This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Widow Springs, Florida. Her reverend Kevin Labby is our senior pastor. Today's message is by our assistant pastor Reverend Kurt Moore, and it's taken from 1st Peter, chapter 1, verses 1 through 9. Now here's Kurt with today's message. It's great to be with you this morning to bring God's Word again. I'm always excited when I'm here with you. As you heard Kevin and the team, they're on their way to Mexico, they're 20 to 22 folks that are there. Dave Cross is leading that, so we want to continue to pray for that and I'm sure you will see pictures and you'll hear reports from the website and from Facebook. Kevin is very, very good about updating that and keeping us informed just so you know I love that song. Don't you like it? Isn't that great? You can clap. More than a golf clap, you know, we're Presbyterians and we usually just do the golf clap but we can rejoice. In thinking of those lyrics, love never fails. It never gives up. It never runs out on me. I always have these weird associations when I hear things. I was reminded of Paul Simon's 50 ways to leave your lover because that is so contrast, with what these words have to say and with the text that we're going to look at this morning because we're going to look at first Peter and we're going to see that there's a love that's imperishable. It's undefiled and it's unfading and it's a hope that we have because of what Jesus has done. It's a love that endures and it never gives up and it never runs out. So we're going to look at first Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 9 and so you'll see the words on the screen above me. Here the Word of God. Peter and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bethinia. According to the four knowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood. They grace and peace be multiplied to you. It continues, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His great mercy. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And in this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, maybe found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls, let's pray. So that we come before you and we, Father, we so want to hear from you. We want to be comforted by your word and by your presence, which you promise to give to us as your children, but Lord, our hearts are unsettled in the world in which we live all around us is rather chaotic. Our lives tend to be fairly unstable, but Father, we thank you that your word reaches into those places of our greatest need and of our deepest brokenness. And we thank you that the Savior that you've sent, your son Jesus, who has rescued us from sin and death because of his obedience, Father, we thank you that now we're yours. Father, we need to be reminded again and again that we're your children. Your word says that you love us, where you beloved, but Father, sometimes we don't feel that. So Lord, we want to hear from you. We want to hear from you in an eternal word with eternal truth that comes in from outside to quiet us, to still us, and to give us an anchor and a hope for our souls. We thank you that you do provide that. We thank you for your word that instructs us and that points us to Jesus, but Father, we're forgetful and we live an unbelief. And so, Father, would you help us with our unbelief? And would you forgive the one who preaches for his sins or many? We pray to see Jesus and him only. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. So this morning, we want to look at suffering and the Christian hope. And you know, you would have to be in a remote place in the country to not have been watching the news or heard the reports of what's going on in the world. The war between Israel and the Palestinians and with Hamas is just raging. If you've noticed within the last few weeks, our Christian brethren who are in Iraq are suffering great persecution as Christians. And if you've observed the news, in this Islamic state, they're putting the mark of Nazarene upon the doors of the Christians, an Islamic symbol for Anne Nazarene. And they demand that the Christians leave, pay attacks or die. And so a Christian presence which has been in Mosul for over 600 years before the Islamic state, the Christians have fled or been killed. And so there's great persecution. And more and more, more and more in America, we are becoming targeted, targeted for our beliefs which stand in direct opposition to a changing culture and a changing world and society. Now, regarding sexuality, our views are now seen as bigoted and hate-filled. Our views regarding the origins of man creation are seen as lacking scientific sophistication, we're seen as ignorant, narrow and just stupid. And so what we're seeing more and more of is a greater marginalization in the public arena and that what we believe does not have the same weight or gravitas that it once had. And slowly, slowly, you may not observe this now, but if you read it, if you watch the news, there's a marginalization of Christians even in the United States. Well, this is a letter for us. This is a letter for you and for me, it's a letter for believers. First Peter's a letter to people who are suffering great hardship and persecution for being followers of Jesus Christ. And Peter wants us to know, and he wants these folks to know, that they can experience a life-shaping hope in spite of their circumstances. That you and I that the original audience can experience a life-shaping hope beyond their circumstances. And to the original audience, though they were scattered to various regions, though they were scattered to various regions and they were in a place that was not their home, they had been experiencing physical, physical harm, bodily, physical threats, bodily harm, murder, social alienation, economic hardships. These were real. Peter was saying, even though these things are happening, you possess a source of hope. You possess a resource in the gospel that can produce real, real life-shaping hope that can't, that nothing can touch, that nothing can touch. And he says, this is a living hope, which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. I want you to think with me for a moment, though we're probably not experiencing the same kind of persecution, obviously, that the folks around the world are experiencing. I want you to think with me for a moment about some things in your life that are changing, that are just beyond your grasp, that are fading, that are corruptible, that are subject to being defiled or diluted. I want you to think with me for just one moment. What in your life has the ability to remain unchanged? What in your life has the ability to remain secure and untouched by time and circumstances? Is there anything in your life that is so secure that it's untouched by time or circumstances? Is there anything in your life that's not moving away from you gradually? Your looks, your youth, your vitality, relationships, dreams and visions, hopes, goals, finances? I never can pronounce his name correctly, but Piercy, Vissy Shelley, Shelley, as he's known, the poet Shelley wrote this poem which I think is really profound, it's called The Flower. And it's one of my favorites. He says, the flower that smiles today, tomorrow dies, all that we wish to stay, tempts and then flies. What is this world's delight, lightning that mocks the night, brief even as bright, what he's saying is the things that we see today that bring us hope that are beautiful, it's not long before they fade away and that they're gone, like a flower that blooms and then it's gone, or like lightning at the night that's there and then it's gone. The reality is, everything is fading away from us. One degree or another, you're fading, you're sorry, your parents, sorry, your children. I'm sure you can remember when your children were very small and they just wanted to be around you. They just wanted your presence and now maybe they're older. I see you looking at your children nodding your head. Now they're older and maybe they don't want to even be around you at all. I remember when I was in college at Florida State, my mother still tells me she reminds me that she says, the only time you called was when you wanted more money. But I sure didn't want their advice, but I wanted their money. It could be that a loved one who has been with you forever ages and then disappears having passed from this life into the next, or maybe you've experienced cancer or some other type of illness or you know someone whom it has touched. We can suffer as a result of other people's bad choices, as a result of evil acts or even as a result of accidents. And what happens is our lives are forever changed. Another thing, friendships. Friendships that you think would be so secure that we be with you forever. They dissolve because of conflicts, relocation, work or changing hobbies and interests and investments flourish and then they fade. Maybe your business folds. Maybe the country you knew 50, 20 even 10 years ago is not the same. And then the world seems unstable and chaotic. But I don't want to be Debbie Downer. There's hope, but you and I need to know a hope that is imperishable, unfading and undefiled and we have this in the gospel. And this is what Peter is giving to us to remind us again because we're forgetful. Peter says that Jesus gives us something beyond all the things in this world. Even as significant as central as they may be. He gives us something beyond the things of this world and it's life changing. He says it's life giving. It's a life shaping hope. And it's a life shaping hope because it has been secured by the mercy of God. It's been secured by the mercy of God through the merit and work of Jesus Christ. And the benefits of Christ, life and death and resurrection not only produce a new life, we're born again, we're born again into a new hope. We have new realities and we can live out of this new hope which he says it's imperishable, it's undefiled and it's unfading. And these new realities break into this world in which we live, which is fading, which is changing and which is broken. And this living hope has the ability to give buoyancy to our lives. It has the ability to give buoyancy to our life even in the midst of suffering. And this is the promise. This is a radical promise. It's counterintuitive. You know what counterintuitive? It means it goes against everything we know. It's customary. It's traditional. It goes against everything we've ever experienced. But it breaks into our lives because this is what I love. The reformers describe this as an alien righteousness that we have through Jesus that comes in from outside of us. It doesn't originate from ourselves and therefore there's a security that's there that is that is imperishable unfading and undefiled. And so I want us to look at this morning so that we can have this hope which is, I love these three, the tricotomy, imperishable unfading and undefiled. The way we can know this, we're going to look at two things in the time that we have. I want to see where this living hope comes from and then how we can experience it in the now. And so first, let's look at this living hope is a gift from God. It's a gift from God. Now, let's look at suffering for just a moment. When we become unmoored from our ordinary life through suffering as a result of let's say persecution or experiences of suffering and loss, what we naturally want to look for is a hope that's secure. We want something that's reliable and something that's trustworthy. And if our hope depends upon our performance, if it depends upon our performance, then we're left unstable and we're left insecure. However, if our security doesn't depend upon our performance, but upon God working on our behalf, then we have a real lasting and a reliable hope. And Peter says that in the gospel, we have this living hope, which is imperishable undefiled and unfading because as Christians, we have been chosen by God and set apart to receive His mercy, His pardon and His forgiveness. We are His chosen people. Listen to the text from verse one and in verse three. He writes this to those who are elect exiles. And in verse three, he says, the abundant blessings that are multiplied to you are according to His great mercy, God's, that He has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Friends, this is another proof text of something that is hard for us to grasp and many times we don't want to believe it. But this is God's Word, so it's true. This is another instance where Scripture is clear regarding God's electing and God's saving work and that it has nothing to do with human effort. Friends, I find that radically assuring that if I did nothing to gain it and I required nothing to keep it, then I'm grounded in this. This is another instance where Scripture is clear regarding God's electing and God's saving work and that it has nothing to do with human effort. Friends, I find that radically assuring that if I did nothing to gain it and I required nothing to keep it, then I'm grounded in a security that is undefiled and perishable and unfading. Listen to Romans 9 verse 16, it says this, it does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, the salvation. It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort but upon God's mercy to save. God's mercy to sinners is purely the result of Christ's victory over sin and death, which is what he says is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And here is our greatest assurance and secure hope. It is our greatest assurance and secure hope because it's this and this is the gospel. Jesus lived the life that you and I should have lived. He lived the life in perfect obedience to the Father and yet he took the punishment you and I deserve. Taking our sin upon himself and dying in our place and there's this great exchange that takes place. We are given the righteousness of Christ as sin is taken away is it is cast as the imagery is to the into the depths of the sea. It's forgotten. It's pardoned. There's no double jeopardy. You cannot be tried again because Jesus has taken your place and this is the gospel. God Jesus lived the life you and I should have lived. He died the death that you and I deserve and he has purchased for us a secure place with the Father in his kingdom. In this new realm and so we're exiles living in a world that is foreign. We're apart. We're born again into a living hope because we have a living Savior who has rescued us and given us the position as children of God. Not just we are beloved children of the Father and nothing can be taken away and it anticipates the time when Jesus will return and make all things new. I want you to listen to this text from Romans 8. Buckle up. These are quite a few scriptures but I do believe that they will ground you in this hope. We need God's word to speak to us because our hearts fail us and the voices around us in the world. They betray us. There's no hope there. This is true. It's an anchor for our souls. Romans 8 beginning in verse 30. And those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified that means made right with himself. And those whom he justified he also glorified which means glorification is at the end of time when Jesus will return and make all things new. This is what's called the golden chain. I'm going to say this again. Those whom he predestined he also called those whom he called he also justified those whom he justified he also glorified. What shall we say to these things is if God is for us who can be against us. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies who is to condemn. Jesus Christ is the one who died more than that who is raised who is seated at the right hand of God which means it's finished. Who indeed is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. As it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to the slaughter but it's not over. He says this, knowing all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I'm sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor heights nor depths nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is an anchor for your soul because it comes from outside of us and it is the work of God through Jesus Christ. Friends I find this incredibly hopeful and I'll tell you why. One of the things about suffering and loss is that it tends to produce a critical analysis of ourselves and our circumstances. In other words we begin to ask the question, what have I done? God why did you do this? I don't deserve this. One of the things we don't interpret accurately suffering and God's role in our lives in the midst of suffering. We tend to have what I call a Christian karma view of God. Karma is anithetical to grace. Karma is you do this and God gives you that. You don't do this and God punishes you. In suffering we tend to ask these questions, God what have I done for this to happen to me? And I will tell you how true this is. Maybe not everyone asks the question but I have a diagnostic question that I ask people when I'm around them and they experience great suffering and loss. I was with a couple whose three-year-old drowned in the pool in the backyard. I was with them the very next day. I was with a family whose mother, elderly mother took in a border to help them. The border murdered her and buried her in a shallow grave underneath power lines. I've lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and traveled to where tornadoes destroy entire communities and I've wept with people who have lost everything and asked every one of them this question. Ellen let me tell you this. We have a member who used to be a member here whose daughter drowned last year in Lake Jessam. And that evening I stood before him and I asked him this question as I asked everyone, do you think you have done something or failed to do something in a certain way and that God is repaying you without question everyone says yes. Let me tell you this. What we have, that's karma, that's Christian karma and that's not true. That's from the pit of hell and it smells like smoke. What we have is grace which is what we get what we don't deserve. It's mercy and it's pardoned and it comes from outside of us so it's secure. We don't maintain it so it can't be taken away. It doesn't fade. It's not imperishable. It's undefiled. What we have is union with Christ that nothing can break. It is not based upon our performance and it doesn't depend on us to keep it or to maintain it and this living hope in suffering causes us to look beyond ourselves, beyond our emotions and beyond our circumstance to see a God who doesn't give us what we deserve. But he gives us mercy and he continues to pour out that mercy which is what the text says may these mercy be multiplied to you because of the work of Christ through his son God gives us grace not karma. Our living hope is a gift from God and it's imperishable and it's undefiled and it's unfading. So he secures it in the position as chosen people but let me just tell you the language that he uses here to describe exile and elect exiles. What Peter is doing is he's connecting the New Testament church Christians with the Old Testament people of God and like them we are God's people in exile. And this is really important. We are resident aliens but we're not in our true home. Our true home is elsewhere and Christ will return to make all things new but just as the Old Testament Israelites were led and guided directly by God. So too we are led and guided and directed as his people as the continuation of his covenantal promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that Jesus has fulfilled those. And so I don't know about you but when I think about the Israelites when they were wandering through the desert think with me for just a moment. They didn't always believe that God was leading and guiding they believed because they hadn't received the promise land and that they were wandering about in the desert they interpreted their suffering and their pain as the absence of God. We've got history and we've got God's word that we can see no matter what we're going through that as the continuation as Christians as the people of God just as God led them through the wilderness directing their paths was constantly with them. So to we have a God who leads us even when we don't know how to interpret what's happening and everything we can say is is horrible and it's and we're experiencing great suffering and great pain. The reality is is that but what we have in Christ is a hope that is imperishable. It's undefiled and it doesn't fade away and then describing the status to the people that were in the dispersion and then to us. We see that as the chosen people of God in exile we have an anchor and we have a hope that God and it's in God's redeeming and saving acts. What an incredible grounding for your soul and mind because I don't know about you but I tend to when I get rattled and I look around I don't interpret things rightly and I ask the same kind of questions but but we do have this truth that we need to speak to one another in community because it's easy to understand. This is why we want to be a community that's connected because you can speak truth to me you can see when I can't and if we're in community you can encourage me and I can see when you can't and I can speak God's word of truth. Not only as God's covenant people we're in a covenant community and that's significant as well something that we often downplay. The reality is we do have this great hope and it is undefiled and perishable and unfading but it's one thing to know this it's another thing to appropriate it. How do you get to live in the present and experience present joy even in the midst of suffering this is the second thing I want to look at that this living hope provides a present joy. I have to tell you this with regard to suffering and the Christian hope I think that this is one of the greatest defenses or apologetics for Christianity is that it's honest dealing with regard to hope and suffering. As Christians we don't ever want to minimize suffering we never want to downplay it we should never we don't want to shy away from saying you know that's truly tragic that's incredibly horrible that is tragic. But at the same time we don't want to take on a victim mentality either which says I'm alone I'm unloved and I'm forgotten. Otherwise suffering and loss shapes us with an identity that is not hopeful not hope filled but is despairing. What Peter wants the persecuted Christians and he wants us to know is that through the gospel through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can experience a present joy. Because in our suffering Jesus becomes more of a present source of hope Jesus moves in in the hands of a loving God suffering has the ability to fix our hope more and more upon Jesus look at verses six and seven. In this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials. So that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that parishes though it is tested by fire maybe found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter is saying these are real things that are happening to you friends and family have been killed properties are lost perhaps businesses are burned and believers here are forced to relocate the force to leave. Peter is not being callous to to their pain and their suffering he's not being insensitive to their plight and pain he's not minimizing that real tragedy has touched their lives. But what he's saying is this he says God uses bad things to bring about an incredible good on life shaping hope. I think with probably one of the most popular verses that we probably all memorized I see the macro made on pillows when I go to houses I may have even had one once I confess that thank you for forgiving me. It's from Romans 828 and this is what 828 really means God works all things to the good of those who love him who are called according to his purposes. All things includes the suffering the bad but in this what Peter says is God is shaping our hopefulness with Jesus who moves in as a real source of presence and hope. Think with me for just a moment to about Joseph when at the end of his life all of the things that had happened to him his brothers had sold him into slavery been forgotten he had been accused of rape at the end of his life. He said to his brothers what you intended it for evil but God intended it for goods that many would save I say this he was able to see that sometimes you know we believe that because this is God's word but sometimes we won't have such absolute clarity but we do have clarity from God's word which says that we come by by faith in believing these truths. What this means this Romans 828 that God works all things to the good of those who love him who are called according to his purpose what this means is while God is not the author of evil he uses bad horrible things and turns them for our good and towards our good. And I want you to see do you see how that even evil cannot touch your lives because in the hands of him can cause pain but it can't derail you. It gets redirected evil really has no ability to unmore us completely but our hope comes which is renewed again and again by looking at the gospel and Jesus in the gospel that even evil can't touch us and horrible things that can happen really can turn out for our redemption as a vehicle for our maturity and for our growth and grace and and you say well how can this be. Things are things are horrible they're tragic how can this be let me ask you this question what is suffering suffering is usually a good thing that's being taken away. Think about the text in James the book of James consider it for your joy my brothers when you face trials of many kinds do I get tested with your faith develops perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete and not lacking anything. Suffering is something being removed but what James is saying is God is moving towards us to make us mature and complete and not lacking anything. The reality is the Bible says that we take good things and we make them ultimate things and the Bible constantly calls them idols when we take good things and make them ultimate things. And the reality is is that good things like work marriage your children relationships money beauty health power all these things cannot bring us through and lasting hope. They gradually fade from us they perish they can be diluted and they can be defiled but in suffering what God does is he shaping our focus and our faith upon Christ and the real presence of Jesus moves in which is what he says here. So that the test of genuance of your faith more precious than gold the parishes though it's tested by fire may be found result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ it's pointing us more to Jesus and it sharpening our faith that in the hands of loving and merciful God all things do actually turn about for our good and the reality is that idols the things that we hope and trust in that we've made taken good things and made ultimate things they make us highly unstable. Because they can be taken away they can be corrupted they can be defiled the things that we make idols can be work marriage children relationship money beauty health power sex and control but they can anything can come and level us and wipe us out. Now I've Kelly and I just celebrated our 10-year anniversary we were at the high-residency Grand Cypress just a few days ago we were in Henningways for dinner which is where we spent the night at the Grand Cypress the first night of our of our honeymoon. I love the Hyatt and the reason I wanted to go to the Hyatt I had been a department head there back in the early 90s I've been a manager at the Grand Cypress and probably the year before I started working there. One of the heirs to the RJ Reynolds fortune was staying in the hotel but he had he had lost everything there was this this acquisition or merger and and and he lost everything he lost his status he lost his power he lost his reputation. So staying in the hotel and he jumped off he left off the balcony and onto the ground let to his death he had made his reputation. He made his work he made money and idol and when that was gone there was nothing for him to live for what he's living for was incredibly unstable. The reality is the Bible says that you and I are constantly Calvin said that our hearts are idle factories we're constantly churning out new things to put our hope in and anything can take them away and so here's a loving God who even uses suffering in order to bring about a greater hopefulness because in Christ it cannot be taken away. In Christ God is moving towards us with a radical love that he absolutely pursues us because he loves us and he wants to mature us and even turns evil and horrible things to good to those who love him. So you see suffering in suffering God is giving us something that can't be taken away. He's giving us himself which is imperishable undefiled and unfading and we get this by faith by turning again and again and again and again to trusting the truths about what God has done for us through Christ. Listen that verses eight and nine this is where faith comes in and where we turn again and again though you have not seen him though you're not seeing him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls in suffering our hopefulness becomes grounded in the real presence of Christ as he moves in. Scripture says God says taste and see that I am good so often we're dining at the buffet of fading and perishable things so we can't really taste the goodness of God but in suffering as those gradually move away we can feast upon the Lord and God moves in and he's our true source of hope so there's a real presence of Christ but then there's also an anticipation and longing for his return when we'll see him face to face and we'll make all things right. I'm going to close by by telling you this story friends of mine live just outside of Chattanooga and a few years ago there were series of tornadoes that came through and just devastated these communities a team from Willow Creek actually went to Dalton Georgia which is just outside of Chattanooga this was a few years ago and we helped the family that whose home was destroyed probably half of the house was gone and they were in the basement well my friend was in her home with her granddaughter Lily who was about eight nine years old at the time and these were really bad weather patterns that were coming through and Lily they were in the center of the house in one of this hopefully one of the most safe secure places in the house and my friend Becky told me this story she said Lily was noticeably shaken and disturbed. She was afraid and my friend Becky said to Lily Lily you know Jesus you put your hope and trust in him you know that if you and I were to die that we would be with Jesus and as only an eight year old could say she says I know mama but it's going to hurt on the way and so what she did was she covered Lily with her own presence and she held her and that calmed her. Friends in suffering God moves towards us with a real presence and we have the assurance of a hope that is radical that comes from outside of us that's on defiled and perishable and unfading because it did not depend upon us to earn it it does not depend upon us to keep it and therefore it is secure do you realize what kind of radical hope we have We've been reminded again and again let's pray. Father we we are amazed that your love even as the him amazing love how can it be. Father even as I looked at this text for the last week two weeks it's worked on me and I can say these things to my friends father it's so hard to grasp when we're in suffering but father we thank you for your truth we thank you that we have each other. That we can speak your truth we thank you that that you love us and and we have a real savior who has done everything to make us your yours. Father we thank you we're not orphans though we sometimes feel like it. Father would you make your presence more known to us I pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear and to live out of this this hopefulness that would truly transform and shape our lives we pray this in Christ name and man. Willow Creek Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America our website is www.willowcreekchurch.org and our phone number is 407 699 82 11.