Be Holy (2)

Introduction

This week, Blake and I had the privilege of sitting down with a former college friend of his who was currently serving in the IMB. Out of respect, I won’t mention his name. He is serving in the amazon region of Peru, seeking to reach an indigenous people group, native to the country and protected by it. *Picture

This two tribes live like they originally did when they settled in that region. If you know the story of Jim Elliot, this is the type of tribe he is seeking to reach.

As we were discussing his strategy and telling stories of his efforts, including one of his partners recently being shot with an arrow, we watched the film taken by the game cameras they placed on their base camp outside of the tribe. They would regularly come raid the base when they were gone.

Watching the footage of them attempt to use an axe they found for the first time or jokingly wear the clothes of the missionaries they found was fascinating

We live in a world where we rarely, if at all, consider the fact that there are people out there who are 300-600 years behind we are. Watching this reopened my eyes to the reality of the lostness in our world.

While listening and watching, to wonder in my mind… “If I loved there, how would I engage these people?”

This passage in 1 Peter gives us our approach to reaching these people. Actually, it is our approach to life that translates our efforts for any culture or any context we find ourselves in!

Right now, we are in a climate where culture wants to cast us into the fringes.

The bottom line is this, as believers, we are not individuals who identify with cultural subgroups or parties.

We identify with Christ. because we identify with Christ, we are to care about the things He cared about, obey the things He commanded to us, and love the things He loved.

We are to BE like Christ.

This is not a matter of what we are to do, but a matter of who we are to be.

Peter’s truths, though written in love, with hurt. As described by a friend of mine, it’s like walking the right path to a particular destination made of nails and needles. It may hurt. But these truths are to refine us, to direct us, and to remind us of our calling and position in this world.

We are, according to Peter, elect exiles in this world.

1 Peter 1:13–21 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. 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.” 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. 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.

Peter encourages us to “set our hope” on the grace that comes through Jesus…

Hope is a choice.

God has designed us with the intellectual ability to choose what we set our minds and sight on.

We are to…

Be Hopeful

This passage is really a call to action!

When confronting the persuasion and temptation of this world, we have the ability to choose where we place our hope.

All of us, in times of sorrow, anger, frustration, and pain, look for a savior from the scenario we find ourselves in.

Our hope, when set on education, seeking peace, and raising successful children, or the attaining of wealth although they are good, will never deliver us from our current hardship.

We do it all the time, we make particulars in our life a functional savior and it fails us every time.

For the sake of our current season and a relative conversation, I can’t lose the opportunity to address a real ideology that is assumed by many as one that can save.

There is not a man or woman in this world, no matter their level of wealth, intelligence, historical accomplishments, or even charitable efforts, that will save us and fix the welfare of our broken world and everything in it.

I am disheartened by members of churches who vocalize a dependency upon a national or political figure, positioning them in the seat of savior, under the assumption that in their entirety, not only are they completely for us, but that they are capable to completely deliver us.

In fact, I am growing in a desire for those in our church to look at every figure and take a deep breath when conveying our culture and begin to realize, wait… I don’t belong anywhere…

There are two types of people in our culture today.

There are people who want the kingdom without the King

There are people who want the King without the kingdom.

And then there are God’s people, who want it all.

Let’s be a people who desire our nation and neighborhoods to experience, first, the glorious riches found in only Christ!

So how do we do that? By…

We are able to navigate this culture by CHOOSING to place our hope in THE savior of the world.

We aren’t waiting for one to come, we are placing our hope in the one who has come and will come again!

Paul puts it beautifully.

Philippians 4:8 ESV

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Church family, if we are going to be transformed by the work of Christ, and we desire to navigate our culture without compromising our purpose and identity, we must CHOOSE to place our hope in Jesus!

This is what makes our faith different from other religions!

“While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life’s joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers it’s people to sit in the midst of this world’s sorrows, tasting the coming joy.” (Tim Keller)

How do we exactly choose hope in Jesus? How do we “set our hope” on Him?

Peter says that we prepare our minds for action by being “sober-minded.”

Setting your hope fully on Jesus requires renewed thinking and mental preparation!

To be sober in our thinking, we need not to be drunk on the priorities and promises of the world.

Exchange your mornings watching the news for times of scripture reading and prayer.

Stop spending your money on entertainment and endless temporal experiences and invest in matters that are eternal like supporting gospel efforts and caring for the poor.

Stop being more concerned with the preferences of your desired church and instead be motivated to meet the guest or member you’ve walked bye the past five weeks in a row!

We choose what we think about. We choose to think about Christ.

A changed mind will change actions.

Now here is the key, the only reason we are able to place our hope in Jesus is because we can be confident in what He did, is doing- ruling now, and will do when He returns.

This whole plan of redemption is much bigger than just you.

There isn’t a desire to be made Holy just to secure our eternal life, but to be used in God’s plan to redeem the entirety of this world- something ONLY He can do!

So then…

Be Confident

Be confident in this- that God’s ways are the best ways.

When Peter says, “Be holy for He is Holy,” he is not referring to a type of holiness that is merely positional- a position we take before God post salvation.

He is referring to a type of holiness that is transformational.

The Bible has definitive moral boundaries for us that it does not apologize for.

Just because God has an expected way of life for us doesn’t mean our faith is centered around legalism or moralism.

We don’t obey to be saved.

We obey because we have been saved. We obey out of the acknowledgment that our salvation enables us to experience a transformed life, one that makes a redeemed life a reality.

We get uncomfortable when discussing this because “God forbid we become Holier than thou.”

In our effort to “be real” or “be vulnerable”

Which by the way we often use as an excuse to permiss or even celebrate sinful behaviors…

we choke ourselves from receiving a life giving hydration that flows from our pursuit of holiness!

Boundaries are not to keep us from what is good, they are to protect us from what is bad.

Listen, every law or commandment given in the Bible is about leading you into Joy. We obey, we find joy. We disobey, we find sorrow and hopelessness.

For example- God’s sexual ethic- That there is man and women, that marriage is created for a man and a woman only…

It is not out of date! It is created to protect us from the destructive structural desires of this world!

If we want to wage war against God’s design, we can… but we will lose EVERY time.

Have confidence in the life given to us through our saving faith in Jesus!

Hebrews 10:19–23 ESV

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Spurgeon has a great quote on this… He says…

“Confidence is the lever that lifts us to the heights of faith.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Peter, like I said before, continues the passage with a hard reality that sheds light on a truth we often forget but should always remember.

1 Peter 1:17 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,

We are to be hopeful, be confident, but also… Be fearful.

(Reverent is a good supplement for fearful too)

Be Fearful

Proverbs 9:10 ESV

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

This isn’t a shock fear that cripples.

This fear is the acknowledgement that God will judge His children by the evidence of our devotion to Him in our life.

The reality of this judgment should cause us to be slow to consider…

There is not a person in the church or outside of it who’s evidence of good and righteous living will outweigh their evidence of sinful and rebellious living.

Listen- this fear of the Lord is not a fear that contradicts our confidence…

*Driving illustration

Our acknowledgment of His holiness should drive our conviction to be Holy.

Listen to this freeing truth…

God is a saving God because He is a judging God.

We see in Acts that the early church operated out of this fear and God was dramatically building His church through them..

Acts 9:31 ESV

31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Some of us are crippled in our pursuit of holiness because our fear of people surpass our fear of the Lord.

To that I say this…

It’s time you stop sitting under the shade of trees that do not bear fruit.

The reality of the gospel is the primary motivation for our pursuit of spiritual transformation.

The consequence of a life filled with habitual sin is death and eternal separation from God.

I am asking that you would consider your life. Consider your pursuit of holiness. Cast away the temporal and false saviors offered by this world.

Set your eyes on THE savior of the world.

The one who has come, who lives within us, and the one who is to come.

The ONE true God.

Trust His plans. Lean into His promises. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

To be hopeful, confident, and fearful is… to be Holy.

Seek to be holy.

Let’s bow our heads in our time of invitation.