Today we’re continuing the series "Why Easter Has Meaning." Last week we covered how Easter impacts your faith and we looked at the inspired writings of Paul to the church at Corinth. Incidentally, Paul is known as "The Apostle of Faith." So it was fitting that we read a Bible passage written by him when talking about Easter faith.
It is also fitting today as we consider "The Power of Hope" that we look at the writings of the Apostle Peter, since he is known as "The Apostle of Hope."
Next Sunday at Easter we’ll look at the writings of John, who is known as "The Apostle of Love" and we’ll see that Easter has meaning because of love.
Faith, hope and love are all tied to the resurrection of Christ, which we celebrate at Easter. The three Apostles whose works we are reading from all personally experienced what they were writing about! They all gave eyewitness testimony of seeing Jesus after He was raised from the dead! They all had first-hand knowledge of the great faith, great hope and great love because of their assurance of Christ’s resurrection!
There’s great power in that kind of testimony – the testimony of people who are certain about spiritual realities. Today we look at the great power in hope from the pen of a man full of hope.
Consider this tremendous Bible passage on hope from the writings of the Apostle Peter.
"3Let us thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was through His loving-kindness that we were born again to a new life and have a hope that never dies. This hope is ours because Jesus was raised from the dead. 4We will receive the great things that we have been promised. They are being kept safe in heaven for us. They are pure and will not pass away. They will never be lost. 5You are being kept by the power of God because you put your trust in Him and you will be saved from the punishment of sin at the end of the world.
6With this hope you can be happy even if you need to have sorrow and all kinds of tests for a while. 7These tests have come to prove your faith and to show that it is good. Gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire. Your faith is worth much more than gold and it must be tested also. Then your faith will bring thanks and shining-greatness and honor to Jesus Christ when He comes again. 8You have never seen Him but you love Him. You cannot see Him now but you are putting your trust in Him. And you have joy so great that words cannot tell about it. 9You will get what your faith is looking for, which is to be saved from the punishment of sin." 1 Peter 1:3-9 (NLV)
Peter penned these words about 30 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. He was writing to encourage the persecuted Christians of Asia Minor.
They were being abused by overbearing bosses (2:18), threatened by unbelieving spouses (3:1,6), and ridiculed by skeptical neighbors and associates (4:14). On the horizon loomed the possibility of a much more violent form of persecution (4:12-18). It was a very anti-Christian society.
How do you cling to hope when your life is undergoing these kinds of tests? What do you do when life seems to have more questions than answers?
You’ve got to have hope to keep on going. You’re going to have to have "a hope that never dies" the Bible speaks of in verse 3.
I want to answer three questions today about this powerful hope:
1) What is it?
2) How can you get it?
3) How does this hope empower you?
1. WHAT IS THE "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
First of all you need to realize that the New Testament idea of hope is different from the way we use the word hope today. We plan a cookout and invite some friends over and we say, "I hope it doesn’t rain." We’re referring to the uncertainty of future events. You might be surprised to know that that is not the same thing as the Bible meaning of hope.
When the Bible speaks of hope it is talking about the very opposite of uncertainty. It is communicating with assurance, with confidence that these future events spoken of are going to take place.
It’s essential that you get this difference fixed in your thinking. Re-read some of our text passage with me with this meaning in mind and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Verse 4 - "We will receive the great things that we have been promised. They are being kept safe in heaven for us. They are pure and will not pass away. They will never be lost. 5You are being kept by the power of God because you put your trust in Him and you will be saved from the punishment of sin at the end of the world."
Those two verses contain certainty after certainty after certainty. The Bible concept of hope involves certainty – not uncertainty.
But there’s another thing about "a hope that never dies" you also need to understand. It might be easier to explain by considering the opposite of a living hope, that is, a dead hope.
It’s like "dead faith." Do you remember what the Apostle James said about dead faith?
"Anyone who doesn’t breathe is dead, and faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead!" James 2:26 (CEV)
One of the themes in James’ writings was "faith without works is dead." (James 2:20)
True faith produces results and change in the life of the person who has faith. If a person has not changed one iota since professing faith in Christ then his or her faith is really dead. It’s not a genuine faith. True faith produces true change, not perfection, but moving away from the wrong way of life and moving toward the right way of life.
Now apply that same principle to hope. "A hope that never dies" is going to produce something. It’s a productive entity. It has power to change how you think, how you talk and how you live!
That’s a very good thing! You need hope to face life’s challenges just like the original recipients of the Apostle Peter’s letter needed hope to face their tests.
"A hope that never dies" is a reassuring thing. It’s positive. It deals with the future in certain terms and so it produces positive results!
Several years ago Parade Magazine carried the story of the self-made millionaire Eugene Land and how he greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Land had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to make a difference in the lives of these students, most of whom would eventually drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these kids from poor neighborhoods to even look at him.
When he arrived at the school and stood before the class of innocent faces he scrapped his notes and decided to speak to them from his heart.
"Stay in school," he admonished, "and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed forever. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school!
That’s the power of hope! And what God offers you if more fabulous than anything even a millionaire can offer you!
That’s the answer to our first question.
1. WHAT IS THE "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
(1) It’s something for sure, something certain.
(2) And it’s something that has the power to produce positive change in your life!
The next question is
2. HOW CAN YOU OBTAIN THIS "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
How can you activate this powerful tool in your life? The answer is given in verse 3. "…we were born again to a new life and have a hope that never dies. This hope is ours because Jesus was raised from the dead."
To have "a hope that never dies," you must be born again. How can you be born again? Being born again, or spiritual birth, is by faith in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Bible expands on this idea later in this same chapter.
"You have been born again, and this new life did not come from something that dies, but from something that cannot die. You were born again through God’s living message that continues forever." 1 Peter 1:23-25 (NCV)
So, first of all, you obtain this hope by being born again.
Secondly, verse 3 says, "This hope is ours because Jesus was raised from the dead."
The Apostle Peter was one of over 500 people who saw Jesus after His resurrection. (1 Corin. 15:5) He was certain that he could place his hope in Jesus because Christ conquered death.
Since Christ rose from the dead you can firmly place your trust in Him. You can place your life and your soul in His hands. You can depend upon His love and care. You can follow His wisdom for your life. You can rest assured that God is for you and not against you!
"For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 (NLT)
The moment you accept Christ’s death in your place on the cross and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead the Bible says you are "born again."
That’s how you obtain this powerful hope! You’re born again when you entrust yourself and commit yourself to the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection!
1. WHAT IS THE "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
It’s something for sure, something certain. And it’s something that has the power to produce positive change in your life!
2. HOW CAN YOU OBTAIN THIS "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
You become born again by entrusting yourself and committing yourself to the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection!
3. HOW DOES THIS HOPE EMPOWER YOU?
"Be alert and think straight. Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears. 14Behave like obedient children. Don’t let your lives be controlled by your desires, as they used to be. 15Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy." 1 Peter 1:13-15 (CEV)
Being born again by entrusting and committing your self to the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection gives you a new set of desires. That’s what the Bible is talking about here. Your new-found hope produces new and holy conduct.
When we say holy we’re not talking about walking around in robes and repeating chants all day. The Bible idea of holiness is not being sanctimonious. It’s not acting like you’re better than other people. That’s a terrible misconception of holiness. Holiness is being like God, it’s being like Jesus.
But we all know that we have some problems here. Our human nature doesn’t want to be holy. It doesn’t want to be like God. It wants to be controlled by its desires. So here’s what’s got to happen. Hope has to push those desires out of the way.
Giving in to your sinful desires is the opposite of hope.
Let me give you some examples.
You worry over some future problem, a relationship that’s about to run into a wall or a bill that needs to be paid or whatever. Your subconscious says to you, “If things are going to be that bad tomorrow, I may as well get pleasure today.” A mild form of this would be overeating; a more serious form would be stealing.
Or another way that sinful desires may trump your hope is to respond to anxiety by self-pity or depression. You give in to the selfish desire to focus on self.
The Bible answer to this is in verse 13 - "Be alert and think straight. (Circle that phrase – that’s spiritual dynamite!) Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears."
How does hope empower you? Instead of giving up hope the Bible says: "Be alert and think straight."
Something very helpful later in this same book of the Bible is:
"God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him." 1 Peter 5:7 (CEV)
You have to think straight and realize that since Christ conquered death He can help you conquer your problems without resorting to the sinful desires of your human nature. You can turn to God with your seemingly hopeless situations. You can turn all your worries over to him.
So hope empowers you by correcting hopeless thinking.
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water for a few short seconds and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!
Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little bit longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should it be in our lives!
Look – God cares about you! He wants you to have hope.
God says, "I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out--plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." Jeremiah 29:11 (Msg)
Hope empowers you by correcting hopeless thinking.
Another way you can be empowered by hope is by considering the return of Christ.
The middle part of verse 13 says "Put all your hope in how kind God will be to you when Jesus Christ appears."
Pay close attention to the fact that it is the kindness of God that the Bible is talking about as the motivation for hope.
When I was a new believer in Christ I used to think that the main reason I should want to live a pure life in connection with the Second Coming of Christ was because I didn’t want Him to come back and find me doing something bad. I didn’t want to be embarassed by my behavior. Now I’m not saying that isn’t a biblical truth – but that’s not the motivation listed here. The motivation listed here is the kindness of God. God is going to be kind to everyone who has been born again, to everyone who has put his or her trust in the resurrected Son of God!
You need to respond to God’s kindness by doing right things. When Jesus comes back you want to be able to have a track record of good works and not bad works. You should want to please Him because He’s been so kind to you!
The Bible mentions this connection between living a holy life in connection with the Second Coming of Christ elsewhere as well.
"My dear friends, we are already God’s children, though what we will be hasn’t yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is. 3This hope makes us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy." 1 John 3:2-3 (CEV)
The certainty of Christ’s return helps us keep ourselves holy, just as Christ is holy.
If you are born again, God is at work in your life to get you to become more like Jesus! And that process will be completed when Jesus returns! Circle that phrase in verse 2, "when Christ returns, we will be like him!"
That’s the hope the born again follower of Christ has! God’s kindness toward us is that we are being made more like Jesus in this life and in the life to come we will get to be like Him! We won’t be tempted to sin any more. No faults. No failures. No mess ups!
A young man was trying to establish himself as a peach grower. He worked hard and invested everything he had in a peach orchard. Finally it blossomed, but later came a frost and killed his chances of having a good peach crop. He did not go to church the next Sunday, nor the next, nor the next.
His pastor went to try to encourage him to get back to church. The young man complained, "I’m not coming back to church. Do you think I want to worship a God who cares for me so little that He will let a frost kill all of my peaches?" The old minister looked at him in silence for a few moments, then kindly said, "God loves you more than He does your peaches. He knows that while peaches do better without frost, it is impossible to grow the best men without frost. His object is to grow men, not peaches."
God wants you to experience the power of "the hope that never dies" in your life!
1. WHAT IS THE "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
It’s something for sure, something certain. And it’s something that has the power to produce positive change in your life!
2. HOW CAN YOU OBTAIN THIS "HOPE THAT NEVER DIES?"
You become born again by entrusting yourself and committing yourself to the truth of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.
3. HOW DOES THIS HOPE EMPOWER YOU?
A hope that never dies produces holy conduct – it produces the ability to overcome the human desires to do wrong things and do the right things because God has been kind to you.
Do you have that hope? If not, would you like to have it?
Pray this prayer from the heart: "Lord Jesus, I believe in my heart that you were raised from the dead and that this guarantees that your death was sufficient to pay for all my sins and therefore God is for me and not against me and that you yourself are alive today and with me to help forever.
And I pray that you will help me now to hope fully in your promises so that I am freed from the greed and self-pity that come from fear, and that I might be driven to imitate your love and kindness. And so Lord grant me in these times of stress and anxiety to have the power of soul to be joyful and to fill my life with labors of love. Amen.
