What’s Next: Living Hope – What’s Next Part I

Sermon Title: The Fullness of Joy

Good News Statement: Jesus resurrects with joy

Preached: Sunday, April 16, 2023 at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): 1 Peter 1:3-5 Today’s scripture reading comes from Peter’s first epistle to the followers of Christ: chapter one verses three thru five. In this particular epistle (letter) we learn that there is joy to be had and experienced after the resurrection of Christ and it is our Christian obligation to live out that joy and to not be afraid.

 

A Living Hope

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

Psalm 16: Song of Trust and Security in God, A Miktam of David.

¹ Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. ² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble ones in whom is all my delight. ⁴ Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. ⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.

⁷ I bless the Lord, who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. ⁸ I keep the Lord always before me;  because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. ¹⁰ For you do not give me up to Sheol or let your faithful one see the Pit.

¹¹ You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

Introduction:

One Easter afternoon Jasper, a little boy, was playing outdoors. He used his mother’s broom as a horse and had a wonderful time until it was getting dark. He left the broom on the back porch. His mother was cleaning up the kitchen when she realized that her broom was missing. She asked Jasper about the broom and he told her where it was. She then asked him to please go get it. Jasper informed his mother that he was afraid of the dark and didn’t want to go out to get the broom. His mother smiled and said, ‘The Lord is out there too, don’t be afraid.’ Jasper then opened the back door a little and said, ‘Lord, since you’re out there, please pass me the broom.’

“Everything is different now. We’ll never be the way we were before.” Do those statements sound familiar? They are often said with regret or with sadness, the “woe is me” syndrome. But apply them to Easter, and suddenly they are statements of hope. First Peter says it this way: “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3 NRSV). Everything is different now. Jesus is no longer in the tomb; he is no longer confined by strips of linen; and he has been resurrected. Everything is different now. We have been given a fresh start, a new beginning, and a deeper hope that, by his great mercy, has given us a “new birth.” Everything is different no, because he lives and it is present once again in the world. As Jasper, from this morning’s joke stated, “Lord, since you’re out there.” Lord, since you are out there, fill us with a living hope.

Over the past several weeks, we have been listening to Jesus as he tells his disciples what and who he is. Jesus is the light of the world, showing us the path to the Father who promises to guide us to new beginnings even during our darkest valleys. Jesus is the good shepherd, who protects us, saves us, finds us when we are lost, and leads us to “greener pastures and still waters” (Psalm 23). Jesus is the bread of life which provides us with nourishment to face tomorrow. Jesus is the vine that assures us that we are connected to Jesus Christ yesterday, today and tomorrow because he is “the vine and we are the branches” (John 15:5). Jesus the way, the truth, and the life and he is the only way to the Father, the only truth that sets us free, and the only life that provides us with eternal life. All the “I Am” statements found in the Gospel of John not only tell us who and what Jesus is but they lead us to understanding that Jesus is the new beginning to our life which we seek every day.

When we accept that Jesus is the light, the bread, the good shepherd, the vine, and the way, truth, and life, we begin to truly understand the meaning and significance of what Jesus means when he says to Martha after the death of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is out there. Jesus is all around us and inside of us. But what comes next after Jesus’ resurrection for us? What comes next is experiencing Christ’s living hope.

Body:

First Peter is not a letter we read all that often. It’s just tucked away back there toward the end of the New Testament as though it was embarrassed to be included. “I’ll just sit back here, out of the way, so as not to bother anyone,” it says. “Call me if you need me. But I hope you won’t. Really.” Some scholars have noted that they don’t think this letter was actually written by Peter. “The timing is wrong,” they say; “the vocabulary doesn’t sound like a Galilean fisherman,” they say; and “besides, his name was Simon, not Peter.” I understand their arguments, and they are probably right. If he didn’t write it, then maybe he said it, and later someone wrote it down and put his name on it. However, based upon what is shared in Peter’s epistles, it certainly read as something that Peter would say and do to gain followers of Christ.

The letter of First Peter was written when the church was under constant threat; when the benediction was spoken in a whisper because everyone knew when they gathered again someone likely would be missing, caught up in the cleansing, possibly deported, and thrown in prison. They were afraid of their neighbors. They were afraid people might discover that they practiced a minority religion, a suspect faith. They worried that neighbors might turn them in to the increasingly vigilant authorities who were out to make the nation safe. They were looked at with suspicion as they passed their neighbors on the street. They didn’t feel safe in their own hometowns, their own places of work. One could say that the church of Peter’s day was lost but knew how important it was to continue to read and live out the faith of someone who is the light upon their path, a source of nourishment, a leader, someone who wants to have a relationship with them, and someone who died and rose again for their eternal forgiveness. Although they were scared, they continued to find ways to bring joy to their life even though the surrounding world was against them. They had a living hope.

In a surprising way, they were, in fact, model citizens. They did jobs no one else would do. Christians were often the only ones who cared for the dead, who would treat the body as though it was something precious and give it a decent burial. They had hope even when the world was against them; they continued to do what Jesus would have done: “bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recover the sight of the blind, and set free the oppressed” (Luke 4:18-19). Just think about Mary Magdalene who cleansed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Consider the Mary’s who appeared before the empty tomb to anoint Jesus’ body for burial, and the unknown female in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke who anointed Jesus’ feet with an expensive perfume. They believed that life was bigger than what we could see with our eyes. They knew that Jesus was everything and more, and that he was the living hope that saved them and motivated them to keep doing what he would do.

During this time, though, and even today, questions began to be raised in the communities of faith. Should we go underground? Should we hide? Blend in, act like them? Would it be safer to pretend we aren’t saved by grace through faith? Should we act as though we weren’t asked to pray for our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? Should we deny, like Peter did, that we know Christ? Should we discontinue what Jesus has called us to do because it is risky, dangerous, and challenging? Should we neglect the calling that God has laid upon our heart? Should we change our lifestyle to fit in with the rest? Or should we take to heart the “inheritance [of God] that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, [and] kept in heaven for us?” (1 Peter 1:4). What should we do? What comes next? And how should we live to maintain the hope of Jesus’ resurrection in our life? You see people during Peter’s day were scared: they saw and heard what happened to Jesus; and they knew that the authorities were out to get those who followed Jesus and proclaimed him as their Lord and Savior. They were scared but they still had hope.

I believe we may find some answers to these questions in the faithful acts of Theologian and author Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lived in Germany during the Nazi Regime. According to  Dr. John Campbell, an author for The Transylvania Times, “Bonhoeffer,” during the time of Hitler’s regime and rule, “did not want to be part of a military build-up. He believed that was immoral and he was becoming aware of the repressive tactics of the Hitler regime.” So, Bonhoeffer took it upon himself, to risk his life, to go against what the majority was saying, to save those whom a country despised, threatened, and killed. He saw the Jewish people as people, as children of God. In 1935, Bonhoeffer said, “He could never serve as pastor in the national Protestant Church if they banned Jewish Christians from baptism and ordination.” Putting words into action, he helped his sister and her Jewish husband escape to England. Not stopping there, he began to smuggle Jews out of Germany. According to Campbell, “Bonhoeffer was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo when he tried to save fourteen Jews by transporting them to Switzerland.” Dr. Campbell closes his article by quoting Bonhoeffer. From prison, in 1944, Bonhoeffer wrote while outlining a book, “The church is church only when it is there for others.” The church is church only when it lives into the hope and love of Jesus Christ, our resurrected savior.

My point in sharing this story, is to highlight that during Peter’s time much like during World War II, when the church and followers of Christ were being neglected, tortured, displaced, and feeling alone, they came together to continue the work of Christ. Even knowing the consequences of their actions, they continued to do what Christ would have done because they knew that what he did for them was the greatest and most sacred and loving thing anyone could do for them. He sacrificed himself, paid their debts, removed their sins, forgave them, and loved them unconditionally. And then he rose from the grave to remind his followers that the worst thing is never the last thing: there is hope and joy to be found when we come together and do the work that Christ has laid upon our heart. There is joy and hope to experience after the resurrection of Christ, even though others may say differently. There is hope even in the darkest and most emptiest of tombs in our life. And this hope comes from Jesus Christ, who lives in your heart.

Peter writes in his opening verses, “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5). Christ, through his resurrection, as given us gifts so that we can have hope to face tomorrow. He has given us new birth and a new life not based on our merits, not earned by the sweat of our brows, but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And nothing can diminish it. Nothing can snatch it out of our grasp. As Paul stated in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing can separate us from the hope that appeared when Jesus was resurrected. This hope is living: it is not a dead hope.

This hope is yours. This hope is what give us strength to stand up for our faith. This hope is what builds up our love so that we can take care of others. This hope grants us wisdom to live out the good news and proclaim it to the world. This hope conquers all fear. This hope is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. This hope lives in your heart. This hope is what brings change to a dark and gloomy world. And this hope walked out of the tomb so that you and I may be set free, to be changed, and led to paths of righteousness. Furthermore this hope is as sure as the air we breathe, as sure as the light we see, and as sure as the love that lives within our heart. By this hope we are protected by the power of God through faith and salvation. It is ours and it helps us see ourselves and all of creation around us. It is ours. Are we letting the resurrected hope of Jesus to only exist once a year, or we letting it be something that we experience every day of our life? We need this hope to keep moving forward. Just think what life would be like if there was no hope gifted to us when Jesus was resurrected….

Because we have this hope—a sense of new beginnings, of looking toward the future, of putting our faith into action—we can experience what Mary Magdalene and the other Mary experienced when they came to the empty tomb on the first day of the week after the Sabbath. Matthew writes, “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead^, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples” (Matthew 28:5-8).

Did you catch the emotion of the Marys? They were fearful, perplexed, and confused; but they experienced “great joy” and left, without fear, to tell the good news to the disciples. Later Jesus appears to both them and tells them to not be afraid. From this resurrected hope, Jesus meets us where we are and invites us to experience great joy as we do what he needs us to do. We must rejoice, even when it seems impossible, because the act of rejoicing builds our hope, strengthens our faith, and reaffirms our belief. The Psalmist wrote in his sixteenth psalm, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices…You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16: 9, 11). Do you remember what Peter said about Christ’s living hope: “it is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading?” God’s joy is forevermore because He knows that without joy His creation might begin to lose hope and not take drastic measures to keep the Christian faith alive. “My heart is glad, and my soul rejoices” because I have hope.

So take some time to rejoice! Take some time to smile! Take some time to laugh! And take some time knowing that God, through the resurrection of His Son, has given you a hope that is living, present, and never ending. Look around right now: take note of where you see hope, notice where hope can fill the cracks, where is the hope in our church, and look at the person you are sitting next to and notice the hope that shines in their eyes and lives in their heart. Christ has given us a forever hope that is living and present in our life, but how are we showing others that we have the hope of the resurrected Lord down in our heart? How are we putting into action this hope so that ourselves and others can become resurrected? How are we allowing the hope of knowing that Christ is in our lives to outweigh the negative, to conquer the unknown, to give us strength to face tomorrow, to witness the good in the bad—the light in the dark—and to keep moving forward and proclaiming the good news even when others tells us differently? How are you living at the hope—the love and grace—of Christ in your life?

Conclusion:

For some of us, we’re still basking in the glow of Easter. Maybe we’re exhausted from the excesses of the Easter celebrations, from the festivities, and packed fridges of leftovers. However, although we may feel exhausted and are praying for summer vacation to magically appear, we should still be celebrating. We should still be celebrating because the Lord has risen and has given us a living hope and joy to face tomorrow. To know that the worst things are never the last things in our life.

Peter stated, “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 1:3). Bonhoeffer put his hope for a brighter tomorrow into action. People are afraid to go against the norm and experience change, but by hope their hearts were changed. Hope starts with Jesus Christ. Hope is so profound that we are remade by it. As a matter of fact we are made alive by the hope of the resurrection. Live out this hope, allow this hope to change your life, experience the hope of Christ as you listen to him and do what he needs you to do, put this hope into action for a better tomorrow, and know that the hope found in Jesus Christ is the hope that you need to live out your own resurrection. You all have hope, you all have hoped for something in your life, so today allow that hope to come alive. Jesus is out there; and so is his living hope. Let it be so, Amen.

 

Closing Prayer:

            Let us Pray: Dear Jesus, through your resurrection, you have given us a hope that strengthens us, that motivates us, and that reminds us that you are with us. From this hope, O Lord, help us to come alive so that we can be the disciple and church you need us to be. Let us rejoice in the imperishable hope of the resurrection. Amen.

 

Benediction:

I don’t know about you, but I certainly love knowing that Jesus has given me hope: given me a chance to rejoice and experience my own resurrection. Now is the time for you all to allow the hope found in Christ to guide you, nurture you, and bring hope into the hearts of those around you. Look around this week and witness where you see hope and take note of where more hope can be used. May God bless you by the hope of the resurrection. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go, living and experiencing the hope of Jesus’ resurrection in your life. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.