A Living Hope

Marlene - prayer chain

rafa?

Introduction

Name something you’re hoping for.

what do you think I mean when I say, “I HOPE the Eagles win this week?”

How we use the word HOPE in culture

How we use the word HOPE in church

“Christian theology has rich categories for the future, about the kingdom of God turning the world on its head, but I was hearing little of these ideas. Instead, my fellow believers assured me that my interrupted life would be finished in heaven. Satisfaction guaranteed! Their version of hope for me was an act of deferral to a time and a cosmic place where God would make all things right. But the sicker I became, the more “hope” was a word that pointed to the unbearable: a husband and a baby left behind, an end without an ending.

I was confident that hope had its uses, but I began to think of it as a kind of arsenic that needed to be carefully administered. As far as I was concerned, it poisoned the sacred work of living in the present: taking my medication, asking about a friend’s terrible boyfriend and counting my son’s eyelashes as he slept in my arms. I wanted to be alive until I was not.”

— Kate Bowler in New York Times

How does the BIBLE use the word HOPE?`

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,

God gives you a living hope.

God gives

According to his great mercy,

God gives

he has caused us to be born again

living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Luke 24:10–12 (ESV)

10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

living hope

Biblical understanding of hope when tied to God’s character and actions is not simply wishful thinking but should be defined as “confident expectation”

When it comes to the things we hope in because of God we can substitute “confident expectation” for the word hope.

We can’t necessarily do that with things that are not related to God:

ILLUST - I hope I get a Corvette for Christmas - makes sense, but not - I “confidently expect” to get a Corvette for Christmas

4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

Imperishable

Won’t go away - the inheritance is a permanent promise

unlike this world:

There is nothing in this world that can promise to be imperishable.

Undefiled

pure, perfect

no sin

Unfading

Does not lose its beauty or appeal.

5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

You are guarded by God’s power

‘guarded’

Not only is the inheritance guarded, but heirs who have been born into that inheritance are shielded by God’s power. “Shielded” (phrouroumenous) is a military term, used to refer to a garrison within a city [Phil. 4:7 uses the same Greek word]

God is holding on to us - while we are holding on to him.

ILLUST - My child holds my hand as we cross the street but in reality I am hold their hand.

You may only feel the pressure of your hand in his, but when the danger is real you will find he is holding you.

It is not necessary to have experiential knowledge

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

Hope allows you to hurt AND have joy.

It is unlikely that you would hurt and be happy, but it is completely possible to hurt and have joy.

When the joy is grounded in the living hope of salvation and eternal life - “in this”

If your joy is not “in this” but in something else, you will only hurt

If your hope and joy (happiness) is tied to relationships / job / health - then when they go down so do you.

You can have joy!

Hear me, Christian, you can hurt.

You can hurt and have joy - you don’t need to pretend not to hurt to display joy.

We do no good by pretending we feel no pain. You can feel pain and still find a Savior!

Be honest with your pain and hopeful in your perspective

Psalm 69:1–3 (ESV)

1 Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. 3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

Psalm 69:13 (ESV)

13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Psalm 69:16 (ESV)

16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Where are you struggling right now? Tell God. Tell him how it hurts. Describe it. Now offer a “but as for me, my prayer is to you . . .”

These are not opposites. In fact they are sometimes strange bedfellows

ILLUST - Thermostat in house - At some level of heat, the air kicks on.

We need to have a healthy theology of suffering.

What do we know?

1 John 1:5 ESV

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1. High view of sovereignty and goodness of God

2. Honest view of the origin of sin and suffering

3. Humble view of yourself

4. Hopeful view of the gospel and redemption

7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—

Purpose

God is not wanting to hurt you, but he is willing to purify you.

God wants to purify your faith like a refiner purifies gold.

How does he do that? By allowing trials.

A refiner’s fire burns away all that is not gold, and God allows trials to burn away all that is not faith.

all the things you are holding onto other than God.

God is not transactional; He is transformational.

God has spent everything for you to know him, not that you would have stuff from him.

God is greater than his gifts.

Would you only be happy in your marriage if your spouse can continually give you gifts? (spots for the marriage retreat still open)

The greatest gift my wife can give me is herself.

The greatest gift God can give us is himself.

Are you more concerned with God’s gifts or God himself?

Trials often reveal where we love God’s gifts more than we love God himself.

finances / job / children / marriage / health

God is better than anything he can give you.

We live differently now because of the hope of then.

may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:17 (ESV)

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

What will be found to have this? Not Jesus - your faith.

Suffer with joy for glory

ILLUST - Rodney - Thanksgiving lunch

Illustration of Hope – 2 People with the Same Job

Two people with same menial job, same bad work conditions, same bad lighting, no vacations, long hours.

·         One will get $20,000 at the end of the year

·         The other will get $20,000,000.

-          The first person will grumble, complain, do the job poorly, maybe even quit

-          The second guy will whistle while he works

o       he will put up with the filth gladly

o       he won’t let the long hours keep him down

o       Though he’s bone-tired, he’ll pull himself out of bed gladly to get to work.

A Christian is someone doing the job of life with more than $20 million secured for the future.

How much do our neighbors need to see joy in suffering?

Where is your hurt right now? How are you responding?

maybe it’s something new. Maybe you’ve been suffering for a long time.

What might God be wanting to remove from your faith to purify it?

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

J. D. Greear Sermon Archive I Don’t Belong Here: 1 Peter 1:1–12

Tim Keller and myself at the same time: but he wrote this in the foreword to my new book, Gospel (close-up with me and book)

One of the most startling passages in the Bible (to me) connects the magnificence of angels with the mystery of the gospel. Angels are incredibly majestic and powerful beings, living in God’s eternal presence. Yet there is something that has happened on earth which is so stupendous that even these immortal beings experience the persistent longing “to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12). What are “these things” that could possibly and consistently consume the attention of God-fixated creatures? The answer is—the gospel.

The angels never get tired of looking into the gospel. This means that there is no end to gospel exploration. There are depths in the gospel that are always there to be discovered and applied not only to our ministry and daily Christian life, but above all to the worship of the God of the gospel with renewed vision and humility.