1 Peter 1:15-25

I Peter 1:15-25

(A Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)

June 27, 2013

           

1.      Saw last week that in I Peter 1:14-25 Peter draws a comparison between how life is apart from Christ and how life is in Christ...

--v.14 deals with life before Christ...from that verse we saw that life apart from Christ is characterized by over-desire (“lusts”) and lack of knowledge of God (“ignorance”)...

--vv.15-25 described life in Christ ...only one verse to describe to describe what we were before Christ and 11 verses to describe what we are now that Christ is in our lives...there’s a significant truth to learn from that...the Christian life not essentially a life of regret and guilt over past mistakes...it’s a life which focuses on what God desires for us today...

2.      Notice I Peter 1:15  begins with the word "but"...that’s a conjunction of contrast...as  opposed to being weighed down by “lusts” and “ignorance” as we were apart from Christ, here is what God desires for us now...look at I Peter 1:15-25...(text)...

 

T.S.‑ There are many great truths in that passage and they certainly can’t be fully explored in a single session...however, the main thoughts of this passage are centered around three imperative verbs scattered through verses...in v.15 there is the command to "be holy"...v.17 there is the command to "conduct yourselves in fear"...and in v.22 there is the command "to fervently love one  another"...and from those three imperative verbs want you to see some things which should characterize life in Christ...

 

I.       Life in Christ is characterized by holiness

1.      Realize holiness is not a positive concept every person...

‑‑to many holy nothing more slang word as in the phrases holy  cow or holy smoke...

‑‑to some the word connotes "holier than thou" attitude...say  "Don't call me holy, I'm no saint!"

‑‑to others the word brings to mind religious fanaticism or  emotional excesses...

2.      However, command “be holy" expresses very heart  biblical religion...from Exodus where High Priest instructed wear the phrase "holiness is the Lord" on his  headband  to Revelation where living creatures cry "Holy,  Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty" the concept of holiness is referred to hundreds of times in the Bible...it’s really not a misnomer to refer to the God’s written word as the Holy Bible...indeed the concepts of holy and holiness are at the very heart of its message...and because of that, it is important for us to understand what is meant by the command to “be holy” in I Peter 1:15...

3.      Word is most often translated holy in the NT is hagios...basic meaning not morally pure as  we tend use word, even though that concept is there...basically means to be separate or to be set apart...one writer points out:

‑‑temple considered holy because set apart from other buildings...

‑‑sabbath considered holy because set apart from other days...

‑‑God's people are holy in that set apart, different from other people..

 

1.      To be holy basically means to live in such a way that it is obvious that we belong to God...the world should not have to peek in the windows of the church on Sunday morning to find out who the Christians are...that we belong to God, that we are God’s holy ones, set apart ones, should be abundantly clear by our life-styles, our personal relationships, and our value systems...

2.      Don’t recall where first read or heard it, but remember a story about a faithful missionary who once worked among the people in the Ozark mountains...at first, he was viewed as an outsider and was not welcome there...but the missionary was persistent and for years,  day in and day out, he faithfully proclaimed and lived  God's word before them...all the mountain people became very familiar with his presence among them...and eventually the time came that whenever saw him walking past their cabins, would say as he passed, "There goes the man of God!"...

2.      And being holy means that when people look at our lives are able say, "They are God's people"...life in Christ is characterized by holiness...also this passage tells us that...

 

II.  Life in Christ is characterized by reverence for God

1.   The command in v.17 of I Peter 1, “...conduct yourselves in fear” can be easily misunderstood...over and over Bible tells us that we are to "fear God"...

Psalm 111:10 ‑ "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

Psalm 112:1 ‑ "How blessed is the man who fears the Lord."

Psalm 16:6 ‑ "By the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil."

Eccl.12:13 ‑ "The end of the matter is this: fear God and keep His commandments."

2.      It is important to understand that in biblical language fearing God doesn't mean being afraid...the word translated “fear” in v.17 is phobos from which our word phobia comes...itis used three other times in I Peter...in 2:18 where translated respect...3:2 ‑ respectful...3:15 ‑ reverence...to fear God means stand in reverent awe of Him...never forgetting He is God...not being presumptuous toward him...this reverence for God is the foundation of discipleship...

3.      If look at vv.17,18,&19 see Peter gives three specific motivations for reverencing or respecting God—

--Because he is our Father (17a) ‑ Jewish law very harsh on those failed show respect to earthly fathers...penalty could be as harsh as death...if respect  should be given earthly father, how much more  should be given heavenly Father...

--Because he is our judge (17b) ‑ He is the "One who impartially judges according to each person's work"...we are accountable to Him, and ultimately only to Him, for how we live our lives...

--Because he is our redeemer (18-19) ‑ At a great price, with what Peter describes in v.19 as “...precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” God dealt with our sin and brought us back into relationship with Him...when you stand before the cross and when really see it‑‑see what God did for you—you cannot help but stand before Him in reverent awe...

4.      Life in Christ is characterized by reverence for God...

 

III.  Life in Christ is characterized by love for others

1.      In verse 22 is the third command in this passage...we are to “fervently love one another from the heart"...amazing how many times that idea appears on pages of NT...can't read the Bible without seeing being a  Christian and loving each other go hand in hand...  simply cannot separate the two...

·         Jesus talked about it: John 13:34‑35 ‑ "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,  even as I have loved you, that you also love one  another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciple, if you have love for one another."

·         Paul talked about it: I Cor.13:1,13 ‑ "If I speak in  the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have  love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging  symbol...but now abide faith, hope, and love,  these three, but the greatest of these is love."

·         John talked about it: I John 4:20 ‑ "If someone says, 'I love God' and hates his brother, he is a  liar; for the one who does not love his brother  whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not  seen.  And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."

And on and on could go...Bible filled with references  to Christians being characterized by love...

2.      This passage tells how should love...basically says  love others in same way God loves us...we are to love  "sincerely" which means without hypocrisy or pretense...and we are to love “fervently” which means constantly, steadfastly, persistently...

 

1.      This past Sunday a person I did not know stopped me in the church I attend…he wanted to tell me about his wife and how she was struggling with depression…in our conversation he indicated that he felt no-one really cared about what they were experiencing…that is not the way it should be in a Christian fellowship!...

2.       If Christians are anything, we should be loving toward each other and toward those outside the fellowship...and if we don’t love each other, those outside the fellowship will never really believe that we will love them...

 

CONCLUSION

 

1.      Like way passage ends...gives glimpse into preaching of  NT church...look last part v.25..."And this is the word  which was preached to you..."...what would you hear if  sat in on worship service of church in 1st century?...according to I Peter 1:14-25 would hear that life in Christ is a life of—

--holiness...of being set apart for God...

--reverence for God...

--genuine love for people...

2.      That’s the message God’s people needed in the 1^st century...and that’s the message we has God’s people need in the 21^st century, as well...

1 Peter 1:14

I Peter 1:14

(A Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)

June 20, 2013

 

1.      If you happen to be up in the middle of the night and turn on the television, you will discover that during those ours many channels are running infomercials.  Many of the infomercials deal with self-improvement products.  And most of these self-improvement infomercials follow the same pattern.  After describing the product, there are a series of testimonials from various people who have supposedly used the product and had their lives changed by it.  They will talk about what they were like before using the product and then talk about how much better their life is or how much improvement they have made with the help of the product. Often before and after pictures to give credibility to their testimonial.  One of the more popular infomercials is for a procedure called “Lifestyle Lift” which is apparently just a softer name for “face lift.”  Debbie Boone, the daughter of Pat Boone, is the spokesperson for this product. As part of the pitch, incredibly unflattering photos of people are shown before they’ve had the procedure and unbelievably flattering photos of the same people are shown after they’ve had the procedure. It is such a difference, it’s got me to thinking about doing it!

2.      It may surprise you to discover that drawing before and after comparisons is not a new marketing method.  It has been around at least as long as the New Testament.  In our study of I Peter we are going begin looking in this session at I Peter 1:14-25 which uses this “before and after” method.  In v.14 Peter describes the lives of his readers before they came to faith in Christ. In vv.15-25 he describes what their lives should be like after coming to faith in Christ.  Read I Peter 1:14-25.

·         Verse 14 describes our lives before we came to faith Christ.  We are going to focus on that single verse in this session.

·         Verses 15-25 describe our lives after we came to faith in Christ. 

      Only one verse to describe to describe what we were before Christ and 11 verses to describe what we are now that Christ is in our lives.  There’s a significant truth to learn from that.  The Christian life not essentially a life of regret and guilt over past mistakes.  It’s a life that focuses on what God desires for us today.

3.      In our next session we will see that verses 15-25 tell us that life in Christ is a life characterized by holiness, by reverence for God, and by love for others.  But in this session, we are going to focus on what life apart from Christ is like.  Essentially verse 14 tells us two things about our lives before coming to faith in Christ.

 

I.       Life apart from Christ is characterized by lusts

1.      Word NASB translates “lusts” is translated in a number of different ways by biblical interpreters...some translations use the word “passions” others “evil desires” and still others “cravings”...the word is “epithumia”...compound word...first part is preposition which can mean ‘”over” and second part is from word which carries the idea of “desire”...thus the word literally means “over desire” or “too much desire”...”epithumia” is an unhealthy, unchecked, out of control desire...

2.      In the five chapters of I Peter this word is used four times...each time the NASB translates the word “lusts”...and each time the word is used there is a warning attached to it...

--in 2:11 warned “...to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul.”

--in 4:2 told “...to live ... no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God...”

--in 4:3 places the word in its appropriate company including things such as “...sensuality ... drunkeness, carousals, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries...”

3.      Point of all that is before they were transformed by Christ, these Christians who were scattered throughout Asia Minor were consumed by the wrong priorities...instead of living for God, they lived for themselves...and what was true for them is true for every person apart from Christ...

 

1.      Unregenerate human nature is always characterized by self-centeredness rather than God-centeredness...that is the very essence of sin--choosing my way, my desires, my will over God... it is easy to look at our culture and conclude this bent to perversion which characterizes much of our world is a new thing... want you to know it is not new at all...actually nothing is going on in our world today which has not always been present in the lives of people who have no regard for God...

2.      In his commentary on I Peter William Barclay points out that—

--in both ancient Greece and Rome homosexuality was so prevalent that the people in those cultures came to view that which was unnatural as being natural...

--marriage was held in such low esteem that Jerome wrote of one woman in Rome who was married to her 23^rd husband and she was his 21^st wife...

--while poor people were starving the insensitive rich dined on such delicacies as peacock brains and nightingale tongues...

Barclay writes, “It was a world mastered by desire.  Its aim was to find newer and wilder ways of gratifying its own lusts.  It was a desired dominated culture.”

3.      Sound familiar?...unregenerate human nature is the same whether   it’s in the 1^st century or the 21^st century...and people will never by substantially changed morally by social reformation or by legislation or by any other external means...the only way to change a person is to change that person from the inside out, to change the heart...that’s why the NT doesn’t talk about social reformation; it focuses on spiritual transformation...and that’s where our emphasis should be as well...

4.      2 Corinthians 5:17 says it well:  “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

 

 

II.  Life apart from Christ is characterized by ignorance

1.      There are many very intelligent people in our world...we are living in the middle of a knowledge explosion…so many new discoveries are being made and technology is advancing so rapidly, it is impossible for anyone to keep up…I read this week that eye experts in Australia implanted a bionic eye in a woman named Dianne Ashworth.  The once totally blind woman is now able to distinguish shapes.  /www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/in-science-robot-eyes-comets-and-big-discoveries/story-fn5fsgyc-1226551236578]

2.      And when the Bible says that those who live apart from Christ are characterized by “ignorance” could it possibly mean people so intelligent they could do something like that?...and the answer is yes!...the clear teaching of Scripture is that all people, regardless of their IQ or educational achievement, are characterized by “ignorance” apart from Christ...

3.      Now having said that, it is important for us to understand what the Bible means by “ignorance”...this word does not mean a lack of all knowledge...it is referring to a lack of a specific kind of knowledge...the word is “agnoia” from which we get our word “agnostic”...and in the context of this verse the word means lack of knowledge of God...

4.      It is possible for a person to be extremely knowledgeable in science or math or history or business administration or any other disciplines and still be ignorant in the knowledge of God...and tragically, our world is filled with people like that...

 

1.      I never cease to be amazed at how ignorant and easily misled people can be when it comes to things of God...driving between Austin and Waco a couple of weeks ago I saw a large billboard predicting specific time and date when the world was going to come to an end…

2.      Plato said, “It is hard ... to find the framer and the father of the universe; and if one did find him, it would be impossible to explain him in terms we could understand.”...Aristotle spoke of God as “...the supreme cause, by all men dreamed of, and by no man known.” [From Barclay’s commentary]

3.      But Jesus changed all that...in Christ, God became flesh...He came to our world in a way we can understand...as Paul put it in Colossians, Christ is “the exact representation of the invisible God...”...if you want to see God and to know what God is like, all you have to do is look at Jesus!...and apart from Jesus who is the full and complete revelation of God, every person lives in ignorance of God...

 

CONCLUSION

 

1.      I Peter 1:14 is essentially negative in nature...however, from the negatives we can draw some positive conclusions...if life apart from Christ is characterized by lust and ignorance of God, it follows then that life in Christ is characterized by self-control and knowledge of God...without Him, without Jesus in our lives we will always come up short and we will never experience the best life has to offer...

2.      There’s an old chorus which says it well:

“Without Him I could do nothing; without Him I’d surely fail;

Without Him I would be drifting, like a ship without a sail.”

3.      The teaching of this part of God’s Word is that apart from Jesus we invariably drift into a life of self-indulgence (“lusts”) and a life separated from God (“ignorance”)...