The practice of Holy Living
Scripture reading: 1 Peter 1:22-25
Title: The practice of holy living – 1 Peter 1:22-2:3
Introduction: The last couple of weeks Pat and Carol have ended the service with a favorite hymn of mine. It was one that coupled together the fond memories of many a summer morning at Bible camp, and the genuine joy of being involved with the fellow believers that I had contact with as a child. It’s a Bill Gather hymn that really spells out the theme of this message. In a moment we are going to sing this hymn, but for now I want us to think about the impact of the words of the chorus. “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God – I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood! Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod; For I’m part of the family, the family of God.
Central Idea: The genuineness of your pursuit of holiness is revealed in your relationship with other believers.
Main Transition: We have spent two weeks already realizing that as believers we are to pursue holiness. We realize that because we belong to God therefore, we should act like it, but we also realize the incredible cost of our redemption and this drives us to pursue holiness. But this morning Peter is going to give us a test that reveals the genuineness of your pursuit of holiness. We have all had struggles with fellow believers, but what is our response to those struggles that is what reveals our heart’s pursuit. As I first studied this passage I wrote in my notes, if you are not convicted by these words of Scripture you are not breathing!! So we start with the answer key to the test, weigh yourself by this standard of genuine love for fellow believers, all based upon the eternal bond of Believers, this then should lead us to action as we seek to take up the call as believers.
I. Genuine love for your fellow believers (1:22)
A. Obedience leads to purity (22a)
1. Peter is transitioning from the call to holiness to the practice of holiness, what we are about to study is what the pursuit of holiness will look like in the life of a believer.
2. When you have accepted the free gift of being purchased out of the slave market of sin paid for by Christ, you are responsible and led by the Spirit to pursue holiness.
3. Your obedience to the truth of the Gospel and your obedience to the pursuit of holiness will lead to purified souls.
4. One who has purified himself by living according to God’s Word has discovered the joy of obedience.
B. Purity produces love (22b)
1. This purity is revealed by a changed life and Peter explains that this changed life is revealed in a changed relationship with God and likewise with God’s family
2. The word that Peter uses for love is the philo love that is the brotherly love, it is pure love, it is not a mask that you wear when you come to church
a. This is a genuine love for your fellow believer, its pure and not tainted
b. The implication that Peter is giving is that there were some in the body of Christ that just pretended to love each other.
c. The love that should be on display here this morning should walk out those doors with you when you leave, it should remain with you in the privacy of your car and in the sanctity of your home.
d. This love comes not from your selfish motives, or your selfish desires but as a spring of love that bursts forth because of your obedience to the truth, that means that this love is a reflection of your pursuit of holiness.
C. Love your fellow believer (22c)
1. Peter now repeats the call to love, but this time uses not philo but agape
2. And in adding to the intensity of the command he includes that we should agape love each other fervently.
a. This agape love is the love Christ demonstrated on the cross in its purest sense.
b. This is the word used in John 3:16 when we are told that God loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.
3. This love should come from the heart, because we realize the preciousness of the other person, we understand that regardless of their past and regardless of their actions today, Christ gave His life for them.
Illustration: In a discussion about the number of churches in town and the conflict in which some where born, a comment was made by a person who shall remain nameless, they said, “whenever more than about thirty people go to church together we can’t stand one another and split.” It’s a sad statement, but not that far from the truth, this is not philo love and it for sure isn’t agape love.
Transition: Peter is taking us from the principle of pursuing holiness to it’s practice. It is one thing to say that we are servants of the Lord, willing and able to pursue holiness, and quite another to practice genuine love for other who belong to the same family as we do. But Peter continues by building on Who we have in common. And the eternal bond of believers.
II. The eternal bond of believers (1:23-25)
A. Your lasting new birth (23)
1. If you have come to know Christ as Savior you can rest assured of the truth that you were born again, this time not die, but to live eternally.
2. Remember that this word for born again is only used in the New Testament in verse 3 of this chapter and here. Peter is putting special emphasis on the eternal aspect of our new birth – in verse 3 it was used to guarantee our living hope, here it is to contrast with the brevity of the flesh.
3. Your Salvation and the Word of God are inexpressibly linked together.
4. This imperishable Word was the content of Peter’s preaching. His hearers must be affected by its life-changing power, indeed it is through it that we heard about and have received the gift of Redemption from the market place of sin.
B. The brevity of the flesh (24)
1. In contrast with the imperishable seed that now makes up our identity because of what the Triune God has accomplished for our salvation, Peter quotes from Isaiah 40
2. Flesh and the things of the flesh are fleeting,
a. even more fleeting than flesh are the glories that come from a life lived in the flesh.
b. Beloved, it is much easier to love each other both in the brotherly sense of philo and sacrificially in agape when we realize that those things that cause us to hold back our love are not eternal, they are fleeting and in fact are mostly gone.
c. But, your fellow believer is eternal you will stand side by side in heaven giving glory to God and giving him praise for his enduring Word.
Illustration: An exasperated preacher once said this about a person who left his church angry, “I guess they will probably ask Christ to reserve a mansion on the other side of heaven from mine.” Have you ever felt that way? Of course we have all been there, but realize this we are all spending eternity together, lets start now by loving that which eternal and casting aside those fleeting things of the flesh.
C. The enduring Word of God (25)
1. We have already had to understand at least in part the truth that the Word of the Lord endures forever.
Illustration: Crusades have been marched against the Word of God yet it remains. The Word of God has stood when no other book has lasted, it has been the object of great kings wrath and burned by blood thirsty mobs, but yet it remains.
2. What a testimony of our faith which Peter says is the result of the word being preached to you. There are three elements to each witness for the Lord, the first is the completed work of Salvation, the second is the voice of the witness, and the third is the message to preach, that is the word of God.
Transition: Peter staying true to the style that he has so far in his book, gives us the challenge, then gives us the reason to live up top the challenge and now he is about to make it personal. We must take all that we have understood about loving each other as fellow believers and realizing that to do so is to set our sights on eternity instead of the fleeting flesh, now take up the call as believers.
III. Take up the call as believers (2:1-3)
A. Practice genuine love (1)
1. Peter now opens our hearts and reveals that we must plead for forgiveness if we are harboring any of these five sins which will drive a wedge between believers and be used of Satan to incite a family feud.
2. Each these five sins reveal a lack of pure love for each other, and instead reveal a love for a life that we should have left behind when we came to know Christ.
a. malice – which is wicked ill-will; Deceit – which is deliberate dishonesty. You realize that you deliberately lie to spare yourself that this is a form of hate for your fellow believer
b. Hypocrisy – pretending to love; envy – resentful discontent; and slander – which is backbiting lies.
B. Long for the Word of God (2)
1. Instead of these things the life of the believer should long for the Word of God like a new born striving for milk.
2. How many of you strive for the word of God like this? Peter’s instruction is sometimes the last place we go.
a. Notice as well that Peter doesn’t say look to the Word of God to defeat find faults with your fellow believers
b. But instead he says that we should look to the Word of God to provide the nourishment that we ourselves need to grow in respect to salvation
c. This is what is meant when Paul says working out your salvation with fear and trembling.
C. Be a part of the family of God (3)
1. If you are a believer this morning you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
2. Since you were blessed, be a blessing to the family of God, not because you like a person, or because you feel the obligation, but rather you are a child of God act like it.
3. Use the example of Christ’s kindness to you and sacrificially love your brother or sister in Christ, join in the family of God.
Conclusion: Peter no doubt has convicted each of us here this morning. Your faith, your pursuit of holiness is directly related to your love for each other. As in any family there are the hard times and the fights but as believers these should never separate us from each other. Don’t try to reserve the mansion on the other side of heaven from each other.
DL Moody says about love in the church, “Now if a man has no love of God in his heart, how easy it is to become offended. Perhaps with the church because some members of the church didn’t treat him just right, or some men of the church don’t bow to him on the street, he takes offense, and that is the last you see him. Love is long suffering. If I love the Lord Jesus Christ, these little things are not going to separate me from His people. They are like dust in the balance. Nor will the cold formal treatment of hypocrites in the church quench that love I have in my heart for Him. If this love is in the heart, and the fire is burning on the altar, we will not be all the time finding fault with other people and criticizing what they have done.”
You are part of a family, the family of God, act like it, and live like it. GW is going to come and lead us in the hymn I mentioned earlier.