Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter 1:13-22… [READ]
Our key verses this morning are verses 15-16…
“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.’”
Be Holy… How is this even possible? I have a difficult time just being a decent husband and father. How am I supposed to be as holy as the One True Living God? I’m just human. I make mistakes. Why are we being commanded to do something that seems to be impossible?
Does being holy mean that I just need to follow a bunch of rules? A list of things I’m supposed to do and things not to do? Like be nice to others; take care of my parents when they’re older? Or things like don’t steal; don’t cheat? If I’m a good person, then does that make me holy?
Let’s see what the Bible says in Psalm 14:2-3…
“2 The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.”
And in Isaiah 64:6…
“6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
What hope do we possible have of becoming holy like God? Both of these, Psalm 14 and Isaiah 64, are in the Old Testament… from the time before Jesus was born… But even in the New Testament, after Jesus, the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:1-3…
“1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”
There were believers in the early church who were still trying to be holy… trying to be acceptable to God… based on their human efforts. They believed that they had to continue to live up to all the rules… the list of all the things to do and not to do in the Old Testament Law.
The Apostle Paul was reminding them of our first point this morning… that holiness is not just based on our OWN EFFORTS at being good… holiness is WHO WE ARE based on our relationship with Jesus Christ.
A. IT’S WHO WE ARE… (POSITIONAL HOLINESS, OUR POSITION IN CHRIST)
Let me explain what I mean… If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then the Bible says that you have been given a new heart… you are a new person… the old person is gone. I used to be a bitter, hateful, angry person before I surrendered my life to Jesus… but Jesus made me a new person. My old self is gone… I am holy because of my position in Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:10 says it like this…
“10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
I have been made holy… not because I followed a bunch of rules of things to do and not to do… but because of my faith in Jesus Christ. We will never be holy until we first place our faith in Jesus… and allow Jesus to change us… to make us new… to make us holy… to set us apart from the world.
Are you exhausting yourself trying to be a better son or daughter, to be a better spouse, to be a better mother or father, to be a better person? This is a key difference between Christianity and many other religions…
The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9…
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
We cannot earn God’s favor… We cannot earn His love and mercy… We cannot earn holiness through our own efforts. It is a free gift that is being offered to you right now!
Romans 10:13-14…
“13 for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
This is why our family moved to Southeast Asia… So we could tell you about Jesus. Jesus loves you… He lived a perfect sinless life… He died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world… On the third day, He rose back to life, defeating death… and He is alive today, just waiting and longing for you to believe in Him… and for you to call out to Him.
Do you have an emptiness in your heart? You may try to find fulfillment in many ways… but whatever you do, this feeling that something is missing never quite goes away. No matter what you do, you just never seem to reach what you truly desire. The Holy Spirit is trying to show you that your life will continue to be empty… that your efforts will always fall short… until you allow Him to fill that emptiness with Jesus Christ. Jesus will truly bring you the peace and joy and fulfillment that you have been longing for. Will you surrender your life to Him this morning?
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then you have been set apart… you have been made holy because of who you are as a child of God. But Peter is also talking about our actions / our lifestyle being holy… which is our second point this morning… Holiness is how we live.
B. IT’S HOW WE LIVE… (PRACTICAL HOLINESS, LIVE MORALLY PURE LIVES)
Think of it like this… Once we place our faith in Jesus and become a child of the One True Living God, this is just the beginning of our journey. Like a child who grows up, and learns, and becomes wiser, and matures… The same is true of God’s children. We pursue holiness throughout the rest of our lives… Holiness isn’t just who we are… It’s how we live.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 says…
“7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”
Let’s go back and read 1 Peter 1:17 again…
“17 If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth”
This verse is telling us that even though we are secure in our position as a child of God… it is still important how we live our lives… we must continue to live in a way that pleases and honors our Father in heaven.
2 Corinthians 5:9-10 explains it even more by saying this…
“9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Don’t get confused on this point… This has nothing to do with whether or not you are accepted by God… He offers you a position in His kingdom… in His family… as a free gift… you just need to place your faith in Jesus to become accepted by God.
This second point is only meaningful AFTER you have become a child of God… We want to please our heavenly Father by how we live our lives.
But how do we do this? We already talked about how being holy is NOT just following a list of rules… a list of do’s and don’ts. Peter gives us 3 things to help us live in holiness…
1. PREPARE YOUR MIND
First, we are to prepare our minds for action… Let’s go back and look at 1 Peter 1:13…
“13 Therefore, 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.”
Have you ever seen professional athletes preparing to compete? They visualize what they are about to do… they prepare their minds to focus on what needs to be done. As Christians, we are to do the same thing. In fact, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:7b…
“7 … On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness”
We must discipline our minds and hearts… A lazy athlete will never perform well… Neither will a lazy Christian. We discipline our minds and hearts by regular study of God’s word, through spending time with God in prayer, and by spending time in fellowship with other believers (like what we’re doing this morning). When we allow our minds and hearts to be filled with the world’s garbage, then we will not be prepared to live in holiness. We must prepare our minds.
2. IMITATE CHRIST
Then, in verse 14, Peter says…
“14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance”
So, the second thing we are to do is to be obedient… We are to imitate Christ. We turn away from the temptations of the world, and we live in obedience to our heavenly Father. We won’t know how to imitate Christ unless we do the first thing of preparing our minds… When we study God’s word, we grow in our understanding of Jesus Christ… which makes this second thing possible… because the Holy Spirit develops us… makes us more mature… changes us to be more like Jesus.
But we must still CHOOSE to turn away from temptation and, instead, turn toward God…
Ephesians 5:1…
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children”
We ask ourselves… Is this something God would say? Is this something that I would be comfortable watching if Jesus was sitting next to me? If I do this, will it please my heavenly Father?
We imitate Christ in everything we think… everything we do… everything we say… And as we grow and mature as believers, then we will become better and better at imitating Christ… This is the path of holiness.
3. LOVE ONE ANOTHER
And third, to live our lives in holiness, we must love each other… look at 1 Peter 1:22…
“22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart”
Jesus says it Himself in the Gospel of John 13:34-35…
“34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Living a life of holiness isn’t easy. There is a story about an artist… He was making a statue of an elephant out of a huge chunk of marble… Someone asks him, “How do you do it? How do you turn this piece of rock into a beautiful masterpiece?” The artist answers him and says, “I just chip away the pieces that don’t look like an elephant.”
[VIDEO – “God’s Chisel” by The Skit Guys]
[INVITATION & RESPONSE]
