Does perception match your reality?
Are we symbolism or substance?
Hello, Mt Bethel Men,
I decided to show you two different translations of the 1 Peter 1:13-16 passage we are studying this week. From now on, I will copy the other passages we’ve studied at the end of this article and Table Talk discussion questions for your convenience. Looking forward to hearing good things about the March 1 Builders Men’s Ministry gathering!!
Thank you for coming and for preparing in the time you have.
Pastor Dave
Focusing on I Peter 1:13-16
I Peter 1:13-16 (Amplified Bible)
13 So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit—steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert], fix your hope completely on the grace [of God] that is coming to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 [Live] as obedient children [of God]; do not be conformed to the evil desires which governed you in your ignorance [before you knew the requirements and transforming power of the good news regarding salvation]. 15 But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage]; 16 because it is written, “You shall be holy (set apart), for I am holy.”
I Peter 1:13-16 (New International Version)
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”[a]
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Do you ever have trouble making your new passwords match when doing a reset? I do. I guess my fingers don’t work very well at times, and after entering new passwords and the confirmation password, I am still surprised by an error message telling me those didn’t match. I actually (sometimes) warn my computer with a “you’d better match this time” when entering another confirmation password for the 3rd time. Don’t you love it when the website gives you the chance to actually view the two? I do. Do you think I need anger management classes? 🙂
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There is another matching process that I am considering more and more, and that is the match-up of my real me to the perception others have of me. Carol and I are in enough relationships and for long enough to have friends with whom we can have those conversations. Was it Socrates who is quoted as saying, “An unexamined life is not worth living”? I think he was onto something there, don’t you?
I remember what a few of my self-examinations down through the years have yielded. As I list a few of mine, would you think with me about your own times of either self-examination or confrontation from others that brought you to a place of decision or clarity?
Personal 1:
As a kid at practice, I got a bloodied eye after being hit by a baseball screaming down the third base line where I was waiting to field and throw it to first base. I came to “self-realization” that I was no longer able to bat or field without fear. I quit the team. (Asking for help would have been a good idea. No one volunteered, and I didn’t ask.)
Personal 2:
Being rejected by a friend early in my junior high years led to a self-realization that I was not enough. If I was not enough for her, then I must not be enough of what it takes to make and keep a friend. (Talking to someone would have been a good idea. I didn’t.)
Personal 3:
Coming into my mid-teens there was a time when I was quiet before God and realized that though I was a sinner and deserved death and hell as a result of my sin, Jesus Christ loved me and wanted me. Holy Spirit examined me, the Father invited me to come – sin and all – to a Savior who died so that my sin would not hold me any longer. I realized that though by myself I am not enough, Jesus makes me enough by accepting me as I am, then promised to change me into His likeness. (I spoke with some people after that and they helped me understand. I have been understanding more ever since.)
What does it mean that I am “to be holy because He is holy”?
The passage of focus ends with a call to be holy. Wow, once again I don’t have what it takes to be holy on my own; however, Jesus is my holy Lord. He lives in my life in the person of the Holy Spirit. He is holy – the Holy Spirit. So my holiness was granted to me by grace through faith. This faith somehow combines with the power of God to keep my inheritance secure (1:5); is shown to be both precious and genuine by trials we endure (1:6-7); and results in our eternal salvation (1:9). Even our faith is gifted to us. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Do I understand totally how God does that? No. Do I believe it? Yes.
As a result of all those blessings and benefits of grace and faith, what does God want from us? I know He wants us to love Him. Right? (with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength) and that love is to motivate us to holy living. We are to think, relate, respond, and live as a loved child of God. (Ephesians 5:1) It stands to reason that we would give God what He commands and asks of us. When you are loved so well, you want to please the one Who loves you. In this case we are to grow into maturity and imitate Christ. Will we do it perfectly? Probably not. Should we be more like Jesus today than when we first came to faith? Absolutely. If we haven’t made the progress we know we should have, is there hope for our future? You better know it!
When you look in the mirror, do you see the powerful lion of a man, who is in “large and in charge” or do you see a timid kitten full of fear and caution? God knows you can be either – at any given time – bold or timid. Right? What a wonderful God we serve! He sees it all; knows it all, loves you thoroughly and keeps you by His power. What does God really think of me and you? His opinion of you is true and accurate. He loves you, knows you are worth loving, won’t abandon you. He values you very much. That is His view of you!
We know intuitively that it is very important how well we live this life for Jesus. Others need to see the real deal, don’t they? They won’t see a perfect person this side of heaven, but when they see your life, good deeds, acts of love, and your being conformed to the image of Jesus; then they will have a much better idea of the reality of the Savior we love, the God we serve, the Holy Spirit who is making the changes and the truth of God’s Holy Word. God calls us to be holy. Am I/are we growing up into Christ-likeness. When others see our lives, whose image are we revealing – the lion of the tribe of Judah (Christlikeness) or the fearful, “off the chain” person we were before Jesus came to save us?
These questions will help us prep for Tuesday, March 1, 2022 Builders Bible study:
1. Lean In: Do you think most men, when children or teens, had some ideas about the person they wanted to grow up to be or the roles they want to fill in life? What kind of person do men want to become? What/who do men say they definitely don’t want to be?
2. Look Down: What kind of a person does Peter call us to be in the passage – 1 Peter 1:13-16? How would you describe the changes he is calling for in us? What might be the “before” and “after” characteristics in those who are changing and being changed? How can we be called “holy” when we aren’t perfect? What can we become with Holy Spirit making changes in us?
3. Look Out: When you consider the men you know and have known over time, how satisfied do you think they are with their life? Do you believe men wish they had made different decisions? What things hinder a man’s becoming the man he wanted to become? What kinds of different decisions have you heard men say they wish they had made? What impact are men having on culture and families, on wives and children? Do you see most men as having serious regrets or joyful celebrations of the decisions they made and the person they have become? What do some men say they wish they had done differently? What can they do if they feel discouraged?
4. Look In: Are you close to or far from the man you hoped you’d be at this stage of life? What do you wish you had done differently? Is it too late to change significant areas of your life? What would have been helpful to you as a child/teen/younger man to help you transition into an adult whose life matches what you wanted to experience? Can you identify how you were helped to become a godly or good man or what kept you held down or distracted? What can you to if you feel discouraged?
5. Take It Outside: Can you think of ways we as men could help younger men get to the place where their dreams and desires for being a healthy, loving man are reached in their future?
- Write / record your life story event or episode at a time.
- Tell / write what helped you grow into a more mature man.
- What movies/tv programs/music illustrates wisdom or foolishness in men? Talk to your sons/grandsons/great-grandsons with permission from parents.
1 Peter 1:1-12
New International Version
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hopethrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.