Pilgrim Perspectives I Peter 1:13-16

Pilgrim Perspectives (or, “Saving Pilgrim _________”)

I Peter 1:13-16

Introduction:  One of the themes of the current election cycle has been the question of immigration, foreigners, and exiles. Without entering into the political issue, it’s not too surprising that the theme is prevalent at several levels in the Bible.  After all, our first parents, Adam and Eve, were exiled from the Garden they were created for and sent out into this sin cursed world. Abraham was called to leave his native land and headed to a land that he did not know.  There he became a “resident alien” and had to purchase a burial place for his wife.  The sons of Jacob were refugees in Egypt during a time of famine, and eventually their descendants were enslaved. They were foreigners, mistrusted and maligned.

       The Nation was delivered from bondage and entered into the promised land, a place they were given by God, but only over time did they gain security from the pagan inhabitants. Initially, they were strangers in their own land.  Due to their unfaithfulness God allowed the ten northern tribes to be defeated and deported by the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and the southern Kingdom likewise fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. For a time they lived as exiles, until, under Ezra, and Zerrubabel, and Nehemiah, a remnant returned to the land and the city was restored as the walls and the Temple were rebuilt. It’s not only an Old Testament concept.

        In the New Testament, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to avoid the treachery of Herod, and later the believers were scattered in Acts after the death of Stephen. Peter is using the language of “pilgrims and exiles” to address his audience, who were perhaps among those that had been “dispersed” through persecution, but who also knew that their citizenship, ultimately, was in heaven. So they were foreigners, looking forward to something better that God had planned and prepared for them.   

       Peter uses a couple of different words in this first chapter of I Peter to convey different aspects of the idea. We are “foreigners” or “strangers” who live in a land that is not our own. In that sense we are like the Jews of the exile, away from the land of promise, but with an eye that looks homeward. The word “pilgrim” is also used to describe the Jews of the dispersion who would travel back to Jerusalem for worship in the Temple at the time of the “Pilgrim Feasts.” As pilgrims in a fallen world we are not perfect, but we are different, we are not sinless, but we do sin less...  

The Maine Idea: As exiles in a fallen world we have hope in the future and the heart to live a separated life in the present.

In the interest of alliteration we’ll look at that Maine idea from three perspectives,

First, I. Our conscience (13): By that I mean the things that guide our thinking, we’ll see pilgrims look to the future with hope.

Secondly, II. Our conduct (14): As pilgrims we live by a new standard because we answer to a higher authority.

And finally, the third “C,” III. Our consecration (15,16), we know we are made for eternity, that this life is not all there is, so we are “in” the world, but we are not “of” the world.

I. Our conscience: Pilgrims look to the future with hope (13).

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...” Remember when we see a “therefore” we need to ask what it is “there for”!  Peter is drawing an application based on the first part of chapter one. He has set forth the reality of “Our Great Salvation,” that fact that God knew us and chose us and loved us from before the foundation of the world, and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  In the light of God’s love, in view of His saving grace, this is what you need to do.  This is the biblical model that we see repeated throughout the New Testament, the imperatives, the commands that are given, the calls to action, are always based on the indicatives, the statements of who we are and what we have in Christ.  A couple of examples...

Romans 12:1  “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Ephesians 4:1  “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called...”

Colossians 3:1  “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God...”

In each case the apostle has been talking about our standing, our position, our salvation in Christ, and then he draws the application, “In the light of this salvation, this is how you should respond!”  The idea is similar to what Paul told the Philippians when he said, “...Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure...” (2:12b-13). 

       If you saw the film “Saving Private Ryan,” there are a couple of scenes that you probably won’t forget. Three of his brothers had been killed in the war, and a team of men were sent in to find private Ryan and to bring him home to his mother.  Almost all of Captain Miller’s men were killed over the course of the movie as they found, and eventually rescued Private Ryan. At one point, one of the rescuers said, “He better be worth it!”  Finally, there was a scene on a bridge, Captain Miller was slumped over, dying, he said to Ryan, “Earn this.” At the end of the movie, Ryan is now old, and is standing by Captain Miller’s grave. He says, “Every day of my life I remember what you told me on that bridge. I’ve done my best to live a good life...”  Every day we should remember the One who saved us, the sacrifice that was made. He said, “It is finished!” We could never earn it. But as we remember  what he did, the price that was paid, we can live as one forgiven, one who has been freed from sin. I can choose to “walk worthy of the calling with which I have been called.”

      “Gird your loins...” i.e., Prepare your minds for action... The picture here is paraphrased for us in modern translation since with literal rendering of the old King James version might not make immediate sense: “Gird up the loins of your mind...” In Peter’s context that would have been immediately clear to his readers. Men wore long, flowing robes, and whether it was getting down to work or getting ready for a battle, they knew that long robe needed to wrapped around and tucked into the belt or sash so it didn’t inhibit movement or get in the way. So the ESV get at the meaning: “...therefore, preparing your minds for action...” John MacArthur said, Peter...

...urges believers to pull in all the loose ends of their lives, meaning to discipline their thoughts (cf. Rom 12:2), live according to biblical priorities (cf. Matt 6:33), disentangle themselves from the world’s sinful hindrances (cf. 2 Timothy 2:3-5; Heb 12:1), and conduct life righteously and godly in view of the future grace that accompanies Christ’s return...

       Being sober minded... Part of right thinking is to not be led astray or deceived by the enticements of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Remember Paul contrasted being “drunk with wine” with being “filled with the Spirit.” The Spirit in us convicts and guides our thinking. Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you will be no means fulfill the lusts of the flesh!”

       “...Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you...”  “Hope” is future looking, a confidence that God will bring his plan to pass. As we have seen through the opening of the letter God’s sovereign hand in planning, providing, and culminating our salvation is a cause for rejoicing. It is all by grace, God’s unmerited favor, which will be expressed again at “...the revelation of Jesus Christ...”   As exiles in a fallen world we have hope in the future and the heart to live a separated life in the present.

II. Our conduct: Pilgrims live by a new standard (14).

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

       As obedient children...  We are the King’s Kids... Literally the phrase here is “As children of obedience...”  We asked some of our church kids, “What does it mean to be a child of obedience”?  Here are a few of the answers!

Two of Terri’s said, "To obey your parents."

Marion Pray’s idea of being obedient (I think with some translation from mom!) it “To not dump milk all over the place, and to not hit the dog!”

JJ: “to be good, to behave, to listen to mom and dad.”

Katy: “Listen to mom and dad, even obey them!”

Maggie’s boys:

    Lucas says, "To listen the first time someone says something"

   Owen says, "Listening to directions!"

The Fowlie boys, (I love the progression in the answers here!)

    Kameron.... [remember the question!] "You get a spanking!"

   Avery: "You have to obey and do what your parents say to do... you have to do whatever they say EVERY single time..."

    Andrew: "...means that you don't want to disobey your parents but we

are all sinful, so if you are obedient you would be perfect like God  but since we all have sin, we try our best to do what our parents ask of us."  (You can tell his father is a theology student!)

The kids are right, we should obey all the time, we want to obey, but we still fall short. We are not perfectly obedient children. But we love our Father, and we want to please Him. So we “listen.” And hopefully, we are learning and growing.

       Do not be conformed...  This verb appears only twice in the New Testament. In both cases it is a negative admonition: Do not be conformed...  In Romans 12:2 Paul urges his readers not to be “conformed to the world.”  J.B. Philips translated, “Don’t let the world force you into its mold!”  Here the admonition in the New Living Translation says,

“Don't slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn't know any better then.”

That is important to remember, there is tremendous pressure to fit it, to be like everyone else.   The point is, we are children of the king, and if we remember that, maybe we’ll act like it more consistently.  As exiles in a fallen world we have hope in the future and the heart to live a separated life in the present.

III. Our consecration: Pilgrims are in the world but not of the world (15,16).

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."

       The admonition here is more than most of us would dare think we are capable of: As He is holy, YOU be holy?! What do you do with that?  I decided to go again to the experts and get the thoughts of a few church kids.  Our impromptu survey question was, “What does it mean to be holy?” Here are a few of the answers...

JJ said, “To pray, ask Jesus for forgiveness.”  Katy said, “Listen to Jesus and listen to what He says!”

Kameron says, “I am not holy. Daddy is not holy. Mommy is not holy. Only God is holy. NOT Holy Cow. And that is all I know.”

Avery: “Only God is holy. People are not holy. Jesus can do things that people can’t do. He can do miracles!”

Andrew: “To be perfect, to be almighty.”   

Some pretty good answers!  The word “holy” means “set apart.” We know that for those who are in Christ, there are two aspects to this concept: positional holiness, and practical holiness.  Positionally, if we are believers, we are holy.  If you have any doubt about that, think back to Paul’s opening to his letter to the Corinthians. I that letter he deals with multiple issues in the Corinthian church: sexual immorality, divisions in the church, lawsuits between believers, offenses between brothers, etc. But do you remember how he addresses them in the opening of the letter? 

“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints...”  (I Corinthians 1:2).

The word translated “saint” is the word hagios, “holy one,” the same word that is used as an adjective in I Peter 1:15,16.  The word “sanctified,” hagiazo, is related, the idea being “to be set apart.” My point is that the Corinthians were “set apart” positionally, but they, and we, don’t measure up when it comes to “practical holiness.”  They Corinthians were living just like the world. Their “holiness” was not something that was evident in their lives. We all fall short too, but hopefully, we are becoming more and more “set apart” in our speech, in our thoughts, and in our conduct. More like Jesus today than when we first believed.

      We have biblical examples of humans getting a glimpse of the holiness of God and being overwhelmed by their own personal sinfulness. Isaiah’s vision is one that comes to mind (Isa 6). A vision of the Seraphim circling the throne of God, covering their facts and their feet, crying out “Holy, holy. Holy is the Lord God almighty!” Isaiah’s response, “Woe unto me, I am undone! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips...”  He saw his own sinfulness in the light of God’s holiness.  Peter’s encounter came at several points no doubt, not the least of which was in his fishing boat.  We read in Luke 5:4-9,

⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."  ⁵ And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."  ⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.  ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.  ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."  ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken...

He knew he was in the presence of holiness! The holiness of God is an awesome subject.  He is holy-perfect-sinless. We are His! In Christ we are holy. Practically, our desire, our aim, is to be holy, because it pleases and honors our father.

What is God saying to me in this passage? As pilgrims in a fallen world we are not perfect, but we are different, we are not sinless, but we do sin less...  We have hope in the future and the heart to live a separated life in the present.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  In a sermon by Ray Pritchard there is a quote from C.S. Lewis that I haven’t yet been able to track down (Ray didn’t give a reference). Lewis said,

“How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing... it is irresistible.  If even ten percent of the world’s population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before a year’s end?”  

I think he might overstate that, probably intentionally, but the point is that it will make a difference to the people around us if they see something real in our faith. They will take notice if our faith impacts us where we live. He is saying that if people see that there is something real in our Christianity, something that is visible, something supernatural that has changed us, and is changing us, from the inside out, they would take notice.  Let me say, there is a flip side to that.  If we speak negatively about another believer, or about the church, we are playing into the enemy’s hands. We are giving people outside and excuse not to believe. Take that seriously.  God forbid that we should cause anyone to stumble! We are holy because, if we have believed, we are in Christ. We are “set apart” just as surely as the Corinthians were. He bore our sins, his righteousness was reckoned to our account.  The admonition to consider: will we choose to allow the light of God’s grace to shine through in our living? Do you know that God takes pleasure in his  children? We read, for example, in Psalm 149:4,  

^“For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” 

It is that salvation that we celebrate, and that motivates us to live differently. Let’s consider the price that was paid for us to call Him Father.  Every day, remember what He said that day on the cross... It is finished. We could never earn it. But we choose to love and to honor the One who so loved us.   AMEN.