This homily was originally preached to the saints at Harbinger Gospel Church. May it encourage you in your faith. Learn more about our community at HarbingerGospelChurch.org.
Today, we embark on a journey through 1 Peter 1:13-25, where the apostle Peter offers us three essential exhortations for living out our faith. These exhortations serve as a blueprint for a life that honors God and reflects the transformative power of Jesus Christ. Let us delve into these three key areas: setting our hope fully on God’s grace, pursuing holiness in all our conduct, and loving one another earnestly from a pure heart.
Set Your Hope Fully on God’s Grace
Peter begins by urging us to anchor our lives in the unshakable promises of God, rather than the fleeting circumstances of this world. This means setting our hope completely on the grace that will be brought to us when Jesus Christ is revealed. As Hebrews 10:23 reminds us, “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.” When we place our hope fully in Christ, we can experience the “joy and peace” and “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” that Romans 15:13 describes.
Be Holy in All Your Conduct
Next, Peter calls us to holiness, reminding us that as God is holy, we too are to be holy in all our conduct. 1 Thessalonians 4:7 affirms this, stating “For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.” Pursuing holiness touches every area of our lives. It involves embodying Christ’s teachings on love, compassion, and forgiveness. It means walking in integrity, moral purity, humility, and care for the marginalized. As Hebrews 12:14 exhorts, we must “Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness-without it no one will see the Lord.”
Some practical ways to pursue holiness include:
—Embodying Christ’s teachings on love, compassion, forgiveness, and even praying for our enemies (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:36).
—Living with integrity, honesty, and letting your yes be yes (Matthew 5:37, Colossians 3:9).
—-Responding to aggression with peace, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and overcoming anger with kindness (Luke 6:29, Matthew 5:41, Ephesians 4:31-32).
—Practicing generosity, sharing freely, contentment, and avoiding greed and envy (Luke 6:30, Luke 12:15, Exodus 20:17).
—Maintaining moral purity in thought and deed, honoring marriage, abstaining from sexual immorality, and avoiding occult practices (Matthew 5:27-28, Hebrews 13:4, Galatians 5:19-21).
—Embodying humility, serving others, acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Matthew 23:12, Micah 6:8).
—Caring for the marginalized and being agents of reconciliation and ethnic unity (James 1:27, Ephesians 2:13-14).
Love One Another Earnestly from a Pure Heart
Finally, Peter charges us to “love one another constantly” and “from a pure heart”. This echoes Jesus’ command in John 15:12, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Our love is to be sincere and fervent, overflowing to others just as God’s love overflows to us (1 Thessalonians 3:12). This love is only possible because Christ first loved us and gave himself up for us.
Conclusion
As we seek to live out these commands – setting our hope on God’s grace, pursuing holiness, and loving one another earnestly – we can be confident that God will empower us by his Spirit. For ultimately, it is not about our own striving, but about God’s work in and through us. Verse 25 explicitly says this – do all of these things… “because you have been born again”. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and run with endurance the race set before us. May we be transformed by the power of God’s grace, reflecting His love and holiness to a world in need. Amen.