Cultivating a Biblical Lifestyle | 1 Peter 1:13-25

INTRODUCTION

The story is told of a powerful king’s son who went out playing in the streets with common children, indulging in activities unbefitting his royal status. When this came to the king’s attention, he sternly reminded his son, “Son, remember who you are. You are royalty, the son of an emperor. Your place is in the palace, not in the streets.”

This story serves as a reminder that our identity shapes our behaviour. As children of God, we are called to live lives that reflect our heavenly heritage, staying true to the values and responsibilities of being part of God’s kingdom. We are encouraged to live in a way that honours our identity in Christ.

HF: This sermon deals with our responsibilities as children of God and how we are to grow in spiritual maturity cultivating a biblical lifestyle.

• Cultivate a Lifestyle of Hope and Holiness.
• Cultivate a Lifestyle of Reverence for God.
• Cultivate a Lifestyle of brotherly love.

Recap:

1 Peter 1:1-12

• God is being praised for the great Messianic salvation message.
• This was foretold in the prophets and fulfilled in the Messianic Son of promise, Jesus.
• We have been chosen by God. We are the elect of God. We have a living hope.
• We have an inheritance which will not fade away.

Peter then praises God for 3 things:

• Praise God for his great mercy.
• Praise God for the inexpressible joy that we have through our salvation.
• Praise God for the Salvation.

Body of the Letter: Peter, now moves to the body of the letter where he discuss and declare the true grace of God.

1 Peter 1:13-5:11talks about Privileges and responsibilities.

The responsibility that believers have, the followers of Jesus have as part of god’s Messianic program. First, Christian and their responsibility to cultivate a lifestyle of hope and holiness.

Cultivate a Lifestyle of Hope and Holiness.

How is that or what is it that we have to do to cultivate a lifestyle of hope and holiness? 1 Peter 1:13-16

1 Peter 1:13

¹³Therefore, with minds that are alert (so it begins in the mind. How are we to get our minds ready? He tells us: ) and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

He is telling us: Prepare yourself for action. Grid up the loins of your mind if you please. Be self-controlled. Set your hope completely on Jesus who bought you, who paid the price for you, who ransomed you.

1 Peter 5:8-9

⁸Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

So we have right from the get-go, the main duty of the believer. The main duty of someone who chooses to follow Jesus. It is to be so conscious of the culmination of our hope in the return of Jesus that we focus all our attention on him. – Prepare yourself for Action.

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children, (now we move into a comparison. You are to get yourself ready and get your minds ready for action by being like obedient children.) do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.

In contrast to following these evil urges Peter is expecting that followers of Jesus be like the holy One who called you.

1 Peter 1:15

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;

So, in contrast to following all urges, he is encouraging to be like the holy one, to be God in the manner in which they conduct themselves.

1 Peter 1:16

for it is written (now he is going to appeal to OT scripture): “Be holy, because I am holy.”

So we have this:

• To be like obedient children.
• Not following and doing things that we used to do.
• But we are to be holy in the manner in which we conduct ourselves.
• We are to be like God in the way that we live.

So we have this expectation to cultivate a lifestyle of hope and holiness.

This involves obedience to God. They key to holy living is obedience.

ILLUSTRATION: Focus on Christ

Marla Runyan gave her all to qualify for the Olympic Games in 1996, but her best time finished short of the mark to make the United States team. Undeterred by that failure, she returned in 2000 and made the team for the Sydney Olympics. Her eighth place finish in the 1,500 meter race was the best finish ever for a United States woman runner. The thing that makes Runyan’s accomplishments even more remarkable is that she is legally blind. She is the first legally blind athlete to ever qualify for and compete in the Olympic Games. After her Olympic career was over she switched to running marathons and in 2002 posted the second fastest debut marathon time ever by an American woman.

Runyan can only see shapes and blurs, but she says that her lack of vision is actually an asset—she just focuses on the finish line in front of her rather than looking around to see what the other runners are doing. Not having visual distractions helps her compete and win her races. The same thing can be true in our lives. There will always be things that try to pull us away from what we should be focused on doing. Many times these will be good things, but we must be willing to set them aside and stay focused on what is most important.

Hebrews 12:1-2

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ²fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Philippians 3:13-14

¹³Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

From here, Peter moves into cultivating a lifestyle of reverence for God. 17-21

Cultivate a Lifestyle of Reverence for God.

1 Peter 1:17

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

So here we have this idea that ‘since you call.’ This is an argument based upon assumption that we do call God as our Father. So since we do call God as our Father, who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

This is expectation that as we think about our responsibilities to God, we are to consider God as reverent. Here, we are talking about our responsibility to God for reverence.

Reason: Then Peter gives the reason why we need to be cultivating this reverence for God:

1 Peter 1:18-19

¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Peter says we are to live a life of reverence because we know that we know that we were redeemed from an empty or futile way of life, a life that we inherited from our parents.

He is talking to both Jews and Gentiles in Northern Galatia and he is challenging their culture in some ways, the way in which they lived culturally is an empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,

What is a futile lifestyle?:

• The lifestyle handed down by the forefathers.
• The Culture of the world around them:

Peter later on in Chapter 3 is going to challenge some cultural things. As a believer, we are new creatures, new human beings who have been brought into a new kingdom.

Paul talks that we have received this new life from heaven.

We have the Holy Spirit sent from heaven; 1:12.

We belong to a different culture.

We belong to a heavenly culture that demands different expectations, different responsibilities.

So Peter is talking about responsibilities to God concerning reverence.

Why Reverence: v19

We are to have this sense of reverence because we have been purchased with something extremely precious. Not the blood of bulls or goats, but through the blood of Jesus. Peter is talking about the preciousness of the blood of the Messianic Son. It is like that of a sacrificial lamb without blemish, faultless, but it is better than that.

It is all part of God’s plan. On one hand he was foreknown, appointed, designated before the creation of the world for that task. When we think about God’s big picture or that program of God, God set into motion his plan to re-establish His Kingdom rule on earth and redeem people into that kingdom. It is all part of God’s plan. Though it is revealed to us people in parts, God knew ahead of time who it was who was going to fulfil that kingdom program.

1 Peter 1:20

²⁰He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world but on the other hand he has appeared at the last times.

So we are to cultivate a life of reverence of for God because of what he has done through his Messianic Son of promise.

• Cultivate a Lifestyle of Hope and Holiness.
• Cultivate a Lifestyle of Reverence for God.

Cultivate a Lifestyle of Brotherly Love.

1 Peter 1:22-25

²²Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth (with this intention) so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. ²³For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴For,

“All people are like grass,

and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

²⁵but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

And this is the word that was preached to you.

V1:22-25– Peter assumes something to be true for the sake of argument: You have been purified. Your souls have been purified.

Purification has happened by obedience to the truth.

Our purification and obedience to truth is with a specific view in mind. So that we practice pure brotherly love, loving one another fervently.

The reason for our brotherly love:

We have been born again. We have a new life in the Messiah. It is not through a perishable seed that is conceived in the womb of a woman, but one that is imperishable, namely through the living and enduring word of God. We are new beings in him, not of the old creative order but of a new created order, imperishable creation.

Then Peter talks about how our humanity, how our flesh is like grass. It withers, it dries up, and it does. But believers share an everlasting bond. This flesh is temporary but there is a glorified body that we will receive and we will continue in fellowship and brotherly love in eternity. But as far as the word of God is concerned, it endures forever. That word of God is what enables us to grow, to cultivate a lifestyle of brotherly love.

How can we practice brotherly love? Peter says that we need to get rid of some things:

1 Peter 2:1-3

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

These are all things that affect our brotherly love.

Malice refers to the intention or desire to do harm to others. It is a deep-seated ill will or hatred that can manifest in thoughts, words, or actions aimed at hurting someone.

In a biblical context, malice is considered a sinful attitude and is often listed among behaviours that Christians are called to put away.

Deceit refers to the act of misleading or deceiving others by lying, concealing the truth, or using dishonest methods to achieve personal gain or manipulate situations. It involves intentional dishonesty or trickery.

Hypocrisy refers to the act of pretending to have beliefs, values, or virtues that one does not truly possess. It involves projecting an outward appearance of righteousness or morality while behaving differently in private or in reality.

Characteristics of Hypocrisy:

Saying one thing and doing another (Matthew 23:3).

Judging others while ignoring personal faults (Matthew 7:5).

Acting for the approval of others rather than for God (Matthew 6:1).

Believers are called to live authentically, aligning their actions with their professed faith. God desires sincerity, humility, and truth in our relationship with Him and others.

Envy is a feeling of resentment or discontentment toward someone else’s success, possessions, qualities, or achievements. It stems from comparing oneself to others and wanting what they have, often leading to bitterness or ill will.

Effects of Envy:

Strains relationships (e.g., Cain and Abel in Genesis 4).

Steals inner peace and joy.

Distracts from God’s blessings and purpose in one’s life.

Slander is the act of making false or malicious statements about someone with the intent to harm their reputation. It involves spreading lies, gossip, or damaging remarks that can cause division, mistrust, and pain.

Effects of Slander:

Damages relationships and reputations.

Creates division and mistrust within communities.

Reflects a heart of malice and dishonesty.

Instead of slander, Christians are encouraged to speak truth in love, promote peace, and extend grace to others.

Instead, we are to be like new born babies. We are to be innocent at heart. How does our heart become innocent? Through the word of God. This brings growth in our salvation.

We are to cultivate a lifestyle of brotherly love.

CONCLUSION

Peter exhorts that since have a this heavenly hope and we have been born again by the work of Jesus Christ, we responsibilities as children of God and how we are to grow in spiritual maturity cultivating a biblical lifestyle.

People usually tend not to take responsibilities for ourselves. Peter is it making it very clear to us, that we as believers, we who claim to follow Jesus, we have responsibilities. We are to cultivate these lifestyle, I want to make sure that you not miss the fact that it is a responsibly. We are to cultivate these things because it is our responsibility to do so. It is our responsibly to cultivate a lifestyle of hope and holiness. It is our responsibly to cultivate a lifestyle of reverence. It is our responsibly to cultivate a lifestyle of brotherly love.

I emphasize because we live in a time today where no one accepts responsibility for anything. It is always someone else’s fault. We tend not to accept responsibilities for our failings.

I have seen over the years I have preached my heart out on Christian living, Christian ethics, Christian behaviour, Christian marriage and sound teaching from God’s word and yet people fall into a compromised lifestyle and come back, “pastor, I am facing this now.” We are always sympathetic towards human challenges and needs. But friends you have a responsibly to put into action what is being taught. If we can take heed to God’s word and keep our lives in line with God’s word what is taught and what is written in your own devotion, we do not have to get into unnecessary troubles which sometimes are the results of our own doing.

I have a responsibly to teach the word of God, to bring applications to our daily living. Then we all collectively have a responsibility to wisely apply it in our day-to-day living by God’s wisdom. We need to be clear, alert for that.