1 Peter 1:13-2:3
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[Introduction]
A couple weeks ago we went over the beginning of 1 Peter where the focus was on salvation, trials, and hope. Through the trials we remain hopeful and joyful because of what Christ did and what He has promised to us in the end. Now we’re going to continue on in 1 Peter, going through 1:13-2:3. The main topic of this passage, which your Bible may have a subtitle similar to, is “A call to Holy Living.” Holy living is not what saves us, it’s a result of being saved. And we’ll never achieve a perfect life, no one can, that’s why Christ had to come and fulfill the law and was the perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sins. Living the life of Christ is impossible, but He is also our standard to live by.
[prayer]
[Body]
So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Other translations start verse 13 with “Therefore”, so you can take take in this passage knowing this exhortation to holy living is a result of everything from verses 1-12. The order here is very important. If one were to read verses 13 and on and then said therefore and went back to 1-12, it would be saying we live a holy life for Christ and therefore we receive salvation. Peter ordered it this way implying that although we are to live a holy life, it’s because of the salvation that we have received. Because of what Christ has already done for us, we live for Him. We are not saved by works.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Even though we’ve probably all heard this scripture, and heard this topic mentioned many of times, I think it can be easy to fall into the trap of trying to earn it, what that does is causes us to try to persevere through life’s temptations on our own. Instead we need to keep in constant communion with Him and ask Him for help in times of need. The relationship we have with God is precious. It’s priceless. And because of that relationship, he’s already on our side to help us through the temptations of life. Awhile back we had talked about spiritual gifts and how our faith must be strong in God to use those gifts. I think it’s similar here where to resist the devil we must have a strong faith in God. And we know that no matter the strength of our faith, there will always be temptation, how do we know that? Well Satan even tried to tempt Jesus. So you know he’ll be coming after us no matter what. But we don’t go it alone, we walk with God, and he will help us resist the devil. Last week we more-so talked about persevering through trials. The thing with temptation though is, it’ll be there when you’re going through trials, and it’ll be there when you’re not going through any trials. It is a constant battle.
In verse 14 the Greek participle here is actually translated “not being conformed”. Sounds very familiar right? In Romans 12:2, which Larry talked about a few weeks ago, we get the same participle.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Hard thing to do, but with God it is possible.
Let’s read the next section, verses 17-20.
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
Peter gives some additional motivation for living holy. Which is a reverent fear of God. Last week brother Doug talked a lot about the topic of fear, now the fear we talk about in this passage is completely different. It is not living in terror, it is not a fear that contradicts the joy and hope that we have in Christ. It’s a similar fear like you would have towards your parent that loves you and wants the best for you. They discipline you out of love. You love them and respect them, and because of that, you want to obey them.
It’s not a fear that if I mess up, I’m afraid God is going to punish me to Hell on the day of judgement. He bought you with a price, you put your faith in the gospel of Christ and you are saved.
John talks about this in 1 John 4:18
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
This fear John talks about is fear of the day of judgement. So what he’s saying is if we have a relationship with Christ, we have no fear of that day.
Peter is talking about the reverent fear we have for God in the present time. Satan tries to take that reverent fear away with Idols. All sorts of idols we can create and follow, the world has many options of false gods. Satan wants us to live an empty life, which Peter refers to in verse 18. And the hard thing about it is sometimes we pursue things in life that can be good, and can develop characteristics in ourselves that can also be good, but even then if we fixate on it too much it can be an idol. Anything that distracts us from God and becomes a higher priority than him is an idol.
We need to remember we are here on earth temporarily, anything we receive on this earth is temporary and it is empty. But we were bought with a price of the precious blood of Jesus Christ and God chose us to receive that salvation, which gives us eternal life. And we hold on to that truth and live a life that pleases God because we love him and have a reverent fear for him. He must always be our top priority.
Let’s read the rest of the chapter and also the first few verses of chapter 2.
You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
But the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
There’s a shift here from the holy life of the individual to the community as one now. There is an important role in us supporting and loving the body of believers. The Holy Spirit works through each and everyone of us. He uses us in different ways, but one way that applies to everyone is to is love one another. Our words and actions can bring destruction when not used wisely, and there have been many churches split or ruined because of this. And that can spiral into grudges and all sorts of other things. We are to build each other up on the foundation of Christ. We live differently and treat people differently. This is something that God desires for us. And the Gospel of Christ which has changed us is imperishable. That’s what peter emphasizes through verses 23-25. Everything else in life comes and goes, beautiful one day, fades away another day. The only thing that remains and is constant, is the Word of God that is for us. Through the Word of God we can know His love for us, His promise for us, and His commands for us. And they are always the same.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I’m going to quote something I heard from a pastor this last week which I really liked, he said “The Gospel of Christ is for us to save us and to sustain us.” When you think about that and know that Gospel of Christ is also unchanging and imperishable, that is reason for praise.
Life is quite a journey and we’ll experience all sorts of challenges. No matter what’s going on in life, there’s always an opportunity for spiritual growth. And that’s what peter is after in 2:1-3. Salvation is a done deal, but that’s not where things stop. Because of salvation and all the blessings God has given us, we have already experienced the Lord’s kindness beyond measure. And because of that, Peter exhorts to us that we should turn away from the old way of living and desire to live the way God wants us to. We may not always succeed, but when we desire to live for God, we’ll work on our relationship with him, grow closer to Him, and by His power and grace we can live a life more pleasing life to him.