Our Living Hope
Notes
Transcript
Opening
Opening
Thank you for having me out to Celebrate Recovery. This is my first time joining you here. I did have the privilege of going to the CR Summit last year, which was awesome.
CR is a cool community and I love seeing how God is using this ministry to transform so many lives
One of the things I appreciate most about this group is that everyone recognizes that they have shortcomings - hurts, habits, and hangups
A lot of people outside these walls refuse to acknowledge this about themselves and without it they fail to see a need for God in their lives. Why would they need a savior if they don’t have anything they need saved from?
People like you and me, know we need help
Personally for me . . . I’ve had hangups with pride, judging, sexual temptation, fear, acceptance, and more recently anger and impatience.
But most importantly I have been and will forever be a child of God because Jesus saved me and I have committed to give my life to Him.
I know this month you’ve been talking about step #1 - Realizing we’re not God and we have a tendency towards sin
which comes out of Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, [that’s us! We are acknowledging it. We are spiritually poor and broken by our nature. . . Now here’s the encouragement for those who recognize it. We are blessed]
for [ours] is the kingdom of heaven.
Maybe you’re thinking . . . Wow that’s great! But I don’t see it.
Well that’s because the full reality of this kingdom is still ahead of us. It’s already been given to us. Now we are on our way to experience it.
And thankfully along the way we are given Hope. We need hope. We need something to look forward to.
I titled my message -Our Living Hope. This is for all of us.
If you have a Bible, I’ll invite you to open up to 1 Peter 1
This is a letter to believers, including us. He begins . . .
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
This is THE Simon Peter who walked on water toward Jesus (before panicking and sinking), who was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, who denied Him 3 times when Jesus was arrested and crucified, and the same Peter who became a key apostle in the church - leading thousands to Christ.
That Peter wrote . . .
To God’s elect [or chosen . . . yes God chose you before you ever pursued Him. Isn’t that cool?],
exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, [Here is a group of people living outside their homeland . . . in a place that they weren’t meant to be. They belonged somewhere better, but by their own decisions and their families decisions over multiple generations) they were in a rough spot. Sound familiar?
Then Peter reminds those exiles. . . YOU . . . ] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Do you see the Trinity at work on our behalf? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. God intervened to call us back to Him.
Then Peter ends his greeting . . .
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Yes please! We need an abundance of grace! We need an abundance of peace in this crazy life. I’ll take that!
Then Peter really hones in on hope.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy [we don’t deserve it] he [Jesus] has given us new birth [we call ourselves born again Christians - Jesus gives us a restart, a new life]
new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Here’s a good word for today - my hope is NOT in Jeff. Fill in your name and say that with me. My hope is NOT in ________.
Jeff is poor in spirit. You are poor in spirit. And so “we admit that we are powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong thing”. . . . and we admit that our lives are unmanageable . . . on our own.
BUT we have this hope!
If you are a notetaker or you like remembering points. Here’s my first one:
1. Our HOPE is alive and His name is Jesus
1. Our HOPE is alive and His name is Jesus
Peter says we are born into this hope through the resurrection of Jesus.
What came before the resurrection? The cross!
That cross should be ours. We are guilty!
The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In other words, He is a Holy and perfect God and we are not. We don’t deserve to be in His presence.
The Bible also says that the wages (or payment) for sin is death . . .someone has to die! BUT the gift of God is eternal life!
Jesus lived a perfect life - the one human to live without sin. Jesus may have had hurts, but He didn’t have any habits or hangups. We cannot say the same.
Jesus was innocent and yet He willingly went to the cross for our sins.
Some people ask: “Wasn’t He arrested and forced to go to trial by the Jews and killed by the Romans?? Yes, but He could have called it off at any time because He was the son of God, but He didn’t . . . because He loves you
While you were still a sinner - He loved you. While you are a sinner . . . He loves you.
The empty tomb that first Easter morning revealed His power over death and sin.
He conquered the grave.
And because Jesus beat death and sin, He gets to call the shots.
If Jesus says you have life in Him, then guess what ? You have life in Him!
Our hope is not in something that we really really want to happen. It’s not in something being the most likely based on statistics or because we are “good” people and things will work out.
Our confident hope is in the one who beat death after 3 days in the grave and who is alive - Jesus Christ.
Then Peter goes on to say
and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 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. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. [who here has suffered through grief?]
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 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.
We are receiving it now. Our inheritance is already guaranteed. No one can take that away from you!
And you’re not going to accidently lose it. Jesus is holding onto it for you.
I have some money in mutual funds (which are based on the stock market and trades - I don’t really understand it all) but I can see how much money is in my account each quarter and I’ll watch it go up and down. When the economy is bad, it’s scary how quickly that account drops in value.
Money and riches and anything tangible in our life - this side of heaven- can be lost.
BUT not so our inheritance in heaven.
Peter goes on to express how we are a privileged generation. We have the full revelation of Jesus Christ. The generations before Him waited in anticipation of His coming, but we now know that He has now come and we are beneficiaries of it.
___
So, what do we do with this knowledge that our hope is alive and His name is Jesus?
Continue to grow in your relationship with Him. Get to know who He is, what He taught, so you can recognize His voice.
Spend time studying and applying His word,
Spend time worshipping Him
Spend time praying throughout the day - even if its short prayers
Stay connected with the Church and serve
Invite Him into every area of your life.
As we grow in maturity, His voice starts to over power other voices, like the negative ones in our heads that would love us to go down the wrong paths.
He will teach you and He will help you. Our hope is alive and His name is Jesus!
Not only does our living hope mean hope for the future, but there is also hope for today!
My second point is this
2. Our Hope frees us up to truly live
2. Our Hope frees us up to truly live
Apart from Christ we were dead men and women, walking around like zombies
When I was living a self-centered life and just wanting to serve pleasures and live comfortably I was missing out on joy, my life was shallow, my relationships were shallow.
I thought in the short term, rather than long term - which is why I so easily gave into sins.
Peter after reminding us of all that Christ has done says,
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
Holy means that we are set apart. We shouldn’t look like the rest of the world.
When we live in sin. When we dwell on our hurts and give into our habits and hangups, we are missing out on our calling.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Jesus came to set us free, which is why He calls us away from the things of the world that are trying to keep us imprisoned.
God is NOT trying to torture us by calling us to holiness. He is not wanting to rob us of happiness - quite the opposite actually.
God is NOT giving us a command that it impossible.
Sure on our own we are doomed to fail, but NOT so with our Living Hope. Jesus can help us to do and become what seems impossible.
He wants us to be Holy - like Him.
Don’t mistake holy with boring
God is Holy and He is in no way boring
The Holy one created the whole universe, including the things you hold most dear.
And He created you to be unique and creative yourself.
He made you very good
And He calls you to be set apart to move away from the hurts, habits, and hangups - those things don’t get to define you
And that is what some of you were. [past tense!] But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Our Hope (Jesus) died and rose again to free us up to truly live
Life has meaning because of Jesus!
I can have purpose in every area because he set me apart
My relationships have greater purpose because I am building them up in Christ
My work has greater purpose (even in the secular arena) because I am working as if I were working directly for the Lord - easy for a pastor to say - God’s my boss
But it was the same when I worked in customer service at a movie theater, at a restaurant, at a hotel, at a school.
Even my free time has greater purpose because God is with me and I know he’ll teach me something through it
Our hope frees us up to truly live
And one final point . . .
3. Our Hope should be taken seriously
3. Our Hope should be taken seriously
Since you call on a Father [God] who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. [Fear is not always a bad thing. This is a healthy fear - a reverence for God. He is good and He is also incredibly powerful. We should tremble before Him.]
When we are living lives of unrepentant sin, we should be a bit uneasy.
I’m not saying we need to worry about our salvation whenever we sin.If you are saved, you are saved.
But if I’m a child of God, sinning should make me uncomfortable.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed [or paid for] from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
In other words, your life cost Jesus everything. He literally gave his life for yours. So don’t take that lightly.
He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Again to the first point: Our hope is alive and His name is Jesus.
Paul continues
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
God gets the final word. And praise Him that He does. If I had the final word, I’d goof up and so would you.
If we were in control of our ending, we’d get cocky and it wouldn’t end well.
But the word of the Lord endures forever.
Peter’s gives this charge . . .
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Friends, seek what is pure and good.
It’s hard because we have things in our spiritual diet that are not good for us, but that we’ve consumed too many times and now crave.
Bad Habit burgers
We’ve gotta put in the work to get to a healthy place, but praise God that He is behind us doing the heavy lifting
We have HOPE!
Our hope is alive and His name is Jesus
Our hope frees us up to freely live
And Our hope should be taken seriously
I hope that you are hopeful - greater things are yet to come
Let’s pray!
