Set Your Hope

I have have shared this story with you in the past. In kindergarten, I rode the bus home. We had half day Kindergarten and so we had the bus to ourselves.

My bus driver loved listening to Paul Harvey every day.

I will never forget one day as we were riding home I was down between the tall bus seats. It was a warm afternoon and the windows were down. I was riding with a friend when in the background I started to pick up on Paul Harvey.

Paul Harvey started to share about the Killer Bees that would come to the United States. These bees had the potential to wipe out our country.

I vaguely remembering that this would take place before I graduated high school.

For a moment, my identity was found in the future of killer bees coming to the US. That is, I was scared, afraid, and fearful of the coming killer bees.

My mind drifted away and immediately thought that I would never be able to get married. I would never get the opportunity to have a family of my own. I would never get to hold babies of my own. I remind you that I was in kindergarten but I had GOALS!

As I studied this passage in 1 Peter, I was reminded of my identity being found in Paul Harvey and the killer bees.

I was afraid, I was fearful, I was stressed, I didn’t have hope for the future, I was focused solely on this earth and I accepted my fate for the future from Paul Harvey and “Now the rest of the story”

I reflect on this last year and thought to some degree Christ followers have left what they have known to be truth and chased after a “killer bee” identity.

Today’s passage Peter reminds us as Christ followers of our true identity.

1 Peter 1:13–25 HCSB

13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. 17 And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your temporary residence. 18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the times for you 21 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. 22 By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again —not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.

Pray

As Dr. Mackie (The Bible Project) points out, 1:13-2:10 contains a great body of text describing “a new family identity” for believers.

Peter uses Old Testament imagery of Israel and applies it to New Testament

Gentile Christians:

V. 13 – “Gird your loins” (Exodus 12:11)

Vv. 15-16 – The Holy people of God in the wilderness (Leviticus 11:44)

V. 17 – The new exodus and Passover (Exodus 12-15)

Vv. 22-25 – The New Covenant people (Isaiah 40, Jeremiah 31)

Vv. 2:1-8 – The new temple (Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22)

Vv. 9-10 – A kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:4-6)

I love what Dr. Mackie says:

“Applying all of these amazing (O.T. Israel) images to these persecuted Gentile Christians, Peter is placing their suffering within a brand new story.

1 Peter 1:13 HCSB

13 Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Therefore

This in scripture reminds us to look at the verses before this verse. Last week in verses 3-12 we saw that Christ in his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope. This living hope comes with an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted and unfading. It is protected by God’s power. Trials are short and temporary.

1 Peter 1:10–12 HCSB

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that would come to you searched and carefully investigated. 11 They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified in advance to the messianic sufferings and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Angels desire to look into these things.

Angels desire to look into these things. That is the Gospel we have for us today. The prophets prophesied about the grace that would come to you and they searched and carefully investigated.

Everything in the Old Testament leads us to Christ and his sufferings for our sake.

There is no one greater than Jesus the Messiah who suffered for our sake.

Knowing all this therefore...

Gird your loins

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 1. Desire the Beauty of Being like a Holy God (1:13–16)

gird up the loins of your mind’ (so AV), an almost unintelligible phrase for modern readers unfamiliar with the ancient Oriental custom of gathering up one’s long robes by pulling them between the legs and then wrapping and tying them around the waist, so as to prepare for running, fast walking, or other strenuous activity

Exodus 12:11 HCSB

11 Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover.

Your minds must be ready for action. Get your minds in shape.

Knowing the truth of the Gospel as Elect Exiles get your minds ready.

You don’t get into shape by sitting on the couch. This is not passive. This is active.

Likewise you can’t get your mind into shape by sitting on the couch mentally. Christians must prepare our minds for action.

Christians must train our minds by studying the word of God, Learn from those who teach God’s word faithfully, honestly and who are of good reputation. there are hundreds of people online teaching things from God’s word, but not faithfully teaching God’s word.

Be serious or sober minded...

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 1. Desire the Beauty of Being like a Holy God (1:13–16)

Be sober forbids not only physical drunkenness but also (since the phrases before and after have to do with attitudes of mind) letting the mind wander into any other kind of mental intoxication or addiction which inhibits spiritual alertness, or any laziness of mind which lulls Christians into sin through carelessness (or ‘by default’). Peter uses the same word in 4:7 and 5:8 to encourage spiritual alertness for prayer and for resisting the devil. He knows how easily Christians can lose their spiritual concentration through ‘mental intoxication’ with the things of this world

Set your Hope

Hope: very confident and eager expectation

In the New Testament, hope is confident expectation, and expectation for one to act on the basis.

Set your confident expectation on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Live with the end in mind.

1 Peter 1:14–16 HCSB

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

As obedient Children...

Again this new identity is that we are Children of our heavenly father

he says

Do not

be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.

Repent or turn from the passions or sinful desires of our spiritual darkness.

Later this is described as futile or meaningless life.

Don’t let your former identity shape who you are today. You are obedient Children.

1 Peter 1:15–16 HCSB

15 But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

He who called you is Holy Be Holy

Be like the one who called you as obedient Children.

I act like my dad, I talk like my dad and I walk like my dad. For years growing up, I resented this. I could answer the phone at his business and they would believe it was him.

As I get older, I am thankful for my dad and thankful for many traits that I have as a result of my father.

This verse is that same idea. As obedient children as the one who called you is Holy you be Holy like the one who called you.

This week in a meeting with a young adult in our church they described to me life growing up without an earthly father in their life.

They said this to me that their idea of God as father has not been distorted by my earthly father but it has caused me to look deeper into our heavenly father to find out what a father really is.

Holy: Set apart from ordinary or evil use and devoted to use in glorifying God.

To say that God is holy means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honour.

God’s children are called to be separated from evil and dedicated to a life of righteousness.

To be holy in all your conduct

This is a pattern of life that transforms daily in every moment, every thought and every action.

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 1. Desire the Beauty of Being like a Holy God (1:13–16)

To be holy ‘as God is holy’ includes a full and pervading holiness that reaches to every aspect of our personalities. It involves not only avoiding outward sin but also maintaining an instinctive delight in God and his holiness as an undercurrent of heart and mind throughout the day

Be Holy because I am holy

Imitate the Character of God. Be Holy because I am Holy.

God’s Holiness is the basis for our ethics.

Exodus 34:6–7 HCSB

6 Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 1. Desire the Beauty of Being like a Holy God (1:13–16)

The final reason why some things are right and others wrong, and why there are moral absolutes in the universe, is that God delights in things that reflect his moral character (and thus reflect his excellence) and hates what is contrary to his character. Therefore, we are to imitate him

This New Identity is

Gird your loins - Get your mind into shape

As Obedient Children

Be Holy

1 Peter 1:17 HCSB

17 And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your temporary residence.

Peter adds an additional motivator for a life of holiness.

This motivator is fear of God’s fatherly discipline.

You don’t get a free pass just because you are a child of God. He will judge impartially based on each one’s work.

Live in fear of God’s present discipline

We fear those we love

Give you an example of my mothers life. We feared that our actions would cause more disappointment.

My love for my wife causes me to fear that I would do something that would cause her harm.

As a child, it was not the spanking that my father gave me that broke me but it was the fact that I had hurt my father by my fathers actions. I feared that my actions would hurt my father.

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 2. Fear the Displeasure of a Father Who Is an Impartial Judge (1:17–21)

The fear here recommended is … a holy self-suspicion and fear of offending God, which may not only consist with assured hope of salvation, and with faith, and love, and spiritual joy, but is their inseparable companion … This fear is not cowardice: it doth not debase, but elevates the mind; for it drowns all lower fears, and begets true fortitude and courage to encounter all dangers, for the sake of a good conscience and the obeying of God.

1 Peter 1:18–21 HCSB

18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the times for you 21 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.

Redeemed/Ransomed: to purchase someone’s freedom by paying a ransom

You were purchased out of your futile or empty way of life. This life was a life without meaning and without purpose.

This imagery here is of people being physically moved from one place to the other.

moved from...

empty, worthless, having no meaning or lasting result

Ephesians 2:10 HCSB

10 For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

Titus 2:14 HCSB

14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.

What is the price he paid?

1 Peter 1:18–19 HCSB

Christ sacrificial death when his blood was willingly poured out on the cross paid the price for us to be set free.

like that of a lamb without defect or blemish

John 1:29 HCSB

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

1 Peter 1:20–21 HCSB

20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the times for you 21 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.

He always existed (He is eternal), but God has caused Him to be clearly revealed (John 1:2) in the “last times.” Last times refers to the Incarnation

(Bethlehem to Golgotha). In fact, “last days,” or “end times” in the N.T. refer to the period which began with Jesus’ birth and will come to an end at His return. Essentially, the time of the Messiah is the end times.

v.21

Jesus’ death and resurrection are God’s means by which we He brings us in right relationship with Him.

And as a result, our faith and hope are in God, who raises the dead. He raised Jesus, He raised us spiritually, and He will raise us on the Last Day.

He’s a resurrecting God.

John Piper’s illustration of the father ransoming everything for the daughter and her waving at the father to go be with the captives.

1 Peter 1:22–25 HCSB

22 By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again —not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.

v.22

No one on this earth has achieved or attained a state of fully purified.

He says by obedience to the truth God’s word you are being sanctified or being conformed to Christ.

This conforming through Jesus leads us to a sincere love of the brethren.

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)

But love for fellow Christians is seen in the New Testament more as a component or a result of sanctification than its goal.

Don’t get this backward

1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary 3. Love One Another, Now and for Ever (1:22–25)

‘Once you have begun to grow in holiness so that you have a genuine affection for one another, make your love for each other earnest, deep, and strong.’

v. 23-25

Our new birth in God is described with procreation language. Born

from a seed. Part of a new family.

We have been born again (we are saved),

not with a seed that fails or is one of mere physical descent;

our new birth (our spiritual deliverance from darkness) is

from imperishable seed.

So, what is that imperishable seed that springs us forth into new birth? God’s Word. - God’s Word is living and abiding/enduring.

o The preaching of the Gospel message is the seed planted, which gives way to new life in the unbeliever (verse 25b). This is our new family identity. Vv. 24-25 – quoted from Isaiah 40:6-8. A great reminder for us. *We are saved by the imperishable blood of Christ (vv. 18-19) through the imperishable Word of God (v. 23).

Our New Identity

Gird your loins - Get you mind in shape

As obedient Children

Be Holy

Fear the one you love

You have been ransomed through Jesus Blood

Hope in Jesus

Holiness leads to brotherly love

You are saved by the imperishable blood of Christ through the imperishable Word of God

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Set Your Hope

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