okay um when i come back up on the screen again well even if i don't come back on here i go here
i go uh i'm going to read the bible now and then we'll we'll spend a few minutes just um thinking
about one peter chapter one and i just can't help thinking that at this time it's just lovely to
hear about jesus total commitment to us and our salvation secure there's nothing else much secure
in this world at least it feels like nothing else much secure in the world this week but our
salvation is just as secure as it was last week last year last century and we can never hear enough
of that especially that time so this time so thanks alex now i'm going to read from one peter chapter
one uh the first nine verses and then we'll spend a few minutes just uh thinking through some of those
things so hopefully um you've got your bibles open uh maybe you can they said yesterday there might be
some complication with having um electronic devices and zoom open so you might have to go back and use
an old-fashioned uh word bible like like i do anyway here we go so verse one of chapter one of one peter
peter an apostle of jesus christ to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in pontus galatia
capadocca peter anna cappadocia asia and bithynia according to the foreknowledge of god the father
in the sanctification of the spirit for obedience to jesus christ and for sprinkling with his blood
may grace and peace be multiplied to you
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 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 in this you rejoice
though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so the tested
genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire
may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of jesus christ
though you have not seen him you love him though you do not see him now you believe him and rejoice
with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of
your souls well rob's already said uh summed it all up hasn't he what a week what a week it's been
just imagine something as microscopically small as a virus totally disrupting interrupting our life
if not changing it forever that great thing that we've all talked about over the years that australian
way of life that socially we've moved from being party central as a nation to being a nation in nervous
isolation economic talk of economic growth has moved to talk of economic recession and even depression
pretty bleak our health system that a week ago most of us would have thought would have been able to
deal with any eventuality is now threatened with being overwhelmed the aussie spirit so-called aussie
spirit of looking after your mate well that's fast becoming a look after yourself type attitude isn't it
hoarding panic buying and then as rob's already mentioned our church family now for the first time ever
being forced to meet online trying to be together while being separate now it's already been mentioned
a few times that as always change creates fear we've heard a few of them this morning and it's fear of the
unfamiliar fear of loss of relationships and growing aloneness fear of losing your job fear of ability to
provide for your family fear of losing your retirement nest egg as you see the stock market collapse
fears even of contracting covered 19 fear of death i mean the fears the list of fears goes on and on and on
but you know what my biggest fear has been this week doing what i'm doing now speaking online i'm not so much
worried about covered 19 i thought actually come friday night that might have been a really good option
rather than preaching online but here i am so fears they're very real fears they'll be very specific
to each of us but regardless of what they are each of them impacts on our faith in the present
and impact on our hope for the future and you see that one up in the the quotation up in the screen
uh so one i saw this week if we view ourselves as besieged victims who need to go into hiding
then we will cultivate fear and hoarding if we view ourselves as a community working hard to protect
the most vulnerable among us then that will have its own outcome so our hope mindset really impacts the
way we act and think everybody needs some sort of hope for the future we're shaped by our hopes mindset
which drives us to list the things we believe we need to be secure and that happens from when we wake
in the morning we express our hopes mindsets so let me ask you there's a hopes mindset up on the screen
happy new year that's a that's a form of hope let me ask you this morning what was the first thing you
hoped for when you woke up this morning now perhaps like me you just hoped that all this would go away
and we'd get back to life as normal as as life as we know it or perhaps it was that my me and my loved
ones would be healthy that my home and possessions and wealth might survive that i might still be able to
get that lifestyle that i've worked for all my life and which now seems to be perhaps slipping away
our hopes mindset will shape the way we speak and it will shape the what we invest our time and energy
and resources in put simply we throw ourselves into doing things that we believe will make our hope a
reality and coming up in the script at the moment there's a couple of more quotations about that
we're hearing these sort of hopes on the tv news every day at one extreme there's a form of despair
hopelessness driving panic pushing people to get what they want regardless of others
at the other extreme then there's the bland optimism of positive thinking
we've heard it so many times you know we will get through this crisis we will come out the other
side stronger and better than ever and there are numerous options in between those two extremes
but whatever option you go for we need hope wherever you sit on that spectrum we need hope
and here's the really important thing the object of our hope is the thing that's really critical
if the person or thing we invest our hopes into fails to deliver then we're going to crash and burn
big time we'll be consumed with fear we'll be consumed with disappointment we'll be consumed with
frustration because our hopes are tantalizing they're there but we can't quite get a hold of them
we can't make them secure so let's turn to peter's letter and say
that real hope is inseparably tied to relationship with jesus so i'm going to read the first few
verses when they come up on the screen here here we go peter an apostle of jesus christ to those who
are elect exiles of the dispersion in pontus calesia cappadocia asia and bithynia according to the
foreknowledge of god the father in the sanctification of the spirit for obedience to jesus christ and
for sprinkling with his blood may grace and peace be multiplied to you now that's the context in
which peter's going to tell us about our living hope and it's a really important context to remember
he's writing to christians that are scattered all over the roman empire they're living like refugees or
exiles in days of severe persecution incredible insecurity for them these are christians who have
been marginalized isolated or even cut off from their families and cut off from local village life
simply because they've become christians we can feel their fear fear for themselves fear for their
families we can feel their sense of isolation their sense of dislocation their pain their suffering
they become refugees in their own land things look familiar and yet they're so unfamiliar
not unlike i think i've been feeling this week
everything that's comfortable and familiar is there but it's not there
we sense their longing longing like refugees to know that somebody cares that they're valued as people
they want to have a home they want to have security they want to know that a better life is ahead
given the awfulness of their current predicament
it's that context that peter reminds the christians that we have a living hope
not just wishful thinking
not just positive thinking
it's a hope which is ours by right of birth it is our inheritance
it cannot be stripped away from us
as as alex said in his children's talks as christians we're united with christ
not only in his death but in his resurrection because he is raised to a new secure life
with the father in heaven we can be absolutely certain that we also
will be raised to this secure life in heaven we haven't actually got there to experience it in
in its fullness yet but we are tied into it now by virtue of being tied into christ
because christ is living we have living hope it's that simple
in and through relationship with him now peter goes on then to spell out the twin truths
that underpin that that real living hope that security for the future
the first is in verse 4
so we'll get that up on the screen in a sec
our inheritance is kept in heaven for us
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 unfading and
kept in heaven for you
now i've used this illustration before but children
when children leave home parents often present them things that they've collected over the years
things that the parents have kept because they know jolly well if they give them to the kids
uh they would have been lost they would have mutilated
so the parents keep them
the kids can't get their hands on them and so they're there to be presented at the right moment
well in the same way our heavenly father
has our security
our salvation our future stored up in heaven for us
we can't get our hands on it
therefore we can't mess it up
and that's surely what we'd do if it was down to us
but it's kept for us ready to go
and able to do everything that christ promised
it's tamper proof
the second truth then is
we are kept by the father so you see the twin truth
our salvation is kept for us
and then the other side of the coin is we are kept by the father
so that we will might eventually enjoy our inheritance
verse 5
continuing on the sentence
who by god's power are being guarded through
for a salvation ready to be revealed
thank you
in the last time
why can i be confident
why can you be confident as a christian
you will persevere and you will ultimately make it home to heaven
answer
because god preserves you
god will preserve you
he's promised to preserve you
for the inheritance that he's already set aside for you
he's already storing for you
and he's going to bring the two of them together
in at some point in time in the future
we can't see the full security we have now
and so we sometimes doubt it
we can't see the the beauty of what we have in its fullness
and so we sometimes doubt it
but one day
jesus will come back
he will take us to be with him in heaven
where we will experience in full
what he has stored up for us
and which we can only now appreciate through faith
now friends
that means our hopes mindset
as christians
is not in how we can mold our lives
by our own resources
it is not wishful thinking
it is not bland optimism of positive thinking
our confidence now and into the future
is based on christ's death
and resurrection in the past
there's not a chance
we will miss out
on what god intends us to have
because both sides
are in god's hands
however
there's another wonderful truth
that's that's brilliant
so far
but there's another wonderful truth
in these verses
and that is
living hope
massively transformed
our perspective on suffering
now
peter doesn't just present this truth
the twin truths
of hope
in a vacuum
he means us to connect them into real life
and here's the connection into real life
that these twin truths
massively transformed
our perspective on suffering
let me just read these verses again to you
they're up in your screen now
in this you rejoice
that is in this truth
twin truths of salvation
though now for a little while
if necessary
you have been grieved by various trials
so the tested genuineness of your faith
more precious than gold
that perishes though is tested by fire
may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor
at the revelation of jesus christ
though you have not seen him
you love him
though you do not see him now
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
notice that in verse 6
it is in living
in this living hope
you rejoice
the same thing again
in verse 8
you rejoice
get this
you rejoice with inexpressible joy
filled with glory
now what does that mean
well
it's
I think it's probably too big
for me to actually
completely expand
and exhaust
but let me
let me just try this on you
because I think this is
this is really helpful
what it means is this
when I live confidently
in the light of those
twin truths
that my salvation
is kept for me
and I'm kept for my salvation
when I live confidently
in light of this
then I reflect
Christ's glory
how do I do that?
both as I display
how Christ himself
has changed me
from the inside out
it's not normal
to hope
in somebody outside yourself
but also
as I happily walk
the path of suffering
which Jesus also walked
those two things
are a form of inexpressible joy
I know
in whatever situation
the Lord makes me walk into
and leads me into
the truth
of my salvation
remains unshaken
and as I walk
into the path of suffering
to my ultimate glory
in heaven
then I'm simply following
the path that Jesus
has walked before me
and as his disciple
has asked me to follow
there's the source
of inexpressible joy
things might be falling apart
all around us
there might be
incredible
physical taxation
but that pathway
cannot be broken
we will not slip off
the pathway
we will not be barged
off the pathway
we will be led home
to that inexpressible
joy and beauty
of being with Jesus forever
so suffering therefore
moves from something
that we need to fear
as the text tells us
to something
which is an opportunity
for us
imagine that
that's a big call
to say that suffering
is an opportunity
for God's people
what's it the opportunity
for?
it's an opportunity
to trust Jesus more
to grow more like him
to be more joyful
to be more thankful
to the Lord
for his goodness
to us and Jesus
now this is a really
really important one
to think through
especially where we are
at the minute
as a church
and where we are
as a society
where we are globally
see most people
including many
many Christians
think that suffering
in and of itself
is bad
and that it should
be avoided
they would say
things like
suffering
and happiness
or joy
are incompatible
and that God
wants us to be happy
therefore we should
minimize
or do everything
we can to avoid
any sort of suffering
others have a more
stoic
a stiff upper lip
mentality towards
suffering
they think suffering
is just an opportunity
for the likes of me
to prove my mettle
to prove my character
to show people
what I'm made of
and so
the idea there
is that you just
tough it out
you have a stiff upper lip
and you just put your head
down and shoulder it
and you just say
well okay
people will see
what I'm made of
I'll come out
on the side of this
you know
that thing I said
about Australians
we will get through this
we will come out
the other side
we'll be better for it
well that's a form
of approach
to suffering
but it's not a gospel
shaped approach
to suffering
the hope there
is in strength
of my own character
to deal with
whatever life
throws at me
it might be
a real hope
but it's not
a gospel hope
Peter speaks
of the reality
of suffering
in a very positive way
which trusts
increasingly
in who we are
and what we can do
in Jesus
and not
who we are
and what we can do
in ourselves
rejoice
with joy
inexpressible
filled with glory
means moving
into
and through
our suffering
knowing that
Jesus is ahead of us
shaping us through
and leading us home
so my friends
this inheritance
this new and living hope
is not just a theory
to live by
I would say to you
it's a truth
to die by
if that becomes necessary
over the last few years
I myself have been
trying to
learn to crave
this
inexpressible joy
suffering
by trying
to find
a gospel place
in suffering
that is
by a gospel place
I mean
recognizing
in whatever
suffering
I'm experiencing
at that moment
that I can say
to myself
this is where
Jesus wants me
to be
this is the best
place for me
to develop
my trust
in Jesus
to be exposed
to my own
sinful life trust
and therefore
this is the place
where I can be
even in the midst
of suffering
free
to learn
the lessons
he wants me
to learn
and free
still to have
a mind
to others
before myself
so here's
the big question
that I wrap up
this morning
the big question
is
do we
do you
have a living
hope
in the face
of COVID-19
because
if your
living hope
doesn't
help you
address
COVID-19
with confidence
I'm not talking
about being
foolhardy
I'm talking
about being
confident
then you
don't have
the living
hope
that is
rightfully
yours
to be
understood
and lived
out
as a
Christian
and the
answer
to your
question
as you
answer me
do you
have a
hope
a living
hope
for COVID-19
the answer
whether it's
yes or
no
will be
very clear
and obvious
as you
daily
express
your
hope's
mindset
so here's
how it
works
if all
we have
is this
world
and the
things of
this world
health
wealth
comfort
then
there's no
alternative
you will
become
increasingly
fearful
you'll
become
increasingly
self
interested
and
self
protective
you'll
become
increasingly
angry
frustrated
that the
good
things
of this
life
that you
worked
so hard
for
are now
being
stripped
away by
some
microscopic
virus
that's
random
but if
on the
other
hand
our
real
hope
our
real
security
our
real
home
is in
heaven
and if
our joy
is to
be like
Jesus
and follow
his pathway
of suffering
to heaven
then we
like him
will be
free to
be selfless
in times
of danger
and will
actually grow
in this
time of
uncertainty
and fear
will
actually
mature
in this
tough
time
whether it
be three
weeks
three months
or indeed
three years
and you
know what
throughout
history
that's what
Christians have
been known
for
they've had
such a
hope
a living
hope in
Christ
that they've
been the
ones who've
run into
danger
to care
for other
people
even to the
point of
sacrificing
their own
lives
and countless
thousands
have done
that
wouldn't it
be great
no matter
what happens
here in
Newcastle
if we
as believers
of this
church
became known
as people
who were
running into
danger
keen to
help others
not foolhardy
not ignoring
those basic
things of
hygiene that we
can do to
protect ourselves
but nevertheless
not being
driven by
fear
not being
driven by
self-protection
not being
driven by
self-interest
but moving
towards people
and showing
people
in practical
ways that we
have a hope
that's far
beyond health
and wealth
and prosperity
in this life
but there's
another line
and I'll
finish on
this then
we can also
perhaps begin
to think
this morning
that this
pandemic
is already
starting to
expose the
roots
we find
so easy
to put down
into this
world
when there's
nothing to
challenge us
when there's
nothing to
expose our
true securities
and that
happens
it happens
to us all
every day
those roots
go deeper
and deeper
and sometimes
we're not even
aware of them
until they're
exposed and
challenged
you see
that's what
Satan's job
is
he'll trick
us into
believing
that we
have here
in this
that what
we have
here in
this world
is better
than having
God
and so the
roots go
down
and he'll
show us
all the
shiny things
the world
offers
for security
and as we
salivate over
them
the roots
get deeper
we choose
the bigger
house
the luxury
holiday
the career
getting married
having children
pursuing my
dream and
whatever form
that comes
in and it
comes in
myriad forms
and the roots
get deeper
and deeper
my friends
as we
start this
stage of
our church
life
online
can I
encourage you
can I
encourage you
to encourage
one another
not to put
down roots
not to
accept
substitute
hope in
this world
because if
you invest
your hope
in this world
you'll be
mightily
disappointed
let's help
one another
expose these
roots where
they exist
this past
week
Alice and
I have
just been
talking about
the impact
of the
stock market
collapse
on our
superannuation
now as we
come towards
the age of
retirement
I don't like
the word
and I'm
going to
redeploy
but nevertheless
you understand
what I'm
saying
and it's
really been a
challenge to
us to say
well where
is our
security
what impact
is it going
to have
to read
those figures
and say
upwards of
40% of
our
superannuation
that we
were looking
forward to
enjoying
last week
40% of
it's now
gone
and perhaps
more to
go
with no
perspective
of it
coming back
in less
than 8,
10,
12 years
these sort
of thoughts
expose our
securities
don't they
expose the
roots that
we need to
dig up
and we need
to cut
off
so our
connection
to Jesus
might be
the true
root
the true
sense of
abiding
that takes
us forward
well this
has been a
big thing
for me
I'm only
starting to
relax a
little bit
now if
it's been a
bit wooden
and artificial
I will try
and improve
over the
weeks
thank you
very much
for listening
and may
God go
with you
this week