St.

Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Chur8ych, Monroe, Michigan 2nd Easter Sunday

New Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, Toledo, Ohio Rev. Christopher D. White
May 1st, 2011 1 Peter 1:3-9

“A RISEN SAVIOR = GREAT EXPECTATIONS”

The word “hope” is often used to describe someone’s expectation where the outcome has a certain
element of doubt to it. I hope that the weather will be nice for golfing at the upcoming pastor’s conference
in Novi. I hope that the Detroit Lions’ selections in the NFL draft will pan out and help them get to the
playoffs this coming year. I hope that the Tigers win the American League Central division. “Hope” is a
word that we use when we want something to happen, but we aren’t completely sure that what we want
to happen is ACTUALLY going to happen. With the typical usage of the word “hope,” there is always a
shade of doubt.
St. Peter uses the word “hope” right away in verse 3, but with a much different premise. He
connects the idea of “hope” to the certainty of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, whom he saw with his own eyes
that first Easter Sunday evening. Thus, “hope” for the Christian is, in no way, a wishy-washy thing.
Christian hope, rooted in the certainty of Christ’s resurrection, is an eager anticipation and expectation of
that which we are confident is ours in Jesus, with absolutely no element of doubt.
St. Peter spends a good part of his epistle explaining to Christians what the resurrection of Jesus
means for them and for us today. And, as we continue our resurrection celebration over the next 7 weeks,
we too will discover what the risen Savior equals for us. Today, we learn by the Spirit’s guidance that the
risen Savior equals great expectations – confident expectation of eternal inheritance and earthly
deliverance.

I. Eternal inheritance

Peter tells us in verses 3-4: “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 “living hope” that Peter speaks of is the expectation that we Christians have based on the fact
that Jesus conquered death and rose again. What we have an expectation of, then, based on Christ’s
faithfulness to his promise to rise from the dead, is his promise to us, his heirs, of an inheritance.
Now, maybe some of you have been on the receiving end of an inheritance. When you receive an
inheritance, you are simply named in a will, and when that person dies, you receive what they promise to
you in their will. Most of the time, an inheritance includes money, maybe a home, property, and little
things that the deceased had acquired over the course of their lives that they thought would be valuable
to pass on, if for nothing else, than sentimental reasons.
The inheritance promised to believers, Christ’s heirs, is much different. We’re told that is can
never “perish, spoil or fade.” No matter how much money someone might leave a relative or loved one in
their will, eventually all that stuff, all of that wealth will go the way of the earth! It’ll be gone. It might
take a while, it may take generations, but eventually no matter how much one tries to preserve the things
of the world, they always go the way of the world – to death!
Jesus’ inheritance is completely different, because it makes us eternally rich. It’s not going to fill
your bank account. It won’t! But in the end, who cares? That’s perishable stuff. His inheritance will fill
all the emptiness that a world of sin leaves, and that inheritance is not going to fade into non-existence.
We read in St. John’s Revelation, chapter 7:
 “16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon
them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their
shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear
from their eyes.”
You are rich! You are rich because you have an inheritance awaiting you in glory. And the best
part is, Jesus bases the reception of this inheritance not on merit, not on worthiness, but on the fact that
you are his family by faith, and all members of the family receive this inheritance by virtue of his death
on the cross. Sometimes you hear about family members getting cut out of wills because they were
naughty children or because they didn’t do this for their parents or that for their siblings. “Cut, cut, cut,
cut my children out of my will...” I can’t tell you how many times lawyers have heard that from clients in
loveless anger and frustration.
You are rich, because your name is not going to be cut out of this will! It’s etched into the Book of
Life. You’re family, by faith. The Lord Jesus, your brother, died so that you would be a recipient of
everything he came to earn with his perfect life – everlasting joy, happiness and satisfaction in the
kingdom where there is no deficiency for any resident – heaven, all for you, all because you belong to him,
because you are his heir, his beloved family member.

II. Earthly protection

The challenge that remains for us, though, and this is why we need to remain fully confident of
Christ’s eternal promises, is that we have not fully received this inheritance yet. It is on deposit for us to
receive. We are the beneficiaries. We are the heirs. But the inheritance that Christ gives to us by his
death has not been fully poured out upon us yet. We’re not there yet. Peter continues in his epistle:
“5 ...(this inheritance is) kept in heaven for you, 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. 6 In this
you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds
of trials.”
Paul once said to the Corinthian congregation that “we (Christians) live by faith, not by
sight.” But don’t we find ourselves living by sight and not by faith? We draw conclusions based upon
what we see rather than what God has revealed to us in his Word. We start to question God’s wisdom, his
providence when we view with our eyes the vast worldly corruption, and all the while the Holy Spirit calls
out to us to live not by sight, to ignore what you see with your eyes if it causes you to question the will
and Word of God.
The greatest challenge for any Christian, no matter how long you have been a Christian, no matter
what walk of life the Lord has called you to, the greatest challenge is to remain confident of that which we
do not and cannot see with our eyes. We haven’t seen Jesus risen from the dead, but we hear the words of
our risen Lord Jesus in the gospels as he speaks to doubting Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet have believed.” We haven’t seen this inheritance that is being kept on deposit in heaven
until we receive its fullness, and yet the Lord Jesus tells us, “Everyone who believes and is baptized
shall be saved.”
Day in and day out, our faith is going to be challenged by skeptics, by scholars, by the intellectual
community, by those who classify themselves as “realists,” and by our own sinful nature that tries to
convince us that what we see is what we get! Day in and day out, the arrows that attempt pierce our
hearts of faith will come flying at us from every angle, and what do we have to protect us? What do we
have to shield us to the day when we will receive the inheritance of heaven in its fullness? Quite simply,
we have God’s living and active Word.
 Peter tells us: “You, through faith, are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the
salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” God’s Word shields us because it keeps us
confident, hope-filled, expectant of that which is ours in Christ Jesus, despite what we see with our eyes.
It takes us back to the empty tomb, shows us the place where the crucified and died Lord was laid to rest
and on the third day arose, just as he said he would. It shows us faithfulness to divine promise. And it
keeps us certain that, yes – our Lord is risen from the dead, we do have an inheritance that is our
possession, and is being kept on deposit for us until our dying day, and that God will protect us through
his living and active, faith-building Word until we do receive the fullness of everything our Lord Jesus
lived and died to give us.
Hope for the Christian is much different than what most people consider “hope” to be. Hope, for
most people has a tremendous element of doubt to it. The Christian’s hope, for eternal inheritance and
earthly protection and deliverance, is rooted in Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Christ is risen! He is
risen indeed! And that equals great expectations for you, both now and in the life to come. Amen.