The Living Hope of God's People
On Sunday evening, Rev James MacIver preached on 1 Peter 1: 3, a sermon entitled, ‘The Living Hope of God’s People’. This was the third study in his series on this book.
As explored in previous sermons, the apostle begins this letter with an introduction to himself, and then a reminder to his readers of who they are – one people in Christ. He tells them that they must never forget their identity as God’s chosen people and heirs to His promises.
In verse 3, Peter begins to talk to them of hope. He builds upon their status as God’s people, saying that they are born to a living hope which will transcend all their earthly circumstances.
Originally, in fact, the verses from 3 – 12 in modern translations were one continuous sentence, and have been broken up for the sake of grammatical sense and ease of understanding. Nevertheless, their original composition tells us that the apostle was most animated in laying out all the truths of God before the recipients of the letter. He packs the verses with many precious truths.
Mr MacIver likened the verses to watching a weaver of silk, working with many different coloured threads. Each thread was magnificent in its own right, but, woven together, became a thing of enduring beauty. Peter’s skilful presentation of all these spiritual truths lays before us the full attraction of God’s salvation.
Verse 3 opens with ‘Blessed be . . .’, a form of praise commonly used in the Old Testament, and always used of God the Father in the New Testament.
Such praise is not, however, to be seen as exceptional, but should be an integral part of the Christian life, which is to be a life lived to the glory of God. So, although Peter begins here by praising God, we should not understand it as being a mere introduction to everything else; it comes at the beginning to set a tone of praise which runs throughout the letter.
The very first line of the verse brings before us the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. In His human nature He praised God the Father, yet they are equal in the Godhead. God has fathered the hope of His people and situated it in their hearts.
Peter is careful to ascribe these actions to God, adding ‘according to His great mercy’. That is to underline the fact that there was no obligation upon God to save mankind: salvation is the fruit of His mercy and, therefore, this wonderful hope has come from the covenant-keeping God who chooses mercy in spite of, rather than because of, what we human beings are.
Tonight, Mr MacIver said, we would have absolutely no hope if God was not merciful.
The catechism speaks of man having an ‘apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ’, which is illustrated in the prayer of repentance at the heart of Psalm 51, ‘Be merciful according to your lovingkindness’. In other words, this hope that is born within the heart of the believer is implanted there by the Spirit – it is not the end result of some psychological process, but a recognition of the merciful nature of God’s love towards them.
Peter does not just leave it as ‘hope’, however, but uses the phrase ‘living hope’. He is prone to use the adjective, ‘living’, and hope is also a theme throughout this letter. That is because hope is integral to the Christian life, and what better message can there be than that we are born again to a living hope?
It is a precious assurance particularly in the face of hardship and challenging providence. In times like these, Christians comprehend the living reality of their salvation promises. Mr MacIver quoted from a song by the American singer.songwriter, Ellie Holcomb:
‘We’ve got this hope, we’ve got a future
We’ve got the popwer of the resurrection living within
We’ve got this hope, we’ve got a promise
That we are held up and protected in the palm of His hand’.
What makes the hope of Christians a living hope, however? To what else in this passage is hope anchored? Quite simply, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Immediately after Jesus’ death, we see in the Gospel of John that Peter is disconsolate, feeling that his hopes have been dashed, and that they have died with Jesus. However, when he learns that his Saviour has indeed risen from the dead, his whole demeanour changes because he now knows that his Redeemer lives. In the book of Acts, we see Peter who was so downcast at the death of his Saviour, tirelessly preaching about the resurrection.
If we do not know about the resurrection, therefore, we have no anchor-point for our hope, and it cannot be a living hope separate from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Christian hope is not simply bound to an historical event, however – the present and ongoing hope of the believing community is vested in the living Jesus. Hope looks forward, not just to personal salvation, but transcending even that, to the ‘last time’ in verse 5.
If your hope is anchored to the living Jesus, then you look forward to His return, and the settling of all things according to His justice and mercy.
Peter’s letter offererd hope to the beleagured Christians of his own time, but it speaks to the believers of today just as strongly.
Quoting Ellie Holcomb a second time, Mr MacIver asked whether we can say along with her that everything has changed for us beacause of Jesus:
‘When you rolled the stone away,
When You walked out of the grave
You were standing in the light of day
Everything changed . . .
