Jesus is Our Hope
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Introduction:
Do you ever wonder why there is so much evil and suffering in the world? Any given day when we turn on the news, we can clearly see it. There was another mass shooting, or another fire that killed many people, or a natural disaster. It might even be much closer to home. Maybe a loved one passed away, maybe a family member is in the trenches of addiction and you feel helpless, maybe you’re deeply depressed and lonely. Evil is usually thought of as that which is morally wrong, sinful, or wicked; however, the word evil can also refer to anything that causes harm, with or without the moral dimension. The word is used both ways in the Bible. Anything that contradicts the holy nature of God is evil
Evil and suffering has been a problem for many people, both Christian and non-Christian. The argument, which was coined by Epicurus in 300 BC, goes like this, “if god allows evil and suffering to continue because he can’t stop it, the he might be good but he’s not all powerful. On the other hand, if god allows evil and suffering to continue, because he could stop it, and yet he won’t stop it, then he might be all powerful but he’s not good.” Either way, the good, all powerful god of the bible couldn’t exist.
It’s a hard question and it’s an important one to wrestle with. When we begin to think about this dilemma, we must remember how evil entered the world. God gave humans the ability to choose between good and evil back in Genesis. When they chose to listen to Satan’s lies, sin, evil and judgement entered the world. Evil didn’t originate from God, but God did create a universe in which evil could exist. As a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, sin and evil were passed to the rest of humanity. Theologians call this our sinful nature. We often tend to think of terrorists, rapists or murderers as evil. But if we are honest with ourselves, we confirm what the Bible says in - all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If God erased all sources of evil in the world we would no longer be here, the evil is inside us. Out of His love, he gave us freedom. That freedom includes the ability to choose Him or not to choose him. To choose love, or to choose evil. To believe in Christ or not. If we were created without freedom of choice, we would just be puppets, dangling by the strings of an imprisoned will.
Although God does have supreme power and authority over all things, including evil, we must never think that God is somehow corrupt or is nursing some sort of dark side. says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil and He himself tempts no one. but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” We are responsible for our own actions. says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” When we sin and do evil, we chose to do it, and God, it says here, provided a way out. We and our fellow humans are culpable for much of the evil in the world. We don’t have a God who doesn’t know what it’s like either, Jesus lived 33 years on this earth but always took the escape route God offered. Thankfully, God is not silent on the topic of evil and suffering. In 1 Peter, Peter is writing to early Christians often met violent opposition.
Move 1: One way not to face evil and suffering in the world (vv. 6-7).
Peter is addressing people who have faced suffering and who were about to face more.
V 6-7 “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Peter is saying the pain you’re going through can, should and will strengthen faith. In the face of evil and suffering abandoning your belief in God doesn’t help anything. It doesn’t help you understand suffering or handle suffering. In fact, there is no basis to say evil is evil without God and His laws. Dr. MLK explains this idea well in his letter from Birmingham jail. He writes, “…there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all." Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” If God doesn’t exist and there is no divine law, how can we say any event is unjust? If there is no God and all we have is nature, what’s wrong with violence? It’s perfectly natural. If there is no God, all you have is feelings that this isn’t right, and they are based on nothing. If you don’t believe in God, suffering and evil is a bigger problem that if you do. Getting rid of your belief in god to handle evil and suffering will not help. It won’t help to understand evil and suffering either.
We, however, have great hope in the face of evil and suffering. Our hope is anchored in the past: Jesus rose! Our hope remains in the present: Jesus lives! Our hope is completed in the future: Jesus is coming!
Move 2: Three ways to face evil and suffering in the world.
1. Our hope is anchored in the past: Jesus rose!
Peter says suffering is like a fire. To put it another way, a Christian is like a tea bag, not much good until it has gone through hot water. Although Peter is using a simile here, he is also using language to remind us of something. He’s saying, one time it this actually happened, in Daniel chapter3 (explain chapter 3) “19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual 20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 22 The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
The Lord again speaks in with a promise. He says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
The promise is not that if you believe in me you won’t go through trials, or if, the promise is when, God says I will love you and I’m walking with you. If I’m with you, you won’t be consumed, you’ll be refined with splendor, character and faith. Suffering can do several things in the life of a believer. First, it can “burn out the dross,” or purify us and lead us to greater holiness of life. But it can also “burn in the promises,” or lead us to a closer dependence on God and his faithful promises to us. Burn it will but look also at what the burning is for.
When you get to the cross, you find how far he will go to be with us in our affliction. Every religion and non-religion face the problem of evil, but only Christianity says that in Jesus God became vulnerable and faced suffering and death. On the cross, we see God. If you’re a political prisoner- God is the subject of unjust suffering, weakness and death. If you have lost a loved one you may be screaming out in pain, why god why- on the cross we see the father losing his only son and we see Jesus screaming out in pain, why. He suffered everything and more than we have ever suffered. In the garden of Gethsemane, blood was coming out of his pours. On the cross his suffering went beyond the physical, his sufferings were cosmic. He was cast out of the presence of God and experienced absolute, infinite suffering. Jesus in Gethsemane saw the imminent cup of wrath that he would suffer for us. We don’t know the full reason why God allows pain and suffering but It can’t be that he doesn’t love us and that he doesn’t care. He came and suffered infinitely more than we will ever suffer. And he didn’t deserve it. He went into the ultimate furnace. There is the assurance he is walking in the personal afflictions with you.
2. Our hope remains in the present: Jesus lives!
We tend to either see suffering as either disconnected from past and present or to see suffering as the effect of something from the past. Sometimes this is the case, however. We get lung cancer from smoking for many years. We have a heart attack because of years of poor diet and no exercise. The Bible looks forward in hope and seeks vindications, not so much in origins as in goals. The purpose of suffering is seen, not in its cause, but in its results. In the beginning of John chapter 9, we see this point at work. It says, “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” Sometimes we can’t see what the suffering is for until we look back see God was working. Sometimes we won’t know the reason and have to trust God. He is trustworthy.
V 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 “and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Living hope- what is the hope-an inheritance, the sign is the physical resurrection of Jesus. The foretaste of the fruits that will be revealed. The new heavens and new earth. God is not preparing a spiritual heaven. The resurrection is the restoration of this world. Paul says suffering and death will be swallowed up by victory. The best illustration I have come across to relate this message is, a man, Tim, who had a horrible dream one night. He dreamt he had lost his family in a terrible way, he woke up in a terrible frenzy, but after coming to his senses, realized he hadn’t lost them, and it was only a dream. From then on, he realized how precious his family was to him. For weeks, every time he saw his family he would weep in thanksgiving. Sometimes we can’t understand the goodness until we experience the bad. Or again, a composer of a musical score sometimes includes some discords to create an overall pleasing effect. In a similar manner, God’s ultimate purpose for the world was best served by a plan that allowed for the presence and activity of evil. Everything sad will be brought up into our future resurrection and makes it infinitely better than what it would have been. Everything sad will come untrue and the resurrection will be infinitely greater for having had all the suffering. C. S. Lewis writes in The Great Divorce, "They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory." What he’s talking about here is a promise that Christians have placed there hope in for centuries. The promise that gives all our suffering purpose. In Paul writes, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” He’s saying that the troubles of this world or momentary, in the light of eternity, a blink of an eye. But the unseen glory with God in heaven that awaits us is eternal and all of the suffering of this world we be undone one day when He will wipe every tear from our eyes, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, when the old order of things will pass away, and He will make all things new and we will be with Him forever.
3. Our hope is completed in the future: Jesus is coming!
V 12- “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” When Peter says, angels long to look, the Greek word for long, means lust. The angels obsessively, passionately look into the cross of Christ. Angels have been around forever, and they never get tired of looking into the Gospel. We have to do this as well. How did Jesus get through his furnace? says, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross”. What drew him away from perfect love with the Father and the Holy Spirit in heaven into our broken world? You. His hope is you. The only thing he didn’t have in heaven was you. Beautified, unspoiled, unfading, perfect, restored, resurrected you in his arms. That’s what filled him with such joy and resolve. The realization that you are his living hope, will make Him your living hope.
Conclusion:
N. T. Wright once said, "Jesus doesn't give an explanation for the pain and sorrow of the world. He comes where the pain is most acute and takes it upon himself. Jesus doesn't explain why there is suffering, illness, and death in the world. He brings healing and hope. He doesn't allow the problem of evil to be the subject of a seminar. He allows evil to do its worst to him. He exhausts it, drains its power, and emerges with new life."
We are so evil and sinful and flawed that Jesus had to die for us... But we are so loved and valued that he was willing to die for us. You’ll be able to walk through the furnace with Him when you realize this. You won’t see him, but you’ll love him, and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Just because we don't see a purpose for evil and suffering doesn't mean there's not a reason for it. Evil and suffering is a mystery, but we can look in the past, present and future and see that we have everything we need.