Intro: On December 17, 1927 a US Submarine was patrolling off the Atlantic Coast when it accidentally collided with a Coast Guard Cutter. The submarine was so severely damaged that it sank and came to rest on the floor of the Atlantic about 100 feet down. A rescue ship was dispatched to the scene of the collision and immediately divers were sent to investigate. The first diver to go down was a Commander Ellsberg, who came up reporting the submarine was on her keel with a large hole in her side ... and no sign of life. The next morning, however, two more divers went down again to survey the situation, and as they did they heard tappings coming from inside the damaged vessel. The tapping turned out to be in Morse code. From the signals the divers learned that there were six men who survived the crash. The last message they tapped out in Morse code was: "Is there hope? Please hurry, please!"
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt surrounded and trapped without hope? If you have ever felt hopeless you are not alone. Today we begin a 4 part sermon series for Easter that I pray will be of great help for you.
Let’s ask a question, why does it seem that our cities, counties, country and world are getting worse? Teenage suicide is skyrocketing. Drug use, alcohol, destructive habits and lifestyles, financial failure, broken marriages and relationships often cause a sense of hopelessness. These trends are not just among the poor and underprivileged. The trends even apply to the rich and affluent.
These usually are the result of feeling hopeless and helpless to change it.
I completely believe it is a mindset and a worldview that is to blame for the rise of hopelessness in our day. It is called pluralism. Pluralism is the idea that all religions are equally valid and true.
There are some clear and distinct pitfalls that we must avoid to keep from having false hope that leads to hopelessness.
Pitfall 1: Wishful thinking – Have you ever tried to change anything with your thoughts?
Hoping someone will notice you
Hoping the Hogs win a national championship
Blow the candles out on birthday cake and ask for these.
This is taking our desires and depending on sheer willpower to change reality.
We have to be careful that we don’t deceive ourselves to the point we despair because the result doesn’t match our thinking.
Pitfall 2: Blind optimism – Optimism is a commendable trait. However, you must always guard against looking at the world through rose colored glasses. If you are not careful you ignore the real problems of the world.
Illustration: Parents dealing with two boys one a serial pessimist and the other a ceaseless optimist. Do you know people like that? Optimists who are convinced everything is always great, who gloss over problems in their lives? The overly positive attitude might seem admirable, but again, it doesn’t change reality.
Pitfall 3: Hopeful dreams – Lofty goals. NFL, NBA, dwelling on and driving toward you dreams doesn’t mean they will become reality.
What we discover in these pitfalls is that we are trying to work up hope instead of walk in the hope provided for us by God.
Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” It makes us sick to lose hope. S, M, P, E
Even many in the Bible faced the reality of feeling hopeless.
So how do we walk in hope? We turn to the book of Colossians because Paul wrote it to give hope to a church living in a pluralistic city and world. (Colossians 1:1-8 focus on 1:5)
I. Hope awakens with the message of the gospel
Some of you will recognize this line. There has been an awakening. That is exactly what happens when you hear the gospel and the Holy Spirit awakens your heart to God’s grace.
The good news about God’s message of the gospel is that it addresses us all.
Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
A) The gospel awakens us to purpose
What is the purpose of man if not to glorify God? Why are so many so hopeless? Because their life is empty even if it’s filled with lots of stuff. Often the most miserable people are the ones with the most possessions.
Matthew 19:16 – 22 The Rich young ruler walked away hopeless, grieving because he had many possessions. The Gospel reminds us that we find our purpose in serving and glorifying God. We find our hope in the message that we need a savior. We find our hope in the message that we are called to love, serve and glorify Him.
B) The gospel awakens us to power
The gospel addresses losers, failures, the weak, the empty, addicted, the fearful, the hopeless. Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
The good news is God’s power to change us! The good news has the power of God to give us hope!
What is a biblical hope?
Biblical hope is the absolute assurance that God will do good to us now and for us in the future.
Historians tell us that there was a cloud of despair over the ancient world. Philosophies were empty, traditions disappearing, religions were powerless to help people face death. (Does that at all sound familiar?) The same empty traditions, religions and philosophies are recycled over and over again with new names but the same emptiness of before. Jesus Christ is our hope.
Colossians 1:5, 6 “You have already heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you.”
1 Timothy 1:1 “Jesus Christ who is our hope.” What kind of hope do we have?
1) A persistent hope
The word hope is in the present tense so it means confidence constantly laid up for you in the heavens! Here is the key to walking in hope (confidence). We may feel hopeless but the powerful word of God say Jesus is constantly reserving hope for us in heaven!
Peter knew all about this persistent hope. Which like us he had to be reminded of. Mark 16:6-7 The angel spoke to the women on the morning of the resurrection and said this,
“Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter.”
What a word of hope! Peter probably wallowing in his own self-pity because of denying Jesus was giving a persistent living word of hope from Jesus!!
No matter how you have fallen or failed we have a persistent hope in Jesus!
B) A personal hope
Just as Jesus had a personal word for Peter, He has one for you. It leads to a living hope! Our hope isn’t just about our eternal home in heaven. It is also about our temporal home on earth.
Jesus is always ready to stand right beside us no matter what we face! That is hope.
Hope has never come from a change in circumstances.
Hope comes from a change in character – 2 Corinthians 5:17 a transformation of spirit man
Hope comes from a change in concentration – Hebrews 12:2 a change of focus
Hope comes from a change of future
II. Hope grows with the ministry of Jesus 9-11
This kind of persistent, personal, powerful hope produces and encourages faith. Paul clearly says their faith and love was a result of the confidence they had in Jesus Christ through the gospel.
Chuck Swindoll said it masterfully, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
You and I know that all things are possible with God. Faith is taking the word of God and acting on it no matter how impossible it seems.
A) His ministry produces faith -1:4
Jesus enters the world through the manger but our world through His ministry. His ministry in your life doesn’t end after salvation. In fact it is only beginning. After you place your confidence and trust in Jesus by turning your life completely over to Him, the life journey of transformation begins. Jesus wants us to learn to walk by faith or better yet trust.
Faith is taking action based on confidence in the character and promises of Jesus. Chuck Swindoll said it best, “Faith is believing in advance what can only be understood in reverse. The great thing about the gospel is that it’s true. When the Holy spirit works through the preaching of the gospel people are delivered from defeat, despair, betrayal, hopelessness, addiction, temptation, bad habits, unforgiveness. How you walk however is up to you.
If we choose to walk in hope that leads to faith the Holy Spirit will produce fruit in our lives.
B) His ministry produces fruit – 1:6
What fruit does the Holy Spirit produce in your life in hope through faith? According to this passage hope creates the fertile attitude of faith that produces a crop of love.
It’s like a mathematical equation, hope awakened = faith growing = love sharing.
Love of you brothers and sisters in Christ is the fruit of the Holy Spirits work of hope and faith in you.
If you have a difficulty with loving people like you love yourself it’s very possible you hope is built on something other than Jesus blood and righteousness.
Know this when Christians truly live by faith that rests in Jesus, that faith will produce love for others that may result in losses and crosses, but as Christians our expectation (hope) goes far beyond this life into the eternal future.
Why is there so much despair and depression even in the church of Jesus Christ today? We are supposed to be more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. I want to suggest to you that it is because we are just like Israel of old. (Read Exodus Numbers 11:1-6)
Do you realize what they were doing? They were despising the miraculous and desiring to go back to the land of sin. The mana was to mundane and ordinary. Are we any different? So many want this amazing exciting experience of God and miss it because He provides it through daily bowing at His feet and dining on His heavenly mana found in the Bible. The Israelites had a strong craving for other meat. Do we? God’s word is living and active it not only cuts to the bone it quickly cuts to the heart of the matter giving us confidence to overcome any hopelessness
III. Hope moves us to recognize Jesus as king 1:13 (kingdom)
A) This requires us to invite God in
B) This frees us from human understanding so we can see with spiritual precision
Hope doesn’t come from a human perspective but a heaven perspective.
Hope is really God’s perspective on human events. If you want hope seek God’s perspective on your life!
C) This frees us from our agenda and expectations
