Scripture: Romans 5:1-9
Listen here: https://www.lcepc.org/Sermons
Have you noticed that the sanctuary is pretty bare of Christmas decorations? We’re going to fix that a week from Wednesday. I hope you come to help, and enjoy each other’s company. But, unlike many of our stores that are already celebrating Christmas with all kinds of decorations and sales, we are holding back.
But I do have something to say that may be more jarring than seeing Christmas decorations right after Hallowe’en. Happy New Year! You might not have expected that. But it’s legit. Today is the first Sunday of the year according to the Church calendar. We call it the beginning of the Advent Season. Advent is from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming." So, the advent season means the season of the coming of Christ. We begin the Christian year by taking time to celebrate the first coming and declare our faith and hope in his Second Coming.
The Advent season is used by the church to build anticipation of the great celebration of the arrival of God in the form of a man who would live a sinless life and turn the world right side up again. We are not just celebrating a famous birthday. We are celebrating the moment that God showed up in the neighborhood and moved in to be our next-door neighbor.
But Christmas is coming! I hope I get good presents! I hope you come for the hanging of the greens Dec. 12. Have you noticed how we use the word “hope” these days? Hope is a word in English we don’t usually associate with absolute certainty. Usually, when we say we hope in something, we are recognizing that the thing we are hoping for might not happen. “I hope it doesn’t rain,” really means we think it might rain even though we don’t want it to. “I hope my investments grow,” really is an expression of my concern that the economy may be weakening. So, we would feel silly if we said, “I hope Christmas comes.” Of course, it’s coming! But we’re still fine with saying, “I hope I get good presents.”
For our hope in Jesus though, hope is much more positive and certain. Our hope in Christ is not uncertain at all. It is not wishful thinking. It is our joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. If we believe God’s Word, then our hope is sure. I do not think that I only might be saved because I believe in Jesus. I know I am. That hope in Christ is called hope, not because it is uncertain, but only because its fulfillment is still out in the future.
Hope is one of the big three blessed gifts that Paul spoke about when he said, in 1 Cor. 13:13, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” But hope is right up there in the top three great things that are ours because of faith in Jesus!
Hebrews 11:1, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” That certain hope we have in Christ ought to produce at least three effects in our lives. It’s comforting, motivational and energizing. In verse 1 of our text, “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”
It is comforting to be at peace with God. It is also comforting to be able to look away from our present suffering, knowing that it cannot last forever, and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. That looking forward is the activity of hope. It’s easy to understand that hope brings comfort. All you have to do is think of how uncomfortable it is to be in a hopeless situation. But when we have hope, we can trust in the Lord that our suffering must end soon. God has ordained that we will one day share in his glory.
So, hope is a comfort. And we know that the comfort that comforts us can be used to comfort others too. And we ought to be motivated to do so. When you have a good time at a new restaurant, don’t you like to talk to your friends about the great dining experience you enjoyed? Or, when any good fortune comes your way, you get excited to share that good news, “You won’t believe what happened to me today!” We ought to be constantly excited about the great thing that happened to us when we got saved and the ways God continues to care for us as we mature in the faith.
So, because of our hope in Christ we are motivated to serve and share the gospel. You know what, members of our vision team went around and spoke with several community leaders in Lake City. We just wanted to ask them about the needs they saw in the community, because if we’re going to minister to people in practical ways with the love of Jesus, so we get a chance to share the gospel too, we need to know what there is to do that people would appreciate. We’ll be sharing details on that as time goes on. But all I wanted to share with you right now is what at least one person said out loud.
Mike would you come up here and tell us about that? Mike Klein: “I went in to interview Linda Hartshorne-Shafer, who is the emergency management coordinator for Missaukee County, and the county planner. She was on the phone when I came in and it sounded like she was getting some kind of update on icy roads. But she appeared to be on hold so I asked her how long would she be and she said about 15 minutes.
So, I said, “Well, how about if I give you something to think about and then you can call me back.” I used to work with her, so, we know each other. So, I told her about what we were doing and how our church wants to reach out to the community and meet community needs in some more proactive ways than what we’ve done in the past. And she was taking notes while she was listening to me. I left. And she called me on the phone the next day and she says, “You know, I was flabbergasted. Because nobody comes in here to ask to do something. They all want something to be done for them.”
So, she was very cooperative and, I think, to her, it’s such a novel idea for a church to really reach out to the community. At least through her position she hadn’t seen that before.”
Thanks Mike! That’s why I wanted him to share that story because when I heard that I realized something very important. Just the fact that because we are trying to figure out what the Lord wants us to do and that led us to talk to folks out in the community, we’re getting their hopes up too! We’re already making a positive difference in the world around us just by showing them that we care. And I pray sincerely that we will also be able to follow through with meaningful ministry.
That hope then, doesn’t just motivate, it energizes! Our text says, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.” Problems and trials are discouraging to many people. Just look at the story in Acts 27. There was Paul on a boat headed for Rome, and they were sailing against Paul’s experienced advice, and they got into a terrible, life threatening storm.
As gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.
You hear that? They lost hope. They stopped expecting to make it to port and began expecting to die. Anytime hope is based on expectations of earthly circumstances or probability, it is fine to be uncertain about that. You can always hope it won’t rain, but you have to admit that it might. And when things look like the odds are really going against you, it is quite reasonable to give up hope for a good outcome.
So, the merchant marines on that boat had never ever been in a storm this bad, and it realty didn’t look like they were going to make it. They were fighting the storm so hard they hadn’t even eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So, take courage! For I believe God.”
And in that speech, hope was restored. Why? The circumstances didn’t change. The storm was still raging. But God had spoken. And anything about which you have God’s Word becomes a certain hope, a guaranteed hope, an expectation that will be fully met. You can always hope that God will make good on his word, and you can know for sure that He will. That kind of hope energizes people. Those sailors, having God’s Word on it, took some food, and followed Paul’s instructions to the letter, because it was their only hope. But at least now they had hope!
With that kind of energy to follow through on the good and godly motivation to comfort others with the comfort that has comforted you, hope is bearing fruit!
Paul said, “endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Shortly after Jesus’ death, those two guys on the road to Emmaus had lost all hope. It was really the same for all the disciples. It was all over for Jesus’ followers. But these two guys walking to Emmaus get to say it. Ironically and humorously, they say it to the one in whom they had placed their hope. They just didn’t know it yet. Jesus was pretending he had no idea why these guys were so upset and asked them what was up. So, they started to tell him about Jesus and ended on, “We had hoped he was the one, but we’re going home, because he wasn’t.”
But he was! And he then showed them how all the Scriptures showed that it had to happen just as it had happened. Because God’s Word is sure. We can rejoice because, by the unbreakable Word of God our hope of salvation is guaranteed to come.
So, it is with us today. We aren’t just waiting for Christmas to come. Messiah has already come and has returned to heaven. Christmas is merely symbolic of an historic event. But like the people who waited for Messiah to come the first time, we are waiting too, for Messiah to come again and relieve us of our suffering. We have been given signs, but we must be vigilant to experience his second return to us. But he will come, it is a certain hope.
Jesus has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hope inspires us to serve God! Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. And so, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper today, full of good hope, knowing that Jesus will come again just as he showed up in Israel the first time. And he gave us this sacrament saying, do this is in remembrance of me. And we will remember him forever, until he comes again. And he will come! And it is this hope, this expectation moving toward faith, that Advent properly observed as a preparation for Christmas can express so well. We have God’s word on it! That’s comforting, motivational and energizing!
Listen here: https://www.lcepc.org/Sermons
Have you noticed that the sanctuary is pretty bare of Christmas decorations? We’re going to fix that a week from Wednesday. I hope you come to help, and enjoy each other’s company. But, unlike many of our stores that are already celebrating Christmas with all kinds of decorations and sales, we are holding back.
But I do have something to say that may be more jarring than seeing Christmas decorations right after Hallowe’en. Happy New Year! You might not have expected that. But it’s legit. Today is the first Sunday of the year according to the Church calendar. We call it the beginning of the Advent Season. Advent is from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming." So, the advent season means the season of the coming of Christ. We begin the Christian year by taking time to celebrate the first coming and declare our faith and hope in his Second Coming.
The Advent season is used by the church to build anticipation of the great celebration of the arrival of God in the form of a man who would live a sinless life and turn the world right side up again. We are not just celebrating a famous birthday. We are celebrating the moment that God showed up in the neighborhood and moved in to be our next-door neighbor.
But Christmas is coming! I hope I get good presents! I hope you come for the hanging of the greens Dec. 12. Have you noticed how we use the word “hope” these days? Hope is a word in English we don’t usually associate with absolute certainty. Usually, when we say we hope in something, we are recognizing that the thing we are hoping for might not happen. “I hope it doesn’t rain,” really means we think it might rain even though we don’t want it to. “I hope my investments grow,” really is an expression of my concern that the economy may be weakening. So, we would feel silly if we said, “I hope Christmas comes.” Of course, it’s coming! But we’re still fine with saying, “I hope I get good presents.”
For our hope in Jesus though, hope is much more positive and certain. Our hope in Christ is not uncertain at all. It is not wishful thinking. It is our joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. If we believe God’s Word, then our hope is sure. I do not think that I only might be saved because I believe in Jesus. I know I am. That hope in Christ is called hope, not because it is uncertain, but only because its fulfillment is still out in the future.
Hope is one of the big three blessed gifts that Paul spoke about when he said, in 1 Cor. 13:13, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” But hope is right up there in the top three great things that are ours because of faith in Jesus!
Hebrews 11:1, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” That certain hope we have in Christ ought to produce at least three effects in our lives. It’s comforting, motivational and energizing. In verse 1 of our text, “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”
It is comforting to be at peace with God. It is also comforting to be able to look away from our present suffering, knowing that it cannot last forever, and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. That looking forward is the activity of hope. It’s easy to understand that hope brings comfort. All you have to do is think of how uncomfortable it is to be in a hopeless situation. But when we have hope, we can trust in the Lord that our suffering must end soon. God has ordained that we will one day share in his glory.
So, hope is a comfort. And we know that the comfort that comforts us can be used to comfort others too. And we ought to be motivated to do so. When you have a good time at a new restaurant, don’t you like to talk to your friends about the great dining experience you enjoyed? Or, when any good fortune comes your way, you get excited to share that good news, “You won’t believe what happened to me today!” We ought to be constantly excited about the great thing that happened to us when we got saved and the ways God continues to care for us as we mature in the faith.
So, because of our hope in Christ we are motivated to serve and share the gospel. You know what, members of our vision team went around and spoke with several community leaders in Lake City. We just wanted to ask them about the needs they saw in the community, because if we’re going to minister to people in practical ways with the love of Jesus, so we get a chance to share the gospel too, we need to know what there is to do that people would appreciate. We’ll be sharing details on that as time goes on. But all I wanted to share with you right now is what at least one person said out loud.
Mike would you come up here and tell us about that? Mike Klein: “I went in to interview Linda Hartshorne-Shafer, who is the emergency management coordinator for Missaukee County, and the county planner. She was on the phone when I came in and it sounded like she was getting some kind of update on icy roads. But she appeared to be on hold so I asked her how long would she be and she said about 15 minutes.
So, I said, “Well, how about if I give you something to think about and then you can call me back.” I used to work with her, so, we know each other. So, I told her about what we were doing and how our church wants to reach out to the community and meet community needs in some more proactive ways than what we’ve done in the past. And she was taking notes while she was listening to me. I left. And she called me on the phone the next day and she says, “You know, I was flabbergasted. Because nobody comes in here to ask to do something. They all want something to be done for them.”
So, she was very cooperative and, I think, to her, it’s such a novel idea for a church to really reach out to the community. At least through her position she hadn’t seen that before.”
Thanks Mike! That’s why I wanted him to share that story because when I heard that I realized something very important. Just the fact that because we are trying to figure out what the Lord wants us to do and that led us to talk to folks out in the community, we’re getting their hopes up too! We’re already making a positive difference in the world around us just by showing them that we care. And I pray sincerely that we will also be able to follow through with meaningful ministry.
That hope then, doesn’t just motivate, it energizes! Our text says, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.” Problems and trials are discouraging to many people. Just look at the story in Acts 27. There was Paul on a boat headed for Rome, and they were sailing against Paul’s experienced advice, and they got into a terrible, life threatening storm.
As gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.
You hear that? They lost hope. They stopped expecting to make it to port and began expecting to die. Anytime hope is based on expectations of earthly circumstances or probability, it is fine to be uncertain about that. You can always hope it won’t rain, but you have to admit that it might. And when things look like the odds are really going against you, it is quite reasonable to give up hope for a good outcome.
So, the merchant marines on that boat had never ever been in a storm this bad, and it realty didn’t look like they were going to make it. They were fighting the storm so hard they hadn’t even eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So, take courage! For I believe God.”
And in that speech, hope was restored. Why? The circumstances didn’t change. The storm was still raging. But God had spoken. And anything about which you have God’s Word becomes a certain hope, a guaranteed hope, an expectation that will be fully met. You can always hope that God will make good on his word, and you can know for sure that He will. That kind of hope energizes people. Those sailors, having God’s Word on it, took some food, and followed Paul’s instructions to the letter, because it was their only hope. But at least now they had hope!
With that kind of energy to follow through on the good and godly motivation to comfort others with the comfort that has comforted you, hope is bearing fruit!
Paul said, “endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Shortly after Jesus’ death, those two guys on the road to Emmaus had lost all hope. It was really the same for all the disciples. It was all over for Jesus’ followers. But these two guys walking to Emmaus get to say it. Ironically and humorously, they say it to the one in whom they had placed their hope. They just didn’t know it yet. Jesus was pretending he had no idea why these guys were so upset and asked them what was up. So, they started to tell him about Jesus and ended on, “We had hoped he was the one, but we’re going home, because he wasn’t.”
But he was! And he then showed them how all the Scriptures showed that it had to happen just as it had happened. Because God’s Word is sure. We can rejoice because, by the unbreakable Word of God our hope of salvation is guaranteed to come.
So, it is with us today. We aren’t just waiting for Christmas to come. Messiah has already come and has returned to heaven. Christmas is merely symbolic of an historic event. But like the people who waited for Messiah to come the first time, we are waiting too, for Messiah to come again and relieve us of our suffering. We have been given signs, but we must be vigilant to experience his second return to us. But he will come, it is a certain hope.
Jesus has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hope inspires us to serve God! Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. And so, we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper today, full of good hope, knowing that Jesus will come again just as he showed up in Israel the first time. And he gave us this sacrament saying, do this is in remembrance of me. And we will remember him forever, until he comes again. And he will come! And it is this hope, this expectation moving toward faith, that Advent properly observed as a preparation for Christmas can express so well. We have God’s word on it! That’s comforting, motivational and energizing!
Comments
Post a Comment