A Defensible Hope

Auto-generated from the audio — may contain errors.

0:00 For the rest of us, we started last week looking at this short little text in 1 Peter, right where he's telling them to be, he says, but in your hearts regard Christ as Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

0:33 Be prepared to give a defense for the reason for the hope that is in you. I mentioned last week that we're going to take several weeks and kind of sit on this idea of giving a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. It's been fun for me looking at first Peter because Peter is not the apostle that we spend the most time with usually. If you're going through the story of the life of Jesus, Peter comes up a lot because he speaks for the whole group of disciples a lot. But if you're just reading through the new custom, Peter kind of takes a back seat pretty quickly to Paul.

1:08 And we read Paul's letters a lot and talk about Paul's theology whether that's in Romans or Corinthians or Galatians. I don't really always talk about the story of Peter. It was fun for me, right now is looking at Peter and trying to think about the head-based attitude, the approach that Peter takes there in 1st century Israel responding to the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. And he's watching the church grow in his midst.

1:40 And thinking about him writing this letter, we talked about last week that Peter probably wrote this letter very late in his life. He was crucified in Rome like 64, 65 A.D. Famously, he didn't want to be crucified the same way as Jesus. So we sit here and crucify me. Would you please do it upside down? So they crucified Peter. Upside down at the end of this letter, he says that he's writing from Babylon.

2:12 So in that 1st century church, a lot of times they would use Babylon as a metaphor for Rome. So a lot of theologians feel like Peter probably wrote this letter back out to the church from Rome. He was imprisoned there under Nero, which was pretty brutal for Christians in the 1st century. There was a lot of persecution. And so the context that 1st Peter is in, he's trying to inspire people that though they have persecution, we talk about this last week,

2:43 that to live as a follower of the way of Jesus in the Roman Empire meant that much of your life was constrained and challenged. You couldn't engage in the monetary system in the way without hindrance. You couldn't eat food in the ways that you normally might. You definitely couldn't assemble as followers of Jesus the way you might want to. It's why there's a lot to talk about why don't we have a temple because all of the great gods of the Roman Empire had great temples,

3:16 where you could make pilgrimages and the people of the way of Jesus wanted a temple. It's why both Peter and Paul talk about the followers of Jesus being built into a living temple. Wherever we gather, wherever two or three are gathered in our name, there our God is, because all of their gatherings disrupted. Their life was disrupted on multiple occasions and in with lots of stories, followers of the way of Jesus, their life is actually taken from them for following the way of Jesus as we just mentioned, Peter's would be.

3:46 And so it's conspicuous that in this letter, Peter tries to say that you have a hope, and we talked about this last week, a hope that is an inheritance waiting for you, unfading, imperishable, awaiting you in heaven, undefiled, imperishable, unfading, that you have this inheritance waiting for you. He says that we have been reborn into a living hope, and the living hope is because it will always be an eternal,

4:22 internally living hope, that Jesus Christ, though he was killed, death couldn't hold him. He raises from the grave and ascends alive into heaven where he waits to return. And so Peter is impressing upon the Christians living in first century Roman empires, that they have a living hope, no matter what happens to them, no matter what money they take, no matter what job they lose, no matter when their life is threatened or those of their friends, no matter which relationship is broken or disrupted,

4:58 no matter what happens to them, nothing puts Jesus back in the grave. So there hope, no matter how long it waits for them, it will not fade or be defiled, it is imperishable, awaiting them. And so we talk about last week, that the same is true for you and us. That though we are not persecuted, we encounter hardships and suffering. And the first step in living facily in the world today is to recognize that though we are not persecuted, our hardship counts.

5:31 Our suffering is struggle. If we refuse to acknowledge the hardship of our lives, we'll follow the trap of the world today where we just divert our attention and retain ourselves into a balloon and wait for something else to happen. The answer instead is to look squarely at the hardships at the suffering, experience the pain, and know that no matter how traumatizing, affecting, disrupting the pain, suffering or challenge, it doesn't put Christ back into the grave, nor change our undiminished inheritance.

6:07 So like Peter says, we have a hope, a living hope, undefiled, imperishable, unfading, awaiting us in heaven. And it works for us much in the same way it works for Christians in the first century. It allows us to continue on a path. Peter anticipates that when we live in light of this hope amidst the suffering in the world, people will challenge the hope.

6:42 That's why I hear him saying we are always prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. He's assuming you'll have to defend the hope. The message might be you fool. Why do you cling to this thing? This hope that something good will happen. You're being persecuted. Why do you cling to the hope that life is built on a trajectory heading to something when it's clearly aimless and accidental?

7:14 Why do you cling to the hope that you have deep significance when clearly your life is insignificant? Why do you cling to the hope that there is something good laid out in front of you when clearly one bad thing happens after another? Peter anticipates that people living with undefiled inheritance built on the hope that that's coming for them will receive challenges to that hope in their life. Maybe you have.

7:48 It's striking to me one of the little phrases that that repeats in my head from the story of scripture is Peter was among the eleven that was present at the ascension of Jesus. Remember that story? The ascension of Jesus was crucified in a couple of his disciples and his family had the courage to actually be there at the crucifixion, though not all of them. And then miraculously three days later he raises from the dead and appears to people, right?

8:23 He appears to Peter and the rest of the disciples in the upper room. They share a meal together there and then at the beach. It says that he was around making appearances post resurrection pre-essential in his glorified body to like 500 people over a period of 40 days. And one of the phrases that sticks in my memory and comes up pretty often is when Jesus says to the disciples come in and meet me on the hill in Galilee where we did so much stuff together.

9:06 And the eleven are going up to see the resurrected Jesus in real body with whom they've eaten, whose holes in the body that they have touched. And they're walking up the hill. They see him there and it says as the disciples approached some of them believed and some doubted. Like if they don't have unanimous unquestioned faith in the presence of the resurrected Jesus, it's reasonable to think that you and I might have to practice for ourselves making a defense for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

9:44 If not, if we have some faith that is greater than the eleven, God bless us. Not everyone will and we'll have to help them with their defense of the hope that they have in Christ Jesus. The inheritance undefiled, imperishable and unfaity in the midst of suffering. I think Peter is right. So I think one of the reasons he might encourage us to be able to give a defense for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus is because we're going to need the defense.

10:21 We're going to need some way of remembering what on earth has happened to us. I went back and looked at because I realized Peter is a character I've followed less. I went back and looked a little bit at his story in Acts. And there's one section that I want to look at first in Acts chapter 10.

10:56 You want to look there with me. Of course, Acts the Apostles kind of outlines the work of Jesus followers after his ascension there at the beginning of the formation of the church. And Peter has a couple of key spots where he gets to preach. His most significant sermon, his most famous sermon of course, is at Pentecost.

11:26 And Peter was the one who tried to go be present at the crucifixion of Jesus but just got afraid and ended up without courage denying that he even knew who Jesus was. And then at the Pentecost experience where the Holy Spirit is released and all of the stuff starts happening, Peter stands up at the temple and preaches. And he talks about what he experienced there and what he knew.

11:58 The thing I want us to think catch first that feels like a refrain for Peter is at Pentecost, Peter didn't come to that assembly. He didn't like wake up on the morning of Pentecost thinking what I'm going to do now is preach in a way that converts thousands of people. That's what I'm here for. Peter doesn't seem to have a self-conception that he's here to convert his fear of influence even his world.

12:32 He seems to, on many cases and in many circumstances through the story of Acts, the few that we have, he seems to be responding to a situation he's put into either by himself or by God. And then he answers for what he's seen. So in Pentecost you remember things are going nuts, people are thinking are these guys drunk there in front of a crowd. And Peter stands up and his first words are, hey these guys aren't drunk as you're supposing it's only nine o'clock, they haven't had enough time to get drunk.

13:03 Here's what's happening. Remember what Joel said back in Joel? Remember when he said the Holy Spirit would be poured out? That's what we're witnessing here, right? Because, and then he explains to them how he understands who Jesus is. It's a cool sermon, but you get this feeling, Peter's just like saying what he knows from hanging out with Jesus. And he's explaining what is happening in the midst of the people. He's giving a defense for the work of the Spirit and the Spirit does stuff.

13:34 The reason I wanted to look at Acts chapter 10 verse 34, the build up here is, through a couple sets of circumstances, Peter is invited out to this dude's house who's not an Israelite, not a Jewish person. He's a Greek person and he's invited out to have food with him. And he's really, Peter's really nervous about it because Jewish folks could make themselves unclean. They're not supposed to really eat at Greek households, they're supposed to eat at Jewish households.

14:07 They align with their own people. But Peter, before he goes, he makes his way because he's like called to this house and the night before he's ready to go to the house, he has a dream. Then the dream through a set of circumstances we won't unpack right now tells him it's a vision from God that tells him it's okay to go into this house. Don't call things unclean that God has called clean. And so he goes to this house and they ask him to say some stuff about what he knows. And so we're at Acts chapter 10 verse 34.

14:39 So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly. So they said, tell us what you're doing Peter. Like we've heard of the good works and he says truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. He's explaining this not as a teaching, but like he just learned this, like in the dream right before. So it's not like he's done a deep study and a dissertation.

15:09 It's like he's just saying, guys, I just figured this out. That God says no partiality. Verse 36, as for the word that he sent to Israel, freaking good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed. He's like, you guys have heard the story. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him.

15:44 And we are witnesses of all that he did. He's like saying exactly what he saw. We are witnesses of all that he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. That God raised him on the third day and made him to appear. Not to all the people but to us who have been chosen by God as witnesses who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he committed us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God who could be judge of the living and the dead.

16:20 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins through his name. This is like a really, this is like the first sermon preached to the Gentiles. And it's a cool sermon and also it's not, it's just like Peter's like, hey you guys know what happened. And he says back to them what they already knew that happened. Remember he was like walking around, he did the miracles, they killed him, God rose him from the dead. Like verse 44.

16:50 And while Peter was saying these things the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles where they were hearing them speak in tongues and still went down. And then they declared can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have any commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. So they said, hey Peter tell us what's going on. Peter tells them like what happened and then the Holy Spirit shows up and does stuff.

17:21 I think that Peter says always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus won because you're going to need a defense. Because whether you're walking up the hill of Galilee at the feet of the resurrected Jesus or picking what Netflix to watch on a Tuesday evening is going to be hard to believe. In the defense that you have for the hope in Christ Jesus is not a dissertation on vicarious atonement or substitutionary.

17:54 Right? The defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus is the God of the universe did something in the world and has done something to me. Always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus is somewhere sometime you made record of what the God has done in the world. Maybe you wrote it down so that your defense you can go back and read it.

18:24 Maybe have a log in your mind of stories that have happened, of emotions that have changed, of experiences that were significant. Peter encourages the followers of the way of Jesus to always be prepared to have a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus because life is hard and suffering is real. And if in the midst of suffering you simply graph for diversion, entertainment or satiation.

19:03 Eventually you'll forget the hope that awaits for you, undefiled, unfading, imperishable, the inheritance, the living hope. If you just keep grasping for what's near you and don't go back to the defense that you make for the hope, you'll get stuck. You'll forget the hope and you'll walk around in the world hopeless like everyone else. Peter says first, be prepared to give a defense for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus.

19:35 And I think when you read the stories, even the sermons of Peter, you recognize his defense is the story of what happened. I think the second reason that Peter encourages us to give a defense for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus is because for some unknown reason. The God of creation and life, the God of Abraham, you can take up the God of Christ in the church over and over and over again, works in the world through people.

20:09 Look at this story and ask, I found, go back to the left, Acts 5. The little story that happened to Peter, Acts 5 verse 19, I said, let's see if that's true. Oh yeah, Peter and John, this is right after Pentecost. And we talked about Pentecost here before, the short version of it is to say that at Pentecost, Jerusalem is a slam pack of people.

20:41 It would be like Tokyo during the Olympics right now if we weren't in the midst of a global pandemic. Like people from all over the world assembling in one place for one thing, right? And when they list out where they're from, they're from all over. Jerusalem is a slam pack and right in the center of the activity, right at center court, right? The primordial spirit of life that has been bound up in the gardens since the banishment of humanity, since the dawn of time, is released on one little small group of people.

21:21 There's significant upheaval in Jerusalem following Pentecost and Peter and John are like walking around, explaining to people what's happening. And things are going nuts. The spirit is so concentrated and released, people are lining up to try and get Peter's shadow to fall on him because his shadow is healing people who are sick and paralyzed. Like it is nuts in Jerusalem just after Pentecost and Peter and John are just like walking around trying to explain what's happening in the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees that run the temple, the Pharisees are the lawyers out in the community, the Sadducees are the sects that run the temple.

21:58 The Sadducees are getting hit because nobody is following the system, nobody's trading the money. People aren't doing the things they're supposed to, they're listening to Peter and John, so they arrest Peter and John. Peter and John are in jail. In Acts chapter 5, let's go to verse 17. But the High Priest rose up, this is when they're trying to figure out what to do. And all who were with them, as part of the Sadducees and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in public prison, verse 19.

22:35 But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. This is what gets me. I mean, that's an amazing story. They're in prison, but not that amazing. Peter's shadow is healing people. Like, there are amazing things going all around in the story of the Acts of the Apostles, right?

23:05 The thing that's getting me in this story is how mechanical the message is. Like, if the angel can come in and break Peter and John out of jail, why doesn't the angel just do the preaching? Like, Peter and John are in jail. Let them go through. God goes through the trouble of dispatching an angel in the middle of the night. Probably not as big a deal for an angel. They don't sleep the same way we do.

23:38 Breaking them out and saying in the morning when the sun comes up and people gather again, then go preach at the temple course. For some, I don't know why God does this, but it baffles my mind that in order to get to Cornelius, wherever he was, he had to convince someone to go tell Peter to go visit Cornelius. He had to get Peter to walk someplace. Peter, still nervous the night before. God has to orchestrate for Peter to have a dream, to see what's happening.

24:08 Then he has Peter go and then finally the people ask Peter, what's the defense that you have for what is going on? Peter tells in his story and then he sends the Holy Spirit. When I think God would have been capable of just sending the Holy Spirit to Cornelius' household. But that's not the way God works. In the whole story that's not the way God works. I think the second reason that Peter encourages the followers of Jesus in the midst of life that is hard to always be prepared to give a defense for the hope that is in Christ Jesus is because the world needs that defense.

24:50 In God works through the stories of his people. I don't know if you thought about that before. That God might walk you into a household expecting that people would notice that you have some kind of hope that propels your life.

25:30 That your life moves with some different notion of mission or significance. That your sense of service or generosity is not moved by guilt or obligation but by hope of prosperity and provision. That your sense of security is not tied to the dollars you have in the bank or the security system around your house as good as those things may be.

26:06 Your sense of security in life comes from your hope in a living inheritance. Unfated and diminished. God might walk you into situations where people are struck by the hope that you carry and ask you where it might come from. And if you have a defense, if you know the story of what God has done in the world and in your life, the great spirit of God might come upon your words and change people's experience of life.

26:43 I think Peter wrote the letter and the church preserved it because they said, by God, that works over and over again. When the Holy Spirit came on the people in the house of Cornelius, it says that the circumcised among them, they were genuinely surprised. Not because I don't think they hated the Greeks so much that they thought they were below being saved.

27:19 I think the challenge is they had no concept idea that the God that they have known and been raised in would have room enough and reach enough to offer life to the whole world. I think they had notion that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was for narrowly defined parameters around the people of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

27:49 And they got into the house of Cornelius and Peter said, you yourself know the story that Jesus walked around and powered by God, was killed, raised from the dead and embodied in heaven now. And then whoever wants to believe that it gets to live under his reign and authority and the Holy Spirit came and by God they believed. And they began to glimpse the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithless, gentleness, self-control, unbidden and unearned.

28:21 And they said, ah, life with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jesus of Nazareth is better than life without him. And that's true for everyone. They couldn't believe it. I think they couldn't believe it. And I think sometimes we forget it. Because I mean Netflix is like very entertaining and their auto program stuff and life is hard and we don't, you know, inflation is coming and the housing market is tricky.

28:52 And we're in this gig economy and we've got kids with the schools, who knows what's going on. And sometimes I think we forget that our hope is a living hope, undefiled, unfading, imperishable. And it is a hope enough to draw us through this life and the grave and up into eternity.

29:28 And it will do that for any who believe, for any who believe. I think Peter encourages the followers of the way to be prepared to give a defense for the hope that they have in Christ Jesus because the world needs the hope. We need the hope. And then the world needs the hope. And curiously, consistently, God sends the hope out to the world, laid in on top of the words of his followers.

30:11 Your defense could unlock spirit of God for people around you. For the next several weeks, we're just going to look at different things God has done in the world. What it means that we are loved, significant, what it means that we have purpose and protection. What it means that we are the recipients of mercy and life.

30:47 In order that we might learn some language for ourselves about what God has done in the world and what he has done for us, that like Peter's original readers, we could give a defense for the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Because who knows who needs it? I mean, we know we need it, but other people might as well. Let me pray. Hey, Lord, thank you for your persistence on defiled, on diminution, on fading hope as our inheritance.

31:23 Or root that hope in us and remind us of the story of your work in the world and our lives. So we can make a defense to our doubting the heart and to our dying world. It is because we need to pray.