Hope Eternal

Grace and Peace Fam! It’s great to be back with you again on this last Sunday in March and we’re approaching the end of the semester - In the next couple of weeks we’ll talk more about how we’re going to continue through the Summer and even reach out to students who will be around for Summer school

Last week we concluded our study through the Book of Colossians - It was a study themed Jesus + Nothing as a way for us to see that what we need most in life is simply our God alone - It was a remarkable reflection of the person and work of Jesus that serves as the basis for true Gospel-centered community and it was written by the Apostle Paul and tonight we’re beginning a study that I think will carry us through the Summer as we look at the books of First and Second Peter

The Apostle Peter is pretty undisputed in having written this letter to the church in large part because here in verse one he identifies himself - Another highly important detail that supports that it is Peter himself who writes here is also from chapter five in the very first verse he says that he is “a witness to the sufferings of Christ but he also says that he is “a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed” - One of the reasons that we can trust in the validity of those statements is because the early church confirms its authenticity and yet still I’m sure as we work our way through these letters we’ll see language that in many regards sounds Pauline, which is that it sounds written in language that sounds much the way that we’ve come to understand and expect from the Apostle Paul - Some textual critics of scripture have used this idea to suggest that the letters here were then written pseudonymously and only then later attributed to Peter but there is some strong arguments we’d have to ignore to believe this to be true that begins with the fact that we know that Peter and Paul shared a close relationship and well aware of each others work in ministry and while Peter is indeed an eyewitness to Jesus its not improbable that he then learned to articulate this experience from the Apostle Paul who is also the one who likely encouraged Peter to write with this same sense of apostolic authority

I spoke last week about Paul’s practice of using a secretary of sorts to write as he orated what is to be said, that practice is also likely in this instance and if in fact the Silvanus Peter speaks of in 5:13 is the same Greek equivalent for Silas who partnered with Paul on many of his missionary journeys this becomes even more credible - Yet still, what is far more convincing is that it is expressly clear that there is a thematic undertone of suffering in the life of believers that the apostles share in writing - Nero is likely then ruling in Rome at the time that Peter writes and at the end of Paul’s life he is believed to have been imprisoned there and there is a growing Christian presence because historians have well documented that Nero would often use the burning bodies of Christians to light the city at night and Peter is then also believed to be writing to the church from here in Rome

As we work our way through this text over the next couple of weeks I want you to pay special attention to the way that suffering becomes this central quality of the Christian life - Suffering is presented as not only the way that we relate with each other, but in the sufferings of Jesus our long awaited Messiah for all of humanity that we then also identify ourselves with him - I’m pretty sure that the early church would look strangely at the church today, especially in the west, in light of this reality of suffering - I’m not one who cares much to speak against other pastors or leaders within the church, but I’m pretty sure ideas like living our best lives now, the gain of material wealth and influence is far from what we see of the church in scripture - What relationship do we truly have with our God if he only exists as a genie in a bottle to grant us not with growth in him, but for the vanities of our world?

One very common argument against belief in God, is that we live in a world of suffering and yet what the naysayers miss, is that suffering only further proves the existence of a God at work - A God who in our sufferings meets us, to reveal in us and through us his glory - If we did not suffer, how in fact could we call ourselves Christians as Acts 14:22 tells us that it is, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” - Know fam that it is in our suffering that we are being shaped and molded in Christlikeness

There are however two important distinctions I want to identify as we approach tonights scripture - First is I want us to know that suffering is communal - I know that is far from the way that we actually think about suffering because the way that most of us experience suffering is in secrecy and for others to know that we suffer has become abhorrent and shameful and it leaves us with these feelings of guilt and insecurity

The church isn’t a place of a bunch of random, disconnected people who hang out together for and hour on Sunday with no real association because if the Gospel is indeed true, you and I are interconnected, sharing a blood bought bondage of righteousness that far exceeds familial relationships alone - Jesus himself says in Mark 3:35 that his family is those who do the will of God so the bonds that I share with brothers and sisters like Jamie and Lauren, and Steve and Christy and Ger and Wendy surpasses the color of our skin - I try not to perpetually beat the drum of racist ideologies in culture but for the gospel to be true, and together we believe that this average Joe looking, day laborer, middle eastern man from 2,000 years ago died on a cross only to be raised from the dead defeating death, hell and the grave then racism itself is simply foolish

In Galatians 6:2 Pauls says that we are to, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” - So when we suffer in silence we rob our brothers and sisters of their duty to love you, to show you mercy, to extend to you grace, to buy you a meal and pray with and for you and to encourage you to run on in the faith - Students know that the families in this room are here with you to love you deeply and there is nothing more that they want than to see you grow and succeed in life and to mature in your walk with Jesus - We can’t wait for the day when the news comes that you lead the next generation of churches and why then be here in East Winston because we want to be a place of refuge to those who suffer most - I’m sure you’ve come to notice that I am by far the harshest critic of my life in my preaching and I had someone ask me why when I had to share with them that I lead out out of my weakness and rest in my own need for the saving grace of Jesus because if he can save a fool like me, my God what can he do for you

The second thing I need you to know though, is that it is in our suffering that God is equipping you - In 2 Corinthians 1:4 we see that God, “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” - So you’ve gotta know Fam, that we suffer so that we would be able to aide others in their suffering

In the book Suffering the Sovereignty of God David Powlison writes, “When you’ve passed through your own fiery trials, and found God to be true to what he says, you have real help to offer. You have firsthand experience of both his sustaining grace and his purposeful design. He has kept you through pain; he has reshaped you more into his image. . . . What you are experiencing from God, you can give away in increasing measure to others. You are learning both the tenderness and the clarity necessary to help sanctify another person’s deepest distress.”

So look with me then at verses 1and 2 where Peter writes: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you” - Here Peter identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ which is intended to reflect the authority in which he writes that rests uniquely in that he himself walked with Jesus - The weight of incredible detail that Peter carries with him into the text comes from knowing Jesus, to have eaten meals with Jesus and laughed with him - He’s seen Jesus feed thousands of people and raise others from the dead - He knows well the compassion of being rebuked by Jesus but also for whom it was said would be the rock that he would build his church - Know too though, that he knows well of Jesus as both fully God and fully man as he watched him die on a cross and helped carry his torn and broken body to a grave and rolling a stone to cover it while only days later to eat at a fireside fish fry with Jesus and with hundreds of others he watched Jesus ascend into the heavens

Notice though that Peter writes this text to the elect exiles of the Dispersion - My students can probably tell you a lot about what it means to be elect because we’ve talked about it a great deal in Bible Study over the last couple of weeks as we’re learning what it means to be Reformed so I should briefly say that to be elect is this notion of God himself choosing those who come to saving faith in Him - It’s God saving whomever he wills without any effort of our own because this election supersedes our very existence as for his own glory and pleasure he calls some to faith in Him - The cross is while sufficient for all of humanity to accomplish our redemption is sovereignly given to some while others it has passed - This isn’t just some minor detail because Peter goes on to further emphasis in the second verse that this qualification of election comes as a direct result of God’s foreknowledge - I once heard this described as contending that God, in eternity past, looked down the halls of history to see who would respond to His call and then elected the redeemed on the basis of their response but if this is true we could ultimately then save ourselves from the grasp of damnation - Know rather, that Peter references the foreknowledge of God here to root us in that he alone is the God who saves, In fact before the world itself was created he set his face to show you love, grace and mercy despite your unreservedness, deliberately choosing for himself a people he would call his own

I know that while as a Christian it’s encouraging to view ourselves in light of election and foreknowledge of God but that seemingly then passes over the fact that the thing that connected these people in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, is the Dispersion - I would remind you that scripture is of course being superintended by the spirit so what is happening is there is a revealing of the spiritual effects of their experience being matched with their current physical present state - What that means, is that no suffering comes without purpose

The word in the original languages for dispersion here is best interpreted in english as to “sow through”, it's the sowing as in a farmer who sows a seed for harvest - So you gotta see this because this blew my mind this week about the dispersion, the result of God’s people being scattered in captivity, was the same means by which the Gospel is being spread and his glory might be known among the nations - The sufferings of God's people is God at work to make himself famous to the world - This is why you are where you are tonight, this is not a coincidence that this message is preached even if it just for me but somebody needs to be reminded that we live with purpose, and that purpose is for his glory - So know fam in your suffering tonight that God is working on you and he is using even your suffering to make himself known so suffer well people of God - Don’t suffer in shame, tell your brothers and sisters to pray for you when in need

In verse 2 though, Peter says that, “in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” - I don’t want to belabor this too much here but I do want to intentionally point out that we don’t achieve sanctification on our own accord, but it is the spirit at work in us - I remember at points in my life seeming stuck in persistent sin which is difficult, but let me encourage you in that spiritual growth is a process - The spirit’s sanctifying work in you Peter says, is for the obedience to Jesus Christ and for the sprinkling of his blood - To sprinkle something is the sporadic spread of substance so know that the spirit is at work in your sanctification so that you might through obedience to Jesus be a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who’s sprinkled blood has redeemed us

Look with me at verses 3, 4 and 5 because it says “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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” - I know that in the interest of time I can’t unpack all of this tonight so we’ll continue with these verses next week but I do want to deal with Peter’s notion of a living hope, this is in fact a hope that is eternal because it rests on the finished work of Christ for us

In Ephesians 1:3 we see that we who are rooted in Christ have been given every spiritual blessing, so we can live without fear because our faith is in him and not ourselves - Paul is teaching here that before the world was created God has chosen you and adopted you as his children, lavishing on you every spiritual blessing - When we come to this kind of truth, our faith in Jesus just hits different - We become a people not worried about life's outcome because we live trusting his plan for our lives, that in Christ alone we’ll be shaped and guided into what he has for us as this is Hope Eternal - In Hope Eternal the worries of our families and work and career choices and health and college decisions and grad school and where to live and all other questions are not a place for barriers of life but opportunities to demonstrate our hopefulness in him - We are a people of hope and that hope is in him alone - A hope built on a foundation of his righteousness that this hope is in fact the very identity of the believer

You know what’s interesting about Peter when we look at his life’s experience under the broad scope of scripture, we see not only that he walked with Jesus and served alongside him but he witnessed Jesus’ betrayal, he witnessed his death and even his resurrection - He witnessed Jesus rebuke of false teachers and when soldiers come to arrest Jesus, Peter is ready to fight and cuts off a dude’s ear but then only watches Jesus from a distance and denies him repeatedly fulfilling exactly what Jesus has said of him and yet tonight he writes to the church with hope - A hope unabashed by the cares of the world - While scripture doesn’t give us exact detail of Peter’s death, historically we’ve come to believe that Peter dies in Rome also being crucified but upside down - How then could this be, I mean how do you get from fear and uncertainty in this way to finding comfort and joy in death itself of a life lived for God’s glory - How do you find comfort in the threats against your life, and even against those for whom you care deeply, because there is a Hope that is Eternal and we live not for the present reality of our sufferings but longing for the day when we get to be with him - May you leave this place tonight in this same eternal hopefulness. Let’s pray…