LIVING IN HOLINESS

9/9/2012

1.     BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY (1 PETER 1: 13-16)

13 Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

·         Believers, having received the gift of salvation, cannot take this treasure for granted.

·         They are the children of God and thus are expected to do the will of their heavenly Father.

·         Peter tells them what to do in a series of commands. 

·         The ancients were accustomed to wear loose flowing garments, which were found inconvenient when strenuous and long-continued exertion was necessary,

·         In such cases it was usual to wrap them around the waist, to confine them there by a belt of a girdle. 

·         Peter is saying that nothing should hinder their mind as they put it to work in service to and in obedience to the Lord.

·         In other words we are clear our minds from any distraction; just as an athlete who is about to compete in a race will focus on the race.

·         He will not allow any distractions lest it cost him the race.

·         To be "sober," that is to conduct ourselves with self-control and moderation.

·         Focusing on our circumstances or a sinful lifestyle will cause us to come to wrong conclusions concerning what God’s word says.

·         We cannot obey what we do not understand correctly.

·         Fixing our hope on grace much in much the same way our church is focusing on the completion of the new building (e.g. the countdown until we move in, the singing of what has become the theme song of the building campaign, etc.).

·         The focus is direct and clear.

·         Peter realizes that as they experience persecution and hardship their hope might diminish. 

·         He encourages the believers to look expectantly toward the fulfilling of their salvation for when He appears, His redemptive work will be realized in all believers.

·         Let us never forget that the only ground on which our hope of obtaining this blessedness rests, is the sovereign mercy of God, through the obedience to death of His only begotten Son.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,

·         We are called "children," not by birth, but by adoption. 

·         Obedience and holiness are two sides of the same coin.

·         The submission of the mind to the authority of God leads to the obedience of the heart, and is characterized by different kinds of obedience.

1.  Implicit obedience. 

·         The Christian not only believes what God reveals, but he believes it because God has revealed it. 

·         The Christian not only does what God commands, but he does it because God has commanded it. 

·         The Christian not only submits to what God appoints, but he submits to it because God has appointed it. 

2.  Impartial and universal obedience. 

·         The Christian will not attempt to choose between equally clear commanded duties as to which he will perform, but will strive to obey them all. 

3.  Cheerful obedience. 

·         The Christian will not find God's commandments and laws drudgery, but he "delights in the law after the inward man." 

4.  Habitual and a persevering obedience. 

·         Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatsoever he does, he does all to the glory of God.

·         Should we continue to be conformed to the former lusts we will fail to properly understand God’s word and are thus assured of failing to obey His commands.

 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

NASB

·         To be holy means to be separate from that which is common or profane. 

·         God's holy people are to be separate in character from other people who are outside God's covenant family of faith. 

·         The nature and character of God becomes the standard or criterion for God's people everywhere and at all times. 

·         To be sure, this is a high goal in this life, yet the tension in striving toward such a goal is to be a vibrant part of following Christ. 

·         Christians should never be satisfied short of attaining this goal.

·         When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he disarmed Satan with, "it is written" and appropriate quotations from Scripture. 

·         Satan acknowledged the authority of God's Word, even to the point of (mis)using it for his own purpose.

2.     BECAUSE GOD IS JUDGE (1 PETER 1: 17)

17 And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth;

NASB

·         The Christian should consciously live in the presence of God. 

·         Moreover, the Christian also realizes that God is carefully observing him at all times.

3.     BECAUSE OF OUR REDEMPTION (1 PETER 1: 18-21)

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

·         In this passage, perishable things such as silver and gold are compared to Christ, whose blood has eternal significance.

·         Peter admonishes us to live holy lives because they have been redeemed by the costly sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 

·         Not to do so would be the same as demeaning the value of His sacrifice and to count it a thing of little value.

20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

NASB

·         The appointment of Christ in eternity and His appearance in time serves only one purpose: to redeem the believers - the elect.

4.     BECAUSE OF OUR PURIFICATION (1 PETER 1: 22-25)

22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

·         The Word of God is a miracle cleansing agent.

·         This is not a cleansing of the outside of the body, but a moral cleansing of the spirit.

·         Your relationship to the Word of God will lead you to a right relationship with other believers.

·         God brings them through spiritual birth into this world through the gift of faith.

·         Once they are born again, the believers are active in the process of purifying themselves

23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. 24 For,

"All flesh is like grass,

And all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

And the flower falls off,

25 But the word of the Lord abides forever. "

And this is the word which was preached to you.

NASB

• Peter gives no reason for the passing of man's glory.
• He uses the illustration of the grass and the flowers only to stress the contrast between temporal man and the abiding Word of God.