Live Hopeful, Stand Firm
Living Hope • Sermon • Submitted
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Stand Firm in the True Grace of God
Stand Firm in the True Grace of God
11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. 13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
This is the purpose of the letter.
It is also the message we all desperately need to hear.
How do we stand firm in the trials and temptations of life?
Only by the grace of God given to us in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
1) Fix your gaze on the ETERNAL PROMISES of God. (1:3-5)
1) Fix your gaze on the ETERNAL PROMISES of God. (1:3-5)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
What do you dream about? What are you living toward?
Every decision we make in life has purpose
If we look at the path every decision we make with our time, our money, our attention…we see the path we are walking toward the thing we are living toward, hoping in.
I started this series on Easter Sunday because Easter is the day that all of history shifted.
True hope and freedom were no longer prophetic longings, they became reality.
The real hope for salvation and freedom from sin.
Death was no longer something to be feared, it became something else that was defeated.
Death was swallowed up in victory.
What Peter is calling us to is not to give up on all our life pursuits
Quick working, sell our house, live in a convent or monastery somewhere deep in the mountains, and read and chant all day.
That isn’t what he did, nor the other Apostles.
He is calling us to consider our gaze and ask the difficult, but transformational question “What am I living toward?”
Walking the Everest Trail
Day 2 from Phakding to Namchee is 4.7 mile hike that take 5-6 hours because you ascend 3000 ft and lose about 5% of the oxygen density in the air.
For an VERY inexperienced hiker, it was challenging and I found myself looking ahead as far as I could to find something I could fix my gaze on.
Every step, as hard as they were, was one step closer.
If we are to stand firm we must fix our gaze heavenward.
“This world has nothing for me and this world has everything. All that I could want and nothing that I need.” Caedmon's Call This World
There are so many empty promises offered to us everyday, let us not settle.
2) Live differently because of the LIFE-GIVING WORK of God. (2:9-10; 3:15-16)
2) Live differently because of the LIFE-GIVING WORK of God. (2:9-10; 3:15-16)
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
There is a reality to standing firm in the grace of God, it will have affects on every avenue of life.
Remember, if our hope is in something outside of this world, then our lives ought to reflect that.
What God has done, what He has accomplished in Christ, is what makes us different.
We are chosen by God- saved not because of anything we have done or any thing we are.
We have been called out of darkness and have been brought into the marvelous light of Jesus truth and hope are revealed and redemption begins.
We have been given a new, redeemed identity as God’s people, through His unmatched mercy.
The work of God to save us, redeem us, restore us, and indwell us with His Spirit is transformational
It changes our citizenship, our family relationships, our occupational aspirations and attitudes, our social connections, our political and societal interactions.
And each one of these are cooperate identities, rather than individual, meaning we are brought into community by the work of God on the cross.
He has reshaped us as a people
Our identity is different and so we live differently.
3) Stand firm in the GLORIOUS CHARACTER of God. (4:19, 5:6-7,10)
3) Stand firm in the GLORIOUS CHARACTER of God. (4:19, 5:6-7,10)
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
It is not hard to see that Peter’s agenda is to help suffering people make it through this world.
We are Sojourners, this is not our home and the longer we live here the more we will see that truth.
So what will help us through, how else will we stand firm? By really knowing this God we have been called as sons and daughters of.
And by know, like really know Him as a character level.
Character is the core qualities that make us who we are.
God’s Character:
God’s Character:
He is gracious
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Our hope is rooted in His unearned, freely given grace.
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
He is the God of ALL GRACE
The very definition of grace is found in His character.
He is faithful
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
He will not turn His back on any of the promises He has made to His people.
He will finish what He started
He is mighty
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
His power is matchless, so we can confidently cast all our anxieties on Him.
He is caring
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
He is listening, He is not too busy or preoccupied, He does not look at the things of our life as unimportant or not worthy of His time.
His omnipresence is a comforting reminder that He is always with us and is always working things our for our good, according to His will, to make us more like Jesus.
He is sovereign over all-
Nothing is outside of His reach.
11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
That ought to be an awe-inspiring reality while also being a deeply comforting one as well.
God is over all things, not you.
God is about His truth and His purposes and His glory, not yours and not mine.
And if I submit, if I give my life to Him, and if I focus my attention on His promises, and live my life as a reflect of His work, and seek to understand who He is at the deepest level possible, then I will ultimately find a mighty, caring, gracious, faithful, ever present, all-powerful God who is
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Father of all
Over all
Through all
In all
So we can rest, praise Him, and Amen.