I appreciated Pastor Adam’s sermon last week as he kicked off our study of 1 Peter. I thought his observation about the first part of chapter one was spot on. Do you remember what he said? Peter starts out reminding his readers of what God has done, what He is doing, and what He will do in the future.
He has given us a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. Remember, this is written by the Apostle Peter. He knows better than most what it means to have a living hope.
Peter had followed Jesus and vowed to follow him no matter what came their way. But you probably know the story; Peter was devastated when Jesus was arrested. Everything Peter had staked his life on was crumbling. While Jesus was being accused and tried for blasphemy, Peter was accused of being one of Jesus’ followers, and he denied it vehemently. He swore he didn’t know Jesus. Imagine the agony Peter felt as his whole world crumbled. Imagine his grief and his shame.
But then, three days later, the two Marys come running to where the disciples are hiding and say, “Guess who we just saw.” Imagine you’re Peter. What would it be like to think all of your dreams were crucified, dead on a cross, but then to hear that Jesus was alive, just like He said.
Peter knew what it meant to have a living hope. And now Peter is writing to people who probably think God has left them high and dry. They are probably questioning why God is allowing them to face this terrible persecution at the hands of the Emperor Nero. Peter says, “I get it; I understand how you may struggle to see what God is doing, but our hope is not dead.” He is alive and well, and He is guarding you so that, in the future, you will experience the salvation God has prepared for you through Jesus.
Peter says the prophets of old and even the angels don’t fully understand these things, but I want you to understand that this living hope is not just for the future, but for you today. This living hope, Jesus, is doing something new in us.
Let’s read what Peter writes in this second part of chapter one:
1 Peter 1:13-25 (CSB)—Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy., If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,, because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever., And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.
Peter begins with “therefore”. Whenever we see “therefore” in the Bible, we should ask, “What’s it there for?” By the way, 1 Peter has a lot of “therefores.” But here, Peter says, therefore or, in light of, or because of, this living hope, we should:
Think Differently
1 Peter 1:13 (CSB)—Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.
Peter says you need to change your mindset. You need to start thinking in a new way. God will not change your mind for you. He gives us the ability to make our own decisions; He gives us free will. But when we begin to change our minds, He then begins to change our hearts.
Here is a group of people focused on their persecution and suffering, but Peter says that instead of fixating on those things, we should fix our hope on the grace that will be brought to us when Jesus returns. This grace is the tremendous gift of salvation we are given, not because we’ve earned or deserve it, but simply because we are His kids, His sons and His daughters.
The Apostle Paul says this same thing in most of his letters. He says it to the Romans in Rom 12. He says it to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 10:5, to the Philippians in 2:5 and 4:8, to the Colossians in 3:2.
He says it to the Ephesians this way:
Eph 4:17 (CSB)—Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts.
And then he says:
Eph 4:20-24 (CSB)—But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
Don’t relapse into old ways of thinking. You know, before we met Jesus. Before Christ, we put our hope in things that promised peace and promised fulfillment, but never quite delivered. We put our hope in things that led to death, not life.
Peter says, “Do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance.” In other words, don’t be dumb. Don’t return to old, empty ways of thinking.
Sometimes, when life is hard, we go back to old ways of thinking. We revert back to old mindsets and old perspectives. Before we met Christ, we may have thought about ourselves in a way that led to empty living, but don’t go back there in your mind, and don’t go back to old habits and desires. Because now you have a new way of thinking.
Peter says when we begin to think differently, something happens; we begin to:
Live Differently
Peter says:
1 Peter 1:15-21 (CSB)—But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy., If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
When we renew our minds, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, grows us, and changes us. Ultimately, God wants to change our hearts so that what we do begins to change. As our hearts change, we can begin to live out what is already true about us.
What is true about us? Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:
Eph 2:8-10 (CSB)—For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
What is true about us? We are saved by grace, not because of our works or anything we have done. What did He save us for, or what did He save us to do? He saved us to do good works. These works don’t save us, but they are the outcome of a life that has been saved. What are these good works? Good works are all the things we do when we imitate our Father in Heaven.
Heb 10:10 (CSB)—By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.
We have been sanctified, or, in other words, made holy once for all time.
We pursue holiness because, through Jesus, we have been made holy; we have a living hope. Now, live out this hope and what is true about you. Live out your identity in Christ. Live like children of the king, not fatherless orphans.
One of our four values here at New Hope is Identity because when you begin to think differently about who you are, what you do follows.
Peter then reminds them that this new identity came at a cost.
1 Peter 1:18-21 (CSB)—For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
In the church, we often talk about being “saved.” Are you “saved?” we might ask. Saved from what? Saved, or ransomed, if you will, from your empty way of life that leads to death and forever separation in Hell, from the God who loves you. Your ransom was costly. It was the precious blood of Christ. This was always God’s plan, from the foundation of the world.
Our Creator knew we would reject Him and instead embrace our enemy, the father of lies, the Devil. So God made a way back into His family, but our way back was through the suffering of His Son, Jesus.
When we place our faith in Jesus, by declaring our belief that He is God’s only Son, that He was crucified for our sin, and that He was raised from the dead three days later, we are saved. The ransom, paid by Jesus, is applied to us, and we are redeemed. That is the truth of the gospel.
I want to pause on that thought for a moment. I want to address something, realizing that whatever I say here may get me in trouble. But I still feel like I need to address the whole Cornell 7 craziness that has overtaken social media.
First, I want to remind us that as men who follow Jesus, we are mandated to protect the vulnerable. It is our job to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves, and it is our job to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Be holy because I am holy means standing in the gap for those who cannot stand. Scripture is abundantly clear on this. God despises anyone who takes advantage of the vulnerable.
Fathers, it is your job to teach your sons that this is our mandate. It is not the church’s job. It is not the school’s job. And it is not the government’s job. Fathers, it is your job to raise sons who protect the vulnerable, respect women, who protect women and don’t stand idly by when they see injustice. I say this as your pastor and also as the father of daughters. Be men and raise young men who take this mandate seriously. This is true regardless of who is telling the truth and who is lying in the Cornell case.
That said, I am not surprised to hear about what happened at Cornell. Here are people living the empty way of life Peter describes. Such behavior shouldn’t surprise us in a broken world. But as followers of Jesus, we know that the gospel doesn’t only call us to condemn what is wrong. It calls us to demonstrate what is right. And that begins with how we ourselves live.
And when I say they need Jesus, I don’t say that flippantly. I mean they need a reason to live differently. Holiness isn’t just a personal spiritual experience. It affects how we treat people, especially those who are vulnerable.
When we begin to think differently, then we begin to live differently, and when we begin to live differently, Peter says we begin to …
Love Differently
Look at how Peter puts this:
1 Peter 1:22-25 (CSB)—Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Peter has just explained that we are to be holy because God is holy. But then he says, love one another deeply. What is the connection between those two ideas.
Here it is: One of the biggest outcomes of holiness is loving other people. Sometimes we have a goofy understanding of holiness. We tend to define holiness by the things we don’t do. We don’t do this. We don’t do that. We don’t go there. We don’t participate in that. But holiness is about more than the absence of sinful behavior. It’s about the presence of God’s character in our lives. And what does John say about God’s character?
1 Jn 4:7-8 (CSB)—Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love
How can I say I want to be more like Jesus without becoming more loving toward the people around me? Jesus said in John 13:35 that the world would recognize His disciples by their love for one another.
The world will recognize us not by how much Scripture we have memorized. Not by how often we attend church. Not even by how well we follow all the rules. By our love.
I think this matters most when life gets hard. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to love people when you’re going through something difficult yourself? When we’re stressed, we’re often less patient. When we’re hurting, we’re more easily offended.
Peter writes to people who are suffering, telling them to love one another constantly with a pure heart. In other words, don’t let the difficulties you’re experiencing determine how you treat the people around you. Let your hope in Jesus determine how you treat them.
That’s what it means to love differently. Peter gives us the reason we can love this way.
We’ve been born again. We have a new life. We belong to a new family. And that new life comes through the living and enduring Word of God.
Peter quotes Isaiah 40:
“All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Everything around us is temporary. Our circumstances change. Our health changes. Our financial situations change. Our relationships change. But God’s Word doesn’t change. His promises don’t change. And the new life He’s given us through Jesus doesn’t change. So even when everything around us feels uncertain, we can keep loving because our hope is rooted in something eternal.
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Remember Peter’s humble beginnings. He had followed Jesus for three years. He saw the miracles, heard the teachings, and promised Jesus that even if everyone else abandoned Him, he never would. But when things got hard, what did Peter do? He went back to his old way of thinking. He was afraid. He protected himself. Three times, he denied knowing Jesus. But that wasn’t the end of Peter’s story.
Here’s a guy who had failed Jesus miserably. But Jesus wasn’t finished with him. His failure wasn’t the end of his story. In John 21, we see Jesus restore him and call him to something greater. And now, years later, Peter is writing to a group of Christians who are suffering and who may be tempted to return to their old way of living. Peter says, ” Don’t go back. You have a living hope.”
You’ve been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. You’ve been born again into the family of God. So live out that truth. Think differently. Live differently. Love differently.
Whatever you may be facing or struggling with, or whatever disappointment may be filling your life right now, don’t let it draw you back into old ways of thinking or living.
Hear Peter’s words this morning. Your past doesn’t have to determine your future, and your circumstances don’t have to determine your character. Through Jesus, you have a living hope.
And that hope isn’t simply about getting you through this life so you can go to heaven someday.
It’s about Jesus transforming you today.
Here’s my challenge for you this week.
Where do you need to think differently?
Are you holding on to an old mindset? Some lie you’ve been believing about yourself, about God, or about your circumstances?
Where do you need to live differently?
Is there some old habit or behavior you’ve returned to that doesn’t reflect who you are in Christ?
Where do you need to love differently?
Is there someone you need to forgive? Someone you need to show grace to? Someone you need to love even though loving them is difficult?
We don’t pursue holiness so God will love us. We pursue holiness because He already does.
We don’t live differently to earn our place in God’s family. We live differently because, through Jesus, we already belong to His family. The living hope we have in Jesus doesn’t just change where we’re going. It changes who we’re becoming.
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