Holiness in an unholy world...

Prepare your minds for action...

1 Peter 1:13–16 (ESV)

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.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Background

As Christians, we need to keep our eyes fixed on the goal. It can be so easy to get sidetracked with the stresses of life, the pleasures of life, the necessities of life that we can forget the goal. It’s kind of like, we can’t see the forest for the trees.

Hebrews 12:1–2 (NIV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I wonder if aren’t careful that we can take the cross for granted. We’ve heard the story so many times that we can become calloused to our need for the cross today.

I want to read some verses that lead up to our series that can be eye-opening if we allow them to be.

1 Peter 1:10–12 (NIV)

Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,

trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

What this is saying is that when God was speaking to and through the prophets about the cross, the prophets realized that it was for us and our salvation. It was to be for a future time. The Old Testament believers were still justified by faith, but they looked forward to Christ’s death on the cross. They looked forward to Messiah. We actually get to experience what they prophesied about.

Angels long to look into these things. Angels have never experienced what it means to sing, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Can you imagine how angels long to peer in to see what we experience because Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He is their Lord and Master, but He is also our Saviour.

We now come to the word therefore, which causes us to make a response because of God has done by providing us with an inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade that is kept in heaven for us. Because of His great love, we are compelled to respond to it.

Therefore, preparing your minds for action...

1 Peter 1:13 (ESV)

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.

To prepare your minds for action means that we need to take the necessary steps to be aware of what’s going on around us. If we don’t take the necessary precautions to guard our minds, our minds will run wild on us.

It’s great to know that we need to prepare our minds, but how do we prepare our minds for action? How do we keep out worldly influences that are so prevalent?

There have been many groups that thought that the best way to keep themselves from any contamination from sinful influences was to completely remove themselves from the world. This might be a commune or a colony. It may work for some but, it totally takes the salt and the light out of society, and in turn, we fail to fulfill the Great Commission.

Recognize that we have an adversary

Here’s a few verses of Scripture that remind us of this, but they also remind us of our position and our authority in Christ.

1 Peter 5:8–9 (ESV)

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

James 4:7 (ESV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Ephesians 6:10–12 (NIV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Animated television doesn’t portray who our adversary is. The devil is not the one that stokes the fires of hell. He doesn’t have a red suit and a pitchfork. He is a fallen angel.

2 Corinthians 11:14 (ESV)

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Prepare for action

The NKJV says, “Gird up the loins of your mind.”

We are in a battle. Every day, we need to make sure that we are ready for the battle of the mind. We need to decide what thoughts we are going to think.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (NIV)

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Every thought that we think will produce an outcome in our lives. If we don’t take our thoughts captive, they will take us captive. Satan will try to bombard us with thoughts that can stir up anxiety, drag us to the depths of despair, puff us up so that we think more highly of ourselves than we should. He will try to establish roots of bitterness because somebody said something that offended us, and the list can go on and on. What we think will eventually lead us to what we do.

Paul the apostle, who wrote nearly half of the New Testament said that we need to pray continually. This means that we always have our focus on God. Because we are in a battle, we need to keep our focus on the Lord.

Our Weapons

Ephesians 6:13–18 (NIV)

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

There are a couple things that I notice from this passage. The war you wage is not your’s alone. Verse 10 says,

Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Hebrews 13:5–6 (NIV)

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

God is for you. He is not against you. He is with you in your battle and He will give you everything you need for each and every battle.

2 Peter 1:3 (NLT)

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

We have each other. We need to hold each other up in prayer. We need to be there to encourage each other. We need to know that God is for us but it’s also important to know that your brothers and sisters in Christ are for you.

Hebrews 3:12–13 (NIV)

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Be sober minded

1 Peter 1:13 (ESV)

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.

This theme seems to come out a lot. Be sober-minded. Some of the translations give the connotation of being serious, clear minded, and exercising self-control.

Ephesians 5:3–4 (NIV)

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.

Paul goes on to say,

Ephesians 5:15–17 (NIV)

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,

making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

How do we prepare our minds for action and know what the will of the Lord is? How can we be self-controlled in a world where there are so many temptations? How can we be overcomers?

We need to guard our hearts

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Nobody but you can control what goes into your body? Each of us still has the choice of what we watch or listen to. We have the choice to who we allow to influence us? Do we take our cues from secular podcasts or do we take our cues from the Word of God? Do we have authentic Christ followers that we can count on to influence us or do we lean heavily on worldly advice.

Psalm 1:1–2 (ESV)

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

2. Think Godly thoughts

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

This week I want to encourage you to pay attention to what you are thinking about. If you want to journal it that’s good, but what do we spend our days thinking about? What consumes us? What is our passion? Think about it for a minute...

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. It’s so easy for us to get busy with the plans for today, but let’s never forget that God wants us to surrender our todays to Him.

I love this song...

Goodness of God

I love You, Lord Oh Your mercy never fails me All my days, I’ve been held in Your hands From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

I love Your voice You have led me through the fire And in darkest night You are close like no other I’ve known You as a Father I’ve known You as a Friend And I have lived in the goodness of God,

all my life You have been faithful And all my life You have been so, so good With every breath that I am able Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God

3. Put our thoughts into action

Each and every day we make decisions about the things that we do. Each and every day we can take every thought that we think captive to the obedience of Christ so that we do what pleases God.

Today we get to make right choices about how we are going to live. Let’s choose life. Let’s choose the abundant life. In our choices, let’s choose to pray God’s word over our lives.

In Joyce Meyer’s book, “The SECRET POWER of Speaking God’s Word.” She prays, I will not “be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for me].

It is imperative that we not only hear God’s word but that we apply it. We can study for an exam and put the information on paper, and forget it as soon as we have written the exam, but when we allow God’s word to change us it makes all the difference in how we live.

You are more than a conqueror because Christ loves you. No weapon formed against you will prosper because that’s part of your inheritance. You can overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony. You are in Christ because Christ is in you.

Receive His word! Receive His love! Receive His power! Receive His victory!

Amen.