God Is Watching (3 of 5)
Series: Wholly Holy
Jeff Strite
1 Peter 1:14-17
OPEN: You may have heard the story of some children at a Catholic school who were lined up for lunch at the cafeteria. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. A nun had made a note: ''Take only one, God is watching.'' At the other end of the table was a large plate of chocolate chip cookies. One of the youngsters had taped a note to the plate that said: ''Take all you want, God is watching the apples.''
APPLY: The past couple of weeks we've been talking about ''holiness.'' Holiness is the idea that we are set apart for God. When God makes US holy, that means God has set us apart for salvation. When we believed in Jesus, repented of our sins, confessed Jesus as our Lord and Master and were baptized into Christ, we were made holy - set apart to be His children.
And when God says WE should make ourselves holy - He means that He expects us to live differently than the world around us. And that's what THIS passage is all about.
Notice what God tells us here: ''You shall be holy, for I am holy.'' (1 Peter 1:16)
In other words, BE DIFFERENT from the world around you.
But why should we want to do that? What is it that should MOTIVATE us to be holy and be different from the world?
ILLUS: I recently talked with a young person who asked if homosexuality was a sin. It was obvious that they had accepted homosexuality as their ''life-style'' and were wanting me to get in an argument with them. I focused on telling them that God loved them, but that lifestyle would hurt them... and that was one of the reasons that lifestyle is called sin.
It occurred to me that this person was NOT a Christian. It didn't matter to them that God would not be happy with their choice. If they loved God... then this would matter to them and they would stop doing what they were doing because they knew it would upset Him. But they didn't love God.
Now ideally that's why we should do what we do ...
Series: Wholly Holy
Jeff Strite
1 Peter 1:14-17
OPEN: You may have heard the story of some children at a Catholic school who were lined up for lunch at the cafeteria. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. A nun had made a note: ''Take only one, God is watching.'' At the other end of the table was a large plate of chocolate chip cookies. One of the youngsters had taped a note to the plate that said: ''Take all you want, God is watching the apples.''
APPLY: The past couple of weeks we've been talking about ''holiness.'' Holiness is the idea that we are set apart for God. When God makes US holy, that means God has set us apart for salvation. When we believed in Jesus, repented of our sins, confessed Jesus as our Lord and Master and were baptized into Christ, we were made holy - set apart to be His children.
And when God says WE should make ourselves holy - He means that He expects us to live differently than the world around us. And that's what THIS passage is all about.
Notice what God tells us here: ''You shall be holy, for I am holy.'' (1 Peter 1:16)
In other words, BE DIFFERENT from the world around you.
But why should we want to do that? What is it that should MOTIVATE us to be holy and be different from the world?
ILLUS: I recently talked with a young person who asked if homosexuality was a sin. It was obvious that they had accepted homosexuality as their ''life-style'' and were wanting me to get in an argument with them. I focused on telling them that God loved them, but that lifestyle would hurt them... and that was one of the reasons that lifestyle is called sin.
It occurred to me that this person was NOT a Christian. It didn't matter to them that God would not be happy with their choice. If they loved God... then this would matter to them and they would stop doing what they were doing because they knew it would upset Him. But they didn't love God.
Now ideally that's why we should do what we do ...
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