Advent: Hope

If you have your Bibles today, and I

hope you do, take those out. I'll meet you in Romans chapter 15.

Romans chapter 15.

In 2004, I was serving as interim youth pastor at Riverside Baptist Church

downtown, and we lived in Arvvada. My daily habit was when Katherine would

leave to go teach at Faith Christian, I would get up and go to Starbucks there

at the corner of 64th in Ward. That Starbucks does not exist anymore, but

that's where that was my hangout. It was almost like Cheers. I would walk in and

Joel, how you doing? It's just there I went every day. And uh there was a

gentleman there, an older gentleman named Robert that we had our seats in the corner. I sat here, he sat there

every day. We would have discussions on all kinds

of topics. He was by no means a man of faith. He wanted nothing to do with it, but enjoyed the dialogue about it. He

liked talking about the things of faith. In fact, one day he said, "You know, Joel, you Christians, you talk a lot

about faith, hope, and love." That passage out of 1 Corinthians 13. Y'all talk a lot about that. He goes, "You

know what? That verse says that uh the most important is love, but Joel, here's what I need. I need more hope.

I need more hope in my life." What was he talking about? What is hope?

I seriously, what is it? Is is it just wishful thinking? Is it is

it I hope I get G.I. Joe with Kung Fu Grip for Christmas this year? I mean, what what what is hope?

We kind of know what it is, but can you put words to it? What hope is? I hope

for this or I hope for that. Today, I want to look into this word. It

is the first theme of Advent that churches around the planet, Christian

churches around the planet are dealing and talking about this issue of hope.

And I want to talk about it today. And I hope by the time we leave, you're able to walk away with an understanding the

difference between what the world understands as hope and what we as Christians understand as hope. There is

a difference. And I hope that today we can do that. But I want to read to you a

passage out of Romans chapter 15. I'm going to start in verse eight

and then I really want you to f focus in on verse 13. Let's pick up in verse eight.

Paul writes to the church in Rome and he's about to about to close his letter out. He's about to land that plane. But

he has this to say. He says, "For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness

in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his

mercy. As it is written, therefore I will tell I will praise you among the

Gentiles and sing to your name." And again it and again it said, "Rejoice, O

Gentiles, with his people." And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and

let all the peoples extol him. And again, I Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse

will come, and even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him, the Gentiles

will hope." There's that word. Now look at verse 13. May the God of hope fill

you with all joy and peace in believing

so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. What is hope?

What are you hoping for today? Do you have things in your life that you're hoping for? I mean, this is the We got

Christmas trees all around. You probably have a Christmas tree set up in your home or will soon.

What are the kids hoping for? Is that what we're talking about? What are you hoping for this Christmas? Is it

a positive diagnosis from the doctor? Is it that a relationship will work out?

What are you hoping for? And when you say you're hoping, what do you mean by that?

What do you mean by hope? I'm going to use a term today that that

uh I want to make sure I'm clear on this. I'm going to I'm going to talk about worldly hope versus Christian

hope. And when I use the term worldly, I'm not talking about it in a negative sense as in as in uh where or Romans

chapter 12 where he says do no longer be conformed to the pattern of this world, a sinful a negative pattern. I'm when I

say worldly hope, I'm not talking about it in a negative pattern. I'm just trying to differentiate between

non-Christian and Christian hope. So worldly hope. Are you with me? Does that make sense? It's not negative.

People often misunderstand. This issue of hope,

it is an underappreciated resource that we have as humans. Hope is a powerful thing. It's a good

thing. You and I do it all the time. We do both this worldly hope and we have

Christian hope at the same time. So, they're not negative. They're just different. And I hope today

I I I hope today that we're able to walk out of here understanding the difference

and man that you and I as followers of Jesus have something that is solid in

Christ Jesus. So worldly hope number one on your

outline worldly hope is wishful thinking. It's wishful thinking.

I want to refer to a couple of American classic films when it comes to this

issue of hope. One of in fact both of these are in my top five list of favorite movies. The

first one you may or may not have seen and it's called the Shashank Redemption where Andy Durrain is talking with his

friend named Red played by Morgan Freeman and he makes mention of hope and

Morgan Freeman scolds him about being a person of hope because hope is a

dangerous thing. See, he was holding on to this idea that one day I'll get out of here and maybe

the truth will come into play and that I'll be released and he he had hope.

He was wishing for that day to come. The other classic American movie I want to

refer to is Dumb and Dumber.

I see that face where Lloyd Christmas is talking to his

girlfriend and he looks at her and he says, "Um, what

what are the chances of a guy like you and a girl like me

getting together?" And she looks at him and says,

"Not good." He says,"Not good as in one in 10." And

she says, "No, no, no. Not good as in one in a million."

And then there's this long silence and he says,

"So, you're telling me there's a chance?"

Yeah. Anybody remember that scene?

He there's a chance. You see, listen. Worldly hope, this non-Christian hope is just a sliver of possibility.

You You're telling me there's a chance that that things will work out? You're

It's wishful thinking. There's a lot of misconceptions when it

comes to hope. Not only is it wishful thinking, but there's a lot of people that think that hope eliminates fear.

Can I just tell you that hope thrives in the midst of fear? It's like the two sides of the same

coin. They they thrive. It thrives in fear.

The same is true of faith and doubt. It's the two sides of one coin. If I had

no doubts in my life, why would I need faith? I'm a man of faith because

there's things that are I just don't know. I don't understand everything about God. I don't understand his plan. There's so many things that I might be

able to doubt. But I'm a man of faith. It is the two sides of one coin. And and

hope. If I knew how it was going to turn out, why would I need to hope for it?

It's because I don't know how things are going to turn out that I'm wishing for it. I'm hoping for it. And so hope is a

powerful powerful thing. And it's a good thing for us to be people of hope.

whether it's worldly hope or Christian f hope that we'll talk about in just a few

minutes. The other misconception is that some people think that hope is passive.

I'm just going to sit around and wait and see if it turns out. That is not hope. Not even worldly hope is that

worldly hope is is is is resistance against despair. It's an

active resistance. A few weeks ago, Katherine and I were invited by the Conours to go to the

Broncos game against the Giants. And for three quarters, we watched the

worst high school football you have ever seen in your life.

At the end of the third quarter, ask them. You saw it on TV. At the end of the third quarter, people were leaving

in droves. I mean, just leaving the stadium. They were hopeless. There is no

chance. There's not even a sliver of hope that we can win this game. And then

the fourth quarter happened. I watched we watched with our own eyes

an entire stadium move from being hopeless to hopeful. We scored a touchdown.

So you're telling me there's a chance.

Interception happens. Things go back and forth. Next thing you know, it's coming down to the end and we're ahead.

We watched on the sideline the the whole demeanor of the team change once hope

happened. The guy sitting next to me was a New York Giants fan and the entire game he was like, "Yeah,

yeah." And they didn't want to talk too loud because they knew the reputation of the Giants, but yeah, you could he could

just He was full of hope. I was hopeless for three quarters,

but then the fourth quarter happened and his hope

began to drip, drop, and mine began to rise.

I went from hopeless to hopeful. He went from hopeful to hopeless.

What are you hoping for in life today? Are are you hopeful or hopeless?

What's your wishful thinking about today? And I I I just want to come back to that, man. May the God of hope fill

you with joy and peace in believing. That's key right there.

See, our faith in Jesus Christ is what opens the door to joy and peace.

And the God of hope can fill you. It's in the believing

that God can do anything. God can do anything. Hope is a powerful

force. It's a and worldly hope is is acting on a sliver of chance. I It's

wishful thinking. It doesn't require certainty. It it doesn't require the

probability of success. The worldly hope just needs a sliver of possibility.

You're telling me there's a chance. Some powerful examples in history

that have lived and and thrived on this hope that we're talking about. Victor Frankle, an Austrian psychiatrist and

Holocaust survivor. He observed that prisoners who maintained hope for something beyond the

camps like like reuniting with loved ones or or com completing meaningful

work or they bore witness that they had a better chance of survival when they

had hope. Hope is powerful. It's powerful. Nelson Mandela, you heard

of him? 27 years in prison. He maintained hope of what Africa what

South Africa could be. He studied Africans and and the culture

of those people in order that he might one day be in leadership. Leadership that he may

never see. But he hoped in that

parents of missing children. They live in the most agonizing

uncertainty. Yet many, many channel hope into advocacy to help other families, to

change laws, to improve search techniques. Their hope isn't about a guaranteed

outcome. It's about refusing to abandon the only stance that helps them move

forward. Worldly hope is not a bad thing. Non-Christian hope is not, and we do it

all the time. We hope for things but it is not the same as Christian

hope. Hope thrives when we are unsure, not

when we are sure of the outcome. When everything is determined and known. Hope is not necessary.

Hope is the unique human capacity to act out meaningful meaningfully in the gap

between what is what it is and what it might be. to plant a tree in your

yard that you may never enjoy the shade of.

It's hope. So, what about Christian hope? Let's

look at that real quick. Number two on your outline. Christian hope is based on what God has promised

and what he has already done. Hope is the confidence that by

recognizing God's saving acts in the past mixed with with belief and trust in

God in the now means that you and I can experience

the fullness of God's goodness both now and in the future. We know it.

Biblical faith rests on the trustworthiness of God to keep his promises. Biblical hope avoids being

founded on our life experiences,

but being founded on something that provides a solid base of confidence in its fulfillment. And what am I talking

about? I'm talking about God and his saving acts as they come together in the

birth, the life, the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

because of what God has done. Because of what God has promised. You

know God, you know what God has promised you? And somebody may need to hear this today. I will never leave you.

I will never forsake you.

I'll never leave you. God says to you promises. And we can bank on that.

That's not wishful thinking. That's trusting that God is going to fulfill his promise, that he's going to do what

he said he would do.

That is a solid base for our hope. The hope found in Jesus represents something

fundamentally different from worldly hope. Christians say it's it's hope grounded not in human possibility, but

in the divine promises of and completed actions of God. Our hope is not based on

chance that we can figure something out. It is not based on on the ability our ability to figure out how to survive. It

is based on God and his promises and what he's already done.

At the bottom of your outline, I want you to fill in these blanks where philosophical hope or worldly hope says

maybe things will get better. Christian hope says something has

already happened and it changes everything. It changes everything. It's rooted in

the resurrection. The claim that death itself, the ultimate limit on human possibility, has been defeated. Oh,

death, where is your sting? This makes it a peculiar kind of hope.

It is a confident expectation rather than wishful thinking.

The writer of Hebrews writes this in chapter 6. I want to read

to you verses 13- 20. For when God made a promise to Abraham,

since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying,

"Surely I will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham having patiently

waited obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves and and in all their disputes

an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise

the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.

So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have we who have fled for refuge

might have strong encouragement to hold on to hold fast to the hope set before

us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.

A hope that enters into the inner go inner place behind the curtain where

Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf. having become a high priest forever in the order of MelkiseDC. Did

you catch it? You and I have this hope that's based on God's promises and what

he's already done. We have this hope as an anchor for our soul.

An anchor. It's not movable. Anybody need hope today?

You're not sure of where things are headed tomorrow when you get to work. You're not sure what's going to happen

with your family. You need an anchor today.

Can I just tell you to run to Jesus? Run to Jesus.

Our hope doesn't depend on political outcomes. I'm not a political preacher, but I can

tell you I know a lot of people that are stirred up. Their souls are stirred up

over what's happening politically in this nation. Our hope doesn't rest on

that. Wishful thinking does, but not the confident expectation we have in God.

God's hope, the hope that we have in him is a steadfast anchor for our soul.

Our hope doesn't isn't based on physical health.

Our hope is based on what God has promised. and already done.

You're familiar with the sermon on the mount, right? Beginning of Matthew 56

and 7. Jesus gives this long sermon. At the very end of it, the final words of the

sermon, he gives a little word picture for us. And then he's done. Listen, listen to

his final words of the sermon on the mount. Matthew chapter 7:24-27. Everyone then who hears these words of

mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And

the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house. But it did not fall because it had been

founded say it on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the

sand. and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the

fall of it. You see, you and I as followers of Jesus have built our lives

on the rock. We don't live by wishful thinking.

We live with a confident expectation of the promises of God. There was a man in the 1800s. you've

never heard of him and would have no reason to have heard of him named Edward Moat.

He was a lay person in a church in Suffach, England.

Just a good old church folk. During his lifetime, he wrote 150ish hymns. One of

them I'm quite confident that you are familiar with. Well, some of you are

quite confident with you with it. Let me read to you the words of this hymn.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. When

darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high

and stormy gale, my anchor holds in the veil.

His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the over in the whelming

flood. When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.

when he shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may I then in him be found

dressed in his righteousness alone, faith faultless to stand before the

throne. On Christ uh sing it with me, Kirk Church. On

Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is

all other ground. Church, I hope today that you have

placed your faith on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. That's different from the

worldly hope that'll get up and walk out of a stadium thinking we don't have a chance.

I'm just telling you as a follower of Jesus, you are victorious already because your life is founded on the

victorious solid rock of Jesus Christ. It's different. They're both of worldly

hope is not bad. I'm just telling you it's different. And you and I have a stability that's not wishful. It's

grounded on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

And I pray that we will all find rest

and peace in that. Some early

some people that have sustained been sustained through this kind of hope,

this Christian hope that we're referring to. Early Christian martyrs, they faced execution not with resignation but with

extraordinary peace. There are some accounts that say these people died with a smile on their face, that they were

even forgiving of their executioner.

Early martyrs. Their hope wasn't that they would escape

death, but that death was a doorway, not a wall.

This wasn't an attitude of, "Oh well, life doesn't mean anything anyway." They

valued life but weren't ultimately threatened by the loss of it. Corey

Tinboom, you ever heard of her? A Dutch Christian who had hidden hidden

Jews during the Holocaust. She found hope in horrific conditions, not by min

minimizing the evil around her, but by believing God's purposes extended beyond

what she could see. She ra later wrote about forgiving former camp guards,

an act that is impossible without hope.

Dietrich Bonhaofer, you ever heard of him?

Prisoner in Nazi Germany.

This theologian ex executed for resisting Hitler wrote letters of profound hope while awaiting his death.

His hope wasn't for escape, but for God, God's faithfulness,

regardless of outcome. He could act morally without guarantees

because his hope transcended survival.

Your hope, Christian, transcends survival. Your hope, Christian, transcends what's going to

happen at work tomorrow. Your hope transcends that diagnosis

from the doctor. Your hope is founded on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. And I

pray you'll stand there. I pray that you'll stand there.

So, what makes this hope powerful? It allows us to face reality without being

crushed by it. Some of you might be facing very difficult circumstances.

But you have a hope that is an anchor for your soul. His name is Jesus.

That see our hope is based on what God has promised. A light has been shown has has come into

the world. I mean Isaiah chapter 9 verse two. You you're familiar with this. The people Isaiah 9:2 the people who walked

in darkness have seen a great light. And those who dwelt in the land of deep

darkness, on them a light has shone. You go down just a few verses beyond this.

This is the part you you remember. For unto us a child is

to us a son is given and the government shall rest upon his shoulders and his name shall be called

wonderful counselor mighty God prince of peace

everlasting father of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end

that this light has shown God has delivered on his promise,

his son Jesus. It helps us to face reality in the midst of

extremely difficult circumstances. It it sustains us. This kind of hope sustains us even though we don't know what's

going to happen. It offers us hope when circumstances

are genuinely hopeless. There's not even a sliver of chance.

There's no possible way this will turn out. We can have hope because we know we are victorious through Jesus.

So whether you share this faith or not, the historical reliability of this hope,

these examples that we've seen are just a few.

The reality is undeniable. This Christian hope has enabled ordinary

people to endure extraordinary suffering. It has helped Christians to

love enemies, to forgive the unforgivable, and to maintain joy in the circumstances that should produce

nothing but despair.

Jesus is the light of the world. So, how do we do this, Joel? How do I

How do I water that plant of hope in my heart?

Let me suggest a few things. Starts with prayer.

It starts with prayer. Set aside time each day for prayer to foster hope. God,

I'm in need. God, I don't know what's going to happen, but man, I sure need your strong arm to

comfort me and to strengthen me in these days. Set aside time for prayer.

Set aside time to read. I I would encourage you to go to Romans or Psalms

looking for words of hope.

Be involved in a life group where you're able to be known and know know others.

Where you can share what's going on on the inside. Where you can truly be family.

To love and be loved. to foster hope.

Do an act of kindness. Kindness to somebody. Do something kind for a person that

doesn't deserve it or expect it. And you watch hope

fall on their face. That will in turn build hope in your life. Be kind to

somebody that doesn't deserve or expect it. And as Jay read earlier out of First

Thessalonians, make sure you have a heart of gratitude.

It'll build hope. Do you need hope today? It is my prayer that the God of

hope may fill you with joy and peace in your believing

so that the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound

in hope. I close with this quote by an person

unknown. Life with Christ is an endless hope.

Without him, it's a hopeless end. It's a hopeless end. Let's pray.

Father, today we come before you in the name of the solid rock, Jesus Christ.

Lord, we thank you for for all the promises that you have made and kept.

Lord, we thank you that you even while we were still sinners, you demonstrated your love for us that c and

that Christ died for us. You have delivered on your promises.

You have done so many things that allow us to place our hope in the

victory that we have in Jesus. Whether circumstances in our life turn

out to what we consider to be good or bad,

our hope doesn't change because it's based in the changeless one.