Advent 2021: The Arrival of Hope

Introduction

The Church for ages has rightly taken time each year to observe Advent: A season dedicated to intentionally thinking on the significance of Jesus’ arrival to the Earth and intentionally longing for his return.

Traditionally, there have been four particular themes that have been at the forefront of this season: HOPE, PEACE, LOVE, and JOY.

All of these belong to the Christian because Christ has come and because Christ is returning.

For the next four sermons we are going to fix our attention on each one of these themes culminating with Joy on Christmas Eve.

This morning, we turn our attention to the theme of HOPE.

If hope is most cherished when its found amidst great hopelessness, then we should have no trouble cherishing Christian hope in our current historical moment because we are most certainly struggling to hope

We, as a country and as a world, are still trying to collectively get up from the ash and rubble from the last two devastating years.

We’ve lost friends. We’ve lost family.

We’ve turned on each other. Choosing to believe the worst about one another even when we’re only armed with the knowledge of who we voted for.

We’ve argued and fought with one another. We are scared and suspicious of one another.

Our children are killing each other.

We’ve had 222 school shootings this year, a record high with the latest taking place this past week in Michigan where 4 students shot dead with a number of other injured.

222 shootings just this year but rather than grieve with compassion for these children and act with passion on their behalf, many just stand in their partisan political corners and spout out the latest talking points we’ve been given by our favorite parties.

WE ARE STRUGGLING TO HOPE.

Washington Post recently conducted a survey and found that 50% of adults 18-29 feel like the pandemic has changed them and over 50% are saying they’ve been impacted negatively.

And that is one of the few things that is not a partisan position.

You look across the political spectrum…Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and it looks the same...

Half of each of these groups agree that COVID has impacted us negatively.

Taking it a step further…according to that same article and survey, “51% of those same young adults report having felt down, depressed and hopeless” at least several times in the last two weeks and 25% have had thoughts of self harm.:

WE ARE STRUGGLING TO HOPE...

For us, I know this is not an abstract unrelatable concept…the struggle for hope. For us, it is real…some of us are struggling with our health, some of us are struggling through marriages, some of us are struggling with children, some of us are struggling with finances, some of us struggling with our own sin…And in the midst of all of those struggles, many of us are facing the struggle for hope...

And it is with that thought that I would like to turn our attention to 1st Peter.

1st Peter is a letter written by one of the original disciples of Jesus.

He wrote this letter as a letter to be shared with Christians throughout the ASIA MINOR Province, a place now known as Turkey.

Most of these Christians were Gentile believers that were FACING HARSH and UNRELENTING PERSECUTION. Peter calls them exiles because they are seen and treated all over the region as outsiders.

They understood suffering. They understood the struggle to hope.

To this group of Saints, Peter opens his letter with these words:

1 Peter 1:3–9 ESV

3 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 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, 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. 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. 8 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.

In this hymn of praise, Peter gives us the key for how we are to handle the suffering of this life. TURNING OUR FOCUS AND ATTENTION TO OUR LIVING HOPE

Peter begins by pointing us to

The Source of Our Hope…

Where on earth does hope come from in a world filled with hopelessness???

1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...

Why would this proclamation of praise be the first words out of the mouth of a man writing to a suffering and persecuted people...

Because this is where HOPE in a hopeless world comes from. It comes from the Triune God.

And because we have this God or more importantly, this God has us, we have this living hope in the midst of the storm.

And because we have this living hope in the midst of the storm, we can sing praises in the midst of the storm.

One of my favorite preachers and theologians Tim Keller was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer sometime ago and this past week he decided to tweet about it.

This is what he said:

“I have Stage IV pancreatic cancer. But it is endlessly comforting to have a God who is both infinitely more wise and more loving than I am. He has plenty of good reasons for everything he does and allows that I cannot know, and therein is my hope and strength.”

Therein is my hope and strength.

When I read that I was reminded also of the man in Scripture named Job who also hoped in his God. After suffering the way he did, you would have thought there was nothing left to hope in. Yet, though he struggled to find it times, he still found a way to hope!

“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Not in my health. Not in my healing.

My ultimate hope is not my job nor in my finances.

My hope is in the God who has all of eternity and creation in His hands.

But it is not enough to simply acknowledge that the triune God is the source of hope. We have to walk the path we’ve been given towards hope.

The Path to Hope

How on earth do we receive hope in a world filled with hopelessness???

To ask the question another way…how is Peter able to urge the saints to sing a song of praise even through suffering?

Because God according to his great mercy has caused them to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus and gain an eternal inheritance.

The Path to Hope is Mercy which produces salvation which gives us access to an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance...

MERCY-> SALVATION->INHERITANCE...

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

3 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 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, 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.

MERCY

We have hope because we’ve been made new and not because of our own merit but because of God’s...

GREAT MERCY…Scripture says though we were sinners Christ came to die on our behalf...

GREAT MERCY…Scripture says though we were unable to turn on our own GOD CAUSED US to be BORN AGAIN. He turned us from a hopeless end to a hopeful end

GREAT MERCY…in sending his only son to not only die for us but to rise for us and in so doing secure an inheritance.

SALVATION

We have hope because we be born again...

New affections. New eyes to see. And a new hope!!!!

Without this salvation, we really don’t have any hope...

Paul says as much in Ephesians 2:12-14

Ephesians 2:12–14 ESV

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

We were without hope but then through GREAT MERCY God CAUSED US TO BE BORN AGAIN…MEANING THAT HE INITIATED OUR SALVATION. HE CREATED OUR LIVING HOPE!

I love that Peter calls this hope a LIVING HOPE. A HOPE that refuses to die in suffering. A HOPE that refuses to die in marital struggles. A HOPE that refuses to die in financial struggles. Why because that hope has been given from above and that hope is centered on the one from above.

That hope begins at the Resurrection...

Part of the reason why the Resurrection is so important is not only what it says about Christ but also what it says about what Christ is doing in us and for us!

The Resurrection proved that God’s ability to make us new was REAL and TRUE!

The Resurrection proved that God’s promise to give us a living hope was a CERTAIN hope.

Paul rightly observes that without the resurrection, our lives are truly without ultimate significance

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 ESV

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

A hope for this life is an insufficient hope for the eternal soul.

But because Christ rose, then we have the power to rise to a new life in Christ, and if we have the power to rise to a new life in Christ than we also have the ability to attain a living, abiding, and eternal hope.

So from Mercy to Salvation and from Salvation to Inheritance...

1 Peter 1:4–5 ESV

4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, 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.

“Indeed, hope is simply faith directed toward the future”

Easton, B. S. (1915). Hope. In J. Orr, J. L. Nuelsen, E. Y. Mullins, & M. O. Evans (Eds.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vol. 1–5, p. 1420). Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company.

The Response to Hope

1 Peter 1:6–9 ESV

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. 8 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.

In this you rejoice...

Notice that nothing in their present circumstance has changed. By the time this letter reaches their hands, they’ll still be the same persecuted exiles in Asia Minor...

They’ll still be harassed and mocked. They’ll still suffer for claiming Christ as Lord and for resisting the Gods of Rome.

They’ll still be rejected and rebuked…so how can they rejoice?

Because their hope doesn’t rest in present circumstances. It rest in eternal inheritance.

Their hope doesn’t rest in what they currently see. It rests in what they will see!

“may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!!”

The Hope of This World Versus The Hope Of Christ...

One thing we have to understand is that when we talk about the Hope that we have in Christ versus the hope that we have in this world, we are talking about two entirely different hopes...

Let me highlight a couple of differences:

Worldly Hope Rests in Temporal Saviors. Christian Hope Rests in the Eternal Savior.

If your only hope is in this world, then this has to get better for that hope to be sustained.

My situation...

My suffering...

My finances...

My marriage...

My illness...

My government...

My country...

Peter isn’t thinking that way...

1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV

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.

The Christian doesn’t need for any present circumstances to get better because they understand that present circumstances are preparing them for what’s ahead…

The current circumstances are being used to revealed where your faith truly lies...

AND the current circumstances will be used to DEEPEN our praise of Jesus Christ when we finally see him!

Worldly Hope Often Rests in What Can Be Seen But Cannot Deliver. Christian Hope Rests in Who Can’t Be Seen But Who Will Certainly Deliver

Worldly Hope Mocks The Unseen God Who is Certain To Bring Redemption While Placing Their Trust In Seen Governments that cannot bring peace or seen celebrities that cannot offer rests for the weary.

But Christian Hope says...

1 Peter 1:8 ESV

8 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,

John 20:29 ESV

29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Worldly Hope is in an uncertain future. Christian Hope is in a certain future...

A certain Savior

1 Corinthians 15:19–24 ESV

19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

HOPE HAS AN APPETITE!!!!