Counting Every Blessing: The Blessing of Hope
Jeremiah 29:1-13 and 1 Peter 1:3-5
We are in part 4 of the series Counting Every Blessing. I have been assigned the Blessing of hope. Hope is a very strange word in the English language because it has so many different levels of confidence attached to it. If you went to work this past week and you said, “I hope to get paid on Friday”, that is a different kind of hope than if you don’t have a job, and you said, “I hope to get paid on Friday.”
If you are hoping your social security check will arrive a day early next month, that is a different kind of hope than hoping that the Cleveland Browns will win the superbowl this season.
Part of what makes hope either something very strong or something very weak is what is the hope connected to. What is the basis for the hope? Some hope is nothing more than wishful thinking. I know a guy who is 61 and hopes to be a millionaire when he’s 66 so he can comfortably retire. Yet his skills, his education, and his work history is very limited. Some hope is grounded in fantasy. Some hope is grounded in reality. Some hope is grounded in something stronger than reality and that’s when the hope is grounded in God. When God gives a promise, our hope in the promise is ultimately our hope in God.
Before he died, Jesus told his disciples, I will be killed and on the third day, I will rise from the dead. The disciples hoped Jesus was wrong about what he said. They hoped he was wrong about dying, and at first they did not believe that he had risen from the dead. But if they had put their hope in his promise to rise from the dead, they would have spared themselves a lot of grief. Their faith would not have been shattered by the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus.
One mistake constantly made by believers is grabbing a verse or a promise from the Word of God, taking it out of its context, and making it say something that that really misses the point. Many of us know the verse from Jeremiah , For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. But there was some background work that had to be done before that verse would operate in the lives of the people to whom it had been given.
Supposed you made a promise to pay two teenagers, Sam and Rayshon $200 to rake up the leaves in your yard if it was done by 3:00. You gave them the rakes, the bags, and everything else needed to do the job. At 3:00, they rang the door bell to get paid. You look out and see not a leaf has been raked up and not a bag is full. How many of you are going to pay them the $200 because its 3:00 and you made a promise?
To understand the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11, you need to know its history. Jeremiah had been preaching to people for years that they needed to repent from their evil ways and turn back to God, otherwise God’s judgment was going to come and the Babylonians would take them out of their country. They told Jeremiah to shut up, they didn’t want to hear it from the King of Judah on down to the person in the streets. The false prophets told the people Jeremiah was lying. All that he saying was fake news.
Well the Babylonians did come and capture the king of Judah, his family, all the skilled workers, the rich, the important religious leaders, and anybody who was somebody and took them away to Babylon. That’s how Daniel, Shadrack, Meshak, Abednego, Mordecai and Esther all left the country and ended up in Babylon and Persia. None of them wanted to leave their native land in Judah.
They were terrified of the future at the hands of their captors. People who were left behind cried for them because they knew they would probably never see them again. They knew some would end up as slaves. Others could not believe that God would allow this to happen. Jeremiah had been telling them this for years, but no one wanted to listen.
King Nebuchadnezzar took the king of Judah’s uncle, Zedekiah, and made up the new king over God’s people. Nebuchadnezzar did not take Jeremiah to Babylon. But within a few years, the new king Zedekiah also quickly turned away from God.
Jeremiah started prophesying that God was going to send Nebuchadnezzar back to destroy all the nations in the area. False prophets rose up with good news for those who were in exile.
They told the people in Babylon, “God has said, within two years, God will destroy the power of Nebuchadnezzar and everybody will be coming back home. Don’t get too comfortable. Some of the people put their hope in what they were saying and some started counting the days to go back home. These were the same prophets who had told them four years earlier, that Babylon would never come and attack them.
Why are we so quick to put our hope in those who have lied to us in the past, and who really don’t know what’s going to happen next week. As believers we do have a better option. We can align ourselves first and foremost to Jesus Christ himself and not bow down to any other teaching or philosophy. We do have the option of putting our hope in God and in the truth of what God has said.
God spoke to Jeremiah and said send a message to those people who are already packing their bags to come back. 1. The people who lied to you before are lying to you again. 2. Stop packing your bags, and prepare to be there for a while. 3. Build houses, settle down, plant gardens, marry, have sons and daughters, get wives and husbands for those sons and daughters and increase in numbers.
4. Pray for the peace and prosperity of the place you are living in 5. Stop listening to the prophets and people who are telling you wonderful things you want to hear. It’s not going to happen. 6. You are going to be where you are for the next 70 years until I come and get you to bring you back.
7. I am doing all this because I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future.
Do you see this verse is not about an instant life of joy and happiness. It’s about sustaining you as you prepare to go through some very difficult situations in life.
Now when God first sent away the people to Babylon, it looked as though those who were put in chains were the ones God had forgotten about and rejected. But God was actually watching out for them for the future. The people who were left behind who thought they had it good, are all going to be wiped out when the Babylonians come back a second time after the new king betrays Babylon. Your darkest day, may actually be the day that God is putting you in place for something to come. That’s why having hope on that day is such a blessing.
When God looks at our future, God is not simply thinking two or three years down the road, God may be looking at how he’s shaping you for something God needs to have done 70 years from now.
When Daniel was being carried away in chains as a teenager by the Babylonians, do you think he was happy about it? Do you think he might have wanted to escape and go back to the land of Judah? Do you think we would be talking about him today if he had. Do you think that when God saw Daniel marching with the others toward Babylon, that God already knew the high positions he had ordained for Daniel in both the Babylonian and Persian Empire.
When we give our life to Christ, we are no longer trying to determine what’s best for me in this situation. The focus becomes, God I am here to further your kingdom and your interests. I pray as Jesus prayed, “not my will, but yours be done”. When Christ died on the cross, he was not only purchasing our salvation, Christ was purchasing us. Christ had a plan and a purpose for us. How many of you remember Pastor Toby encouraging us each morning before getting out of bed to say, “Good morning, Lord, what’s your plan for us today?”
The hope that Jeremiah offered to the people had something to do with their lives on this side of the grave. Have you every wondered why the vast majority of people believe that there is some form of life beyond the grave? The word of God tells us the answer in Ecclesiastes in which we are told, God has put eternity in the heart of every person who has ever lived. We can ignore it if we try hard enough, but God put it there for a reason. God wanted to give us a hope, that this world is not all there is, and that there is something far greater ahead for those who choose to put their hope in God.
In our New Testament reading today, Peter was writing to a group of believers who were being persecuted for their faith. The society in which they lived could not understand their desire to live a separate kind of lifestyle that was holy to God.
They were being punished for doing good and forced to suffer simply for being Christians. Some of them were starting to wonder, if it was worth it all. They had thought becoming a Christian would have made their lives better, but it seemed as though things had gotten even worse. When we feel like our hope is wavering between whether or not its worth it, we should remember Jesus.
In the book of Hebrews chapter 12 it says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The verse said something was offered to Jesus that was on the other side of the grave that gave him hope before he went to the cross.
I think one of the most undervalued items we as believers possess is the future of our souls. Jesus asked, what will it profit a person to gain everything this world has to offer, wealth, power, prestige and possessions, and lose their soul. This body we are walking around in is one day going to move for the last time. It will return to dust or ashes.
But the soul is another thing. It will be with us on the other side of death. What is our hope for our soul? What is the hope based upon? Is it a realistic hope? Is it a biblical hope? We are told that salvation is found only in the name of Jesus. There is no other name by which we can be saved.
What are just a few things the bible tells us about life after death? It tells us that it is real and it exists. It tells us that everyone will appear before God to give an account of their lives. It tells us that all believers will go before the judgment seat of Christ and all unbelievers will go to the great white throne judgment. It tells us that we will reunite with other believers. It tells us God will create a new heavens and a new earth.
It tells us there will be no more sickness, sorrow or shame. It tells us there will be rewards that have been earned and will be given out. It tells there will be disappointments. It tells us people will spend eternity in either the lake of fire or in the presence of God. It tells us that we are the ones to determine what happens after we die. It tells us there is a city that is half the size of the United States that reaches 1400 miles into the sky. You only have to go 62 miles up to be considered in outer space. There’s nothing on earth that comes close to the size of that building.
Peter wrote in the Scriptures, “ In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. Our hope that we have in life after death is guaranteed the moment we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
As certainly, as Jesus rose from the dead, our hope in Christ causes us to rise from the dead with him. No only that we get an inheritance in heaven that is waiting for us.
Our hope of having a place in heaven is not just wishful thinking, Jesus is the one who came from heaven told us, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 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.’
As an African American male approaching 70 with a life expectancy between 72 and 76, death seems a lot closer than it use to. I wake up each up morning with reminders that this old body is breaking down, and that it won’t be that long before I am going to be getting a three day notice that an eviction action is going to be filed against me. I will have to vacate the premises.
But that’s alright. I also realize that a lot of the people I loved the most are already on the other side of death. Yet because of my hope in the resurrection and in heaven, I have no desire to be 25 all over again. Each of us must serve God in our own generation and then move on. No I do not wish to live to be a 100. If that’s God’s plan then so be it, but I’m not asking for it.
The living hope that God has placed inside of me is of much greater value than another 30 years of living. I look forward to joining that cloud of witnesses in heaven that are constantly cheering us on. Sure there are those I will miss and leave behind, but I do look forward to the great gathering of the saints at the throne of God and we shout in unison, Jesus is Lord.
I look forward to having a renewed mind, where I will know everybody’s name without having to check my phone. I’m not afraid of death, because my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
It is that hope in what Christ has promised that motivates me to want to finish my life being obedient to Christ in all areas of my life. I want to serve as Christ would have me serve. I don’t want to get to heaven to find out I’ve been carrying a grudge around in my heart or unforgiveness in my spirit toward someone else.
I have had pain in my knee since an operation from 2013. I blamed the doctor all these years for botching the surgery leaving me with pain in my knee. But this week I saw an x-ray of my left knee. On the outside there was a perfect cushion between the upper and leg bone.
But on the inside, that cushion had deteriorated and arthritis had set in. At times it is just bone on bone. And when it is, that thing hurts. The person I had been blaming, had nothing to do with the pain. It was a condition inside of me, that needed fixing.
Sometimes we blame others for a pain inside of us, that they are not responsible for. When God shows us the source of the pain, let us allow our hope in God to allow it to be healed. Be willing to thank God for the blessing of hope. The hope that God will provide me with the grace and strength to become all that God intended for me to be. The hope that God will make me more like Christ.
This sermon is about the blessing of hope in times of trouble and despair on this side of grave and the hope that inspires us after death. What does Jeremiah 29:11 actually mean in its context.
