1 Peter 1:3-9 (NASB)
David Bruce Linn, Pastor-Teacher
12 February 2006
All Rights Reserved

Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail from London's East India Docks on board his ship, the Endurance, on August 3, 1914, just a month after the start of World War I. He had a hand-picked crew of seamen and polar explorers who were determined to become the first men to traverse Antarctica on foot. The plan was to take a ship into the Weddell Sea and land a sledging party of six men and seventy dogs. They would head straight for the South Pole and then continue across to McMurdo Sound on the far side of the continent where they would be picked up.

They made good with their plan and were approaching landfall when the Endurance became lodged in pack ice on January 19, 1915. There was nothing to do but wait for the ice to release the ship. They had no inkling just how long they would have to wait. As they lived aboard ship and hunted on the ice they drifted with the ice pack far across the Weddell Sea. Days became weeks and weeks became months. In October they began to hear cracking and groaning sounds from the hull, and on the 27th the Endurance was crushed and had to be abandoned. The men removed supplies and set up what they called Ocean Camp on the ice. One month later the Endurance sank beneath the ice, never to be seen again.

Months more and miles out of mind they continued to drift, camping on the ice in every kind of weather, until a break in the ice pack came and they took to their three small boats on April 9, 1916 to make for land. They rowed across the frigid waters and made landfall on Elephant Island, a barren, frozen rock. They were not saved yet. On 24 April Shackleton and three other men undertook an open boat journey to attempt to get to South Georgia Island where a rescue ship could be procured to go back for the others.

Twenty-two men were left behind on Elephant Island to await the return of Sir Ernest. They pried rocks from the frozen ground and piled them in rude walls. Upon these they fitted the two remaining boats upside down to serve as a roof. Then they stretched tarps over all to seal out the bitter wind. They ate hot powdered milk and seal meat, and not much else.

Imagine how these men felt as they watched their one best hope row away into the Antarctic waters on the slim chance that the little boat would survive the crossing. Days passed into weeks, weeks passed into months. The crowded hut stank to high heaven. They amused themselves in discussions of sweets to eat. Their one newspaper, years out of date, was read and reread.

Four months and six days after the little James Caird had sailed away with the last hope of the stranded men, the cry rang out: "Ship! Ship!" The men hurried to make a smoke signal by burning damp cloth on the fire. They stood on the beach and watched as a small boat was lowered, and there, in the bow, was the figure of their Captain. The men waved and cheered. Shackleton called out as soon as he was within earshot: "Are you all right?" The call was returned: "We are all well, Boss! We are all well!" *

1. BELIEVERS ARE MAROONED

We are like those men on the frozen beach, living in a pile of rocks we call this fallen world. This is not our home, and we do not belong here. Life is very hard, and sometimes we don't know if we are going to make it. The focus of our hope for the future is a man who has rowed away in a tiny boat and promised to return to rescue us. This hope is our food and drink and oxygen.

Our ability to survive hinges on whether we can maintain our hope, and that turns on two things: First, what kind of man has rowed away in his tiny boat with a promise to return for us? Is he worthy of our hope? The crew of the Endurance had Ernest Shackleton, and we have Jesus Christ. Secondly, what kind of men and women are we? Are we willing to keep our hope fixed upon the one who is our only hope? If Shackleton did not return for his crew, there was no other hope. If Jesus Christ does not return for you and I we are of all people most to be pitied. Will we hold up under this strain or give in to sin, madness, despair, materialism, pornography, substance abuse, or immorality?

There is evidence that the Church in the West is having a crisis of hope. David Bryant documents that there has been a precipitous drop in new recruits for ministry. 1400 leave the ministry every month. Every week 53,000 church attenders drop out permanently. 3000 churches close every year. Consistency in attendance has gone down among those who are still members, as have the hallmarks of sanctified living. Formerly Christianized Europe is even worse, with fewer than 3 per cent attending any church (pp. 197-199 passim, Christ Is All).

All of this has come about in a context with a loss of belief in the real Christ. According to a survey done by George Barna, only about 4 percent of Americans have a genuinely Christian worldview as defined by core doctrines which ought to be believed by all Christians. About half the nation's pastors also fail this test (pp. 197-198, Christ Is All)! No wonder there is such a marked sense of hopelessness on the part of so many who say they are Christians but who reveal by their behavior that they do not think that Jesus is the answer. It is a form of spiritual anorexia, as if people are saying: "No, I'm better off when I don't eat too much of this Jesus stuff!"

2. THE BELIEVER'S HOPE HINGES ON THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST

What can possibly reverse this frightening decline and restore our hope? All Christian hope hinges on the supremacy of Christ to perform everything that he has promised on our behalf. The Apostle Peter wrote that all who trust in Christ have been "born again to a living hope" (1 Peter 1:3), a hope which is not fickle and which can sustain us through even the worst troubles this earth can dish out. Here is where the identity of the One who has promised to rescue us makes all the difference.

First, can Jesus Christ really cause us to be born again? Peter wrote: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." (1 Peter 1:3). We look at our lives and wonder if anything will ever change! How can our troubled souls ever find healing and rest?

The promise which Jesus made about this need is well known to people in the West: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). The problem for people in the West, whether believers or unbelievers, is not what Jesus said, but whether we believe he can actually do it. When we cast Jesus Christ in the role of mascot rather than Lord of Lords, his perceived ability to change our lives for the better diminishes in our eyes.

What could make a bigger change than being born again--being given a whole new life? Peter does not say that we do anything except believe in order to be born again. The granting of new life is an act of supremacy based entirely upon Christ. Nothing less will do.

Secondly, can Jesus Christ actually have risen from the dead? Peter proclaimed that "...His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." (1 Peter 1:3). Everything Jesus Christ taught about himself, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and mankind turns on whether or not he actually was able to rise from the dead.

Jesus both claimed and displayed supremacy over life and death: "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father" (John 10:17-18). Then, in one of the best attested events of all history, he did it!

Thirdly, can Jesus Christ really give us a heavenly inheritance which no one can take from us? Peter explained that the living hope we have is "to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you..." (1 Peter 1:4). Nothing is more obvious in this fallen world that every good thing we have will get targeted for theft or simply become ruined by decay. What kind of person could ever promise to keep our inheritance perfectly and deliver it to us without fail? It would have to be One who is supreme over every earthly power, including the so-called natural world. Matthew wrote: "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth'" (Matthew 28:18). There is no aspect of reality over which Jesus Christ does not have both power and authority.

Fourthly, can Jesus Christ actually protect those who believe in him through this life and ultimately deliver the salvation he promised? Peter described believers as those "...who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5). A nursemaid Jesus cannot do this, but a Christ who is invested with supremacy can.

Is there any wonder that as our view of Christ diminishes our hope evaporates? The burden of the Apostle Peter in this passage is to overwhelm us with a view of God the Father and Christ the Son acting on behalf of those with faith, opening doors no one can shut, and shutting doors no one can open. We need to drill this awareness into our own minds and those of our family, our church, and our community. There is no other Jesus except King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

3. HOPE IN CHRIST POWERS US THROUGH EVERY TROUBLE

What are people like who have "born again to a living hope"? Could we live in a hut on a frozen island without giving up hope? If our hope is born of the supremacy of Christ we can live through anything life throws at us. That is why we are commanded to set our minds on the things which are above, because that is the only way to maintain hope in the middle of the things which are below.

Peter wrote that if our hope is born of the supremacy of Christ, then we can face tough times: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials..." (1 Peter 1:6). The picture is not just of people surviving hardships, but of rejoicing in the middle of them. I do not say that this is automatic, but as we set our hope on the preeminent Christ we can enter into such rejoicing by faith.

Secondly, Peter tells us that with hope hitched to an indestructible and all-surpassing Christ we can persevere through the seemingly interminable testing of our faith which afflicts us while he is away: "...so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ..." (1 Peter 1:7). Perhaps you have not realized that part of the glorification of Jesus Christ at his second coming is that every believer will be standing there rejoicing at his arrival, having surfed the sorrows of life by faith in an invisible Monarch. And because of his sovereign keeping and protecting work we will be able to call out to him, no matter what we have suffered: "We are all well, Boss! We are all well!"

The crew of the Endurance was not without sufferings as they said this to Shackleton at his return. One man had an abscess on the base of his spine which grew to the size of a football. Another man had the toes of one foot amputated due to gangrene. So it will be with believers in Christ. Whatever sufferings we may accumulate on this earth we will glorify Christ at his return for having seen us through.

Thirdly, Peter tells us that such hope will cause us to love him even through our sorrows: "...And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, even though we cannot see him..." (1 Peter 1:8a). There is a danger that we will allow our sufferings to steal our love for Christ if we conclude that such sufferings are evidence that he is not able to protect us the way he promised.

There was a wonderful young mother in a previous church I pastored named Maria. She was full of faith like her namesake. Her husband was a man's man whose faith was not as strong as that of his wife. I have a vivid memory of the final time I anointed Maria for cancer in their living room, with her belly swollen out as if she were pregnant. When Maria died, her husband was enraged with God. His hope could not withstand that trial, and whatever love he had for Christ fled away. He had become convinced that Maria's cancer was proof of God's lack of supremacy. The word of God has not promised us the removal of trials, but the ability to rejoice in them through our living hope in the King of Kings. We must not conclude that Christ is not supreme when he chooses not to remove us from suffering. After all, the crucifixion proves that even though he had to power to remove himself from that suffering, he did not.

Fourthly, Peter tells us that hope born of the supremacy of Christ will permit us not only to survive trials, not only to rejoice through them, not only to love Christ as the waves of suffering wash over us, but also to radiate his character: "...And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:8b-9). The key term here is "full of glory," literally "glorified" in the original Greek. The glory of God is the outshining radiance of his perfect character, so when we rejoice in our living hope born of the supremacy of Christ, we become instruments to display God's nature on the earth. Why? Because there is no earthly reason for us to rejoice in such hope in the middle of the mess of this world.

You may have been thinking as you considered this that I have made what seems like a thin connection between the supremacy of Christ and the living hope of the believer. Peter makes it explicit a few chapters later: "...But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence..." (1 Peter 3:15). It would be hard to have hope in this world if our Savior is not also Lord of All. Every one of us must make an act of the will to set Christ apart in our hearts as the Lord of our lives. The failure to do this incurs the loss of hope. This is the reason why we see so many people today who name Christ as their Savior but who keep doing desperate acts to palliate their broken souls.

Peter does not stop there, but insists that we be prepared to explain our living hope, and the only possible explanation is that our hope is fixed upon a preeminent Christ. Many people will never understand their need for a Savior until they understand Christ's supremacy to rule and judge their lives. So it us up to us to live it and then explain it. Just saying of our faith: "It works for me!" is not enough. Millions of Mormons, Moslems, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, New Agers, and Naturalists would say the same thing. Let us not fail to proclaim the unchallengeable rule of Christ.

CONCLUSION

The polar explorers under the command of Sir Ernest Shackleton had the benefit of being marooned by a leader with unbelievable grit and determination to see them through. Comparing him with other polar explorers it was said: "For scientific leadership, give me Scott; for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton" (p. 14, Endurance). The twenty-two crew members he left behind were powerfully bolstered in their hope through long deprivation and suffering, and their hope was not disappointed.

One of the great existentialist writers wrote a play entitled No Way Out. It was his way of expressing the reality that if the resources of humanity are all we have to help us live on this earth, then there is truly no way out, no source of rescue, and no possibility that our sufferings have any meaning beyond themselves. In light of that true appraisal of life on earth, I say: Give me Jesus Christ. Never mind Shackleton or any man--we need Someone whose transcendent power is able to keep us and carry us through the sorrows of this life to eternal salvation.

Our challenge is not to believe our eyes or give in to despair, but to sanctify Christ as Lord in our hearts. And once we have set our hope upon the true Christ who reigns supreme above every power and authority, we can embark upon this life with the greatest of optimism. I implore you: Don't give up hope! You may not see any way out of your difficulty, you may be hanging on by a thread with your last shred of hope about to be burned away by the fire of suffering. Let your heart be relieved of that deathtrap by the reality of who Christ is for you, the One with all authority in heaven and on earth, about whom it was written: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31 b). If you have believed in Christ you have been born again to a living hope. It does not get any better than that on this earth, and it all hinges on his supremacy.

[* passim from Endurance by Alfred Lansing, Carroll & Graf Publishers edition, New York, 1986, and A&E film Shackleton, 2002, featuring Kenneth Branagh, clip 1:38:11 to 1:40:37, disc two]