Peter - A Servant is Called to be Holy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning...
Additional comments
Let me ask you a question right off the bat this morning, .....
Do you consider yourself to be Holy?
Now I don’t mean simply religious, I mean do you consider your actions, your walk wit God, your talk.. the very mediation of your heart to be so pleasing to Him that you would be found as holy.
Now why do I ask you that...
Simply put… As servant of the Lord Most High, We my friends are called to be holy.
This means that our lives must be characterized by holiness… Our words, actions, our very way of life must be pleasing and acceptable to God.
So this morning I want us to go to the Book of I Peter and see what the Lord says there in His word through this epistle.
Lets read 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13-16
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.”
Now we know the author, Peter, one of the original apostles of Christ. He was always headstrong and at times was very zealous in this thoughts and actions, but ultimately denied Christ before His crucifixion and was later restored by Christ after the resurrection.
We know fairly while that this is probably being written around the time of Christian persecution under Nero, the emperor of Rome. Probably about 62 to 63 ad, so before Paul’s death and from what we can tell he is addressing those in Asia Minor, present day Turkey.
Peter is reminding them, to keep the faith, endure with a Christ like spirit and attitude during persecution and hardship. There is a reward coming for those who are faithful and true.
So here is my first thought for today....
1. Servants are Called to be Holy.....
1. Servants are Called to be Holy.....
When you open the book of I Peter, we find that Peter reminds us of the hope that is found in Jesus Christ because of God’s great love for mankind. So in those first 12 verses, the work of Christ is outlined for us to know...
And verse 13 opens with the word therefore, pointing back and reminding us that because of His saving grace we (the children of God) are called to be different.
Being different is something we have spent our life trying to avoid, people desire to be like others, they want to fit in… they don’t want to draw any undo attention to themselves that might lead to ridicule, or difficulties.
Remember growing up, being in school how we desperately wanted to “fit” in… and if we were different, well it wasn’t a good thing.
Peter is reminding us that our life in Christ is indeed different, it is different than the world, it should look different, talk different, act different … be different.
So how do we do this.... Please understand no where is there a call for us to be legalistic as many are in areas… It is not a certain way we dress (but we should be modest in our dress), it is not found in the length or style of hair…now mind you there is truly nothing wrong with any of these things, these outward expressions are what some feel is right… that is good. I’m just saying it is not required…
So how do we walk or live in holiness....
Well lets run back to the text, there is the best way to tell, amen. So lets look at verse 13
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.
Walking in Holiness pushes us to ....
A. Preparing our minds for action..... The KJV says gird up the loins of your mind.. the idea is pulling up the garment so that you are not hindered in action.
To prepare you mind is the same thought.... make yourself ready. Prepare your self just like you prepare for a special day.. you make all the arrangements, the food, flowers, music… you want that day to go off well.. You want that future day to be wonderful...
You see out actions, what we hope to achieve requires effort, concentrations and intentionality…Holiness will not come automatically… we must work at it.
B. Be Sober minded.... the meaning here is to be self controlled… If the Christian is not careful they can be lured away by the world.. Distracted is a great word to consider here.. how easily do we get distracted in our every day life… then magnify that and think of our Christian walk. People get pulled away by tangents, points that have no true meaning and suddenly they have lost their focus.
As a servant we are called to press forward toward the hope found in Jesus Christ and allow nothing to get in our way.... self controlled…
So when you look at the whole intention of this verse, you see the meaning, it is looking into the future.
Live well here, walking in holiness because of our future hope.
As such set your hope fully on the grace of God…that future event is the finish line, the end of the game we are pushing toward… the end of life… where the grace of God is fully revealed for us.
As a child of God we know we are saved right now.. without a doubt, but we live and walk in a way worthy of the upward calling in Christ Jesus.
And then in verse 14, Peter continues this thought...
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
C. Do not be Conformed.... there is the push again to be different than the world. Those former desires can no longer shape our actions and responses. Instead they push us to live a holy life now.
Why Is Peter pushing so hard here, because he knows you cannot live passively for Christ, the former man, the why were used to be, it beckons to us, calling us, tempting us, the old nature desires that we depart from Christ.
I’ve seen it over and over again.... It’s easy to fall pack into our former ways. But there is effort to be the opposite and live for Christ.
All of this pushes for us to be holy....We are to be obedient children, who listen to our heavenly Father.
We are to be holy… because He is holy.
The time of decision is now.... is there anything that keeps you from that.. former ways, thoughts… ???
God desires for us to live our best for Him now… preparing us for the future.. but we cannot do it hanging onto past things or remaining in disobedient ways.
Examine your hearts before God.
Unforgiveness?
Bad feelings toward a person living or dead. People hold grudges against the dead.. ( did you know that )
Living for self....
All of these and much more keep us from having the peace of God down deep in our lives. It keeps us from living in holiness
Now lets build on this thought, these hindrances and consider our second thought for today
2. A Servant Puts Away all that is Unholy...
2. A Servant Puts Away all that is Unholy...
People in general are good for holding onto to hurts. We forget a lot of things in life but we seldom forget hurts and all the pain, impurities that attach to them in this life.
That is why we must be so careful in living for Jesus.
So join with in I Peter chapter 2… verses 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.
When you look at this verse there is a couple different pictures being drawn for us here. One is the idea of taking off a coat and laying it aside.
Do you see it, verse 1, Peter says “so put away…” it image there is just that.. I don’t need this anymore, so I put it away, I hang it up. It is out of sight and mind.
The reference here is toward the mind, so we are to constantly cast away those things that hinder, in peed growth and so forth.
We are to instead renew the mind, …now that sounds familiar from what Paul says in Romans 12.
So from both of the epistles written by Paul and Peter, God was sharing what… the believer must renew the mind, the mind is the battle ground for the heart my friends.
Now look at the topics God mentions here…Now all sin is evil, it is bad we know that, but one thing that we will see here is that Peter is speaking specifically toward things that tear apart, that ruin the church, that hurt the body of Christ.
A. Malice ..... this is a “ill will” that destroys the harmony of brothers and sisters.
B. Deceit or Guile.... craftiness to twist and pull in the hopes of getting what we want…
C. Hypocrisy… is the evil actions that result from the pretending soul who seeks to be one way yet ultimately has been another.
D. Envy… is at the heart of the matter.. desiring what another may have .... and that my friends doesn't have to be the physical in the sense of possessions like money cares etc… … it can be influence, charisma, relationships… and it often is the very thing that drives what we are already talking about here.. maile, deceit and hypocrisy..
But envy always expresses itself in slander...
C. Slander... the evil speaking that done to another, and think about this, when we speak evil of a person we are essentially speaking evil of God as well, why? because we are all made in His image.
Now what to do...
Peter says to put it all away…cast it off and instead of that,, we are to take upon ourselves something better, some pure
Look back with me at verses 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 2 is key here, instead of holding onto that which is evil, verse 2 says like new born children, long for pure spiritual milk.
When I was little my Daddy had a dairy farm, and one of my first memories of that place was a new calf being born and what did the calf want as soon as it was up.. milk.
That life sustaining milk. It had to have it, in truth it has to have it to live. New born babies have to have it as well, and with it they grow.
Friends the same is true for us...
Christians are the begotten by God, as you can see in Chapter 1 verse 3 and verse 23, we are His children, born of his will into the Kingdom of God. We are not infants but we are compared to them. We must have pure spiritual milk if we are going to grow in our salvation.
In all truthfulness, we are dependent upon Him and unless we drink of this spiritual milk or food, the bread, prayer, worship etc… we will never grow properly and thus we will be limited.
God wants us to be blessed, in taking the pure spiritual we have the best opportunity to grow in holiness and likewise in Christ.
But we have to make sure the house is clean… You don’t sit down to dinner if the table is a mess… NO, instead you get rid of the junk the things from the day that have gathered there, once that’s done, then you can eat and enjoy what has been prepared for His glory and your good.
Friends, what are your craving?
Put away the bad and hang on to the good...
Now this brings me to my last thought for this morning...
3. A Servant who pursues Holiness will be Built Up.....
3. A Servant who pursues Holiness will be Built Up.....
As a believer comes to Christ daily they have the joy of being built up in Him, as living stones… Each being a portion of His house, His Temple… the dwelling place of God, but more than that a priesthood of believers as well.
Lets drop down to verses 4 and 5
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.
We know that Jesus, the living stone, is the one whom the builders rejected (put to death) but in living (a reference to the resurrection) He has become the Cornerstone.
Jesus has built for us a spiritual foundation where by the church is built upon him and the apostles… and the call then is for us to be built up as well as living stones, a portion of that Spiritual building.
People might ask, how can that be… it is because of Jesus. Christ is the living Stone, and as His people, we are alive as well because we have received him as Lord and Savior.
Through the course of our days then, the call is for us to be built up in the sense of growing in Him. In that we are being sanctified, we are putting on holiness.
Our changed life is growing everyday, and each day that we have the unspeakable joy of becoming more like Jesus, all this is building us up, edifying us and making us into a Spiritual house.
Built upon the foundation of Jesus and the Apostles.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
As a servant of the Lord Jesus we are called to be holy so that we might be built up into that Spiritual house.
The purpose of this house is to be a holy priesthood.. Think if it like this, we are the church, but we are more than 4 walls, we are the ministering agents of His house being sent out to work and serve the Lord
We have a definite purpose in serving the Lord here… but we will serve Him there as well.
But none of this is obtainable if we consistently entertain the old ways. The Bible reminds us that we have been changed for the purpose of being made new… new ways new actions, new talking points and a new life.
Put on holiness daily to reach that goal of being a good servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What do you do daily to help grow in the Lord… to be built up.
All through this message I have been asking yo to examine points and parts of your life.
What has god been reminding you about? What is he directing you to do?
Will you be obedient?
Lets pray.
