of the inheritance that awaits all believers. An inheritance that will never fade or be corrupted. Peter also went into great detail about the wonder that the grace of God has been revealed. So with this in mind...

Reading of the Passage:

Would you stand with me, if you able, for the reading of God’s Word.

1 Peter 1:13–16 “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. 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.””

Behold, the Word of God. Let’s Pray.

Prayer:

Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for the wonderful honor it is to be able to gather and read your Word together. Thank you, Lord, for this wonder. May we never take it for granted. Please open our hearts and minds to receive your Word and obey it. May live in light of your Words and may we conform all our actions to your Word. We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Introduction/ Opening Illustration:

Need:

We are all sinners. And sin has affected every part of us. It has affected our minds, our hearts, our desires, and our actions.

Text Idea:

Peter in this passage is commanding the church to be clear and deep thinkers with hope in Christ, not conformed to their lusts and passions, but holy because God is holy.

Sermon Idea:

In the same way, we are commanded to be clear and deep thinkers with hope in Christ, not conformed to our lusts and passions, but holy because God is holy.

Interrogative:

How does this play out?

Transition:

Let’s dive into this text and see. First, we see we are called to “Clear Thinking Faith.”

Point 1: Clear Thinking Faith.

1 Peter 1:13 “13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded...”

Explanation:

This passage opens with the word “Therefore.” This is a connecting word. Peter is saying, “In light of the beauty and wonder of the gospel which saves you, do the following.” So what are we to do?

The actual wording of this in the Greek is “Gird up the loins of your mind for action.” Now this may be a rather confusing statement to us in the twenty-first century, but in the ancient world, this would have made perfect sense. In the ancient world everyone wore tunics that covered their bodies and legs. As any woman who has worn a close cut long dress, it is hard to move quickly or with agility in this type of clothing. So what the ancients did when they had to move quickly or work hard was to hike up the tunic to be above their knees and then they would bind the fabric with a thick belt around their waste. This was called “girding up their loins.”

It was a common military term as well. Before soldiers would go into battle, they would pull up their tunics and gird up their loins. This is a common picture within Scripture. We must not forget that Christianity is an active religion. We are not at peace, but at war. And therefore, we must be ready at all times for action.

Jesus says in Luke 12:35 “35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,”

Paul famously says in Ephesians 6:14 “14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,”

This is a common picture. It is a call to action. Specifically, Peter is commanding the church to prepare their minds for action. They are to be ready for war and battle in their minds. Peter also calls them to be sober-minded. He is not just talking about avoiding physical drunkenness. Peter is calling them to a clarity of mind. He repeats this idea in 1 Peter 5:8 “8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Paul has a similar sentiment in 1 Thessalonians 5:6 “6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”

This is a command to be clear headed. It literally means to be “self controlled.” They are to be self controlled in their minds. Peter is commanding the church to be clear headed, deep thinkers.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

And this is very antithetical to our current day. The modern church almost has a hatred for true deep thought. The modern church has an obsession with feelings, but a disdain for thought. We view deep theological thought as divisive or even legalistic. But this is very important, Christians do not have a thoughtless faith.

Christians Do Not Have a Thoughtless Faith.

We are called to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” in Matt 22:37. The Christian faith is to be of clear headed-ness. We are not to be mindless in our faith. In fact, faith is too often thought of as belief in spite of reason. But the opposite is true. Faith is based on clear thought and reason. We do not have a blind faith. We have a clear and deep thinking faith. Logic is one of the attributes of God. He is by nature logically consistent.

The church of God must hear this command from the Word of God and obey it. Think deeply. Be ready in your mind for action. Know the faith. Study it. Do not be dull in your thinking about Christ.

Transition:

And this deep thought is based on something. Peter commands to set your hope on Christ’s return.

Point 2: Set Your Hope on Christ’s Return.

1 Peter 1:13 “...set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Explanation:

You see, if you are trusting in Christ, you are currently saved. In this sense, we have received the grace of God, past tense.

But we also are constantly receiving more and more of the grace of God. We experience the grace of God all the time. Specifically, think of this very service. Every time we gather, we experience the means of grace. We experience the grace of God as we sing praise to Him. We experience the grace of God whenever we read the Word together, or hear it preached. We are actively experiencing the covenantal grace of God whenever we take the Lord’s Supper together. These are palpable expressions of God’s grace. In this sense, God is always bringing the grace of God to us more and more fully each Lord’s Day.

But there is another sense in which the Grace that God gives us is only ever in part. The full measure of God’s grace to us will be poured out when Christ returns. That is the fulness of God’s grace.

I often like to say, “We have been saved. We are being saved. We will one day be saved.” If you are trusting in Christ, you have been saved, past tense. There was a moment where you went from being lost to being saved. Christ redeemed you. You were saved there and then. But if you are a Christian, you are being saved. The Holy Spirit, living within you is sanctifying you every day. Every day, you are being saved. Salvation is working it’s way into every crack of your old bones, bringing ever cell to life for God’s glory. And one day, beloved, we will be saved. Someday, you will die and be taken to glory or Christ will return. One day, our salvation will be complete. Christ will return and all will be done. Salvation completed. And that is our hope.

Hope is Not Uncertainty, But Certainty.

And I want to clarify something. When the Scriptures say “hope,” they do not mean them like we so often do. So often we say “I hope this or that would happen.” We say it when we are unsure. “I think it might rain today.” “I hope so.”

In the Scriptures, the word hope is used for things that are absolutely certain. This is why Hebrews 6:19 says “19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,” This hope is not a “maybe this will happen.” This hope is “I know for certain this will happen and it gives me hope!”

Let me quote from one author. What is our confidence and certainty? “It is faith looking to the future with the full assurance that God will do what He promises He will do.” R.C. Sproul

Illustration:

Argumentation:

Our hope is that God will do what He promises to do. We are to have our minds ready for action, with certain hope that God will do what He has promised. When Christ returns as He promised, He is bringing the fulness of our grace and salvation. He is bringing the inheritance He promised to us. He is bringing the restoration and salvation of all things. All will be remade, restored, and completed. That is our hope.

Transition:

Peter commands to think clearly, ready for action, with our hope on the promise of God. And he commands, do not conform to your sinful lusts.

Point 3: Do Not Conform to Your Sinful Lusts.

1 Peter 1:14 “14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,”

Explanation:

Peter tells the church to be clear and deep thinkers and not be conformed to their sinful lusts. They are to be obedient children. Christians are the adopted children of God. Through Christ, all Christians are children of God. In a sense, Peter is simply telling the children of God to obey their Father. Specifically, do not conform to the passions of their former lostness.

They are not to follow their own former desires and passions. They are children of God and must act like it. They are no longer to worship pagan gods, lie and cheat to make money, commit sexual immorality, or any of the like. That life was nailed to the cross. They must not conform to those desires and lusts any longer. They will still sin and struggle with temptation, but they are no longer to live like the world.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

This command is still true for us. If you are trusting in Christ, then you are a child of God. Be an obedient child. Do not conform to the lusts and passions of the World. In our day, you will be bombarded with the slogan “follow your heart,” “Be true to yourself.” Those are the creeds of our culture. But this is an evil lie. Do not follow your desires. Do not follow you base lusts and passions. Do not live like the world.

Do not follow your heart. That is the most destructive and deadly advice you could ever receive. I assure you, every person in prison was merely following their heart. They were all being true to themselves. Do you ever look at the state of our culture and wonder, “How did it get here?” How did we ever get confused about what a man or woman is? How is it that we have justified the murder of millions of innocent children? How did we get to such a horrific state in our culture? Several reasons, but I assure you, a big reason is that we as a culture have been following our hearts and been true to ourselves. But the Christian life is one of non-conformity. The command here is to be nonconformists.

Be Nonconformists.

We are not to conform to the ethics of the world. We are not to look at the world, its thinking, its morals, its way of life and base our lives and actions around that. We are to base our ethic on what God has said. As R.C. Sproul once said, “We are to practice the ethic of God rather than the ethic of this world.”

Transition:

And this leads to a very central point. Your god is what sets your ethic. What do I mean? You become like what you worship. Look again with me at verses 15-16.

Point 4: You Become Like What Your Worship.

1 Peter 1:15–16 “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.””

Explanation:

Peter is commanding the church to be holy. But this is not a baseless holiness. They are not to live holy lives just because. They are to live holy lives because God is holy. Their holiness is based on God’s holiness. And Scripture is filled with this command. Peter is actually quoting here from several passages in Leviticus.

This is a Very Common Command in Scripture.

Leviticus 11:44 “44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy...”

Leviticus 19:1–2 “1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Leviticus 20:7–8 “7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”

But it is not just in the Old Testament. Jesus Himself says this in Matthew 5:48 “48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

All over Scripture we are commanded to be holy because God is holy.

Illustration:

Argumentation:

But what does this phrase mean exactly. It means just what one pastor I greatly respect once said. “You become like what you worship.” Douglas Wilson. Whatever it is that you worship, that is what your life looks like. If you worship Moloch who demands you burn your children on his altar, you can bet you will begin to devalue the life of children. If you worship the false Greek gods who revel in gluttony and sexual immorality, you can bet that you will begin to practice those vises as well. The list goes on and on. Whatever your god is, that is where your ethic for life comes from. Whatever has the final say in your life is your god.

Whatever Has the Final Say in Your Life is Your God.

Or to put it another way, your god is whatever gets to tell you what to do and how to live. And by necessity, that shapes how you live. It shapes how you think, what you say, what you do, what you don’t do. And some people say, “well I’m an atheist. No god can tell me what I will or won’t do. I only do what I want to do.” To them I would say that they just told you who their god is. It is the god of self.

And that is what we see in our culture. There are many gods in our age. We just don’t call them gods. But do not be mistaken, we serve many gods here. But the chief god of our culture is a slimy and deceptive being. He can take many different forms, appearing in whatever form would deceive his victim most easily. This demon god goes by many names, but I believe the most accurate name for him is “Personal Autonomy.”

This false god is offered almost complete allegiance in our culture. And no one dares blaspheme this serpent. His reign is upheld in the hearts of men, women, and children. It is even upheld in many cases by the state. It is rapidly becoming the state religion, if it not already there. Where the Roman empire in the early church enforced worship of the emperor and other false gods, our culture enforces worship of “Personal Autonomy.”

Gluttony, lies, murder, sexual immorality of all kinds, and more evil actions are all undertaken in worship of this false god. As I alluded to earlier, the creed of our culture is “Follow your heart,” or “be true to yourself.” These are the creeds of this false god. And that is because this god is the god of self. The god of self service. The god of self love. The god of self pleasure. That is the principle problem of our culture. We are not worshipping the one true and living God. We are not obeying the God of the Bible. And we become like what we worship. If you are confused as to how our culture has become so wicked and evil, it is because it is becoming like it’s god. The more it worships self, the more it becomes just as ugly and hideous as its god.

And this may raise the question, “Pastor, why are you telling us this. That is the culture. That is what happens outside these doors. What does that matter to us?” Well, it matters to us firstly because God is the one true God. Jesus is King. He is Lord of all. He not just Lord in this room. He is Lord over all. He has all authority in Heaven and on Earth. But also, because it is so easy to be influenced by the culture. It is so easy to be molded and shaped by what surrounds us. I see it in my own life constantly. If I am not on guard, with my mind set for action, I find myself thinking exactly how the culture has trained me to think. I think about what I want rather than what God wants, what I desire rather than what God desires, what would satisfy my own identity. Too often it is all about me and satisfying myself rather than satisfying what God wants. It is such a slippery slope. And I want to, in love for you, warn you about the dangers out there. If you love someone, you warn them of danger. So I am warning you that idolatry is easy. It is easy to just assume the way of thinking of our culture. But we must be on guard. We must set our minds ready for war. We must be sober and self controlled, not conforming to our lusts or the lusts of our culture. We are to be holy because our God is the Holy God. He is the one true God.

And this is where we must examine our own hearts. We must ask ourselves the really hard question. What do I worship? Let me get extremely practical. Is there anyone or anything I would obey before God?

Is There Anyone or Anything I Would Obey Before God?

Do I seek first to obey God? Or am I serving anything else? Am I being holy because God is holy? Or am I becoming like something else? We all must constantly examine our own hearts and minds. Idolatry is so easy to fall into without even knowing it. You and I must always be on guard. We must always have our minds sober and ready for war, because we are at war. We must be ready. Gird up the loins of your mind. Attack is coming. War for your hearts and minds is upon us. War for the hearts and minds of your children is here. The enemy is coming for them. False gods, sinful passions, evil is coming for you and your families. Are your minds ready? What is our defense?

Our defense is found only in Christ. How can we be on guard against these evils that seek to ensnare us? Who do you worship. Who do you obey? Who has final say in your life? Is there anyone or anything who could get you to disobey God?

We are called to be holy. But this holiness is not arbitrary. It does not just happen. And it is not something we can muster up in ourselves. This is not just a “try harder” principle. Do you want to be holy? Then worship the one who is holy. Love Him. See the beauty of the gospel and then obey Him. He is God. He is Lord. He is life.

Transition:

Conclusion:

We are to be clear and deep thinkers with hope in Christ, not conformed to our lusts and passions, but holy because God is holy.

Visualization:

I pray you see the need for this in our day. The need for clear thinking Christians has never been higher than it is right now.

Reiteration:

We must think clearly and deeply, ready for the spiritual war we are in. We must set our hope on the grace of Christ. We must not be conformed to our sinful lusts and passions. And we must be holy and worship the one who is holy, holy, holy.

Application:

This ought to change our lives. This has to impact the lives of each one of us, myself included. This must be put into action.

Principle Action:

First I must ask you, are you saved? Are you trusting in Christ for salvation? OR are you trusting in anything else? I cannot see your hearts. I cannot see if you are saved or not. So I must ask this. Have you repented of your sins and trusted in Christ? If you have never done this, I beg you to do so today. Trust it Christ. Believe that He died in your place. Confess to Him that you are a sinner. Turn away from your sin. Turn to the savior. If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that He has risen from the dead, you WILL be saved. This is our hope. You can be saved today. Call out to Him for salvation. Be forgiven and freed from your sins.

Action 1: Prepare Your Minds for Action.

But we as Christians must prepare our minds for action. We are in a real Spiritual war. And we must think like it. We must reject the idea that Christianity is merely a feeling religion. Don’t get me wrong, our faith does affect our feelings. But it also affects our minds. And we must take our minds captive for Christ. We must ponder our faith. We must be willing to think long and hard. We must be clear headed and ready for the battle. We must always be on guard. As the Scriptures say, we must take every thought captive. The world and your own sinful flesh will attempt to take your mind captive. But you must set the banner of Christ as victorious on the battlefield of your mind. You must boldly declare, “Christ is King over my mind!” And then go to war with any contrary way of thinking.

Be clear headed and thoughtful. Do not be dull in your faithful thinking. Study the faith. Study the apologetics or defenses of our faith. Learn what God has said. Study it. But that is not all.

Action 2: Set Your Hope in the Grace at Christ’s Return.

We must see the grace God has given us. We must see the grace God continues to give us. And we must set our hope on the grace coming. We must place our hope on the promises of God. He is faithful. He is trustworthy.

Someday, Christ will return and grace will be seen in full. He will set all things right. He will finally slay that last enemy, death. But in the meantime, there are still enemies within all our hearts.

Action 3: Do Not Conform to Your Sinful Lusts.

And this is why we must not conform to our own sinful lusts. We must obey God, not our own hearts. And this is so challenging. It is becoming more and more challenging. More and more the lie following your heart is preached and believed. I love you enough to tell you the truth. Often what you desire is not good. You are not what you feel. Your identity is not found in your feelings. Your identity is found in who God says you are.

Action 4: Live Holy Lives Because Your God is Holy.

And we must live holy lives because our God is holy. We must worship God as holy. And part of that worship is obedience. We must obey God as holy. God is the one who gets to command us. He gets to tell us what to do. He is God, we are not. And we are to be holy because He is holy. And as we submit to Him, He makes us more and more holy. He sanctifies us. That means He makes us day by day more and more like Christ.

Appeal:

This is my prayer for you. All week I have been in prayer for you. And I pray that you will head this text. Prepare your minds for action. Set your hope in Christ. Do not conform to sinful lusts. And be holy, because your God is holy. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer:

Oh God, this text is so convicting. I know, I have been convicted by it all week. So often we are slow in our thinking. We are too often not thoughtful people. We are clouded in our minds. We ask that you would help us to think well. May we, by your Spirit, think deeply and clearly. We know we are in a real war. And that is discouraging at times. But help us to see the hope you have promised us and that you will bring. Let us be encouraged by this hope, Lord. May we be firm in it.

Lord, we confess that we are still sinners. We struggle with sinful desires and passions. Our sinful flesh desires to conform to the world. But we long to be holy and to lead holy lives. Help us, Lord. Help us to not conform to the sinful passions we struggle with. Make us holy. Lord, as we look into your incredible holiness, may it cause us to live holy lives. Make us holy as we worship you.

We ask this, not in our own strength, but in the name of Jesus, amen.

Offering:

Offertory Prayer:

Oh Lord, you have blessed us so richly. It is our joy to give back to you from what you have given us. May you bless this offering. May it be used by you to bring glory to your name. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Benediction:

I leave you with this encouragement this morning from the Apostle Paul, Philippians 1:6 “6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Go now in the hope of the Lord who is coming again.