Holy as He is Holy

1 Peter 1:13-16

Immanuel – 4/11/21

Peter opens his letter with the great glories of grace that God has given us who deserve them not: salvation through faith, life in hope, a world renewed! In eternity past, the Father planned it. In our lives today, the Spirit powerfully recreates us. When Jesus returns, the work will be completed and the plan fulfilled! What glories of grace!

Purpose

God created us to be disciplined thinkers!

How shall we be holy?

Read 1 Peter 1:13-16

Therefore

If you are reading Scripture thoughtfully, then that “therefore” should jump off of the page for you. “Therefore” links a thought that came before with a thought that comes next. So, before we consider what comes next, let us remember what came before.

Grace upon grace!

-God caused us to be born again

-He births us into a living hope

-Gives us an eternal inheritance

-Causes us to persevere in faith so that we enter into that inheritance

-Takes the fallenness of this world and uses it to refine our faith

-Promises that He Himself with lavish upon us praise and glory and honor

-Fills us with glorious and inexpressible joy

Grace is what comes before. And then Peter takes us into imperatives – things we should do because of the graces that have come before. And when you think about it like this, all of the Christian life is a massive “therefore.” We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). We pick up our crosses because Christ picked up His (Mark 8:34). We keep Jesus’ commands because He kept the Father’s commands for us (John 15:10).

We do, because He did. And I do not mean, merely, that Jesus gave us an example to follow. I mean that He did all these works, which stream the graces of God into or hearts, and transforms us from one degree of glory into another. So what did He do? By grace God recreates us, THEREFORE we are able to live as new creations. We live in the “therefore.”

If it wasn’t so, then every command would crush us. If we had to do, so that God would love us, then we would be utterly without hope in a hostile world. Those people that have come to churches, and there smelled a “gospel” of legalistic works, are right to cast themselves into atheistic hedonism. Because if you are going to die, better by fleeting pleasures than by crushing commandments.

Oh, but that is not the case! God’s great love is real, for Christ rose from the grave! The dead will also rise; and by trusting in Jesus we rise forgiven, justified, and holy! We will stand joyfully before the Judge of all the earth! Life eternal awaits, abounding in pleasures and joys for which no earthly trifles can compare!

Prepare Your Mind

THEREFORE, prepare your mind!

Read vs 13

The literal translation of this verse is, “gird up the loins of your mind.” In ancient times people generally wore flowing robes, even soldiers. When it was time to work, or fight, these robes were in the way. So they wrapped their robes above the knees in such a way so they could run; so they could strenuously exert themselves.

But Peter does something rather unusual with this image. He is not exhorting followers of Jesus to gird up robes, or sharpen swords, or train bodies. We must prepare our minds for action!

This is a challenge for deep thinking, focused thought, concentration. We must discipline our minds.

If you want a faith that is governed by emotions, you won’t find it in the Bible! But sadly our church culture is saturated by mindless emotionalism. People mindlessly following their hearts, mindlessly watching YouTube, mindlessly listening to the metanarratives of culture, mindlessly going to church on Sunday.

Undoubtedly, the truths we hold in our minds must penetrate our hearts and engage our emotions! But God created the mind as the pathway to the heart; for we cannot love someone unless we know them, and we cannot experience the joy of salvation without first understanding the knowledge contained in a book.

And it turns out that the more our heart is engaged, the more we think about those things. We think about what we love!

God created us to be thinkers! Peter exhorts us to prepare our minds for strenuous activity! God has given different minds with different capacities, and to the greatest capability that He has granted you: think! The better we understand the truths of God, the more our hearts will be on fire, and our lives transformed.

Intellectual laziness is as sinful as physical laziness! God has given you such incredible gifts of grace, THEREFORE think!

Be sober-minded! This has a twofold meaning. First, don’t get drunk, don’t smoke weed (even if it has been legalized). These things inebriate a mind, and clear thinking is stolen away.

Secondly, a sober mind thinks clearly about reality; unlike drunken delusions found in a bottle. A sober mind is necessary for an unshakably mature prayer life.

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. -1 Peter 4:7

A sober mind keeps you grounded, and alert to the devil’s wiles.

[Cast] all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:7-8

You want to pray effectively; you want to keep your feet firmly grounded; you want to resist the devil? Then know and understand God. Know and understand how God sees the world around you. Know and understand how God sees your sinfulness and your forgiveness. Be sober-minded!

Peter even tells us exactly how to be sober-minded, exactly how to prepare our minds for action.

Read vs 13

The way to prepare your mind for action, the single most important way to sober your mind, is to fully set your hope on the return of Jesus Christ! This hope is not wishful thinking. It is not hoping for the best outcome among many. It is expectant hope that knows it will receive. Because when God says it will happen, it will happen!

Because God has said that Jesus will return. And when Jesus returns, the faithful will rise to life eternal!

“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’ I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” -Isaiah 46:9-11

The hope that is set before us is sure. It cannot be shaken. It cannot be plundered. And God has given you this glorious hope – to live in, THEREFORE set your mind fully on these graces! And your mind will sober, girded up for action; and you heart will fill with joy in the hopes that are yours.

Read vs 14

Obedient Children

Some commentators argue that Peter is referencing a Hebrew idiom in the phrase “obedient children.” These words in Hebrew are often used to identify those that have heard and believed – the faithful. If this is so, then Peter is not telling you how to become obedient children, he is saying those who have responded to the gospel in faith are obedient children.

And as obedient children, who love the graces of the gospel, turn from your former ignorance!

Of course, Peter is referring to all the sinful, selfish, proud practices of life before Christ. He calls them ignorant because, though they may have known they were wrong, they certainly did not understand the dire straits they were in. All who live according to their former sinful passions are on a collision course with the wrath of God. And if you are living in sin today, then so are you.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. -Ephesians 2:1-3

Notice, both Peter and Paul talk about “passions.” It is not just about committing sin; it is about passionately living in sin. These sins once gripped our hearts and minds. You loved them and lived for them: power, money, material comforts, ease, fleshly pleasures, popularity, success, esteem, building a personal paradise, and on and on.

And those that are passionate about these things Paul calls sons of disobedience; contrast this with the obedient children in our passage which turn away from such things.

But the very fact that Peter calls us not to be conformed to these passions means that he is aware we all struggle with them. They pull on us, do they not? It is nice to have comfort. Money brings ease and influence. It feels so good when people esteem you. Pleasures are pleasurable!

These desires can be ok in the appropriate context and in the right measure. But as soon as they become our passion – our driving pursuit – they are abominations before the Lord, idols that must be torn down.

And so we must think in order to identify idols. And one of the fastest ways to do this is to ask yourself, “In what areas of my life am I discontent?” Am I discontent with my bank account, my house, my spouse, my reputation, whatever else? Discontentedness in things like this betrays the location of your idols.

Is this one of the actions that a girded up mind accomplishes, toppling idols? Most certainly! Those that have faith in Jesus – the children of obedience with sober minds – do not rest until the idols of their heart have been toppled and Christ sits on the throne!

Let us instead be discontented with how little we know God, or how little we trust Christ with our circumstances, or how repetitive our sins are. That is holy discontentedness.

Brothers and sisters, God has not called us to live comfortable with sin in ourselves or with the world! Where there is godlessness, we should feel like aliens and strangers. For we are not to look like the world around us, chasing after temporal passions, living for ourselves; we are to be altogether different, distinct, holy.

Read vs 15-16

You Shall Be Holy

Let’s define holiness. Yes, holiness is about purity, perfection, and righteousness. But more than that, holiness is about transcendent otherness. God is holy; meaning He is both utterly perfect and pure, but also so different than everything else. Above all He sits enthroned in majestic beauty and glory. He sees all things, knows all things, sustains all things, and purposes all things. Nothing compares to God. He is holy, holy, holy!

And Peter quotes from Leviticus.

“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” -Leviticus 11:44

Like mirrors, God created mankind to reflect His holy image. That mirror was shattered at the fall, the image of God now distorted and nearly unrecognizable. None of us are capable of putting the pieces back together again. We need God, the one who create the mirrors, to recreate us. And when He recreates us, it is in the image of His holy Son, who is the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3).

Because He is holy, and He has called you, you also are to be holy; holy as He is holy! This does not mean that God calls you to be transcendent and gloriously enthroned above all others – as He is. It means that you are to be washed in His holiness, and accurately reflect that holiness into the world around you. You are not the source of the holiness; you are an image of it.

And God called you into this. Holiness is what He is recreating you for. You will accurately, selflessly, gloriously reflect the image of Jesus!

Look again at what Peter says in verse 16.

Read vs 16

Brothers and sisters, right now we must prepare our minds for action. Let us strive together to understand something critical about this command from God, which Peter repeats.

Who among us can meet the demands of this command? Who can consecrate themselves? Who can make themselves holy, holy as God is holy? No one can. All fall short. If we understand these words as demand for you to live up to, you will be crushed beneath its impossible weight. So much of Israel’s history teaches us this.

None-the-less, this is a command. You are to be holy. But this command is of another order. When God, who is light, said, “Let there be light,” there was light. When Jesus, who knows sublime peace, said, “Peace be still,” there was peace. When God who is holy, says, “You shall be holy,” you are holy!

The blood of Christ cleanses from all unrighteousness, and faith in the blood washes you in Christ’s holiness. Now being washed, the Holy Spirit has been given to you, to transform you more and more into the holy image of Jesus. And when Christ returns, and you see His holy face, you will become like Him – holy as He is holy.

Does this mean that we must do nothing, since God is doing everything? Never! Again, think! God has called you to be holy, THEREFORE live in that holiness. A fish is to swim, so swim! A bird is to fly, so fly! A child of obedience is to be holy, so be holy! It is what you have been created for! It is what Jesus spilled His blood for.

So how are we to live in that holiness? Sober your mind and think rightly about the realities of God, about the world around you, and about yourself. And, most powerfully, set your mind fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

I want to be completely honest with you. You cannot do these things without the Bible. If your thoughts are not first shaped by the Bible, you are drinking the worlds lies and the deceptions of your own heart. The Bible is the sobriety you need. Mediate upon its words. Hide them in your heart.

If you do the strenuous work of mining Scripture, setting your hopes upon the promises of God, the result is holiness; not all at once, but in progress. Even though God has decreed it, you must conform your life to that decree. You shall be holy, for God is holy.

What a living hope you have been born into! Remember, these graces are not all in your distant future. They stream into the present; as the morning sun breaks the horizon and warms your face. Even though God is set apart and altogether different, you can know Him and His great love. Even though you are not completely holy, God has called you holy. THEREFORE, prepare your minds for action!

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” -Luke 12:35-40