What comes to mind when you think of the word holiness?

I think holiness gets a bad reputation. Like it’s “someone who is no fun to be around.” What do we call someone who is self-righteous?Holier-than-thou.

That says more about us and our culture than it does about holiness.

Reminds me of one of the greatest thinkers of our time, Weird Al Yankovich once wrote in his literary masterpiece, Amish Paradise:

Think you’re really righteous?
Think you’re pure in heart?
Well, I know I’m a million times
As humble as thou art!
Weird Al, Amish Paradise

Who was the holiest man to ever live? Jesus Christ, the God man. Perfectly holy. Never sinned once.

Who couldn’t stand Him? People who thought they were holy.

And who loved to be around him? People who were not holy and knew it.

So as we talk about holiness this morning, let’s get out of our minds the self-righteous, condemning attitudes of the holier-than-thou crowd. Because that’s fake holiness, and it’s actually not holy at all.

Real holiness is attractive. Real holy people are joyful people, so filled with the joy of the living hope they have that it touches every part of their lives.

Recap

1:1–12: Glorious truths of the gospel, living hope, lasting inheritance, inexpressible joy

1:13–14: (1) Think clearly, and (2) hope fully

Now as we look at our text for today, we’re going to continue that same pattern, for three weeks, actually.

But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:15–21

Think clearly.
Hope fully.

3. Live purely.

But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
1 Peter 1:15–16

The Christian life is to be one of continuing pursuit of holiness.

That is not a popular statement. We’ve rejected rampant legalism of the last century—and rightfully so—but like everything, the pendulum swings too far.

Notice that even the command to be Holy is rooted in Who God is. It is not “do it because that’s what you’re supposed to do.” It’s do it because that’s who you are, his child. And as you grow up, you look more and more like your Father, who is holy.

He hates sin. And those who are following him will learn to hate it too. That’s getting deeper into holiness instead of the pragmatic list of dos and don’ts.

That’s to be like him in our thoughts and feelings, not just our actions.

Follow the logic: right thinking → right desires → right actions

You get screwed up and end up fake holy, is if you try it in reverse. (you’ll strip a gear!)

But, if we are doing the first two things well, the 3rd will come naturally.

Best example I can think of… hot dogs.

Tis is the season for hot dogs.
Time article, Memorial Day–Labor day, 7 billion, 21/person
We love our hot dogs. Until you think about what’s in them.
Containing at least 54.5% meat by law.
About as processed as your smartphone.
Includes such prime cuts as pig snouts, lips, heart, kidney, liver, and stomach.
Oh, and that natural casing… you know what that is.
Since we’re on video this morning, here’s a clip from a show my kids ask to watch around bedtime, How It’s Made. This episode is the stuff of nightmares. It should come with a warning, viewer discretion is advised…

How It’s Made Video

MMM, MMM, juicy!

Now, do you have a hankering for a big ole ballpark right now? Why not?

Because right thinking → right desires → right actions

You will never live purely until—by clear thinking and fully hoping—your sin becomes disgusting to you, and you will live more and more purely.

When you are repulsed by the idea of your sin, then you’re getting closer to being holy as He is holy.

Now let’s move on to verse 17, and see a concept that is almost inextricably tied to holiness—the fear of God.

Think clearly.
Hope fully.
Live purely.

4. Walk reverently.

If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
1 Peter 1:17

So we are to walk reverently, other translations say “conduct yourselves in fear”.

Because God, who is our heavenly Father, who loves us, is also a just judge who judges impartially according to each one’s work.

You want to you know why you should be holy? Why you should strive to live purely?

Because you are his child, and He is your Father, and he wants you to grow up to be like Him.
Because He is your judge, and he will one day judge according to each one’s work.

Do you feel the tension in that verse? Yes, Father, but also judge.

You can come before the throne of grace with confidence, but it’s still a throne.
You can talk to Him anytime, anyplace, but remember who you’re talking to.

What does it mean to walk reverently, to walk in the fear of God?

And especially during the time of your exile—did you catch that? “conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.”

It’s easy to fear when you’re a stranger, exile, sojourner in a foreign land. Peter is saying them and to us, “Fear the right thing.”

We are living through a massive amount of fear right now.

Even before the pandemic, fear of the shifting culture around us. I heard Jen Wilkin speak on this, and it’s just so good I just want to read her words to you…

Why would we as the Church fear the shifting sands of culture when our God is the Rock of Ages? Why would we fear the words of a politician when the Word of the Lord stands forever? Peter is telling those living in exile that they are not to be characterized by fear of man, but to be characterized instead by the right reverence of God… He is not fretting. He is not wringing His hands.

It is not fitting for the people of God to run around as though the sky is falling. We are the people of the inheritance. We don’t need anything from this world. We don’t need comfort. We don’t need control. We don’t need power. We don’t need acceptance.

If we love those things more than we love that future hope that we have, our exile may be long and difficult, and it may be hard for us to show forth hope to people around us. But when we can relinquish those idols, we stand a far better chance of being those who reflect the holiness of God, as He is holy.

Jen Wilkin

When you think about exile, think about refugees. They don’t have any of those things—comfort, control, power, acceptance. It’s a visual picture of what it’s like to live as sojourners in a land that is foreign to us.

We’re surrounded by fear. And we should be people who live in fear of the right thing.

Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28

Fear the right thing. Fear God. Walk reverently.

Application

What are some practical steps we can take to live purely and walk reverently?

We’re really, really good at judging the sin of others harshly, while letting ourselves off the hook.

That is self-righteousness. That us playing the part of the Pharisee from Jesus’ parable in Luke 18, remember that story? Two men go to the temple to pray, one’s a Pharisee, a fake-holy man. And the other is a tax collector for Rome, a traitor of the worst kind.

And the Pharisee is standing—not bowing, standing—and praying, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

Or to maybe apply it a little closer to home, “I thank you that I’m not like other people—liberals/conservatives, Trump-supporters/haters, millennials/boomers…

You and the Holy Spirit fill in the blank for whatever group of people you would naturally put there.

And then hear the rest of the story, where the tax collector wouldn’t even dare to raise his eyes to heaven—fear of God—but kept striking his chest and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

“I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

How serious are you about your own personal holiness?

Real holiness is not the way to be a holier-than-thou square who doesn’t know how to have fun… quite the opposite, it’s the way to eternal, immeasurable joy.

Have you been going at it in reverse?

Maybe today, you stop trying to mask the symptoms and start getting treatment for the disease.

Are you walking in reverence of Him day by day?

What would the Spirit say? What would those closest to you say? You can. Why? How?

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.
1 Peter 1:18–19