Serious About God? Series

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.