1 Peter 1:13-21 Bible Class

This is an ongoing Bible class, the other classes can be found here. The outline below was used by the teacher.

Focused Mind

  1. Gird up the loins of your mind (“Prepare your minds for action”)
    1. To act right we must first think right
    2. Prepare ourselves mentally to be God’s people, sojourning in the world
    3. Prepare to enter and work the fields for the kingdom
    4. Know that we are in enemy territory
    5. Train our minds in God’s word
  2. Be sober (Serious about and focused on God’s will)
    1. Not drunk with the wine of the world (or with literal wine for that matter)
      1. Ephesians 5:18-21
    2. Literal Drunkenness: numbs, slows down, makes bad decisions, distracts
    3. What can cause us to be worldly “drunk”
      1. Whatever consumes us and takes first place in our minds
        1. Sin, wealth, entertainment, belongings, beauty, fame
    4. We are to be sober
      1. In, but not of, the world, even mentally
        1. Do everything under God’s lordship
      2. Keep everything in correct perspective
        1. We maintain our focus on God and his word
        2. Our faith determines our business ethics (Col. 3:17)
        3. Our Christian faith determines what entertainment we consume and how we react to it
      3. Keep in mind that this world is passing away
        1. Lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth
  3. Rest your hope on grace to be revealed: our ultimate salvation
    1. Look forward to Jesus’ return, always keeping it in mind
      1. Remember why Jesus is returning: to fully reconcile, destroy death and sin, bring us to our inheritance
        1. All of this is by God’s grace
    2. Regardless of what happens in this life, we rest our hope on the grace that is to be revealed

Holy Conduct (How we think changes how we act)

  1. Obedient children
    1. We are begotten again to a living hope; we have an inheritance
      1. Because our beginning and end are gifts we should love God and keep his commandments
    2. To be obedient we must know the Bible
    3. God is our Father, and as children we should seek to obey him
      1. We should seek to carry the same traits as our Father
  2. Not conforming to former lusts
    1. This is what being an “obedient child” looks like
    2. We are begotten again to a new way of thinking / life
    3. Repentance leads to reform
  3. Be holy (Holy = set apart, sanctified, undefiled)
    1. In all our conduct everywhere: school, work, home, play
      1. Our faith should permeate all of our lives
        1. It will necessarily separate us from the ways of the world
        2. If we are never set apart from the world something’s wrong
    2. Why? Because God is Holy
      1. Our holiness is based on God’s holiness
        1. We are God’s children, his chosen people
        2. The salt and light of the world
        3. The body of Christ on earth

Conduct ourselves in fear (Fear = reverence, awe, caution)

  1. We should have a “confident fear”
    1. Knowing that “God so loved the world” and that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” and that “he is faithful and just to forgive us”
    2. Acknowledge God’s holiness, power, & the price paid for our salvation
    3. Acknowledge the deceptiveness and enticement of sin

Why do we conduct ourselves in fear?

  1. God is Judge
    1. Perfect, impartial
      1. Knowing all our thoughts, actions, motivations
    2. The ways of the world will be judged and punished by God
      1. The fact that God will judge actions and words should cause us to fear falling back into the world
        1. Sin is enticing, Satan prowls like a lion
        2. Some save with fear… (Jude 22-23)
    3. We can be saved, while still losing out on some reward
      1. We do not want to be saved “but as through fire”
      2. We want to be found to be good and trustworthy servants
  2. We are redeemed
    1. From previous aimless conduct
      1. Whatever is not of Christian faith is aimless
    2. Not by gold or silver, but by Jesus’ precious blood
      1. The Word incarnate, a perfect sacrifice 
    3. In light of that redemption we respond with:
      1. Love: gratitude and obedience (holy mind and deeds)
      2. Fear: If we scorn the “precious blood” then we should expect a proportional penalty
        1. If it took the “precious blood” to redeem us, what do we face without that redemption? What end was so terrible that God was willing to send Jesus to save us from it?
        2. Hebrews 10:28-31

Foreordained, manifest, raised from the dead, leading to faith and hope in God

  1. Jesus’ death and resurrection, our redemption, were planned beforehand and executed at just the right time
  2. Through whom we have faith and hope in God
    1. Jesus is vindicated in the resurrection, and through him we hope