(1 Peter 1:17-21) The Calling to Adoration

Peter challenges believers not simply to be Holy like God, but to adore God. Adoration is the basis for prayer, rests in the ransom of God, and recognizes the privilage it is to be the generation that Christ has been revealed to. The work of God should challenge us from mere obedience to purposeful worship in our lives.

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INTRODUCTION:

Tom Brady’s 2014 and 2016 Superbowl jersey’s have been the news recently. The 2016 jersey was valued at over 500,000 dollars, but was stolen on Super Bowl night. Police were able to track the jersey and a number of other valuable football memorabilia to a news anchor in Mexico City.

Why is a football jersey in the News, why would someone pay 500,000 for the jersey, and why would someone steal that jersey?

Tom Brady - memerabilia stolen

Afterall, I have had t-shirts stolen before and no one put my t-shirt on the news. Anybody who wants to buy my t-shirt for 500,000, let me know because I would gladly give to you.

Tom Brady - memerabilia stolen

Frankly, many people in the United States idealize men like Tom Brady.

Tom Brady has played in the NFL since 2000 and has been the quarterback for 5 Superbowl winning teams.

Even those who do not follow football would find that as an impressive record.

Therefore, people who love football would pay 5000,000 for a jersey to collect dust on the wall. They idealize the moment, the people, the teams, …

Now, let me ask you a question.

Sure, Tom Brady has had an impressive career, but is worth idealizing?

Peter tells us in our text this morning who we should adore and why we should adore him.

Peter tells us in our text who we should adore and why we should adore him.

1 Peter 1:17–21 ESV

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Notice the main point of this passage is that you “conduct yourselves with fear”

Proposition:We ought to live in Adoration for God.

fear of God - in this passage doesn’t mean that you ought to cower down being afraid, but instead is the idea of being in awe of God and adoring him, revering him.

If you are a true believer, you ought to adore God.

Now notice the subtle shift here in word usage.

is talking about Holiness.

In fact, says this;

1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Now many believe that he just continuing this idea of holiness. I disagree.

You see, Holiness and Adoration (‘fear of God’) are not exactly the same.

Someone adores God, will be Holy, but being Holy is not the same thing as adoring something.

Adoring caries the idea of not simply being pure, but also in being in awe of something.

ILLUSTRATION:

For example, Saying I adore my wife is not the same thing as saying I don’t yell at my wife.

You would say, adoration carries more than purity of conduct.

It means I am captivated by something. It is a matter of consuming Interest.

Far more than simply purity.

So in my opinion, there is a subtle switch here from a call to Holiness to a call to adoration.

Proposition:We ought to live in Adoration for God.

Transition: And This text gives us 3 works of God that demonstrate why we should adore Him.

The first reason,

1. Prayer Demands Adoration. ()

True believers in Jesus Christ are marked by prayer.

Simply take sometime and look at the opening and closing paragraphs of the Epistles. Many of them, especially of Paul’s, are marked with personal prayer for the churches and believers.

A.W. Tozer said this,

“Some churches now advertise courses on how to pray. How ridiculous! That is like giving a course on how to fall in love.” —A. W. Tozer

(http://awtozer.org/home/books/prayer/)

The fact is, true believers pray. It is one of the main markers for a true believer.

Peter assumes this knowledge and fact, and then asks a very pointed question.

1 Peter 1:17 ESV

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

Peter is asking a question, but by doing so he is really make a point.

If you are calling on God, then you are a believers, and as a believer who calls upon God, you ought to live in fear of God.

Now we have already said that the fear of God is the idea of adoration.

Then, if call on GOd, is snynomous not simply prayer, but belief and fatih. - A citizen.

you ought to live with reverence.

If you are a true believer, you ought to adore God.

Now notice the subtle shift here in word usage.

you ought to live with reverence. Why, - know he is Holy

Why,

is talking about Holiness.

In fact, says this;

1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:16 ESV

16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Now many believe that he just continuing this idea of holiness. I disagree.

You see, Holiness and Adoration (‘fear of God’) are not exactly the same.

Someone adores God, will be Holy, but being Holy is not the same thing as adoring something.

Adoring caries the idea of not simply being pure, but also in being in awe of something.

ILLUSTRATION:

For example, Saying I adore my wife is not the same thing as saying I don’t yell at my wife.

You would say, adoration carries more than purity of conduct.

It means I am captivated by something. It is a matter of consuming desire.

Far more than simply purity.

So in my opinion, there is a subtle switch here from a call to Holiness to a call to adoration.

We ought to adore God.

But why should I live in adoration for God?

Under the category, “you pray” he gives us the reasons why we should adore him.

a. God is Holy.

Many of our translations use the word “and”, but this also can be a word the connects two large ideas together. When it is used this way, it is often translated “then”.

and judges impartially.

“Then” refers back to the call of Holiness.

A Slight paraphrase, the text says this “Then if God is Holy, and if you call upon God, conduct yourself with fear or adoration”

Because God is Holy, you ought conduct yourself in adoration.

What does God’s purity have to do with adoration?

Part of what we ought to do is adore God because he is Holy.

Humanity is a pure stream of wickedness without God.

ILLUSTRATION:

You see, God’s holiness is like pure stream of mountain fresh water.

But Humanity is like the slime and sledge that pours out of a pipe into the cool clear water, polluting all that it touches.

The stark contrast between God’s holiness and man’s wickedness makes an encounter with God transformative.

An encounter with God leads people to adoration because they realize

- their wickedness,

- God’s Holiness,

- and their need for the cross.

Joe Thorn in Experiencing the Trinity says this,

“The less you are gripped with God’s holiness, the less awe you will experience in your faith. A truer sight of his holiness will give you a truer sight of your corruptions. And it is only as you see both of these realities that you will find his mercy extended toward you in Jesus Christ to be soul-satisfying and worship-inspiring. Awe of God proceeds from knowing and experiencing his holiness— his otherness.”

(Thorn, Joe. Experiencing the Trinity: The Grace of God for the People of God (p. 24). Crossway. Kindle Edition.)

Thorn, Joe. Experiencing the Trinity: The Grace of God for the People of God (p. 24). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

We see that point reiterated again when v. 17, when peters says that God Judges impartially.

b. God judges impartially.

Because God is Holy, he is also just. No just person can let sin go unpunished.

ILLUSTRATION:

We have watched a number of court cases that remind us of that point.

I remember one high-profile case in which the accused got away. The public watched the court case on live TV. The evidence was both broadcasted and talked about on the news, and most Americans felt that he was guilty. So when the verdict came back not-guilty, the public was outraged.

Even greater would be the outrage if an outright convicted criminal was let go.

We all recognize that wrong doing requires justice.

So when we come to God, we recognize he is the perfect judge.

>As such, there is no lawyer talk that can get you of judgement. He certainly will not allow a wrong doing to be unpunished.

The understanding that God is an impartial judge who will judge our sins, ought to lead us to the cross. We need the salvation of Jesus Christ.

Now remember,

if we are calling upon God in prayer, than we ought to be believers in Christ.

If we are believers in Christ, who know he is a righteous judge who has graciously paid for our sins,

then we ought to conduct ourselves with deep adoration. We ought to live lives of adoration.

In the final part of v. 17, we are told that we are foreigners.

c. We are foreigners.

1 Peter 1:17 ESV

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

Our ESV translates this section as “throughout the time of your exile”.

In the final part of v. 17,

What Exile are Christians currently in?

This word exile is often used to describe when the Jews were exiled from the promise land as a judgement by God for their sin.

Many of them were in Babylon, yet Israel knew that they were foreign people in a very different land.

ILLUSTRATION:

I had an opportunity to travel abroad a few times.

One of those times, I had the opportunity to travel to Shenzhen China, just outside Hong Kong. In many ways that trip was probably a little more touristy then real China.

Except for one thing.

We stopped at place where a large river divided Hong Kong from mainland China.

That waterway was guarded by a series of guard shacks containing Chinese soldiers.

The waterway was filled with empty abandoned boats. The reason they were abandoned is anyone who was caught in that waterway was automatically shot. Now questions asked.

It was really then I realized, I am an American living in a very different country.

In the same way, when we become believers in Christ our citizenship changes from this world to the Kingdom of God.

This makes you a foreigner in this world.

This world lives off the passion of the flesh. In contrast, you are to live supremely in adoration of God.

ILLUSTRATION:

This difference is why sometimes people will miss-understand us.

They misunderstand our - Motives and our values.

a. They will not understand why we cannot participate in certain social occasions such as going to a bar.

b. They will not understand why you will not just lie. Whether to avoid trouble for your or for themselves, they don’t understand why you won’t lie.

c. They will treat your belief’s as superstition and obstacles to life.

Just like being in another country, this world will not understand your motives or values. And that difference can put you at odds with the rest of the world.

Are you ever reminded that your are citizen of another world?

If not, why not.

- Either because you are not conducting yourselves in a way that shows you are a believer in our Holy God - that is your life does not demonstrate the purity it ought to have.

Because you are not doing what God has called you to do, glorify him by making the goodness of Jesu Christ known.

If you can go through this world with out conflict or misunderstanding about your belief in Christ, then are you really living in adoration to the Father.

>Therefore, Peter makes the point that because you pray,

- Sometimes it will be because they can’t believe we gave a great opportunity in order to stay commited to a ministry or a church.

- Sometimes it will be because we are not willing to bend the roles to avoid suffering. (Maybe it is taxes, or legal fees, work rules… and we suffer because we will not lie about it).

- Sometimes it will be because someone thinks we do not properly value something. It can be something as everyday as avoiding alcohol to bigger live issues, like why you will not just move closer to family.

The fact is, we will be missunderstood because ultimately we are foreingers.

I remember talking to a professor of a bible college some years back. He was on the way to work when a lady ran into the back of his Car. Immediately, she was apologetic. However, everything about this lady said I a mess. Her language rearended Westcoast, Missrepresented.

you ought to adore God.

>Because of his Holiness, his righteous justice, and your foreign motives and values,

you ought to live in adoration

Peter gives us a 2nd work that demands adoration.

2. Believers Ransom Demands Adoration. ()

ILLUSTRATION:

When I was stationed in Hawaii I had a chance to go to the Arizona Memorial. The Arizona Memorial is probably the strictest memorial I have ever been to.

A tour of the memorial takes you by boat from the museum to the actual memorial sitting over the battleship.

Once there on the white bridge across the ship, you are not allowed to talk. They demand absolute silence.

Why?

Because of the men written on the wall of the memorial and the bodies that still lay trapped underneath.

The silence is to honor the great sacrifice of the dead.

Peter reminds us of the great sacrifice of Christ, which demands that we live in adoration for him.

Why should we adore Christ?

The sacrifice was that God paid the ransom of our lives. We once were in:

a) Slavery to Vain Living.

1 Peter 1:18 ESV

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

Ransomed by a Precious possesion.

Ransom was often used to describe the price a slave needed for freedom.

But what were we slave to?

Before salvation we were born into the slavery of the flesh. The flesh bound us and forced us to live by it’s desires.

1) Ransomed from Vain Living.

Just as a slave in the 1700s was bound in irons to do the work of the master, we were bound in irons being forced to do the desire of our flesh.

This was the tragedy of our families for generations going back to Adam and Eve.

We had been in bondage of sin with no escape. No one was there who could pay the ransom.

This bondage left us to live “futile ways”. Other ways we can translate this is “empty” or vain” living. Our bondage forced us to live empty, pointless lives.

That was until the ransom was paid and we were set free from the bondage of sin.

b) Ransom Payment was Paid by the Precious blood of Christ.

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Notice, this was:

1) Not of the World’s Perishable Money.

It was common for slaves to be bought out by giving the cost of the slave.

But what money could pay for the bondage of sin. There is no person to give the money to, even if we had the money to do it.

Our ransom was not paid for by money, but:

2) By the Precious Blood of Christ = the Spotless Unblemished Lamb of God.

Why does Christ deserve that we live lives in adoration to Him?

Because he paid for our freedom with his very blood.

In the Old Testament, the Law required that a sin offering be made by the sacrifice of a spotless and perfect lamb. There could be no defect, and the result was the forgiveness of sins.

However, the sacrifice could not break the bondage of sin. It could pay for the sins of the people, but it never could never release us from slavery to sin.

So we constantly had to bring another spotless lamb.

However, Christ, as the Son of God, was able to pay the infinite cost for all the world to be free from the slavery of sin.

He was spotless and unblemished, because he was the exact imprint of the Holy Father. This is a tie to the Holiness Peter spoke of in .

The son of God paid the price of ransom, that none of us could.

There was no money or even animal that could be given to redeem us from slavery.

That was the act that only the Son of God, Jesus Christ, could do.

Since he ransomed us,

the rightful respectful thing to do in response to his sacrifice,

is to worship him.

Just as the fallen sailors at the Arizona deserved respect, even greater does Christ, the spotless lamb deserve adoration.

3. The Revelation of Christ Demands Adoration. ()

We often think about Christ work as deserving adoration, but We do not often think about the revelation itself as reason to adore Christ.

Yet, we are privileged generation. This echoes back to where we are told that we are privileged.

1 Peter 1:10–12 ESV

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Peter makes the point again here in regards of adoring Christ.

Why should we adore God?

1 Peter 1:20–21 ESV

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

We should adore God because:

a) God choose to reveal him to us.

Sometimes, we act like God was waiting around to reveal Christ. He had to accomplish everything in the OT first.

Yet, gives us a different idea.

The fact is, Christ is eternal. He has been here before the world was known.

A more literal translation is this: “being foreknown before the world (2) was known”.

Christ preexisted as the eternal son of God. Therefore, God could have revealed him as the promised Messiah anytime he wanted.

Yet, for our sake God revealed the Christ. In that way, we are a privileged generation.

But why?

b) It’s goal is for Faith and Hope in God.

1 Peter 1:21 ESV

21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Understand, our faith and hope in God.

Faith is our trust and dependence on God the Father.

Hope is our confidence in the future riches of Christ.

c) It’s goal is for Faith and Hope in God.

But how did I come to faith and hope?

Was it because of my own good works, my own love of God?

According to the text, our faith and hope came because of Christ’s resurrection and glorification.

The resurrection refers to Christ on the 3rd day being risen from the dead by the Fathers will and the Holy Spirit’s work. We as believers received new life, including faith and hope, through this resurrection.

We then are reassured of our present and future fate, because Christ was glorified with the honor of sitting at the right hand of the father.

Hebrews 1:3 ESV

3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

And notice, the goal of the resurrection and glorification of Christ -

1. The Resurrection was to bring us into Faith and hope.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

so that your faith and hope are in God

2. The Glorification of Christ was to bring us into Faith and Hope.

God the father and Christ the son both deserve adoration because God choose to reveal him to you for salvation.

Someone who has faith and hope is someone who has salvation and adores God.

ILLUSTRATION:

The intended purpose is that we would adore God. To trust and hope in God.

Many of you sitting here his morning are married.

When did your love for one another begin?

ILLUSTRATION:

Generally, it started with some small token of kindness.

- You gave her a flower,

- opened the door for her,

- found some reason to spend time with one another.

From one small act of kindness, it blossomed to a number of acts of kindness, to what we call love.

As special and great as that is, think about this.

God begin his romance of you with greatest act of love ever known,

- he revealed the Christ to you,

- followed by the resurrection and glorification,

so that you would have a relationship with God in faith and hope.

Just as our spouses deserve love and adoring because of their kindness,

Christ deserves adoration because of his kindness.

We ought to adore God because he has revealed to us the Christ.

CONCLUSION:

So what does this text demand?

Proposition: We ought to live in Adoration for God.

Our text says in we should conduct our selves with fear.

In this passage,

Fear means we adore God, give him reverence, we worship him.

This is more than simply being Holy like he is, but that we live as though he is the center of our lives.

Why?

Transition: And This text gives us 3 works of God that demonstrate why we should adore Him.

1. Prayer Demands Adoration. ()

a. God is Holy.

b. God judges impartially.

c. We are foreigners.

2. Believers Ransom Demands Adoration. ()

a) Slavery to Vain Living.

b) Ransom Payment was Paid by the Precious blood of Christ.

1) Not of the World’s Perishable Money.

2) By the Precious Blood of Christ = the Spotless Unblemished Lamb of God.

3. The Revelation of Christ Demands Adoration. ()

a) God choose to reveal him to us.

b) It’s goal is for Faith and Hope in God.

Many unbelievers wonder what makes the Christian life different from the non-Christian life.

In many ways, are daily activities look rather similar.

We all need:

a place to live.

food to eat.

This means we all have a job to provide for what we need.

We also all enjoy certain pleasures.

hunting

basketball

shooting

movies

family time.

So how are Christians different?

In some ways it is our values and motives. They match the holiness of God.

But the Christian life is not simply not doing all the bad things.

Then what is the difference?

It is what we worship.

The World:

Worships the hobbies and possessions of this life. The passions and desires of the flesh are what drive them.

Not every unbeliever seeks that which is repulsive, but every believers is living according to their own desires.

- This is why a football jersey worn by Tom Brady has a 500,000 value. Some people worship and idealize sports.

- For others it may be something different, but nevertheless they are driven by their hobbies or possessions rather than God.

The Christian life:

Is different because it is centered around adoring our God.

1 Peter 1:17 ESV

17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

In essence, our life is centered around a love and adoration for God.

In essence, our life is a

- We mimic his motives and values.

- We devote time to meditate on Him and His Word.

- We fellowship with him through prayer and praise.

The Christian life is primarily different because of what we worship.

Let me ask you this,

What do you worship?

Every person’s life ought to be in adoration to God.

- As unbelievers, this is chiefly what you are missing.

- As believers, this is chiefly what your life should consist of.

Does your life worship God?

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