Sermon Tone Analysis

Scene 1/ The Christian life can be a great burden if it is lived out of duty instead of the holiness.

1:13-16

People can get so concerned to “protect” holiness and purity that they develop a whole system of rules to live by.

Until recently many conservative evangelical theological colleges had some really weird rules.

In some cases the men would enter the lecture room first and sit down the front.

The women would enter last and sit at the back.

Then when lectures were over the women would leave first followed by the men.

In other colleges there would be a curtain strung down the middle of the room.

So if you were married you could sleep with your spouse at night but you weren’t allowed to sit with them during the day!

Or there were rules about where underwear could be hung on the clothes line, because the single men might find that difficult to deal with.

There were very strict curfews and no go areas and often a ban on getting engaged or married whilst at college.

People had fallen into the trap of thinking that holiness can be protected by rules.

Which is the mistake that Jesus condemned the Pharisees for.

Thankfully many of these rules simply faded away, others were removed when people rewrote college rules and some were challenged outright.

Like the one that applied when Toni started college that women were not to wear shorts.

Toni had been working as a Nanny, she only had shorts.

So she told the registrar that this is what she would be wearing.

He wisely agreed.

Now none of this is to say that there shouldn’t be some rules.

The Bible is very clear about a lot of things to do with personal and corporate behaviour in the church.

There are clear commands about many issues of personal morality and behaviour towards others.

And it is clear that all these requirements are a lived expression of the gospel.

So in these matters there can be no debate.

Unfortunately some people forget this fact; one group decided that because all believers are saints then their friends could do no wrong.

When the pastor pointed out that their theology was wrong and that this group was completely ignoring the clear commands of Scripture they left the church.

Sadly some people have an idealistic expectation that everyone else will follow the rules that living in Christian community will be a complete utopia.

They don’t cope with the fact that some of the biggest ratbags you will ever meet are pastors, the people training in theological college with them.

Or they join a missionary organisation like Operation Mobilization or YWAM where they are required to live in Christian community, sometimes on a ship.

They don’t cope with the sinful reality that sometimes people aren’t as holy as they think they should be.

Those relationships can become strained.

So how do we live holy lives, when we are alone, when we are in Christian community at church or in a ministry setting together, or even in a close community like a mission organisation on a camp or a ship or a short term mission overseas?

Scene 2/ It helps to focus on the fact that our holiness came at a great price; we are equally accountable for living in light of the transformation of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18-21

1 Peter 1 verse 18 speaks of this price that was paid for our holiness when it says;

READ 1 Peter 1:18-21

Here we see the same theme as verses 1 to 12 which we looked at last week.

It is all about Christ, all about the eternal perspective.

The readers of Peter’s letter knew the life that had been saved from.

They like their father’s before them worshipped in pagan temples.

Giving gifts and offering to dumb idols.

They were enslaved by the culture of their day and the requirements of paying homage to gods of wood and stone.

Peter describes this life as empty.

Just as a life of consumerism today is nothing more than worshipping houses of bricks & mortar, cars of steel and rubber, mobile devices of aluminium, gold and copper.

At the end of the day, they too are empty idols.

All destined to fade away to nothing.

But in Christ we have been set free from these things.

For Christ is the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

He isn’t an idol of wood or stone, gold silver or aluminium.

As verse 19 says, He is the sinless sacrifice that restores our relationship with God.

We are restored because we have been ransomed or redeemed.

You were ransomed or redeemed is a good translation of the Greek verb lutroō.

[1]

Which means ‘to purchase someone’s freedom by paying a ransom’, and was used in secular contexts of purchasing freedom for a slave or a hostage held by an enemy.25

In each case it is about taking someone out of a situation.

They were a captive, enslaved by someone or something now they are free and are removed from that situation.

This is why Peter speaks of being ransomed from an empty life into Christ.

We have moved house my friends, from captivity to idols of nothing, from sin and death to a life of worshipping Christ, of holiness and love.

This is why Peter starts verse 13 with “therefore” or “so”.

It is the classical do this because of all the things that I have just spoken about.

Because of Christ, live in freedom from law.

Because of your great salvation have an eternal perspective.

In the case of 1 Peter 1:13 to 16 because of the eternal salvation you have through Christ, live in a way that is Holy.

Prepare for action, just as the people of Peter’s day would tuck their long robes into their belt ready for work so we are to focus our thoughts on Christ and his commands.

Don’t be like a person who is intoxicated, unable to focus on what is right.

Instead have the mental discipline to avoid things which distract, things which lead into sin.

Addictions, lust, envy, idleness.

Instead our focus, our entire vision is the grace of God, that which we experience now and ultimately too the grace that is eternity.

When we do these things the commands of verses 14 to 17 to live in obedience to the call of holiness whilst living as exiles or foreigners in a strange land will be like second nature to us.

This is what it means to fear God, it is not to cringe in the corner as a frightened child; it is to stand in reverent awe before a holy God, desiring with all our being to be who Christ has transformed us to be.

Scene 3/ But it is hard to sincerely love some people, how do you be Holy in the face of stubbornness, stupidity or plain nastiness?

You might be experiencing the proverbial, “I want to hit them round the head with a brick” type of feeling.

Or you might be ready to just scream at them to grow up.

Or ....

Some people are very hard to love.

They may be focused on self and see everyone around them as a means to their own ends.

They may be the one who uses people.

Or they may be the person who is loud and obnoxious, who has no sense of social grace and decorum.

They may be the one who simply dominates every conversation and it is usually about what they have done or want rather than the genuine needs of those around them.

Or they may be the person who attacks and undermines others.

The gossip who gains a sense of power by tearing others down.

Or they may be the person who is mentally ill and disruptive.

Who behaves in strange ways and says outlandish things.

Or they may simply be foolish and never follow instructions or listen to advice and constantly create a mess that others have to clean up.

Violence is never the solution, even though in your frustration and anger you are tempted to resort to it.

There are times when people have to be called to account.

There are times when people have to suffer the consequences of repeated and intentional sin by being removed from fellowship.

It is never a pleasant experience for a pastor and I have had to do that on a couple of occasions.

But dealing with a person who is in the church and being a threat to the church isn’t the issue Peter is addressing in 1 Peter 1:22.

In verse 22 Peter is talking about the love of one Christian for another in the face of difficult times.

Times when you are both aliens in a strange & foreign land.

Times, which in reality, is all the time when a person has committed their life to Christ.

How do we love when we no longer belong to this world?

How do we love when we are citizens of heaven?

Scene 4/ We need to focus on the truth of our own transformation by love so that we can love as we have been loved. 1 Peter 1:22

1 Peter 1:22 says “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.”

(1 Peter 1:22, NLT)

At first glance this verse may be seen as being in the past tense.

Because you have obeyed the truth, that is surrendered your life to Christ’s lordship now you must love each other.

But Peter isn’t speaking this way.

He isn’t talking about the love that is because of salvation.

He is talking about the love that grows in us each and every day that we grow to be more like Christ.

We call this sanctification, the process of being transformed to be more like Christ.