Be Holy I. Base Text: 1 Peter 1:13-21 II. Context and Interpretation A. "Therefore" (1 Peter 1:13) 1. What follows the direct conclusion of what came before 2. Believers as elect exiles by God's foreknowledge, sanctification of Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:1-2) 3. Born again to living hope through resurrection for inheritance undefiled, unfading, imperishable, guarded by God's power for ultimate salvation (1 Peter 1:3-5) 4. Rejoicing in this, even if faith tested, resulting in praise, honor, glory at revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7) 5. They love and believe in Jesus, having great joy, obtaining outcome of faith, salvation (1 Peter 1:8-9) 6. Salvation inquired of by prophets, seeing what would take place, saw that they were serving not themselves but you through announcing that which would become Gospel message (1 Peter 1:10-12) 7. All of these represent great messages of encouragement 8. Peter then turns to what believers should do in response B. Preparation, Sober-mindedness, Setting Hope (1 Peter 1:13) 1. Peter begins with three quick charges 2. "Prepare your minds for action" (ESV) or "girding up the loins of your mind" (ASV) 3. Interesting image: "girding of loins" normally used to tell someone to get ready for a journey (cf. 2 Kings 4:29, 2 Kings 9:1, etc.) 4. ESV accurately translates the image: believers must prepare their minds for action just as one gets ready for a long journey 5. Sober-mindedness also seen later in 1 Peter 4:7 6. Sobriety normally understood in terms of substances: one is sober when one is not intoxicated by some drug 7. Therefore, believers are not to allow anything to intoxicate their minds, but be fully in charge of all their faculties! 8. Setting hope fully on grace to be revealed 9. What is that grace, or gift? Salvation, inheritance, since it comes at the revelation of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Peter 1:4-5) 10. Hope must be anchored in that, nothing else (cf. Romans 8:24-25, 1 Peter 1:3) 11. "Fully" or "completely" directed toward that end! C. Obedience and Holiness (1 Peter 1:14-16) 1. After speaking about mental direction, Peter focuses on action 2. Believers to be "as obedient children" 3. Believers reckoned as children of God (cf. Romans 8:14-17, Ephesians 1:3-5) 4. Exhortation to obedience implicit (Romans 6:15-23, 1 Peter 1:22) 5. Being obedient children, they are to no longer be "conformed to the passions of [their] former ignorance" 6. Such a statement mostly directed at Gentiles, being formerly ignorant of the One True God (cf. Acts 17:30-31, Ephesians 2:11-18) 7. Yet the Jews are not without condemnation (cf. Romans 2:1-29) 8. Condemnation of conformity to world (Romans 12:2) 9. Peter especially marks out "passions:" lust, covetousness, jealousy, envy, and the like (cf. Galatians 5:19-21) 10. Instead of living in former passions, believers are to be holy in all their conduct 11. The basis of this is God's holiness, Leviticus 11:44 12. As God is holy, expectation that those who would follow God would be holy! 13. Holy: set apart, consecrated, sanctified; entirely clean, whole, and righteous (cf. Leviticus, 2 Peter 3:12, etc.) D. Conduct Lives in Reverence (1 Peter 1:17-19) 1. Another reminder for Christians to live properly involves recognition of God as impartial judge according to deeds 2. cf. Romans 2:5-10 3. Peter insinuates that no one should feel complacent that since they are God's chosen people they will be saved regardless 4. Instead, believers are to conduct themselves with proper fear/reverence toward God, realizing that God will judge everyone by the same standard, and no one gets a "free pass"! 5. "Time of your exile" referring back to verse 1 6. Based on v. 18, clearly not directed at Jews, but Gentiles; therefore, not a discussion of exile from physical Jerusalem, but using that image to describe the life of the Christian on earth 7. Peter expects the believers to conduct themselves with fear because of the nature of their redemption 8. Delivered from ultimately worthless ways of forefathers: idolatry (Romans 1:18-32, 1 Thessalonians 1:9) 9. May also have some reference to Jewish traditions 10. This "ransom" not paid for with gold or silver (cf. Exodus 30:12-13) that perishes 11. Instead, ransom paid for by blood of Christ, like a lamb (cf. John 1:29) E. Christ's Coming (1 Peter 1:20-21) 1. Jesus as foreknown before creation (cf. Ephesians 3:10-11) 2. Made manifest at "last times" 3. Why? For those who have come to believe in God through Him! 4. God as raising Jesus from the dead, gave Him glory (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, Philippians 2:5-11) 5. Outcome: believer's faith and hope in God (cf. Isaiah 9:2, Colossians 1:27) III. Application A. Mental Preparation 1. We have noted how Peter has been extremely encouraging in his discussion in 1 Peter 1:1-12 2. He speaks regarding the living hope believers have in the resurrection, how their faith will result in glory, praise, and honor for God, and how wonderful the message of salvation really is 3. He then moves on to show the expectations that God has for believers on account of the great things that He has done 4. The first expectation may seem surprising, but really is not: mental preparation! 5. Because of all the wonderful things God has done, we are to prepare our minds for action, be sober-minded, and set our hope fully on ultimate salvation (1 Peter 1:13)! 6. After all, this is from the same Apostle who told the Jews on the day of Pentecost to "repent" (Acts 2:38) 7. For there to be proper change in action, there must be a change of the mind (cf. Mark 7:17-23) 8. Therefore, in order to live properly on account of what God has done for us, we must first cleanse and prepare the mind to serve Him! B. Holiness 1. The life that the believer is to live is to be characterized by holiness 2. In the Old Testament, holiness extremely concrete: priests as a people set apart, with specifications regarding their bodies, ceremonial washings, conduct, presentation (cf. Leviticus) 3. Our holiness not based in physical separation, lack of contact with "unclean" persons (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:10, Matthew 9:9-13) 4. Based in cleanliness and purity: doing what is right, avoiding what is sin (Romans 12:1-2, 9) 5. To be holy, we have to help those in need, show love and compassion, seek best interests of others, love God, love neighbor as ourselves (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 6:10, Philippians 2:1-4) 6. In short, as God is holy, we must do for others what God has done for us and them if we are to be holy (cf. Matthew 5:43-48, Ephesians 4:32) 7. Repentance and holiness, therefore, the expected response to all that which God has done for us! C. Conducting Ourselves in Reverence 1. Yet Peter does not end there 2. Unfortunately, many times people focus on their own "holiness" so much as to believe that they are redeemed by virtue of how awesome they are 3. A Jewish/Pharisee problem (cf. Luke 18:9-14, John 8:31-59, Romans 2:1-29) 4. They believed that since they were children of Abraham, they were God's chosen people, thus enslaved to nothing, and apparently guaranteed salvation! 5. Jesus warned against this strongly, as does Peter 6. God an impartial judge of deeds: He will not acquit the guilty, regardless of whether they called upon Christ or not (cf. Matthew 7:21-23) 7. Thus, even as we are to be holy, we must conduct ourselves with proper reverence toward God! 8. Furthermore, we do this because of the basis of our salvation: not anything we have done, not our material resources or the "wisdom" of our fathers, but through the sacrifice of Christ! 9. We did nothing to earn it: therefore, we must be thankful for it and obey from the heart (Ephesians 2:1-10, Titus 3:3-8)! IV. Conclusion A. Peter turns from encouragement to action 1. God has done wonderful things and has made wonderful promises 2. Therefore, we are to get busy doing His will! B. Peter demonstrates what we must do 1. First, we must be mentally prepared and pure 2. Then we must obey God in holiness 3. We must conduct ourselves in fear, knowing that God judges impartially 4. We must remember that all of this is not because of how great we are but because of the precious sacrifice of Jesus C. Let us be holy because God is holy, and live a life of praise and honor for Him! D. Invitation/songbook Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:13). Peter was encouraging the Christians of Asia Minor in their faith. Peter wanted them to be prepared for what they would endure. They needed to be sober in mind and body and put their hope in Jesus and the resurrection. Christians still should remain sober in mind and body and put their hope in the resurrection of life. How can we be continually prepared for the Lord Jesus? 2: But, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, "You shall be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16). God had done great things for the Christians of Asia Minor. They had reason for great confidence and hope in Jesus. Peter wanted them to observe the exhortation God gave Israel in Leviticus 19:2: as God is holy, they should be holy. They should not live according to what they used to do. God has done great things for us as well; we thus should be holy as He is holy. How can we be holy as God is holy? 3: You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold, but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Most of the Christians of Asia Minor came out of paganism. They had previously thought they could buy the favor of the gods through offerings and sacrifices. They had come to know that these ways were empty; they could only be redeemed by the blood of Jesus, which could not be bought. Christians to this day must turn away from the futile ways from which they had been redeemed in Christ and trust in God in Christ. Why do people think they can buy salvation? 4: Through him you now trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:21). The Christians of Asia Minor had come to know about and trust in God through Jesus. God had raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him all glory. We have come to learn about God through Jesus as well, and we also should maintain that trust and confidence. As God raised Jesus from the dead and gave Him glory, so in Christ God will raise us from the dead and give us His glory. How can we keep our faith and hope in God in Christ?