NIV 1 Peter 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Live in Reverent Fear; Be Different!
1) Remember who your Father is?
2) Remember what price your Father paid?
3) Remember where your home is?
Different types of people. Four prisoners were to be hanged at sunrise. At sunrise, the executioner put the nooses around the prisoners’ heads. When the floor was supposed to drop away, the floor stuck and the prisoners were granted a reprieve.
· George Washington got mad and said: "I told you so! I am innocent and never deserved this anyway. You scoundrels! You will hear from my lawyer!"
· James Dean scouted the newspaper reporters to give an interview excited to talk about the excitement and rush from escaping.
· Ghandi went up to the executioner to ease bad feelings, by suggesting that maybe it would work next time.
· Albert Einstein looked at the floor joints to figure out what went wrong.
Director: Are you the type of person that is loyal, responsible, filled with a sense of duty dependable and find comfort in tradition and guidelines? You are like George Washington.
Socializer: Are you the kind of person that likes action, adventure and people who are fun-loving that act on their impulses and feelings who look for competition and risk to succeed? You are like James Dean.
Thinker:– Are you the kind of person that likes to learn knowledge, new information, gaining wisdom, controlling, understanding, figuring out and even predicting what people will say or do, but when pressure is on to perform or failure comes you get feelings of inadequacy? Then you are like Albert Einstein.
Relater:: Are you the kind of person that wants the truth, compassionate, sympathetic, love to relate to others, identify yourself with the feelings of others and love to have meaningful relationships and talks about the possibilities of solutions? Then you are like M. Gandhi.
Psychiatrists like to put people in categories. They fit everyone into nice neat little boxes so they can prescribe treatments and seem to know what they are doing. Today I want to tell you about a different personality. A personality that doesn’t fit into any box the psychiatrists have designed. I’m talking about RF – Reverent Fear. Peter asks us to live in Reverent Fear. Be different –Be unique-Be one of a kind! Be an RF –Live in Reverent Fear; Be different!
Live in Reverent Fear; Be Different!
1) Remember who your Father is?
2) Remember what price your Father paid?
3) Remember where your home is?
Part 1) Remember who your Father is?
I am a master at forgetting. I can forget just about anything. I forget where my keys are. I forget to do chapel at Our Savior Lutheran School. I forget to tell my wife I love her. I forget to call my relatives. I forget my own anniversary. I forget what I wanted to say. I forget just about everything. Do you forget those things too? Do you ever forget who your Father is? OF course not, right? Know one would be so hard hearted and unloving to forget who their Father was, right? But Peter reminds us that to be a unique RF- Living in Reverent Fear – you must remember who your Father is. “Since you call on a Father, who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent Fear.”
Jesus wanted us to remember who our father was too, when he taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven…” God, the Father loved the world so much that he sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Those privileges and rights of being God’s sons and daughters include, forgiveness of sins, eternal life and many more promises of blessings and protection so we may live forever in heaven. Because of God’s great love in sacrificing Jesus, Paul tells us that through Jesus,
NIV Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence
Our prayers are filled with freedom and confidence that God will hear us, answer us and love us… all because of Jesus Christ our Savior. With all those great blessings of freedom, Peter reminds us to remember something else about our Father – He is holy and almighty. He judges each man’s work impartially. God doesn’t judge according to faces. This passage reminds me of a jury trial in a court of law. The defendant’s lawyers and the prosecuting attorney, try to select a jury that will be favorable to their decisions. If their client is black they want an all black Jury that will be sympathetic. If the victim was a woman, they want to see a majority of women’s faces looking at the gruesome pictures of the crime so they will be sympathetic to her. God is impartial to faces. God is impartial. You can’t fool God. You can’t woo God into missing the facts. You can’t follow a religion of lips but not of life. Earthly status, wealth, reputation, rituals and pious facades cannot deflect God’s evaluation of heart and life.
God cannot be mocked. If you believe in God then you are changed into a son or daughter of God. Faith bears fruit in life. God’s love creates faith and faith gives birth to a life of love for God. Peter warns us here against a false sense of security. It is true that God has forgiven our sins and we are to take great confidence in being forgiven because it is the work of God to create faith and to forgive sins. As soon as we stop fighting against sin we become guilty of sin. Inside each of our hearts lies the power to stop God’s love. We can slip into sin and take God’s love for granted, considering he has forgiven us sin is no big deal. Don’t forget that the Father you call on daily is a holy Judge that will not tolerate any outstanding sin. Sin is the one wrench that the devil can throw into our lives to muck up our relationship with God.
NIV Hebrews 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Look at your relationship to God, the Father this way. I am outside on my patio in the afternoon last weekend. Nathanael, my son is playing with his friends. The ball they are playing with hits a window. I tell them to play in a different spot. They listen but after a few minutes they have floated back to the same spot… and the ball hits the window again. I look at Nathanael’s face and he is all worried and upset. I look at the other children, the neighbors, and they are laughing and having a blastl, as they continue playing even after I said they had to stop playing ball because they didn’t listen to me. What is the difference between Nathanael and the neighbors? Is Nathanael afraid of me and the neighbor kids aren’t well a little yes… but Nathanael is afraid of making me angry and sad because he loves me. If we are to be Christians – If we are to be believers – Unique, Original and think outside the normal boxes of the world, then we must remember who our Father is and take sin seriously. We must strive for perfecting the art of repentance and holy living, because we love him…
Part 2) Remember what price he paid for you?
Why? I like to ask why too often probably for my family. That question why makes me a certain personality that the psychiatrist can squeeze me neatly into. Why? Why should we stop sinning, root out sins and live to honor God.? Should we do it because we don’t want to be zapped by a lightning bolt or thrown into hellfire? Well, actually yes. That is exactly what happens to people who do not honor God and because they don’t revere him they do not live to honor him with their life. SO how can I escape hellfire and live to honor God? Listen to his love - Peter reminds us of what price was paid to ransom us from our empty journey to hell: The precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
What a staggering price God paid for us! Peter reminds us that a real transaction took place between God and people. AS valuable to us as silver and gold are, they are not costly enough or precious enough to buy back a sinful soul from the fires of hell. No price is ever enough to pay for eternal life. It simply cannot be bought with money, words, or actions – nothing you can do can change the past. Sinners are in a hopeless situation. They have accrued too much debt to their Creator. They are spiritually bankrupt. They cannot pay. They have no resources.
NIV Psalm 49:8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough--
But Peter reminds us that a price was paid – that we were bought at a price – the price paid was the precious blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is so precious and honorable – because it is unique one of a kind – holy. It is not tainted with original sin or any sinful thought, word or action. The blood of Christ is pure holiness, without any blemish or defect. Jesu told his disciples and you and me, “This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.”
NIV Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Do you spoil your kids? What does it mean to spoil your child? We give them too many blessings. If a parent gives in to every whim of their child, they create a monster that is never satisfied. Well, at least that’s what I thought. Actually did you know that becoming a spoiled brat isn’t so much the parent’s fault as it is the child’s? The child can react one of two ways when he/she receives a great gift – 1) the child can become so used to the gifts that it lowers the value of the present – viewing it as nothing special or 2) The child may be draw even closer in love to their parents because of gratitude and thanks as they value the gift’s worth and equate it with their parents love. Because of a child’s sinfulness, we as parents may have to withhold some great gifts, in order to keep our children from becoming spoiled brats. The more ungrateful a child becomes the less blessings a parent can shower upon them. God has withheld no spiritual blessings from us. He has opened up heaven and given us the very blood of his son. We are forgiven and now have an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade waiting in heaven for us. Don’t forget the price that God paid to give you that gift. Don’t consider the blood of Christ as cheap. Be different – Be original – Be unique – Think outside the Box – Live in reverent Fear because you remember the price that your Father paid for you. Live to revere him, because you know his precious blood.
NIV 2 Corinthians 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Part 3) Remember where your home is?
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the world present were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one (C. S. Lewis)
Peter tells us the same thing in our text, “Live as strangers here”. It is always a temptation for Christians to set their hearts on what they can see – earthly values and institutions, material things, approval from other people. Peter AND Judas were no different from us in that they both were trapped by this world. Judas was more concerned about what Jesus would do for him now then what Jesus would do for him in eternity. Peter was more concerned about his own skin now than with the new skin Jesus would give him in eternity. It is a lifelong quest to learn that everything visible is perishable and that only what we cannot see has lasting value. Christians need to remember that we live in tents; the mansions lie ahead.
NIV John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Camping can be fun right? I enjoyed my hunting trip to Alaska, but if you remember I was happy to come home. It was very tiring. Everything we did took 10 times longer. Everything we did took extra work. There was no time for Rest and Relaxation. By the end of the 7 days, my body was run down. I needed to rest. My body couldn’t keep that work up for ….well I was convinced another minute. You see our float plane as scheduled to pick us up exactly one month after 9/11! Well when our float plane didn’t show up 30 minutes after our scheduled time… we begin to use our imagination in a bad way. We thought maybe Pres. Bush ordered a retaliation against the terrorists. Maybe there was a no fly ban on all aircraft. Maybe the terrorist attacked again. Maybe the secretary forget to write down the day of our pickup. We took inventory of our food . We talked about how long we could survive. We started to search for our signal flares and reflection mirrors. I paced. Exhausted, mentally and physically of living out on the Alaskan Tundra. With each minute I became more and more impatient and angry. The plane arrived some 2 and half hours late – My face was filled with anger toward the pilot as he got out of the plane and he calmly said, Sorry fellas, we were fogged in at King Salmon.
I thank God that I have running water, dry clothes, soft couches, and microwave ovens and even a smooth bed. I was so happy to be home. AS a Christian heaven is so great I cannot wait to get there and finally be at home. Remember where your home is? Our home is in the lush cushy mansions of heaven. This camping trip isn’t supposed to last forever. When things are rough in life, with sickness, people, weather, finances… remember this is a camping trip – we are roughing it. The Lord will lead us home shortly. We don’t have to stay here much longer. AS you do be different, Live in reverent fear. Because you know who your Father is. You know the price he paid for you and you know where your home is.
The peace of God which surpasses all understand keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
