Hope Has a Name

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday. The events on that day and the following seven days make up what we call “Holy Week.” There were a series of tragic and horrific events - ultimately leading to Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus had been dropping hints throughout his earthly ministry that the cross was inevitable.

Eventually he was unjustly arrested, falsely tried, tortured and crucified.

Afterwards he was buried in a tomb with his disciples on the run and in fear for their lives.

Then, suddenly, on Sunday morning before the dawning of the sun with the tick of a watches second hand, JESUS ROSE.

The tomb was emptied. Satan was defeated. Our destinies were forever rewritten.

That first Easter Sunday was a “eucatastrophe: a sudden, unexpected, favorable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.”

Easter Is About Hope

That Easter Sunday and every Easter Sunday after that have been a reminder of the hope we have in Jesus.

Websters dictionary defines hope

as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. To hope is to cherish a desire with eager anticipation.

For the expecting mom and dad their hope is in the birth of that baby.

For the graduating senior their hope is in landing that perfect job.

For the single but looking man or woman their hope is in that future marriage.

You can put your hope in all sorts of things: people, money, experiences, outcomes. If you can think about it then you can hope in it. If you can desire it, it can be your hope.

And human beings are helplessly hopeful. We can’t help it.

Like a body needs oxygen does a soul needs HOPE.

It’s essential to human life. It’s necessary for our flourishing. We can’t live without it.

Hope is what gives us a reason for living. It adds zest to our life. It makes our actions and choices significant.

When Hope Dies

If you doubt me, just look what happens to people when their hope finally dies. The death of hope is what causes dreams to fail, relationships to end and movements to dissolve into nothing.

When hope dies, its absence starts to kill everything else. Whether personally or culturally, the end of hope is the beginning of hell.

It’s gas on the fire of things like suicide and depression. It’s the justification for cynicism and nihilism. People and cultures literally die from the absence of any meaningful hope.

What about you? Do you have any hope? When it comes to your future do you have any eager expectation? What would happen in your life if that hope began to die?

Context to 1 Peter

This morning we’re going to look at a passage that addresses that question. It was written by Peter, a disciple of Jesus.

Peter was what we call an “eyewitness” to the resurrection of Jesus.

Many people celebrate Jesus’ resurrection but they weren’t actually there to experience it first hand.

Peter was there. He saw the risen Christ with his own eyes. He touched him with his own hands. He got to experience the reality of the risen Lord “in person.”

Peter’s Transformation

Peter’s experience with the risen Christ left him radically changed.

Before Peter encountered Jesus, risen from the dead, he was a man marked by hopelessness. Failure, disappointment and discouragement had crippled him, casting a dark shadow over once precious memories.

But when he saw Jesus risen from the dead, everything changed.

Not only did it change HIS life. His changed life was used by God to change the world. Countless numbers of people had their lives changed by the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and the hope it creates.

Peter’s Audience

Some of those people are the audience behind today’s passage.

1 Peter was written to people who needed to rediscover their hope.

Peter is writing to a group of Christians who were suffering greatly for the cause of Christ. It was 30 years after Jesus’ resurrection.

Life had gotten extremely difficult.

They were being enslaved abused by overbearing bosses. (1 Peter 2:18)

They were being threatened and intimidated by unbelieving spouses. (1 Peter 3:1, 6)

They were being ridiculed and marginalized by the cultural establishment. (1 Peter 4:14)

That soft persecution was quickly escalating to something more sinister and violent.

If you think our culture is hostile to orthodox Christianity (and it is!) it’s nothing compared to what they were experiencing in the first century.

That generation - like our generation - needed a reminder of why life was worth living. They needed hope. Hope answers the question of “how then should we live?”

“How do we live a God-honoring life in a God-hating culture?”

"Where do we find the power to manage stress and anxiety?”

“How can we find joy in a life full of pain and suffering?”

“What do we do when everything we love and cherish is in jeopardy of being lost?”

Peter’s Answer

According to Peter, those questions find answers through a hope that’s in Jesus.” True and lasting hope has a name and his name is Jesus.

Let’s read our text located in 1 Peter 1.

1 Peter 1:3

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

A “life worth living” will belong to you when you belong to Jesus. In Christ, we have living hope.

Without Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave there can be no hope. Nothing really matters.

But Jesus HAS atoned for our sins on the cross.

God HAS raised him from the dead.

Jesus IS alive - right now - seated with authority and power.

Which means HOPE IS ALIVE when we live life in HIS name.

If Jesus hasn’t been raised then nothing really matters. If Jesus has been raised then nothing ELSE matters!

Hope is alive because Jesus is alive. And when Jesus lives in YOU and your hope is in HIM then life will be worth living no matter what.

As the old hymn says, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future. Life is WORTH the living just because he lives.”

The answer to the question of “how then should we live” is that we “live with our hope in Jesus.”

Resurrection: The Difference It Makes

When Peter describes this hope as a “living hope” what does he mean? A living hope is the opposite of a dead hope or a dying hope.

Another word that is sometimes used alongside this word “living” is the word “powerful or effective.”(Heb 4:12 says the Word of God is living and effective…)

So the hope that is in Jesus is a powerful and effective hope.

God’s power dwells in the life that is lived with hope in Jesus.

Hope in Jesus will actually make things better… make things different.

How is that? According to Peter the answer to that question is tied up in the resurrection.

Jesus’ resurrection unleashes power for real change within you!

So how does the resurrection of Jesus do that?

Jesus Resurrection & You

There are at least two answers to that question.

One deals with the reality of his presence.

The second deals with the truthfulness of his Word.

First, if Jesus was raised, that means we can experience his presence today.

When we pray “in Jesus name” we’re not praying for the dead or through the dead. Jesus is alive making intercession for us. (Heb 7:25)

He told his disciples after his resurrection, “Remember, I am with you always even to the end of the age.” (Mat 28:20)

I believe with every fiber of my being that Jesus is present RIGHT HERE in this room. Through his Holy Spirit the presence of Christ is here.

His voice is speaking to us through his Word. Can you not sense it? Are there not moments when it seems like he’s sitting right next to you?

If not, then you’re not really believing in the resurrection. If you only think of Jesus in terms of his ministry in the past then you’re not seeing the full picture.

He’s here right now. He’s in this place.

The second reason the resurrection gives us a life-changing hope is because it completely validates the message Jesus preached. Everything Jesus said can be trusted as TRUE.

That includes everything he said about his death on the cross.

He died for you on the cross because he LOVES you. (John 15:13)

He was sent into the world to SAVE you. (John 3:16)

His death on the cross was a RANSOM for sin. (Mark 10:45)

Do you understand the significance of that truth? If Jesus bore our sins on the cross that means that God is FOR US and not against us.

It means that he LOVES us even though we don’t deserve it.

It means the guilt and shame we carry from our past doesn’t have to separate us from the God who made us.

It means you can be forgiven. It means you can be redeemed.

It means you can be free from slavery to sin and the accusations of the devil.

That reality can change your life if you let it. The resurrection changed everything.

New Birth: The Way That It Comes

So how can you receive the resurrection hope that is found in Jesus into your life? According to this passage you “must be born again...”

What does Peter mean when he says that “God’s great mercy has given us new life?”

Some translations say, “Because of God’s great mercy he has caused us to be born again....”

He’s writing to a group of Christians so whatever this new birth is, it’s unique to followers of Jesus. Not just anybody can be “born again.”

So what does it mean?

The Story of Nicodemus

In John 3 there was an old man named Nicodemus that came to Jesus at night. Nicodemus was what was called a “Pharisee” which you might think of as a professional “religious person.”

The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus because he exposed them as frauds. He revealed how their approach to relating with God was wrong-headed and broken.

Many Pharisees heard that and got mad at Jesus for threatening the status quo and undermining their power.

But not Nicodemus. He saw the miracles of Jesus and couldn’t dismiss him as a crazy person so he made a point to talk with Jesus about the message he was preaching.

He came at night because he didn’t want anybody knowing that he was “flirting with the enemy.” When he gets there he acknowledges that Jesus must be from God because of all of the miracles he was performing.

But before Nicodemus could get much further into the discussion Jesus shocks him with a statement about being “born again.”

John 3:3–5 (CSB)

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

The Seedbed of True Salvation

Being “born again” is the seedbed of true salvation. It’s the fertile ground from which the flower of grace can sprout.

In other words, salvation can’t come from anything YOU do. Salvation must come from something GOD does TO YOU by his Holy Spirit.

Being born again is the humble recognition that you need an act of God’s mercy to renew your heart. To take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh.

Salvation doesn’t come by adding some extra layers of morality to your already pretty moral life. Salvation comes from recognizing none of those things can save you.

Jesus is saying don’t put your hope there. Put your hope in ME. That’s what it means to be born again.

The object of your hope must change. You must change your mind about the source of true salvation.

Nicodemus was a righteous man. But that righteousness was not enough to save him.

You may be a pretty moral person. But that morality won’t be enough to save you. Why? Because you’ll never know the answer of ‘how good is good enough?”

You have to start over. Your hope needs to shift away from what you do/don’t do and onto what Jesus has DONE for you.

It’s true regardless of your personality, personal history or public reputation. It doesn’t matter how you grew up, who you parents were or what they said was true. Jesus says, “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN.”

That’s the source of true salvation. The message of the New Testament.

The Symbol of Baptism

Not only is being born again the seedbed of salvation. It’s also the symbol behind biblical baptism. Rebirth. Renewal.

When you go under the water saying you’re dead to that old system.

That old way of doing things is behind you. You’re dead to sin but your also dead to self-justification and self-reliance.

Then you come up out of the water and that’s symbolic of a new kind of life. A life in the Spirit and not in the flesh. A life that is centered on Jesus and not on yourself. You’re born again.

Believer’s Baptism

This is why our church teaches what is called “Believers Baptism.”

Baptism is an external mark that you have received the promise of the New Covenant. When you are “born again” you confess that faith through the sacrament of baptism.

Some traditions, who agree that baptism is a sign of being born-again, say there are also grounds for baptizing infants.

Why would you baptize a baby if they had not yet been born again? They point the circumcision in the OT which was a sign of the Old Covenant.

They argue that Abraham received the “sign of the covenant” before putting his faith in God’s promise. So also can we give children the mark of the covenant before they exercise faith in Jesus.

Have You Been Biblically Baptized?

There may be some of you here who were baptized as an infant even though it wasn’t until much later in life that you made a personal decision to trust Christ.

While I completely understand why a person may see the value of that - I do not believe that’s what the New Testament teaches about baptism.

Baptism is a mark of being born-again. Therefore baptism should ONLY be done AFTER a person puts their hope in Jesus - not before.

After today’s message, those of you who have not been “biblically baptized” will have an opportunity to do so. I want to encourage you to be obedient to Christ in that act.

Through your baptism you are communicating the amazing, life-transforming hope that is available through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have You Been Born Again?

When you have a personal relationship with Jesus the living Christ comes to live within you.

You “start over.” There’s a “new beginning.”

You receive a “new destiny & new direction” for your life.

The Spirit of God gives you “new desires” for what’s good in your life.

He gives you “new dreams” for what’s possible in your future.

You’re not ADDING something extra. You’re REPLACING something old with something brand new.

It’s not an external transformation (from the outside in). It’s an internal transformation (from the inside out).

The changes aren’t forced, they’re voluntary.

Obedience to Christ flows from a place of relational communion not religious coercion.

It’s not just a second chance or a fresh start. It’s a totally different kind of life.

That’s what it means to be born again.

Have You Been Born Again?

Have you been born again? Has there ever been a time in your life when you asked God to forgive you of all of your sins not because you deserve it but because of what Jesus has done for you through his death on the cross?

If not, what keeps you from making that decision today? Is it doubt? Is it that you don’t want to make Jesus Lord of your life?

What ever it is that holds you back I can promise you this: the hope you can have in him vastly outweighs whatever keeps you from receiving it.

Why not receive the living hope that is freely offered to you this morning through the Lord Jesus Christ?