Living Hope (2)

Introduction: Last week, this week, and Lord willing next week, the sermon is focusing attention on an area of church life that is of utmost importance. Evangelism. Sharing the gospel. Speaking about Jesus to our coworkers, friends, family, and others. What we have discovered so far is that ...Living with hope is a normal ordinary way for us to go about witnessing Christ to the world. Hope is a key characteristic of a person who has been made alive in Christ. Hope is a normal fruit of being grafted into the body of Christ. Those whom the Spirit has caused to be born again have the firm reality of hope. When that hope is lived out in our normal everyday conversations people will in turn demand an answer for our hope!

What does living with Hope look like?

Transition: Last week we discovered the repeated emphasis from 1 Peter to “do good.” When we have hope of salvation in Christ we are made ready to do good while we wait for the glorious day of His return. When we do the good deeds that God has created for us to do… Those around us take notice which in turn gives us an opportunity to give glory to God.

Honor Christ.

Transition: Read the text…

Transition: What does it mean to honor Christ? 4 ways to live with hope and honor Christ.

1. Fearing Christ.

This truth is expressed in contrast to fearing those who trouble you. Notice the text says, “Have no fear of them.”

a. This helps us keep in mind that the reality is, there are those who hate Christ. Who despise righteousness. Do not give them the benefit of troubling you. In contrast to not fearing those who persecute, give honor and fear to the Lord. As Jesus said in Matthew 10:28

Matthew 10:28 ESV

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

b. Doing good is an external witness of Christ. However, honoring Christ from the heart is the internal mindset and attitude that will propel those good deeds. When we fear man we will give into the threats of pleasing man, when we fear the Lord from the heart our concern is to please Him. In order to live with hope and honor Christ we must honor him in our hearts which will be revealed in our behaviors. Our hearts, the nucleolus of our being, must be submitting to the one who has renamed us. who has remade us.

c. We will no doubt be tempted toward anxiety and fear. But this verse is very helpful to us because it directs us to the roots of those temptations. If we give over to the temptation of anxiety we are in effect worshiping and giving that person or circumstance undeserved honor. The diagnosis of the problem is not fear or anxiety. Rather, it is the idolatry in our hearts. When we yield to the temptation to fear something other than God we are guilty of giving praise to something unholy. The heart will always show the symptoms of what it is attaching to. Of what it is honoring. Giving praise to what is unholy causes the symptoms of worrying and fearing situations or persons that were never ment to be worshiped. So.. when we are tempted to fear, the remedy, cure, or prescription is not a pill or psychotherapy. When we are tempted to fear the evil that seeks to harm us we must honor Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts.

c. How is this possible? We have heard stories or read biographies of those who have been martyred for Christ. How is it possible to face that kind of opposition without fear?

What does this look like for us today? Think about your conversations at work, school, or sporting event or societal function that you were a part of. Think about the talks that you've had with your family. Consider the interactions we have with one another as the body of Christ. When Christians are maligned for doing good, we will be tempted to give into the idolatry of fear.

a. For example, when your at a family dinner and someone is ranting about the new supreme court ruling on Roe vs. Wade… , “What’s the matter with you? Do you really believe all that unscientific nonsense thrown around by a bunch of political conservatives just trying to keep women under their thumb… Are you too good to put these terrible women haters in their place?”

The way of escape the the Lord is faithful to provide for us is to “in our hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.”

2. Identifying with Christ.

Honoring Christ means that we identify with Christ.

a. Our connection to Christ impacts every other facet of our being. Romans 5:1-5

Romans 5:1–5 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Transition: Keep in mind that there are different kinds of suffering. 1. Self induced. 2. God ordained. 3. Effects of the fall

b. Our disconnection to the world John 15:18-21

John 15:18–21 ESV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

a. Some perspective: You see church , when our hope is firmly fixed on Christ, we are filled with confidence that whatever might happen to our temporary bodies we know like the apostle Paul, Philippians 1:19-23

Philippians 1:19–23 ESV

for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

3. Behaving like Christ.

Living with hope by Honoring Christ with holy behavior.

a. Notice Honor Christ the Lord as “holy”. See also 1 Peter 2:11-12

1 Peter 2:11–12 ESV

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

b. If we belong to Christ, we do not have the prerogative of paving our own way. We don't set the agenda for our lives. We don't get to call the shots. Notice, he says “Christ the Lord”. Who has Kingship rule over the purpose and destiny of our lives.

c. This truth reminds us that God’s agenda is that He be worshiped as Holy. Because He is. It also reminds us that God’s greatest concern is not our well being.Rather, it is His own glory. In other words, before our personal salvation befits us, it is honoring and glorifying to God to save sinners. The great purposes that God has achieved in Christ tells us a good news that recognizes God on the throne and we at the foot of that throne in need of His salvation.

d. Consider how this translates in the realm of evangelism. Am I honoring Christ in such a way that I can even be identified as one who belongs to Him? Is anyone asking me a reason for the hope that is in me? Or , is my life, thinking, behavior more identified with the old self, the worldly life, the hope that only lasts for a brief moment?

4. Encouraging Christ’s people.

Honoring Christ means that we encourage one another. This whole letter is addressed to a collective group of Christians. Its is plural in focus, not singular. The local church is necessary in order for us to live with hope and honoring Christ and testifying the gospel. The corporate nature of hope. Hebrews 10:19-25

b. Challenge: How can I stir up hope in a a brother or sister in Christ this week?

Hebrews 10:19–25 ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Closing: May God grant us the wisdom to live with hope by honoring Christ the Lord as holy. Just think... what would happen if when we hear bad news at work you don’t freak out like everyone else but rest in the Lord? What would happen if when we are out and about in our daily routines the joy of the Lord is our strength? What would happen if when your talking with family about the crisis of our nation you don't whine and complain but recognize God’s sovereign care? What would happen if when we go through trials and tribulations as a church family we don’t ring our hands with worry but trust that Christ is sufficient to meet our every need? Here is what will happen… we will in turn be asked to give an answer for our hope!