There are two ways to live. Two spiritual life-styles. Which is yours?
I Peter 1:13-21 is our text. It stretches these two road-ways out before us. See verse 14, noting the word, “according.” Don’t live that way any more, the Apostle is saying. Stop living as you did before you believed in Christ.
Again, the word “as” in verse 15 means “according to,” indicating another pattern of living. This one is the right one. Live according to the holiness of God. ‘The One who called you is holy; like him, be holy in all your behavior.” (NEB)
See, then, there is a pattern to take and a pattern to break.
Turn to I Corinthians 15:45. Here Adam is called “the first man” and Jesus is called “the last Adam.” This can be illustrated by a line of figures all bearing the likeness of fallen, sinful Adam, as in the figure below. After his sin, he bore the stoop of sin, and so do all members of his world-wide family.
Amazing that Jesus was born into this family and bore its likeness. Read it in Romans 8:3 where we are told that God sent “his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Catch it, in the likeness of. Though Jesus did no sin, he nonetheless bore the apparent stoop of our troubled nature.
Jesus is said to be “the last Adam.” See Him there in the lineup, at the end in the figure below. Now, our Lord not only was like us fallen ones, he took our guilt into his own body, suffering punishment in our place. In this sense, he is said to be the last of sinful men. We were all executed (punished for sins) via our Substitute.
All who believe in Jesus Christ, whether living before or after him in time, are counted by God as having died with and in Christ. For us, our place in Adam’s line ended at Calvary.
But that is not all, I Corinthians 15 goes on to point out in verse 47 that Jesus is also “the second man.” He became that to us when he arose from the dead. Mary’s womb was the origin of the last Adam, but the tomb was the womb of the second man.
Look at the completed picture above. The risen Christ now heads a new race of men. We are part of a new race of men. We are part of a new creation when we believe in Christ. God counts us in this new lineup – forever joined to Jesus Christ. Out of Adam; into Christ.
But, wait a moment! Consider carefully. If we have this new, raised-up-from-the-dead life, then we must be like our file leader. The Old Man has got to go. Our New Man must take over. A new creation!
GOD’S AIM IN RESCUING US
Could you picture a rich man scavengering a dump, dragging home an old battered, rusted, wrecked auto. The dismembered, corroded heap is then left in the middle of his beautiful lawn. No. Nor, would God salvage us for that, either. We are saved to shine in newness of life.
“And if you invoke as Father him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear….you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, “I Peter 1:17-19, RSV.
This is more support for Peter’s exhortation: “Don’t let your character be molded by the desires of your ignorant days, but be holy in every department of your lives, for the one who has called you is himself holy,” I Peter 1:14,15, Phillips translation.
HOW DO I RESPOND TO THIS TRUTH?
Think over the word “ignorance” in verse 14. This implies that now, after thorough conversion to Christ, I have a new insight into truth which I did not possess before. This new hold on truth is God’s instrument for freeing us from living according to the Old Adam nature in us. The chapter thus closes with an emphasis on the Word of God, 22-25.
Notice that a right attitude, activity of the will is demanded. “So brace up your minds, and, as men who know what they are doing, rest the full weight of your hopes on the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ reveals himself,” 13, Phillips.
Therefore, we are to do something with our minds — by choice. Things do not “just happen. ”
What a terrible. thing is passivity. It is rebellion. We are rebelling against God when we passively refuse to be accountable, admit blame. Another form this quiet rebellion takes is refusing to actively claim blessings we need. Study Hebrews 6:12.
Our former sinful life leaves us with a vast network of evil, like a root system of spreading poison ivy. See it in 2:1. These old traits are to be replaced by new desires, 2. Read vs. 11.
Everywhere Scripture urges us to break the pattern of the old and take on the new. “With eyes open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity,” Romans 12:1,2, Phillips.
What a Scripture! See that mercy leads to action, not presumptive inaction! We are to come before God and make a deliberate, definite presentation of all our faculties and abilities to Him. This will mean removing ourselves from the old ways. Put aside, cast off the former life-patterns. Don’t be in the ordinary world-mold.
What is the first mold in which we were shaped? Our homes. Cling to the good, but abandon the evil fears, resentments, inhibitions. Study Figure 3 below, placing yourself in childhood at the center.
The first circle is your family, where you developed early, basic ideas toward “Father,” other people, and, of course, your own self-estimate was shaped here. Finally, as your world expanded to the larger circle you tended to carry those same fundamental responses and judgments into adulthood – the outer circle.
Even the Father in heaven might appear dark and threatening or distant and disinterested, if your early parentage was that way. You will also tend to respond to others around as you responded to others in your family circle. And, your deep-down view of yourself, your sense of worth, will tend to be out in the adult world what it was in childhood.
But, praise God for mercy!
There can be changes, great changes, deep, meaningful changes. How I am encouraged by I Corinthians 13:11! I can put away childhood ways of thinking, talking, acting. Read it.
Remember, inactivity and passivity seals your spiritual doom. It is sin. Keep in mind also that any continuing sin-pattern literally rivets a man in his immaturity. Old weaknesses will hang on and prevail until you decide for God and truth. This decision to change is made in a show-down type of prayer:
- Name the sin openly that keeps you locked in the old ways. Describe the evil, immature ways you react and think. Tell all freely to God.
- Turn to the cross. Thank Jesus for dying for these very sins and ending the old for you.
- Now, turn to the Throne. Jesus rules as Lord and King over all. Choose Him to rule all your life and lead you in new ways. Ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you. God’s life in you is the answer.
Figure 3
