Being Filled with Hope

Some of you may have noticed that there was a little storm around here Friday night. We had gone over to my son and daughter in laws and the tornado sirens went off just after we came home.

Like many of you we turned on the news and watched the weather reports. I went outside and scanned the skies to see what I could see. At one point we woke up the kids and made them get into the bathroom for a while.

When something like that happens a lot of thoughts go through your mind. You worry about your safety, will you be OK, will the tornado come, will you survive. You think about your property, will I lose my house or have damage to my property. You think about friends and family and wonder if they are OK.

Have you ever noticed that some people tend to deal with things like that more calmly than others. Some people calmly take practical steps and some panic, some people ignore it and pretend it never happened and some people seem to have a hard time getting over it once it is done. Why so different?

Why are some people able to stay positive even after disaster strikes and some people get extremely negative even if they remain unhurt and mostly unaffected. I think it is attitude, and the main attitude I am talking about is hope.

Romans 15:1–14 NASB95

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, “Therefore I will give praise to You among the Gentiles, And I will sing to Your name.” Again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him.” Again Isaiah says, “There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope.” Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

The strong always bear the the weakness of the weak. When we go out on disaster relief it is those whose homes are still OK who go out and help others at their homes. It is only those who have food who can help feed the hungry, it is the parent who cares for the child.

Now a lot of our disaster relief volunteers are in their 60’s and 70’s, there are other people in the world who are stronger and more able than they are, but what strength they have they give to others who are weaker than themselves. Weak does not mean worthless or helpless, we are all weak sometimes. You can be weak in one area and strong in another. In that way all of us can take the position of the stronger brother and help the ones who need it.

Sometimes it is harder for us to take the position of the weak brother and accept the help we need. No one likes to be dependent on others or be seen as weak, but we all have times of weakness and times of strength. The parent often cares for the child and helps them grow big and strong, helps them become better teens and better adults, bails them out when they need it, and is often cared for in their old age by the child they cared for when they were young.

The one who cooks a meal for the sick may need someone else to repair their stove so they can continue to minister in their way, the one who repaired the stove may need some help buying groceries for his own kitchen. The one who buys the groceries may need someone else to help them understand scripture or grow in Christ and the one who teaches may become ill and need the meal by the one who cooks. If we live and love together it all comes full circle over and over and over.

That’s what verse 5 means

Romans 15:5 NASB95

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus,

If we stick together through the good times and the hard times, if we encourage one another and share our lives with one another we start t become like minded, what is important to you become important to me and what is important to me becomes important to you. If we grow closer to one another under the leadership of Jesus Christ we all become more Christlike together and that brings us closer to Jesus and closer to each other. It takes time, we have to persevere. Strangely enough difficult times speed up the process, the more trouble we go through together the closer we become through shared experience, the more good times we have to look back on. Isn’t it interesting that a lot of the good times we remember are the times we overcame what seemed bad times at the time.

There is another strange thing about hope. It would make sense that the one who get the most hope would be the one who is the weaker brother or sister who gets helped. The fact that someone helped would tend to give you hope that it will be alright and that you can make it through hard times. Have you ever met someone who has received a lot of help and still remains negative, someone who relies on others too much and is miserable because of it. They feel helpless and hopeless even while someone is helping them. Maybe that is why we instinctively shy away from receiving help and so few of us do it gracefully. Or maybe it is just plain old pride.

Do you know what I have noticed. Helping out a little child who need help makes me smile, it makes me feel better about myself and the world around me. Helping someone who needs help, especially if they appreciate it helps me have a better attitude and a more positive view of the world in general, it gives me hope.

I remember one particular deployment on disaster relief where we decided to work through the rain, we were slogging through ankle deep mud, we were soaking wet an we were exhausted. I had mud that had soaked through my pants and was inside my clothes, I had mud stains on the inside of my pants legs. But I was working with a group of Christians who were doing the same things to help someone in need. I was proud and privileged to be there. I was happy to be one of those people, it made me feel better about the world I lived in, it gave me hope.

This passage is talking to the strong, the ones doing the helping and what does it have to say

Romans 15:13 NASB95

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

May god fill you with all joy and peace, so that you will abound in hope. The one doing the helping is being filled with peace and joy and hope. The one getting helped is getting a good deal and getting the help they need but this passage is talking specifically to those who are able to do the helping. It is the helper that the God of hope fills with all joy and peace and hope.

Maybe that is why some people are hard to help, maybe they are greedy for joy and peace and hope themselves rather than letting someone get those things by helping them. I have been guilty of that. Oh no, I am fine, no help needed here. Isn’t it kind of greedy for me to refuse to let someone else experience the joy, peace and hope of helping me when I could use it.

I am used to helping others, I like the feeling. I like who I am when I help others. I like how it makes me feel. I want more of it. If you are strong in some ways and able to help, get involved. You may get to like the feeling yourself. God grants peace and joy and hope to those who help. If you need help let someone else have the joy of helping you, especially someone who loves you.

How great does it feel when you pick up a baby who is hungry or afraid and give comfort. Doesn’t it feel good to know that you made the baby go from crying to laughing. What about helping a neighbor, doesn’t it feel great to see them smile.

This is what God commands of us, that we love one another. Not only does he tell us to do it but he offers us joy and peace and hope if we will only lend a hand.

Do you want to feel better about yourself, do you want to live in a world where you see more good and less evil, do you want to have joy in your life, peace in your heart and hope in everything you do. Then find ways to offer your strength to others. We are Christians, its what we do.

The best way I can offer help to anyone is to offer Christ. I am strong in Jesus not because I am a wonderful person but because I have a wonderful saviour. If you need that saviour today now is the time to come forward and make it so. If you want to join this fellowship now is the time to become a part. Just come up here and let me know and we will get to work. Don’t you need more hope in your life? Don’t we all?