11. The Necessity of Hope

Welcome our sermon series Long Obedience in the Same Direction. The some people, being a Christian is kind of like getting extra insurance on our rental car. When you have insurance on your rental car, you kind of drive it like you stole it…do you know what I mean? You aren’t quite as careful because you know it’s a rental and it has insurance. So if it gets a ding, no big deal, you have insurance.

For some people being a Christian is like having fire insurance. You have this insurance policy that keeps you out of hell, so why not live like a hell raiser. Look I have the policy!

Being a Christian is not only focused on how you start the journey, but also about how you finish. Maybe, we need to look at our lives as nice convertible, or our dream car, that we possess, that’s not covered with insurance. We are going to take care of it, not rev the engine....and we are going to park it in the far corner of the parking lot so it doesn’t get scratched up. It’s very valuable to us, and we want it to go the distance.

There’s a term for this: discipleship. It’s a commitment to follow Jesus, be transformed to look like Jesus, and to live on mission with Jesus. Discipleship is something we value, work on, protect, and enjoy.

The truth is, there are days, maybe moments or maybe even seasons where our discipleship journey gets into a rut. You keep trying, yet you find yourself failing more often then not. You try to change your ways, and make promises to God and try to discipline yourself only to find yourself back into the same old rut.

If saw this video clip last year, and it constantly reminds me of the struggle of faithfully following Jesus.

Show Video of Sheep Getting Stuck

Can anyone relate? Are any of you in the rut right now? Are you stuck in the ditch and just can’t get out? This is a real situation for anyone, whether they are following Jesus or not. How do you feel when you get finding yourself in the same old rut? Failure. Shame. Loser. You probably have this idea that God is just getting tired of your same old failures. So maybe you feel that God is angry with your or just disappointed; “Why can’t they get their act together?”

Or maybe you just feel like you are in a pit of despair over war, conflict and injustice in the world…it feels like a weight. Or maybe it’s a spouse that is struggling, a son or daughter who you just keep waiting on for them to turn their lives around. Maybe it’s a close friend who just keeps hurting themselves and you feel despair over their repeated bad choices. Sometimes what’s going on in the world can cause us to feel like we are in a pit of despair.

If your a follower of Jesus, you’ve not only experienced this, maybe you are there right now! Some people, maybe even you have walked away from Jesus or at least the church because of the failure and shame. I get it. If I can’t succeed at what I’m trying to do, I’m very likely to just give up and walk away. I want to win at life…not constantly lose. Maybe you have convinced yourself that life isn’t going to change for you or the people you care about. You’ve fallen into the idea that things just aren’t going to change.

If that is where you find yourself or if you are just in a rut right now, I’m glad you are here because in those seemingly dark and difficult situations we need to be reminded that there is always hope.

If you have a Bible or device, look for Psalm 130. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, go to Events, then look for Iowa City Church and you will be able to follow along there with all the Scriptures and Sermon notes.

If you are new with us, we are on this journey through the Psalms of Ascent. 15 Worship songs the Jewish pilgrims would sing as they journeyed to Jerusalem for one of their big feasts. As they traveled up the mountain to Jerusalem they would sing these worship songs as reminders of their long journey of obedience following God. We are using them in a similar manner, reminding each of us of our long journey of obedience following Jesus.

If you would join me in standing, I’ll read these words of worship:

Psalm 130:1–8 NIV

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

PRAY

This is probably one of the more familiar Psalms of Ascent. I’m sure some of you have heard this one before. There are really three parts to it.

Part One: The Pit. We find ourselves in the pit, so we cry out to the LORD in our despair. Whether it’s our own sin and hurts or the impact of other’s sins and choices upon us. It drags us down into the depths of despair. However there is a realization of the all encompassing impact of sin. It reaches into every area of our lives and causes pain and grief, much like a virus.

In the pit we must realize that sin destroys and tears down lives and we all feel the weight. The apostle Paul describes the impact of sin in his letter to the church in Rome.

Romans 5:12 NIV

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

On our journey of following Jesus, sin and it’s effects can drag us down. However, the Psalm tells us to what? Call out to God! This leads us to the second part of this Psalm.

Psalm 130:4 NIV

4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

Part Two: Our Forgiveness Comes From God

Forgiveness has a starting place. God. We turn to him. Through Jesus’ atoning death on the cross the price has not only been paid, but we have been reconciled back to God. The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the church in Corinth these words.

2 Corinthians 5:19 NIV

19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We can live with confidence that though we are in the pit, or overwhelmed with despair that our God has forgiven us because Jesus paid it…and because he paid it all…we are forgiven. So how are we to respond to this forgiveness?

Part Three: Wait. Watch. Hope.

Verses 5,6 and 7 focus on these three words. Waiting. Watching like watchmen and hope.

Waiting. Whether you are a good student of the Bible or just a Christian who’s lived a long life, you understand the reality of waiting on the LORD. He’s working a plan and it most often just match up with your timeline. We need to learn to trust the phrase Jesus taught us, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I trust your will God, so I wait.

However, just as the great theologian Tom Petty wrote, we all know that “the waiting is the hardest part.” Waiting for God to lift us out of the pit is hard. Waiting for God to helps us with our habits is hard. Waiting for our loved one to change is hard. It’s hard waiting on the Lord.

This is what Peter writes about waiting:

2 Peter 3:8–9 NIV

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Just remember, God has a different perspective on waiting. Sometimes he’s waiting on us as well. A business person read this passage and was quite amazed by it and talked to God about it. "Lord, is it true that a thousand years for us is just like one minute to you?"

The Lord said, "Yes."

The business person said, "Well then, a million dollars to us must be like one penny to you."

The Lord said, "Well, yes."

The business person aid, "Well, Lord, will you give me one of those pennies?"

The Lord said, "All right, I will. Wait here a minute."

Often we want God's resources, but we don't want his timing. We want the penny but not the minute. We want his hand, but we don't want his calendar. We forget his work in us while we wait, which is as important as what it is you're waiting for. Waiting means I must trust that God knows what he's doing.

Waiting simply means we are trusting the work God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. We wait and God works.

Watching. We don’t wait mindlessly. We are to be actively involved in watching. The metaphor the psalmist uses is that of the watchman at the city gate that is protecting the city. These watchmen not only have to keep watch over the city, they also are longing for their night shift to be over…and that won’t happen until first light. So they longingly look for the sun to break over the horizon.

Likewise, while we wait, we are longingly looking to God…keeping our eyes looked on him and the work that he is doing. We watch for the Lord by participating in habits and routines that keep us focused on him. For example regular worship, through music, prayer, Scripture study, fasting or serving keep our eyes on the horizon. You see, when the night is the darkest it’s usually right before the dawn. If you find yourself in the middle of a dark season....look to the horizon…look to the Lord and wait.

Hope. Let me read you just a small portion of an article written by Rachel K. Sobel, "The Mysteries of Hope and Healing," U.S. News and World Report (1-26-04).

“When Jerome Groopman diagnosed patients with serious diseases, the Harvard Medical School professor discovered that all of them were "looking for a sense of genuine hope and indeed, that hope was as important to them as anything he might prescribe as a physician."

After writing a book called The Anatomy of Hope, Groopman was asked for his definition. He replied: "Basically, I think hope is the ability to see a path to the future”. You are facing dire circumstances, and you need to know everything that's blocking or threatening you. And then you see a path, or a potential path, to get to where you want to be. Once you see that, there's a tremendous emotional uplift that occurs."

The doctor confessed: "I think hope has been, is, and always will be the heart of medicine and healing. We could not live without hope." Even with all the medical technology available to us now, "we still come back to this profound human need to believe that there is a possibility to reach a future that is better than the one in the present."

If you are in a deep pit, if it feels like your circumstances are never going to change…you, more then anything need hope! You need to believe that there is a possibility to reach a better future. You need to see a way forward!

Human beings can live for forty days without food, four days without water, and four minutes without air. But we cannot live for four seconds without hope.

In the very last verse of the psalm the psalmist writes:

Psalm 130:8 NIV

8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Israel’s hope was that God was going to redeem them…and he did and us through Jesus! Not just the forgiveness of sins but the hope of a new life. As a disciple of Jesus my whole journey is based on the hope that things are going to keep changing as I continue to follow Jesus. Here is what the apostle Peter says.

1 Peter 1:3–6 NIV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

After Jesus died on the cross, he was buried in a tomb. He was in that tomb Friday night, all day Saturday…early on Sunday morning a group of women who followed him, came to anoint his dead body. They came grieving, in a dark place, only to find that as the sun came up on a new day that the tomb was empty and Jesus was alive. In a moments notice the depths of their grief disappeared and hope appeared.

As followers of Jesus we will find ourselves in overwhelming ruts and situations.

We must remember that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have an undeniable hope that God will redeem our current situation.