Our Shared Calling, Part 1
December 24, 2017
We are not in Kansas anymore. We live in a much different world than the world we grew up in. We grew up in a world that shared our values. Police officers were respected, people worked hard at their jobs, and for the most part everyone treated one another with dignity and respect. Back then a Christian world-view prevailed. And even if you weren’t a Christian many Christian values permeated our culture. But no more. We are no longer a Christian nation. Over and over again laws are being passed that do not reflect Christian values. Christianity is rarely portrayed in a positive light in the media. And in many circles Christianity is actually under attack. We are not in Kansas anymore.
Gone are the days when most people believe in a personal God. Most do not believe there is one true religion. And most are Biblically illiterate. So there is a growing disconnect between Christianity and our culture. By most we are looked upon as out of touch or out to lunch. For others we’re basically irrelevant. And as a result, most people aren’t all that interested in listening to what we have to say and wouldn’t think of wasting their Sunday morning actually coming to a worship service. We are not in Kansas anymore.
But what most would bemoan as a sad state of affairs, what others would grieve over as a country going downhill, God’s Word speaks to the tremendous opportunity we have to show how unique and wonderful it is when God’s people live out the good news together. You see in a world where Hollywood’s dirty laundry is being exposed on a daily basis… in a world where violence and disrespect has become ordinary… in a world where crime, conflict and character assassination is an everyday occurrence… We as God’s people have the unique opportunity to shine brightly in the midst of this present darkness. Because we have the opportunity to show the world that there really is another way to live.
What is that way? Well, that’s what we are going to look at today in God’s Word. It is Our Shared Calling. So if you brought a copy of God’s Word with you today, let me encourage you to find the New Testament letter of 1 Peter. For it is in 1 Peter 1:13-25, where Peter spells out what makes us stand out as we learn to live out the good news of Jesus Christ in our everyday lives. So what is that? What makes us stand out as distinctly different from our culture in a good way?
Well, it’s Our Calling to Live Differently Read these first few verses with me: Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-15
The first thing we see here is that we have a different destiny. We looked at this truth last week. If you believe in Jesus Christ, your future is secure and it is good. The best is yet to come – because Jesus has risen and is seated at the right hand of God. Our life now is only a pale comparison to the life that awaits us in heaven.
Too often we forget that! We forget that the best is yet to come. And what happens to us is that we put too much stock, too much hope in the present. And when we do that, when things go bad for us, rather than living a life that stands out from the world, we end up just like everyone else: we worry, we complain, we grieve, we loose heart.
So Peter pairs two commands that, if we apply them, will help us rise above the difficulties of this life and show that there really is another way to live. These commands are all about protecting our minds. Listen to verse 13 again: Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 1 Peter 1:13
He is literally saying, “Gird up your minds” This is a military call to action, like the one used by soldiers in ancient times, who would lift up their garments and tuck them into their belts, so they would not trip when going into battle. So this call to action focuses on doing the same thing with our minds. We need to gird up our minds so the negative circumstances of life won’t trip us up. So this a call to get our heads in the game. Paired with this calling is the command to be sober-minded. This is not about being sober, like abstaining from alcohol. It’s about letting God’s grace control your thinking and not letting outside influences mess with your head.
When you put these together, you begin to realize you’re in a battle for your mind. The accuser would have you focus on all the negative in the world: your suffering, you’re your heartache, your declining health, your misfortunes, and the perceived decline of our culture and let all that is wrong in your world trip you up. Whereas the Father would have you set your mind on His grace to you – LET HIS GRACE TO YOU INFLUENCE YOUR MINDSET! The evil one wants to take you out of the game. God’s calling you to get your head in the game. It is a call to let God’s grace INFLUENCE your thinking, so you won’t get sidelined. It’s a call to action!
And next he adds a third command to reminds us of God’s grace to us in the present: Listen again to verse 14: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. He wants us to remember that we were once ignorance of the good news. We did not know God or His grace for us. But now that that you do know God, that you do know His mercy and grace; now that you’ve rested in His love as His adopted child; He doesn’t want you to go backwards to your old way of life. He rescued you from that empty life, that sin damaged life. So don’t let this world with its false promises and empty pleasures such you back in.
So, this is where our calling starts. Because if you’re still enamored with the old life, or if you still allow the world to shape your desires, then you won’t live any differently than before you met Jesus. You’re on a different path now. You’ve been enlightened by God’s grace, so don’t go back to what you’ve been delivered from.
In other words, embrace your new life – this life you were rescued for. And what is new life? It’s a life of holiness. Peter commands us to “Be holy in all you do!” Why? Because that’s the very nature of God. WE Are To BE HOLY BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY. God is Holy! In other words, The Holiness of God is what sets Him apart from humanity. God is not like us! He is different from us in that He is perfectly good, morally pure, and essentially loving to the core of His being.
So Peter is saying that WE ARE TO BE LIKE GOD in everything we do. In our everyday life we are to be merciful, gracious, generous, kind and compassionate in every relationship. In other words, we are to be so different than the self-absorbed people of our present age that when they see how different we are they will ask us why? How? Why are you so kind to that nasty person? How can you be so joyful with what you’re going through?
I remember the first time I encountered a person like this. He was a professor of mine, but He was so different than any other professor. He had this joy that exuded such a warmth and goodness, that you just wanted to know him. I didn’t know it at the time, but what he exuded was holiness. Since then, I’ve often used another word that helps describe this: Beauty! He had this other-worldly beauty IN HIM that just flowed OUT OF HIM that made him stand out as different. And that’s what we are to be: beautiful ones – so winsome, so gracious and good, that others will be genuinely drawn to us.
THAT IS what God is calling us to BE: TO BE HOLY AS HE IS HOLY. To be distinctly different from the world, to be like God in the world. For when we are holy, others will not just be drawn to us, they will see Jesus in us. So if this is our new calling in life. This is how we are to live differently.
Now, for most of us we get this. Another way of saying it, is we are to be like Jesus, to live and love like Jesus. But where do we begin? And if you’re asking that, that’s precisely where Peter goes next…
By reminding us that THIS WORLD IS NOT OUR HOME Look at verses 17-19 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:17-19 We are to live as set apart from this world because we are not of this world. We are now “foreigners here.” This word literally means “without house” or “without family.” You see, the recipients of this letter lived in a Roman society. Rome was considered your family; Caesar was the father of this family. But the moment you put your trust in Jesus, you were born again into a new family, where God was your Father. And that meant you had moved outside the Roman family. You were now an outsider, homeless, a foreigner.
And that’s what happened to you when you put your faith in Jesus. You became a foreigner here. You now have a new home where God is your Father and you are His child. You belong to the kingdom of God, so you are now without home in this culture – you are a foreigner here.
So if we are foreigners here, then we need an attitude adjustment. A big one. For all of us have been brought up with the prevailing attitude of our present culture. And the prevailing attitude of our present culture is this: Is to Chase The American Dream. We’ve been taught to pursue life so as to fulfill that dream. Get an education, work hard, purchase a home, make good investments, move up the ladder, become successful – then you can have the life of your dreams.
So what Peter is calling us to is not the American Dream, but God’s dream! And God’s dream is so much bigger, so much more fulfilling and so far beyond what this world offers us. And the PROOF of this is in the PRICE He paid for us. God did not redeem us with worldly wealth – WITH SILVER OR GOLD. No, He purchased you with the precious blood of Jesus: real blood shed for you, real pain suffered for you, a real life given for you. And now because He has purchased your life with Jesus’ blood, He now offers you a life of satisfaction far beyond anything this world offers.
So live out your time here differently. This world is not your true home. God has rescued you for something so much bigger than the American Dream. He has rescued you for His Kingdom Dream. And once that begins to sink in, once you begin to grasp the implications of what He rescued you FOR … then you will begin to see LIFE differently. You will begin to see TIME differently. You will begin to see PEOPLE differently. And what you will see is that God has called you to seize the day in a whole new way. Life WILL no longer BE about what you can accumulate – whether that be things, or experiences. Life will be about seizing EVERY OPPORTUNITY to be a blessing. This is the mindset Jesus’ redemption should AWAKEN in you: a mindset, that tells you when wake up in the morning, you get to seize this day and make a difference for eternity.
And this is how you can know if you have this mindset in you: Ask yourself how you currently spend your time: Do you spend it on your dreams or God’s dreams? Are you building your own kingdom or are you a servant in God’s kingdom? This World is not our home. The American Dream is not OUR dream. God’s home is so much better; God’s dream is so much BIGGER. And God’s Dream is simply this: To stand out so different from this world, that there’s no doubt that this world is not your home.
And what is the one distinctive that God wants in us that will help us stand out? It’s our love for each other: It is Our Love for One Another that sets us apart! Look now at how Peter concludes this teaching in verses 22 & 23 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, (you have a new nature, God’s nature), you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God. 1 Peter 1:22-23
This is God’s Dream for us! Sure, He’s called us to be Holy, to be like Him. For we are most like Him, and stand distinct from the world, when we love each other deeply… from the heart.
To be holy as God is holy, to show others that this world is not our home, is seen in our love for one another. And this is no ordinary love… our calling here is to a brotherly/sisterly kind of love. A love marked by deep affection. It’s the kind of love you have for your children and grandchildren. It’s the kind of love that sets life on the back burner to help the one you love – the kind of love that means you will do anything for him, for her. This is what sets us apart.
This is the love the Father has for the Son, and the Son has for the Father, and it’s the dream Jesus prayed for us. If you have any doubt about that, listen to Jesus’ prayer for us: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23 This is how God has designed it so that we will stand out in a world of division, selfishness and strife. The alternative way of life that will draw others to Jesus is our deep affection for one another!
This is why God wants us to do life together in community! For it is only when we are together – it is only then that they can see this deep affection in practice. They will see it as we encourage one another, pray for one another, carry one another’s burdens, help one another, love one another. This is how we stand out as we live out the good news together: Our love for one another sets us apart. Our love for one another reveals an out of this world kind of unity. And our love for one another reveals the beauty of God’s holiness.
This is why we are launching our Neighborhood Groups over the next few weeks. We need to be together if we are going to be like God and show the world God’s Dream for a new humanity. This is how we will live out our Shared Calling together.
It starts by getting together so we can love one another from the heart. This is why you were born again, so God could give you His nature, so you might love like Him.
So then, this is what I want to ask you to do today:
If God is calling you to get your head in the game
If God is calling you to leave the old life behind…
If God is calling you to love others as He has loved you…
then take your Connect Card and mark the box: Neighborhood Groups.
It’s time we start living the dream, God’s dream together! It starts here, by getting together with your brothers and sisters in community so we begin loving each other, deeply… from the heart.
Let’s pray.
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