If I asked you to define Christmas with one word (apart from the words Jesus and Christ), what word would you choose? Would you use peace, love, joy or some other word? There are a number of words we could use in describing Christmas; however, I want to focus on the word hope. Christmas is hope!
Hopelessness is such a dreadful thing. The past two years we have seen two events that seemed hopeless, the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Such events breed a hopeless feeling. Those were dreadful events. Prior to the time of Christopher Columbus people thought the edge of the horizon was the end of the world. They thought you dropped off of the world as if you had arrived at a steep bluff. Some people see life that way, as if it chops off. They think life, as you see it, is the end.
One of the major messages of Christmas is the hope found in Jesus Christ. He is God’s hope. For a text I want to read Luke 2:36-38. “Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” (NKJV)
In this text we meet a senior adult lady by the name of Anna. Anna was 84. She was living in hope. The word hope is not used in this text but the concept is present. The highlight of Anna’s life was to meet Jesus, who represented hope for God’s people. She was a senior adult in years but a child at heart. She teaches us the secret of growing older without growing colder. She had learned to see light in the midst of darkness. She had seen the true message of Christmas. Christmas, for her was the hope of Jesus Christ.
I want to handle this text by considering a definition of hope. Then I want to consider the place of hope and conclude by discussing the power of hope.
I. Let’s define Hope.
Webster’s dictionary does not distinguish the world’s definition from the Bible’s definition. It is important that we distinguish the two.
A. Webster’s definition represents the world’s definition of hope. Two of Webster’s definitions describe hope as the world sees it. The definitions state that hope is “a feeling that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by expectation.”
There are two words that weaken the world’s definition. One word is “feeling”. If I base hope on a feeling my hope is subject to be disappointed. Let me give you some examples of the shallowness of feelings.
-If as girl says “I hope my boy friend gives me a diamond ring for Christmas.” Does the feeling bring about the hope?
-If a man says “I hope my football team has a good year.” Does the feeling guarantee a good football team?
The other part of the world’s definition is a “desire accompanied by expectation.” Let me give you some examples of the shallowness of desires. They cannot give hope.
-If a girls says “I hope he will ask me out on a date.” Does her desire guarantee the date?
-If an adult says “I hope my grandfather will get over his cancer.“ Does the desire guarantee the recovery?
-If a person says “I hope I get this job.” Does the desire guarantee the job?
B. There is the Bible’s definition. Obviously the Bible does not share a concise definition of hope. However, the definition I share is the Bible’s basic philosophy of hope. Here is my paraphrase of the Bible’s teaching. "Hope is an expectation based on the promises of God." God’s hope is not based on feelings, desire or positive thoughts. It is based on a promise from God.
Someone has said “You can’t break God’s promises by leaning on them!”
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Kim Huffman)
There is an old gospel song that states this principle well: “Standing On The Promises.” Part of that song states “standing on the promises that cannot fail, though the howling storms of doubt and fear assail.”
-God’s hope is enduring.
-God’s hope cannot be frustrated.
-God’s hope will never end.
-God’s hope is eternal.
We learn that by observing Anna’s life.
The Bible says “we have this hope as an anchor of the soul.” (Heb. 6:19 NKJV)
Where is your hope? Is it in a relationship? Is it in money? Is it in your job? Is it in your health insurance? (or) Is it in the promises of God?
II. The Place of Hope
A. Hope is not to be found in religious practices.
Anna was a prophetess. Anna spent her life serving the Lord in the Temple. Anna had a good blood line. Even so, merely going to church does not give hope. Merely quoting some simplistic prayer does not give hope. Some people think church attendance is a cure all for what ails you.
B. Hope is not to be found in a relationship with another person. Anna’s husband had been dead for many years. Yet her hope was not in her husband.
C. Hope is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Why is Jesus Christ the fulfillment of hope?
(1) He is the fulfillment of God’s promises. All of God’s promises and all of God’s earthly activity is centered in Jesus. All of history, as far as man is concerned, is built around Jesus. History is divided by His life.
Illustration- You can understand the fulfillment of God’s promises by understanding Jesus fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. In the book “The Case for Christmas” Lee Strobel points out the reliability of Old Testament prophecies. Strobel says some people use the coincidence argument to deny Jesus claims. They say it was merely a coincidence that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Lee Strobel says a mathematician by the name of Peter W. Stoner estimated the chances of Jesus fulfilling 48 Old Testament prophecies was one chance in 13 trillion. Peter Stoner printed this in a book entitled “Science Speaks.” Therefore, this material gives convincing proof that God’s promises can be trusted.
(2) Jesus was also the proof that God’s plans cannot be frustrated. He was crucified but he rose again after three days. He could not be cut off. Satan thought he had frustrated God’s plans. However, he could not frustrate God’s plans.
The Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” states Jesus purpose in graphic terms which all can understand. The later part of verse 1 states “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
Someone has said “Life with Christ is an endless hope, without Him an endless hope.”
Paul shared several verses that describe our hope in Jesus Christ.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead“ (I Pet. 1:3 NKJV)
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.” (II Th. 2:16-17 NKJV)
The Bible also explains that those without Christ have no eternal hope.
“ at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12 NKJV)
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.” (I Th. 4:13 NKJV)
III. I want to close by discussing The Power of Hope (see vs. 38).
A. Hope does not disappear. “Time is not a switch that dims the brightness of hope.” Hope helps us look beyond our present difficulties. In our text Anna was an aged senior adult. However, her hope kept her primed to look beyond the circumstances of life.
Illustration: Many of you are familiar with the story of Anne Frank. Anne was a Jewish girl, that later became a writer, who lived during the days of the Holocaust. Anne and her family hid out during the German raids. They sweated for their lives for days. The Jewish family tensed with fear at each mysterious sound. After days of hiding the Germans came for Anne and her family. The story closes with Anne’s father saying “For days we have lived in fear, now we live in hope.”
Many times there are people who have nothing but hope to live for. Over the years I have observed many senior adults who had experienced much loss. They have lost their mates. They have lost their health. They have lost many of their friends. The only thing that carries them is hope. Hope never disappears.
B. Hope does not disappoint. There are many disappointments in life. People let us down. Life sometimes lets us down. Paul shares an encouraging verse that undergirds this truth. “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured
out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.“ (Rom. 5:5 NKJV)
The words of a song I heard some years ago states this well.
“He didn’t bring us this far to leave us.
He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown.
He didn’t build his home in us to move away.
He didn’t lift us up to let us down.”
C. Hope gives us a reason to live.
Hope motivates us to keep going. Without hope we will give up.
Lucy and Linus give us a light hearted illustration of this principle. In one of the cartoons Lucy and Linus were sitting in front of the television set when Lucy said to Linus, "Go get me a glass of water." Linus looked surprised, "Why should I do anything for you? You never do anything for me." "On your 75th birthday," Lucy promised, "I’’ll bake you a cake." Linus got up, headed to the kitchen and said, "Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to."
(Contributed to Sermon Central by D. Greg Ebie)
One of the saddest stories in the Bible is recorded in Luke 24. In this story two of Jesus followers are traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a distance of about 7 miles. They had been in Jerusalem during the crucifixion of Jesus. As they journeyed Jesus joined them. They did not know his identity (for what ever reason). Jesus asked them what they were discussing. Apparently he could see the sad look on their faces. As they answer his question they make a very sad statement: “we had hoped.” They had hoped that Jesus would bring hope into their lives. However, he died. Jesus revealed his identity to the two travelers but before he did so, they were a sad pair. However, after discovering that Jesus had been resurrected from the tomb they received a new reason to live. They were inspired. They had a new tiger in their tank.
Conclusion
Do you have hope? What if you were to pass from this life into the next. Do you have the hope of eternal life? Do you know that you would spend eternity with God forever? You can know this! Jesus Christ died that we might find peace with God.
