Old and New Paths
1 Peter 1:13-16
• What is the therefore, there for?
• I found this in a daily devotional book:
• I remember reading years ago about an incident that occurred on the coast.
• A young man was driving his sports car along a road near the sea.
• He had driven it many times.
• It was a beautiful and scenic route. But the road was not what it seemed.
• All along the way were warning signs.
• Yet, to the young man, the road seemed perfectly good. Disaster awaited him.
• A landslide had recently created a drop-off.
• No one should have been on that road. He continued at great speed.
• He ignored all the warning signs. He went straight over the cliff.
• Sometimes we are not sure where a path will lead.
• At other times, we are well aware of where it leads, but choose to follow it nevertheless.
• Jesus said that there is a path that leads to life.
• There is also a path that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13–14).
• Warning signs are not put up as a threat, but out of love.
• The signs on the Italian Riviera were erected to keep people safe.
• The words of Jesus, the New Testament and the Bible as a whole, are designed to keep us on the path that leads to life.
Introduction:
? Up to this point in his epistle, Peter has summarized some of the blessings enjoyed by God's "pilgrims"...
? Strangers in a wicked world.
a. Their election, sanctification, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus - 1Pe 1:2
b. Their rebirth to a living hope - 1Pe 1:3
c. Their incorruptible inheritance, reserved in heaven - 1Pe 1:4
d. Their being kept by the power of God through faith for the salvation to come - 1Pe 1:5
e. Their great joy, which is inexpressible and full of glory - 1 Pe 1:6-9
f. The honor of having been served by a distinguished group of individuals - 1Pe 1:10-12
• At this point, Peter changes verb forms, from indicative to the imperative.
• That’s fancy Grammar talk that means Peter changes from telling who we are in Christ and why, to what that means, or should mean.
• Indicative = denoting a mood of verbs expressing simple statement of a fact.
• Indicative, Like an indicator.
• Because of what Christ did for us and what that makes us, we now turn to the imperatives.
• Imperatives = commands for us to obey because of the indicative.
• Like, “I am old, therefore, I should act mature.”
• “I’m saved, so I should live like a Christian.”
• Because we are strangers in this world, elect, sanctified, and sprinkled by the blood of Jesus…
• Because we have been reborn to a living hope, and have an incorruptible inheritance, reserved in heaven…
• Because we are being kept by the power of God through faith for the salvation to come, and have great joy, which is inexpressible and full of glory…
• And, because we are honor by having been served by a distinguished group of individuals,
• Therefore, There should be some markers in our lives.
• Therefore, Those markers should make an observable difference in how we live as strangers in this wicked world.
• But as we are going to see, since we have one foot in the world and one foot in heaven, we need to focus for those markers for them to become reality in our behavior.
• Let’s work through our text…
I. Renewing.
1Pe 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
A. Preparing your minds for action.
? The KJV says, “gird up the loins of your mind.”
? That is an exact translation of the Greek words used.
? In Bible days, men wore long robes that went to the ankles.
? If they needed to run, or fight, or do hard work, they would take the hem of their robes and bind them up around the waist with a belt, or girdle.
? That way, the bottoms of their robes would not inhibit their movement.
? The phrase is used here to mean, get ready to work, or run, or fight.
? It is the same meaning as we would say, “roll up the sleeves of your mind.”
? This meaning is confirmed by the very words of Jesus.
? Luk 12:35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,
? Luk 12:36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.
? Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.
? Because of what God has done for us, what He made us, we are commanded to be ready.
? This begins with renewing of our minds.
? Gird up the loins, or roll up the sleeves, of your minds.
? This is the very concept of Romans 12:1-2. Particularly, verse 2.
? Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
? Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
? Do not be conformed to the world…
? But be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
? When I was a boy, I used to roam all over Crandall, TX. With my friends.
? As in many small towns, there were a lot of empty fields.
? In the spring and summer, they were lush with tall weeds.
? There were trails established in these fields, made by people cutting across from street to street.
? The more they were used, the clearer they became cleaner and wider.
? Two feet in either direction, there were tall weeds.
? But on the trail, the ground was stomped down, hard and lifeless.
? The dogs that ran lose in town even took those trails.
? Some trails had been used for years.
? It wouldn’t be surprised if I captured a satellite image, I could pick out the trails I walked and ran in my childhood.
? When you were born, you had a fresh, clean mind.
? Albeit almost empty. Like a new field with no trails.
? The first time you expressed your temper, you started a path in your mind.
? First time you pouted.... acted selfishly (and believe me, babies act selfishly.)
? By the time you were six years old, you had trails stomped down in your life.
? These were created by conforming to your world. Or Flesh.
? You repeated what worked for you.
? So, your flesh was developed by the time you were six years old.
? You personality was fully set, based on what worked or made sense to you.
? Some of our parents disciplined us out of some of the most intolerable patterns.
? They often used fear, or pain.
? That made us fearful, which is no more godly than that of a liar.
? It is a godless fear.
? We were still serving ourselves in that fear.
? I could go on and on, but you catch the point.
? Those paths in our minds supported our greed, selfishness, lust, self-protection, self-importance, etc…
? I still struggle with those old paths.
? But we are to prepare ourminds for service.
B. Be Sober Minded.
• Greek, sober = “Nepho”
• Today, we see sober as opposite of drunk.
• But Nepho means opposite of unawareness, sleepiness, or carelessness.
• It means being awake and alert. Calm, under control.
• Thoughtful and on guard as a soldier for the Kingdom.
• 1 Thessalonians 5: 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
• How one would be in broad daylight.
• 2 Timothy 4: 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
• 1 Peter 1:13 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.
• The other passage where it is used are much like this.
• So, in Renewing our minds, we roll up our sleeves, Stay alert and clear minded, and one more thing.
C. Set your hope.
“…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
? On the second grace.
? The first grace is the grace of when saved you.
? But this is the grace that will be fully realized when Jesus comes back for His Bride.
? That will be brought to at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
? During a sporting event, there is a lot of energy – emotional and physical.
? During the 2018 NFL football season, the Bears and Ravens faced off in what is now called the longest football game in in History.
? It lasted seven hours and ten minutes.
? It exhausted the players, but something else happened.
? To a man, the players admitted, the fun was not in playing.
? At the end, one team celebrated.
? The other team pouted, slammed things.
? One team was saying, “This is why we play the game.”
? The other team was feeling, “I wish I never played the game.”
? The only consolation is, “Maybe the next game.”
? Every athlete is addicted to the feeling of winning.
? No one plays to lose.
? If any knew they would never win again, they would lose interest in the game.
? Peter is saying, “play for the win.”
? That victory will be when Jesus appears.
“…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
? Hey, we win. Renew your mind with that.
? Set you hope on that victory, won by Jesus Christ.
II. Resist
1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
• There is a natural draw to our old life.
• There is a pull to those old paths.
• It’s interesting how Peter addresses this here.
• A couple who could not have children decided to adopt two brothers.
• One was seven and the other was four.
• They realized it was going to be a difficult task,
• But they poured their love into these boys.
• They enjoyed watching the boys flourish under the love.
• One day, they took the boys to the local store.
• One of the store clerks caught the older boy putting a candy bar under his shirt.
• The store manager brought the boy to the father.
• “This boy tried to steal a candy bar.”
• “How much does the bar cost?” the father asked.
• The manager told him, and he paid for the candy bar.
• “Why did you try to steal it?” the father asked the boy.
• “Because that is how we always got our candy.”
• “You are in a new family,” the father told him.
• “We don’t steal in this family. You ask me for it.”
• That’s what Peter is saying.
• Now that you are in the family of God….
• Don’t act like you are in your old family…
• As obedient children, “…do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,”
• We have to resist our former ways.
• The “do not be conformed to..” suggest active resistance to the old paths.
III. Realize
1Pe 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
1Pe 1:16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
• Be holy in your conduct because you were called by the Holy one.
• Actively resist the temptation to act in what was your normal ways, BUT act like your adopted Father.
• You are not in that old family any more.
• Live like you are in a different family.
• Your new family is led by a holy Father.
• He is perfect and has made you perfect under His eyes.
• He covered you with the blood of Jesus.
• Realize the perfect Father called you to be holy in your conduct.
• I know you don’t feel perfect. I don’t
• It’s not about feeling. It’s about facts.
• It’s based upon the realization of your new family and your commitment to live like you are in the family of God.
• Look at the word, Holy.
• It’s what we find in Ephesians 4:1-3.
Eph 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Eph 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Eph 4:3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
• Does that not spell it out with clarity?
• Walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
• With humility, gentleness, patience, longsuffering, and unity.
• We have been called to be holy.
• Set apart for the work of the Lord.
A. Humility.
• That is to live guided by humility (not me first).
• All of the paths of our old life were selfish, sometimes our attempt at survival.
• Not all of us were raised in a godly home.
• We had to seek out what would survive, but that had to be “me first,” in our lives.
• But you are not in that family anymore.
• You are in God’s family.
Php 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
• I am an unwilling expert in Church problems.
• Laura and I have seen pretty much all of them over the years.
• Every single one of them had one major cause – the lack of humility.
• Every malcontented member wanted things their way.
• We find that our problems are arising because we are demanding our way,
• we are not living like the Holy One who called us.
• You may ask, “Brother Tim, what does that look like?”
• Look at the one who called us.
• Continue in Philippians 2:
Php 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Php 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
• Jesus didn’t come from heaven, live in poverty, take accusations like a criminal….
• Receive a beating, and die on the cross for His own good.
• He did it for us, and there is His sacrificial example.
B. Gentleness.
• Jesus opened not His mouth.
• He was the first accused criminal die a public death, and not curse His executioners.
• He said, “You are not taking my life. I am giving it.”
• Like a sheep before his shearers, He opened not His mouth.
• He went through the most trying moment in human history without the thought of vengeance.
• He is our example.
C. Patience and Longsuffering.
• Notice that our response to ministry and life is horizontal, reflecting our vertical.
• It is, because of our example and our Father, we are patient and longsuffering to mankind.
• It’s a different path than our natural reaction.
• Our old ways is a broad path, well populated, but it leads to death.
• God’s new way is a narrow way that leads to life.
Psa 107:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psa 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble
Psa 107:3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
Psa 107:4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;
Psa 107:5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.
Psa 107:6 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
Psa 107:7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.
Psa 107:8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Psa 107:9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
