Rejoicing in Hope
Notes
Transcript
Today marks the first Sunday of the season of Advent. “it [is] a time of expectancy and preparation for Jesus’s arrival—which happened first in the incarnation (Jesus’s birth) and will happen again at his return. For some, Advent is a reminder to find rest in a season notoriously wrought with materialism, busyness, and exhaustion. It’s a time to open a door on a calendar or light a candle while still embracing the wonder of Christmas.
“But for others, especially those in more liturgical traditions, Advent is something far deeper—it’s a time to remember that the world is not as it should be, that there is pain and grief and darkness that has yet to be finally remedied. Observers marinate in the reality of the already-and-not-yet, that Jesus has come and will come again, and that the brokenness of the world will be made right. Those who follow Advent in this way wait to begin celebrating Christmas until Christmas Day, when all of the pent-up Christmas energy is released over the Twelve Days of Christmas.”
“Advent itself can be puzzling. “Advent” means “coming” or “arrival.” The hymns and readings often used at this season seem to be about two quite different things: about waiting for the “first coming,” the birth of Jesus, and about waiting for his “second coming” to put all things right in the end. How did these things get muddled up? How can we make wise, prayerful sense out of it all?
The early Christians developed the “church’s year” as a way of telling, learning, and reliving the story of Jesus, which stands at the heart of our faith. As they did so, they came to understand that it wasn’t simply a matter of going round and round the same sequence and never getting anywhere.” They were moving forward, God’s purposes were moving forward, and his plans for the Creation were being renewed.
https://www.logos.com/grow/what-is-advent/?utm_source=logos_desktopapp&utm_medium=rss_blog
As it is the first Sunday of Advent, it’s also a great time to better understand the Christian liturgical calendar.
Here is a great overview I found online recently. You’ll notice that this is the cycle through the entire year. Advent begins the liturgical year. And as you see if we’re going through the liturgical calendar the top half has to do with Jesus life.
We begin with the anticipation of a Messiah. Then we have the incarnation (Jesus’ birth). Epiphany, we celebrate on the twelfth day of Christmas - January 6. Epiphany is the revealing of who Jesus is and that’s what we get through His entire life and what we read in the Gospels. Then we come to the journey to the cross and Jesus Crucifixion which accounts the latter half of the four gospels. Then on the far right there, we get to the resurrection and then Pentecost where the Spirit fills the believers.
The lower half of the circle is all about the story of the people of God, the early church, and us as well.
So that gives us a bit of an overview of what can be called the church calendar or the liturgical calendar. You also see the different colors of the paraments, the green which we have most of the year, but the purple, white, and red.
Our journey this season for our four weeks will take us through the topics of hope, peace, joy, and love ultimately leading us to the Christ candle.
So as we read our text this morning, I chose from a text from Paul’s writings to the church in Rome.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Let’s think about what the Israelites would have been thinking of when they spoke of “the glory of God.” We remember Moses going up on Mount Sinai, Exodus 24:15
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
The glory of the Lord! We think of the cloud, we think of the pillar of fire, we think of the presence of the Lord being in the Holy of holies in the temple. We are reminded of the vision of Isaiah, or the throne of God in Revelation, or even the transfiguration and of course the announcement of Jesus birth in Luke, Luke 2:8-9
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
Throughout the Scriptures the glory of the lord doesn’t bring a sense of hope, but a sense of fear. The proverbs say, Prov 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The Israelites cowered at the bottom of the mountain while the glory of the Lord in a cloud descended on Mt. Sinai. Moses went up. Perhaps it was their fear of the living God that caused them to create their own gods, and worship them. These gods they could control.
Not so with our Creator God. We cannot control God, He is Lord of all. He rules in majesty and might.
Yet notice the complete contrast that Paul gives us.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is 180° from what most jews thought. Why, because they thought of the judgment. Yes the judgment will come! You can be assured of that. Jesus himself told us of it.
Matthew 25:31-32
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And we know that for some they received a reward, Matthew 25:34
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
and some received punishment: Matt 25:41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
How do we have hope in the midst of this coming of the glory of God?
Let’s read our entire passage again: Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
It’s because we have been justified by faith, and find our peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And this hope does not put us to shame. Or some of you may recall better from an early NIV translation
Romans 5:5 (NIV84)
And hope does not DISAPPOINT us,...
Shame is a better translation, however the sense of something being less than what we had thought also rings true. I think of someone saying, “I’m ashamed of you...”, what they’re saying is they’re “disappointed in them.” They had higher expectations than what they got.
What Paul is telling us is that though there is a lot of reason for us to be put to shame in comparison to the glory of God and therefore condemned, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit we are not put to shame.
Friends, it is precisely because of what God has done that we can wait with such expectation of Jesus return.
So as we enter the season of Advent we recognize the love God had for the world to send His One and Only Son to bring salvation to us, and we give thanks for that. AND, we recognize the grace that has been lavished upon us in all wisdom freeing us from the prison of our own selfish sinfulness that separated us from God. It’s not our works that does it, but it is God’s work!
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Hope has a name, it is JESUS.