1 Peter series – “Holding onto Hope in a Hostile World”

1 Peter 1:1-2

This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. ² God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.

Looking around at our culture you can’t help but notice the chaos because we have chosen to discard God’s moral compass. We are a culture that has capsized, a ship slipping below the surface of a sea of sin, slowly disappearing into the darkness sinking deeper and deeper not just into debt but into despair. Do you find it difficult to hold on to hope when our culture is becoming increasingly hostile to Christianity? How do we handle all the anti-Christian antagonism in our country? Our present culture seems to be in a moral melt down. Liberties that Christians have taken for granted are being removed. Marriage has been reframed and redefined. The sanctity of human life is constantly being challenged.  We have federally funded organizations like Planned Parenthood that are in the business of harvesting babies for a buck. Sometimes it just feels like our Nation has gone nuts so how do you handle this crazy Christ less culture? Do we just cave to the culture, do we compromise and try to camouflage our Christianity, do we become combative? Or, do we go with the gospel by bringing Christ into the culture? How do we maintain hope when everything seems so hopeless? How do you remain Christ-centered in a culture that is becoming increasingly caustic toward Christianity? Well, these questions and more are answered in the book of 1 Peter. Today we are starting a new series titled, “Holding onto Hope in a Hostile World” Our response to the turmoil should be to turn to truth. There will be those who will try to tell you that the bible is an old outdated book, that it is no longer relevant in the real world. But that’s because our world has turned from truth and is now trusting in technology to save it. As you look at the turmoil in this world you will be tempted to throw in the towel but hold on tight to truth. My prayer as we go through this series is that we will not only learn the truth but that we will live the truth. In order to apply the Word to our world we have to walk it out. I want to challenge you to read 1 Peter at least once a week, its only 105 verses, if you don’t like reading then listen to it, there are many bible apps you can use to listen. 

On July 18, 64 A.D., the city of Rome ignited in flames and burned for six days. When the fire finally ended seventy percent of the city was left in smoldering ruins and rumors began to circulate that the emperor Nero had ordered the city torched. So, Nero looked for a scapegoat and he found it in the Christian community. This unleashed a fresh fire not of flames but of persecution against God’s people that spread to other parts of the Roman Empire. Nero was nasty, he covered Christ followers in tar and then set them on fire, using them as living torches to provide light for his parties. He also covered Christians in the skins of wild animals and then sent his hunting dogs out to tear them to pieces. He nailed them to crosses and fed Christ-followers to lions for fun. Persecution is not a new problem. We need to remember that Christian’s under Nero weren’t losing their liberties they were losing their lives. It’s into this hostile culture that Peter writes the letters we know as 1st and 2nd Peter.