Living Hope
OKAY – let’s do this…
SO HERE - is the ‘Powerful Passage’ (1 Peter 1:1-12) that we are going to unpack this morning, in a conversation that I am calling, “Living Hope.”
NOW – I want to encourage you to ‘really’ lean in and follow along in your Bibles/App or on the screen, as we read the Word of God.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
QUESTION – did you notice that Peter mentions the trinity in that verse…?
AND – the only reason that you and I can even have a living hope is because…
• God the Father chose us
• The Holy Spirit lives in us, and
• Jesus died for us
AMEN?!
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s exiles, scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia
QUESTION – why does Peter use the words, ‘exiles’ and ‘scattered’ to describe these Jesus followers?
BECAUSE – that is exactly who they were (exiles) and what had happened to them (scattered).
UNDERSTAND – the place in which these first century believers found themselves in… was a very rough place to both come to and grow in the Faith.
I MEAN - the very moment that they chose believers to follow Christ, they set themselves up against the culture of the day…
A CULTURE - that said “Caesar is Lord.” “we live for him, serve him, give our lives for his glory – celebrate his rule and dominion.”
UNDERSTAND – choosing Christ (and declaring… ‘ Jesus is Lord, we live for Him, serve Him, give our lives for His glory, celebrate His rule and dominion)… more often then not meant that:
• They lost their families
• Their friends turned away from them
• Their careers ended or were severely hampered
• Their social standing plummeted
• And that their very lives were in serious jeopardy
YOU SEE – when Peter wrote these words the persecution of the church by Rome under Nero was really beginning to heat up…
LISTEN - there is no doubt that many who would heard these words had already suffered and lost much for following Christ…
AT LEAST – 15 times in this letter Peter referred to suffering, and he used 8 different Greek words to do so.
• A LADY - who lost her husband – he was burned at the stake – read this words
• A FAMILY - whose home was burned down…
• CHILDREN - who were now orphans.
• A FATHER - who lost job…
• A YOUNG MAN – whose family disowned and threatened him… – read these words
YES – things were tough and they were about to get even tougher… BECAUSE – very soon Christians would either be tossed into the Coliseum and torn apart by wild animals…
OR - dipped in tar, tied to a post and lite on fire to illuminate the Roman sky…
QUESTION…
DO YOU THINK – these believers were a little discouraged?
DO YOU THINK – that things were really starting to BOTH wear them out and wear them down?
DO YOU THINK - they could use a little good news, some living hope?
YEAH – no doubt about it.
IN FACT – it is an understatement to say that these believers had it rough.
QUESTION – did discouragement, did hard times, did difficulty, did pain, hurt and suffering end in the first century? LIKE - do believers still get discouraged today and lose their hope in the midst of challenging times?
To be honest – I see discouraged believers all the time…
• I see single moms discouraged because they are worn out from doing it all alone
• I see single people discouraged because they think they will always be alone
• I see people discouraged about their marriage
• I see people discouraged because of family issues (anger, abuse, addiction)
• I see people discouraged because of health, financial and job issues
• I see people discouraged because they stood up for the truth and got burned for it…
• I see people discouraged because they keep falling into the trap of that old familiar sin. I mean – they thought by now they’d be so much further in their spiritual journey…
• I see people discouraged because of all of the hatred and division in our country… and because of the seemingly - never ending, nearly all of life impacting, politically and emotionally charged COVID 19 Virus.
• I see people discouraged – because when they turn on the news or scroll through their social media newsfeed, it seems like so much in our world, and country is heading south…
YEAH – I see discouraged people all the time.
AND SOMETIMES – to see a discouraged person all I need to do is look in the mirror.
QUESTION – are you discouraged today?
Do you need some good news?
LIKE - is your hope on life support this morning?
IF SO - God through His servant Peter has some great news for you… IN FACT – it is awesome news!!!
NEWS – intended to infuse ‘living into your hope!’
GET IT?
To those ‘scattered’ and ‘persecuted’ Jesus followers and to us Peter says…
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. – Peter 1:1-12
Prayer
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
- 1 Peter 1:3,4
MGCC… WHAT – does it mean to have a ‘living-hope?’
IT MEANS – to live your life with great expectations…
IN FACT – that is how NLT words this passage…
It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation… - 1 Peter 1:3,4
AND LISTEN – for some of us that (living with great expectations) would be a radically different way to live…
BECAUSE – more often than not… many of us live with low or negative expectations…
OKAY – here is what I want to do in our time together this morning…. talk about Living With Great Expectation… About a living hope made possible through the resurrection of Jesus! MGCC – because
- God the Father chose us
- God the Son died for us, and
- God the Spirit lives in us
We Can Expect…
An Inheritance
We can expect what?
NOW IMAGINE – that this coming week, you go out to your mail box, open it up and you find an official looking letter from a law firm out in Boston. You open it kind of cautiously, hoping you’re not getting sued…
AND – the letter informs you that (unknown to you) ‘you are’ the only surviving relative of a multi-millionaire… His estate is valued at over 250 million…
They tell you that it may take about a year to process everything, BUT – the bottom line is that by this time next year (by September of 2021) your bank account will have…
A 2 & 5 with 7 zeros after it… balance.
QUESTION – what would be your reaction to that letter?
NOW - I‘d be the first to tell you that I have no rhythm.. (actually my wife would probably be the first)…
BUT - I can guarantee you that I would do some kind of dance… YEAH – The 2 and 5 with 7 zeroes dance….!
AND – do you know what else?
IF ANYTIME - during those months of waiting I began to feel a little discouraged I would simply pull out that letter, and remind myself of what was coming within the year, and I would dance again… BECAUSE – the truth is that no matter what happens on any given day…with every tick of the clock that inheritance is getting closer.
MGCC - 2,000 years ago a bunch of Jesus-followers, whose hope was fading, went out to their mailbox… AND – they pulled out a letter… NOW – this letter was not from a law firm in Boston… it was a letter from God written by Peter… AND – when they opened it up, it told them that they had; an inheritance in heaven that can never perish, spoil or fade…
UNDERSTAND IF – you are a Jesus-follower…
God is saying to you today…. “You have an inheritance in heaven (that can never perish, spoil or fade, and it has your name on it…)” repeat… not sure if you heard me.
QUESTION – have you noticed how in this life that the things we love and many times give our life to – all seem to eventually break down, wear out and fall apart?
IN FACT – wasn’t this what Jesus was trying to give us a ‘heads up’ about when He said the following in the sermon on the mount;
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. – Matthew 6:19-21
UNDERSTAND – moth, rust, thieves, inflation, an economic down turn, a corrupt and incompetent government cannot touch your treasure in heaven.
OKAY – here’s the deal… IF YOU – are a Jesus-follower…
ONE DAY – you will live in heaven, YES…
ONE DAY - the sky will crack open… and the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem will come down from the sky…
ONE DAY…
• You will be at home with the Lord,
• You will get a new body.
• You will be reunited with all of our loved ones..
• You will walk on streets of gold
• You will stand with a multitude of people, that no one can count – from every nation, tribe, people and language before the throne – in front of the lamb
ONE DAY – you WILL live in a world where there will be…
• No More… tears, death, sorrow, crying or pain…
• No more guilt, No more shame…
• No more cancer – funerals – death – dying - disease…
• No more - divorces, separations or affairs..
• No more - murders, thefts, gossip, broken hearts, broken dreams or broken homes…
AND ONE DAY – you will see face to the face the one you have sung to, worshipped and served all these years…
SO MGCC - what can we expect as people… who
• God the Father chose
• God the Son died for,
• God the Spirit lives in
We can expect an inheritance in heaven…
THAT - cannot be destroyed.
AND THAT – will never fade… never what?
QUESTION WHAT DOES – that mean, never fades?
I’LL TELL YOU – what ‘I think’ it means…
YOU KNOW HOW - when you get a new toy (and don’t kid yourself… adults get toys too they are just bigger and cost more) WELL - you know how, after a period of time the thrill kind of wears off – kind of fades…. NOT SO – with your inheritance in heaven… INSTEAD – it only gets better and better, and brighter and brighter.
LIKE – everyday being there is going to make you want to do the 2 & 5 with 7 zeros dance…
OKAY – here’s the deal… Remembering with great expectation your inheritance in heaven will radically change your perspective in challenging times and infuse your life with living hope.
GET IT?
Like the tug of a huge unseen planet hovering near, the hope of heaven is meant to exert a gravitational pull that gives our lives stability, substance, weight.
Ironically, it alone has the power to give us in a sustained way the moral and spiritual ballast needed to keep our feet on earth – to make us of much earthly good.
It is a RUMOR OF HOME in a place of exile, inspiring us to keep up the good work. – Mark Buchanan
We Can Expect…
• An Inheritance, and we can expect
God’s Power To Protect Us
Who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. – 1 Peter 1:5
NOW - the word that is translated, shield, is a military term that means, “to guard, to protect, to keep a close watch over…” AND – it is in the present tense, so what Peter is saying is that we are constantly (at all the time) being shielded & protected by God’s power…
By whose power? God’s power
AND LISTEN – when it comes to God’s power here is what I know… WE - (that would be me and that would be you)
A) do not fully appreciate and
B) we constantly underestimate that power
UNDERSTAND - our God does not just have some power…
He has all power. Just a few verses…
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth… - Ps 33:6
Did you catch what the Psalmist is saying… our God literally breathes out stars… and stars are huge…
Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Isaiah 40:21-31
AMEN
QUESTION – do you think those words - you are shielded by God’s power, came as good news to the people who first read Peter’s letter.
PEOPLE - who were being threatened on a daily basis by the power of Rome and it’s corrupt and ungodly government?
UNDERSTAND – on their own they were no match for Nero, BUT with God… Nero and Rome were no match for them…
QUESTION – who’s still standing?
B/S – there is absolutely no limit to God’s power.
Nothing is impossible or too hard for Him.
AND – according to 1 Peter 1:5, that power IS protecting and shielding every believer in this room, even as we speak.
AGAIN – what can we expect… God’s power to protect us which means that…
Ultimately nothing can hurt us, because nothing can hurt us Ultimately…
What can we expect?
• And inheritance
• God’s Power To Protect Us, and
We Can Expect…
Troubles To Strengthen Our Faith
In this you greatly rejoice, though for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. – 1 Peter 1:6
QUESTION – are you going through a trial, through a hard and challenging time right now?
UNDERSTAND WHATEVER – it is, that trial, that difficulty can serve a purpose…
IN FACT - that is exactly what God to do…
These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. – 1 Peter 1:7
MGCC – you faith is of greater worth than gold ($1,752 oz)
QUESTION… Why is your faith so valuable to God?
Because of what it can do…
UNDERSTAND MG – because there is a purpose within them, God never wants us to waste a hurt or hard time… Jesus ½ brother put it this way.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything… - James 1:2-4
IN OTHER WORDS…
You don’t just have to go through it, instead you can ‘allow’ God to use it, so that you grow through it.
NOW – I have been in one of those hard times since the end of July… It has been tough, but I do not want to waste it. SO – I am asking myself questions like these?
1. Lord, what are you trying to teach me right now?
2. How are you wanting me to grow?
3. What in me needs to be refined and purified?
4. How can I use this season of suffering and difficultly to both honor and bring You Glory?
“…for a little while (it’s not going last forever, this too will pass) you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Physical, relational, vocational, emotional, spiritual, financial, etc, etc…
These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. – 1 Peter 1:6,7
MGCC - Because The Father chose us, Because God the Son died for us, Because the Spirit lives in us, We can expect…
1. An inheritance
2. God’s power to protect us
3. Troubles to strengthen our faith, and
We Can Expect…
The Salvation Of Our Souls
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Sounds awesome… fill me up/supersize me
for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls… - 1 Peter 1:8,9
NOTICE – that Peter says, you are receiving, (present tense)… UNDERSTAND – we don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to be saved. We are saved right now, today!!! Eternal life has already begun!
OKAY – so, here is my definition of salvation…
Salvation is everything that God has done, is doing
and will do for us ‘in Christ.’
Has done… Is doing… and will do one day
QUESTION…
SO - how does that knowing that you are receiving the salvation of your souls make you feel?
I MEAN - does it fill you with an expressible and glorious joy. Does it make you want to do the 2 & 5 with 7 zeros dance?
HEY – can I be honest for a minute. I don’t dance enough…
AND – what I mean by that is this… the reality that in His great mercy God has and is saving me, does not always move me like it should…
AND – do you know what? I do not think that I am alone.
YOU SEE - I am convinced that in regards to our salvation for most of us – familiarity has bred contempt.
(NOT – that we have contempt for our salvation)
BUT THAT – receiving the salvation of our souls does not excite us all that much– at least not as much as;
• going a vacation
• getting a pay raise at work
• that guy or girl saying ‘yes’
• your team winning the championship
• getting a new car
• closing on that house
• eating a pint of ‘Ben & Jerry’s’
AND – do you know what?
IT APPEARS – that the people Peter wrote this letter to 2000 years ago, may not have been dancing all that much either…
IN FACT - I think that is why Peter wrote these next 3 verses… 3 verses that are pretty crazy if you ask me.
Concerning this salvation…
The one we are receiving and that is filling us with an indescribable and glorious joy.
the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things… - 1 Peter 1:10-12
Now come on, that’s, crazy…
Even angels long to look into these things…
OKAY – for just a moment try to picture some of the things that angels have seen (like the creation of the universe – the beginning of time – and God the Father/Son/Spirit on a regular basis)…
I MEAN – angels see, experience and live in the place that John writes about in Revelation… YET – they long to look in on our salvation.
MAN GABRIEL - I wish I could see and experience what Steve and ______ , Get to experience as followers of Jesus.
AND LISTEN – it’s not only the angels who are getting all fired up about our salvation, Peter says that… BUT THE - prophets of old… Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel…
who wrote about the grace that was coming to us – could hardly contain themselves as their pen danced across the page) though they never did understand it fully…
YEAH SURE – they wrote some pretty amazing stuff…
ABOUT – the Messiah; His suffering; His glory; His Kingdom; the New Covenant and the Grace that it would unleash.
BUT EVEN THOUGH – the searched intently and with the greatest care… THEY STILL – could not fully get or grasp it.
QUESTION – have you ever imagined or thought… (after reading some of the powerful stories in the Old Testament)
How awesome it would be to be…
• David standing…
• Moses holding up the staff and…
• Joshua marching around…
• Daniel chilling out in a den with a bunch of hungry lions…
DO – you know what?
THEY – imagined and thought about how awesome it would be to be us… TO – actually live in and experience the grace in which we now stand in Christ.
UNDERSTAND MG – there is a HUGE difference between just hearing or writing about something and actually experiencing it for yourself…
NOW – for years I heard about , but one day several years back I got to experience it…
(SHOWED A PICTURE OF THE PACIFIC COAST HWY)
Salvation Of Our Souls
Truth Statements
1. All of my sins (past, present and future) have been and are, fully forgiven in Christ.
2. My salvation rests not on what I do but on what Jesus has already done. I am saved by grace through faith and not through obeying works of the law.
3. God the Spirit lives inside of me and working in me to help me, live the live I was created to live.
4. In Christ I have been adopted into God’s very own family and now I can cry out to Him, ‘Abba Father!’
5. I can at any time approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, knowing that I will receive mercy and find grace to help me in my time of need.
MGCC - Because The Father chose us, Because God the Son died for us, Because the Spirit lives in us, We can expect…
1. An inheritance
2. God’s power to protect us
3. Troubles to strengthen our faith, and
4. The salvation of our souls
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, with a living hope. - 1 Peter 1:3,4
