Keys of the Kingdom 4 – Great Redemption

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ... knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you... Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. (1 Peter 1:13–2:2)

We have been purchased back by the Lord at the greatest price—and holy living is our response to that great redemption.

A Cultural Shift and the Lost "Culture War"

There has been a tangible shift in our culture over the better part of the last twenty years. We are all aware of it—in fact, the discomfort brought by this shift may be what first pushed you to seek something bigger than yourself, something enduring and steadfast, and ultimately to seek the Lord.

From the early 1980s until the turn of the century, many within the church—often calling themselves the moral majority or the religious right—marched against this slide. Some of you remember those terms. Their aim was to oppose this cultural decline through political engagement, to moralize an immoral culture, to whitewash a dirty society, to legislate holiness.

But it has become increasingly clear over the last fifteen to twenty years that the balance has shifted dramatically in the opposite direction. What has always been true became evident again: an immoral culture refuses to be moralized, especially by a group of people who are themselves just as fallen and imperfect. If someone imperfect tells you to be more perfect, you will rightly get upset.

The so-called culture war was lost before it began, because it is not the responsibility of the church to moralize the unconverted. It is the responsibility of the church to convert the immoral. That has always been God's aim and plan. When the church sets out through political engagement to moralize an immoral culture, that battle will ultimately be lost.

My Kingdom Is Not of This World

We are doing a series called Keys of the Kingdom, and this needs to be a clear key in our minds. Jesus said it about as plainly as anyone could when He stood before the Roman governor of Judea two thousand years ago: "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18). He continued, "If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight."

If Jesus were establishing an earthly political kingdom, He would call His disciples to fight by political means. Most of His early followers thought that was exactly His task, and He had to remind them continually that He was not here to establish an earthly kingdom.

That is why Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Our King is enthroned in heaven—the King of kings and Lord of lords—and one day He will establish His kingdom. It is not our job to establish it here, and we should be very thankful for that. Every time the church tries by political means to establish God's kingdom on earth, it ends in disaster and tends toward wickedness, because at the core we are corruptible. Power corrupts, and we are corruptible; He is not.

Do Not Marvel That the World Hates You

On the night He was betrayed, Jesus told His disciples, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world... therefore the world hates you" (John 15:19). If you follow Jesus today, you live in a world that is contrary to you.

We have not largely experienced this in America because we live under a Constitution whose First Amendment affords us religious liberty, and we are thankful for that. But what we have experienced here is abnormal to Christian history and to the word of Jesus. About fifty years after Jesus spoke those words, John wrote, "Do not marvel if the world hates you" (1 John 3:13). Yet Christians in twenty-first-century America are surprised when those outside the church oppose it. John said two thousand years ago: don't be surprised.

That same night, God the Son prayed to God the Father: "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14). And then, stunningly, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one." We may suffer hatred and trouble, but we have this promise: we will be kept from the plans of the evil one.

The Right Mindset, Attitude, and Behavior

So what manner of persons ought we to be in the face of this? Peter answers: "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).

First, we need the right mindset. We must be focused and alert, finding our comfort not in this world but in the grace to be revealed at the second coming of Jesus. Our hope must be in heaven. Because we are earthly, we tend to put our hope in earthly things—our looks, our intellect, our career, our 401(k), our house, our family. But all those things ultimately fail. If your hope is in them, you will be left hopeless. Non-Christians experience the same losses; when they are hopeless, they should see in the Christian a hope that is not of this world.

Second, we need the right attitude, which informs our behavior. Verse 14 says, "As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts." Don't live the way you used to live before you were a Christian, when you lived in ignorance of eternity, the resurrection, and the new life.

Third, we need the right behavior: "As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'" (vv. 15–16).

The Call to Holiness Is a Father to His Children

Why should I be holy? Verse 17 answers: "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear." Circle that word if.

The call to holy conduct is the call of a Father to His children. Holy behavior is what God expects of His kids—not of those who are not His kids. So when the church moves as a political body to make non-followers of Jesus be holy, it expects of them something God Himself does not expect of them. He expects it of you because you are His child.

Our response is often like a five-year-old being disciplined: "Well, what about Billy? So-and-so's mom and dad let them do this." And the answer is, "I don't care—they're not my kid. You're my kid." When God says, "Be holy," and we say, "What about those other people?" He answers, "I'm not concerned about them. If you call Me Father, you're My child, and My children live like this." That is why this very book says, "Judgment must begin at the house of God."

Peter quotes Leviticus: "Be holy, for I am holy." God is separate from sinners, completely perfect, removed from all fallenness and sin. His holiness is the pattern and example for us, the target we aim at, and the goal we work toward—with the honest acknowledgment that you will never be perfectly holy in this life. If you think you will become perfect here, you will always be frustrated. That is where religion tends—frustration, and then pride and hypocrisy, because in your heart of hearts you know you will never be what you are striving to be. And that's okay, because of what comes next.

Holy Conduct Is Our Response to Great Redemption

"Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (vv. 18–19). Holy conduct is our response to His great redemption.

Here is the difference. Religion says: strive to be holy in order to get salvation; be better and good enough that God will be pleased and save you. Christianity says: you will never be holy, yet He redeemed you anyway—therefore be holy. Religion says, "I must work to earn His approval." Christianity says, "You can never do it, so Jesus came and died for your sin to deal with its punishment and power, buying you back. Now that you are redeemed, walk in righteousness." He did not save you because you were righteous.

This idea of redemption—to buy back, to pay the price—is most beautifully illustrated in Exodus. Even those who don't read the Bible know something of it through The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, The Prince of Egypt, and more recently Christian Bale as Moses. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt, in bondage under harsh taskmasters for four hundred years, and God called Moses with a message.

In Exodus 6:6 God says, "I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm... I will take you as My people, and I will be your God." Read Exodus 1 through 6 and you will never find God saying, "Make yourselves holy first, get rid of all your idolatry, and then I will redeem you." In spite of all their wickedness, He says, "I will, I will, I will."

It is not until thirteen chapters later, in Exodus 19—after the plagues, the redemption, the Red Sea, and Mount Sinai—that God gives His law and calls them to be His covenant people. The progression is vital: redemption first, then the call to faithful obedience. In Exodus 15:13 they sing, "You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed." And in Deuteronomy 7, God reminds them, "I did not choose you because you are great—you're not. I chose you because I loved you." That is grace. The Old Testament is not merely a vengeful, wrathful God; it is all about grace. "I saved you not because you are good, but because I love you."

Great Redemption at a Great Price

All humanity is now under the bondage of sin and death. And what does God do? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." That is the redemptive price to buy us back. Christians have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without spot or blemish.

Jesus said, "I have come... to give My life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Galatians 3 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us. Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14 say, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." In Acts 20:28 Paul says Jesus "purchased us by His own blood." And on the night He was betrayed, Jesus took the cup and said, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28).

Great redemption has come to us at a great price. We always need to keep that close, which is why Jesus gave us a sacrament like communion—so that we would do it regularly and remember, because we are prone to forget. The God who says He is not worshiped by graven images gives us a tangible image: take the bread, take the cup, and remember My body broken and My blood shed for you. You were redeemed with something precious before you ever did anything righteous.

Redemption Has Given Us Certain Hope in God

"He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God" (vv. 20–21).

Sometimes Christians misunderstand redemption as God's Plan B—as though God created man perfectly, man messed up royally, and God was suddenly scrambling in heaven asking, "What do we do now? Jesus, can You fix this?" We even foolishly think, "If I had been there, I wouldn't have eaten from that tree." But it is not Plan B. Jesus was foreordained, chosen beforehand. Revelation 13:8 calls Him "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world." This was God's plan before He ever said, "Let there be light."

All of Old Testament history points to this, showing that the sacrificial system was insufficient. God instituted it for Judaism to show how costly sin is—that you could never keep it up. Then, at just the right time, Jesus came.

Redemption has given us certain hope in God. Hope in yourself is pitiful hope; you let yourself down constantly, and so do I. Ask someone, "If you died, would you go to heaven?" and many say, "I hope so—I've been a pretty good person." That will not work. A whole lot of people, inside and outside the church, are hoping in themselves, and they will be hopeless on that day, because you can never be perfect, and all your works are as filthy rags before Him who is perfect. Jesus died to give us hope in God. Our salvation rests on His work on the cross, not on our ability. On Christ alone my hope is built.

Redeeming Grace Compels Sincere Love of Others

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again" (v. 22). The New Living Translation says you were cleansed from your sins—how? By obeying the truth. And Jesus tells us in John 6 that the work of God is to believe in Him. When you trusted Christ, you obeyed the gospel, and He cleansed and purified your soul by His precious blood. So now, love one another fervently with a pure heart.

"All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you" (vv. 24–25). The bad news is you cannot save yourself by religious effort or law-keeping. The good news is that Jesus came and died to deal with the power and punishment of sin. Having been saved, we live in righteousness—not to earn salvation, but because we have been saved—and this righteousness is expressed through fervent love from a pure heart.

Redeeming grace compels sincere love of others. The clearest passage on this is 1 John 4:7: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God... He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him... not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." If God loved us this way, our response should be sincere, pure love for one another.

What Sincere Love Looks Like

What does this love look like? "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious" (1 Peter 2:1–2). If you have tasted God's good grace—that He loved you when you were unlovely, that while you were yet a sinner Christ died for you—then love people fervently and grow through His word like pure milk.

What is malice? When a co-worker gets the bonus or promotion you wanted, malice is wishing in your heart that person would get hit by a truck. That is not love. Deceit is then plotting in your heart how to make them fail. Hypocrisy is greeting them, "Oh, it's so good to see you," while inwardly wishing them harm. Envy is saying, "I'm so glad to see you," while thinking, "I wish I had what they have." Evil speaking is walking away to your other co-workers and tearing that person down.

All of this is resident in every fallen heart, because we are all fallen. So Peter says: don't live after your former lusts, but live with holy conduct that rejects these things in favor of love—because you have been born of God.

And He gives us a tangible reminder of His love: the bread and the cup, so we remember that while we were still unlovely sinners, even His enemies, Christ gave His body to be broken and His blood to be shed, that we would know the depths of His love.

Let me tell you—if you live the way Peter calls you to live in a world that is opposed to you, a world given to malice, envy, deceit, and evil speaking as the norm for fallen hearts, then even though they do not like Jesus and do not like you, they will look at your life and say, "I don't know how to fight against that." Because it is not of this world. And that is exactly what God has called us to. Amen.