Living With Great Expectations
Living-Hope – week 2
Bumper
LAST WEEK – we began a study on 1 Peter a 2000 year old letter full of God breathed words…
LISTEN – if your hope is running on empty. If you think your story is finished. Peter has a word for you about a living-hope. A sure anchor in troubled times. YEAH – sometimes it takes the darkest night to see clearly.
NOW – last Sunday we introduced this series by talking about…
The From
The To, and
The About
of these 2000 year old words that were breathed by God.
These words are…
FROM – Peter.
(and remember ‘from matters’)
From often determines how we both receive and respond to a letter…
This letter is from Peter…
You know Peter - the strong fisherman who left His nets (and everything else) on the beach by the Sea of Galilee in order to follow Jesus…
Peter the guy who lived with God for 3 years and had a fornt row center-staged seat to ALL the amazing things that Jesus did when He wore flesh and walked on this planet:
opening blind eyes, healing lame limbs, curing deadly diseases, casting out powerful demons, multiplying food, feeding thousands, walking on water, turning water into wine and raising the dead…
Peter the guy who had some incredible and thrilling victories… walking on water, telling Jesus that He knew who he was – the Christ, the Son of the Living God and preaching the very first Gospel message before thousands on the day of Pentecost…
Peter the guy who also experienced some crushing set backs and painful defeats… rebuking Jesus for bringing up the subject of the cross and his death, taking his eyes off of Jesus and sinking in the crashing waves and the ultimate fumble – standing in the courtyard – warming his hands in the fire – and crying out with I curse “I never knew the man…”
YEAH – that’s the guy who penned these words 2000 years ago that we will be digging into the next few weeks - From matters.
AND – that is why I’m convinced…. THAT – this man who…
knew Jesus so well, who knew the church so well (and who loved both so much that it cost him his life)…
and who I’m had a knowledge about – a relationship with and access to Jesus Christ that is unprecedented in human history… HAS - something to say to us. To you. To me. Over the next
Few weeks…
From natters… and this letter is from Peter.
TO – a bunch of Jesus-followers who were scattered throughout what is now, modern day Turkey…
TO - men and women who had been driven from their homes because of intense persecution.
TO - people just like you and I, who were in the midst of great hardship and difficulty… were finding it hard to hang on to hope.
From Peter
To… these 1st century Jesus followers and us…
And it’s…
About…
• God the Father who choose us (even though he knew us)
• God the Son who shed His blood and died to pay our debt
• God the Spirit who is working in us
• Praising God for His great mercy that has given us a new birth (a second chance, a new beginning) into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
CHECK OUT…
How the NLT words 1 Peter 1:3 (they are basically defining what it means to have a ‘living-hope”)
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.
- 1 Peter 1:3
WHAT – does it mean to have a ‘living-hope?’
IT MEANS – to live with great expectations… and
AND LISTEN – for some of us that would be a radically different way to live…
BECAUSE – more often than not… we live with low or negative expectations…
MGCC – that is what I want to talk about this morning… ‘Living With Great Expectation…
Prayer
Okay… as people
God the Father chose
God the Son died for, and
God the Spirit lives in
As people who have been given a new birth into a living hope, what can we expect?
We Can Expect…
An Inheritance
Peter writes…
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, and we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you…
We can expect what?
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 California. You open it kind of cautiously, hoping you’re not getting sued…
AND – the letter tells that you are (unknown to you) the only surviving relative of a multi-millionaire… His estate is valued at over 250 million… They tell you it may take a few months to a year to process everything,
BUT – the bottom line is that by this time next year (by May of 2015)… your bank account will have a 2 & 5 and 7 zeros after it… balance.
QUESTION – what would be your reaction to that letter?
NOW - I‘d be the first to tell 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…
MGCC
2,000 years ago – a bunch of Christ-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 California… it was a letter from God written by Peter… AND – when they opened it up, it told them that they had; “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for them…”
UNDERSTAND IF – you are a Jesus-follower…
God says to you today….
“Tim, Laurie… there is a HUGE inheritance in heaven (that can never perish, spoil or fade, and it has your name on it…)”
repeat…
HEY – have you noticed that in this life the things we love & many times give our life to – all seem to eventually break down, wear out and fall apart?
AND – wasn’t this what Jesus was trying to give us a ‘heads up’ about when He said 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 and rust and thieves cannot touch your treasure in heaven…
BOTTOM LINE… IF – you are a Jesus-follower…
ONE DAY – you will live in heaven.
UNDERSTAND – ‘Heaven Is For Real’ is not just a book and a movie, it is a fact!
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 or disease…
No more - divorces, separations or affairs..
No more - murders, thefts, gossip, broken hearts, broken dreams or broken homes…
ONE DAY – you will see face to the face the one you have sung to, worshipped and served all these years…
What can we expect as people… who
God the Father chose
God the Son died for,
God the Spirit lives in
And who have been given a new birth into a living hope
We can expect an inheritance in heaven…
THAT - cannot be destroyed.
AND – that never fades…
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 awhile the thrill kind of wears off – kind of fades….
NOT SO – with your inheritance in heaven…
I MEAN – 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 this inheritance will radically change our perspective in challenging times and infuse our lives with living hope.
Paul put it this way…
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. 2Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. 3For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
– Col 3:1-4 (NLT)
MG – when you feel discouraged about this life…
Let thoughts of the next, Let your inheritance,
Let heaven fill your thoughts…
I tried doing that Thursday morning…
• 8-9 am - how everything that gets me down and gets in
the way will one be no more and how I will live in a perfect world.
• 9-10 am – how I will one day see my loved ones with
disease… and how I will see Jesus
I’m going home, I’m going home…. Tell the world I’m coming home
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…
God’s Power To Protect Us
5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
CIRCLE – shielded by God’s power…
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
By whose power? God’s power
By whose power? God’s power
AND LISTEN – when it comes to God’s power here is what I know…
We do not fully appreciate and we constantly underestimate the power of God…
UNDERSTAND - our God does not just have some power…
He has all power.
THIS WEEK – in FCFH 9… one of the chapter we read was Genesis chapter 1…
About how in the beginning God created EVERYTHING!
HOW – God said and it was!
Things appeared, stuff happened….
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made. Day after day they tell the story;?night after night they tell it again. They have no speech or words;?they have no voice to be heard. But their message goes out through all the world;? their words go everywhere on earth… - Psalm 19:1-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ya12I036lg
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…
Earth is a big hunk of rock. (24,000 miles around)…
YET – 1 million earths would fit into the Sun (our closet star)…
(if earth was a basketball, sun is a dot)
The star Betelgeuse is 520 light years away, it is one of the brightest stars on Orion’s belt. It’s diameter is 310 million miles… which means that if it were hollow, the earth could comfortably revolve around the sun inside this star… actually it is 2 x’s the orbit of the sun… (basketball – 4 Empire statebuildings)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth… - Ps 33:6
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;?his greatness no one can fathom. - Ps 145:3
SO
DO – you agree that we grossly underestimate the greatness and power of God?
We can expect to be shielded by God’s power.
QUESTION – do you think these words came as good news to the first people who read Peter’s letter.
PEOPLE - who were being threatened on a daily basis by the power of Rome?
LISTEN – on their own they were no match for Nero, BUT with God… Nero & Rome were no match for them…
By the way who is still standing?
LISTEN – there is absolutely no limit to God’s power.
AND – that power IS protecting and shielding each believer in this room – EVEN as we speak.
NOW – before we move on, LET me make something clear here. There is a catch (if you will) to God’s power protecting us…Peter said; who through faith are shielded by God's power
UNDERSTAND – the greater our faith – the more God’s power protects you… AND – the opposite is true; the weaker our the less God protects you… NOW – I don’t know about you but I like the idea of THE All Powerful God protecting and shielding me…
He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the paths of the just?and protects those who are faithful to him.
– Proverbs 2:7,8
Ultimately nothing can hurt us,
because nothing can hurt us Ultimately…
I know who goes before me, I know who stands behind…
The God of angel armies is always on my side
Nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in your hands
We Can Expect…
Troubles To Strengthen Our Faith
For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
REMEMBER – Jesus told us in John 16:33, that in this world we will have trouble… and he was right… that is the bad news…
QUESTION – are you going through a trial, a hard and challenging time right now?
UNDERSTAND WHATEVER – it is, it can serve a purpose…
IN FACT - that is exactly what God wants it to do…
7These 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.
UNDERSTAND – 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, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything… - James 1:2-4
IN OTHER WORDS – we don’t just have to go through – we can grow through it…
As most of you know – almost 18 years ago (7/28/96) my first wife died of cancer… I wrote the following gin my journal about 3 weeks later on (8/16/96)
It’s is a little after 6 am. I’ve been up an hour and have spent at least a ½ hour on the porch talking with you Lord and reflecting on my present-past- and future life.
I am already tired of being alone… I often go through what transpired wondering what could have been done differently – only to realize that the entire situation was in your hands.
From what I prayed on that Thursday,
It is apparent (since you took her home on Sunday) that Judy was never going to be healed in this life. And only had more suffering to go through… Thank you for ending her suffering and taking her home with you.
Lord, help me to consider all of this pure joy. Help this to make, NOT break my faith. Help me, to focus on your kingdom and truly trust you to take care of me and ALL my needs…
Thank you Lord… AND God please be with us… we need you.
AND UNDERSTAND – though I didn’t always do everything right as I walked through that dark valley – I did do enough right SO THAT my God was able to use that trial to do some purifying of my faith…
NOW – He most definitely has a lot more work to do in me (I am so far from who I was created to be)… BUT – I want you to know that as crazy as it may sound I would not want to take that experience out of my life. AND IF – I was given the choice I would let it happen all over again…
(AND – do you know what - I am confident that many of you who have made it through your own valley of darkness would say pretty much the same thing…)
“…for a little while (it’s not going last forever) you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
There are all kinds of trials in this life…
You may be in one right now…
A physical, relational, vocational, emotional, spiritual, financial trial…
7These 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.
your faith--of greater worth than gold…
QUESTION… Why is your faith so valuable to God? Because of what it can do…
MGCC
Because we have been given a new birth
Because The Father chose us
Because God the Son died for us
Because the Spirit lives in us
We can live with great expectation
We can expect…
1. An inheritance
2. God’s power to protect us
3. Troubles to strengthen our faith
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,
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! LIKE – we said on Easter Sunday… ‘Jesus unleashed the newness of life 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…
NOW – Salvation is one of those ‘churchy’ words…
Here is my definition…
Salvation is every thing that God has done, is doing
and will do for us ‘in Christ.’
Has done… Is doing… and will do one day
QUESTION – how does that (how does the your salvation) make you feel?
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…
I MEAN - the reality that in His great mercy God has saved me does not always move me like it should…
AND – do you know what? I think most of us in this room… don’t dance enough either…
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 it does not excite us all that much anymore – at least not as much as;
? going a vacation;
? getting a raise at work;
? that guy or girl saying they will go out with us…
? your team winning the game
? closing on that house
? eating a pint of ‘Ben & Jerry’s’
AND IT APPEARS – that the people Peter wrote to 2000 years ago may not have danced enough either…
I think that is why Peter wrote these next 3 verses…
Concerning this salvation, 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
OKAY – that’s crazy…
Even angels long to look into these things…
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, I wish I could see and experience what Steve, John, Larry and Laurie do…)
AND LISTEN – it’s not only the angels who are getting all fireed up about our salvation…
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 dance across the page) though they never did understand it fully…
NOW – they wrote some pretty amazing stuff… LIKE
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. – Is 9:6,7
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. – Is 53:4-6
"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." – Jeremiah 31:31-34
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. – Ezekiel 36:24-28
The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. – Daniel 2:44
NOW – those R incredible pictures of the grace that was coming… And that is now here!
• God the Son in the flesh … the - Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Walking our streets living in our neighborhood.
• A new covenant, a new heart, a new spirit
• Forgiveness and God no longer remembering our sins
• A kingdom that crushes all other kingdoms and endures forever!
YES – those are amazing – exciting – put on your dancing shoes kind of pictures…
AND AGAIN - they wrote about them… but they never did fully understand what the Holy Spirit had them put on paper… WHY? BECAUSE – they never lived in or experienced it personally… AND UNDERSTAND – there is a HUGE difference between just hearing or writing about something then actually experiencing it yourself…
Like the PCH
3 reasons to put on your dancing shoes (AGH… ‘Amazing Grace Highway)
Forgiveness of all sin once and for all…
would have completely blown them away… I MEAN – these guys lived under a system where they brought sacrifices year after year after year… BUT – those sacrifices never took away their sins… the guilt never disappeared… perfect cleansing never came… the crimson stain of sin was never washed away…
BUT– 2000 years ago the grace these guys wrote about – put on flesh and every thing changed…
AND NOW THE - (guilt remaining… imperfect cleansing… sins not taken away)
IS - no longer the reality for God’s people… Christ (the Messiah, our Great High Priest, the lamb of God) has come…
AND
THE - new and better covenant Jeremiah wrote about has been a reality… ever since the empty tomb…
UNDERSTAND – the reality that you and I as Christ-followers experience and live in every day… The Forgiveness Of All Sin… Once and For All… Would absolutely blow the minds of (Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel)…
Would make them dance and fill them with an inexpressible and glorious joy…
ALL my sins are forgiven…? Yes, everyone
Once and for all? once and for all/complete
No more bringing sacrifices year after year?
No more bringing sacrifice after sacrifice…
Jesus is enough
The forgiveness of ALL sin… once and for ALL time…
Spend some time reflecting on that this week
Freedom From ‘Do to Be’
UNDERSTAND – living under the law could really be summed up by these three words, “Do to be.”
UNDER – the system of rules – you had to do to be; BUT the problem was you could never do enough to measure up…. to be righteous in God’s eyes…
THEREFORE - living under the old way… was full of pressure… pressure to perform, to do, to earn, to be good enough…
After knowing only the pressure of rules all of their lives… the OT prophets would have been completely blown away by the reality of the coastline of God’s amazing grace… and the freedom from ‘do to be.’
AND VERSES – like…
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. - Ephesians 2:8,9
Would cause the prophets of Old to jump out the car and dance on the AGH coastline! NO – we just don’t get how fortunate we are to pitch our tent on the coastline of God’s amazing grace…
• No more trying to measure up
• No more doing to be
• No more constantly falling short
• No more ‘never’ being good enough
• No more banging our heads against the wall and trying to figure out what we are doing wrong and what we need to right in order to earn God’s favor. We are already have it – it’s called ‘grace’ God’s unmerited favor.
MGCC…
Under grace - we don’t live FOR our salvation we live FROM our salvation!!!
God Lives In Me
OKAY – let me get this straight… the God whose presence I could never even get close to lives in me…
lives in me!
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.
- 1 Peter 1:3
We can expect…
1. An inheritance
2. God’s power to protect us
3. Troubles to strengthen our faith
4. The salvation of our souls
