OPENING: While hunting, Larry and Elmer got lost in the woods. Trying to reassure his friend, Larry said, "Don’t worry. All we have to do is shoot into the air 3 times, stay where we are, and someone will find us."
They shot in the air 3 times, but no one came. After a while, they tried again. Still no response. When they decided to try once more, Elmer said, "I hope it works this time. We’re down to our last 3 arrows."
APPLICATION: Larry and Elmer were putting their hope in the advice of others, even though they didn’t understand that that advice didn’t apply to shooting arrows.
People in difficult circumstances often rely on advice of
· friends
· neighbors
· and experts
Just like Larry & Elmer, they will listen to others, placing their hope in the wisdom and experience of those they trust.
Hope is vital - in fact it’s critical - for our every day survival in life.
God understands that. That’s why, in Romans 15:4 we’re told: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE."
ILLUS: When we speak of this type of hope. We’re not talking about the kind of hope I had when I was in Florida recently. My boy Jonathan was about 2 years old and I took him out for a walk. I’d heard of snakes and fire ants and wild cats in the jungle nearby, and as Jonathan walked, I scanned the ground "hoping" not to find any of these things.
That’s not the kind of hope that God talks about. His kind of "hope" could best be described as an attitude of confidence, expectation, and trust.
In Job 6:11-13, Job says: "What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?"
Job was saying that if he had Godly hope, he would be confident and he would live expecting good things to happen.
Proverbs 29:18 tells us "Where there is no vision the people perish." That is, without hope, people huddle up in the corner and die. No vision/ hope - no life.
Turn to Hebrews 6:17-20. We’re told there: "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the HOPE offered to us may be GREATLY ENCOURAGED. We have this hope as an ANCHOR FOR THE SOUL, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
Our hope, as Christians, is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 13 tells us that one of the three greatest gifts God gives us is "hope."
Thus Hope is such a valuable gift from God… I want to know how I can get that kind of Hope.
I. Romans 15:4 says we gain hope by "Endurance"
It is God’s good pleasure to give you the desire of your hearts. BUT, it is God’s practice not to always give us what we want when we want it. Thus we learn to wait upon God and learn endurance.
But, why would God delay fulfilling that which we hope for?
* One possible reason would be: so that we would gain "appreciation" for what He gives when it arrives. For example, when God created Adam, He didn’t immediately give him Eve. We’re told: "The LORD God said, ’It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’" (Genesis 2:18). Then, almost inexplicably, God asks Adam to name all the animals. What? Couldn’t God figure out names for all these creatures? Sure He could. But God wanted Adam to see and review all the rest of creation BEFORE Eve was taken from his side. Thus, when Adam first sets his eyes on Eve, he declares: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘for she was taken out of man" (Genesis 2:23). God delayed in creating Eve, so that Adam would fully understand and appreciate the value of what he was to receive.
* Another possibility would be our need for purification and strengthening. Romans 5:1-5 tells us:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
God’s delays serve to prepare us to handle the responsibilities of our desires and the gifts we receive from God.
ILLUS: My son Jonathan wanted to help with dishes at age 2, so I gave him spatula and let him hold it under faucet - he wasn’t mature yet to do anything else. So also, many of the things we desire in this life - we’re not ready to handle yet. We’re not mature enough.
II. Romans 15:4 tells us that another way to gain God’s kind of Hope is through the encouragement of Scripture.
Psalm 119 reinforces this truth:
(vs. 43) "Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws." (vs. 74) "May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word."
(vs. 81) " My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word."
(vs. 114) "You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word."
(vs. 147) "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word."
Not only can we hope IN His word we can obtain hope FROM His word.
ILLUS: I recently read this story from Guideposts: "It was a beautiful spring day, and a sense of peace stayed with me as I left the cathedral on Easter Monday morning. I paused for a moment on top of the steps leading to the avenue, now crowded with people rushing to their jobs. Sitting in her usual place inside a small archway was the old flower lady. At her feet corsages and boutonnieres were parading on top of a spread-open newspaper. The flower lady was smiling, her wrinkled old face alive with some inner joy. I started down the stairs - then, on impulse, turned and picked out a flower. As I put it in my lapel, I said, "You took happy this morning."
"Why not? Everything is good."
She was dressed so shabbily and seemed so very old that her reply startled me.
"You’ve been sitting here for many years now, haven’t you? And always smiling. You wear your troubles well.""
"You can’t reach my age and not have troubles." she replied. "Only it’s like Jesus and Good Friday. .. ’ She paused for a moment.
"Yes?" I prompted.
"Well. when Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, that was the worst day for the whole world. And when I get troubles I remember that. and then I think of what happened only three days later-Easter and our Lord arising. So when I get troubles, I’ve learned to wait three days ... somehow everything gets all right again."
And she smiled good-bye. Her words still follow me whenever I think I have troubles. Give God a chance to help... wait three days.
The Word of God fills us with hope because it gives us examples of the faithfulness of God and the way in which He can and will work in our lives. For example:
There is Principle that repeated regularly throughout scripture. It is a description of how almost all the great lives of God’s people went through a 3 stage process.
First there was a vision given of great potential. One man described this as "the birth of a vision."
Next, the vision, the hope that was placed in the future of their hope, was destroyed (the death of the vision).
And lastly, their was the fulfillment of the original vision.
Consider the promise Abraham received that he and his wife would have a son. Abraham believed the promise originally, but when God visited him on the plains of Mamre, Genesis 18:11 tells us "Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing." 9 months later, Isaac was born in fulfillment of the vision.
At the age of 17, Joseph received a vision that prophesied he would be a man of greatness. Almost immediately, his brothers began to hate him, and when the opportunity arose - they sought to kill him and ended up selling him into slavery. Later, when his brothers were reunited with him, Joseph calmed their fears that he would seek revenge by saying: "you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good."
At a very young age, David was given the promise of Kingship by Samuel. But once he was introduced to Saul - when he came close to the throne he’d been promised - he spent the next several years running and in exile from a man who sought to kill him. But in due time, God came through on His promise.
And, of course, there is the story of Jesus who came to become the King of Israel. But, rejected by the people and plotted against by their leaders, He suffered and died a terrible death. Three days later (as the woman on Easter noted) everything changed, and the promise was fulfilled.
So, we attain God’s kind of Hope by Endurance, by the Encouragement of Scripture… and lastly
III. Romans 15:1-2 tells us we attain God’s Hope by true servanthood.
Do you remember what the Disciples always seemed to be arguing about? Who is the greatest? Jesus replied: "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves." (Luke 22:25-27)
Servanthood is God’s way of making us great. That’s because God created us to be happiest, and most fulfilled, and most at peace, when we learn to serve others
ILLUS: In the town of Port Hope, Canada there is a monument erected, not for the leading citizen who just died, but for a poor, unselfish working man who gave most of his life and energy to help those who could not repay him.
Joseph Scriven was born in Dublin 1820. In his youth, he had the prospect of a great citizen with high ideals and great aspirations. He was engaged to a beautiful young woman who had promised to share his dream, but on the eve of their wedding her body was pulled from a pond into which she had accidentally fallen and drowned. Young Scriven never overcame the shock. Although a college graduate and ready embark on a brilliant career, he began to wander to try to forget his sorrow. His wanderings took him to Canada where he spent the last forty-one of his sixty-years. He became a very devout Christian. His beliefs led him to do servile labor for poor widows and sick people. He often served for no wages.
It was not known that Mr. Scriven had any poetic gifts until a short time before his death. A friend, who was sitting with him in an illness, discovered a poem he had written to his mother in a time of sorrow; not intending that anyone else should see it. His poem was later set to music and has become a much loved Gospel song. It is said to be the first song that many missionaries teach their converts. In polls taken to determine the popularity of hymns and Gospel songs, his poem set to music is always near the top.
What was his poem?
What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear.
What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear;
All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.
CLOSE: Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
THE KEY - to true Hope is to focus on God (INVITATION: What a Friend)
