Lesson 4: Call to holiness – our obedience

Read 1 Peter 1:1-25 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1pe.1
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 since it is written – You shall be holy, for I am holy.
17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.


Holiness requires obedience. From our earliest memories, we have fought against obedience – we want to do what WE want, what pleases US rather than what someone else wants us to do. While it may sound confusing to say this, wanting to go our own way, doing what WE want, is doing and being what everyone else is doing. We are just part of the larger crowd. We are not separate at all.

Why is being separate and holy obedience? It is obedience because it often requires us to do some things we do not understand and cannot see the whole of what we are asked to accomplish. I remind you of the situation in our last lesson – the writers of the Old Testament books did not understand what they were writing; they could not see the whole picture. All their lives they searched for understanding, and God did not give it to them. Yet, they continued to write, in obedience to His call in their lives, knowing only that what they wrote would be of benefit to someone else.

When God asks us to do something we cannot understand, do we immediately obey? Do we tell God we will obey only when we understand what He asks? Do we try to do what He asks in our own way rather than His?

Our verses today give us the greatest reason for obedience we can possibly have – knowing God is who He says He is. Verse 13 calls it hope. Verse 17 calls it fear or great respect. Verse 18 says our reward will be an inheritance that will never run out or go away. Verse 19 tells us how very precious we are to God because of the price He paid to have us in His family.

When we believe God, even when we cannot SEE His promises fulfilled, it makes our obedience to His smallest word to us more important and therefore easier to obey. We can respect Him without being afraid of being sent to hell because the judgment of our souls has been taken care of by Jesus’ death on the cross – Romans 8:1-2.

*What most often keeps you from obeying what God asks of you?