Latest / Chapel Talks / Hope Has A Name | 2 Peter 3:2-14 | Libby Talbot

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Hope Has A Name | 2 Peter 3:2-14 | Libby Talbot · Chapel Talks

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  Shall we pray? Loving God, we just thank you
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  that we get to gather together to worship you
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  and to just sit under your word and to hear what
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  you have to say to us today. Speak to us and
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  set our hearts aflame again with love for you.
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  In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to
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  be thinking a little bit about hope you'll see
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  on the screen. Our city needs hope. I wonder
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  what you are personally hoping for today. Perhaps
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  a breakthrough, a change in a medical issue.
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  Maybe you're praying for peace. Maybe you're
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  hoping for sleep, to feel less anxious, to get
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  that essay done, to have some certainty about
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  the future. Hope and uncertainty nearly always
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  go hand in hand, don't they? And yet the hope
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  that we have as Christians is different. Because
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  it's based on the truth of scripture, the promises
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  of God, the certainty of following God who was
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  before the earth existed, as we read in 2 Peter,
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  and the guarantee of the resurrection, that the
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  resurrection of Jesus springs. And so our hope
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  as followers of Jesus is twofold. It's eschatological.
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  It's about the now and the not yet. We have a
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  hope. of the glorious future, that promise of
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  heaven, eternal life. At some point, God's redemptive
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  plan for you and me and the whole of creation
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  will come to completion. Jesus will return like
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  a thief in the night. The heavens will disappear
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  with a roar, we read in verse 10. The elements
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  will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything
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  in it will be laid bare. And all that's wrong
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  and evil in the world will be exposed. There'll
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  be a new heaven and a new earth. Verse 13, and
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  when that happens, scripture tells us that all
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  who love the Lord Jesus will be renewed and restored
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  and invited to this eternal banquet with the
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  King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Isn't that
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  brilliant news? What a great expectation and
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  promise we have. But as Christians, our hope
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  is also a present reality. The hope we have as
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  Christians is now. Yes, we get to live with the
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  hope of eternity with God when we die. But as
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  whole life disciples of Jesus, we also get to
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  live in the now. We get to live out the reality
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  and the promises of God now. We have a hope now
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  of the now and the not yet. And that's what we're
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  going to explore further as we dig a little deeper
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  into this passage. So firstly, we have hope for
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  the future, the not yet. I wonder whether sometimes
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  it's Christmas, Christmas, it's on my mind already,
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  Vicarland. I wonder whether as Christians, we
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  sometimes focus a little bit too much on this.
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  Controversial, maybe. When our oldest son, Zach,
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  was a baby, I, like many of you who might have
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  children, went through days and months where
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  I just couldn't wait for him to push on to the
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  next stage, whether it was sleeping through the
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  night or... being potty trained or feeding himself
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  or learning to read or not screaming when we
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  dropped him off at school. And then suddenly
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  in the space of about two minutes, he's 21 and
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  he has a beard and he's a beast of a man. And
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  I go, wow, where did that time go? I'm guilty,
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  like maybe some of you are, of rushing through
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  things, powering on to the next stage, always
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  looking forward to the what next. And sometimes,
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  therefore, I miss out on the present. And I enjoy
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  what's happening now. In his second letter to
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  the Christians in Asia Minor, Peter speaks into
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  this. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he'd said,
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  hadn't he, that he would return to judge the
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  living and the dead. And so people were looking
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  forward, waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.
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  Many expected Jesus to return imminently and
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  unexpectedly. And yet there were at least 40
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  years from that moment and still no Jesus. And
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  this had become great fodder for the sceptics.
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  Look at verses three and four. Where is this
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  coming that he promised, they're asking? Jesus
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  said he was going to return and he hasn't turned
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  up yet. And how does Peter respond to this? By
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  reminding them not to second guess God, to not
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  rush through the present, verse 8. Do not forget
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  this one thing, dear friends, with the Lord,
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  a day is like a thousand years and a thousand
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  years is like a day. Who knows the timing of
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  the Lord, Peter is saying. We don't need to stress
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  over when Jesus will return, but let us keep
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  hold of that big picture that God does keep his
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  promises. We can put our hope in him and he will
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  do what he will do in his timing. And isn't that
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  something that many of us need to be reminded
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  of time and again as we journey through life
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  as Jesus' disciples? As we sit hoping. waiting
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  for God to answer the prayer, for our friend
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  or our family member to be healed or to come
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  to faith. As we pound in frustration on God's
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  door saying, come on, why are you not changing
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  this situation I'm in? Where is the breakthrough?
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  We need to remember this truth that God isn't
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  slowing keeping his promises, but he will do
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  what he will do in his timing and for his bigger
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  purposes. And what are these bigger purposes?
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  Look at verse 9. Instead, Peter writes, he is
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  patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish
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  but everyone to come to repentance. God is patient.
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  Why? Because he loves us. He loves his creation.
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  He doesn't want anybody to perish. He wants everyone
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  to have the chance to respond to Jesus's invitation,
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  follow me. And that's where we get to join in,
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  isn't it? Matthew 28 is explicitly clear that
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  if we are disciples of Jesus, our job is to go.
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  To so overflow with the love of Jesus to those
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  around us that everyone gets the chance to hear
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  and to respond. Some of us will do that by preaching
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  or being evangelists or being youth workers.
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  But we don't have to stand and preach everywhere
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  we are. We just have to be God's people to take
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  opportunities when they appear to share the love
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  of God, sometimes in very practical ways or by
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  sharing our story. of how jesus has changed our
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  lives back to the passage we're at verse 10 and
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  this is where it gets a little apocalyptic Now,
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  I was a teenager in the 80s and 90s. And for
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  those who missed out on this spectacular era,
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  which is most of you, you will have sadly missed
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  out on a whole genre of Christian films about
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  the end times. You can probably find them on
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  YouTube or somewhere. If you imagine, think fire.
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  coming down to burn up the earth, teenagers hanging
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  around together and suddenly the Christians are
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  taken and everybody else is left behind. Think
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  Marvel Endgame, if that's your bag. I think these
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  films were basically designed to petrify us as
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  teenagers into following Jesus. Funnily enough,
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  I'm not quite sure they achieve their aim. But
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  here in verse 10, Peter brings clarity. The day
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  of the Lord will happen when we least expect
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  it. Like a thief, he uses Jesus's words, who
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  comes unannounced. But rather than a complete
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  annihilation of the earth, Peter chooses his
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  words very carefully. Everything will be found
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  out, or as the NIV translates it, will be laid
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  bare before God. And this... Phrase translated
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  as laid bare implies that God will peel back
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  the curtain and will reveal everything for what
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  it really is. Everything will be laid bare. I
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  really love N .T. Wright or Tom Wright. I'm a
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  bit of a creepy. I once sat at a seminar with
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  him and. I was just hanging on his every word.
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  So I do know his books pretty well. And in his
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  book on heaven, Surprised by Hope, Tom Wright
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  says this. The point of redemption is that it
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  doesn't mean scrapping what's there and starting
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  again from a clean slate, but rather liberating
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  what has been enslaved. When everything is laid
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  bare, evil and injustice will be exposed and
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  removed. And as we see in verse 13, a new heaven
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  and a new earth will emerge. It will be filled
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  with justice where those who are right with God
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  will dwell. So hope is not an ethereal concept.
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  Hope has a name and his name is Jesus. Those
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  of us who have salvation in Jesus do not need
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  to fear, do we? We can look forward, we can hope
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  for this day of the Lord when goodness and beauty
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  and redemption and joy will be made complete,
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  when righteousness will flow like a never -ending
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  stream. But what does that mean for us now? I
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  wonder whether one of the most prolific distortions
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  of Christianity over the ages is that it's all
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  about being saved so that we can go to heaven
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  when we die. I'm sure I'm not the only person
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  here who has thought at some point in their life,
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  well, I've given my life to Jesus, I've repented,
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  I've been baptised, so now I get to live how
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  I want because I know Jesus will forgive me and
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  my place in heaven is guaranteed. In his first
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  letter, Peter encourages us that God has given
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  us, and it says this in 1 Peter 1, 3 to 4, God
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  has given us a new birth into a living hope through
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  the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
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  and into an inheritance that can never perish,
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  spoil or fade. We have living hope now and for
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  eternity, the now and the not yet. It's also
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  certainly and wonderfully true, says John Ortberg
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  in his book Eternity Now. He says it's also certainly
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  and wonderfully true that the message of Jesus
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  and his early followers is not just, even though
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  it is, about forgiveness of sins that allows
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  us to escape that bad place and go to a good
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  place. It's a newness of life. To be sure, this
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  new life includes forgiveness, but it includes
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  so much more. Let's not miss out on the so much
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  more of the gospel. Jesus is good news for you
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  and for me and for this world we live in. The
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  work of the cross is good news now. But do you
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  know that Jesus spent most of his time on earth
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  not teaching people how to get a pass to heaven
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  for the future, but how to be disciples now,
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  to build the kingdom of God and bring in the
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  kingdom of heaven now. He demonstrated and taught
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  what it looks like to love God and to love the
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  other, how to actually live in the fullness of
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  life that the cross has bought for us now. Yes,
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  we have a future safe with God for eternity.
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  But as Christians, we get to live in hope and
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  get to be hope now. And doesn't this world need
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  it? And so there's hope for the present. Eternity,
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  if you like, is now. So this life is not a heavenly
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  waiting room, as we know, which we have to patiently
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  endure until we're called to step into what we've
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  been waiting for, heaven. In the words of Dallas
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  Willard, eternity is now in session. Are we living
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  like it is? We get to live in. And we get to
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  live out eternity, the hope and joy and peace
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  of the gospel of Jesus now. And how do we do
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  that? Verse 11 tells us, by living holy and godly
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  lives. And that is the call on our lives as disciples
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  of Jesus, to be holy and godly. That means living
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  lives that are orientated towards God, with Jesus
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  at the centre. Lives where God is our hope. God
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  is our rock and our fortress and salvation. Lives
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  that point every day in every part of who we
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  are to Jesus. Lives where the Holy Spirit is
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  daily renewing and restoring us because we cannot
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  do holy and godly living on our own. Lives which
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  bring in God's kingly rule now of love and joy
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  and peace and justice and hope to the communities
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  God sends us to be in. Lives which are distinctly
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  different and counter -cultural. Lives where
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  we take risks for God. So eternity is now. The
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  call on our lives is to live for Jesus now and
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  proclaim forgiveness, freedom and fullness of
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  life now. And all of us, whatever our age, whatever
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  our gender, whether we're struggling in some
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  way, none of us are too inexperienced or too
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  broken. to live out this hope in Jesus in good
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  times and in the waiting times and in the suffering
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  times. A few months ago, I was away at a conference
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  with a church leader, a mate of mine, Tim, and
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  he came to that conference completely exhausted.
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  He'd come from the bedside of his severely disabled
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  son who had been in hospital for weeks and weeks.
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  And during that particular period of time, it
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  was about four months, from one day to the other,
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  they hadn't known if their son was going to live
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  or die. And as we stood next to each other during
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  the time of worship, I was bowled over by the
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  hope and the faith that Tim had in Jesus. as
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  in the midst of this waiting, the hopelessness,
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  the suffering. He was worshipping Jesus. He had
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  his hand raised and he had tears streaming down
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  his face as he sang with boldness and confidence
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  these words, Alleluia, praise the one who set
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  me free. Hallelujah, death has lost its grip
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  on me. You've broken every chain. There's salvation
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  in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. And
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  so in this short passage of scripture, Peter
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  has given us a snapshot, hasn't he, of the big
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  picture. That our hope is in a future spent with
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  God in eternity. but also a reminder that eternity
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  is now. And because of Jesus, together as the
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  people of God, we get to join in with what God's
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  doing in this world. We get to join in and bringing
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  in his kingly rule through our lives, through
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  our work, through his church today. Hope has
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  a name and his name is Jesus. And that is the
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  name that we take out into this world. Good news
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  for the present. Good news for the future. Let's
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  pray. God, we give you all the glory. We give
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  you all the praise and we give you all the honour
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  that you are the one who has set us free. that
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  you are the one who has redeemed the whole of
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  your creation through the cross and resurrection
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  of Jesus. And God, we are broken and vulnerable
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  people. And we need your Holy Spirit to fill
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  us every day, to be able to live a life of holiness,
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  to fulfill the calling that you have put on each
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  of our lives to be your disciples. to bring eternity
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  into the present. Give us the honour and privilege
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  of seeing your will done, your kingdom come on
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  earth as in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen.