Christian Living

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

1 Peter 1:13

In a previous post I made the following observation:

Peter’s audience, exiled and dispersed Christians undergoing much suffering the world and bracer for even greater afflictions to come, lived in the tension between present suffering and future glory. Like all Christians who live as pilgrims in the world, these believers could say along with the writer of Hebrews: Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” The tension between present suffering and the promise of future glory is held in place by “hope.”

I also noted how in the Bible, “hope” is far from wishful thinking, like “I hope it doesn’t rain the day I plan to go to the beach.” Biblical hope is instead an actual future certainty that is just yet to be realized. This kind of hope, Hebrews say, is an anchor for the soul (Heb. 6:19).

Since that we have been “born again to a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3), Peter now implores us to “set” or “fix” our hope on this future grace. This primary imperative is undergirded by two subordinate imperatives, each of which is instrumental to our ability to carry out the command:

1 – preparing your minds for action

2 – being sober-minded

These two subordinate imperatives are the prerequisites for fulling the main imperative: in order to “set our hope” on the grace that will be revealed to us at the revelation of Christ, we must begin with prepared and sober-minds. New Testament scholar Thomas Schreiner comments on this idea:

There is a way of living that becomes dull to the reality of God, that is anesthetized by the attractions of this world. When people are lulled into such drowsiness, they lose sight of Christ’s future revelation of himself and concentrate only on fulfilling their earthly desires.

 Schreiner, T. R. (2003). 1, 2 Peter, Jude (Vol. 37, p. 79). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Peter is writing to believers living out their faith under the duress of social ostracism, personal affliction, and looming persecution. Under such sobering conditions, a sober-minded approach to life is demanded. There are some practical ways that we as believers can cultivate such a mental approach to the Christian life. Here I offer twelve such ways, with only brief commentary on each.

1 – Stay focused on things of consequence, not on trivialities.

In order to have an alert and sober mind, you must use your surplus mental energy on things that matter, which means you must first exert some energy discovering what those weightier matters are. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us that “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart…. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth” (Eccl. 7:2, 4). Being in the presence of the bereaved provides an intuition into what is really meaningful in life, a gift of wisdom that a frat party can never provide.

2 – Do not usurp the ultimate with what is merely good.

While the reverse is often true (“don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”) we cannot allow the “good” to be the enemy of the “Ultimate.” Many of us are great at climbing the ladder, we’re skilled at things that are undeniably “good,” but also too many of us have leaned our ladders up against the wrong wall, or at least a wall that replaces what should be Ultimate (from a biblical perspective) with what is merely good, whether it be a vocation or an avocation. Put simply, have a biblical oriented priority list for your life.

3 – Stay grounded in biblical reality, resisting the spirit of the age.

The apostle Paul warns Christians against being swept away by “winds of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). Anyone even vaguely familiar with the New Testament is aware of how false doctrine was undermining many of the congregations to whom the NT authors addressed their various writings. A church or a Christian getting caught up in a doctrinal fad is nothing new. For many of us who have been around a while, however, what we are seeing today in the church is unprecedented (at least in American Christianity) as the church en masse seems to have completely lost its will to stand against the unchristian ideologies of the day, or worse, in many cases leading the charge. Over just the last decade, the church has abandoned millennia old moral traditions, often publicly celebrating its “wokeness.”

We need to stay grounded in biblical reality, meaning we need to be biblically literate to begin with. We need to stand upon the infallible, inerrant, inspired word of God and defend its authority and relevance in every age, our own especially. Once we begin fudging on fundamental biblical truth, we easily fall prey to whatever winds of false doctrine are blowing through the doors at the time. There’s never been a time in American Christian history where the need for courageous fidelity to Scripture was greater.

4 – Stay grounded in reality itself, rejecting pollyannish thinking.

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker: “Visualize World Peace”? That’s what I mean by pollyannish thinking. It’s sheer nonsense, divorced from the reality of human nature and ignorant of all recorded human history, where wars and conflagrations have been nearly endless. Christians who succumb to silly and pointless platitudes like “Love is love” have abandoned sober-minded thinking. This is a completely unfitting way to think for the follower of Christ.

5 – Realize that ultimate reality is spiritual, not material.

To say this is not to commit the heresy of gnosticism and imply that “matter” doesn’t matter. God Himself created physical reality and pronounced it good. The creation is good, and material reality is good. But it is not ultimate. God is ultimate reality, not creation, and God is Spirit. So ultimate reality is spiritual, and thus that should be the ultimate focus of the sober-minded Christian (Col. 3:1-4).

6 – Realize that Ultimate Reality is a Person – a Judge to whom we are ultimately accountable for every thought, word, and deed.

Nothing is more sobering than the idea of standing before a completely impartial judge who holds in his judgment your very future. What about an infinite, holy, omnipotent, omniscient Judge with whom we are ultimately on a collision course. It is appointed unto to man to die once, and then face judgment (Heb. 9:27). We will all stand before the bar of divine justice (John 5:22-23; Acts 17:31; Rom. 14:12). There is no escape, and there is no plea save for the blood of Jesus Christ. This is a sobering thought, but one that too many Christians spend little time contemplating. Lord, teach us to number our days! (Ps. 90:12)

7 – Learn to appreciate our perpetual state of eschatological imminence.

We need to better appreciate the nature of our eschatological imminence, both individually and globally. It is inexcusable for a Christian to fail to understand this. Any of us could be called to account before God at any moment. If the owner of the house knew what time the thief was going to break in, he would be ready. But thieves don’t typically provide advance notice of their schedules. We must be alert at all times. “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12:39). This too is a sobering thought.

8 – Commune often with God in prayer.

This requires little present commentary. We just need to practice the presence of God and seek first His kingdom. We need to spend less time with the trivial and more time with the Father in prayer. A praying Christian will not fail to develop a more sober-minded approach to life.

9 – Recognize that you have an enemy who abhors you and unceasingly schemes to destroy you. Really.

Later in this epistle, Peter would warn his readers: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (5:8). A soft-minded, careless thinking Christian is an easy target for Satan, and thus easily devoured and left useless to the work of the kingdom of God. The devil isn’t messing around; but seemingly most Christians are. It’s time for us to wake up, sober up, and stand firm in the spiritual warfare that is being waged all around us. War is sobering, especially when you know you’re in one.

10 – Do not model your life after the spiritually dead.

In other words, don’t be worldly (Rom. 12:1-2; Titus 2:11-14). There’s much we can learn from other people, including many of those who deny Christ’s lordship over their life. We can learn work skills, life skills, and even many good character traits from all kinds of people, Christian and non. But our lives should really be patterned after kingdom-minded, Christ-following believers. Paul said “imitate me, as I imitate Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). That should be our aim: imitate those who are imitating Jesus our Lord.

11 – Spend more time reading good theology, biographies, good history, apologetics, etc., and less time watching TV, on social media, etc.

Simply put: read more, watch less. And invest at least some (if not the bulk) of your reading time in good theology, apologetics, philosophy, good history, biographies of famous Christ followers, etc. Learn about the world, learn about God, learn how to defend the faith. Too much of our time is spent consuming entertainment and having our minds filled with whatever that industry wants us to think about. Rather, we should be investing more time in the things that will help us to love God with our minds (Matt. 22:37)

12 – Be more aware of the afflictions of fellow brothers in Christ.

Finally, few things are as sobering as learning what other Christians are suffering in their lives as a result of their testimony of Jesus. Life is not a game; for the Christian, it’s literal warfare, albeit spiritual. Many of our fellow brothers and sisters around the world are suffering terrible afflictions and persecutions while we too often are busily consumed with our own selfish decadence. Find out what is going on in other people’s lives, and let the suffering of others sober you up about the fleeting nature of this life and the glorious superiority of the life to come.

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With minds alert and sober, set your hope fully on the grace to be revealed to you. Christians are called to a hopeful, optimistic, future-oriented life consumed with the appearing of Christ and the glory that will attend that Day. Hope is ultimately an intellectual discipline, a frame of mind. An undisciplined, worldly mind that is cluttered by trivial, self-centered, or merely pragmatic thoughts is incapable of truly fixating on the Christian hope. We must commit our minds to weightier matters as a habit of life. This admittedly incomplete list of twelve suggestions can help in that regard.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,  so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Peter’s first epistle could be given the tagline, “Reasons for a Living Hope.” Peter’s audience, exiled and dispersed Christians undergoing much suffering the world and bracer for even greater afflictions to come, lived in the tension between present suffering and future glory. Like all Christians who live as pilgrims in the world, these believers could say along with the writer of Hebrews: Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” The tension between present suffering and the promise of future glory is held in place by “hope.” “Hope” in the Bible is not wishful thinking, but a yet to be realized certainty. In the opening verses of this pastoral letter, Peter gives us four solid reasons that his readers, as well as any Christian today who finds him/herself in a similar situation, can and should entrust ourselves to God.

1 – Because of the mercy of God (1:3)

Mercy is singled out because of the condemnation every sinner is under and the full measure of God’s indignation we all justly deserve: “If you should mark iniquities, who could stand?” (Ps. 130:3) Jesus gave a remarkable illustration of our intractable indebtedness to God in a parable recorded in Matthew 18:23-27.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.”

One talent is estimated to be the equivalent of twenty years wages for the average laborer. Ten thousand talents, therefore, is equal to 200,000 years of labor, or roughly 2,500 complete lifetimes even using today’s increased average lifespans! If the average person worked 50 years during his life, that would means 4000 lives trying to work off this debt. This is how Jesus illustrates our unfathomable (and unpayable) sin debt to a holy God. But it gets even worse: every life that a person lives, they incur more debt, thereby compounding the debt exponentially and nearly incalculably. No wonder the Bible warns us that the unrepentant sinner is “storing up wrath” for himself! Seen in this life, even death is a mercy, for it “closes the books” so to speak on the moral and spiritual debit ledger of one’s life.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5

Pure justice would have demanded payment of the crushing debt, which could never be fully paid even in eternal hell. Instead, as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. We can entrust ourselves to God in the midst of suffering because He has already bestowed His unfathomable mercy on us in forgiving our unpayable debt. “Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Pet. 2:10).

2 – Because of Christ’s Resurrection (1:3-4)

If Christ was not raised from the dead, our sin debt remains (Rom. 4:24-25; 1 Cor. 15:17). Thankfully, the evidence for the bodily resurrection of Jesus is substantial. The value of our hope is inextricably bound to the veracity of the resurrection of Christ. The worthiness of the impershable, undefiled, unfading inheritance awaiting us is only as good as the truthfulness of the record that in space-time history God raised Jesus from the dead. Thanks be to God (!): that record is candid, reliable, and unimpeachable. And because God did raise Jesus, we can entrust our souls to God – he will surely one day also consummate our salvation.

3 – Because of God’s Power (1:5)

In verse 5, Peter uses a military term translated into English as “guarded” or “shielded.” This word would describe a garrison stationed within a city to protect it from its foes. The glory of our eternal inheritance profits us little if we or it can be easily plundered by our enemy. But, we are being guarded. That is, we are not doing the guarding, God is, and He is doing it presently.

We are, in fact, guarded by omnipotence, the infinite power of God to realize all that He wills to do. At the same time, we are guarded through faith. If it were solely up to us, we would all fall away. Yet, God’s loving omnipotence preserves and defends us. However, it is important to note that the divine power is marshaled to our defense through our faith. Thus, it is a “synergistic” endeavor, involving both God and the believer.

But what exactly are we being guarded from? Both life experience and the contents of this very epistle make it plain that God’s power does not necessarily shield us from trials and hardships. In many cases, faith does not eliminate or even minimize our afflictions. In fact, faith may even increase or intensify the trials of the believer (Heb. 11:35-37). Rather, while not protected from (every) present affliction, we are are being guarded for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It is with an eschatological focus that Peter tell us we are guarded by the power of God. As it has been said: “while suffering stalks you, glory awaits you.”

4 – Because of the Authenticity of Tested Faith (1:6-9)

The fourth and final reason given here as to why we can and should entrust our selves to God is that even in our suffering, God purposes that our faith may be be proven to be authentic, enduring, having a divine origin. When we are assaulted by trials that result directly from a refusal to compromise our Christian witness and convictions, we might be tempted to wonder if our faith will remain intact through the fire: “Do I really believe this stuff?”

Peter ensures us that when tested, the genuine believer discovers a faith that tis deeper, sturdier, more profound, steadier, and stronger than it was before being tested. And such a tested, genuine faith yields three rewards (1:7-9):

1 – It will receive God’s commendation

2 – It fixes our present affections upon Christ

3 – It secures the consummation of our salvation

If that kind of faith is yours, you know that such faith has been wrought in God, you know that you are being guarded by His power, and you know that you can entrust your very soul to a Faithful Creator. These truths are so incredible, that Peter tells us into these things angels long to look. Angels, even as beings who don’t directly benefit from the gospel of our salvation, make a diligent examination of the wonder of God’s mercy bestowed upon ungodly sinners such as we. If angels marvel at the glory of the grace of God, should not we, the very recipients of that glorious grace?

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

1 Cor. 15:1-2

There are four main points that stand out in these two power packed verses:

1 – Preaching

2 – Believing (receiving)

3 – Standing

4 – Being saved

1 – THE GOSPEL, INCLUDING THE RESURRECTION, MUST BE PREACHED

Peter said as much in his evangelistic message to Cornelius: And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10:42). Paul confirms this in his oft quoted words from the Book of Romans: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:13-17).

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. So the gospel must be preached.

2 – THE GOSPEL MUST BE RECEIVED

John wrote in the prologue to his gospel: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11-12). Toward the end of his gospel, the same writer explicitly provided his readers with a purpose statement which also calls for a decision of faith: “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

3 – THE BELIEVER IS MADE TO STAND

Psalm 130:3 spells out the heart of humanities problem with God: “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” The question is rhetorical; the answer is obvious: no one. As Psalm 1 puts it: “the wicked will not stand in the judgment.”

The believer in Christ, however, has an entirely different judicial standing with God. Rather than condemnation, the believer stands justified. As Paul put it: since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).

4 – THE BELIEVER IS BEING SAVED

This means literally “to be in the way of salvation,” that is, as opposed to “perishing.” The salvation promised in the gospel comes in three “parts” if you will:

BUT WHAT IF I BELIEVED IN VAIN?

There are two ways in which a person might “believe the gospel in vain.” The first we might call “subjective vanity.” That is, a person failed to meet the biblical conditions or standard of true faith. For example, if you are really seeking salvation by works, then this would indicate that you believed “in vain” (see Galatians 3:1-4). Or perhaps you “deny the power of godliness” as Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 3:5. This could indicate a person who finds religion fashionable in some way, but rejects the power and very heart of the true gospel, the resurrection of Jesus Christ: “if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

The second way in which a person could believe the gospel “in vain” is if the resurrection of Christ did not actually happen. This we might call “objective vanity.” As Paul so directly and forcefully put it: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” If Jesus is still dead, we have believed the promise of the gospel in vain, because the promises are not true. Combatting this anti-resurrection heresy is a burden of much of the rest of the chapter of Corinthians.