As a Gospel Advancing leader, you often spend more time pouring into students than getting poured into yourself. To refuel your soul, dive into part 2 of a Gospel Advancing devotional series exploring the apostle Peter’s first letter to the early church. (Click here to read part 1.)
It’s not about sobriety.
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. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’
People often think that being “sober-minded” is about sobriety. About abstaining from harmful substances and behaviors like alcohol and cigarettes. While self-control is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23), what Peter is talking about here is not sobriety. It’s about focus. Setting your focus on the anticipation of the imminent return of Christ the King.
We have a wedding to look forward to.
Have you ever lived in such anticipation of an event that every decision you make gets sifted through the anticipation? I recently got married, and I was so excited leading up to the day of the wedding. Even though my wife and I were navigating all sorts of challenges while preparing, we regularly found strength and endurance in the anticipation of our marriage.
This is how we ought to be while anticipating the heavenly marriage between Christ and His bride, the Church. Knowing that Christ’s return is coming should lead us into obedience and holiness, not because it’s required for our salvation, but because we want to be as well prepared for His return as possible. It should help us endure hardships with an anticipatory hope for Christ’s return.
This is not a vain hope founded on speculation. This is an expectant hope built on the truth of Scripture.
We need to prepare properly.
Near the end of Matthew, Jesus shares multiple parables to illustrate how we should think about His second coming. Namely, the parable of the ten virgins and the parable of the bags of gold (Matthew 25:1-28). Jesus laid out the expectation that we’ll make the most of this period of preparation, because we want to glorify Him and make Him known.
This means sharing the good news of the Gospel with anyone who will listen (and sometimes even those who don’t want to listen). We know this as Gospel Advancing leaders—that living out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is of the utmost importance.
In 1 Peter 1:14, Peter refers to our time without Christ as ignorance. We didn’t know any better than to carry on sinning. And that is the reality of many people; they simply don’t know better. Many of our students don’t know better. They don’t know that the Gospel of grace is available to them. That all they need is to trust in Christ.
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 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 ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
This isn’t the backup plan.
The reason Peter lays the Gospel out so clearly at the beginning of this letter is because it’s the foundation on which everything is built. We need to know of our safe and secure position within the Kingdom of God. And so, Peter reminds us that we were purchased with something that’s more valuable than any of the temporal things of this world. We were purchased with nothing less than the blood of Christ! This is our “holy trust fund.”
Peter also reminds us that this was the plan from “before the creation of the world.” Jesus’s payment for sin wasn’t the backup plan. God didn’t see the sinfulness of humans and think “Well golly, now I have to come up with a better solution.” He wasn’t surprised. This was always the plan.
And because this was always the plan, and we are purchased with something of infinite value, no one can take our salvation from us.
‘I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’
Our salvation can’t be lost.
Jesus personally assures us that the eternal nature of His payment for sin means that nothing can remove us from Him. Praise the Lord!
When I was a teenager, I was constantly concerned that I might commit a sin or say something so heretical that my salvation status would be revoked. So many teenagers live with that fear.
As Gospel Advancing leaders, we have the opportunity to encourage students to place their hope and faith in Jesus Christ and to remind them that they can’t lose their salvation.
Are you teaching a clear Gospel?
This is why having a method to share the Gospel clearly and effectively is so important. That’s why Dare 2 Share has created tools like the G.O.S.P.E.L. acrostic. It’s an easy way for teens and adults to remember how to explain the complete story of the Gospel, as told from Genesis to Revelation.
- G – God created us to be with Him.
- O – Our sins separate us from God.
- S – Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
- P – Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
- E – Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.
- L – Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.
As Gospel Advancing leaders, it’s our responsibility to teach students how to share the Gospel clearly and well, so that every teen, everywhere, would have the opportunity to leave a life of ignorance and begin a life of hope in the Gospel. God’s plan all along has been to use the Church to spread the Gospel.
Consider these 3 questions this week:
- Am I able to share the Gospel clearly and effectively?
- Are my students able to share the Gospel clearly and effectively?
- What could it look like this week for me to prepare for Jesus’s return?
If you need help teaching students to share the Gospel, check out this video by Greg Stier that explains in just five minutes how to share the Gospel.
