| Introduction A few years ago, Seattle Seahawks' running back Marshawn Lynch made the expression "I'm just 'bout that action, boss" famous. He meant by it that he really didn't need to talk to the media covering the Super Bowl. They should just look at his performance on the field. That should be enough for them to know what he was all about. In some ways, the Christian is all "'bout that action." We are called to obedience that is displayed in actions. Peter even calls us obedient children (v. 14)! But the action that we call the Christian life is based on, flows from, and is sustained by a very specific motivation. That motivation is the redemption that we have through the blood of Jesus Christ. This sermon will have two points. First, we will that the Christian life is about a lot of actions, but one single motivation: redemption! Second, we will see that this single motivation leads to a life of actions, which is just another way to say a life of obedience. I. Lots of Actions, but One Motivation: Redemption! 18-21. A. Peter exhorts the church to act in five ways in this passage. 1. Gird up the loins of your mind – get ready to do mind work, 13. 3. Rest your hope fully on the grace of the return of Christ, 13. 4. Be holy in all your conduct, 15. 5. Conduct yourself in fear in this life, 17. B. He anchors the way of life he is calling the church to follow on the redemption that Christ accomplished for her. 1. Notice that in that in v. 18 he says that you and I are to do these five things knowingwho we are in Christ. a. The way he wrote it says this is something we have known and continue to know. b. The implications are that it hasn't changed (it remains true) and that we need continued reminders. 2. As we become all about that action, what is it that Peter wants us to know? a. God the Father redeemed us from slavery to aimless, purposeless, meaningless conduct (life), 18b. 1) This aimless life was a sinful life because Peter describes it as life of former lusts and ignorance, 14. 2) It is sinful also because it is contrasted with holiness. b. God the Father redeemed us from slavery to sin through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. 1) There were three kinds of people in the churches to which Peter was writing: slaves, freedmen, and those born free. 2) They would understand well the idea of redemption from slavery, which is the idea of being made free by the paying of a price. a) In their case and in our case, the price wasn't precious metals like silver or even gold. i. As precious as those might be, their value wasn't enough to satisfy the debt that we incurred with God because of our sins. ii. And even these precious metals will eventually lose their value and fade away (oxidize). b) The only thing that would satisfy the debt we incurred with God because of our sins would an infinite payment made by the perfect one: the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. Peter is saying this, "You know how if a slave works really hard to gather some silver or gold, he can purchase his freedom. Well, you have been purchased/redeemed with something more valuable, something purer, something that doesn't fade away. You have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! You have been purchased from the futile, empty ways that were by nature yours. You are free from slavery to sin!" a. Do you see here a reference to Passover when God's people were freed from bondage to Israel? 1) Remember how God's people were to sacrifice a spotless lamb and place its blood over their door so that the angel of death would bot visit them because death had already happened in that house? 2) Remember that because of death came they were freed from Egypt? b. We too have been covered by the blood of the Lamb of God. c. We have been bought at very high price – the life of the Son of God, 1 Cor. 6:20. 4. But how can that be? How is it that Christ's death became my death? How is he that his blood covers me? The answer is simple: faith! 20-21a. C. Because we are redeemed through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our faith and hope are in God, 21b. 1. Not in relationships: spouse, kids, friends – we don't ultimately put our hope in people (fear of man, codependency). 3. Not in the color of skin 4. Not in political affiliation 5. Not in substances: legal or illegal. 8. Not in theological aptitude. 1 Tim. 1:1– Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope…. II. This Single Motivation Leads to a Life of Actions, 13-17. A. Because we have been redeemed from this aimless, purposeless, empty conduct, we now conduct ourselves differently than we would if we had not been redeemed. 1. Our identity in Christ is obedient children, 14a. 2. That's really who we are – notice Peter's language of former lusts (former = no longer who we are). B. Peter identifies five specific actions that flow from our redemption by the blood of Christ – notice that the first three have to do with the mind and thought life and the last two with behavior. 1. Gird up the loins of your mind – get ready to do mind work, 13. 3. Rest your hope fully on the grace of the return of Christ, 13. 4. Be holy in all your conduct, 15. 5. Conduct yourself in fear in this life, 17. C. Gird up the loins of your mind, 13. 1. Get ready to do mind work – to gird your loins is the action of a worker as he secures his clothes around his waist so that it will not get in the way of serious work. 2. That's really where obedience begins – in how we think and what dominates our mind. Rom. 12:1-2– I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which isyour reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what isthat good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3. The ESV does a good job capturing the overall thought – prepare your minds for actions. a. This is accomplished by thinking God's thoughts after him. b. This is accomplished by letting the Bible inform us how we should think about every category of life. Heb. 8:10– For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mindand write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. c. We see this being exercised in Psalm 42-43. Ps. 42:4-5– When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And whyare you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him forthe help of His countenance. d. In a sense, the real homo sapiensis the Christian person. 1. Free from intoxicating influences that keep your mind from working properly. "Be sobernot only physical drunkenness but also (since the phrases before and after have to do with attitudes of mind) letting the mind wander into any other kind of mental intoxication or addiction which inhibits spiritual alertness or any laziness of mind which lulls Christians into sin through carelessness." Wayne Grudem 2. Putting ourselves in a position that we can think clearly is amazingly important as we fight the attacks of the Devil. 1 Pt. 5:8– Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. E. Rest your hope fully on the grace of the return of Christ, 13. 1. Our Lord is coming back and that is our blessed hope. 2. We don't place our hope on the things of this world – notice that it is the result of our redemption (v. 21) and something that we continue to work on. 3. In this aspect, we are a lot like Dori in Finding Nemo. a. We have a mission and a place to go, but we keep forgetting that and being distracted by things in the journey that takes us away from the path we are to be on. b. The return of the Lord Jesus Christ is our North Star that reminds us where our hope is. F. These three mind actions are supported by two behavior related actions, 14-16. 1. Notice that there is no divorce between thinking and actions, between believing and doing, between faith and practice. 2. Those who believe, think, and those who think do. 3. Be holy in all your conduct because that is your identity through Jesus Christ. a. There is both an internal and external pressure for us to conform back into a mold that we no longer fit in because of the blood of Jesus Christ. b. Instead what allowing ourselves to be pushed back into what no longer fits, our conduct (life) is to be marked by the likeness of God – Be holy for I am holy. 4. Conduct yourself in this life in the fear of the Lord, 17. a. Even though the word fearis left dangling at the end of the verse, we know from the analogy of the Scriptures that this is the fear of the Lord. b. It is important to notice that Peter speaks of this life as the time of our stay. 1) This a temporary life. 2) He actually uses the word that means stay as a foreigner/visitor. 3) This is life is a camping trip. a) A camping trip has fun aspects to it, but it is mostly uncomfortable. b) Peter is making an analogy between our lives as Christians and the time that Israel were sojourning as foreigners on the way to the promise land. 4) This life is going to be uncomfortable because it is not our final destination. a) We should expect this discomfort. b) This life is also uncomfortable because we are citizens of another land and of another time. c. We live in the fear of the Lord, that is, we conduct ourselves in a way that is consistent with whom our Lord is. d. After all, we have been redeeming by his blood and are now his! How do we live this out? What is the take home here? · If you are unbeliever – you are still a slave to your aimless, purposeless, sinful life. You have not come to faith in Jesus Christ, so his blood does not cover you. You are in a dangerous place. Come to faith in Jesus now. Do not delay! · For you who are a believer: üYou have been purchased by the blood of Christ and made a citizen of another age and another kingdom. So, hold the things of this life very loosely because your hope and identity are somewhere else. As you do that, your ability to be content and satisfied will skyrocket.
üYou don't have to give yourselves to the mastery of anyone or anything because you have been freed from all masters to serve the only Master.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-lamb-without-blemish-1-peter-113-21.html
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