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Hope Wins - 3
Introduction
Several years ago the leadership of this church began to deeply evaluate the inner workings of Broadway, to assess where we were and how to move forward, and make some necessary changes.
There had been an almost decade-long season of decline in attendance, giving, energy, and excitement.
That season had been going so long and so slowly, it wasn’t even felt by many in the church.
But it was there.
And its cumulative effect was felt deeply by the staff and elders, and many of you.
So they set about working to identify the issues and deal with them accordingly.
That process was challenging.
It has led to Broadway looking and feeling very different than it used to.
It led to staff transitions and additions, up to and including me joining the team, closing in on two years ago.
Together, as the Elders and I (Jared joined in later) began to dig deeply into assessment and evaluation, we have been working to uncover the foundation of this church.
Upon looking at the very foundation of Broadway, what we found delighted us.
This church is built on strong biblical theology, great and godly Elders, staff that love this church and serve it tirelessly, and a large group of dedicated, godly people who call this church home.
You love the Lord, this church, and serve and sacrifice for it.
We also found some weak spots in that foundation, as any church has.
Some outdated models and ways of ministering to people.
Some areas that were not organized, instead chaos reigned.
Some staff that had grown tired or toxic.
So we set about strengthening the solid parts of the foundation, and fixing the parts of it that were in disrepair.
And God has been faithful, and you have been patient and gracious.
This isn’t an easy process to endure.
But you have and we are grateful.
I am thrilled to report that it seems the foundation building is finished and now it’s time to build for the future.
Attendance is up 15% from two years ago.
Giving is stronger than its ever been.
Energy and excitement have returned.
While we still have a long way to go in becoming the church God wants us to be, those foundational issues are settled.
Now it’s time to move forward.
What we are going to talk about today and next Sunday are going to show us exactly how we are going to go about that, and where we are headed.
- 3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.
You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
We anchored in this text two weeks ago when we began this Hope Wins series.
Our faith in Christ, and our love for people, come from…are motivated by…are fueled by…our hope in Jesus Christ.
Hope is the driving force of the Christian life.
Hope is the foundation for who we are as Christians and what we do as the church.
Hope defines the Christian, and drives the Church.
All that we are and all that we do come from our hope in Jesus.
Since that is true, we are going to structure this church around this truth.
If Hope really defines us, if Hope really drives us (as the NT says), then let’s let it do that.
So Broadway, who we are and what we do as a church is all going to center around, be guided by, and be driven by Hope.
We are summarizing all of this into two statements: Be Hope and Give Hope.
We are called to be people who are defined by hope, and who give hope to those around us.
Each of those has three very practical action steps to accomplish them, serving as pillars that solidly hold up the church.
Today we are going to cover Be Hope and how to do that, while next Sunday is devoted to Give Hope.
TS - let’s anchor today in one of the greatest passages in all the Bible, that shows us what a life marked by hope, defined by hope, looks like.
- 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad.
There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine.
It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him.
Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
Three Characteristics of a Life Marked by Hope:
HOPE LOOKS FORWARD
This is really the no-brainer part when we think about hope.
Hope leans forward, sets its sights on what will be.
But, as Paul did in , Peter reminds us that while hope looks forward, it is firmly anchored in a past event.
- 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation…
By his mercy, God has given us new birth by the resurrection of Jesus (NT image of becoming a Christian).
Now…we live with hope.
But hope isn’t just the result of becoming a Christian, it is the reality in which the Christian lives.
The verse literally translates, “God has given us new birth INTO a living hope.”
When we are ‘born again’ we are born into the reality of hope.
It’s the air we breathe.
It’s in our DNA.
Hope defines us.
And this hope looks forward.
Look at the phrases Peter uses here: great expectation, inheritance kept in heaven, ready to be revealed, reward will be…Hope lives on this day, but it longs for another day.
The last day.
Hope looks forward to something better.
People have the tendency to look back and idolize and glorify their good old days.
And what is true for us individually is true for us corporately as the church.
The Church’s best days are always ahead.
Again, there is the tendency in churches to get nostalgic about the past, to idolize traditions.
“This church was better when…so and so preached here, when we did so and so program, when we sang such and such songs.”
On and on the list can go.
Listen, the best days of this church are not behind us.
They’re not today either.
That’s not going to happen on my watch either.
Our best days as a church are always ahead of us because the church never stops moving forward.
We are firmly anchored in the past, tethered to the cross of Jesus Christ and his empty tomb, but we do not live in the past.
We look forward.
2. HOPE ENDURES TRIALS
- 6 So be truly glad.
There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine.
It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
Hope doesn’t live with blinders on.
Hope is not ignorant of reality.
We will suffer.
In fact, 1 Peter is written to Christians who were actively suffering, primarily in the form of persecution from Rome.
They were being hunted down and murdered, alienated from their families, jobless and homeless.
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