We are told to be holy as God is holy. That’s not some impossible requirement – we are called to be holy, because God has made it possible for us to be holy.
On Friday we set the scene for 1 Peter. The letter was written to churches in modern Turkey. At the time the letter was written, people were becoming aware of Nero’s persecution in Rome.
1 Peter 1:7
There was no doubt that at the time they received this letter – or certainly soon after – the persecution was very apparent and very real.
I mentioned how things happen in life and it’s our response to those happenings ... when something happens, the resulting pressure – the need for healing, for finance, for finding a particular solution – that pressure is something much more precious than gold.
I said that Peter knew the pressure there was when he denied Christ. He wasn’t in the best frame of mind at that point. But Jesus returned to speak to Peter – “Do you love me? Do you love me?” And Jesus drew out the guilt. And Peter was aware of the trial when Jesus gave His life – and for Peter, Jesus’ resurrection was specifically for Him, Peter.
Jesus returned also specifically for Thomas so that his faith would be unshakeable.
This morning we’ll look at how God is involved with you. It doesn’t matter what frame of mind you came in here with, the prompting of that frame of mind is a result of God already speaking to you. God makes us aware of our heart condition, of our need of Him. He causes us to realise that without Him there is no way forward. That realisation comes specifically to you this morning from a God of love.
We’ll look at some very practical things we can be doing to make sure we go forward in the right way.
1 Peter 1:1-16
The holiness of God – he mentions now. The quote “Be ye holy” comes from Leviticus. When it says that, it’s not some impossibility, that God casts down as a requirement. When Peter refers to this, it doesn’t say that we should be omnipotent like God, or omniscient. It’s that we should be holy as He is holy. What does that mean?
We also have the idea of being sanctified, set apart, different. God isn’t telling us to do our best, and we might hit it or not. Through God’s, mercy and the death of Jesus Christ, imputing to you the satisfaction that a holy God can now see through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God the resolution of the requirements of the law.
“Be ye holy” states that God is holy; and He gives you the capability of being holy. Each day we become more and more like Him, until we see Him face to face. There’s a sense in which it has all been done: sin has been dealt with, the price paid, the Lamb sacrificed. But there’s still a progressive aspect – we’re changed from glory to glory. We’re perfected as each day passes.
Maybe you’ve come wishing that God would do something, and believing it has to come from Him because you can’t do anything. These verses will help you. Peter points out that there is something you can do. You’re hearing this word this morning because God is working things out. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:13
We need to be ready to run. We need to be serious.
1 Peter 1:14
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
His prayer for them was that the God of peace would make them holy as individuals.
For some people who are trying to sort things out – perhaps finding it difficult – you can think back to the time when perhaps your parents dedicated you as a baby to God. The prayers of your parents were valid. God heard them. And faithful is He who calls you now who also will do it. You’re not here by accident. The stirring in your heart which may have made you realise there’s an emptiness inside, something which needs to be sorted out ... that realisation is God working in you.
I said to the school children that perhaps they were waiting for God to write their name in the sky, waiting for some cataclysmal event. But your realisation that something has to change ... that in itself is God working in an individual. That’s valid.
I referred to God the Holy Spirit working in you. Why is He called holy? Holiness matters. There’s a way of life where we have choices ... ally that to the working of God’s Holy Spirit working inside, and there’s an irresistible force going forward through the nature change on the inside, as God outworks His purposes inside you.
1 Peter 1:17
“Call on the father” – maybe you’ve prayed, calling out for help.
“Fear” means reverence, not some cowering thing.
1 Peter 1:18
“Vain tradition” means empty way of life.
1 Peter 1:19-21
It’s good to call on the Father. And in this whole passage ... Peter has in mind what happened at the Passover, when they were led out of Egypt, were led out of the land, and entered a land flowing with milk and honey. In the same way, as God outworks His purposes in your life, He’s calling you out of the old empty way of life which does not work, and He’s saying we should desire the sincere milk of the word.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8
With the young people, it was apparent that under God’s direction, there was the ability and security of folk being honest, sincere, coming to the truth.
The light now coming into the hall is symptomatic of what God is doing, bringing to light His truth by His Holy Spirit – unearthing things, not to condemn or point the finger, but because faithful is He who called you, who also will do it. He’s working on your life. You say you have quite a few questions still. He knows that, and He has started answering those questions.
“Purge out the old leaven” means there’s a way of life we can adhere to, and as God reveals things which need changing, it will be because those things will change.
Ephesians 1:6
It’s all to do with His love for you. He’s holy. He can’t abide sin. There is no sin in heaven, no darkness. God Himself never changes and He is holy.
The more I’ve thought about this, the more it’s come home – the impact which it must have had on God when the sin of the world was put on to His Son. And that was the only way that you and I could become accepted into the beloved – that we could stand in front of a holy God.
But it’s not just that God has done that. There are things that you can I could be doing. Maybe you couldn’t quote a day when you were born again. All the same, God is at work in you – even here this morning. And He doesn’t want to try to shoehorn each one of us into the same experience. We don’t have to be blinded on a donkey on the way to Damascus – otherwise Paul would have promoted the idea.
God is at work in your heart this morning. Sometimes we get so caught up trying to pinpoint things. Have I been born yet? Am I one year old yet? You get caught up with these things and lose sight of the fact that it’s God we’re involved with, and that Jesus gave His life so that you might be free.
Our liberty in Christ is our freedom not to sin. The work of Christ on the cross has made you free not to sin. Before that you can’t but sin. The whole book of Galatians is about how we use that freedom and whether we allow licence or legalism to come in. But God puts in us the power to live right.
1 Peter 1:19-22
No hidden agenda, no secret whispers.
1 Peter 1:23
It is the Word of God which lives and abides forever.
In verse 24, he compares the eternal Word of God with where things are in this world.
1 Peter 1:24-25
Isaiah 40:3-8
It’s great that at every level, the aim is for every age group to be studying the Word of God. That’s what we want to do. We want the Word of God to be central to what we’re about. We want to be excited by studying God’s word. If anyone feels we could do better in this, please tell me. That’s the aim. Because everything else will fade. His Word is where it’s at. And thank God for the freedom we have to study His word. And through His Holy Spirit, God speaks to us – in the beginning was the Word.
1 Peter 2:1-3
Have you tasted that the Lord is gracious? Are you aware that maybe there is an answer for you? It just needs a taste as it were. This is where the milk and honey of the Promised Land comes in. Just as a baby desires milk, you desire the sincere milk of the word so that you can grow.
Psalms 34:1-8
There’s a testimony! David is rejoicing. “I sought the Lord. He heard me and delivered me.” Those fears you’ve had have to go. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus Christ has become your life, and perfect love casts out fear. That’s not mind over matter.
Fears – be gone!
God knows what He is doing in your life, and the trial of your faith is more precious than gold.
Peter really wanted people to know that relationship with God, to know that they need not fear.
1 Peter 2:1
We’re one in Christ. There’s something He’s called us to, and the outworking of that is that you love one another fervently, and you lay aside all this other stuff, because, like a baby, we desire the sincere milk of the word – if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
I’m excited by what God is revealing in each person’s life. I think it’s a time when there is not only a reassessment of the foundation of life. There’s more. There’s a realisation from God by His Holy Spirit that you as an individual ... He’s more concerned about you than you are. He loves you.
We’re talking here about sincerity, about truth, about His Holy Spirit – who He is.
“Gird up, be sober, be ye holy, call on the Father, lay aside, desire the milk.” Peter wasn’t going to leave them in any doubt. It was practical stuff. You weren’t to sit back and wait for God to do something. You were to get on with things and trust to Him that He would do what He had called you for.
He’s wonderful!
Encourage one another. If someone is in trouble, look to see what you can do to help. Pray. Pray that the right person will speak to them, that they will become dissatisfied with a way which they know to be wrong but have become trapped in, so that God in His mercy and love will become their solution.
Sunday, 15 March 2009
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