Be Reverent

Last week we talked about being holy, because God is holy. We were reminded that what we believe, what we think, influences the way we live. YOU ARE HOLY. You are set apart by God (chosen) for God IF you have surrendered to God.

IF we are HOLY, and we are, then we ought to live like it. Amen? Our passage today continues that theme.

1 Peter 1:17–21 CSB
17 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. 18 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you. 21 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.

Lets start with verse 17.

1 Peter 1:17 “17 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.”

Living with the end in mind – if we are going to stand before God at the end of our days, hoping in the grace that will be revealed to us because of Jesus, then we are commanded to “conduct our selves in reverence” during our time living as strangers.

Peter started this letter be reminding us that we are all strangers, travelers who do not have roots, in this world because we belong to a different kingdom. (we are set apart). Now, he reminds us of our future reality, and the God who will judge everyone’s work.

• There is no escaping this judgement, even if you know Jesus
• God is an impartial judge
• SINCE we know he will not play favorites, and we cannot skip this judgement, we would do well to think about the way we choose to live.

So, Peter commands us to live in reverence. BE REVERENT in the way you conduction yourself. What does that mean? Some of your translations might say, “reverent fear” and others might just say, “fear”.

What do you fear? what are you afraid of? What are your phobias?

• Thanatophobia – fear of death
• Theophobia – fear of God
• Autophobia – fear of being alone
• Nyctophobia – fear of the dark
• Arachnophobia – fear of spiders
• Ophidiophobia – fear of snakes
• Sciurophobia – fear of squirrels
• Pogonophobia – fear of beards
• Phobophobia – the fear of having fears
• Sermonophobia – the fear of being used as a sermon illustration when Mike is preaching (i just made that up)

Those are all things that we are afraid of – perhaps even terrified of. They can stop us in our tracks and paralyze us. This passage we are reading says that we are to “fear” God.

Does it mean we are to be terrified of him? I do not believe so, which is why many of our modern translations added in that word “reverence”. There is only one Greek word here, and it is “phobos” from which we get our word phobia.

If there was not grace, then perhaps we should be terrified. If we have not accepted God there is serious cause to be shaking in our boots when thinking about the end of our days. God a just God; but he is also a merciful God. He COULD crush us, be instead he offers to redeem us. So this fear is not so much a terrifying fear or at least it does not have to be if we have been redeemed.

For those of us who have been redeemed, our fear of God might look more like:

• Fear that when we stand before him as judge we will be ashamed
• Fear disappointing him. I don’t want to disappoint Him.
• Honor and respect him as both a righteous judge and a loving Father

There is a big difference between fearing God because he can punish you and fearing God because he has redeemed you.

So, we add this word “reverence” into the passage to help with the meaning. What does reverence mean? Respect. Fear. Awe. Submission. Those are all terms that help us understand reverence. Since we interjected an English word into this passage it would be appropriate to look at the English definition. Oxford dictionary defines reverence as “deep respect for someone or something”.

Respect is earned, right?

We respect people in certain positions, like a judge. We understand their authority. They have earned our respect if they have been faithful at keeping and upholding the law.

Why does God deserve our respect? After all…

• Isn’t he the one that allows bad things to happen to good people?
• Doesn’t he allow famines, earthquakes, tornadoes, flooding and other “acts of God” that take lives?

God is certainly in control of all things. He is sovereign. But it was and is our sin that perpetuates the evil in this world. God is still a God of justice, he is also a God of mercy. He is unchanging and unwavering. He deserves our respect because he is a fair and right judge. He deserves our respect because he is a merciful judge.

That mercy is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

While we could have been destroyed, like the world during Noah’s time, instead we were redeemed.

1 Peter 1:18 “18 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,”

Live in reverence, because… or for…

There is a reason to live in reverence of God. He deserves our respect and our loyalty BECAUSE he redeemed us.

The cost of redemption

Have you have ever been pulled over and given a ticket?

In our society is not uncommon to try to plead out of a situation with a judge. You can go to court and sometimes just by showing up you can get a reduced sentence. I know people 😏 who have talked themselves out of a speeding fine with points on their license to something like parking violation with no points.

So, if you think of everything that you have ever done that is contrary to what God says is right and good: every lie, every bad thing you said about another person, every gossip, every sexual sin, every evil thought – what would it take to be able to bargain your way out of that? What kind of penalty might you have to pay?

Matthew 16:26 CSB
26 For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?

You cannot buy your forgiveness. You cannot bargain your way out of what you deserve. You cannot buy your way into heaven. You could give all that you own to God and it would never be enough. Think about it: he owns the cattle on 1,000 hills (Psa 50:10)

ILLUS: Hold up a paving stone. Ask, “how many of you would be willing to work 2 years just to have this paving stone?” Crazy right? Well, the average median salary in Jefferson County NY is $54,000/year, and a 1 Kilo bar of gold is about $108,000. So, if you had no other expenses, and no taxes, you could buy that brick of gold in 2 years. When he creates the New Heavens and the New Earth he will use gold as pavement. So even if you could take it with you to heaven, it would be a paving stone at best.

God is not impressed with our money. He does not need our gold. You cannot buy your way into heaven.

1 Peter 1:18 “18 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,”

There is a price that must be paid for our sins. We all will stand before the judge and be found guilty. Our sin, our guilt will be on trial, and a sentence has been issued.

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Redemption means that we have been absolved from that judgement. But NOT because of our work, not because of our money, not because of our morality… but because of Jesus. His life. His death. His resurrection.

1 Peter 1:18–19 “18 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.”

Do I need Redemption?

I have been confronted with that question. “What gives you the right to tell me I need to be redeemed?” “I am a good person”. “I haven’t killed anyone”. “Isn’t it arrogant to think that I am not good enough for your standards?”.

The way Peter described life before coming to know Jesus was “empty”.

From this world, we get an inheritance that fades and an empty life. What we get from God is a new birth, a living hope, and an inheritance in heaven.

Is life separated from God really empty?

If you do not know know God, you might not define your life as empty. You might even think your life is full. You don’t know what you are missing until you get a chance to see what you are missing.

But apart from God we can only fill our lives with the things of this world.

We may live for ourselves:

• money
• pleasure
• sex
• entertainment
• accumulation of things

That is what our entertainment culture wants to tell us life is for. The mantra might be, “Life is short, enjoy what you can”. This is a hedonistic view of life.

We live for self because we refuse to accept that there is a God, and a divine plan and order. So, we make ourselves and pleasure to be gods, and those will disappoint. The things of this life are temporary and not eternal. Therefore they are empty. You cannot take them with you.

Some, apart from God, have instead committed themselves to the betterment or others:

• finding medical cures
• providing relief for people in poverty
• providing foster care or adoption
• volunteering at various non-profits
• Leading a cause like environmental protection

This is more about living for others than self. The mantra might be, “Pay it forward” or “Make a difference”. This is an altruistic way of life.

Similarly, when we life for others we may get the benefit of feeling good about what we have done, and that is because we have tasted a glimpse of what we were created for. But all that we work for on this earth is temporary. Heal a disease there will be another. The need to feed the hungry is not likely to go away in this life.

Whether you life for yourself or live for others, if you are not living for God your life would be considered empty still.

We were created to enjoy life, and we were created to live for the benefits of others. But apart from Redemption we still lack something that is even more significant – a relationship with the God who made us. That is something we all long for, though some are blind to it:

What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him … since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite an immutable object; in other words by God himself.

― Blaise Pascal

While our physical lives may seem full, our spiritual lives are bankrupt apart from Christ. Jesus came to give a life that is abundant:

John 10:10 CSB
10 A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

That abundance does not refer to our material possessions, it refers to our spiritual possessions. It refers to our relationship with God and our new identity in Christ.

How can I be Redeemed?

We obtain that abundant life not by buying it, or earning it. We get abundant (NON-EMPTY) life by accepting it. It is a gift from God that was purchased by the blood of Jesus.

1 Peter 1:18–19 CSB
18 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, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

You cannot buy the forgiveness of your sins. You cannot buy meaning and purpose. You cannot buy fulfillment. You cannot buy your way into God’s favor.

BECAUSE it is impossible to buy those things, God did something spectacular. He paid the price for you and me. That price was the life of the Son of God – Jesus.

In Lev 22:19-25 there was a command that when an animal was sacrificed, it was to be an unblemished male. Jesus came as that unblemished sacrifice for our sins. He was the sin offering that makes us holy. He was the perfect, without fault, sacrifice that was offered for our sins.

1 Peter 1:20 CSB
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

Jesus was known before the foundation of the world. Not just Jesus, but the plan of redeeming mankind through Jesus. Jesus was with God in the beginning, and was revealed about 2,000 years ago.

John 1:1–2 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.”

God’s plan, from before the world was created, was to sacrifice his son to redeem you and me. The sinfulness of this world was not a surprise to him. It was his pleasure and his altruism that led him to sacrifice Jesus on the cross to pay the price that you and I cannot pay on our own.

God loves you and me THAT MUCH. That he planned, before the world began, to sacrifice his Son for us. He knows everything about us, including every sin we ever did and and ever will commit and he sent Jesus anyway. Actually, he sent Jesus BECAUSE that was the ONLY WAY.

But God does not force us to follow him. Crazy, right? But what kind of relationships, what kind of love comes from mandates or coercion? Instead, he offers redemption to anyone who will accept it.

We receive redemption by placing out faith in Jesus.

1 Peter 1:21 CSB
21 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.

Through faith in Jesus we are reconciled to God. The God who raised Jesus from the dead.

God raised Jesus from the dead

Jesus rose from the dead. That is a fact I choose to believe. I state it that way, because I cannot prove it. I believe it. That is what faith is all about. Choosing to believe and hope in something that you cannot see or prove.

The story of the crucifixion is that Jesus was dead, in the grave for 3 days. He was killed the day before the Sabbath, he was in the grave on the Sabbath, and the next morning, day 3, the women went to the tomb to finish the preparations of the corpse.

Matthew 28:1–7 CSB
1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.

5 The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.”

When the women arrived to finish preparing Jesus’ body, it was not there. The angel said he rose from the dead, just as he said he would. Jesus then appeared to the women. Then, Jesus appeared to his disciples. He appeared to a few on the road, to the eleven, then to 500+, and also to Paul:

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 CSB
3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.

While the disciples got to see Jesus after he rose from the dead, you and I get to choose to believe in faith. ⭐

1 Peter 1:21 “21 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.”

The story of the resurrection, the story of Easter, the story of redemption, is that Jesus did not STAY dead. He conquered death and the grave.

God gave Jesus glory

Jesus was murdered, buried and rose from the dead. This is what the Father did to him. BOTH the crushing (as we read in Isaiah 53) and the raising. And the Father also give him glory.

Ephesians 1:20–23 CSB

20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

The Easter story is one of grace and hope. God wants a relationship with you and me, so he paid the price for us – if we will accept that gift in faith. ANYONE who chooses to place their faith in Jesus will not be turned away. Anyone who places their faith in Jesus will be reconciled to God. Anyone who places their faith in Jesus will be raised to new and abundant life by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

Romans 10:9 CSB

9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

If you have never placed your faith in Jesus, the most REVERENT thing you could do is to acknowledge your need for forgiveness and accept the gift of forgiveness and life that God so gracious bought for you through the blood of Jesus on the cross. You can trade in an empty life for a full one, a temporary inheritance for an eternal one, and fear for hope.

Reverence produces faith and hope in God.

1 Peter 1:21 CSB

21 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.

The end result is not that our FEAR is in God, but that our FAITH is in God. We started by being commanded to be fearful; we ended by being reminded to be faithful. Fear and Faith go together. We fear God, we choose to be reverent, because we have placed our faith in God and understand what he has done for us.

I am here today because of the living hope that I have through faith in Jesus.

• I am reconciled to God because God chose, before the foundation of the world, to send Jesus to die for me.
• I am reconciled to God because I have placed my faith in Jesus – who loved me and gave his life for me.
• I am reconciled to God because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead has given me new life.

This Easter, let’s reflect on what God has done:

• Once I was distant, now I am near
• Once I was empty, now I overflow
• Once I was fearful, now I am faithful

IF this is what God has done for you and me… how then shall we live?

BE REVERENT

Live a life that recognizes God as the judge of the living and the dead, but also the God of compassion that sacrificed his own Son to redeem us. Live to the new life that you have been given by God, for the glory of God.