In an ESPN interview last month, a reporter shared what NBA super-star, Steph Curry, said regarding his “killer instinct” in playing opposing teams. He said, “I want to make them lose all hope.” That’s a zinger. And Curry does an exceptional job doing that.
Ponder it: “Losing all hope.” What do we mean by hope? Let’s start with what we don’t mean. Hope is not “I hope that ice-storm doesn’t happen tonight,” or “I hope I get a raise.” Hope is not “You think you’ll get offered the job? I hope so.” Hope is not, “Do you think you’ll get audited this year? I hope not.” That is biting your nails waiting to see how things play out and anticipating a chance they will work out. That’s not hope. That’s wishful thinking.
So what IS hope? Hope is, as one writer put it, not a “hope-so” but a “know-so.” Hope is, “Christmas is coming I can’t wait to see what it brings!” Not, I hope Christmas is coming. But I know it is! Feasting, surprise, gifts, and laughter is coming! Hope is knowing there’s peace before you while circumstances “Steph Curry” you. Hope is knowing deliverance is coming when your circumstances suggest it never will. Hope is knowing that although your tears are flowing your laughter is coming.
Hope is always linked to faith. And true hope and real faith are always rooted in God. Hope, true hope, living/breathing hope, biblical hope, is always grounded in God—His ways, His promises—and trusting God and His ways and promises despite the circumstances we’re in.
Just as ice-storms and (what feels like) dead-end jobs threaten our “hope-so’s,” it seems there is something more sinister afoot in the universe always threatening our “know-so’s.” We risk running out of hope. We risk losing all hope. We try to even protect ourselves from having to have hope! Hope is as vital to the human condition as air, but as fragile as a sand dollar.
The Hebrew writer penned, Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not yet seen.” See those words? Assurance. Conviction. Of that not yet seen—impossible to see, perhaps, due to pain, loss, suffering.
The author of Hebrews, and the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter (where we’ll be turning in a moment) were writing to Christians under great suffering. The Apostle Peter is writing to his people who are being persecuted, experiencing death, loss of homes and property, exposure to devastating hardships. In 1 Peter, the word “suffering” is used 16 times. This tells us that the greatest threat to your hope and mine is suffering.
Many of us, unbeliever, and even believer, alike walk a thin line to tipping into that abyss of “losing all hope.” Circumstances, loss, failure, suffering, can be the winds and waves that blow us over into the void of hopelessness.
In fact, I wonder who today is already in that freefall? How many of you are wavering—unbeliever and believer alike. Some of you are here today because this is the one time of year you’re committed to attending Church. You promised your friend or family you’d come, or you gave into the guilt and decided to come. Either way, welcome to you!
But live long enough and you will experience severe tests of your hope too. How about right now? Are you struggling with hope? Are you losing all hope? Have you lost hope? Then Peter’s message is the same to you as it was to them: Hope is alive! Though your tears are flowing your laughter is coming!
1 Peter 1:1-9
1 Peter 1:1-2: 1] Peter, an apostle [though he’s speaking more as “Pastor Peter”] of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2] according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
A lot there. But what’s at the heart of Peter’s first words? This: YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN! Perhaps this is an Easter Truth you needed to hear more than anything!
C.S. Lewis, in his work Surprised by Joy, wrote that, with God, the ultimate punishment, the ultimate despair, is to be “left utterly and absolutely outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored [by God].” Isn’t that the horror behind suffering? That you are ignored by God? That you are forgotten?
Peter is saying, NO! God is not ignoring you. You are not forgotten! In fact, Peter doesn’t just say “God” here, but God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He’s saying the fullness of God Himself is with you. You have his full heart and attention. Though suffering is shedding the blood of your body and heart, Jesus shed his blood for you. How could he ever forget you? Ignore you? Hope is alive! Though your tears are flowing laughter is coming!
1 Peter 1:3a Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Quite striking here. Peter doesn’t continue with, “I’m sorry this is happening to you; I don’t understand why you’re going through this.” He begins with praise! Suffering is part of the deal of life. But you are not forgotten. Hope is alive. All will be made right in the end.
In the Lord of the Rings, Sam the Hobbit says to Gandalf: “Gandalf, I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue?” Pastor Peter is saying, KNOW THIS: The day is coming that everything sad you ever go through will become untrue! Hope is alive! Though your tears are flowing laughter is coming!
1 Peter 1:3b “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope…”
Want to know for sure your laughter is coming? You must be born again. Ah. “Born again.” This phrase gets under the skin of so many people. Many think the phrase is below them personally, intellectually, even religiously. But it was used by Jesus, and here by Peter. Peter says hope is dead if you are not born again. To not be born again indeed means you are “left utterly and absolutely outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored [by God].”
Unless you are born-again, all you have is wishful thinking hope, hope-so hope, or hope-not hope. As Jesus described in John 3, to
be born again means to be born “from above.” It means God must do this in you. You need a new heart, not a better heart. You need new life, not a better life.
Externals will not help—such as religious actions, church attendance, becoming a better moral person, becoming more charitable. Those are externals. But sin is internal. At its root, sin is not a behavioral problem. It’s a heart problem, and spiritual problem. Lying is not the problem, porn, bad temper, not the problem. You do not have a personal problem; you have a spiritual problem. For example, we are not liars because we lie, we lie because we are liars. The issue is soul deep, spiritually deep. So something spiritually has to happen to you. You must be born again.
How? Knowing that doing anything external (behavior modification, religious actions) will not make you right with God. You are 0 for 10 when it comes to the ten commandments, because Scripture says you break one and you are 0 for life.
But you can become 10-for-10 right with God spiritually through faith in Jesus to do so. Faith that Jesus shed his blood for your sin, was resurrected declaring He is who He says He is—God and Savior—who defeats death and the power of sin, forgives you for your sin spiritual rebellion. All followed by you hating your sin and seeking to obey Jesus all the days of your life in response to his love.
Will you be born again today? Right now? What are you waiting for? Your hope is dead without Jesus. You have 0 hope. Laughter is not coming, only anguish and despair… in this life and the next. But when you are born again, Peter says, you are born into a “LIVING HOPE.” Hope that is alive! Hope knowing that though your tears are flowing laughter is coming.
1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials…”.
Peter is saying that suffering/trials is part of life’s deal. But notice he does not separate it from joy! He doesn’t say you were joyful UNTIL you experienced suffering. He says, you are rejoicing while in sorrow and suffering! How can someone do that? It’s because they have a living hope that knows that though their tears are flowing their laughter is coming. In other words, joy, hope, does not depend upon circumstances. Being born again brings a radical shift in the relationship between joy and suffering.
If you want to get through life, and make it through suffering, you must have this living hope in Jesus that though your tears are flowing your laughter is coming. That’s your only ultimate hope. And that hope is anchored in something, Someone, outside of this vapor of a life. Hope is either alive in Christ or dead in wishful thinking. Hope so’s, Hope nots, are cadavers.
I love reading survival stories. For the last two years I have read every book I can get my hands on about mountaineering—climbing Everest, Denali, the north-face of the Eiger in Switzerland (which is ironic because I am, as they say, more of an indoorsman than an outdoorsman). I get more out of leadership reading those books than I do leadership books. I also have read books on ships and crews in the 17th and 18th century sailing to Antarctica for adventure, science, fame, or to claim land and islands for their mother country. And disaster always strikes. In every situation there is a test of hope. Default “Anger/bitterness” to “Giving up”.
Dr. Tim Keller shares that suffering rips open the human soul and reveals its anchor, its foundation, its depths. And that life only has meaning if it has a hope that cannot be crushed, destroyed. It has to be a hope that will not disappoint. A hope not based on circumstances.
If your hope is in something or someone earthly, on life circumstances, instead of eternal and outside of life circumstances, then when suffering comes you will lose all hope. Many, even Christians, put their hope in their kids, marriage, relationships, career, health, romance, achievement, money, security, place in society, and a host of other things. And if you live long enough, many those things will get stripped away. And then where will you be? Without hope. Hopeless. You will become angry. You will just want to give up. In vain you’ll search for something meaningful to replace your hope.
Or, if your hope is in the resurrected Jesus and the eternity of laughter before you, your life will remain steady. Though your world is shaken, your soul will not be. You will weep, yes, but not without hope.
Ever notice the buoys in the lakes and oceans? Ever notice what happens to them when the storms come? They are rocked! The waves sweep over them. The wind blows them about. But they always endure the storm. They remain anchored. And though they go under the waves of the storm they always bounce back.
That’s what born-again hope does in your life. Your anchor is Jesus. And when the storms of life seem to be stripping everything away, the waves crashing over you as if to drown you, you always “buoy” back. Because your hope is not in anything or anyone in this life. It’s hope in Jesus who is life, hope knowing that in Him though your tears are flowing your laughter is coming.
Today, where’s your hope? In self? Stuff? People? Circumstances? That hope will be torn away, drowned. Only Jesus will be the anchor for you. Only hope in Jesus will make you buoyant in this life
1 Peter 1: 6-7: [6] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire
Can I just say that Ore-Rida is a liar? Ore-Ida frozen fries? 24 minutes and done? Liars. I crank the heat up to 450 degrees as instructions say (and yes our stove works properly). I flip them over in 12 minutes. Ask my kids—they’re ready an hour and 20 minutes later. The heat proves that Ore-ida’s claim of 24 minute and done frozen fries is not… well, genuine.
The heat of suffering in your life reveals if your faith is genuine. More precious than anything or anyone in this life, more precious than any experience in this life, any financial wealth, fame, and security in this life, is born-again faith that leads to living hope. A living hope knows that though tears are flowing laughter is coming.
When gold is tested by fire, it glows… it gets brighter. If you have a living hope, your faith will glow and grow when the heat of trials comes. I love the Imagine Dragons’ song “Roots.” The refrain in the song: “I know it’s got to go like this I know, hell will always come before you grow.” And before you glow. Hope keeps you growing and glowing—not cynical, angry, giving up, searching for meaning in wishful thinking, hope-sos, hope nots, or generic spirituality. The fire can further root your hope, make your hope more precious.
1 Peter 1: 6-8: [6] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. [8] Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy, quotes an unknown author with these words: “And this, I told myself with a kind of wonder, this was what love was: this consecration, this curious uplifting, this sudden inexplicable joy, and this intolerable pain.”
Joy and pain. They come together in this life. Love from God, love of God, in this life involves inexplicable joy (laughter), and intolerable pain (tears). How so? Both prove we are not made for this world. In this life, the joy is not finally complete and satisfying (soap bubbles), the pain not fully tolerable (stone in the shoe at best). Therefore, you need a LIVING HOPE that there’s something greater, Someone greater outside of you, a greater day coming… a final homecoming to the world you are created for.
That’s why Paul writes: 1 Peter 1:8-9: “though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, [9] obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls”
Living hope keeps our hearts in that world while our lives are in this one. Living hope that’s convinced that laughter is coming though tears are flowing. How do you keep your heart in that world and in that Truth? By keeping your heart’s eye on the [1 Peter 1:4-5] “…inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
An inheritance? It’s hard to get our minds around the very concept of “inheritance.” But heavenly inheritance? And “KEPT” for you and me? This is a “something” in heaven that awaits you, that will blow your mind, that if you could have it now, or experience it now fully, you would worship it. Something kept, guaranteed, that no-one can ravage, pollute, or cause to fade and wither, not even you. It will last forever.
Something that God personally guards for you, kept just for you, his personal gift to you that will be revealed to you in all its fullness and potency in the last time when you meet Jesus face to face. It’s the climax of your faith in heaven. It’s when your hope ENDS. It’s the inheritance of God’s cosmic, supernova of laughter forever where everything sad becomes untrue. Paul says it another way: Your inheritance is “…glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Did you catch it? When we meet Jesus, Peter doesn’t say we will be praising and glorifying and honoring Jesus (though of course that will happen). What Peter just said here is that the day is coming when you, born-again believer, will be praised, glorified, and honored by God…forever. In other words, though your tears are flowing your laughter is coming.
On the cross, Jesus got everything you and I deserved—eternal suffering, punishment, repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored by God.
But hope tells you that the day is coming we get everything that Jesus deserved—finally, fully, and forever. And what’s that? The delight of God. The doting of God. The applause of God. The embrace of God. Enveloped in the astonishing love of God. Breathing in the peace of God. Overwhelmed in the light of God. The joy of God that would crush you if you didn’t have a new body to brace for it. Forever! My. God. Everything sad will become untrue. Though your tears are flowing your laughter is coming, friend.
How can you know for sure? Know for sure that this glory, honor, eternal joy, and cosmic laughter, is more than wishful thinking, or a hope so, but instead a know so? Because it is a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….” Easter! Easter is the sign-post that though your tears are flowing laughter is coming. Jesus is alive. And because Jesus is alive… HOPE IS ALIVE!
So live in that hope! Apply that hope today and everyday! How? First, be born again. Are you? Then every day, every circumstance, every situation that threatens your hope, immerse your mind, emotions, will, suffering, into the truth that the day is coming when all sad things become untrue. This is living hope. This is hope that brings a buoyant life. An easter hope KNOWING that though your tears are flowing laughter is coming.
Conclusion
Steph Curry: “I want to make them lose all hope.” Hope in anyone or anything in this life will let you down. If/WHEN those things are stripped away, you will lose all hope. Your hope will die.
But a living hope? Hope KNOWING that though your tears are flowing your laughter is coming? Remember when Sam the Hobbit said to Gandalf, “Is everything sad going to come untrue?” Gandalf did answer him. Gandalf said, “A great shadow has departed… and then Gandalf laughed and the sound was like music… and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of [joy],” unending.
Jesus’s resurrection means the great shadow has departed. The shadow of meaninglessness and hope-destroying suffering, is gone. This is your living hope—the day all sad things become untrue and you bask in the musical laughter of God and pure joy… forever. It’s that day when your hope finally ends and the eternal laughter begins. Friend, hang on. Hang on to Easter hope. Your tears are flowing, but your laughter’s coming.
Praise Jesus’s name! HOPE IS ALIVE!
