1 Peter 1: 1:13-25

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s workimpartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. ²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply,from the heart.^[b] 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, ²⁵  but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

 Lastly:

1. Be Committed Vs 17

So often we allow the difficulties to distracted and derailed us instead of determining to live dedicated lives. Commitment involves radical obedience. Peter reminds us in verse 17 that how we live matters that, God will reward us according to how we have lived. While we’re justified by faith, we’re rewarded according to our works. The truth is we are temporary residents here and our real home is in heaven. The problem is that most of us are so caught up living for this life that we have put all our energy into sinking our roots into this world instead of living lives in light of His return. How devoted are you? How committed to Christ are you? The depth of your devotion will determine your kingdom impact. What is keeping you from being sold out for the Savior, is it sin, self, society? The motivation for our commitment is love not the law. When you think of the ransom that God paid to redeem you from your empty life we should be people who are motivated not by guilt but by grace.  

Before World War II, missionaries carried the gospel to Ethiopia’s Satan-worshiping Wallamo tribe. The decision of Tigyne, a slave, to follow Jesus displeased his master. He forbid Tigyne to attend Bible studies or worship, and often beat him for his faith. It was a price this young Christian willingly paid. But another price he could not afford. For $12 his master would release him. But for Tigyne, it might as well have been $1 million. Just before the missionaries were expelled from Ethiopia, Raymond Davis, with help from a couple of other missionaries, bought his freedom. Twenty-four years passed before Davis returned. When Tigyne heard his friend was coming, he waited at the mission station for several days. As he saw Davis round the corner in a car driven by a fellow missionary, he ran to its window. The driver slowed, and Tigyne ran beside the car, took Davis’s hand, and kissed it again and again. As he ran, he yelled to his friends, “Look! Look! The one who redeemed me has returned!” As the car stopped and Davis got out, Tigyne dropped to his knees, put his arms around his friend’s legs, and began to kiss his dusty shoes.

How we live matters, our behavior matters, the problem is that our tendency is to start with the behavior but do not understand where the behavior is coming from. The behavior is coming from the relationship that the person has because he is dedicated to and belongs to Christ Jesus. Because of the awareness of the dedication of who he belongs to, who he has been given to, who he has been bought and paid for by, because the communion is there, with Christ, the behavior of Christ is produced. What about you are you pursuing Hope, are you practicing Holiness are you committed to Christ, are you a Christian that can be counted on?

1 Peter 1: 1:13-25

¹³ Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. ¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. ²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply,from the heart.^[b] 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴ For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, ²⁵  but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

Not only are we called to live confidently but second to:

1. Be Consecrated – Holy Vs 14-16

The second call is for us to live consecrated lives, which is not easy to do when so many Christians seem to be craving and caving to our carnal culture. When we set our hope fully on His future appearing it will have a purifying effect on how we live in the present. 1 John 3:3 says: “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” Our standard for living is the Savior not society. Unfortunately many think that it’s impossible to be holy and happy, many equate the word holy with being boring, seeing it more as a vice than a virtue. Not only do we view holiness as boring but we see sin as exciting. Yes sin maybe fun for a season, but seasons come to an end and we end up facing the cost and the consequences of carless living. Why do we crave carnal living over consecrated living because we have made it about fun instead fulfillment. We are catering to the flesh instead of the spirit. Here is an interesting thought, we tend to believe that we are bodies with a spirit, but in reality we are spirits with a body. The emphasis is not on the body it dies and fades. Are you catering to the temporal or the eternal? It’s hard to get our hands around holiness, what does it mean, it means to separate from the world and dedicate to God, simply put we are to reflect who God is. So how do we live holy lives? The first has to do with what is moving and motivating you to pursue purity. Peter challenges the church to:

1. Live to please God

Is your purpose for purity to please God, is the motive rules or relationship?  Let’s look at a relationship to see what this looks like as well as one area of purity I think we can all agree is a major problem today, sexual purity. What does holy living look like when it comes to sexual purity? The bible gives us a long list, don’t lustfully look, protect your eyes from porn, don’t have sex outside of marriage and we could go on. But notice that those are rules, but what is the motive, what should be moving us towards purity, relationship.  What should be propelling us is pleasing God. Lets put this into a practical application, when it comes to sexual purity what if I told my wife the reason I don’t cheat on you is because I’m not allowed to, how different is that than if I had said because I love you? Most of us have made it about the don’ts instead of the Deity. Purity pleases God, are you running after a relationship with the redeemer or just following the rules? Second we live consecrated lives by:

• Pursuing Purity

Holiness isn’t just a principle it’s a pursuit and in order to pursue purity Peter tells us to renounce the Past and remember the Price Jesus paid for our purity. Renouncing our putrid past means identifying our old sin patterns and choosing a new path. If you were an alcoholic don’t drive past the bar on the way home, find a different route. Becoming a holy person requires change. Holiness is a deliberate choice to seek wholeness in the world. We must remove old habits and develop new ones. It means taking the time to identify your triggers, the things that can set you off. Peter says don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. In other words don’t get comfortable and start catering to your flesh and your feelings. Remember the context of Peter’s letter, it is to believers going through struggles and suffering. When we are in pain we often look to pleasure, worldly pleasure. Because when we feel bad we look for a feel good. When you are hurting it’s easy to let your guard down. Also consider the cost, our salvation came through the suffering of the Savior. Peter tells us that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life, that 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. You have been bought by the blood don’t bath in the bile. Your conversion was costly not cheap, Grace cost God greatly. God is much more concerned about our character than your career. Consecrated Christians don’t compromise with the culture.