First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 through 9
We continue with the season of Resurrection and the Post-Easter Sunday worships until Ascension Sunday, which is going to be in a few weeks. So, we think about and talk about the resurrection and the impact of the Resurrection on our lives and on our faith. According to the scripture, what St. Paul says is that if you don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, your faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14). So basically, our faith is founded on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ but denies His resurrection does not have a genuine Christian faith. Our faith foundation is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is a reality and a historic fact. That's what we believe and what we ought to believe as Christians. That's our message.
When we believe in the power of Resurrection, we believe that there is eternity after life because Jesus rose from the dead, as He promised. He also promised that after He ascended into heaven, He would prepare a place for us so that He could come back and take us there, where He is, so that we can be together with Him and our dear ones. That is the hope of eternity that we have.
All of these join together because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is what Christianity is about. So, we continue to remember the impact of the Resurrection in our lives and to represent Jesus Christ in our lives because it is the foundation of our faith and also the foundation of our Hope. Peter who was one of the disciples, who did not believe until he was transformed by the power of Jesus Christ, is saying that he is preaching the gospel because of resurrection. He is the one who denied Jesus before His crucifixion and the one who ran to the tomb and found nothing there when the women went there and they saw the angels. The women came out of the tomb joyfully, as we read. But when Peter ran into the tomb, he didn't see anything. He came out empty.
And this is the same Peter who was filled with the Holy Spirit now writing this powerful letter about resurrection and its realities. He is writing with the language and the power of his own conviction. He had no education, no seminary, and no theology that he ever learned from anybody other than Jesus Christ. He's writing a powerful letter, first Peter and second Peter. And he is telling us that we have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and praise be to God who has given us New Birth and a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, he is saying that because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been given a new birth and a Living Hope. So, we are renewed as new people because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and also, we are filled with the hope of Eternity.
Hope is something that we ought to have as human beings. Without hope, there is no purpose in life. When somebody encounters a dead end, or we see people going through a hard time in their life and they are about to quit, we usually say that they have given up hope. But Christians never give up hope, even in the midst of struggles, even when faced with situations where people think there is no hope for us. That is what Jesus Christ gave us through His resurrection.
Somebody said this: "human beings can live 40 days without food, four days without water, and about four minutes without air. But they cannot live for seconds without hope." If we don't have hope, we don't have anything to look forward to. There is no purpose, and there is no meaning in life. That's what we see in a lot of people who don't have direction, who don't have purpose in life, who don't know where they're heading. Thank God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The hope of Eternity makes us different from others who don't believe in resurrection.
So, it doesn't matter what we are faced with every day. The New Birth, the new hope that God gave us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ or a new birth, gives us a new purpose and a new living in this world because we become a new creation by believing in Jesus Christ. Our life changes. And also, it is about the 'now' and it is about the 'then'. The 'now' is the life in this world. It changes our situations here and also, it is about the 'then', the coming eternity, that we will be going to. It brings us hope and joy.
So, in the 'now' that we live here, the resurrection gives us the hope that gives us joy. We have the joyful living every day, even in the midst of our struggles, even in the midst of our sufferings, our pains in our lives. We have joy because Jesus Christ gave us hope that we can look forward to a brighter future and eternal life with God. Jesus said that He was going to prepare a place for us. He said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God and believe in me. In my father's many rooms and if to us not so I would have told you. I will come back. And take you to be with me that you may also be with me where I am." (John 14). That's the greatest hope that we have. He's going to come back to take us to heaven where He is. And that is what we believe as people of God and filled with hope, we rejoice.
The resurrection also assures us that we have an inheritance. Peter is saying in this letter, in the second part of this letter, that he is talking about in this passage that we read, that he's saying that in his great mercy, God has given us a new birth and a Living Hope and also, we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for us. We have inheritances; many of us inherit properties and wealth from our dear ones, parents, or grandparents in this world. When we get those inheritances, we know that they are not going to last forever.
God has given us an eternal inheritance through Jesus Christ because of what He is preparing for us. It says that our inheritance is kept in heaven and guaranteed by the power of God of the Resurrection. That's a guaranteed investment and a guaranteed inheritance. How many of our inheritances are guaranteed? Nothing is guaranteed because we have this money in the bank. It is like a statement, right? You see the account balance amount there, and you feel good about it, and the next month, you get another statement that says zero. What do you think? It's gone? It happened to a lot of people. Still happens to a lot of people, especially if you watch the news. Chase Bank customers have been losing money. One person had $5000 last month statement, and this month they looked at it as zero. The wealth in this world is just paper documents. Our investments show up as bank or brokerage statements or property titles that we keep to prove ownership. It can be taken away at any time. It's just paper. And your property can be taken away by anybody at any time. Now, you see these squatters. It's just funny; I don't know where this system came from. It's a big problem. They don't think it's a problem because these houses are not being used, so people could get in, and they think it's their house. They make up these contracts and leases, and the police can't do anything about it.
The owners have to go through the court, and it takes forever to get them out. There's a poor soldier form Georgia who is in the military who came back, and her house was taken over by squatters. It has been almost a year now. She cannot still get the house back. She's serving our country in the military. Yeah, what kind of joke is that? Anyway, that's what our inheritance and wealth situation. If someone else has the power to take it over from somebody, it will be gone.
But this inheritance that God has given us through Jesus Christ in eternity is guaranteed by the power of God. A lot of times, our bank money is insured by FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). I think to $250,000 of your money in the bank is covered by insurance. If it is beyond that, they would not cover. So what kind of insurance is that? And they sometimes, like I think funny about this insurance, "Hey, it is there when you need it, right," but what about life insurance? I mean, I know you guys know; talk about life insurance, whose life insured? Somebody else will get money when you die. So how can that insure my life? I don't understand that.
But this inheritance is guaranteed by Jesus Christ because He promised everything and He did fulfill everything that He promised. So we can trust Him. Because of Christ's resurrection, our inheritance in heaven is guaranteed. That's what Peter is saying. Peter, a fisherman, who did not have any education; he's talking about these great things, and he's talking about the inheritance that will never perish, spoil, or fade, and it is guaranteed to us by the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. So, we are guaranteed on that.
It's not like the guarantee the insurance company gives you. The wealth advisors offten tell us that past performance is not a guarantee of future results. But guarantee of God is based on past performance. God has guaranteed us in the past and who is with us in the present and He is going to be faithful in making sure that our inheritance will be safe and kept in the future.
And also, our inheritance is transformative. The resurrection of Jesus Christ not only brings us joy in this world but also changes our life perception. We look at other people with a different perspective. We respect others and honor others as God's children and care for them not only because we need them but also because God loves us regardless of our condition and sinful nature. So we ought to love others with that care and compassion that God loved us without judgment, without any bar or any discrepancies or discrimination. We ought to love others respect others and care for others. That is the transformative power of Resurrection. Living as Resurrection people, God gives us a new identity to us reflecting Jesus Christ in this world. And Peter continues to say in the next chapter. He says that you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession.
We are God's special possession because of our inheritance. We are special to God because we declare God to this world. We are ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. We were once darkness, but now we are in the light, God's precious possession in this world. So, if we have an inheritance that God is guarding, it is also saying that we are a great possession for God and that He is going to guide us here in this world as His precious possession. That is what the hope that we have and the joy we possess. That's what Paul appears talking about, the Living Hope; it never dies, and our hope will never die. And it is also transforming us into living people, not like people without hope.
We ought to live in this world as joyful people, full of joy in our lives, and to spread that joy to others as living people, not as dead ones. Many times, we find ourselves in such a state. We come to church, go back home, and then do our stuff, and that's about it. We are present, but not truly living. I once heard a story about a person attending a meeting as present but not voting. Jerry Bentham was a very wealthy man in England in the 1800s. He founded the London University College, which is now a big institution. He served as the owner, a board member, and the board chair for his entire life since its inception. In 1832, as he approached death, he gave instructions that when he passed away, his body was to be preserved and placed on display in the meeting room of the college's board. This was his wish; he had a deep affection for the college. So, when he died, his skeleton was reconstructed and given a wax body and a head. He was dressed in his finest suit and placed in a glass case in the meeting room of the Board of Governors. For several decades, his body remained there in a glass box during board meetings. In every meeting, it was recorded in the minutes, "Jerry was present, not voting." This is akin to a religious practice where one is in church but not truly worshiping. Sometimes we are present, but we have not yet fully embraced life. However, Peter, having witnessed and experienced the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, knows what joyful living truly means. He emphasizes that we should be living people, full of life and joy, who, in turn, bring joy and life to this world. People of resurrection should not be like those who lack hope; they should radiate this power to others wherever they go.
Peter concludes in this passage that resurrection gives us resilience against our struggles and pains in this world. He says, in verses 7 through 9, that faith is more precious than gold because our faith is very precious to God. It is more precious than gold. Why is gold so precious? Why is it more precious than silver? Why is gold more precious than any other metal, even though many others are rare? Because gold, when refined, becomes truly shining and more beautiful than any other metal. But in order to achieve that, gold must be mined; initially, it's like a piece of dirt or a rock, lacking brightness. It has to go through a process – a refining process that Peter is comparing it to. Life in this world is like gold going through the refining process, gradually being melted to a certain temperature until all impurities are melted away.
In the past, Goldsmiths used to refine gold using a little kiln or oven. They would place the raw mineral metal in the oven and fire it up. Then, they would closely observe the process, continuing to watch until it became completely pure, 100%. One of the signs they looked for was when the Goldsmith saw his face reflected in the melting gold. That's when they knew the gold was 100% pure. We can compare this process to our lives in this world, with all its struggles and sufferings. Every day, we are refined through these challenging situations, akin to being melted and burned until we are purified completely. One thing is certain: our Creator and Father, God, watches over us closely every moment of our lives until His face is reflected in our refining situation. His presence shines in our lives. That's when we know we are refined. Peter speaks of this grateful doctrine of refining through suffering.
Let us be powerful witnesses for this resurrection, spreading the power of resurrection and the joyful, abundant life that Jesus gave us. Jesus said, 'I came to this world to give you life and life abundantly.' That is because He rose from the dead. We can also enjoy that abundant life in this world. May the grace of our Lord be with you, and may the good Lord bless you all with these words as we go from this place to share that joy and abundant life with the world. Amen.
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