Sermon
Peter's Call to Holiness
September 25, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

Would you take your Bibles? If it's a personal Bible turn to 1 Peter, and I'd like for all of you to have your notes there in front of you as today we talk about getting acquainted with Peter. I was thinking some months ago...we spend a lot of time in the New Testament, but so much of it has been written by the apostle Paul that Peter doesn't get much attention. He's got two little letters, five chapters and three chapters, at the end of the Scriptures and I think he's been neglected. And maybe because when we think of Peter we think of a man who denied or betrayed his Christ, and so we kind of dismiss him.

But I'll tell you he's got an awful lot to talk about in his letter and we have started in 1 Peter. We recognize in the first 12 verses of this letter that he has given to us possibly one of the most concise and all-inclusive definition of salvation that we can find Scriptures, and Peter has presented to us what it means to know Jesus Christ has our Lord and Savior.

Now we come to verse 13, 1 Peter 1:13, "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you."

Now if you'll take your notes, and we'll go to them just for a few moments. I begin by suggesting that holiness is a subject often avoided by even Christians themselves. For some reason it's very uncomfortable for us to talk about being holy. We seem to have little trouble in ascribing holiness to God as we sing, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty" as one of our hymns of worship. Yet when we make the transition to speak about the holiness of our lives, we often visualize the caricature of what none of us wants to be--a person who is known as a "holier than-thou".

Now Jesus refuted that kind of life style as it was demonstrated by the scribes and the Pharisees of His day. So now you know our subject - holiness. We often sing about it...we sang about it today: 'Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in Him always and feed on His Word. Make friends of God's children, help those who a weak; forgetting in nothing His blessings to seek. Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; much time spend in secret with Jesus alone. By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shall be; thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, each thought and each motive beneath His control. Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love, thou soon shall be fitted for service above.'

So the Scriptures are very clear. God calls us to a life of authentic holiness. And Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the great preachers of yesteryear with his great church in downtown London, wrote these words, "Holiness is the architectural plan from which God buildeth up His living temple." And this is a graphic summation of the teaching of Peter on this important subject of holiness, for Peter states that living a holy life is to live a life in conformity to the moral precepts of the Bible in contrast to the sinful ways of the world. It is to live a life characterized by the "[putting] off of your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires...and [putting] on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."

Paul writes: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

The writer to the Hebrews says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Now you understand how serious our subject is.

The word used in the Greek is hagios and it's translated into the English in words such the as holy, sanctification or saint. Now the basic meaning is to be separated, to be set apart and different; and morally, it means pure, sinless, righteous, or holy.

And it's interesting when you go through the Scriptures and you begin to study the thought of the word or the subject of holiness and the word holy. First of all you come face to face with the fact that the Bible says that God is holy. "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill," writes the psalmist, "for the Lord our God is HOLY."

And John in his Revelation pens these words, "Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name: for Thou only art HOLY; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are made manifest." And thus, God possesses an incomparable majesty, so supremely majestic that there are beings who do nothing but surround His throne day and night singing out His praises of His holiness.

John looks to heaven and he says, "Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever."

And old Isaiah in the ancient past had a vision and he said, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with His glory."

It's interesting, things that have a special connection to God throughout the Scriptures are said to be holy. The temple was said to be holy, the mount where Christ was transfigured was called the holy mount, the gospels and the Scriptures are called holy, and God called the nation that He chose to represent Him a holy nation. He speaks in Exodus and says, "Now therefore if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

Now the Jews refused to play the part in history that God wanted them to fulfill. The Old Testament is a continuous record of their rejection of God's will. And when God sent His Son into the world, they committed the supreme and lasting rejection. And Jesus Christ Himself, was the transition from God's dealing with the Jewish nation as holy to a new people as holy.

Now follow me. We said that God is holy. Everything that's connected to Him or that is important to Him is holy. His nation is holy, and now His holy nation has rejected Him, and so Peter brings out a tremendous thought. Look at what he says: "They stumbled (speaking of the Jewish nation), being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. " Now he's talking to Christians. "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people but now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."

And thus, the new people, the holy people, are those of all nations and peoples who believe and follow Christ as the Lord of their lives. But here to me is an extremely important truth. I'm in the middle of page 3. But there is something even more precious and hallowed to real believers. The body of the individual believer becomes holy, for the Spirit of God dwells within the believer's body.

Paul writes, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

Think of it ladies and gentlemen...The body of the believer becomes the dwelling place for God's very presence, and the body replaces the holy of holies with the inner sanctuary of the temple, and thus, believers are called saints or holy ones. God is holy all that's connected to Him is holy. The Christians are a holy nation, and we are to be a holy people because the Holy Spirit lives within us.

So Peter tells us to be "obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." Now that phrase "obedient children" means children of obedience...that is, believers are to be so obedient to God that obedience becomes the basic trait of their lives.

So full response to the challenge of the call of God in the gospel inevitably has two sides. It involves no longer doing what we always have done, and also becoming something which hitherto we have not been. Look what Paul says, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." Now that's the description of a sinner.

We're not sinners now. "But you have not so learned Christ," writes Paul, "if indeed, you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus:" Paul is simply saying that's the way we lived before, but now we have learned in coming to know Christ life takes on a new direction. So he says you have not so learned, and he said, "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness."

If then, he writes the Colossians, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, were Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore", because of these facts, Paul says, you "put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Him who created him."

Paul says, listen, and so does Peter, when we come to Christ we put off the former things that we did in ignorance because we didn't know what it meant to be Christian. Now that we have learned Christ our lives should be marked with Christ's likeness and godliness and holiness. And thus obedience becomes at the heart of our Christian living, doesn't it?

Look at what Jesus said: "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." God writes for us in Deuteronomy: "Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever."

James says: "But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does." James is simply saying if we will obey God and live righteously, He'll bless our lives. "But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers."

So Peter says we have come to Christ, now that life is different our lives should be different. So he goes to the Old Testament, and I'm at the top of page 5 now, he pulls a command out of the Old Testament and he says: "Be holy, for I am holy." It comes out of Leviticus 19:2 and it is an appeal here made to the Old Testament revelation and its significant authoritative disclosure of God's purpose. When God called the Israelites out of Egypt, He did so in order to become their God in a new and a very special way. He then demanded that those who were thus to become His people, should be holy like Himself, and thus in the following chapter He says: "Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God."

You say, Pastor, boy that is a heavy one, isn't it? God said I want you to be holy. We say that God is perfect in every way, and God is saying I want you to be holy just like I am. What did He mean by that? You'll notice that He identified Himself to the nation of Israel as their Father, and He said, I want you to live in a way that brings glory and honor to My name; not to bring Me shame - In other words, the ideal. God is saying be like Me, love righteousness, seek godliness, be integris, be Christ-like; that should be your goal. That doesn't mean we are going to make it all the time, we'll fail, we are human beings and we do, but at least after we get up off our knees asking for forgiveness our goal is still the same - 'To be like Jesus, to be like Jesus, all I ask is to be like Him', so the old hymn writer writes. Like your father - like your son.

I have a very personal illustration that may help you to understand this. When I went into the ministry I realized that it was a sacred call, and I realized the challenge that would be mine to live in such a way that I personally would not want ever to bring disgrace or discredit to my God. But I knew that when the family came along now the responsibility gets broader, because Paul in his instructions to Timothy says if a man doesn't have a household under submission and living in reverence, than that man is disqualified from being a ministry. In other words, scripturally, to qualify as a man of God, you've got to have a house that's in order and children who are living godlike lives.

It's a sad thing that so many children from pastors' homes go astray, and in so doing disqualified their father from being a minister. I sensed the responsibility of that challenge and so when Leighton was about nine, and Cabot, and Karlton, and I felt that the boys would understand, I set them down one day and I said, boys, this matter of being in the ministry is a family affair. And I read this scripture to them that if a man doesn't have his own household in submission, how dare he try to be a leader in the Church of God. So I said, boys, what I'm going to ask of you to keep always in mind that your father is a minister and we represent God in our community, and I'm asking you to so live your life that you never bring shame or disgrace to God or the church.

I said, boys, I know that's a heavy one to lay on you, but if you choose to be disobedient, if you choose to bring dishonor to my God, I'll stand in the pulpit and resign and never preach again. Now boys, what I want you to know if I require that of you, then as your father I'm going to try to make life as enjoyable as I can for you. And what we did is we made their vacations fun, we enjoyed life as a family, we started an arrangement where every Friday evening at three o'clock when the children would get out of school we'd all get together and we had fun as a family. The first Friday night of the month Leighton got to choose what we would do - play miniature golf, go run on the beach, whatever the boy said we had to do it. There were some crazy ideas. The next Friday night Cabot had his choice; the third Friday night Karlton had his choice, and the fourth night Mom and Dad had their choice.

Do you know that in 23 years I don't think we missed more than half a dozen party nights together because I wanted it to say to my boys you're very important and we're working together at this task.

Ladies and gentlemen, today I have three boys that have joined and been part of my ministry for years as pastors of this church, and I thank God every day that they made it their decision. Now I'm not saying they're perfect. We had some real difficult challenges. One day when we moved into this building, there was an empty room across the way and we were living in on the little apartment so we had to tuck everything and pack it in there because we couldn't get it into the apartment. And Vernita had put in a box some cooking wine, so my boys got into that little room with their friends and they got into mama's cooking wine. And it was all over the church within an hour - the pastor's boys have had a drinking party. So I stood before the church and said, folks, this is what happened so you have an explanation for it.

What I'm saying is we got it all corrected, and I had a loving congregation, knowing that boys are boys. But I thank God. You see the point was this, I'm your father and thus I would like for you to live so that you bring respect to me. Now that's what God is saying to the Israelites. I've chosen you, I'm your Father, and I want you as a nation to bring Me honor and glory while you are living. And that's what Peter is saying here. We are Christians and we ought to act like it.

And if you wonder what a Christian should be, just ask the world, they'll tell you what they expect of us as Christians, and sometimes their expectations are exceedingly high. And so Peter is saying our God is a holy God and He wants us to have as the desire in our heart that in all that we do and all that we say we bring Him honor and we bring Him praise.

Now Peter goes to verse 17 and you'll notice what he says in verse 17, he says, "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear."

Now Peter has told us that God is our heavenly Father, but he also says never forget He's also your judge. In other words we can't be presumptuous just because God is our heavenly Father and think He's going to overlook sin. He's not going to do it. He's going to judge us. Now He'll be impartial, Peter says, but He will judge us.

Now in our notes I wrote for us just a couple of Scripture passages down on the bottom of page 5. God takes character development seriously, so Peter highlighted God's role as judge. Paul writes, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." And again, to the Book of Revelation, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

Now there's another passage in closing I'd like for you to turn with me...go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It's a very important passage. Peter is saying, yes, He is your Father, but He's also your judge. Now that's true in human relationship, isn't it? I serve as a father to my children, but there are times I must pass judgment. So Peter says He'll do it impartially, but live a life knowing that we're not here very long. You remember he says so that during your stay you'll live it with fear. He comes back to this idea; we're just here for a short time.

Here's what Paul writes. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:11. Paul says, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day (that's the Day of Judgment) will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."

Peter says our call as Christians is to live a holy life, not a life of perfection, God knows that, but with that focus: God may I so live that I don't bring You dishonor, that I always bring You honor, and people will be able to say 'That's a Christian; That's a Christian.' Let's pray.

Father in heaven, the first thing we want to do is ask You to forgive us because too frequently holiness is not our aspiration; selfishness is. And somehow we forget that we are on display here in our world, and oft times in our actions we do not display a very high portrait of Christianity. Would You forgive us, dear God? And may the message of the Scriptures today impact us so deeply that in the days to come, whatever we do, whatever we say, may we always ask the question, Will this honor my God? Please help us, dear God, is our prayer. And we pray it in Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen. God bless you.