See Christmas as God does: HOPE

See Christmas as God does, week #2

Hope

John 16:4-7

December 8, 2024

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Many may or may not know this, but I have made my living since leaving the military as a medical sales rep. I would travel a set territory and sell pieces, parts, pharmaceuticals, etc. Salesmen are weird people. We are typically categorized as flighty, with large personalities and a bit scattered. These traits frustrate overly organized people who do not operate like this. When I ran this by Pat, he said, “I would go as far as to say, it is someone that has an annoying habit, but makes a living at it.”

I remember one situation when I got a new manager and he came to observe my way of doing things. He was the type of person who likes everything in order, numbers analyzed, planning to be done, post planning done, justification for every sales call performed, sales messages rehearsed and you name it. I’ll tell you, I was stressed before he ever got in my car and I think he was too.

I still remember when we met and he said, “Von, I am here to learn how you are so successful. Show me how you always reach your sales goals so I can share it with the team.” Oh, boy, I knew that I was in trouble! He was not going to like my answers.

Because I am so mean and knew this would stress him out, I said, “Well Jess, you will love how I do this. It’s all hope.” It was hilarious watching his brain meltdown right before my eyes. He had that awkward giggle, hoping that I was joking, and then the reality of my statement sunk in. You could hear him say to himself, “Oh no, Von was serious.”

To a Type A, organized and control-minded person, hope is NOT a strategy. That is why, you will find no fill-in-the-blanks today in order to prove my point. You will have the freedom to take notes according to what the Holy Spirit has placed on your heart and mind in response to the greatest story of Hope known to mankind.

It is on you to respond to His direction. It is on you to exercise the Hope that was provided to us through Christmas. Christmas, the way God sees it has another message for us. Last week we saw that Christmas teaches us the Joy that God has for this monumental event. But this Sunday we will see the message of Hope through Christmas.

To do that, we need to set the stage for our passage today. John records some of Jesus’s last words of encouragement to His followers. Notice please that I did not say “everyone.” The audience here is not the unbeliever or the critic. It is for the believer.

Our passage today is found in the upper room discourse. It makes up a large part of the book of John. The passage that we selected to look at today is only found in John. John’s reason for writing the book is not a historical account. Rather, it is a book of introduction. He wants us to be introduced to the Divine Christ, the HOPE of the world.

Our passage today speaks of the inner relationship between the believer, the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father. This passage speaks of our source of Hope and why we selected it for this Christmas message. My first point today is to introduce to you Hope. Imagine please, I am introducing you to a person and His name is Hope.

1. Hope has a name.

If I asked you to tell me the difference between Hope and Faith, I would argue that some would struggle to do a good job telling the difference. From a worldly perspective or from Webster we read:

Faith: allegiance to duty or a person; belief and trust in God; complete trust; a system of religious beliefs.

Faith is critical for our salvation. It is a gift of God: Ephesians 2:8-9: God gifts us the ability to have faith for salvation. This “faith” is the vehicle in which we cry out to our heavenly Father for salvation, the salvation provided to us by Christ and Christ alone. This is why the reformers say “solo fida” (by Faith alone) by “solo Christos” (by Christ alone). Faith is the vehicle for the definition of Hope.

Hope: to desire with expectation of fulfillment; trust, reliance; desire accompanied by expectation of fulfillment; something hoped for; one that gives promise for the future.

Hope, as Webster tells us is an action or a verb. While that is true, it is missing the Biblical representation of that word, HOPE. While it is a verb in some situations, Hope can and is really a noun. I would go so far as to say that Hope is actually a proper Noun (a name) and not just any regular name, but THE Name above all names. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Our passage today, along with the entire thrust behind Christmas screams of a Hope longed for from the Garden of Eden to the return of Christ to this Earth. It is important to understand though, that there is an order represented here. If we have hope without faith, it is a worldly hope. It is a hope with no basis or reality.

An example of worldly hope is when you ask a person, are you going to heaven and they say, well yeah, I hope so. When asked why, they will respond, well I am a good person, I do what I can to be kind, I know who Jesus is. This is the response that is rooted in uncertainty not assurance and reveals that they know nothing of true hope. Church, to be very clear, this is not a hope built on faith.

Hope that is built on Faith is represented by a person abiding IN Christ, and the Spirit of God abiding in the heart and mind of the believer. Hope is the relationship that the believer MUST understand. Believe it or not, Hope, although it is conceptual, can be understood by what it is and by what it is not. Meaning, most people have an experience with God. Then they live a life thinking that they are set for eternity. But, true hope is one that leads to transformation. That is hope’s purpose.

2. Hope has a purpose.

Vs 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart[1]

Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples. I bet all of us would say to Him, “how in the world is you leaving going to be better?” How in the world is that a winning strategy Lord? How is Calvary and the cross not a win for Satan? I bet all of us would be like the disciples, sorrowful. But, what they are missing is that without Him leaving, the Spirit to the Father would not be sent.

Sinclair Ferguson asked his congregation in response to this passage if they would rather have Jesus here teaching on the fact that He is the Hope of the world, or would you rather have your pastor, indwelled with the Holy Spirit, preaching the words of Christ?

Now, I know better than to ask my congregation that. But, truthfully, to say that we would only want Christ to teach means we are missing what Jesus is giving us. We are missing the power and purpose of the Holy Spirit, and by definition, we are missing the word “abide” or be in.

Vs 7 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.[2]

Jesus is faced with a problem. How does He teach someone that it is better that He leave? How does He convince them and us that the HS is a better payoff? What Jesus is teaching us is that it is far better than we give it credit. Look back at 14:15

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.[3]

John is recording Christ’s description of the gift of a new relationship through the HS.

(paraklētos). n. masc. advocate, helper. The noun refers to one who helps, advocates, or comforts someone on behalf of another.

paraklētos is a legal assistant or an advocate in a court of law. In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises that after he departs from the disciples, the Father will give them “another helper[4]

Jesus Christ is “the advocate (paraklētos) we have before the Father.” The concept combines the legal and relational: advocate and helper.[5]

In our passage today of John 16:7, the same “parakletos” is used. It is the same topic of conversation and further explanation of this new relationship.

We have to see how both Jesus and the HS are the help to the believer. The physical Christ, at the side of the Father, is the advocate while the HS IN the heart of the believer is the helper. The two parts of the Godhead work together in perfect unity on behalf of the child of God.

In John 14:16 Jesus uses the word “another” or (allos), different, other, that which is different in kind or class than all other entities (1Co 15:39);

We should not miss the fact that HE (Jesus) is NOT the same in title or function but IS another (different) helper. His role is unique as is the role of the HS. Same quality, but different in function. What Jesus is saying in both passages is “I am going to send you another helper that is a uniquely different but equally important helper. That is why my leaving is to your advantage.

For the believer, it is easy to get hung up on a desire to have Jesus Himself. It is easy to desire that and to be honest, I am guilty of that. But, when Jesus tells His disciples in John 16:7 that the new Helper is to come, it is to your benefit that the Spirit comes. Through the HS, you will be taught more completely about the relationship I have with my Father and thus, your relationship with me.

You see, it is to the joy and HOPE of the believer that Jesus goes and sends the HS. We can have both Joy and Hope knowing the relationship because it is to our benefit. My goal behind using this passage is for us to recognize this relationship as one of hope and Joy.

When we understand this, we come to trust in it’s strength, plan and purpose. The purpose of HOPE points to the relationship of God the Father, Son and HS and where we as believers fall into this.

Why am I spending so much time on this? Because understanding this makes all of our troubles, stresses and concerns come into focus. Knowing that you are right with the Father because of the relationship the Father has with the Son who, through His coming as a baby in a manger, secured the role of the HS in the heart of the believer.

Church, your Hope for Christmas is not in a nativity scene! Your Hope for Christmas is the relationship Christ has with the Father. The joy of the believer is found in the person and work of Christ. The hope of the believer is found in the relationship we now have with the Father.

Just listen to the voices of those who paid with their lives for this truth. How can they stare death in the face for this truth and have both Joy and Hope? It’s because they understand this fact. Christ is the Hope for the believer. This should give us great peace!

Romans 5:5 says

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hopeof the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoicein our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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.[6]

Church, I would argue that to fully understand Christmas we must understand the relationship that is being taught here.

Hope’s reward is the access to the Father by the Son through the Spirit. Galatians 4:6:

6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. [7]

Imagine, moving from slave to son where we can cry out in our sorrow to our advocate. The power of knowing this truth affords us the confidence in any situation to stand on the promises of Christ.

UNBELIEVERS aside:

I want to be very clear who Jesus is talking to in this passage. It is to those who believe that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, sent to the Earth by means of a virgin, born to us at Christmas, lived a sinless and perfect life, was betrayed, crucified by men, rose again on the third day and now sits at the right hand of the Father in His perfect throne as Lord most high. This promise of the HS is for them.

Now, you too can have this Hope! He offers it free and clear. He gives this gift to those who recognize Him as the Way, The Truth, The Life to a sinner like you and me. In comparison to Him, do you recognize your sin? If so, call out to Him and He will forgive your sin and you to will have this promise of Hope.

3. Find comfort in The Hope.

There are those whose faith is short, and their hope is gone. Some people have lost their hope due to the brokenness that 2024 has dumped on them. Maybe a loss of a loved one. Maybe, sickness, family discourse, betrayal, and or financial loss. The list can go on and on. For sure there are many reasons to lose hope this season.

The tone of this passage is very clear and we see it in verses 6 and 7:

“…sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away[8]…”

This is a time to reassure the broken-hearted, the hopeless and the ones who are wondering what has happened to their hope. Dear believer, Christ by nature of where He is and who He sent has the greatest message of hope this Christmas season. He has provided you true Hope if only we look towards Him. Do not let your heart be full of sorrow.

These are not trite and empty words! My challenge is how to get the person locked in sin to see that faith and hope are your salvation through Christ. Simultaneously, I must get the one who has experienced loss due to no fault of your own to see that your faith must be in this Hope. It is a delicate balance between spiritually smacking the sinner and hugging the broken.

Isaiah 42:2 and 3 says:

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

3 a bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench…”

The Hebrew word for “Bruised” means mistreated, oppressed, shattered, or broken into small pieces.”

Maybe that is how you would characterize your current life. But continue to look at the next line, “a faintly burning wick he will not quench.” The Hebrew captures this perfectly. Imagine an ember that it’s heat is dim, dull, and faint struggling to generate a flame but can not on its own. It must be protected, cared for, and encouraged to ignite. That is your advocate in flesh and in Spirit.

I am now turning this over to the Holy Spirit to handle. I am not planning the outcome, rather, I am allowing Him to move your heart in the direction, in accordance to the Scriptures, the direction He is leading for you to see the great comfort He provides those who are hurting. He has Hope for you!

I am asking each of us to recognize that HOPE is a strategy! At some point, trusting in His Hope is enough to fix broken reeds, a faint wick, and broken hearts. May you see this Christmas like God sees it. It is the ultimate source of all HOPE.