Sermon Tone Analysis

*“A Living Hope”*

1 Peter 1:3-12

July 8th, 2007

 

Paul Van Maaren

Senior Pastor

Faith Reformed Church, Lynden, Washington

 

Our Scripture text is 1 Peter 1:3-12.

You may use your personal copy of the scriptures.

Or one of the copies in the pew.

Today we conclude our series on the Apostles Creed with these three phrases

(I believe in)   the forgiveness of sins

                        The resurrection of the body

                        and the life everlasting

 

Our goal has been to know what we say we believe.

What does it mean to believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting?

So what?

Now as we turn our hearts to the Word of God will you please pray wit me?

 

Father, send down you Holy Spirit upon us we pray, that we may hear your word of truth and apply it to our lives.

Please feed us with the Bread of Heaven and nourish us unto eternal life.

Please draw us unto your Son, Jesus Christ, that we may behold him and be made like him.

In whose name we pray.

Amen.

Listen to these words from the book that we love.

/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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 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.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls./

/Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

Even angels long to look into these things./

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

I have a question.

And you have an answer.

Now when I ask you the question, take a pen or pencil and please write down your answer.

Find some way not forget.

Ok?

What is your hope?

What is your hope?

Maybe you need to think a little about it and that’s ok.

Go ahead.

Perhaps you know exactly what your hope is.

But please don’t confuse hope and wish.

A wish is a desire.

A longing.

Or a strong inclination towards a specific thing.

Hope is a wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.

Do you see the difference?

Hope has a sure expectation that what we long for will actually com to be.

Let me offer you a quick example.

My family spent a few nights this past week at Mount St. Helens.

It was awesome.

If you have never been to this mountain you must go!  Without experiencing it first hand it is difficult to describe.

But let me tell you about what I’ve seen.

The eruption of Mount St. Helens has become for me a metaphor for the power of God.

A parallel to God’s power.

In 3 minutes, 15 miles of old growth forest was snapped over.

Stripped bare.

Unbelievable power.

Leaving behind a total wasteland.

I’m left thinking, “And God you are more powerful than this?”

 

Yet even in this desolate wasteland, after a few weeks life began to return.

And still today God’s power to bring life back out of death is evident at Mount St. Helens.

I’m telling you, it’s a must see on next years camping trip.

The hope at Mount St. Helens is that the once pristine forest will one day return.

The mountain that is hollowed our will again fill itself up.

And you know what?

Its going to happen.

It already is.

The scientists wish it to be and it will be so.

They have hope.

The lesson God is teaching at Mount St. Helens.

And the lesson that God wants to teach us this morning is this.

There is hope in the midst of death and destruction.

There is hope in the midst of disease and debilitation.

There is hope in the midst of decay and disillusionment.

There is hope in the midst of cancer and confusion.

There is hope in the midst of sin and sickness.

There is hope in the midst of suffering and shame.

There is hope for our world where people are treated like machines.

Hope for our world plagued by racism and war.

Hope for our world where people are homeless.

Children are forced into armies or hard labor.

There is hop for our world where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

So what is your hope?

The crucial question asked by our culture is this:

 

Is there hope?

Because without hope there is no reason to live.

Is there hope?

There is hope and that hope is found in Jesus Christ.

Verse 3.  /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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade./

My friends this is good news!

/In his (God’s) great mercy he has given us new birth./

/In /God’s /great mercy./

God sets aside his ability to cast us from his presence forever.

God sets aside his wrath towards us.

And his wrath is just.

Because we are fallen.