Our Hope (2)

is all your hope in Jesus?

if not, what is your hope in?

hope is an interesting word.....it is future focused.

it can be defined differently depending on who your asking.

if we could take a survey of 100 people, we would find answers that would probably sound like,

when I hope for something, I am wishing for it to happen or to for it to come true.

or hope is when I want something but not sure I can get so I just hope for it.

So, is your hope just wishing? just wanting something to come true? or is it more than that, much, much more.....

what’s the opposite of hope? hopeless? actually another word for hopeless is pessimistic. that is a tendency to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen; a lack of hope or confidence in the future.

can you and I be like that? I hope not!

this morning we will look at hope in scripture,

to see what our hope is,

what our hope is in,

and

what we can do with our hope,

and

looking into scripture for our answers about hope.... we see in 1 Peter 1:3-5

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

did you catch it...... a living hope! it’s alive and active now!

these verses have so much in them and the living hope is an crucial part since it is what we are born again to....

first, let’s define hope from the scriptures perspective.

In Scripture, a confident expectation for the future, describing both the act of hoping and the object hoped for. When grounded in God, hope provides the motivation to live the Christian life even in the face of trouble. Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.

this hope is an expectation of something to come. it is a knowing that it will come so an excited waiting or expectancy.

talking about the living hope, Oecumenius from the 6th century stated

What exactly are the blessings which God has given us in Christ? First, there is hope, not the kind of hope which he gave to Moses, that the people would inherit a promised land in Canaan, for that hope was temporal and corruptible. Rather God gives us a living hope, which has come from the resurrection of Christ. Because of that, he has given all those who believe in Jesus the same resurrection. This is a living hope and an incorruptible inheritance, not stored up here on earth but in heaven, which is much greater. Bray, G. (Ed.). (2000). James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude (p. 69). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

He was speaking about Peters verse pointing directly to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus. this is our hope. this is our expectation.

we see the living hope is through the resurrection of Jesus. this is our hope. He is our Hope. and since it is a historical event that we look to, we are not caught in the wishful thoughts of the world but are grounded and solid on a rock that is our foundation.

and since it is rooted in a historical event, we are not caught in the wishful thoughts of the world but are grounded on a rock that is our foundation.

it reminds me of a powerful hymn, “the solid rock” which starts out with

my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.

not that we have always had this hope.... sometimes it does us good to remember, so we can see where God has brought us.

Before Christ, we had all been in a place without hope, of utter hopelessness, whether we knew it or not..... like Paul describes in Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:12 ESV

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Before you and I came to know Jesus, we were in a mess. we probably didn’t even know it! this world was all we had. and that is no real hope at all.

But we can now stand in a place of incredible hope as we look to Jesus, His life and death and resurrection..... it is the power of salvation!

at the same time, always knowing there are some still without this hope.

it may just be that when we think of our hope, we desire to encourage our neighbor, friend or family member this year and offer the hope of Christ. what a perfect time to do it in this Christmas season.

So, this living hope, what are we called to do with it?

we are called to praise our God for the hope we have! In Romans, where Paul is giving instruction for living out the faith that is professed, he tells it straight.

Romans 12:12 ESV

12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

what is it to rejoice in hope? well, we must know the hope we have. knowing and understanding that we had no other path until God stepped in. And what God has done, He has done it perfectly, and is protected by Him. We can be assured in our hope. therefore we can rejoice in hope.

Praising God for the work that He has done on the cross as we stand in confidence.

Romans 5:2 ESV

2 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.

states this hope.

Psalm 119:166 ESV

166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord, and I do your commandments.

in the O.T. they were looking forward for Christ the Messiah to come and bring salvation.....

today, we look back at the cross and see our salvation, but look ahead at the future coming of Christ, in confident expectation of the resurrection. In hope. all because of Jesus! now, that is something to sing about!