1 Peter 1:13-25 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.
Last Sunday, Pastor Kyle
continued in our Sunday Worship Service Online series through the Book of 1
Peter. He stated that, more or less, our society has been accustomed to
getting whatever they want, whenever they want. Even though things are
available out there, that whole “right here, right now” world is becoming more
challenging these days. Pre-pandemic, there was this delusion of permanence
apart from God that just permeated our culture. Before modern technology,
things like bread, eggs and milk had to be used up daily, but it was always
fresh. We particularly didn’t know how vulnerable our food chain was until they
were broken. We live in a lacking world of impermanence, but to God this
lacking nature of this world is not new at all. God has been speaking about it
in the Bible ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Our desire should be to
enjoy this life that God has given us. It is a good thing, but we will never be
fully and finally satisfied on this side of glory. In our fallen state, we are
constantly looking for fulfillment and hope here on earth, but day-by-day we
keep learning that this a a hopelessly lacking place. The pandemic has brought
the temporary nature of this life to our hearts as we’ve never experienced
before. We have all been through tremendous hardships and loss before this
situation and we know that there is no guarantees on this side of Heaven,
except that our salvation is through our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ alone. We
have hope through Him. When thongs are good and everything is going well, this
truth can slip into the background of our thoughts as something we’ll need in
the future. Ell, it’s front and center here now, isn’t it? Simply put, I think
that we are all re-learning what it means to live for that which is lasting in
a very lacking world.
Matthew 6:19-20 “Do
not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in
and steal.”
There are two main
categorical themes in this 1 Peter 1:13-25 passage of
Scripture. The first is the impermanent and lacking nature of the world in
which we live today. The second is the calling on every Believer’s life to
living for that which is lasting and eternal. Pastor Kyle shared three things
that every Christian can expect living in a lacking world. The first insight is
that we need to expect continual reminders that life on Earth is troubling sometimes, yet Heaven is every Believer’s true hope and home. 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,
instructs us that every Christian ought to set their hope wholly and fully on
the grace of God that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
That grace is salvation. It is the reason we study the Bible, Gather at church
for worship, praise and fellowship, and do everything within our power to bring
as many into the kingdom of Heaven as possible.
God’s grace is the only
place that we’ll find lasting hope. We’ll get glimpses of goodness on the side
of Heaven, having many amazing experiences in our own lives which are glimmers
of hope, but a lot of things that happen in life are bad and troubling also.
They are life-reminders that this is not our home. Heaven is the true home of
every Believer in Jesus Christ. When we look to things here to find lasting
hope, we are always going to come up empty.
In Christ, Brian
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