Called To Be Holy

Last week we began to look at our call to be different. The Christian is changed in the moment that they come to salvation. The Holy Spirit comes into your life, indwells you, and your life and your afterlife is changed forever. You know the change in your afterlife right… for the true believer, you are no longer separated from God, but will be joined with him when you leave this life. That is the change in your afterlife. But there should be a change in your life, now. You should be different. Different from who your were before, and different from the unbelievers and the world you live in.

Why? Because remember what we read lat week from Peter, he said that we the believers, are living in a temporary place. This is not your home. You may be Nigerian by birth, but as a believer in Jesus Christ, this is not your home. And we need to get this in our mind. So this morning, lets continue to see what Peter says about being different.

>>>>CORNERSTONE CREED: What We Believe As a Church

Open your Bibles to 1 Peter 1 We talked last week that 1 Peter and 2 Peter were letters. Who did he write to? Peter was writing to believers that were far away from where he was. It would have taken him 10 days to walk to them and see them face to face, so he wrote a letter that was carried to them. This letter was an encouragement for those believers who were trying to live the Christian life away from the church in Jerusalem.

So first I want you to see what he says to them in the opening part of this letter or as we call it an epistle.

1 Peter 1:3–5 NLT

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

Before we get to our text today, you need to understand these two words. Because these two words will show you WHY. Why we should be different.

See the two words: Priceless Inheritance. What is that? Let’s break it into two parts. First the word priceless. This means that it is so special, that no matter of money can get it. Dangote, the richest man in Africa, could not buy this. Even though he is worth over 10 trillion naira. Why? because it is priceless. It can’t be bought. Do you remember the man, Simon. He was a majic man who saw what the apostles were doing, they were performing miracles and healing the sick and he wanted to do that.

Acts 8:18–20 NLT

18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given when the apostles laid their hands on people, he offered them money to buy this power. 19 “Let me have this power, too,” he exclaimed, “so that when I lay my hands on people, they will receive the Holy Spirit!” 20 But Peter replied, “May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God’s gift can be bought!

The power that was given to those apostles to heal and to impart the Holy Spirit on them was priceless. It can’t be bought.

Now look at this second word: Inheritance. An inheritance is something that is given because of who you are. One day, my mother will pass, and when she has died, me, and my two brothers will receive the things that were hers. Maybe a house, maybe money…I don’t know. But the only reason I am receiving this inheritance is because of who I am… her child.

So Peter says that because of who you are, you need to be different because of a priceless inheritance that has been given to you.

What is this priceless inheritance? Look at verse 5

1 Peter 1:5 NLT

5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this SALVATION, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

Salvation is your priceless inheritance. Salvation is the gift that you have been given. It is a gift that the believer has accepted. A gift that will bring them into the prescnece of God is heaven one, and enables you to live an abundant life here on earth until that day.

But you may say, Dad, this verse talks about Salvation on the LAST DAY. The last day, isn’t that the end of someone life or when they enter heaven? Yes. But you need to remember that salvation begins the moment you give your life to Christ, but the salvation comes to a point when we step into the presence of God.

So, from the time of your giving you life to Christ, until you meet him in heaven…. you should be different…from the world that you live in.

Let’s get to our text today

1 Peter 1:13–16 NLT

13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

There it is… a plan for you and me to be different. Look at verse 13.

1 Peter 1:13 NLT

13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.

Prepare your minds for action. How can we prepare our minds for action? What this is saying is that we need to be ready. We can’t wait for a challenge and then act… we need to be ready before them time comes. Let me give you an example. Every month, we receive an amount of money from America to care for all of the people at A Place of Hope. That money pays for all the meals, the school fees, the staff salaries, the teacher salaries, fuel in the gen, NEPA, barbing of yoru hair…. everything that costs, comes from the bank account in America. So every month I send for all of the money that is will cost to take care of everything for the next month, and it could take two or three days to get to Nigeria. Are you getting me? So, on February 1, the money for the entire month of February, needs to be here…in Naria. It comes in the dollar and we exchange it to naira, but sometimes it takes two or three days.

So, do you think, that I could wake up on the morning of February 1 and think, wait I need to buy food for the kids to eat. But I haven’t called to get the money sent from America yet. So I need to call for them to send the money so the kids can eat. But if I wait until the first day of the month, then I will not have it in naira until maybe the 4th or 5th of the month. That means that no food, no fuel, no naira for 4 or 5 days. Would that be good? No.

So how do I make sure that does not happen. I prepare. I think ahead. I know that by the 22nd of the month I need to start the process of get the money here. Then getting it changed from dollar to naira, and then I will have the naira by the first of the month to make sure that the meal on the morning of the first of them month will be on the table.

How can you be different, living a life for Christ in this world? Prepare ahead of time for action. By setting your heart and mind in Christ through time with him in prayer and holding onto the Word of God, you can be prepared to be different.

But he also says exercise self-control. This world and the enemy, Satan, does not want you to exercise self control. This world wants you to do what you want, be who you want to be, and take what you want to take. Selfishness. But God says, to be in me, you are not of this world, this is not your world. And you will need to take a stand. You will need to say, no, i will not talk about those things with my friends. No, I will not go to those places. No, I will not take something that is not mine. When you exercise self-control, you resist the things that are against God, and stand up for what he wants of his children. You are different from the unbelievers who have no self control.

Why do we prepare our minds for action ahead of time and practise self control? Because we know what lies before us as followers of Jesus Christ: We have hope in the gracious salvation.

We prepare our minds because of the hope of salvation that is before us. We practice self control because of the hope of salvation that is before us.

That should be our focus!! Not money, fame, or our own selfish desires. Our focus is Him, and the hope that is before us.

Look at verse 14.

1 Peter 1:14 NLT

14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.

Before you came to Christ, you lived like you wanted to. Your life was all about you…but now, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you know better. Peter is reminding them of this because it seems that they had been slipping back into the life they had before they came to Jesus.

Now look at verse 15

1 Peter 1:15 NLT

15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.

This is one of the keys to being different, living a life different than the world. Peter told those people that they should be holy.

Be holy. What does that mean. Be Holy = To be set apart

To be holy means that you are different. Jesus has made you different. Jesus has changed you. When salvation came to you and the Holy Spirit came into you…you became different. And that difference needs to be reflected in the way you live here in Opi. But holiness doesn’t just happen. Holiness is like a muscle. To build a muscle, you need to exercise. To be holy, set apart for Jesus, means that you train daily. I watch those futballers on TV, you know, Messi, Ronaldo, Salah, do you think they are great because they were born that way? Do they have the talent and ability because they are born that way? No, they train, they work hard. They don’t eat foods that are not good for them. They don’t stay out late when they have a match the next day. They set themselves apart from the things their friends might do, to become different, to become a great footballer.

The same is true for you and me. We must set ourselves apart from the things that would cause us to be just like the world.

And why do we set ourselves apart? Why do we want to be holy? Because the God that offered us salvation is holy, and we, as believers should look to him and want to please him. Its not easy, in fact it can be very difficult, but that is what it means to be different.

Verse 16.

1 Peter 1:16 NLT

16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Where is this in Scripture? “You must be holy because I am holy.” In the book of Leviticus. God told the people how they should come before him and give sacrifices. Look at this. Lev 11:44

Leviticus 11:44 NLT

44 For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground.

This is God giving the instruction of how the Israelites, God’s chosen people should worship him. Make yourselves clean and be holy because I am holy. and when you come to worship me, bring me the best sacrifices, don’t settle for the small animals that move on the ground.

I see that verse, spoken to the Israelites back in that time, and then I look at words and instruction of Peter and I think, “even though Peter was writing to Gentiles, and the message is still good for us today” Maybe God would would say it this way….

When you walk on the road, when you go about your life here in Opi, look to me and the hope that I have given you. Don’t become dirty with the things of this world, but bring me your very best life. Set yourself apart from the things that your world thinks are important. Be different. Be different for me.

I can’t make you be different. I can’t tell you that you must be different. But if God is your father, and you are truly his, you should want to be different. Do you?