Be Different. Live In Reverant Fear!

NIV 1 Peter 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers 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 forefathers,

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.

Live in Reverent Fear; Be Different!

1) Remember who your Father is?

2) Remember what price your Father paid?

3) Remember where your home is?

Different types of people. Four prisoners were to be hanged at sunrise. At sunrise, the executioner put the nooses around the prisoners’ heads. When the floor was supposed to drop away, the floor stuck and the prisoners were granted a reprieve.

· George Washington got mad and said: "I told you so! I am innocent and never deserved this anyway. You scoundrels! You will hear from my lawyer!"

· James Dean scouted the newspaper reporters to give an interview excited to talk about the excitement and rush from escaping.

· Ghandi went up to the executioner to ease bad feelings, by suggesting that maybe it would work next time.

· Albert Einstein looked at the floor joints to figure out what went wrong.

Director: Are you the type of person that is loyal, responsible, filled with a sense of duty dependable and find comfort in tradition and guidelines? You are like George Washington.

Socializer: Are you the kind of person that likes action, adventure and people who are fun-loving that act on their impulses and feelings who look for competition and risk to succeed? You are like James Dean.

Thinker:– Are you the kind of person that likes to learn knowledge, new information, gaining wisdom, controlling, understanding, figuring out and even predicting what people will say or do, but when pressure is on to perform or failure comes you get feelings of inadequacy? Then you are like Albert Einstein.

Relater:: Are you the kind of person that wants the truth, compassionate, sympathetic, love to relate to others, identify yourself with the feelings of others and love to have meaningful relationships and talks about the possibilities of solutions? Then you are like M. Gandhi.

Psychiatrists like to put people in categories. They fit everyone into nice neat little boxes so they can prescribe treatments and seem to know what they are doing. Today I want to tell you about a different personality. A personality that doesn’t fit into any box the psychiatrists have designed. I’m talking about RF – Reverent Fear. Peter asks us to live in Reverent Fear. Be different –Be unique-Be one of a kind! Be an RF –Live in Reverent Fear; Be different!

Live in Reverent Fear; Be Different!

1) Remember who your Father is?

2) Remember what price your Father paid?

3) Remember where your home is?

Part 1) Remember who your Father is?

I am a master at forgetting. I can forget just about anything. I forget where my keys are. I forget to do chapel at Our Savior Lutheran School. I forget to tell my wife I love her. I forget to call my relatives. I forget my own anniversary. I forget what I wanted to say. I forget just about everything. Do you forget those things too? Do you ever forget who your Father is? OF course not, right? Know one would be so hard hearted and unloving to forget who their Father was, right? But Peter reminds us that to be a unique RF- Living in Reverent Fear – you must remember who your Father is. “Since you call on a Father, who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent Fear.”

Jesus wanted us to remember who our father was too, when he taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven…” God, the Father loved the world so much that he sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Those privileges and rights of being God’s sons and daughters include, forgiveness of sins, eternal life and many more promises of blessings and protection so we may live forever in heaven. Because of God’s great love in sacrificing Jesus, Paul tells us that through Jesus,

NIV Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence

Our prayers are filled with freedom and confidence that God will hear us, answer us and love us… all because of Jesus Christ our Savior. With all those great blessings of freedom, Peter reminds us to remember something else about our Father – He is holy and almighty. He judges each man’s work impartially. God doesn’t judge according to faces. This passage reminds me of a jury trial in a court of law. The defendant’s lawyers and the prosecuting attorney, try to select a jury that will be favorable to their decisions. If their client is black they want an all black Jury that will be sympathetic. If the victim was a woman, they want to see a majority of women’s faces looking at the gruesome pictures of the crime so they will be sympathetic to her. God is impartial to faces. God is impartial. You can’t fool God. You can’t woo God into missing the facts. You can’t follow a religion of lips but not of life. Earthly status, wealth, reputation, rituals and pious facades cannot deflect God’s evaluation of heart and life.