The 1998 movie, Hope Floats, is a tale about a woman struggling to recover from her husband's infidelity. It shows how she and her child cope with the problems caused by the break up of their family and starting over. The mother, Birdie Pruitt (played by Sandra Bullock), thinks she's going to receive a makeover on a national TV talkshow, only to discover the real purpose of the program is to uncover her husband's affair with her best friend. Horrified, Birdie returns to her small-town Texas home and tries to pull life back together for herself and her daughter. Towards the end of the movie, Birdie and her husband are arguing loudly in front of their daughter about the pain, deceit, and anger his adultery has caused. She tells him, "I would have stayed with you forever. I would have turned myself inside out for you!" But Bill won't hear it. He says he finally found happiness for himself, and he's going to take it. Finally, Birdie tells him to leave since she's got the best part of him anyway, namely, their daughter Bernice. Bill turns to go, and is pursued by Bernice down the stairs and out to the car. She calls out, "I'm coming with you, Daddy!" but her dad keeps walking to the car. The girl, terrified of losing her father, tries to get in the car with him, begging, "Daddy, I need you!"--but he refuses her. He says sternly, "I promise to come back for you, but I am starting a new life with Connie now." As she screams and sobs, his raised voice has an empty ring to it as he keeps repeating, "I promise...I promise...I promise." With that he drives off, leaving Bernice completely devastated, wailing until her mom comes and picks her up. Bernice had hope. Throughout the movie she hopes that her father will finally come for her. But it is clear that will never happen. Her hope sank, for her hope was placed in an untrustworthy object, a faithless father. So little Bernice, who had hope, ends up hopeless. Consider with me another scenario, one in which the hopes and dreams of a few are dashed with the death of their friend. When the disciples gathered, barricaded behind bolted doors, they were certain that nothing good could ever come out of their lives now. The best they could do was resurrect the lives they had before Jesus died. Yet into those hopeless lives, hope was born on that first Easter morning. Peter’s hopes were soundly defeated at the Cross. The one who had hopes of defending his Lord to his very death proved to be only a boast made before his friends. But he who had hoped so boldly, failed so miserably. His hope was devastated by a girl’s question, melting his bravado, in turn denying his Lord. Into the darkness Peter ran, weeping bitterly. Hope was destroyed. The dawn could not bring hope; with the crowing of the cock he heard the echo of his curses. But some thirty years later, Peter pens a letter of hope. To those suffering the hopeless lives of pain and turmoil, Peter writes with confidence, a sure hope, a hope that holds the future in the present because it is anchored in the past. What has changed for Peter? The profound events of Christ’s Resurrection reverse the hopeless life of Peter so much so that he, because of the mercy of God the Father, can breathe hope in the hopeless. If you have ever been a stranger, felt scattered, sensed your very foundation has been destroyed and wondered if you could ever find the voice to sing God’s praises, if hope has been hard for you, then listen to how the Resurrection is the foundation for hope. We have hope!
Peter opens his letter to suffering believers with praise to God the Father for what He has done. But how can praise be uttered when life seems so unfair, so painful? Tucked in verse 3 the foundation is stated, the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. This is the basis for the hope which Peter expresses throughout his letter. First, Christ’s Resurrection spells hope for us not just because He lives, but because, by God’s mercy, we live. Far too often we are short sighted when it comes to the Resurrection. We can mouth the words that Christ who died for our sins now lives, but we miss the important connection. If the one who took our place on the Cross dies and then rises, then we have died and been risen as well. In John’s Gospel there is a powerful interchange between Jesus and Martha while Lazarus still lays rotting in the tomb. Jesus reminds her of the great truth of the Resurrection. Her response is one of detached faith, that is, faith which does not understand the ramifications of what is believed. She says in John 11:24, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." But Jesus drives home what the resurrection means when he says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’ The Resurrection of Christ is our resurrection as well. Not just at the final judgment, but now! The Resurrection of Christ means we are now raised to new life, today. The Resurrection does not just make new life possible for us, it secures new life. The Resurrection is the root, the ground, on which we can know that we have new life today, a new birth is ours. In describing this as a new birth, Peter uses the root gennesis, from which we get Genesis, beginning. When this word refers to procreation, the focus is often the father’s role in conception. Peter’s life exemplifies this new birth. The braggart who folded in fear before the Resurrection was the one who preached with bold power at Pentecost. The change was radical because his life was transformed and the key event in his life was the Resurrection of Christ. There are many times in our lives we wish we could start over; we want another try, to right our wrongs, to give it another shot. With Christ’s Resurrection we have that new birth, that fresh start we all need. This new birth secured by the resurrection is ours by our Father’s great mercy. It is a good thing, because only "great mercy" could ever save someone as despicable as me. Only "great mercy" could cover my sins. Only "great mercy" would reach down into the mud and pull me out and save me. Grace is offered to those who are worthless; mercy is offered to those who are helpless. Such was our condition before we met Jesus Christ; we were worthless and helpless. Mercy is not about not getting caught and getting away with something. It is about being caught red-handed, given a fair trial and being found guilty. It is about being sentenced to death for our horrible crime and it is about Jesus Christ—who was perfect and guilty of nothing— serving out that sentence on our behalf, even though we didn’t deserve it in any way. That is mercy, "great mercy," being made a child of mercy rather than a child of wrath. Paul describes God’s power to transform our lives in much the same way in Titus 3:5-7. When God graciously works in our lives, when He sovereignly makes us His own, the transformation is nothing less than a rebirth. The budding spring flower, the chicken hatching from its egg, are far too weak pictures to capture the radical change. Nothing but the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, the total defeat of death on the Cross and in the tomb will do to adequately communicate this powerful truth. It is Christ’s Resurrection which gives us new birth. It is the great mercy of God the Father who gives to those who are dead, new life. Romans 6 makes it clear that just as Christ died, we died with Him. It is not just a promise of sins removed, but the accomplishment, the completion of sins expunged. So also with the Resurrection – the new life is ours today. It is not just the promise of a future resurrection, a future life, but life here and now. We are now raised to new life. How will that affect the way you live now? How will than change your thinking about your life? When we wrestle with sinful thoughts, with patterns and lifestyles that we know are displeasing to God, we quickly recognize that our sins were placed on Christ on the Cross, but in addition to that, we are given a new life because of His Resurrection. We have hope for the Resurrection guarantees us a living hope - verse 3bHope is more than a wish The New Testament idea of hope is different than our ideas of hope. One may ask us: "Will the Brewers make it to the playoffs?" To which we may reply: "I don’t know; I hope so." Hope is only a desire for some future thing of which we have good reason, but not absolute certainty of it coming to pass. But this is not what the New Testament means by hope. Hope is not just a wish. In the New Testament hope is knowledge of what will be which flows out of what has been done. Hope is rooted in the past, looking to the future, thus affecting how we live today. Peter expresses this kind of hope in 1:13. Hope experiences the reality of accomplished work now, even as we await for its totality in the future. Why then modify hope with the adjective living? What does this add to the idea of living? It could operate the same as when we speak of living faith vs. dead faith. A living hope is a hope that affects our lives now; it evidences itself in how we live today. To say that our hope is alive is to say that we have a sure and confident outlook which has a divine, not a human source. That new quality of hope is generated in the believer by the new spiritual life brought about by the new birth. Peter is writing to encourage readers who face an uncertain future threatened by persecution of one degree or another. This living hope highlights the fact that the present life is by no means the limit of the believer’s expectation. The living hope in the newborn Christian has a vigor, a patient endurance, and an assurance beyond any human power: such hope can no more fail than the living God who bestows it. To say that it is living is also to say that it is a hope which grows and increases in strength. Year by year as God matures us, as God’s Word settles into our lives, we have a more clear and certain appreciation of the hope which is ours in Christ. This living hope is ours because of the Resurrection applied by God’s Word The Resurrection of Christ secures for His people both new Resurrection bodies and new spiritual life. Christians do not in this age receive new bodies but God does grant, on the basis of Jesus’s Resurrection, renewed spirits. But how does this hope arise in our hearts? We’ve seen already the importance of the Resurrection in our hope. Our hope arises because we are born again and this new birth comes because of the Resurrection. But that was 2000 years ago. Verses 23-25 helps fill in the time gap between the Resurrection of Jesus and the application of this new birth in my life today. "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.' And this is the word that was preached to you." 1 Peter 1:23-25 Connecting the historical Resurrection of Jesus and my life 2000 years later is the Word of God, namely the Gospel, "that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). So in verse 3 we are born anew through the Resurrection of Jesus, but in verse 23 we are born anew through the living and abiding Word, the news of Jesus' sdeath and Resurrection. Jesus’s Resurrection does not produce hope without our hearing about it. Before it can birth hope in our heart we have to get the news. That is why week by week in our worship we come back to this simple but life changing message: Christ died for a sinner such as me. Christ rose from the dead so that now I am accepted by God, adopted as His son, an heir to eternal life today. We have hope for the Resurrection grants us inheritance - verse 4-5 Our inheritance remains because Christ is raised - verse 4a Because Christ is raised, our inheritance will never perish. As Christ has conquered death and given us new birth now, our new life in Christ is not subject to decay; it will not wear out over time. The new car shows signs of wear with the first parking lot ding, with the first Wisconsin winter rust. Our clothes mysteriously shrink, become threadbare. Our investments dwindle away as the market turns bearish. But what is ours in Christ, all the benefits of eternal life, remain ours forever, never diminishing in the least, never showing signs of age. Because Christ is raised, our inheritance will never spoil. The term used here refers to the necessary cleanness of sacrifices. That which is spoiled is unsuited for proper worship so it was necessary that a sacrifice, in order to be accepted by God, be without spot or stain of sin. What we have been given today, reserved in heaven for us, will never change its value or usefulness. The leftovers from today’s Easter dinner will be dumped in the garbage in a week, the eggs the kids dyed will smell of sulfur if left out in the sun. But the new life we have today and the benefits God has given us for the future will never change. Despite our sin, our failings, God’s favor on us, is certain because of Christ, not because of our attempts at personal righteousness. Because Christ is raised, our inheritance will never fade. What we have will not lose an ounce of its original beauty. It’s luster will never diminish, its beauty never wane. Last week my family brought out old pictures that had been in a closet for years, so I made my kids endure a few hours of slides from my childhood. Other than illustrating that no one had taste for fashion in the 60’s and 70’s, it drove home the point that over the past 30 years what little beauty I did possess has certainly faded over the years. Our inheritance remains in heaven - verse 4b We may sometimes envy those whose financial future seems secure because of their birth. Sons or daughters of a wealthy family, they are heirs of a fortune. Peter had heard Jesus teach about a better treasure stored in heaven; no moths are there to eat the robes of glory; no rust can corrode the crowns of gold, and no thieves can break into the City of God. These terms used for our inheritance were the words used to speak of Israel’s inheritance in the Old Testament. The land of Israel was at times ravaged and destroyed by invading armies. The prophet Isaiah describes the utter destruction of the whole world in God’s judgment (Isaiah 24:3-4). In the LXX the word stem for laid waste and wither is the same that Peter uses. But Peter uses the word in a negative form. The world will be destroyed, but our inheritance is indestructible. The contrast is striking; the readers have been born anew, not to obtain a family inheritance in the earthly land of Canaan, but to obtain an inheritance in the eternal city. The inheritance is thus their portion in the new creation and all its blessings. "Kept in heaven for you" – this perfect passive participle indicates a completed past activity by God with results that are still continuing in the present. God Himself has stored up or reserved this inheritance in heaven for believers and it continue to be there, still reserved for them. The power which raised Christ is the power which secures our inheritance - verse 5 While we live between the Resurrection and return of Christ, while we have the reality of eternal life, but wait for its fullness, we are secure. We are shielded by God’s power. The word describing our protection by God covers every aspect of our safety. This term, (phroureo) means kept safe, carefully watched, and is frequently used in military contexts. The term means both to guard from escape or from attack. These two aspects are very comforting. God’s protection is not only from others harming us, but from our own defection. Both of these aspects would have encouraged Peter and his readers. Peter needed protection not just from others, but from himself. His denial of Christ just prior to Jesus’s death is a perfect example of how fickle and faithless God’s children are. To know that Christ’s death and Resurrection ensure that the eternal life Christ gives means that we will never perish, that no one can snatch us out of our loving Father’s grip. (John 10:28-29) That Christ has risen from the dead and the Father, in great mercy, has given you new birth, only underscores how secure you are, how safely guarded you are in Christ. The Resurrection is our hope that our security in God depends not on ourselves, but completely rests with our Father’s perfect love. The hope we possess is rooted in the Resurrection we celebrate today. Our hope is a living hope, for Christ died and rose again, making us alive in Him. No matter what we face, no matter how awful life may be to us, all the suffering and torment aside, we know with absolute certainty that as Christ has risen from the dead we too are now raised and await that final day when our bodies will be raised as well. 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. Two years later, April 8, 1945, the second Sunday after Easter, he found himself facing the death sentence. On that 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: "Ps. 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." "This is the end, but for me it is the beginning of life." What was it that so possessed this man, that at the very moment of his death, he could say that? What was the hope that he possessed, and why was he able to cling to it? Why could not even the sentence of death take it away? The answer is found in the Resurrection of Christ. His Resurrection is now our new birth; it is the reason our hope lives as well, and it is the basis of our inheritance reserved in heaven for us. We can face whatever God places before us, for Christ has already suffered and died; Christ is now raised and we are raised as well. Let us live in light of that hope.
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