Truly Living (1 Peter 1:13-25)

Introduction

We live in a world that is chaotic, confusing, and often cruel. Every day the culture around us tries to pull us down, to make us stumble, to convince us that holiness and obedience don’t matter. And when the church does stumble—whether it’s a well-known pastor whose sin becomes headlines or an ordinary believer whose failure quietly scars the witness of the gospel—the world laughs, mocks, and derides us. They point at us and say, “See? Your faith is empty.”

That is why this passage in 1 Peter is so important. Peter is writing to believers living under pressure, surrounded by a hostile world. And he reminds them—and us—what it means to truly live as Christians. Not merely to survive or to blend in, but to live a holy life through disciplined minds, hopeful hearts, obedient wills, reverent fear, steadfast faith, and sincere love—with our gaze fixed on eternity.

 Disciplined Minds (v. 13)

“Prepare your minds for action, be sober-minded…”

True life begins with intentional thought, self-control, and readiness to act faithfully.

A life that is lived with a disciplined mind is a life that is capable of making it through every struggle brought before it. Sober-minded is a mind that is ruled by self-control.

It is not compulsive. It is not reactive. It is not easily swayed. It is a mind guarded by the truth and one that stops, steps back, takes a breath, looks around, and then–and only then–makes a decision.

When we shape our minds like this, we are prepared for action for the Lord because we then have control over our actions and reactions. We do not step out and say things we then always have to walk back, nor do we say things that betray what we believe.

We are committed and focused and prepared because we have saturated our minds with the truth and not the foolishness.

Like a drunk person can’t make proper decisions and many times makes foolish decisions. When we are sober-minded, disciplined minded, we are capable of making good and true decisions and demonstrate to this chaotic world that we are not corrupting our minds with their toxicity.

Transition: The disciplined mind prepares us, but it also points us forward—because the Christian life is fueled by hope.

 Hopeful Hearts (v. 13)

“…set your hope fully on the grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Our hope is anchored not in shifting circumstances but in the certain return of Christ.

This is how we have a disciplined mind. We have it because it is fixed on this sure and certain hope.

Paul calls this our blessed hope in Titus 2:13 “13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Having our hearts fixed on this great promise will help you remember the why of our walk. It will help you remain steady in chaos.

It will allow you to stay true because you know the blessed end coming, and want others to know this too.

This hope also helps keep you free from the love of goods, wealth, and other trinkets the world says is what means you have made it.

This hope keeps our minds sober and committed to the truth and the true One that says we have made it: Jesus Christ.

He is our hope, nothing or no one else. Only Jesus.

Rest in the truth that He is coming again and all things corrupted will be made right once again.

Transition: With our hearts anchored in hope, we’re strengthened to walk in obedience.

 Obedient Wills (v. 14)

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.”

Truly living means leaving behind old desires and walking in joyful obedience to God.

After we fix our gaze on the true hope we have, we will leave behind the “weight and sin which clings so closely, and [will then] run with endurance the race set before us” (Heb. 12:1).

Endurance goes with the disciplined mind and the hopeful heart because the Greek word used there in Hebrews means,

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. ὑπομονή

“the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty.”

When we have that capacity, we have the ability to be obedient. We will then obey the Lord our God and not fall back into the ways we were before.

That old man is dead and gone. We are no longer living in that life. We are brand new, not just cleaned up, but brand new.

Think about this, the old man died with Christ according to Paul in Romans 6. If he died and we are made new in Christ, then we are not just cleaned up, but totally new.

Much like a white board.

When we see this as true, which flows from the clear and disciplined mind which allows you to see yourself as Christ does, and the hopeful heart, you will not fall back because as a new creation you have nothing old to fall back into.

You will be able to live obediently and show this rotten world that we believers are different, not better than others, but different.

Transition: But obedience is not cold duty—it flows out of reverence for a holy God.

 Reverent Fear (vv. 15–17)

“Be holy in all your conduct… conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.”

True life reflects God’s holiness and lives in awe-filled reverence before Him.

We know what the Lord can do. This passage quoted from Peter is from Leviticus 11:44. In this book and the others in the first five of the OT, we see God’s amazing grace, power, authority, and wrath on sin.

We desire to live holy before the Lord through obedience because

1. He is worthy of this call

2. He is God and we are human

3. We have a healthy fear of Him because He is God and we are Human.

We are in awe of Him. Awe leads us to live holy and desire to live holy because in our awe of God, we desire to be found faithful because it is still awe inspiring that He has allowed us sinners to have salvation at all.

Transition: That reverence is grounded in the greatest reality of all: our redemption in Christ.

 Steadfast Faith (vv. 18–21)

“You were ransomed… with the precious blood of Christ… so that your faith and hope are in God.”

Redeemed by Christ, we rest our faith and hope securely in Him alone.

Christ gave the most valuable thing one can give another: His life and shed blood.

We have the eternal hope of His blood shed for us.

We have hope because of this and we have this imperishable gift that is not only sealed in His blood, but through the blessing and giving of the Father where our faith and hope are.

Our faithf can withstand all onslaughts of this culture and world. We can withstand all the hate and insults, we can stand firma nd be bold for the Lord because of what He has done, is doing, and will do for us.

Transition: A redeemed life doesn’t end with faith—it overflows in love.

 Sincere Love (vv. 22–23)

“Love one another earnestly from a pure heart…”

New birth through God’s Word produces genuine, enduring love for others.

Transition: And as all of these marks come together, Peter lifts our eyes to eternity.

The Eternal Gaze (vv. 23–25)

“…the word of the Lord remains forever.”

All these marks of truly living are not temporary. They culminate in a life lived with an eternal gaze, grounded in God’s imperishable Word and unshakable promises.

Truly living is living today in the light of forever.

In 1952, Florence Chadwick attempted to swim 26 miles from Catalina Island to the California coast. The weather was foggy, the waters were freezing, and sharks circled nearby. After 15 hours, exhausted and discouraged, she asked to be pulled out of the water. What she didn’t know was that she was less than a mile from shore. Later, she said: “All I could see was the fog. I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”

Application: The Christian life requires us to keep our eyes fixed on the eternal shore. Discipline, hope, obedience, reverence, faith, and love all flow from having that eternal gaze—knowing that the end is sure even when life feels foggy.

Conclusion

The world around us will continue to mock, tempt, and even celebrate when believers fall. But Peter calls us to something greater. He calls us to live lives marked by discipline, hope, obedience, reverence, faith, and love—all anchored in God’s eternal Word.

That is truly living. Not because the world approves, not because life is easy, but because God has called us, redeemed us, and secured us for eternity. So when the world scoffs, when temptation presses in, when failures seem to mock our faith, remember this: God has called you to truly live, and Jesus will never fail you—just as His Word has promised.

And when you fix your eyes on that eternal blessing that is yours, and live your life based on that, all these marks of a life Truly Lived will just flow from you.

You can live this way because you have the Lord Jesus Christ as yours and His Holy Spirit inside you guiding you and helping you remain on this path.

So, remain focused and don’t let the fog of culture distract you and stop you one mile short. No, remain focused on the Lord and remember once again: as you live this life, remember—Jesus will never fail you, for His Word stands forever.