WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.299 So, over the last four or five years, if you go and look at the most searched words on Google, 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:17.000 ! Consistently across the board for the last five or six years, one of the top searches is a search for the word hope. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:25.000 Hope is searched for more than how to make money quickly. It's searched for more than home renovation ideas. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.000 It's searched for more than just about anything consistently across the board. People are searching for hope. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:36.000 And to the extent that Google is a reflection of our collective consciousness, 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.000 it seems as though a lot of people are not okay. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:48.000 It seems as though a lot of people are looking for something to hold on to, something to grab on to, something to build their life on. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:55.000 And traditionally, people look to a variety of things for this. People have looked traditionally to institutions. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:06.000 such as our government or the criminal justice system or news media outlets, the university, the institutional church, to provide that security. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:15.000 Other people have looked to science and technology, believing that science and technology were gradually going to make the world a better place and make us better people. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:25.000 People have looked to financial security to secure their future, to protect the future generations of their family. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:36.000 People have even started to look within. The sense that if I can figure out who I really am on the inside, if I can define myself, I'm finally going to be at peace. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:47.000 And yet, over the last few years, all of these places that people traditionally look for hope have let us down collectively in one way or another. 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:51.000 They fail. They mislead. They fail to deliver what they promise. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000 And so, people are searching for hope. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:02.000 And when those things that you traditionally rely on start to crumble, you're left asking this deeper question, which is, 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.000 is there anything out there that I can actually build my life on? 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.000 Is there anything that can bear the weight of the world that we live in? 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Because when things stop making sense, people start looking for meaning. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.000 Is there any meaning to any of this? Anything to build our life on? 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.000 And this is the question that Easter answers, not only for us, but for the world. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:33.000 And this passage that we just heard read from 1 Peter 1, Paul is speaking to people very much like us. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:39.000 People who, the things they thought they could rely on have crumbled, and they are looking for something to build their life on. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:43.000 They're looking for some source of hope that can't be taken away. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:50.000 And so, Peter wants to give them something solid, and he points them to one thing, which is the hope of Easter. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.000 It's the only hope strong enough to carry the weight of the world that we live in. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.000 And Easter hope is unlike other forms of hope. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.000 And that's what we're going to look at this morning. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.000 Easter hope is unique, and we're going to look at a few reasons why it's unique. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:08.000 Let's pray, and then we'll get started. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for Easter. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:22.000 And we thank you that because of Easter, we're not just here considering dead words on dead pages from dead people from long, long ago. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:30.000 That, in fact, we're here to listen to and receive the voice and the words of the living God. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:36.000 Lord, we're here because you're here, and you're the one we need to hear from this morning. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.000 So, we pray that in your grace and the power of your spirit, we would do just that. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.000 In your son's name we pray. Amen. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:48.000 So, Easter hope is unlike other forms of hope. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:50.000 And the first reason is this. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.000 It's because Easter hope is not simply wishing. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.000 It's not simply wishful thinking. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000 It's actually waiting on something. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 And those are two very different categories. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:07.000 And I say this because typically people think of hope, any form of hope, is a kind of wishful thinking. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.000 You know, I'm driving downtown this afternoon, and I'm just hoping that I'll find a parking spot. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:18.000 It's kind of, you're wishing, hoping that the parking gods will be kind to you. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:24.000 You're applying to college, some of you are applying to colleges, and you're hoping that you get in. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:29.000 You know, it's a synonymous thing, I wish they would accept me in this college. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:35.000 Or you're calling your doctor, and you're hoping it's good news and not bad news. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.000 And it feels like you're wishing. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:39.000 You're just, it's a form of wishful thinking. 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:43.000 And so, most people, when you say the word hope, it's like I'm going to cross my fingers, 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:47.000 and I'm going to hope really hard that this thing happens. 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.000 That the good thing happens, or the bad thing doesn't happen. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.000 So, it's easy because of that to think of hope kind of like a personality trait. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:59.000 Like some people are just naturally hardwired to be more hopeful because they're just naturally more optimistic. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.000 It's like I know so and so, and they're just a hopeful person. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:03.000 They always have hope, and I'm just not like that. 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000 I'm a cynic. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:05.000 I'm a pessimist. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:07.000 I'm just not as hopeful. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:13.000 Easter hope is something categorically different from any of these other kinds of hope. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:15.000 It's not wishing at all. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.000 It's actually waiting. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:24.000 Peter says that because of the resurrection, Christians have been born again, in verse 4, 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:32.000 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000 And when he uses the word inheritance, what he means is this. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:42.000 He says, there's a future that is waiting for you. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:49.000 There's a future that is waiting for you where nothing that you love will ever be taken away from you. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:56.000 There's a future waiting for you where you're going to live life free from sin and death. 00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:59.000 It's no longer even going to be on your radar. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:04.000 There's a future waiting for you where you're going to experience a kind of joy that doesn't fade. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.000 It doesn't ebb and flow. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:14.000 There's a future waiting for you where you're going to live in a world that has been made whole, and you will be made whole. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:16.000 That's what he's saying. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:20.000 It's a place of absolute security and contentment with God. 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:32.000 So, what he's saying in context is that when someone comes to Jesus and they repent and they put their faith in him, God adopts you. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:39.000 God makes you his child, and then he effectively writes you into his will. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:46.000 Now that you're adopted, you're written into the will, and that future that we just described becomes your inheritance. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.000 It is secured for you. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000 It's yours to claim. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:53.000 So, it's not something that you wish might happen. 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:54.000 Right? 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:58.000 You're not sitting there saying, man, I hope things work out, and I hope it's like that one day. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.000 God says, no, no, no. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.000 Your name is in the will. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.000 It's already yours. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.000 It's going to happen. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.000 It's just a matter of time. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:14.000 And so, what Peter is beginning to tell us is that if you build your life on that, if you know that, and if you build your life on it, 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:20.000 you can endure whatever hardship comes your way in this present moment. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:26.000 In verse 6, Peter says, in all this, listen, you greatly rejoice. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:33.000 Though now for a little while, now he's encapsulating all of the suffering we face in this life. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:40.000 Though now for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.000 He's not minimizing the suffering that he's addressing. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.000 He's putting it in perspective. 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:50.000 He's putting the suffering in perspective. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:58.000 Imagine somebody told you, all the suffering and hardship that you're experiencing right now, it's all going to be over in one week. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:01.000 And after that, it's going to be smooth sailing. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.000 You just have to get through this week. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:08.000 I think most of us could probably endure almost anything if we knew that it was going to be over in a week. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:15.000 And what he's saying is, in the perspective of eternity, everything that we face right now is just the slightest blip. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:20.000 It's a prologue to what we will one day enjoy. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:26.000 So, this is how women endure the immense pain of childbirth. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.000 It's because they know that in this present moment, I'm suffering, but they know what waits on the other end of that suffering. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:37.000 They know that suffering is going to end, and there's going to be the even greater joy of a new child in my life. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.000 And it enables you to endure almost anything. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:44.000 So, everything we have to endure in this life is just the prologue. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:50.000 So, for those of us who are here who are Christians, the question is simply, do we know this? 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:54.000 Do we understand it? Do we understand what it means? 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:59.000 I just read a story about a woman from Oregon. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:01.000 I think she was in Portland. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:05.000 And she lived her entire adult life on the streets. 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:11.000 And so, she lived on the streets of Portland, and she died homeless. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:14.000 And that's tragedy enough, right? 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:18.000 Somebody living their life on the streets, somebody dying homeless and destitute. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.000 But here, the real tragedy of the story is this. 00:09:21.000 --> 00:09:28.000 Her entire adult life that she was living on the streets, she actually had an inheritance waiting for her. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.000 Her mother passed away and left her close to $1 million. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.000 But the authorities couldn't find her. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:38.000 They looked for her everywhere. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.000 And so, the money was just sitting there. 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:40.000 It was already hers. 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.000 She just needed to come claim it. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:44.000 But she had no idea it was there. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.000 And nobody could find her to tell her. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:50.000 So, she lived and then she died as if she had nothing. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:53.000 When she had this inheritance waiting for her all along. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:59.000 And you know, when I read this story, I immediately thought, I think that's how many of us live spiritually. 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.000 I think many of us live that way. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.000 We live as though we have nothing. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.000 We live as though there is no inheritance. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:20.000 You know, our inheritance, if you think about it, inheritance as I've just described it, that means that we have a secure future that is imperishable and undefiled and unfading. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:25.000 So, why do we spend so much time worrying about our future? 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:26.000 Right? 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.000 Why do we live as if everything could fall apart at any moment? 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:37.000 Our inheritance means that one day we're going to be fully known, fully loved, fully accepted. 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.000 Right? 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.000 One day you're going to know what it's like to be fully loved, fully known, fully accepted. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Why do we lay awake at night replaying conversations in our minds, worrying about what this random person or that random person thinks of us? 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:54.000 Why did I say that? 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:55.000 That was so stupid. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Why didn't I say this? 00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.000 They probably think this about me. 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:01.000 They probably think that about me. 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.000 If we know that we have this inheritance, why do we live like we don't? 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:09.000 Our inheritance means that one day nothing that we love will ever be taken away from us. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:16.000 And yet we have this tendency to cling to what we have and to try to accumulate more as though this is all there is. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:21.000 And if we're not really, really, really careful, it could all be taken away from us and we'll never have anything again. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:31.000 So, the question that I think we need to ask is how would it change our lives if we started living out of the certainty of our inheritance in Christ? 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.000 I mean, just think about your life over the next few days. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:50.000 What would it look like for you to make decisions this week, not based out of fear, not based out of scarcity, but based out of the security of knowing that we have this inheritance in Christ? 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.000 How would it change our priorities? 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.000 How would it help us to become more generous? 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000 Would it help us to be generous with our money or our time? 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.000 What risks would we be willing to take? 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:09.000 I think if you believe this, you would be one of the biggest risk takers of anybody that you know. 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.000 So, Easter hope is not wishing. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:12.000 It's not wishful thinking. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:15.000 It's not I hope, I hope, I hope. 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.000 It's the certainty of knowing that you have an inheritance. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.000 The only question is, are we living like that or not? 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.000 That's the first thing. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:31.000 In addition to this, another big difference between Easter hope and other kinds of hope is that Easter hope is not a feeling. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:33.000 It's a fact. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:34.000 It's not a feeling. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:35.000 It's a fact. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:36.000 It's a fact. 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:45.000 So, some of us may be hearing this and you may be thinking, well, you know, I've been a Christian a really long time and I kind of know all this, but to be honest, I don't really feel that hopeful right now in my life. 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.000 I don't feel hopeful. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:50.000 And I want you to hear me say this very clearly. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.000 That's okay. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.000 And it does not make you a bad Christian. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:58.000 And it does not call your faith into doubt. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.000 If you don't feel hopeful, that is perfectly okay. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.000 Because Easter hope really is not a feeling. 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:07.000 It's a fact. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.000 And that's a big deal. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:16.000 Peter says, God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.000 So, by definition, our hope as Christians is a living hope. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:22.000 It's alive. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:23.000 And what does that mean? 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:27.000 It means it exists independently from our feelings. 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:31.000 It exists whether we feel it or not. 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:33.000 Easter hope is not a feeling. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.000 Easter hope is a man went into the grave and walked out again. 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.000 That's Easter hope, right? 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:43.000 Easter hope is Jesus is alive whether we feel it or not. 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:45.000 That's Easter hope. 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:47.000 So, feelings come and go. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:48.000 They rise. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:49.000 They fall. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:52.000 A lot of times, they don't make a lot of sense. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:54.000 Easter hope doesn't budge. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:55.000 It doesn't move. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:56.000 It doesn't change. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:58.000 It is always there. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.000 You know, feelings are like clouds. 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:05.000 And Easter hope is like the sun. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:11.000 And sometimes, your feelings can just be so dark that they blot out the sun entirely. 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.000 And you can't see it at all. 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:15.000 And that's what feelings are like. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.000 But even if you can't see it, the sun doesn't go away. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:20.000 The sun is always there. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.000 It may be hidden for the moment behind those clouds, but it's not gone. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:29.000 And it's the same with your feelings and then the fact of Easter. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:33.000 So, Easter hope means you might feel hopeless. 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:36.000 And those feelings might cloud out your hope. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.000 But Christ is still there. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.000 And He's still very much alive. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:45.000 And what this means is that you can feel hopeless and still have Easter hope at the same time. 00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:54.000 Because Jesus is a living, breathing reality who is with you and He's for you and He's in you regardless of how you feel. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:03.000 So, when it comes to our feelings, if you're anything like me, most of the time we don't get to choose how we feel. 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.000 I wish we did. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:08.000 But we don't get to choose how we feel. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.000 We do get to choose what we do with what we feel. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:13.000 Right? 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:16.000 So, when it comes to our feelings, that's the choice we have. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:19.000 Is what am I going to do with the things that I'm feeling right now? 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:22.000 So, we do get to choose how we interpret them. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.000 We get to choose how much authority we give them. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.000 How much authority do you give your emotional world in your life? 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:34.000 We get to choose how we respond to our feelings. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.000 So, I'm not saying that we pretend that they're not there. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:37.000 No, no, no. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.000 That's a huge mistake. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:39.000 We should not pretend that they're not there. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:40.000 They are there. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:41.000 They're real. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:43.000 They're important data points. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:49.000 But they also don't get to have the final word on our life. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:50.000 Right? 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.000 Feelings are kind of like your five-year-old. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.000 You want them in the car, but not the driver's seat. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.000 Right? 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.000 They deserve a place in your life. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:00.000 Right? 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.000 You don't want to ignore them. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.000 You don't want to, like, kick them to the curb. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:05.000 They need to be in the car because they're an important part of you. 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:06.000 Right? 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.000 But don't let them in the driver's seat. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.000 So, when it comes to our outlook, when it comes to our choices, 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:20.000 when it comes to the direction of your life, what do you allow to sit in the driver's seat? 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:27.000 Is it the subjective world of your feelings where you're acting out of whatever you might feel in the moment? 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:31.000 Or is it the objective fact of the resurrection? 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.000 So, the question is this. 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:39.000 What about the next time you're feeling hopeless, the next time you're feeling depressed or anxious? 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.000 What if you respond this way? 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:42.000 What if you're feeling down? 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:43.000 You're feeling down. 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:48.000 And some of you know that over the years, I've had bouts of tremendous struggles with depression. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.000 And I know some of you have as well. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.000 And in those moments, it's really hard to know what weighs up and what weighs down. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.000 You just sort of, it's easy to sort of lose all your orientation. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:01.000 What if the next time you're feeling hopeless or depressed or anxious? 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.000 You take the time to notice those feelings. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:06.000 I'm feeling this way right now. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.000 You recognize that they're providing helpful data for what's going on inside. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.000 Things are not going well in here, right? 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.000 But then you sort of take a step back. 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:30.000 And then you decide, am I going to allow this to determine the choices that I make over the next hour or day or week? 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.000 Do I put this in the driver's seat or not? 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:43.000 If I don't put this in the driver's seat, am I going to allow the fact of the resurrection to have the final say, not these feelings? 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:46.000 Do I choose to put that in the driver's seat instead? 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:58.000 So you say, what choices would I make right now if I was basing those choices on the fact that Jesus is alive rather than on how I'm feeling at this moment? 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.000 Right? 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.000 Am I going to allow these clouds to pass? 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:12.000 And you may be surprised how sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes when you make those choices based on the objective fact of the resurrection, 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:18.000 rather than on how you're feeling in the moment, you'll be amazed at how often those feelings will then follow those choices. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:20.000 Right? 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:27.000 If you make those choices based in faith, not in your feelings, sometimes more often than not, your feelings will sort of follow. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Right? 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.000 So Easter hope, friends, is not wishing, it's waiting. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:36.000 And it's not a feeling, it's a fact. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:45.000 And then the last point that we want to make this morning is that Easter hope is different in that it's not simply a coping strategy. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.000 It's a call to action. 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:50.000 It's very different. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:58.000 This is simply a way of saying this, the point of Easter hope is not only to help us in our own struggles. 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:00.000 Now it does that. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:02.000 It does that like nothing else could. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.000 And that's important and that matters. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.000 So I don't want to belittle that. 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.000 But that's not all it does. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:12.000 Easter hope is not just about me sitting in my own room and feeling better. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:15.000 Although that's good. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:17.000 Easter hope is a call to action. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:18.000 What do we mean by that? 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:28.000 There was a small town that had been designated as an area that was to be the site of a hydroelectric plant. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.000 And if you know what happens, like a small town down in a valley, they're going to put in a hydroelectric plant. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:42.000 It means that the plan was to dam up a river and to allow it to flood the town and to turn it into a big lake where they would build a big dam and generate power. 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:51.000 And so they designated this and they let the townspeople know and they created a very long timeline to give everybody the resources and the chance to relocate. 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:59.000 So there was this period of time where everybody knew that was coming, but they gave them plenty of time to get their affairs in order and relocate and all that before they flood the town. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.000 Here's the interesting thing that happened. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:06.000 In the intervening months, people were still living there. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:10.000 But all of a sudden, housing upkeep stopped. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.000 Community improvement ceased. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:17.000 Infrastructure was just sort of let go. 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:20.000 Basic lawn care was totally neglected. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.000 All of that came to an end. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:27.000 And so the town looked abandoned long before anyone actually moved away. 00:20:27.000 --> 00:20:29.000 It already looked abandoned. 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:38.000 And of course, the point is this, that whatever you believe about the future determines how you live in the present. 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:44.000 Whatever you believe about the future determines what you're going to invest in, in the present. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:59.000 So if you believe that there's no God, if you believe that this world and us, that we're all just accidents, if you believe that all of this is just going to end in nothing, then ultimately nothing we do really matters. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.000 The world doesn't really matter. 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:09.000 And maybe you have reasons for caring about it, but there's no ultimate reason to care about it now because there's no ultimate future for it. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:14.000 And what we need to recognize is that Easter actually says the opposite of this. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:18.000 Easter says that this world matters. 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:24.000 It matters so much that God refused to abandon it. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:31.000 As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrection of Jesus is a preview of the resurrection of the world. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:38.000 And recognizing that changes how we view everything, right? 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:44.000 At the resurrection of Jesus, things were set in motion that cannot be undone. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:54.000 At the resurrection of Jesus, God loosed an arrow of redemption that even now is arcing through history toward its mark. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.000 And that mark is the renewal of all things. 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:10.000 So Christians, more than anyone else in the world, should care about this world because we know where this is going. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:22.000 And so I would say that Easter shows us that the Christian life is about participating in what God is already doing to renew and restore this world. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:29.000 In the book, Surprised by Hope, the scholar, the New Testament scholar N.T. Wright puts it like this. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:40.000 He says, what you do in the present by painting, preaching, building, campaigning for justice, caring for the environment, will last into God's future. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:42.000 Not in a simplistic way. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.000 Not in a simplistic way. 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:48.000 God will take it up, transform it, and weave it into the new creation. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:52.000 Just think about that. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.000 Just let that sink in. 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.000 We fight injustice because we know that justice is coming. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:04.000 We care for the sick because we know that sickness is not going to win. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:11.000 We care for the environment because we know that God is going to renew and restore all things. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:15.000 It's because a resurrected Jesus promises a resurrected world. 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:21.000 And God calls His people to share in bringing that renewal about. 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:27.000 This is extremely important because it motivates and animates everything we do in this world as Christians. 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:30.000 So I want to pull all this together. 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:35.000 We have entered, friends, into a new era in the life of our church. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.000 It's so great to say that because for a long time we were saying, we're on the cusp. 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:41.000 We're, it's going to happen. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:43.000 One day. 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:45.000 Only the Lord knows the day and the time, right? 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:46.000 But it's coming. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.000 And now we're here. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.000 And we've entered into this new era. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:52.000 And we need to know what we're about. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:54.000 And we need to know what our business is. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:56.000 We need to know what our priorities are. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.000 We've entered into a new era in the life of our church. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:13.000 So we're asking what kind of community we're called to be now that God has put us here in this beautiful space, in the heart of the city, with a vision to love and serve the people of the DMV area for God's glory. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:17.000 In God's timing, wasn't my timing, thank goodness. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:21.000 In God's timing, we're launching in the Easter season. 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:34.000 And one way we might think about our role in the city and our role in this neighborhood and our role in all the places that you live is that our role is to be Easter people. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:38.000 And that phrase, Easter people, comes from St. Augustine of Hippo. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:39.000 He said this to Christians. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:42.000 He said, we are the Easter people. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:45.000 And hallelujah is our song. 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:51.000 And I would say that Easter people are people who are animated by the living hope of the resurrected Christ. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:55.000 So as we said this morning, what does that mean? 00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:02.000 It means first that we are people who are waiting on the inheritance of a secure future with God. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:06.000 So we're generous, we're open handed with our time and with our money. 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:12.000 We're willing to take risks that other people won't take because we're not controlled by fear or scarcity. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:14.000 That's being an Easter person. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:20.000 Being an Easter person means that we're always able to remain hopeful no matter what happens. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:25.000 Because we've built our lives on the fact of the resurrection rather than the feelings of the moment. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:31.000 And finally, Easter people are people who care about this world. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.000 They care about this city. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:35.000 They care about the neighborhoods where we live. 00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:38.000 They care about the places where we work. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.000 Because we know that God is already bringing renewal. 00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:45.000 And the purpose of our lives is to share in that work. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.000 So friends, may we be Easter people. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:53.000 May we be known in this city for the hope we bring. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:55.000 The hope we bring. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:58.000 The hope we embody because of the risen Christ. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.000 Let's pray. 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Lord, this will only be true because of you and through you. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:06.000 Thank you. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:07.000 We praise you. 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:12.000 As we're reminded again and again, it's only because you live that we can live. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:15.000 Lord, that it's out of your life that we're able to offer life. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:23.000 Lord, as we continue in our worship of you and as we prepare to come around your table and receive your life into us, Lord. 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:29.000 We pray that these truths would become flesh in our hearts, just as you have become flesh. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.000 We pray this in your son's holy name, Lord. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:32.000 Amen. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:33.000 Amen. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:34.000 Amen.