Christmas Beyond Compare – Hope beyond Compare – Rom 15:7-13
Gladstone Baptist Church – 25/12/04 am
Well Happy Christmas to you all. I do hope that Christmas for you is a time of joy, peace and hope – A Christmas beyond Compare.
But you know, Christmas isn’t like that for everyone … For some it is filled with pain and regret. It is a sad time without joy, without peace and without hope. I was reading one such person’s feelings about Christmas this week
Christmas has been for me, a time of sadness and stress for as long as I can remember.
Having been brought up as a “Christian”, through Sunday School and School, I always enjoyed the real Christmas, with carols and church services.
I have vague memories of childhood Christmases with lots of food and drink and arguments and tears.
As an adult, Christmas was always a time to be brave and ‘do it for the family’ after John died. (Sadly, I don’t remember much about the Christmases I spent with him)
I remember a time when I wanted to make a donation to a worthy cause, instead of trying to think of gifts for those of us who have more than all we need. This idea was rejected.
Now it is Christmas time again, and again I have tried to do the right thing by everyone. This has resulted in tears and stress. (My fault, sorry!)
Thus I have decided to forgo Christmas this year... I will not be giving any gifts in keeping with the need I feel to disassociate myself with this obligation.
Where is Christmas?
Is it in the manger still?
Or is it in the bank?
Or maybe the department store,
With carols playing
People buying
Things that no one wants or needs?
Give them money then instead,
It will mean much more
Than peace and love and understanding…
Money is what we adore!
Not tiny babe
In yonder stall
Who came to save us all.
Who took this sacred time?
Destroyed its meaning
Made it just another scrap
Of lust and want and greed?
Deck the halls with boughs of holly,
Let’s pretend to all be jolly,
Tra la la la la, la la la la!
Not me.
For many people, Christmas has become a rat race. There is no joy in it. There is no peace in it and it certainly doesn’t bring any hope what so ever. We need to stop – de-clutter Christmas. We need to remember that the Reason for the Season is Jesus. It is not presents, Christmas sales, Decorations, food, penguins at the north pole. It is about a baby and this baby came to give us gifts that are beyond compare.
Over the last month, we’ve been looking in the night services at a couple of gifts that Jesus came to give us.
1) We have looked at the gift of Peace that Jesus brought us. Peace beyond Compare. Peace that comes from having a relationship with God. It is a peace that can exist regardless of all the other problems and hassles we are having in this life.
2) We have looked at the gift of Joy that Jesus brought us. Joy beyond Compare. Too many of us live a life that is joyless. We seek joy, but the Joy that God offers doesn’t need to be found – it is ours to own now and comes straight from God.
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If you want to find out more about these 2 gifts, I encourage you to borrow or order the tapes or video.
Today, I want to focus a third gift that Jesus brings us. Hope. HOPE beyond compare. Without hope, we would all die. Life would not be worth living for if had no hope.
There was an interesting Scientific experiment conducted a while back. A group of behavioral Scientists put some Wharf Rats in a tank of water, and observed them to see how long they would survive before
drowning - The average time was 17 minutes.
Then, they repeated the experiment, but this time they "rescued" the rats just before the point of drowning, dried them off and returned them to their cages.... fed them, and let them play for a few days, and repeated the drowning experiment. - This time, the average survival time for these rats increased from 17 minutes to 36 hours!
The scientists explained that phenomenon by pointing out that the second time around, the rats had HOPE. They believed that they could survive this, because they had done so before. "They were able to survive because the had been SAVED".
Our society offers up to us many sources of hope – many offers of salvation. It tells us that life will be better if only we can catch Osama Bin Laden and end terrorism. Hope for many comes when the economy is looking healthy – when interest rates come down and the share market goes up. For others, hope is when and if they ever get well. We hope for a better life and so we pursue something hoping it will bring joy and peace into our lives - a new job, a better location, a different doctor, a different church, or no church, better behaved children, a better spouse.
Where is your source of hope today? Is it something that needs to be pursued?
But our hope doesn’t come from pursuing things, but from God. Paul said … “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” (Rom 15:13).
I want to tell you this morning about Hope that is beyond compare …
1) Jesus is the FOCUS of real Hope.
Hope comes from Jesus. If you’ve got your bibles there, please turn with me to the passage we read earlier. Rom 15:7-13. In this passage Paul is talking about living at peace. Paul urges the Jews and the non-Jews (Gentiles) to accept each other. He quotes several times from the Old Testament to show that God brings the same blessings to the Gentiles as he does to the Jews. God is found among the Gentiles. God accepts the praise of the Gentiles. In vs 12, he quotes from the prophet Isaiah …
“The Root of Jesse will spring up (who is that – it’s Jesus. Jesus was an descendant of Jesse), one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in Him.”
The focus of hope for Jews and non-Jews is Jesus. All people regardless of race, culture, status or religion can find hope in Jesus. It is not found in more money, a better job or a better life, but in Jesus. Why? Because Jesus gives us a hope that lasts for ETERNITY.
1 Cor 15:17 -20
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep (or who died) in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Paul goes onto say that because Jesus has been raised, then we can have an assurance – yes even a sure hope that one day we will also be raised from the dead and will live with Him forever.
If Jesus had died and stayed dead, we would be poor misguided people following a lunatic or a liar. But because Jesus came back to life, we have an assurance of a future life. We have a hope that will last for eternity and that is the ultimate focus on a Christian’s life.
Where are you looking for hope this Christmas? Are you looking to your presents? Maybe you are looking at your money, your spouse, a better job in the new year, an improved ability to organize your time and thinking – that is what will improve my life! None of these things can bring an assurance of eternal life and so can not be compared to the Hope beyond compare that Jesus offers you this Christmas. You want hope? You can get it today by beginning to focus on Jesus Christ.
2) God is the SOURCE of real Hope.
Vs 13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.” Paul calls God the God of Hope. Hope is one of his CHARACTERISTICS or attributes. It is part of his character. He is a God full of hope. He is a hopeful God. And as the God of Hope, He is the author and the builder of our hope that we see in Jesus.
What do I mean by this? God knows what will happen. He knows that his plan of Salvation as begun through the root of Jesse will be successful. He knows that those who take hold of Jesus as their Lord and Savior will find forgiveness and reconciliation with Him. He knows that their future is assured and that they will live forever. And this confidence is what we call Hope. God has hope and God engineered things so that we can have hope. That is why we can call Him the God of Hope.
You know, God could have chosen to destroy man kind because of their evil and start from scratch again. We were hopeless because we’d blown it big time and on our own, there was no chance to repair the damage done. But God didn’t condemn us and bring fire and brimstone down on us. Instead, He threw us a life ring in the form of Jesus. That baby born at Christmas, who so many want to push out of Christmas all together was the life ring. He grew up to be a man and died on the cross for your sins and mine. That was the life ring – forgiveness and a chance to have a relationship with God again. What an amazing gift – and it is floating there ready for us to grasp onto. We don’t have to fear death now, we don’t have to fear judgment now, we don’t have to worry about our future because God gave us hope. God is the source of our Hope. Our future is secure, but our present also is pretty amazing. This God of hope gives us Joy and Peace as we trust in Him. This is what we’ve already learnt in the last couple of weeks. You want Joy, Peace and Hope – God is the source of all of them.
Are you trying to get hope in all the wrong place? Many people run after hope, but never really find it. I read with interest this last week about John Elliott. John Elliott was once one of Australia’s most successful businessmen. He was President of the Carlton football club and even touted as a possible Prime Minister at one stage, but this last week he was facing bankruptcy. I wonder what Mr Elliott placed his hope in? What ever it was, it doesn’t look to have worked. What is it that you are basing your hope on this Christmas? Will it give you a better life? Probably the more important question is - Will it give you a better eternity? God offers you Hope beyond compare this morning – Make sure you don’t walk out this door without it.
3) God’s Spirit is the SUPPLIER of real Hope.
Jesus is the focus of our Hope. God is the source of our hope and His Spirit is the Supplier of this Hope. Did you notice the end of Vs 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.
Our EXPERIENCE of hope is not a future thing. It is based on future certainties, but it is a present experience. Our experience of hope in our daily lives is a result of the work of God’s Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who walks with us through life and helps us to live out the Christian life day to day. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us joy and peace and then allows us to live a life filled with God’s Joy and Peace. This life is a life that REFLECTS God’s character, personality and glory.
In Rom 5:2 Paul says that “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we a 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 can we stand before God’s glory face to face without fear, we also display God’s glory because we have God’s spirit living in us. This is the hope that is present here and now.
Do you have hope in your life now? Maybe the question should be … Do you have God’s spirit living in you. If you have not surrendered your life to God yet, you don’t have his Holy Spirit living in you and you can’t enjoy his gift of Hope beyond compare.
If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can still be hindering his work and action in your life. You can allow him to have control of this bit and this bit but not the rest of it. If this is the case, you still have a future hope, but the expression of this hope in your life here and now can be severely restricted. Give your life over to God fully this Christmas. Don’t think you can do a better job – you can’t – and to try is to be a fool.
This Christmas, God wants to offer you his gifts of Peace, Joy and Hope that are beyond compare. They are there for the taking now. They are free. They are eternal. But God will not force them on you. Do you have peace this Christmas? Do you have Joy? Do you have Hope this Christmas?
- If you do, go out and share it with your friends and family that are yet to find it.
- If not, but you want it, I’ll be down the front after the service as will Pastor Roger. We’d love to introduce you to Jesus this Christmas and make this a Christmas beyond compare.
