St Theodore's Sermon

	St Theodore's Wattle Park

Sermon of the Week

9/5/99

Living Hope 1 Peter 1:1-12

How hard do you find it to wait for things? Are you naturally a patient person, or are you like me? Do you like to get things going? I hate arriving at the movies or the theatre early, much to my wife's distress at times. I just hate having to wait. I guess that's one reason why MacDonalds has taken over the world the way it has. Because you can go in their and before you can say 'all-beef pattie, pickle and onion, lettuce and cheese, on a sesame seed bun', or whatever it is you're supposed to say, it's ready for you.

But sadly that's not what life's like is it? As much as we've been brought up to expect to have instant gratification, we can't always have it. In fact often the best things, the most rewarding things in life have to be waited for. Anyone who's planted a garden knows that. Anyone who's had a baby knows that. In fact anyone who's married probably knows that. Often it takes time before you sees the results of your efforts.

But that's OK if you can see ahead to the thing you're waiting for. As long as you have the travel brochure or your itinerary in your hand, you can wait for the departure day of your holiday. As long as you know the date your baby is due you can put up with the inconvenience of carrying that extra weight for just a few more weeks. (not that you have much choice I guess!) Similarly if you're learning a new skill, it's necessary to be patient and not give up just because you can't get the hang of it straight away. But again, it helps if you can see where you're going and I guess, if you can see some progress.

Well, that brings us to today's text. Today we begin a new series, looking at the first letter of Peter. Here we find the word of God to Christians scattered throughout the world who are struggling with being Christians in a hostile world. They've discovered that discipleship is a slow process. They've discovered that life isn't as easy as they'd have liked. And so they need to hear words of encouragement to motivate them to keep going. In other words they need words of hope. So Peter sets out to remind them of the Living Hope they have in Christ Jesus.

   He describes them in v1 as exiles, or 'strangers in the world' (NIV). Or as Bishop Alexis of Rwanda said at our Clergy Conference this week, they're just passing through. This isn't their permanent home. So don't be surprised if you find you don't belong. The churches Peter addresses were about to experience an outbreak of persecution, both from the government and from their neighbours. So they were in danger of losing hope, of wondering whether it was worth persevering in their faith. Whether the suffering they were about to experience was worth it.

   That's why he begins his letter the way he does: by reminding them of who they are and what their destiny is. Look at what he says in the first couple of verses: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood." (NRSV) He's about to speak to them about hope, about a living hope. It isn't what we sometimes call a 'fond hope'. That's a hope that we know we can't rely on; when we 'hope against hope', knowing full well that it probably won't happen. No, Peter is writing about a sure hope, a hope that holds the future in the present because it's anchored in the past. Peter hopes for God's salvation, God's deliverance from sin and death. It's a sure hope because God has already accomplished it in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Look at what he says. 'You've been chosen and destined by God the Father.' That was the first step. Before the world began, God has chosen you and destined you to do his will. But then the next step is that he's sanctified you by the Spirit. That is he's set you apart by giving you his Spirit to dwell within you and to make you responsive to his word.. For what purpose? 'To be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood.' So this is a hope that looks back to God's choosing of a people for himself, a theme that'll come out in ch2, that's shown in his pouring out of the Spirit on those he's chosen, it's a hope that looks back to the cleansing work of Jesus on the cross, and it's a hope that looks forward to a life of obedience to Jesus Christ.

   With that introduction Peter goes on to reassure them of the living hope that's theirs. He writes: 'By his great mercy God has given us a new birth into a living hope'. Now what is this 'living hope'? and why is it 'living'? He says 'We've been born into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.' The thing that makes this hope living is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Because Jesus is living, we too have a hope that's living. That's because our hope rests on the fact that we've been given new birth along with Jesus. Remember when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus in John 3, and he said 'No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again'. Well, we've been born again as a result of Jesus death and resurrection, and so we've come into the Kingdom of God. This is the source of our hope.

   Where do you find the source of your hope for the future? What do you base your hope of heaven on? Or perhaps your hope has faded over the years. Perhaps you no longer feel that sure hope of heaven. There was an article in the Age a couple of weeks ago about an artist, Ian Armstrong, who chooses as his canvas the beach at Anglesea. He draws his paintings in the sand and then just lets the tide wash them away. When asked about this he said "Let the waves wash them away. Images in the sand, that's all life is in the end." Is that how you see your life? Images in the sand that the tide of time will wash away, leaving no sign of your presence in the world? Or do you think your life has achieved something that will last. Well, before you jump in with an answer, let me suggest that there are errors to be made on both sides of that discussion. There are some who are relying on what they've achieved in this life for their hope of the future, but in that respect Ian Armstrong is right. Why? (a) Because God doesn't look at what we've done when he assesses our readiness for life with him, and (b) because when hard times come, when you meet opposition, when you're just plain worn out, it won't be enough to say, 'well, just work harder!' If we're to have a living hope it needs to be based on more than our own efforts and abilities.

   But on the other hand there are some who think that nothing you do here on earth matters in the long run, so why worry? To them we say, 'No, it does matter what we do. God has made us to bear fruit.' Peter says we're called to be obedient to Jesus Christ. So when hope runs thin, it's no good complaining that it's all too hard; that we're not cut out for persecution; or that God doesn't seem to be relevant to where we are at the moment. Rather we need to persevere at that point. And we need to look beyond ourselves to the foundation of our hope. That is, we need to look back to the historical Christ, to the Christ who died and rose again. And as we look back, what do we see? What is it about the resurrection event, this great miracle of God, that gives us hope for the present?

   Well, first of all it was a miracle. That is, God was intervening in the natural order of the world, to raise Jesus from the dead. If he could intervene then in the natural order of the world, then surely he's still able to do it now if he so chooses. So we can have confidence in praying to him for things that are important to us. Confidence, that is, that he can intervene if he wishes. Never confidence that we can tell him what to do. Secondly, the significance of Jesus death and resurrection is that it means our sins can be forgiven. If the reason we lack hope is that we're confronted by our own repeated failure and unworthiness, then it's even more important that we look back to Jesus death on our behalf. I often hear people say "Oh, I'm not good enough for that." I've even had people say they don't think they'll take communion because they're not worthy. Well, of course you're not worthy. No one is worthy to stand before the risen Lord. But that's the whole point of the gospel isn't it? Jesus died so those who were unworthy could come into God's presence with clothes washed white in the blood of the Lamb, sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus. No one need hang back if they believe and trust in the risen and exalted Christ, because he's made us worthy to stand before God.

   Thirdly, the resurrection shows that God does vindicate those who suffer unjustly for the sake of the gospel. Just as God didn't leave Jesus to suffer, but raised him on the third day, so those who suffer for Christ's sake may be sure that God will vindicate them in the end. Mind you, notice that that doesn't mean we'll avoid suffering. But suffering isn't the end of the story. We'll say more about suffering in a few weeks time, but for now, suffice to say that suffering for the gospel in this country rarely means physical suffering. More often what happens to Christians in our culture is that they're marginalised. Left out of the conversation. Made a joke of. Considered irrelevant. That's how we're likely to find ourselves persecuted where we are. But even when that happens it isn't the end of the story. God will vindicate us in the end and those who thought Christ was irrelevant will be among those whose knees will bow and tongues confess that he is indeed Lord of all.

   Fourthly, the fact that the risen Jesus still had a physical body means that God has a good purpose for this created world. If God didn't care about the physical world, he needn't have bothered with giving Jesus a physical body need he? But the gospels take great care to tell us that Jesus' resurrection body was a physical one. The disciples can touch him. He eats fish that they've caught. It's also a heavenly body, so it can pass through locked doors, but its physical nature is important, because it reassures us that what we do in this physical existence still matters.

   But let's go on to what else Peter says about this living hope into which we've been born. He says: you've been born 'into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.' So our hope is based not only on what lies behind, but also on what lies ahead. Now this is the point at which many of us find it hard to relate. The thought of some future inheritance stored up for us in heaven doesn't seem to motivate us. Why is that? It used to be so. Why not now? Why aren't we excited by that thought? Is it because it's so remote from us perhaps? Is it because we live in an age of instant gratification? Or because we have such a materialistic view of the world? If we can't see it right there in front of us, if we can't touch it or measure it, then we can't believe in it? If that were always the case we wouldn't achieve much would we. I've been playing golf now for a couple of years. I really took it up, I guess, because my father has become a keen golfer so it was something I could do with him. But if I needed to see results I would have given it up long ago. Actually, I won a golf ball at the golf tournament during the clergy conference last week, on our afternoon off. The reason I won it was that I managed to slice the ball into the bush 6 times and each time the ball bounced off a tree and back onto the fairway. So why don't I give up? Because I can see that some day, long into the future perhaps, I'll be able to swing a golf club and the ball will go approximately where I want it to go. All it takes is for me to persevere at it; and to keep practising. Well, that's the sort of thing that Peter has in mind. There's an inheritance stored up for us in heaven, one that won't go away. Notice that it's imperishable, undefiled and unfading. There's nothing that can damage it. All we have to do is to keep going; to persevere; to hold on to our faith in God; to keep practising that faith, putting it into action. And even that is made possible by God's power, notice, in v.5: We're being protected by the power of God through faith. And so we rejoice. Why? Because, although we don't yet see Jesus, although we may have to suffer various trials because of our faith in him, yet we know that we're already receiving the outcome of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls. The future inheritance to which we look forward, is already being worked out in us. We're already members of God's Kingdom. We already have God's Spirit living within us. We are already experiencing through the community of faith here, something of what it'll be like to be part of the great communion of saints in heaven.

   Notice too, that as uncomfortable as these trials may be, they do have a positive purpose: so that the genuineness of your faith might be proved, the way gold is tested in the refiner's fire, resulting in the end in praise and honour and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed. In fact, he says, your present experience is this: even though you can't see Jesus you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable joy because of the salvation you're experiencing even now.

   Finally, notice that this salvation is exactly what the prophets had looked forward to. Although they spoke to the people of their own time, what they said was actually addressed to us. Their witness was to assure us that what we see in the death and resurrection of Christ was the result of the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. How does this give us hope? Because it shows that the death of Christ wasn't a mistake. It was what God meant to happen, the fulfilment, the culmination of his plan. And what's more, we've been privileged to have that plan revealed to us. Even the angels didn't have it revealed to them, but it was revealed to us. If God has completed this part of his plan, then we can be sure that he'll complete the rest of his plan, which of course is to bring us to live with him in his kingdom.

   Well, next week we'll look at the rest of this first chapter of 1 Peter, at how we're to live as the people of God; what it means to be obedient to Jesus Christ. But what we've seen today is that the Living Hope to which we've been called is a hope that holds the future in the present because it's anchored in the past. That is, it's a future hope that affects our lives now because it's grounded in what God has done in the past, in Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection. It's a hope that the prophets looked forward to. And it's a hope that now motivates us as we wait for our inheritance to be revealed at the coming of Jesus Christ.


	Contact us	Preaching Program	Home		Last Week's Sermon

	Sermon of the Week
	9/5/99
	Living Hope	1 Peter 1:1-12

	How hard do you find it to wait for things? Are you naturally a patient person, or are you like me? Do you like to get things going? I hate arriving at the movies or the theatre early, much to my wife's distress at times. I just hate having to wait. I guess that's one reason why MacDonalds has taken over the world the way it has. Because you can go in their and before you can say 'all-beef pattie, pickle and onion, lettuce and cheese, on a sesame seed bun', or whatever it is you're supposed to say, it's ready for you.
	But sadly that's not what life's like is it? As much as we've been brought up to expect to have instant gratification, we can't always have it. In fact often the best things, the most rewarding things in life have to be waited for. Anyone who's planted a garden knows that. Anyone who's had a baby knows that. In fact anyone who's married probably knows that. Often it takes time before you sees the results of your efforts.
	But that's OK if you can see ahead to the thing you're waiting for. As long as you have the travel brochure or your itinerary in your hand, you can wait for the departure day of your holiday. As long as you know the date your baby is due you can put up with the inconvenience of carrying that extra weight for just a few more weeks. (not that you have much choice I guess!) Similarly if you're learning a new skill, it's necessary to be patient and not give up just because you can't get the hang of it straight away. But again, it helps if you can see where you're going and I guess, if you can see some progress.
	Well, that brings us to today's text. Today we begin a new series, looking at the first letter of Peter. Here we find the word of God to Christians scattered throughout the world who are struggling with being Christians in a hostile world. They've discovered that discipleship is a slow process. They've discovered that life isn't as easy as they'd have liked. And so they need to hear words of encouragement to motivate them to keep going. In other words they need words of hope. So Peter sets out to remind them of the Living Hope they have in Christ Jesus.
	He describes them in v1 as exiles, or 'strangers in the world' (NIV). Or as Bishop Alexis of Rwanda said at our Clergy Conference this week, they're just passing through. This isn't their permanent home. So don't be surprised if you find you don't belong. The churches Peter addresses were about to experience an outbreak of persecution, both from the government and from their neighbours. So they were in danger of losing hope, of wondering whether it was worth persevering in their faith. Whether the suffering they were about to experience was worth it.
	That's why he begins his letter the way he does: by reminding them of who they are and what their destiny is. Look at what he says in the first couple of verses: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood." (NRSV) He's about to speak to them about hope, about a living hope. It isn't what we sometimes call a 'fond hope'. That's a hope that we know we can't rely on; when we 'hope against hope', knowing full well that it probably won't happen. No, Peter is writing about a sure hope, a hope that holds the future in the present because it's anchored in the past. Peter hopes for God's salvation, God's deliverance from sin and death. It's a sure hope because God has already accomplished it in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Look at what he says. 'You've been chosen and destined by God the Father.' That was the first step. Before the world began, God has chosen you and destined you to do his will. But then the next step is that he's sanctified you by the Spirit. That is he's set you apart by giving you his Spirit to dwell within you and to make you responsive to his word.. For what purpose? 'To be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood.' So this is a hope that looks back to God's choosing of a people for himself, a theme that'll come out in ch2, that's shown in his pouring out of the Spirit on those he's chosen, it's a hope that looks back to the cleansing work of Jesus on the cross, and it's a hope that looks forward to a life of obedience to Jesus Christ.
	With that introduction Peter goes on to reassure them of the living hope that's theirs. He writes: 'By his great mercy God has given us a new birth into a living hope'. Now what is this 'living hope'? and why is it 'living'? He says 'We've been born into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.' The thing that makes this hope living is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Because Jesus is living, we too have a hope that's living. That's because our hope rests on the fact that we've been given new birth along with Jesus. Remember when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus in John 3, and he said 'No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again'. Well, we've been born again as a result of Jesus death and resurrection, and so we've come into the Kingdom of God. This is the source of our hope.
	Where do you find the source of your hope for the future? What do you base your hope of heaven on? Or perhaps your hope has faded over the years. Perhaps you no longer feel that sure hope of heaven. There was an article in the Age a couple of weeks ago about an artist, Ian Armstrong, who chooses as his canvas the beach at Anglesea. He draws his paintings in the sand and then just lets the tide wash them away. When asked about this he said "Let the waves wash them away. Images in the sand, that's all life is in the end." Is that how you see your life? Images in the sand that the tide of time will wash away, leaving no sign of your presence in the world? Or do you think your life has achieved something that will last. Well, before you jump in with an answer, let me suggest that there are errors to be made on both sides of that discussion. There are some who are relying on what they've achieved in this life for their hope of the future, but in that respect Ian Armstrong is right. Why? (a) Because God doesn't look at what we've done when he assesses our readiness for life with him, and (b) because when hard times come, when you meet opposition, when you're just plain worn out, it won't be enough to say, 'well, just work harder!' If we're to have a living hope it needs to be based on more than our own efforts and abilities.
	But on the other hand there are some who think that nothing you do here on earth matters in the long run, so why worry? To them we say, 'No, it does matter what we do. God has made us to bear fruit.' Peter says we're called to be obedient to Jesus Christ. So when hope runs thin, it's no good complaining that it's all too hard; that we're not cut out for persecution; or that God doesn't seem to be relevant to where we are at the moment. Rather we need to persevere at that point. And we need to look beyond ourselves to the foundation of our hope. That is, we need to look back to the historical Christ, to the Christ who died and rose again. And as we look back, what do we see? What is it about the resurrection event, this great miracle of God, that gives us hope for the present?
	Well, first of all it was a miracle. That is, God was intervening in the natural order of the world, to raise Jesus from the dead. If he could intervene then in the natural order of the world, then surely he's still able to do it now if he so chooses. So we can have confidence in praying to him for things that are important to us. Confidence, that is, that he can intervene if he wishes. Never confidence that we can tell him what to do. Secondly, the significance of Jesus death and resurrection is that it means our sins can be forgiven. If the reason we lack hope is that we're confronted by our own repeated failure and unworthiness, then it's even more important that we look back to Jesus death on our behalf. I often hear people say "Oh, I'm not good enough for that." I've even had people say they don't think they'll take communion because they're not worthy. Well, of course you're not worthy. No one is worthy to stand before the risen Lord. But that's the whole point of the gospel isn't it? Jesus died so those who were unworthy could come into God's presence with clothes washed white in the blood of the Lamb, sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus. No one need hang back if they believe and trust in the risen and exalted Christ, because he's made us worthy to stand before God.
	Thirdly, the resurrection shows that God does vindicate those who suffer unjustly for the sake of the gospel. Just as God didn't leave Jesus to suffer, but raised him on the third day, so those who suffer for Christ's sake may be sure that God will vindicate them in the end. Mind you, notice that that doesn't mean we'll avoid suffering. But suffering isn't the end of the story. We'll say more about suffering in a few weeks time, but for now, suffice to say that suffering for the gospel in this country rarely means physical suffering. More often what happens to Christians in our culture is that they're marginalised. Left out of the conversation. Made a joke of. Considered irrelevant. That's how we're likely to find ourselves persecuted where we are. But even when that happens it isn't the end of the story. God will vindicate us in the end and those who thought Christ was irrelevant will be among those whose knees will bow and tongues confess that he is indeed Lord of all.
	Fourthly, the fact that the risen Jesus still had a physical body means that God has a good purpose for this created world. If God didn't care about the physical world, he needn't have bothered with giving Jesus a physical body need he? But the gospels take great care to tell us that Jesus' resurrection body was a physical one. The disciples can touch him. He eats fish that they've caught. It's also a heavenly body, so it can pass through locked doors, but its physical nature is important, because it reassures us that what we do in this physical existence still matters.
	But let's go on to what else Peter says about this living hope into which we've been born. He says: you've been born 'into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.' So our hope is based not only on what lies behind, but also on what lies ahead. Now this is the point at which many of us find it hard to relate. The thought of some future inheritance stored up for us in heaven doesn't seem to motivate us. Why is that? It used to be so. Why not now? Why aren't we excited by that thought? Is it because it's so remote from us perhaps? Is it because we live in an age of instant gratification? Or because we have such a materialistic view of the world? If we can't see it right there in front of us, if we can't touch it or measure it, then we can't believe in it? If that were always the case we wouldn't achieve much would we. I've been playing golf now for a couple of years. I really took it up, I guess, because my father has become a keen golfer so it was something I could do with him. But if I needed to see results I would have given it up long ago. Actually, I won a golf ball at the golf tournament during the clergy conference last week, on our afternoon off. The reason I won it was that I managed to slice the ball into the bush 6 times and each time the ball bounced off a tree and back onto the fairway. So why don't I give up? Because I can see that some day, long into the future perhaps, I'll be able to swing a golf club and the ball will go approximately where I want it to go. All it takes is for me to persevere at it; and to keep practising. Well, that's the sort of thing that Peter has in mind. There's an inheritance stored up for us in heaven, one that won't go away. Notice that it's imperishable, undefiled and unfading. There's nothing that can damage it. All we have to do is to keep going; to persevere; to hold on to our faith in God; to keep practising that faith, putting it into action. And even that is made possible by God's power, notice, in v.5: We're being protected by the power of God through faith. And so we rejoice. Why? Because, although we don't yet see Jesus, although we may have to suffer various trials because of our faith in him, yet we know that we're already receiving the outcome of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls. The future inheritance to which we look forward, is already being worked out in us. We're already members of God's Kingdom. We already have God's Spirit living within us. We are already experiencing through the community of faith here, something of what it'll be like to be part of the great communion of saints in heaven.
	Notice too, that as uncomfortable as these trials may be, they do have a positive purpose: so that the genuineness of your faith might be proved, the way gold is tested in the refiner's fire, resulting in the end in praise and honour and glory when Jesus Christ is revealed. In fact, he says, your present experience is this: even though you can't see Jesus you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable joy because of the salvation you're experiencing even now.
	Finally, notice that this salvation is exactly what the prophets had looked forward to. Although they spoke to the people of their own time, what they said was actually addressed to us. Their witness was to assure us that what we see in the death and resurrection of Christ was the result of the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. How does this give us hope? Because it shows that the death of Christ wasn't a mistake. It was what God meant to happen, the fulfilment, the culmination of his plan. And what's more, we've been privileged to have that plan revealed to us. Even the angels didn't have it revealed to them, but it was revealed to us. If God has completed this part of his plan, then we can be sure that he'll complete the rest of his plan, which of course is to bring us to live with him in his kingdom.
	Well, next week we'll look at the rest of this first chapter of 1 Peter, at how we're to live as the people of God; what it means to be obedient to Jesus Christ. But what we've seen today is that the Living Hope to which we've been called is a hope that holds the future in the present because it's anchored in the past. That is, it's a future hope that affects our lives now because it's grounded in what God has done in the past, in Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection. It's a hope that the prophets looked forward to. And it's a hope that now motivates us as we wait for our inheritance to be revealed at the coming of Jesus Christ.

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