Chapel Gabungan - 7 October

 Pdt. Ivan Kristiono

1 Peter 1:13-20

All our hope is in Christ. In the world, we (Christians) are not people who give up, are cynical, and have no direction. We have hope for the future in Christ. People who commit suicide hope on humanity, and that's an example of why hope on something else than Christ is not correct. We must put all our hope on Christ.

What is happiness? We must also put all our happiness on Christ. Wealth is empty but hope to God will not fade, it will not dissappoint. There are two extremes: some people are naive and think the world is always good and perfect. Then, there are those who are dissappointed and surrender their hope to evil, which produces hate. If we put our hope on Christ, it produces love. 

The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that whether people succeed or not is according to God, and has been controlled by God. Do not put our hope on the world, but on Christ.

We should live like an obedient child, in holiness. Sometimes it is said that "positive emotions" that please us (like happiness, joy, peace) is good, and negative emotions (fear, anger) is only bad. But in Scripture, that is not the case. God is pleased at our praises but angered about sin.

In 1 Peter, it even says to live in fear. This sounds weird. Live in holiness sounds plausible, but this seems like bad advice. However, there are different kinds of fear, and what it means is fear that we displease God because we love him. 

So, God is our hope and happiness and obedient. We have been redeemed by Christ and we have to live accordingly by glorifying and pleasing him.

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