Hope Is Your Rope

Welcome to the 4th week of Advent. We are finishing a series we started 3 weeks ago called More Than A Manger. It’s about how the whole good news message of the Bible finds its “ground zero” in an infant laid in a feed trough. Specifically, we’ve been looking at the story the Bible is telling us and how this infant is what the biblical story anticipates and who will bring that story to its end.

We’ve seen that the story of the Bible can be grouped into 4 movements. Creation is where we saw God’s original design for humans and how God intended for us to thrive in community with him and one another. Then the Fall where it all went wrong, where our original parents chose self-rule and how the failure of Eden ripples forward to today. Then last week we looked at the 3rd movement - Redemption - and saw God’s solution for the mess we’ve made. A deliverer who would begin the unwind the failure of Eden through his self-giving love and sacrifice. And now we’re waiting for the final movement of this story - New Creation - where God will finally bring about the complete healing and restoration of the world - and our personal lives - through the return of King Jesus. New Creation is the promise that God will win and the loss of Eden won’t stand.

Ever had to wait for something? Waiting is hard. Kids waiting to see what Santa brings. Waiting for test results. Waiting up for a child who is out past curfew.

What makes waiting bearable? Hope. Hope that we will have the outcome we desire. Hope is essential to our mental wellbeing. Studies have shown that hopelessness leads to:

Physical stress - elevated cortisol levels that cause chronic inflammation, a weakened immune system, and heart disease. Hopeless people experience deep fatigue.

Emotional numbness - when our brain stops projecting a positive future we transition to heavy apathy and emotional flatness.

Learned helplessness - our brain enters a state of tunnel vision where it can no longer see solutions. Our cognitive flexibility dies and we begin to feel trapped in a permanent present.

Nihilism - a feeling that God distant, silent, or indifferent and that nothing has ultimate meaning.

Hope is one of the most essential things you can possess. For reasons you’ll see, I’ve called the message Hope Is A Rope. If you have struggled with feelings of hopelessness this past year, God has a word for you. That you can have a hope that is not centered in shifting circumstances but in an assured future. The coming New Creation is God’s promise that the loss of Eden - and ALL your losses - has an expiration date.

Pray …

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This morning we will be in Revelation 21. The end of the story. But before we get there and see the hope we have for the future, it’s important to understand what we mean vs. what the Bible means by hope.

We use the word ‘hope’ a lot in our modern world. I hope there are presents under the tree at Christmas. I hope I pass my chemistry test. I hope my car starts this morning. I hope I win the lottery. Modern hope is a passive wishful thinking or optimism about an uncertain future. It’s based on fickle circumstances or self-effort, and it quickly dissolves under pressure. Basing our lives in this kind of hope is like building a home on a sandy foundation. It’s only a matter of time before it crumbles.

Biblical hope is completely opposite. Biblical hope is an active waiting on a certain future. It’s based on God’s promises and grounded in his character. Because of that, it’s not swayed by present circumstances.

Modern hope is a possibility rooted in circumstances; biblical hope is a certainty rooted in a Person.

Let me give an illustration...

Modern Hope is like having a lottery ticket. You hope your numbers come up. You want it to happen, but there is no guarantee. It is based on luck, probability, and a "cross your fingers" mentality. If you don't win, the hope was wasted.

Biblical Hope is like having an inheritance. If a wealthy relative leaves you a million dollars in a trust fund that matures on your 25th birthday, you don't "wish" you'll get the money—you know you will. The money is already yours; you are simply waiting for the date on the calendar to arrive.

This is the hope we have for the future. The manger is the "legal document" that proves the inheritance of the New Creation is already ours. Everything that is broken, everything that causes pain, everything that is not the way it’s supposed to be has an expiration date.

So, with that understanding of hope let’s look at the future that God has promised to us.

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We often think of Revelation as a weird, scary book that is predicting the future. But it was actually written to encourage Christians who were facing uncertainty, pain, and loss as they began to experience persecution from Rome because of their allegiance to Jesus. Revelation was written to give them hope that regardless of present circumstances, in the end the Lamb wins. The oppression of empire has an expiration date. This hope gave them the strength they needed to hold on against incredible persecution.

Maybe we’re not currently experiencing the level of suffering they were, but like the early church we face our own uncertainty, pain, and loss. Revelation still speaks to us today to hold on, our present struggles have an expiration date too. We can hold on now because in the New Creation we will have ...

Eternal home.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” (Revelation 21:1–3, NLT)

A mistake we often make when reading Revelation is to read it literally. Revelation is not literal, it is apocryphal, which means its message comes through symbolism and metaphor. You read through the symbolism to get the meaning. What Revelation imagines is not the destruction of the earth but a reunification of heaven and earth. The symbolism of the new Jerusalem coming down is of God coming to make his home with us again. What was separated in the Fall is brought back together in the New Creation.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, your heart is not at home. St. Augustine famously wrote in the 4th century, “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” All of our searching and striving to find satisfaction in this life is the thrashing of our heart to find its true home again. Home is wherever God is. Home is in his presence. With him is the only place where our hearts will find the ultimate peace and wellbeing we need.

The story of the Bible is not that you ultimately go to heaven to live with God but that he comes to earth to live with you. To make his home permanently with you. Then you’ll be home. If your hope is centered in finally accumulating enough, that hope won’t ever be fulfilled. The New Creation offers you a lasting hope that your heart will finally find its true home. Separation has an expiration date.

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Complete comfort.

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”” (Revelation 21:4, NLT)

We already saw in this description of the New Creation that “the sea was gone”. But we need to understand this symbolically. Throughout the Bible the sea is a metaphor for the dark forces of chaos that threaten God’s plans and God’s people. Even in Revelation, monsters rise up from the sea. This isn’t saying we can’t go to the beach in the New Creation. It means that in the new creation there will be no more chaos, no more threat, no place from which monsters might rise again to do us harm.

Because we will finally be home we will also experience a healing comfort. Notice that it doesn’t say that you just won’t be sad anymore. God himself will tenderly wipe the tears from your eyes. In his touch you will be completely healed. Not just of physical issues, but from every sin, every setback, every loss that has scarred your soul. Whatever pain you carry now will be only a memory then, with no power to hurt you.

Sadly, we still face trials and hardship and loss now. If our hope is centered on a perfect pain-free life, we are doomed to disappointment. The promise of God’s New Creation, though, holds out a promise we can hope in - the expiration of pain.

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Reigning king.

“And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”” (Revelation 21:5, NLT)

It might be difficult to see why this last promise is so hopeful. Let me explain with an example. Those of you who know me know this I am a huge LOTR geek. I enjoy the movies, but they don’t really capture the true point. You only get that by reading the books. Middle Earth had fallen under the power of a dark lord Sauron. It was this way because no true king sat on the throne in Gondor. Everything that the Frodo and Sam go through to destroy the ring of power is ultimately about putting the rightful king, Aragorn, on the throne. Because it is from his reign that the evil of Sauron would be washed away and peace and goodness would return to the land.

In writing this trilogy, Tolkien took the story line straight from the Bible. This is what God has been doing all along. The manger, the cross, the resurrection are all so the rightful king can sit on the throne again. It is from the reign of king Jesus that everything becomes new again.

This is hopeful news that can sustain us now. God’s promises for the future have never been based on you getting your act together. They aren’t based on trying harder. They aren’t based on getting the right official elected or the right policies passed. God’s promises has always been centered in a Person. As the apostle Paul writes “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20, NLT) Through the reign of King Jesus the newness - the fresh start - that you and the whole world is craving will finally be fulfilled. This old order dominated by death has an expiration date.

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As we look forward to the last chapter of the Story, these are the things that God wants you to ground your hope in. It sounds cliche to put your hope in the sweet bye and bye. In reality, these are the only things that can sustain you in the long run. That Jesus has won. That he will bring his Story to exactly the end he wants. And that the end of the Story is good news for us.

Now, why did I call this message Hope is Your Rope? In the OT, one of the words translated as “hope” is the Hebrew word tiqwah. It comes from the root word for a rope. In the Bible, hope is a rope. It’s tying yourself to God’s promises and not your circumstances. And as we hold on to this rope, we have confidence that the other end is held securely by God. And whoever hopes in him will never be disappointed.

Where are you placing your hope? Is there something in this life that is your ultimate source of security? A spouse, job, house, money, health, political party, economy. If so, you’ve tied your rope to something that can fail. If you lose your job, can’t pay your rent, get sick, lose all your money, the wrong person gets in the White House, the economy tanks, a loved one dies, your hope is destroyed.

And so God tells us to tie our hope to him, because the manger is more than a manger. It is God’s guarantee that loss won’t have the final word. You can walk in hope right now. Not hope like the world has based on fleeting circumstances, but hope that is tied to the sure promises of God that have been enacted in the manger. This is the hope that can carry you through uncertainty, loss and pain until you reach the other side. The New Creation is God’s promise that all the losses suffered since Eden have an expiration date. It’s your guaranteed inheritance in Jesus.

Have you experienced the hope found in a relationship with Jesus? I’d like to give you that opportunity if you never have before.

Heavenly Father, I know I have done wrong and that I deserve to suffer the consequences. But I believe Jesus died to take my place, and that he suffered death for me so that I won’t have to. I am making the decision right now to surrender myself to you and make Jesus my Lord. Please forgive my sin and make me your child forever. Amen.

Let me know if you’ve made this decision...

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Invite people to stand.

Invite Communion/ministry team forward.

Every Sunday we close our time by receiving Communion together. This symbolic meal reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice. It proclaims the gospel that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. It is the source of our spiritual nourishment. We believe Jesus is present with us as we receive his body and blood.

We think Jesus invites everyone to this table. If it’s your first time, or you’re not even sure yet where you stand with Jesus, we think he would welcome you here. If you would like to participate, after I pray step into the nearest aisle. Someone at the front will take a piece of bread dipped in wine and offer it to you as the body and blood of Jesus. If you prefer not to have wine, close your hands together and that will be the sign for them to give you a sealed container with grape juice and a wafer.

What is the Spirit doing this morning?…

As we come to the Table, let’s rejoice together in the words of Psalm 62:

“For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:5–6, NRSV)

Thank him that through the blood of his cross he has washed our sins away. Through his victorious resurrection he has guaranteed us eternal life. Through his ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit he has made us one with you.

We remember Him who for us and for our salvation, on the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.

Invite the worship team to receive Communion first.