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.
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.