Living with Hope
Intro: Advent is a time of preparation and expectation for the coming of Christ, the time before celebrating the “joy to the world” that God’s incarnation becomes. In advance of a celebratory Christmas season that follows Advent, it is good for us to take time to reflect on the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love, which gets us ready for a world that Christ has entered. We plan to follow the themes of Advent over the next few weeks. We are joining with believers all around the world as we remember the story of what God has done and look toward where God is going. Today we focus on hope. Advent is all about hope. But hope isn’t something we can manufacture. We can’t just try to be more hopeful. Hope doesn’t come with the power of positive thinking.
Colossians 1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
-G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.” It is not a blissful ignorance or wishful thinking but a subversive cheer that refuses to let circumstance triumph over courage, doubt overcome faith, or adversity conquer compassion. This is not easy; it is not our default setting. When we hit brick walls, the first emotion that naturally arises is generally not hope. Hope requires a strength that comes from focusing on a greater vision than what is wrong. We may not have every problem figured out, but we serve a God who loved this world enough to join us in it. We trust that when Jesus said, “Behold, I am making all things new,” he meant it. (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/billykangas/2013/11/reflections-on-advent-as-a-time-of-preparation-bread-for-the-world-have-faith-end-hunger.html#ixzz3JMIddWZ5)
-This past week I’ve shaken hands with hope on several occasions, only to see it fade away at the end of the day. I’m talking about my elk hunting experience. (See sign, hunt in great looking areas, follow tracks, walk miles, get hopes up, come home empty handed. I prayed, pleaded, and plodded all to no avail. I have come to the conclusion that elk are extinct… at least on Mt. Harris. We all need hope, or else we just give up! If we feel we have no hope for something better, then we will most often quit trying.)
-Hope does not mean groundless expectation, but confidence in something yet to be, with an accompanying endeavor to reach it. Hope is based on the sure promises that God has given us in the Bible. We will see Him. We will be like Him. We will be with Him forever! We have many reasons to hope and believe God that everything He has promised will be fulfilled. I’d like to look at a few of them today.
1. We Have Hope Because God is with us (Immanuel- first advent)
Matthew 1:21-23 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."
-He is the “with us” God as opposed to the absentee God. He came close and became vulnerable to show us who He is and who He has called us to be. Paul used the example of the altar to the unknown God in Acts 17 to show the people of Athens that God had come near and made Himself known to mankind through Jesus. Jesus came as our Prophet, Priest, and King. Prophet (declaring the word of the Lord); Priest (making atonement for our sins); King (including us in His kingdom as we yield to His rule in our lives). God is with us and that gives us hope – forgiveness and final redemption through faith in Him!
2. We Have Hope Because God is in us
(A personal advent! By faith we are saved- Jesus is alive in me!)
John 14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Ephesians 3:16-17 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
-I love how the language is interchangeable. When God is in us, we are in Christ!
John 14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
-Because God is in us, we have hope! Hope for heart change, hope for life change! We have been transformed and we are being transformed into His image!
3. We Have Hope Because God is for us! (Rom. 8:31)
Romans 8:31-32 If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
-God declared His good intentions toward us in the words the angels spoke to the shepherds: Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"
-God is for us and wants us to know His peace. He has set His favor on those who trust in Him! He has our best interests at heart in all that He does, in all that He allows, and in all that He doesn’t allow. The first advent was the ultimate expression of how much God is for you. He came, He lived, He died, He rose again, and He’s coming back again!
4. We Have Hope Because God is coming back for us (John 14:3)
John 14:3 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.
-Wrap Up: God is with us in a close, reachable way. He wants to show us who He is. That is what the first coming of Jesus was all about – God with skin on, the Word made flesh, who lived among us. God’s plan is to live in and through us. When we call on Him in faith, He moves in and changes us from the inside out. He is for us. He is on our side, wanting us to yield completely to Him. And He is coming back in person, fully present in every way so we can be with Him forever! That is why we have hope! That is why we do not give up, even when times get tough. No trial of this life can separate us from His great love. Our hope is in the Lord, and we have every reason to keep on trusting Him!
