Third Sunday of Easter – May 8, 2011

1 Peter 1:17-21 - ¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ¹⁸ For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. ²⁰ He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹ Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

How much have the events of the very first Good Friday and Easter impacted your life? Do you still find yourself thinking back to the significance of those days we celebrated just two weeks ago? Or has the meaning of Easter already become a distant memory? Have we fallen back into a pre-Lent rut where we spend little time focusing on the sacrifice Christ made for us? Do we find ourselves thinking about the Easter gathering of friends and good food more than the death and resurrection of our Savior?

Simply put, we can’t let that happen! When we meditate on Christ’s sacrifice for us and witness his empty tomb, it needs to affect us for more than just 3 days. It needs to do more than boost our spirit for a week. It needs to impact our entire being! It needs to shape our every thought. It needs to influence our every action. That is why this morning, like every Sunday morning, we focus our attention on the costly price of our salvation. As we do so, we see how it enables us to stand before an impartial judge and motivates us to live a God-fearing life.

So let me ask you, why do Christians so often live unsanctified lives? You know what I mean, don’t you? Take a snapshot of this past week and we will see that unholy living in the bickering that took place among members of the church or our family. It was evident in the unforgiving spirit we had toward our husband or wife. It was seen in the way you took pleasure in the misfortune of your enemies and the death of the wicked. It is there for all to see in our lack of love toward our neighbor.

It was apparent in laziness on the job and disrespect for teachers or parents. It was seen in the speeding, the slander, the gossip. It was noticeable in the frustration you demonstrated toward God because your life isn’t how you would like it to be. It was clear in the selfish attitude that prevented you from giving an offering this morning that is in line with how much God has given you. It was plain in your self-righteous arrogance that thinks you are a better Christian than most. It was obvious in how entertained we were while watching that improper and immoral television show. It was demonstrated in the lack of time spent in repentance and prayer and God’s Word. It is there for all to see in our lack of love toward God.

On top of that there is the striking reality often repeated in Scripture that each of us will face judgment. Peter reminds us of this reality, “You call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially.” Each one of us will one day have to give an account and answer for our decisions. God doesn’t close his eyes to our sin. He counts our lies as bad as the unchurched and condemns our hateful thoughts just as much as our godless associates. The record of our lives will be opened for the closest scrutiny, as the Father considers “each man’s work.”

Peter also adds the word, “impartially.” This tell us that all those things that sway the opinions of men and women - outward appearance, culture, social position, family background, education, beauty, intellect – none of them count with God. It does not matter how much money you have. We can’t flatter him into ignoring facts. All that matters is the evidence displayed against us. That evidence shows a huge debt of sin deserving of the condemnation of hell!

So, are we prepared to face the judge? Peter helps us answer that question by pointing us to the costly price of our salvation. “You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” The answer is yes, we are prepared to face the judge, because a price more precious than anything we could ever offer has already paid our debt - the precious blood of Christ!

Peter tells us that we have been redeemed. That is, we have been bought back or set free. And to get an idea of this picture, consider this illustration. After being found guilty of a crime, a man was given the option of paying a large fine or spending years in prison. Because he couldn’t pay the fine, he went to prison. There his wife and children could not visit him. One day, an unknown person went to the court and paid the man’s fine. The jailer came to tell him that his punishment was paid. He was free. The anonymous person’s payment had bought back the man’s life; it had redeemed him.

And that’s what happened with us. You see, when we entered this world we inherited an empty way of life from our forefathers – a sinful flesh that totally corrupted us. We were chained and locked in the prison of Satan, sin and death. It was an empty way of life because it was one that separated us from God. It was an empty way of life because all we could do was sin. It was an empty way of life because it promised nothing but the torment of hell and left us to hopelessly try and save self – which we could never do. But Christ bought us back from that life. With what? Not with gold or silver. The only price the Father would accept was the perfect blood of his Son - the innocent one for the guilty.

Just look at how Peter describes that blood - precious. Its value is immeasurable. Look at how Peter describes Christ – a lamb without blemish or defect. God insisted on a perfect victim. Just think of what was at stake during Christ’s life. If he had sinned once, cursed once, hated once, retaliated one, but he didn’t. He presented himself to the hideous cross without blemish or defect so that our Father might declare us hideous sinners without blemish or defect. His blood was shed on the altar of the cross as the ransom payment for our sin. It was the perfect payment because he was the perfect lamb. We have proof that this payment was accepted: Jesus entered the prison house of death only to break free on the third day.

The price was costly – the very blood of God. But all this leads us to place our trust in him. And this faith, which is not a doing on our part but rather a receiving of God’s promise made possible by God himself, assures us that God forgives our sins and has declared us righteous in his Son. Our sins were judged on the cross, and they cannot be held against us. Jesus’ resurrection is the declaration that God accepted Christ as our righteous substitute. We can now stand before the impartial judge, for we are children of God who can call him Father.

And since we are God’s children, it’s time for us to get serious about hating sin and about holy living. We need to get rid of any thought that makes sin seem acceptable. Our heavenly Father is holy and righteous, and as children of a holy God we need to set the highest standards for our own behavior. God will not compromise with sin. If we call him Father, we should live a life that reflects his holiness.

Earlier we asked the question, why do we so often live unsanctified lives? It is because we don’t think. We don’t think enough about the costly price of our salvation. We don’t meditate often enough on the holy precious blood that our Savior shed to redeem us. We don’t spend enough time pondering over and over the sacrifice that our Savior gave to free us from the slavery of sin. That’s why Peter gets our thinking straight by pointing us to the costly price of our salvation as the motivation for living sanctified lives. And there is no higher motivation! Since this is the case, Peter tells us we are to “live [our] lives as strangers here in reverent fear.”

Live as strangers here on earth. How well would you say you do that? If we were to take our lives and set them next to that of an unbeliever, would the world be able to tell the difference? Living as strangers means we should not feel right at home in this world! Instead, we need to act the way God wants us to and not the way the world does. Just consider Abraham’s nephew Lot. After he stopped living as a stranger in the land of Canaan and took up residence in Sodom, he started to chase after the pleasures and the treasures of this world. Where did it get him – on the run as everything he lived for went up in smoke!

Dear fellow redeemed, our Savior is worthy of our greatest devotion! He has freed us from the prison house of Satan, sin and death. He has released us from the flames of hell. The wondrous works which He has done for our salvation motivate us to do wonderful works for him! It motivates us to “live…as strangers…in reverent fear.”

So we will not set our hearts on what we can see - earthly values, material things, or approval from others. Instead, as we read in the book of Acts this morning, the costly price of our salvation moves us to give to anyone in need. We will strive to resist the temptation of making our religion one that is merely on our lips, and instead make it one that controls our every action and thought. The costly price of our salvation moves us to focus our attention on the Word of God, like the Christians we read about today, who devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and met daily in the temple courts. It will mean spreading the message of our costly salvation with those in our lives - like the Emmaus disciples who could not keep the good news to themselves.

The costly price of our salvation will move us to live in loving fear so that we do not disappoint our Father or sin against his love. It will move us to make our walk of faith one that includes daily repentance and vigilant watchfulness against temptation. It will move us to avoid those things that displease God.

The high cost of our salvation – the precious blood of Christ – calls for us to live in reverent fear as we wait for our judge to come. This holy living will be motivated by a God-fearing faith that will not take lightly what was purchased at so great a cost. God bless you in this walk of faith as the costly price of your salvation shapes everything you do and everything you are. Amen.