Called to A Holy Life
Notes
Transcript
Good morning welcome to service — I am thankful for those are with us in person and those joining us online…today we are in a series entitled Standing Firm… we are are going through the book of 1 Peter…
When I was in my 20's I started learning to play golf... How hard could it be-- just hit the ball straight down the fairway…then take your pitching wedge aim at the flag and chip it onto the green and then just putt it into the cup... simple... 3 steps.. Anyone should be able to do that… right..
But if you have attempted to play or learn golf… you know that there all kinds of problems that you encounter-- starting with your grip, then its your posture... then its the arc of your swing... and timing and then the follow through…
On top of this is the problem of keeping your head down
Whenever I play golf it seems like I spent more time in the rough than on the green..… The truth is that if you are going to master any skill in life… it is going to take time and practice… you have to be willing to make the investment
I read an article that said that it takes 10 000 hours to master any skill. 10 000 hr translates into about 9 years ( that is if you spend 5 days a week, spending 4 hours a day)
I was watching the Netflix story on the life of Tiger woods.. His parents were huge influences… and his dad was training him to play golf from the time he was toddler… His mother didn’t take him to the playground like other children — she took him to the golf club to have fun.… when other kids were playing other sports.. Tiger focused on playing golf..
His whole life was immersed into the game of golf… No wonder when I go out once a year… I spend more time in the rough then on the green..
When it comes to Faith… the way that we grow Christ is through immersion into Christ.. Christianity is about baptism… it is immersing ourselves into the God’s word which is truth and it has the power to transform us…
Unlike my golf game… it is not more practice… that is needed ..
It is not about becoming a better person or a better version of me… Immersion into Christ… is simply me becoming more like Christ…
We are going through 1 Peter and we have already seen that..
Peter had a unique calling to the church… He laid the foundations of the Faith as master builder.. Jesus said to Peter that upon his confession as Jesus as Lord… that upon Petra/ Rock.. Peter.. He would build his church..and very gates of hell would not prevail against it…
Peter is a master builder… and he is writing this letter to believers who have been dispersed scattered..throughout Asia minor/Turkey... Even though the have been displaced as refugees..
Peter reminds them of their calling in Salvation — he calls them the Elect Exiles because they have been chosen by God…they are citizens of heaven and in this world they are resident aliens and sojourners… passing through this world..
In Christ they been born again into a living hope where they have an inheritance in Salvation that will never fade.. Now He is going to encourage these Christian live out their lives against the backdrop as those who have been redeemed through the blood of Jesus..
and they do this by Setting their hope fully on the grace of God...
lets read..
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,
Peter makes it clear that these Christians are not just to bask in the glow of Salvation… but rather we are called to respond to our calling in salvation… … we are to set our hope on the grace that we have received.
Peter is not this Ivory tower theologian… that is …He is not promoting ideas and theories…Rather he is promoting a life style… Faith that is active in the real world..
Peter tells the way to live out faith in a real way … is .
first be Prepared…
We wouldn’t think of taking any journey without some preparation… We would have to plan dates, purchase tickets, pack the appropriate clothing… the same thing when it comes to the direction of our lives… Peter tells us that he way to live out faith.. is to Prepare..
Peter says prepare your minds for Action..the KJV says that they gird up the loins of your mind… …
In the Roman world, men and women wore long robes. If you wanted to do something that was strenuous (if you had to run or do some evasive action or something very hard), you would gird up the loins.
There was a belt around your waist, and what you would do was you would pick up your flowing robes, and you would stick them in the girder around your loins, so basically, your legs were free, and in many cases your arms were free. You were ready for action. What it meant was to “roll up your sleeves,” You know, “Get ready.” It doesn’t just say, “… gird up the loins …” It says, “… gird up the loins of your mind..
Peter is saying be proactive about your faith… there is a good reason… because nothing just happens in life… everything in life that happens to us comes with intentionality.. it is the same in the spiritual world..
DA Carson says
People do not drift toward holiness. ... people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. —D. A. Carson, For the Love of God
(quite the opposite..
We drift toward compromise
we drift toward disobedience
we drift towards indiscipline prayerlessness
PETER SAYS prepare yourself.BE SOBER… Don’t let your 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…
Rather set your Hopes.. your thoughts… fully on the grace of God… Peter is talking about Where Faith and our Actions Converge…
this is where where Faith (what we believe) intersects with our Praxis (what we do) ..… We have a tendency to live our lives in compartments.. or rooms… this where my professional life belongs…this is where my family life, personal life… church life…
So what happens is that have can have these two tracks… Faith/belief tract... and Practice/actions tract....
What Peter says to the church is that in Christ they now been immersed into Christ through salvation… it is our baptism into that brings these two tracks merge into one..... Faith and practice are one track...
How does this merger Happen…First by preparing our minds for action… being alert... and secondly...
2. This Comes through Obeying Truth....
When it comes to truth… we have to ask ourselves what are we believing?… What are the things that we believe that are true and what things are false?… One of the problems in life is that we often believe lies... things about ourselves and others that are simply not true…
We need to ask ourselves...
What are the the principles that we obey?Our minds are important when it comes to truth…
Peter tells us that can either conform to old behaviors or patterns… or we can live renewed minds…
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.”
Craig Groeshell in his book “Winning the war of your mind.” has this illustrations of our thoughts and how they can reinforce wrong thinking over time... When you drive in the snow these Ruts form … and the more cars that drive over these ruts the deeper they go…this how the brain works… everytime… we think something… the more we reinforce that thought…
There is actually a road in Canada that actually warns you that your are going to be in a rut for the next 60 miles…
The problems with many of our habits… is we simply got stuck in a rut...
Peter tells that when it comes to Spiritual formation.. is that we need the word to shape our thinking…
Peter divides it into two categories — We are either being shaped by our former thinking — when our lives were influenced by our former passions… and lack of knowing/ awareness… or we are being shaped by our Calling what God has said about us in salvation...
Each us lives by.. or obeys some principle or truth that we have believed. -- either we obeying our flesh and it's passion -- or we are living with the hope found in Christ…
… It is Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind....
We need to ask ourselves what is shaping my life?
T/s What happens when we set our hope fully on the grace of God?
1. God brings us into Full Acceptance..
1. God brings us into Full Acceptance..
A recent study revealed that 8 out of 10 Millennials (ages 22-38) struggle with this issue of not measuring up...
An astounding 80% believe they are not “good enough” in virtually all areas of their lives. Furthermore, 75% of the survey’s respondents admit that they constantly feel “overwhelmed” by pressure to succeed in their careers, find a meaningful romantic relationship, meet others’ expectations, and maintain a presence on social media. In all, 80% of respondents even say these worries have negatively impacted their sleep and admit that their overall mental health has suffered.
When we think of the word acceptance we thing about being good enough…
What Peter offers is not acceptance based on our performance.... but rather based upon our relationship as Children of God... We are to live as those who have partaken of his Divine Nature...
Peter tells us that..
God is holy; therefore, as His children, we should live holy lives. What Peter offers in Salvation…that comes will full acceptance… this comes with Holiness..
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.”
Peter talks about holiness.... in terms of calling… He who has called you to Salvation has also called you holiness..
He uses a direct quote out of the book of Leviticus....where God says, “… be holy, because I am holy.”
The Hebrew word used, means to be separated, to be set apart.
When we talk about God being holy, we mean he is set apart. He’s set above us. He’s off the scale. He’s transcendently above us. He’s not like us. He’s infinitely exalted above us.
When we talk about human beings being holy, the words set apart have a different aspect to them.
1 Peter 4. The Conduct of Those Who Are Saved (13–17)
The main idea behind holiness is not moral purity but it is the idea of “apartness.” The idea is that God is separate, different from His creation, both in His essential nature and in the perfection of His attributes. But instead of building a wall around His apartness, God calls us to come to Him and share His apartness. He says to us, “Be holy, for I am holy
We mean we are set apart for God’s use....
Just like God’s word is to be set apart
Just like the tabernacle was set apart
1 Peter 3. Salvation’s Challenge (Verses 13–25)
Stuart Briscoe says: ‘To be holy … is not to be stale or sterile, but rather to be refreshingly, distinctly different.’
Holiness is a purpose word…
The problem with the word Holy… is that we don’t associate holiness with acceptance… Holiness implies that I have to meet some unattainable standard…
But here is the thing…
The Image of God that we have in Scripture is that of a loving Father... the God of the Bible longs for relationship -- He longs for to know us and be known....
17 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,
God did everything possible for us to be able to enjoy his presence.. God is Holy and he longs for us to be Holy..
To be holy means to make yourself wholly God’s. What it means to be holy is not just to obey the rules, but to give him your mind wholly, to give him your will wholly, and to give him your heart wholly.
We can either be formed by our passions or by the one who has called us... God himself is Holy... Holiness means wholeness... giving ourselves over to God... become wholly his...
The Christian cannot divide his life into compartments. We cannot suggest that there are areas of our lives which have nothing to do with God. Whatever we do is to be done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). If it cannot be done with that purpose in mind, then it should not be done at all
We need to consider the One who is Holy --Trust in his character that he is impartial... He is not going to set you up for failure... reverent fear is not that of being intimidated... God is perfect love... their is no fear in God... knowing that God's path for our lives is one of freedom.
What happens place our hope fully on the Grace of God?
1. God brings us into Full Acceptance.
2. God brings us into Real Freedom
2. God brings us into Real Freedom
In the Scripture Jesus is portrayed the worlds supreme liberator. Remember when Jesus preached his first sermon… he quoted Isaiah 61 ....He said he came "to proclaim release to the captives and to set at liberty the oppressed."
Later in his public ministry, he said, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
The apostle Paul appealed to the Galatians to stand firm in the liberty with which Christ has set us free....
There is slight difference in the way that Culture and Scripture defines freedom… Culture says freedom… is from something.. whereas the Bible freedom too something...
For example if you had if you took a violin string and held it up on its own… you could say that string free standing…
In one sense it’s free … but that is not what a violin string was created to do… it was created to --produce music…
So If you take that same string and attach it to a violin and tighten it until it is taut…
Now, it is where it intended to be…Real freedom was not found in being free from the violin.. but rather from being apart....
Real freedom is not freedom from… but freedom for… Peter tells these Christians who are scattered… they are not just refugees… but they are the chosen Elect… they have purpose --- they are to be living stones… in this temple that God is building… that means they are called to live lives that are wholly his..
17 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,
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Peter says know that God who you call upon in prayer… is one who deals with us fairly… He is not impartial… in your exile… Conduct yourself… Or live your lives with this healthy reverence for God..
Knowing that not only has God loved you as a Father… that He has accepted you fully…
What is He saying You know that you are Call for something --- You have been ransomed..
The word Ransom is the picture of the slave market…being ransomed is that being bought back… The Bible teachers us that we once were enslaved to sin.. but we have been bought back.. redeemed...
Paul in Romans.. says.
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Christ death sufficiently paid the debt.. we are not obligated in anyway to live according to the flesh…We were once slave to sin… set free from sin… and called to righteousness.
The reason the blood of Christ is more precious than silver or gold… is because it is the blood of Christ that has atoned for ours sins and made it possible for us to stand before God who is Holy… We are justified… through our immersion into Christ…
Peter wants us to know that our salvation is by no means an accident.. it was not an afterthought, not something God decided to do when the world spun out of control. God had this mapped out from the begining of creation...
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of 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.
Peter is talking about the freedom that comes from Salvation..
When we receive Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, we are saved.
There's an interesting word in this passage: sozo, which means "to save."
This Greek word is sometimes translated as "to heal," "to restore," or "to make whole." Sozo has a broad meaning.
We therefore see that Jesus' mission to "seek and to save" was a broad mission. He came to give us far more than just a ticket to heaven. He had a comprehensive mission, to restore all that was lost.
Let's look at how sozo is used in the New Testament. One way in which Jesus came to save was to restore our relationship to God..
Sozo is also used to describe restoration of purpose. God created humanity to have purpose and significance; we were created in God's image. 2 Timothy 1:9 says, "He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace he's done this." Christ's saving action recovers our purpose in life.
His plan existed from the foundation to provide a pathway of freedom. ..
When we believed the word of God -- it cleansed us... The change is real transformation from the inside out..
This word is also used to describe restoration of our physical bodies. Mark 10:52says, "And Jesus said to him, 'Go your way. Your faith has made you well.' And immediately he regained his sight and began following him on the road." Again, sozo is translated as "made well."Salvation is the entrance to living a free life.
If we do not know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we cannot have true freedom.. We must understand this basic concept: salvation is immediate and complete, but it is also ongoing.
What happens place our hope fully on the Grace of God?
1. God brings us into Full Acceptance.
2. God brings us into Real Freedom
3. God brings us into Authentic relationships.
3. God brings us into Authentic relationships.
Chip INGRAM wrote an article about Covid and the church… and said that What if from heaven’s perspective, this global pandemic may be God’s greatest act of mercy in world history since the Cross.
What if in an act of severe mercy, our heavenly Father is taking what is meant for evil and using it for good? Like a good parent, he has put us in “time out.” Far from punitive, his desire is to help us take stock, pause, evaluate our lives, our relationships, our idols, and return to him for the life that’s really life.
C.S. Lewis rightly observed that God whispers to us in our prosperity and shouts to us in our pain. Suffering is indeed his megaphone to a deaf world. In his severe mercy, he seeks to free us from being consumed with ourselves and the trivia we have elevated to importance.
I appreciated what Gary said a couple of weeks ago when he led us in prayer... That things that we going through together is ultimately make us stronger and brings us closer together... there is something about going through a challenge and trials that draw us towards being a being a closer knit community.
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Peter urged his readers to express their holiness by genuine love for one another..
I appreciated what Gary said a couple of weeks ago when he led us in prayer... That things that we going through together would ultimately make us stronger and brings us closer together... there is something about going through a challenge and trials that draw us towards being a being a closer knit community...
Peter says that we are purified from obedience to truth that we can love each other from an earnest and pure heart. This is what happens when we allow the word God to take root and sanctify and cleanse us... our actions and motivation are no longer for selfish gains... but we are loving others with sincere hearts.... this is possible because we have living abiding word of God...
TRANSFORMATION STICKS.
23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
Word of God is powerful... the word of God remains forever..
1 Peter 6. The Necessity for Love among the Saved (22–25)
In AD 303 the Roman Emperor Diocletian demanded that every copy of the Scriptures in the Roman Empire be burned. He failed, and 25 years later the Roman Emperor Constantine commissioned a scholar named Eusebius to prepare 50 copies of the Bible at government expense
The word of the Lord certainly has endured. It has survived centuries of manual transcription, of persecution, of ever changing philosophies, of all kinds of critics, of neglect both in the pulpit and in the pew, of doubt and disbelief—and still, the word of the Lord endures forever!
Peter Explains... How Scripture works -- in changing us from the inside out.. When we are born again it through putting our faith in Christ who is the living word... Word is planted with in your heart and mind.... the language is that of conception... God's word has been implanted.. and when that seed germinates.. it produces life… It is through the word of God that born again to a living hope…
Peter compares the word to the natural world... The Word of the Lord is different from every other seed... everything in the natural world fades .
But the word of God remains...
Then Peter tells us what the word of God is... it is the Good News that has been proclaimed to us...
the way that we grow in Christ is through intentional actions.. immersing ourselves into the God word which is truth and it has the power to transform us...
Conclusion
The call of the Gospel is that to persaver to fix our sights on the grace of God that has been revealed....… we can’t keep looking back to the past…past hurts and failures..
Jack Hayford says..in his book taking hold of Tomorrow says.. The past is a dead issue and we can't gain any momentum moving toward tomorrow if were dragging the past behind us.
What I love about our text is that it puts Grace in the same context of holiness..
A group us did a devotional a several weeks ago entitled “always we begin again”… the phrase was taken from the Rule of Saint Benedict… and it was basic rule for monks to live a life of holiness…and what I love about that phrase it is gives us grace and permission to fail.. Our culture teaches us differently.. you fail a grade … your will always be behind..… we talk about college drop outs…its the end of the world you will never make it... we don’t give much grace… The idea of beginning again.. is that every day is brand new day… and when we fail… we just start again…
Beginning again is permission to be unaccomplished, to be a beginner, to be brand new. More than permission too, a sense that we are right where we should be and that the beginning space is actually a holy space.. not just a layover to something better..