Encouraged To Endure Sermon Ii: Exemplify Christ By Whose Blood Our Hope Is Sure Series

Exemplify Christ By Whose Blood Our Hope Is Sure!

It has been said that, in every stage of life, there are three types of people: those who watch things happen . . . those who make things happen . . . those who wonder what happened! For those of us who have reached “the overtime stage” of life’s journey, Life Review is a therapy that works well.

While some folks wonder what happened, I, like Peter, had rather ponder where we were before we arrived at a certain level of spiritual maturity vs where we are now – helping to make things happen for the better by patiently pursuing God’s ultimate “prize” promised to those who persevere.

In his first epistle, Peter addressed the importance of recalling our past so that we might realize that the true Christian ideal is not to be “happy” as defined by many in terms of the material but to be “holy” as depicted by Jesus in terms of the spiritual.

The theme “Be encouraged to endure by a hope that is sure” highlighted Peter’s opening remarks from which we derived a timely admonition: Rather than dwell on negative aspects of our lives, it’s better to focus on the positive outcome of our faith in God!

With that ultimate goal in mind, we continue our current perseverance phase of senior living with a deep desire to exemplify our Savior, by whose blood we were made secure – a reminder conveyed by Peter to Christians who were living under Roman domination toward the end of the first century – I Peter 1:14-25 . . .

What I hear Peter saying to believers living under duress, stress and distress:

God through Christ has given us choices: continue to live in ignorance, or, conform to a life of reverence . . . stay cozy with the foolish, or, seek company with the faithful . . . convey contempt for God as prodded by Satan, or, steadfastly obey God’s directives as exemplified by His Son Jesus Christ . . . Christ-less living, or, Christ-like living . . . separation from God, or, separation unto God. All of these choices have consequences of eternal significance!

Before yielding to the temptation to “cave in” to pressures under which we may live – with assaults coming at Christians from all directions - there are certain basics of our Faith that we need to be reminded of:

Peter reminded Christians of the divine imperative of holiness - separation unto God. As a general rule, we don’t like to talk about “holiness” or “separation”.

There is no suggestion in the Bible that a holy person is one who cannot, or does not, sin; the emphasis is always on “living in the world but not of the world”, and striving to be like Christ who IS holy as a motivation for choosing to yield not to temptations we are constantly bombarded with to be like the world – the world of secularism, agnosticism, mysticism, atheism.

The choices we make are a matter of the heart and the mind. William James got it right in one of his observations: “The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” For, the Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he, so does he. Now folks:

We are not talking about a “holier-than-thou” attitude – quite the opposite. God is more interested in WHO we are than what all we do. Has it ever occurred to you that we are human beings, not human doings? Furthermore, people don’t care how much we know; they want to know how much we care. So, Peter’s parting admonition is essentially this:

LOVE has got to be the theme of seeking to be holy as He is holy! “By this shall it be known that you are my Disciples: You love each other!”

Q: Why not just be holy . . . just get right with God . . . just do right toward one another . . . just focus on the things of God and, in doing so consistently, enjoy the good feeling that comes over you when “the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace”?

Peter reminded Christians of what we were. He dared label the ordeal once endured prior to the ransom paid to set people free “slavery” – literally and spiritually.

Talk about a life of emptiness that leads to a dead-end! There is no peace of mind . . . salvation of the soul . . . real meaning in life . . . better tomorrow - if there is no freedom from the slavery of men, or, of sin! The command is clear: “Come out from among them and be separate!”