Hope When I Can't See

Ben Miller

Living with Hope • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

1 Peter 1:3–12

Hope

0 ratings

· 13 views

Notes

Transcript

Handout

Sermon Tone Analysis

Emotion

Language

Social

View more →

Introduction:

Imagine for a minute that I take you on a trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

I really like a clean house… and my wife works really hard… but let’s be honest… with three young kids and a busy schedule, it doesn’t always stay that way...

And I take you in the front door… and I tie a blindfold on your face… and I say, “I want to show you one of the most beloved, captivating paintings of all time… up close and personal… but it’s a surprise… I can’t wait...”

And so I lead you blindfolded right up to the painting I want to show you…

and I position you about 2 inches in front of the painting… and I take off the blindfold… and this is what you see… [show picture 1].

In fact, it can get really out of hand sometimes… and just to show that this is not a bad reflection on my wife, raise your hand if your house has ever been overwhelmingly messy? (truth in church???)

And you’re like, “I don’t get it. It doesn’t look all that beautiful. In fact, it looks kind of ugly… who in the world painted this thing!?!?! what kind of artist is he?!?!

And so usually I’ll be OK with it for a little while… you know you just have to live with it… a messy house is a fact of life sometimes… but then it gets to this point where you’re just like “GAHH!! I’ve got to DO something about this!!!”

And I’m like, “No really, this is a painting that SO MANY PEOPLE LOVE!!! CAN’T YOU SEE IT!!!”

Now how many people, in that moment, have ever had this experience: you look at all that needs to be done and it almost becomes paralyzing. You don’t even know where to begin.

And you’re like, “No… I can’t see it… why in the world did you bring me here!!!”

There are so many details to getting the house back in order that you can’t see your way through to the end.

But then I say… OK, I want you to take 5 steps back and THEN look. And this is what you see… a painting that people will gladly travel to see in person…

And in that moment, you just have to start somewhere… and you get part of the job done… and you move to the next part… and before you know it, the job is finished.

I think life can be like that sometimes...

It’s the same painting… you can still see the details you were looking at before… but now they are part of the bigger picture… and they make sense.

That’s often the way we treat our lives.

We can handle a little bit of mess…

We look at the details of our lives… and they are so in our face… that we think they are ugly… we think they are a mistake… we question the quality of the one who designed those details…

Have you ever been there?

Saying, “God… these details of whatever situation I’m going through right now are totally overwhelming… I can’t see what you are doing!!! I can’t even see you here in the middle of them!!!”

But what we really need to do in those moments is take a step back and look at the big picture.

That’s what we want to do in our study today…

We are in our second week of our sermon series in the book of 1 Peter called “Living with Hope”… and our vision for this study is that we would grow to allow the hope of eternity to change our lives on earth...

And so today we want to take a step back and take a look at that big eternal picture that God is painting.

Here’s the Big Idea:

Big Idea: When you can't see God in the details, find hope in God’s big picture.

Read

Repeat Big Idea: When you can't see God in the details, find hope in God’s big picture.

Context: Last week studied the “greeting” to the letter (overture… main themes)

Peter (Apostle), writing to the “elect exiles of the dispersion”

Chosen by God… in their current situation… in their current location (spread all over Asia Minor, which is present-day Turkey.

“Exiles” = aliens, sojourners… currently displaced from their true home… not physically, but spiritually.

Citizens of heaven… journeying this earth in the places God has chosen for them.

Situation of exile includes some trials… adversity… persecution… other trials of living in a fallen world…

Peter wants them to live with hope...

Journey is in the context of the Spirit’s sanctifying work… goal: obedience to Christ… experiencing his purification...

Provisions: grace (Divine enablement) and peace (Divine relationship)

With that jam-packed greeting as the context, Peter now moves into the introduction of his letter...

These churches are all spread out… BUT: Common experience: situations of trial and hardship.

Common experience: situations of trial and hardship.

And it can be hard to hope when we can’t see how all the details of our situation is going to work out… when we can’t see how the salvation is going to come...

In his introduction, Peter wants to remind them of the big picture so they have the right perspective even if they can’t see God inn the details of their trials.

Three Ways to Find “Big Picture” Hope

Praise: God is preserving your future.

Explanation:

Look at v. 3 - “Blessed be...”

To bless = to praise… to tell or sing of the beauty of something.

The goal for all that Peter is about to write is PRAISE!

So he tells us the person who deserves praise…:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...

One God… three persons...

Remember: Greeting - Father, Son and Holy Spirit… all active in our journey… continuing that theme.

Our salvation was the desire of all three persons of the Trinity… it’s not like God the Father hated our sin but Jesus said, “Oh come on, Dad! Let em off the hook!!!”

NO! The whole Godhead hated sin… the whole Godhead was of one mind and essence in creating the execution of the plan...

Salvation is the work of a TRIUNE God!

And so we WORSHIP a triune God…

That’s what we see as the verse continues… worship for salvation...

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… who has caused us to be born again...

You hear this from people every now and then… a lot of times in political polls on the news… especially in a conservative area: “I’m a born again Christian.”

Many will identify as “born again Christian” on surveys because that’s the culture in which they grew up.

But I wonder how many people know what that means?

Jesus said to one of the religious leaders of his day… a guy named Nicodemus… who eventually became a follower of Jesus Christ...

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ()

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“Unless you are born again

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

So what does it mean to be “born again?”

Well, what does it mean to be born physically?

You are given life! New life… life that you’ve never experienced before!

You are given an identity… you are a child of your parents… you receive their name...

You are given a certain type of nature… you are not born as an elephant or a giraffe… you are born as a human.

And you have no control over being born… it is something that happens TO YOU… you don’t make yourself “born.”

But to be born physically is not what Jesus… or Peter are talking about...

You see, when we are born MERELY physically, The Bible says that we are born in iniquity… we are born in sin…

because Adam and Eve sinned and that sin was passed down through Adam from generation to generation to generation...

We don’t start out good… we don’t start out with a nature that is after God’s heart… we start out totally depraved… totally wretched...

And apart from God’s intervention, we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins in which we walk… and God must make us spiritually alive...

Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

So then what does this mean for someone to be born again?

It means that they are given NEW LIFE… life like they’ve never experienced before!

Spiritual life… life that receives its vitality from God himself.

They once were dead in their sins, now they are made alive in Christ.

In the book of Titus, the Apostle Paul says that they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. So Father, Son and Spirit are active in this work.

It means that they are given a new identity… the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has now made you his child!

It means that they are given a new nature… they are no longer defined by their sin nature… but they are defined by the nature of Christ.

For someone to be a “born again Christian,” it takes far more than identifying as such on a survey.

It requires God giving them an entirely new nature.

I think we often forget this when we talk about salvation…

Salvation is not merely a human act in which I say I believe and then try to improve myself and do better things...

Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good… he came to make dead people alive.

Salvation is a divine act in which a person who is previously dead in their sins must be “born again”… regenerated… given NEW life and a new nature.

It’s a divine act… the word is the activity of the Father… the Father has CAUSED us to be born again…

It’s his initiative...

To be born again, the Father must awaken new life in you...

Remember last week how we talked about election… and how the Father sovereignly chooses those who are his…

and he KNOWS them as his children from before the foundation of the earth?

We said that God MUST choose people to be his children because we would NEVER choose him on our own.

We are too in love with our sin… we are too in love with our self.

And it makes us dead. So the Father must CAUSE us to be born again.

And praise be to God he DOES do this work!

And Verse 3 says he does it ACCORDING TO HIS GREAT MERCY!!!

The word for great can mean “constant”… the King James translates it “abundant.”

According to his abundant mercy… mercy withholding the punishment that we deserve for our sin.

He’s merciful beyond what any of us could ever imagine.

I heard a quote this week from Tim Keller that said this,

I read a quote this week from Tim Keller that said this,

“If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for his mercy.” - Tim Keller

Do you believe that? Just dwell on that for a minute. Don’t try to argue with it or do mental gymnastics… just rest in this: according to his exceedingly great mercy, he has caused us to be “born again.”

If that doesn’t make you SHOUT, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” then you are sleeping!

And if that wasn’t enough reason for praise, Peter gives this outcome of being “born again…”

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope

English Standard Version Chapter 1

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope

A living hope…

This is our theme verse for this whole ministry year! Do you remember the definition for hope we’ve been learning this year?

Hope is the confident expectation of eternal joy.

It’s not like, “I HOPE I get to go on the youth retreat… but I’m not really sure… I haven’t signed up or anything...”

It’s not like, “I hope I get a raise at my job this year, but my boss can be kind of unpredictable.”

It’s not like, “I HOPE that the Eagles win later today...”

No, no… It’s like, “I KNOW that God is going to fulfill his plan and promise and purpose. There is not a shadow of a doubt. I KNOW it and I confidently expect it. I’m putting all my eggs in that basket.”

So Peter describes this hope as “living.”

It’s not a dead hope… it has vitality… life… it’s the type of hope that emboldens my living today because it is as sure as a living Savior. Look at verse 3 again...

This is an incredible result of being “born again.”

But how can we be so sure… how can we be so confident?

Especially when I get lost in the details of life…

especially when life seems to blow up in my face at times…

especially because I tend to fail… a lot.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

The confident expectation of joy in the future comes from the powerful work of Jesus in the past. [repeat]

The Father sent his son… at a point in history… to live the perfect life we could not live… die the death that we deserve to die… and to conquer the enemy that we could not conquer… Satan, sin and death…

And because of his work alone, we have hope.

Our hope does not rest on our own performance.

It does not rest on whether things are going well or if they’re hard.

Our hope does not rest in our control of all the details of our lives.

The confident expectation of joy in the future comes from the powerful work of Jesus in the past.

It’s done. It’s fixed. It’s sure.

The battle for our hope has been fought and won by an exceedingly merciful savior.

Which is WHY Peter can say what he does in verse 4

English Standard Version Chapter 1

he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

For those who are born again by the power of God… who trust the resurrection of Jesus as the source of salvation… our hope is that we are awaiting an inheritance...

It is something that God is saving up for us as his children.

It is all the privileges that come from being a child of God and living with him forever.

It is all the ways that a loving heavenly Father wants to bless his children for all eternity.

Most of all, it is the experience of God himself… the One for whom we are all created.

And that inheritance is being kept in heaven…

It’s like a trust fund that you might set up for your child...

If Katy and I were to die at the same time (heaven forbid), I want to make sure that all of my assets actually go to benefit my kids...

But I also want to make sure neither they nor anyone else blows that money before they know how to use it wisely...

And so I might set up a trust fund to keep it safe until they are ready for it...

The inheritance is already theirs… it’s already in their name…

But it is being kept until the time when they can use it properly.

The inheritance of God’s children is being kept in heaven until the time when they can fully access it…

It’s being stored away… away from anything that could harm it or take away from it or taint it...

Away from your current trials and circumstances...

Away from any enemy who would threaten you…

Away from your sin…

Which is why he can describe it as imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

It’s imperishable: It won’t pass away… not in this life or in eternity…it’s not like things that rust or are stolen or decay...

It’s undefiled: It won’t be corrupted by sin… our inheritance has no baggage with it.

And it’s unfading: It won’t ever lose its luster… its beauty...

It is, as Peter is going to show us… more precious than refined gold.

It’s more precious than any earthly inheritance you could try to rest your hope in.

But the question could still remain… what if I don’t make it to the point where I can receive the inheritance? What if I flake out before then?

What if my enemies or my sin or my circumstances keep me from it?

Well, Peter says that it’s not only the inheritance that is being kept, but you are being “guarded.”

The inheritance is being… kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

There is a guard… a shield… an army of protection preserving God’s saints until the day of final salvation.

That’s how the follower of Jesus can have “living hope.”

Not in, “how well can I perform so that God gives me the inheritance that is due to me.”

But in “how strong is God to preserve me and finish the work that he started.”

Because God has promised to preserve his saints.

And he does it through persevering faith.

“You... are being guarded... THROUGH FAITH.”

Faith is the shield by which God protects his people from the advances of the enemy.

Faith is trusting in God… relying on him… taking refuge in him...

For our righteousness… for our hope… for our salvation… for our life.

Without faith, we are not born again.

But when we rely on him through faith, he preserves us… he guards us.

He proves that our trust is in the right place.

If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you can KNOW that God is going to preserve you for the future.

No matter what the details of your life look like now...

It doesn’t matter the size of the obstacles or the seeming inevitability of earthly destruction...

No matter what you are afraid might happen or you might do to mess it up…

Because of the past resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is powerfully preserving his children who are united to him by faith.

NOW: remember the goal of all that… it’s not so that you can go home today feeling all warm and fuzzy and happy with YOURSELF...

The goal of God’s preserving work in your life is PRAISE… BLESSED BE the God and Father!

If you want to grow your hope, learn to praise.

Learn to get your eyes off yourself and on to God… off your works and ability and power… and onto God’s work and ability and power.

You may not be able to see how the details of your life are all going to work out, but you can praise God for his character… and his work in the big picture.

Praise is just telling God how great he is.

It is HIS exceeding mercy… HIS powerful work in Christ… HIS keeping… HIS guarding…

Because we KNOW that it is God who preserves us, we must respond with praise.

And the way that we can press on when we can’t see God in the details is to PRAISE him when for what we CAN see in the big picture…

It is HIS exceeding mercy… HIS powerful work in Christ… HIS keeping… HIS guarding…

And the way that we can press on when we can’t see God in the details is to PRAISE him when for what we CAN see in the big picture…

We can see that he preserves his children through faith.

Praise is just telling God how great he is.

You’re not making requests at this point… you’re not asking for a way out of your trial… you are just acknowledging God’s goodness and character no matter what you are going through.

You’re acknowledging that he has a plan that is bigger than your own.

You are just responding to the beauty and wonder of what you see in his activity in the big picture.

What if our sometimes feeble hope is due to a lack of praise??? A lack of focusing on God for extended periods of time and instead focusing on the details of our trials.

Even in prayer… sometimes we can rush to our request list instead of resting our hope in praising a God who already has the plan laid out!

So this is like the simplest application ever:

Sing a song to God… pray out loud in adoration… remind your spouse or your kids how powerful God is and how much your family can have hope in him…

And you can trust his word that he has you in the big picture and you can give him the praise he deserves.

Later today, take some time praising God for his mercy in saving you and preserving you until you receive your spiritual inheritance.

Sing a song to God… pray out loud in adoration… tell your spouse or your kids how powerful God is and how much you have hope in him…

You can sing it… you can write it out… you can pray… you can rehearse it with your spouse or kids…

Regardless of what the details in your life right now are, you need to praise him because you know that he is working to preserve you for an eternal inheritance…

But just open up verses 3-6 and praise your way through it...

Praise him for the work of regeneration (causing you to be born again) and for the work of raising Jesus from the dead.

Praise him for the inheritance he is keeping imperishable, undefiled and unfading…

for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Praise him for how he guards you through faith… how he is your strong refuge and shield…

And discipline yourself to do nothing but praise for a significant time...

I’m telling you, if you praise God for who he is and what he has done in the big picture, you will find hope in the present.

We need a big view of God… and praise is how we get there.

It doesn’t totally MATTER if you can’t see your way out of the details… God can.

So you can simply Praise: God is preserving you for the future.

Praise: God is preserving you for the future.

Now I don’t want to make this sound too easy… it’s SIMPLE… but it’s not always EASY...

Finding hope in God’s big picture is always necessary… but it will be easier for some than others depending on their situation and their degree of faith.

And for Peter’s audience, they still needed some encouragement about what God was doing in the present.

So the second way we can find hope in the big picture is to see that God is not just waiting to work in the future… he’s already working in the present.

Rejoice: God is producing precious faith in the present.

Verse 6 - In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Explanation

Remember, Peter is writing to people who he has called exiles…

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

They are away from their heavenly home, living as strangers and outsiders in the world.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

They are suffering according to the fallen nature of this world when they long to be with the Lord in glory.

And so Peter says that they REJOICE in the imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance… they REJOICE in the living hope that comes through the resurrection of JEsus Christ from the dead...

But in the PRESENT TIME they are still GRIEVED by various trials.

What kinds of trials, Peter? Various ones.

Think of a trial that someone could go through… any trial… [throw some out there]...

All of those are VARIOUS trials.

Their trials are as varied as the locations and situations in which they are dispersed as exiles.

They can have all the hope in the world, but that doesn’t change the hardship of their present reality.

And so they need some sense of what God is doing in the present. Even if they can’t see… even if they are suffering in the details of various trials.

And so Peter says, “I don’t really know the precise trial you are going through, but I can tell you this… God is using that thing to purify your faith.”

The result of being GRIEVED by various trials is a faith that is tested and found to be authentic… genuine...

The word trial in the original means “to learn the true nature or character of” something

(4280 πειρασμός (peirasmos) Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The true nature of a person is revealed… not when everything is easy-going… but when adversity comes… when hardship comes… when everything is taken away and all that you have to stand on is what you believe.

That thing that you run to in that moment is your true nature...

And God wants to reveal the nature of GENUINE FAITH in his people.

When the heat is on, their faith… who they trust in… is revealed.

He uses the illustration of gold being tested by fire…

We all know that gold is a precious metal, right? I realize that it’s a little out of fashion to have a gold wedding ring (mine was originally titanium… now it’s silicone...

But my wife has a gold ring… and in that gold is a symbol of purity… and stability (gold is an incredibly stable metal that can withstand a lot of fire)

And I can’t remember the karat number of her ring… but the goal is to get as close to 24 karats as possible… do you know what the karat number is for?

It measures the purity of the gold. Gold is mixed with other metals in the Jewelry making process… it may even start that way when it’s mined...

[Show Picture] 24K Gold is pure gold… 18K Gold is 75% gold and 25% other metals… 14K gold is 58.3% gold… and so on…

It measures the purity of the gold. Gold is mixed with other metals in the Jewelry making process… it may even start that way when it’s mined...

The goal is to get as close to pure gold as possible… and the value… and the price… goes up as you do.

And in the New Testament times, fire was used to purify the gold, melt away the dross, and it would come out tested… proven… refined… on the other side.

And Peter says, “This incredibly valuable precious metal… that is known the world over for its value… has to go through a purification process...

And that purification process is hot and rigorous… but it melts away the impurities so that you know what you have left when you are done is PURE GOLD.

BUT Peter says, that analogy is weak because FAITH is MORE PRECIOUS than gold...

Gold goes through fire and is purified, but gold will one day perish… it will one day be consumed when God purifies the earth…

Gold is a treasure that will not endure the recreation of all things when Jesus returns to establish a new heavens and new earth.

And while gold cannot provide us the hope of eternity… faith can…

Pure… precious… faith…

Faith that God uses to guard us for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Faith that results in praise and honor and glory… an eternal inheritance... at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

By the way, that praise and glory and honor… is likely the commendation… the rewards… we will receive in heaven that come through faith...

That’s the way those words are used in relationship to our faith throughout the rest of the New Testament...

So, in other words, your endurance in faith now will receive the reward before the judgment seat of Christ when he returns.

And that faith that will stand in the future is being purified in the present through the heat of “various trials.”

And so Peter says to them, Though you have not seen him, you love him.

Peter’s like, “This fact isn’t lost on me… that you all never got to see the resurrected Jesus. I saw him… I was an eyewitness to the resurrection. You didn’t have that privilege. You have to take my word for it. And you DO take my word for it. And you love him. You have a deep and abiding faith relationship with Jesus and you love him.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

That’s pure faith.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

And so he said, “Nope. I won’t believe unless I see… unless I touch… I’ll never believe unless I see it myself.”

And Jesus was so gracious with him, and a little over a week later, he appeared to the disciples again and Thomas was there...

And he let him see… and touch his hands and his side… and Thomas said, “My Lord and my God!”

And in , Jesus makes this important statement:

“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Their faith is being purified even when they can’t see.

Jesus hasn’t returned… he hasn’t rescued them out of their present circumstances… he hasn’t brought them home to heaven to be with him yet… they are still strangers and outcasts and sufferers on this earth...

Jesus hasn’t returned… he hasn’t rescued them out of their present circumstances… he hasn’t brought them home to heaven to be with him yet...

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

And yet they still believe. They still rejoice… they still worship from the midst of their grief.

they still worship from the midst of their grief.

The word there means that they rejoice so much that they can’t find the words to say… their awe of God’s big plan is bigger than the grief of not seeing him in the details of their various trials.

APPLICATION: Can’t we relate to that?

Can’t we relate to that? And perhaps even more?

It’s been 2000+ years since ANYONE has seen Jesus in the flesh.

And we all go through “various trials...”

I love how vague that is… if it’s a trial… it counts.

It doesn’t matter if the trial is due to the fallen nature of your body or the fallen nature of sin...

If it’s a trial, then it’s revealing your true nature…

I can’t tell you the exact reason why for every detail of the trials you are going through… you won’t be able to see the reason why in all the details either...

But I CAN tell you this: the reason you are grieved by various trials in the present is that God is revealing PRECIOUS faith in you.

He’s refining you… he’s showing you that HE is the one you can rely on… HE is the one who is guarding you… HE is the one who has given you a new nature and a new hope and HE is the one who will return and fully and finally save you!

Think back to the last hard thing you had to go through… a trial when you could not see God in the details when you were in the middle of it...

First, let me ask you this: in those moments, are you one who goes to God in faith? Or are you of a different nature: you go to anything and everything BUT GOD when the heat is on?

When you pick up the phone and find out that your teenager was in a bad car accident and is in the hospital, what nature is revealed?

When everyone at your workplace is cutting a corner to make a better profit, but you know it is wrong and you have a decision to make, what nature is revealed?

Teens, kids… when you are faced with your friends making fun of you because you follow some household rule that your parents made up that is unpopular but you know it’s what God wants… what nature is revealed?

When you face opposition from your family for standing on the word of God, what nature of faith is revealed?

If you aren’t one who goes to God, that’s revealing the object of your faith...

And the Bible says that you need to stop relying on yourself… and stop relying on other people or other things...

And you need to turn and put your faith in God.

If you ARE one who goes to God, how can you see God working in the big picture now that the trial is over? How did that trial produce faith in you?

Can you see it now?

Maybe your faith didn’t grow at all…

Or is your nature one that goes to anything and everything BUT GOD when the heat is on?

We can REJOICE when we know that our sufferings and trials are not a waste…

When you pick up the phone and find out that your teenager was in a bad car accident and is in the hospital, what nature is revealed?

We can REJOICE when we know that our sufferings and trials are not a waste…

When everyone at your workplace is cutting a corner to make a better profit, but you know it is wrong and you have a decision to make, what nature is revealed?

When you face opposition from your family for standing on the word of God, what nature of faith is revealed?

When we go through hard things in our life, it’s when we can see that God is the one we can REALLY count on…

Those are the moments when we see our faith grow and God come through...

Those are the moments when our relationship with him deepens…

REJOICE IN THAT… and let that joy carry you through the griefs and trials you still have to face.

When you can’t see the purpose of every tiny aspect of your trial and it all feels out of control, you can know that God’s got this…

and at the foundation of it all, he’s producing PURE, PRECIOUS, BETTER-THAN-GOLD faith.

When you can’t see the purpose of every tiny aspect of your trial and it all feels out of control, you can know that God’s got this… and at the foundation of it all, he’s producing PURE, PRECIOUS, BETTER-THAN-GOLD faith.

When you really get, that, it is a joy beyond what words can even express…

But that is still not easy. Seeing with eyes of faith is not as easy as if we could see Jesus physically with us, seeing us through our trials.

In the big picture, God is revealing a pure faith… and so we rejoice… so we worship.

But that is still not easy. Seeing with eyes of faith is not as easy as if we could see Jesus physically with us, seeing us through our trials.

In order to see that God is preserving us for the future… and revealing a precious faith in the present… we need a word from the past…

That’s the third response that we need to build “big picture” hope in God....

Seek: God is preaching to you from the past.

Peter commends these believers for rejoicing even when they can’t presently see God...

He commends them for rejoicing even in the midst of their grief...

And he relates their situation to the prophets of the Old Testament

Read

God is revealing the big picture piece by piece over a LOOONNNG period of time… it’s called the doctrine of progressive revelation…

In Genesis, right after the Fall, we knew very little about how God was going to redeem him his people from the curse of sin… we just know that a deliverer is coming who would crush the head of the serpent that deceived Eve, and but his heel would be bruised in the process...

And then we get a little more through God’s promise to Abraham… but it’s still really vague...

And then we get a little more out of God’s promise to Moses and the nation of Israel… and then a little more through God’s promise to David…

And then we get to the prophets…

And they are seeing this time when Israel is in exile. Some of them are even living in that exile themselves...

But they have this vision… under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit... of a future salvation… a Savior-King who was going to come and sit on David’s throne…

First he would suffer… but then he would be glorified to the highest place…

BUT, Peter says, they couldn’t see the details of how this was all going to work out… and they really wanted to!

They searched and inquired carefully… they sought the Spirit…

“We are anticipating exile… we are IN exile… tell us EXACTLY WHO… and EXACTLY WHEN Israel is going to get out of this!

“Give us more details!!! We are anticipating exile… we are IN exile… tell us EXACTLY WHO… and EXACTLY WHEN Israel is going to get out of this!”

And even as they sought, the details didn’t come… but what did come was that they were serving a future generation...

They were part of a bigger plan than they could see or understand...

And now the churches that Peter is writing to have a whole lot more of the story...

The gospel has been preached to them that the Savior King is JESUS…

He’s the one who suffered just like the prophets said he would...

And who died on a cross to redeem his people from their sin...

And who was raised from the dead… and ascended to the right hand of the Father...

And who is returning to establish his Kingdom.

These churches have so much more than the prophets had… but they still don’t have all the details...

They are still exiles living away from their heavenly home...

Jesus is still not physically on his throne… Jesus told his disciples before he ascended that there’s is not to know the times or the seasons that have been ordained by the Father...

But the fact that God has preached to them from the past... through the prophets... can inspire hope that God is working in the big picture.

The fact that some prophecy has been fulfilled inspires faith and worship for the things they CAN see that God is doing.

In fact, they already have the most important parts of God’s story figured out…

They have already been given the understanding that Jesus has conquered Satan, Sin and Death… that he rose from the dead...

They have already been given the understanding that Jesus was going to return and establish his Kingdom fully…

These wonders… these mysteries of the gospel… are things into which angels long to look…

The angels are captivated by the glory of God in the gospel!

And so when we can’t see God in the details of our present trial, we need to seek the big picture in his preaching from the past.

God has preached through men in the past to give us precious faith in the present to preserve us for a great inheritance in the future.

Sometimes we go to God’s word looking for quick answers to fix the details of our temporary trials...

God, tell me exactly what I need to do today to get out of this trial and get on with life...

And then we get bored with it if we don’t find what we’re looking for.

But we need to learn to spend time with God’s word… understand how it all fits together… see how God has fulfilled his promises in the past and what he promises for our present and future.

And then we’ll be able to make a little bit more sense of what we are going through right now.

So do this later today: Write out your current understanding of “the big picture” that God is working out. Just write your way through the story of the Bible… a few sentences for each section…

Start with creation and work your way through the different parts of the Bible (I gave you a few to start you out there) until you come to Christ’s return. Maybe even write down some passages where you get those ideas...

Use your Bible… work through it… And if you get stuck… or you don’t know where to start… ask another believer for help.

And then once you get that all written out, identify where you are in that “big picture”...

I want you to see that the details of your life that feel so big and ugly are just a small part of God’s BIG plan...

And I want you to see that God always keeps his promises and is working all things for his glory and the good of his people.

We need to seek and inquire of God in his word… and see that he is unfolding a much greater plan to produce a much more precious faith in us.

We need to learn to go to God’s word and read it in light of the big picture he is revealing… and learn to be OK that we don’t know all the details because we trust God in the big picture.

In God’s word, we may not have all our questions answered… but we CAN see a God who fulfills his promises through the salvation of his Son.

We can learn how that King suffered on our behalf… and rose from the dead… and is coming again for us… and he will make all things new.

And that should give us hope.

God has inspired men of old… he has breathed out his word through them… and he has given us all we need to know...

When we can’t see God in the details… we need to seek God in his word… he’s preached to us from the past.

When we can’t see God in the details… we need to rejoice… he is producing precious faith in our present circumstance...

The prophets who couldn’t see what God was up to sought him… they inquired...

We can learn how that King suffered on our behalf… and rose from the dead… and is coming again for us… and he will make all things new.

When we can’t see God in the details… we need to praise… he is preserving us for a future inheritance by his incredible mercy…

The angels LONG to look into the mysteries of salvation...

We need to go here and come to know the good and precious promises of God… and grow our faith through them…

As we think about these responses, it brings to mind a memorial that God has given for us to express these responses: the Lord’s table.

And when we seek God… when we go to him and say, “show us what you are doing… help us see the big picture!”… when we inquire of the Lord, we bring him great glory.

The Lord’s table is a place where we praise God for his merciful work in Christ…

Because that is how our faith is built.

It’s a place where we rejoice in the fact that Christ’s sufferings mean our hope…

Worship is praising and rejoicing… but worship is also seeking...

It’s a place where we seek the way God has preached to us from the past… we REMEMBER the instruction of the Lord… that on the night he was betrayed, he took the bread and blessed it, saying, “this is my body that is broken for you, do this in remembrance of me.”