Living Hope
A Sure Anchor In Troubled Times
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 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…
- 1 Peter 1:1,2
Prayer…
THIS MORNING - we are going to begin an exciting journey in God’s Word… AND – to be honest I am really starting to get pumped up, stoked and jazzed about it. BECAUSE – I am confident that God is going to do something HUGE in the lives of some of us in this very room as HIS WORD speaks.
BEGINNING TODAY – we are going to dig into the book of 1 Peter…
I MEAN – really dig into it… a verse by verse study… where we will attempt to mine every ounce of it’s treasure… (AND – if not every ounce at least a bunch of it).
UNDERSTAND - this book is: powerful, supernatural, life changing and life altering. THERE – has never been another book like it…
NO BOOK - compares to it… It’s been a best seller for centuries…
NO BOOK - has been published more or translated into more languages.
NO BOOK – has inspired more art, poetry, music, good deeds and changed lives.
AND NO BOOK – has been scrutinized, criticized, attacked and destroyed more… YET – it still and will continue to stand forever…
IN FACT – that is exactly what Peter puts it in this very letter…
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever." – 1 Pe 1:24,25
For the word of God is living and active. Shaper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
– Hebrews 4:12
Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us
- 2 Tim 3:16,17
LOOK UP…..
THIS BOOK – I am holding in my hand…
THESE WORDS – are God breathed!
THEY ARE - alive and they are active.
THEY - cut through all the junk and barriers in our lives…
THEY - judge our thoughts and our attitudes.
THEY - show us what is wrong with the way we are living and they tell us how to live right.
THESE WORDS – can put our lives back together and shape us to do all the things God has called to do.
YEAH FOR - the next several weeks… I am going to ‘metaphorically’ speaking grab a Holy Spirit inspired sack of seed and begin throwing it all over this room…
AND LISTEN – this (God breathed, living & active, standing forever) seed is going to land on all kinds of soil (hearts)… hard, rocky, thorny… and some will land on good soil that will reap harvest 100, 60, 30 times what was planted…
YEAH
NEEDLESS TO SAY - I’m really starting to get pumped up… about the book of 1st Peter… AND – our new message series… called, “Living-Hope, A Sure Anchor In Troubled Times…”
MG – 1 Peter is an amazing letter. I went through it a couple of times this week… AND – my initial reaction was OMG! There is so much amazing stuff in here… AND – my initial thought was… “man this stuff is really going to change some lives at The Grove.”
UNDERSTAND – 1 Peter is an amazing, inspiring, compelling & practical book. AND EACH WEEK (beginning today)- awesome truths will be uncovered that will both enable and empower us to live Hope-filled, Christ-like lives, especially in challenging times…
ALL – for his honor and glory!
ALRIGHT – let’s do this… 1 Peter chapter 1 verse one…
Peter…
OKAY – ‘pause’ let’s stop there for a second… (yeah I know some of you are starting to get worried… I mean there’s 2482 words in 1 Peter – stopping at every word could take a very long time)
AGAIN – what is the first word in this letter…? Peter.
UNDERSTAND – in the first century that is how they addressed letters… First the senders name and then the recipients name… Which is the exact opposite of how we address letters…. Today our first words are usually the name of the person we are writing to… “Dear John…”
BUT - in the first century letters always began with who the letter was from…
AND… what I want to do this morning (April 27, 2014) as a way of introduction to this letter - we begin is to about – the from, the to and the about of this 2000 year old letter… Which by the way are all found within the first 3 verses.
From
QUESTION – who wrote 1 Peter? Who is it from?
Peter… (man, you’re sooo smart…)
AND – whose Peter?
UNDERSTAND – Peter is so much more than just a dude who wrote a book.
I MEAN – Peter is a guy who has a knowledge about – a relationship with and access to Jesus Christ that is unprecedented in human history…
Peter spent 3 years with Jesus…
3 years with God in the flesh, think about that…
during the Easter service by 8 year old son Jin-Tao was sitting over there… and he said to Laurie…
"I wish Jesus was alive today. I mean like alive so I can touch him."
Peter got to do that… – And if he had a spiritual, theological or life question he could just turn his head to on side or the other and ask God. “Hey God, you know that story about the farmer and the seed. You kind of lost me on that one… what were you trying to say?”
Peter saw with his own eyes was tall of the incredible stuff that Jesus did.
He was there when Jesus: opened blind eyes and healed lame limbs. He was there when Jesus cured deadly disease and cast out powerful demons.
Peter was there, He had a front-row-center-stage seat when Jesus: multiplied food, feed thousands, walked on water, turned water into wine, healed his wife’s mom and raised the dead…
YEAH PETER - had a ring side seat to the hundreds of miracles that Jesus performed – when He wore flesh and walked on this planet.
Peter was a senior leader in Jesus’ group… He was in that inner circle of 3… (Peter, James and John) who got to be in on things that no one else got to be in on.
Like that mind blowing event on the Mt of Transfiguration… When Jesus transformed into His glory before them (Matthew writes – His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus). NO - not many people got to see that… Jesus transfigured… OR – to hang out with Moses and Elijah.
Peter was an apostle… a word that not only means ‘one sent on a mission’… BUT ONE SENT - with the power and authority of the one who sent him…
IN – Peter’s case that would be the power and authority of The Lord of Glory…
Peter was there when: Judas betrayed Jesus… He was there when Jesus was arrested, when He was crucified and when he rose from the dead...
Whenever the disciples of Jesus are listed – whose name do you think is always listed first? Peter.
Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the spokesman to God’s people, when the Gospel was preached for the very first time…
YOU SEE IN MATTHEW 16 – Jesus gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven…
AND – in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost Peter pulled out those keys and preached the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus...
AND – 3000 people believed, repented and were baptized that day… entering the Kingdom
YEAH - Peter is so much more that just a dude who wrote a book…
AND – for some reason he has always been a guy that I can relate to… I don’t know, maybe it’s because he seems to screw up an awful lot…but every once in awhile he does something pretty stinking amazing… A
He was a strong tough guy with passion who did some pretty amazing things)… BUT – who every once in awhile (right when you need him the most) fumbled the ball…
UNDERSTAND - when I think of Peter… There are so many snapshots that go through my mind…
I see him - dropping his net’s by the sea of Galilee, leaving everything (family, friends, career) to follow Jesus…
I see him – in the middle of the night, a powerful storm pounding a little boat, full of frightened fishermen, swinging both legs over the side of that boat and walking on water…
I see him – taking his eyes off of Jesus (like I do at times), and sinking into the crashing waves…
I see him – with great power and confidence… answering Jesus question, “Who do you say that I am?” “You are the Christ the Son of the living God…”
I see him – with great confidence say, ‘even if everyone else leaves you, I will never abandoned you Jesus…”
I see him – with a sword in the garden cutting off the ear of a man who came to arrest Jesus.
AND I see him – in a courtyard a few hours later, by a fire warming his hands and saying with a curse, “I never knew the man…” I see him running out into the night weeping bitterly over his failure….
I see him – walking inside the empty tomb and seeing the burial clothes folded neatly in the corner… I see him – wondering, worried - afraid that his denial had removed any chance of being with Jesus again…
AND THEN - I see him meeting the resurrected Christ, falling at his feet and being forgiven…
Now we don’t know where it happened, we just know that it did… and it happened before any of the other 12 saw the risen Lord
(I Cor 15:4)
I see him - jumping out of a boat and swimming to the shore because Jesus was cooking breakfast on the beach…
I see him – no longer hiding or denying but instead standing before 1,000 of people on the day of Pentecost, telling them that this man Jesus who they crucified was the Christ, the Messiah, God the Son… the Savior of the world
I see him – standing before the Jewish rulers who had him arrested and beaten – telling those leaders; “I cannot, and I will not stop talking about all I have seen and heard… I will not be quite about Jesus.”
I see him – in Rome with a pen in his hand writing a letter to a bunch of Christ-followers who he loved deeply… TELLING THEM – how to have a living-hope.
AND FINALLY – I see him as an old man; being lead out to a cross, his hands stretched out, nails driven – crucified upside down…for the love of BOTH Christ and His Bride (the church)!
UNDERSTAND – that is the guy who nearly 2,000 years ago penned the words that we are about to read and study over the next several weeks…
QUESTION…
do think this man who knew Jesus so well, who knew the church so well (and who loved both so much that it cost him his life),
DO YOU THINK this guy who knew both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat…
And who as I said earlier had knowledge about – a relationship with and access to Jesus Christ that is unequaled in human history…
HAS - something to say to us? To you?
YOU – bet he does! AND – those who have ears to hear will hear… will bear a harvest a 100, 60, 30 times what was planted!
OKAY – that’s the from: “From Peter”
NOW – for the to of this 2000 year old letter…
To
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia…
WHO – is Peter writing to? To God’s people. To Christians. Specifically Christians who were scattered (due to hardship and persecution) and who were now living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia… all of which are in modern day Turkey.
From: Peter
To: (scattered-persecuted-beaten down) believers, who were strangers in this world…
About
First of all this letter is about God…
HEY – did you catch that Peter mentions the trinity in the 2nd verse of his letter…
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
UNDERSTAND – 1 Peter like all of the 66 books of the Bible is primary about God… God not us, is the main character…
1 Peter is about…
God The Father
who… Chose you…
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
NOW THINK – about that for moment… ‘chosen’ ‘picked’ ‘selected’ by God…
Some of us have never been picked for anything…
• Recess – nope
• Class president – nope
• Cool kid table at lunch – nope
• Most likely do anything – nope
• Employment opportunities – nope…
YET – we are chosen by… the:
• Holy, eternal
• All powerful/knowing/present
• Always existing
• Great, mighty, eternal, invisible, immortal, indescribable, uncontainable, good merciful, gracious – Creator of ALL we see the King of the Universe…
TIM/LAURIE – you are chosen by God…
YES - the God who spoke EVERYTHING into existence picked you.
GOD - wants you on His team…
He sent His Son to have you in His family.
AND – if that doesn’t completely blow you away –
Try this one on for size…
NOT ONLY – did GOD choose you…
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
OR – as the NLT words it… God the Father knew you and chose you
LISTEN – God chose you ‘even though’ He knows you…
NOW – I always loved those two words ‘even though’
SO – did Paul… Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy. 1 Timothy 1:13
YES – the Father knows you… and me (inside-out)… the good, the bad and the ugly…
YES – God chose you even though he knew… (your sins, your failures, your rebellion and your broken promises)..
POINT – God choosing us, has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God!
YES – this letter written by Peter is about God the Father and about…
God The Son…
Who shed His blood, gave His life… paid our debt…
SO THAT – our sins could be forgiven… so that you could be reconciled to God… SO THAT – you could have new life…
SO THAT – His grace and peace would be all over and all in us…
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
MG – 1 Peter is about God the Father, God the Son… and:
God The Spirit
who… is at this very moment at work in EVERY Christ-follower: speaking, prompting, convicting, breaking, molding, shaping, moving them to be more and more like Jesus… Helping them live out the image of God that is within them…
which Peter calls in our text… the sanctifying work of the Spirit…
(Being set apart and empowered for a life… with, in and like Christ)
UNDERSTAND – this letter is primary about:
• The Father who choose us
• The Son who died for us
• And the Spirit – who is at work within us
This letter is…
From – Peter
To – God’s People, and it is…
About God, and it’s about
God’s People…
People – God knows, choose, loves, died for and is working within.
People who though saved… still were living in this world that is not their home. A world of TROUBLE, hardship and challenging times…
People who need to know how to live God’s way.
UNDERSTAND – the church in the first century, the men and woman who first held this letter from Peter needed to hear some good news. They needed some living-hope.
They needed to be reminded of some old & awesome truths… TRUTHS – that they may have forgotten under the weight of the present difficulties… (ever happen to you?)
YOU SEE – the place in which these believers found themselves in… was a rough place to come to and grow in the Faith. UNDERSTAND – the very moment these believers choose to be on Christ’s team they set themselves up against the culture of the day…
A CULTURE - that said “Caesar is Lord.” “we live for him, serve him, give our lives for his glory – celebrate his rule and dominion.”
UNDERSTAND – choosing Christ (and declaring… ‘ Jesus is Lord, we live for Him, serve Him, give our lives for His glory)… more often then not meant that:
• They lost their families
• Their friends turned away from them
• Their careers ended or were severely hampered
• Their social standing plummeted
• And their very lives were in jeopardy
AND LISTEN – when Peter wrote these words the persecution of the church by Rome under Nero was really beginning to heat up (and was about to get much worse)…
I MEAN - there is no doubt that many who would hear these words had already suffered and lost much for following Christ…
AT LEAST – 15 times in this letter Peter referred to suffering, and he used 8 different Greek words to do so.
A LADY - who lost her husband – he was burned at the stake – read this words
A FAMILY - whose home was burned down… CHILDREN - who were now orphans. A FATHER - who lost job… A YOUNG MAN – whose family disowned and threatened him… – read these words
YES – things were tough and they were about to get even tougher… VERY SOON - Christians would be tossed into the Coliseum and torn apart by wild animals… and dip in tar, tied to a post and lite on fire to illuminate the Roman sky…
QUESTION…
DO U THINK – these new believers were a little discouraged?
DO U THINK – that things were really starting to BOTH wear them out and wear them down?
DO U THINK - they that could use a little good news, some living hope?
QUESTION – did discouragement, did hard times… did attacks from the enemy end in the first century? Do believers still get discouraged today and loose their hope in the midst of challenging times?
To be honest – I see discouraged believers all the time…
I see single moms discouraged because they are worn out from doing it all alone
I see single people discouraged because they think they will always be alone
I see people discouraged about their marriage
I see people discouraged because of family issues (anger, abuse, addiction)
I see people discouraged because of health, financial & job issues
I see people discouraged because they stood up for the truth and got burned for it…
I see people discouraged because they keep falling into the trap of that old familiar sin. I mean – they thought by now they’d be so much further in their spiritual journey…
I see people discouraged – because they have a vision from God…
A VISION – of what He wants them to do, who He wants them to be – and things and people keep getting in the way…
QUESTION – are you discouraged today?
Do you need some good news?
IF SO - God has some great news for you…
IN FACT – it is awesome news!!!
CHECKOUT – verse 3;
3Praise 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,
In his great…
(great-abundant-intense-large- strong)
In His great mercy he has given us new birth..”
PETER - is reminding them (and us) that when we came to God…
WE - were, "born again…"
IN OTHER WORDS - God give us; a fresh start, a new beginning, a do over, a clean slate…
I MEAN - who couldn’t use one of those…
Years ago I had a license tag frame – ‘God allows U Turns.’
YOU KNOW – maybe God brought you here this morning so you could do just that. Turn around and head back to Him and who He called you be.
QUESTION - have you ever been painting a room and you got about halfway through and started thinking… "Man, I wish I could start this whole thing over." NOT – a fun place to be…
AND – do you know what‘s even worse? To be passionately painting a life… I mean to really be going at it… and then step back and look at it and immediately think; "Man, I really wish I could start this whole thing over. I sure made a mess of things…"
AND – if that is where you find yourself today… MAN – do I have great news for you…
GOD – (The King of Glory, The Lord and Creator of the Universe) is dying to (in fact He already died to) give you the opportunity (of starting all over)…
OF – repainting your life.
OF – going to His divine color charts and finding the exact color you were created to live.
In his great mercy he has given us new birth
- it's called being born again…
AND LISTEN – it gets even better because when we are God’s people we are born again INTO (what?) into a living hope…
QUESTION – how are you doing today with the ‘hope’ thing?
I MEAN - when you woke up this morning were you more hopeful or hopeless about your life?
NOW – my hunch is that there are 1 or 2 people out there this morning who are not doing so good with this hope thing…
AND LISTEN – 9 out of 10 times the reason is because we place our hope not in something that was living but that was dying…
BTW – anything we put our hope in other than in God is a dying hope.
QUESTION – what are some wrong things that people tend to put their hope in? GO AHEAD – shout out a few if you can think of any…
? Money, 401 K, Career, Stuff
? Relationships, Good times, success
HEY CHECKOUT – these words from Job; about misplaced hope….
"Can papyrus reeds grow where there is no marsh? Can bulrushes flourish where there is no water? While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither. Such is the fate of all who forget God. The hope of the godless comes to nothing. Everything they count on will collapse. They are leaning on a spider web. They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. They try to hold it fast, but it will not endure. - Job 8:11-15 (NLT)
YOU KNOW – over the years I have seen the hope of so many believers collapse… (even my own)…
WHY? because I was leaning on a spiders web –I was looking for hope and security in all the wrong things… in a dying hope not a living hope.
HAVE – you ever been there done that?
PUT YOUR HOPE – in the wrong thing or person…? Are you even now leaning on a spider web hoping it will hold you up? It won’t!
CHECKOUT – this question the psalmist asked himself when he was extremely bummed out…
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?…”
- Ps 42:11
NOW – that’s a good question to asked ourselves whenever we find ourselves down, discouraged and losing hope… Why are we so down? AND I LOVE – how the psalmist answers his own question with a statement/command/a re-focus … Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
MGCC – Our God is not a spiders web…
Hope in Him can and will hold us… is living.
CHECK OUT – a few more passages about putting hope in God…
“No one whose hope is in you, will ever be put to shame…” - Ps 25:3
”Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. – Is 40:31
YES – we have been born again into a living hope…
AND WHY – is our hope alive? BECAUSE – Jesus is alive… In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
AND – let me tell you I am convinced that as Peter wrote about the living hope and the resurrection that his mind and heart went back to the time – when he fumbled the ball big time…
I MEAN – he was discouraged as man could get – he had lost all hope… AS – far as he could see At that moment… It was done… it was over… and not only was his master, teacher and friend dead.. BUT – he had failed, he had denied Jesus…
BUT – then came that run to the empty tomb – that reunion with the risen Lord and restoration… TALK ABOUT – a new birth…
AND LISTEN – that new birth.
That 2nd chance, had nothing to do with Peter’s goodness and everything to do with the GREAT MERCY of the living God…
Who are you? God’s chosen people!
Who chose you? God chose me!
Who died for you? God died for me!
Who lives in and is working in you? God lives in me!
Who wants you despite your sin and rebellion? God wants me!
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation…
- 1 Peter 1:3
