A Living Hope

Scripture Introduction:

It will be resurrection Sunday when this sermon is posted online. While many of us are watching this in our homes the church building will be empty. And I don’t want to pretend like that’s not painful. I feel like I’ve said that every week that we have had to gather online…and I suppose you should get used to me saying that. This isn’t ideal. This is tough. And it’s exponentially more difficult on Easter Sunday.

Growing up Margaret was always the pretty girl. Every one knew that she would have little trouble in securing for herself a strapping beau. Yet Margaret’s life has been marked by everything but marital bliss. Abuse, abandonment, neglect, and shame have been the story both in her first marriage, her second marriage, and it looks like the same thing is going to happen in what is now her third marriage.

Christ was physically resurrected and we are celebrating that virtually. That is tough. But God has providentially hindered us from gathering together in this season. And our God is good and He is doing something good. We trust him in this.

In fact, I think our situation might help us to understand the words of 1 Peter even better this morning. The first century would not have been immune to suffering. They, like us, would have their own individual stories of pain and suffering.

Mark was quickly climbing the corporate ladder. He had upper-management potential written all over him, mostly because he did whatever his bosses told him to. You need somebody to fudge the numbers to save the company money? You call on Mark. You need somebody to schmooze a leading client into making a poor decision for himself but a good decision for the company? You call on Mark. All that changed though when Jesus got a hold of him. Mark could no longer make those decisions. He could no longer lie. His fast track to upper-management was halted in its tracks. Mark is quickly demoted and it’s iffy if he will even be employed next Friday.

It’s to people that are sojourners that Peter writes his letter: people that are living on the broken side of a redeemed Eden. They are believers, “elect exiles”, that are just living the every day life that is so often marked with suffering.

It was supposed to be a celebration. Becky and her friends were leaving her graduation party to pick up some extra sodas. Their “party” was something that would have been laughed at by the cool kids. There was no beer, no drugs, no messing around. This was just a group of girls celebrating graduation and looking forward to going to college and starting their lives. Becky’s life will now be lived in a wheel-chair and minus her three friends. The drunk driver that claimed all three of her friends’ lives also claimed her legs.

We could go on and on. We could tell stories of children that orphaned to AIDS, we could tell of children that starve, children whose will grow up without parents because mom and dad said yes to Jesus and were martyred at the hands of a terrorist group. Or even those with pneumonia, dying of old age, heart-attacks, failed relationships, tension between parents and children, siblings, etc.

These stories are not unique to our situation. The first century would have had it’s own stories of suffering. In fact you could change the names a little and a few details in their situation and retell these stories just as easily for the first century. It’s to people that are sojourners that Peter writes his letter: people that are living on the broken side of a redeemed Eden. They are believers, “elect exiles”, that are just living the every day life that is so often marked with suffering.

So what message do you give to these sojourners?

READ TEXT

Sermon Introduction:

What message did Peter give to suffering sojourners like you and I? He reminds them of their identity. They are not just “exile”. They are not just “sojourner” they are “elect exiles” they are “selected sojourners”.

What he did in verse 1 and 2 Peter now expounds upon in verses 3-12. He reminds those-- like you and I--that are sojourners of their most important identity: those with a living hope.

Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed at the age of 17. Today she is a model of suffering well. But in her early days she struggled with bitterness. She says:

Bitterness was a temptation for me in the early days of my paralysis. Deep inside I knew it was wrong, but I justified myself by saying, “Surely God won’t mind if I let off a little steam now and then. After all, I am paralyzed!” But as many of us have learned, indulging in bitterness leads us down a path to even more despair and bitterness.

As if that trouble wasn’t enough, God added a second hardship. Several months into my hospital stay, I had an operation on my lower spine. After the surgery, I was forced to lie face down for fifteen days while the stitches healed. “I am sick and tired of this,” I complained out loud.

📷

Then, the third distress came: I caught the flu. Suddenly, not being able to move was peanuts compared to not being able to breathe. I was miserable! But as I thought about it, I understood what God was doing. No longer was my bitterness a tiny trickle; it was a raging torrent that could not be ignored. It was as if God was holding my anger up before my face and saying lovingly but firmly, “Stop turning your head and looking the other way. This bitterness has got to go. What are you going to do about it?”

The pressure had gotten so strong that I was either going to give the situation over to him completely or allow myself to wallow in bitterness. Faced with that ultimatum, I was able to clearly see what a wicked course bitterness would be. Sometimes troubles, hardships, and distresses—in groups of three (or more!)—back us into a corner and force us to seriously consider the lordship of Christ.

How does someone like Joni live a life that is marked by joy and praise instead of hatred, bitterness, apathy, and despair? I believe gives us an answer to that question.

I don’t know that any of us as a little boy or little girl would say, “When I group up I want to be cynical, jaded, and bitter. I want to see the one cloud on an otherwise sunny day. I want to focus on the thorns instead of the roses. I want to always look on the dark side of life.”

But somehow it happens. And it happens from what Joni said. At some point we give ourselves permission to be bitter instead of hopeful. And bitterness is greedy. It doesn’t lead to satisfaction. It leads to more bitterness and even more despair.

I mean let’s be honest with one another. What does do within your heart and soul? What does talking about an empty tomb rise up within you? Is it just something you’ve heard so much that you’ve become numb to? Are all those big words in that passage just churchy words that don’t startle your soul.

“According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again”.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Blessed...” How can such a God be blessed.

You know what that means? I was dead. Flatlined. No life. No hope. No peace. No shalom. All those things that we hope in and dream about and long for—dashed against the rocks. But I’ve been “born again”. This isn’t “comeback player of the year”. This isn’t a rags to riches story. This isn’t opening up our economy and seeing it bounce back as if that’s what resurrection means.

This is saying someone with no life in their body—three days in the grave—smell of death all around. Is suddenly walking around and eating fish. And this text is saying that has happened to you. You were dead! And you’ve been given a new life. Not a second chance. But a complete and fundamental reorientation of who you are and your desires and your hopes and everything.

And so that says something to your suffering. There is a different story being told here. Your suffering doesn’t get the last word. And so those who heard this for the first time are like you and I. What are we going to do with this Word? Is it going to give us hope or are we going to respond with, “meh”?

This passage doesn’t have a “do this” in there. It’s just statements about what God has done and why God is blessed because of it. It’s a statement of praise to God but really digging in here reorients everything about our lives and our way of thinking. It kicks bitterness in the teeth and opens up for us a new way to live—even as we find ourselves “sojourners”.

The good news of Jesus causes sojourners to live lives marked by joy and praise and the foundation of that is the hope which the gospel gives.

I. Sojourners live lives marked by joy and praise because of the sojourners hope.

Yes, bitterness in the midst of suffering is one path. But there is another one. The path of hope. 1 Peter encourages us to grab hold of Jesus. This passage is one that God uses to encourage us and to infuse our lives with praise and joy instead of hatred, bitterness, apathy, despair, and the like.

the means that God uses to encourage us and to infuse our lives with praise and joy instead of hatred, bitterness, apathy, despair, and the like.

So we will see three things in this passage, eventually but this week we are going to camp out on one main point. And that is the hope which comes from the resurrection.

I. Sojourners live lives marked by joy and praise because of the sojourners hope.

I. Sojourners live lives marked by joy and praise because of the sojourners hope.

Keep in mind that Peter, the author, is a sojourner as well. It won’t be long until he himself is crucified upside down and martyred for the sake of Christ. He knows about suffering now and will know about it even more vividly in the coming days. His experience is their experience, and it is also our experience. Believers are elects exiles, sojourners, those who live in a world that no longer carries their fundamental identity. This is not a “try to live this way”, try to “do that”, type of thing. This is not an option. This is a statement like the sky is blue and water is wet.

And so sojourner Peter begins his letter by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! That statement is really the theme of the entire paragraph. God is to be praised (blessed) for the salvation that he has accomplished in the lives of believers. Everything that we are saying here about our hope (past, present, future) is because of God. It has its foundation, delivery, and execution in the work of God. And so He is to be praised.

Peter then expounds on that. Why is God to be praised? First, because “According to His great mercy He has caused us to be born again”.

Just as we did not decide to be born by our earthly parents, so also we are born again because of the activity of God. God has taken the initiative in our lives and he has caused us to be born again. This is something that has happened to us. We are new creatures.

If you are a believer in Jesus, if you’ve experienced the new birth is grounded in the mercy of God. That is such good news. It’s not grounded in God seeing what I’d become, it’s not grounded on my past, present, or future performance.

If you are a believer in Jesus, if you’ve experienced the new birth is grounded in the mercy of God. That is such good news. It’s not grounded in God seeing what I’d become, it’s not grounded on my past, present, or future performance.

Just as we did not decide to be born by our earthly parents, so also we are born again because of the activity of God. God has taken the initiative in our lives and he has caused us to be born again. This is something that has happened to us. We are new creatures.

Isn’t that incredibly good news? If you’re hearing this and thinking, “You know I don’t know if I’ve had that ‘born again’ thing happen to me.” You don’t become born again by going out there and making yourself be born again. No, you cry out to God. It flows out of his mercy. And guess what, if God is opening your eyes to that truth—if you are thinking, “I don’t know if I know Jesus. I want to know Jesus”. Guess what God is doing? He’s breathing life into you…even now. Come awake. Come alive. Be born anew.

But how is this new life brought about?

It’s through the resurrection of Jesus. You see that’s why we Christians get so excited about this day. Because it’s not only that we believe 2000 years ago a man named Jesus was raised from the dead. We actually believe that somehow what happened to him is connected to what has happened and will happen with us.

As Edmund Clowney has said,

“Christ’s resurrection spells hope for us not just because he lives, but because, by God’s mercy we live. We are brought into a “resurrection life”. When Christ rose from the grave there was something phenomenal that happened as Peter is saying here and as Paul testifies elsewhere—when Christ rose, believer rose. Just as certain as the resurrection of Christ is our hope in this new life.

Peter then mentions three things that are the result or perhaps goal of this “causing us to be born again”. Each of these are introduced by the Greek word, “eis”. In verse 3 we see the “living hope”. In verse 4 we see “inheritance” and in verse 5 we see “salvation”. We will look at each of these more fully.

a) Living Hope

We are born again “into a living hope”. It is important to clarify the difference between this “living hope” and what we often call “hope” in our day. For us when we use the word hope we often mean things like, “I sure hope we get to watch some baseball this summer. I sure hope my retirement account bounces back”.

But hope in the Bible is something much different. This is not an empty or a vain hope. This is a hope that is genuine and vital. This is a hope where we can look at the resurrection of Christ—where not even death could keep him down—and therein find our own hope. Not just as model. But as a preview of things to come. His resurrection is our resurrection. And so we do not have a dead hope because we do not have a dead savior. We have a living hope because we have a living Savior.

Hope in the Bible is something much different. This is not an empty or a vain hope. This is a hope that is genuine and vital. This is a hope where we can look at the resurrection of Christ—where not even death could keep him down—and therein find our own hope. Not just as model. But as a preview of things to come. His resurrection is our resurrection. And so we do not have a dead hope because we do not have a dead savior. We have a living hope because we have a living Savior.

Our hope is living because the ground of our hope, Jesus Christ, is living. It’s not grounded in some past historical event it’s found in a person. Hope is alive. And so we hope because we believe that Jesus Christ is alive today and He is on His throne and He is still doing what He has been doing from eternity past—he is bringing the world to it’s grand climax.

Our hope is living also means that our hope is something which ought to be growing. I’m not sure what it says of us if we’re growing in bitterness instead of hope. If our bitterness is alive and our hope is dead then it’s probably not fixed and firmly planted in Jesus Christ. Because He is alive. And living things grow. (That’s not to say we don’t have season where we wrestle and we struggle with bitterness and being disoriented. But it is to say we hear those words earlier about not letting bitterness be our narrative. Not giving in to it because we serve a risen Savior. Our hope is alive!”

b) Inheritance

Peter now build off this living hope. We have been “born again” not only to a “living hope” but also “to an inheritance”. The word inheritance has its foundation in the OT. The inheritance in the OT is the land that God promised to his people. But Peter as other NT writers do (and as some of the latter prophets began to do) extended the idea of God’s inheritance beyond simply an expanded physical land. This is going back to the Garden and has its roots firmly planted into God’s rest. This is a reference to the end time hope that is given to all believers.

I love how Peter adds layers to this inheritance. As a sojourner everything around you is crumbling. You are living a body that is fading. You live in a world that is perishing. People die. Dogs die. Plants die. Mosquitoes die. It’s a perishing world. You live in a world where it doesn’t really matter if the steak you eat is from Ruth’s Criss steakhouse or it’s a faux steak that you pull out of a tv dinner. You leave that thing out on your counter for a week and it’s going to spoil. It’s going to get maggots.

Everything under the sun can be described by these words, “perishing, defiled, and fading”. That’s really what Solomon found in Ecclesiastes. Everything under the sun—if viewed as the end all be all—is meaningless. It doesn’t last. Throw yourself into money and acquire a ton of wealth—you have no idea what your kids will do with it. Give yourself to knowledge—it dies with you. Give yourself to power—people don’t realize you even existed in 200 years…much less do they serve you. Your world is perishing, defiled, and fading”.

And so if this is your best life now then it’s a maggot infested best life now. Thankfully this is not how we describe our inheritance. Notice the words that Peter uses, “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading”. Those are words that can describe God Himself. Your McDonald's spoils. Your new car loses its luster. Your new house loses its beauty. But not this inheritance. It never loses its luster, it never fades, it never diminishes in beauty, it never spoils.

He then makes this even more amazing. We live in a world of great insecurity. When I’ve preached this text before, I had to do a bit of convincing. But living with COVID-19 has, I believe, opened our eyes to how interconnected and fragile our world really is.

It’s a reality in this world that we really have no idea if these things “under the sun” are things that we will be able to keep. We like to think that we can but at the end of the day you don’t really get to decide when/if you get cancer. You can work really hard at your job but there are always things outside your control. You can do a great job of saving money and building yourself a wonderful house but at the end of the day you don’t get to decide if/when your house burns to the ground.

But that insecurity is not something that marks this inheritance. It is “kept in heaven for you”. Wow, kept in heaven for you. Kept by who? This now moves into our third result or goal of this living hope.

3) Salvation

Verse 4 is what is known as a divine passive—referring to God as the one who keeps it. Again, that in itself is really strong. If God is keeping it I’m pretty confident nobody will snatch it out of his hands. So Schreiner is correct when he says, “Peter emphasized in the strongest possible terms the security and certainty of the reward awaiting belivers”.

But this gets even more clear in verse 5. “who by God’s power”. The who there is “you” the one who is receiving this inheritance. You are being kept by God’s power. We are being “guarded” by God’s power it says. Look though at the means that God is using. You are being “guarded by God’s power” through faith. And I think this is really instructive especially to some that believe we can lose our salvation. They take verses like which speaks like this, “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

They read that verse and say none of these outside things—none of this suffering can cause us to be separated from God. But you know what can? You. By your own free will you can run away from God and forfeit your inheritance. Just like Esau in the Old Testament you can forfeit your inheritance. You can lose the faith.

That theory really doesn’t fly when you look at . We see two beautiful truths converge here in . He doesn’t bypass believers. Obtaining this final inheritance is something that we “do” through faith. We are not just robots in this process. And that truth is what makes some say things like I just did about being able to take ourselves out of God’s hand. It is true there is no final salvation apart from continued faith, and so faith is a condition for obtaining this inheritance.

And so believers get shaky and start thinking. Oh great, am I going to make it? Am I going to keep hold on to Jesus? Am I going to keep trusting in the midst of suffering and pain? How do I know that my hope is secure? How do I know that my life isn’t going to be marked by bitterness and despair? How do I know that I will have praise and joy on my lips? If this is left up to me I’m in some serious trouble.

So notice the way that Peter writes these great words of encouragement. We are protected by God’s power. But how? His power obviously doesn’t shield us from trials and sufferings. And we have already seen from that those very things are not something that can separate us from God’s love. So what then would prevent us from having this inheritance? It’s unbelief, isn’t it? So, what does Peter mean when he says we are “by God’s power being guarded through faith”? He means then that God’s power protects us because his power is the means by which our faith is sustained.

We see this in Jude as well. He is “able to keep you from falling”. And this He does. God will preserve our faith through sufferings. God will preserve the sojourner. Faith and hope are ultimately gifts from God and he works in such a way that He strengthens and causes our faith to endure to the end.

The very thing that could theoretically cause you to lose the inheritance (namely, unbelief) is not going to happen to an “elect exile” because God is working and moving and saving and sustaining. Take heart then. You have a very certain hope.

And this hope is the “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. This is really all saying the same thing—“living hope” “inheritance” “salvation” are all referring to our future salvation.

Conclusion:

Earlier I mentioned Joni Eareckson Tada. In her little book on Hope she talks about her wheelchair:

I sure hope I can bring this wheelchair to heaven.

Now, I know that’s not theologically correct.

But I hope to bring it and put it in a little corner of heaven, and then in my new, perfect, glorified body, standing on grateful glorified legs, I’ll stand next to my Savior, holding his nail-pierced hands.

I’ll say, “Thank you, Jesus,” and he will know that I mean it, because he knows me.

He’ll recognize me from the fellowship we’re now sharing in his sufferings.

And I will say,

“Jesus, do you see that wheelchair? You were right when you said that in this world we would have trouble, because that thing was a lot of trouble. But the weaker I was in that thing, the harder I leaned on you. And the harder I leaned on you, the stronger I discovered you to be. It never would have happened had you not given me the bruising of the blessing of that wheelchair.” And now", I always say jokingly, "you can send that wheelchair to hell, if you want."

Then the real ticker-tape parade of praise will begin. And all of earth will join in the party.

And at that point Christ will open up our eyes to the great fountain of joy in his heart for us beyond all that we ever experienced on earth.

And when we’re able to stop laughing and crying, the Lord Jesus really will wipe away our tears.

I find it so [touching] that finally at the point when I do have the use of my arms to wipe away my own tears, I won’t have to, because God will.

It is this hope which rescues us from the path of bitterness. There is a better story being told. And God is doing something even in this moment for those of us united in Christ to secure an eternal joy in Christ. The resurrection is the evidence of that, it is a foretaste of what is to come.

But this is why it is absolutely vital that you are connected to Christ. When you are united to Christ his death is your death, his life is your life, his resurrection is your resurrection. So are you united to Christ? The empty tomb is evidence that the sacrifice of Jesus was accepted by God. It means that the penalty for our sin was paid in full. And so the question is—are you connected to Jesus Christ?

If so, then you have a living hope. Your hope is in a person. Your hope is fixed in Jesus. I close with these encouraging words from Paul Tripp:

Think of it as a marriage

No matter what you struggle with now, no matter how successful or stuck you see yourself to be, no matter how young or how old you are in your faith, no matter if you are a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, if you are Christ’s child there is hope for you! It is not based on who you are or what you know. Your hope is Jesus! He lives in you and, because of that, you have a reason to celebrate each new day. You no longer live, but Christ lives in you! We welcome you to a lifestyle of celebrating just what that means.

Conclusion:

We will answer that question even more fully next week but for now it is enough to talk about the benefit of hope.

----

Come back to verse 3…b/c of his great mercy.