The Hope/Holiness

Connection
by Joshua Harris

A Sermon on 1 Peter 1:13-21


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Intro: I have a few questions for you: First, does hope
require work? Or are some people just born with it? Does it
just happen to you? Is it like a cold that you catch? Is there
a hope cupid that shoots you with a “hope arrow”? Do you
have to work at hope and if so what does this work
involve?
Second question: does having hope make any
practical, real-world difference in the way you live? Or is
hope only an inner, invisible spiritual concept?

The passage of the Bible we’re going to study today is

going to help answer these questions…

TEXT: 1 Peter 1:13-21

Verse 13 says, “Therefore….set your hope fully on the

grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ.” This points us back to all that we’ve learned in the
first 12 verses about the salvation that God has given us in
Jesus (REVIEW verses 3-12 here)

Peter is saying “Because you’ve been born again by Jesus’

resurrection, because you have an inheritance that won’t be
defiled or fade, because this great salvation is something so
wonderful even angels long to look into it…because of all
this set your hope fully, completely on the reward and
grace that you will have when Jesus returns.

But what Peter makes very clear is that setting our hope
fully requires our effort and action. It requires serious
mental exertion.


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Look at verse 13, it says, “Therefore, preparing your minds
for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on
the grace that will be brought to you.”

So this is our first main point:

1. Hope requires a mind poised for action.

The phrase “preparing your minds for action” in the Greek

is a very vivid phrase. Literally translated it says, “girding
up the loins of your mind.”

This would be the equivalent of someone today saying,

“Roll up the sleeves of your mind and get ready!”

In Peter’s day people wore long shirts or robes that went

down to the their knees. When you needed to get work
done or you needed to run or even fight, you had to get all
that fabric out of the way. So you’d wrap all the extra
fabric between your legs and tuck it into your belt. You’d
wrap it up or gird it up so you were ready to move.

And verse 13 says, “and being sober-minded.” We’re to be

clear-headed. Not tipsy and lazy but spiritually alert.

What this tells us is that having our hope completely set on

Christ is serious business. We can’t be non-chalant about it.


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We need to be sober-minded and ready to exert ourselves
mentally.

So earlier I asked, “Does hope require work?” The answer

is “Yes it does!” Hope isn’t just a feeling that magically
washes over us. It’s not something certain people are born
with and others are not.

If we want hope as Christians we have to very seriously

and purposely prepare our minds for the action of setting
our hope on seeing Jesus again.

That’s the action we have to be constantly ready to engage

in. Setting our hope on Jesus will not happen by accident.
We have to get our heads in gear. We have to do what Peter
modeled for us in verses 3-12.

• We have to gird up our minds to bless God for his

great mercy.

• We have to focus our minds on the truth that we’ve

been born again.

• In the midst of trial we have to discipline our minds to

rejoice in the inheritance being kept in heaven for us.

• We have to gird up our minds, turn from distraction

and look again and again at the salvation Jesus has
accomplished.


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There are days when you won’t feel like doing this. You
will feel like despairing. You will feel overwhelmed by
your circumstances. You will feel like God doesn’t love
you. You will feel like there’s no light at the end of the
tunnel.

Notice that Peter doesn’t say “Therefore, wait for feelings

of hope to show up.” He says, “Get your head in gear! Be
alert to spiritual reality, sober up! Roll up the sleeves of
your mind and prepare yourself for the action of believing
the truth about your salvation…and tell your feelings to
shut up!”

Now let’s look at the next four verses. In verses 14-17 Peter
talks about how hope set fully on Jesus effects our
behavior. Notice the shift…he goes from talking about our
minds and hope to obedience and holy conduct…

Read…1 Peter 1:14-17

2. Hope shapes our conduct.

So right after he says, “set your hope fully on Jesus” he

says be “obedient children and don’t live like you used to.”
Don’t be shaped or conformed by the passions of your
former ignorance—your life before Jesus saved you.
Peter is helping us see the connection between hope and
holiness. What we place our hope in shapes the way we
live—it guides our behavior.


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Verse 15 continues the idea. Peter says, leave behind your
former desires and be like God who called you to himself.
“As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in your
conduct.”

In this context the word “holy” is describing separation

from evil for righteousness. It means to be like God in the
way you act and conduct yourself—to do what is right
according to God’s law.

God tells the truth, so you tell the truth. God keeps his
promises, so you keep your promises. God loves justice, so
you stand for justice. God honors marriage, so you honor
marriage and live with sexual integrity. God is generous, so
you be generous to those in need. God hates sin, so you
separate yourself from sinful conduct and be holy as he is
holy.

Because your hope in and love this holy God, be like him
in the way you live your life. We can’t miss the connection
between hope and holiness.

Hope in Jesus is the basis for holy conduct. Hope in Jesus

is what motivates a life of righteousness.

In verse 14 it says, “do not be conformed to the passions of

your former ignorance.” In other words before God caused
you to be born again to a living hope through Jesus’
resurrection you were ignorant about him. You didn’t hope
in Jesus, you hoped in yourself. You hoped in sex. You


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hoped in nice house. You hoped in leisure and
entertainment. You hoped in power and control.

Peter says, “Don’t have a lazy mind and let yourself slip
into the behavior shaped by those old dying hopes! Don’t
be conformed by those passions. Don’t let those false hopes
direct your conduct.

Instead…Be clear-headed and alert and hope in Jesus and

let that hope produce holy conduct. Be obedient to God
because you hope in God alone.

Hope shapes conduct.

Let me share a few practical examples of how hope shapes

conduct. Think about this with me…

Hope in Money: If your hope is in money, will that hope

shape your behavior? Absolutely. If you’ve set your hope
on the American dream of a big house, a big retirement
account and a bigscreen TV that hope will shape the way
you live. You’ll do whatever you can to make more. You
might choose more money and longer hours over time with
your family. When money isn’t flowing you will become
anxious or angry or despairing. Your hope in money could
even lead to stealing or cheating.
Hope in a Relationship: Or what if you’re a woman and
your hope is in having a relationship. If getting a man and
being loved by a man is your great hope, you’ll
compromise God’s standards to get what you want. I’ve
watched so many women in our church turn away from


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holy conduct because their hope is in a man. It might be
dressing provocatively. It might be dating someone who
isn’t a follower of Jesus. It might be sexual immorality.

Hope shapes conduct.

Maybe you think of holiness as merely the list of things

you’re not allowed to do. Just rules. But holiness is not just
a list of do’s and don’ts. Holiness is hope in God in
action. Holiness is living to please the one in whom you
hope.

Holiness becomes a burdensome list of rules when we

separate it from a relationship of hope and trust in our
loving, holy Father in heaven.

Peter tells us that this hope-fueld holiness is to be

characterized by both childlike trust and reverent fear.

Verse 14 says we’re to relate to God as obedient children.

He’s not a cruel task-master. Verse 17 says we “call on him
as Father.” We’re to relate to God as trusting children.

But then verses 17 very appropriately remind us that our

intimacy with God should never be an excuse for
disobedience. It tells us that God judges impartially. He
doesn’t play favorites. He will evaluate and judge our
behavior and deeds.


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The implication is that we should “conduct ourselves with
fear throughout the time of our exile.”

This world is not our home. We’re exiles or sojourners in

this world. We belong to God, we know we’ll answer to
God and so we conduct ourselves with appropriate
reverence.

God is holy and awesome. We’re never chummy with him.

He is our father and yet we revere him. To disobey him is a
serious thing. He is a God of righteousness. This fills out
our understanding of why Peter called us to be “sober-
minded.” This isn’t a joke. Holiness isn’t a joke. Our
conduct matters. It will be judged by God. Heaven is real.
Hell is real.

But now look at how Peter concludes this passage. In

verses 18-21 he restates in a slightly different way the
wonderful news of the salvation we have in Jesus.

Text: 1 Peter 1:18-21

3. Hope is sustained by knowing (not just

doing).


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Verse 18 tells us that our holy conduct, our walking in the
fear of God is to be done KNOWING that God has
ransomed us from the worthless, futile ways of this world.

To ransom is to buy someone back from slavery. You and I

used to be slaves to the worthless hopes of this world. We
were slaves, we were hopeless and God came and
purchased us. He called us. He chose us.

When you know that, you don’t want to ever go back to

that futile existence.

And when you know this it fills adds inexpressible joy to

your holy fear.

The God who you will answer to loves you so much that he
bought you. And he bought you not with gold or silver—he
bought you with the blood of his only son.

Do you see what Peter is doing for us here? He is preaching

the gospel to us. He knows that our tendency when we
think of holy living is to place our hope in our own efforts
at holiness. And so he says, “Be holy in your conduct
KNOWING that God ransomed you.”

There’s an important reminder here for how we should

disciple others and teach fellow-Christians: we must never
call people to holy conduct unless we start and end with the


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good news of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus for
our sins.

If our hope is in our own efforts at holiness, we have no

hope at all. Our hope must be in the blood of Christ shed
for our sins.

Look at verse 20 once more…Peter tells us that the triune

God’s plan for the eternal son to suffer and die in the place
of sinners has stood for all eternity. “He was foreknown
before the foundation of the world.” This salvation was
planned and accomplished by God.

And here is what is so amazing: while the mystery of God’s

plan of salvation was not known for thousands of years it
was made manifest—it came into sight and has been
seen—for our sake!

Brothers and sisters living in the last days of this world can
be hard. But it is a great, great honor to be people who
know of the saving purpose of God to ransom sinners by
the blood of his son. What a great honor it is to know this
truth. To see this truth! God in his kindness has made his
purpose manifest for our sake.

He raised his son from the dead, he gave him glory and the
news of this resurrection has been carried by faithful men
and women down through the years to you and me.

And this is why, verse 21 says our faith and hope are in
God. Not in ourselves. Not in our performance.


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Why would we ever want to slip back into conduct shaped
by the dead hope we used to live by? This great salvation
has caused us to be born again so that we can be like our
Father in heaven.

Holiness is not a list of burdensome rules. It is the living

hope of Jesus worked out in our lives!

And so let us set our hope FULLY on Jesus. And let’s

allow this hope to shape HOLY CONDUCT in our lives.
And let us be holy, KNOWING that we’ve been ransomed
by the blood of Jesus Christ.

From first to last Jesus is our living hope!

End

Copyright © 2010 Joshua Harris

For free sermon downloads visit: www.covlife.org





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