The hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that is dedicated to looking like Jesus...

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled the power of hope. During this series, we are addressing the reality that we live in a time where our culture is changing occurs at a frequently increasing rate. And as followers of Jesus, we feel this rapid change in our culture most acutely when it comes to how the culture views Christianity. It would seem that as culture and society continue to rapidly change, that Christianity is being left behind.

So during this series we are asking and answering the questions “How are we as followers of Jesus to respond to such a rapidly changing culture? How are we as followers of Jesus to respond to our faith being minimized and marginalized? How are we as followers of Jesus to respond when our faith results in us being ridiculed, criticized, and slandered?

To answer these questions, we are looking at a letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 1 Peter. Now this week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this letter that the Apostle Peter wrote to early followers of Jesus, we will discover another timeless truth about the power that hope has in our lives as followers of Jesus living in a rapidly changing culture. So let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in 1 Peter 1:13:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Peter begins this section of his letter with the word therefore. With this word, Peter is basically saying “In light of everything that I just said; In light of the reality we as followers of Jesus have hope for the future that is greater than any trial as a result of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that provides us new life in relationship with Jesus and a confident expectation for the future that is certain and secure; In light of the reality that we have hope for the future that is greater than any trial that results in an eternal inheritance; In light of the reality that we have hope for the future that is greater than any trial that is proven through our faith in the midst of trials; In light of the reality that we have hope for the future that is greater than any trial that has been predicted and proclaimed through the message of the gospel; In light of all of that, I want you to do something as a result of the hope that you have that is greater than any trial.”

And what Peter wanted followers of Jesus to do in light of the hope that they have is to fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter here is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to respond to the hope that they have for the future that is greater than any trial by fixing their hope on that future when Jesus will return. That is what Peter is referring to when he uses the phrase “the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The word grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world through Jesus. And God's transformational intervention and activity in the world will be most clearly seen at the end of God’s story here on earth, when Jesus will return to earth to defeat selfishness, sin, and death, and usher in the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense. As followers of Jesus, we are to look forward with confidence to Jesus return in the midst of the sadness, suffering, and difficulties that we may experience as followers of Jesus.

Now a natural question that could arise at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but how am I practically supposed to look forward with confidence to Jesus return? How do I do that?” Peter provides the answer to that question with the two phrases that precede his command.

First, Peter explains that we are to look forward with confidence to Jesus return when we prepare our minds for action. What is so interesting is that this phrase here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally reads “gird the loins of your mind”. This phrase, in the culture of the first century, was a word picture of lifting up long garments to facilitate work or walking.

Peter’s point here is that, as followers of Jesus, we are to look forward with confidence to Jesus return by resolving to live out that confidence in the present. Just as we prepare ourselves physically for a future day’s work, we are to prepare ourselves mentally for Jesus future return. Jesus future return should shape and mold our resolve when it comes to how we live in the present.

Second, Peter explains that we are to look forward with confidence to Jesus return when we keep sober in spirit. Now the phrase “keep sober” here refers to being well-balanced. This phrase conveys the sense of being self controlled. Peter’s point here is that we look forward with confidence to Jesus return by being self controlled in our thinking.

As followers of Jesus, we are not to allow our mental or emotional states to be filled with the confusion that comes as a result of excess emotion and rash responses to our circumstances. Instead of becoming emotionally or mentally intoxicated by riding the emotional or mental roller coaster of “what if”, as followers of Jesus we are to focus on the confident expectation that we have for the future in light of Jesus return so as to have balance in our lives emotionally and mentally.

As followers of Jesus, such a balance and self control will result in an ability to live in light of our true identity as a follower of Jesus, regardless of the circumstances around us.  After giving this first command, we see Peter give a second command to followers of Jesus throughout history in verse 14-16:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, ¹⁵ but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; ¹⁶ because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

Now to fully understand what Peter is commanding followers of Jesus to do in these verses, we first need to define some terms.  First, when Peter uses the word conformed here, this word literally means to be formed according to a pattern or a mold. In addition, the word lusts here refer to a desire for something that is forbidden. Finally, when Peter uses the word ignorance, this word refers to someone having a lack of information about God that results in a life of selfishness and rebellion against God.

So Peter here is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to not allow the selfish desires for what is forbidden by God that once dominated their lives to continue to shape and mold their lives. Instead of continuing to live according to their selfish desires that went against God’s desires that once dominated their lives prior to becoming followers of Jesus, Peter commands followers of Jesus throughout history to “be like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.”

Now the word holy is a big fancy church mumbo jumbo talk word that simply means to be set apart to God. When Peter refers to God as the Holy One, he is revealing for us the reality that God is set apart as being distinct and different from anything else that exists. You see, there is the Creator God and there is the creation. God, in His nature and character is distinctly different and separate from the creation.

When Peter states that God called you, this phrase means to be chosen to receive a special benefit or experience. And that benefit or experience, as Peter stated last week, is the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that we were created for as a result of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. That benefit or experience, as Peter previously stated, is a hope for the future that is greater than any trial.

So in light of the reality that God, who is set apart from the rest of the creation as being distinctly different; in light of the reality that we have been rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated us from God so that we could experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for by God’s gracious activity through Jesus; In light of the reality that God has chosen us as followers of Jesus to experience such blessings, Peter commands followers of Jesus throughout history to respond to such realities to be holy yourselves in all your behavior.

In other words, Peter is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to respond to God’s gracious activity in their lives that chose them for rescue and relationship to live a life that is set apart to God. Paul here is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to respond to God’s grace in their lives by dedicating themselves to live out their day to day lives in a way that is distinctly different from how they used to live their lives.

Paul here is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to respond to God’s grace in their lives through Jesus by dedicating themselves to live out their day to day lives in a way that is set apart to God and that looks more and more like Jesus in their character and conduct as a result of their obedience to God. And it is here, in this section of this letter, that we see Peter reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to the power that hope is to have in our lives as followers of Jesus in that the hope we have in Jesus should lead to a life that is dedicated to looking like Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, the reality is that a life that is dedicated to looking like Jesus is not dominated by the selfish desires that dominated our life before we came to know Jesus. Instead, a life that is dedicated to looking like Jesus is set apart and committed to revealing and reflecting Jesus in how we live out our day to day lives in obedience to Jesus. And to back his command, the Apostle Peter quotes from a section of a letter that has been preserved and recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus 11:44, 19:2, and 20:7 God commanded the Jewish people to be holy, for I am holy.

You see, God in His very nature and character is distinct and different from the rest of the creation. And in the book of Leviticus, God was commanding the Jewish people, as His chosen people, to live out their day to day lives as a nation in a way that was distinctly different from the nations around them. How the Jewish people were to handle their sexuality, their families, their justice system, and their worship was to be distinctly different than they nations that surrounded them. By living lives that were distinctly different from the nations around them, the Jewish people would be the vehicle that God used to reveal Himself to the world.

And in the same way today, as followers of Jesus, we have been chosen by God and rescued by God’s gracious activity through Jesus to live distinctly different lives.  We are called to live distinctly different lives when it comes to how we handle our sexuality, our family relationships, how we love and treat those who are different than us ethnically or socioeconomically, how we respond to wrongdoing and injustice, and how we worship, then the culture around us. And when we live such distinctly different lives than the culture around us, we are perfectly positioned to be the vehicle that God used to reveal Himself to the world.

And as Peter continues this section of this letter, we see him unpack the motivation that should drive our desire to live lives that are dedicated to looking like Jesus. We will pick up there tomorrow…