04/12/2020
LIVING HOPE
I couldn’t help but wonder about the timing of this virus. Of all Sundays not to be able to meet at the church, this would be the one I would want to be at the most. When I think of Peter and the other disciples in fear for their own lives so much so that they found themselves in a place they could not have imagined, I can’t help but wonder about our own reactions to what is going on right now with the coronavirus. Fear can take us places we never expected to go. For Peter that was denying that he even knew Christ. Sitting beside his Savior, Peter could easily say: “Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended”. Jesus response to Peter was that indeed he wouldn’t just deny Him once, but three time. I believe what Peter said next was from the bottom of his heart: “Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.”Matthew 26:35
What a wonderful blessing to be able to say that though Peter failed in a way he could never have even imagined, he became one of the most vocal disciples of Christ. We use his words of encouragement today as a reminder that in our weakest and most vulnerable moments of our lives, God is still able to use us just as He did Peter. Let me encourage you today with Peter’s words:
(1Pe 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,(1Pe 1:4) To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,(1Pe 1:5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.(1Pe 1:6) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:(1Pe 1:7) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
I have a cousin who many years ago was alone at home and decided to make some popcorn. She reached over the stove to get to the popcorn out of the cabinet above and her dress caught on fire. She was burned very badly. Back then the doctors didn’t have the knowledge that they do today and she has lived with the scares from that moment in time through out the rest of her life. Emotional scares have a way of doing the same thing to us. I use to think to myself that I couldn’t imagine being Peter and living with the knowledge that I betrayed Christ.
As I have grown in the Lord, I realize every time I deny the power of Christ over my life, I am indeed denying Him. Every time I say “I can’t”, I am saying that Christ in me, the hope of glory, is unable to do what needs to be done in my life. I am denying His power to change my life through the Holy Spirit. Those emotional scares could have kept Peter from moving forward. He could have lived his life saying, “what if” rather than be the disciple whose words are preached throughout churches all over the world. Instead he speaks of a “living hope”. That living hope is based on the foundation that when we turn our lives over to Christ we are what Paul called “a new creature”: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Jesus hanging on the cross wasn’t just to kill Him, but to shame Him. The worst of the worst where hung on the cross. It was a symbol of shame, despair and hopelessness. Many had placed their hope in Christ and now their hope was hanging on a cross as a common thief would be. I’m sure that many today would ask us; “Where is your God now?” Why is your hope in a man who died over 2000 years ago? Today, you and I look at the cross and are reminded that in the midst of darkness that tries to suffocate and destroy us there is a living hope. Jesus conquered the death and the grave. Not only do we have a “living hope” but we have an inheritance that is eternal and cant fade away. Today, you and I can look at the cross and be filled with joy rather than shame because we know that it should be us hanging there, but God so loved us that He gave His son to pay a price we could have never paid. What was meant to shame and bring suffering has turned into victory for you and I. Paul says to the Corinthian church:
(1Co 15:55) O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?(1Co 15:56) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.(1Co 15:57) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.(1Co 15:58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Whether we realize it or not, people will be looking at the Christian’s response to the coronavirus. As I was finishing this sermon, my clock began playing “Amazing Grace”. It is one of several tunes it plays on the hour. I love it, because no matter what the day is like, when I hear that small portion of the song, I’m reminded of God’s love for me. I reminded that the grave is empty and because Christ lives I too will live. Rejoice my friends in Christ even if you aren’t able to go to church today! Remember these words of Paul to be “steadfast, unmovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord”.
HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!
