Gospel Holiness

It's good to see you this morning.

If you missed Pastor Matt's announcement

at the very start of the service

about the city parking ban,

let me remind you, if you parked on the street,

there's a chance you may get towed.

I'll read the scripture passage really slowly

to give you a chance to go move your car if you need to,

but there's a parking garage right behind us.

You can get to it right off of Autobahn

or off of Orange Street.

So we did park on the street this morning.

We wouldn't want you to get towed,

so just a reminder about that.

But our sermon text this morning

is 1 Peter 1, 13-21.

And I think that's on page 953

in the Pew Bible in front of you.

If you'd like to turn there

and have it open in front of you

throughout the course of our sermon this morning.

1 Peter 1, verses 13-21.

1 Peter 1:13–21

All right, let me read this for us.

The Apostle Peter says this.

He says,

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.

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.

Since it is written,

You shall be holy, for I am holy.

And 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,

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.

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 hope

are in God.

Let's pray together.

Father, as we come to these words

from the Apostle Peter

to the first century church,

we thank you that by your spirit

you continue to speak to us

through these apostolic words.

Jesus, thank you for continuing

to shepherd your church

throughout this time.

And we pray that as we meditate

on this passage this morning,

you would do that work

of shepherding and loving

and comforting and guiding

for the sake of your people

and for the sake of your name,

we pray this.

Amen.

So, when we look at the history

of the early church,

we see something pretty amazing,

actually.

As the message

about Jesus' death

and resurrection

went forth

in those first centuries,

it created communities

that were radically distinct

from the surrounding Roman culture.

Something obviously

and apparently knew

was being created.

Larry Hurtado,

who's a historian

of the first few centuries

of the common area

of the church,

he wrote a book recently

called Destroyer of the Gods,

Early Christian Distinctiveness

in the Roman World.

And what he does

in that book

is trace how Christian communities

were really, really different

and really distinct

from the Roman context

in which they lived.

And he traces

a number of different ways

in which the church

was different.

Well, how so?

Well, there was a number of ways.

You know, in a culture

where kind of taking care

of your family

or taking care

of your own tribe

was the priority,

Christians, surprisingly,

cared for the poor

and cared for the marginalized

no matter what their background.

Also, in a culture

where your religion

was basically kind of

a product of your upbringing,

Christianity in distinction

was radically multi-ethnic

and multi-racial.

Anyone could join

this new movement,

this new family

around Jesus.

And in a culture

where honor and shame

led to sort of

long-standing grudges

and rivalries,

Christians,

in distinction from that,

were committed to forgiveness

and non-retaliation.

Many Christians dying

for their faith

in those early years,

yet forgiving

their persecutors.

And there's more.

In a culture

where infanticide

was acceptable

and children were often

sold into slavery,

Christians practiced

this radical hospitality

and this radical commitment

to life,

standing against abortion,

caring for unwanted children,

taking them in.

And in a culture

where sex was seen

kind of as an appetite

that could be fulfilled

in any way

as long as it sort of

upheld the social order,

Christians,

in distinction from that,

held this radically

different view

of sex even,

that it was part

of an exclusive covenant

between a man

and a woman

in a way that pictured

God's union

with his people,

a life-producing union

across fundamental difference.

Okay, now why are we

talking about all this?

Why am I talking about

all the ways in which

Christians were distinct

and different

from their surrounding culture

when it came to things

like race and sex

and class and life

and forgiveness?

Well, this distinction,

this difference,

is what Peter's talking about

in our passage

when he talks about holiness.

holiness.

The central point

of this paragraph

in 1 Peter is verse 15

where he says,

be holy in all your conduct.

Now, I don't know

what comes to mind for you

when you think of the word holy.

Maybe you get a picture

of some sort of

super spiritual,

oddly dressed guru

who's very holy.

Or maybe you think

of some kind of

overly meticulous,

self-righteous bore,

you know,

the kind of person

you really don't ever

want to invite over

for dinner.

But, you know,

when the Bible uses

the word holy,

the root of that word

means something

that's distinct.

It's set apart.

And just as God

is supremely distinct,

just as God

is supremely distinct

in beauty

and goodness

and truth,

so Peter says

we should be holy.

If we were to paraphrase

verses 14 through 16,

we might put it this way.

Peter's saying,

look,

don't go back

to living like you used to.

You know,

you didn't know any better

and your passion

simply ruled your life

and you just conformed

to everyone around you.

But he says,

instead,

live now

in the beautiful

distinction

of God's own character.

Mirror his goodness

in everything

that you do.

be holy.

And notice,

being holy

isn't just something

Christians are supposed

to do on Sundays.

Peter says,

be holy in all your conduct.

And that's what we see

in the early church.

We see Christians

together

mirroring God's goodness

and how they treat the poor

and how they embrace

one another

across racial

and ethnic difference

and how they respond

to others

when people wrong them

or harm them

and how they care for life

in all of its forms

and how they approach

sex and marriage.

all of it,

all of life,

it's meant to be distinct.

But Peter knows

that that's a challenge,

right?

Because conformity,

which he mentions

in verse 14,

conformity is always easier

than holiness.

In other words,

it will always be easier

to conform

to our culture.

It will always be easier

to conform

to our old habits

and passions

than to live

in the beautiful distinction

of God's goodness.

So Peter spends

most of this paragraph,

actually,

helping us to see

how.

How can we actually do it

even though it's hard?

And to summarize,

he says,

you can do it

because,

he says,

you have a new future

and he says,

you have a new father

and he says,

you have a new freedom.

In other words,

Peter says,

live holy lives

because your relationship

to the future has changed

and because your relationship

to God has changed

and because even your relationship

to your past has changed.

So that's what we're going

to look at this morning,

those three things

that Peter says

as to how we can

actually live

into this holiness.

So let's look first

at how our relationship

to the future has changed.

In verse 13,

Peter says,

you have a whole new future.

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.

Now,

I think most of us

have our hope

set on something,

right?

There's some future outcome

that you're banking on

or that you're aiming for.

Maybe you hope

one day

to get married

or maybe you hope

to start a business

or maybe you hope

to travel the world

or cure a disease

or raise a few kids.

What is it for you?

What's the happy outcome?

What's the hope?

Now,

none of these things

are necessarily bad things

to hope for,

to aim for.

But if we're not careful,

good hopes

can become ultimate hopes.

Our hearts can start

to believe

that they are necessary

for our joy.

We can begin

by saying

something like,

well,

I'd like to one day,

but then end up saying,

I must have one day.

You see the difference?

And of course,

the thing that becomes

your ultimate hope,

well,

that's the thing

that ultimately

rules your life,

right?

If you set your hope

fully on getting married,

then you'll do

whatever it takes

to get a spouse,

even if they're not

really the person

you should marry.

Or if you set your hope

fully on career success,

then you won't be able

to say no

when your boss

is expecting

too many hours from you

or when you're asked

to do something

that goes against

your conscience.

And that's why

Peter says,

we have to prepare

our minds for action

and be sober-minded.

Now,

literally,

he says,

gird up the loins

of your mind.

This is a great picture,

isn't it?

And this image,

it's from the ancient world

when people wore

sort of long robes,

right?

But if you were

going into battle

or if you're getting ready

to do some kind

of physical activity,

you couldn't have

some super long robe

getting in your way.

So you'd take it

and you would fold it up

and you would sort of

wrap it around your waist

and you would tie it,

you would gird it

around your loins

and then you'd be ready to go.

You were ready for action.

You'd gird up your loins.

In the Old Testament,

God actually told the Israelites

to gird up their loins

on the night of the Exodus.

Be ready for action,

God said,

because your liberation

is coming

and you'll need to go

tonight.

So Peter's saying here

that like the Israelites

on the night of the Passover,

we have to be ready

for action.

We have to set our hope

fully on the only thing

that won't enslave us

or entrap us.

We have to gird up

the loins of our minds

and set our hope fully

on that one thing

that won't make us a slave.

And what is that?

He says,

it's the coming grace

of our Lord Jesus.

You see,

for Christians,

our hope isn't ultimately

in a marriage partner

or financial success

or any of those things.

Our ultimate hope,

our ultimate happiness

is what's coming

in God's future grace.

Now,

I know sometimes

when we think about

the future

God has in store

for his people,

it doesn't really

thrill our hearts,

does it?

I read a book

this past week

that sort of said,

you know,

when we think about

God's future,

we often think of it

sort of like the waiting room

at the dentist.

It's calm.

There's soothing

instrumental music.

Everything's really clean.

Some people are wearing

white even.

You know,

this is sort of

what we think of

when we think of heaven,

when we think of

the new heavens

and the new earth.

But that's not

what God has in store.

Peter actually uses

the metaphor

that we just saw

in the last couple of weeks.

He uses the metaphor

of an inheritance.

Now,

imagine you get a letter

in the mail one day

that seems to be

from a reputable law office

telling you

that a distant relative

has left you

their entire estate.

And it's not just

a large life-changing

sum of money,

but a house

and a fairly large

piece of property

in the south of France.

I think you'd be

a little more excited

about that

than visiting the waiting room

of your dentist, right?

Of course you would.

And when Peter says

you have an inheritance,

he means something

even more thrilling

than an estate

in the south of France.

He's talking about

a place in the new heavens

and the new earth

when God

will continue

to extend

his infinite creativity

and beauty

through us

as image bearers

as we reign

with him forever.

But as we reign

with him forever

in a world

that's finally set free

from decay

and death

and loss.

And remember,

Peter's saying

that this is the first key

to holy living.

Set your hope

on this future grace.

grace.

Then you won't be

controlled

or ruled

by lesser hopes.

Then,

like the early Christians,

you can be generous

to the poor

even when it's hard

because the future grace

of your coming inheritance

makes earthly wealth

in this life

pale in comparison.

You have an inheritance

that's coming.

Future grace.

So why not

be generous now?

You don't need

to hold on to your money

so tightly.

And like the early Christians,

you can live

a single celibate life

with contentment

and joy

even when it's hard

because the future grace

of your coming union

with Christ

makes earthly marriage

pale in comparison.

You don't have to seek

something out

in this life

because you know

what's coming

is so much better.

So Peter wants us

to see that

this new future

that we have

in the gospel,

this inheritance,

this grace

that's coming.

This is the first thing

that empowers

our holy living

and we can gird up

the loins of our mind

and we can set

our hope fully on it

and it won't disappoint us.

The second thing

he points out though

is not just

that we have

a new future

but that we have

a new father.

It's not just

our relationship

to the future

that's changed,

it's our relationship

with God,

he says.

Now notice how

Peter implies this

in verses 14

through 16.

If you look back

at those verses,

Peter is saying,

he's saying,

just like children

imitate their parents

in obedience,

so you Christians,

now that you are

children of God,

imitate your heavenly father.

Be holy

like he is holy.

And then he says

in verse 17,

and 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.

Remember,

exile is sort of

Peter's way

of talking about

this Christian life,

our pilgrimage

to the new heavens

and the new earth.

Now this verse

takes some explaining,

verse 17.

It sort of sounds

at first like

Peter's saying,

okay,

don't forget,

your heavenly father

is a merciless judge,

so you better be holy

or else.

But I don't think

that's what Peter means.

I don't think

he's trying to scare

Christians into obedience.

Now, of course,

it is true

that God will judge

the works that believers

have done in this life,

and it is true

that there will be

varying levels

of reward in heaven.

Remember Jesus' parable

of the talents, right?

But none of that means

that we're saved

by our good works.

Think about it.

If I ask my kids

to go clean their rooms,

right,

I might give them

varying levels of praise

depending on how

good of a job they did.

But that doesn't mean

I'm expecting them

to earn their status

as my children

based on how well

they tidy up.

That would raise the stakes,

wouldn't it,

for cleaning the room?

And it's the same

in the gospel, friends.

We're adopted

into God's family

completely

and solely

by grace alone,

through faith alone,

in Christ alone.

That's how we get

into the family

and that's what

keeps us secure.

So what does Peter mean

in verse 17 then?

I think he means

something like this.

The impartial judge

of the universe,

God,

who has every right

to bring our lives

to account,

this judge

is now your father.

the one

whose perfect judgment

will bring the world

to its knees.

This God

has chosen

to embrace you

with the tender strength

of a perfect father.

The one who is judge

you now call on

as your father.

And how should that

impact us?

Well, Peter says

it ought to provoke fear.

But what kind of fear?

Is it terror

that makes us

want to run away?

Or is it deep awe

and wonder

that makes us

want to draw near?

When the Bible

talks about the fear

of God,

that's what it means.

Deep,

soul-changing awe.

When you behold

something so big

and powerful

and glorious

that it takes you

out of yourself

in worship.

And Peter is saying

that if you know

that the impartial judge

is your heavenly father,

then you have

this holy fear

that drives out

all other fears.

You know,

if you think about it,

this is part of what

makes Christianity

so unique.

A lot of religions

picture God

as a judge.

But if God

is only a judge,

can we really

trust him?

If God

is only a judge,

maybe we'll

live our lives

to get on his good side

long enough

so that he'll

leave us alone

and so we can

do whatever we want.

But if we don't

God

is only a judge,

but you know,

on the flip side,

in more recent history,

some religions

only picture God

as a father

or maybe some sort

of totally accepting

benevolence,

right?

But if God,

on the other hand,

is just pure acceptance

and pure affirmation,

well,

that's not very

life-changing either,

is it?

It might be nice

to think that God

always approves of us,

but surely not

everything we do

is approval-worthy,

right?

And what does

such a God

have to say

about real injustice

and evil in the world?

Does this totally

accepting benevolence

just sort of smile

kindly upon racism

and poverty

and brutality

and deceit

and bitterness?

But in Christianity,

friends,

these two realities

about God

come together.

God's perfectly just

and he's perfectly loving.

And through the cross,

his perfect justice

against sin

and his perfect love

for his sinful image bearers

meet together.

The judge of the universe,

without minimizing

his justice one bit,

has now become

our father

without limiting

his love

in any way.

So you see,

in the gospel,

our relationship

to God

has completely changed.

Before,

we could relate

to God only

as a strict judge

or only as a

completely permissible

father,

but now

we live in the awe

and the holy

and good fear

that the perfect judge

is now

our perfect father.

So how does this relate

then to living

holy lives?

Well,

you know,

for many of us,

I think

that it's the fear

of what people

will think of us.

It's the fear

of how

they might respond

that keeps us

or hinders us

from living

holy lives.

What will my

co-workers think

if they find out

I'm a Christian?

What will my

friends think

if I don't agree

with them

about this

or that issue?

And so in fear,

we end up living

lives of conformity

rather than

holy distinction.

So what is it?

What is it that

will drive out

this human-centered

fear

that so often

rules our lives?

Ultimately,

it's what Peter's

talking about

in verse 17.

Having a bigger

fear,

a bigger awe

of God,

the perfect

judge who's

become our

father in the

gospel.

Because you see,

when God's

verdict,

when God's

approval,

when God's

favor matters

more to us

than human

approval or

human favor,

or as the

Bible puts it,

when we fear

God more

than we fear

people,

then we'll be

empowered to

live holy

lives.

We won't live

for a human

verdict anymore

because only God

is the perfect

judge.

It's his

verdict alone

that matters,

right?

And we

won't live

for human

favor anymore

because only

God is the

perfect loving

father.

And it's his

favor alone

that really

matters at the

end of the

day.

So as Peter

encourages us

to holy living,

he tells us we

have a new

future and a

new father.

He says our

relationship to

the future has

changed and our

relationship to

God has changed.

But then he goes

on to say that

even our

relationship to

our past has

changed.

So let's pick

back up in

verse 17 of

our passage.

Peter says

conduct yourselves

with fear

throughout the

time of your

exile,

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.

He was

foreknown before

the foundation

of the world

that 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

hope are in

God.

Notice here how

Peter talks about

our past lives

before becoming

Christians.

He calls it the

futile ways

inherited from

your forefathers.

Now, Peter isn't

saying that everything

about their past is

bad, right?

There's plenty of

common grace in

every culture,

and God delights

in the diversity

of his human

creation, but it

is also true that

the fall has

affected every

human culture as

well.

Every culture has

its own idolatries,

its own

disordered desires,

its own futile or

empty ways, as

Peter puts it in

verse 18.

And, you know,

this isn't just

true of kind of

broad cultures,

right?

It's true of

families as well.

You know, we

inherit from our

families all sorts

of good things,

yes, but also all

sorts of futile

ways, too, don't

we?

Just think of all

that we inherit

from our forefathers,

as Peter puts it.

From our families,

we learn how to

respond and treat

people who are

different from us.

From our families,

we learn how to

think about gender

and marriage.

From our families,

we learn how to

respond to negative

emotions like anger

or sadness or fear.

From our families,

we learn how to

resolve conflict or

not resolve conflict,

as it might be,

right?

And sometimes these

things are so ingrained

that we don't even

notice them.

Or often, in our

Christian walk, these

things are so kind of

habituated in us that

it seems like we'll

never be able to

change.

And we can get to

the place, willingly

or unwillingly, where

we say, I guess this

is just who I am.

I guess it will

always be this way.

But Peter says,

remember the gospel,

friends.

You've been ransomed.

A price has been

paid for your freedom.

But not just any

price, right?

Peter says, God has

expended the most

precious thing in the

world to liberate you.

He's laid down his own

life and shed his own

blood.

Christ took on your

humanity and mine, and

he took all the

emptiness that's been

handed down to you, and

he died with it on the

cross.

He took it to the

grave once and for all.

So now, whatever it

might be, you know, an

addiction passed down

from generation to

generation, and an

unhealthy view of

conflict and anger, a

judgmental spirit towards

particular races or

cultures, because Christ

died in our place for

us, these futile ways,

they no longer need to

define us.

He's ransomed us.

And we can walk in

holiness.

Of course, we may be

tempted to return to

them at times.

You know, if you've seen

anger expressed a

certain way your entire

life, it will take time

for that to change, no

doubt.

But the blood of

Christ has made change

a reality.

As Paul will say in

Galatians, he says, I've

been crucified with

Christ.

It's no longer I who

live, but Christ who

lives in me.

And the life I now live

in the flesh, I live by

faith in the Son of God

who loved me and gave

himself for me.

I'm me, Paul says, but

it's a whole new me,

because I've died and

risen with Christ, the

one who ransomed me.

And that's what Peter's

saying here.

He's saying we have a

whole new freedom.

Our relationship to our

past has been

fundamentally changed.

It no longer defines you

anymore.

He says, now you can

leave those futile ways

behind and walk in

holiness.

And then Peter does

something utterly

brilliant in verses 20

through 21.

To Christians who are

struggling with their

past, who are struggling

with their identity, who are

struggling with their

futile ways handed down

from their forefathers,

Peter says, do you want

to know the real story

about your past?

Yes, your parents and

grandparents and great

grandparents all pass down

to you the idolatries and

sins and fears that you

struggle with.

But do you want to know

what's even more true about

your past?

Do you want to know where

your story really began?

Before the world was

created, Peter says in

verse 20, in the vast

stretches of eternity

when all that was

was the triune God,

in the infinite

stretches of divine

bliss there, in the

perfect beauty and love

of the Godhead, the

Father looked upon the

Son, and in the divine

foreknowledge, a plan

was made, a plan that

has now, Peter says, at

long last come to light,

a plan for your sake,

that through Christ the

Son, you would believe in

God, that through his life

and glory, you would come

to life and glory, to faith

and hope in God.

You see, friends, the

history that ultimately

defines you is not the

story of the futile ways

handed down from your

forefathers.

Back behind that, there

lies a deeper story, the

story of the eternal,

sovereign love of God for

you and the plan he made

to make you his own and

to bring you to glory.

And if that is your true

history, if that's what's

most true about your

past, then you are free

indeed.

Free to live in the

beautiful distinction of

God's holiness, free to be

holy in all your conduct,

because he who called you

is holy.

Let's pray together.

Our Father in heaven, thank

you for setting your saving

love on us in Christ.

And thank you, God, for the

great privilege it is through

your Holy Spirit to mirror

your goodness in all of our

lives.

Lord, we know that we fall

short of that so often,

individually, in community.

And yet, Lord, thank you that

you continue to work out in

us and through us your good

purposes, that we might be

holy as you are holy.

God, think trzeba

God, you, for you are hum bikers

and through your reality.

Father, that we may be

holy, for the glory of God.

To we speak through you truth

and through the joy of God.

From

reflecting your goodness out

into the world.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.