DEVELOPING A HOLY LIFESTYLE
Pastor Steve .J. Cole
1 Peter 1:13-16
I know of no text that needs to be burned into the
thinking of Christians more than 1 Peter 1:13-16. Writing to many who had come
from pagan backgrounds, living in a pagan society where there was great
pressure to conform, Peter calls his readers to holiness in light of the coming
of Jesus Christ and the holy character of the God who calls us to salvation. He
makes three points:
1. To be holy
people, we must be focused on Christ’s coming, obedient in all of life, and
growing in our knowledge of God’s holiness.
The word “holy”
means to be separate. When applied to God, it points to His
transcendence, that He is above and beyond His creation in such a way as to be
distinct from it. Contained in the word is the minds for action, keeping sober,
fix your hope completely on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ.” Thus the command is to have a determined focus on the grace that
will come to us when Christ returns.
There are three aspects of this focus:
A. Holy living in light of Christ’s coming begins in
the mind.
“Gird up the loins of your mind” is a figure of speech stemming from the fact that the
men in that day wore long outer robes which got in the way when they needed to
run, work or fight in a battle. So they would tuck their robes into a belt so
that they wouldn’t be a hindrance. We might use the expression, “Roll up your sleeves.” The
idea is, be mentally prepared for combat or action in the realm of holiness.
The point is, holiness begins in your
thought life. What you think determines how you live. One of the
most practical things I can tell you about living the Christian life is: Deal with sin on the thought level! Judge wicked
thoughts the instant you have them, confess them to God and replace them with
thoughts of Him and His Word. If you are envious of someone, judge it, confess it,
and ask God to replace it with His love for that person.
If you are lusting after a woman (or
man), deal with it instantly. Flee from it, both mentally and physically! As
Paul put it, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).
It’s on the thought level that your Christianity is
either real or fake. You can fool everyone else, but God knows
your thoughts. If you’re faking it and not cultivating a holy
thought life, sooner or later it’s going to come out in the open in some form
of sin that everyone can see. There isn’t anyone who ever committed adultery
who didn’t first entertain the thought in his mind. You need to guard what
enters your mind as carefully as you guard what you eat. You wouldn’t think of
eating garbage from the gutter because it would make you sick.
If you feed your thoughts daily on the sensual,
materialistic garbage on TV and in the other media and you seldom feed on God’s
Word, you will not become a holy man or woman. Peter says that
we must fix our hope completely on the grace begins in our minds as we think
often of our Savior and the gracious salvation we will fully experience when He
returns and we are changed into His likeness!
B. Holy living in light of Christ’s coming requires
spiritual alertness.
“Being sober” (1:13) is a
favorite word for Peter (he uses it 3 of its 6 uses in the New Testament--
1:13; 4:7; 5:8).
It literally means “not drunk,” but obviously
has a spiritual application, meaning to be alert and self-controlled. It
refers to clarity of mind and the resulting good judgment. The noun is used as
a qualification of elders and women who serve as deaconesses (1 Tim. 3:2, 11,
“temperate”).
Peter uses it in 5:8: “Be sober, be on the alert. Your
adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour.” If a literal lion were on the loose outside, it wouldn’t be wise to go
for a stroll out there! You wouldn’t be goofing off. You’d be on the lookout
for any sign of it. You’d make sure your kids were indoors. You’d warn them
sternly of the dangers. You’d take every precaution so that you wouldn’t become
his next meal!
The point is, we live in enemy
territory. If you feed your mind on the garbage of the world and don’t feed on
God’s Word, it’s like getting drunk and staggering outside when there’s a lion
on the prowl. You’re dead meat! You’re not going to be a holy person. Maybe
you’re thinking, “This sounds kind of legalistic!” But notice:
C. Holy living in light of Christ’s coming is
motivated by grace.
“Fix your hope completely on the grace being brought
to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” God’s grace is the motivation for
holy living. As I mentioned before, the word here and in 1:10 is used as a synonym for
our salvation.
The “therefore” in 1:13 also points us back to the
great salvation Peter talks about in 1:3-12. The present participle, “being
brought to you” hints at the fact that we’ve already begun to enjoy what God is
going to unveil completely when Christ returns.
The word “brought” “underscores the sovereign action
of God in bringing grace to his people” Why does Peter tell us to focus on the
grace that will be brought to us when Christ returns rather than on the grace
we’ve already received? I can’t be dogmatic, but I think it’s because his
readers were going through intense trials. Peter is telling them, “You’ve
already tasted of God’s salvation in Christ, but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Just hang on through the trials and focus on the fact that God is going to bless
you beyond what you can imagine, not based on what you deserve, but based on
His undeserved favor!” That future grace should motivate us to live holy lives
right now, no matter how much we suffer. Thus the first aspect of developing a
holy lifestyle is to focus on Christ’s
coming, being alert in our thinking, motivated by
God’s grace.
2. To be holy people, we must be obedient to the
Father in all of life (1:14, 15b).
There are three things involved in such obedience:
A. We must make a break with our past lifestyle.
“Do not be conformed to the former
lusts which were yours in your ignorance” (1:14). The word “conformed” is used
only one other time in the New Testament, by Paul in Romans 12:2: “And do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
[there’s that concept again!] that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Phillips paraphrases it, “Don’t let
the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your
minds from within ...” Our past lifestyle was marked by our efforts to fulfill
selfish desires. The word “lusts” (1 Pet. 1:14) refers not only to sexual lust,
but “to all kinds of self-seeking, whether directed toward wealth, power, or
pleasure” (Michaels, p. 57). It brings out the strong emotional tug of
temptation and sin. These lusts have full sway in unbelievers because they are
ignorant of God and His holiness and grace as revealed in His Word. But as
Christians, growing in our knowledge of God, we don’t have to be controlled by
selfish desires. We make a break with the self centered living that marked us
before we met Christ and now live under His lordship and for His purposes.
I think this explains much of the
shallow Christianity of our day. People “invite Jesus into their heart” because
they’re told that He will give them an abundant life. If they like what Jesus
is doing for them, if they feel that their lives are happier now than before,
they’ll let Jesus “stay in office.” But they’ve never made a break with their
past life. They’ve never repented of sin or yielded to Christ as Lord. They’re
still running their own lives, living for the same selfish desires they
formerly lived for. The only difference is that now they’re trying to “use
Jesus” to fulfill selfish desires. That’s not saving faith. Saving faith
involves
repentance. It makes a break with the past lifestyle
and seeks to follow Jesus as Lord.
B. We must establish a habit of obedience.
“As obedient children” (1:14) is a Hebrew expression
that means “characterized by obedience,” or “habitual obedience.” The
implication is that God is our Heavenly Father whom we obey. His Word tells us
how He wants us to live. We ought to obey God as a conditioned response. Such
obedience is not legalism, but rather should characterize those under grace.
Peter quotes from the Law (Lev. 19:2) and applies it directly to his readers
under grace: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” We are not under the ceremonial
or civil laws of Israel. But God’s moral law stems from His holy nature and is
just as applicable under grace as it was under law (see 1 Cor. 9:21). As God’s
children, we need to get in the habit of asking, “What does God’s Word say?”
Then we obey it.
C. We must erase the distinction between sacred and
secular.
“Be holy yourselves in all your behavior” (1:15b). The
word behavior is another favorite for Peter (6 of 13 New Testament uses are in
1 Peter, with two more in 2 Peter). It refers to conduct or, what we would call
“lifestyle.” That Peter here links “holiness” with “behavior” and adds the word
“all” is significant because many pagan religions of that time separated
“cultist holiness” from everyday life. Peter is saying that our separation unto
God is to affect every area of life, both private and public. There’s nothing
that turns people off more than to see someone who professes to be a Christian,
but whose lifestyle denies it. Kids read it loud and clear in their parents.
This doesn’t mean that you must be perfect. It means that you live with
integrity, confessing sin when you blow it, making your Christianity practical
in every aspect of life. We’re the only “Bible” many unbelievers will ever
read. Just as we can learn quite a bit about a father by watching his children,
so the world learns about our Heavenly Father by watching His children. That
means that we must learn to obey our Father in all of life. Thus, to be holy
people we must be focused on Christ’s coming and obedient in all of life.
3. To be holy people, we must be growing in our
personal
knowledge of God’s holiness (1:15, 16).
“Like the Holy One who called you,” and “You shall be
holy for I am holy,” imply that we know something about who this Holy God is.
The Christian life is a process of growing to know God as He has revealed
Himself in Scripture. This knowledge of the Holy One has a transforming effect
on our lives. We can never be as holy as God is holy, since such absolute
holiness belongs to God alone. But we can and must grow in personal holiness as
we grow to know our Holy God.
The Bible never says of God, “Eternal, eternal,
eternal,” or “Love, love, love,” or “Mercy, mercy, mercy.” But it does say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory”
(Isa. 6:3). We are a bit flippant and shallow in our knowledge of God in our
day. Many Christians talk about God without any fear of the awesomeness of His
absolute holiness. John MacArthur tells about a well-known charismatic pastor
who told him that sometimes in the morning when he’s shaving, Jesus comes into
his bathroom and puts His arm around him and they talk together.
I like John’s incredulous reply: “And you keep
shaving?!” Every time in the Bible someone gets a glimpse of Christ in His resurrected
glory, the person falls on his face! It was Isaiah who had that vision of God
on His throne with the angels crying, “Holy, holy, holy.”
“In the flash of a moment Isaiah had a new and
radical understanding of sin. He saw that it was pervasive, in himself and in
everyone else.” To whatever extent we gain insight on the holiness of God, we
will gain equal insight on the magnitude of our sin. At the same time, we will
revel in the amazing grace of God who saved us through the cross of Jesus Christ.
That knowledge will make us more holy in all our behavior.
Conclusion
Today I’m probably speaking to some
whom God is calling to repent of sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord. I may be speaking to others who are faking the Christian life
outwardly, but inwardly, you’re not living in holiness. You’re not dealing with
sin in your thought life. It’s only a matter of time until you fall outwardly.
I may be speaking to yet others who have fallen outwardly. Your life is not
right before God, even though you profess to know Christ as Savior.
The solution is the same for all: To turn to
God from your sin
and appeal to Him for a clean
conscience and an obedient heart, based on the blood of Jesus Christ that was
shed for you. Listen to what God says in Isaiah 57:15: “For thus says the high
and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and
holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive
the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” That’s good
news! God, though He is altogether holy and exalted, condescends to dwell with
those who humble themselves before Him! Like the father of the prodigal son,
God joyfully welcomes all who turn back to Him! Leonard Ravenhill has written
(source unknown), “The greatest
miracle that God can do today is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world,
and make that man holy and put him back into that unholy world and keep him
holy in it.” He does it as
we focus on Christ’s coming, as we’re obedient in all of life, and as we grow
in our personal knowledge of God’s holiness
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