Called Unto Holiness: Part 1, Not of This World

Read: 1 Peter 1:13-25.

Sometime before Peter wrote his first epistle, Nero, a deranged emperor, induced mass panic in the Roman Empire by setting fire to his own capital city. While he was likely making room for his profligate building projects, Nero cast blame on Christians who were already mistrusted for turning Romans away from the Greek gods.

Peter writes to encourage persecuted Christ-followers who were scattered across the empire and uncertain about the future. He challenges them to look beyond this present world to Jesus’ second coming and to focus on living a holy life in this present age.

Christians are “saved” — present tense — from sin. We have a here-and-now salvation. But Peter also looks forward to a future salvation — when we will be delivered from this sinful world. He calls Christians to live with a single-minded focus on this future, eternal salvation — to “hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (v.13).

The “revelation of Jesus” is when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16), with the ultimate purpose of taking his saints to heaven. Earlier in the chapter, Peter celebrates this as…

1. “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5),
2. “a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3),
3. “an inheritance ” (1 Peter 1:4), and
4. “the outcome of [our] faith, the salvation of [our] souls” (1 Peter 1:9).

We are to “hope to the end” for this wonderful salvation — to “hope fully” in this promised deliverance. We do not hope in this world’s cheap and illusory promises.

• We do not hope in Donald Trump’s campaign.
• We do not hope in American dominance.
• We do not hope in our financial portfolio.
• We do not hope in the organized church.
• We do not hope in our spouses.
• We do not hope in ourselves.

Our hope is fully anchored in Jesus and especially the fact that Jesus is coming to save the righteous (Titus 2:13). “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

“Wherefore” — because our eternal salvation is at stake — we are to “gird up the loins of our minds.” Other translators prefer “preparing your minds for action” or “with minds that are alert and fully sober,” but “gird up the loins of your mind” preserves the original Greek, which alludes to the ancient practice of gathering up one’s flowing robes so as to move unhindered at work or in battle. We all have loose ends in our thinking which need to be tucked in.

Before we were saved, we were deeply influenced by this world and “the god of this world [who] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We are in a process of renewing our minds (Romans 12:2) — straightening our priorities, rejoicing in what is right, and avoiding distractions from what really matters. 

Loose ends in our thinking are hazardous when going into spiritual battle. If we do not tie them up, we may lose our faith before Jesus comes, and “be ashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28).

That is why Peter goes on to say, “be sober” — be serious. To be sober is to think about spiritual things with a clear and discerning mind. It is the opposite of being intoxicated with pleasure or clouded by agenda.

Many stumble through life without clear spiritual vision — without spiritual discernment — like the disciples to whom Jesus said, “Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” (Mark 8:17-18).

The church world is spiritually hungover from decades of diluted preaching. We need to return to the pure Word of God and allow it to clear our heads. Holiness starts in the mind. It must be etched clearly in our mind’s eye that Jesus is coming and everything we do in this life matters.

Life on earth seems like “forever.” “Forever” to the wide-eyed child anticipating the school bell. “Forever” to the giddy teenager counting the days until her wedding. “Forever” to the young married couple eager for their first pregnancy. “Forever” to the first-time home buyer trying to pay off his debt. But everyone soon concedes to that troubling question, “For what is your life?” and answers with James, “It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14); or, as Job testifies, “my life is a breath” (Job 7:7).

We are, in fact, just passing through. Peter says, “pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” or “conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile” (1 Peter 1:17). Recall that the people to whom Peter was writing were actual exiles, feeling displaced and unwelcome in their homes. They were actually sojourning. (To sojourn is to stay somewhere temporarily, like when someone studies abroad for a semester.)
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But Peter is not using the word “sojourning” or “exile” in a temporal sense; he is using it in a spiritual sense. He is saying that every Christian is an exile. We are not at home in this world. We are on a journey through this life, and our destination is heaven.

When Jesus prayed for the believers, He emphasized, “They are not of the world” (John 17:16). We are citizens of a different country. “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). God is our King. We belong to a different Kingdom.

While we are in exile in this life, we should not be swept up in the world’s affairs. We should beware of political entanglements. We should not be encumbered with material possessions. We should not be fixated with a career or a relationship. Those things may crumble in an instant. But our heavenly home — our final destination — will never crumble.

We are far too at-home in the world. Because we are not persecuted, like first-century Christians in Rome or twenty-first-century Christians in the Middle East, we have not had a strong taste of what it is like to be strangers and exiles in the world. For nearly 250 years in America, being a Christian has been a good thing — good for one’s business and reputation. Only in recent decades has that started to change.

But we should not be too alarmed. “Normal” for a Christian is feeling uncomfortable in the world. We should not fit in. How could we? “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever” (1 John 2:16-17).

While we are waiting for our eternal salvation, we should live like exiles. We must reclaim our faith from the American dream and swim against the corrupt currents of this world.

Continue reading Called unto Holiness: Part 2, A Life Worthy of Our Savior.