Living Hope Leads To Holy Conduct

I Peter 1:13-20

Transcript

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 his 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. Would you pray with me this
morning? Father, we come into your presence and we give you glory and praise for
the living hope that we have in Christ. Lord, I thank you that our lives are not
dominated by wishful thinking or uncertainties, but Lord, in the truth, we move
forward and persevere and press on in the Christian life and we praise you for
this. And so Lord, as we open up your word, I pray that you would open up our
eyes, that we would behold the wonderful things that are found in your word. We
ask this that Christ might be praised. In Jesus' name, amen. There are few
motivations that are as powerful as hope. Hope gives us the motivation to
sometimes deny ourselves and do hard things today, as long as there's the
prospect of a brighter future for tomorrow. For example, think about the student
who on a Friday night is studying in the library. Instead of hanging out with
their friends, they're there in the library and they're studying for that exam
that's coming up because they have this goal in mind. And so they say no to fun
and they do the hard thing because they anticipate graduation. Think about the
person who's trying to get healthy. This has been me for a number of years now.
You try to get healthy and you've got this goal of a much healthier self. And so
that hope should fuel you to do certain things when it comes to your food life.
So you've got this hope, you're working toward this goal, you've got this end in
view, you go into the kitchen and you see that oatmeal raisin cookie. Now
obviously that's not remotely tempting, but next to the oatmeal raisin cookie is
a chocolate chip cookie. And that's like a whole different dynamic altogether.
And as you see that chocolate chip cookie, you remember that in your freezer
there's Breyers vanilla bean ice cream. And in your refrigerator, you've got
number two milk, the 2% milk, and that thought crosses your mind. Where else
would I rather be than right here, right now? But then you remember, unlike me,
you remember, wait a minute, that's going to keep me and hinder me from this
future goal. And so unlike me, you say no to that cookie and you move on because
you've got this hope that leads you to action. So you can't do that because
you've got a goal that is so much better. Now there are times in fact when that
hope is so real and so motivating that it fuels you to do some pretty dramatic
things in order to attain that hope. So after I was engaged to Debbie, I was
excited to save money so we could have just a fantastic honeymoon. But before we
could do the honeymoon, before we could get married, I had to go back to
Pensacola and take a two-week course. And in order to take the course and stay
on campus, I would have to pay a lot of money to live on the campus for those
two weeks. Food would be provided, but it was going to be extremely costly. And
I thought, man, I don't have the money to do that because I really want to spend
my money on this great honeymoon. So I found a friend and he had just purchased
a renovated home. The home had no windows. It had no hot water. It did have
electricity. And so I contacted my friend Steve. I said, Steve, I know you just
bought that home. I know you're out of town. Can I just like squat in your home
for two weeks? He said, bro, there's no windows. I got no bedding. I got no... I
said, look, I don't care. I'll get an air mattress. I'm just going to sit in
your home for two weeks and squat there. Is that okay? He said, yeah, sure. So
there was a bunch of other guys who were doing the same thing. We all had this
hope. We were all getting married. So we had this goal of saving money. And I
was eating tuna fish, peanut butter, and Cheerios was basically my diet for two
weeks. And in the morning, I was typically woken up by like something at my
feet. It's like a little cat, these stray cats that were in the neighborhood
licking the feet. And you'd hear the cockroaches on the floor. And it's like, oh
my goodness, what am I doing? What am I doing? But then I'd remember, wait a
minute. This is going to be worth it. I can do this hard thing because something
better is yet to come. So hope leads us to action. It always does. Now, friend,
I don't know the kind of things that right now you are putting your hope in.
Maybe you've got a hope for a career change. You've got a hope to deepen or
cultivate some relationships. And maybe those hopes will be realized. Maybe they
won't. But I do know this. If you are in Christ, you have a hope. It is a God-
given hope. It doesn't vacillate. It's unshakable. It's undefiled. It's eternal.
It will never perish. It can never be taken away. This is a hope that for the
Christian gives us purpose in the middle of our suffering. It gives us joy in
our grief and focus as we faithfully follow Christ. And so as we open up the
passage this morning, here's the word of encouragement from Scripture today. Let
gospel hope fuel holy conduct. That gospel hope fuel holy conduct. Now, we'll
see this theme developed in our text first through the exhortation of verses 13
through 16 and then through an elaboration of that command in verses 17 through
21. So let's begin verses 13 through 16, this exhortation to holy conduct.
Scripture reads, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-
minded, here's the command, 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. Notice it is written, you shall
be holy, for I am holy. Now the passage begins with that little word, therefore.
Now if you recall, Peter is writing to saints who are suffering. And in this
epistle, Peter is going to give these suffering saints more than just empathy.
He's going to exhort them on how to live and how to suffer as followers of
Christ, a suffering savior, as we live in a world that is not our home. And so
in order to give that exhortation, he opens the letter by reminding them and us
of the goodness of God in our salvation. The salvation that we have because of
Jesus Christ. This was something that the prophets of the Old Testament looked
forward to with great anticipation. And even as verse 12 says, it's something
that mesmerizes even the angels as they look down and see the saving work of
God. Something the Old Testament prophet anticipated, the angels look at with
awe, that is what we have in Christ. That is my salvation, that is your
salvation. And this salvation that we have because of Jesus has impacted who we
are. If you recall in the first two verses, Peter reminds us we are chosen,
beloved, set apart as we journey toward a heavenly home. We're elect exiles.
This salvation gives us a new life. Through the mercies of God, we are born
again. We were dead in sin. And because of Jesus, we have been made alive. We
have a living hope. We have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and
undefading that God himself is keeping for his people. This salvation gives us
purpose in our trials. As Pastor Matt preached last week, yes, our grief is real
as we work through life in a sin-curse world, but the joy we have in Jesus is
resilient. Because friends, there's no pointless trial in the Christian life.
Even in the fiery trials that we endure, we have this hope because we know that
Christ is purifying us. He's transforming us. He's preparing us for the day when
he returns. And in the end, through the trial, through the suffering, through
the sorrows and the heartaches, as we walk with him, he will be glorified. And
we will be satisfied as we stand before Jesus, complete and glorified. So Peter
reminds these suffering saints of these gospel truths because the truth is these
gospel realities are not simply informational. When we really grab hold of them,
they are transformational. In the scripture, we see this pattern of doctrine
giving us direction and motivating devotion. Gospel truths lead to gospel
living. So therefore, in light of this great salvation and the goodness of God
that we see in our salvation, the command is to set our hope on the grace that
is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now this hope is not
wishful thinking. This hope is not earthly or temporal. It's not about career
advancement or financial stability or any other ideal or hope that we might have
in life. But rather, this hope is a forward, future-looking hope. We set our
hope on future grace. And this future grace that Peter is referring to is the
reality that Christ will come again. He came as our Savior. He's coming again to
rule and reign, to establish his kingdom, to reward his saints. And when he
comes, there will be no more sin. No more sorrows. No more suffering. God will
once again dwell with us. And we will dwell with him forever. That's our hope.
That's what we look forward to. That's what we anticipate as God's people, as
elect exiles on this heavenly journey. First John tells us that everyone who has
this hope purifies himself as he, Christ, is pure. So set your hope on the
future grace that is yours and that is coming because Jesus will come again.
Now, we need this exhortation because oftentimes we lose sight of this hope,
don't we? Think about when you're going through the painful realities of life.
And all of us are. All of us have and all of us will. Life in a sin-cursed world
is hard. And when we go through suffering, how often in our suffering we find
ourselves dismayed. We live as if we forget that this world is not our final
hope. We're pilgrims. So that's why when Peter, in giving this command, does so
in the context of right thinking, he says, set your minds on future grace, set
your hope rather on future grace as your minds are prepared for action and
you're sober minded. Now the phrase preparing your mind for action, if you use
the old King James, it says, gird up the loins of your mind. That seems to be a
kind of strange thing. I can't quite visualize that. But in the biblical times,
as the men would wear their tunics, it was the belt, if you will, that would
kind of keep things together so that the man could go forward and do something.
So for example, if you were going to run towards something, you would make sure
everything's girt up and you booked it. So there's this mentality, if you will,
that Peter's talking about that leads us to action. And it's the truth that
holds everything together. So as our minds are renewed in the truth, setting our
hope on future grace, this leads to action. Being sober minded, we're taking
life seriously. Our minds are being immersed in scripture. So we're thinking
right about life and suffering and the realities that we experience. So
preparing our minds for action, having our minds renewed with the truths that we
know in God's word, our hope is set on the grace that is coming to us when Jesus
returns. So again, hope here leads us to action. Now what action specifically
does this gospel hope lead to? Well I think as we look at verses 14 through 16,
it becomes clear that gospel hope, as we set our minds on future grace, fuels us
to pursue present holiness. Verses 14 through 16, as obedient children, don't 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. So as obedient children, this glorious truth that in Christ
we not only have a new home, but we are brought into a new family. God himself
as our Father. But with that great privilege comes a sobering responsibility.
Because as Father, he expects obedience from his children. We are to live
according to the family expectations. And so as obedient children, negatively,
we are not to be conformed to the passions of our former way of life. Way of
life outside the family of God. Apart from the knowledge of Christ. So what, if
you think about it, what drove that former way of life? If you know the Lord,
you've been redeemed, you've been rescued, you have this new hope that fuels a
life of present holiness. But before then, what was life really all about?
Essentially, self-centered desires. Things that were temporal. Things that are
earthly. Hopes and dreams basically being about the here and the now. Living
apart from God as if this world is our final home. Now God may be vaguely kind
of a part of that, but he's definitely not the center of it. He's kind of a
means for us getting our own end. And that's how we lived. And that's how all
who are outside of Christ live. But the truth is, even as those who've now been
brought into this new hope, we can find ourselves living according to who we
were and not according to who we are. So as believers, when we hear this
exhortation, we ought to be thinking to ourselves, well, how do I know if I'm
living that way? How do I know if I am being subtly conformed to the passions of
my former ignorance, my way of life apart from Christ? Well, there's some
questions we might want to ask ourselves. Why do we want the things that we
want? Why do we do the things that we do? What's the hope that's driving that?
Think about why we get angry and discouraged when things aren't going according
to plan or when we're suffering or we're not getting our way. Why do we do that?
Because maybe we're losing sight of gospel hope. We're losing sight of the
goodness and purpose of God in our salvation. He says, don't live that way.
Don't live with a disconnect between the hope that we have in Christ and the way
we live in the here and the now. But rather this hope that we have compels us
negatively, yes, to not be dominated by self-centered earthly interests, living
as if everything is about now, but rather positively we are to be holy. We are
to live holy lives. It affects all of our conduct. So negatively don't be shaped
by those passions, but positively pursue holiness. As he who called you is holy,
you also be holy in all your conduct for it's written, you shall be holy for I
am holy. He's called us out of darkness into light to himself. Therefore we live
as the holy people of God, letting gospel hope fuel holy conduct. So what does
it mean to be holy? What does it mean to be holy in all of our conduct? I grew
up as an eighties and nineties evangelical kid. I mean, those were the days. And
I grew up, I was homeschooled. I was Baptist. So I thought that holiness
basically was staying away from the bad stuff. I don't smoke. I don't chew. I
don't go with the girls that do. And we thought that's what holiness really is
all about. Just what we don't do. I remember my older sister and I thought it
was really rebellious if we'd go into our car and we'd get a Michael W Smith
cassette and we'd like sneak in some of that music because it had a drum beat in
the background. That was, man, that was rebellious living. So holiness, I always
thought growing up, it's like, okay, well I'm not doing these things so I must
be living a holy life. Yes, holiness involves separation from the world, not
necessarily abstract standards. But holiness is so much more than just not doing
the bad stuff. Holiness means living a distinctly God-ward life. It's a
distinctly God-ward life. It's a life that is not consumed with the here and the
now. But it's a life that is devoted to knowing and serving and obeying and
enjoying and glorifying God. It's about Him. It's been set apart from all that
we lived for in the past, but it's also a setting apart unto God Himself. We've
been rescued, we've been redeemed by God, for God. Think about it this way. For
those of you who are married, you made a vow. If you recall correctly, you
remember this line, forsaking all others, you cling to your wife. When I made
that vow, I didn't think to myself, well, this forsaking thing, this is just,
that's legalistic. Like, that's just terrible. No, it's, of course I'm set apart
from all of these people, real or imaginary. I am devoted to this person. And
this is good, and I want to be devoted to this person. This is a beautiful
thing. I get to spend the rest of my life pursuing this person, loving this
person, living and walking and serving with this person. So it was a happy vow.
Yes, Lord, I'm ready to make that vow. I'm all in. And friend, that's really the
heartbeat of holiness. I have been rescued from this former way of life that was
ignorant, that was futile, that was perishing. I've been brought into
everlasting relationship with God. I have all these gospel hopes that permeate
the way I should think. Yeah, I'm going to live for God. I want my life to be
all about Him. I want it to permeate everything I do. The way I think, the way I
respond to trials, the way I live, the way I spend my money, the way I spend my
time, everything. So holiness, it's a life that is God-ward. It permeates
everything, all of life in that sense, then can be sacred when it's lived for
Him. So maybe you're here, for example, and you're working a job that is
thankless and seemingly pointless. And your boss has given you a hard time. And
there's no sense of fulfillment or satisfaction in your work. I've had a few of
those jobs in my day. Well, friend, when you're living a life that is devoted to
God, when you wake up in the morning and you know the hardship's coming, you can
say, Lord, this is for you. I'm going to work hardly as unto you and not for
men, knowing that from the Lord, there will be a reward. He sees, He's my real
boss. He knows, He's faithful. Maybe you're a parent and you feel like you're
doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over again.
And you think, I'm just tired of doing this. Well, in those moments when we live
God-ward lives, we can say, Lord, this is for you. I'm going to trust that
you're going to use the things that I'm doing for your glory and for the good of
that child. Maybe you're here and honestly, you're just tempted to throw in the
towel. You've tried serving Christ. You've tried living for Him and life keeps
just getting harder. But meanwhile, you see others, they don't have that same
passion. They don't have that same devotion and life seems great for them. They
have it like all together. And you stop and you think, man, why am I doing what
I'm doing? Look at the outcome of this life. But friend, when we live lives that
are holy, we can say, Lord, you're making me more like Christ through this.
You're purifying me through this. It's worth it. And we persevere and press on.
So holiness is not just simply like, okay, I don't do those things. It's all,
and I mean all of life lived in a God-ward way. And how do we live that way? By
setting our hope, renewing our minds in the future grace that we have in Christ.
In other words, we let gospel hope fuel present holiness. So in verses 13
through 16, we see this exhortation. And then in verses 17 through 21, we get a
little bit of an elaboration or some clarification on what Peter is talking
about. Verses 17 through 21 reads, 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 you were redeemed through 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 these 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. Now, as we read this text, we
see a lot of the same themes that we've just explored. Relating to God as our
father, the coming of Christ, the emptiness of life apart from Christ, this hope
that we have because of the work of Christ. Then what Peter's doing here, he's
elaborating on this exhortation he's just given in the previous section. So in
other words, if we're going to pursue pervasive holiness of life, we need to
live in the fear of the Lord. Now let's unpack that beginning in verse 17. He
says, if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each
one's deeds. Now once again, before the exhortation, Peter reminds us of our new
identity as children of God. Because of Christ, we can relate to God and call on
him as father. And that ought to invoke a sense of intimacy, of nearness, of
affection that we can enjoy as the redeemed people of God with our father. And
we relish that, we cherish that, we glory in that. But he adds something here
that helps us to rightly relate to God as father. Yes, he is the father, which
shows us this intimacy. But he's also the judge who judges impartially. And that
is a sobering reality. He's our father who will judge our lives. He will judge
our conduct. We will give an account of our lives to him. Now you think, whoa,
wait a minute. I thought Jesus took the punishment for all of our sin. He has.
Romans eight tells us there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
We do not fear God's wrath. Why? Because Jesus fully paid sin's penalty on our
behalf. He exhausted the wrath of God against our sin. And so when God relates
to us, he relates to us not on the basis of wrath, what we deserve, but on the
basis of his grace, what we don't deserve. So in Christ, we're forgiven, we're
redeemed, we're saved, we're rescued. As far as the east is from the west, he
has removed our transgressions from us. So as God's people, we rejoice in this
salvation. We rejoice in this acceptance that we have in the beloved. But
friend, don't miss the truth that is all throughout the scriptures that we will
and do give an account of our lives to him. Both Jesus and Paul affirm this.
Jesus said in Matthew 12, I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give an
account for every careless word they speak or text. Romans 14, we will all stand
before the judgment seat of God. Each one of us will give an account of himself
to God. The context there is our tendency to judge one another. He said, be
careful before you cast judgment on another because you are going to give an
account to God. 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about his motivation and he says, we
will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive
what is due for what he has done in the body, his conduct, whether good or evil.
Now here's the principle. A lot more could be said, but here's the summarizing
truth. Those who are in Christ will never experience final condemnation, but we
will be judged or rewarded for faithful service during our sojourn here on
earth. Matthew 25 is clear, Jesus will reward faithfulness. Even a cold cup of
water given in his name will not go unrewarded. We will stand before him and
give an account of our lives to him. That's a powerful motivation to pursue holy
conduct, isn't it? The truth is, personally, I need to be reminded of this
constantly. I need to remember that on God's calendar, there's only two days.
There's today and there is that day. I live today, I must live today in light of
that day. See, the truth is we live in a world where we are constantly just
bombarded with information and we're being pulled in all these different
directions. If we were to compare our world to a big circle, it's just this huge
circle of information. There's all these things going on. There's these debates
and this thing going on and that thing going on and everything that's going on
is supposedly the most important thing in the world. All these things going on.
And if we're not careful, all these things dominate our time, our interests, our
affections, our attention. But when you really stop and think about it, we are
called to live in this very small circle of things that we will give an account
of our lives for. There's a lot of things going on in this world that I have no
control over, but I will stand accountable to God for the husband that I was,
for the father that I was, for the church member that I was, for the pastor that
I was, that I walk with the Lord, that I pursue holiness, that I seek His glory,
that I fulfill the great command and the great commission. That's really where
we're called to live. But you know what? So many of us are so consumed with all
of these things that we lose sight of the fact that we will stand before Jesus,
not on the basis of all this jazz, but on the responsibilities that He has
entrusted to us. You see, if future hope fuels holy conduct, I think it's safe
to say that future judgment focuses holy conduct. Does that make sense? If
future hope fuels holy conduct, the reality of future judgment focuses holy
conduct. So knowing that we will give an account of our lives before Jesus,
knowing that this is true, He tells us we are to conduct ourselves with fear
throughout the time of our exile. This is not the kind of fear where we feel as
if God is going to zap us every time we make a mistake or do something wrong. I
recognize that some of us might struggle with that because we grew up in homes
where there was overly harsh or critical earthly fathers. And so we fear the
reality of God as Father because our experience with our earthly father was less
than affectionate. We're not talking about that kind of fear. We're talking
about the kind of ever-increasing awareness that our life, all of it, is being
lived in the presence of God. And so this kind of fear, this kind of a sense of,
wow, it keeps us from living in a trite, hollow manner. It keeps us from being
consumed by the things of this world, by living as if this was our final
destiny. So future judgment helps us to live in a healthy fear of the Lord. So
this exhortation toward fear is really an elaboration on holiness. Early conduct
is conduct lived in the presence of God, knowing that we will stand accountable
for our lives. So he points to this future reality, but he also reminds us in
verses 18 through 21 of our past redemption. So we conduct ourselves with fear,
knowing there's a future judgment, but also knowing that we were ransomed from
the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. Not with perishable things like
silver or gold, we can sort of measure that kind of a cost, but rather with a
cost that is far higher than we can imagine, the precious blood of Christ, like
that of a lamb without blemish or spot. You see, because of our redemption, we
are free from the previous ways of life that dominated our thinking. We are free
from life that is futile or empty because the reality is apart from Christ, all
of life is darkness. It's empty. It is vain. There's no point and there's no
real hope. The hopes that we have will quickly dissipate because there'll be
something else. And yet for the believer, that's not where we live. That's not
how we live. We have a future unshakable shore hope. We've been rescued from
this way of life. We've been brought into everlasting life. And the cost of that
redemption was the blood of Jesus Christ himself. He shed his blood in our place
as our perfect substitute so that all who repent and believe and turn to him and
set their hope on him can find forgiveness and reconciliation with God for all
eternity. And this wasn't something that was like outside of God's thoughts, but
rather this was all part of God's eternal plan. Not only for creation, but if
you know Jesus for you as well. Doesn't that give us perspective as we think
about the things that are going on in our lives right now? And so we conclude
the section by reminding us that it is the death and resurrection of Christ,
which was all part of God's eternal plan that is the foundation of our faith and
our hope. So from Christ's second coming to Christ's first coming, we have this
all encompassing hope that fuels holy conduct. And so friends, as obedient
children, let us pursue holiness. Let us not be those who set their hope
exclusively on the here and the now, but rather let's be those who let gospel
hope fuel holy conduct. Let's pray.