1. Who is
holy? 1 Peter 1:1-12 - this text aims to show us the basis or foundation
from which our quest for holy living proceeds. The key text here is 1:2,3
2.
Called to be holy. 1 Peter
1:13-25 – this text explains the
motivation for holy living. The chief motivation for holy living is that we
are called to imitate the God who is holy. The key text here is 1:15,16
3. Living as a
holy community. 1 Peter 2:1-12 - this text
examines the primary context of holy living - the Christian
community. If it doesn’t work at home,
it is hard to export it! The key text here is 2:4,5
4. Living as holy citizens in an unholy world. 1 Peter
2:13-25 – this text aims to help us to live as holy people in an unholy world. The key text here is 2:21
5. Living a holy
life even when life is unfair. This
text helps us to formulate a
Christian response to situations which we deem unfair. 1 Peter 3:8-22. Key text – 3:15
The subject of holiness is of particular importance to every Christian. We are called to live what God called us to be, and what we are called to be is described in the Bible. God is a holy God, and He saves us to be a holy (distinct) people. The sad truth is however that we tend to have a disconnect between our Christian profession and the way we live. The reason for this is,
(i) We don’t know the requirements of the Bible. The Word of Christ does not dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16. This text occurs in the context of putting on the ‘new self’)
(ii) Our sinful inclination towards disobedience. It shows when our homes/ marriages show little difference to the world. It shows when our attitudes and desires reflect those of the world.
The Bible insists that those that are born again to a living hope (1:3) are God’s holy people. Christ died “that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Cor. 5:15). We were chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Eph. 1:4). Christ “loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her…so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:25-27)
It is wonderful to think about our great salvation. It
is wonderful to know that we by virtue of our salvation are a holy people. It
is wonderful to celebrate all that Christ saved us from, but we must also
ask, “what has Christ saved us for? That is the question we want to explore today.
If you are a Christian, what is expected of you? The key text here is 1:15,16: “but as he who called you is holy , so also be holy in all your
conduct, since it is written (Lev.
11:44), “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
You shall be holy! Our text is not only a call to
positional holiness (objective) but it also is a clear call to personal
holiness (subjective). The call is to live what we are! Our text begins with
the conjunction “therefore". This joins our thoughts
to that which has been said before in 1:1-12.
We will need to briefly rehearse that. Christians
are “elected… according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, in
the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ…” (1:1-2).These opening words teach us
that Christian holiness begins with God.
Your status as a holy person (a saint/ ‘in Christ’) is rooted in God’s prior action. And that is FOUNDATIONAL. But that is
not where it ends. Your positional holiness requires a response! The call to
holiness BEGINS with God, but there must be evidence of this. A tree must bear
fruit. By your fruit you shall be known.
(cf. Matt. 7:15-20).
I.
THE CALL TO HOLINESS IN vv.15,16 begins with four
challenges in vv.13,14:
1.
“Therefore preparing your
minds” (lit. gird up the loins of your mind)
for action…” (1:13).
This phrase needs some explanation. Men in the middle-east wore long flowing
robes. When they wanted to get mobile they would simply pull up their robe and
fasten it with a belt. The English equivalent would be to roll up one's sleeves
or to take off one's jacket. Peter is
saying … get ready for action! The
call to Holiness begins in your mind – your thought life. What or how you think determines how
you live in an unholy world. And here we
find much of the problem. Many Christians are not prepared to put their minds
to work hard at understanding and applying the Bible. They just bumble along. It
is clear that Peter means us to use the
Word of God, the logic of God, to shape our thinking (so also Rom. 12:2).
2.
“And
being sober-minded”. “Being sober” (1:13 see
also 4:7; 5:8) means literally “not drunk”. Drunkenness impairs our
judgement. Here it obviously has a spiritual application. If we are drugged with all sorts of worldly
rubbish, our sanctified reasoning skills are impaired. Holiness implies that we
need clarity of mind, and we get that from being rooted and grounded in the
Scriptures. Peter counsels us to keep
our heads clear from worldly influence
and clutter. We need to be sober minded.
3.
“Set your hope fully on the grace which will be brought to you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ”. As you think about how you ought to live your life in an
unholy world, Peter counsels you to keep the ultimate end in view. Look at the
finish line! Our ability for living a holy life in an unholy world is greatly
strengthened if we know where it all leads to. Remember that the best is yet to
come! (John 14:1-4)
4.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your
former ignorance. Don’t be conformed to your past way of thinking. Let your
mind be transformed (Rom. 12:2). The
old things are gone. The new has come. “Forgetting
what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” [Phil. 3:12] Let your present knowledge of Christ govern
your thinking.
II.
THE CALL TO HOLINESS (vv.15,16)
It is significant that Peter quotes from the Law of
Moses in Lev. 19:2, and applies it directly to his readers under
grace, “... 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 ‘”.
A word of explanation: We are no longer living under the
ceremonial or civil laws of Israel, by which Israel showed herself to be a
distinct and holy people from the surrounding nations. But we are still living under the rule of the
same holy God. And while we can dispense with the ceremonial and civil laws of
Israel, because they belonged to that unique holy culture, we cannot dispense
with the overarching call to be holy. In that sense remember that Jesus, the
perfectly holy man did not come to set aside the law, but He came to fulfil it,
for He is the end of the law [Matt.
5:17]. The moral law (the 10 commandments) is the finest expression and
summary of the holy life that God desires us to live, and again remember that
the 10 commandments are not an end in themselves. They are an application of
the faith that we profess in Christ. Living out the 10 commandments means that
we live a life of love with respect to God (first four commandments) and a life
of love towards our neighbours (last 6 commandments). The moral law remains valid in its entirety. Sadly
there is a tendency among some modern Christians to think that if we are truly
gospel centred and grace centred then
we ought not to talk about rules or imperatives or moral exertion. We
are scared of words like diligence,
effort or duty!
The question remains: How do we Christians show our holiness? How do the people of the unholy world know
that there is a holy people among them, if the so called holy people of God
live so much like the world? What does
it mean that “there must not even be a hint of immorality among the saints?” [Eph. 5:3]. And what about Eph. 5:4 - “let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which
are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving?” Does
our use of language matter? Does it matter what movies, or You Tube
clips we watch? Does it matter what
books we read?
Israel was a people called to be holy and different from the
other nations. Their temple was holy because it was different/ separate from
other buildings. Their Sabbath was holy
because it was separated from other ordinary days. Everything about
Israel was different. Though the application varies, the principle does not.
The Church is still called to be a holy people. Peter presses this point home: “Be holy yourselves in all your conduct / behaviour” (1:15b). Peter here links
“holiness” with our “conduct/ behaviour”, and he adds the word “all”. This is important because of the
pervasive tendency to separate the sacred from the secular. Are we not to
regard all things sacred? Our holiness must extend to all areas of life, and we
shall see a good many applications of this in the course of this letter.
Integrated living (holding life and doctrine together) eliminates hypocrisy.
One of the consistent argument of unholy men against Christians and the church
is ironically when they see inconsistent, hypocritical, i.e. unholy behaviour in Christians.
This does not mean that Christians will always be perfect in
all our behaviour. But it does mean that when they do sin, that their
repentance is as notorious as their sin. Christians keep short accounts with
sin. Piled up sins deny that
we are holy men and women.
Therefore, holiness must be studied and applied. That means
that we must grow in our personal knowledge of God’s holiness (1:15, 16). We need to study what is unholy and
contemptible in God’s sight. We need to know what sin is and does. We need to
understand the consequences of unholiness- God’s wrath. The extent to which we
get to know and understand the holiness of God, to that extent we will gain
insight into the enormity of our sin, and this has the effect of greatly
humbling us. And it helps us to be
gracious and patient with others.
III. FURTHER INCENTIVES FOR HOLINESS
(vv.17-25)
1. We should be holy
because our Father is also our Judge. (v.17)
The God who according to his foreknowledge has loved us from
eternity, and who elected us to the status of being His children, is also the
Father that warns us and exhorts us to
stick to the family guidelines: Be holy, because I am holy! Peter
reminds us that God our Father impartially judges according to each one’s work.
Remember that God is both, loving Father and impartial Judge! This should cause us to conduct ourselves
with fear throughout the time of our
exile (i.e. during our stay on earth). Here it is important to see that
the deeds God is going to judge
are not so much a list of particular good deeds as
much as our entire way of life- our
inner life and outer life, our thoughts, words, deeds, at home and in public. The “fear” of which Peter speaks relates to
the fact that we all must give an account of our life. We must live in holy fear in this life because our Father is also our Judge.
2. We should be holy
because God redeemed us at infinite cost.(vv.18-21)
(i)
We were ransomed from, “the
futile way of life inherited from your forefathers.” [v.18]
(ii)
We were ransomed at great cost: Not
with perishable things like silver and gold , but with the precious blood of
Christ. [vv. 18b,19] Because God
redeemed us at infinite cost, we owe Him our lives in holy living!
(iii)
A Particular Redemption for you! God planned your redemption IN Christ before you ever sinned: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world” (1:20). At Pentecost, Peter said, “This Man [Jesus], delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge
of God…” (Acts 2:23). The cross wasn’t God’s last-minute plan put
into place after man fell into sin. No! He ordained your redemption before the
creation of the human race. Foreknowledge doesn’t just refer to God’s knowing
in advance. It implies His purpose. God planned this redemption with you in
mind: “he was made manifest for the
sake of you.” [v. 20,21].
(iv)
Your redemption was sealed in the resurrection
of Christ. [v.21]
(v)
The greatest manifestations of holy
living is obedience to the truth, which issues in a sincere brotherly love, loving one another earnestly from a
pure heart” [v22]
(vi)
A realisation of our true vulnerability, “All
flesh is like grass” [v.24],
and our abiding trust
in the Word of God – the promises of the
gospel [v.25]
The bottom line: In the light of our great redemption from the bondage of sin and death- our redemption which cost the Son of God His precious blood - our redemption which God provided while we were still His enemies (apart from any merit on our part) live your lives in holy reverence and serve this Holy God who loves you for Jesus’ sake.
