1 Peter 1:13-25 
- Rev Norman Cameron

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes when we preach or explain a passage it is always good to ask a simple question both as we prepare and deliver a message and as we listen to a sermon. It is a simple two word question – so what?

            We live in a generation that is not afraid to ask questions, we live at a time when people do not necessarily accept what they are being told simply because someone in a position of authority tells them so. Now this can have a bad side and a good side. The bad side is that it has led today to a questioning of all authority and a reluctance to be accountable and to respect others. The good side of it is that it forces those of us in positions of influence and authority to think through why we do and say certain things - to make sure we have good and solid reasons for decisions, policies and indeed sermon points.

            In 1 Peter we have been looking at Peter encouraging the Christians scattered abroad in days of persecution and he has reminded them of what they possess as Christians, they have a new and living hope in Jesus Christ and they have been saved from their sins and an eternity separated from God. But someone could say “ok Peter we have a new hope and we are saved and this may guarantee our future in heaven but what about here and now. You have convinced us that when we die we will get a great reward from our heavenly Father and that keeps us going through the persecution but how else should these truths impact our lives. What difference should it make here and now to how we live.”

            This is the “so what” question. If we believe and trust in Jesus Christ what difference is that meant to make here and now because I am sure that Jesus did not just die to give us a travel ticket to heaven – surely until we die Jesus meant it to make a difference in how we live our lives on earth. In much of Jesus ministry there were themes of helping the needy, the poor, the sick, standing up for issues of justice and so on. These things are not an issue in heaven, but they are on earth, so Jesus wanted to make a difference on earth and he calls us to do that as well.

            Peter may be writing a letter but it is also partly a sermon and he is aware that his listeners may be asking the “so what” question and they certainly are today. Churches preach “come to Jesus Christ”, but so what, what difference should that make to my flesh and blood life, my Monday through Saturday working and playing life. And so we find with Peter as we find with Paul, that he follows up the doctrine, the theology, what we should believe in our heads and hearts with the practice, the therefore of working it through in our lives.

            In v.13 he says now that you have been reminded about your standing in Christ “Therefore ….”  This is how you should live. We find therefores scattered throughout this letter - we also have them in ch.2:1, 4:1, 4:7; 5:6. There is always a therefore when we hear Christian truth, this is what we believe therefore this is how we should live.

            You see it is not knowledge or information alone that leads to a transformed life it is what you do with the information. As the world looks at christians I think it is entitled to ask “you believe in God and you claim that others should come into a relationship with Christ but I want to see evidence that it makes sufficient of a difference in your life to make we want to consider it seriously for myself.”  I think that this is a fair question. So what difference does being a Christian make to you?

In this passage I want us to see four “therefores”. We are followers of Jesus Christ therefore Be intentional, be holy, be reverent, and be loving.

Let us look at each in turn

1. Be intentional

“Therefore prepare your minds for action, be self controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” v.13

This phrase literally says gird up the loins of your mind. It comes from Peter’s day where people who wanted to run or walk swiftly from one place to another would lift up the3 folds of their long tunics and tie them around their middle so that their legs were freer to run. An equivalent phrase today might be take off your jacket and roll up the sleeves of your mind to get ready for some serious action. That is the idea. Be alert, be self controlled, be disciplined. Today we remember those who have been involved in wars past and present, soldiers, sailors, pilots, police personnel and so on. Preparation for war involves discipline, sacrifice, alertness when you are on duty.

The NT is clear that when we become followers of Jesus we move from one dominion and one master to another – we go from serving satan to serving the Lord and all around us a spiritual battle is raging. We cannot see it but it is very real. This means that we need to be intentional in following through on the ways God provides to help us fight the spiritual battle – bible reading, prayer, church attendance, serving others, the spiritual disciplines. Disciplining the flesh with its leanings towards greed, and self centredness, and lust, and pride and so on. It is a constant battle. Under the cross we find that satan has been defeated and the power that sin had over us is broken but we still live in a fallen world and our fleshly self centred life still has some life in it. But we need to realise this and be alert to it. We are responsible for our lives and we must win the battle for the mind, for what we believe and think here works out in our behaviour.

So Peter is challenging us here, if we claim to be a Christian we must think differently and be alert to the fact that we are to think differently from the way the world thinks. Being a Christian affects everything about how we think and live, there is no part of our lives that being a chirstian should not touch or else we are short changing the concept. It is much more than showing up at a church service on a Sunday; it impacts how we spend our money, and our free time, the home that we live in, the way we behave at our work, how we speak to our children, how we play football, what sort of car we drive, the books we read, the thoughts we think.

Americans talk about your mindset, what is your mindset. A good question. What is our mind set upon – glorifying God with our lives, leaving a spiritual legacy to our children. As we ask ourselves these sort of questions we need to ask is my mind set on anything different from what my non-christian neighbour’s mind is set upon.

How intentional is your attitude to glorifying God with your life. It starts in here, in the mind, in what we think about, dream about, long for, plan for. What difference is Jesus making?

2. Be holy

Following this up Peter then give us this extraordinary challenge in v.15-16:  “Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written Be holy because I am holy”. Peter is quoting from Leviticus 11 which is set in the middle of a lengthy list of regulations to do with purification and what the Jew could eat and not eat, and what to do if a person had an infectious disease and how to treat mildew and so on. The point of it all was that God was stressing to the Israelites that they were his people, they were to worship and live in a way that was different to the surrounding peoples and they were to be holy. The word holy can also mean separate or different. They were to be a different people with different standards.

Now we claim that in Jesus Christ these kind of regulations have been fulfilled and we have freedom from them, so we can eat pork, and wear mixed fibre clothing, and so on but in Christ the principle of living a different kind of life still applies. Increasingly christian commentators are asking why is the lifestyle of Christians not being seen to be different to those of non-christians - why are standards of dress, language, spending, not different. Now in a great many cases I think there are differences, but increasingly we are seeing Christians unthinkingly aping the world with a rise in christians admitting viewing internet pornography, embezzling finances, extra-marital affairs and marriage break ups, a growth in addictions. The world we are living in is a scary place with immense pressures but it is really no different form Paul or Peter’s day where there was prostitution and pagan practices everywhere. Then as now what should happen is that a follower of Jesus should be seen to have  a different kind of lifestyle and different priorities.  

If a stranger was to look through the keyhole of our lives, into our homes, along our bookshelves, in our magazines, on our CD or DVD rack, in our bank accounts what would they see that is markedly different from an average person who does not follow Jesus Christ. Is there enough evidence there to convict you of being a follower of Jesus. Is your life holy, distinctively different, that’s a good question to ask over Sunday lunch today.  “Therefore be holy, be different”.

3. Be reverent

v.17 says “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives here as strangers in reverent fear”.

There is a description which has more or less fallen out of the christian vocabulary but really sums up what we are talking about here, it is god fearing – “so and so is a god fearing man”. That description is no longer heard. When we think of God today we more likely think of him as a loving Father, and it is important that we do, but this must not be to the exclusion of thinking of him as one who is awesome and worthy of our fear and trepidation. The God who shakes mountains, divides seas, defeats enemies, burns cities in the OT is actually the same God of the New Testament.

It is probably true that in gaining a picture of a loving heavenly Father, which has been emphasised since the late sixties, we have lost something of the picture of a God who is still to be feared and to whom we will be ultimately accountable for how we live our lives. God is now more the allmatey than the almighty. But also in our enthusiasm to believe the doctrine once saved always saved and that we are saved by grace alone and not our works we have tended to down play the works side. After all Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us not only that we are saved by grace and not by works so that no-one can boast, but we are saved to do good works prepared in advance for us to do.

Saved we may be, but we will still have to give an account for our works, our behaviour, our stewardship of the gifts, talents and money that God gave to us. We here are probably in the top 2% of the world in terms of material resources and gifts, and almost certainly in the same category in terms of spiritual riches and resources. To whom much has been given much is expected in return.

Is there anything of this godly fear in our lives as we recognise what we have been redeemed from, and with what (the precious blood of Jesus), and the immense spiritual legacy that we have been given.   Prov.1:7 says “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Prov.14:27 “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life”. Paul urges the Philippian church to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.”; In 2 Cor.5:11 he says “we know what it is to fear the Lord”. Rev. 14:7 one of the angels announces in a loud voice “Fear God and give him glory…”

There is little fear of God or Jesus in our society, he is joked about, laughed at, ridiculed, his name used as a swear word. We almost expect this in the world now but not in the church. Is there any reverence, any godly fear in our lives, in our worship, in our work?   Is there a holy, joyful seriousness about us and what we do. Is there a seriousness about our worship or rather a half hearted complacency – we take it seriously because we take God seriously and so we want to give him our best as a choir, as a musician, as a preacher, as a member in the congregation. Are we short changing God? Are we offering him an attitude of it will do rightly?

We have been bought back from hell, we have been redeemed by the precious blood of our saviour, we have been saved from an empty way of life handed down by our forefathers – so let us make the most of the life we have been given and give Him our best.

4. Be loving

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” v.22

Jesus highlighted the distinguishing mark of the follower – they shall know that you are my followers by how you love one another. See how they love one another.

            Are we seen to be different by how we relate to each other, how we love one another. You know it is hard to love someone you do not know. We are a large church full of individuals  but how can you love one another if you do not know one another? It is hard. I think it is hard to know maybe more than fifty people really well in a church. But you can get to know people at different levels. I think we could be making more effort to get to know more people. A real response to this verse might be to say I will stay (come early) for coffee and get to know someone different, or sit somewhere different on a Sunday to get to know someone different. Because if we do not get things down to this level and we say I love this people but we do not actually make any effort to get to know them others would surely say - I do not believe you.

            How can we love the Jesus we have not seen if we cannot even love the person sitting across the church from us whom we can see?

            This is part of what it means surely to be part of a loving church family. We work at it – because we love each other, and love leaps over many obstacles.

            You see being a Christian ought to make a difference. How are we doing?