Sermon Tone Analysis

*Hope – Where did it go?

*

*What the World Needs Now  * \\ /Why Christians should be the most hopeful people anywhere/

* *

*1 Peter 1:3-9** *

*3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an **inheritance** incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love.

Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.*

*/Topic:/** Why we should be people of hope*

*/Big Idea:/** Christians should be the most hopeful people in the world because our future is bright, secure, and present to us now.*

*aorist **—** *The aorist verb tense is used by the writer to present the action of a verb as a “snapshot” event.

*present **—** *The verb tense where the writer portrays an action in process or a state of being that is occurring in the present time with no assessment of the action’s completion.

*perfect **—** *The verb tense used by the writer to describe a completed verbal action that occurred in the past but which produced a state of being or a result that exists in the present (in relation to the writer).

The emphasis of the perfect is not the past action so much as it is as such but the present ‘state of affairs’ resulting from the past action

* *

*Introduction*

In his book /Telling the Truth/, author Frederick Buechner describes a scene that could be unfolding on any given Sunday in any given church, including this one.

The author describes the seen of different denomination, but I am certain the point of his scene is applicable to us as well.

I'll offer it to you in his words:

The preacher hikes up his robe as he mounts the steps to the pulpit.

He looks out on the congregation, and there they are.

The 16-year old who feels life stirring within her body, but no one else knows.

The bank vice-president who twice that week has contemplated suicide.

The six-year old whose mother slips him a life-saver and magic marker.

The college sophomore, home for the weekend, who slumps forward with his chin in his hands.

The high-school math teacher trying to erase from his memory last week's trip to the peep show.

He carefully folds the bulletin and slips it under his knee.

The preacher turns on the lectern light, deals out his note cards like a riverboat gambler.

The stakes have never been higher.

They're all there.

They're all listening.

Even the preacher is listening.

But what will the preacher tell them?

And here we are—each of us potentially with our secret sins, our boredom, our quiet desperations.

And here is the Scripture, open before us.

What does it have to say to us today—with all its big words and lofty language: resurrection and inheritance, salvation and glory?

Is there any word here that can make a difference in our lives?

That can find us and speak to us right where we are?

*/Yes, there is such a word.

One word in particular that is perhaps the word we need to hear more than any other.

The word is hope.

/1 Peter 1:3 *Blessed /be/ the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope…* *

Last week we began a series of messages from the book of 1 Peter designed to help us live as God's people in a world that seems to be drifting out of control and farther from God.

We asked: "who in the world are we supposed to be," and "what in the world are we supposed to be doing?"

Last Sunday we learned that we are to be INTENTIONAL FOREIGNERS — people of purpose in a world that's not our true home.

We're only passing through this world, but we wake up every morning with a mission: to live such good lives among the people that they may see our good deeds, and be ready to meet God on the day he visits them.

This morning we're going to learn that we are to be people of hope.

On the closing night of the 2004 Republican convention, President Bush stepped out into the audience at Madison Square Garden and spoke of a more hopeful America.

It was an interesting theme.

His counterpart, John Kerry, a few weeks earlier had promised a stronger America, and most of us expected President Bush to strike the same theme.

But instead, he spoke about hope.

If we were to ask the American people if they were hopeful about the future, what would they say?

Are we hopeful about our nation's security?

Do we feel safer with every year that passes after 9~/11, or do we fear that it's only a matter of time before terror strikes again?

Not "if" but "when."

Are we hopeful about the economy?

I was talking to a friend in the financial services industry.

He told me that when he talks to his colleagues working in the stock market, they all tell him the same thing: They've got their finger on the s/ell/ button.

They're waiting for something bad to happen, and they're ready to respond in an instant when it does.

On a personal level, how hopeful are you about your financial future, about your investments, your job security, your retirement?

How hopeful are we about our children's future?

Do we believe our children will be better off than we are?

Will they be healthier, safer, more prosperous?

What about our environment?

Can we solve global warming?

Will we save the rain forests?

And what about the moral climate in our country?

Are we going to drift further and further into the fog of relativism?

In 1990, 7 out of 10 people reported feeling hopeful about the future.

In 2001, the number had slipped to 1 in 5.

I have no current survey data, but I strongly suspect that it would be even less hopeful today.

And hope was what the early Christians needed in the year 63 A.D. or so, when this book of the Bible was probably written.

It was a letter written by the apostle Peter to believers scattered throughout Asia Minor.

They were far away from Jerusalem and Judea, where Christianity began.

They were surrounded by pagans, people who worshipped no god (or the many gods of Greece and Rome).

It had been nearly 30 years since Jesus left the Earth, ascending to heaven on a cloud.

At first, they expected him to return almost any day.

But now, after so many years, the believers began to realize that they might be in for a long haul.

Some were beginning to wonder if he would ever return at all.

Not only that, the more time passed, the more uncomfortable it became for followers of Christ.

As the church grew and expanded throughout the empire, the opposition increased as well.

The Jewish population considered the Christians to be heretics, and the Romans viewed them as a threat and a nuisance.

Nero hadn't begun throwing Christians to the lions yet, but the world was quickly becoming a scary and difficult place for followers of Christ.

So here comes this letter from the apostle Peter to these scattered, beleaguered believers.

At last they have some words of counsel and instruction on how they are to live in this frightening, godless environment.

And what's the first thing Peter writes?

*1 Peter 1:3** *Blessed /be/ the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope…* *Blessed be?

Living hope?

What's Peter so optimistic about?

Doesn't he read the newspaper?

Doesn't he watch TV? Doesn't he know what kind of world we're living in?

Of course Peter knows.

Better than anyone, he knows.

He's been jailed more than once for his faith, and has seen his friends and co-workers killed for following Christ.

But he also knows that followers of Christ are to be people of hope in a world that's running scared.

Recently, some researchers at the University of Texas set out to determine why some elderly people tend to live longer than others, even when their physical conditions are comparable.

They discovered that a key ingredient in the longevity of aging people was hope.

Those people who had positive expectations about the future were more than twice as likely to live beyond three years as those who were not optimistic about the future.

The researchers went on to suggest that physicians trying to diagnose a patient's condition should not only run the usual battery of tests, but should also learn to ask one simple diagnostic question, "Are you hopeful about the future?"

That's not only a helpful question for physicians to ask, but it comes in handy for pastors, as well.

Are you hopeful about the future?

The dictionary tells us that hope is "a wish or desire, with the expectation of fulfillment."

We use the word /hope/ when we want something good to happen.