1 Peter 1:13–16
One man described his observations of the concept of holiness like this: There is a simple yet profound word which occurs nine hundred times in the Bible. You see it first in Genesis, as we are told how God created heaven and earth. You see it last in the closing chapter of Revelation where we are told about God’s creation of a new heaven and a new earth. But except for a few grand old hymns of the faith, you do not see this word much today … This word is “Holy.” We get our words “saint,” “sanctify,” and “sanctification” from the same root words. All these terms carry the idea of being “set apart.…” (1)
We are called, as followers of Christ to be Holy. The Bible calls us “Saints.” The word saint has in its Greek roots the word holy. Saints are the Holy ones of God
A.W. Tozer: The holy man is not one who cannot sin. A holy man is one who will not sin.(2)
Only after we find new life in Christ does sinning becomes a choice. Before Christ, we were slaves to sin. Sinning is what we did. Sinning is what sinners do. A Christian who sins, does so by choice.
We excuse ourselves by the fact we all frequently compare ourselves favorably with someone else. We all think of someone we consider to be less mature, less competent, or less able than we are. That person is a great comfort to us because he or she enables us to keep our self-image intact by us saying, “Well, at least I’m not like so-and-so.” The only problem with determining our self-worth by comparing ourselves with others is that we are using the wrong measuring stick.
A little boy came up to his mother one day and said to her, “Mother, guess what! I’m eight feet, four inches tall!” His mother, greatly surprised, inquired into the matter and found he was using a six-inch ruler to measure a “foot.” The boy was actually only a few inches over four feet.
This is exactly what we do, we measure ourselves by one another, an imperfect prototype, rather than by the standard of the Word of God.(3)
One of my favorite books is The Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer. In that book, he writes these insightful words about God’s holiness:
"God’s holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered…Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard… Because He is holy, His attributes are holy, that is, whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy." (4)
Do we belong to God? Are we in Christ? If we belong to God, then we are holy. Isn’t it about time we start acting that way?
A driver’s license examiner told about a teenager who had just driven an almost perfect test. “He made his only mistake,” said the examiner, “when he stopped to let me out of the car. After breathing a sigh of relief, the boy exclaimed, ‘I’m sure glad I don’t have to drive like that all the time!’”
That young man is not all that different from a lot of people who call themselves Christians. For an hour or two on Sunday mornings they look, talk and act in a manner that leads others to believe they are genuine disciples of Jesus. But for the other 166 hours in the week, there is really very little in their lives to distinguish them from the unbelieving world around them. It’s almost like when they walk out the doors of the church on Sunday morning they think, “I’m sure glad I don’t have to behave like that all the time.” (5)
The call to be holy is a 24/7 call. It is a call in which a true Christian aspire to do all the days God gives us. It is not a one-time event. Let us examine that call to be holy as God gives to us through the writings of Peter. Peter was spelling it out for his audience, who had come to faith in Christ.
1 Peter 1:13 (NKJV) Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
A real key to these verses is what was said before as illustrated by that simple word “Therefore” – "dia" in the Greek, which can be just as easily translated “for this reason” In the following verses the readers are exhorted to live a godly life. But all these exhortations are grounded in God’s saving work as explained in vv. 1–12.
Believers are to obey because they are God’s chosen pilgrims, (v1)
because they have been begotten by the Father, (v3)
because they have an untouchable inheritance, (v 4) and
because of the greatness of their salvation. (v5)
God’s commands are always rooted in his grace.6
God called us to Jesus and Jesus holds us in His hands and no man can ever take us out.
Therefore, for this reason:
"rest your hope fully" –
now a little bit of Greek grammar: The main verb for this whole verse is “rest your hope” and it is in the imperative tense, meaning it is a command. The other words about “girding your minds” and “be sober” are participles (verbal adjective) in the Greek – these are things we should be doing.
Gird up the loins of your mind: “Girding” was an act of gathering up up your flowing robes and tucking them into your belt, enabling one to run and work.
“Gird up the loins of your mind” means to prepare your mind for action.
“Be sober” means to be self-controlled, not from the outside, but from the inside, not allowing our senses to be dulled by the world. For example, outright cruelty in the world, murders in the streets, and open sex no long faze us because we have become conditioned and dulled by seeing so much of it being piped right into our living rooms by television and other media.
So let me a make this a little more wordy in translating this statement. The participles should be understood, as subordinate to the main verb and thus should be construed as instrumental participles. Hence, the verse should read, “Set your hope fully on the grace … by preparing your minds for action and by being sober.” (7) or self-controlled, not having your senses dulled by the world.
Because we are chosen, because we have an untouchable inheritance, and because of God’s grace we are saved, all our hopes for eternity rest fully on God’s grace which we will realize at the end of time, that moment when Jesus reappears at . . . the revelation of Jesus Christ
–“revelation” in the Greek is "apokolypis" – meaning, this is when Jesus comes again. We rest all our hope on Jesus. One day all this will end and Jesus will return, It is all about Jesus. Peter goes on and says and we are to fully rest all our hope, just as:
1 Peter 1:14 (NKJV) as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
We are the children of God. We have been set aside by God and for God. By definition, we are the Holy Ones of God, so with God as our Father, we are His obedient children.
"not conforming yourselves to the former lusts."
Remember the phrase: “if it feels good, do it” and “do what come naturally” – all this comes out of our sinful nature.
"as in your ignorance" – we didn’t know any better. But what does Scripture say?
Ephesians 2:1–3 (NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
We were hopelessly dead, yet God, through His Son Jesus, made us alive! We put away all things dead. We fill up with new things; things of the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
How? By being the living sacrifice God has called us to be, and as obedient children, girding up our minds, not letting the world dull our minds.
Romans 12:1–2 (NKJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
As Christians, should we not pattern our lives after the One whose name we bear? Ours is a Holy Call, because it is God who calls us.
1 Peter 1:15 (NKJV) but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct
Too often, the world and even us, are too lax in being mindful on how high, mighty and holy is God. We fail to recognize how high and holy God is:
"but as He who called you is holy"
God is Holy. As Tozer had said, God does not meet a high standard of holiness, He is the standard. We can bearly grasp the scene in Heaven:
Revelation 4:8 (NKJV) The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
Here, we have the creator of the Universe, with all that is in heaven bowing down before Him. Holy, holy, holy.
God is Holy, His Call is Holy, then if we belong to Him, we are Holy (saints).
"you also be holy in all your conduct,"
A key word here is “ALL” – in ALL your conduct. Not some of your conduct, Not when you feel like it. Not just on Sunday when you come to church. All your conduct, ALL the time. Why? We are called to be like Him:
Ephesians 5:1 (NKJV) Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
Matthew 5:48 (NKJV) Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
God is holy, We should be holy. This is not a new concept.
1 Peter 1:16 (NKJV) because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
This is quote from the book of Leviticus and is the defining verse for that book. In Leviticus, God makes this command no less than 4 distinct times. God goes on to say, because the people belong to Him, God declares them Holy. The book of Leviticus told the people how to be holy outwardly through ritual and sacrifices and ceremony.
All this is no good unless they are inwardly holy. Jesus slammed the Pharisees and Scribes on more than one occasion because they did all the right things on the outside, but on the inside they were defiled and dirty.
Matthew 23:27–28 (NKJV) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
God calls for us to be holy and holiness begins on the inside. If our thoughts and motives are pure and holy, it will show up in our speech and in our actions. That fact is, you can only fake righteous action only so long before your true self gives you away, and your true fruits are shown. Jesus tells us, by their fruits you will know them (Mt 7:19).
1 Thessalonians 4:7–8 (NKJV) 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
Rejection of a holy life is not rejecting me as the preacher, it is not rejecting the church, but a rejection of God Himself.
The first thing to being holy is to first belong to God. Do you truly belong to Him? That fact is, we were born into sin. We sin because we are sinners. We are a slave to sin. And the wages of sin is death. But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to pay the penalty of death for us. It was and is a debt we cannot pay. No amount of good works or right living could ever redeem us from the deep sin in which all of us were drowning.
1 Peter 1:18–19 (NKJV) 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.
Jesus paid the price for those who would accept it. It is a free gift from God, eternal life through Jesus. Two things makes us holy:
(1) Belonging to God,
(2) And because we belong to Him and because of what Jesus did for us, we are called to live holy lives for Him, We have a church word for that, and it’s called “sanctification” the process of becoming holy.
Being holy is not a “killjoy” thing, but rather as obedient children of God, as we follow the commands of our Lord, we soon realized that holy living will bring joy and true happiness. "But God wants me to be happy?" God does not call us to be happy but to be holy, and the that will bring true joy and true happiness His way which will last for eternity, not our way which last for only a moment.
We don’t get to choose what is Holy. Remember God is the standard, God has the plan. God know what is best for us. Look around, we as human beings clearly do not know. Pain, depression and misery is everywhere. Isn’t it about time we try it God’s way?
God calls us to be Holy. Are we holy in God’s eyes or man’s eyes?
What is your measuring stick?
Notes
(1) Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000), 374.
(2) A. W. Tozer and Harry Verploegh, The Quotable Tozer I: Wise Words with a Prophetic Edge (Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread, 1984), 170.
(3) Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 327–328.
(4) A.W.Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York, Harper Collins, 1961), 105.
(5) https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/how-to-be-holy-in-all-my-conduct-pat-damiani-sermon-on-holy-203367?ref=SermonSerps
(6) Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 77.
(7) Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 77–78.
