Hope-filled Holiness (Long Version)

Introduction

Smile

Have you guys ever heard of senioritis? Senioritis is when you are in your last year of high school or college, right, and you’ve spent the last 3 years working towards this end goal of graduation. You’ve done assignments, studied the textbooks, and worked towards getting that piece of paper handed to you at graduation. And you’re sitting there, 3/4 of the way through and you’re just tired. You’re just done. All you want to do is graduate. You’re just looking towards that day when you can walk, get that piece of paper, and go on to bigger and better things. So a lot of people get lazy and start slacking off on their school work. Well if you slack off enough, you might actually not graduate and be held back! Alternatively, they could focus. Some start drinking coffee to keep their minds alert. Others spend time studying with classmates so that they are ready for their final exams.

You have two at that point options, focus your mind and body so you can graduate, or you don’t and fail.

When I was in the police academy there were a lot of moments where I wanted to give up. One moment in particular was when our class had done something stupid - I don’t remember what - and we were told to “drop!” and get into what they called the “lean and rest position.” What that is is basically a plank. There’s nothing restful about that position. And as staff - the people in charge of making our lives miserable - were walking up and down yelling at us, we were in this position just shaking from the acid building up in our muscles. Just shaking. And Staff is just waiting for whoever caves first so they can focus their entire attention on ripping that person apart. In that moment we had two options. The first is simply give up. The pain is too much. The second option is to fix our eyes on the prize. Fix our eyes on the the moment staff calls it quits and we can get up, head held high knowing that we made it. So I strengthened my mind, fixing it on that. I strengthened by body and held that position.

Two options - give up, or strengthen your mind and body.

Serious tone

There were a lot of persecution in the first few centuries of Christianity. Persecution ebbed and flowed but for a few hundred years Christians were being hunted down, imprisoned and killed. They were burned alive the light the city streets. They were thrown into the arena to be shredded by animals. They were crucified. And they had two options - give up or strengthen their minds and body, fixing their eyes on the prize that is to come.

That’s the context of 1 Peter. The Christians to whom Peter was writing were in the midst of persecution. Peter was writing to them as they were struggling. As they face those moments agony and fear. How will they deal with the persecution and difficulties and suffering they now faced?

They two options didn’t they? They could give up and give in. Or they could strengthen their mind and body.

With this in mind, let’s read Peter’s words again in verses 13-16.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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.”

Let me give us the main point of this sermon up front here.

Main Point: Fix your sights on your salvation so that you may live out your calling as God’s children.

Our main point today is this: Fix your sights on your salvation so that you may live out your calling as God’s children.

Verse 13 acts as a hinge for us, moving from the indicatives (the propositions and truths) to the imperatives (the commands). Peter has given the groundwork of who we are as Christians – he now begins to lay out what we are to do in light of it. What are Christians to do as they are struggling the middle of persecution and trial and tribulation and distress? How are Christians to respond to a world hostile against them?

We will start with my first sub-point.

Sub-point 1: Cast off your former self.

My first sub-point is this: Cast off your former self.

Look with me again at verse 13. “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded.” The word “preparing” here is the word gird. Literally, it translates, “Girding the loins of your mind.”

It’s a phrase we are not generally familiar with. I’m pretty sure if I told you in a conversation to gird the loins of your minds you would think I have lost my mind.

But most people during biblical times wore loose robes that worked well for normal daily activities, but it inhibited strenuous labor. To gird the loins is to wrap up flowing garments to gain freedom to work hard or run or to fight. God told the Israelites to eat the Passover ready to flee Egypt at any moment. The NASB translates Ex 12:11, “Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover”

If you’re a guy, think of yourself in a suit and tie. And you loosen your tie before you do something physical. I have glasses so when I’m about to do something strenuous I normally take off my glasses.

In English, we have a parallel phrase to girding the loins. It’s is: “Roll up your sleeves.” What Peter is getting at is make sure your ready, that your sleeves are rolled up so to speak. That you are prepared for what’s to come, which will involve strenuous labor!

Now look back at verse 13. The ESV has “Therefore, preparing your minds for action” but the word “preparing” sounds like something you’re doing at the same as something else. Here the main command from Paul is “set your hope fully.” So it sounds like, as you are preparing yours minds, set your hopefully. But that doesn’t quite make sense. It’s like saying, “rolling up sleeves, get to work.” You don’t get to work while rolling up your sleeves. You don’t gird your loins while you are in the middle of action. I think the Legacy Standard Bible translates it well when it says, “having girded your minds for action.” That is, having done so already set your hope. It’s something that’s already done before you do something else. You prepare your minds for action, then you set your hope fully.

It reminds me of when JD preached about knowing the sovereignty of God before suffering comes. The point is to be ready before it happens so that you are prepared for it. You know the truth and reality of God’s sovereignty. You’re saturated in it. You ready ready yourself with that before tragedy happens. That’s exactly what this text is saying!

It is a precondition. Something that we need to do before we can set our hope on God.So look back at my sub-point: Cast off your former self.

What I’m trying to say here is this. You were once unprepared. But before we can even set our hope, which is the main command here, we need to be prepared. We need to get rid of our old way of being, of thinking. Instead, we need to be prepared and sober.

Look with me at verse 15, “Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.”

Many of us, especially those who have come to trust in Jesus as an adult, can think back on our lives prior to knowing Him. Think back on what you desired – not just the overt sins that we can easily identify. But your entire trajectory. What was it’s aim? Was it to glorify God and magnify Jesus? Was it for your own sanctification and holiness so others can see the work of God in you? I highly doubt it. Instead, I was motivated by self-glorification. In my ignorance of Almighty God, I made myself god and did what I wanted. I conformed to my passions in my ignorance.

By the way, “ignorance” doesn’t mean we’re not culpable. We were responsible, even when we were ignorant. For example, Acts 17:30-31 states, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Notice that in times of ignorance God overlooked. You don’t overlook something that shouldn’t in some way be looked at. You purposefully look away. A friend says something hurtful and you overlook it. That doesn’t mean the friend didn’t say something hurtful. That’s still a reality.

So in times of ignorance we did that which God overlooked. But it’s something that we needed to repent of. That verse in Acts says, now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Our ignorance is something that is our fault and in need of repentance.

If we had time I would take us to Romans. Just so we are clear here, the ignorance Peter talks about is is a deliberate choice. It is an ignorance borne of a desire to turn away from God – to not acknowledge him but instead go after our own desires and passions. Peter is saying, cast it off. Before we can do that which Peter calls us to do, we must first put off our old way of thinking and living. Stop having a mind that is unprepared for what’s to come. Stop conforming to your old passions borne of a deliberate ignorance.

If we continue on like we were in our ignorance then we won’t be able to handle what’s to come. Instead, we need to first take off our old way of thinking and living.

Application

So brothers and sisters, think with me on this. How does your life, right now, demonstrate an old seductive evil way of thinking and living? Do you see yourselves sometimes becoming complacent? A lot of the times sin sucker punches (hit hand loudly) us when we’ve grown complacent. Like warrior going into battle, gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober and do not let yourself grow complacent.

And don’t conform to that which used to be your ignorance. It’s not ignorance anymore. You have the truth right here (Bible) and right here (heart/Holy Spirit). Cast it off!

But taking off isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning. We must also put on a new way of thinking and living. I’ll first address the new way of thinking.

My sub-point number two is: (smile)

Sub-point 2: Cast your hope on your future salvation

Now my argument is that that - the casting of our hope on our future salvation - is a new way of thinking. And that leads us to a new way of living.

Look with me in your Bibles at the second half of verse 13. Peter gives the first of two commands in this passage. He states, “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

“Set your hope” is one word and it means something like, “to look forward to a thing with confidence that thing will actually happen.” Peter calls us to set our hope on a future grace. Now we will get into what that grace is.

But first, where do we have that confidence? Peter is saying to set our hope fully. Completely. I want us to first look at the grounding of our confidence because Peter uses the word “therefore.” He’s saying “Therefore - because of what I’ve said before - set your hope.” There’s something that grounds Peter’s command here. So let’s look at what Peter said before.

Look up in your Bible starting at verse 3. Smile Peter states, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”

We immediately see here a connection between our ability to set our hope and our being born to a living hope. We are able to look forward with confidence that something will come to pass, because of what God has done in the past, namely caused us to be born again by the means of Jesus’ resurrection.

We become alive through Jesus’ having come alive again. And we look to that as proof. Jesus is vindicated at the resurrection. He IS who He claims He is. We know God will fulfill his promises to us because he has fulfilled his promise in Jesus’ resurrection! We have confidence!

Then Peter says in verse 4, “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

In regards to the inheritance, Paul says it this way in Romans 7:16-17a, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”

Christ is the heir – He is the one who receives everything and reigns over all. As co-heirs we receive with Christ the inheritance due Him! Peter says, in verse 4, it is “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

And then he says in verse 5 - please look there with me, “Who [those who have been given that inheritance], by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation to be revealed in the last time.”

Here, Peter relates inheritance with salvation. We tend to think of salvation as something that we already have. And in one sense that’s true. If you are in Christ, you are no longer under condemnation. You have been made alive. You are renewed. Your sins have been paid for on the cross. And yet, at the same time, this salvation is not yet fully revealed. We are co-heirs but not yet those that have inherited.

Christians are given a promissory note by God. That note is faith. God guards, He ensures believers will receive that inheritance and the salvation that is to come – by means of that promissory note. By means of faith. Read verse 5 again - “being guarded through faith.” Christians will continue to have faith, and that is God’s guarding us, so that we can come into that inheritance. We can cash in for our inheritance at the last day with that note: our faith!

Now hang on to that idea of a promissory note for a moment.

Peter says, in our text today, “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Do you see the way verse 13 parallels with verse 5? Look at these two verses in your Bible. Verse 5 states, “for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.” Verse 13, “on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Salvation is the grace to come and is related to the inheritance we will receive at the last day. Verse 10 makes this even more clear. Look at verse 10 with me. “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched…” Salvation is the grace we will receive.

Now, what I am not saying that grace and salvation are exactly the same thing. Salvation is a grace to us and in our particular passage, the grace that will be revealed.

Peter tells us to set our hope – to look forward to, keep our eye on with confidence – the inheritance and salvation that will be ours! Keep eyes focused on that inheritance as we suffer for a little while.

Look with me at verse 6 up above our text, “(smile) In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not see, you love him. (awe) Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

Gospel: Understand here, friends, that this message is for believers. This hope is for Christians. It is for those whom God, in his divine sovereignty, has caused to be born again. If that’s not you, God stands willing and ready. He desires that all men should be saved. The only thing stopping you is your own sin. Jesus died for sins so that those who put their faith in Him, He took on the penalty of their sin. And when He rose from the dead, those whom He died for also are born again to a new life when they believe in Him - a new life with a living hope. Put your faith in Him and you will have a hope that surpasses anything this world can throw at you. That’s what this message is about - Christians are able to face whatever difficulties come (smile) because they can set their hope on their future redemption. Is that you? Do you want that to be you? Believe in Jesus and repent of your sins. And you will given an inheritance and salvation.

Application: For those of us that have believe - how do we cast our hope onto the salvation that is to come? One way is to cling on to our faith. We hang on to that faith God has given us – that promissory note – to cash in for salvation at the last time. Peter said you obtain the outcome of your faith which is the salvation of your souls.

You see, salvation is what we look to. It is our aim, in passage. It is our focus as we go through the terrible difficulties of life. We know that at the end of it, after we’ve run the race with endurance, we will receive a crown of glory, and an inheritance that God has guarded for us even as God is guarding us.

(slow and soft) And as we go through the difficulties, the trials that feels like fire burning us – it is merely refining our faith. It proves that the promissory note we hold in our hands – the faith God has given us – is true. It’s a real note. It’s genuine. (smile!) It isn’t a counterfeit! (strong) We will receive salvation!

So Peter says, “Set your hope fully on it.” Put all of yours eggs in that basket. All we have is that. That Jesus has risen and through his resurrection we can hope in a magnificent inheritance when the last day comes!

So you see here that our hope it is a confident hope, grounded upon the historical, world changing event of the resurrection. Even when the whole world is going crazy and we’re tempted to say, “This isn’t worth it.” As we see people lose jobs because of their confession of faith in Jesus. As people call us “bigots” for not accepting that a person can define whether not he is a man or woman. As people call us hateful for believing in the sanctity of the life of pre-born babies! As people ask us, “Why can’t you just let me love whom I love?” We may be tempted to cave. To give in. To concede. To give up. Don’t. Set your hope, instead, on the inheritance and salvation we will receive at the last day. Take the worlds persecution and hate the chin (hit chin). And set your eyes on the prize.

It’s a change in perspective isn’t it? If the resurrection didn’t happen, Paul says, then our hope is in vain. But if it did, we set our hope fully on it, letting the world attack us with whatever they want.

Peter doesn’t just stop there though. It’s not just simply looking to the future, which changes the way we think. But when we are looking to our future salvation, we are changed by it in the present. We live differently.

Transition

So you see in our text that Peter commands us to be holy. But it’s a heavy command! Look with at verse 15 again, “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” But as he who called you. Who is that? God. As - like - God who is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. This is emphatic language! It reminds me of when Jesus said, "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect" in Mt 5:48.

Don’t you feel the weight of that hit you like a ton of bricks? Be perfect, as God is perfect? We think, “That’s impossible. I can’t be perfect. I can’t be holy as God is holy!”

Let’s remember what we’ve talked about so far. Christians are facing persecution. They’re being attacked because they confess Jesus. What’s the right response to that? What’s the Christian response to that? What are the actions? It’s to turn the other cheek. To walk an extra mile. To return good for evil.

Listen to what Peter later says in 2:18-20:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

What is Peter telling Christians to do while being treated unjustly? While being persecuted? To do good. To be holy. But that’s not a command to be taken out of context. It is a command rooted in the a Christian’s status as born again. As those who are able to fix their hope fully on the grace that will be revealed to them. He’s saying as our main point stated, “Fix your sights on your salvation so that you may live out your calling as God’s children now.”

Just like someone who is struggling to finish school focuses his mind on the end goal of graduation and prepares himself to study - Peter says, “Set your sights on your salvation. Set your hope fully on it. Look at it. Focus on it.” And the reason for it? So that we can be encouraged to walk out our calling now. To imitate God to a watching world. A watching and often times hostile world.

My last sub-point today is this:

Sub-point 3: Imitate God because of who He is and who we are in Him.

We fix our eyes on the grace to come, Peter says, so we can continue being faithful as imitators of God now.

Think back with me on Matthew 5:48, "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). On the one hand, some people see this and are shattered. They feel like there’s no way for them to ever meet that standard.

On the other hand, some interpret Mt 5:48 as being impossible in the sense that Jesus was merely trying to demonstrate how impossible it is to "earn" one's way to heaven. They don’t need to do anything. Jesus’ done it. He’s been perfect as the Father is perfect and therefore we just need to rest.

Both of these responses miss the point. Listen friends - Paul just said to set your hope fully on what will come because of what has been done already. There’s no fear of condemnation. Your motivating factor is not your own ability to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and just be able to be holy like God is! Look to the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ knowing that He’s done all already!

At the same time, we are to be holy as God the Father is holy. It is a command. We are to resemble Him, however imperfectly. Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 5:1. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.”

Many of us know the Ten Commandments. We either have it memorized or know enough to be able to recall most of those commandments. And in some way, all humanity is called to submit to God’s moral standards. But in context, the Ten Commandments were given to just anyone. They were given to God’s chosen people.

Turn in your Bibles to Exodus 20. Here, Moses records in Ex. 20:2 God saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” The word “the LORD” there is God’s holy name. It is Yahweh. He says, “I am Yahweh” a name revealed specifically to the people of Israel in covenantal relationship with them. And he says, “I am Yahweh your God.” Yahweh is not the God of the Philistines. He’s certainly not the God of the Egyptians. At least not this that point in time. No, He was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He goes on, “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

God recounts who He is in relation to who Israel is. He is the One who rescued them. And then He states, “You shall have no other gods before me” along with the other commandments. What we see here is an establishment of relationship. The Israelite weren’t just supposed to follow the Ten Commandments because God is God, that’s certainly true. He doesn’t just say, “I am God therefore you will follow my commandments.” It’s more than that. They were to be obedient to the Ten Commandments because Yahweh was their God, and he saved them from slavery. They were to be set apart. They were to be an example to the nations around them, so that through their obedience others would see and know Yahweh and be blessed. They were to be set apart, obedient, sanctified, holy because of their relationship to Yahweh.

In another part of the Old Testament, Leviticus 19:2, God says, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” If that sounds familiar it is because Peter writes in 1 Peter. And we see something really interesting. The verse right after, Leviticus 19:3, God says, “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.” Again, I am Yahweh, your God, therefore revere your mother and father. As obedient children, be holy!

For those of us here who do not have children, you at one point were a child. And when you were, you might have experienced being expected something called obedience. And obedience is difficult. It’s difficult when you’re a child, and it’s difficult when you’re an adult. I want us to see that obedience though necessarily is tied to identity. Children are called to obey their parents because they are their parents’ children. That identity of being a child of those parents means they must obey. Someone else’s child shouldn’t obey you in the same way. And when you adopt a child, that child should obey you in the same way your biological child does. Obedience necessarily is tied to identity. We obey our government. We obey our boss. We submit to our elders.

As Christians, our obedience is tied to our identity as the people of God. As God’s children.

What I not trying to say is we don’t need to be holy because God is holy. That’s literally what the text says. Rather, it is that the word “because” there is loaded with relationship. Why are we to be Holy? Because of who God is. He is holy. But why because? What’s the logical connection? We are His children and we are to reflect that holiness. He is Yahweh our God who saved us from our sins - caused us to be born again to a living hope. And because of that, we can set our hope while we suffer in this strange land.

And because of that - because of our relationship to Him, the one who is our God and is our savior - we are to reflect His holiness. We have an obligation to be like him in holiness. And we know that He will make us holy at the resurrection. 2 Corinthians 3:18 states, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

We see here in our text that we are to be holy in our conduct – our actions – because of who God is and who we are in relation to Him. He is our Father and we are His children.

Application: And you want to know how to be holy? As you walk through life and you face suffering. As you face those who persecute you, revile you, despise you, do evil to you - do good in return. Whatever station of life you find yourself in - employee, boss, pastor, student, husband, wife, child, parent - do good to the people you are in relationship with. Peter says in chapter 2 verse 21.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Conclusion

As we suffer, as we face hardships, God calls us to fix our eyes on our future inheritance, which should completely change the way we see our suffering here and how we live in light of it. Peter goes on in chapter 3:17, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

Then in chapter 4:1-2, “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” He calls us to arm ourselves, to roll up our sleeves, to gird the loins of our minds, for suffering. Not conformed to human passions but instead a life that is in conformity to the will of God!

Let me give us the main point one more time. Fix your sights on your salvation so that you may live out your calling as God’s children now. That changes everything. It changes how we think and how we live.

Let me just end with Peter’s encouraging words from chapter 4:12-16:

English Standard Version Chapter 4

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.