Keep Hope Alive

Our world is in a crisis of hopelessness.

A 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center found at least two-thirds of Americans believe that by 2050, America will become economically weaker, less important in the world, and more politically divided.

A 2023 Wall Street Journal-NORC survey found that nearly 80% of Americans do not expect life for their children’s generation to be better than it has been for their own generation.

More than 1 in 5 Americans report feeling symptoms of anxiety or depression in the past two weeks.

Perhaps the most discouraging part is that in a world with little hope, we have a church that has gotten off track when it comes to the gospel.

We have adopted worldly ideas about hope, dressed them up in Christian language, and called it the gospel.

We have the Progressive gospel

This is the gospel that says we have hope because we have a better revelation than the old saints and the ancient church

We have hope because we have a more educated and refined sense of how the science corresponds to the scripture

The progressive gospel is just the theory of evolution dressed up in Christian language

It is the lie that Humans are getting better and smarter. Our technology is getting more powerful.

As we continue to make progress, we get closer and closer to a utopia where everyone’s problems are solved.

We have the Permission Gospel

Hyper-grace….God accepts you just as you are and lays no requirement on you to change.

It’s nothing but “Free Expression” dressed up in Christian language

It says that the problem with the world is too much restraint and self-denial

The more we seek to deeply understand and give expression to our true selves, the closer we get to a peaceful world of understanding, inclusion, and diversity.

We have the “Just Passin’ Through” Gospel

This is the Gospel that says “this earth is not my home”...I’m on my way to celestial paradise designed for dead Christian

I need not care about this world or this planet because I am becoming a disembodied spirit in some far-off heaven with some distant God.

(And while it might sound right to somebody), This is not the gospel of the scripture.

This is the Philosophical work of Plato and religious orientation of Buddhism…

Working toward being absorbed into everything or nothing.

None of these philosophies are rooted in the gospel. And none of these philosophies has the spiritual and practical resources to meet this moment of hopelessness in our world.

I would submit to you this Resurrection Sunday that there is a hope that can meet the moment. It is the hope of the Gospel of the Resurrection.

This hope is rooted in the Gospel as it is presented in the scripture

This hope is rooted in the Gospel as it is was once preached in the ancient church.

If you will give me just a few minutes. I want to talk to you about that Gospel in a sermon that I call: KEEP HOPE ALIVE

PRAYER

What is hope?

Hope is a confident expectation [usually of a good outcome]

Hope says, I am confident about what the future holds and it is good.

The text that we read in Colossians Chapter 1 Verses 15-23 is a Hymn of the early church. It is a hymn of hope rooted in the Gospel of the Resurrection of Jesus

The first stanza of this hymn is the beginning of the Gospel. And the beginning of the gospel is this: JESUS MADE THE WORLD

The Gospel cannot start at the Cross. The Gospel cannot start at the manger. The gospel must start at the creation.

Jesus cannot just come and save the world if He is an interloper in it.

The Supreme Court, before they hear a case, they first determine if the the person or group bringing the suit has what they call “standing”

“Standing” means that you have a sufficient connection to the issues at hand to support your participation in the case.

You can’t bring a lawsuit in court about an issue that doesn’t have anything to do with you.

So hymn says that Jesus is the “firstborn” of all creation.

This is not to imply that Jesus was created…which would make Jesus a part of the creation.

The Greek word is prōtotokos

A better English word for translation might be “progenitor”

a person who originates an artistic, political, or intellectual movement

Jesus is to creation what James Brown is Soul Music

He is certainly a part of the genre, but he has a special position within the genre because he invented.

The Gospel starts here: Jesus has standing to enter into any conversation about this planet and everything that lives here (visible and invisible) because He is the creator of it all.

We drop the creation part of the Gospel because we don’t want Jesus to have own the problem that creation has become.

We are afraid of questions like: If God is good and wise and God created the world, then why do so many bad things happen?

I could give you much more detailed response, but the answer to that question is simply this:

Creation was an act of love. God desires a love relationship with His creation. And you cannot enter a love relationship if you do not have a will…the ability to make your own decisions.

The evil that is in our world is the result of bad decisions on the part of the creation, not bad design on the part of the creator.

Well, that doesn’t make total sense. LOVE NEVER DOES.

But, wait. If Jesus is not in total control of the world, how can we trust Jesus to save the world?

I used to consider myself a decent to good chess player.

But, in my young teenage years I ran up against this kid named Shawndale Hill.

He was a chess master.

I never once beat him in a game of chess.

But a chess master does not control the chess board by taking away your ability to play. A chess master controls the chess board by having a vastly greater knowledge of the game.

The gospel begins with Jesus and the loving and wise creator of the world.

The second stanza talks about the core of the gospel which is this: JESUS SAVES THE WORLD

The order of the Gospel narrative is important.

If we go straight from Jesus as the loving and wise creator of the world to Jesus the savior of my individual soul, we mischaracterize Jesus and we contort the gospel into something strange.

This is the mistake is what leads some people to the gospel of escape (God is saving me from the world) and others with the offense of abandonment (how could God just abandon the world)

The second stanza of this Hymn of Hope shows us that Jesus did not come just to save our souls, Jesus came to save His creation.

This is why the bodily resurrection to which the scriptures testify is absolutely essential to the gospel’s message of hope.

Jesus (WHO IS FULLY GOD) took on a human body and died a human death. And then raised that human body up again.

And when raised up his human body, he became the progenitor of a new kind of creation.

A redeemed creation

A reconciled creation

A creation that has been recovered from the hopelessness of death.

This is what it means that Christ is “preeminent in all things”

Same Greek word as “firstborn”

He is the source

He is the source of the creation

He is the source of the reconciliation

So then, the message of the gospel is a message of hope for the entire creation grounded in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

And the purpose of the church is not to show people how to escape the world and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

But, rather to be a sign and a witness that the Kingdom of Heaven is coming into the world.

This is Jesus’ creation and no matter how bad things might look, Jesus has not abandoned it to the devil.

The devil is called “The god of this World” and “The prince of the power of the air”. But, the scripture never suggests that this planet is the devil’s domain. No, THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, THE WORLD ALL THEY THAT DWELL IN IT.

God will not abandon this planet. Because God created this planet. And God loves this planet.

God will not abandon these bodies. Because God created these bodies and God loves these bodies.

Yes, this planet tends toward decay and yes our bodies will go to the ground.

But, in our funeral liturgy we say “ashes to ashes and dust to dust”.

And that is to suggest that we disappear into nothing.

It is a firm reminder that although creation goes to ash...God will not abandon the ashes

And though our bodies return to the dust, God will not abandon the dust!

BELOVED THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL IS THAT THE STORY OF THIS CREATION DOES NOT END IN CHAOS AND RUIN, BUT REDEMPTION AND VICTORY. BECAUSE IN THE END, JESUS SAVES THE WORLD.

The third stanza of hymn brings our personal situation into the larger gospel narrative. It says essentially this: JESUS MADE ME (just like He made the world) and JESUS SAVE ME (just like He saves the world).

Once we understand this broader message of the Gospel. We can truly understand and embrace the need for personal salvation…My personal story fits within this bigger story that God is writing on the pages of time and eternity.

You see, The biggest problem with those human-centered ideas about hope (Evolution, Expression, Escape) is that none of those philosophies can deal with evil. (Can’t stop it. Can’t heal from it.)

Evolution Can’t Stop It.

As evolved as we have become…with all of our technological developments and all of our educational advancements, WE ARE STILL WICKED AND BROKEN

We consume more poison today than we did before we knew anything about different species of plants and which ones would kill us and which would help us grow.

We still rape, and steal, and murder.

We still allow people to go hungry while others grow so rich they don’t know what to do.

Free Expression Can’t Stop It.

It has not been 10 years that same-sex marriage has been the law of the land across America. And already the divorce rate among same sex couples is the same as it is among heterosexual couples.

Transgender women experience rates of depression, and suicidal ideation, 62% [3], while the lifetime depression rate for the general U.S. population is 17%

We have a brand of populism introduced by former president Donald’s Trump that champions the ability to give full vent to every racist, sexist, xenophobic idea that comes to mind.

And it has not made America great again.

It has only plunged us into deeper government dysfunction and societal decay.

Even if, by some magic, we could stop all this evil and brokenness this afternoon, Evolution and Expressionism would have nothing to say for the people who got robbed and abused this morning and last night

In the cross we see both the intensity of God’s hatred for sin and the intensity of God’s compassion toward humankind.

The cross is a sign of the judgment and a the plan of salvation

In the cross everything is reconciled…that is put in right alignment with God.

Nobody is getting away with anything

Every soul will either be Powerfully Redeemed or Properly Punished.

REJOICE WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE AMONG THE REDEEMED!

How do you know that you are among the redeemed?

#1: You continue in the faith

You hold onto your faith in Jesus.

That He is the Source of Creation.

That He is the Source of Reconciliation for the world.

That He is the Source of Salvation for your soul.

#2: You don’t let anything kill your hope.

We live like we know that Jesus is going to redeem all creation because we DO know that Jesus is going to redeem all creation.

That’s why we pray to overcome sin.

That’s why we work for justice.

That’s why we share kindness and compassion with others.

All these things are empowered by the resurrection and point to the ultimate redemption.

The job of the church is to remind the world of the resurrection of Jesus and point the world to the reconciliation of all things. The job of the church is to KEEP HOPE ALIVE.

There is a lot to be said about how this looks as we apply to the stuff of everyday life.

There is too much to say here.

But, we will begin a sermon series next week called “Hope Fully” in which we will explore what it means to live a life of hope rooted in the resurrection of Jesus.

My question for you today is this: will you be a part of this?

Setup

Maybe you’re here and you’ve never made a commitment to follow Jesus.

Maybe you’re here and you made a commitment in the past, but you walked away.

Maybe you’ve been committed to Jesus, but you understand the assignment now.

Eyes closed, heads bowed. (Three Phases)

Never made a commitment, but I want to commit today.

Made a commitment and walked away. But, I’m recommitting today.

Been walking with Jesus but, I’m redoubling my commitment to KEEP HOPE ALIVE.

Eyes open. Look at this team.

Let’s pray together.

First time or Recommitments (we have a gift for you). Will you take live this act of hope right now and come forward?

OPEN THE DOORS OF THE CHURCH!

You need a community where I can walk with others as we continue in the faith…as we endeavor to Keep Hope Alive

If you don’t have a community like that, I want to invite you to lean into community here.

If you want to be a part of this community, you come forward.