Preached Sunday, February 10, 2013 from 1 Peter 1:13-16
Theme: We’re to put the hope of future glory to work through holy living in the present.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning’s passage highlights an important principle about the Christian life. This principle is expressed in the very first word of our passage. That first word is the wonderful word “therefore”. Our faith—the Christian faith—is to result in a “therefore” life.
You see; every man-made religious system calls upon its adherents to live a certain kind of life—that is, to work hard to follow the religious rules and regulations—all in order to ‘earn’ the reward of eternal glory. You might say that every other religious system other than the truly biblical Christian faith calls for an “in-order-that” kind of life. These man-made systems—many of which even call themselves “Christian”—demand that people work hard and live a holy life “in order that” they may receive eternal glory.
But that’s not true of the Christian faith as the Bible presents it to us. The Bible presents to us the gift of eternal life as a matter of God’s grace—an eternal life that has already been purchased for us through the sacrifice of God’s Son Jesus Christ on the cross. We receive this gift of eternal life by faith. What the Bible does for those of us who have trusted Jesus is to, first of all, tell us about the glories of this gift of God’s grace—the washing away of all our sins by the blood of His Son Jesus on the cross, our 100% acceptance in the sight of God through Him, and the promise that we will be sharers together in the eternal inheritance of Jesus in heavenly glory—and then assure us that this is our present possession by faith. And then, having told us all this, it calls us to “therefore” rise up and live a holy life in the light of the truths of God’s grace—not in order to earn the glories of God’s grace, but because they are already ours.
That’s why I say that our faith in Jesus—the Christian faith—is to result in a “therefore” life. That’s a wonderfully liberating thing! It’s truly ‘good news’! And it’d be hard to find a place that teaches us this more clearly than in our passage this morning from the first chapter of 1 Peter.
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The apostle Peter was writing this letter to a group of Christians who were suffering for their faith. Just like us today, they were living in dark times. And he wanted to encourage them to stay strong in their faith and not give up.
And so; he began his letter to these suffering Christians by reminding them of the glories of heaven that are already their possession—to the fullest degree—as a gift of God’s grace through their faith in Jesus. In verses 3-5, he told them;
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).
Can you see how Peter affirms to them that the rich treasures of heaven were already theirs? The only thing that was left was the full revelation of all that they already had at the coming of Jesus Christ at some future time. But it was all their present possession right then and there. Peter wanted them to remember this—even as they were undergoing a time of suffering for their faith; and went on to tell them,
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (vv. 6-9).
He assured them that this great salvation—which was their present possession by faith—is already well-attested and assured to them by God’s word. He goes on to say;
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into (vv. 10-12).
And then comes our passage this morning—and that wonderful word “therefore”. In fact, the word “therefore” at the beginning of 1 Peter 1:13 marks the official ‘turning-point’ of the whole letter. From here on out, the apostle Peter will simply call these suffering Christians to take hold of the truths of the glorious future that he had just described to them—the glorious heavenly inheritance that is already theirs as a gift of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ—and “therefore” live a holy life in the light of that glorious future. He writes;
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy” (vv. 13-16).
I say it again, dear brothers and sisters; the true Christian life is to be one, big, joyful “therefore”! We are to look to the glorious promises that God has already made to us by grace, and “therefore”—by faith—rise up and live in the light of what we already possess!
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Now; this was very important to stress to the people to whom Peter wrote. And it’s also very important to allow to sink deeply into our own hearts today. Like us, those early Christians were facing a great deal of opposition to their faith. The challenges were great. The prevailing attitudes around them militated against living a holy life. The thoughts and philosophies and values of those around them were hostile to a devotion to Jesus. And there was a very strong temptation within these suffering Christians to just give up, and to go along with the tide of a very ungodly culture. We feel the same sort of temptations and pressures today.
And so; to suffering Christians of all time periods—including our own—Peter urges that we grab hold of the promises that God has given us concerning our future in Christ; and live a “therefore” life of holiness. What Peter tells us in this passage is very much like what the apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:2-3;
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3).
Peter is essentially telling us in this morning’s passage the same thing as John said in that passage. We’re to put the hope for future glory to work through holy living in the present. We’re to let our hope in Christ become our great motivation to live a holy life right now.
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Look with me at verse 13; and see that . . .
1. WE ARE COMMANDED TO HOPE FULLY IN GOD’S PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE GLORIFICATION IN CHRIST (v. 13).
Peter writes; “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (v. 13). And of course, as we’ve already seen, the context of this verse is set for us by the word “therefore”. But the thing that I want to particularly point out to you is the main verb of this verse—the main command. You can’t see it in English so clearly; but in the original language, it’s the command to “hope fully”.
Now; that might come as a surprise to some—to discover that “hope” is put in the form of a command. We often think of “hope” as something that just happens—something that you either have or you don’t. But the Bible doesn’t treat the “hope” of our faith in that way. It presents hope to us as a whole-hearted, confident, deliberate expectation of what is already established and reliable—something that is sure and certain. We’re told in this verse what the content of that hope is—”the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”. It’s all the glorious promises that Peter had already written about so wonderfully in verses 3-12. It concerns our present possession in Christ—an inheritance that waits only for our full experience of it on the day when the Lord Jesus returns in glory and when we are glorified with Him. And the command to us is to “hope” in it—to place our confident, joyful expectation for the future on the promises of God, to rest our all upon those promises, and to look ahead to our glorious destiny in Christ—rejoicing in it with all our being.
That is so very important, brothers and sisters in Christ. You and I cannot live before God in difficult times in the way He wants us to, if we are not obeying this command. You and I must consciously, and repeatedly, and as a regular pattern of life, fix our “hope” on the grace that is to be brought to us on the day of Jesus Christ’s return—when those who believed on Him and who have ‘fallen asleep’ in death will be raised in glory; and when those who are alive at the time of His return will be ‘changed’ into His glory without ever seeing death; and when we will thus ever be with Him and share in His majesty.
And notice that Peter tells us something very interesting about this command. He says that we are to hope “fully” or “completely” upon God’s promise of our future glory. The old King James Version has it that we’re to hope “to the end” upon it; and the idea is to hope “all the way”—that is, totally and without any reservation whatsoever; holding nothing back. We’re to hang all our hopes for eternity on the promise that God has made of the inheritance that is already ours in Christ. We’re to be ready and willing to suffer anything for our Lord; having the same attitude that the apostle Paul had when he wrote, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
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But how do we get there? How do we grow into such a whole-hearted, unreserved attitude of ‘full hope’? Peter prefaces this command by setting before us two important habits that cultivate such a complete hope. First, he calls us to get our thinking in order. He says, “gird up the loins of your mind”.
Back in Peter’s day, whenever someone needed to prepare themselves for some hard work, they would ‘gird up their loins’—that is, they would take the long, loose garments that they would typically wear, and tuck them up under their belt or girdle—giving more freedom to their legs and arms. Today, we would say they ‘rolled up their sleeves’. If a man got up in his home and began to ‘gird his loins’, his wife might ask him, “So; where are you going? What are you up to?” It would be obvious that he was about to engage in some kind of work—just as someone might think about us if they were to see us roll up our sleeves. And that’s what we’re to do with our intellect and our emotions. We’re to “roll up the sleeves” of our thinking. We’re to “gird up the loins” of our mind. We’re to stop being lazy and passive in our state if mind, and prepare ourselves to do the hard work of the ‘right thinking’ that leads to ‘righteous living’.
I would suggest that the way we do this is by doing the hard work of bringing our thinking into conformity to the word of God. We’re to read the Scriptures daily, study carefully what God’s word says, and bring our thinking and our emotions into conformity with the testimony of Scripture. Like the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16-17;
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
We’re guilty of lazy thinking whenever we simply take-in whatever this world tells us—or even the inclinations of our own fleshly attitudes—without critically analyzing it against what God says in His word. We need to be disciplined in our minds. We need to buckle things down and tie-up the loose ends. We need to make it our regular habit of life to ‘gird up the loins of our mind’, ‘let the word of Christ dwell in us richly’, and bring our thinking into alignment with God’s sure word.
And another thing we’re to do—as an important part of getting our thinking in order—is to make sure we keep clear headed. Peter says, “be sober”. To ‘gird up the loins of our mind’ has to do with the active processes of our thinking with respect to God’s word. But to ‘be sober’ has to do with the passive responses of our thinking to what goes on around us.
We’re all pretty familiar with the idea of being “sober”. When someone’s thinking is clouded by the influences of such things as drugs or alcohol, we say that they are not ‘sober’. By contrast, when someone is sober, they are not allowing their thinking to be clouded by the influence of something else. They are ‘sound-minded’. They are ‘clear-headed’.
I believe what Peter is telling us here is that we are to ‘gird up the loins’ of our mind through the Scripture; and to keep our thinking in the right place by not allowing it to be drawn off course by the influence of panicky circumstances, or false teaching, or the values and priorities of the culture around us, or even by our own emotions and negative self-talk. We’re to keep a clear head; so that we can think God’s word properly and respond to it accurately.
I believe that the ‘handle’ by which we grab hold of this idea of ‘soberness’ is prayer. In 1 Peter 4:7, Peter writes,
But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers (1 Peter 4:7).
I am to be in the habit of feeding my thinking with God’s word regularly; and then, when a difficult circumstance comes up that might overwhelm me, I am able keep a cool head by prayer. I pray back to God what He has already said that He would do; and affirm my trust in His promises.
I think one of the most wonderful pictures of this is found in Acts 4. In that passage, the Jewish authorities beat and threatened the apostles, and warned the people of God to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. If they had not been sober in their thinking, they might have allowed themselves to be overwhelmed with the circumstances so that they panicked and acted wrongly. But instead, they kept ‘sober’; and prayed back God’s own words to Him. We’re told;
And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:
‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:23-31).
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So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; that is the great command of this passage. By ‘girding up the loins’ of our mind according to the Scriptures, and by keeping ‘sober’ in our thinking and our attitudes when troubles arise, we’re to make very sure that we “hope fully” upon the grace that is to be brought to us on the great day when Jesus returns for us.
And when we faithfully do this, it results in a complete transformation in the way we live. Peter next says that . . .
2. WE’RE TO DO THIS BECAUSE SUCH HOPE MOTIVATES US FOR HOLY LIVING IN DIFFICULT TIMES (vv. 14-16).
Just like the apostle John wrote; we know—with an unshakable certainty—that when Jesus is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; and “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure”. We rejoice in the fact that we are the soon-to-be-glorified citizens of heaven that God’s word assures us we already are; and we live accordingly now—long before we ever even get there.
Peter tells us about the two ways that this new ‘motivation’ manifests itself in us. First, he tells us that it does so ‘negatively’; that is, by teaching us to not conforming to our former lusts. In verse 14, he says, “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance . . .”
You see; before we were saved through faith in Jesus, we were not “obedient children” at all. We were ‘children’ of a completely different kind! The apostle Paul said that we
once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Ephesians 2:2-3).
But now, we have been born again. We’re no longer among “the sons of disobedience”. We’re no longer “children of wrath”. We are completely new creations. The past is gone! All things have been made new for us! We are destined to live forever in the Father’s house! We’ve been born-again, with a brand new inner-dynamic! We now live as ‘obedient children’ of the heavenly Father. We are children whose very nature it is to do as our Father tells us. And so; we no longer conduct our lives according to the gratification of those old sinful passions and lusts that used to rule over us back in our days of spiritual ignorance. We say ‘no’ to such sinful passions. We live differently!
Keeping our minds well ‘girded’ and our thinking straight; and resting our complete hope on the glorious future that is ours in Christ—these habits help to keep us focused on who we really are. That way, when the sinful temptations that we used to give-in to all the time come along, we’re able to say—in the power of the Holy Spirit, “I don’t do such things! I won’t give-in to that any longer! That’s not who I am anymore!”
And expressing things ‘positively’, Peter next tells us that we are now characterized by imitating God’s holiness in all our conduct. In verses 15-16, he writes; “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.'” That is a quote taken directly from Leviticus 19:2, by the way—where God once told the people of Israel, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Because they had been called out of bondage in Egypt, and had been declared by Him to be His people, they were to behave like the one who had called them to Himself.
You see; holiness of being—absolute purity from all that is sinful—is what characterizes our Father. And just like the old saying goes—life father, like son. As it says in 1 John 1:5-7;
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:5-7).
Keeping our focus on our future glorification in Christ is what motivates us to live a holy life like the one who called us to Himself.
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Dear brothers and sisters; let’s “hope fully” in the grace that is to be revealed on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s roll up the sleeves of hope; and as a result, live a “therefore” life.