LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 8: Everyone needs the hope Christ supplies_72604

Posted: 7/23/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Aug. 8

Everyone needs the hope Christ supplies

1 Peter 1:1-12

By Rodney McGlothlin

First Baptist Church, College Station

We like new things. You can feel the crispness of a new world in Genesis as God speaks it into being, fresh with newness. You can sense it in the call of Abraham as God begins something new in calling his people back to himself. We read of new covenants and new wine in Scripture.

At the end of Revelation, we do not get a word of doom or world destruction. God's final word is one of newness: “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). Even the end is a beginning again with new heavens and a new earth. We need newness. We like new things.

If it was not built into our DNA from the start, it has certainly been programmed into our subconscious by Madison Avenue. We are bombarded with advertising designed to convince us that last year's fashions will doom us to life as social outcasts if we do not replace them immediately. We like new things.

Some things were not new at all to Peter's readers. It seemed like the same old story. “To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout …” (1 Peter 1:1). It was the story of God's people throughout history. They were elect, but at times it seemed they were only elected to suffering. As Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” once said, “Lord, I know we are your chosen people. But just once, couldn't you choose somebody else?”

The Jews knew what it meant to be “scattered throughout.” They had been scattered or dispersed on numerous occasions. Like seed sown in a whirlwind they had landed all over the place, blown by the winds of a fickle politic.

Now, as followers of Jesus, persecution had again come to the “elect” and “chosen” of God. There was nothing new about that. They were in good historical company.

What's new with you? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have a new hope. “He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

A letter that begins with a word to the “scattered,” continues its message with a word of hope. Who needs hope? Look at the context of verses 1-9. People without a home need hope. People with no inheritance need hope. People with no protection in a world bent on their destruction need hope. People in the midst of great trials need hope. People who grieve need hope.

Because of this rebirth of hope, God's chosen people now have “an inheritance in heaven,” they are “shielded by God's power” and they have “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” They also are the recipients of God's character generating sovereignty, so their “faith might be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

As a result of this overwhelming hope, Peter tells his persecuted and scattered readers that they can experience “inexpressible and glorious joy.” Who needs that kind of hope? I do! Don't you?

Who needs hope? People who are in danger of losing touch with their past need hope.

I already have mentioned Tevye in this study. Tevye laments the loss of his tradition. And yet, when you watch “Fiddler on the Roof,” it becomes clear that Tevye is held together by his faith, not his tradition. His traditions (and his circumstances) are changing all around him. The strength of this man is found in his prayers to God. He continues to return to God for strength and guidance. Not tradition.

In the changing world of today, we would do well to remember this lesson. Traditions change. Everything changes, with the possible exception of our resistance to it. There is a sign on Interstate 35 just north of Gruene that says: “Gruene, Texas. Gently resisting change since 1872.” I bet it has not always been so gently.

Peter says the persecuted folks of his day are the recipients of blessings that come from the past. He says the search of the prophets was to “find out the time and the circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:11).

Our hope is rooted in God's past and finds its flower in his future. Peter wanted his readers to know that every promise and prophecy of the Old Testament was for them. They were all fulfilled in Jesus. The Christian church did not begin in 33 A.D. It began in eternity past. God determined to be a Redeemer before he ever became the Creator. It is a part of our tradition. We have a past and a glorious future.

Questions for discussion

Can you recall an instance where you needed the hope only Christ can supply?

Have you ever felt hope was in short supply? How did you tap back into it once again?

Does focusing on the hope of Christ encourage you to take any new action, strike out on any new spiritual venture?

Who do you know that really needs to know the hope of Christ?