Obedience of Hope1

Like pickles in a jar, our minds are soaked with all sorts of secular subtleties. We are infected by our culture of comfort and convenience, and would rather erase suffering out of the biblical dictionary. We want a God who supports our plans, who is our “accomplice”; someone to whom we can relate as long as he is doing what we want. If he does something else, we “unfriend” him.

Those are strong words, but I think she hits the nail on the head.

In order to faithfully endure the trials and struggles of the world we live in, we must fight with the right weapons and refocus our attention on what is really truth.

That is Peter’s agenda in 1 Peter as well.

He is writing to Christians who are suffering because of their faith in Jesus.

And rather than writing a bunch of empty platitudes to make them feel better.

Peter intends to help them, and us, journey through this world with hope, distinctiveness, and a deep trust in God.

1 Peter 1:13–21 ESV

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 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.” 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.

Living out Resurrection Reality

1 Peter 1:13 ESV

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Therefore here is pointing back to all that Peter has just established-

Peter has spend the first 12 verses painting the most beautiful picture of our Resurrection reality:

The hope that the resurrection of Jesus brings of the end of death and the sure hope of restoration.

The imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus

And the realized salvation that was accomplished by Jesus through the resurrection.

But therefore also represents a transition from the indicative mood (descriptive) to the imperative mood (instructive).

He is saying with therefore and the 2 participles: “with this beautiful picture in the forefront of your mind (preparing your mind for action) and not letting the lure of temporary pleasure intoxicate you (being sober-minded), here is what you should do.

And then Peter give us 5 imperatives (commands or “go-and-dos):

Hope Fully

Be Holy

Live Fearfully

Love Sincerely

Feast Heartily

We are going to look at the first 2 today.

Hope Fully

1 Peter 1:13 ESV

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

SET your HOPE fully- to set means to direct your attention in a particular direction.

Like setting the TV dial to a certain channel (those that grew up with a floor model TV know what I am talking about, pre remote control).

Peter is telling these Christians, who getting threatened, arrested, and facing opposition from all around, don’t focus your attention on the junk you are wading through.

SET your gaze on the HOPE of the Gospel, the promise that Jesus will rescue us from this sin-filled world.

Remember that BIBLICAL HOPE is not uncertain desire, it is FULL ASSURANCE.

Peter is calling them (and us) to look beyond our present circumstances, regardless of what they are, and SET OUR HOPE on the promise (the SURE PROMISE) that Jesus will make things right, that Jesus will fix what is broken.

Hebrews 9:28 CSB

28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Our hope is God’s gift, an inheritance created for us by Christ’s resurrection (1:3). Because we have been given hope, we are called to live in it.

Dr. Edmund Clowney

We have a hope that is not based on things going right for us or situations working out in our favor.

Our hope is rooted in God-sized and God-backed promises.

And we are told to “prepare our minds for action” meaning we are to remind ourselves of those promises over and over again. As the abiding Word of God speaks those promises to us:

1 Peter 1:24–25 ESV

24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

And we are also told to remain “sober-minded”, which does mean not drunk, but also means more.

It means don’t be lured into the intoxication of the world that devalues and distorts the beauty of God’s grace and His promises.

The world we live in is full of sales pitches offering HOPE.

Money, sex, entertainment, political figures and ideologies…but in NONE of them will you find the FULL ASSURANCE of Hope.

And that is why Peter calls us to SET our HOPE FULLY on the Gospel

FULLY means completely and not partially or alongside

It means to have all our hope in Jesus, not Jesus and money, or Jesus and our marriage, or Jesus and success, or Jesus and early retirement, or Jesus and financial security, or Jesus and our health, or Jesus and successful, healthy children...

To live life in the reality of the Resurrection first means to HOPE FULLY in Jesus.

Be Holy

1 Peter 1:14–16 ESV

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 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.”

Here Peter calls the believers to live in holiness.

In order to live in holiness (which has in mind morality and obedience to God’s commands) they (we) must be living toward something.

We live toward the Hope we have in Christ out of response for what He has done for us and promises one day to do in us.

Peter is not calling us to lives of rigid obedience to the harsh commands of God.

He is calling us to live in light of Hope we have in the Gospel of Jesus.

1 John 5:3 CSB

3 For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden,

The love we have for God is the motivation for our obedience to God.

And it is not BURDENSOME!

When you follow one that Loves you, from a heart that overflows with Love for Him, it is not burdensome, but freeing.

If following Jesus is a burden for you then you are not following out of a freed heart.

Your understanding of God’s commands is wrong.

Obedience to God is rooted in a growing and strengthening FAITH IN GOD.

Peter is calling the believers to live differently.

Not out of obligation, but our of transformation.

Our holiness comes from our identity as Children of God

“As obedient children, do not live like you used to when you didn’t know the love of God and the hope of heaven.”

That reads a lot differently then “you better be a good christian and do all the right things”

The word Holy literally mean “set apart”.

Peter is calling these Christians to BE DIFFERENT.

Be different because you are not the same old person you once were, you are a born again child of God.

Be different because you have been set free from the slavery of sin and the endless pursuit of pleasure in temporary, never satisfying things.

Be different because your eyes are set on promises far greater than any thing this world has to offer.

Peter is using the word Holy as it was used in the Old Testament

Not as behavior modification, but as a call to live in light of the hope we have in Jesus.

The whole point of Holiness is, and has always been, for God to create a people for His own possession, who love Him, and who walk according to His ways, and this becomes witnesses to the glorious Gospel of Jesus for the whole world to see.

That is why Holiness is not burdensome, it is life-giving freedom.

“On the one hand, this seems to set an impossible standard: how can we be like the holy God? On the other hand, there is a marvelous simplicity in a holiness patterned on God himself; it does not require encyclopedic grasp of endless directives and prohibitions. It flows from the heart; its key is love. To be holy is to love the Lord our God with heart, soul, strength and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We imitate the love of grace that saved us, the love of God’s compassion poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

Dr. Edmund Clowney

Imagine a People, Imagine a Church

Imagine the impact of a people so focused on the hope they possess in heaven that the circumstance of their current situation doesn’t drive them to despair or lead them into bitterness.

Imagine a people who are so in love with the person of God, who have “Tasted and seen that the Lord is good”, and because of that, have given their lives to serve Him and obey Him out of a deep reverence of who He is and what He has done for them in Christ.

Imagine the impact of a people who serve others as God has called them to serve in spite of danger they may face, in spite of pain they may endure, and in spite of struggles they may encounter.

May your Hope be set fully on the Grace of God in Christ and may the hope you have in Him lead to living a life of Holiness that shows the word the goodness of God.

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