April 7, 2002 1 Peter 1:3-9
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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 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. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 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. 8 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, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
How do you view your future? The future of America? If you would look at our country from a technological standpoint, our future would seem to be limitless. We are living with more gadgets and advances in America than the world has EVER known. You would think that with these inventions we would be living in an age of optimism and hope. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that people just aren’t very optimistic these days. With the war going on over in Israel and Afghanistan, the recession, and the social disaster of marriages, you can hear and see an overall mood of doubt and pessimism in people’s voices and faces. Instead of being hopeful, America is full of people who flip each other off, cut each other off, and live with a scowl on their faces. It seems that hope and happiness has died. But today, Peter assures us -
Jesus Lives, and So Does Hope
I. Because we know our inheritance will not spoil
When it gets down to it, it’s not because of the war or the recession that we are living in an age of doubt and pessimism. In Ecclesiasties 3, a more seemingly “pessimistic” book of the Bible, Solomon wrote, I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men. The burden that God has laid on men is that everything is beautiful, but only “in its time.” The beauty of a flower only lasts for a week. The grass is only green during the summer. The beauty of a snowfall only lasts so long, and then it melts away. But God has set “eternity” in the hearts of men, the desire for things to last. We buy dishwashers, stoves, washers and dryers to LAST. We don’t like things that break down. But the problem that everything in this life has a life span. Cars wear out. Gadgets become old. Love goes sour. Computers become obsolete, and even our bodies slow down and grow old.
And so Americans who live with the newest and the best equipment in the world, still aren’t happy and optimistic. Why? Because they have “eternity” in their hearts. And the things and dreams of this life are not eternal. When Enron went down in flames, and their retirement accounts with it, it brought all of the news firms to address the question - “what is a secure retirement plan?” Everybody seems to be worried now that their beloved retirement accounts are going to crash and burn like Enron did. But Enron is just one example of the problem with life. You can have thousands saved up and it will last only a few months in a nursing home. You don’t have a guarantee on health. You don’t have a guarantee on wealth. Marriage don’t always last til death do they part. The well known saying goes, “the only thing sure in life is death and taxes.” It’s because of their OUTLOOK that Americans are pessimistic.
Is that your view of life? Have you grown pessimistic toward work? Marriage? Children? Church? Do you think God wants you to live your life that way? Imagine if you had an employee that came to work every day with his face downcast. Imagine for instance, that the newscaster came on and said, “good morning, it’s supposed to be sunny today, but I doubt it will last long. I’m sure the wind from the north will cause a lousy day anyway.” If any of you have worked with someone with that kind of attitude, it isn’t fun. Not only is your life then miserable, but so is everyone else’s around you. Does that sound like the attitude of someone whom Jesus calls the “light of the world” or the “salt of the earth?” That’s not the way God wants us to live. If you live without hope, then you are living without faith. There’s no excuse for that kind of outlook on life, especially within Christianity. But we do it all the time.
Martin Luther went through a funk like that once. So you know what his wife did? She came down the stairs wearing all black and looking sorrowful. He asked her, “who died?” She said, “God did.” Luther said, “silly woman, God did not die.” Katie responded, “oh, I thought by the way you were acting that he had.” She wanted to remind him that Jesus still LIVED. There was still hope. And that’s Peter’s point in today’s text as well. Note the optimism of these verses.
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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 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.
No matter how bad life may get, there is still hope - because we have the assurance that Jesus died for the sins of the world, and that Jesus died for US, and that God accepted His sacrifice. There is more certainty to life than death and taxes - there is eternal life. It’s this promise that has given us spiritual life and hope in this world - of something that is permanent. Jesus once said, “because I live, you also will live. He who believes in me will LIVE, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
The great thing about this promise is that it can never perish, spoil, or fade - because it’s in heaven. You aren’t going to get to heaven and find that the floor boards have rotted out, the paint is peeling, and holes in the ceiling - you got there too late - back in the hey day it was pretty nice, but it’s gotten kind of old now - none of that. The promised land will still be there. It’s not going away. This is what gives us a living hope - an optimism - even about death - because then we know we’ll live forever.
And what’s even better is that Peter promises us that we are shielded by God’s power until God calls us home! The devil cannot - I repeat - cannot take your hope away. The only way you can lose it is if YOU let it go. No matter how hard the devil beat on Job, Job didn’t curse God and die. He came close, mind you, but he never did. In the same way, we have a guarantee of eternal life and protection even in this life. God won’t let us be tested beyond what we can bear. This is what gives us hope!
Do you have that LIVING hope? Or is it sleepwalking? It’s so sad to see Christians moping around and depressed over their futures, when they have ETERNAL life waiting for them. If you find yourselves depressed over life, don’t give up, because God isn’t giving up on you. The first thing to do is to take another look at God’s promises to you. Think about the implications of what God is saying to you. Say to yourself, “I have eternity in heaven waiting for me. Nothing and nobody can take that away from me. I may not have riches. I may not have fame. But I do know that died for me, and that Jesus lives. And because he lives, so will I. That is my hope that I am living with.”
II. Because we know our suffering will result in glory
When you really live with that hope, it honestly does effect the way we live our lives. Kind of a strange thing happened this past week. I went to visit one of our members in the hospital, who had a stint put in. Now, usually when you go in on hospital calls the shades are drawn, there is a somber feeling, and people are kind of depressed, and so I go in and try to give them hope. But I went into his room, it was really bright with the shades open. He had a big smile on his face and greeted me warmly. Then when we conversed, he said, “I went in for a test this morning, and I was hoping they would find something wrong - and they did! They found some serious blockage in my arteries!” That sounded strange at first hearing. Why would someone be glad that they would find something? But he explained, “I have been really low on energy for months now. I knew something couldn’t be right. So if they found something, I knew they could then try to fix it.” Even though he was in pain from the surgery, he had a smile on his face. Why? Because he had HOPE that his energy would now come back - that he would be feeling better. And that’s what made him happy. The pain that he was feeling was hopefully producing a good result.
Do you see the concept that I’m trying to get across? What is YOUR happiness based on? So often I deal and talk with people who just aren’t happy with life. Why? Because their job stinks, their marriage isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, or they’re having health problems. And they live with the belief that “God wants me to be happy.” So their faith struggles because they equate their happiness with healthiness and wealth and comfort. But they’re basing their happiness on the temporary things of this world. If they’re not happy, then they conclude that God must not love them. Why? Because God has the power to make me healthy and wealthy.
It seems strange to us Americans, who are given every creature comfort - to find happiness without comfort. Have you ever read the story of Paul and Silas in prison? Luke tells us that the jailer . . he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. This was not a comfortable position. Often times their legs would cramp up and cause extreme pain. But what were they doing? About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. And Peter said that these Christians during his time were doing the same thing during their pain. Why were they doing this? You can see it in these verses.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 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. 8 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, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I can see three main why Peter stated they had reason to rejoice. The first reason is because they would only be suffering for a “little while.” Imagine, for instance, if you had to suffer for your whole life with MS - if your body eventually became worse and worse - where you could no longer walk, talk, or even go to the bathroom without someone changing your diaper. That would be a long and difficult life. It would seem like every day would drag while you sat in your wheelchair and waited for life to go by. But compare that lifetime of suffering to ETERNITY in heaven. Can you compare the two? Any amount of suffering, a night in the stocks, a crucifixion, painful as it may be, does not compare to living an eternity in heaven. When you look at life from this point of view, it helps you to rejoice, because you know that your suffering is TEMPORARY.
Secondly, Peter reminded his hearers that grief and trials come so that your faith may be PROVED GENUINE and result in PRAISE, GLORY and HONOR at the revelation of Jesus Christ on Judgment Day. There was once a man whose wife went through terrible medical problems. She ended up in a nursing home with constant need of medical attention. It would be very trying on any marriage. She was unable to feed herself or clothe herself, but her mind was still good. But her husband, instead of sticking with his wife until death parted her, decided to enter into a romantic involvement with another woman while his wife was still alive. In doing this, he left his wife behind at the nursing home, and didn’t visit her very often. He said he loved his wife. He even married her and was faithful to her in good health. But in the time of great trial, his love proved to be not very thick. He could have at least waited until she died. But he didn’t. His love wasn’t GENUINE. As long as it made him feel good, he stuck with it. But when it cost him sacrifice, he gave up on it.
Satan asked God, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” In other words, “what is it costing him to fear you? Anyone could fear God for riches and popularity. How genuine is that?” Therefore, when Peter and the Christians of his time went through persecution, they looked at it as an OPPORTUNITY to prove to God and the devil that they meant what they said, “I love my Lord.” It’s kind of like working at a job but never being given a challenge. After a while, you look forward to a promotion - a chance to prove that you can do more. That’s the way God wants us to look at suffering - an opportunity to show our true colors. Then on Judgment Day - God can say, “look - it’s obvious that his faith was more than words. It was genuine!” What an honor that will be! That makes it worth suffering!
The third reason that they could rejoice was because they knew that they were - receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Their goal in life was not to be happy now. The goal of their faith was to go to heaven - to live with a Lord they had never touched - stand in a land they had never stood - period. This suffering wouldn’t hurt their faith - it would strengthen their faith. How? Because it would make them turn to their Lord for strength and courage and help. If it would do that, then why not rejoice in it. When the day was done, and their lives ended, their souls would be saved. They would still reach their goal. So just like the member was happy to suffer if he knew it would increase his health, so we can still live with hope and happiness even in suffering, if we keep our eyes on the promise of the resurrection through faith in Christ. In the end we are receiving the salvation of our souls, so even pain to our bodies can’t hinder that joy we feel.
If I could guarantee all of you below thirty years of age that you would retire at 65 in good health, be rich, live in a wonderful house with a wonderful marriage and kids, be safe, and live to a ripe old age, how would you respond? Imagine that you could buy health insurance that would guarantee and give you such blessings! People would pay millions for it. Why? If you had such a promise, you could relax about the problems you face now. You wouldn’t stress out over your finances. You wouldn’t worry about health problems.
However, there is no such promise in life. God doesn’t promise us that we’ll die rich with no health problems. No, he promises us much better than that. God promises both protection from God in this life of anything that would hurt our FAITH, and a resurrection to ETERNAL life. This promise is worth more than 20 years of retirement and all the riches in the world. This is a PROMISE - not from me - but from GOD. Not only so, but it is also a GIFT of God through FAITH. The same God who promised he would die and rise from the dead, promises us eternal life and protection through the resurrection of Christ. His Word is good. Therefore we know through faith that Jesus lives, and so does hope. Amen.
