Living Hope

Verse 3, it's printed in your worship guide.

You also can find it on your phone.

You can find it potentially in your Bible if you brought that with you.

And as we come to this, remember that this is God's word.

And God tells us that his word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

In other words, God has not left us to walk alone in the dark, stumbling.

But instead, he's given us his word to show us the way to go.

And so that's why we read it starting with verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Verse 4, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.

Kept in heaven for you, verse 5,

who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Father in heaven, we praise you and we thank you.

And we thank you that you haven't left us alone, but that you've spoken to us.

We thank you that your word is powerful.

That it's your word that brings dead things to life.

It was your word that created the world.

It's your word that called us to faith in you.

And it's your word that you give to us this morning.

We ask that you would help us as we come to it.

That you would speak to us clearly in ways, in words that we can understand.

Because you know that we're but dust.

We ask that you would do that now and that we would leave here loving you more and knowing you more.

And believing that you are worth it and that you're our Father.

We ask these things not because we deserve them, but because Jesus has earned them for us.

And so we ask them in his name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

So a few weeks ago before we started 1 Peter, we looked at, I believe it was Psalm 133, which talked about the beauty and glory of relationships.

And if you've been in the church for a while, you've lived in communities, you know there are varying levels of relationships, especially when it comes to closeness.

There's people that maybe you just greet them on Sunday morning.

There's people maybe they come over to your house if you invite them.

And then maybe you've gotten to kind of the highest level of a relationship.

You have people who they'll drop by your house even if you don't invite them.

Now hopefully you have that kind of relationship with them.

There are certain people that have folks in their lives who drop by to their house uninvited even though they don't have that kind of relationship.

That's a different discussion.

But you know as we grow in community, there's people that we become closer and closer with.

We live life with them together in their houses constantly.

Some of you in this church have those kinds of relationships.

Peter, writing this letter, had that kind of relationship with Jesus.

He had a drop by the house anytime kind of relationship.

In fact, it was probably more than that.

We have indications in the Gospels that Peter and Jesus lived in the same house.

When Jesus was in Capernaum where he met Peter, he would probably spend his time at Peter's family's house.

At one point, they were so close that Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law.

Now if you're like me, sometimes when you open up your phone, if you swipe to a certain section, it will give you suggestions about what you should do.

It will list maybe apps that you open a lot.

I'll get suggestions about who I should be texting.

And it's usually based on who I've been texting a lot recently.

When Peter opened up his phone, he got a suggestion to text Jesus.

When Jesus, if he lived today, opened up his iPhone, he may have gotten the suggestion to text Peter, James, or John.

Because those are the ones that were closest to him.

And so Peter had this incredibly close relationship with Jesus.

And there's another thing that's less known about Peter that people don't always tell you.

And that's Peter has a verb that goes next to his name constantly in the Gospels.

And that's the verb remember.

Peter is the one who remembers.

And that's why church history tells us that Peter was the source for much of the Gospel of Mark.

Because his job was to remember what Jesus taught his disciples.

It's with that in mind that we come to verse 3.

Peter tells us, according to his great mercy that's talking about God, he has caused us to be born again.

Peter is telling us what he learned from Jesus.

We read it as our preparation to worship this morning from John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Jesus has this conversation with Nicodemus about what it means to love him and follow him.

And he says it's like being born again.

In other words, becoming a Christian is so radical, it's like becoming a whole new person.

There's a whole new identity and reality that you exist in.

And there's all kinds of things I could tell you about the new birth.

We could spend multiple sermons talking about what it means to be born again.

What this is that Jesus was teaching that Peter remembered.

But Peter gives us a couple things to focus on specifically in this passage.

First of all, it's that he's been born again, not just in general, but we've been born again.

This is still verse 3, to a living hope.

And he's also going to tell us, verse 4, that we've been born again to an inheritance.

When I was growing up, like some of you, I, during the summers, I would go to summer camp.

And this was in the forest of West Virginia, right outside the George Washington National Park.

And my brothers and I loved going to camp.

It was one of our favorite things.

In fact, we loved it so much that there was one year, one of us had a camp-themed birthday party

where we tried to reenact what it was like to be at camp for our birthday party

because we just thought it was the best.

We looked forward all year to going to camp.

We loved being there with the other kids, doing all these fun things outdoors.

And so it was wonderful, except for one year.

So I grew up going to camp, elementary school.

And then I got to junior high, and I was no longer able to go to the camp

where you just, you know, shoot guns and shoot bows and arrows, but you had to pick an activity.

And so I decided that year I was going to go to a go-kart camp.

And so you'd show up for the week, and you'd have different teams of kids,

and they would build a go-kart, and the goal was at the end of the week you'd get to race it.

Now that sounds wonderful.

It was terrible.

And it was terrible because this was a camp on a shoestring budget,

and so part of what they would do is they'd break up these teams,

and they'd have different volunteers who would lead them.

So you'd have dads who had a background in mechanics who'd take a group of kids,

and they'd say, okay, we're going to build this go-kart, this dad's going to lead this go-kart, so-and-so.

I got on a team with a dad and his son and me.

And this dad and his son had an amazing time building their go-kart that week.

However, they didn't invite me to help them with things.

I mean, I was there.

I was 12 or 13 at the time.

I didn't really know exactly how to self-advocate, you know.

I would ask them at times, what can I do?

There wasn't really a lot.

And this father that I was working with wasn't the greatest man in the world.

At one point, he would tell us, you know, these other teams,

they're not going to win at the end of the week

because they don't understand how wheel alignment works in the front of go-karts.

Like, we're 12.

We're not supposed to understand how wheel alignment works in the front of go-karts.

It was terrible.

On top of that, there was this other punk in my cabin.

And he and I had interacted in previous summers,

and he let me know that he had some tricks.

He and his dad had figured out, you know, the right way to race go-karts.

He was not going to share that with me, however.

Capone, you're not going to get in on our secrets.

It was awful.

It was my worst week at camp.

It was awful day after day, feeling like I was excluded from these people.

I didn't belong right there of a different birth than I am.

There's a father and a son.

I can't break into this.

I'm supposed to be having this amazing week building go-karts.

And yet it turned out to be quite the opposite, right?

I was feeling out of place in this situation.

Wasn't doing what I was supposed to be doing.

I was shut out.

But I had one hope.

With this camp, you got dropped off on a Sunday,

and it went all the way until the next Saturday.

And I knew that when Saturday came, there was a road in the camp,

a dirt gravel road that ran across a creek on a bridge,

and then it ran into camp.

And I knew that on Saturday morning,

rolling down that road with dirt blowing behind it,

there was going to be a red manual transmission,

1998 Subaru Forester rolling down the road,

probably in second gear.

And behind the wheel of that 1998 red Subaru Forester

was going to be Charles Capone Jr., my father.

And no matter what happened that week,

I knew at the end, he was going to come and pick me up.

And that wasn't a faint hope.

It was a living hope.

It was a living hope because my father was alive.

It was also a living hope because I knew my father's character,

and Charles Capone Jr. was not going to be late on Saturday morning to pick me up.

He had picked me up in previous years from camp.

He was my father, right?

He loved me, he cared for me.

There was no way he was going to forget that that was his day

to come to camp and give me full and final salvation from this situation.

Why does it matter that God is our father?

No matter what happens in this world,

no matter what the people reading this letter face,

they know no matter what,

God is going to come for them.

And he is going to give them,

verse 5,

a salvation

that's going to be revealed in the last time.

And when he comes back,

he is not coming back

on a red manual transmission,

1998 Subaru Forester,

but he is coming back,

as the Old and the New Testament tells us,

on the clouds with all authority

and power and glory and dominion.

And as Philippians 2,

chapter 2, verse 10 tells us,

every knee is going to bow down

and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

Because God is our father,

we know that he is coming for us.

And no matter what happens in this world,

nothing can change that.

It's according to his great mercy.

This is the word from the Old Testament

that we've translated as God's never stopping,

never giving up, unbreaking,

always and forever love.

He's called us to be born again to a living hope.

It's not a dead hope.

It's a living hope because Jesus is alive.

It's happened through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Because Jesus died and actually rose from the dead,

these people have real hope in real time

because God is their father.

As they look back to something

that actually happened in the past

that Jesus died and rose from the dead,

they can also look forward

to a real historical event

that is going to happen when Jesus comes back.

And so they can live in the present

with hope and faith

no matter what's going on around them.

Now Peter would have known

that Jesus rose from the dead.

And he would have known

because he would have met Jesus

after he rose from the dead.

Peter interacted with Jesus.

He walked with Jesus.

One thing that Peter's going to tell us

later in this letter

is that we need to have a reason

for the hope that's within us.

In other words,

we need to know why it is

that we believe that Jesus rose from the dead.

We need to know why we have a living hope.

Now of course ultimately we have this living hope

because God works it in us through his spirit,

but of course there's many things

that encourage us that he uses.

One of them is the testimony of Peter.

Remember that Peter is a middle class fisherman,

small business owner,

and after Jesus died

he could have easily gone back to that business.

There's no indication

that there was a tank

in the fish business in Capernaum

during the couple years

when Peter was following Jesus.

In fact, we were told

at the very end of the Gospel of John

that Peter did that at one point.

He went back to his fishing boat.

Had Jesus not risen from the dead,

Peter would have had every reason

to go back to his old life.

But instead, because he knew

and had experienced

that Jesus had risen from the dead,

he chose something

that was much more challenging,

hard, and difficult.

He chose something

that was going to be less lucrative

for him financially.

Instead of going back to his job

as a fisherman,

he followed after Jesus,

preaching about him.

We see this in the book of Acts

and suffering for him.

Peter's testimony

is part of the reason

that we have confidence

in Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

Why else would Peter,

a man who hated suffering,

choose to suffer?

And why else would Peter,

a man who could have gone back

to fishing,

instead transition

to preaching the Gospel

and being persecuted for it?

Peter does it

because he knows

that God is his Father

who has caused him

to be born again

to a living hope

through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

from the dead.

And so that no matter what,

he has a salvation

that's ready to be revealed

in the last time.

If we have faith in Christ,

the same is true of us.

Saying that God is our Father

is not a sentimental story

to end a sermon.

And it's not a line

in a devotional

to make us have a warm feeling.

But it is the actual reality

and fact

that we need to know

to give us hope,

to look forward

as we live now

to what God is going to do

in the future

and we have confidence in that

because of what he has done

in the past.

And that is how

we're going to be able

to do

what Peter is going to tell us

at the very end

of chapter 5

which is stand firm.

That's why it matters

that God

is our Father.

That's not the only thing

that this new birth

has given, however.

When I was at this camp

and things weren't going well,

this was in West Virginia.

Now I didn't live

in West Virginia.

I lived in Southern Maryland

right outside Washington, D.C.

And while I was at camp,

my home in Southern Maryland

still existed.

Imagine that.

I had a room in this home.

That room could not be touched

by anything that happened

at the camp.

I had relationships

at this home.

I had a family.

There is nothing

that happened

in West Virginia

that could touch that.

When Peter says,

we've been born again

to an inheritance

that is imperishable,

undefiled,

and unfading,

kept in heaven for you,

he is saying

not only

what we've already seen

that no matter

what happens,

God is coming for us.

He's also saying

that no matter

what happens,

there is nothing

in this world

that can touch

or affect

what God

is preparing,

has prepared,

and is securing

for us.

Nothing that happens

to these readers

in modern-day Turkey

as they're experiencing

persecution

as Christians

will affect

their inheritance.

It cannot be touched.

It's imperishable.

Nothing can ruin it.

It's undefiled.

Sin doesn't have

any effect.

It's unfading.

No matter how long

it's there,

it will still be

as beautiful as ever,

and it's kept

in heaven for you.

When I was in

West Virginia,

just because I was

separated from my

home in Maryland

did not make that

home any less real.

When we live

in this world

feeling out of place

and facing opposition

from the world

and in the world,

the fact that we

cannot see

and are not

with our inheritance

from God

right now

does not make it

any less real.

The salvation

that's talked about

in verse 5

is not just

a salvation from,

but it's a salvation to.

My Father

was not just coming

in his Subaru Forester

to rescue me

and provide

a salvation

to be revealed

in the last time

from West Virginia,

but he was also

taking me back

to Maryland.

The readers

of this letter

are not just going

to experience

salvation

from

their struggles

in this world.

They're also being

delivered to

this full

and robust

salvation

that includes

their inheritance.

They have become,

because God

has adopted them

through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ

from the dead,

brothers and sisters

of Jesus

and sons

and daughters

of God,

which means

that they are heirs.

Everything that God

has given

his son

belongs to them

as well.

That's the full

salvation.

Of course,

the salvation

includes being removed

from the penalty

of sin,

right?

It's not less than that,

but it's more than that.

It's taking part

in the world

that God has prepared

that no longer

has the effects

or presence of sin.

It's like the new creation.

It's like the original creation

in Genesis 1 and 2

and even better.

And not only is it even better,

it's like the creation

that never had Genesis 3.

No sin was introduced.

That's what these people

have to look forward to.

Why does it matter

that God's their father?

It matters that God's their father

because he has given them

and is and will give them

an inheritance.

And it's an inheritance

that cannot be touched

by anything

in this world.

It's kept in heaven,

verse 4,

for you.

Now, how do they access

all these privileges

of the sons and daughters

of God?

Peter tells us

that this is something

that happens through faith,

verse 5.

Now, we've talked about faith before.

Remember, faith is three things.

It's, first of all,

knowledge.

It's knowing the facts,

knowing that Jesus died

for our sins

and he rose again from the dead,

that he's paid the penalty

that we deserve

and therefore we're going

to have life with him.

It's not just knowledge,

though it's belief.

It's actually believing

that those things are true.

And then finally,

it's not just belief,

but trust,

living as if those things

are true.

And what does that faith

look like?

Well,

it looks like

Peter kind of faith.

Peter had so much faith

that when Jesus

was suffering

and praying,

Peter fell asleep.

Peter had so much faith

that when Jesus

was going to the cross

and people asked Peter

if he knew Jesus,

Peter said no

because he was afraid

of being persecuted.

And Peter had so much faith

that after Jesus

went back to heaven

and he'd been given

his mission

to evangelize,

there was one point

where he avoided the Jews

because he thought

it would embarrass him.

And so Paul

had to come

and rebuke him.

That's the kind of faith

Peter had.

That's the kind of faith

that God uses,

faith that is imperfect,

flawed,

and faltering

to provide

his sons

and his daughters

with salvation

and an inheritance.

And that faith

God used

in Peter's life

to grow him.

And so he also

had other kinds of faith.

He had the kind of faith

in the book of Acts

where he boldly

proclaimed the gospel

even when it led him

to suffering.

And Peter had

the kind of faith

that at the end

of his life

he was willing

to be crucified

upside down

because he did not believe,

this is what church history

tells us,

he did not believe

that he was worthy

of suffering a death

like Jesus did.

He believed he needed

something that was

a step further

going upside down.

In other words,

it is Peter's faith,

verse 5,

but also,

verse 5,

God's power.

these people

facing the potential

of loss

in this world,

perhaps wondering

if they have

what it takes

to stand strong

and remain firm,

have the example

of Peter

who's writing to them

who failed

over and over again

as an illustration

of God's power

to his people

in their weakness,

guarding them

and holding them firm.

We're told in verse 4,

this inheritance

is kept in heaven

for you,

so the inheritance

is being guarded

who by God's power

you are also

being guarded

through faith

for salvation

ready to be revealed

in the last time.

In other words,

we can't lose

our inheritance

because if we have

faith in Christ,

God refuses

to lose us.

We cannot lose

our inheritance

because God

refuses to lose us.

It is by faith

our faith,

but it's not

our power.

It was Peter's faith,

not Peter's power.

the beginning

of his time

with Peter,

Jesus says to him,

calls him,

he calls him

to follow after him.

And then Peter

fails dramatically

as I've already

discussed

in this sermon.

And so he goes

back to what he knows,

he goes back

and fishes again.

This is at the end

of the Gospel of John.

And Jesus comes

and finds him

and performs

the same miracle

that he did

at the very beginning.

He causes Peter again

to catch a whole boat

full of fish

when he can't catch anything.

And then he makes

Peter breakfast

over the same

type of charcoal

that was in the fire

that Peter was standing by

when he betrayed Jesus.

And finally,

at the end,

Peter asks him

about another disciple

and Jesus says,

Peter,

don't worry about

that other disciple.

You follow me.

Peter's faith,

God's power,

calling him

over and over again

despite Peter's

failures and mistakes.

It is Jesus

who comes to him

with his grace,

the same grace

that Peter offers

to his readers now,

helping them understand

why it matters

that God is their father

and why that's not

a sentiment

but a true

and living hope

that they can,

like he has,

stake their lives on.

And so he offers

that same power

to anyone else

who is willing

to follow after him

like Peter

in faith.

Why does it matter

that God is our father?

it matters

because he is coming

back for us

to provide a salvation

in the last time.

And it also,

and there's nothing

in this world

that happens

that can threaten that

and take us from it.

It also matters

that he is our father

because he has provided

an inheritance for us

and no matter

what is taken away

from us in this world,

that inheritance

cannot be touched.

And finally,

God being our father

matters because

like my father

driving down the road

in West Virginia,

it is not us

and our faith

that seek out God.

But like with Peter,

it is God

and his power

that seeks out us

and guards us

through faith

for salvation.

And so that's why

we can say

as Peter begins here,

verse 3,

blessed be the God

and father

of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

Please pray with me.

Father in heaven,

we thank you

that you are our father.

And we thank you

that we can approach you

boldly,

knowing that you guard us.

And while it's our

small and weak

and feeble

and faltering faith,

it is your power

that holds us

and keeps us,

we ask that you

would help us,

that you'd remind us

of the hope

that you hold out to us

and you'd help us

to stand firm.

We ask these things

not because we have

earned them,

but because Jesus

has earned them for us

and so we ask them

in his name.

Amen.