Sermon Brief
Date Written: August 4, 2007
Date Preached: August 5, 2007
Where Preached: OZHBC (PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study in 1 Peter
Sermon Title: A Call to Holy Living
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:13 - 16
13Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."
Introduction:
When was the last time you fed a baby oatmeal? Fruit? OR my all time favorite… green beans or peas?
Regardless of what you may be serving when your baby does not want to eat his or her entire body gets engaged in the struggle. The jaws become cast iron letting nothing enter the mouth. Any food that may miraculously make it past the lips is pushed out by an iron tongue.
The baby develops great eye coordination at these times when you want it to finish the last few bites, but he or she has had enough. The spoonful headed for the mouth hits the ear instead, a small hand pushes the spoonful into your lap. How many of you have ever been there?
Now we all know that babies need to eat, and good nutrition is important for their growth and development. However, no matter how hard we may try, UNLESS THE BABY IS YIELDED AND WILLING TO EAT, WE CANNOT “FILL IT” WITH FOOD.
When the same baby is hungry or thirsty and is crying out making its desire know, then it is much easier to “fill” the baby.
When we think about it… it is like that spiritually for us! The Holy Spirit does not force Himself on the believer to “FILL US.”
In the same way that a baby needs to have a desire for food or drink to be willing to eat, we must also crave the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives in order to be “filled with the Spirit.”
Tonight I want us to look at a passage where I believe reveals Peter’s heart for those in Christ, and his desire for them to be ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ in their lives! It was his desire to guide them as God instructed him, to be an example and to teach the proper way to live as God commanded!
We can read into the tone of this letter by Peter and see that he was extremely alarmed at the relative ease in which the new believers would fall back into their old way of life. So in this passage we find him pointing out to these Roman believers and all who read his letter that they were to take responsibility for their actions AT ALL TIMES!
Prepare your minds for action…
Here Peter is instructing the believers to make preparations, as if they were going on a trip… or doing a job… The NASB version says, “…gird up the loins of your mind…”
The Greek word used here is anazônnymi which is actually a word picture or a metaphor to illustrate a point. It represents the ancient practice of those from the 1st century.
In order for them to be unimpeded in their movements, when they started a journey or engaged in any work, they would bind up their long flowing garments closely around their bodies and then they would fasten them with a leather belt.
Here Peter is telling us that we are on a trip, when we enter into the kingdom was are called by God to journey with Him. It is a journey that will entail hard work and much movement on our part if we are obedient to Him.
And along this journey we are doing the Lord’s work, so Peter says… PREPARE yourself for this journey… prepare your mind as these people would prepare for their journey!
This is Peter’s simple way of saying that we must focus on what God desires for our life! Focus on it and put our energies into it… we are to point our every effort into doing what God has called us to do!
Prepare for your journey with God each and every morning! Prepare by speaking to God, prepare by reading His word, prepare by planning your day, prepare by making up in your mind that you are going to be obedient and rely on God today!
Keep sober in spirit…
Now when you hear the word ‘sober’ what is your automatic definition for that word! Well, let me tell you what I think about, I think about being drunk and that sober is just the opposite of being drunk.
Being drunk lowers your inhibitions and you do things that later you regret!
Being drunk causes you to place yourself in situations that will haunt and torment you for years to come!
Being drunk also affects your physical, mental and emotional reactions and makes you someone TOTALLY different!
When someone is drunk they simply cannot functions as they need to function in this world. But when they are sober, they may be able to anything!
Likewise in the spiritual world, we need to be the opposite of drunk in our attention to our walk in Christ. When we are drunk on our own desires we have no self-control or discipline. We do not focus on what Christ desires for us!
However, when we are sober in our walk with Christ, THRU HIM we have self-control, we have discipline, we do not allow our desires to sway us away from doing the desires of God… because our focus is on His desire!
Fix your hopes on the grace (of Christ Jesus)
The term used here for is a picture of support and devotion by us for Christ! The NASB tells us to rest our hopes on the grace of Christ. What Peter is saying here is that we are to exhibit a confidence that God will accomplish all that He has promised He would do…
It is similar to what we do when we root for our favorite college team… we FIX our hopes on what they are going to do! Some of us have our hopes realized and some of us have our hopes shattered… depending on WHOM we fix our hopes upon!
But spiritually we are called to fix our hope on the grace of Christ Jesus. That grace and mercy is a promise from God to deliver all who turn to Christ, and because of His promise we can rest our hopes in Him!
Be Obedient
v.14 begins with a call for obedience… but not just obedience but obedience as children! This means that there are going to be times when God instructs us to do something and we might not understand… and we might not WANT to… but we should feel compelled to obey as children obey their parents.
In this simple statement we can also see Peter reminding the believers of the special relationship they have with their Heavenly Father… we are His children and He loves us, BUT He also expects us to obey Him.
When our children do not obey us, there are consequences for them, in the form of spanking, time out, or grounding, or taking away privileges. When we do not obey God, He will also discipline His children… and that discipline can take on many forms as well…
But the point Peter is making is that we are to strive to be obedient to God… and submit to His will as children submit to the will of their parents!
Do not conform to the world
This phrase here is the Apostle Peter’s version of what Paul speaks about in Romans 12:2 when Paul says, “…and do not be conformed to this world…”
Peter is giving the instruction that, as believers, we need to understand that the way we USED to act and live is NOT acceptable in the kingdom, but that we are to resist conforming back to the way we used to be! We have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus and we have been changed, and our lives should reflect that change!
There is NO way that someone can come to know Christ and NOT be changed in a radical way… this radical change goes against ALL the world and what and how it wants us to live! This radical change is something that makes you stand out in the crowd rather being conformed to the crowd around you!
Peter calls for the believer to NOT conform to the enemy and his own fleshly lusts, but instead we are called to be holy…
Be Holy as Christ was holy
But just what is holy preacher? Well it is NOT what most people believe it to be! Holy is NOT a word that means sinless perfection, but it is the Greek word that represents a setting aside of an object or a person for the purpose of serving God!
Christ was ‘set aside’ for serving God in the right time!
Illustrations:
A businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to writer Mark Twain, “Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments aloud at the top.”
“I have a better idea,” replied Twain. “You could stay in Boston and keep them.” Four ministers were discussing the pros and cons of various Bible translations and paraphrases.
Eventually each stated which version, in his opinion, was the best.
The first minister said he used the King James because the Old English style is beautiful and produces the most reverent picture of the Holy Scriptures.
The second said he preferred the New American Standard Bible because he felt it comes nearer to the original Greek and Hebrew texts.
The third minister said his favorite was the paraphrased Living Bible because his congregation was young, and it related to them in a practical way.
All three men waited while the fourth minister sat silently.
Finally he said, “I guess when it comes to translations and paraphrased editions of the Bible, I like my Dad’s translation best. He put the Word of God into practice every day. It was the most convincing translation I’ve ever seen.”
