Key Truth: We are to set our hope fully on the return of Christ as reflected in how we intentionally cultivate a well-thought, holy, and reverential life as God’s thankful children.  

Introduction:

Q: What is your current lived response to your salvation through God’s grace alone in Christ alone by faith alone?  

“The imperatives of Christian living always begin with ‘therefore.’ Peter does not begin to exhort Christian pilgrims until he has celebrated the wonders of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ. The indicative of what God had done for us (and in us) precedes the imperative of what we are called to do for him.”

Edmund Clowney, The Message of 1 Peter: The Way of the Cross

The Call to Intentionally Cultivate a Well-Thought Life:

1 Peter 1:13

“Peter’s point is that one sets one’s hope on future grace, not by idle wishfulness or unfounded optimism, but by a mental resolve to live in such a way as to manifest the ‘living hope’ of the Christian believer. The Christian hope is a reality to be recognized and acted upon now.”

Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter

Q: What are some ways in which you are intentionally cultivating a well-thought life so as to set your hope fully on the return of Christ?

The Call to Reflect God’s Holy Character for the Life of the World:

1 Peter 1:14-16

“For Peter, the church is not against the world in that it does not express holiness by reciprocating the world’s animosity toward it, and neither does the church demonstrate holiness by condemning the ways of the world with self-righteous living and rhetoric. Instead the church is to be different because it is in relationship with a God who is different, and it is simply trying to stay in step with his ways in the world.”

Lee Beach, The Church in Exile: Living in Hope After Christendom

Q: What are some ways that you are intentionally cultivating a holy life that reflects God’s character for the life of the world?

The Call to a Life of Reverence and Awe as a Child of God:

1 Peter 1:17-21

“It is surely one of the deepest demonstrations of God’s extraordinary love for believers that he actually planned long, long ago that they, sinful people, would find forgiveness through Christ’s death. This death in our place required the shedding of his precious blood. It required an extraordinary act of divine mercy as Jesus gave his life for his people, yet all of this was ordained by God before the creation of the world.”

Paul Gardner, 1 & 2Peter & Jude: Christian Living in an Age of Suffering

Q: What are some ways that you are intentionally cultivating a life of reverence and awe as a child of God?

Application:

1 Peter 1:13-21 teaches us that we are to set our hope fully on the return of Christ as reflected in how we intentionally cultivate:
-a well-thought life that is prepared for action and response for God’s glory
-a holy life that reflects God’s character for the life of the world
-a life of reverence and awe as a child of God

Communion

Benediction:

1 Peter 5:6-11