Easter Hope

Welcome and Introduction

1. This week I strayed from Paul’s pasture over to Peter’s
2. Oh, I found myself warmed by this aging man’s understanding of the resurrection.
3. Hope is a major sub-current of his.

 

1 Peter 1:1a

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

 

1. Peter is in his 60’s by now.
   1. Is he stooped and hunched? Shuffling as he walks?
   2. Or is he still brawny, sharp in mind, a bit nervous or easily distracted because his mind is thinking about 2, maybe 3 things at once?

 

2. We aren’t sure
   1. He chooses to refer to himself as “Peter” rather than “Simon”
      1. ‘Simon’ is the name his father gave him
      2. ‘Peter’ is the name Jesus gave him.
         1. This name would have meant the world to him, for it was this name that reminded him that Jesus saw promise and potential in him, even when he was a failure.
         2. “an apostle of Jesus Christ” may have been as much of an assurance to him as it was a statement of authority to these churches

 

3. Peter is concerned for the people he has discipled.
   1. Nero is about to launch his persecution of the church
   2. They, and the churches (these assemblies) they are forming are scattered all over present day Turkey

1 Peter 1:1b

To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen

 

1. These people need something to hold on to, to keep them encouraged.
2. They need hope

 

Hope is a major theme in this letter from Peter.

1. He likely dictated it, and so, it reads with an energy that is characteristic of verbal and emotional expression
   1. This matter is near to Peter

 

2. Without hope people can’t function.
   1. Victor Frankl[1]
      1. Frankl, a survivor of a Nazi prison camp wrote about the symptoms of hopelessness
         1. One of the most terrible of their cruelties is the destruction of hope
         2. The signs of it were familiar to the inmates
         3. An inmate allowed himself to become subject to mental and physical decay
         4. He would fail to get dressed or to wash
         5. He would fail to respond to . . .
            1. Calls for required assemblies on the parade grounds
            2. Meals
            3. He refused to go the sick bay for treatment
         6. He would simply lie there in his own excrement.
            1. Nothing bothered him any more
            2. He had given up.

Hope is necessary for living

1. It looks to the future
2. It gives purpose and meaning, even if it is faulty purpose and meaning
3. It gives significance to your actions
4. It gives zest and enthusiasm . . . even when the hope is not realized.

 

Hell is where there is no hope.

• Dante, “abandon all hope, ye who enter here”

Peter starts to build up momentum as he dictates his letter.

1 Peter 1:2

. . . who [you gentiles] are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

 

Now, he breaks into a doxology, a hymn of praise (whether this is an actual hymn is a point that is debated.)

 

1 Peter 1:3–5

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

 

Hope, as we use the word, normally has in it the option that the hope may not be realized.

• I hope I get my taxes done on time
• I hope we win a national championship
• I hope it rains or I hope it doesn’t rain
• I hope I get married
• I hope mom gets well

 

The Bible does not always use the word in this way. Context clarifies that.

 

It is normal for biblical writers to use hope as a way of saying ‘certainty’. There’s a guarantee about it.

This is what Peter wants these ‘alien’ Christians to be confident in.

1 Peter 1:3

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

 

other Petrine passages . . .

1 Peter 1:13

¹³Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:21

²¹who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 3:15

¹⁵but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

Paul often uses hope in his triads…

‘faith, hope and love’

 

 

Let’s ponder our way into this passage and see what Peter is giving these churches to hope in.

 

First, Hope is coupled with the resurrection of Jesus

1 Peter 1:3–5

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1. Peter is definite about “the God . . .”
   1. The greek and pagan world had countless ‘gods’.

 

1. Notice, Peter blesses the ‘God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’
   1. God is spoken of here as Father of Jesus Christ, the Son
   2. A notion has developed in our cultural understanding that God is Father of all of us and that we are all children of God

• That is not what Peter says here.
  1. The truth is, we are by nature ‘children of wrath’

Ephesians 2:3

³Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

2. We are all born, the first time, into sin and thus, into wrath.

1. But notice, God who is ‘great and rich in mercy’ caused us to be born a second time (‘born again’)
   1. This was accomplished by Christ’s death and resurrection.

 

1. This is still fresh and powerful in Peter’s mind.
   1. He remembers vowing to Jesus, “I will never deny You”
   2. He remembers his failure and shame
      1. He was a man without hope

• He remembers the women coming back to the upper room on Sunday morning, breathlessly panting, “the body is gone”

1. He remembers running to the grave and finding it empty
2. He remembers Jesus appearing to him, personally, showing him His hands and feet with the scars
3. He remembers Jesus forgiving him and commissioning him

 

1. Now, he encourages these scattered, alien Christians that their “rebirth” is as certain as the resurrection of Christ is.
   1. Now, they do have a new Father in heaven
   2. They are adopted sons of God

• They now have a new kind of relationship with each other . . . as brothers and sisters.
  1. Now, they “fervently love one another from the heart” (1:22)

1. This “born again” experience introduces them into a “living hope”

 

Second, As adopted sons and daughters of God they have obtained an inheritance.

1 Peter 1:4

⁴to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away,

reserved in heaven for you,

 

1. The resurrection of Jesus became the down payment for what one day will be ours.
2. “inheritance” has a deep connection to OT Hebrew assumptions where each tribe was promised an inheritance in Canaan.
3. Ours, though, is not an earthly inheritance.
   1. As ‘exiles’ and ‘sojourners’ we do not look for an inheritance here, though we are certain of an inheritance there . . . in heaven.
4. Look at the quality of this inheritance.
   1. “imperishable”
      1. it is indestructible

• “undefiled”
  1. the biblical idea was that even the land of Canaan would somehow be defiled by the sins of the people

1. “will not fade away”
   1. The elements that make up this world will be destroyed. Even the heavens will pass away.

2 Peter 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

1. But, our inheritance will not fade away

 

2 Peter 3:13

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

 

 

 

A third observation, not only is our inheritance being protected for us, but, we are being protected for it.

1 Peter 1:5

⁵who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1. “protected by the power of God”
   1. the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, protects us for the inheritance and for God Himself

• this protection operates “through faith”. We believe that it is coming!!!
  1. Where there is little hope, there is little faith
• “in the last time” Jesus will return and take us from here to there.

 

 

1 Peter 1:6

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

 

The words, “greatly rejoice” fascinate me.

1. The word Peter used is a strong word for joy. We do our best to translate it by using two English words, i.e., ‘greatly rejoice’
2. ‘resplendent’ is one way that our scholars try to say it.
   1. The OU football stadium could have merely been, well, just a stadium
   2. However, to be worthy of the program’s tradition, the stadium needed to be ‘resplendent’. There needs to be some ‘greatly’ added to it.
3. Peter is saying, “greatly rejoice”
   1. Don’t let your trials distress you. These won’t last much longer
   2. Remember what he remembers . . . Jesus is alive from the dead!
      1. Your have hope!
         1. Hope not only produces faith. Hope produces joy!

 

1. Remember that the resurrection of Jesus . . .
   1. This is the basis for being born again
   2. Being born again make you a child of God. God becomes your Father

• As a child, you now have an inheritance

1. This inheritance is a lasting, enduring inheritance
2. You are protected for that inheritance
3. Jesus is returning one day to take us to that inheritance

• In this you “greatly rejoice”

 

This is a “living hope”

 

Let’s pray!

[1] Adapted from sermon by DA Carson