Living With One Hope

Jesus had disciples . . . but this was not how Jesus operated. Sure, Jesus had people just follow him around, but Jesus operated differently. Instead of the best of the best coming to Jesus, Jesus went to the men on fishing boats, and tax collectors in the market square. And would call them, he would kaleo them! Offer them an invitation, “Come follow me!” He would look up into a tree and say, Zaccheus, come down from that tree and bring me to your house for dinner. It was very un-rabbi like.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he left instructions for His talmedeem, His disciples. Go therefore and make believers . . . NO! Go therefore and make disciples. And Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians. That before the foundation of the world, God chose, God called, he gave us an invitation.

Having hope and living in hope is based totally on this invitation to be followers of Jesus, to be exactly like Him. You and I may not believe we can be like Him, but God does. And so its up to you and me regarding the life we choose to live. You and I can leave here today deciding, I’m not interested in being a disciple. I will not walk in the manner in which I have been called, but we can’t leave here today believing that we can’t be disciples. God hasn’t given us that option.He believes in us. And so Paul writes to us and says . . . you were called in one hope of your calling.

What does that mean? It means you’ve been given an invitation to hope and that your hope actually becomes your vocation, your way of life, your vocation.

2. We have a hope.

Our hope is actually our way of life.

Last Sunday afternoon I called my parents to wish them well as they celebrated their wedding anniversary. I talked to my dad and my dad and I struck up the same conversation we have had every September since I left home 14 years ago. “The season’s starting soon, son. What’s the news, how do they look this year, dad?” And over the years the common response has been much the same, “Son, I think this is the year! The Leafs could win the cup this year!” Last Sunday my dad sighed and said, “Son, they just don’t look that great this year” 40 years of Stanley Cup drought has finally put a dent in my father’s blue and white armor. Wanting and expecting the Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup every year is not a hope . . . it’s a wish . . . and many of you are thinking, it’s a stupid wish indeed.

But here’s the truth . . . we take wishes and turn them into hopes all the time. We put all our eggs in the basket of temporal things rather than eternal things. We make temporal things our vocation, our way of life. Wishes are based on what will bring us pleasure and pride for the sake of pleasure and pride itself. Our vocation and our way of life are so often wish oriented for the sake of our own pleasure and pride. Whereas hope is based on what is eternal and what really matters and it is those things in the end that will truly bring us pleasure and bring us what I consider to be God oriented pride. The kind of pride that does not boast in itself, but boasts, as Paul would say, In Christ and Him crucified.