Wayfaring Strangers
A study of 1 Peter
Part 6
“I want to live like that”
1 Peter 1:13-25
The Christian Group Sidewalk prophets sings a long titled live like that
I is a challenge to live a better life for Christ
Let me read you just a few lines of it
Sometimes I think
What will people say of me
When I'm only just a memory
When I'm home where my soul belongs
Was I love
When no one else would show up
Was I Jesus to the least of those
Was my worship more than just a song
Am I proof
That You are who you say You are
That grace can really change a heart
Do I live like Your love is true
People pass
And even if they don't know my name
Is there evidence that I've been changed
When they see me, do they see You
I want to live like that
And give it all I have
So that everything I say and do
Points to You
If love is who I am
Then this is where I'll stand
Recklessly abandoned
Never holding back
In todays world we see a lot of challenges
Some good some not so good
The principal or college dean standing before a graduating class
Challenging them to use their education to make the world a better place
To use their experiences to find satisfaction in their choice of career paths or future dreams and plans
Is good and inspiring
A coach or mentor challenging someone under their charge to become better
Stronger
More disciplined
More focused is also a good thing
Other challenges not so good
How many of you have seen the tide pod challenge?
Or the cinnamon challenge
Kids are challenging other kids to eat those laundry detergent pods
And kids are dying because if it
I simply can’t warp my brain around why someone would even think that was a good idea
John Wayne once said
Life is hard, it’s even harder when you’re stupid, nuff said on Tide pod challenge
So, while challenges are sometimes inspiring and sometimes not
We must learn to discern between the two
It is important that the one who is doing the challenging
Has our best interest at heart?
Not everyone who offers a challenge does
Satan and this evil world we live in want to challenge us to be as bad a s possible
Push the envelope just a bit
Bend the rules
Or even blatantly break them
They want us to look for “outs”-“loop holes” in God’s word
With statements like
“Well God would want me to be happy “
Or” That is just old-fashioned thinking”
Even
“This does not really apply to us today “
“Everyone else is doing it”
“I’m not hurting anyone”
“It’s not as bad as-----"
And the like
All the time trying to get us to
Justify
Rationalize
Minimize
And normalize
Sin and bad behavior in our lives
Captain call said
I hate rude behavior in a man
I won’t tolerate it
And God Hates sin
And he won’t tolerate it
So, while the whole world seems to be issuing negative challenges
It is refreshing when someone offers a challenge that is actually positive
Encouraging
And promotes living a life pleasing to God
That brings us back to our study of 1 Peter
Peter in this portion of text challenges us to live Holy Lives
He challenges us not to go back to the gate of our old lives and our old sins
He gives us reasons and tools to accomplish this
Peter gave a bold challenge.
1 Peter 1:13-2:3 lays out the ethical responsibilities of those who have experienced the blessings of salvation described in 1:3-12.
The salvation that we have discussed in detail over the last few weeks from the words of the Apostle Peter
He once again he reminds us of the promises God makes to believers and the hope we have based on
Those promises
Here is a fact
Christ is coming soon.
We began living in the end times on the day Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection
We don’t know when he is coming back
Simply that he is
And knowing he is coming
Should motivate us as believers to be all in for him
To live for him and to tell about him
This means being
Mentally alert
Morally disciplined
and
Spiritually focused.
Striving to live a Holy Life
This is hard work.
This is a challenge
And if lived
It is more than worth it!
Please open your bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1
I am going to begin in verse 13
And we will be looking at verses 13 trough 25 and the end of chapter 1
Peter starts out with his challenge in verse 13a
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control.
Prepare your minds
Take a sober assessment
Be changed by changing the way you think Paul says
And exercise self-control
Fight off those temptations and urges
Stop doing things that are not good for you or things that are not pleasing to God
Stop giving into the challenges of the world
And ride for Christ
Peter challenged those scattered believers those wayfaring strangers
And us in the process
to prepare your minds for action
Pull up our boots
or “roll up your sleeves.”
And get it done
Listen
Obedience does not always come naturally or easily.
The word Peter uses here “minds” refers to spiritual and mental attitudes.
You see
To lead holy lives in an evil world,
The believers would need a new mind-set.
Our minds should be set and prepared, ready for “action” at God’s prompting
Bags packed ready to roll on God’s commands
Like the Israelites when they were preparing to leave Egypt
Peter says prepare your minds, mentally and spiritually
And be self-controlled
We must control our actions and reactions to the challenges of this world
Anger
Disappointment
Bitterness
Sexual temptation
Addictive behaviors
Complacency
Negativity
We must take control of our thoughts and our actions
Our minds and our bodies
So that we don’t allow ourselves to be swayed from our purpose
So that we don’t allow ourselves to drift away from God
So that we don’t allow ourselves to go back into the mud of our old lives
When Peter uses the words prepare your minds and be self-controlled he is building a bridge to the rest of this passage
He is saying
You got to do this first
To get what I’m going to tell you next
If you don’t do step a” A”
You can’t get to “B”
And with that he begins a list of moral commands that weave their way through the rest of his book
Peter has described true faith in the first part of chapter 1
And now in the last part of chapter 1 Peter
He explains how believers can reflect God’s character
Make God’s priorities their priorities
And follow God’s commands.
By preparing our minds for action and practicing self control
Verse 13b
“Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”
As we place all of our hope on the grace that has been given to us
We will be encouraged to change our mind-sets to be in line with God’s plans for us
We will be challenged to change our lifestyles to glorify God,
And we will be given the tools needed to persevere during difficulties and persecutions.
Listen
“hope” is not a wish or a dream
Hope is a confident expectation of what God has promised;
Hope is our guarantee
That faith in Jesus Christ will bring salvation, blessings and eternity
We have already received salvation through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior.
When you believed, at that instant you were saved
Your salvation is complete and assured
There is no secondary work of atonement
The blood sacrifice of Christ is enough
But I believe Peter is saying we won’t fully understand all of it till Christ returns
Peter continues with his challenge in verse 14
14 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.”
All believers are part of God’s family
We are all God’s children
But each of us is unique
One of a kind custom made creation I love to say
But the one thing that we as his children should have in common is obedience to God
Or at least a desire for obedience
Peter tells us first in this verse what obedience is not
Believers ought not to live in the same manner that they lived before they were saved.
Selective obedience is still disobedience
He says before we were saved we lived in ignorance
Giving in to their evil desires, insensitive to sin or to God’s desires.
But when Christ saved us, we received a new mind-set, new goals, a new sensitivity to sin, a new desire to please God, and an altogether new way of living.
He says as stated in Romans 12
Don’t conform to the world
The word for conform means “to pattern one’s life or actions after.” Or to bend to
Or be molded into
Unbelievers pattern their lives after their desires, with no power to conquer or control them.
But believers’ lives are to be radically different.
Believers must not be conformed to their evil desires because they have been transformed by the renewing of their minds
The evil desires still exist, but believers have a new goal for their lives. Pleasing God
We must break free from the past and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome evil desires and conform ourselves to God’s will.
Verse 15a
15 But now you must be holy in everything you do”
Listen
It is not necessary to be Holy to be saved
Jesus says come to me all of you who are tired
Beat down
All of you that carry heavy burdens
He says everyone who call s on the name of The Lord will be saved
He does not say clean up first
But as Peter is explaining here
Once we have received the gift of salvation
Holy should be our goal
Listen we are living in the same bodies we got saved in
The desires of our hearts are still there
The temptations are still there
But Now we should fight to put them behind us and pursue a holy life
Listen
I’m not talking about walking around all day with a robe on
Chanting words- isolating ourselves from the world
Acting pious
Peter and I are talking about
Living a life that is pleasing to God
While still living as strangers in this world
But why Holy Verse 15 b and 16 tells us
“just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.
Jesus took our place on the cross
His death was for us
And as a result, we should desire to be more like him
Sanctified that is called
We have been chosen by God
Called by the spirit
And cleansed by the Blood of Christ
And as a result, we should desire to live a Holy life
Holy simply means set apart for a special purpose
As we discussed, God initiated our salvation;
But we were not chosen only to be saved
We were chosen to please God
And Holiness pleases God
God’s holiness means that he is completely separated from sin and evil.
Holiness is his character—he is holiness.
He is the opposite of anything profane, evil , vulgar, mean or corrupt
Holiness for God’s people means being totally devoted or dedicated to God, set aside for his special use and set apart from sin and its influence.
God sets the standard for morality and integrity, right here in his word
If you have questions whether something in ok or not
Look inside the book
It is called the Holy scripture for a reason
Other so-called god’s , little g gods are hostile, adulterous, or spiteful. Our God is not
The little” g” gods of the pagan cults popular in the first century were bloodthirsty or promiscuous.
Our God is the God of mercy and justice
He cares personally for each of his followers.
And our Holy God expects us to imitate him by following his high moral standards.
Believers should be set apart and different because of God’s qualities in our lives.
Our desires and priorities must be his desires and priorities
We have already been declared holy because of our faith in Christ, he cleansed us
But we must strive to show our holiness in our day-by-day walk, behavior, and conduct.
We cannot become holy on our own, but God gives us his Holy Spirit to help us on our path
Nor will we achieve perfect holiness in this life
Peter’s words simply mean that all parts of our lives and character should be in the process of becoming conformed, both inwardly and outwardly, to God’s holy standards.
Verse 17a
17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. “
Peter in this section is assuming that the readers are already praying
Remember Peter wrote to believers
And as believers He expected that meant that they prayed regularly to God
That they cried out to him in their need and thanked him for their blessings
Peter talks about judgement here
Let me clarify
He is not talking about eternal judgement
Not talking about heaven and hell
He is talking about rewards
I have heard this verse out of context
Some quote it as “God is no respecter of persons”
Using it to promote all sorts of teaching
And it usually confused me
God does not respect me, I would say
The NLT says it so much better
----He has no favorites---
God loves his creation
What this means is You can’t do anything to make God love you more
And you can’t do anything to make him love you less
But he will not overlook your sins anymore than he will anyone else’s
We all get the same deal
God judges and disciplines all believers impartially according to their deeds.
Non-believers are judged based solely on their lack of belief
God hears all prayers and sees all sin.
He does not favor the prayers of some over others – your prayer is just as important to God as Billy Grahams
And he saw Billy’s sin. Just like he sees yours and mine
That is what this means
17b
“So, you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”
Reverent fear is not the fear like we tend to think of it
Some of you are terrified of spiders or snakes
Some of public speaking
Others of -----
The reverent fear we see in the bible is the healthy and fervent respect of a believer for the all-powerful God.
What this means is because God is the creator and judge of all the earth,
We as believers should not ignore him or treat him casually.
Reverent fear means We ought to truly fear God’s discipline
This is important
and live to avoid it.
We should live as wayfaring strangers who are just passing through
with no thought of this world as our permanent home
No desire to become part of the culture
No desire to go along to get along
It is not fear like that of a snake
Or a scary monster
But Fear of offending him
Fear of taking him for granted
Fear of becoming lazy in our Christian lives.
Verses 18-19
18 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. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
Peter again reminds us of the blessings of salvation
We must never forget this
And we cannot be reminded too much
And he gives us another reason that we should fear displeasing God
He paid an enormous price to buy us back from sin.
The word redeemed was used when someone paid money to buy back a slave’s freedom.
In biblical times, a person’s debts could result in that person’s being sold as a slave.
The next of kin could redeem the slave (buy his or her freedom), a transaction involving money or valuables of some kind.
But Peter says here that all valuables are perishable—even silver and gold are susceptible to corruption.
He says silver and gold can do nothing to change anyone’s spiritual condition.
No amount of money can buy our salvation.
It had to be done God’s way, not with money, but with the precious blood of Christ
The transaction God made to buy us back from sin is not refundable; it is a permanent transaction.
That Christ “redeemed” us means that he paid the price to set sinners free from slavery to sin.
Christ paid the debt we owed for breaking the righteous demands of the law.
Christ purchased our freedom, and it cost him his own life.
The word “precious” means flawless, unblemished.
Jesus had moral integrity and perfection.
He was, is and always will be Holy
He did not have to die for his own sin
He gave his life, so he could take our sins
Jesus has provided all that we need to stand in God’s presence as though we had never done wrong.
In the Old testament a sacrifice was required to atone for sin
A temporary sacrifice repeated over and over
A blood sacrifice
Jesus made the final sacrifice
He shed his own blood
Only the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross was effective atonement for our sins.
Christ stands in our place, having paid the penalty of death for our sin, having completely satisfied God’s demands.
Listen
We could not escape from sin on our own; only the sacrifice of God’s Son on our behalf could buy us back and set us free.
Verse 20
20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
Peter tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice for the world’s sins was not an afterthought, not something God decided to do when the world spun out of control.
Not a spur of the moment decision
This plan was set in motion by the all-knowing, eternal God before the creation of the world.
Christ has always existed with God
But was revealed in these last times to the world in his incarnation.
The “last times” refers to the time between Christ’s first and second comings.
The Prophets wrote about it but did not understand it all
And the fact that the truth ids now revealed should cause us to seek holiness in our own lives
Peter’s words encourage his readers that Christ’s coming and the entire plan of salvation are for individual believers, loved and chosen by God.
For your sake means
Jesus gave his life for you, personally!!
Verse 21
21 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
John 14:6 is one of my very favorite verses and Peter echoes those words here
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
Peter says through Christ you have come to trust in God
It is only through Christ that we can know and believe in God.
We are not saved by baptism, church membership, taking the Lord’s supper. Being good, doing good and any thing other than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ our savior
The fact that God raised him from the dead and glorified him is the foundation for our faith for two reasons:
It is through Christ’s resurrection and glorification that God show us that he has accepted Christ as our righteous substitute, thereby giving us access to God.
It is through Christ’s resurrection and glorification, believers can receive power from the Holy Spirit
The power that resurrected and glorified Christ is the same power that enables us to believe.
It is that power that gives us the assurance of eternity
The same power that raised Jesus from the grave , lives in us
Because Christ ransomed us, we must no longer fear God and face his judgment; instead, we set our faith and hope in him, trusting in the one who planned our salvation from eternity past.
Because God raised Christ from the dead, we know and believe and expect that he will also raise us.
Because he lives we can face tomorrow
Because he lives all fear is gone
Verse 22
22 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.[b] Love each other deeply with all your heart.[c]
Peter continues his challenge to live holy lives
We should strive to be holy because of who God is and what he has done for us
But, here is the truth
human beings cannot, on their own, be holy on their own
no one is righteous
no one is good’ all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
We cannot be holy on our own
We cannot be holy on our own
Because of the struggle between the new nature and the old,
The sinful nature remains with us sinful nature continues throughout our.
Challenging us to sin
To disobey God
To give into our own desires
But Peter says you were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth
And now with the Holy Spirit’s help
We as believers can grow toward holiness because our souls have been purified by our obedience and love.
Listen
Peter did not mean that we are completely pure or perfect
He means we can move in the direction of perfection and purity
Day by day
One step at a time
Obedience to the truth starts at conversion, when you believed the gospel message
And continues into daily obedience to God’s commands.
Peter is pointing out that their salvation had changed their lives.
And the transformation that Christ had made in their lives was toward purity perfection and holiness.
And he shows us here in this passage that this change
This transformation is not supposed to be internal; only
We are supposed to act on the change in our lives by loving others
Verse 23-25a
23 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. 24 As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass;
their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.”[d
Peter gives us another reason to love others
Because we have all received new life in Christ, we should be motivated to live to please God
Obey the truth
Keep ourselves pure,
and love each other
You see
The change that took place in our lives is eternal.
The contrast between “perishable” and “imperishable” is key to verses 23-25.
Our lives on this earth are only temporary
But the word is eternal
God’s word lives and endures forever, because God who gave it lives and endures forever
Peter uses Isaiah 40
To remind us that the things of this life will fade and rust and rot
But that the things of the promised life will last forever
Challenging us to focus not on this life but on that one
Only God’s will, word, and work are permanent.
We are mortal, but God’s word is eternal and unfailing.
Peter is reminding his readers that they would face suffering and persecution, but that would be only temporary.
Just as the word of the Lord endures forever
So, our salvation and coming eternal glory will endure forever.
Verse 25b
“And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”
What gives reason for life? Jesus Christ the living word
What gives peace and patience in the middle of suffering and persecution? Jesus Christ the living, eternal word
Why can we have hope? Jesus Christ The Alpha and the Omega The beginning and the end
The creator and completer
Because we have believed in the eternal word of God.
The written word
And the living word
We have been born again
And because we have been born again
Peter challenges us to act like we have been born again
Close from the heart
Pray
