Hope
In an old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip - this conversation takes place. In the first frame Calvin speaks to Hobbes and says: "Live for the moment is my motto. You never know how long you got". In the second frame he explains "You could step into the road tomorrow and WHAM, you get hit by a cement truck! Then you’d be sorry you put off your pleasures. That’s what I say - live for the moment." And then he asks Hobbes: "What’s your motto?" Hobbes replies: "My motto is - Look down the road."
Today we began the Advent season by lighting the first Advent candle, the candle of hope. As we heard a few minutes ago, this candle reminds us of the hope God gave His people when He promised to send them a Messiah, a Savior, a Deliverer. The candle reminds us that prophecies were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ. And it invites us to look down the road in hope to the day of Christ’s Second Coming, when all the promises that were initially fulfilled at His birth will be completely fulfilled at His return.
Some people are, by nature, optimistic. It is their natural temperament. Others are, by the same token, pessimistic. You often get what you expect. One man sees a rose bush as in terms of thorns; another sees only the roses. One man sees the dark side of every cloud, while the other looks for the silver lining.
But genuine hope can never be based on your subjective outlook, your particular temperament. The person whose hope has no real basis, other than a general optimistic spirit, is clutching a hope that is deaf, dumb, and blind. The only valid hope is Christian hope.
I mention all this because it highlights the fact that Christianity is a religion of hope. It is a faith that looks down the road to the future, to the time when God’s promises will be fulfilled. That was true for God’s people back in O.T. days, as they looked forward to the birth of the promised Messiah.
It was true for Mary and Joseph as they looked down at their newborn son, knowing that the time for the fulfillment of God’s promises had finally come. And it’s true of us today as we look forward to the return of Christ. Our faith is a future-focused faith, a religion of what is to come, a religion of hope.
Now, I could end here if it weren’t for one thing. Hope is not automatic. In fact, sometimes hope is very difficult. How do we sustain hope in the midst of disappointment and difficulty?” How do we keep from being completely overwhelmed by trials and pain? How do we maintain an attitude of hope when everything seems to crush us like a bug on the windshield of life?
We’ve all faced situations where there seems to be little objective reason for hope – in our jobs, in our marriages, in relationships with family members. Some of us have faced seemingly hopeless medical or financial problems. Some of you, right now, may be in situations that seem hopeless, so that you are tempted to give up hope. How do we hold on to hope during those times when our circumstances seem hopeless?
First, put your hope in God. Trust in Him for help. That may seem obvious, but too often we are willing to seek help from anyone and anything before we turn to God. If the problem is financial, we don’t look to God first; we look to a banker or a rich relative. If the problem is relational, a conflict with a spouse or a family member, we’ll buy books on marriage, scour articles in magazines, listen to Oprah or Dr. Phil, and then finally, maybe turn to God for help. We will try everything we can think of, and then if nothing else works, we will think of praying. But that’s backwards! We should go to God first, not last.
I believe that the Bible expresses one thing that we need to hear clearly again. We can HOPE in the midst of life’s circumstances because the one that we HOPE in is greater than the sum of life’s circumstances. If “our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness” as the wonderful old hymn goes, then we have great HOPE. We have much to HOPE on. We have a great God to HOPE on.
This is why we sing about Emmanuel at Christmas — God is with us. He was with us 2000 years ago, and he is with us now in this present moment. We have a God who cared enough to come.
When Christ our Savior came as a baby to the manger at Bethlehem, he came to a cold, desolate world that had no hope. It had been about 400 years between Malachi and Matthew. God had not been heard from in 400 years. At least in the O.T. he burned bushes and spoke in gentle whispers. But 400 years of silence had led to a loss of hope.
If you think about it, it’s entirely appropriate for Jesus Christ, who is the hope of the world, to have come in the form of an infant, because babies are hope personified. They are pure potential. Their lives are all in the future. I can still remember my thoughts when Cody was born. Here’s this new life, so full of potential. He can grow up to be anything. Anything is possible.
The hope of the world came wrapped in the swaddling clothes of the One who was placed in the manger in Bethlehem. But Mary had even more than the usual maternal pride to justify having great hope for her son. Remember, Gabriel had visited her and given her this promise: “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Luke 1:31-33
This promise to Mary echoed the prophecy of Isaiah, given seven centuries earlier: “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. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-7
In other words, when Jesus was born God made it clear that this baby was the one for whom the world had been waiting, and watching and hoping. What joy must have filled Mary and Joseph’s hearts as they looked down at their tiny son, wrapped in blankets, lying in an ordinary manger filled with straw.
What hope in knowing that this child was the one in whom all of God’s promises would be fulfilled. What hope in knowing that He was the one in whom God’s people would find forgiveness of sins. What hope in knowing that He was the one in whom they would find true and lasting peace.
There are two words used in the New Testament that are translated as ‘hope’ in English. One has to do with trust, usually in a person. But the one used most in the N.T. has to do with expectation or anticipation.
The most obvious illustration that comes to my mind during this season, is a child on Christmas Eve.
The child may “hope” that his parents remembered that he wanted that certain toy for Christmas. He doesn’t know for sure that he’ll get it (unless he peeked while they were out for an evening), but he hopes so.
On the other hand, he has another hope that is more sure. It is the expectation of Christmas morning; when he will see packages under the tree that he hasn’t seen there before with the knowledge that some of them are for him.
He is so excited about the coming of the next morning that he’ll probably have trouble falling asleep. What keeps him awake is anticipation, because he knows the day, and all that it represents, will soon be here.
This is the sort of hope that I’m talking about today. It is not a yearning for something uncertain, but a confident anticipation and expectation of something that will indeed, come.
*Hope is based in fact – God loves you.
*Hope is based in firm conviction – God cares for you.
*Hope is based in final assurance – God wants to be with you.
We can’t make it through life without hope. "We can live forty days without food, eight days without water, four minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope." Hope is our greatest asset in life.
Where is your hope today? Is it wrapped up in the expectations of a gift under a tree? Is it lost in the darkness that surrounds your life?
What is your motto for life? Do you live for the moment? Or do you look down the road to Jesus, our living hope? Jesus, our living hope, is available to all. But this living hope must be claimed. And if you claim this hope then you can be assured that, whatever your circumstances, God is with you. He’ll be with you at the beginning, the end, and every point in between.
To live with Christ is to live with hope. And I HOPE that all of you claim that living hope that God made possible in the Christ-child.
