Anyone here named “Hope?” Hope is one of the most awesome names in the United States. Here’s what we know about the name:
1. Hope is ranked as the 714th most popular name in the US.
2. Based on the Social Security Baby Data base there are 73,426 people in the US named “Hope.”
3. There are 18.9 people named “Hope” for every 100,000 Americans.
4. The name is used as the first name 70% of the time.
5. The SSA data also shows that there name “Hope” is used for a girl 100% of the time.
Yet, what if I told you today that the “hope” has a name. Hope’s name is Jesus.
Hope is a big word this Christmas. Black Friday took place two days ago and Cyber Monday is tomorrow and parents have started perking up their ears to discover what children are “hoping” for this Christmas.
Plans are being made and calendars are filling in hope of the kids and grandkids coming home.
Individually, Christmas is filled with expectation because people have hope and dreams about what kind of memories will be made this Christmas.
Yet, when Jesus arrived in Bethlehem, hope was difficult to find. The final chapters of the Old Testament had closed and the scrolls of Malachi were getting dusty. God’s people were in the waiting room. Silence was louder than hope; 400 years had come and gone and hope seemed to be almost gone; and suddenly, the Messiah was born and He had a name; His name was. Jesus.
Jesus is called the hope of all the world. Yet, what the world calls hope and what the Bible calls hope are two different things. To understand this we need to understand a few things about “hope.”
Transitional Sentence: What questions do we need answers to concerning hope?
I. What Is Real Hope?
vs. 34- “How can this be for I’m a virgin.”
Explanation:
Hope is a big word used in the Christmas season. Yet, what’s the difference between the hope Jesus brought, and still brings to us, versus what the world’s definition of hope is.
The word “hope” according to Webster means: “ A desire accompanies that a wish-- basically, wishful thinking.”
At the beginning of football season there’s a level of worldly hope. There’s a hope that our team will win a National Championship; and after a number of losses; we just hope that our team will get a bowl game.
In High School, it might be a hope that the girl that a guy has his eye on just might notice him, talk to him; perhaps go on a date with him. Sometimes that hope is met; if not, it wanders off into the wishful thinking category.
Worldly hope is one that makes someone think; I just might have a shot at this. Perhaps if the right things happen; something desired will happen. This type of hope is based on circumstances. The right things aligning; or a last-minute decision landing upright on its two feet.
Yet, with God, hope is different. The word “Hope” means a confident expectation. It is based on a promise that is backed up by such a worthy and able promise keeper; that all we have to do it wait for the moment for it to be fulfilled.
Hebrews 6:18-19 (NLT) sums it up saying: “Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to hope that lies before us. This hope is strong and a trustworthy anchor for our souls.”
This hope is strong, solid, trustworthy anchor that we trust to hold together and not fall or flake off.
As we meet Mary today we find the source of all hope. If you want assurance, the hope that you have must be based on the person and their power to fulfill your expectations that you have from what they have promised you.
The first time God promised to send a Messiah was in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned God promised that “the woman would have a child and that the snake would bite his heel, but the child would crush the tempters head.”
From there, God kept promising to send a Messiah. Hebrews 10:23 tells us that based on the fact that God made the promise, the “hope” and “expectation” was legitimate and could be taken to the bank.
Hebrews 10:23 says: “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise.”
Hope is based on God’s promises and are connected to the person that God is. This is why hope is theological not psychological.
Being an optimist is not a bad thing on its own; yet if your life is at stake; you need something that is sure, concrete, and fully established and certain.
Do you know what’s interesting about Christmas? Mary was struggling with hope. When God’s arch angel showed up to tell Mary she was going to be “expecting” --- she was not very “expectant.”
She was struggling with in the area of “hope.” Simply stated: “She was hopeless” when it came to what God promised her. He had just told her that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah--- but she couldn’t even trust God for the promise of pregnancy; much less trust God for fulfilling the promise of the prophets.
Gabriel did not just show up to tell Mary that she was going to have a son who God was going to be the Father; He showed up to declare to her that she was about to grow in her faith.
Let me ask you: Is that what you are hoping for this Christmas? Are you over the next several weeks wanting this season to be a time of spiritual growth; or simply Christmas celebration?
For Mary; Christmas was not just about a baby growing in her womb; it was about her faith growing in her heart.
Illustration: Impossible Christmas lights
Between 1840 and 1870 Christmas trees were decorated only with candles. They were festive and beautiful; but they were a huge fire hazard.
During that time, families thought that was the only possible way to light up a Christmas tree.
Yet, in 1882, in a townhouse at 136 East 36th Street in New York City, Edward Hibberd Johnson had an idea that would make him the unsung set decorator of a zillion holiday snapshots.
Johnson, who worked with Thomas Edison, set up a tree by the street side window of their store. Johnson hand-wired 80 red, white, and blue light bulbs, strung them together around the tree, and placed the trunk of the tree on a revolving pedestal, all powered by a generator. The lights drew a crowd as passersby stopped to gaze at the glowing marvel. Johnson turned this and the practice of doing more each year into a tradition.
At that time, a string of 16 vaguely flame-shaped bulbs sitting in brass sockets the size of shot glasses sold for $12 - about $350 in today’s money. By 1914, that same set cost just $1.75. By the 1930s, colored bulbs and cones were everywhere.
Today, an estimated 150 million light sets are sold in America each year, adding to the tangled millions stuffed into boxes each January. They light 80 million homes and consume 6 percent of the nation’s electrical load each December.
In a matter a few years, what seemed impossible suddenly became common reality.
Application:
What seemed impossible for Mary; within 9 months became a reality. She watched him grow in wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and men. Yet, that wasn’t the only thing that grew-- her faith grew. Her trust in God was bolstered by the angel saying: “Nothing is impossible with God.”
And from there on; she saw the impossibilities become reality as she gave birth to the one who gives us confidence and the Biblical hope that we live by today.
We don’t live by wishful thinking; we have a living hope because Jesus is alive and living in our lives each day.
Transitional Sentence: What questions do we need answers to concerning hope?
II. Why Do I Need Hope?
vs. 37- “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Explanation:
Real hope is based on God’s Word; not my wishes. It’s not based on my emotion. It’s based on what God has spoken.
God has made over 7000 promises to you. One thing that is impossible for God is that God can not lie. When we put our hope in God’s promises; it’s not wishful thinking; its positive.
God sent Jesus so that you would have someone not only to save you but to secure you.
When Mary heard that God was promising her that she was going to become pregnant; notice what she did: She surrendered to God and found her security in Him.
Notice what she said in verse 38. She said: “Behold your bondservant of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.”
Do you see how secure God’s promises made her? She just trusted God.
Of all the believers in history who could have felt insecure; it would have been Mary. Do you know why?
Recently a study was done to reveal the most common causes of fear and hopelessness:
1) A feeling of aloneness and abandonment- From this announcement Joseph would look to
put her away privately.
2. A sense that life seems out of control- Listen: How out of control is pregnancy without
human conception.
3. You don’t have what you need- Mary was just a girl whose reputation was about to be
scarred. Her reputation was about to be stripped, her word questioned, and her life
completely turned upside down.
4. When you are falsely accused. Mary in reality was falsely accused by everyone. Initially,
Joseph did not believe the “virgin pregnancy” story. Yet, it was 100% true. It was a true
story.
5. When your future is unsure. As a young Hebrew girl that was found expecting out of
wedlock, Joseph sought to “put her way” (divorce) her privately.” This would have
marked her with a scarlet letter. She had to trust God because her future was completely
at stake. Her reputation would be lost and her future would have been put in jeopardy.
This calling on Mary’s life would have been hopeless without the intervention of God.
Have you ever experienced one or more of these five causes of hopelessness? Do you think you might experience these in the future? Maybe you are feeling this right now. Maybe these feelings are a few things you are feeling as we enter into the Christmas season.
If so, you know why we all need hope. We need assurance. We need security. We need confidence that the we have promises and a person to lead us through this life and into eternity.
Mary needed it and so do you and I.
Illustration: When hope is almost gone- Lovell
Jim Lovell, famed astronaut and commander of the failed Apollo 13 mission to the moon (a mission which very nearly cost the life of Commander Lovell and his crew) was once asked if he had ever faced genuine and hopelessness before the Apollo 13 incident.
He responded by recounting the events of a particular night training mission over the Sea of Japan during WWII.
His fighter jet he was piloting was severely crippled. Both his radar and homing devices failed. He was flying blind, and knew that he wouldn’t even be able to see the lights of his aircraft carrier below because they were sailing in blackout mode due to the combat conditions.
As he turned on his map light to try to get his bearings, all of his lights and instrumentation shorted out. Without his altimeter, he had no way of gauging how close he was to crashing into the darkness of the waters below.
Just when he felt all hope was lost he saw the faint, phosphorescent glow of a long trail of algae.
He went on to explain that large ships churn up the algae in their wake as they cut through the ocean seas. He knew his carrier had to be close. "It was like a long carpet laid out for me, leading me home."
Had his lights not failed, he would never been able to see the faint glow below. He recalled, "You never know what events will transpire to get you home."
Application:
We need hope, not just to get us home to heaven, but we need hope to get us through life each day.
Mary trusted God and although times were tough for her; she knew with God her problems had an expiration date. He would see her through because her hope was in the God who sent Gabriel to tell her: “With God all things are possible.”
Let me ask you: Is you hope fixed and fastened to the God who is able to do anything? If God who created the world can downsize into the form of a fetus and gloriously be attached to the umbilical cord of a virgin woman; what else can He do?
The answer is simple: Anything.
Allow the God of “anything” to be your object of hope and your life you will sense a security that you’ve never had before.
Transitional Sentence: What questions do we need answers to concerning hope?
III. Why is Christmas A Perfect Time to Find Hope?
vs. 31- “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and shall call His name Jesus.”
Explanation:
Many people talk about Christmas and say things like this: “It was the day that hope was born.”
While there were many names that the Messiah; God’s Son could be called, God chose for His Son to be named “Jesus.”
The name “Jesus” was and is, a significant name. The name is a name of hope.
When Jesus was born over 2000 years His birth announced the rescue that people had been longing for. As the angel spoke to Mary and Joseph, Gabriel the angel said: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and shall call His name Jesus.” vs. 31
In Matthew 1:21the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph and said: “She (Mary) will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
The name “Jesus” literally means “to rescue.”
There is no other time of year where we naturally pause to think about the hope that was given when Jesus was born.
Before you were born, God’s plan for you started; they started when God planned for a Savior to be born for you.
Isn’t that what the angels said to the shepherds? “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”
Yes, Jesus was not just born for others; He was born for you. That’s how personal God’s plan for Jesus to come is to you. He shaped you in your mother’s womb; but 2000 years before; He shaped His own Son to be the hope and joy of your life.
He prepared through Jesus the only one and the only thing that would fit in that hollow place in your heart. You genuinely do have a God-sized hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill.
Before your heart was made; God provided the one that was necessary thing you needed.
This season: Celebrations can’t fill your heart. Songs can’t fill your heart. Only Christ could fill your heart. You are wired for a deep and personal relationship with God that only Jesus could provide.
Christmas is a perfect time to shift our lives and its focus on Jesus; Christmas truly is a time when hope was born,
Concluding Illustration: When Hope is born- Two pictures
This week I saw a picture that was called: “When Hope Was Born.” Here’s the picture: (A distorted picture, no image)
This picture was painted by a non-Christian named Maha Rukab. If you want the picture you can purchase it for $370 on-line.
Yet, as I looked at it, I could not help but think-- that’s exactly what hope looks like without Jesus. Human generated hope might be flashy, colorful, and full of earthly promises. Yet, it never leaves us guessing, imagining what it really looks like; hoping to bring into focus the “real picture” of hope.
But on Christmas; hope came into focus and it looks more like this: (A similar picture with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in it) (Both pictures are on-line for sell. Both are called "When Hope was born."
At Christmas; Hope came and hope remains because Jesus was born, and yes, He died. Yet, His life could not be taken away permanently because Easter came as well. Hope is alive because Jesus is alive. He’s here today. At the cusp of the beginning of this celebration; why not start Christmas with real hope?
At Christmas, hope was born!
