Untitled Sermon (16)

Mothers have often given good instruction. This instruction has stayed with us whether we followed it or not. On this Mothers Day we need some parental instruction that will help us.

As we come to verse 13 of chapter 1, there is a noticeable shift in Peter’s focus. In the first 12 verses of his letter, the verbs are almost all in what is known as the indicative mode. That’s just a fancy way of saying that they state facts. But beginning in verse 13, we’ll see that Peter begins to use a lot of imperative verbs which give us commands. In other words, Peter began his letter by explaining the reality of our salvation. Now he is going to describe the duty of those who have received that salvation.

He writes: 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.

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.

( ESV)

Once again, there is so much in this passage that all I’m going to be able to do in this message is to barely scratch the surface. So with the limited time we have, I’m going to concentrate primarily on verses 14-16, which I believe are the heart of Peter’s message in this section. So let’s go ahead and read those verses again:

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.”

Peter quotes from the Old Testament to give credence to the idea that as children of God, we are to be obedient children whose conduct is holy in every single area of our lives. That means that our holiness is not to be limited to a couple hours on Sunday morning. It is not, as we’ll see this morning, even to be limited to only our “religious” life. In fact, this verse, along with many others in the Bible, makes it clear that there is to be no distinction in our lives between the “sacred” and the “secular”. God never intended for us to compartmentalize our lives like that. I have no problem at all with the idea that our conduct in every area of our lives is to be holy. But I’ll admit that I do struggle with the command that God gave to His people in the book of Leviticus that Peter quotes here:

“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Do any of the rest of you look at that command like I do and think that’s an impossible command to obey. I mean, how could I possibly even approach God’s holiness as I live my life? I believe God is holy, but for me to be holy the way He is holy is an impossible standard to attain.

In order to understand what God meant when He gave that command we need to do two things. First, we need to make sure we understand the meaning of the word “holy” and then we also need to understand the context in which God gave that command to His people.

We’ll begin with the definition of “holy”. Although we’ve defined what this word means before, it’s really easy to fall back into some of our preconceived notions about what holiness means. Most people associate holiness with moral purity so they often define holiness by making a legalistic list of all the things a Christian can’t do:

“I don’t drink or smoke or chew or go with girls who do”

So they believe that in order to be holy, you can’t have any fun or enjoy yourself or even smile. We probably know some Christians like that. But “holy” does not mean “sourpuss”.

Both the Hebrew word translated “holy” in the Old Testament and the Greek word translated “holy” in the New Testament mean “set apart”. God is holy, not because He is merely more moral than any of us, but because he is completely set apart from His creation. He is unique and distinct in every way. One of my favorite books is The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer. In that book, he writes these insightful words about God’s holiness:

God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered…Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. While that definition doesn’t answer our doubts about how we can possibly live up to that standard, it does reveal that God’s command for us to be holy involves living a life that is “set apart”, unique and distinct.

But in order to gain a fuller understanding of how we are to be holy, we need to go back and look at the context in which God gave that command to His people in the book of Leviticus. The relevant portion of that book is bookended at both ends by the command to be holy because God is holy:

For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.

( ESV)

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

( ESV)

In between those verses, God prescribes the way that his people are to live and to worship Him in a manner that will set them apart from the pagan nations that surrounded them. Those instructions are not merely directed toward their religious observances, but cover single every area of their lives from what they were to eat to how they were to treat their parents. God certainly gave his people these commands for their own good. But it is clear that His greater purpose was so that His people would live in a manner that set them apart from the other nations around them. Because God had chosen them and set them apart to live in a covenant relationship with Him, their lives were to be set apart, unique and distinct. We see that clearly at the end of that section of Leviticus:

You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

( ESV)

When God commands us to be holy because He is holy, He is not saying that we need to attain to the standard of who He is, which we all know is impossible.

But if we’re going to be God’s children and call Him “Father” like we see in verse 17, then there ought to be a family resemblance. If our Father is set apart, then if we are going to be His children and citizens of His kingdom, we are also to live lives that are set apart, unique and distinct from the world around us. And we are to do that in every area of our lives. And that is possible. So here is how I would summarize what it means to be holy as God is holy:

Being holy as God is holy means living as a stranger in a strange world

means living as a stranger in a strange world

When we encounter those in our old life it should feel like we moved to a to a country whose customs and cultures were completely different than what you’re used to. The people spoke a different language. They ate different foods. Perhaps their living conditions were much more primitive than what you’re used to. Imagine what it would be like to live in those conditions. Imagine how uncomfortable you would be trying to fit into their world. If we feel comfortable in our old surroundings then we are still in our old surroundings!

The point Peter is making here is that living as a citizen of heaven in this world ought to feel a lot like that to us. As we’ve seen already in Peter’s letter, we are living here on this earth as exiles because our true home is in heaven.

And frankly, if that isn’t consistently uncomfortable for us to do, then we probably aren’t being holy in all our conduct because being holy means being set apart and unique and being set apart and unique means we shouldn’t fit into this world and that should be uncomfortable.

If others around me aren’t noticing that there is something different about the way I’m living my life, then perhaps I’ve gotten a little too friendly with the world I’m living in and am no longer living as a stranger in a strange world.

James warns us that kind of mindset actually makes us an enemy of God: You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

( ESV)

We have to be set apart in our conduct. I told you last week that we cant just do any ole thing. We must have a noticeable distinct behavior. Not because we are trying to work or follow the law for salvation but because we are save and have obtained the gift of salvation we are motivated by what was done for us to live a holy life.

Our biggest problem is that today its hard to find earthly examples of holy living. We have people having children and not raising them. We allowing children to grow up with no knowledge of God. Church what is church? Our children are murders cold blooded killers! We have mothers acting like daughters (GIRLS) and fathers acting like sons. (BOYS)

• In your job, are you a different kind of employee than the rest of your fellow workers? Do you show up for work on time every day and put in a full day’s work, even when other employees don’t and they get away with it and sometimes even get ahead in spite of their lack of work ethic? Do you treat your employer and other employees with respect even when they don’t treat you fairly?

And the sad part its some church folk that are acting like the world. Remember that Peter is writing to the saints. Them scatter abroad. Same thing when Moses recorded these words be ye holy for the Lord is holy he was talking to the Lords chosen people. We have to be reminded that we should be set are. Like Paul wrote to the Romans. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds!

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., ). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.