Our Hope

(Come to the front with binoculars on)

You may be wondering about the BINOCULARS? I’ve been watching and looking - after

all that is what believers are supposed to do, right? Watching for the Lord’s return? I

mean He could come at any moment and I want to be among the first to see Him. So

when I hear the trumpet, I’ll simply look to the east with these.

Let me move away from our imagined friend this morning as we seriously look at the

Lord’s return or what is simply referred to as OUR HOPE. It is this hope that separates

from the rest of humanity. If you are looking for the major difference between the

Christian and the non-Christian - this is it! Our hope in Christ and His return is not just an

exercise in wishful thinking - as in, “I hope He will come back,” but rather it is the

CONFIDENT CONVICTION that He will indeed return and interrupt human history as

we know it and every eye shall see him and every knee will bow and every tongue will

confess Him as Lord! And let me add this - I do not need to know all the DETAILS as to

how or when or what happens just before in order for me to be a spontaneous member of

the welcoming committee.

I have noticed that believers are either OBSESSED with the return of the Lord or they

simply put it on a BACK BURNER in their thinking. Those that are obsessed with Christ

coming again seem to have their Bibles in one hand and a current newspaper in the other

as they attempt to figure out the day and the hour of His arrival. Others in the church

have conveniently eliminated any thought of His return from the active desktop of their

minds so that it will not interfere with their chosen lifestyle. Neither is the Biblical

recommendation.

In the passage of the morning - II Peter 3:9-14 - we discover that there are two major

benefits to moving our HOPE to the FRONT BURNER of our brains without allowing

that Hope to be an obsession. The first impact that our hope should have in our lives is

PERSONAL PURITY. The Scripture in verse 11 asks this question, “ Since everything

will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?” And then proceeds

to answer the question, “You ought to live holy and godly lives.” This idea of a holy and

godly life is clarified further in verse 14, “make every effort to be found spotless,

blameless and at peace with him.” Simply put - God has planned a great BONFIRE where

the elements will melt - verse 10 and the only thing that we are told that will survive is a

holy and godly life. Think about how much of our energy and time is devoted to collecting

and accumulating stuff - stuff that will only be good for fuel for the great bonfire that God

has planned. You talk about wasted energy and a futile pursuit. (By the way - up until the

dawn of the nuclear age this idea of ELEMENTS MELTING with a fervent heat and the

heavens roaring was a mystery to those who studied the Scripture. With the advent of the

atomic bomb it was finally understood what was meant by the heavens roaring and the

melting or literally the untying of the elements.)

The idea of purity in the Christian life today seems like FOREIGN TERRITORY. We

tend not to believe in “spotless and blameless” We rather seem to TOLERATE a little dirt

in our lives, justifying it as we compare ourselves with one another rather than with Christ.

We are like little kids with dirty faces and bodies who resist the idea of a BATH, claiming

that there is no dirt at all. We need to let the Hope of His return motivate us to hit the

spiritual showers and be cleansed in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And that shower may

be necessary not just once a day but even several times during the day in order for us to

live a spotless and blameless life. In fact, have you ever thought spiritually of the idea of

never leaving the shower, making spotless and blameless living an ever present reality?

The second thing that the Hope of the Lord’s return or the coming day of the Lord should

do in us is to motivate us to PERSONAL MISSION. We read in verse 9, “ The Lord is

not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not

wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” The Lord has a purpose

in what seems like a delay in His coming - It is His love that delays His coming - He wants