Motivation & Management of Holy Living

I Peter 1:13-26

13 Therefore, get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined, and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance 15 but, as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; 16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. 17 And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one's work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during this time of temporary residence. 18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things, like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the times for you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again--not of perishable seed but of imperishable--through the living and enduring word of God.


24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower drops off, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.

REVIEW OF LAST WEEK

1 Peter presents us with a thorough yet concise explanation of how we are to live. It gives us eternal context and specific instruction. In short, this is an ‘executive summary’ of the truth about living for Christ.

Oswald Chambers writes: “The teachings of Jesus are all out of proportion when compared to our natural way of looking at things, and they come to us initially with astonishing discomfort.”

Larry Crabb writes, “The choice before us is rather stark: either to live to be comfortable (internally and externally, but especially internally), or live to know God. We can’t have it both ways; one choice excludes the other.”

In (1 Peter 1) verse six we are reminded to rejoice over this salvation, and then come the vital words, “though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.”

“For a little while” -- temporary. Even if earthly ‘permanent,’ ALL discomfort and pain is only a nano-second of eternity, and hwe have eternity with God!

”if need be” – according to God’s grander purposes. And this also would indicate that His purpose is NOT to hurt us, though He is willing that we be hurt (all caused by sin anyway) “if need be”

When you are hurting, and it seems unwarranted, or it seems unfair, or it just hurts! Perhaps you should remember this verse and say, “It must need be”

We are tested so that we can show our faith. It’s as simple as that. Hard, yes, but simple.

Overwhelmingly in life, we are saved ‘through’ hardship, not ‘from’ it.
Five Aspects of Holy Living
† The Motivation for Holy Living
The Motivation for Holy Living is in part what we explained last week, the two aspects being A) understanding why we suffer hardships. Remember what Pastor Sager says, ‘If you can understand ‘why,’ you can live with almost any ‘how.’ B) Profound appreciation for and perspective of the great eternity that awaits us in heaven with our Lord.

V. 13 reads in part, “set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”

Our motivation to serve will be unhindered when we can focus, focus, focus on the TRUTH about Who He is, who we are, what He’s done for us, and what is to come. When we will stop resting our hope on ANYTHING except the hope of Christ and the glory to come, we will find ‘holy living’ to be right where we are!

The ‘Left Behind’ of Holy Living
There are a lot of things we have to leave behind in order to live holy. They are things we have to leave behind. V.s 18-19 read, “For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.”

The most challenging question I have for you today – the thing you have to consider in your life and your families’ life – is what are the ‘empty’ ways of life, habits, actions, past-priorities, that you have to ‘leave behind.’

I challenge you to go home and do an inventory of the things you and your family do that simply don’t fit in with Holy Living. If you leave them behind, I think you’ll find after a very little while that a) your walk with the Lord is much closer and thus you see and know Him moving in and through you more; b) it wasn’t as hard as you thought!

He made you for holy living. You can do it!

So you have to a) be rightly motivated; b) purposefully leave some things behind.

The ‘Moving Ahead’ of Holy Living

V. 13 reads in part, “Therefore (i.e., because you understand why you live and why you suffer, because you ‘get it’ about the glory to come, because you’re rightly motivated, therefore . . ) get your minds ready for action, being self-disciplined . . . “

Note that is says ‘self-discipline.’ Our Heavenly Father tells us the truth. He tells us what we ought to do. He allows circumstances and bad things to be used to move us to obedient. But He does not make us obey!

You and I will be SELF-disciplined when our hearts and minds catch up with the truth of what Christ has done for us! We will be ‘ready for action’! Go home, and after you contemplate what to be left behind, contemplate what has to come in.

Where have you been, where are you going, and what have you been hauling around that you don’t need for the rest of the journey? Adjust. Take action. Leave this, and start that!

The ‘How To’ of Holy Living
You are obeying someone. It may be yourself, but you are obeying someone. I can’t count the times I’ve said to my children, ‘If you will trust and obey me, it will go well with you.’ You’ve said it, too, even if not in those exact words.

So how do we live this holy life? V. 22: “By obedience to the truth, having purified your yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” Then it goes on in v. 23 to explain again why you should be so motivated. Throughout 1 Peter, especially this ‘execute summary’ of why and how to walk with Christ, Peter keeps reminding us of the motivation, the reason, the purpose, for living as we are called to live. If we keep that front and center, we can do it.

We must live by “obedience to truth.” That means you leave out of your life the things that aren’t true, and you put in the truth by steady meditation on the Word of God. This results in ‘purifying yourselves’ and leads to sincere love from a pure heart. That verse doesn’t literally say that a leads to b leads to c, but it does, and I believe that’s why the sequence is as it is.

At this stage of life, I hope you don’t need much more motivation for WHY to live by the Word of God, but in case you do, let’s finish 1 Peter 1:

“All flesh is like grass (you aren’t going to make it long here on earth apart from Christ)

And all its glory like a flower of the grass (the biggest superstar isn’t to Jesus)

The grass withers (you’ll check out quick enough)

And the flower drops off (with your hair, your good looks –- you’re fading)

But the Word of the Lord endures forever.” (Well, that ought to settle that!)

So what do you want to go with? What do you want your family to go with? God commands Holy Living. He has given you the motivation and the power, in addition to His command. It's up to you!