Text: 1 Peter 1:17-21, Title: The Ultimate Motivation for Obedience, Date/Place: LSCC, 6/12/05, AM
A. Opening illustration: the moor played by Morgan Freeman in the Costner Robin Hood film. Or the black brigades in the Civil War giving absolute loyalty to the nation vying for their freedom.
B. Background to passage: Have you ever asked yourself “why obey?” “Why order my life around the bible?” Peter deals with this question. After giving lesser, but practical motivations for our obedience, he turns our attention toward the wonders of redemption as our primary motivation. Our obedience in the Christian life is not best motivated by the holiness of God, nor from our fear of Him (although these things are present and right), but it is best motivated by gratitude for what He has done in redemption. Redemption is the purchasing back of a slave or captive by means of a ransom.
C. Main thought: We will see four aspects of redemption that make it the ultimate motivating factor in our lives.
II. BODY
A. Redeemed from futility (v. 18)
1. Peter reminds these suffering Christians that they have been purchased out of their former lives. This particular Greek word for redemption emphasizes freedom from bondage. Earlier in the letter he spoke of former lusts, now he speaks of empty, useless lives. In the eternal perspective, they were of little value. The word he uses speaks of empty pagan religious traditions. Notice he uses the word “inherited.”
2. Rom 1:21-32, 3:10-18,
3. Illustration: Leadville, CO, 1895, The palace, costing more than $40,000 and measuring 450 feet long by 320 feet deep, covered more than three acres. The towers that flanked the entrance were 90 feet high. Inside was a 16,000-square-foot skating rink. But there was no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. The thousands of visitors who came to see the spectacle spent very little money. The town that put its hope in an ice palace saw that hope melt away, tell about the Hindus and Buddhists offering food to their idols each day. Muslims and their pilgrimage to Mecca. Roman Catholics and their church attendance and baptism. Baptists and their church membership. Americans with their horoscopes, pop psychology, self-help books, and some kind of quasi-Christian heritage.
4. Unbelievers come up with some great ways to get to heaven. Morality, spirituality, goodness, charity, love for others, religious compliance and various other things ease the conscience of men, but not the wrath of God. Most of these, we have learned from our parents, directly or indirectly. We are all born in sin, and need a remedy for it. We all lack righteousness, and need a remedy for it. We live in obedience because Jesus has delivered us from past sins, bondage to sin, empty tradition, and useless religious practices.
B. Redeemed with the blood (v. 18-19)
1. The purchase price for your redemption was the blood of Christ. The word used here means that it was costly, highly valued, and honored. The blood represents death, which was always the price for sin. The blood of Christ was precious because of its perfection—spotless, sinless, internal and external divine perfection embodied in flesh.
2. Heb 9:14, 22, 10:4, 10-11, 29, 1 Tim 3:16,
3. Illustration: Blue rock sold for $10. Natural Star Sapphire. The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million. It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth, It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things; but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion, “it cannot be calculated…”
4. We live in obedience because we have been purchased by the precious, priceless blood of Christ. God spared no expense to acquire us as family. He gave for us the most valuable thing ever, Himself, in the form of his Son. We must be careful not to cheapen the price with our lives. Exp diff between free grace, and cheap grace. Since life was given for life, we are now to live for Christ. 2 Cor 5:15. We are to die to self, take up the cross, and become living sacrifices, because the price paid for us was so high, so valuable, and so costly.
C. Redeemed by Christ (v. 19-20)
1. Our redemption is by Christ and Christ alone, based on His uniqueness as Savior. First, notice that the plan of redemption through Christ was not an afterthought. Second, notice that His incarnation and resurrection testify to His deity and preexistence. Thirdly, notice that God glorifies Him, and exalts Him as Lord.
2. Isa 9:6, Phil 2:9, Heb 2:9, Col 1:16b, Rom 11:36, John 15:26,
3. Illustration: Kevin Bacon and the story of his 6-year old son and the stunt double and the gymnastics double. “I got all the glory.” The young man replied, "To be alive because of a dead donor is too big, too much, so I don’t think about it."
4. We live in obedience because Christ is unique, wholly other, preexistent, incarnated, dead, buried, resurrected, and alive today. We must remember the perfections of the one who gave Himself for us. We do not have a weak, dead, sinful, impotent, temporary Savior. We have the sovereign, eternal, resurrected, living, perfect, holy, high priest, and divine Master—Jesus Christ. Even as God has exalted Christ, so should we in our own lives as the Great Redeemer. Even the job of the Holy Spirit is to exalt Christ.
D. Redeemed for hope and glory (v. 21)
1. There are three implications in the text that give purpose to what God has done in redemption. First, redemption was at least in part for your sakes. God knows the value of a human soul, and He desires fellowship with us. Secondly, redemption was to give us a hope in future grace. God wanted to give us hope in trouble, but not through human means, but through Him. Thirdly, and most importantly, redemption was to bring glory to God. As redeemed people, we are trophies to God’s grace
2. Jer 17:7, John 14:1, Eph 1:12, Col 1:27,
3. Illustration: As a little boy, awestruck by the mystery of change in a man’s very nature, I asked Father to explain it. "All I can say is that it is the power of God." Then he added, "The Creator is also the Recreator." Wrong Way Riegels—ill file, At the time, Matisse was Renoir’s young student. Renoir suffered from terrible arthritis. It was very painful for him to paint. He had to hold his brush between his thumb and index finger. And as he painted, students often heard him crying out in pain. On one such occasion, Matisse asked the old master, "Why do you go on if it hurts so much?" And Renoir answered, "The pain passes, but the beauty remains."
4. We live in obedience because we have the most secure hope in future grace, and because God has glorified His Son in those who believe. In thankful obedience we have the most security of our own salvation; the most belief in the promises of God, the most confident trust in God for our future. In thankful obedience God is most glorified in our lives. We trust, and He is honored, especially when the world would choose other ways.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Closing illustration: A shepherd notches the ear of a lamb born to his flock and has rightful ownership. That lamb deliberately walks away. The shepherd searches near and far to get that lamb back. A long time later, he finds not a baby lamb but a grown sheep for sale at an animal auction. The shepherd recognizes his mark on that sheep’s ear. He goes to the auctioneer and says, "I can see the mark. That sheep is mine." The auctioneer says, "Listen, you must bid and pay just like anybody else." The shepherd bids and pays an outrageous price, far above any reasonable market value in order to get his lamb. He now has a double right to own this sheep: from birth, from redemption. God has a right to own us as creator and because he has paid the blood of his own Son--an outrageous price far above our market value--in order to redeem us back again.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
