Hope for Life
1 Peter 3:15
21 January 2017
1 Peter 3:15 (ESV) but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
(First half of sermon adapted from LFL Sermon by Pr. Michael Salemink)
What is your hope for life? Saint Peter urges Christians to make a defense for the hope that is in you. So what is it? What is your hope? Is it defensible? Will it deliver?
Peter wrote these words in one of the best ages the world has ever seen – the height of the Roman Empire, classical antiquity, the Pax Romana. They invented the interstate and plumbing. They wrote great works of literature and painted masterpieces. Some of their great monuments and buildings stand to this day. Half of our calendar is named from Rome. Much of what we do in the United States is an imitation of Rome, including the concept of a Republic. What was the hope of Peter’s congregation? It was Rome – prosperity, peace, it was the best of times.
But that is only one side of the Roman Empire. Women were regarded as property. Slaves were treated as animals. The worship of false gods led to the sacrifice of children. There was rampant promiscuity, rank perversion, ritual prostitution. There was fraud and greed in the government and oppression of the poor and immigrants. They discarded the elderly, exiled the disabled, aborted and abandoned unwanted babies. Was there any hope in Rome or for Rome?
It has been said that the Roman Empire into which Christ Jesus was born is not much different than the culture today. What is your hope for life right now? The stock market is soaring. Corporations are giving bonuses and raising wages. Tax cuts should make tax season not so taxing. We live in a peaceful land where the interstates will allow you to drive over 900 miles in one day in lousy weather to see your in-laws – and three days later drive back those same 900 miles in lousy weather – that was my weekend last weekend. Our homes are heated and plumbed and we have craft beer and hockey and the Minnesota Vikings. We’re living longer. We can retire sooner. We have more leisure time than any generation before us and we are free – for the first time we are even free from the constraints of natural law – whatever you desire, whatever your pleasure, however you want to express yourself go ahead. Is that your hope?
Will that hope deliver? Are you content or a workaholic? We’ve liberated sex from marriage and parenthood, but has it eliminated guilt or fear or grief? We have abortion on demand – a woman’s choice, but do you hear women saying they are more content and satisfied with their lives. We have sacrificed embryos in experimentation, without one medical advance from embryonic stem cell research. We have progressed beyond hospice care to legalized euthanasia. We are trying to live without suffering so we put the suffering to death. Saint Paul speaks the truth in today’s Epistle, “the present form of this world is passing away.” Does that give you hope?
It may seem strange to jump from all of that to the story of Jonah and the people of Ninevah, but I’m a strange preacher. What hope did the people of Ninevah have? Ninevah was the great capital city of Assyria – it took three days to walk through the city. Assyria was a world power, ruthless against its enemies. In their eyes they needed nothing from God. They had everything they wanted.
What hope did Ninevah have? Their only hope was Jonah, but he wanted nothing to do with Ninevah. He is the only prophet on record in Scripture who refused the Lord’s calling to preach. If it was up to Jonah Ninevah would be hopeless. But it wasn’t up to Jonah. Ninevah’s hope was God – when Jonah ran the Lord pursued him. When Jonah tried to find peace God sent a storm. When Jonah was a dead man tossed into the sea God sent life by having the big fish swallow Jonah and deliver him to Ninevah. What hope did Ninevah have? They had the Lord who wanted to give them life. They had God’s Word from the prophet Jonah. Jonah preached an eight word sermon (I know, you hope I would learn from Jonah – don’t get your hopes up). The people heard God’s Word, believed what His prophet said, repented, and the Lord granted the people of Ninevah life. Their hope for life was in the Lord alone.
So what is your hope? Peter calls you to hope in Jesus, even as Jonah called Ninevah to hope in the Lord. Your hope for life is in Jesus alone. That hope is not only defensible, it is certain.
There is no place you have been or will go where Jesus has not been. Jesus was an embryo. Being the unborn child of an unmarried woman His life was at risk. Thankfully Joseph was convinced by God’s Word not to end Mary’s life and the life of her unborn son. After Jesus was born His life was also in danger from Herod’s sword? Why did Jesus come into the world at the risk of His life? To face your danger, to unmask your sin and evil, and to die your death. Jesus came to cleanse you from your shame, to absolve you of guilt, to suffer with you and for you, to heal your sicknesses. He suffered injustice. He was betrayed by friends. He lost loved ones. He did all this with you and for you by becoming man. He not only became a man, but He became sin for us and with our sin He died. Your sin is taken away, forgiven. Your death is dead.
That means there is hope for life, hope for your life. I am not speaking of some wishful and uncertain hope – like I hope the Vikings win the Super Bowl. I hope my test results come back negative. I hope my children don’t face hardship. No this hope for life is certain because Jesus Christ rose from the dead. This is what Saint Peter means when he writes, “… in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” There would be no reason to honor Christ if He was dead and no hope for you if He never left His tomb. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The tomb was open and empty. No body has been found to this day. 500 people saw Him alive. The 12 cowardly disciples were changed into 12 courageous Apostles who gave their lives to preach Jesus. The God in whose name Charlie was baptized is the living God and He has lived your life – born, suffered, died, yet living because He took away all the sin of all the world – all your sin. Now He calls you to that hope – to live His life – baptized into His death so that you may join Him in His resurrected life. There is hope for life, in an unplanned pregnancy, for a single mother, for those shamed by past sins, in the midst of suffering, on your death bed, and yes, we even have hope at the cemetery – certain hope, sure hope, because Christ rose from the dead. Whatever you face, whatever you’ve done, wherever you failed, there is hope for life, there is a certain hope for you – in the name of Jesus. Amen.