Get ready for the Fight
13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Get ready for the Fight
1 Peter 1:13-16
As we embark upon living our lives the best that we can, and giving God all that we’ve got, we must understand that at the same time, the devil is trying to discourage, dictate, derail, and destroy our lives.
His mission is to kill, steal, and to destroy. He doesn’t care who you are or where you come from. He doesn’t care where you’ve been or where you hope to be going. His motive is to disrupt and to dismantle any and all associations that you may have with God.
Just like He did Job, the Devil is confronting God about you. His intent is to make you a lie. I can imagine him calling my name before God. He is saying, Guyton is not what he says he is. He is not as faithful as he says he will be. He is not doing all that he promised you he will do.
I know you’ve got a hedge around him, because you are a faithful God and you have promised to protect him, but just move your hedge and I’ll make him curse you before your face.
As Associate Minister Rev. Brown, He’s calling your name.
All of the deacons, you need to know that he is calling your name.
All of the mothers, he’s bringing you up before God.
All of the choir members, the devil is calling your name.
All of the trustees, the devil knows who you are, and he’s calling your name.
All of the Ushers, the devil has been watching you.
The Secretaries, and Missionaries, and everyone that is a part of this congregation, the devil is attempting to tear you down before God.
Now, we’ve got to remember that God is the same today as He was on yesterday and tomorrow, He won’t change. So, I can imagine in my sanctified mine, the Lord saying to Satan, go ahead, test them, try them, but their souls belong to me.
Peter wrote this letter to the saints who had been scattered abroad. His purpose was to encourage them, to enlighten them, and to elevate them from their old lustful ways, to a new way of life. We must know today that in order for us to continue in this fight, in order for us to stay strong while we are on the battlefield, we must keep our faith and trust in the one who is able to give us strength.
He simply says, “All that you are going through now, is nothing to be compared with the glory that is waiting on us when we get to heaven”. Peter here gives us a spiritual paradox in verse 6. He talks about us rejoicing over our salvation, yet he says I know that you are struggling because of your manifold temptations.
He simply says, we need to rejoice even though we are going through!
How do we rejoice right in the midst of our struggles? How do we rejoice when old man trouble has pulled off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and threaten us with all of his might.
How do we rejoice when our homes are no longer the peaceful places that we once prayed for? How do we rejoice when my hope seem to be swallowed up by hurt? How do we rejoice when we have done all that we can to do good in life, but yet evil things seems to tag along?
How do I rejoice when my children have been in an accident, and I don’t know if they are okay or not? How do I rejoice when I’ve pray to God to make me strong, but it seems like I’m getting weaker and weaker?
How do I rejoice when there are so many questions before me, and I don’t seem to have the answer to any? Somebody help me today, do anybody have an answer for this rollercoaster of emotions.
Peter here says to us in this scripture, we need to understand that we are in a fight. God wants us to have some good times in life. He wants our lives to be filled with joy, but the devil is fighting against that fulfillment.
I just thought I would tell you today, you might not like me as a person, and you might think that everybody is against you, but I’m not your enemy, neither is any other person your enemy.
To the wife here today, your husband is not your enemy,
To the employee, your boss is not your enemy,
To the citizen of this country, your President is not your enemy,
To the Church, your Pastor is not your enemy, all of the struggles that you will have in this life, is spiritual.
You don’t even have to be a believer, or even a church goer, but the devil will still wage war against you. But Peter here says to the believers, we ought to have that hope, just because we know that Jesus is coming back for us, it ought to cause us to rejoice to the end.
Who was it that experienced war with the devil more than Peter? When they were one the mountain of Transfiguration, the devil tried to use Peter as a tool to take away the glory of Jesus.
It was Peter whom the devil encouraged him to tell Jesus, you don’t have to died, if I have to Master, I’ll died for you. He used Peter to cut the soldier’s ear off when they came to arrest Jesus. He also used Peter to deny the very Master that He had walked with for some three years.
Peter knew first hand that every Month is a war. Every Minute is a battle. Every moment is a fight. So here, he encourages each believer to hope to the end and get ready for the fight. You might not fight as hard today as you did yesterday, but everyday is a fight.
There are three things found in this Scripture that will prepare us and get us ready for the fight. Let look at them.
A Collected Mind
Now, the mind is the battlefield. If the devil can control your mind, he can control you. So, here in verse 13, Peter says we must have a collected mind. “Wherefore, gird up the lions of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace which is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”.
Peter is simply saying, if we are going to be ready and renewed each day for the fight, we’ve got to have our thoughts together. He says, “wherefore” and that means “so then”. IN a few of the previous verses, he basically told us that life is a fight, Because you know that life is a fight, get ready.
Gird up the lions of your mind. This thought is taken from the way that people dress during that day. They all wore robes, and when anybody wanted to move and move in a hurry, they would take up the loose portion of that robe, that which would wrap around their legs and keep them from moving swiftly, and they would tuck it in under their belt, which was called a girdle.
By Peter using this phrase here, he is telling us here to grab up all of the loose end of our mind, get our thoughts together. Somebody put it in the form of a song when they sang, “Don’t let the devil ride”. God wants us to have a disciplined mind.
He is really telling us to get our mind collected on the return of Christ, and when Christ is the center of our thoughts, these worldly things that are coming at us from every angle cannot harm us, cannot hinder us, and cannot hurt us.
He said have a “sober mind” and here it means to have a calm and steadily controlled mind. It means to weigh each matter that comes up against you before you make any harsh judgments. You need to know who the enemy is.
Today our problem is that we are so quick to fight against every little matter that is brought before us, when we need to learn how to fight against the root of the matter.
You can’t kill a tree by cutting the limbs, you’ve got to cut the root, and when you cut the root, the tree will die. What are you saying preacher, we are fighting against the limbs of our problems; we need to start cutting the root of the problem.
The devil is really the one that brings all of the evil against you.
He is the one that causes folks to talk about you for no apparent reason.
He is the one that causes folks to scandalize your name.
He is the one that causes folks to keep mess going that they should have forget about a long time ago. Get ready for the fight.
A Chastised Mind
Not only are we to have a collected mind, but we must also have a chastised mind. Verse 14. “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance”.
Peter here simply says, we ought to learn how to become obedient. How does God bring us into obedience, it’s through chastisement. Just like our parents, when we done wrong at the house, Momma and Daddy had to chastise us. Their chastisement brought us into obedience.
If the switch wasn’t good enough, they would use extension cords, whatever it took to bring us into obedience. My Momma got good at just picking up anything and throwing at you.
My point is today, the devil will pick up anything and throw at you. Somebody says, why God allows him to do that? He does it in order to bring you into obedience.
Why do we need to be brought into obedience, because according to our former lusts, every since we were little children, we’ve always act out of ignorance. We always pattern our lives after the desires that controlled us before we were Christians. He literally reminds us of what we were before we met Christ, we were children of disobedience.
That’s why Paul said in Romans 12:2, “Be not confirmed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.
Heard a little poem that I would like to share with you this morning, the writer of this poem is unknown, the title is Blame Me Not. But it says this;
Ye call me Master and obey me not,
Ye call me Light and see me not;
Ye call me Way and walk not;
Ye call me Life and desire me not;
Ye call me Wise and follow me not;
Ye call me Fair and love me not;
Ye call me Rich and ask me not;
Ye call me Eternal and seek me not;
Ye call me Gracious and trust me not;
Ye call me Noble and serve me not;
Ye call me Mighty and honor me not;
Ye call me Just and fear me not;
If I condemn you today, BLAME ME not!
Now, each believer in here this morning ought to have a chastised mind. Those things that come up in our lives ought to lead us to a better understanding of what God is doing and thus allow us to have a better relationship with Him and a better understanding of what He wants to do through us. Stop whining about your whipping and start obeying.
A Consecrated Mind
The last thing Peter says is that our collected mind, and our chastised mind, ought to cause us to have a consecrated mind. Verse 15 & 16, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy”.
Now the word “consecrated” means the same as “holy”. It means “to be set apart”. To be set aside for use by God and for God. The 15th verse let us know that we are called to be holy. God didn’t just command you to be holy, He called you to be holy.
Watch this now, everyone that He calls, He prepares them for the task. You might not be excellent, but you are equipped to be holy.
You might not even excel in life, but you are equipped.
You might not endure, but you are equipped.
You might not be effective, but you are equipped.
You might not be earnest, but you are equipped.
You might not be eager, but you are equipped.
We are to live our lives as so to be dedicated wholly separated and totally committed to God. Now, I need to tell you this, you don’t just jump into holiness, becoming holy is a gradual developing process.
This morning we ought to know that we are on the battlefield for the Lord.
Every time the alarm clock goes off in the morning,
Every time, our feet touch the floor,
Every time, we put our shirt over our backs,
We need to know that we are in a fight.
And we need to get ready for the fight.
I stop by the Creek today to tell you to put you war clothes on.
We are not fighting against flesh and blood,
So we need to put on our spiritual garment.
Paul says, girdle your lions with truth,
Put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel.
Taking the shield of faith, therefore you will be able to stand against all of the fiery darts of the wicked one.
He says, take the Helmet of Salvation.
And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
We need to be watchful.
Because the devil, as a roaring lion is going about this world seeking whom he may devour.
We need to get ready for the fight.
I don’t know about you this morning,
But I’m ready.
I will walk this earth, (Logan Hill, Mantee, Pheba, Dixie, Mathiston, West Point)
And I will tell Men, Women, boys and girls
That Jesus died.