Passage: 1 Peter 1:13-21
Intro: One of the most prevalent tendencies among human beings is our desire expend as little effort as possible to achieve our goals.
1. weight loss without diet or exercise, pill.
2. destroy Iraqi regime in a week.
3. “what do I need to do to pass this course”
4. how much effort do I need to expend to keep this job?
5. in the Christian life, the question surrounds how we can live the life that will achieve the “well-done” of God without bringing too much suffering or hardship into my life.
6. it’s no surprise that this type of minimalism is not a Biblical concept.
7. just the opposite, the Christian life and walk is presented in Scripture as a full-bore, all-consuming adventure that will often bring pain into our lives.
8. Peter writing to suffering believers.
9. not to commiserate, but to encourage, to lift their sights as to the wonderful calling they have received to be children of God
10. understanding the nature of the Christian life will help us accept the suffering we experience, and even rejoice in it. Miracle!
I. The Life We are Called to Live
1. starts with therefore, so based on former
2. he has reminded them of what God has done, even in their suffering.
3. told of the great privilege of being the people before whom God’s promises have been fulfilled.
4. and now, how they are to respond, the expectations God has.
5. “tuck in your robe”=”roll up your sleeves”
6. people do this when they are about to commit themselves to a task that requires their full energy
Il) as far as sports go, football the best example.
Like dressing for war, with helmets and pads . Some QB’s wear flak jackets.
7. “self-controlled”=sober-minded, not at the whim of emotions.
8. emotions, feelings, are often very mixed, often filled with fear, uncertainty when considering obedience to God’s call
9. “what’s it going to cost? Can I make that kind of sacrifice?
10. read the Word, proceed in faith, not fear
11. “set your hope fully”=completely, without competing idols.
12. the Christian life is a complete transfer of my focus, from temporal, worldly pursuits to eternal, heavenly pursuits.
13. from hoping in my job or my health or my bank account or my connections, to hoping in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will appear shortly.
14. this kind of transfer of hope manifests itself in a change of priorities, as v14 points out.
15. “do not conform”, verb form means “don’t let yourself be conformed to evil desires”, so it takes an active resistance against a natural tendency.
16. and then the coup de grace, “be holy” like the one who called you.
17. there is no doubt that what God has called us to be and to do flies in the face of not only our own flesh, but of the values of the sinful world in which we find ourselves.
Il) how can we be “like God in true righteousness and holiness” when we are surrounded by slick advertisements calling us throw off all restraint and join the world in the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence
18. God’s call is for us to be self-controlled in a world that hates control, hoping in Jesus alone when we are awash in idols that promise us everything and anything, refusing to conform to a world that peddles conformity as independent thinking, and to be holy in the midst of tremendous sinfulness.
19. and so it’s no surprise that our response is to search for a compromise position.
II. The Temptation to Compromise
1. we know deep down that to live the kind of life Peter calls us to here means suffering
2. it is a radical life unique in a world that values conformity, it means living as strong lights in the middle of darkness
3. and given our resistance to suffering, we begin to look for ways to live the Christian life in such a way that we will make it to heaven but with a minimum of trouble here on earth.
4. we search for the path of least resistance, to live our lives here “under the radar”, being privately committed but publicly flowing along with the crowd
5. we seek to find a comfortable spot where we are obedient to God and still cozy enough with the world’s system to not “stand out”
6. we want to be known by God as “saints”, but be able to live as full-citizens of the world.
Il) two brothers who terrorized the town where they lived for decades. They were unfaithful to their wives, abuse to their children, and dishonest in business. One day, out of the clear blue, the younger brother died. The older brother went to the preacher of the local chruch and said, "Preacher, I’d like you to conduct my brother’s funeral. And it’s important to me that duruing the service, you say my brother was a saint." The preadher said, "I can’t do that. We both know he was far from that." The older borhter pulled out his checkbook and said, "Preacher, I’m prepared to give $100,000 to your church. All I’m aksing is that you publicaly state that my brother was a saint." On the day of the funeral the preahcer began his sermon this way. "Everyone here knows that the deceased was a wicked man, a womanizer, and a drunk. He terrorized his employees and cheated on his taxes." The preacher paused for a second and then continued, "But as evil and sinful as this man was, compared to his older brother, he was a saint."
7. the problem is this: we would love to separate our“now” from our “then”.
8. we like to think that while our future is secured by the death of Christ, those facts need have no impact now, or not enough impact to cause us any pain
9. here in the US, a country with at least a veener of godliness, it’s pretty easy to be a Christian and not suffer. In many ways, a great blessing.
10. but a hidden danger as well.
11. because slowly but surely, the lines blur and edges soften as the relatively good values of our nation replace the best values of the kingdom of God.
12. who can be against affluence, hard work paying off in financial security, a chicken in every pot and 4 color TVS in every house.
13. in the comfortable world we live in, what could possibly motivate us to trade in our carefully feathered nest for a life of discipleship that could include suffering.
14. and therein lies the question of our age.
15. with our future secured and our lives free from the worst consequences of sin, why should we do anything to make ourselves the possible targets of persecution or suffering?
III. Godly Motivation
Il) Alabama football story, Chuck Swindoll "THe Tale of the Tardy Oxcart", p400
1. remember, Peter is writing to people who may well have been tempted to chuck the whole thing.
2. lot’s of motivation he could have given, but notice what he uses.
3. first, the recognition of the final judgement
4. negative? Hardly!
5. “impartially”=without regard to outward values, but what’s in the heart.
6. God can’t be bribed, neither is His judgment skewed by things we think are important.
7. because of this upcoming judgment of our lives by God, we need to know what standard He will use.
8. quite simple, really. Since His purpose is to make us in the image of Christ, then the character of Christ is the standard by which we will be judged.
9. and what was the compelling priority of the life of Jesus Christ? To do the Father’s will
10. read v 17 with last part first, and idea of motivation may be clearer. “Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear, since (because) you call on a Father who judges every man’s work according to His standards, not the worlds.
11. what priorities are visible in our lives? What gets us out of bed in the morning, what is it we are pursuing?
12. so what we do in the here and now does matter in the future.
13. find another motivation in v18
14. we are not involved in some get-rich quick scheme or a shoddy dot.com startup.
15. we are the beneficiaries of the greatest transaction in the history of the universe.
16. we have been freed from terrible emptiness and eternal separation from God by the precious blood of the Lamb of God
17. God has spared no expense not only to forgive our sins, but to free us from what Peter calls here “the empty way of life handed down to you…”
18. avoid the guilt motivation!! Peter is repeating what he has been saying from v2
19. that to be a child of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and filled with the Holy Spirit of God is so incredibly superior to anything this world has to offer that that should be all the motivation we need.
20. we are part of a grand scheme, the recipients of overwhelming grace.
Il) when we have been given a new Maserati, why would we want to drive a 1975 Yugo with 150,000 miles
21. and furthermore, by living a consistent Christian life that reflects the character of our wonderful Lord, we can give glory to the One whose masterpieces we are.
22. “we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared beforehand for us to do.”
23. someday we will stand before the Creator of the Universe, the Savior of our souls, and He will hold us up in front of the assembly and with great pride in His voice He will say, “Look what my grace has accomplished in this life that was once empty and bound for hell”
24. and when that day comes, even the suffering that God used to transform us.
Conc. God has called us to a wonderful, transformed life that will, if lived obediently, bring with it some pain as we live in a hostile world.
1. but the pain is temporary, fleeting
2. the “well-done” of God is the only goal worth pursuing
3. what attitudes, idols may there be in your life that would keep you from being a faithful, obedient, holy believer?
4. are there things you are pursuing that are worldly values, but not godly values?
5. now is as good a time as any to remove those barriers to effectiveness as a redeemed servant of God
