MPC 18th July 2004.I Peter 1-2:10 - "Hope with a heart beat"
Dan Bigg MPC 18th July 2004.
I was reading an article recently about the generation X. That's the 27-36 year olds. The young upstarts like me. The generation born in the late 60's through to the mid 70's, around the time Neil Armstrong was wandering around on the moon. The article was saying that the our creed in life is live to consume. Apparently instant satisfaction is our highest priority. We're very interested in what we can get now. Buy now and pay later, that's the way we like it. The future doesn't matter. You know we've now got the highest level of personal debt ever. Over $7000 for every man, woman and child in the country and that doesn't count home loans. It seems we're happy to use credit cards if we think that it'll make us happy. But it's not just the generation X, is it?. It's the age we live in. Instant everything. What it boils down to is, if we can't get it now it's not good enough. Instant coffee, instant cash, instant pain relief, instant breakfast and so on. The present is all that counts… and to satisfy the thirst we want to keep the shops open 24 hours a day 7 days a week because I don't ever want to wait for anything. I want it now!
Well, that's pretty much the attitude we've got so used to it's almost the norm, but it's foreign to the Christian mindset. The big point of 1 Peter is to encourage Christians to pay now for a future. A future glory. To live out the present difficulties by setting our minds on the hope of eternity. Peter says in his letter, it's future glory that will make present sufferings seem insignificant. Eternity with Jesus will more than compensate present trials.
And the people he is writing to really do need to hear that. Look at who Peter says he's writing to in v1.
"Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia."
He's writing to the Christian Jews. They had been spread all over the place after being exiled from their homeland by their enemies. They'd been having a really tough time as a people over the past 500 years. They were God's people of the Old Testament but they had been doing it tough. They needed all the encouragement they could get to keep them holding onto their new hope in Jesus. The hope of future glory.
Peter starts by outlining the Christian hope, the eternal glory that's available by faith in Jesus.
Lets read vs3&4:
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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you...
See what Peter's honing in on here. It's the Christian hope. Their hope is a living one because Jesus is alive and in glory. Jesus suffered and died and then was resurrected and entered into his glory. The certainty of our hope is our faith in Jesus who has achieved it for us. Our inheritance is secure and certain.
Security. It's something we all long for isn't it? The great Aussie dream is to have your own place, be able to do your own thing and enjoy peace and safety. People the world over want the same sort of thing. Well, here's the good news, Jesus fills that longing. We have new life in Jesus and with the new life is the living hope of a security that will last forever. You've heard the Gold Lotto advertisements, "Wouldn't it be nice to win a million?" Maybe it would be, but if you believe in Jesus you've got so much more than that, you've got an inheritance in heaven that's permanent, that can't be wrecked or spoiled in any way. That's the living hope to hang on to. That's the hope designed to motivate you to keep going, to keep you living the Christian life. There is only way to overcome our deep seated urge to carve out our own security by our own effort. And that's to override the urge with the Gospel promise of real security, everlasting security. That is our eternal inheritance safe in heaven.
Well, you might say, "that's all pie in the sky stuff; how's that supposed to help me in the traffic jam or at the office or in any other trying situation?" Good question, Peter's writing to people facing the same sort of questions. They're facing real persecution, even death, because they're Christians. And his message is, it's OK. You're going to be OK, God himself is your protection no matter what happens. In v5 it tells us we're, "kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." And now check out v.9, Peter says, we are receiving the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls. It's present tense. We are being given it right now, in this life. God's got a plan for all who believe in Jesus, to give us an eternal inheritance. We're part of His plan, we're safe no matter what happens, no matter what we might have to suffer. We live out the tough times and trials, by focusing on what's to come. We're to set our hearts on future glory, to keep aiming for eternity not because we hope to get it but because we know we've got it. It's ours. It's in the bag by faith.
But I'm sure many of you are like me. When you run into a rough patch in your life down you go. When you're under pressure because you're a Christian it's all too easy to start losing hope, to start doubting. Is God really out to get me? I'm suffering because I didn't do my Bible reading this morning or because I did that bad thing the other day. Don't fall for it. Stick with the truth. God's got heaven ready for you and God's protecting so you can enjoy it. Hold on to that hope. It's focusing on the glorious end God's promised us, that'll keep you going in the present.
My dad bought a property years ago. 500 acres of hills and trees out near Stanthorpe. It's a really beautiful spot, but when he bought it, it didn't have a house on it. And the first thing he did was to put up this little tin hut. 2m wide and 4m long. In this miserable little shack my 2 older brothers and Dad lived for a long time with no running water, no toilet, no electricity, no TV. Pretty much no comfort at all. Flies all day and mozzies all night. And that year it rained and rained and rained. One of the wettest years on record. It was miserable, uncomfortable and hard. But they put up with it all. They endured the hardships, because they knew it was only temporary. They knew there was something much better waiting for them. You see, they were building the ideal home. Five bedrooms. Spacious. Huge veranda, in a beautiful location with a great view. Well, the house isn't that great but compared with the shack it is. The hardship and discomfort was worth it. What kept them going in the hut was the thought of the house. They knew pretty soon they'd be kicking back and relaxing on the wide veranda enjoying the view. Almost 20 years on, the house has just got better and better. But the tin shack is gone. The comparison between the short-term suffering in the shack seems like nothing besides the long term end result of living in the comfy home.
And that's what Peter's telling us to do. He's telling us to keep the end in sight. Keep thinking of our inheritance and the fact that it's ours as children of God. Peter's told us about it, how great it is, where it is and when we'll get it. And in v6 he says, keep that hope alive through the little time of suffering that we have to put up with here. Notice the time frame he gives to suffering in v6, it's " for a little while". That little while might blow out to be a lifetime. But put a lifetime beside eternity. You get the picture. It really is nothing more than a little while.
I don't know what your suffering now or how much you've suffered. Maybe you're in a difficult relationship, or you've experienced the loss of someone close to you. Is there work pressures or sickness or major family problems that are causing you untold amounts on suffering? Maybe you're just sick of being thought of as an idiot or a weakling because you're a Christian. What are you going to do? Well, you could give in and allow bitterness and hatred destroy your living hope, but that won't do you much good. Or you could grab as much as you can get now, and make the most of it. But how long will that last? As Christians do this, remember eternity. Hold fast to the great hope of eternal life and glory. Try to keep things in perspective. Weigh up temporary suffering against eternal glory. It won't ease your suffering but it'll give you the will and the drive to keep going under pressure.
Peter doesn't want his readers to give up on their hope. He aims to encourage them in their faith. He gives his readers the assurance they need. Assurance from the Old Testament. From ancient history. He shows them their present sufferings and future glory fit the Old Testament predictions. Look at v11. The prophets predicted Jesus was first to suffer and then to receive glory. This would have really strengthened the Jewish Christian's assurance because they had grown up on the Old Testament. They knew what the Old Testament said. And to see how Jesus fitted the pre-planned pattern would have increased their faith. And encouraged them to see their hope as a well grounded hope. Jesus both fulfils the prophet's message, and, he sets the pattern. He suffered and is in glory. All who believe in Jesus, in spite of suffering set their hearts on that future glory.
Well lets move on now and look at a second thing Peter tells us about our future hope. Our future hope is another factor which helps motivate us for righteous living. The glory we're looking forward to helps us to live the right way now. It helps us to please God in every day life. Have a look at verse 13. It is the key verse. It says,
Therefore prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled: set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Take your coats off and roll your sleeves up. That's what Peter means. Get your minds ready for serious action. Get ready for some serious, righteous living. And as you do that remember the future. That's what is to motivate us in Christian living. Our future state of glory. Living the righteous life isn't going to be easy because it's going against the flow, it's bucking the system. People will think you're crazy. You'll get belittled and ridiculed. You get persecuted. But Peter wants to get us to the point where we can say, who cares what people think, or say, or do to us. We're sure about where we're going and what lies ahead. We'll live to God's glory, no matter what happens. That's the sort of confidence that we can show by keeping our focus on what we're heading for. Because in the long run it's where we'll end up. So we'll obey God in this life.
V14 tells us something about how we're to live obedient lives. It shows us how different the Christian life is to anything else. That it's something quite radical. It says,
as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
You see what Peter's saying. He's telling his readers that to be obedient they aren't to go back to their old ways. He sums up the corrupted Jewish religious system as, evil desires done in ignorance. He tells his Jewish believers, obedience to God is not achieved by going back to their old Jewish ways. Now that must have shocked them, because many of them thought obedience to God was through Old Testament law keeping. But Peter says no… He says the same thing in v18… Have a look at it… He calls the old Jewish religious system an empty way of life handed down to them from their forefathers. Peter's stressing obedience to God and holiness is not found in their old religious system based on law keeping. It's far more than that. Don't get bogged in do's and don'ts, you'll go nowhere.
Holy obedient living is following Jesus. It's about serving others from the heart. It's about genuinely caring for others. It's about doing what v22 says,
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
That's what obedience looks like. It's us genuinely taking care of each other in love. How many opportunities there are to show our obedience. Obedience is showing love, make a meal for someone that you know would appreciate it. Ring those you haven't seen in a while. Tell them you've missed them. Let's encourage each other. That's showing love, that's Christian obedience. Peter tells his readers they've been born again through the word of God which lives and abides forever. That's Jesus. He's the living word. Our hope is grounded in him. Our desire to live the Christian life of obedience is tied up in the hope of our new birth. The living hope of eternity. Obedience is sticking with Jesus, following his lead. Obedience is bringing God the glory by loving one another. Obedience is putting off the old evil desires and living by the Spirit who gave us our new life. And we work at it by setting our hope fully on the grace to be given to us when Jesus Christ is revealed.
In v1 of ch2 we get a sneak preview of what holy living looks like. We get a list of actions not worth pursuing. It says,
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
It's funny isn't it? As part of Christian suffering we often have to put up with others mistreating us using all these very things. We cop malicious treatment and all sorts of evil things being said against us. We see it in the media all the time. But we're not to live like that. We're to lay it aside. Get rid of it. That's a big ask. It's not easy. But we have new life in Jesus. This new life gives us both the ability and the desire to work at putting off these sinful character traits.
Peter uses the baby illustration to make the point. Look at v2&3. He says,
like new born babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
With all the babies around at the moment I don't have to explain this one too much. Babies have to taste the milk and like it before they'll desire it and grow. Same with us, it's only after we've tasted that the Lord is good that we desire to grow in holiness and fight against sin. We've been given a living hope. It's experiencing this new life which causes us to really desire to feed from God's word and grow as Christians.
So lets wrap it all up. Lets tie all the loose ends together and step back and see the big picture. The first thing to note is that the Christian life is pretty much the opposite of the current attitude that we see in society today. Our new birth means we set our hearts on a future glory not on instant satisfaction.
This hope is what's to keep us going when times are tough. Our glorious future will make the present sufferings seem insignificant. This hope is what's to keep us going through doubts and fears. Our glorious future is based on a solid foundation, the Old Testament prophets. This hope is what's to keep us going in our everyday living. Our glorious future motivates us to obedience and holiness.
So can I encourage you to live out each day with your heart set on that glorious future, the everlasting inheritance that is kept in heaven for you. Let this hope motivate you in Christian living. Even when times are tough. Be a rebel and resist the urge to follow the instant satisfaction approach. Hang out for the greater reward because it'll be worth it.