Sent To Bring Hope

Introduction

Have you ever felt hopeless? What got you out of it?

My Own Story of Hope

Main Text

Romans 15:8–13 ESV

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Today I want to focus on the idea of hope.

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. No husbandman would sow a grain of corn if he hoped not it would grow up and become seed … Or no tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby.

Martin Luther

In this passage, we see that Jesus brings hope to the Gentiles. He is the root of Jesse, he is the reason we as Gentiles can have hope.

Context - This passage is found in a larger context where people is talking about how God not only loves Israel, or Jewish people, but that he also loves the world and as Gentiles (non-Jews) we have reason to rejoice. God has included us into his covenant and we can have relationship with him through Jesus.

The ending of this passage, is a prayer. It’s Paul’s wish for the church, for those reading his letter. I want to quickly highlight 3 things:

He describes God as a God of Hope. This is His identity. Just as God is love, He is also hope.

He Prays For God Fill You With Joy and Peace - This gives the indication that joy and peace are something we will consistently need and also that we consistently lack.

He Prays That You May Abound in Hope Through the Power of The Holy Spirit.

This echos what he says in verse 4 of this same chapter, “Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” In other words, one of the primary goals of the Scripture is that we would have hope.

With this in mind, I want to remind you of our overall verse for this series, John 20:21 “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”” As the Father Sent Jesus, God, the God of Hope, Sent Jesus on a mission to bring hope, He is sending us on that same mission today.

This brings me to my first point…

Jesus Brought Hope To The World

Let’s take a moment and diagnose the problem.

The World Is Without Hope - We live in a world that is hopeless. If you look at people’s faces, many of those in the world have no hope. I’m not just talking spiritually, I’m talking mentally, emotionally, for the future, whatever you want to add into that.

On top of that, they have no spiritual hope. The world says there is no spiritual side of life. Life is simply matter, molecules and atoms. There is no greater meaning and no greater purpose. Our lives are meaningless and everything can be explained by our new god Science.

The World Places Its Hope In Human Knowledge - Their only true hope is in themselves and this is why they have no hope. If you put your hope in yourself, you will be let down. That statement is exactly the opposite of what the world will tell you. The world will say, you need to find yourself, you need to learn to only rely on you because everyone else will let you down. God says, no rely on me. Put your trust in Jesus. Put your hope in Him.

The World Peddles Discouragement - If you take the words apart, encouragement means to “put courage into” and discouragement means to “take courage out of”. The world is designed to take your courage out of you. It doesn’t want you to think you can achieve all that God has for you.

The Christian’s chief occupational hazards are depression and discouragement.

John Stott

The Devil Wants To Neuter You. His goal and he does this through culture, media, teachers, sometimes parents and friends, is that he wants you to do nothing with your life. Go to work, come home, go to sleep, repeat. If you have to, go to church, just don’t get involved. Don’t lift your hands in worship. Whatever you do, don’t get passionate, don’t turn into one of those Jesus Freaks, don’t seek revival. He will do his best to discourage you.

Discouragement is universal - everyone deals with it.

Discouragement is contagious - once you catch it, it’s easy to spread to someone else.

Jesus Came To Bring Hope To This World

The World Is Hopeless, But God Is Hopeful. While the world will seek to drag you down, God wants you to be built up.

God sent his son into the world, because he loves the world and he wanted the world to have hope. He wanted the world to have true hope, hope that is only found through Jesus Christ.

John 3:16–17 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus was sent because God loves the world and he wants the world to come to a place of repentance and full trust in Him. This is the hope of every person who calls themselves Christian and this hope is meant to be preached/proclaimed to a lost and dying world.

Jesus did not come to condemn the world. Notice that statement. The world was already condemned. It was condemned because of its actions. We have sinned, we have fallen short. We deserve death. The solution was to send Jesus with a message of hope to the world, so that through him, the world could be saved!

Jesus Brought Hope To The World, But Not Only The World…

Jesus Brings Hope To Us

Not only does Jesus bring hope to the world, but he also brings hope to you specifically. So not only is there a general hope in the world now because of what Jesus has done and his message of hope has spread for 2000 years now, there is also a specific hope for you the individual. Let’s talk about that.

Hope For Salvation - First is a hope for salvation. Our passage says that in Jesus, the Gentiles will hope. What are they hoping for? That they have been grafted into God’s family and are now children of Him. We are putting our hope in Him for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life.

Hope For Our Families - These promises are not just for us as individuals, but Jesus came that whole families and whole nations of families would come to Him and receive the forgiveness of their sins. That means we can expect and pray with confidence for God to save our families. He came to do that very thing.

Hope For The Future - Jesus also brings us hope for our future. Yes, the world is dark, yes it is messed up, but Jesus is creating a new earth here and in that earth, in his heavenly kingdom here, we can see a bright future where there will be no more hunger, no more sorrow and no more tears.

This is the message of Jesus and the message of the New Testament and that message is meant to be shared!

We Should Give Hope To Our Neighbors

Just as the Father Sent Jesus into the world with a message of hope, He is also sending us into the world with that very same message! He wants us to build people up with the hope of salvation and for a brighter future, an eternal future with Him, and he wants us to spread that message across the globe. That is the essence of the Great Commission. That’s why the Gospel is called Good News! It’s because it brings hope!

The Primary Way Jesus Wants Us To Bring Hope Is Through The Church - The church is God’s message-bearing

The body of Christ is meant to encourage one another, not discourage each other. The body is meant to build each other up. We are to be a people who bring hope to one another.

If you are feeling down, get to church. Ask people to pray for you. Reach out to your homegroup. Reach out to the leaders. Tell someone. You are not alone. If you want to be encouraged, call me and let me know, I’ll do my best to build you up.

If you are feeling discouraged, spend some time with people who are encouraged. Just as discouragement is contagious, so is zeal, so is passion. When I start to feel down, I’m looking to spend time with people who will build me up, who will encourage me, who will lift my soul up to the Lord in prayer. I did that this past week.

You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have - You can’t bring hope to others, without first having hope yourself. So this leads us into the ask.

What Is God Asking Of You?

To Receive The Hope Of Jesus

Jesus died and rose from the grave so that you would have hope for the future. I want you to have that hope. I want you to embrace that hope. If you have never repented and put your trust, your hope, in Jesus, I pray you will do that today.

This is a hope that must be received. You can’t force people to be hopeful. You can only

To Raise Your Expectations Of What God Can Do

We tend to live up to our own expectations. I heard someone say that we get what we expect, not what we deserve. I want you to raise your expectations for what God wants to do in your life. There are you trying to limit Him? Where are you expecting little, afraid to get disappointed? God wants to move in those areas. He wants you to be “abounding in hope” as Paul says. Yes, there are times when you may get disappointed, but let’s chase those failures together and see what God might do.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…

To Bring Hope To Others

Hope is contagious. If you get hopeful, people around you will too. There will be some naysayers, but remember, your hope his not unfounded. It’s on a strong foundation. Your hope is built on Jesus. He will never fail.

Bringing Hope To Others Will Requires You To Take Risks. It is being willing to face a world of discouragement. The world’s purpose is to knock people down, a Christian’s purpose is to lift people up!

God wants you to be excited, passionate and motivated to take his message of hope to a lost and dying world. People loved to be around Jesus. He brought life to them. He was the happiest person in the room (Hebrews 1:9 “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”). That’s been my prayer for a while and I believe the Lord is answering it. I want to be the most joy-filled Christian I can be and I want to bring hope to those that are hopeless.