Series: Hope Sermon Title: Hope Victorious Passage: (The Big Picture & 1 Peter 1:3-5 Preacher: Dan Weyerhaeuser Date: 4.16.17 I LOVE Easter and what it means, but I didn’t always. I grew up as a Presbyterian… was confirmed and was COMPLETELY untouched by the message of Christ. I remember Christmas services as a kid. The mid-night Christmas Eve service was reverent. I didn’t get it, but it ended with Christmas the following day. But when I remember Easter as a child, the dominant emotion I remember is blech… awkward, strange, uncomfortable, meaningless. (That’s a lot of emotions for a kid). I had to wear a coat and tie and new dress shoes that hurt, the weather was hot, I didn’t know any of the kids, and we’d have an Easter egg hunt. Honest moment – I have never liked Easter-egg hunts… running in nice clothes to find eggs… who wants EGGS? And honestly, pastels are not my thing.
KEY… I went because I was made to go, but there was NOTHING I experienced or learned that seemed to help me, or pertain to my actual life AT ALL. I was busy trying to fit in with other kids and get through school and have fun with friends. I had fun and sadness and fear in my life and whatever Easter was about, it didn’t address those things AT ALL. My greatest desire on Easter Sunday… was to be done. And this impression carried into my early adulthood. (How’s THAT for the spiritual background of your pastor? But the truth is, I judged too quickly. Have you ever done that? Here’s an example… Ameriquest commercial
As it turns out, everything that actually mattered to me in my life, and still does today, is transformed by Easter. The cause of all that is bad with our world and wrong with my life, as well as the promise of every hope and longing I have for me, my family, and this world is rooted in what was accomplished by God on Easter. What YOU most care about and hope for are changed by this day. I want to share how today. Main point: The resurrection is the victory of hope I want to summarize the message of Easter for you today with a presentation that was developed by James Cheung. James is the national director of Evangelism for Intervarsity (The role previously occupied by our own Pastor Terry). It is a way to understand the message of the Bible. What is the world like that we are in? A: There are many things that are good. (We are taking another run at a dog as a family. There is a lot of joy in our home.) YET, there is so much that is NOT good! Yesterday North Korea’s attempt to show its ICBM capabilities exploded at lift-off. That there ARE such things as ICBM’s tells you how terribly wrong our world is. 1 in 10 people on our planet are undernourished, and 1 in 5 lack access to clean water. In our society, people are protesting in Washington today that President Trump hasn’t released his tax records and so the political divide is as strong as ever. On the home front, I’ve spent time in the last days praying with one family for the survival of her husband through surgery and two others for the survival of their marriage. And even when things seem to be going well, how well are they really going? Jonathan Clements wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago and said; We may have life and liberty, but the pursuit of happiness isn’t going so well… we constantly hanker after fancier cars and fatter paychecks – and initially, such things boost our happiness. But the glow of satisfaction quickly fades and soon we’re yearning for something else.
There is much that is good, but there is also something terribly wrong with our world! What is fascinating, though, is how we FEEL about that. EVERYONE agrees that something is wrong. But have you ever stopped to consider WHY we think this? If the world as it is is all the world any of us have ever known, why do we think something is wrong? Why don’t we call the world perfect as it is? From where do we get an “ideal” from which to compare our world and conclude it “falls short?” If I grew up in at smog filled city and never went to, or saw a picture of fresh-aired-country, I wouldn’t know anything was wrong. But we all do! Where does this come from?
2 Apparently inside of ALL of us is a memory trace, a sense of the world as it should be where there is no disease, people are selfless, our government is strong, wise, and benevolent. What explains this? The Bible tells us that there is a God (where did everything come from if not from Him) and that in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth and placed us in it as His image-bearers. It its original form, our world WAS perfect. In Genesis 1 and 2, we were not in turmoil in our own hearts, our relationships with each other were selfless, we took care of our planet and it took care of us. Mostly, we had a relationship with God Who created us and loves us and has a relationship with us. KEY: He gave us all this because generosity is the characteristic attribute of His being. Generosity isn’t a sacrifice… it is His life. He lives by the motto of “My life for yours.” And He made us in His image and placed us in His world. So in our history, we lived in a world Designed for Good. THAT’s why universally we all somehow know that things are not as they should be. We have a memory-trace of this world in our souls as human beings. So what happened? The one thing God wanted from us was our trust. Trust is the basis of any relationship. The more you trust, the more you have a relationship. If that’s true with us, how much more with Him? 1) He wanted us to trust Him to tell us what was “good” and “not good.” 2) He wanted us to want Him and His love as the greatest treasure of our lives which we did…at first. But in the third chapter of the Bible, we see our first parents make a terrible choice. Instead of trusting God, they were tempted to believe their lives would be better if they trusted themselves. 1) Instead of believing what God said was “good” and “not good,” they thought they would be happier if THEY decided for themselves what was “good” and “not good.” 2) Instead of operating in generosity that puts others before ourselves, they chose to live by the motto, “your life for mine,” which is the root of evil. 3) They saw the world as something from which to take rather than something for which to give. KEY: They turned away from God as if they didn’t need His love! And so now we live in a world Damaged by evil. TRUTH: Evil acts in our world are done by PEOPLE who choose evil… which is selfishness. KEY The evil isn’t just out there… it is in us too! Would the world be better if everyone was always kind? Why can none of us always be kind?
Of course we are ALSO capable of love and loyalty and kindness and courage, but not all the time. If this were the end of the story, life would be tragic and brutal and meaningless and that’s it. But God is amazing! He loved us too much to let us stay this way. Parents come running to help their kids, even when it is their children’s own foolishness that gets them into a bad place. How much more does God! Genesis 4 – Revelation 22 is the account of what God did to come after us and redeem us and our world. In the Bible, the entire Old Testament’s primary purpose is to help us be ready for and understand 1) the coming of God’s Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is God incarnate… in the flesh. He came to earth. For 33 years. God Himself, the Son of the Father, didn’t only walk among us, but became one of us! THAT explains why this year is 2017… years after He was born. He came to show us what God’s heart is like, to teach us about the Kingdom of God (His rule on the earth), and ultimately to pay Himself for our redemption. TRUTH when someone does evil, someone must pay. Imagine you come to work one day and suddenly your co-workers seem to have taken a step back. You don’t know what happened, but something did. Clients aren’t responding to your calls either, and you think, “What happened?” This goes on for a few days. Then imagine that a coworker comes into your office and says, “I am so sorry, but I have done something terrible. I was afraid I was going to be laid off and knew you were doing better than me, so I started a rumor about you around the office. I said something terrible about you. You’ve probably noticed everyone backing up from you.” The Bible calls that a sin. Here’s the truth – when someone sins, someone must pay. You could say, “I forgive you” and “release” them from their debt (that’s what forgiveness is) and bear the weight of what they’ve done at which point YOU are going to pay. Or that person will say, “I’ll go to each person and clarify I made it up.” Whey they do that, the people in the office will look negatively on them and THEY are going to pay. When someone sins, someone must pay.
And so on the cross, Christ paid for our sins as if they were His, so we could be forgiven. And He rose victorious from the grave having defeated death, and brought hope-victorious to us! W hen we trust Him as
3 our King, His Spirit gives us a new heart… and makes possible His heart again (“my life for yours” generosity) we are 3) restored to God, 4) to ourselves, 5) to one another in a community called the church, and 5) in our world. This is why we call it, “CHRISTianity.” This is why the cross is the symbol of our faith! He gives us what we most need! (Augustine – Our hearts are restless, until they rest in You!) TRUTH: Whether we know it or not, every human being lives in search of a Savior, for something to provide what they are lacking in their hearts. We can look to success in our job, or acquiring enough money, getting the right people to love us, or gain the right experiences, to provide for us what we cannot find inside of us… true contentment. We look for something greater than us to give us what we lack. How many films have been produced lately that depict a superhero using their powers for good and standing between us and a threat to take it out and keep us safe? How many stories describe a benevolent King defeating evil on our behalf. Question… What nerve in all of us do these stories touch? TRUTH We all NEED a Savior! That’s Who Christ IS!.
TRUTH: On Good Friday, the Son of God bore our sin before God and died. But on Easter, He rose from the grave, never to die again! This is not a movie of fiction… it happened in History! Jesus defeated sin and death, and broke down the wall between us and God so that we could have HIS love again! He made possible being reconciled to God and having a relationship with Him. And so through this our world is Being restored for better. I am the same person I was, and I’m not. I’m loved by God Who is in my life. King David said, “In Your presence is fullness of joy. At your hand are pleasures forevermore!”
That’s not the end of the story. We aren’t just in His love, waiting for His return. We have a mission. Because while we are in the world, we are now here as Christ’s ambassadors to APPLY redemption in the world around us. We are Sent to heal. Because He has healed us, we show His character when we live by generosity with our time, talents, reputations, and resources as opposed to selfishness. It has been that way since the church was formed. TRUTH: Jesus’ followers have been at the forefront of every major social movement in the last 2000 years. In ancient history, “charity” and care for the poor did not exist on a large scale until the early church during the days of the plagues that swept through the Roman Empire. Christians led out in the abolition of slavery both in Britain and the US. Child labor laws were enacted because people like George Mueller fought for them. The initial great promoter of education in our country, was the church. (Every university in our nation until the mid 1800’s was founded as a clergy training center and created to promote literacy, which is why Princeton and Harvard and Yale all have divinity schools). Civil rights for women, and minorities, Women’s suffrage, rights for the disabled, were all initially spearheaded by God’s people who have been sent to heal!
We share His message of healing and He uses us to help people be healed in their relationship with Him, with each other, with ourselves, and with our planet. As a Church, we are here to be a source of healing in our community, an _____________________ Question… Why can’t we go from a world damaged by evil to a world healed directly? MANY in the world are trying to do this (and have). Some hope that education will be what fixes this problem. My extended family began World Bicycle Relief in an attempt to get inexpensive, durable bicycles into the hands of isolated children in Africa so they can get to school because they believe education is the key to success and solving the world’s problems. One relative simply believes that terrorists are recruited from low-education communities and that’s why there is evil in the world.
Others believe economic reform that gives equal opportunity to all ethnicities will heal our societal structure. But with all of the progressive educational and humanitarian efforts in the world, would we say humanity is evolving? Trying to be good doesn’t deal with the root issue of darkness in our own hearts. While being kind and loyal and heroic is a better version of us, we remain restless and self-oriented a good amount of the time. Conversion story
When you repent and trust Christ, you don’t join the club, you get a new heart. Christ heals us, and then makes us agents of His healing in the world. What He has done in US is what He will use in others lives as we love people and talk about Him! All of this was accomplished by EASTER!
Peter was a man whose life had been changed by Christ and the cross and resurrection. He preached the
4 very first Christian sermon! His message. In his first Epistle, he wrote 1Pet. 1:3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
By the resurrection, we have been born again into the living hope of an inheritance… which is God Himself, Who is not only in our future, but Who is in our present, guarding us, and using us! Response: So which one are you? Do you believe the world is fine today, that while you know its not perfect, basically you are ok and you are ok with the world as it is? Then you are in denial… and certainly don’t have the compassion Jesus has. Respectfully, open your eyes. Are you here, aware the world is damaged by evil, including you, but not sure what to do about it? Have you looked to achieving success, or earning enough money, or being loved by the right people, or acquiring the right experiences to be your “savior” to satisfy the longing of your heart? Are you OK where you are? If not, realize this is why Christ came… to rescue you! Hope is available by the resurrection of Jesus! On the cross, YOUR sin was paid for so you can be forgiven, adopted, loved by the Father. In the resurrection, Jesus rose from the dead… the first of those who believe. Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter.
Years ago, C. S. Lewis wrote this… "God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
A next step for you is to welcome Him into your life right now! You don’t need Jesus to life the life you are living right now. You need Him to live the life you were created to live that you have not been able to find! You need Him to receive the love of God as your Father. For some who are not ready for that, come back next week! Next Sunday’s service is an experience of Alpha. Alpha is a 10 week course that 30 million people have taken in the last 30 years. People come because friends took the course and concluded, “This was incredible.” Alpha is a meal with friends, watching a talk over dinner that explains a portion of the Christian faith, and a discussion over desert about what you think about what was shared, and how you feel about it. KEY… it is especially for people just exploring the big questions fo life. You can ask questions (which we may or may not have answers for), share your feelings, along with other people who are trying to figure these things out. Alpha is a rare gift. If 10 weeks from now, you could settle the big questions of life, would it be worth it? Take 1 step… come back next Sunday. Our services are going to be the Introductory session in our services. You will get a taste. Jesus has SO changed our lives we are just eager to help other people taste His goodness. Come next week and you’ll get a great taste of it. Are you here, with God having worked in your life, for which you are incredibly grateful, but not on His mission? Jesus said if you are not in this place, then you are a part of the world that is broken. We can made our faith about what we can get out of it, and so we are the opposite of what He is like. Two things I’d say. 1) Be praying for those who might come for Alpha, 2) Every day, be asking God to use you to bring to one person’s life in any part of their life! (One thought: Any time over the next 6 weeks after, consider if there is someone you might invite to church for our next series, Psalm 23.) The key is saying, “Lord, I want to!” Are you here, wanting to be a source of healing? One thing YOU could do is join the Alpha team. You could host a SG. You could lead a SG. You could help with children. In August 1957 four climbers were climbing the North Face of Eiger in the Alps. Two of them disappeared and were never heard from again. The other two, exhausted and dying, were stuck a narrow ledge a thousand feet below the summit. The Swiss Alpine Club forbade rescue attempts in
5 this area (it was just too dangerous), but a small group of Swiss climbers decided to launch a private rescue effort to save the Italians. So they carefully lowered a climber named Alfred Hellepart down the 6,000 foot North Face. They suspended Hellepart on a cable a fraction of an inch thick as they lowered him into the abyss. Here's how Hellepart described the rescue in his own words: “As I was lowered down the summit … my comrades on top grew further and further distant, until they disappeared from sight. At this moment I felt an indescribable aloneness. Then for the first time I peered down the abyss of the North Face of the Eiger. The terror of the sight robbed me of breath. …The brooding blackness of the Face, falling away in almost endless expanse beneath me, made me look with awful longing to the thin cable disappearing about me in the mist. I was a tiny human being dangling in space between heaven and hell. The sole relief from terror was …my mission to save the climber below.”
That is the heart of the Gospel story. In the person of Jesus, God lowered himself all the way from heaven to walk among us. In Jesus, God became "a tiny human being dangling between heaven and hell." He did it to save the people trapped below—you and me. James R. Edwards, I s Jesus the Only Savior explains… The gospel is much more radical than just another religion telling us how to be good in our own power. It tells us the story of God's risky, costly, sacrificial rescue effort on our behalf. THIS is why Easter is the victory of our Hope! May He be yours
6
Small Group Leader Notes April 16, 2017 From Pastor Dan… Hello Small Group Leaders and anyone else using these notes, Happy Easter to you! I am praying that the news and the power of the resurrection of Christ would bear much fruit in your lives today. There are two ways you could approach your Small Group this week. One is to work through the questions related to 1 Peter 1:3-5. This text describes the hope that is ours particularly because of the resurrection. If hope arrived on Palm Sunday, and was won on Good Friday, hope is victorious on Easter. The alternative would be to watch the originator of the gospel presentation that I used. James Cheung created this presentation, particularly with younger adults in mind. (You tube: The Big Story, Part 1 & 2, James Cheung). You might watch it together and then share 1) your impressions of this presentation of Christianity, as well as 2) how you are encouraged by its message. Note: Next Sunday is Alpha Sunday. This time we will actually host the “Introduction” in the worship service. Please take time to pray for God’s blessing upon this round of Alpha. You might ask if any in your group know of people they might invite… and pray for them. The week following, we will begin our next series: “The Lord is My Shepherd,” a 6 week look into Psalm 23. This is a great series to invite friends to as well… discovering how familiar words are far more meaningful than we might have realized! I am grateful for each of you, and your partnership in this holy work! Warmly, Dan Our Scripture Study… Series: Message #: Sermon Title: Passage: Preacher: Date:
Hope 4 of 4 Hope Victorious The Big Story & 1 Peter 1:3-5 Dan Weyerhaeuser 2017-4-16
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS Getting to know each other: When you were growing up, did you celebrate Easter? What do you remember about it? What did you “celebrate?” Personal Study: As you study (read, reread, consider, ponder, reread) the passage, list observations you make from the text. What is the main point of this passage? How is the theme developed? What “Aha’s” come to you as you read? What questions come to mind? How do you respond to the God seen in these verses? Bring your observations and questions to your Small Group this week!
7 —————————
1 Peter 1:3-5 Peter was not only one of the three disciples who spent the most time with Jesus and witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. He was also the preacher of the first Christian message and a pillar of the church in its earliest days. His life had been transformed by the resurrected Christ and he had witnessed countless others transformed by its message and power. What he has to tell us, we should hear. 1. V. 3 In your own words, what does Peter want to have happen as a result of reading his epistle? He wants us to “Bless” the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in response for Who He is and what He has done for us. 2. What does it mean to “bless” God? When God “blessed” the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, they multiplied ENORMOUSLY! God’s blessing is the bestowing and giving of life in all its fullness. When WE bless God, we magnify Him. It is the same thing as honoring God or standing in wonder and awe at Him! We bless God when we worship Him! 3. V. 3-5 Peter writes so God would “be blessed” by the reader. Notice, the reason to bless God is not only Who He is… it is what He has done. List the things you see in these verses that describe what God has done. Out of His great mercy (to the degree of His great mercy) He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This living hope is an inheritance that can never perish (it can’t be destroyed) spoil (it can’t “go bad”) or fade (it can’t become lack-luster). Not only has God given us this inheritance that is kept in heaven for us, but in the present He is guarding us and keeping us for that day. 4. V. 3 Our Father has acted towards us “according to His great mercy…” Think for a moment. What does that tell us… about us? Are there things you have done, said, thought, or wanted that you are ashamed of? Did/do YOU need the mercy of God? How do you respond to the message that God has acted towards you with great mercy? This gift was given to people who needed mercy. We therefore did not earn or deserve them. More, we deserved the opposite. You have mercy on upon the undeserving, and even ill-deserving. This is a reminder that this act of God was entirely by grace. 5. V. 3 What did the resurrection accomplish? It made available to us a hope… an incredible hope, that was not ours before the resurrection. It is a “living” hope, meaning it is not only present, but this hope lives, it acts upon us. This hope is not passive, but transformative for us. 6. God caused Christians “to be born again…” How many times in a person’s life are they “born”? How big a deal is what God has done through Christ? While the New Testament usually uses this phrase to describe our “regeneration” (our dead heart coming to life in the Spirit of God), here the object of our being “born again” is into a living hope. So significant is this hope that Christ has given us that we count it like a new birth. We are the same people, and yet we are absolutely new people too. Our lives and futures are completely different because of Christ! 7. V. 4 What is an “inheritance”? What does a person do to receive an inheritance? What is your response to the idea that you have one from God? An “inheritance” is a gift, made by a benefactor, typically to their offspring. To receive an inheritance, all a person has to be is related. They do nothing to earn this gift… it is simply the decision of the one who earned the money that is passed on. 8. Can you discern what our inheritance is from these verses? Our inheritance can never “perish, spoil, or fade.” This could be the Kingdom of God, but it is hard not to guess that this inheritance is God Himself.
8
9. How does this future change how you view the present? This is a group application question. Take time to think about how remembering this God’s presence with you changes things for you! 10. V. 5 On this side of the resurrection, how is God involved in our lives today? He is “guarding” us who trust Him. What a great truth that we believe God stands guard over us constantly. (Note: Clearly, especially given some of the things happening in Peter’s day, this does not mean God’s people are spared pain in this life. But through our pain, we are guarded, according to this text.) 11. What words come to mind to describe our God? (Note: each of these is “blessing” our Father.) In other words, what adjectives would you use to describe the God who does what we see Him doing here in this passage? (Generous, active, benevolent, powerful, able, rescuing, etc.) These ARE “blessing” God. 12. Can we each think of one way we, who have received a “living hope,” can be a source of hope for others? (Do you know any folks you might invite to “Alpha Sunday” next week for example?) Could you take time to pray?
