Latest / Chapel Talks / What Is Your Hope Level Right Now? | 1 Peter 1:1-8 | Matt Lillicrap

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What Is Your Hope Level Right Now? | 1 Peter 1:1-8 | Matt Lillicrap · Chapel Talks

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We're going to spend some time looking at 1 Peter
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chapter 1, those words we heard read. And as
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we come to this part of God's word, I wonder
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if you could do something for me. Could you rate
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your hope level right now? So look within, somewhere
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on a scale 1 to 10, give yourself a number. How
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would you rate your hope? I guess some of you,
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it might be, actually it's quite high. Seven,
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eight, nine, the sun is shining at last. The
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summer is here. I know that over the last couple
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of days, it's been coming towards the end of
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time at college for some of you. Your heart is
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singing with the last year or two or three or
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maybe four years of theology and joy. All that
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you've learned here is causing your heart to
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sing. You can't wait to share it with those the
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Lord is going to put in your path in the coming
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months, coming years. But I wonder if there's
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some in the room who'd put their number a little
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lower. It's more like two, three, four. Summer
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is here and it just feels a bit blank. I remember
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that feeling at college. Like, what am I going
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to do between now and September? And I'm not
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really sure. And ministry is perhaps approaching
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and you feel the weight of it. And you feel anxious.
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Or perhaps ministry is not approaching and you
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feel the weight of the uncertainty. Where's the
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Lord going to take you? Just not sure. It is
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an undeniable human need, hope. Psychologists,
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sociologists, theologians will say humans need
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hope. We cannot function without it. Before I
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came to Oak Hill, I was a medical doctor. I worked
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in care of the elderly medicine. And I learned
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pretty quickly, looking after people 75 or over,
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that there are, generally speaking, two types
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of older person. There is the older person who
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somehow has managed to hold on to hope, and it
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shines from within them. They are smiley. They
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are a joy to be around. They will tell you wonderful
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stories of their life and their family and their
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children and their grandchildren and all sorts
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of other things. And then there's the older person
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who has lost hope. And they are cynical. They
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are bitter. I remember one woman, I will never
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forget her, looking after her, and she was venomous.
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towards all the doctors, all the nurses who were
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seeking to look after her. She was very difficult
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even to get past what was wrong with her and
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understand what was happening. But there was
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one moment when I was with her, when the curtain
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fell, there was just a little chink as to what
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was going on, and she said, look, I haven't got
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anything to live for, just put me down. That's
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what happens when you lose hope. But we, Christians,
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we're people of hope. And you guys, many of you,
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are training to be already professional people
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of hope. Wanting to hold out the hope of Christ
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to those in a world where hope is so desperately
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needed. And I guess the question then is how
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can we be sure? How can we really know for certain
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that hope? When life is hard, when ministry is
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hard, and Jesus promises it will be, how can
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we be sure? that that hope has got a foundation.
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How will you be able to keep watch over the flock
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of God, as we heard in Acts, and hold out that
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hope towards them? Well, 1 Peter is a book of
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hope. It's a letter of hope written to a group
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of struggling Christians. Many of you know this.
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Ostracized, marginalized on the edges of society,
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under threat of increasing persecution. And yet
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Peter is unapologetically joyful, isn't he? Unapologetically
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joyful. And he invites us in as we open his letter
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and hear the first words, come delight deeply
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with me in the hope of Christ. Delight deeply
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in the hope of Christ. And so I want to ask,
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I wonder how do you usually picture the writers
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of the Bible? Do you ever do that? Do you ever
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picture them as they write their letters? How
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do you picture Peter writing 1 Peter? Who's in
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your mind? Is it a fairly serious -minded guy?
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Perhaps dressed darkly, thinking about high theology.
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Serious matters, weighty matters. Is that who
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you picture? I think sometimes maybe we're tempted
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to picture the writers of the Bible like that.
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But whether it's Paul in Ephesians 1 or Peter
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here, praise be to the God and Father, our Lord
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Jesus Christ. That is not the image that we get
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from reading his words. Praise be to the God
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and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is overflowing
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with joy. Verses 3 to 12 are one long sentence.
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And I guess I once got a little glimpse of what
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it must have been like to be Peter's kind of
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amanuensis, writing out with Peter. When I was
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chatting to one of my daughters a number of years
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ago, I finished a long shift, I was halfway through
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a long shift on the wards. It was late, it was
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just about her bedtime, and I got a quick break,
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so I rang her up. She must have been about three.
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to find out what kind of a day she'd had. And
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it turned out she'd had a great day. She'd been
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to a toddler group at church. She'd had a gift
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from her cousin in the post. She'd had some friends
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over to play. And she'd had her favorite food,
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the tea. I mean, when you're three, days don't
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get much better than that. And as the phone was
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handed over to me, this is what I got from her.
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She just went, Daddy! Daddy, there's a sticky
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bumblebee, Daddy. We went to Toddler's and my
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cousin Alex sent me a picture and the story was
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about Daniel and the Lions, which is my favourite,
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and Matthew and Ethan came to play and we went
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there on the train and there's a sticky flower
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on it as well and I showed Matthew my toys and
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it's so pretty, Daddy. And God rescued Daniel
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from the Lions and we had sausages for tea. It
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was just pure, unadulterated joy just tumbling
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out of her mouth, no stopping for breath, no
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stopping for punctuation, just sharing it. And
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perhaps with a bit more coherence. That's the
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mood we find Peter in here. Praise be to the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come
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delight deeply with me in the hope of Christ.
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To which as we look around the world, and if
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your hope level is down at two, three, four,
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you might go, why? Why, Peter? Why, praise be?
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Why delight with you in this hope? And I think
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Peter gives us four reasons why. First, this
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hope is rooted in God's character. In his great
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mercy, Peter says. Which the immediate question
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should be, well, how great? Just really, really
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great? Like, we've got the greatest mercy? Is
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that the sort of mercy? No, no, no, it's beyond
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that. This is infinite mercy. Unfathomable. mercy
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inexpressible inexhaustible mercy because this
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is not just mercy which God does it's not just
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that God acts mercifully is it it's that this
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is mercy that God is it is what God is he is
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mercy and love and grace and wisdom and justice
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and knowledge and power he is all that he is
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always at full volume all the time That is who
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God is. Everything he is at full volume all the
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time. You cannot turn this God down. You cannot
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turn this God up because he is at maximum volume.
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And that means he is unchanging. The unchanging
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merciful one. Have you ever stopped to really
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consider how significant that is? That God is
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the unchanging merciful God, the unchanging God
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of all? Because you and me and the world, we're
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changing all the time, aren't we? As you sit
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where you are right now, your body is making
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25 million new cells per second. Your brain is
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processing about 100 million new pieces of information
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every second. Our location is moving at 66 ,000
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miles per hour. Let alone the social and political
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changes that affect our country all the time.
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Compare that with God. Here's what A .W. Tozer
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said about this. What peace it brings to the
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Christian's heart to realize that our heavenly
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father never differs from himself. Or in coming
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to him at any time and not wondering whether
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we find him in receptive mood. He is always receptive
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to misery and need as well as to love and faith.
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He will not fade. He does not keep office hours
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nor set aside periods when he will see no one.
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Neither does he change his mind about anything.
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Today, he feels towards his creatures, the sick,
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the fallen, the sinful, exactly as he did when
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he sent his only begotten son into the world
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to die for mankind. That is the unchanging mercy
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of God, the great mercy of God. So Peter says,
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delight deeply in the hope of Christ because
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it's rooted in God's character. And it is also
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dependent on God's initiative. Verse 3 again,
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in his great mercy, he has given us new birth.
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That's a pretty deliberate image Peter is using
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there, new birth. New birth, you can't take credit
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for birth. I mean, it would be ridiculous to
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consider one baby saying to another on a maternity
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unit, see that? Smashed it. No, birth is something
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that happens to you. New birth is something that
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happens to us. And this new birth has two wonderful,
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wonderful directions. It is new birth into an
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inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or
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fade. Remember, Peter was talking to ostracized,
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marginalized Christians being disinherited in
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their society. And he says, here is an inheritance
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which is undying, undefiled, undimmed. So delight
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deeply in the hope of Christ. And second, verse
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4, into an inheritance that can never perish,
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spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven
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for you. There is no fading in this living hope
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that Peter is describing. It's not the kind of
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hope that comes with supporting England at sport.
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No. Undying. Undefiled. Undimmed. So delight
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deeply in the hope of Christ with me, Peter says,
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because it is of supreme value more than anything
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you could possibly conceive of. Whether that's
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possessions, family, reputation, ministry, the
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success of ministry, whether that's the opinion
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of your fellow students. Or your faculty. The
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hope of Christ blows it out of the water. All
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because it is dependent on God's initiative.
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This is not an identity, this new birth, this
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living hope, this inheritance, is not an identity
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which is achieved. It's an identity which is
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received. Something God does for us. And that
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runs against every single idea about human identity
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that we hear in our culture today. We are meant
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to be self -constructed individuals, self -actualizing.
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We live in the age of what Charles Taylor calls
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optionality. The age in which belief in God is
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optional and assumed to be optional. It is possible
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not to have a belief in God. That's the age we
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live in. But here's the thing that we perhaps
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missed. As that puts us into a space where we
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are taught, told, we have to choose belief, choose
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identity, become architects of ourselves. What
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is it that we're trapped in? The fact that we
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have to choose at all. The optionality is itself
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trapping. There is no option other than to be
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a chooser, as far as our world understands it.
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But we have the hope of Christ, the delightful
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hope of Christ that brings freedom to those trapped
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in choosing. We do not need to be sovereign selves.
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We can have the freedom of being the creatures
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of the creator who made and saved us. So delight
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deeply in the hope of Christ. Because this is
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going to be kept by God's power. Verse 4, this
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inheritance is kept in heaven for you. Imagine
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the greatest, strongest possible trust fund.
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No financial crisis can touch it. Kept for you.
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But even more, you are kept for it. Verse 5,
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who through faith are shielded by God's power
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until the coming of the salvation that is ready
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to be revealed in the last time. What is it Jesus
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said? I give them eternal life and they shall
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never perish. No one will snatch them out of
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my hands. So delight deeply in the hope of Christ,
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because as you trust in Jesus, it is kept for
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you and you are kept for it just as much. Is
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it any wonder that Peter delights? Can you see
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what God has done, he is saying? Can you understand?
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Can you let it sink in? Let this fire your heart.
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All that God has done, no matter how dark the
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sky might feel, there is always hope that the
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sun will rise. But Peter, it's so dark. And the
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time before the dawn is always the coldest. Peter
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knows. Here's the fourth thing. It is refined
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by God's plan. Verse 6, in all this you greatly
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rejoice. Notice Peter takes that for granted.
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Of course you greatly rejoice. Though now for
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a little while you may have had to suffer grief
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in all kinds of trials. Christians don't have
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to float six inches above the surface of the
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earth as though it doesn't touch us. Especially
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Christian ministers. We don't have to do that.
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Peter is realistic. And he presents to us a life
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and a world of multicolored trials. Pink, purple,
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yellow, like a bruise. Ostracized, threatened,
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facing life in a fallen world, fighting with
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sin, but most of all suffering for their faith,
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for being Christians. Which means, notice, the
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reason for the trials Peter is describing and
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the reason for the hope Peter is describing are
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the same. Does that not make the hope somewhat
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naive? Is Peter naive? No. Two reasons. First,
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these are passing trials, just for a little while.
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One day we will look back together and we will
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look on even the greatest of trials that we have
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walked through, whatever they may be. And we
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will see them as old tales as we stand before
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the throne of the king. And second, they have
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a purpose. These have come, verse 7, so that
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the proven genuineness of your faith of greater
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worth than gold, which perishes even though refined
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by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor
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when Jesus is revealed. You ever seen a picture
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or even held gold that's just been dug up out
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of the ground? It's beautiful. It glitters. It's
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also kind of ugly. It's kind of just sort of
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lumpy. Put that into fire and you can make something
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stunning. And so it is with the new Christian.
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There is a great beauty in what God has done
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in giving them new birth. But he will spend the
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rest of that Christian's life. beautifying that
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Christian, until they glitter with love for Christ,
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until their gaze is captivated, utterly captivated,
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with nothing else but the hope of Christ. Ten
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years from now, as you sit here, I'm about nine
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years out from sitting there. So cast your mind
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ten years from now, sitting here at Oak Hill.
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What do you hope for? To see amazing things in
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your ministry. To see the Lord transforming people.
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That they might grow in their faith. That they
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might come to faith. Maybe even seeing a revival
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that's actually there and not even quiet. Seeing
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amazing things. Do you know what would be a tragedy?
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If you saw all of that and your love for Christ
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had not deepened. Your love for Christ had not
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grown. But here's the problem we fight with.
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We want comfort more than we want holiness. We
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want ease more than we want hardship. We want
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success more than we want sacrifice. And so we
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sting when we hear writers like Paul Tripp say,
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God will take you where you don't want to go
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in order to produce in you what you could not
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achieve on your own. I wonder, do we really believe
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it? Some of the hardest days in ministry. have
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been for me, will be for you, some of the best
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days in the classroom of grace. And you see the
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result? It's seen. It's visible. Because what
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we behold is what we become. What we delight
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in is what we display. These things result in
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praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is
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revealed. To which the obvious question is, whose
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praise, glory and honour? And we all go, wow,
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Jesus is, right? And Peter goes, did I say that?
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Did I say Jesus is? So do we owe ours? Can't
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be right. Why not both? I wonder if you've ever
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climbed a mountain just before dawn. My wife
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climbed Kilimanjaro during her gap year. Got
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up there just at sunrise. Treading up through
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the snow, the bitter cold. absolutely awful,
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hard steps, and then the sun burst through the
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horizon. And it wasn't just that the sun was
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glorious. The whole world glittered with glory.
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Because when Jesus is revealed and the sun rises
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for the final time, the point is we will reflect
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his glory. Because what we behold, we become.
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What we delight in, we display. And the point
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for us now is that the sun hasn't yet broken
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the horizon, but it is colouring the sky. Pink,
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purple, yellow. Not a bruise, but the coming
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of dawn. And so Peter writes, though you have
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not seen him, you love him. And even though you
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do not see him now, you believe in him and are
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filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.
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For you are receiving the end result of your
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faith, the salvation of your souls. See what
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happens when a Christian keeps on going through
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the trials of life. When Christians in ministry
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keep on going through the trials of ministry,
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is Jesus is shown to be worthy. As we delight
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deeply in the hope of Christ, the hope of Christ
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is seen to be worthy of our delight. He is more
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precious than anything we could possibly imagine.
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Possessions, family, reputation, ministry, success,
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even the opinion of those sitting around you
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right now. And so from 1 Peter, Jesus has this
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question for us. Will we delight deeply in him?
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Will we delight deeply in him? Will we delight
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so deeply that it will bring the certainty in
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all uncertainty, the determination in hardship,
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and the unshakable, unmistakable worth of Christ
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put on display as we delight deeply in our hope
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in him? Let me pray for us. Our Father in heaven,
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we praise you and we worship before you, the
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Lord, the giver of all things, the Father of
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our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We praise
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you for him and we ask that we would delight
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deeply in the hope that you have given us, that
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that might issue in praise and glory when Jesus
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Christ is revealed. Amen.