Pure Conduct

Good morning

It is good to be with all of you

If you are a guest, my name is Stefan, I am the pastor of preaching here at Harvest

Before we get to the sermon - I just want echo our announcement from a moment ago

We have our mens and women’s kick-off events

As a church family, we need to make these kinds of events a priority, pressing into discipleship as a church family.

So, men and women, let’s run hard after growth this fall be engaging in discipleship at Harvest.

We are in our third week of our “Pure church” sermon series in which we are talking about what it looks like to be a pure church

And like I’ve said the past two weeks, A pure church is not a perfect church

We’ve been using a definition for purity throughout this series

And that definition is…

Purity: Alignment with the word and will of God

So a pure church is a church that aligns with the word and will of God

And we talked last week about how important it is that a pure church have pure doctrine

That the beliefs that we hold align with the word and will of God because pure doctrine guards us from deception and grows us in godliness

But having pure doctrine does not just mean we think the right things…

But also that we live those beliefs out..

Which leads us then to this week in which we will talk about a pure church having a pure conduct

That the way that we live and the way that we conduct ourselves as a church aligns with the word and will of God

So would you turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 1

1 Peter is a letter that is written to Christians who are trying to live for Christ in a time and place that is making it very difficult to live for Christ

The audience of this letter are Christians who are being persecuted and have been driven into hiding in caves in the region that is now modern day turkey

And Peter is going to instruct them in what it looks like to live lives that align with the word and will of God in a world that wants nothing to do with the word will of God.

Now, it would be wrong for us to think that pure conduct just means that we need to make sure we know what we should and shouldn’t do

As if purity in conduct was all about just following the rules

No, before we can ever talk about our purity in our conduct, we need to recognize and accept the connection between conduct and identity

What I believe about myself will directly impact how I live.

Whatever identity you embrace, whatever you believe is true about who you are, will ultimately determine the kind of life you will live

And in a world that is obsessed with how you identify, we are in danger of embracing the wrong identity and, in so doing, living the wrong life.

And too often we embrace an identity that is based in what others say or think, rather than basing our identity in what God’s word says.

And Peter is going to show us what it looks like to have a view of our identity that aligns with the word and will of God so that we can live accordingly.

So let’s give these words our full attention

1 Peter 1:13–25 “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. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 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, 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. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 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. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

These are God’s words for his people

Big Idea: The people of God must reflect the holiness of God [6:00]

If we are a people who belong to God through faith in Jesus, then our identity is that we are the people of God

And so if we are the people of God, then our conduct must reflect the holiness of God.

And this is actually how God designed it from the very beginning

We are told in Genesis 1 that God made mankind in his image after his likeness

And those two words are very important

To be made in God’s image means that we reflect him to a watching world

And to be made in his likeness means that the way that we live makes it obvious that we belong to him

Whenever my kids stand next to me, people always say the same thing… “They looks just like you”

Now they are not saying that we are triplets… What they are saying is that when you look at my children and you look at me… There is no mistaking that they belong to me

Which makes me so proud…

And that is what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God

We were made so that when all of creation looks at us there is no mistaking that we belong to God

And it is no different for us in the church today

As the people of God who have been made new through faith in Jesus, we are called to live lives that reflect Christ so that when the world looks at us it is obvious that we belong to him

And God is holy - He is distinct from the world that he created

So pure conduct that aligns with God’s word and will will be conduct that reflects the holiness of God.

[Bridge Question] What does it look like to reflect God’s holiness in our conduct?

What does it look like?

In our passage, Peter is going to give us 4 commands and then show us how to follow those 4 commands

And in following those 4 commands, we will be pursuing pure conduct together, seeking to reflect a holy God…

Pure Conduct Pursues…

Hopeful Thinking (13) [10:00]

Something that is largely absent in the world today is hope… You talk to most people and they are not hopeful at all.

Why?

Because they have identified with the world, but nothing in the world can actually bring hope

So that result is despair because the identity they have embraced does not offer the hope they are searching for.

But when your identity is in God, your hope will be in him as well.

Now, Peter starts in v. 13 with “Therefore” which means that what he is about to say is dependent on what comes before

And we don’t have time to break it down, but in v. 3-12, the preceding section for our passage, Peter unpacks how God has given us salvation through faith in Jesus, causing us to be born again to a living hope that cannot be taken away from us

Because God has made a way for us to be made new in Christ, we have hope in Christ

So Christ should be the object of our hope

Which is why he then says…

“Therefore” in v. 13 - Because you have a living hope in Jesus

“Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Paul is saying that reflecting the holiness of God first starts by fixing your hope on the right thing

You and I will never live the right way if we hope in the wrong thing.

What will motivate you and I to pure conduct, living lives that reflect the holiness of God… Is that we hope in God through Jesus

And when he says “The revelation of Jesus Christ” he is referring to the day when our faith will be sight, when we see him face to face

But this begs a very important question… How is it that Peter can command us to hope?

Hope is a feeling

And it seems at first glance to be strange that he would command a feeling

The world would have you believe that you can’t control your feelings - That they just are what they are and you’re only response is to simply embrace how you feel and let your feelings dictate the way that you live your life

But I want you to notice that Peter makes no such claim, but in fact, commands that your hope be driven by how you think, not how you feel.

Peter gives us two modifiers for the command to hope fully in the return of Jesus

“Preparing your minds for action” (literally, “girding up the loins of your mind”).

In Peter’s day, you couldn’t run or work effectively with loose robes hanging around your legs—you had to gather them up and tie them off.

He is using this phrase to give us a picture: Your hope in the return of Jesus can be full when you don’t allow loose and wandering thoughts to take over.

Instead, by gathering up your thoughts, intentionally taking control of them, you and I can have hope

Paul in one of his letter uses the image of taking your thoughts captive

Take them captive to what? Captive to the truth

Peter here is telling us that we have hope in Christ, so we should think intentionally with the truth of that hope.

But our thoughts also need to be clear

“Being sober-minded.”

To be sober is to not be dulled by outside influences.

The truth is that there are all kinds of things in this world that would dull our thinking so that we are no longer aware of the reality of God in our lives

As we live for things in this world and as we allow the materialism and the self-centered nature of this world to numb us to the reality of God

What we need is to remove those things that would numb our minds to the reality of God and press in to what will increase our awareness of him

Peter is saying the way you set your hope on Jesus is by thinking intentionally and clearly about the truth of that hope

Church family, I need you to hear this: Your thought life is the most consistent voice you hear every day.

No one talks to you more than you… And no one listens to you more than you

So be sure to tell yourself the truth

Intentionally… Clearly.

Don’t fill your mind with thoughts that get in the way

Don’t fill your mind with thoughts that numb you to the reality of God

Think intentionally and clearly so that your hope can be firm.

And that will work its way out in your life.

Which leads to our second point this morning

Pure conduct pursues…

Distinct Living (14–16) [16:00]

Growing up, I used to look at what other families did complain that the rules were different in another house…

And perhaps you have had a similar experience in your childhood or with your own kids

I think this is a pretty common experience…

And the response is almost always the same from any parent

“That’s not our family.”

“They might have those rules… We don’t.”

We all understand that how we conduct ourselves as a family is based in who we are as a family not what other families are like…

And it is no different with the family of God

Look at how Peter opens v. 14 - “As obedient children, Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance”

When you follow Jesus by faith you become a child of God, adopted into the family of God

And just like an adopted child, you are given a new identity as a part of this new family that you now belong to

Your identity is no longer connected to your former life, but to your new one

“That’s not our family - So we don’t live like that”

And when we are a part of the family of God, we don’t live like the world

Back when you found your identity in things in the world, you lived like the world because you were a child of the world

But now, by faith in Jesus you are a child of God, and so your identity is inseparable from God as your father

Which means that your life should look different from the world now, because you no longer identify with the world.

Peter’s usage of this imagery here demands that we ask the question:

Would the world know that God is your father by how you live?

Or do you still live as if you belong in the world because you are still finding your identity in things of this world, rather than finding your identity as a child of God?

What will show that you and I are children of God, what will cause the world to know that God is our father, is that we live distinct from the world

Look at v. 15-16

“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.’”

This is a direct quotation from Leviticus 19:8 in which God is telling the people of Israel how they should live distinctly from the surrounding nations

And he says that they are to be “holy”

Now why does that matter?

Why is it so important that God’s people be holy, live distinct lives?

Well, Holiness means being set apart, to be distinct.

And to appreciate this, it is helpful to look at the opposite of holiness.

The opposite of holy is “common”

When something is common it is just like everything else, it is not set apart

It has no additional value compared to anything else and so it isn’t desireable.

But God is holy, he is the opposite of common.

He is infinite in value and transcends everything in all of creation

And so we could define God’s holiness as “God’s infinite worth in comparison to all other things”

He is set apart because he is infinitely more valuable

So what then does it mean for God’s people to be holy?

It means that they live in such a way that the infinite value of God is put on display in their lives

When Christians live like the world, what they are saying is that God is no more valuable than anything else in the world

But because God is infinitely more valuable than anything in the world…

We are called to live lives that are distinct from the rest of the world so that the world can see the infinite value of God in the way that we live

Rather than going along with the crowd to blend in, we obey Christ even if it means we stand out

Rather than valuing the same things as the world, we value want God values

Rather than being talking the same way, doing the same things, and having the same attitudes… we are to live obviously distinct lives

And when we do this, it shows the world that God is worth it.

Church family: A lost world does not need a church that looks like the world

A lost world needs a church that looks totally different so that they can see that there is a better life that can only be found when you find your identity as a child of God.

So, pure conduct pursues hopeful thinking, distinct living

And third, pure conduct pursues…

Grateful Devotion (17–21) [23:00]

I think that a struggle that many have is a general indifference toward the things of God because it feels like God is indifferent toward us.

There's a common view of God that he created the world and then just let it do its thing and so he is removed from the world and is, thus, disinterested in our personal lives

And as much as we might say that we know that's not true, in the day-to-day details of our lives, how often are we apathetic and indifferent toward the things of God and the pursuit of holiness?

Because I can’t see God, I don’t think about him much

Because it feels like God is distant, I think I am on my own.

But I can see things in this world, so it is much easier for me to be mindful of those things

People and money and jobs and homes are very near and so it is easy for those things to have my heart

Because it is so easy for me to focus on the things immediately around me, it is easy for me to attach my identity to them

Especially when we feel like God is somehow neglecting us

There was something that I really wanted, and he didn't give it to me

There was a relationship that I really hope food would work out, and it didn’t

I've been asking God to answer this prayer for years, and he hasn’t

And when that happens long enough, and we think that God is disinterested enough, we become disinterested in him and apathetic toward him.

And Peter, in v. 17-21, helps us to see that God is not distant, he is not indifferent, he is actually more interested and near than you an I could fathom

Just like in the preceding sections, he gives one command and then the rest of the section helps us understand the command and how to follow it

And the command in v. 17 is “Conduct yourselves with fear.”

Why fear?

In Scripture, the “fear of the Lord” is allegiance and devotion to God.

It is the idea that your conduct shows your loyalty - Your life shows that you are committed to him.

Peter is saying, “Live in such a way that your life demonstrates your commitment to and reverence for God.”

That is a very different response than disinterested and apathy

So there is something about God that Peter wants us to know that is going to cause us to respond to him with devotion rather than indifference.

Starting in v. 18…

1 Peter 1:18–21 “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. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 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.”

We were trapped in sin, wasting our lives in the “futile” fruitless ways of the world

And we were the rightful recipients of God’s wrath because of our rebellion

God was in no way required to do anything - It would have been perfectly just for him to simply condemn us all

Yet, before the foundations of the world, he decreed his plan to save us

Before you and I ever existed he said his affection on us

And then he manifested that plan by sending Jesus, his son, to redeem us, to ransom us

Paying the price of his own life.

And he did it all so that we might have hope

We would have been without hope, But God did everything that we might have hope in him.

God is not distant nor disinterested in us

He is near and he has eternally loved you and I.

And Peter is saying that because that is true, you and I should conduct ourselves with devotion to him

Not out of indifferent obligation

But because we are grateful for all that God has done

Church family: When was the last time that you simply reflected on the depth of your own sin and the greatness of God’s provision of forgiveness for you?

If we will reflect on that glorious truth, The result will not be indifference

Thinking that God has never done anything for us

It will be gratitude, recognizing that God has done the impossible for us and so we can depend on him for everything else

But when I am more fixated on what God hasn’t done for me in this world, what I’m really showing is that I have found my identity in this world and I think that it is God’s job to give me what I desire

And that is why Peter let us know in v. 17 that we should conduct ourselves with fear “throughout the time of our exile”

That word exile means to be a stranger in a foreign land

He is reminding us that this is not our home and so we should not find our identity here

But we should find our identity in God and live our lives with grateful devotion because of all that he has done for us

And when we live out of that gratitude and are devoted to him, we can reflect the holiness of God in our lives as we live for him.

So those are the first three traits… and the final one is that pure conduct pursues…

Genuine Love (22–25) [32:00]

There is a lot of talk about love in our culture

And a lot of the same ideas about love that our culture says are repeated in the church

But there is something different between the love that our culture talks about and the love that Scripture talks about

and we have to see that in these last verses, if we are to pursue genuine love as a church

Just like with the preceding points, Peter gives a command and then everything else in the surrounding verses explains how to follow that command.

Look at v. 22 “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart”

I want you to notice: Genuine love requires obedience to the truth and purity…

Which means that any idea of love that is not obedient to the truth of God’s word is false love.

Right?

If genuine love is based in the truth

Than fraudulent love is not based in the truth

And there are many versions of love in our world that are not based in the truth of God’s word by are based in the opinions and desires of people

And I want you to notice how Peter says you can tell the difference between genuine love and fraudulent love.

There are two very important factors in love being genuine…

First, look at v. 22

v. 22 - “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth…” — this is what is called “sanctification”, the ongoing process of God changing us with his word.

For love to be genuine, our hearts and our lives have to be changed to be more in line with the truth of God’s word

But before our hearts can every be changed by the truth of God’s word, our hearts have to be transformed

Look at v. 23

v. 23 - “…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…” — this is regeneration, the one-time purification that happens when we are born again through the gospel.

Peter is saying genuine love requires both and both are inseparably linked with God’s word.

For our love to be genuine, we must be born again…

purified by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God

But we also need to be continually changed from one degree of glory to another as his Spirit works in us, applying his word to our lives.

So I need you to see this:

If we look to a world that rejects the truth of God’s word

And if we look to a world that is dead in its trespasses and sins,

And we ask that same world to define love for us, it will be a fraudulent form of love

Do you see that?

The two things that are required for love to be from a pure heart…

Being born again and being made obedient to the truth…

Those two things are absent from the world’s definition of love

Therefore if we look to the world’s definition of love, it will be, by it’s very nature, not love…

I hear Christians and church is far too often say that they want to be a church that loves and then they love the way the world says to love

And so it is not genuine love, it is fraudulent love.

Genuine love, love that reflects a holy God, will align with the word and will God

And genuine love that is based on God’s word will endure..

Look at how Peter ends this section

v. 24-25: “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

The good news of the gospel shows us what genuine love looks like

It shows us how God’s word defines love

And it helps us to see what it looks like to pursue genuine love as a church

And John actually defines it for us in his letter, so turn to the right just a few pages to first John chapter 4

1 John 4:9 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”

Genuine love points people to life in Jesus.

Genuine love recognizes the reality of sin, the need for forgiveness, and the gift of Christ’s death for sinners.

Genuine love says that the best thing for you is that you be reconciled to God through Christ

Genuine loves calls one another to repentance

Fraudulent love gives approval

Fraudulent love says the best life is whatever life you want to live

Fraudulent love doesn’t even use the word repentance.

Fraudulent love leaves people in their sin

But genuine love, love that is born out of the life transforming power of God’s word, points people to Christ

And a pure church pursues genuine love…

because we want to reflect a holy God who made his love visible by sending his Son Jesus to die in our place so that we might have life in his name

We must not define love the world’s way, because if we do, it will be fraudulent love

We must define it God’s way, according to God’s unchanging word, and when we do we can love earnestly from a pure heart

Knowing that it is genuine love.

[CONCLUSION]

A church that aligns with the word and will of God in their conduct will be a church that looks different from the world

When the world despairs, we will pursue hopeful thinking

When the world says to blend in, we will pursue distinct living

When the world says to seek your own advantage, we will be devoted to God with gratitude

When the world offers fraudulent love, we will respond with genuine love

And in all of these things, it will be obvious that we have embraced an identity in a holy God as we pursue purity in our conduct.

Amen.

[40:00]