Introduction: A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing – we’re behind.” “Wow,” said the spectator, “I’ll bet you’re discouraged.” “Why should I be discouraged?” the little boy replied. “We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!”
The ultimate cure for discouragement is hope. When any situation is placed in the proper perspective discouragement gives way to hope. The team may be losing but there’s hope for a comeback. You may be overwhelmed by life’s difficulties but there’s hope as we trust in the Lord.
Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe says, “It is not the fact of life that determines hope, but the faith of life.”
Today our text comes from 1st Peter. The people to whom the Apostle Peter wrote his epistle needed hope. They were discouraged. Because of their faith they were being persecuted. At least 15 times in his letter Peter refers to their suffering. Peter was writing to offer them bright hope for their dark days. Peter opened his letter by saying:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
We all need hope. Our Nation, our State, our Community, and each one of us needs hope. It’s easy to be discouraged as we look at our situation. But God wants to bring a bright hope for dark days. Today, just like the day in which Peter wrote, a bright hope will come as believers are reminded of who they are, where they are and Whose they are.
Text: 1 Peter 2:9
I. The Problem of Dark Days
1. Our world faces the problem of moral darkness
What is “right” and what is “wrong” these days? I guess it depends on who you ask. We live in a world where right and wrong have become matters of opinion, it becomes a matter of who you are or where you are. The problem is that it isn’t true. There are absolutes. The 10 Commandments didn’t somehow become the 10 Suggestions. The Bible is “a” book about living it is “the” Book about life. Sin isn’t new, it has been around a long time, we just keep finding new ways to justify it as socially or culturally acceptable. Listen to how Jesus characterized the world of His day:
John 3:19
“This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
Why is it that many of what we would call “moral” problems happen at night? Because darkness seems to “hide” them while the “light” will expose them. I don’t need to give you a huge laundry list of the moral failures of our world, lets face it, we know what they are, and some of us within the Body of Christ as just as responsible for the moral problems as those outside the Church.
We need to do one of two things:
1) For those of us who know Christ, we need to Step into the Light so that our failures can be exposed and we can confess them to God and receive His forgiveness.
2) For those who don’t know Christ, we need to Shine the Light so that others can see what is right and turn from sin and to the Lord.
I believe we, as Christians need to take the responsibility on us. We can’t expect the world to change on its own. Listen to how Paul describe the lostness of the world:
Romans 1:21
21For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.
While every person is ultimately accountable to God, and must answer to Him for their sins, I believe we as Christians need to be living reflections of how God wants people to live. We have to be willing to set the standard, and set it high. But we also must be willing to apply that same standard to our own lives.
The 2nd problem of dark days is that…
2. Our world faces the problem of spiritual darkness
Moral darkness is a reflection of spiritual darkness. While the morality issues in our world will always get the most press, they are really just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the problems that we face.
There is no moral problem that is not at heart a spiritual problem. Which means that facing and fixing the moral issues in our lives, and in the lives a millions of folks just like us, require a new kind of treatment plan.
I have seen many people helped through a variety of 12 Step types of programs. I believe in them, and I think they have an important part in any recovery program. With that said, they cannot and will not replace the healing power of Jesus Christ! So many people have gotten off drugs, and stopped drinking, through a great program mixed with a little religion only to fall right back into the same trap and often worse. Why? Because programs and religion can help a person “reform” but Jesus Christ can change you from the inside out! Listen to what He says in John 12:
John 12:46
46I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me would not remain in darkness.
Jesus wants to bring light into our world, and I believe He wants to use you and I to help make that happen. It may seem like to big a task for you and me. We may look around especially here in California and say, “How could Jesus ever bring hope where there is so much despair?” Here’s a clue…
II. The Power of Bright Hope
1. God’s power is still calling people
God isn’t done with me. He isn’t done with you. And God isn’t done with California, or Crescent City. God, according to His Word, doesn’t want anyone to perish but for all to come to repentance. That’s why He is still calling people to Himself.
I like the story of Jesus calling Matthew to be His follower. Matthew was a tax-collector, and was probably hated by most average people. He worked for the Romans, and he took advantage of his own countrymen.
Sometimes Matthew is compared to the IRS, and while I’m not always a big fan of the IRS, that isn’t a good comparison. Matthew would be more like a white collar Mafia dude who used taxes as a front for getting rich, and had the Roman government as his muscle. Let’s put this way—Matthew wasn’t a nice guy, and the people he hung out with weren’t nice guys or gals.
But…Jesus called him! And after calling him went to his house for a party. When the local ministerial association found out Jesus was at his house they showed up with picket signs and confronted Jesus followers:
Matthew 9:11-13
11…the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But when He heard this, He said, “Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. 13Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew was a sinner. Guess what, so am I! And so are you! God is still calling sinners. He is still reaching out through the power of His Holy Spirit and drawing people unto Himself. Paul described it this way in the 1st Chapter of Romans:
Romans 1:16
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
God is still calling people and…
2. God’s power is still changing people
I want to read you Paul’s personal testimony. Listen to how he described the change that God’s power made in him:
1 Timothy 1:15-16
15This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. 16But I received mercy because of this, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate the utmost patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
Do we believe God is still changing people? If so, then we need to accept our part in sharing the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. There are people all around us that are separated from God and a destined for hell while at the same time we know the way to heaven. That is why we need to be…
3. The People to Bridge the Gap
There are two things that we need to remember as we consider the awesome task before us to try and reach out to the lost:
1. We are God’s people by a relationship
It’s not about US its about HIM in us. We can’t save anybody, but there isn’t anybody God can’t save. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit to guide our words and our actions. When people see and hear us they ought to be seeing and hearing Christ in us.
There is a great story about Peter and John that illustrates this. They had been arrested for healing a lame man in the Temple and for preaching about Jesus. When they were interrogated by the Religious Leaders this is what they said:
Acts 4:12-13
12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
Now listen to the words of the Religious Leaders:
13When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and knew that they had been with Jesus.
They had been with Jesus! Listen, there is no other way to be like Jesus than to be with Jesus. John would years later describe what being with Jesus meant to him and the other Apostles:
1 John 1:1-3
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed, and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—
2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Because of their relationship, they new that they had a responsibility, and…
2. We as God’s people have a responsibility
Let’s go back for just a minute to Peter and John before the Religious Leaders. The two were commanded to stop preaching about Jesus, and this is what they said:
Acts 4:19-20
19But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it’s right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide; 20for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Why is it so easy for us to keep our mouths shut about Jesus but we can’t stop it from gossiping about people or things we don’t like? You tell me that’s not true! It’s time we as Christian stepped back and looked at both our relationship with Jesus and the responsibility He has given us to be His witnesses.
