Sovereignty: Hope for the Future

Introduction

The new year has come. Some revealed in the changing of the calendar. Some stayed at home and took it easy. Others slept through the changing of the year. Part of the previous year was spent in concerned hours and days wondering what might happen as the calendar years changed. Fairly uneventful. What does the future hold? Prognosticators are predicting another year of economic growth; some predict that politics will bring relief to the poor and oppressed; some predict that we will become even more of a global society; some are predicting that the computer and information age is just beginning and what we will see in the future will astound and amaze us.

With our strong economy and relative ease of life, we may find it difficult to remain focused beyond the immediate. But this life hasn’t always been this easy. When we go through difficult times, ease of life means very little. The little letter of 1 Peter was written to Christians who did not have it easy in their lives. They were suffering. Suffering because of their faith. Ridicule, ostracism, loss of employment because of their faith was not uncommon. Peter writes this letter to encourage and to motivate his readers to see things as they really are. While he doesn’t ignore the world in which they live, he reminds them that this world is not their home. Not an easy lesson to learn no matter the circumstances. For whether things are going well or miserably, we tend to focus on the immediate. Peter encourages his readers to lift their sights beyond this world to the one which is to come and to recognize the sovereignty of God to control not only the present but their future.

As we study this morning, we, too, need to lift our sights beyond what we see to what we know exists by faith. Our hope need not be in what this world has to offer, but in the one who has made great plans for us so that we can be with him forever. Let’s pray together.

Salvation Hope

As Peter writes these words, his readers are very familiar with suffering. They are in what seems to be a hopeless situation. Their faith in Jesus has brought them some significant problems. Peter wants them to refocus on what is real. God has given them a new beginning. Peter calls it a new birth. A birth which grants not only a new beginning but into a living hope. Going through suffering as they are, they see no end in sight. Economic hardship and the ridicule are not apt to stop any time soon. They are suffering because of their faith. Life is hopeless. But not where God is concerned. This new birth brings a new hope. A hope which is living. A hope based upon the resurrection of Jesus. A hope which is not based on present circumstances but future reality.

Peter goes on in verse 4 to remind his readers that they have also been born into a family in which an inheritance is assured. This inheritance is not of this world but of the world to come. It is an inheritance which will never perish as wealth does, spoil as food does, or fade as the color of clothing does. It is an inheritance which God is saving for those who belong to him. And at the right time will be revealed to those who belong to him. We come across again as we did last week this idea of the planning of God here in verse 5. God planned not only for Jesus to come into this world, but for a future in which those who belong to him will be with him forever. This is the inheritance Peter is talking about. It is based on their relationship with God not how much they have in this world.

In the meantime, suffering is a part of their life. But don’t let the suffering Peter says keep you from seeing the truth. This suffering is a time of testing. It is a time to demonstrate faith. This suffering is not a time to wring your hands and worry what is going to happen next. This is a time to show the genuineness of your faith. For it is in suffering that faith is tested and found to be pure and complete. Notice how Peter has lifted their sights from their suffering to focusing on what is to come and then giving purpose and meaning to what they are going through now. There is something better in the future and what you are going through now is a time to demonstrate the genuineness of your faith.

What About Us?

This all sounds good except when one is going through the suffering. When you feel the sting of rejection, the emptiness of loneliness, and the fear of isolation because of your faith, it is difficult to focus beyond this life to the one to come. Conversely, it is difficult to maintain proper focus when things are going well. When the wallet is full, there is plenty of support, and life is better than you deserve it hard to take your eyes off the bounty and see the plan of God for the future. How do we take our eyes off of this land and think about the future? How do we remind ourselves that the plan of God goes beyond the present?

Notice in 1:1. Peter addresses his readers as first God’s elect. They belong to God. God has chosen them. Through the wonderful planning of God he planned for his creation to belong to him. Through his wisdom and knowledge God planned for those who know him by faith to belong to him. But secondly, Peter calls them strangers in the world. He doesn’t mean they look different from other; dress differently than others; have a special vocabulary. Strangers is the idea of one who is residing temporarily in a foreign place. What is Peter saying? You belong to God not to this earth. This place is temporary. I grew up a time when the words “brother” and “sister” were used to describe those who were related by the blood of Jesus. While those words have fallen into disuse for the most part, what would happen if we greeted one another with the word “stranger” as a reminder that we were not of this world?

Everything pulls at us to never see beyond this world. We smell, touch, see, taste, and hear this world and all it has to offer. Whether we suffer or have abundance we are tied to this world. It is only by faith that we know of the world to come. As Peter reminds us in verse 8, we have not seen Jesus but we love him and we believe in him and we are filled with an inexpressible joy because of him. We hear the voice of Jesus by faith. We touch the nail prints by faith. By faith we see his face. By faith we believe in the plan of God.

God planned for you to spend eternity with him. He gives us years to live on this earth. But this earth is not our home. God’s greatest blessings are not on this earth. We belong to God. We are temporary residents here. This world is not our home we are just passing through. The treasures of this world pale in significance to the treasures God has planned for us to enjoy with him. Don’t lose sight of what is real. Our hope isn’t in a strong economy but in the blood of Jesus. We have been born into a life focused on Jesus. Don’t lose sight of what God is planning for you. God is sovereign. He is in absolute control of our future. He has planned for you to spend eternity with him. Don’t exchange that for this world.

Don’t allow the affluence of this world to distract you from the future. Just as Peter wrote to those who in their suffering could easily lose sight of what was real, so we who live in affluence can lose sight of what is real. What we see here is temporary. What God has planned for us in eternity is real. How do we know? Because it is based on the resurrection of Jesus. When God raised Jesus from the dead, that was his proof of the fulfillment of the promise that this life is not all there is. By faith we see the resurrection. We weren’t there when he was raised but others were. By faith we accept not only their testimony but the testimony of God himself who planned it all. Where is your focus? Where is your hope? God wants you to be with him forever. He has planned for you to be with him. Join him in his plan. Allow his plan to be your plan. Invitation.

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