Pursuing Godly Change
1 Peter 1:13-16
In the classic Italian children’s story of Pinocchio, Geppetto creates a wooden marionette puppet that becomes his son. When he sends Pinocchio to school, the puppet goes on a quest to become a real boy but faces unexpected challenges. He is robbed by a fox and cat, nearly burnt for firewood by a marionette troupe, nearly assassinated by the fox and cat, and then lured into a trap by slave traders who promised him limitless fun at a place called Toyland.
As a result, he becomes distracted and disillusioned from his purpose, believing lies and pursuing pleasure rather than obeying his father and committing himself to the pursuit of becoming a real boy.
As followers of Christ, we can relate with Pinocchio. Once we’ve believed on Christ, we become sons and daughters of God – who made us. Yet as we go forward on our quest to become more like Christ, relentless temptations distract us, and painful trials disillusion us. Difficult circumstances, surprising setbacks, and seasons of prolonged suffering threaten to steal away the enthusiasm we once had for following Christ and his kingdom.
In these verses (1 Pet 1:13-16), Peter encourages us to stay focused on pursuing godly change and becoming more like Christ – which is our goal as children of God. He urges us to maintain the focus of an athlete and the obedience of a child – no matter what temptations and trials come our way.
We need to maintain the focused mindset of an athlete.
“Therefore” / Since we have a much better, more privileged and informed experience today than the OT prophets did centuries before, we should take seriously what God is calling us to be and do.
“Girding up the loins” = lifting, gathering, and tucking normal long robes into the belt for fighting, running, and working more freely and quickly / may here allude to when God commanded Israel to do this so that they’d be ready to go once they’d been redeemed from slavery in Egypt by the blood of their Passover lambs.
“Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the LORD’S Passover.” (Exo 12:11, NASB)
Once redeemed, they were to be ready to follow God forward quickly and get to work seriously in obeying and imitating him and preparing to take possession of and settle into their future inheritance in the Promised Land.
“Translating that into daily living, Peter said, “Pull your thoughts together. Don’t let anything hinder your mind as you put it to work for God.” In other words, have a disciplined mind.” (David Walls, Max Anders)
This preparedness requires more than financial, material, and organizational preparedness, but mental preparedness. We need to focus our minds on following Christ. Literally, “prepare your minds for action.” We must make a conscious effort to develop a biblical, God-focused mindset that’s prepared to follow Christ no matter what. We cannot simply wander through life and let circumstances and experiences dictate what we think and how we live. We must develop a biblical worldview that interprets and responds to the challenges and questions of life through the lens of God’s revelation in Scripture.
“Sober” = “self-controlled” and “clear-minded.” So, our thinking must be focused and clear. We should not allow outside influences to control our minds or tolerate a blurry, uncertain perspective on things. We need clear, internal awareness of who God is, what God says, and what is truly happening to us, around us, and why – through the lens of God’s Word.
As we make our way through life, it’s easy to misread circumstances, exaggerate details, believe wrong information, or adopt distorted views about what we’re facing – esp. when we’re suffering. When this happens, we make ill-informed, harmful choices rather than biblical, Christ-focused ones.
“The secret of clean living is clear thinking.” (John Stott)
That’s why we must keep a sharp mind. And doing so includes saying ‘no’ to drunkenness.
“Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.” (Rom 13:13)
“Rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” / Peter has already referred to Christ’s future, personal, and triumphant return as our ultimate motivation to persevere through suffering four times (1 Pet 1:5, 7, 9, 13).
We need to take a long view of life not a short view. As an athlete prepares for the big day, we should live every day for the coming of Christ. We need to live with the big picture and destination in mind, not the small, limited view of our difficult daily lives. We need to zoom out from the “person in the crowd on the street” view to the panoramic view from a helicopter or drone, reminding ourselves of what’s ahead – the destination, Christ’s future kingdom and our full salvation not only from sin but from all suffering and sorrow.
I like to play board games with friends and family. To win good board games (esp. those which require deck- and engine- building) requires taking early actions and moves which seem to be boring and slow, yet they give you a major advantage at the end of the game. That’s how we need to live our lives – with the end in view.
Taking this perspective requires definite mental focus because we’re too easily influenced and motivated by the material, tangible, and visible circumstances and world surrounding us right now. When following Christ leads us through difficulties and suffering, we experience loss and setbacks in material, tangible, and visible ways – yet this should not deter us because we are not focused on or living for those things anyway. We are focused on and living for the future return of Christ and the kingdom that will follow.
We persevere through the perils of this world by fixing our hearts on Christ’s promise of the next. Is that what’s driving you forward and inspiring your daily pursuit of godly change? Or have you lost your focus and become distracted by the struggles of the present?
We need to maintain the obedient mindset of a child.
Not only must we maintain the focused mindset of an athlete, but we must also maintain the obedient mindset of a child. But this kind of mindset is hard to maintain, isn’t it?
Peter’s words, here, remind us of Matt 18:2, when Christ said:
“Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
As we follow Christ through the challenging circumstances of life, it’s easy to develop a bitter, calloused, sarcastic, and disenchanted outlook. Such an outlook reveals itself in a variety of ways: repeatedly speaking about past hurts, sarcastic humor, social withdrawal, pursuing worldly pleasures more than serving God, and a loss of enthusiasm and joy. Compare the attitude of a child at Christmastime to the attitude of a life-worn adult.
Since we’ve been placed into God’s family, we should not only enjoy being led and loved as God’s children, but we should obey and imitate God as his children, too.
“Obedience” is a Greek combination word that combines a preposition “under” with an action verb “listen.” It means to “listen under” or to “listen attentively for the purpose of doing want you’re being told to do.” When we do that as God’s children, we listen to what his Word tells us for the purpose of accept and applying it to our lives.
To do this, we must stop doing what we used to do and still do naturally if we’re not committed to godly change. “Not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance.” This echoes what Paul said in Rom 12:2:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
These “former lusts” refer to the sinful desires and impulses which motivated our lives before we turned to Christ:
“We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Eph 2:3)
The flesh is an inward impulse that controls us in our natural condition. It is our natural disposition, the way we think and feel naturally, which is distorted by sin. Paul describes this as, “the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind” (Eph 2:3).
The word lust refers to strong desires, like sexual drives, appetites, or addictions. The word desire refers to a strong, stubborn willfulness that wants something so strongly that we insist on having it and will do whatever it takes to get it.
Together, these three factors dominate the life of an unsaved person. In our natural-born state, we are controlled by bad, ungodly urges and a determination to live in a self-centered, self-absorbed way that disregards God’s purposes for his or her life. As Peter says, we were “ignorant,” meaning we didn’t know a better way nor did we know God as our loving Father, nor did we have hope of any salvation beyond the grave.
Yet as Peter tells us, we should no longer submit ourselves to these desires and impulses but should determine to follow a new lifestyle and purpose. We should pursue a godly, holy lifestyle instead, one which not only obeys God but seeks to imitate him.
“Not conforming yourselves” portrays something like being poured into and fashioned according to a set mold. We should no longer allow our fleshly desires to shape our character, choices, and the outcomes of our life, dictating our decisions and direction.
Also, notice the contrast between conforming and obeying.
Obeying describes an active, deliberate effort to listen to God and follow his ways.
Conforming describes a passive experience by which we are shaped by our desires.
This is our default position. If we do nothing, this is what happens to us. So, we must counteract this experience by deliberately hearing and obeying God.
As Peter makes clear, we should do so not to become a child of God but because we are children of God. Our new inner mindset, focus, and hope should result in a new outer lifestyle and behavior, behavior that Peter calls “holy.”
First, this holy lifestyle should seek to imitate the holy character of God. Did you know that both the Old and New Testaments speak more about God’s holiness than about any of his other attributes or personal qualities? So, if we are his children, then holiness will and should be a major, growing quality of our lives as well.
Holiness means to be “set apart” and to be “different or distinct” from the ungodly attitudes and behaviors of this sinful world. It does not refer to being different or distinct “just to be different,” as in just because a nonbeliever does something, therefore I should not do it or therefore I must do the opposite. Instead, it refers to being different:
By not doing those sinful things which nonbelievers do, or
By not being motivated by the values ungodly which motivate nonbelievers.
Also, we should recognize that though a holy life does at times cause us not to do certain things (like the children’s song, “The Things I Used to Do, I Don’t Do Then Anymore…”, it’s not that simple. Sometimes we may still do the same things, but now in moderation, or with self-control, or in a more Christlike way, or simply with a different heart attitude.
Holiness does not refer merely to a person’s outward behavior and – in fact – is not holiness if that’s all that it is. Holiness is first and foremost an inner change of heart character. God is concerned with cultivating an inner heart holiness within his children, which will in-turn produce a holy lifestyle. Give in to unholy desires and you will do unholy things. Embrace holy desires instead and you will live a holy life.
Second, holiness should affect every aspect of your life, not just select parts of it. Holiness is not a pattern of behavior which applies specifically those times when we gather with the church or when we’re doing particularly religious things. It is a way of life – and more importantly an inner character and heart – that approaches every moment and aspect of life as God would approach it.
“We must aim to have a Christianity which like the sap of a tree, runs through twig and leaf of our character and sanctifies all.” (Alan Redpath)
Third, this holiness should be motivated by Scripture. In fact, the part of Scripture that Peter refers to is not a New Testament Scripture but an Old Testament one. It’s not actually a direct quotation but instead summarizes a repeated theme that is emphasized in the OT book of Leviticus, one of those OT books which we probably don’t read much today (Lev. 11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7). Does this motivate you to read and study the OT? I hope it does.
For what it’s worth, do you know what Christ said are the two greatest commands of all time? Love God and love neighbor, right? Do you know where those came from? The OT. One from Deut 6:4 and the other from Lev 19:18. From the OT law of Moses! This demonstrates the unity of Scripture.
Don’t let suffering deter you from godly change.
“Holy living demands determination.” (Roger Raymer)
Do you have the sort of determination that refuses to lose the focus of an athlete and the obedience of a child – no matter what suffering you endure?
A Christian woman named Sue Holtkamp once told this true experience of suffering from her own life (from the early 1990s):
She told of having a life almost untouched by suffering. She credited this to the fact that God protects his people. Then her life started to cave in. She was hospitalized seven times, endured three back surgeries in three years, and developed a drug dependency problem as she took medicine for the pain. Her husband, after twenty years of building a business, lost it all.
“You know,” she wrote, “one night I was talking to our seventeen-year-old daughter, Katie. Talking about Jesus, she ended with this statement, ‘All I know, and I know it for certain, is that I love and I trust Jesus Christ.’ Under her breath she said, ‘I may never know anything more.’ ”
The next day Sue saw her daughter and her husband take off in a private plane. Shortly after it was out of sight, the plane disintegrated. “Half my family was dead,” she observed, “and I wondered if I could bear it. By the grace of God I could, because of Jesus Christ.” (David Walls and Max Anders)
Since that time, Sue has written at least two books and devoted her life to helping people navigate sorrow and mourning from a godly perspective and as well as assisting both organ donor families and families seeking to receive an organ donor. Rather than grow embittered and hopeless, she has fixed her mind and heart on the hope of her future salvation and persisted in godly living.
“The sanctifying grace of God is appropriated by the obedient and unrelenting activity of the regenerate man.” (J. A. Motyer)
May your lean even more deeply to the grace of God today to renew your focus and restore your childlike obedience to his Word so that you may become more like Christ. And may you place your full hope in the future coming and kingdom of Christ as you press forward in faith through whatever suffering you’re facing today. Remember, it is becoming more like Christ that is the goal right now – not living a comfortable, problem-free life. Our hope is in the future.
