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1 Peter 1 "Our Living Hope"
“Blessed be the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
There is a living hope, an inheritance for you! If we look at 1:24
we see that all flesh is grass. Life passes away in the blink of an
eye, and no matter how rich or famous or succesful you are you cannot
take any of it with you. Last weekend in a tragic car accident in Paris
Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fahed the son of the owner of
Harrod’s department store died. Between them both they had fame,
power and money, but none of it will go with them. But God promises
us an inheritance that will not fade away. It is incorruptible! It will
not rust, it cannot be stolen, it can’t perish in flood or fire.
The tax man won’t come and take it away. No one can sue you for
it, or take it out of your paycheck. It is reserved for you in heaven.
When you get to heaven you won’t have to wait in line to get it.
As soon as you get there an angel will step up and say, “Oh yes,
Mr. Henne, your mansion is ready for you.” It is reserved! Just
like the table at a restaurant. God has it set up, ready for you when
you arrive.
You might ask, “How does he know that I am coming?” What
if I mess up at the last minute? What if I fall into sin? He says, it
doesn’t matter! Because you are with a certain VIP. Even though
you don’t have a suit or tie, and you have no money at all, if
you are with the right person, heaven will make an exception. And folks,
there is nobody as important, nobody more glorious than Jesus! This
is God’s abundant mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
for you. So rejoice! It is like getting free tickets to the best concert
of the year, and a bodyguard to escort you to the stadium, because we
are being kept by the power of God. Not only do we have that inheritance
waiting for us in heaven, but nobody can steal it away from you enroute!
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:6-9)
Faith is what keeps us on the road to heaven. Faith is our belief
that Jesus is going to be waiting at the gate to let us in. If I didn’t
think Jesus would be there, I would not even bother to go you see, because
I know that I could not meet the dress code they have there. All those
saints dressed in pure white robes, while I have got on these filthy
rags. If Jesus wasn’t there to get me in I might as well give
up.
What God really wants is for our faith to grow. You see faith starts
with hope. It starts with that free ticket to heaven, given by grace.
Faith begins with the knowledge that Jesus loved me enough to die on
the cross for me. But like gold, if faith is tested, it starts to shine
more brightly, growing in quality. God would like to add some things
to our basic hope. First, He wants to add praise. He wants us to look
up with thankful hearts and show our love for Him. He wants to bring
us into the place where we are thanking God for everything, not just
our eternal inheritance. So to do this, God often takes away a few of
His blessings for a short time. God blesses us every day with life,
health, food, clothing, air, friends, work, and not just Christians,
but everyone. But we don’t realize that these are from God until
suddenly our health fails, or we lose our job. Then as we suffer under
these trials for a little while, God opens our eyes, and our praise
deepens.
Secondly, God wants to add honor. He wants us to give Him the place
that He deserves in our lives. Jesus is our Lord. That means that He
is our king, our boss, our master. It is not like God is a dictator
who is hungry for power. But He did make us, and He knows everything
about us. His plan for our lives is best. However, He will not force
that plan on you. Instead He lets us do what we want to do. He will
try to guide us through the Holy Spirit, but if we choose not to listen,
he lets us make our own mistakes. These oftentimes result in more of
those various trials. But through these difficult times, we learn to
give God control over our lives. We learn to take time to pray and listen
to God. We start to give Him honor.
Thirdly, God wants to add glory. We tend to think of heaven in terms
of earth. I joked before about the mansion reserved for you, but heaven
is much more wonderful than anything that we have down here. We hold
tightly to the things that we think are precious, money, things, positions,
fame. But God wants us to seek first His kingdom. We look for security
in a bank account, but God would have us trust in Him. Some of the various
trials are meant to relax our grip on the things of this world. And
as this hold relaxes, we start to see the much better things of heaven.
If we can take our eyes off of the bright lights of this world the greater
glory of heaven shines through.
And the end of this faith is joy inexpressible, salvation, because sure
enough, Jesus is waiting there at the gate for us. And because of the
various trials that we have gone through, He is not a stranger. We know
Him well because He has been with us all along.
“Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophecied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. to them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven --things which angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:10-12)
The prophets, Isaiah and Daniel and Ezekiel, searched carefully,
for this hope that would come through Christ. They prophecied of this
grace, of Christ’s suffering and of His glory. But they did not
get to enjoy them like you do. Even the angels, don’t have the
privilege of having this inheritance. The angels are not adopted through
Christ to become children of God.
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revalation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
Whenever you see a “therefore”, it is important to look
at what comes before it. Usually what you will see is what God has already
done for you. We often focus on what we should do for God. Here the
command is to be holy. But this is not the right focus. Peter has just
spent paragraphs telling us why we can be holy. Don’t skip over
it and start thinking, “Hmm, God has commanded me to be holy,
so I better try hard.” Instead, look carefully at what God is
doing already in you.
First, He has given you salvation by grace, that inheritance that noone
can take away. So He is not telling you to be holy or you won’t
get in. He is not setting up a requirement. Rather we are to be holy
as obedient children. Our holiness is not based on a test that we must
pass, or a set of rules that must be followed. Our holiness is based
on our relationship with Father God as His children. We strive to imitate
Him because we love Him.
Second, He is taking you through various trials to test your faith and
work into that faith, praise, honor and glory. So rest your mind fully
upon that grace. Be assured that God is moving you towards holiness.
“Be holy, as I am holy” As we grow in faith, and get to
know God better, we also grow in holiness.
Third, we benefit from the diligence of those who went before us. The
prophets and psalmists and gospel writers. They all learned things about
God that we can gain from. So gird up the loins of your mind. Like a
wrestler would wrap his loincloth around him securely before battle.
(Much like a sumo wrestler wraps his Omawashi tightly around him) Peter
urges us to do the same with our minds. It reminds me of the students
who put a hachimaki on when they study for exams, and it has the same
meaning. Study hard! Learn from the words of the Bible. And be sober.
Don’t be under the ” influence “ of anything else.
If you are drunk your mind is confused by the alcohol in your system.
If you want to be holy, don’t be fooled into trusting in anything
but Jesus Christ and His grace. Everything else only confuses the issue.
Instead knowing all of what Christ has done for you, eagerly learn God’s
way so that you will be ready when you meet Jesus at the gate.
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