1peter1v3-12 - A Living Hope_Hope for a Hurtful World

A Living Hope

1 Peter 1:3-12

We live in a hurting, hurtful world! Many place their hope in what this world can give them… and are utterly let down.

As followers of Jesus who belong to a different world - the kingdom of God - can we live with hope in this world?

(PAUSE)

Have you ever seen a small child who is anticipating something in the near future?

It hardly matters what the child is anticipating - their birthday, Christmas, vacation, the start of school, the end of school, going to the park… or even cookies and ice cream after supper.

There is this nervousness, this anxiety, this pins-on-needles jumpiness that animates the child.

As we grow older, what we anticipate may change… we still anticipate holidays and vacation, but it may also be dating that special someone as a teenager, later on … our wedding day, the birth of one's child, starting a new job… the possibilities are too numerous to mention them all.

Take that small child again. The family was planning to go to the park. But before the family could get all ready, a storm picked up and they had to cancel their plans.

Can you picture that child as he mopes about, tossing himself on his bed, so disappointed?

We adults would like to think our response to disappointment is more mature. Often, however, our response is similar.

We have great dreams for life. Things happen, and our hope is lost.

Sometimes, our response is a tantrum, much like that small child throws. Or, we may be tempted to sink in despair, feeling like we have been cheated in life.

One of the saddest things to see in life is people who have given up hope, whether that be an individual, a family, a community, or even a local church.

(pause)

Commentators suggest that Peter wrote to Christians who were experiencing or would soon experience persecution.

A number of commentators believe this persecution was related to what happened after Nero burned Rome and blamed it on the Christians.

Regardless of what the exact circumstances were, Peter wanted to encourage believers who were in the midst of various trials because they were followers of Christ.

They were facing the temptation of giving up their hope in Christ, but Peter knew they had riches in Jesus that meant they had no need to give up in despair.

Today, we have not suffered for our faith like many Christians have. Even though we may have not experienced sufferings like other Christians have, we have endured various trials. We may be tested by physical hardship or financial hardship.

Other people may laugh at us for living holy lives. Sometimes, we may be excluded because we don't "fit in" with the crowd.

One of the temptations that we struggle with to give up. Or, we are tempted that instead of really living, we might merely make it through life.

In our scripture, Peter challenges us to live fully at all times - in good times and bad times. You see, Peter wrote that…

Big Idea: Our hope in Christ enables us to be fully alive.

1 Peter 1:3 KJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Because Christ has risen from the dead, our hope is living - it is full of life. We have been born again spiritually. Even though our bodies continue to decay, our spirits are alive and will live forever.

We have been given spiritual life through Christ's death and resurrection. Therefore, while we know our bodies will perish, we should not give up on life because we are not truly dying. We are alive. We should live as if we are fully alive!

How does our hope in Christ enable us to be fully alive?

1. Our hope in Christ gives us a promise to anticipate, vv. 4-5.

We have been born again…

1 Peter 1:4 KJV

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

The promise of our living hope is that our heavenly inheritance is incorruptible - imperishable.

Have you ever had food spoil?

I have a couple vivid memories of food that spoiled. In my first pastorate, the man who lived next door went away for some time.

One day, the electricity went off to his house and stayed off for several days. I went over to check on his refrigerator and freezer for him.

Both were stocked full… of rotting meat and vegetables, melted ice cream and more.

It was disgusting!

Some years later after Zenia and I married and moved to pastor our first church together (Herriman Chapel) and brought an upright freezer with us that we put in the detached garage outside the house.

We decided to buy groceries for the month. One day, Zenia cleaned the freezer. Then, we went and bought meat that we stocked in the freezer.

Zenia told me later that I should double check to make sure the freezer was plugged in. She just had this feeling… this intuition… . But I thought that was unnecessary to go out to the garage to check that the freezer was plugged in.

(pause)

Of course, it was unnecessary…

(pause)

Of course, it was!

(pause)

You can imagine the mess I found several days later when I finally went to the freezer.

We are used to things having a shelf life. Certain things, such as food, have a definite shelf life. We are more careful to keep an eye on its expiration date.

But other things that we buy and collect have shelf lives as well. Furniture, equipment, vehicles, and even wedding gifts have shelf lives. They eventually begin to decay. Or, they break and are no longer any good.

Our inheritance in Heaven, however, is imperishable. If you leave a house empty here on earth, somehow it decays. The wood rots.

The walls become moldly. Things fall into disrepair. But our inheritance in Christ is different. It will never perish.

Furthermore, our inheritance is undefiled. One commentator writes our inheritance is "incapable of being itself defiled, or of being enjoyed by any polluted soul" (quoted in BBC, p. 267).

Our inheritance is unfading. The same commentator has written, "Instead of fading, it remains in perpetual freshness and never decays in its value, sweetness, or beauty" (BBC, p. 267).

Our inheritance is kept in heaven for us. The Greek word for "kept" can mean to be preserved or guarded. Our inheritance is preserved or guarded for us. But notice what verse five goes on to say…

1 Peter 1:5 KJV

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Not only is our inheritance protected for us, but we also are being protected so that our final salvation may be realized.

The word in this verse seems to be stronger that the word in their previous verse and can mean to be guarded with a garrison (Strong's).

We recognize that we can forfeit God's protection by returning to sin; however, this scripture reassures us that if we keep our hand in God's hand, there is nothing in this world that can separate us from His love.

It doesn't matter how fierce the trial we are enduring may be. It doesn't matter how rotten we may feel. God loves us and is guarding us so that we may enjoy the inheritance he has promised us.

Think about that! Our inheritance will never decay or grow old. It is pristine, pure, and precious. Our God is jealously guarding both our inheritance and us so that we may enjoy it someday.

We have a living hope in Jesus!

Our hope in Christ enables us to be fully alive, secondly, because

2. Our hope in Christ gives us a purpose to fulfill, vv. 6-9.

1 Peter 1:6–7 KJV

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Oftentimes, we do not understand why we must endure various trials. We struggle to understand why God allows certain things to happen to us.

Peter tells us that the reason why we should continue to hope in Christ in difficult circumstances is that in doing this our faith will be proved to be genuine.

What is genuine faith? Hebrews 11 defines faith as Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Peter echoes this thought as he describes the believer's faith in action. In verse eight he says,

1 Peter 1:8 KJV

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Think about this - our genuine faith is seen in our love for our unseen Christ. We have suffered various trials of our faith. Some of you have probably suffered much more than I have, more than the rest of us.

One of the great temptations during times of difficulty and suffering is to continue loving Jesus.

After all, we have never seen him. We thought we had a relationship with Christ. We thought he loved us. But now we feel abandoned. Does it make sense to continue loving this one who we have never seen?

As our love for our unseen Christ is attacked and may begin to wane, the next flashpoint of our spiritual battle may be our belief in Christ.

We thought Christ existed. We thought he had changed our lives. We thought. Now, we are not so certain.

What happens when our faith in Christ begins to waver? We lose our joy in Christ. We no longer have confidence that our sins are forgiven.

We no longer are sure that Christ is the King of kings. We begin to doubt ourselves. Has our faith in Christ been a delusion? Have we taken the narrow way for nothing?

The genuineness of our faith is seen in our love for our unseen Christ, our belief in our unseen Christ, and our joy in our unseen Christ.

Why do we have reason to live even when it seems like the world is crashing down around us? We know that God uses trials and sufferings to test and prove our faith. We want our faith to be proved genuine.

Therefore, we refuse to be discouraged. We refused to be bound by chains of disillusionment. Instead, we pick up our cross, and we continue resolutely following our Lord and Savior.

As we follow Jesus faithfully, through good times and bad, God's purpose of proving our faith is realized. Our lives are a testimony of God's grace and faith.

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

That stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil

To heaven from the common soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man,

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow in ease;

The stronger wind, the tougher trees;

The farther sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength;

By sun and cold, by rain and snows,

In tree or man, good timber grows.

Where thickest stands the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of them both;

And they hold converse with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and of much strife --

This is the common law of life.[^1]

(pause)

Our hope in Christ enables us to be fully alive, thirdly, because

3. Our hope in Christ gives us a privilege to enjoy, vv. 10-12.

1 Peter 1:10–12 KJV

Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Verses ten through twelve read like a tangent or a parenthesis to Peter's main thought.

In these verses Peter wrote that Old Testament prophets carefully searched to find out more about the grace of which they were prophesying.

Furthermore, he said that angels even now long to learn more about the salvation that God has given us.

This is intriguing information, but maybe we could wonder about its importance. So what? What does it matter about the prophets and angels' desire to learn about God's saving grace?

Consider Old Testament prophets such as Isaiah, Daniel, or Jeremiah.

We have a lot of respect for these godly men. They prophesied things of which we still work today to figure out what it means.

But Peter said… prophets such as these longed to know more about the grace that God would show us through his son Jesus Christ.

What's the point?

(pause)

The point is that we are privileged to receive God's saving grace. Our imagination is quickly overwhelmed when we think of angels.

They seem like such powerful, wise, mighty beings. But angels also long to learn more about the salvation God has given us.

Our privileged status in receiving God's saving grace goes beyond just these two reasons. But the point is that because we are so privileged, we ought to live fully in the hope God has given us.

We should never mope around feeling sorry for ourselves. We are not carrying an unbearable cross. It is NOT so hard being a Christian!

The fact of the matter is that we are privileged to be Christians. We are privileged to have a living hope that does not decay. We are privileged people.

Martin Lloyd-Jones writes,

Our normal, ordinary view of salvation is hopelessly and ridiculously inadequate. Our trouble is that we always start with ourselves instead of starting with God.

Instead of going to the Bible and looking at its revelation and discovering there what salvation means, I start with myself and certain things that I want and desire, certain benefits that I always want to enjoy in this life and in this world.

I want forgiveness of sins; I want peace of conscience and of mind; I want enjoyment and happiness; I want to be delivered from certain sins; I want guidance; I want this and that; and my whole conception of salvation is reduced to that level. ...

The most wonderful thing of all is not that my sins have been forgiven, nor that I may enjoy certain experiences and blessing as a Christian. The thing that should astound me ... is that I am a child of God, one of God's people.

Do we take our privilege to be the followers of Christ for granted? Do we realize how great a sacrifice Christ made on our behalf so that we could be redeemed from sin?

Do we realize how burdensome the Jewish Law was to the people? Do we realize how hopelessly people who have never heard of Christ live?

We have been afforded great privileges. Let us live like people of privilege. Let us give thanks to our Lord. Let us live holy lives that we may honor his trust.

Let us live hopefully, knowing that one day we will go to Heaven for the rest of eternity!

The letter of 1 Peter shows us how we can have hope in a hurtful world. As we have studied today, our hope in Christ enables us to be fully alive.

You see, we find reason to live fully because of the promise we are anticipating, the purpose we are fulfilling, and the privileges we are enjoying.

Some years ago several congressmen, who were devout Christians, were taking a walk one evening. Their conversation drifted to the subject of religion and the state of the world.

They were not enthusiastic about the outlook and were just about to agree that the whole world was on the [decline] when they chanced to pass a little chapel.

From within came the words of a familiar hymn:

There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

As his face lighted up, one said to the others, “As long as people get together and sing that song, there is hope for the world, after all.”

The grace of Jesus Christ gives us confidence for life … and death. As that song continues to say: E’er since by faith I saw the stream / Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme,  And shall be till I die:

Therefore, I challenge you to live fully in the hope that Christ gives you. Don't allow the devil's discouraging lies to oppress you. Don't tuck your head in fear.

Instead, I challenge you & look up in trust to the smiling face of Jesus.

Sing: Hymn # - "There is a Fountain"