The God of Hope
Romans 15:1-13
Introduction-
Prayer-
This morning we begin the Advent season.
Hard to believe that another Christmas is upon us.
We are faced with preparing ourselves for the Christmas season.
We have two options, (1) We can let it seek up and overtake us or (2) We can get in front of it and enjoy every minute of it.
I am not talking about just dinners and presents, we seem to always get those things done, as hectic as it gets, we get what is important done and the rest we hope just falls into place.
Advent is a season observed by Western Churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of Jesus at Christmas.
The term Advent is a version of the Latin word meaning “coming.” For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for His second coming. It is why we have Advent candles, readings, Christmas decorations, the giving of presents, and the celebration of feasting together.
You can understand that if you take Christ out of Christmas that you would be missing the whole purpose of the celebration.
You would be left with eating and opening presents.
Christ coming to mankind for mankind allows us to put our hope in the God of the universe, in the creator of all things, instead of hoping in ourselves and being lost in our own sins with no way of getting out of them.
Our text this morning is not a typical Christmas scripture but ties us back to the hope we need to have in Christ Jesus.
Our main text is Romans 15:1-13 as we look the next few weeks at hope, peace, joy and finish Christmas Eve and Christmas day reading the greatest love story of Christ coming in love for mankind.
Romans 15:1-13 Read from Bible
It was always God’s plan for us to have a redeemer.
Nothing ever catches God unprepared.
He has never and will never say “now what am I going to do”?
It was prophesied and then completed first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.
God said that He would come as a child, there would be suffering and death, and we would have a redeemer for the sins of mankind.
Advent is the celebration of His first coming and the anticipation of His second coming.
As a mature believer you cannot separate the two.
Listen how Paul records how we as believers should be acting toward other brothers and sisters of the Lord.
How we can show what Christ has done in our hearts and our lives.
We who are strong, he is identifying with the mature believer, those that have personal convictions, personal relationship with Christ, those that are strong into God’s word that we are not only to tolerate new believers, but guide them,
To not use all the freedoms available to us because we are the stronger believer.
Just as Christ came to not please himself, we are to be sensitive to the lives of the ones around us.
He tells us that the words written for us from the Lord should teach us, so as we patiently wait and endure we would hold fast to the hope we have in Christ.
Illustration-
Years ago, there was a very wealthy man who, with his devoted young son, shared a passion for art collecting. Together they traveled around the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others adorned the walls of the family estate. The widowed father looked on with satisfaction as his only child became an experienced art collector. But the day came when war engulfed the nation, and the young man left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram that his beloved son had been killed while carrying a fellow soldier to a medic.
On Christmas morning a knock came at the door of the old man’s home, and as he opened the door, he was greeted by a soldier with a large package in his hand. He introduced himself to the man by saying, “I was a friend of your son. I was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you.” “I’m an artist,” said the soldier, “and I want to give you this.” As the old man unwrapped the package, the paper gave way to reveal a portrait of his son. Though the art critics would never consider the work a piece of genius, the painting did feature the young man’s face in striking detail, and seemed to capture his personality.
The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. The art world was in anticipation! According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be auctioned. The day soon arrived, and art collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings. The auction began with a painting that was not on any museum’s list. It was the painting of the man’s son. The auctioneer asked for an opening bid. The room was silent. “Who will open the bidding with $100?” he asked. Minutes passed with not a sound from those who came to buy. From the back of the room someone callously called out, “Who cares about that painting? It’s just a picture of his son. Let’s forget it and go on to the important paintings.” There were other voices which echoed in agreement. But the auctioneer replied, “No, we have to sell this one first. Now, who will take the son?” Finally, a friend of the old man spoke. “I knew the boy, so I’d like to have it. I will bid the $100.” “I have a bid for $100,” called the auctioneer. “Will anyone go higher?” After a long silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once. Going twice. Gone.” The gavel fell. Cheers filled the room and someone was heard to say, “Now we can get on with it!” But the auctioneer looked at the audience and announced the auction was over. Stunned disbelief quieted the room. Someone spoke up and asked, “What do you mean it’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son. What about all of these paintings? There are millions of dollars worth of art here! We demand that you explain what’s going on!” The auctioneer replied, “It’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son... gets it all.”
That is the essence of Christmas- whoever takes Jesus gets it all.
But exactly what is included in the “all”?
There are several things, and I would suggest that the first thing is that Advent promises new life in Christ.
It means we now know what God is like.
The coming of Christ gave us a living picture of who God is. Christ’s coming put a face on God. The Bible says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:15-16).
This is what we mean by the incarnation — God came to earth wrapped in a human body.
The God of heaven came to live among us that we might know what he is truly like.
He came to teach us. He came to die for us that we might be forgiven.
He rose from the dead to help us know that we too will be raised.
He ascended to the Father to intercede for us.
He promised that he will return so that eternal hope would burn in our hearts.
He opened the doors of heaven.
He (Jesus) gave us hope!
This is why we say at Christmas — God is with us.
He was with us 2000 years ago, and he is with us now in this present moment to show us what God is like.
We have a God who cared enough to come. No other religion in the world can make that claim.
He showed us what he was like and his name was love.
He was the friend of sinners and failures. He showed love and compassion to the outcasts of the world.
He healed the sick and raised the dead.
But what if Jesus had never come? We would have only commandments to follow, and we would never hear the great words of the New Testament:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
We would be missing a Savior.
If Jesus Christ had not come, there would be no book of Revelation; no hope for a returning Savior who would overcome the world and open heaven for us.
There would be no hope of hearing the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21).
There would not be any hope of a resurrection — not even the concept of one. There would be no eternal life. Nothing to anticipate, except the closing of the casket lid and the coldness of the grave.
But because Jesus came, all that has changed.
We live in joyful anticipation of what is yet to come.
We have Audacious Hope.” The word “audacious” means to be bold and fearless.
Isaiah told about his longing for something more. He dared to believe that something better was coming even though his culture was corrupt and everything around him seemed so dark. We can summarize Isaiah’s audaciousness by looking at what he said in 64:1: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down…” He is longing for the Lord to somehow come down into his world to make sense out of all the nonsense, to bring peace to all the problems, to dispel the darkness and to extricate evil. Isaiah is hungry to have the Holy One enter our whacked-out world in an extraordinary manner.
Isaiah 9:6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
“For to us a child is born.” This describes his birth as a baby.
“To us a son is given.” Jesus is God’s Son given as a gift.
Gratefulness looks back. Hope looks forward with desire and reasonable confidence and expectation. By looking back, gratitude fuels forward-looking hope.
Persons who tend not to be grateful tend not to be hopeful.
Hopelessness is a curse; it’s the curse of trusting in man or in anything other than God and his perfect wisdom and timing.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
The goal of everything, including suffering, is hope.
Many lose hope during hard times, but God intends for tribulation to produce hope… through faith.
Jesus did not say that he was a way of many ways, a truth of many truths, a life of many lives. He said He was the way, the truth, and the life. This means that He is the only way to life everlasting, the only divine truth, and the only source of life satisfactory to God. This verse proclaims, also, that there is no other of any circumstance, money, education, or philosophy that can lead us to God. Thus, Moses, Buddha, Allah, and all other others are excluded. It is as though all blessing, hope, mercy and goodness were placed by divine will in a room into which there is but one entrance. There is no way to obtain these blessings except to enter therein through that one entrance.
As you can see, I have a one point message this morning and it is Jesus is our hope. He has provided everything. As we begin the Advent season, I would encourage you to stay focused on the one who brings hope.
Closing,
As we close, I want to challenge you. The challenge, to think of someone that you would think would never come to Christ. That is the person that I want you to commit to pray for everyday for the next 30 days. Would you do that? Pray specifically for that person to find Christ as Savior. How many will do that? Jesus is our hope and He is the hope for mankind. He is also the God of the impossible. Would you commit to pray for that person? Watch God do the impossible and then I hope to hear of some testimonies of His goodness.
Amen.
