Living Hope

HBI - We are chosen by God to be born again with a living hope from which comes from looking forward to eternal glory with God.

Intro

I remember once I was driving with a group of friends going on a doughnut run from Millar college to Swift Current. At the time it was kind of against the rules but you could ask for permission to do it. It just involved driving the 45 minute trip to town to Tim Horton’s for doughnuts and coffee at around midnight. add to that there was a blizzard when we left and for some reason we still thought it was a good idea. We got about 15 minutes away from the college and we could barely see, though we kept going mainly because it was more dangerous to turn around. It got to the point that the only way we could see was by rolling down the window and sticking our heads out and looking for the lines on the die of the road. It was this way, keeping our heads out and our focus on the markers that we made it to town.

As I was preparing for this series on 1 Peter I found this picture of a guy standing on a rock in the midst of a raging sea. This kind of stuck with me, like driving through that blizzard, we are in the midst of a storm of hate and anger and sin and struggles and sometimes persecution. In the midst of a people that go against God and his people. but we are told that there is hope, hope only through standing on the firm foundation, the solid rock of God.

what we are going to learn is that as followers of Jesus as we go through tribulations we need to remember that we have a living hope based on living a holy life that looks forward to Jesus coming again. 1 Peter is going to go through the trials and sufferings Christian’s may face, but we have a living faith, one whose substance is based on the promise of eternity in Glory. it may seem like we went through this theme when we went through the book of Acts, but this puts the focus on the end times, when we go to see Jesus again. We are going to start to focus on how the end times should change our life and change our focus then we will look into what the end times are going to be like.

we may not be suffering like what they where back then, or like Christians other places are now, but the theme remains the same. How Can we have a living hope as we look forward to the time when we will be with Jesus for eternity.

History

There is a bit of background we will get into before we get into the book. 1 Peter 1:1 First we read that the book is the words of the Apostle Peter. He was originally called Simon till Jesus changed it to Kephas which is Aramaic for rock. Translated to the Greek Rock is Petros which in English is Peter. Though the book of 1 Peter was from Peter it was transcribed by Silvanus who is also called Silas. Why Peter spoke and Silas transcribed I am not sure.

1 Peter 1:1 (CSB) 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen

The letter was sent not just to one church but to many churches and Christians around Asia minor. They where followers of Jesus that had been exiled it seems like. The letter would have been circulated around and read to churches all over the place. these 2 letters here are the last we hear from Peter after decades of ministry, he would die after writing them.

3-9 - Salvation and living Hope

In this passage we are introduced to some themes running throughout the book, even in just the second verse we read some heavy theological things that we need to deal with. The idea that we can be born again into a living Hope, How that Living hope has contained within it the hope of Glory with Jesus. We will look forward to the second coming of Jesus as our source of Hope and Joy. And that is in spite of the tribulations we go through. Even through them, we can find living hope through looking to the end times and Jesus second coming.

1 Peter 1:2 (CSB) 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

The first thing we see here that the letter was written to believers that where being persecuted to remind them of the hope that they have. The idea of salvation we see here right at the beginning. To have this living hope one must first be saved. We where chosen by the foreknowledge of God. This may seem like a Calvinistic idea, something we often do not like to talk about all that much. But what this is saying is more then just the idea that God Knows what will take place. Being chosen through God’s foreknowledge is more even then God predicting our salvation. God does know all who will chose to follow Him but it means more then that.

It means that our choosing God, our personal relationship, originates in God first calling and choosing us. God chose to form us into His people. We have a choice to follow God or not. The Bible is clear on that. But the Bible is also clear that God calls and chooses us as well and they both work together. But this all says that we have the ability through the power of God to have a relationship with Him.

The next major theme we see is that we where chosen by God and changed by Him through the sanctifying work of the HS. When we confess our sins and repent God does the rest and by means of the HS makes us into a holy, chosen people of God. That is what Sanctification means, an unseen cleansing from past sin and also a continuing lifestyle. and lastly this calls for a response of a life of obedience to God.

so then because of this and the blood of Jesus and all He has done, 1 Peter 1:3

1 Peter 1:3 (CSB) 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

Because of the great mercy of the living God, that is not getting something we deserve. We deserved death in payment for our sin but do to the mercies of God we can become a holy people in the process of becoming Holy. We have been born again into a living hope. A living hope is quite the concept. Obviously it is a hope that does not die. You may place your hope in leaders and governments and things, but our hope is eternal and alive. in the passing of time, as our life wears on, our hope grows more and more as our relationship with Jesus grows.

1 Peter 1:4–5 (CSB)4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

This living hope that we have through the blood of Jesus is our inheritance as children of God. Something again that we did not earn but is given to us based on the mercy of God. This inheritance is not like the one you may get from family when you die, but rather it is imperishable, incorruptible. The content of pour living hope is our inheritance. And our inheritance is in Heaven. Our living hope points towards heaven and the second coming of Jesus. The book of 1 Peter points to Jesus coming again as something we need to be ready for and prepare for.

We have Hope, a living hope in this world that may come against us, but that hope is in the fact that this world is not our home, as children of God we look forward to the day when Jesus will come again.

1 Peter 1:6–7 (CSB) 6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What i find interesting is that during trials we can rejoice in our living Hope, that is why it is living. We suffer grief and though we may pray for them to go away we are told we can rejoice because of the content of our hope. Then the idea of Holiness comes up. The process of growing closer to Jesus thaT WE GO THROUGH REFINES US. It proves the character of our faith. It proves How much we actually trusts in God. Trials that we go through vary quite a bit, they are not easy and should not be gone through with a careless attitude. It is okay to accept and let people know that they are painful and we do not always have to put on a brave front. But we must rely on the eternal hope that we have.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: It’s Glory All the Way! (1 Peter 1:2–12)

the goldsmith. No goldsmith would deliberately waste the precious ore. He would put it into the smelting furnace long enough to remove the cheap impurities; then he would pour it out and make from it a beautiful article of value. It has been said that the Eastern goldsmith kept the metal in the furnace until he could see his face reflected in it. So our Lord keeps us in the furnace of suffering until we reflect the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:8–9 (CSB)8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We can go through all this by the blood of Jesus, whom we have not seen but will some day. We can rejoice in the hope we have because of our relationship with Jesus. because of the goal we run towards.

10-12 - Part of God’s plan

The amazing thing about our salvation is that it how been part of the plan of God since the beginning of time. That is why we must read the bible in context, Because that is the only way that it all comes together. 1 Peter 1:10

1 Peter 1:10 (CSB) 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated.

The prophets may not have always understood what they where saying but our eternal hope was spoken of since the beginning. They themselves where told that it was not themselves they where serving but it was a promise given to people in the future.

we have to understand that this salvation that we have, was diligently searched for by the prophets well before us. If they so diligently sought what this meant then we must seek for ourselves how to live a life worthy of the salvation offered through the blood of Jesus. You can find Jesus throughout the Bible if you know how to Look.

God’s plan from the beginning was to send Jesus to suffer for our sins so that we could have this hope of eternity.

So What

Thomas Grey penned the famous poem

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,

Awaits alike the inevitable hour,

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Mans glory does not last, all the power of the earth leads to the grave but what we have been born to as children of God is a living hope, one that grows more and more with each day that we grow closer to God. This introduces what we are going to go through in the book. We are chosen by God to be born again with a living hope from which comes from looking forward to eternal glory with God.

Saved by God for the Glory of God.

We chose God because he first calls and chooses us, from the beginning of time. What a great and powerful God we serve.

Our living Hope

we are saved into a living hope. Though we go through trials, God allows us to go through trials, our hope is alive and eternal. What the trials we face go through point us to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Though difficult they may be when we focus on Jesus our trials should cause us to grow closer to God as we look to Him for all we need.