"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)
We hear a lot about keeping up hope. Our world is experiencing numerous problems that take away any hope of a bright future. That is not an overstatement if we look at the events. A study has revealed that 80% Americans are stressed due to the economic conditions. We see brokenness everywhere. Broken homes – bankruptcies, divorce, violence, debt, death. Broken lives – drugs, alcohol, crime, abandonment, bereavement. Broken dreams – greed, failure, defeat, disappointment. Broken bodies – sickness, disease, disaster are some of the add-ons. There are so many ways that hope can be shattered.
Divorces are on the increase. In Las Vegas, a billboard sign reads "marriage license costs only $55. There’s no waiting period or blood test, and the marriage bureau is open 24 hours on holidays and weekends (till midnight other days)". On the same street, you can see an attorney sign saying divorce for $99. Perhaps that’s what motivated Britney Spears to marry childhood pal Jason Alexander for all of 55 hours. It’s just too convenient!
As someone has suggested, that the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off. The most stresses out group of people are the younger generation. There is no more hope left in this world. If we think about the reasons of losing hope for a generation is that there is no place they can trust to place their hope in. We have taken God out of the picture in our daily lives. Schools have taken God and the scripture out. There is no place for prayer in social gatherings.
The scripture is the source of hope.
"Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, the Psalmist reminds us. "(Psalm 119:105). In ancient times it was the oil lamp that became a symbol for Christian education that has at its center the study of God’s Word. “Let there be light,” is the theme of the University of California,” with the oil lamp depicted on coffee mugs and sweatshirts. But in order to have hope, this same lamp ought to be emblazoned on our hearts and minds. It is a precious thing, this lamp, this Word especially as it is offered to our young in our Christian Day School and in our Sunday school.
As Paul says : “Everything that was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
By teaching the Bible we are offering hope in a world that never can offer them hope. Thank God for this lamp of truth that burns ever brightly telling us of Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah sent by God to redeem us from the slavery to sin, death and hopelessness.” Herein we find the assurance that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him, shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Hoping Against Hope
The Bible teaches us about having a hope when all hope is gone. Paul found power to hope in the Scriptures and explains it by quoting the story of Abraham who "hoped against hope." Bible gives us A Hope that hopes and believes against all Hope . "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:18-21)
The Scripture Gives us a Hope that we can rejoice in
Paul says in Romans 12:12: "Rejoice in hope." Martin Luther reminds us: “not in works, not in any other thing, but purely in hope the heart of man rejoices. The one who seeks to find joy apart from this hope will labor much but will labor in vain.” Then Luther goes on to remind us of the Bible story of the woman who went from doctor to doctor for 12 years, we read in Luke 8 spending all she had until she met Jesus. 0Luther adds: “this happens also to those who run here and there with their troubled conscience, now consult these folks, then consult those, now do this, then do that, and try everything in order to quiet their heart but do not seek the hope which gives rest to the soul and which they too could have within themselves.” Our hope is not to be found in running from place to place or in resignation to the evils of life, but rather in belief and trust in God’s word.
The scriptures give us overflowing Hope to those who believe
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)
We however do not always overflow in hope. Because of our sinful flesh, we are more ready to be disappointed, agitated and perplexed. In fact, our sinful flesh delights in being this way. That is, only taking some of what God has for us, when our need is for more hope to flow out to us, overflowing. Paul says this abundant hope comes from believing. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.”
Often the world gives us other sources of hope. The world tells us it will only come when we all have good homes and jobs; when the economy is on the rise once again; when and if we get well. It would not suggest waiting for anything but rather to run from here to there – to a new job, a better location, a different doctor, a different church, or no church, better behaved children, a better spouse. It tells us that we can have hope only when things are going well. But the Bible teaches otherwise. Even in the midst of situations that are not going well, those who believe in God can hope for a brighter future. God's promises are the source of hope for the world. "I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).
Jesus Gives us a Hope that lasts till eternity
Because of the coming of Jesus the world has hope and reconciliation. It is at the altar of the church that enemies and friends alike would sit side-by-side and even arm in arms and pray and take part in communion.
Jesus is preparing a place for all of us (John 14:1-7). 14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Our minds and hearts are focused on Christ and the gift of himself in his coming. We hope in Christ’s triumphant return to earth to raise us to life eternal. Then, and only then will be the time when we will no longer need hope. For the Bible tells us, faith and hope are for this life only, but in heaven, these will not be needed. We will see and know and love Him as surely as we are known and seen and loved.
But in the meantime we must have hope and live in hope. For the opposite of hope is despair and this is what Christ came to deliver us from. We can overflow in hope as it is delivered to us fresh daily in Holy Baptism and God’s living and abiding Word. And we can even envision hope.
What does hope look like for you?
I can’t really answer that, but for me, “Hope for me is seeing the church gather together here and also online have this worship and fellowship. Hope is seeing the beauty of creation and see the majesty of God’s handiwork everyday. Hope is looking up at the sky and see the Sun and and the moon and the stars because they will all pass away one day, but we will be in eternity. Hope for me is looking at the children playing in our parking lot
We have a hope that overflows because Jesus said He will return and establish the Kingdom of God and take us to be with Him
God is Faithful! His Promises are sure. In the country of Armenia, in 1988, Samuel and Danielle sent their young son, Armand, off to school. Samuel squatted before his son and looked him in the eye. "Have a good day at school, and remember, no matter what, I’ll always be there for you." They hugged and the boy ran off to school. Hours later, a powerful earthquake rocked the area. In the midst of the pandemonium, Samuel and Danielle tried to discover what happened to their son but they couldn’t get any information. The radio announced that there were thousands of casualties. Samuel then grabbed his coat and headed for the schoolyard. When he reached the area, what he saw brought tears to his eyes. Armand’s school was a pile of debris. Other parents were standing around crying. Samuel found the place where Armand’s classroom used to be and began pulling a broken beam off the pile of rubble. He then grabbed a rock and put it to the side, and then grabbed another one. One of the parents looking on asked, "What are you doing?" "Digging for my son," Samuel answered. The man then said, "You’re just going to make things worse! The building is unstable," and tried to pull Samuel away from his work. Samuel just kept working. As time wore on, one by one, the other parents left. Then a worker tried to pull Samuel away from the rubble. Samuel looked at him and said, "Won’t you help me?" The worker left and Samuel kept digging. All through the night and into the next day, Samuel continued digging. Parents placed flowers and pictures of their children on the ruins. But, Samuel just kept working. He picked up a beam and pushed it out of the way when he heard a faint cry. "Help! Help!" Samuel listened but didn’t hear anything again. Then he heard a muffled voice, "Papa?" Samuel began to dig furiously. Finally he could see his son. "Come on out, son!" he said with relief. "No," Armand said. "We are fourteen kids here. Let the other kids come out first because I know you’ll get me." Child after child emerged until, finally, little Armand appeared. Samuel took him in his arms and Armand said, "I told the other kids not to worry because you told me that you’d always be there for me!" Fourteen children were saved that day because one father was faithful. How much more faithful is our heavenly Father! Whether trapped by fallen debris or ensnared by life’s hardships and struggles, we are never cut off from God’s faithfulness. He is true to His character. He is reliable and trustworthy and can always be counted on.
There are so many promises in the Bible about His second coming.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."
Revelation 1:7 ESV "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen."
2 Peter 3:10 ESV / "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."
“Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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