RADICAL HOPE

Is there any Hope...........

Is there any hope? This is a question that many of us face at some point in our lives. Is there any hope...for the married couple who seem to wind up at the same dead-end of unresolved conflict again and again? Is there any hope… for the person who has fallen victim to alcohol, drugs, or gambling pornography or any other addictive behaviors? Is there any hope… for the person who is in so deep that he or she fears they’ll never find a way out? Is there any hope for them? Where is the hope for the mom-to-be who goes to her obstetrician for a routine checkup and hears the words, “I’m sorry. We can’t find a heartbeat?”

Is there any hope… for a single mom who works a full-time job by day, serves as both mother and father by night and wonders to herself, “How long can I keep this up?” Or the person who battles depression and anxiety? Or the person who stands by their spouse’s bedside as they lay dying?

And where is the hope for a generation of young people who seem to be an easy mark for drugs, STD’s, abuse, or the pain of a broken family? The question is...Where is hope? What is it’s source? What reason is there to hope? The Apostle Peter answers the question. And it is a radical hope!

1 Peter 1:3–9 NKJV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

This hope rests on the living God who is known by His loving deeds... The God who raised Christ from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope can be in Him. Christ is the only One who offers us this hope which is incorruptible and undefiled and will never fade away! Therefore, Peter can say to us and to these early Christians... “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

“In His great mercy” God has given this living and radical hope to the world. It’s not according to human merit, instead, it’s all about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! It was a free act of the merciful God who did something for us that we cannot do for ourselves. And no amount of human energy or money can pay for it!!!

The gift of this living hope is appreciated so greatly by those who know what it is like to live under the bondage of despair.

Those who were economically and politically well situated were still living lives devoid of satisfaction.

And old age was faced with fear; people’s lives were continuously being threatened with misfortune and tragedy, and early death was something that people desired over a life that had to end anyway.

In the 1960’s a rock and roll band named The Who summed up the thinking of a generation which was living without the hope that comes from the resurrection. Oddly enough, the song is entitled My Generation. In it, the band belts out the lyrics: “I hope I die before I get old...”

To everyone who has ever been inundated by such a frustrating sense of despair and meaninglessness.... God has opened up the true destiny of life, for those who believe, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

By Christ’s resurrection, God has lit this inextinguishable hope in those of us who have experienced the new birth. Without the resurrection there would be no Christian Church because Christianity is a resurrection religion!

Resurrection from despair, hopelessness, illness. fear

This radical hope allows those suffering the ability to pierce the dark clouds and fasten on to the vision of hope that is Christ Jesus! And I’m not talking about a hope that clings to a faded dream, a dead hope.... I’m talking about a living hope....which is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus lives, we shall live also.

Our future is not in the hands of fate or destiny, it is in the hands of God. It’s easy for us to become depressed about our place/lot in life. We may be disappointed about the way we fall into temptation again and again. But I come by to tell you, there is no hope outside of Christ Jesus.

We may become dejected about the sickness we suffer, the business failures we experience, the family problems we face. And I don’t want to belittle the agony in mind and body that these cause by any means. These and other troubles, these issues of life cause us a great deal of hurt. And if we let them., they can bring us down.

But being a Christian, has some perks, we live in hope, in confidence, trusting in God that our future is firm and secure.

We don’t know what life on this earth holds for us. It’s sure to be filled with all kinds of ups and downs. But we have a real hope!!! We have a confident knowledge that God loves us, and cares for us, and is constantly with us.

We have a “living hope”, because we have a living Savior raised to life from the grave, who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. It’s true that we may never know complete freedom from the problems of this life while we live on this earth. Each of us has a personal struggle of one kind or another that may be with us till the day we die.

Amplified Bible 2 Cor 12:9 but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me.

There will always be something that will remind us that we live in a fallen world. And the Apostle Paul was no stranger to these trials in life. But listen how Paul expresses the radical Christian hope: “We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though deeply hurt at times, we are not destroyed....

And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us tremendous and eternal joy, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.”

It is this hope that keeps our troubles in perspective. Our troubles are only passing events, but the joy of heaven is forever. And with that in mind we can endure anything! Christian hope has nothing to do with the material and the external. It has everything to do with the spiritual and the internal!

Think of Peter. The same Peter who, during the trial of Jesus, denied three times that he even knew Him; the same Peter who during the crucifixion of Christ ran and hid for fear that he would be next;

the same Peter who had given up everything to follow Jesus only to find his world crumbling when the body of Jesus was removed from the cross and sealed in a tomb. Peter was crushed. He was truly a man without hope, beaten, defeated, and humiliated.

If you could have chosen any person on the face of this earth most likely to fail, most likely to self-destruct--Peter would have been the man! Six weeks later, according to the Book of Acts, this very same Peter stands in the center of Jerusalem and preaches to thousands of people that Christ has risen from the dead!

This same Peter travels the world preaching the Gospel. Several times, he’s beaten and imprisoned for it. Eventually, the Roman government has enough of him and gives him the ultimatum: “Stop preaching about this resurrected Jesus or share the same fate as Him.” Peter makes his choice. Peter winds up on a cross.

Where did this once defeated man get the courage to live that kind of life and choose that kind of death? Radical, Ridiculousness hope in Jesus Christ! There’s only one answer.

Peter didn’t hope against hope that Jesus was alive. A person doesn’t take the kinds of risks Peter did on that kind of hope. He didn’t wish or imagine that Jesus was alive. You don’t let people nail you to a cross over wishes and imaginations.

Peter got his courage because he saw and experienced and knew that Christ actually rose from the dead!!! Therefore, Peter was able to have radical hope!

Our situations may not change around us, but our hope can... because real hope, radical hope, Christian hope, resurrection hope is not about changing what’s going on around us personally. It’s about allowing God to change what’s going on in us!

Conclusion: Do we have this Radical Hope? For Christians, what will come is much more important, significant, and wondrous than what we have already experienced. The best is yet to come!

Our inheritance is reserved, fully assured--there will be no disappointments! Our hope is secure in the knowledge that we will experience such a possession of our inheritance in heaven that we can’t even dream of how great it will be. As the Bible says, 1 Cor 13:12     Amplified Bible For now [in this time of imperfection] we see in a mirror dimly [a blurred reflection, a riddle, an enigma], but then [when the time of perfection comes we will see reality] face to face. Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known [by God]

There is no doubt....heaven is heaven and earth is earth. But our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade---it’s kept in heaven for us! When the course has been run, the fight fought, and the faith kept....our radical hope will have held true---and the faithful Christian will be fully rewarded.

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:31-33 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Amen.