By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
April 12, 2026
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1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead.
Born again to a living hope.
The idea of Born again is something that has been used a great deal among Evangelicals. It has become a touch point, or a signal word to us. We listen for people to drop that phrase into a conversation so that we can have some assurance that they are safe to listen to. We have used this phrase to such a degree that I wonder if we understand its meaning.
The phrase is derived from the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus one night. Jesus said to him, “you must be born again to enter the kingdom”. Nicodemus asked what that phrase meant, and he asked if he must enter into his mother’s womb once again? We laugh at that statement but it is honest. We do not fully understand it. The confusion goes so far that some have said that Jesus taught reincarnation, or that we our spirit will enter another body and live life again and again until we live the saintly life. We might even laugh at that idea, but it too is an honest leap.
I assure you that Jesus was not teaching reincarnation, but the phrase means to beget again, or caused to be born again, recreated, or renewed. The phrase although it can be misunderstood, has a unique usage. The root of the word means to re-create. The senses of the word point to basically four different usages, to give a new role, new abilities, new representation or image, or renew. The sense of the word that Peter uses comes from the to renew sense, and from that sense there are six other sensations that are covered. To refresh is one, to remake or beget again, to give birth, to replace, restore, or to revitalize.
I know that for most of us, I can just list off all those things and it just goes over your head, but the reason I share this is that there is a prefix on most of those senses, re. In the English language that prefix usually means again. When we renew a subscription, we are extending the subscription for another term. If we are reforming an organization, we are taking what was once there and changing things so that it can continue into the future. The sense that Peter is using is the remake sense. It is almost like a reset. And if you play video games we know what reset means, we get a second chance to try again.
But as I consider this I was drawn to the context of the passage, Peter also speaks of various trials. The translation to English softens things. The reality is that what he is saying is you are going to face injustice, and suffering. You are going to face things in life that will be challenging. Some of those things will be reasonable, some of those things will seem like utter chaos, some of it will be understandable, and others will be injustice. We will find ourselves in hard time that are self inflicted, and we will face trials that were enacted upon us from outside forces. We will and we do suffer.
We suffer. This is often one of the factors of life that cause people to reject faith because they do not understand, we do not understand. How can a loving God allow suffering?
I was talking to my mom a few months ago, I told her that I though I would someday write a book and I would call it 3:16, and I would go through every book of the bible and write something about chapter 3 verse 16. I did this because so many of the 3:16 verses are cool. We all know John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Then there is 1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” Then 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
I love the 3:16 verses. But in our conversation, we got to Genesis 3:16. “To the woman he said, ‘I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” My mom decided at that point I should probably pick a different profession because she thought that the book would not sell at that point. But I got to studying that passage as we talked. We look at this from a labor perspective, or the actual work of giving birth. That is not the complete picture. It is more than just child birth it is child bearing or motherhood. It is the work of raising a child. Then there is that weird your desire shall be contrary to your husband part. I do not know if this happens at your house, but have you noticed that fathers and mothers tend to do things differently when it comes to children? I do not remember wrestling my mom, but I do remember my dad tossing me around. I also remember my mom yelling at him when she saw me flying through the air.
There is pain and suffering in raising a child. Yes it is a complete joy, but every scrap makes our own knees hurt. Every tear we want to take on ourselves so that they do not have to suffer. But we cannot take their pain. We instead suffer with them.
But if we look at the work of bearing children, we can then look at the next verse and see that the judgment given to Adam also includes labor. “Cursed is the ground because of you, in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Suffering is the consequences of the desire of trusting our wisdom instead of the wisdom of God. Suffering is a result of our actions. Some of that suffering is intentional and some is unintentional. Sometimes in our best efforts to be wise we have opened ourselves up to greater trouble.
I was watching a youtube video while I was working about the history of sugar. I did not realize that there was a history of sugar, but I was proven wrong. There was a point in time where doctors thought sugar was miraculous. They would prescribe for various ailments, and one of the things they prescribed it for was to clean your teeth. At that point I stopped working and diverted all my attention to the video. We as humanity once thought that sugar was something that would protect and clean our teeth. I am sure you are not surprised at the unintentional consequence to that. Nearly every emerging technology is seen as being amazing at first. We want to apply it to nearly everything. And in that excitement there are unintended consequences. Pain relief is important in medicine, but can often have consequences. Using a computer is nearly a necessity now but if you use it all the time you end up with bad posture and carpal tunnel syndrome. The automobile is connected to an increase of lead poisoning. The industrial revolution changed industry yet air pollution was the result. Unintended consequences from human action, that result in human suffering. We needed the technology, we use the technology, but we must recognize that we have caused many problems in our search for wisdom.
Our labors often result in suffering. And Peter says we are going and are facing suffering. Suffering of many kinds and from many sources. Yet he does not say this is unfair. He instead tells us to rejoice.
I struggle to rejoice in the midst of suffering. I do not like being sick. I lose sleep over many different stresses in my life. I used to work nights, and after doing that it is like my body’s default settings were changed and whenever I get stressed out my internal clock gets switched again. And this just leads to more stress, anxiety, and suffering usually in the form of a migraine. But Peter says rejoice.
He says rejoice because we have been born again, recreated, renewed, given a new chance. Rejoice because we have been made into something new born to something different. Living Hope. God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
I want us to just reflect on this for a moment today. I have given several Easter sermons over the years twenty-three years I have been a pastor, about twenty I think. Over the course of those years I have reflected often on the resurrection, and there is a question I have often asked myself over the course of my contemplations. “Do I believe in the resurrection?” I want to say a simple yes. But then another question comes to mind, “If I do believe, what does that mean?”
I struggle with this, because the implications are vast. If we believe in the resurrection, if we believe that Jesus rose on the third day in literal physical form, should it not change something in our hearts and minds?
As I think about that I have often reflected on what lead to the need for the resurrection. What was Jesus doing that put him into that situation in the first place. Since I have read a great deal of theology I can say he had to be crucified so that he could be our propitiation, he needed to become sin for us so that he could satisfy the wrath of God. I can speak of several things about why Jesus had to die, but what was he doing that inspired the Religious leaders and the Roman government to take such a drastic action? He was faced injustice head on.
In our lives we often suffer. And often we absorb that suffering as our lot in life. There is nothing necessarily wrong with that. Paul tells us that he has learned to be content in all situations, rich or poor, well fed or hungry. We can be content. We must endure our suffering. But Jesus did not just endure. He spoke boldly against the hypocrisy of religious leaders. He said to them that they burdened their disciples with great loads that they themselves did not carry. And then he would cry out to the people, come all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The meaning of that is that he did not have a lot of rules to follow, just one really. Love God with everything you have and are, and love your neighbor as yourself. He called them out on their hypocrisy because they did make a bunch of rules, they interpreted scripture and instead of finding the teaching or wisdom of God, they found methods of exploitation.
But the religious leaders were not the only people that felt threatened. Rome was also concerned. Jesus inspired people, his miraculous healings attracted attention, and because of that crowds would form wherever he went. The towns and villages were not huge in the first century. Yet thousands of people would crowd in around him. I used to work in retail security, and crowd control was a major part of that job. We would spend months devising plans to handle one singular day, the day after Thanksgiving. If plans were not carefully made, trouble would be the end result. Crowds are scary when you are tasked with keeping peace. And when over five thousand people randomly show up in one area, something little could spark an all out riot.
Jesus fed over five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. Imagine the emotions of that crowd. Imagine what would happen if after they all ate, that man then said march right not into Jerusalem and take it. The Romans were scared and looking for some way to prevent that from happening. Then one day Jesus went into the temple and gave the religious leaders and overlords both a reason. Jesus walked into the court of the Gentiles, the place that the people of all nations could come and worship the one true God. And scattered throughout that courtyard, were pens with sheep and tables where people would convert currency. There was this conspiracy among the righteous to take advantage of the people wanting to worship God, exploiting faith for gain. Jesus cried out that my father’s house is a place of prayer and you made into a den of robbers. And he began to snap a whip in the air scaring the livestock, and overturning the tables of the money changers. Silver and gold was flying and scattering. The poor were diving onto the ground to gather what they could, and the rich were doing the same to save their potential losses. Chaos ensued. And suddenly the righteous and the powerful had a common purpose.
Jesus stood up against injustice. He called out the hypocrisy, he challenged the philosophies of the government. And those that had power felt threatened. They crucified Jesus because of their own desires of power and control. Jesus died so that the rich could stay rich. He died so that the poor would stay poor. He died so that the exploiters could continue to extort their victims. Jesus died so that the wisdom of this world, the suffering of this world, the sin of this world could survive. Jesus became sin for us. And he carried the burden of that sin to the cross. He died and was buried. Hope was lost.
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus died so that the world systems could continue. But he rose again so that they would crumble.
We are born anew to a living hope, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation read to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice. In this we rejoice. Because Jesus lives we know that though we suffer now, it will not last forever. Though we face trials now, it will not be the end. We have something better, something pure, something beautiful just beyond the horizon.
Our suffering is not in vain. It is through the suffering that we obtain the prize in Jesus. It is through the suffering. We gain something invaluable. Hope.
Jesus once said that the poor would always be with you, he also said that those poor are blessed. We often struggle with that thought. We struggle because something has been lost in the context of time. The poor, does not only mean those that lack finances and wealth, it also means those that lack power and influence. In ancient cultures, the rich ruled, because the rich were the government. Everything belonged to the Emperor or the king and if you had wealth or power it was because the ruler allowed it. And the rulers of the Gentiles would lord it over their subjects. That is not so among us, Jesus said. The rich are not blessed because they have their reward. Our focus instead should be on the one that do not have power and influence. We should care for the least of us because theirs is the kingdom. They possess the treasure that we seek. They are the ones that understand the power of hope. The rich have all they need, but the poor do not. The poor are able to recognize that they do need, they suffer.
That is where our focus should be, according to the teachings or the commands of Jesus. We can seek out power and influence here and now, but that is all we will get, here and now. Have you ever wondered why the richest people in the world are so concerned with money? Everything revolves around it, because everything in their life is focused on it. They are nothing without their money. No one would know their name, no one would care about their opinion, no one would value their input, because in the world system those that have power control the money. But the value of corporations can disappear. What was once seen as an immovable force within a society can become worthless within a short amount of time. Its perishable, defiled, fading. Walmart is being swallowed by Amazon. Emerging technology that makes life easier, gains wealth and power, then they exert control to maintain their power. But the giants will fall, suffering happens. Blessed are the poor, for they will inherit the earth.
God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We are born again, given another chance, a new chance, to obtain an inheritance that does not diminish, because it is based on something more valuable than the systems of the world can fathom. Hope.
People see how we respond through the trials we face. When we face those trials do we rejoice or complain? When we are in the middle of the struggle do we give up or do we continue to strive? And how do we respond to the people around us while we bear the most difficult of our burdens?
I believe in the resurrection. I believe not because someone gave me a good answer. I still struggle with the logic of that belief, and yet I believe. I believe because I saw the lives of the saints within my community. I saw the tears streaming down the face of my mother singing, “it is well with my soul” while my little sister’s body was being prepared for organ donation. I saw it when my dad got up every morning to go to work, and rushed out to the fields to work some more, so that he could pay of the debts obtained during a farm failure. I saw it the lives of students in Ukraine that lit up when they finally were able to grasp some concept of faith they had wrestled with. I saw hope in the eyes of my boys when they do the thing they love. We suffer, we face trials. But we have something greater. We have hope, and we have that hope because of the great mercy of God, who did not think equality with God was something that could be stolen, but become submitted himself and become obedient even to death on a cross. And on the third day he rose again to life. Do we believe in the living hope? Will we stand up to the injustices around us so that the poor will see that hope lives? Will we rejoice?
Previous Messages:
Broken Dreams Restored
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
The Mind of Christ
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
Walk as Children of Light
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
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