One Hope Series

ONE: The Unity of the Spirit (3)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 1/21/2018

A loaded mini-van pulled up to the only remaining campsite. Four youngsters leaped from the vehicle and feverishly began unloading the gear and setting up the tent. The boys rushed off to gather firewood while the girls along with their mother began to set up the camp stove and cooking utensils. A nearby camper watched and marveled to the children's father, "That is the greatest display of unity and teamwork I have ever seen. How do you run such a well-organized family?" The father said, "Well, it really works on only one basic principle. Nobody gets to go to the bathroom until the camp is set up!"

When a family shares one goal, they can really harmonize as they work toward it, can’t they? The same is true for Christians.

If you’re just joining us, we’re three weeks into a seven-week exploration of Christian unity. On the eve of Christ’s crucifixion, he prayed that all his followers—everyone who would ever believe in him—would be one; that we would share the same kind of unity experienced by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

To that end, the Apostle Paul provides believers with a series of seven “ones” that ought to bind us together in peace and harmony and love. He writes, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:3-6 NIV). This list of “ones” creates a solid foundation upon which all believers everywhere can experience true unity of spirit.

A couple weeks ago, we started with the first item on the list: one body. Despite the differences and disagreements between denominations, congregations, and individual Christian, there is just one body of Christ and every born-again believer is a part of that body.

Last week, we focused on the second tie that binds believers together: one Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells each and every believer and presents special, spiritual gifts to each one of us. The Spirit alone decides who gets what gifts and He intends for us to use those gifts to serve and help one another, thus building up the body of Christ and creating unity between believers.

This morning, I want to look at the third unifying factor Paul mentions: one hope. Or, as another translation puts it: “one glorious hope for the future” (Ephesians 4:4 NLT).

Before we get into this “one hope” we all share as Christians, it’s important to define exactly what we mean by hope. Often, when we use the word hope, we’re really talking about wishful-thinking: “I hope my team wins the Super Bowl” or “I hope I get a raise.” But these are rather uncertain hopes. If someone says to you, “I hope you have a good day,” there is no guarantee that the day will go well, right?

But that’s not how the Bible uses the word hope. It isn’t wishing for the best. It isn’t waiting to see what happens and crossing your fingers that it turns out well. For the Christian, hope is not a fleeting feeling or a fickle emotion. Rather, hope is a confident expectation, an anchor of the soul. Elsewhere Paul writes about hope, saying, “We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently” (Romans 8:24-25 NLT).

So, the idea behind biblical hope is patiently and confidently waiting for and looking forward to something we don’t yet have. But what is that something? What is this “one glorious hope for the future” that unites all Christians?

Simply put, it is the hope of heaven.

Heaven. It’s the end of the journey. It’s the beginning of eternal life. It’s the subject of hundreds of hymns and the theme of innumerable sermons. It’s the moment you don’t want to miss. The home of glory and goodness, of grace and God himself. Heaven is our highest hope.

But what makes heaven so glorious? Why look forward to it with patience and confidence? How does the hope of heaven bring us all together? Under the umbrella of heaven, there are at least three promises that all Christians can confidently anticipate; three promises that make heaven altogether heavenly. Think of them as three hopes within the hope of heaven.

The first is the hope of resurrection.

• THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION

Beginning with the 1968 cult-classic Night of the Living Dead and perpetuated by hit television shows like the Walking Dead, pop-culture is enamored with the notion of the dead coming back to life. The truth is—a day is coming when the dead will rise, but not in the way portrayed by zombie movies and TV shows.