A Reason for Hope
A study through Peter July 23rd 2023
If someone were to ask you, 'Where do you find hope in life?' what would your answer be? Is your hope for today and the future (because we cannot hope for the past) found in your investments (I hope my stocks are up!), the lottery (I hope my numbers came up), the government (they’ll look after me, right?), your family (surely they will look after me), social media (I hope my tiktok video got lots of likes!).
Perhaps our hope is in ourselves as people; our knowledge and growth as humanity clearly shows how well we are doing (haha… ?) Perhaps our hope is found in myself; as I look in the mirror and am so confident in the person I am, or am striving to be? After all the self-help books I have read, surely I can hope in myself – or maybe not?
Or maybe hope is found in the great nothingness that we are all part of, which is to say that a person’s hope is – nothing.
Do we even HAVE hope?
As followers of Jesus, we sure do! As believers in His Name and His Word and His promises, we should have hope, lots of hope – and we as Christians should be able to reasonably explain that hope to others who may not yet have accepted Jesus as their hope for today, for tomorrow, for eternity…
We’re continuing a journey through the book of Peter, and we are now in chapter 3 in the 6th part of this series which will continue through the summer.
Turn in your Bible with me to 1 Peter 3:8-17. (I’m reading the ESV)
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
11 let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
Don’t you love the part of a sermon when the speaker says something like, “and finally I will conclude with this…’ and you know its going to be another 30 minutes before they actually finish? Well, guess what, Peter says, ‘Finally, all of you…’ so we’re going to be a little while before we actually finish today…
Peter has been addressing a few specific groups of people in the previous portions, servants, wives, husbands… Now he is talking to everyone – so lets ALL pay attention!
A list of things that all Christians should have as part of their character is here for us to think about. Five attributes that are almost obvious qualities that people should see in the way followers of Jesus live in this world.
Unity of mind – We should all think the same way, and that doesn’t mean that others need to think like you or else you have nothing to do with them. It doesn’t mean we all think that watching Nascar is a great way to spend your Sunday afternoon. It doesn’t mean thinking that some other church might be a better place to worship like I want to…
What it does mean is that we have unity of mind, we think alike, we think about what is important to think about. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we have the mind of Christ – we are to THINK like Him, not think we know better than Him, or anyone else. We think like Jesus, about Jesus, how Jesus would react in any situation. We think; we USE the mind God gave us and we do so together.
Have sympathy – Christians ought to actually CARE about others. Especially when it comes to others needs. And the greatest need everyone has is salvation through Christ. Do we care that others are lost without Him. Does it affect our heart to see people hurting? What are we DOING about those we care about?
Brotherly love – this can be sisterly too! We need to realise we are family in the church. We have to care for each other, and more so LOVE each other. We get to spend not just this time together here my friends, we get to spend ETERNITY together, so we had better learn to get along. There’s nothing better than bickering church-folk to keep not-yet-believers from ever wanting to be part of a church family, if that family cant get along, get over themselves, and love one another. Jesus said it’s the 2nd greatest commandment after loving God, so look around, and love each other.
A tender heart – Again, a stiff-necked, uptight, angry at the world, woe is me, self-centred Christian is not going to have a very effective testimony when it comes to sharing their faith if their faith hasn’t softened up their heart. TRUE? Gentleness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and we need to be gentle and tender-hearted when it comes to how we relate to others. Paul said it like this in Ephesians 4: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. How are we doing in that area of our life?
And referring again to our minds, Peter says we need to have a humble mind. Folks, we are not better than anyone else on this planet just because we are Christians. We aren’t better because we are Baptists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Mennonites, Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical Reformed, United, Congregational, Episcopal, Nazarene, Orthodox, Amish, Independent, Bapticostal Quakers, Shakers or non-denominational… Let’s just humble ourselves before the King of kings and Lord of lords and follow JESUS and His WORD!
We are all sinners, saved by grace and the world is filled with sinners who need to see that they can be saved too; not to a denomination but to a Saviour Who gave His life on account of our sin so we could be forgiven… AMEN!
What we are to be is a blessing to others; we bless in order to receive a blessing. And we bless others by having those 5 qualities as part of our character as Jesus followers.
Peter quotes from Psalm 34 to emphasize this point. We are to do good in this life, seek peace not revenge. God sees and listens to those who live like this, but He is actually against those who live otherwise. So how are we living friends? Do people see these qualities in you? Does God see you? Does He hear you? Do you feel close to Him or far away when you pray?
All of this leads to this next point. If we live our lives in a way that reflects the change that comes with knowing Jesus as Lord, it may lead to some pressure in life from outside the church family; heaven forbid if it’s from within! But even if it is, it can be dealt with.
Living life in contrast to the world and its ways will lead to possible confrontation, suffering for righteousness’ sake. Being a Christian in a predominantly non-Christian world will at some time in our lives, lead to having a talk with someone about what we believe.
Some of us fear that. Some of us shrivel up at the thought of giving our testimony, sharing our faith, taking a stand for Truth. Some of us may even pray it never happens! ‘Lord, please bring someone ELSE to share with that person!’ ‘God, you know I’m no good with words, I won’t know what to say!’ – do you recall that is basically what Moses said to God, when the Lord told him to go speak to Pharaoh?
People who don’t believe may say awful things to us. They may curse or laugh or post mean things on social media about us Jesus Freaks! They may cut you out of their lives in some way, their house gatherings, the work group, the circle of friendships – all because we are Christians Who see the world differently than they do.
Look at verse 14 – HAVE NO FEAR OF THEM, don’t be troubled. Don’t worry, trust Jesus! Honour Him. One of the best things one can do for another person is stand up for them when others put them down.
Everyone likes the news stories when someone stands up for the little guy. Someone with authority takes up a cause for someone who is struggling and people notice.
Well, hear this now, the person WE stand up for is Jesus Christ, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
(Colossians 1:15-20)
We don’t stand up for the little guy, we ARE the little guy that Jesus stood up for and died for and lives forever for! We get to take up HIS stand, by standing on the Truth that no one can contradict or defend against. AMEN!
So – when someone asks you about the hope that is in you – that hope had better be JESUS! All our hope is found in Him. Yes, we may suffer at times. Yes, people may say some stuff about us, but can we endure that suffering, YES WE CAN!
Romans 5:3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
We have the Holy Spirit in us, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you as a follower of Jesus, talk about power and authority!
So when people ask about your hope, your faith, your reason for being a Christian, you can tell them your story, which is actually HIS story. Tell people about Jesus. Tell them who He is. They may not and probably don’t know Him. And the only way you can really tell anyone about someone they don’t know is if you really know them.
Always being prepared means to always know Jesus. Know He is with you, because He said he would never leave or forsake you. Know that you will have something to say about Him because you spend so much time with Him.
If Jesus is the most important relationship in your life, then it should be no trouble to describe Him to others, no matter who they are.
And lastly, and I mean that, when we share – when we testify – we are to do so gently and with respect – respect the fact that the non-believer hasn’t GOT the holy spirit living in them yet – they don’t know what it means to love someone they have not seen. They don’t know what it means to have their son forgiven, they may not even know what sin really is!
So gently, tenderly, humbly, lovingly share the hope that is found in none other than Jesus Christ with others. Can we be united in that thought?
Let’s pray.
"Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
