The Promise of Hope

Intro - typical opening

...Can’t talk about hope unless you mention the fact that hope, generally speaking, is felt primarily when times are tough!

Don’t get me wrong, we can hope other times, but when we think of the meaning of hope, we probably think about that feeling we get when life isn’t going so well, or when we think the worst is about to happen. Maybe we hear that the Browns just got the lead, and we just hope that we don’t mess it up.

No, hope for the Jewish people - the hope pointed to in the Bible - it was one born of pain. Born of distance from God and doubt about all that they thought they believed.

We need to remember that too church. We need to remember, because we all feel that feeling at some point…

We all come to a point when we feel so alone that we begin to question it all.

Just imagine, for 600 years, the Jewish people would continue to sacrifice, continue to abide by the law, continue to worship, but all the time they never felt the face of God. Never heard His voice. Never felt His presence.

In those moments, for them and for us, it is hope that fuels us, in spite of God’s distance, to keep worshipping - to keep believing, to keep praying, to keep living.

Hope is the fuel for our souls when we come to worship even though our world is crumbling around us. Hope is the strength of those who understand the difficulty of their situation, understand that life devastating right now - that wonder why God would give them everything - take them to the promised land, give them the desires of their hearts, and then take it all away! After all, they have been faithful! We can be faithful! Why doesn’t God just rescue us!

That is the world before Christ. But not just the world before His birth, that is the world even today! The world that lives out its days without the light and love of our Savior. Those are their questions. That is their situation. Just like the Jewish people lived out for 600 years, there are those in and among us who feel completely separated from God for one reason or another. And church, it is up to us, to bring them the hope that they desperately need.

Jeremiah 33:1–3 ESV

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Jer 33:1

Jeremiah 33:14–16 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

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pray

Jeremiah 33:14 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

This past week I bought a present for the girls. A december 1st gift. Nothing big, just a little slime and a blind bag for them both. Well, Olivia saw the bag, and saw that it was from Walgreens, and knew that if I had gone to Walgreens that there must be something special in the bag. So she spent the week asking for what was in the bag. Hoping beyond hope that I would give it to her.

You can imagine that my response was a little like God’s here. “Patience.” “You will get it soon.”

Behold, God says, the days are coming! Sure it looks bad now. I know you are desperate and need help! Just like Habakuk, sometimes we say, “O Lord how long will I have to cry for help, and you will not listen? How long will I cry, “Violence” and you not answer?

Our lives, just like the Jewish peoples, can seem overwhelming, and from time to time, completely devoid of God.

And just like it is with Olivia, or any child, they know there is something better. They know something good must be in store. There has to be some moments of joy just right around the corner, so when is it going to happen?

The days are coming.

[picofHope]

That feeling, the feeling of not getting what you want, but expecting it to come. That feeling is hope. A strong - unbreakable - anchor that holds our souls to God Himself, Hebrews tells us.

But whether you are hoping for a toy, or hoping for peace in your home, or food in your belly, or for someone to rescue you, hope ALWAYS consists of two things - your reality, and your expectations. You past, and your future.

Seems like a pretty easy equation, right? After all, there is nothing we can really do about our past, the situation we are in, it just is what it is! So then, hope is only our expectations, right?

[picofpoorchildren]

oor children

Not really. You see, your expectations are governed by your past as well. And just like the Jewish people likely felt, when we let our past color our expectations for the future, it can become easy to begin to lose hope when you never see God. That is just as true today as it was then. But also just as true, church, is the fact that even in the face of not seeing or hearing from God, they still had hope! And so can we!

And in fact, that is when hope is the highest!

[b2bvideo]

“Hope is something,” Ronaldson says in that video, “That God puts in your heart that makes you trust that you will be someone in the future.”

Sometimes I wonder why I even preach, when children can do a far better job than I ever could.

Church, our lives are bound from beginning to end in Christ. God brings us to life, and walks with us through death, and even on to life eternal! And in the middle, in those moments that seem overwhelming, that don’t make sense - when life is upside down - when we are orphaned or alone, when we are destitute, when we are desperate for love and cling to the last sliver of hope that we have, even then God is with us!

“I will fulfill my promise!” He says. I will never leave you, nor forsake you! I will bring a righteous branch for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land!

In other words, “just hold on!” God says. Because I am going to send my Son - myself - and when you see that gift, when you understand that love, when that message is shown clearly to you, you won’t have to worry about your past! You won’t have to fear anything that you see! Because when you see Christ, and by that I mean, when you see Christ through the life of another person the only real response you can have is hope!

And that hope, that feeling in your heart, it reminds you - it assures you - that you have a future.

Listen, sometimes we just want to know that we are going to be something in the future, right? And because of that feeling, we can tend to get ahead of ourselves. But understand, that hope - the hope exemplified by the Jewish people and alluded to in this text - it calls us to just rest in the promise of God! The promise of peace, hope, joy and love. The promise that we are cherished above all else and that even if life seems bleak - if God fulfilled this promise to the world, then He will fulfill His promises to us!

And if we have a future, then we must take hold of His Spirit - His presence and hope for us - and bring that hope to others.

But how do we bring hope to other people when we sometimes don’t have any ourselves?

[there’sandappforthat]

Well thankfully, there’s an app for that...well...there is a book for that.

Well not one. You see, virtually all of the prophetic books of the OT show us how to bring hope, because they were intended to help the Jewish people find hope!

Jeremiah says “Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed.”

Amos chastises Israel, and us, by saying that the poor are oppressed and denied justice. A problem echoed by Ezekiel.

Zechariah later sought to remind the generation returning to Israel why it had lost hope to begin with: ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.”

Micah tells us: “You know what is good! And what does the Lord require of you, but to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God!”

And as I mentioned in the Newsletter, Isaiah reminds us that, “if we pour ourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted - THEN our light shall rise from the darkness!! Then we shall call - we will cry out for help and for hope in the world - and the LORD will answer! We will cry, and God will say, “Here I am!”

CHURCH, IT IS WHEN WE HAVE NO REASON TO HOPE, WHEN WE ARE EMPTIED OF OURSELVES, IT IS THEN THAT WE CAN FIND TRUE HOPE! AND EVEN IF WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT, EVEN IF WE CAN’T SEEM TO WIN, AND THE WORLD IS AGAINST US, EVEN THEN - IF WE JUST DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN GOD’S EYES; IF WE HELP THE POOR, IF WE COMFORT THE AFFLICTED, IF WE POUR OUT OURSELVES FOR THE HURTING, THE UNLOVED, THE ORPHAN - IF WE DO THAT, CHURCH WE WILL BRING HOPE! AND WHEN WE BRING HOPE - WHEN WE GIVE HOPE - IT IS THEN THAT WE WILL TRULY HAVE HOPE!

[adventhope

And hope reminds us that we are loved. That we matter. That we have a purpose. That we have a God - one who has promised to never leave us, and that loves us beyond words.

If you take nothing else away today, church, take away those words. I want you to take them away, because honestly, I think we owe this world something. I think, just as scripture reminds us, that God made a promise, one that is realized in Christ, but that is illuminated through us! “Go into all the world!” Jesus tells us! Tell everyone about me! Show them how to follow me! Show them my love! Remind them that they matter just as much as anyone! CHURCH WE HAVE IN OUR POSSESSION THE GREATEST GIFT THAT HAS EVER BEEN GIVEN TO THIS WORLD, AND WE HAVE BEEN CHARGED TO BRING IT TO THE WORLD! SO IF WE CAN OFFER THEM NOTHING ELSE, WE MUST OFFER THEM HOPE! BUT IF WE EVER HOPE TO OFFER IT WE MUST OURSELVES BELIEVE AND IN FACT LIVE WITHIN IT!

WE CAN’T HOPE IN THAT NEXT PROMOTION! WE CAN’T HOPE IN A NEW HOME, OR CAREER, OR RELATIONSHIP, OR DIAGNOSIS! WE CAN’T HOPE IN ANYTHING THAT WE COULD EVER PRODUCE OR DO IN THIS LIFE! WE MUST HOPE IN GOD! HOPE IN THE PROMISE FULFILLED! HOPE IN THE SON - THE VERY LIVING INCARNATION OF THE MOST HIGH - AND SET HIS WORD IN OUR HEARTS! WE MUST PRAY! WE MUST LIVE IN HIS WORD! WE MUST LIVE OUT THAT WORD AND THAT EXAMPLE FOR THIS WORLD! AND WHEN WE DO THAT, CHURCH, THEN WE NOT ONLY HAVE HOPE, WE LIVE OUT THAT HOPE FOR THE WORLD, NO MATTER WHAT WE, OR ANYONE ELSE, MIGHT BE FACING!

Romans 5:1–2 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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.

And above all that, church, we must understand that this great hope - the grace in which we stand - that is the only thing that should guide our expectations for the future. For us, and for all the world.

After all, what else are we to do? We are all a part of the body. That same body that we are partaking of here today, that same blood, that same life poured out. Church it turns out, that it was poured out so that we could pour ours out in the very hope of bringing hope to this world. Of reflecting the one hope that we all have in this world. The love of God, made manifest in the person of His Son, offered to the whole world as a sacrifice to God for the sin of mankind. The hope of all hopes! The fulfillment of God’s promise. That is what God is offering today. And that, church, is what we must offer to the world every day.

[communion]