OWR
2026-08-30 Sunday Second

  • Introduction

    Why do we need to remember the Alamo?
    Not just to stir emotions
    To stir up actions
    It’s why we’re to “Never Forget” 9/11
    To remind us why we’re at war
    So we can patriotically endure TSA
    We need to remember the Lord’s death the same way
    It’s the story of suffering and exaltations
    His body was given over to pain and death
    But the blood is the new covenant - everything the prophets were hoping for
    It reminds us of how our story ends
    We’re in the suffering, waiting for the exaltations
    So we need to remember Jesus like people remembered the Alamo - so we can get ready

    Text Connection

    This is why Peter is writing his letter.
    The problem’s they faced
    1 Peter 1:1 ESV
    1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
    Exiled and dispersed - strangers to their own people
    Verse 6-7 Peter acknowledges their suffering
    So Peter is getting them to remember
    Look at everything God has already done for you
    Look at the hope that’s in front of you
    And live life differently because of it

    Set Your Hope Fully

    1 Peter 1:13 ESV
    13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
    Prepare you minds for actions
    Literally to ‘gird up the loins’
    We need to get ready for some work, and some tough times
    Be sober-minded
    Be disciplined and under control
    Don’t fill your head with distractions
    Set your hope fully on God
    It’s not “Wait for God to give you everything you want.”
    People who wait on God for marriage but stay single can get mad or sad because their hope wasn’t on God. It was on what God gave.
    It’s like the crowds that followed Jesus after he fed them
    Sure they wanted him as a king, but only to serve their own desires
    And that’s something we can attempt as well. Instead of seeing Jesus as God we see him as the stepping stool into the good life.
    Joel Osteen’s Wife says…
    When we obey God, we’re not doing it for God … we’re doing it for ourselves because God takes pleasure when we’re happy.… When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really, you’re doing it for yourself.
    He’s my prayer vending machine
    He’s my buddy when I’m feeling down
    He’s the guy that gives me advice
    Through this mindset obedience is not an act of submission to God, but a power used to compel him to respond.
    We just have to sow some charity
    Or just show up to services on Sunday
    Or appease God with a sacrifice every now and then
    And God will have to bless me, right?
    Our entire concept of worship can be guided by selfishness in the guise of worship.
    I’m not following him for his ends and the kingdom of God - I’m only following for what I can get out of him. And as soon as I see that following Jesus doesn’t get me what I wanted, I leave because my hope was never on Jesus, it was on the stuff.
    That’s the mindset that Peter says we’ve been redeemed from.

    Slaves of Desire

    1 Peter 1:14–15 ESV
    14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
    Before Christ we were led around by passions of ignorance
    Before Christ we had no hope
    Our purpose, according to one eminent biologist, was simply to live long enough to reproduce
    In a completely atheistic and materialist worldview, we’re all heading to an unescapable end
    If there’s nothing higher than this life, then this life becomes it’s highest value
    Our passions, our desires, were what shaped us
    If it looked good or fun, we went for it!
    It sounds fun and freeing, but our desires are harsh masters
    Every guy can think of all the dumb stuff we’ve done to try and impress a girl
    Sad stories - Samaria
    2 Kings 6:28–29 ESV
    28 And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ 29 So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.”
    See what a hungry stomach can make you do? She’s not sad that she murdered her son. She’s mad because she can’t eat this other child. Our desires make us slaves to them, and they will demand everything.
    People selling their children for drug money
    Murdering for the inheritance
    Slandering and gossiping for the sake of our pride
    And do you know what would have happened if that woman had eaten her own son? She would have gotten hungry again.
    It doesn’t matter how much you fill yourself in this world. You always end up empty.

    Futile Ways

    Peter calls all of those things we put our hope in futile ways. They don't work.
    1 Peter 1:17–19 ESV
    17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
    If our hope for meaning is what we did in our careers, what will happen to our hope when we get fired or retire?
    If our hope is in our family, what happens when we fight each other, or start losing that family to time and death?
    If our hope is in political parties, what happens when we lose the election?
    That's why our hope needs to be fully on the grace of God that's coming with Jesus. We need to remember his story so that we stop pursuing those futile pursuits. We were saved from them.

    Ransomed

    That’s what it means to be ransomed. Those desires and futile ways were holding us captive. And we need to remember what Christ has done so we don’t go running back to those empty ways.
    It’s like comparing modern medicine to some of the older, yet oddly recent, health trends.
    Want to lose weight? Why not try out a tape worm! It will banish the enemy that is shortening your life! No diet - no baths - no exercise - No Danger! So you can eat, eat, eat! Follow those desires!
    Or do you have a little toothache? Why not a little cocaine? It's an instant fix!
    After all, these methods are recommended by our best and brightest doctors, who only smoke Camel's!
    Why would you ever want to run back to something that doesn’t work? To something that was actively killing you?
    Instead of turning to the former ways of life, we’ve been called to something higher.

    Holy Hope

    1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV
    15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
    We’re supposed to be holy
    That means we’re different
    In ways seen throughout the letter
    1 Peter 2:12 ESV
    12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
    1 Peter 4:3–4 ESV
    3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;
    1 Peter 4:4 - they consider us strangers
    Why don’t you act like we do?
    Why don’t you drown your sorrows in alcohol?
    How do you get through life sober? Isn’t that scary?
    The difference in how we act is because of the hope Jesus has given us
    He suffered and had a hard life, but he didn’t need drugs or distraction to get him through it
    Even when his body was being broken on the cross he turned the wine and drugs away
    Because he had set his own hope fully on God

    Louis Cole - Nothing

    There's an album by Louis Cole called Nothing. It features songs such as Things Fall Apart
    This much is true, things will fall apart just like they should. This little bit was good.
    Contrasts the existential dread that his life could be wiped out in a moment by a comet as cold as ice, but in the meantime "free donuts call my name"
    And then there's Who Cares? 2
    It's a silly sounding song that just repeats "Who cares?"
    Then concludes with these really dark foreboding chords. He's saying that since everything ends, who cares? But also, the fact that everything ends is absolutely terrifying to him. And all he has in life to guide him are his desires.
    Things fall apart, but who cares? We’re all nothing anyways.

    Jesus tells a Different Story

    Jesus tells a different story.
    Your life doesn’t have to be nothing
    It can be put back together
    Because God cared enough to die for you
    We need to tell that story. Because hope is holy. It’s something that will make you stand out these day
    1 Peter 3:14–15 ESV
    14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
    What are people noticing about Christians in Peter’s day?
    Why do you have so much hope?
    Don’t you read the news?
    Don’t you know everyone is mad, depressed, or crazy these days?
    So why do you have so much hope?
    Because we remember the story of Jesus.
    That he suffered, just like we did
    That he cared enough to die for us
    And in that death freed us from the hopeless life too many are trapped in

    Conclusion

    When we take this communion we are preparing our minds for action. We are remembering the hope of the new covenant that comes after the suffering.

      • 1 Peter 1:1LELXX

      • 1 Peter 1:13LELXX

      • 1 Peter 1:14–15LELXX

      • 2 Kings 6:28–29LELXX

      • 1 Peter 1:17–19LELXX

      • 1 Peter 1:15–16LELXX

      • 1 Peter 2:12LELXX

      • 1 Peter 4:3–4LELXX

      • 1 Peter 3:14–15LELXX

OWR
5 members