This is a wonderful passage. There is so much that is packed in to these few words. I don’t know about you, but the first thing that jumps out at me is verse 8 – Place your finger there – and let’s look at it again…I see Peter, as he is writing this statement, saying it with….shock and awe.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Here is Peter, who was a good friend of Jesus, in fact was in his inner circle of friends. Peter who spent three years with Jesus, working, eating, traveling, hearing him speak, having many opportunities to ask any question, any question at all; Peter may have spent more time with Jesus than all the other disciples and still, when push came to shove – he didn’t believe.
He’s the one Jesus rebukes saying – Get behind me Satan (I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be too thrilled if Jesus said that about me)
He’s the one who denies Jesus three times. Three separate betrayals,
Judas only betrayed him once. And even after the resurrection, the women come from the tomb and Peter doesn’t believe them.
After spending untold hours of intimate times with Jesus – Peter still had difficulty believing.Now he did believe and he believed deeply.
But talk about dense what took him so long? – maybe that’s why he is called “the Rock”
You know Peter started following Jesus because Jesus did what he knew was impossible. Jesus preformed a miracle. Remember? Jesus asks to use Peter’s boat and he taught from the boat – and then told Peter to cast his net. But Peter hesitates: “we fished all night, there’s nothing”
Yet, since Jesus insisted…..and they pulled in a ton of fish. Why it was like fishing in Alaska! Right then and there he drops everything, literally, and follows Jesus. Peter saw with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, touched with his own hands
But the folks he is writing to, along with all of us here today – astonishment. You have not seen him (Jesus) and you don’t see him right now – and still, you believe!
Again we see in 1John 1:1-2 (written by the Apostle John)
1John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
John says, they saw, the heard they touched – believe us we saw it. But Peter says – you didn’t need all that – you just believed. Why? We saw why last week – you were chosen – and you responded. We believe because the power of God comes upon us and gives us the miracle, which it really is, of belief without seeing.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, Peter – That is faith, placing belief in what you don’t see, and if you are thinking that, you are thinking like an American -But you ‘re not thinking biblically. Because faith, biblically is based upon fact, upon solid truth, upon steadfast knowledge. In other words I don’t believe because Jesus might have risen from the grave, I think…maybe. No. I believe because I know Jesus has risen from the dead and the Bible is a true and reliable, testimony, not because I get a good feeling about it.
So I think Peter is very impressed by this: Believing without seeing – and clearly these people had a strong faith. And I think this fact sets up the rest of the passage. If you have been chosen by God to have this faith, that even astonishes an Apostle – you have a lot going for you to start with.
Going back to verse 3, our first verse for today: Are you looking at it…..ok, here we go, I’ll just summarize -Through mercy we have been given birth into a living hope What is he saying to us?
Merci
During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, a mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death.
"But I don’t ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy."
"But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied.
"Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it,
and mercy is all I ask for."
Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy."
And he spared the woman’s son. _
As we saw last week – we are chosen, elected, not because we are wonderful, not because we are good or, not even because we have potential, but simply because God has mercy. It is not something to be proud of – just thankful for.
Peter also speaks of a birth. Clearly, not the family you have been born into, and he doesn’t mean the situation you have been given in life. This is spiritual birth. All going back to being chosen. The Holy Spirit moves upon us, we respond, we are spiritually reborn, and this new birth cements our hope. Peter also speak of a not just hope – a living hope, which he conveniently defines with the rest of the verse. Take a look, you can read it and see: A living hope can never perish, spoil or fade but is shielded by God – in heaven...Meaning – no one outside of God can touch it.
Sappy Story
There’s the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Lang, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school?
He wondered how he could get these tough and poor children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.
Now as heart warming as that sappy little story is, it is not the kind of hope Peter is talking about. Yes, the kids were inspired. Yes, the kids, most of them, benefited greatly. The hope given did inspire them, but the hope given them was never a sure thing.
Mr. Lang turned out to be a man of integrity. But he could have been a liar. He could have died that day and his estate could have been given to others. All kinds of things could have happened to stop his promise.
Bad Granny & Gramps
I know grandparents who promised their grandchildren the same thing
Finish high school and we will pay for your college, and they could, they were very, very, well off.
The grandparents picked the potential schools for each of the three children, Stanford, Berkley, Cal-Poly, and every Christmas the grandchildren would receive a sweatshirt, a jersey, whatever, from the respective school with a note: Stay in school.
When the time came for the oldest to graduate from high school, she applied to the chosen college – easily gaining admission, and she asked the still, very well off grandparents for tuition….The grandparents said…..Well, I won’t offend you with what the grandparents said, but the grandchildren are doing quite well, working and paying for their own college.
So much for hope based in people.
But what impresses me about these kids, is that they are not bitter about the whole thing. Why? Well I’m sure its complicated but, each one is a very devoted Christian. I believe that part of it is, what Peter’s talking about in our Scripture today. A living hope.
If my college isn’t paid for – that’s not the end. God is greater than a promise given that is only probable. That only might happen – even if it was a promise to a grandchild.
So what is this hope Peter is speaking of – and how do we apply it?
In the bulletin you will see I have some notations in the sermon notes:
First the hope is called living, which means, among other things – it looks to the future. But not only the future, but also for right now, today. But it is for the future meaning not just the distant future, but when you wake up tomorrow to go to work – there it is. And the next day, and the next, never going away.
The main point isn’t that our hope is living because Jesus is alive, though that is true, the main point is that our hope is living, because it never ends.
So when Peter says hope he means in the sense of an inheritance. A safe inheritance being held for you until you come of age. But it is more than that. Because our inheritance is the kingdom of God, which is now, and still is to come.
Think of it as an inheritance that is settled, reserved, guarded and protected, and whatever happens you won’t lose out.
Grandparents lying about a college education,
Divorce,
Bad health,
Unachieved goals,
Disappointment after disappointment,
Cancer…….
Death.
Remember he is writing to people who are facing persecution. That persecution has resulted in many, many deaths for these people.
He is not writing to Donald and Rosie and their self righteous feud,
whatever that is all about, he is not writing about whiny problems,
but frightening problems, problems that may, and for many did, overwhelm these people.
Don’t take Peter wrong. He is not saying, keep you chin up…cuz you’re going to make it. He is not coaching us
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
In spite of your bad circumstances – hope will not go away.
Now it appears, God could be acting, - Malicious. I mean, why put the one he loves through terrible things?
You may have noticed I didn’t start with verse 7. I don’t like verse 7
"7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
Note that in verse 8 – Peter claims we will have Joy that is inexpressible. That is because it is from the Holy Spirit who defies circumstances. (we will address this later in 1Peter), but for now understand – the Joy of the Spirit has nothing to do with circumstances.
You could say God is mean, cruel, uncaring – How American is that? But I think God is the God of real life, not the God of our imagined Disneyfied Happy Ending life. We have people all around us telling us everything will work out. Just try harder, workout, lose weight, get some plastic parts, or meditate, eat organic, be peaceful and kind, and it will all come back to you. Or even, follow Jesus faithfully and you’ll be happy healthy and wealthy
No no no. That kind of life leads to deep disappointment, we know it – it hasn’t worked for us yet. These past few weeks we have seen that in spite of our circumstances, in spite of what bad things are happening right now, Jesus Christ is the real thing, is the real thing, is the real thing. God will not abandon you – even though it appears he is not around. That God has given us hope – beyond our circumstances. He has chosen you, anointed you with his Holy Spirit, when you gave you life over to him.
Life will give you hard times. Do you want that sappy hope, that feels good – but may be an illusion? Or do you want God with you who promise not only a living hope, but that you can have joy in your life – even, even when circumstances are not so great.
The good ship Commerce under Captain Riley and his 11-man crew
Wrecked on the north coast of Africa in 1815. They were alone on the edge of the largest desert in the world – the Sahara. They were men without hope.
Desert nomads came upon them and they thought they were saved, but they turned out to be thieves who stripped them, and left them to die of thirst and heat.
Close to death, they saw a passing caravan, they gave themselves up as slaves. Hope slightly came alive. They were treated brutally and given almost nothing. Yet defying the improbable, they somehow stayed alive. Their grief was endless.
Captain Riley – laid down one night promising himself he would commit suicide in the morning, but he had a dream so real, when he awoke it was hard to believe it was only a dream.
In this dream a well dressed Englishman, gently lifted him up and promised him, not that things would be alright, but that in time he would be saved and see his family again.
Captain Riley – who never put any stock in dreams, had new inspiration. That very day another nomad showed up. Riley convinced the man to buy he and his crew from their current masters, and a friend in Swearah, a city on the sea would pay 100 times his cost.
The nomad agreed, but there was no friend – it was just a lie.
His crew held fast to the hope he had given them, Riley held fast to his lie, for his men’s sake – maybe they could escape. But there was no escape.
They arrived at Swearah and the time came for Riley to write the note to his “friend”, which he did, knowing it would be the last thing he ever would write. To his surprise the nomad came back to take Riley and his crew to his friend. Apparently, by chance, the nomad ran into an Englishman as he entered the city.
What are the chances of that?
When they arrived in the city, having dropped from 240 lbs to about 90 lbs, there meeting them, was the exact man, Riley experienced in his dream. Down to every vivid detail
Clothes, voice, human features, even his scent….
It was God who was there that night in the desert.
It was God who gave the dream of hope.
It was God who gave the hope.
And it wasn’t the hope they had all depended upon. The hope of a desperate lie. The hope that maybe something might turn up.
No it was the kind of hope Peter is speaking of. Circumstances. In spite of the circumstances surrounding you, your hope is a living hope for today, now, and tomorrow, never to go away.
Not that you are going to be able to avoid bad things in life, but in the worst possible desert of you life, there will be an unexpected visit. A man will life up your head telling you that you will be whole again and beyond any explanation possible, it is, and it will be true.
Amen
