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1 Peter 1:13-2:12 "Be Prepared"

Sermon One

"Be Grounded."

November 14, 2010

Object Lesson with Chocolate Chip Cookies

INTRODUCTION:

1. How can you tell what a person believes?

You can generally tell what a person believes by watching and listening to his style of life. "Life-style" can speak of our desires and beliefs because it shows our thoughts in action. If you think that worship is important it shows up in your actions. If you believe that family is important it shows up in your actions. If you believe God is important He shows up in your actions.

What is your life-style? How do your beliefs make it into action?

2. The Christian's life-style is different. It is different from what it was before a person was a Christian. It is different from those in the world. It may even appear strange to those not in Christ. If you believe that Christ is who he said he was, and is, then your life changes. New things become important and new actions come from those changed beliefs. New motivations join previous behaviors.

3. Is there a basis for the Christian's life-style? Yes, there is, and our text is concerned with it. It is important for us to see who God is and what we are to be in our relationship with him. While our anti-God atmosphere screams at us to conform, we are called by God to be different. We belong to God and that shows up in our actions.

Today we start a short series through the text of 1 Peter 1:13-2:12 on Page 1887 of our guest bibles.

As we get to that text I want to remind us of the letter of 1^st Peter.

God speaks His word through Peter with Silas being the one who does the writing (1 Peter 5:12).

He writes to a primarily Gentile audience that had been converted to Judaism and now has turned from Judaism to Christ. This audience may have been a part of the group gathered at Pentecost in Acts 2 has since been dispersed. In 1:1-2 he calls them "god’s elect", "strangers in the world", and "chosen."

Although 1 Peter is a short letter, it touches on various doctrines and has much to say about Christian life and duties.

Our passage says:

1 Peter 1:13-16: Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

You notice that we have started with a "therefore." It is there because the main topic of the previous section is the amazement and mystery that God would save us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Because of why and how God has saved us we are called to "prepare our minds for action."

Quotes about the mind:

The average man has sixty-six pounds of muscle, forty pounds of bone, and three and a half pounds of brain--which seems to explain a lot of things.

It's the quick thinkers who become leaders--he who hesitates is bossed.

He who will not command his thoughts will soon lose command of his actions.

An idea that rules people inwardly will ultimately run them outwardly.

Romans 12 reminds us that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds and here we are called to prepare our minds for action. This is a call to think before you act. And if you are prone the other way then act before you are done thinking.

When we think of Jesus and what he has done to save us. And we think of why he would go through all of the difficulty for us. When those thoughts marinate in our mind and heart we are moved to action. But what are the actions that we are called to?

What are the ingredients of this changed life? Today’s text shows us six ingredients necessary to have a life pleasing to God. We need to have our minds prepared, be self-controlled, have our hope set on the grace that Jesus offers, be obedient children, not shaped by the world, and live differently from those around us because God has set us apart for His work.

Let’s look at the ingredients:

Verse 13 - Prepare your minds for action – the idea comes from a person who would gather up their long robe before running. How do you prepare your mind each day?

Verse 13 – Be self controlled – There are ways to control people through fear, guilt, force, position, information, or manipulation but these are all external and once the person who is using these leaves so does the motivation to change. God wants us to be controlled from the inside out. The word has the idea of "having power over oneself" and thus to be able to hold oneself in. A self controlled person chooses their actions instead of reacting to situations around them. Is it important to have self control?

Verse 13 – Set your hope fully on the grace of Jesus. We will come back to this one at the end!!

Verse 14 – Be obedient children. Is this one just for kids? Who do your parents and other adults need to obey?

The next ingredient is from Verse 14 - do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. How many of you have played with play dough? Who is in control of the shapes that are made? Are you in control or is the play dough? This passage warns us to be careful who and what is shaping us. Do you want God to shape you or the devil to shape you? The ingredient that I have chosen is baking soda and it is the soda that will change the shape of our project.

The last ingredient is mentioned in verses 15 and 16. It says that we need to add holiness to our recipe. "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." We add holiness because we want to be shaped by God and God is holy. But what does "holy" mean? It has two parts – be different and be set apart. Smell this – how does it smell? Now taste it, does it taste like it smells? Holiness is powerful and a little of it makes a difference in our recipe. Because of being different and set apart we have a smell that people like and so they want to be with us and with God.

Now there was one ingredient that we did not put it yet and it comes from verse 13 where it said – "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." I have chosen the chocolate chips to represent God’s grace. Who likes chocolate chips? Now grace is another word that you may hear and not know. Grace is when you do wrong and someone loves you anyway. Do you like grace? We are grounded in God’s grace because we know that without grace we would not be able to be with God. The wrong choices would be in the way and God would have to punish us but when we accept God’s grace He can show His love to us because of Jesus dying on the cross. Another neat thing about grace is that God decides how much grace we need to make our lives sweet and enjoyable. And because he loves us when we fail him and make poor choices we can love others when they do the same.

So what do you think of our recipe? We added six ingredients necessary to have a life pleasing to God.

We need to have our minds prepared,

We need to be self-controlled,

We must have our hope set on the grace that Jesus offers,

We have to be obedient children,

Not shaped by the world but shaped by God,

And live differently from those who do not know God because God has set us apart for His work.

When we are grounded in these actions we are pleasing to God and affective for His kingdom. This week take a look at your recipe and see what may need adjusting so you have great results.

Next week: Verses 17-25 and the need to Be Connected to Christ and His word.