A Glorious Hope

We are in week five of Lent. What a journey we have been on. We have been journeying to Jerusalem for the Passover, looking for hope in the midst of all that we see and hear.We have two weeks left—before this journey finds us at the empty tomb!

The first week we built a foundation of hope, the second week we learned that we had a living hope, the third week we heard that we had a saving hope and the fourth week we heard that we had a persevering hope. This week we will learn that we have a glorious hope!

Before we come to God’s glorious Words of life, let us come to the throne of glory in prayer. “God of all glory and grace, shine your glory into our lives and fill us with Holy Boldness to be the people of God You are calling us to be. Amen”

Exodus 34:28-35

Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. 29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.[i]

2 Corinthians 3:7-18

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! 12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.[ii]

LOOK UP!

A man by the name of Roger Crawford had mastered the art of “what if” versus “why not.” Roger was born with four shortened limbs, including two mis-shapened hands that protrude from the forearms with two fingers on one hand one finer on the other hand. An amputation put him with an artificial leg. Everyone but his parents told him, “Roger, you are never going to be able to blah, blah, blah blah.” And yet Roger learned to play tennis. He not only learned to play, he became an NCAA Division I tennis champion and went on to become a United States Tennis Association Athlete. Sports Illustrated called him “one of the most accomplished physically challenged athletes in the world.” [iii]

Roger speaks to audiences all over the world, urging them to prove critics and doubt pushers wrong. He speaks of “tuning the pessimism of ‘I can’t’ into the unstoppable power of ‘I can’.” As boy, he could have let the voices in his head and the voices from his friends stop him but he didn’t.

How often did he hear these thoughts: If you only had been born with normal legs and feet! It is not fair! You might as well be realistic about this, you will not amount to much.

Instead he trained his mind and imagination to wonder! What if you learned to how to play tennis? Wouldn’t that be cool!

The US government invited Roger to visit Walter Reed memorial hospital in Washington DC. Roger walked through the wards and talked to soldiers who had lost limbs in combat. Roger said it felt unbelievably depressing. Roger felt the spirit of defeat and depression.

Once he walked up to a man who was flat on his back and unable to move. Roger asked the man, “How are you doing?’ the man had a big smile on his face. It turned out that the man in the hospital, who was flat on his back unable to move, was a Christian. Roger said, “It was amazing.” Then the patient flat on his back said to Roger, “Hey you don’t have normal arms, either. How can I pray for you?” The question blew Roger away. After they talked a while, this young soldier, who was newly disabled, looked at Roger and said, “I am going to walk again someday, just like you.”[iv]

Roger was blown away and asked the young man what his secret was. Roger said, “Everyone I have met so far in here has been devasted, depressed and discouraged. But you have hope!” The young soldier replied, “I am flat on my back, so the only thing I can do is look up.”

The first “so what” for today is this --- LOOkK UP! When we focus on ourselves, or the world, or what we don’t have—we can feel down, depressed, even devastated. But if we will retrain ourselves to look up…we will have what the bible calls “confident expectation” –in other words, we will have HOPE.

LIVE CONNECTED

In our Scripture reading for today we hear about the Israelites who wanted to go back to Egypt and remain in slavery instead of being in the desert. While their fearless leader is away, they build a golden calf. Moses returns from the mountain with the first set of Ten Commandments written by God. He sees the golden calf and what the people are doing. Do you remember the first two commandment that were written on those tablets? 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. This is real catastrophe for the Israelites. “Houston, we have a problem.” Moses ends up smashing the tablets. God was so upset that He wanted to destroy the people. Moses intercedes. God is merciful and slow to anger, and God relents. Moses goes back up the mountain to speak with God again. This is when Moses asks to see God’s glory. God tells Moses that no one can see His glory and live. Instead God hides Moses in the cleft of a rock and God passes by. Moses spends 40 days and 40 nights up on the mountain, rewrites the Ten Commandments and brings the tablets back down to the people. The problem is that Moses had been with God and his face was shining with the glory of God. “Moses, put a veil on your face—you are shining like the sun.” The people wanted Moses to hide the glory because it was too much!

Can you imagine seeing the glory of God shining through a person?

I know a person who is filled with overflowing joy! It is my wife! I cannot tell you how many times people have told her that no one can be that joyful. In one church that we served some ladies came up to her at our Wednesday night kid program night and told her, “No one can be that joyful. There must be something wrong with you.” At the school that she serves, one lady told her, “I have never seen anyone who is always so happy.” This is what attracted me to her when I first laid eyes on her. She was bouncing all over the college cafeteria—stopping at the tables and sharing her joy. I believe that my wife radiates God’s glory because she is always looking up! Jac has been given the gift of joy and the gift of hope.

When Paul writes to the church in Corinth, they are struggling. There struggles from outside the church with worldly things that were trying to get into the church. They were struggling inside the church with some of the legalism that was trying to quench the Spirit. Some of the Judaizers wanted them to go back to following the law, letter by letter.

Does that sound familiar?!

Paul tells the church that even the ministry that Moses brought down from the mountain brought death because no one can really ever keep the law perfectly. But the HOPE that Paul is preaching is about the truth of Jesus. Let’s take a look at Jesus.

v Jesus was born in a stable, placed in a manger. He was one of us.

v Jesus lived! He experienced this thing we call LIFE.

v Jesus taught His disciples to love one another.

v Jesus fed the masses.

v Jesus taught the masses.

v Jesus healed the masses.

v And then….

v Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins!

v Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb!

v Jesus rose from the dead on the third day!

v Jesus talked with his disciples and followers for the first 50 days after His resurrection.

v Jesus ascended into heaven.

v Jesus sits at the right on God and intercedes for us.

If we study the life of Jesus, we will see that even Jesus looked up. Then Jesus lived connected to His Father. Often he rose early in order to pray. Without Jesus’ constant looking up—He wouldn’t have been able to live connected. He is our great example of glory contained within a human body.

These truths about Jesus are the glorious hope that Paul is talking about! The old glory of the law has faded away. A new glory of the Spirit of Christ has replaced it. And this means that we, too, can have this glorious hope. If Jesus Christ lives within our hearts as lord and savior—we are sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit—and we, too, can know this glorious hope!

Paul is telling the church: Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

Paul warns that we should not put a veil over our faces! We should not put a veil over our minds. We should not put a veil over our hearts!

Paul puts it this way --- “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Here is a second so what? Our faces, our hearts and our minds will reflect what we are connected to! Look up and live connected to Jesus Christ.

I went to the web and typed in “how much time is spent on mobile devices?” One researcher for 2017 said that an average of 4 hours a day is spent on a mobile phone. That is 86 hours a month that we could be connected to our phones. Do we spend 4 hours a day looking up and living connected to God?

When we live connected to the Lord, our faces will reflect the glory of the Lord.

When we live connected to the Lord we will find freedom!

When we live connected to the Lord we will be transformed!

When we live connected to the Lord we will find hope!

So What?

This past week, I was talking with a man back in Illinois who is going through a hard time trying to decide about his future. He was looking down and getting frustrated, afraid and even a little discouraged. The Holy Spirit gave me a few passages to share with him. The first was from Psalm 3:3 which says; “But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” (Psalm 3:3) The second was God’s phone number – Jeremiah 33:3--- “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3) For those of us who live on our phones, this is a good connection: Call to God. God will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things.

Today’s message boils down to two commands: LOOK UP. LIVE CONNECTED.

v I challenge you to look into the gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Write down what Jesus does. Then look up…call out to God… live connected. Jesus was born in a stable, placed in a manger. He was one of us.

v Jesus lived! He experienced this thing we call LIFE. HE IS ONE OF US.

v Jesus taught His disciples to love one another. WE CAN LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE.

v Jesus fed the masses. WE CAN FEED OTHERS—manna meals, hosting bible studies…the list is endless.

v Jesus taught the masses. Start in your home, your work, neighborhood…the example of our life is one of the greatest teaching tools we have.

v Jesus healed the masses. Pray for others—it is healing. Be there—multiply the joy—divide the sorrow—it’s an easy thing to live by.

Christ is in heaven—and is interceding…pleading and asking on our behalf.

This glorious hope…boils down to two things for today: LOOK UP! LIVE CONNECTED.

The Seed Christian Fellowship

Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

March 18, 2018

Pastor Dave Peters

[i] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Ex 34:28–35). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[ii] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (2 Co 3:7–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

[iii] Loyola Marymount Athletics, Roger Crawford to receive 2013 ITA Achievement Award, September 4, 2013