September 12, 2004
First Church of the Brethren
H. Kevin Derr
1 Peter 1:1:13-16
“Holiness”
13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
One of the most striking elements of 1st Peter center around an understanding that has become central for the churches that emerge from the reformation and subsequent years. The idea is the that the church is the “Priesthood of all believers.” It is a foundational idea that all people are given a priestly role, to live lives that are holy, sacrificial, set apart for God’s use in the world. Clearly separate from the world, and yet a part of the communities where they live. You will see that the most clearly in 1 Peter 2:9 “9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”. You will also see this same understanding highlighted in our text for today. The heart of this is centered in an understanding that all people in the church are given a sacred calling of functioning in a priestly manner. Each of us like the Levites of Israel before us are to serve the people in the name of the living God.
This is a hard reality for us in the church, it runs counter to our self-centered focus, that should be turned toward Christ Jesus and then to our neighbor. While this may sound like a strange idea, it is rooted in one of the most profound statements of what it means to be a child of God, and you know this idea well, it is just the application that we struggle with. The idea is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength, mind and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.
The application is directly rooted in the understanding of God and his people an their relationship to the rest of the world. The focus is on serving in a priestly manner for the rest of humanity, to fill that Levitical role and be a blessing for all the world. With some investigation you will find this idea expressed in terms of being salt and light in the world. A dish does not need to be entirely salt to be salted to taste. Nor does the room need to be nothing but lights for a whole room to be filled with light. We are called to be priests, salt, light, a blessing to the world, not for ourselves. And this is where we often miss the mark, we think we are to be priests for the Christian community, but the whole of the Christian community is to be priests for the world.
Prayer
I. Because of the diligent and careful investigation of the prophets, there is action that we too are to engage in. Peter writes, 13Therefore, prepare your minds for action;
A. As you know, whenever you see a therefore, it is always saying that because of what
comes before, you must now do this. It doesn’t matter if you are looking here in 1
Peter or in Paul’s letters, it holds true.
1. The NIV in this case is a translators attempt to make the imagery modern and
understandable
2. The KJV reads, “wherefore gird up the loins of your minds” which is a little
more congruent with the Greek text. Without the girding up imagery, we miss
the explicate reference to Luke 12:35 which in the KJV reads, 35Let your loins
be girded about, and your lights burning;
3. Our minds are to be ready for action, prepared: The example is from the
ancient world, when you were ready for action, to run, work, fight, you would
have your robe tied about your waist, so that you would not be encumbered by
it. Envision if you will the Roman soldier who had noting to tangle his legs,
they were free to move and be quick. These are the kind of images that Jesus
and now Peter are drawing on.
A. This image is rooted in the most important religious even in the life of
the Jewish people, the Passover, in Exodus 12:11 we find these words,
again from the KJV 11And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded,
your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat
it in haste: it is the LORD’S Passover.
B. We are to be prepared for the action to which the Lord calls us, even at
a moments notice. Peter does not focus on clothing, but rather on the
state of our minds.
C. Our minds are to be ready for action. Now what does it mean to have
our minds prepared for action?
1. First of all we are to be self-controlled
A. We are not to be dominated by the culture, by our
desires, our passions, or even our needs.
B. Being self-controlled is an important Christian idea, it
is almost always stressed in the ethical teaching of the
various letters of the NT. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 reads,
8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-
controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate,
and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
C. We are not to be dominated by the trends of our culture,
we are not to be swept away by emotionalism, we are
not to be ruled by our appetites and passions, but rather
we are to center our behavior in the teaching of Jesus,
the ethical code of the church.
1. Some will be quick to say, “What about the Holy
Spirit?”
2. The Holy Spirit helps us to make good decisions
if we will listen, but the Holy Spirit does not
force our action.
3. Some will say this sounds like works
righteousness, and we should work for
righteousness, not to earn our salvation, but
rather as a result of our salvation.
2. Secondly, we are to set your hope fully on the grace to be given
you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
A. What is it that we set our hopes on? The stock market,
the economy, the next election, the U.N., education,
jobs, people, . . .?
B. But for Christians, these are not to be the things we pin
our hopes on, why because they will not save us, they
cannot.
1. That is not to say that these things are not
important, Jesus says, 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
2. Our hope is to be centered in the ability of God to
do as he has promised, the grace to be given us
when Jesus is revealed.
II. Our next verse is a repeat of a previous theme, and one that is central to all the understandings
of the NT. It is the theme of obedience, obedience to the will of God, and here it is expressed
in the terms of no longer living the life that we knew before Christ, or to live in conformity to
the culture.
A. Peter says, 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when
you lived in ignorance.
1. Peter is not speaking down to his fellow believers rather he is drawing on
another of the sayings of Jesus from Matthew 18:2-4 “He called a little child
and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless
you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom
of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven.
2. Peter is actually reminding them of the beginning point, becoming like
children, obedient children.
3. As Children we are to be obedient, we are not to conform to the evil desires
that at one time dominated our lives. You will find a similar though expressed
by Paul in Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what the will of God is- his good, pleasing and
perfect will.”
A. As followers of Jesus, children of God we are to live by a different set
of standards, we are not to be conformed to the culture that we live in,
rather we are to be conformed or obedient to the will of God.
B. We are to have a different value system, a different understanding of
what is important and valuable
C. These thoughts are not Peter’s alone but we see then also in Paul as
well as their source the teaching of Jesus. Jesus says, “Do not store up
for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure
in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do
not break in and steal. For where your treasure is your heart will be
also.” Matthew 6:19-21 Here Jesus is telling us that these are not to be
our goals, we are not to conform to them, rather, we are to live in a
different manner.
4. We are to live as obedient children of the Heavenly Father, not conformed to
the values of the world, but rather to the values of the Kingdom of God.
B. We often live as if little is expected of us as believers. Yet there is much expected of
us, we are expected to be holy. We are not to conform to our culture, 15But just as he
who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
1. Just as the Father is holy, for he is the one who has called us, we to are to be
holy
A. One way to understand this is in being set apart from the rest of the
world for the purpose of doing the will of God
B. In the same way that the Tabernacle was holy, set apart from the rest of
the community for worship, so too are we to be set apart from the rest
of the world to worship God and to do his will.
C. It is clear that Peter is drawing on the notion that all of the followers of
Jesus are uniquely qualified to be priests and to serve in a precisely
fashion.
1. What does that mean day to day, just as the priests functioned as
intercessors for those who needed to make sacrifice, so to we
function as intercessors for those around us.
2. Even if a neighbor does not ask you to pray for them, you can.
You can pray for their salvation, their health, problems in their
life, or you can just pray for them. The end result is you can
function in a priestly fashion for them.
2.In the last part of this verse we see Peter’s instruction as to when we are to be
and be holy. Peter says, so be holy in all you do;
A. There is to be no part of our lives that is not holy, not set apart for
doing the will of God.
B. There is to be nothing about our lives that is not sanctified, every
aspect of our behavior is to be focused on honoring God in what we do
and how we do it.
III. Finally, this passage closes with the reason why our behavior should be holy. Peter says,
16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
A. Because God is holy, we too should be holy. It is not a difficult idea to fathom.
1. As the children of God their should be something about us that reflects our
Father.
2. There are many character traits of the father that we could speak of, but the one
that is focused on here, the one that God has indicated is that as God is holy we
as his children are to be holy.
B. We often shy away from such language because we like to believe that we can’t do it.
So why bother trying. Other times we like to make the argument that no works are
required for our salvation. But this is not about salvation, it is about how we live after
we have come to Christ, after we have been saved. I suppose the easiest thing to do is
nothing. We remain as spiritual infants thinking that if we are unaware we are not
responsible.
1. None of these scenarios are acceptable, they all are false beliefs.
2. We can be a holy people, God the Father has given us everything that is
necessary, and you and I can not remain in a state of spiritual infancy, we need
to mature.
3. I call upon you today to live lives that are holy, to reflect the father in
everything you do.
