"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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."
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers 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 forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your hope and faith are in God."
(1 Peter 1:13-21 NIV)
We are tempted to sin in two ways:
1. To go back to our old way of life
2. To stop believing that God will help and will be there for us in our future.
Peter writes this section to give those under trial some hope and to encourage them to persevere. To understand what he is trying to say, it is necessary to define what Peter means by 'hope'. He defines hope as a "confident certainty in God", therefore our hope should have Jesus as it's foundation since:
- (1 Peter 1:3) Jesus is alive and so our hope is alive
- (1 Peter 1:13) Jesus is coming back and will give us grace
- (1 Peter 1:21) Our hope should only be in Jesus and all the he is
The problem is, once we lose hope in God, we stop changing, learning, growing and repenting. In other words, once we stop hoping in God, we stop trying and so we start dying.
Listed below are 6 ways we can hope:
1. I can be a wise learner (1 Peter 1:13)
- Hear God's word: listen to sermons, download an audio Bible, listen to good, sound teaching on God, download theology seminars from websites (Reformed Theological seminary allows free downloads of it's courses)
- Read God's word: don't just rely on other people to tell you what God's word says. Read it for yourself, so that you can be informed of the truth and know how to recognise sound or false teaching. Be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11).
- Memorise God's word: this can be individual verses or whole books of the Bible. Start small and work up to it.
- Study God's word: don't just read the Bible. There are different ways to study it like inductive Bible studies, reading around in history, looking at the context of the book and getting a good study Bible.
- Discuss God's word: share what you've learned with others and learn from their insights.
2. I can be a sober thinker (1 Peter 1:13)
- This is a result of studying the word of God and being absorbed in it. The more you study, the more you will be able to make sound, biblical decisions.
3. I can be a grace seeker (1 Peter 1:13)
- When we are focussed on what we lack, we are unable to see God's grace in our lives. The idea here is to make a conscious decision to look for God's hand in our lives, even the small things of each day. Another way is to listen to the stories of others, how God is helping someone get through cancer, how God is helping a couple to restore their marriage; God's grace is all around us and we need to open our eyes to see it, so that our hope can be strengthened and we will persevere because the same God who's been faithful to them will also be faithful to you.
4. I can be a holy worshipper (1 Peter 1:14-16)
- Holiness is the attribute most mentioned in the Bible when describing God. Holiness means to be set apart and to be completely other from anything else. Striving to be holy in everything we do is an act of worship. Being holy is not something we have to be to get God to love us. He already does! In loving us, he enables us to obey him and it is by his love that we are transformed into someone more like him - someone holy!
5. I can be a ransomed sinner (1 Peter 1:17-19)
- Just like the Israelites were exiles in Egypt under the cruel taskmaster, Pharoah, though their home was the promised land, we were exiles in the world under the sin as a cruel taskmaster. Our 'promised land' is heaven. Jesus came, died and rose again to free us from sin and one day we will be in heaven with him.
- However, just like the Israelites complained once they had been freed from slavery and longed for the 'good old days' in Egypt, we too lose sight of what we have in Jesus and look back on our life before Christ and sometimes long for it. We romanticise our sin and think of ourselves freer than we are now, forgetting that we were slaves to sin.
- We have to realise that our slavery to sin is voluntary. Nobody else puts us into that position. Unfortunately, we only realise that we are once again a slave to sin once it's 'shackles' are on us.
- But just like God sent Moses to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt, he sent Jesus to free us from our slavery to sin. With Jesus we can overcome sin and not just manage it. He can release us from our addictions.
6. I can be a legacy leaver (1 Peter 1:19)
- In Jesus, we are freed from the legacy given to us by our family. We do not have to continue in the same way our families did before. With Jesus's help, we can change and leave a new legacy for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We can change and transform our family history.
The last point is why we should have our hope in Jesus . This is what is covered in 1 Peter 1:20-21. Before we can put our hope in Jesus, we have to see him as he really is. The view we tend to have of him is a weak, passive person, but that is not how Isaiah saw him in Isaiah 6 or as John saw him in Revelation. He is strong, powerful, he has been glorified and now sits at the right hand of God. This is the Jesus we have our hope in. He will never fail us and he will see us through to the very end.
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