1 Peter 3:13-17 (ESV)
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is
good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be
blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your
hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense
to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with
gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when
you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to
shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be
God's will, than for doing evil.”
This last Sunday, Pastor
Kyle continued in our church’s on-line sermon series through the Book of 1
Peter. He thought that is particular passage was timely in this day and age. He
believes that the world is crying out for hope today. Hope is defined as a
desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of
obtaining it, or a belief that it is
obtainable. Hope differs from wish and desire in this, that it implies some
expectation of obtaining the good desired, or the possibility of possessing it.
Hope therefore always gives pleasure or joy; whereas wish and desire may
produce or be accompanied with pain and anxiety. Confidence in a future event;
the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on
God's gracious promises.
The foundation of every
Christian’s hope is, in your hearts honor
Christ the Lord as holy. Yet, only a Christian can find lasting hope in the
storms of life, because only Jesus can give us true hope. Self-help without
Jesus will ultimately lead to disappointment because human beings cannot give
us true hope. God offers true and lasting hope to everyone who would simply
repent of sin and put their trust in Him, with Jesus, the blessed Redeemer at
the center of their life. Realize that we cannot give
hope that we do not have. Many people have good helps, but help is not lasting
hope. A hope-filled life can only come from the Lord. He is the reason for the
hope that is in every Christian.
Look at this world around us
now; it is full of strife, broken relationships, bias and prejudices, turmoil,
financial hardships, wars, diseases and sin. This reminds us all that there is
an expiration date at the end of all our names and all of us end up social
distancing at six feet permanently someday, while our whole life is represented
by a dash on a headstone. It is depressing, if you don’t know Jesus and have a
lasting hope that there is more than this life on earth. If we are looking for
hope here, then we are never going to find it. Even those Believers, who walk
with the Lord, have to make the decision daily to seek Jesus to receive hope
from him and impart hope to others, because we cannot give hope that do not
have. We find hope by in your hearts
honor Christ the Lord as holy. Applied to the Supreme Being (God the Father,
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit), holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate
and complete in moral character. We find hope by looking to the Holy One,
constantly. Remembering that Jesus is the holy Son of God has a hope resetting
affect upon our hearts.
John 16:33 “I
have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this
world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world.”
It is not that our problems
disappear when we pray and seek the Lord. What happens is that the Lord gives
us a new God lens to see our problems through, in light of His overarching plan
and power. In light of the holiness and power of God, the worries of our life
in this world get smaller and our hope capacity rises. The Apostle Peter spoke
to legitimate fears and worries that people deal with. The Christian church
faces persecution then and now in the world. The Apostle knew that the people
had very real reason to be afraid, but was telling them (and us today) that we
have even a greater reason to find hope. To find our hope, every one of us
needs to be seeking Jesus, the Holy One, day in and day out. It’s hard to find lasting
hope when we are not actively looking
for it.
Though our circumstances
today are tremendously different from the early Christian church, our lives are
just as filled by worries and fears. Hope comes when we remember the Holy One
and when we choose to worship God in the midst of our fears and worries.
Issues, like Corona virus and its associated consequences (home lock downs, job
layoffs, financial hardships, business closures, food and household supply
shortages, etc.) come unexpectedly around the corner and out of left field to
cause uncertainty that leads to fears and worries in life. We know Jesus and
God’s Word is in our heart, but we take our eyes off the Holy One and get
captivated by the issues of the world, so hope drops and anxiety rises. The
point is that we all have a lot of reasons to worry. We need to seek Jesus, the
Holy One, constantly to find true hope within us. And a hope-filled life is
marked by worship in the midst of our worries.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on finding Hope in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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