Application Guide:  “The Gospel Hope” (1 Pet. 1:1-12)

 

July 17th, 2005: Andy Abernethy, Pastor of Sr. High, preached on the hope in the gospel that we (as aliens in this world) have as we live our lives – not feeling quite at home – and wait for the completion of God’s plan for this earth (cf. Heb. 11:8-16). He challenged us to keep the big picture of God’s redemptive story in mind as we go about our daily tasks, to consider how a hope in eternity ought to affect our day-to-day decisions. We must all ask ourselves, “Is the gospel hope what gives me purpose, perspective, and direction for my life and decisions?”

 

  1. “Aliens” praise God because the core of the gospel is hope. (1 Pet. 1:3-5)
    1. As a Christian, are there times in your life when you do not feel at home in this world? Why or why not? When you don’t feel at home, what do you think about? What keeps you going?
    2. What does it mean that hope is at the core of the gospel? What makes hope the fuel that keeps us living life? What’s the difference between faith and hope? (cf. Ac. 2:25-28; Rom. 8:18-25; Tit. 1:1-3)
    3. What does it mean that “the gospel is what ought to encapsulate our souls”?

 

  1. Andy showed how our salvation is rooted in the past (our identity is in Christ’s death and resurrection), present (living it out today), and future (when the completion of God’s work will be accomplished). This is the great redemptive story that we are in.
    1. What does it mean to find our identity in the death and resurrection of Christ? How do we die with Christ and rise with him? (cf. Rom. 6:3-10; Gal. 2:20)
    2. What are some of the “lower stories” that cause you to lose sight of the “bigger story” (or metanarrative) that we are in? How can we keep the “bigger story” in view amidst our day-to-day lives? What does it mean to view our “lower stories” in a redemptive way?[1]

 

  1. Aliens praise God because gospel hope makes sense out of their trials. (v. 6)
    1. What is your first response to trials/hardship/suffering? If the gospel is our hope, how then ought we to respond to them? (cf. 1 Pet. 2:19-25; 3:13-17)

 

  1. Aliens praise God because gospel hope makes sense of the visual vacancy of Christ. (vv. 7-9)
    1. Do you struggle with believing that Jesus actually exists and that he will actually someday fulfill his promises? Do you think the saints of the Bible struggled with this? How does the hope of the gospel help us amidst our doubts and waiting?

 

  1. Aliens praise God because of the privilege of gospel hope. (vv. 10-12)
    1. Do you count your salvation as a privilege? Do you count it a privilege to be living in this time in history, to be living as part of God’s redemptive history?


[1] Consider these words by John Eldredge: “All these stories comprise what James McClendon calls the ‘tournament of narratives’ in our culture, a clash of many small dramas competing for our heart. Through baseball and politics and music and sex and even church, we are searching desperately for a larger story in which to live and find our role. All of these smaller stories offer a taste of meaning, adventure, or connectedness. But none of them offer the real thing; they aren’t large enough. Our loss of confidence in a larger story is the reason we demand immediate gratification. We need a sense of being alive now, for now is all we have. Without a past that was planned for us and a future that waits for us, we are trapped in the present. There’s not enough room for our souls in the present.” [The Sacred Romance (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 43.]