Called To Holiness Series

Series: 1 Peter

Sermon: “Called to Holiness”

1 Peter 1:13-16

Pastor John Bright

1 Peter 1 “13 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; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

When I start teaching a new book in Bible Study, I like to ask the “newspaper questions” – Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Where was 1 Peter written? We have no way of knowing Peter’s location for the writing, but he was concerned about the house churches in what is modern-day Turkey. According to 5:12, the letter was carried by Silas who often traveled with Paul: Acts 16:19, 25, 29

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We have been looking at salvation – only possible for human beings because of the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary. You can’t be saved by being born into a Christian family. You can’t be saved by going to Sunday School and Worship. You can’t be saved by good works, being nice or putting big checks in the offering plate. You must have a one-to-one exchange with the God of the Universe: He forgives your sin and you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Then you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell within you. If you have never done this – DO NOT WAIT ANOTHER DAY!

After your DAY OF SALVATION – there comes all the other days and how we live those days matters to God. It has always mattered to God how His Chosen People make their way through this world. God told them in the Old Testament - Leviticus 20:7-8 “7 Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”

1 Peter draws from the book of Leviticus - 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Let me paraphrase that for you – “You be holy – in the same way I am holy.” That’s a big ask! As Wesleyan Believers, we have lost an understanding of holiness and the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian Perfection. John Wesley called it “being made perfect in love” and looked to Jesus’ words – Mark 12:30-31 “30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Wesley urged folks to practice “holiness of heart and life” and they did – it was one of the “Marks of a Methodist.”

That brings us to “Be holy, for I am holy.” There are two parts of that command – God and us. I’m going to start with God – easy, huh? 😊

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

There are many ways to describe God – like Heavenly Father – and there are folks all over the world who think of God in ways that make sense in their culture, but we must have some basics we agree upon. When we look to God’s Word, we find an understanding of the Attributes of God. Here are a few:

Omnipotence of God - God can do all things that are consistent with His character. God is all powerful.

Omnipresence of God - God is present everywhere at all times.

Omniscience of God - God is all knowing.

Sovereignty of God - God created everything and therefore all things are under His sovereign control.

Immutability of God – God does not change. That means He cannot change in His nature, character, or dependability.

Holiness of God - God is set apart from His creation. (“Set apart” is the simple definition of “holy”)

For each one of the attributes of God, we understand that He is perfectly all there is of that attribute. The word we use to represent this is “altogether.” So, we say God is altogether holy.

I need to get a little deeper in the weeds of this topic. Hang with me and I will try not to get us lost. 😊

The attributes of God are divided into two categories – communicable and incommunicable. Big fancy words, but necessary for us. All the attributes I listed above are incommunicable – they belong to God alone. Only He is omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient. So, I guess you know what the other word means – communicable attributes can be shared with humanity.