With Jesus Comes Hope 1Peter 1:3-9
You’ve heard me mention my friend the devote atheist before. We were talking not that long ago and again he was asking me how I can believe in God. Just look around he said, we have a war that threatens to bloom into World War 3, weather patterns are changing, and we’ve seen stronger hurricanes, flooding rain, and yearlong droughts. He pointed out that across the globe as well as here people find things to hate about each other and they act out violently against each other over things like lifestyles, ethnic backgrounds and religious or political differences. He tells me he doesn’t believe God exists or if he does he’s distant and uncaring.
Over the years there have been well over 500 predictions about the end of the world, all because of the circumstances at the time, because of how helpless people felt at the time. I know with prices going up and violence seemingly spreading everywhere we can start to feel a sense of helplessness. When I think of the world in a helpless state I think of the world Jesus was born into.
Today we see churches emptying; in fact we live in an area of the United States with the highest percent of people claiming not to be religious. When Jesus was born Israel had just about lost its faith. The population was under harsh Roman rule, their King and religious leaders were corrupt and more interested in power and lining their pockets than having any real interest in the people they oversaw. The old prophets of Jeremiah and Isaiah spoke of a Messiah but that was so long ago it was almost forgotten. In fact there hasn’t been a prophet speaking for God since Malachi and that was 400 years ago. This was the world Jesus was born into.
Today is the first week of Advent, that season of the year when we prepare ourselves for the coming of our savior on Christmas. During the weeks of Advent we look at four attributes that Jesus brought into the world, today we are looking at hope.
The beginning of Luke’s Gospel has the story of Jesus birth. It starts when the angel of God comes and speaks with Mary; Luke 1:30, “Do not be afraid Mary; you have found favor with God.”
The angel Gabriel was speaking to Mary but he could have been speaking to us. Do not be afraid. When we see the world or our lives as hopeless, fear enters as its companion. We are creatures and creations of God. Psalm 8:5 says “You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” Luke 1:30, “Do not be afraid…you have found favor with God.” We all live with some fear in our lives but when we look at the vast expanse of the universe, the infinity of heaven and time; what we should be afraid of is coming to the end of our earthly life and facing a blank and empty non-existence.
The good news is now we have hope for hope was born in a dusty manger with a baby born into a poor family. And the hope that came onto earth that day is not the hope we usually think of which is more of a wish, I hope we will have a mild winter. Christian hope is a belief, belief in what has happened.
Jesus is born and I have hope, hope in my salvation, hope in my future in heaven. My belief, my faith, my hope gives me the courage to not be afraid, the courage to know that despite what I might go through I have favor with God and I will be OK.
And how should I respond to the hope of Christ? Our reading tells us that in verse 3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Peter shows us that like him we should be blessing our Lord, we should be praising our Lord; we should be exclaiming our adoration for our Lord. Lord, thank you for loving us from the day of creation. Thank you for never turning your back on us. Thank you for holding us in favor and giving us a glorious future in heaven.
The second part of verse 3 says, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” All humanity is born into our existence here on earth but the hope that was born in that manger is our birth into the glory of God. Peter is expressing his adoration of God not just for his redemption but because of the resurrection of Jesus. Thank you Lord Jesus for I know that because you died and rose from the grave, because I believe on you I will also rise and live in glory. Thank you God for opening this path to your peace, your love and your grace.
Verse 4 has Peter expressing his adulation for the place God set up for him in heaven, “…an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…” So Peter shows us we are to be hopeful for God’s redemption, for his resurrection and for his reservation; our reserved place in heaven. Peter calls this a living hope.
I have hope in my life that goes beyond wishing for good fortune. The hope in my life is cemented in the creator and his accomplishments. Does this mean we should all be floating on air all the time? As deep as my faith is that is not how I would describe myself.
Peter knows this; Peter knows life can be hard. But Peter also knows a Christian’s hope lies in the future; Verse 6, “In all this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief and trials.” No matter what we face; poverty, disability, loss, these trials should not dampen the hope we feel in our ultimate future, that is the place reserved for us in heaven through our hope and trust in Christ Jesus.
My friend likes to ask me “If you belief heaven is secure why does God let you go through hard time?” First, I do not believe God causes or creates hardships in our life; they are just part of living in this world. But why does he let us face them?
It’s easy to have faith when everything goes perfectly but faith and trust during adversity, that shows the world the power of Christ and the cross. Faith and trust in adversity brings glory to God; verse 7, “These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith…may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” God doesn’t make bad things happen in our lives but he expects us to have faith, to have hope in him even when faced with those bad times.
Jesus knew hunger, thirst, pain, loss and yet he never wavered from hope in God’s ultimate plan. When I say Jesus is the example we should look to as we live our lives I don’t just mean in prayer. Whatever we face in one form or another Jesus did too. Look to scripture to find peace in Jesus as your face hardship. When I faced our son’s passing my unwavering faith and hope in God spoke louder than any sermon I could write.
Now I understand how someone can say today you’re quoting Peter. He saw Jesus miracles first hand, he heard Jesus as a powerful and engaging speaker of course he has that level of faith but we haven’t seen or heard Jesus directly. What about us?
In verse 8 Peter talks to all the future generations, “Though you have not seen him, you love him…you believe in him.” And then again he tells us what this hope in Jesus gains us, “(you) are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
OK, maybe when Jared passed I wasn’t exactly filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy but faith was ever present. Jesus was born in a dusty manger because that’s where men need him and that’s where hope in God was needed most. Jared’s addiction was his dusty manger and hope in Christ eventually gave me the understanding that God ended his pain, ended his addiction and made him healthy and whole.
Christmas is coming and we need to spend time seeing that dusty manger for what it is; hope. And we need to see what that hope is. It’s not a wish for something better. Our hope in Jesus is as Peter says in verse 9; “...you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
This is advent, the time of year when we prepare for Christmas. We happily put up lights and trees; we buy presents and plan dinners and parties. There’s nothing wrong with this and we can happily do them but as followers of Jesus there is more than this for us to do. We need to spend time preparing our minds and hearts for the true miracle of Christmas. With the birth of Jesus hope has come in the world.
Hope in God, a Christian’s true hope is the belief and trust in what was accomplished at the cross. Jesus birth gives us hope for the future. It gives us the belief that our struggles in life are temporary and that our reality is salvation and eternity in heaven. And it is this hope that gives us the strength to face and overcome trials in our life. It is this hope that is our motivation to work at making our world a better place.
It is my prayer that this Christmas season we all really experience the hope born in that dusty manger over 2000 years ago.
Amen