There WILL Be Hope

The following is an edited sermon manuscript:

"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. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 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. 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, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

-1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV)

Easter is a time of great celebration and tremendous personal exploration in a pastor's life. Today, the day when we explicitly preach the good news of Christ crucified and raised from the dead, I ask myself, "Have I preached the gospel faithfully to those in my congregation?"

Superficially, you might consider this to be a needless introspection. Christians, for the most part, "know" this good news. Dare I say that many of us regard it not as news but merely known history? How can it be news if I already "know" it?

For me, such a reflection ushered me down the path of today's message. As I've confrontationally been presenting to you the past few days, we've often allowed our self-centered views of the world to rob us of Christ's eyes for the entire world. We lose valuable perspective when we take our eyes off Christ and fixate on ourselves.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

-Hebrews 12:1–2 (ESV)

Realigning our gaze upon the cross and the resurrection is essential to us running the race with endurance! How will we endure to the end if we lose sight of Christ? How will we make it through every day?

I need Christ like I need oxygen. I need to see the cross as severely as I need to see my wife every day, probably more so (no offense, babe). Because if I forfeit sight of Jesus, I lose sight of my living hope. He is the hope that is not dead in the ground, and his resurrection is no mere historical event relegated to "old news." No! Christ's resurrection is the good news and our living hope required for day-to-day life.

I don't care how "old" this news is to you because we need it more than ever. I can practically guarantee that some of you are like me today; You're flat-out tired, discouraged, angry, spiritually dry, and sometimes feel like there is no triumph, freedom, or hope. (If that's not you today, then congratulations for maintaining child-like faith in this crushingly oppressive life) Do you know how we counter these insidious feelings? We fix our eyes on Jesus, our living hope.

On Palm Sunday, we learned that there WILL be triumph. God will overcome any obstacle to see his will come to fruition. And if we don't get on board with his plan, he'll find some rocks to out-worship us. (John 19:40)

On Good Friday, we learned that there WILL be freedom. God does not bring his children to the banks of the Red Sea only to forsake them, and he does not bring us into challenging circumstances to abandon us at the last moment. The trial is never insurmountable. No temptation you encounter is something never seen before. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Now, on Resurrection Sunday, we remember how there WILL be hope.

Chase Heaven

"Hope for a hopeless age." That's the subtitle of our upcoming series through the book of Revelation. Pretty appropriate, considering the times. Hope is a scarce commodity nowadays, mainly due to incorrect perspectives. If there is no source of hope as our focus, from where do we draw our hope?

Do we hope in government, hope in fellow humans, or hope in ourselves? I contend that these all represent dead expectancies. As long as we look at the things of this world, our hope will be catastrophically ghoulish. We need something more substantial; a living hope.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!"

Point one today will sound redundant coming from me, and I'm unapologetic regarding that reality. But we must say it repeatedly until we never forget; God is worthy of praise! By extension, in this verse, Christ is worthy of all praise. If we, even for a moment, lose this perspective and find ourselves reveling in anything else in this world, our countenance will surely fail.

It's alarming how quickly our worship turns towards things that aren't God. How expediently we find ourselves lulled away from the Father by the siren calls of success, happiness, or pleasure. Now, is it wrong to be successful, happy, or pleasured? No! But it is wrong if we seek these things over God.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

-Colossians 3:1–2 (NIV)

Corporeal things are not inherently bad things. However, even innocuous things can become detrimental if they are allowed to occupy the space that we should reserve for heavenly things. It's not wrong to get affection from others, but when that becomes our pursuit more than a relationship with the almighty, we've mislaid our hope.

"...the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

-1 John 2:17 (ESV)

Whatever you are chasing right now, if it's not chasing heaven, will pass away. These are contemptible pursuits compared to the "imperishable inheritance" spoken of in 1st Peter. The sad thing is, if we were to be brutally honest with each other, we'd likely confess to desiring things that aren't explicitly God.

The warning, then, is self-evident; the first step in fixing our perspective is to make God our greatest focus. Otherwise, we might find ourselves wandering away from the path he's laid for us and stumbling. The second step, likewise, involves unshackling our focus from the things of this world (but with a twist):

"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."

According to What?

"According to his great mercy" is the key factor to consider. When Peter wondered upon God's redemption, his first reaction was simply worshiping the Lord. This is especially true given that the motivation for God's action is found in God, not in us. ("According to his mercy") Charles Spurgeon once commented:

"No other attribute could have helped us had mercy been refused. As we are by nature, justice condemns us, holiness frowns upon us, power crushes us, truth confirms the threatening of the law, and wrath fulfils it. It is from the mercy of our God that all our hopes begin."

Peter's statement in the context of "mercy" implies that we have not earned God's favor. Instead, despite the reality that we did not deserve it, God generously lavished his favor on us. And it is through this extraordinary mercy that people are saved.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

-Romans 3:23–24 (ESV)

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit."

-Titus 3:4–5 (ESV)

Do you see where I'm going? Can you comprehend what point I'm making? How much anxiety can we be saved from if we simply get our eyes off ourselves? When salvation becomes about anything other than his blood covering my failures, I'm wracked with worry because I fall short every time!

How many times have we sinned just this week? How many times have we fallen short of glory this year? The church often prides itself on pointing out the terrible sins of mankind but often overlooks minor sins in ourselves; The occasional angry snap, the lustful thought, the prideful pondering, the pursuit of pleasure outside of God, etc. We cannot dismiss these casually.

But reflecting on our sin sucks, doesn't it? It's a lot easier to be catty about other people being worse than us. It's easier to point to the even worse sinners in the world and hold up pointless trophies to justify ourselves. It's harrowing to look inside and see just how decrepit we are.

But the moment, the very second, that our justification is found in anything other than the Lord's mercies, we've lost the plot. We cannot become blameless by blaming others, and we cannot become sinless by pointing out others' sins. We must point the finger inward and rely upon God's mercies.

It's Hard Not Being a Slave

My first point was to "chase heaven," and my second point was "depend on God's mercies." My third is, "It's hard not being a slave." Have I got your attention? Good, let's turn to scripture:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

-2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

I struggle with this verse because it makes me wonder about my own life. Believe it or not, your pastor struggles with sin! We all do! It is not a thing to be ashamed of but rather a fault to confess without reluctance. I fear we often neglect to do this because of the implication that Christianity equals sinless perfection.

Let me ease the conscience of everyone here today; It doesn't! There is a distinction to be made between continuing to sin and living in sin. No one attains sinless perfection in this life, but the spirit-filled Christian is sanctified (made holy) from day to day, sinning less and loathing it more with each failure. Yes, we still sin, but less and less pervasively as we grow older. Our new self detests the sin that still holds us captive.

The distinction is that we are no longer a slave to sin. We are now free of sin, and it has no power over us. Christ's sacrifice has now enabled us to act in and for righteousness. We now have the alternative choice of allowing sin to reign or being dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The difference between sinners and us is that we have the ability to choose.

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions."

-Romans 6:6–12 (ESV)

That last verse is critical. A slave doesn't need to think, as they only need to follow their passions. But the believer, now set free by the blood of the lamb, has much to ponder. We must examine ourselves, determining if we're honoring the Lord or dishonoring him in our everyday actions. We must question if we're loving like Christ or only doing the bare minimum required to be a "decent Christian." We must ask if we've made ourselves the center of the universe or made Christ the center of everything.

It's a lot, huh? It's more uncomplicated to pursue what makes us feel good. We're constantly tempted to throw up our hands and say, "I don't want to fight anymore! I just want to sin! It's too hard Lord!"

"Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

-Hebrews 4:14–16 (ESV)

At the risk of sounding insensitive to your life experience, it doesn't matter. "Wahhhhhhh, life is hard and I want to give up!" Okay, okay, I get it, but what if Jesus thought that way? What would it look like if Jesus had put his gripes at the center of the equation and threw in the towel? He had every right to do so.

He can sympathize with our weaknesses, but his perspective was fixated on heavenly matters. He knew what he had to do and did it! Peter shares this perspective:

"Rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 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."

Our trials are but momentary, and our lives are fleeting. Heavenly glory awaits.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

-Romans 8:18 (ESV)

Can we, for God's sakes, regain perspective?! I feel like Christians everywhere are losing their minds due to a lack of said perspective. I get it; it's hard not being a slave. But the alternative is inconceivable. You do know what the alternative is, right?

My Living Hope

But we are born again to a living hope! A hope that is not dead brought to us by news that is certainly not old! And Peter concludes:

"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, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

That little annoying thing we're meant to have called "faith" rears its head again. But salvation is by faith alone. I'm not born again because of anything I do, any box I check, or any condition I satisfy. I look to Christ, my living hope, and I have faith that he has saved me now and will keep me in the future.

We need this perspective today! We desperately need this thinking in our lives. I feel like we've stopped chasing heaven, have lost sight of God's mercies, and have reverted to cozy slave-like mentalities.

Remember the Israelites we reflected on for Good Friday? Immediately after being brought out of Egypt by God's hand, the second things get complicated, they lose all perspective. They go so far as to declare that it was better when they were enslaved!

We laugh now, but we do the same thing! The second it gets hard, we lose our perspective; "You know, it seems nicer to be a sinner. It seems more painless to not have to think about all this heavenly business." But I tell you, every sinner inherits naught but perishable things!

We, however, experience inexpressible joy in imperishable things. Consider how a mere glimpse of heaven gives us hope in a hopeless age. And, if we are put under testing and trial, is that not a testament to our faith? Spurgeon comments again:

"Indeed, it is the honor of faith to be tried. Shall any man say, 'I have faith, but I have never had to believe under difficulties'? Who knows whether thou hast any faith? Shall a man say, 'I have great faith in God, but I have never had to use it in anything more than the ordinary affairs of life, where I could probably have done without it as well as with it'? Is this to the honor and praise of thy faith? Dost thou think that such a faith as this will bring any great glory to God, or bring to thee any great reward? If so, thou art mightily mistaken."

I count my trials as joy. I count my failures as powerful and beautiful lessons. I fix my eyes upon my living hope, and suddenly everything seems okay. Is it a magical fix-all? No, but it's a much better way to live than we're used to, wouldn't you agree? Let us close by reflecting on a final scripture:

"Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

"Death is swallowed up in victory."

-1 Corinthians 15:51–54 (ESV)

In his victory,

RJ