Be Holy - 1 Peter 1:14-16 Series

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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."

Introduction: What Are You Becoming?

R.C. Sproul says that the term “human being” is a misnomer. He says instead of being called human beings we really ought to be called human becomings, because unlike God we are growing and changing into something different from what we are now. You are not the same person you were years ago, and years from now you will be very different from what you are like now. We are all changing, which means whatever you are now, you are becoming something else. The question is, what are you becoming? You are moving in a particular direction in your life right now – when you get where you are headed, where will you be? What will you be? What will you be like? In this passage Peter holds out two possibilities: a bad one and a good one.

14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires…

That is the bad one. Some people are in the process of being conformed to the image of their sinful desires. Peter says, “Don’t let that happen. Instead…

15 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."

You are either conforming to evil desires or you are conforming to the holiness of God. You and I are being pressed into one of two molds. And whichever mold you are being pressed into determines what you will be like when you come out. So let’s take a look at those two molds.

The Bad Mold: The Image of Ignorance

Peter starts with the bad one.

14 … do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

Let’s call that one the image of ignorance – or more precisely, the image of ignorant desires. That is a fascinating way to speak of our old life.

Depraved Desires

The thing that was so bad about your old life was that your desires were messed up. This word translated desires always refers to evil desires in Peter. That word appears in a list in chapter 4 with debauchery, drunkenness, orgies, and carousing. That gives you an idea of the kind of desires he is talking about – desires that arise from the impulses of the body in ways that draw us into sin. In 2 Peter 1:4 he says those desires are what cause the corruption that exists in the world. And in 1 Peter 2:11 he says that they war against our soul.

Messed up by Ignorance

Our lives used to be driven by depraved desires. And it is interesting what Peter says was the cause of those depraved desires. What was it that messed up our desires so bad? Ignorance.

How does ignorance mess up your desires? Well, let’s think through what causes desires. Desires are not an inborn part of who you are. Appetites are, but not desires. We are all born with the same appetites, but as life goes on we each begin to desire whatever we think will satisfy our appetites. And that is where ignorance comes in. If I am ignorant about what would satisfy my appetites, then my desires will be off. I will desire the wrong things.

If a baby is hungry, and he is crawling around on the floor and sees some lint – if he thinks that lint will satisfy his hunger, then he will desire the lint. Take it away from him and he’ll cry. That is an ignorant desire.

If you are dying of thirst, and you see an ice-cold bottle of water, you will desire that water because you think it will satisfy your thirst. What if it is salt water – or sewage water? If you know that, then you will not desire it. But if you are ignorant of that information, then you would desire it. Desire always runs one step behind our evaluating faculty. The part of you that assesses what things are worth is what dictates your desires. If you are starving, and you see a bowl of fruit, you desire the fruit – but only because you are ignorant of the fact that it is plastic fruit. So you are looking at something that would not satisfy your appetite, but you desire it anyway because of ignorance. That is how ignorance affects desire. It makes you desire things that will not satisfy because you do not know they will not satisfy.