1 Peter 1:13-21

Holiness is central

This morning we are going to dive into 1 peter 1:13-21. A few months back when I preached I spoke on 1 peter 1: 1-12 and we saw who peter was writing to that was experiencing harsh persecution. We saw a call for hope in suffering the hope being the new birth. Today I want to continue in 1 peter and we will see in this section peter is seeing that because of this living hope we currently have and that we are looking forward this will change how we live life, how we relate to others and how we relate with God.

Excerpt soul talk larry crabb

IT’S TRUE AT EVERY LEVEL OF SOCIETY, in every culture. Whether you’re at the top of the money ladder, hovering near the bottom, or struggling to stay on a middle rung; whether you’re a successful pastor instructing seminary students or an unheralded missionary barely surviving on dwindling support; whether you’re a face-lifted, tummy-tucked socialite deciding which of your clubs to dine at tonight or a schoolteacher brown-bagging it in the cramped faculty lounge; it’s all the same.

Most people go through their entire life never speaking words to another human being that come out of what is deepest within them, and most people never hear words that reach all the way into that deep place we call the soul.

Behind bedroom doors and boardroom doors, in church staff meetings and small groups, on golf carts breezing along to the next tee box and on church leadership retreats convened to discuss vision and budgets and facility needs, in cars carrying excited kids to Disney World and in planes carrying Christian conference junkies to the next big event, it’s all the same. We chat, argue, plan, gossip, pray, flatter, lie, maneuver, preach, and tell stories no one listens to about old friends who retired or divorced or got sick. We say, “Wonderful to see you” to people we wish would go away; we discuss world problems, debate religious issues, despair over declining culture, debunk diet fads, divulge confidences that draw us artificially closer to our confidants, and distract ourselves with details about Tiger Woods’s latest heroics on the golf course or Kevin Costner’s latest box office flop. In therapists’ offices or pastors’ studies, sometimes on back decks while steaks sizzle on the grill, we quietly reveal sexual struggles, emotional struggles, job struggles, spiritual struggles, money struggles. And the same thing happens all the time. We almost never speak words that are formed in the center of our soul and pour out from our very being with power and a sense of life. And we almost never hear words that stir life within us, that pour hope into those empty spaces deep inside filled only with fear and fury and frustration.

This is an interesting excerpt regarding holiness...

Actually it has nothing to do with the topic of holiness other then when we are truly affected by holiness we are affected at the deepest levels that go beyond superficial.

When we are being transformed by holiness we also cause other’s to be transformed and it requires it to go much deeper then what we are experiencing.

When we think of holiness we often think of it as a relationship to morality

Your Holier then thou… An attribute of living a morally good life we would call holy… But its got to be much more!

The theme of holiness

Moses and the burning bush

temple the holy of holies

Isaiah’s vision burning coal to lips

Ezekiel vision of the temple dripping water expanding out into a river through the desert into the dead sea leaving a trail of living things.

The Idea of Holiness is extended with mercy where instead of being death being transferred unto the holy holiness is being transferred unto death transforming into life.

The believer’s hope (v. 13)

Revelation Of Jesus Christ (v. 13)

Reminder of Prior Sinful Living (v. 14)

A Call to holiness (v. 15-17)

Reminder of Prior Sinful Living (v. 18-19)

Revelation of Jesus christ (v. 20)

The believer’s hope (v. 21)

Holiness Begins and Ends With Hope

1 Peter 1:13 “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.”

1 Peter 1:21 “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.”

The revelation of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 1:13 “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.”

1 Peter 1:20 “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you”

A Reminder Of Prior Sinful Living

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

1 Peter 1:18–19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Holiness

1 Peter 1:15–17 ESV

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.” 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 called to holiness based upon God’s character

Holiness is a divine attribute. God is pure, there is no sin, evil or darkness in God. God does what is consistent with his nature, and we do what is consistent with our nature. we sin, therefore we need a new nature

The very essence of holiness is the idea of being set apart.

But it so much more! We are given a new nature

2 Peter 1:3–4 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

In these verses from 2 peter, holy living is possible through participation “in the divine nature,” including a transformation of the ordinary, sinful nature.

The believers to whom peter writes are being “sanctified” and have experienced a “new birth”.

Holiness is conforming to the ways of God rather than the ways of the prevailing culture.

Is God waiting for you to shape up and be holy like Him or is He moving towards you so He can heal and transform you.

How must we measure holiness? Quantitative or qualitative

Is it a list of do’s and don’t’s.

Or is it the condition of our hearts.

How Does changing our nature affect how we live an authentic life with God and with one another?

Has God’s holiness affected how you speak into another person’s life

Can you name a time when God’s holy presence brought you life, healing, or hope