being different & making a difference

being different & making a difference 1 Peter 1:13-21

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • THEREFORE!!!

Living in light of THEREFORE • The commands of Christian living always begin with therefore… • The imperatives (commands) given to us in the New Testament are always dependent on the indicative statements revealing what God has already done. • What we are supposed to do is always based on what God has already done.

Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and

Genesis 3:1-7 you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Must expose & OBLITERATE the lie!

Living in light of THEREFORE 1 Peter 1:3-5 -- 3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Jesus’ Death & Resurrection Jesus’ Return & Full & Final Salvation God’s Purposes

Modern Challenges… • Waiting is a foreign concept in an instant gratification culture • Waiting is understood in passive terms • Waiting for or hoping in something unseen is viewed as foolishness & weakness • The vast majority of people around us buy in to the kosmos value system • We don’t have a category for thinking hard in this area

Modern Challenges… • Waiting is a foreign concept in an instant gratification culture • Waiting is understood in passive terms • Waiting for or hoping in something unseen is viewed as foolishness & weakness • The vast majority of people around us buy in to the kosmos value system • We don’t have a category for thinking hard in this area • 2 Cor. 10:5 -- We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

TwoDitches

TwoDitches LICENSE LEGALISM

The Ditch of LICENSE “I am saved by grace, so I can do whatever I want.” Jude 4 -- For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality…

The Ditch of LICENSE “I am saved by grace, so I can do whatever I want.” Romans 6:1-2 -- What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

The Ditch of LEGALISM “I am good with God because of what I do & how righteous I am.” Ephesians 2:8-9 -- 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Literally = “gird up your minds for action”

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Exodus 12:11 -- 11 Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover.

Action toward God… 1 Peter 2:2 -- like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

Action toward believers… 1 Peter 1:22 -- Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart…

Action toward the world… 1 Peter 2:9-12 -- 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • “Keep clarity of thought & purpose”

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Free yourself from things that dull our minds

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Keep clarity of thought by prayerfully pondering eternal issues

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Keep clarity of thought by prayerfully pondering eternal issues • 1 Peter 4:7 -- The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Keep a clear understanding that we are in a very real war

1 Peter 1:13 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. • Keep a clear understanding that we are in a very real war • 1 Peter 5:8 -- Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 1:14-16 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yoursin your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:14-16 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yoursin your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” • Holy = “different, distinct, set apart”

Big Takeaway We can live all out for Christ because of what Christ has done for us!

being different & making a difference