Hope

Hope
Hope…. We throw that word around a lot don’t we? I hope we make it to the end of the month. I hope so and so wins the election. I hope I win the lottery. I hope so and so comes to church. I hope he becomes a Christian. I hope….

What do you hope for?

People today hope for a lot of things:
• Peace on earth
• An end to the war in Iraq
• An end to the famine and Suffering in Sudan
• An end to diseases like aids
• Justice for the oppressed
• Freedom for the persecuted church
• Prosperity here at home
• Education
• A good job
• Health
• A mate
• A child, children
• A raise, a loan, a better car
• What else? What do you hope for?

I bet our hopes aren’t much different from the things that they hoped for in the first century around the time that Jesus was born.

They hoped for an end to the Roman occupation, the restoration of Israel and the rule of David’s line. Even though they were very spiritual, they hoped for a revival in true religion.

• Then there were the Magi, they hoped to find the one who was born the King of the Jews.

• Herod also hoped to find him, and kill him.

• Zechariah hoped to have a child, a son to carry on his name. So did Elizabeth.

• The shepherds hoped for a dry night and a good price for the sheep.

• Joseph hoped to marry a virgin. Mary hoped to marry Joseph.

• Simeon, he hoped for the consolation of Israel.

• Anna the prophetess hoped for Israel’s redemption.

Do you wonder if any of them hoped for the events that were about to happen that first Christmas?

What do you hope? What do you hope for 2005? What do you hope for this Christmas? What do you hope for today?

Read Romans 8:18-25


18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility--not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it--in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God's children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits--we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.


Paul has written this wonderful letter to the Romans that could be described as the gospel according to Paul. He’s dealt with the problem of original sin and the depravity of man. He’s looked at the impossibility of being saved by our own righteousness. He gave us Abraham as the prototype of the Christian because he was saved by faith and has become the father of the church.

Then Paul became transparent and talked about his own struggles with sin and the darkness of his despair over his impotency. But then, in Romans chapter 8 he turns the light on to reveal that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

In the passage that we just read, Paul talks about the problem. (Read vv. 19-23a).

Our corruption has become indelible since Adam’s failure. Because of his disobedience creation was thrown into frustration. Scientists call it the law of thermodynamics- it’s the law of physics that states that everything in the universe is moving from order to disorder from hot to cold. Everything is breaking down.

When you clean up a room, it gets dirty, when you build a house, it begins to decay, nothing moves from corruption to incorruption. Nothing moves from disorder to order without the help of intellect; a fact that has little impact on the blind faith of evolutionists.

Our bodies are dying. But we weren’t born to die, we were born to live. We weren’t born to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we were born to eat of the tree of life.

But there is an encouragement here for Christians, verse 18 says “consider, think about it, our present sufferings, our present hopes of ending those sufferings are not even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.”

That’s the real hope. That’s the hope that the bible offers us. Not the hope for the end to suffering, not the hope for an end to war, that’s only part of it. It’s something greater than that…. but what?

Read v. 23b. This is something that gets clouded out in a lot of gospel presentations, maybe because it is so hard for us to imagine. I think it’s easier for us to conceive of our spirit’s floating around on clouds in heaven than it is for us to begin to imagine what the redemption of our bodies might mean.

Paul is talking about the hope of the resurrection. Our physical bodies matter so much to God… that’s why He took on human flesh and became one of us- so that he could redeem our bodies from the groanings of the effects of sin, spare us from the effects of thermodynamics.

Does your body groan, does it ache, is it shrinking, getting wider, not working like it used to. That is evidence that the Law of sin is at work in your flesh, but the hope is that the Law of the Spirit is at work in you to redeem your bodies so that a day will come when you will rise from the grave and live the way that God always intended for you to live:

free from disease, free from aging, free from decay, free from cancer, free from anger, or hate or murder, or lust…. Free to bear the image of God…. Free to reflect His likeness. Free to be his sons and daughters. That’s the hope! That’s the greatest Christmas gift. That’s what his birth means.

That’s the gospel, it’s a free gift that you receive when you repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus and live in obedience to His will.

“But I want it now!” You can’t have it now. You have to wait, to be patient, just like the Magi when they wanted to see the king of the Jews, just like Zechariah and Mary had to wait for their son, the forerunner of the messiah, just like the shepherds had to wait until the angels revealed to them where the messiah would be, just like Simeon was told that he would not die until he saw the consolation of Israel, but he was old when he finally held the messiah in his arms, just like Mary had to wait until they arrived in Bethlehem to have her child….

So how do we wait patiently for our hope? Maybe we can learn from the ancients by looking at how they waited.

1. The magi traveled from the East, because they saw a sign in the sky. They watched. How do we wait patiently? Watch for his coming, he’’ come in the clouds. What is he doing right now, where is He at work? Find out; join him in what He’s doing.
2. Consider Zechariah and Elizabeth, they went about their lives never knowing when they would receive the thing that they hoped for. They served the church. Zechariah was a priest, he prayed. Elizabeth hosted travelers; she took Mary in and gave her a place to stay. Serve God and His church, labour for the Kingdom.
3. The Shepherds were open to the spiritual world. When angels appeared to them, they listened and they responded. Expect. Expect God to reveal things to you and to send His angels to watch over you.
4. Joseph and Mary were patient. They were going to have a baby, but the circumstances forced them travel to Bethlehem, possibly during the winter. When they got there, there was no where to stay. Circumstances kept getting in their way. Nothing went the way that they wanted it. But all the time, they were at the very center of God’s will.

Hope. What are you hoping for? When I say that I hope in the adoption as a son of God and the redemption of my body, I are not saying that I hope it will happen the way that I say I hope that the BC Lions will win the Grey Cup, or I hope that I will win the Lottery. That’s an uncertain hope. My hope…. Our hope in Jesus is certain hope, it’s a secure hope, it’s an immutable hope because it is anchored in God and He does not lie.