A Reason for the Hope that is in You
Notes
Transcript
Our Hope in a Difficult Time
Our Hope in a Difficult Time
It is always difficult to feel like we are being hurt by circumstances outside of our own control. It’s hard to have to stay home and away from our friends and family, our parents and grandparents, our children and grandchildren.
For the church in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, their troubling circumstances had less to do with cautious state governments and a global pandemic, and instead took the form of Roman tyranny, Jewish tradition, and pagan hedonism.
The theme of Peter’s letter to these congregations is overwhelmingly the fact that Christians are exiles in a hostile world, and that any suffering they would endure will bring them even more reward in heaven. So if we are going to learn how to live in a world that is less and less Christocentric every day, and endure all the challenges that such a world comes with, 1 Peter is a great place to start our study.
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
So here’s the interesting thing about that, let’s compare it to Psalm 3:7, which was written from David’s point of view about the rebellion of Absalom
Arise, O Lord!
Save me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
What’s the difference between these two?
[Discussion] should lead towards how Psalm 3 asks God to mightily crush the enemy whereas the excerpt from 1 Peter is okay with the fact that they will sometimes have to suffer
But David has a unique place in the history of Scripture, as God’s anointed ruler of the nation of the people of God. So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that for David, God absolutely strikes down his enemy.
And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. And a certain man saw it and told Joab, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” Joab said to the man who told him, “What, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” But the man said to Joab, “Even if I felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king’s son, for in our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘For my sake protect the young man Absalom.’ On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” Joab said, “I will not waste time like this with you.” And he took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him and killed him.
Now, I think it’s important to state that God in the Old Testament is the very same God as the New Testament, He is triune, graceful, loving in the Old Testament just like He is to this very day. But there is a different relationship that the people of God have with him in the Old Testament than we do today. Back then the people of God were one nation, with one government, one army, one territory (when they weren’t conquered, exiled, or enslaved for being sinful of course). God used that nation to show the people of the world that He is God and His power is perfect and He is faithful to His people! The enemies of the nation of Israel were used as a demonstration of God’s power when they were consistently defeated in battle.
He uses us and our enemies and obstacles differently today. Let’s read how differently once again
Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
Today, God does not promise us that He will intercede and defeat our enemies on demand. He does promise that we will be blessed, and they will be put to shame! Whatever it is that causes us suffering, whether its a virus or an enemy, will one day be swept aside so completely by God that it is put to shame. Kinda like the Buckeyes playing Nebraska or Indiana, they will be defeated one day so completely that it will be hard to even remember there was a contest at all.
That all sounds pretty good, but what does God ask us to do in the meantime? What are the encouragements, the commands for the Christian in 1 Peter 3:13-17
[Discussion] Get to these commands:
Have no fear
In your hearts honor Christ as holy
Be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you
Present that defense with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience
So that’s it, relatively straightforward. Bad things are going to happen, the bad guys might even look like their winning, but our job is to not be afraid, to honor Christ, and to be prepared to make a defense of the reason for the hope that is in us.
Reason for the hope that is in us
Reason for the hope that is in us
So that’s really what we’re here to study tonight, mostly because I needed to study it so I thought maybe at least one other person might as well. What is the reason for the hope that is in us? Can we articulate it? Can we defend it? 1 Peter tells us that we should. So, what is the most concise definition you have of the hope that is in you?
[Discussion] The hope that is in you. My answer: 1 Peter 3:21-22
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Have you ever wondered what exactly baptism is saving us from, though? I certainly have. Christians love to mention that Jesus has “saved” us but we don’t really often quantify what He has saved us from! A stubbed toe? A loudly barking dog? A pop quiz? A pandemic?
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What then, does baptism save us from?
[Discussion] Eternal fire, separation from God and His glory
Excellent, that all sounds like stuff that we would want to be saved from! Praise God that we can be assured of our salvation. But there’s still a gap that we need to fill in. Notice, 1 Peter tells us that our baptism saves us, but 1 Thessalonians says “those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus”. There’s a gap here. We believe that baptism into Christ is the way that we obey the gospel, but are we prepared to make a defense of that?
Well, for one example, the very first time we see the Gospel preached after its completion is in Acts 2. Why do I make that disclosure about the completion of the Gospel? Well, just like the process worked differently when the people of God were a single nation called Israel, it may have worked differently when Jesus walked the earth physically, doing wonders and healing people, forgiving them of their sins. The thief on the cross in Luke 23:43, for example, who Jesus promised would be with Him in paradise, clearly didn’t have time to be baptised so what’s different about his situation? Well, He was being crucified with Christ. But more on that shortly. Now, Acts 2, the very first preaching of the Gospel. Peter has just laid out the history of salvation, what I might call he long form of the Gospel, from the prophet Joel to Christ on earth to Christ crucified, risen, and ascended to heaven. Lets read the response to this Gospel:
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Peter tells them plainly, “repent and be baptized”. A simple act of faith and obedience, and yes profoundly controversial in some communities today! So let’s further investigate the source of our hope. We have seen the response to Peter’s long form Gospel, let’s look at how Paul summarized the Gospel:
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
According to Paul’s summary, what is the gospel of Jesus Christ?
[Discussion] The event that he died for our sins, was buried, and was raised.
So that’s the gospel in it’s simplest form: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures”, was buried, raised on the third day. That doesn’t sound like a very clear instruction manual. I don’t exactly want to travel to Jerusalem and find some Italian who will nail me to a tree… that seems… horrible. But all joking inside, we obey the Gospel by participating in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. As seen in Romans 6
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
When we are told to obey the Gospel, we are told to literally walk in obedience by following Jesus’ footsteps, being buried in the water as we die to our sin and are raised in a new life that He gives us.
Closing
Closing
So, tonight we have explained the reason for our hope, and I hope that as we walked through all of that, you have been reminded that this is a hope that we all have. Peter has told us how this hope can strengthen us, build us up, allow us to endure many different kinds of suffering because in the end, God is good, and we are His.
If you’d like to study more about what we covered tonight, most of this came from the awesome book Muscle and a Shovel that Brandon Clark graciously shared with me and I highly recommend reading, as well as some research from my term paper in my theology class that I did on baptism, which no one should ever read because I proofread it at 4 o clock in the morning so WHO KNOWS what it really says.
At this time I’d like to open us up for prayer requests that we can bring before God as we close. [ASK someone to write/pray]