A Living Hope

Sis Melinda Song

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of Christmas with the community is to bring hope to the hopeless and helpless. It is a terrible thing to have no hope or to have a false hope but Christmas brings us hope. Let us look at 1 Peter, a letter which says much about hope.

1 Peter 3-7 (NIV) 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, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

On Thursday, Kenny was unable to play badminton and so he requested his friend William to captain for him and to also purchase a carton of shuttlecocks. When Kenny said he would reimburse William on Saturday, William immediately reminded Kenny the world would have ended on Friday (21 December 2012). “Then,” Kenny replied, “You won’t need the money.” William then said, “I want to spend the money first before the end comes.”

Most of us do not take the end-of-the-world prediction seriously but there are some who do.

The Star
Friday December 21, 2012

Preppers all prepared for the worst

PETALING JAYA: There are various predictions of an apocalypse today, with talk of tsunamis and earthquakes destroying buildings around the world and some claiming that a planet called Nibiru will emerge from behind the Sun and put itself on a collision course with Earth.

While most Malaysians seem to be taking these “doomsday” predictions lightly, many have stocked up on food and other essentials fearing a massive natural disaster.

“We have all read about the prediction. Whether it is true or not, we will only know for sure over the next few days. It is best to be prepared,” said a general manager of a logistics company known only as Ranjit, 55.

He believes there could be a drastic weather change and has got winter clothing ready for himself and his family. 

“It could snow in Malaysia tomorrow,” he said, adding that he would fight to survive and keep his family safe.

A Malaysian blogger, known only as Bala Joe, believes a major solar storm will bring down power grids and leave millions without electricity for months.

His storeroom is stocked with canned food, baby diapers and milk powder, a large stove as well as boxes of charcoal.

“Our water supply can last for three days and I plan to buy larger water containers,” he said, adding that his preparations went beyond Dec 21, as anything could happen any time soon.

He also carries a survival kit which he keeps in the boot of his car, in case he is not at home when disaster strikes. 

“The roads may be flooded or severely damaged, the weather may be too severe to venture out, public transportation may break down and in a worst case scenario, violent riots may break out,” he wrote in his blog. 

He suggested “preppers” keep enough food and water to last for 72 hours, a first aid kit, fire starting tool, maps and travel information and camping equipment in the bag.

On Facebook, a group called “Malaysian Doomsday Preppers” has been sharing information on surviving the day. 

Among the posts by the page administrators were “I believe in doomsday, I believe in zombie apocalypse, I believe that tsunami can happen in Malaysia, I believe a mysterious incurable epidemic can happen too. I believe, therefore I became a prepper.”

Doomsday prophecies are not uncommon and the latest was the Mayan Calendar Prophecy. Many people fail to realise is that the Mayan calendar marks the end of an age, not the end of the world. Every year we discard our old calendars and start a new one on 1 January. Like all calendars the Mayan calendar also comes to an end and then starts all over again from zero, like the odometer on your car. There is no mention or indication that it is the end-of-the-world.

Foolish people today are willing to believe such fabricated lies while they dismiss the Bible with a proven track record of fulfilled prophecies. This just goes to prove that if you do not stand for the truth, you will fall for a lie.

In our world, there are wars, terrorism, earthquakes, tsunami, nuclear contamination, hurricanes, typhoons, floods, snowstorms, famines, sicknesses, diseases, unemployment, financial crisis and future uncertainties. How can we prevent ourselves from feeling hopeless and helpless? The answer is hope.

Hope is central to our lives because we live in a fallen, imperfect world. If everything is perfect what is there to hope for? Hope is also the driving force of the things we do. Farmers plant in hope of a harvest. Children are our hope for the future so we invest in giving them the best possible education. Most of our ancestors migrated to Malaysia from China and India fueled by the hope for a better life here. Refugees risk their lives in hopes of finding a better life in safer places. Without hope, life is empty and meaningless.

An Illustration:

Dr. Victor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who was hired by the Nazis to study behavior in concentration and prisoner of war camps, testified after the war that "prisoners did not live very long after hope was lost, but that even the slightest ray of hope—the rumor of better food, a whisper in the camp that one of the guards might be somewhat kind and humane, the faintest hint of a reversal of the war in favor of the allies—was often enough to enable inmates to live for added weeks under conditions of unthinkable horror."

Hope as the world uses it refers to something that may or may not happen. There is an element of doubt in the way we use it. We hope to find a parking space. We hope to pass our exams, even when we have not studied for it.

But this is not the way the Bible uses hope. Biblical hope is an anticipation of the future but it is certain of what will take place. More than that, hope is the confident expectation of good in the future. Hope only exists in an imperfect world, where something good is lacking, or where there is uncertainty that the good one currently enjoys will be lasting. Verses like Romans 8:28 and Ecclesiastes 3:11 give us hope.

An Illustration:

Several years ago a teacher assigned to visit children in a large city hospital received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child. She took the boy's name and room number and was given instructions by the teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I'd be grateful if you could help him with his homework so he doesn't fall behind the others." It wasn't until the visiting teacher got outside the boy's room that she realized it was located in the hospital's burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain. She felt that she couldn't just turn and walk out, so she awkwardly stammered, "I'm the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs." 

The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before she could finish the profusion of apologies that immediately came out of her mouth, the nurse interrupted her: "You don't understand. We've been very worried about him, but ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though suddenly he's decided to live." The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw that teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears he expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"

What explains the difference between the uncertain hope the world believes in and Biblical hope? It lies in the object of hope. My hope for good attendance at Christmas with the community depends on our efforts to invite people and people’s willingness to come. But my hope of eternal salvation and heaven does not rest on the feeble efforts of man but on the promises and character of God who is faithful. Our hope is not mere speculation on what God might do. God has given His word regarding things that He will do. The object of hope in the Bible is God, not man. That’s the difference maker.

I. OUR LIVING HOPE IS A GIFT FROM GOD (1 PETER 1:3a)

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV) 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,

Peter praises our God and Father as the source of our spiritual life. Our new life in Christ is a gift of God. We are naturally born “children of wrath” according to Eph 2:3 but the “great mercy” of God has made enemies and objects of His righteous wrath into His precious children.

In the foolishness of my youth, before I knew Christ, I often accused God of injustice. How can he send good people to hell and allow those hypocrites in the church to enter heaven? Now I have become one of the hypocrites in the church and I realize that it’s not God’s justice I need but His great mercy.

Our hope is secure and living because our salvation is a gift from God.

II. OUR LIVING HOPE IS BASED ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST (1 PETER 1:3)

1 Peter 3 (NIV) 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,

A living hope is a hope that is alive. It is an “ever living expectation”, a confidence in God for the future, a hope that doesn't give up, a hope for life. And the basis for such a bold hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The historian Arnold Toynbee in his monumental work "The Study of History" notes that there are four kinds of saviors that have appeared on history's stage.

- the savior with a scepter who is a politician,

- the savior with a book who is a philosopher,

- the savior with the sword who is a military leader, and

- the savior who has presented himself as a demigod.

They all have succumbed to the last enemy - death. The only savior who is qualified to deliver us, bring us hope, and to save us is Jesus Christ, because He is the only one to conquer death. Jesus is alive! The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for our confidence for life beyond the grave and which makes the living of this life meaningful now.

There is one song that I will always like to sing at wake services – “Because He lives.” This is a song that is brimming with hope. “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, All fear is gone, Because I know, I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He live.” I have personally experienced faith rising as hope is re-kindled through the lyrics of this song.

Peter, the author of this book, experienced the reality of living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After Jesus' death and prior to His resurrection, the disciples saw their hopes dashed. But after the resurrection of Jesus, His disciples were "born again" in regards to their hope.          

1 Corinthians 15 makes it very clear that the reality of the resurrection is the solid basis for our own resurrection and eternal life in heaven.

- If Christ is not risen, then the apostles were liars, and our faith is vain! (1 Cor. 15:14-15)

- If Christ is not risen, we are still held guilty for our sins, no forgiveness has occurred! (1 Cor. 15:17)

- If Christ is not risen, those who have died as Christians have perished, they are lost! (1 Cor. 15:18)

- If Christ has not risen, then we do not have a "living" hope, instead we are to be pitied by others! (1 Cor. 15:19)

An Illustration:

Dr Gary Habermas is a Professor of Theology, and expert on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has debated atheists and overturned their arguments against this great truth. But in 1995 his wife Debbie was dying of stomach cancer, what good was his faith then?

He relates the story to Lee Stroble saying; “This was the worst thing that could possibly happen.” He turned and looked straight at me. “But you know what was amazing? My students would call me – not just one but several of them – and say, 'At a time like this, aren't you glad about the Resurrection?' As sober as those circumstances were, I had to smile for two reasons. First, my students were trying to cheer me up with my own teaching. And second, it worked.”

“It was a horrible emotional time for me, but I couldn't get around the fact that the resurrection is the answer for her suffering. I still worried; I still wondered what I'd do raising four kids alone. But there wasn't a time when that truth didn't comfort me.”

“Losing my wife was the most painful experience I've ever had to face, but if the Resurrection could get me through that, it can get me through anything. It was good for 30 A.D., it's good for 1995, it's good for now, and it's good beyond that.”

Habermas locked eyes with mine. “That's not some sermon,” he said quietly. “I believe that with all my heart. If there's a resurrection, there's a heaven. If Jesus was raised, Debbie was raised. And I will be someday, too. Then I'll see them both.” [Source: Lee Stroble. The Case for Christ, Chapter 13]

What gets us through when we are faced with life's difficulties? It's holding on to a living hope. As Gary Habermas learned; “if Jesus was raised, I am raised.” Jesus said in John 14:19, “Because I live, you also will live.”

We have a living hope placed in our hearts by our living saviour, Jesus Christ.

III. OUR LIVING HOPE IS ACTIVATED WHEN WE REALIZE THE RICHES OF OUR INHERITANCE (1 PETER 1:4)

1 Peter 1:4 (NIV)  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 

Our new life does not just bring us a negative benefit (being forgiven of our sin), it is also brings us a positive benefit: we are given an inheritance from God.

When we think of an inheritance we think about a gift from a family member or friend that may be property, money, or various items of value.  In each case it is a treasure that we did not earn. 

Our salvation and the hope of heaven are often called “an inheritance” in the New Testament and the Holy Spirit is given to us as the “guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14).

A physical inheritance is never certain. Fortunes can easily be dissipated, diluted or lost, Peter uses four terms to describe our heavenly inheritance that demonstrate its certainty.

1. IT DOES NOT PERISH meaning "not liable to corruption or decay, imperishable.” There is no expiry date to it.  It is not like our cars that break down or houses that require repair.

2. IT DOES NOT SPOIL meaning "undefiled, unsoiled. “ Undefiled means it has no dark side.  It is pure. To soil means to stain with colour or smear with mud.

Unlike my daughter who is a QC specialist, I often end up being disappointed with the things I buy because there is some defect that I have failed to notice. In contrast, our heaven inheritance can never be spoiled. It will never disappoint us.

3. IT DOES NOT FADE meaning "unfading, perennial, perpetual.” The word is a variation of "amaranth" which was the name of a mythical flower whose bloom was perpetual and whose loveliness never faded.

We bought some orchids because the blooms were so lovely but the flowers faded away and the plant never bloomed again. Then we saw Priscilla posting some photos of beautiful orchids in her garden. So we asked her the secret of having such lovely blooms. Then we found out that she has just bought the plants! We’ll wait a few months to see whether she has found the secret of flowering orchids or not.

    

Our heavenly inheritance is beautiful, and will never ever diminish in its beauty. It will not rust, fade, or wither like so many things do here on earth. In verse 23 & 24 of this chapter, the apostle contrasts the “imperishable seed” of our spiritual life with our physical bodies which are like the “the grass (that) withers, and the flowers (that) fall”.

4. IT IS KEPT IN HEAVEN "Kept" means "to watch, to observe, to guard, protect, to reserve, set aside.” Our inheritance is kept, guarded, shielded, protected from danger in the heavens by God Himself. Jesus said; “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand." (John 10:28,29).

Furthermore, our inheritance is reserved in heaven - Out of our own hands, so we cannot loose it; out of the reach of men, so they cannot corrupt it; and away from the grasp of Satan, so he cannot destroy it. And this inheritance is reserved in heaven, for you, for all those who put their faith in the Resurrected Christ.

This inheritance from God (which involves what is given us in this life and in the life to come) is not like the treasures of the world that lose their value, rust, break, or go bad. Many people sell their souls to get these kinds of treasures but Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

IV. OUR LIVING HOPE IS ACTIVATED WHEN WE REALIZE THE SECURITY OF OUR SALVATION

1 Peter 1:5 (NIV)  who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Not only does God keep heaven for us; He keeps us for heaven. If we know the sinfulness of our own hearts; we know, that it is only the power of God that could keep us.

The word "shielded” is a military term. It means "to guard, protect by a military guard, either to prevent hostile invasion, or to keep the inhabitants of a besieged city from flight"      

Peter tells us that we are kept “through faith”. We receive salvation by faith (Eph. 2:8). And here we are kept for salvation through faith. Ours is a life of faith. “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).

Furthermore, this salvation is “ready to be revealed." It's already prepared. Our place in heaven is ready, but for the moment it is hidden. It will eventually be revealed, uncovered, disclosed.

This disclosure will be “in the last time.” Peter uses some other terms in this letter to describe the same thing. He calls it “the revelation of Jesus Christ” and “when His glory is revealed” and the “appearance of the Chief Shepherd”. This consummation of our salvation is directly linked to the personal return of Jesus Christ when “every eye shall see him” (Rev 1:7). “When he appears” says 1 John 3:2, “ we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

There are 3 stages of salvation.

1. Justification–when a Holy God declares a believing sinner to be righteous, and He accepts him because Christ has paid for his sins on the cross. God then sets that believing sinner free from the penalty of sin.

2. Sanctification–when God sets the believer aside for His purposes to be used to express the life of the resurrected Christ. This sets us free from the power of sin. This does not mean we are sinless. Whenever I sin, I have an instant realization that I didn't have to sin; that the Living God had provided the power to enable me to walk out of that situation, but I choose not to. I made the wrong choice, but I know I could have gotten out of it.

3. Glorification (what Peter is writing about in these verses)–the divine act of a holy God, whereby a believer at his physical death is removed from time and space to a spiritual heavenly kingdom to live in his new body before the Lord and for the glory of the Lord forever. That is when the believer is set free from the presence of sin.

CONCLUSION

Someone said, “You can live for a month without food. You can live for almost a week without water. You can live for five minutes without air. But you can’t live a second without hope.” The wonder of following Christ is that our hope can never be taken from us. It’s as constant as Jesus. “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21).

How can we maintain a living hope ?

First, by realizing that our living hope is a gift of God. God is the source of our hope. It is a gift of God. We don’t have to churn up hope.

Second, by realizing our living hope is based on the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our lives. The power is Christ Himself. He will provide all the power necessary to cope with reality and to cope with outward circumstances.

Third, our living hope is activated when we realize the riches of our inheritance. We have the Living God residing in us and we can come to Him at any time and draw from His rich resources.

Fourth, our living hope is activated when we realize that our salvation is secure. "No one is able to snatch you out of My Father's hand," Jesus promised.

An Illustration:

On April 5th, 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo for his political activities against the German Nazi regime. He had been speaking out against the Nazis, but eventually his words caught up with him. He saw that the church of Jesus Christ was being persecuted and that his country was heading toward the abyss, and he decided to do something about it. Looking back, he felt he had become involved in some situations that he perhaps should have avoided.

Two years later, he found himself facing the death sentence. On the day when the sentence was to be carried out, a Sunday, he led a service in the prison which housed men of various nationalities. One prisoner, an English army officer who was also facing the death sentence but was later set free, wrote these words describing the last day of Bonhoeffer's life:

Bonhoeffer always seemed to me to spread an atmosphere of happiness and joy over the least incident, and profound gratitude for the mere fact that he was alive... He was one of the very few persons I have ever met for whom God was real and always near... On Sunday, April 8, 1945, Pastor Bonhoeffer conducted a little service of worship and spoke to us in a way that went to the heart of all of us. He found just the right words to express the spirit of our imprisonment, and the thoughts and resolutions it had brought us. He had hardly ended his last prayer when the door opened and two civilians entered. They said, "Prisoner Bonhoeffer, come with us." That had only one meaning for all prisoners--the gallows. We said good-bye to him. He took me aside: "This is the end; but for me it is the beginning of life." The next day he was hanged in Flossenburg.

Bonhoeffer was referring to his living hope when he said on the day of his execution, "This is the end, but for me it is the beginning." He knows God is waiting for him on the other side. One of my friends just lost her dad, another her mom and our Sis. Serena’s father also passed away recently. Our comfort and great hope in times of bereavement is that one day we will see our loved ones again.

Hebrews 6:19-20 (NIV)  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.

I have two questions.  First, Do you have this living hope?

And the second question is, “Are you living in light of this hope?” 

In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. . . . Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Let us evaluate our focus.  Is your focus on this world or is it on the next?  Are you swamped by life’s problems or do you have a living hope in the one who holds the future? Are you working for the earthly inheritance which will perish and fade or are you seeking the eternal inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade?  Are you living your life trusting in your power, or His?  

Let us pray.