Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No.08 - November 1974

 

The Encouraging Prospect

 

New Year's Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma, Th.Grad. on 1Pet.1:3-9

Scripture Reading: 1Peter 1

Psalter Hymnal: 188:1,6,7; 169:1,2,7; 209:1,3,6; 444

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Young and Older,

The purpose of salvation is that we might again live to the honour and glory of God.  That is clearly expressed in the song we sang a moment ago:

            Unto the Lord lift thankful voices,
            Come worship while your soul rejoices.
            Make Known His doings, far and near
            That peoples all His Name may fear,
            And tell, in many a joyful lay,
            Of all His wonders day by day.

We are not saved in order that we may live in a safe and quiet corner of this earth, looking on, while the world goes by.

That is of course the temptation that has faced the Christian Church again and again.  The temptation of the proud and unconcerned attitude towards the crowds who do not serve the Lord like we do.

But tomorrow, yes the moment we leave the sanctuary of this building we shall be in the midst of the world.  It is in the world that God commands us to live for Him.  As Jesus said: You are the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot go unnoticed.

We may not hide the light we have received under a bushel, or the roof of a church building.

We are part of this world - in the sense that we do not escape coming into contact with it.  We are part of the human race.  And we are like our fellowmen.  And our difficulty is to know how, and to have the courage to live as God's people in a world that for a greater part is opposed to God and under the power of Satan.  Like our fellowmen, for instance, we desire security and assurance for the future.

Now the world generally lives in despair.  We live in a world of change and uncertainty.  So much so that many rebel against everything there is to rebel against.  It is because they are uncertain of what will happen.  It is because they fear the future, in the light of the economical, political, environmental problems with which we are confronted day after day.

Their question is: What is the use?  Why worry or care, tomorrow the world may go bung anyway?

That's the world we are living in; of which we are part.  For the changes affect us too.  And yet as believers we are not part of the world; not part of those who live without God in this world.  We do not belong to those who live in despair, uncertainty and fear.

Peter says that the believers have been born again to a living hope.

And as such we have something very positive to offer the world.  The believers' outlook on life is totally different from that of unbelievers.  So different that the apostles speak of a new birth and new creatures.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead we have received a whole new perspective, a totally new view of all things.

And this, if it is living as the apostle says, has a tremendous impact on how we think, speak and act in the world.

If we give this some thought we will understand a little better how it was that the early church and such people as the Reformers had such a wide ranging influence on the life and people around them.

If I remind you of the experience of the apostle Peter you may be able to grasp what I am getting at.

Before the resurrection of Christ, Peter could not see and therefore could not accept that suffering was part of Christ's life work and that of His disciples.

Peter made worldly attempts to ward off any suffering.  When he saw Jesus suffering at the hands of ruffians and priests, Peter could not work it out.  He lost all hope – he denied Christ.  He could not accept that this was part of God's plan of saving and blessing His people.

Who knows what went on in Peter's mind?  What disappointments and doubts clouded the thoughts and actions of this man who had so boldly confessed Jesus to be the Christ?  What sense of devastation was his when the lonely Jesus looked at him after the cock had crowed, and he went outside crying bitterly?

And who of us, who has experienced any deep suffering has not wrestled with the question.  Is this too from God?  Who does not know the conflict between faith and feelings, unless his emotions are dead?  I think we know something of Peter's turmoil better than perhaps we care to admit.

But when Christ rose from the dead Peter's terrible resistance against suffering was gone.  Hope returned as Peter saw that suffering and death is not the end but part of the road to life and glory: Through the resurrection Peter was assured of God's power and faithfulness.

And it should therefore not surprise us that this man blesses, he praised God for his new found hope.  A hope which he defines as the certainty of an eternal inheritance, of the salvation to be revealed, to be seen only at the return of Christ.

Before that glorious return of Jesus there may be suffering there may be the need to share the agony and humanity of our fellow- men, there may be the need for the refining of faith which is more precious than gold.  And the world may wonder why believers don't join them in their sinful pleasures and diversions, and the rat race to get as much as possible before it is too late.

But the Christian knows he can afford to keep his cool.  He's got a good thing coming.

And that living hope to which God causes His elect to be born by the Holy Spirit through the resurrection of Christ, is not like a lollypop to keep the Christian quiet for the time being.  It is not something with which he shuts himself off from the world.

But it is a living hope which encourages him to live quietly and soberly as God commands him to do in this world.

A living hope with a double assurance:

 – Of an inheritance kept in heaven.
            An inheritance, that is imperishable, undefiled which will not fade away.
            Which will not depreciate.  That inheritance is safe.
            It is our life hid with Christ in God.

– But the believer himself is also kept.
            Kept from being hindered in actually becoming
                        the beneficiary of this inheritance.
            Kept from falling, from acting in such a way
                        that he would lose his right or final access to the inheritance.
            Peter speaks of believers being kept by the power of God through faith.
                        Faith in the death and the life of Christ.
                        God who in His mercy – His great abundant mercy –
                        causes sinful men to be born again to a living hope,
                        in His mercy and power keeps the believers
                        from being overcome by the world.

Christ's merits are all sufficient.  He was condemned for our offences and raised for our justification.  Who therefore shall lay any charge to God's elect?

Christ lives; victorious over the powers of darkness, in Him we are more than conquerors.

And so by faith in God and the living Lord Jesus Christ, God keeps us from giving in to despair and the temptation of the world to find our security in anything but God and His Christ.

Now, if by God's grace we have the assurance of that eternal inheritance in Christ, of that salvation which will be revealed but not seen as yet, then we can afford to deny ourselves the so-called luxuries which the world claims you can't do without.  We can endure some hardship which those without hope consider unbearable.

I think that as Christians we can learn something from the experience of pioneering migrants.  Of people who lived in what many would now call intolerable conditions, because they were possessed of the hope of better times.

It was this hope that made them work hard, face dangers, forego pleasures, deny themselves, work overtime and do. . . . . you name it.

It is the living hope which the Christian church possesses (and is possessed of) through the resurrection of Christ that will and must drive us to endure and work in the name of Christ Jesus our Saviour and Lord in this world.

True, we have not seen him.

Yet, do we, who share in His blood, not love Him who gave himself in our place?

And even though He is hidden from our eyes, do we not believe in Him and rejoice with joy which cannot be expressed?

Do we not rejoice in the fact that He, by his obedience, His sacrifice and resurrection has secured salvation for all who repent and believe in Him?

No, the apostle does not say these things in order to put us out of action: as if there is now nothing to do but to wait for the salvation and glory to be revealed.

Rather he reminds us of the living hope so that by this hope we may be encouraged and animated to proclaim the truth and greatness of our God and Saviour in a world that is lost in darkness and uncertainty.  So that we shall not give up the moment things become a bit difficult.

No, the apostle – and through Peter, the Lord – does not intend to minimise the suffering by which our faith and love is tested, but He does want to remind us that the suffering of God's people is not in vain.

And besides, the suffering which for a while we may be called on to endure is nothing to be compared with the eternal weight of glory kept in heaven for all who by God's grace and Spirit believe and rejoice in the living Lord Jesus Christ.

May we truly live all our days in the hope of His coming...!

Amen.