Living Honourable Lives

Recap

We are continuing our study through 1 Peter. Two weeks ago we heard that we are to prepare our minds for action and be sober minded, meaning don’t become drunk with the lusts of this world. We do this by setting our hope completely on the grace God will reveal to us at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This week we consider the role of fear in our Christian life. I believe whole heartedly that the BIble teaches that we are declared not guilty at the final court of Christ, but the Bible tells us that there is a Believers judgement. This is not based on our salvation, but on the way we live in this world. It is based on how faithfully we obey God in the present. We all know that in each one of us there is an internal battle going on between the old self of this world and the new self. The one born of God.

The verses we have been looking at over these past few months show us that we can have confidence in our salvation, because God is both the Sovereign One over all creation and our Saviour. The Creator is also the Saviour, who is also the Judge. And He is the One who is right there with us. He is helping and guiding us along the narrow way. Jesus saves us in the beginning and Jesus saves us in the end. He gets us to our perfect home safely.

If “A” then “B” follows

Verse 17 continues the thought from verses 13-16. Peter is still speaking about Christians as being obedient children in the midst of generalised suffering. He says,

The New King James Version Chapter 1

17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;

The first point I want to make is that Peter is not doubting their salvation: “if you call on the Father…” He is using the ‘if’ to make his readers meditate on whether they really do believe, and if they do Believe that God is their Father, then what follows is a command to live obediently. Peter has already said this by quoting the Old Testament in verse 16, “be Holy, for I am holy.”

Conduct yourselves in Fear

The main theme running through these verses is, “conduct yourselves throughout your stay here in fear.”

What kind of fear is Peter talking about?

Does he mean we are to live reverantly or in terror?

Our immediate thought is reverance and awe and in a large sense we are correct in thinking this. Peter begins the letter, verse 3, with Christians as being those who are begotten again. It where we get the idea of “born agian Christian.” As a matter of fact there is no other kind of Christian.

God and Father

Peter also begins verse 17 referring to God as our Father. the fear Peter is speaking about is the fear that grows out of a deep seeded love for God. We honour God for who He is and what He has and is doing in our lives. It’s a fear to upset the very One who cast everything aside to become man and die at the hands of His own creation. The God who stand above all of the created order as its ruler, that is God’s transcendence. But for those whom He saved, He is imminent, near us.

Does angering a Holy God have any role to play in us living in fear of judgement?

God will judge

Verse 17 tells us, God will judge according to our works. Remember, Peter is speaking to Believers, not to unbelievers. This can be a very hard reality to grasp. We are told time and time again that there is now no condemnation for those in Christ. We have already noted Once saved always saved.

The difficultly here, though, is uniting God as our Heavenly Father and his role as impartial judge. We have a very special relationship with our Heavenly Father, don’t we. For starters we are able to come into His Holy presence and call the Author of Creation, our Father.

God is the loving and merciful Father to all those who are saved by the precious blood of Christ. But too often these days Christians have down played God as the Holy One and emphasised God as their ‘daddy.’ We need to think clearly here what Peter is teaching and exhorting us to do, and repent of this gross sin. Can you imagine Prince Charles going up to his mother the Queen and in front of everyone calling her mummy. It is absurd to even think about it. But that is exactly how many Christians treat the One who is far greater than all earthly fathers.

God certianly is our loving Father, who bestows many gracious blessings upon us. But we should never forget that our Father who art in Heaven, is also the Holy God of the universe, who will judge His children according to our work.

The idea of the Believer’s judgement is not unique to Peter. When God redeemed Israel out of Egypt He gave them 10 Commandments to follow. As an introduction to them, in Exodus 20:1-2, is this,

“And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall not...””

If there are commands to follow then there must be punishment for not following, otherwise why have rules in the first place. Further along in Deuteronomy 28 we read the judgements God gives for obedience an disobedience.

The New King James Version Chapter 28

if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God

Deuteronomy 28:15 NKJV

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

At the end of Psalm 62, we read,

The New King James Version Psalm 62

That power belongs to God.

12 Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy;

For You render to each one according to his work.

We could very easily replace the word ‘judges’ in verse 17 with the word render, or reward, and the same idea as Peter wrote would come out. Let’s try it, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality renders according to each one’s work.”

This idea comes out in the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25:14-30. In that parable the master of the house gave 3 servants a test. To the first servant he gave 5 talents, to the second - 2 talents, and to the third – 1 talent. The amount of talents given to each servant is really redundant to the story as a whole. The point to the parable is how they used what was given to them. Each of these servants were rewarded based on the level of their obedience to the master. Two of the servants were positively rewarded for the work they performed for their master. But the last servant was negatively rewarded for the work he did not perform for his master. If you have been saved from eternal condemnation than God commands you to conducting yourselves in fear while you live in this temporary home. you have been given new life, then live that new life in honour of God. Live your lives in humble and thankful obedience to God’s Word, honouring Him because you call Him Father.

God has redeemed

In verses 18-19 Peter contrasts what did not and cannot redeem a person with the only only thiing that is able to save a person.

The New King James Version Chapter 1

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

The word ‘redeemed,’ in verse 18, tells us that we were once slaves to sin, but we are now free because the price of our freedom is paid. In the ancient world slaves could be redeemed by either paying for their own freedom or by someone else paying the price of freedom for them.

Honourable Christian living is motivated by a God-fearing faith, This takes into account the high price Jesus paid when He died on the cross for our sins.

As Believers, we are motivated to love God with our attitude and actions in our daily lives. It is inevitable.

Remember the question we are answering today is:

why does the way we live matter?

There are several reasons.

Firstly, We are reminded of where we came from. This is the former life of ignorance from verse 14. Before our salvation we were dead in our trespasses and sins; we were unable to choose God or the salvation God offers. We were therefore only able to fulfil the desires of the flesh. The former lusts in our ignorance.

Secondly, we were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold. God didn’t send Jesus to earth to heap up enough wealth so as to pay the price of our freedom back to God. All things belong to God and He does not need gold or silver. He doesn’t ask us to donate all our wealth to Him in order to be saved. This was Luther’s problem with Rome. It is interesting that Peter uses two precious metals that do not perish. That which seems to be everlasting to us, gold and silver, will perish along with everything else and so is useless to redeem anyone from sin and hell.

Thirdly, the perfect sacrifice was given instead. Although gold and silver, or any other earthly thing, is unable to save even a single soul from hell, there is One who is. God’s Son Himself came to earth, lived a wholly perfect and righteous life according to God’s commands. Then died one of the most cruel and painful deaths ever invented by man. He did this so that you and I can have a relationship with God. He did this to pay the price of redemption to God for our trespasses and sins. And if you have been following along with Kevin’s sermon series, Jesus Christ did this as our as kinsman redeemer.

All those Old Testament rules about sacrificing perfect lambs comes into full light as we look at Jesus Christ and His death. Only a perfect person’s death could save mankind from sin. And only the God-Man could ever achieve this impossible task. The God-man, Jesus Christ, has come, “manifest in these last times.” Redemption has come and must be lived by the redeemed of God.

My brothers and sisters, there is not one thing more precious than the blood of Jesus Christ. Imagine what society would look like if it was governed by Christ’s redemptive and precious blood rather than gold and silver. We as Christians have The King of kings and Lord of lords governing over us as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Peter stresses the importance of God’s salvation in us, so our conduct in this world might align to His rule.

God has planned our salvation

And this is why Peter goes back to foundation of our Faith. He actually goes one further, stating that Jesus incarnation was foreordained before creation. God knew in advance that mankind would rebel. He knew and ordained it. Verses 20-21:

The New King James Version Chapter 1

20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Christ’s foreordained death for the sins of the world correspond to the elect pilgrims whom God foreknew in 1:1-2. Peter is showing God’s characteristics of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence. God is infinitely present, He sees all things, even into the hearts of mankind. God has infinite knowledge: nothing comes as a shock or suprise to Him. The things we bring to God in prayer are not extra knowledge that He didn’t know already. Prayer changes ourselves not God. God knows the end from the beginning. God is also infinitely powerful. He stands alone in power and authority.God is infinitely powerful. He cannot be overthrown. The world we live in tries to topple God from His throne, and has done so since the very first sin in Genesis 3.

If God is the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent God who ordains everything that comes to pass, as the Westminister Confession confirms. Then everything that happens in this world is already known by Him and ordained by Him.

The other attribute we see throughout this chapter is God’s immutability. This means that God does not and cannot change. He doesn’t grow old. He doesn’t decide at the last minute to have vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate.

He knew that His most prized creation, us, would rebel and taint His perfect world. But He ordained it to happen anyway. It blows my mind when I think about this. But the Bible teaches us, and we should all know this verse by now, that all things are for His glory, that means the good, the bad, and the ugly, all give Him glory. And for the good of those who are His people.

Tie it Together

Let me tie it all together. The God of this universe who knows your deepest darkest thoughts. How prone to rebel against Him you and I are. Foreknew us for salvation through the foreordained sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ, and commands us now to follow Him,obey Him, Live Holy lives because He is a Holy God, and Calls us to live honour bound lives to Him for redeeming for His glory.

How then have you been living your life?

In thankful obedience for all God is doing in your life.

Or are you living in the false honour of the world and its temporariness?

The message for the Christian is has always been the same.

God is our King, the new Jerusalem is our home, and so we would do well to live for the glory of our true King, Jesus Christ the Lord. I implore you today - take stock of your life, think of where your life needs adjusting to be under the Father’s rightful rule and then apply the change with lots and lots of Bible reading and prayer, because God will judge each of us according to our work.

So work for God, as the reward is great.

Amen.