Living a Holy Life-1 Peter 1:13-16
Notes
Transcript
A Life Called to Holiness
A Life Called to Holiness
What does it mean to be holy? This word gets used a lot to describe many different things in many different ways. Our world has become so scared of it because of the connotations around it and the way Christians have portrayed themselves to the point that the word “holy” has come to mean better than. And even many Christians have come to believe that holiness means to be better than everyone else. In a sense, it does mean to be better, be better than we were, but that’s not the real definition.
The focus of the book of 1 Peter is holiness. Each word is to be a guide to get us closer to holiness. You could say the whole purpose of the Bible is to guide man to holiness, but we are going to focus on the beginning of 1 Peter this morning to learn what God means by being holy. 1 Peter 1:13-21
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.
I asked earlier what does it mean to be holy. Simply put, it means “set apart.” There’s nothing really special about the word, or demeaning, or uplifting. Rather it describes the condition of what a person is. Peter quotes from Leviticus 11:44, where God tells Israel to be holy because He is holy. How is God set apart? He’s truly different from any other gods. Every other god that has ever existed was created by mankind. How is this true? Because they all chase after the very things that mankind wants. They approve of the very things that mankind approves. And they act so much like the humans that created them. Why is God set apart? Because He is completely opposite of every desire that we could have. See, when God gave Israel the law, there was a purpose. Israel was supposed to be the example of what Exodus 19:1-6
1 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain,
3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Israel was to be a nation of priests. We can read in Leviticus about all the things the priests were in charge of tending to and keeping. Ultimately a priest’s goal was to tend to the things of God. In the same sense, Israel, as a kingdom of priests and holy nation, was to tend to the things of God. They were to set the example of living a Godly life. Were they perfect at it? No. But that doesn’t mean they still weren’t set apart. God chose them to be set apart. They really weren’t anything special. Stephen tells us in Acts 7 that by the time Israel got to Egypt, there were only 75 people. This 75 turned into over 1 million, and even then they were tiny compared to other nations. So again, holiness isn’t being better than. It’s certainly not meaning great, but set apart.
As exiles we should know about being ransomed. Compare verses 17-18 again to what God said in Exodus 19:4 “4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Through Christ’s death we are brought into Him and that is our motivation. Israel spent over 400 years in slavery and by the power of God they were brought out of slavery to a land that was to be their inheritance. They had nothing and God sent Moses as their redeemer to bring them out of slavery so they can be that chosen, set apart nation. This exactly mirrors what Christ has done for us. God sent His son to be our redeemer, to bring us out of slavery into a land that is to be our inheritance.
Seek holiness
Seek holiness
This should ultimately point us in a direction. Remember because of God’s holiness and our desire to follow Him we must conform ourselves to his standard. Look in 1 Peter 1:22-25
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
Do you understand another reason why the Lord is Holy is that he gives something incorruptible? Everything in this world perishes. Car’s rust, money spends, beauty fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Peter quotes from Isaiah 40:6,8. This “word” is a motivator for us. It compels us to seek after the things of God. See in 1 Peter 2:1-3
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Verse 3 is comes in direct correlation to Psalm 34:8 “8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Have you seen that He is Good? Have you tasted that He is good? Then change. Put away all these things! Seek after the things of God. Colossians 3:1 “1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” If we are going to grow up into Salvation, we have to seek after His ways. 18 years of just coming to church only equals a 3rd grade education. Imagine if our education system took over 60 years to get our kids to a 12th grade education, we would be looking for the cracks in the system, we’d be getting tutors, bringing in specialists in order to catch our kids up. If we were that on fire about learning about the goodness of God as we are about our school systems, imagine the change in our lives. What is stopping us from being that on fire for God?
Remember Whose You Are
Remember Whose You Are
When I was in college, the band, choir, and orchestra travelled all over the southeast. Occasionally we would find ourselves with plenty of free time to kill. Every time we would be dismissed, our professor would say, “Remember who you are and whose you are.” This was to remind us that 1. We were representing the school. 2. We were representing God. 3. We belonged to God. We can get an idea of this in 1 Peter 2:4-8
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
For us as Christians, our lives are to be holy. They are to be a sacrifice. This is further stated in Romans 12:1 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” I’m giving everything up. Look at the connection between Christ and us. He is a living stone and we are like living stones and we build up this spiritual house. Because our lives emulate Christ’s life, people will stumble on us. People will reject us. There will be some struggles with the people of the world. But that doesn’t mean we don’t tell of the goodness of God.
Now where does all of this get us. It kinda puts us stuck between a rock and a hard place. How many of us have a passport? Driver’s License? Social Security Number? Each of these things show our citizenship in the United States. Something that our country struggles with is pride. Pride in our nation. Pride in our citizenship, yet the verses we are about to read tells us we are exiles and sojourners. 1 Peter 2:9-12
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
What does all of this mean? It means that even though we have legal documents saying we are citizens of one country, we don’t belong here. This isn’t our home. We sing “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through,” but do we mean those word. “But I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” We can sing a lie just as easily as telling one. Because we are sojourners we represent someone else: God. There was an incident a couple years ago where a tourist climbed out onto the Trevi Fountain in Rome to refill her water bottle and the comments on every post said, “Must be an American.” Why? Because Americans have a reputation of being horrible tourists. What is your reputation as a Christian? How well do you represent Christ? Look at verses 11 and 12 again. 1 Peter 2:11–12 “11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” Don’t you see? We are called out of this world to be a set apart group of people. We are to represent our Lord in this world by being holy. Someone had said this about being holy. Holy does not mean being better than, it means being better off.
