Be Like Your Father

My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

If you are new or visiting with us, welcome.

We're glad that you're here.

And we're glad that you're here not because we are trying to fill seats,

but because we are following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good

that they don't need God's grace and His forgiveness,

and no one so bad that they can't have it.

Which is why we come back week after week to look at God's Word together,

because we believe that God, in His Word, has something to say to everyone.

If you've been with us, you know we're in the book of 1 Peter,

and the book of 1 Peter is a letter.

It's a letter written by a man named Peter,

and he writes it to Christians who are living in modern-day Turkey in the first century.

And these Christians are struggling, and so Peter writes to them

because they're feeling out of place in the world because they're Christians.

And they're also facing opposition from the world because they're Christians.

And Peter writes to instruct them and to encourage them.

He's encouraging them that Jesus is worth it.

Jesus is worth loving for, and He's worth living for.

He's worth dying for, and He's worth suffering for.

He also writes them to instruct them that they would know how they should live as Christians in the world,

and how they should respond when living as a Christian leads to opposition and suffering.

Now, we've been solely, completely in the encouragement section.

We've now finished chapter 1, verses 1 through 12,

which is all about Peter letting these people know how much God loves them and what He's done for them.

This is typical in the Bible that we'll first find out who we are in Christ

before we ever hear about anything that God wants us to do or demands of us or commands us.

Some people talk about this as the indicative and the imperative.

First, we have the indicative.

We're told what's true about us.

And then the imperative, God tells us what He requires of people who follow Him.

And so we are now in the instruction section.

We are fully out of the encouragement.

We're starting that today with verse 13.

And as we come to this, it raises a lot of tricky questions,

both for people in the church and people outside of the church.

In the church, there's always the tricky question of how do we balance the fact that salvation

is absolutely a free gift of God that we cannot merit in any way,

and God also requires our obedience to Him.

How do we balance, in other words, God's grace and what He requires of us in His law?

For those outside of the church, the question is,

why is it that Christians are concerned so much with behaving in certain ways?

Aren't Christians just a bunch of legalists who think that they're better than other people?

Or maybe Christians are just people who are really uptight.

And if they would understand the glorious world that's outside there for them,

if they would get outside of their shells,

then they would be a lot more fun to be with.

And so it's with that we're going to dive into 1 Peter 1, starting at verse 13.

How do we relate our holiness to our relationship with God?

As we come to this, remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us that His Word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold.

And it is sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

And that is why we're going to read together, starting at verse 13.

Verse 16.

Verse 20.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.

Father in heaven, we thank you again that week after week you speak to us.

And we come admitting that we need that.

We need your instruction and your guidance.

Otherwise, we are helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

So we ask for your help now that you would send your Holy Spirit to assist us.

That you would clear our minds.

That you'd open our eyes.

And that you'd unstop our ears.

And you'd soften our hearts.

That we would know and see and believe and understand everything that is written about you in your Word.

We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

There was a time when I was in college.

This happens with many people who are in college.

When my parents came to visit.

And this wasn't unusual.

It didn't happen all the time.

Because I was in college in North Carolina.

And my parents were in Maryland.

So it was a little bit of a drive.

And I think at this point in their visit.

I don't know if I'd even met them yet.

They'd been on campus.

But maybe I was in class.

And I ran into one of my classmates.

It was a woman who was in the orchestra with me.

And she said, I saw your parents on campus.

Now, I didn't talk to them.

I didn't meet them.

I've never seen them before.

But I saw your parents on campus.

And I know that they were your parents.

Because they look just like you.

And if you've met my parents, like some of you have.

You know that that's true.

And there's a hot debate.

Because some people will come up to me and say,

Man, I met your mom.

And you look just like your mom.

And then people will come up to me and say,

I met your dad.

And wow, you look just like your dad.

Of course, both of those things can't be true.

At the same time,

all secrets revealed,

all hearts made known,

here's the truth.

I look 100% like my mom.

With one exception,

I have my dad's eyes.

And eyes are really important, right?

They're one of the first things that you see.

So people look at my eyes and they think,

He looks just like his father.

Or they see the rest of me and they think,

He looks just like his mother.

And of course, I have some of my father's mannerisms, too.

Peter is writing to these people.

And he is telling them,

You need to look like your father.

Verse 14.

As obedient children,

do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who called you is holy,

you also be holy in all your conduct.

Verse 16.

Since it is written,

You shall be holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on him as father.

In other words,

if what we've talked about

in the encouragement part of 1 Peter is true,

if God is our father,

if he's coming back for us,

if he has an inheritance that he's prepared for us,

and if he's chosen us and we belong to him,

then we should also look like him.

As many of you know,

I talk about Subarus from time to time.

I drive a Subaru.

And if you were to ask me why I drive a Subaru,

there's many reasons that I could give you.

They're safe.

They have all-wheel drive.

There was that one time that my Subaru was totaled,

but I walked out without a scratch.

There are good cars in Colorado.

Everyone drives them here.

And those would all be good reasons.

Those are not why I drive a Subaru.

I drive a Subaru because in the late 90s,

my father read about this new car coming out

called the Subaru Forester

and how wonderful it was,

and he went out and bought one.

And then as his son,

he raised me to drive Subarus.

You could also ask me why I'm a Presbyterian.

Now, there's lots of good reasons

that I'm a Presbyterian.

I believe it's true.

I believe that what we believe

is what the Bible teaches.

I trust our form of church government.

I'm also a Presbyterian

because my father is a Presbyterian.

And he raised me in the Presbyterian church.

And so when it comes to Subarus

and it comes to Presbyterianism,

I could give you lots of reasons for what I do.

But at the end of the day,

a lot of it has to do with my father.

As Christians,

why do we put off passions of our former ignorance?

Verse 14.

Why is it that we don't gossip or slander people?

I could give you a lot of reasons.

I could tell you that it's not going to help your relationships

and at the end it's going to catch up with you.

I could tell you that it's not going to be worth it.

But the real reason is this.

Our Father God is someone who speaks words

that are both true and life-giving.

And so our words should be true and life-giving as well.

You could ask me why it is that Christians

take marriage so seriously

and discourage divorce so strongly.

And I could give you all kinds of reasons.

I could say,

well, you know,

sociological studies show

that families are in better shape

when certain things happen

in certain orders and circumstances.

And, you know,

it's just there's ways in which this helps society.

Maybe those things are true.

The reason that we take marriage as a covenant

so seriously and discourage divorce so strongly

is because our Father God

is a covenant-keeping God.

And He has a never-stopping,

never-giving-up,

unbreaking,

always-and-forever love

for His people.

And He does not leave them no matter what.

And so we reflect that same kind of love

in our relationships to each other.

Why is it that we as Christians

take our work so seriously?

That we want to work as for the Lord?

Well, I could give you many reasons.

It's really nice to have a paycheck.

And it's helpful to have something to do in the morning.

And that's true.

But the reason that we work

is because our Father God

is the creator of the heavens and the earth.

And He created work

and He gave it to us

to represent His image in the world.

And so that when we work

as people in the military

and we protect the innocent from the wicked,

we are doing the work of God.

When you're an artist

and you are painting,

you are helping reflect

God's beauty and His goodness

into the world

and telling a story that is true.

When you're working as a parent,

you're reflecting God

as a greater parent.

We work because we are looking like

our Father in heaven.

Why do we put off

all forms of sexual sin?

We could say,

well, we think it leads

to certain kinds of health

and it has, you know,

favorable outcomes.

But the real reason is

if we're Christians

because we don't make promises

with our bodies

that we cannot keep

because we serve a God

who in His body

gave it up on our behalf.

And so we use our lives

to sacrifice for other people

rather than taking advantage of them.

We are holy

because our Father God

is holy.

And so our holiness,

our obedience after God,

it's not a form of legalism.

It's not something that we do

to prove that we're better

than other people.

But just like a good child

looks like his father,

God's people are holy

because their God is holy.

That's what 1 Peter is saying here.

As He who has called you is holy,

you also be holy.

In other words,

look like your Father.

Be like your Father.

He's chosen you.

You belong to Him.

And so now look like Him.

This is relational language here

that He's using.

Of course, there's a problem, right?

I look like my parents

because I'm a biological son.

Jesus reflects the Father

because He is the Son.

That's what He tells us

in Matthew 11.

If you've seen me,

you've seen the Father.

We are adopted by God

so we don't look like God.

We don't reflect His character

and His holiness

in the ways that He asks of us.

And so there's a tension there, right?

That's part of the tension of holiness

is that we're asked to grow into

something that we're not.

And so that leads us

to verse 17.

If you call on Him as Father

who judges impartially

according to each one's deeds,

conduct yourselves with fear

throughout the time of your exile.

What in the world

does fear have to do with obedience?

If we're not legalists,

if we believe we don't earn

anything from God,

what is Peter trying to say?

First of all, he's saying

just because God is your Father

doesn't mean He's not also the judge.

And there's going to come a time

when He's going to examine

each person's works,

what we've done in this life.

For those people who belong to Him,

who've been chosen by Him

and called by Him,

those works will demonstrate

that they're true children.

Their holiness will show

that they belong to God.

This doesn't mean

that their holiness earned them

favor from God.

It doesn't mean it made them

the children.

But it demonstrates

that God truly chose them

and was at work in their lives.

In other words,

don't take this for granted.

If God is your Father,

don't forget that He's also the judge.

He is working holiness

into your life.

If He has truly chosen you

as His Son,

that holiness will be evident.

And on the last day,

when He looks at your life,

He will say,

yes, that is my child.

That's the person

that I've chosen.

Now, this is still a tension

to try to understand, right?

There's free grace

and there's also obedience.

And everything I said

probably doesn't resolve that for you.

What does the obedience have to do?

Why is He going to look

at our obedience

if He's already given us salvation?

Why is He going to be

not just a father,

but a judge?

And the best way

I can explain it to you

is this.

My father's a Subaru driver, right?

He has the 1998 Red

manual transmission

Subaru Forester.

My dad loves driving

the manual transmission.

At some point,

he decides,

living in the Washington, D.C. area,

I don't like driving

a manual transmission anymore

in Beltway traffic around D.C.

And my youngest son

also needs a car.

So what am I going to do?

I'm going to give to him

the red manual transmission

1998 Subaru Forester.

This is in 2010.

There's only one problem.

I don't know how to drive

a manual transmission.

Try to defend millennials

as much as I can.

Got to call a spade a spade.

So what do I do?

I have to go out

with my father

to learn how to drive

the manual transmission.

We go out to the library

parking lot.

I've already learned

how to drive once.

It's time to learn

how to drive twice.

And it's not easy, right?

If you've learned...

Now, there are some people,

they learn to drive a manual

because they say,

well, I showed up

at the car dealership

and I bought the manual

and I knew I had to get it home.

I know people like that.

I'm not one of them.

I had to learn to drive it, right?

It was frustrating.

There was many failures.

There were many times

when I stalled out the car

and it was scary.

It's not a good feeling

to stall out

and have a car shaking on you, right?

But how else am I going to receive

the manual transmission Forester?

There is nothing

that I did

to merit that car

or earn it.

There's nothing I did

to deserve it.

The reason I received it

is because I'm my father's son.

I didn't pay him anything for it.

It did not benefit my father

in any way

to sit in the passenger seat

while I stalled out.

I had nothing to offer him.

But it was necessary for me

to learn how to drive manual

to receive the car.

There is nothing that we do

to merit or earn

God's gracious gift

of salvation to us.

We receive it

because and only because

we are his sons and daughters.

And our obedience

is necessary.

Holiness,

personal holiness

is non-negotiable.

Another way to look at it

would be this.

Call on him as father

who judges impartially

to each one's deeds.

Conduct yourselves with fear

throughout the time

of your exile.

In other words,

if you have no concern

at all with personal holiness,

holiness,

and you do not have

any grief over your sin,

then you should seriously

question whether God

is your father.

However,

if God is your father,

then you will stay

in the car

and stall out

as many times

as necessary.

holiness and perfection

are not the same thing.

Peter stalled out

over and over again.

He stalled out dramatically.

Peter rolled backwards

multiple yards

at stoplights.

And Peter never left the car.

And I wasn't alone

in that car

trying to figure it out

by myself, right?

I was in the driver's seat.

Who was in the passenger's seat?

My father,

who is there

with his presence

and his instruction.

If we're pursuing holiness,

if we are being holy

as God is holy,

we have him with us

and beside us,

giving us his presence

and his instruction.

Holiness is not perfection.

But those who are Christians

will stay

in the car.

Now this was 2010.

Fast forward

to 2013.

I'm a proficient

manual transmission driver

at this point.

Thank you very much.

I've gotten through

my evangelism phase.

Some of you are familiar

with this.

There's car evangelism

where you put someone

in your passenger seat

and it becomes very clear

after driving with you

for some time

that their odds

of meeting the Lord

are very high.

so they need

to make a decision.

It's urgent.

I'd gotten beyond

that phase.

And I knew how to drive

and I was teaching

at that point

at the school

and my students knew

that I could drive

a manual transmission.

And there was one student

whose father,

not making this up,

was going to give her

for her 16th birthday

a 2013 Chevy Camaro.

kids don't get any ideas.

There's only one problem.

She, as any self-respecting

muscle car driver,

wanted to make sure

she was driving a manual.

She didn't know how.

So she asked me

to teach her.

So now the roles

are reversed.

I said, yes,

you can learn,

you can stall out

on my 1998 Forester

which is just,

handles exactly like

a 2013 Camaro.

You can take part,

in part,

what will one day

be yours in full.

So we went out

to a church parking lot

at the church

where I went.

And she stalled out

and she stalled out again

and I still remember

sitting there

in the passenger seat

and so scared

from stalling out

she started shaking.

So we sat there

for a little bit.

She was physically

shaking all over

and I waited with her

and I said, well,

you ready to try again?

And she tried again

and she tried again

and finally we made it

all the way around

the parking lot.

Later I,

about a year later

I asked her to show me

how far she progressed

and she took me out

in the Camaro

and I thought,

we're going to go out,

we're going to safely

exit the parking lot

and then we're going

to go onto the highway.

She's going to show me

on the highway,

just, you know,

smooth shifting.

We never got to the highway.

She starts like whipping

around curves

in this parking lot,

turfing on grass.

I'm in total shock.

Okay, beside the point.

Point is this,

how did she get beyond

the shaking?

Would have been easy

for her to ask me

to drive her back.

Her father had not

bought the Camaro

at that point

because she could have said,

Dad, what I really want

is the automatic transmission

and yet after failing out

multiple times

she kept working.

Why did she keep

pushing for it?

The reason that she kept

destroying the transmission

on my Forester

was because,

verse 13,

she had prepared

her mind for action

and being sober-minded,

she had set her hope

fully on the 2013

Chevy Camaro

that would be brought to her

at the revelation

of her 16th birthday.

It was her hope

in what was to come

that kept her

pursuing what she wanted.

And even when it was hard,

she did not give up.

She wasn't perfect,

but she stayed in the car.

And she stayed in the car

because her hope

was greater than

what she had to lose.

her hope

was greater

than her fear.

Brothers and sisters,

we pursue holiness

stalling out

over and over again

because our hope

is greater

than our fear.

We prepare

our minds for action

and being sober-minded

set our hope fully

not on a 2013 Camaro,

but something

much greater,

the grace

that would be brought

to us

at the revelation

of Jesus Christ.

There's two commands

in this passage.

One is to be holy

and the other

is to have hope.

How do we remain

steadfast

in becoming holy?

It's because we have hope.

And it's not something easy

even more

than that

15,

16 year old.

Even more difficult

than learning to drive

a manual transmission.

is as obedient children

not being conformed

to the passions

of our former ignorance.

Verse 14.

Holiness is not easy.

But God has given us

a hope

that is large enough

to motivate us

and empower us.

And as our Heavenly Father,

He is with us

with His presence

and His instruction.

Like Peter,

we will fail

over and over again.

Like Peter,

we remain

with Jesus

in the car.

And like Peter,

if we remain

with Him,

we will grow

in grace

and holiness.

We will not look

the same

10 years from now

that we look today.

Peter gives us

a hope

sandwich here.

Verse 13.

Set your hope

fully on the grace

that will be brought to you.

And then verse 18.

Knowing that you were

ransomed

from the futile ways

inherited from your forefathers,

not with perishable things

such as silver or gold,

but with the precious

blood of Christ

like that of a lamb

without blemish

or spot.

There's nothing

that we've done

to earn

our place

as God's children.

There's nothing

that I did

to deserve

the Subaru Forester.

There's nothing

that this daughter did

to deserve

the 2013 Camaro.

It was bought

by their fathers.

How much more

precious

is the blood

of Jesus Christ?

your place

as a son

or a daughter

of God

is not based

on your obedience.

It's not based

on anything

you have done

or anything

you will do.

It's based

on one thing

and that's

Jesus' blood.

And it's the blood

that he spilled

when he died

on the cross

for us

and our sins.

Ransoming us.

This word here

means to buy us

out of slavery.

Buying us

out of the slavery

to sin

by his blood.

Verse 20,

he was foreknown

before the foundation

of the world

but was made

manifest

in the last times

for the sake

of you

who through him

are believers

in God

who raised him

from the dead

and gave him glory

so that your faith

and your hope

are in God.

That's the end

of the hope sandwich.

Verse 13,

set your hope fully.

Verse 21,

your faith

and your hope

are in God

and that hope

is in what?

That God

actually raised

Jesus from the dead

and gave him glory.

We've talked before

about some of the reasons

that we have confidence

in Jesus' resurrection.

One of them

is the witness of Peter.

Peter would have

no reason

to live this life

as a disciple

suffering after

Jesus' death

instead of returning

to the much simpler

life of a fisherman

unless he had actually

seen Jesus

after he'd risen

from the dead.

We talked on Easter

about 1 Corinthians 15

which names

witnesses

who were still alive

at the time

who saw Jesus

after he rose

from the dead.

Paul doesn't summon

what's called

an invisible army.

He doesn't say,

there's just lots of people.

He names names

of people who are alive

who could give testimony

about whether they'd

seen Jesus or not.

Another reason

that we have confidence

in Jesus as the Messiah

who ransomed us

through his blood

and actually rose

from the dead

is that there were

many Messiahs

in the first century

who came

and claimed

to be and do

what Jesus did.

Unless you're

an Old Testament

or New Testament

scholar,

you probably can't

name a single one

of them.

People all over

the world

know the name

of Jesus

because he actually

died.

He actually rose

from the dead.

He lived a perfect

life and his blood

pays the ransom

for our sin.

And so how is it

that we're holy

as Christians?

It's not that we're

better than other people.

It's not that we've

earned something

that other people

haven't earned.

But it's that we have

a Heavenly Father

who has chosen us

and he's called us

to look like him.

And as we struggle

to look like him,

walking the walk

of faith

and failing

many times,

he's given us

a hope to sustain us.

And that hope

is the reality

that Jesus has

actually died

and risen from the dead.

And while he gives

us that hope,

he is with us.

He's given us

his word

and he's given us

his presence.

And so the hope

that motivates us

and propels us

and keeps us going,

it is not a

I hope it will

rain tomorrow

hope.

but it is a

I hope the sun

will rise again

tomorrow hope.

It is a sure

and firm

and steady confidence

that we have.

And so that's

what gives us

the courage

and the ability

to continue

walking with Jesus,

sticking with him

and never,

ever getting out

of the car,

knowing that he's

with us,

he loves us,

and he's chosen us.

Please pray with me.

Dear Father in Heaven,

we thank you

that we belong to you.

And we also confess

that following after you

is challenging

and difficult.

We face many trials

and as we long

and work for holiness,

we fail over

and over again.

We ask that you would

remind us of your grace

and you would remind us

of the blessing

that comes

from staying with you

and that you'd give us

everything we need

to make it through

in this life,

following after you

and growing in your grace.

We ask these things

not because we have

earned them

or deserved them

or merited them

in any way.

And we don't ask them

because we think

that our obedience

helps us

when it comes

to our standing

before you.

But we ask them

because Jesus

was obedient

on our behalf

and ransomed us

from the slavery of sin.

And so we ask it

in his name.

Amen.

this work

of God.

We ask

you