Are you Serious? (Final)
1 Peter 1:14-15
March 17, 2024
A few weeks ago I learned something really cool about geese that I want to share with you. We’ve seen geese when they fly south. They’re often in what kind of a formation? It’s called a - - - -
V formation.
That’s so they can effectively battle the wind and rotate who the lead goose is so they can fly further and with less exertion.
But geese also fly in a formation that resembles a ? mark.
You can see this pretty clearly in this picture as well. Interestingly, what I learned is that there’s scientific reasoning for this.
And the reasoning was so different than what I imagined as to why geese fly in a V formation or a ? formation
The scientific reasoning behind ducks flying in a ? formation vs. a V formation is that - - - - -
- - - - - there are more geese on one side than the other. That’s a scientific mathematical solution.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?
I have to thank a new friend for that!
I needed someone to ask if I’m serious! Because this is the final message in a series which started in week 1 of the year. We’ve been looking at the question of our being serious about God.
It started with a question from my son, wondering why we don’t take the seriousness of God more seriously?
That’s become a haunting question for me. Because I can tell you there have been so many moments when I didn’t take God seriously. And there are still those moments. I’m better than I used to be, but it takes effort. It takes conscious effort of heart and thought.
And I’m sure the same is true for you. We don’t always get it right. Have you blown up at the kids, or your spouse, or said something you knew was not appropriate as soon as you said it?
Have you thought some things that weren’t so nice?
Do your actions always indicate who you are in Christ?
You know what I mean? We don’t always hit the mark. The entire point of this series has been to call us to grow in Christ. It’s what the Bible calls holiness. Peter told us in 1 Peter 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. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Peter’s reminding us that we’re called to be obedient to God. That’s part of what we’ve talked about. We’ve looked at Psalm 119, which calls us to follow God’s commands, rules, precepts, statutes and laws.
We follow them not to earn brownie points or to earn points for works righteousness, but we live this way because we believe we have a holy God and we want to imitate Him. Which is what Peter is telling us. It’s really the code God lives by.
We are called to holiness in all we do. Because of this, we’re called to live differently. It’s living differently in our hearts, spirits, and minds - - - - so that our bodies demonstrate who Jesus is in the way we live.
Everything we need to live life and become more holy, can be found in the Bible.
I never enjoyed taking tests. I became nervous and was one of those people who studied until the last second. My book would be open until the teacher said close your books.
Yet, I was a really good test taker. I studied and studied for the test. I reviewed notes and assignments.
But here was my problem, if 3 days later the teacher said, we’re going to redo the test . . . if I had to take that same test again, I would not have done so well. Why? Because as soon as the test was over, I erased everything from my mind that I studied and went on the next stuff. In a sense, I caused myself to forgot everything I was studying.
You see, we need to know what’s in the Word. We need to know who Jesus is and who He’s calling us to be. That’s what we talked about last week. Jesus already knows you, but how well do you know Him? It’s not just a one day event. Know Jesus and be saved, then forget it all. It’s a continual growing in who Christ calls us to be.
A number of weeks ago I spoke very personally about how we don’t like to do things out of obligation, but when someone we love asks us to do something, we’re much more willing, because we love them and know them and want to please them.
With that in mind, I want you to think about the ways the Pharisees sought to be holy vs. the way Jesus did. Which one is you?
One of the most fundamental disagreements between Jesus and the Pharisees had to do with how they viewed God, and this influenced how they understood Holiness.
For the Pharisees, Holiness was a very strict code. It had everything to do with how they viewed God – Powerful, aloof, set apart and much too Holy and perfect to even glance towards anyone who was a sinner.
Because of this view of God, the Pharisees behaved in much the same way ---- they were too godly to associate with sinners and too focused on keeping holiness codes to bother with the lives of the dirty, filthy commoners who didn’t observe the law as perfectly as they did. They were very judgmental because of this elitism.
Holiness, as the Pharisees understood and practiced it, had everything to do with being good, godly and perfect, and therefore they were “set apart” from those who were on the outside, the sinners. This created an “Us vs Them” mentality.
The Pharisees sought to follow the law, and only the law. Because the law gave them opportunities to skip over certain people and needs that didn’t fit into their nice neat package.
But then Jesus came and He totally radicalized what holiness is and means. To be holy still means to be set apart, to be blameless. But the way Jesus went about it is our final and only model for growing in holiness, sanctification or discipleship.
When you look at Jesus, He took a very different approach. Yet, Jesus was still the only one without sin. He prioritized compassion and love over the perfection of holiness.
This is why we see Jesus spending so much time with “sinners.” People who were not acceptable to the Pharisees; the drunkards, the prostitutes, the sick, the outcasts, and the tax collectors and more.
Some believe Jesus favored compassion, while the Pharisees preferred holiness.
I believe both Jesus and the Pharisees prioritized holiness, but the difference was that they just had very different definitions of what Holiness was, and wasn’t.
The Pharisees understood holiness as being “above” or “set apart” from the those who didn’t observe the law. It was a very divisive and elite view of holiness that meant you were either “In” or “Out.”
Jesus saw the Father as being full of mercy and compassion. He had plenty of scripture verses to back that up, by the way. But He also pressed this perspective about the absolute love of God for all people as His basis for why we should strive to be just like God; showing mercy and love to saints and sinners.
This is especially telling when Jesus commands His disciples to “love your enemies” in the Sermon on the Mount, simply because this is what God does!
In fact, Jesus tells us that God brings rain on the just and the unjust alike.
And then, guess what Jesus says after this? He says we must be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect. It’s a call to holiness. It’s a call to love others - - - as we continue to grow in holiness, becoming the person God has called us to be.
Jesus turns the entire thing on its head and says: “This is what it means to be Holy – being like God. And what is God like? God is merciful and loving to everyone – even to those who hate Him! Therefore, you should be Holy the way God is Holy, and that means showing love to everyone!”
It’s not about being perfect. It’s about growing in faith and holiness so that we become more and more like Jesus. It’s not a call for us to do the impossible. Instead, it’s a redefinition of what Holiness is all about – loving as God loves – not about dividing ourselves from one another over who is more perfect or godly than someone else.
Jesus redefines Holiness for us, and sets the Pharisees back on their heels.
Whenever we separate ourselves from others because they’re sins are worst than ours, we’re being deceived, like the Pharisees were.
Whenever we create an Us vs Them division, we are following the Pharisees playbook.
But, if we can learn to see Holiness the way Jesus sees it – as being like God – then we can learn to see that God is love and loving like God does is what makes us Holy.
This means that we follow the 2 great commandments. A scribe asked Jesus, which commandment is the most important. Jesus tells us - - - -
30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. - Mark 12:30-31
That’s what the call is! It’s obedience to God which comes from the relationship we have with Him. If we try to grow through following the law, then we’re going to fail, and we’re always going to be convicted and condemned of our sinfulness. That’s not the way we want to live. And it’s not the way God is calling us to live.
Instead, God calls us to love. To love as He loved. We don’t try to perform, we don’t seek to please God because we think that will gain us a better seat in heaven, or maybe just get us in the door.
Instead, we are to imitate Jesus. We are to understand what He is asking us to do. God doesn’t ask us, “Hey Michael, what is it you’d like to do for me and I’ll make it happen?”
God comes to me with an assignment and says this is what I want you to do. And if I ask you to do it, I’m going to be with you. I’m going to give you the wisdom and grace and power to accomplish what you need to do. So, trust in my presence and protection.
I don’t want to live like a Pharisee, I want to live like Jesus, so that I can bring Him honor and glory.
How do we do this?
It’s a daily event. It’s taking those steps to know Jesus.
It’s calling upon Him in prayer. Talking to Him and listening to Him.
It’s reading the Word and learning and understanding who God is calling you to be.
It’s being part of a community of believers who can encourage you and help you and guide you along your journey.
None of this is new!
It’s amazing what we can do to change the world in the name of Jesus. And you need to know I’m 100% serious about this.
But my question to you is . . .
Are you serious about God?
