Christopher Rich – March 6, 2022

ROOTED| Living Scattered, Not Shattered | 1 Peter

PART III | ROOTED Holiness | 1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Introduction | We want to Change, We need to Change. 

Good morning! Welcome to Mercy Fellowship where we are Saved by Jesus Work, Changed by Jesus’ Grace, and Living on Jesus’s Mission. This week we are continuing our series in 1 Peter called ROOTED: Living Scattered, Not Shattered.  Our recent lives and cultural moments have been characterized by personal trials, political unrest, cultural upheaval, health concerns, relational turmoil, economic uncertainty, and varying degrees of individual and corporate trauma. This has caused us to be highly reactive, often discouraged, and at times experiencing crushing despair. Many of us are realizing our roots are too shallow and weak to sustain us in the storms of life. We need to be rooted in something deeper and more life giving than ourselves and our circumstances. We need to be rooted in a life that flows from the life giver, we need a real living hope beyond what we see and have now. We need good news greater than our current events. We need to be rooted in what is real, true, and eternal. 

When we are rooted in the transcendent, we are not reactive to the temporary.

We can be ROOTED because Christ is IN US! In Jesus Christ we have a hope, identity, purpose, and destiny that is both timely and transcendent. If we are going to survive and thrive, we need to be deeply rooted to remain both faithful and fruitful in the face of significant adversity. We multiply Grace & Peace rooted where there is the promise of new life. We have looked at who we are IN Christ, where we ae going with Christ. When we are rooted in a living hope it gives us real joy and greater endurance in all situations. Peter has also helped the people of God (who have a ROOTED Identity, as elect exiles, loved, empowered, led by the trinity) understand where they are in the story of God (ROOTED Hope) He started with the end (destination) in mind, to inform how the engage with their present, while being encouraged by God’s past Faithfulness. How do we now live in light of who we are IN Christ and where we are in God’s story? 

How do we grow and change? Few of us are satisfied with who we are, all of us want to see positive changes in our lives. We know old, ineffective ways of being will not birth what we need to become. Good news for eternity should be good news for today. We are made new to be new. Gospel proclamation, with Holy Spirit power, leads us to a new life of purity. Our conduct matters to God, but it is a result of the transformation Christ has begun in us. Call to grow, change, holiness comes AFTER the Good News of the Gospel. Holiness is a word we don’t use often but growth is one we understand. Healthy growth is Holiness.

PART I | Called to Holiness | 1 Peter 1:13-16

1 Peter 1:13-16 |13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Called to Holiness (1:13-16) – “Therefore” is back up to what was before. In light of the unfolding story of God in History and how He has given you a new identity, a secure inheritance, and present/future salvation, how is your individual story of repentance, redemption, restoration played out in the context of your actual life? How has what you are saved from impact what you are saved to. In the Gospel there are both what are called indicatives (What has God done or promised to do for us) AND imperatives (what we do in response to what God has done) We love focusing on the indicatives because look what God has done, look what God will do! Yes and Amen! But when it comes to the imperatives we start to get weird. We either divorce them from the promises and actions of God putting them first. I am called to act this way so I will and God will respond with blessing or if it don’t cursing. That is Religion. The other is to divorce the two a different way forgetting or minimizing the imperatives all together. So we say God is gracious and merciful, kind, and He is, but he NEVER asks calls or produces in us a change that is tangible. It’s remembering the promises of God without the purity of God, or the power to change. The first is soul crushing in forgetting our identity in Christ, the second is soul condemning impotence of God and the Gospel to produce necessary change. The order matters in understanding the relationship between God and growth, holiness, and wholeness. We are Rooted.

The result of being ROOTED is fruitfulness. The fruit of being rooted is growth in Holiness. Holiness is purity. It is experiencing the presences of God. It is living out the purposes of God with the passion of God. To grow in Holiness is to grow in the purity, presence, power, purposes, and passion of God found in Jesus.

“gird up your loins in your mind” – This is an allusion to the OT commands to prepare for a battle, a fight, a difficult journey, or daunting mission. You couldn’t continue in comfort you had to be ready for a greater challenging. It was an intentional disposition change from casual to active. We are called to this disposition change in how we interact with our mind.  Our mind (intellect and emotions) have a tremendous impact on how we see and engage with the world. Growth/Holiness includes engaging in the battlefield of the mind. It is impacted by your will.  Soberminded means having clarity compared to drunken delusion.  What are you feeding your mind? Is it helpful? Is it true?  Growth and holiness are an outworking of the hope we have. We’re not called to be more hopeful and then we will grow but instead to set “rest” more of our hope on what is true. 

Growth flows inside out – We typically assess growth or attempt growth looking outside in. That is because it is so easy to focus on our external behaviors rather than address our internal beliefs. This leads us backwards because we are looking at the fruit of our lives rather than what our lives are rooted in. Our external behavior is driven by our internal desires.  A grace filled heart, and a truth filled mind, can produce a transformed life.  Our identity impacts how and why we grow. We are adopted/redeemed children, so we actively live out the family values of the family we are now a part of. This includes obedience. We used to be ignorant not knowing what life should look like but now we are informed with the truth. We were driven by passions that were misplaced at best or malicious at worst. Our former passions that drove us away from God towards sin, led to destruction and pain for us and others. It might be too strong to say we cannot grow if and when we are still ruled by (or conformed to) these passions but we can say our growth will be stunted and our joy will be subdued. God’s desire for us and growth He produces in us is not neutral. Our old desires are not simply nullified or neutered but are supplanted with new greater desires. This is worship!

“The secret to freedom from enslaving patterns of sin is worship. You need great worship. You need weeping worship. You need glorious worship. You need to sense God’s greatness and to be moved by it, moved by who God is and what He has done for you.” – Pastor Tim Keller

Holiness is not passionless it is passion properly directed. - When God talks to Moses and says you are on Holy ground it is because of His presence coming to engage to save His people. When Isaiah is given a vision of God on the throne he says “Holy, Holy, Holy” then says make me clean/holy so I can be your messenger. When Jesus has the Holy Spirit descend on Him like a dove it is commissioning and equipping Him for mission. Holiness is growing in the power presence and purpose of God in your life. With the Holy Spirit we have the Power to change Power to be who God always intended you to be, not guided by your inner star but to grow in Christlikeness. A unique individual part of God’s story who is also part of a forever family.

PART II | Called to Christ | 1 Peter 1:17-21

1 Pet 1:17-21|17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Called by the Father, Called to Christ (1:17-21) – The Good News of what Christ did in the past, and what He promises in the future, should impact how you live in the present. We can only grow, change, be fruitful in holiness as much as we are beholding how we are beheld by the Father in Jesus Christ. Where worship is the remedy for redirecting our passion there are still external forces that have great influence over us. Some of that is the culture around us and some is the impact of the family we are a part of. We are not always aware how and where we have been impacted and influenced because we are not impartial or unbiased. We can try to assess ourselves, but ultimately, God the Father judges our conduct. The good news is, HE is impartial as a judge. That means his judgements are just and trustworthy. 

He sees us as we are and for who we are. That is sobering but it is also incredibly encouraging because in truly seeing us with all our sin and imperfection, but also our goodness, beauty, and value. He knows we are hindered, He knows how we have been harmed, He knows how we have harmed. His response is to ransom us from our enslavement to ourselves, our family, and our world. He also desires us to change in ways that bring us more joy and Him more glory. We may live in “exile” but we are to embody the kingdom we are destined too. We are in the world but we are also distinct from it. We do not need to fear being in Exile because we can revere the God who walks with us in Exile. The fear is NOT terror. We are not enemies of God we are sons & daughters, citizens & saints. It is a reverence for who God is that drives how we now live. 

Futile Culture - We are not enslaved by culture. If you are 100% aligned with popular culture, always in agreement with government, never question media narratives then you should consider that a bit of check engine light on where your passions are being fueled and how your conduct is being conformed.  Our faith is not in the whims of the world but in the in the wisdom and words of the Creator of the world. 

Futile Family - We are not enslaved by our family of origin.  The “blanks” always act like this… I am the son of…. So I now act like this. You will always be influenced by your family of origin but you are not condemned to it. We don’t have to live out our futile inheritance but we can press into our forever inheritance. You are not defined by what your Father did or didn’t do to you, but what your Father in Heaven has done for you. You are deeply loved!! You have been ransomed and adopted and you are reliant on the Work of Christ for you! 

PART III | Called to the Word | 1 Peter 1:22-25 

1 Peter 1:22-25 |22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Called to the Word, With His People (1:22-25) – We cannot make ourselves holy or change ourselves. We are also not intended to grow alone or be alone. We can participate in what type of soil we are cultivating to either prepare us for greater growth or hinder what God is seeking to do in our lives. While experiencing a scattered life of exile, we are no longer slaves to our sin, our past, or our foolishness. We have been purchased by the precious blood of the perfect Christ. We are empowered to grow when we are rooted in Jesus’ holiness rather than relying on our own. 

Jesus is the WORD! To be rooted in the word is to be rooted in Jesus. To be rooted in Jesus is to be rooted in the word. Jesus is grace and truth (love and truth are together) He is the WORD of God that births in us a new life of purity and purpose.  To be rooted in Jesus and His word is to be rooted with God’s people. New life from God is lived with His people centered on, and shaped by, His Word. We are born again individually into an enduring community of others who have also been given new life. We change by the unchanging Word of God. It is easy to trash the church at times because it is made up of imperfect people, even leaders, who are in process. We are all people in need of grace and recipients of grace. Growth in Holiness should necessarily lead to greater humility in how we see ourselves and respond to others. We are in a new family now, one that is not perfect but is united and purchased by our Perfect God the Father. 

Enduring Word – Because we are born again with imperishable seed to by a word that endures forever that means we can grow, be changed, and receive a holiness that can never fade, die or be taken away. It means there is the potential for real growth and the promise of forever, perfect holiness. The allusion to our flesh being like grass and the Word of the Lord enduring eternal is a quote from Isaiah 40 that is in the context of God’s people needing comfort in difficulty. The world may seem uncertain, humanity and our fleeting glory may seem to be flowers that fad or grass that withers but we have a God whose word endures! 

PART IV | Called to Grow by Grace| 1 Peter 2:1-3

1 Peter 2:1-3 |So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Called to Grow by Grace (2:1-3) – Real change is possible individually and in the context of the community of the Church. Writing to networks of churches He says the outworking of your Rooted Identity, Rooted Hope is a Rooted Holiness that produces life giving community cultivated by removing what is destructive.  We are called to put away these 5 sins that all impact our ability to be in and encourage a growing community. God is producing growth in you, and He is at work growing us as a people. We can put away what hinders and harms as we receive what is healthy and helpful. We fast from what hinders and we feast on what is good. 

Where do you need to repent? What do you need to put off? What do you need to put on? We have been given grace to taste and see that the Lord is Good! Psalm 34:4-8 says we do not need to fear or have shame as we look to the Lord for deliverance, sustenance, and radiance.  

Where do you need to taste and see that the Lord is Good? Where do you need passions redirected? New Christians and renewed Christians all need milk of greater maturity. We sing and give in worship to God!

We take communion in remembrance of what the perfect Jesus has done for us to give us a Holiness not Rooted in ourselves but Rooted in His work hHe declared was “finished” on the cross.  We have a ROOTED Holiness producing the fruit of purity, presence, purpose, and passion  as we continue to Trust Jesus!