Because of Jesus... I Am Hopeful

Have you ever had to wait and wait and wait? Can you remember when you were a little child, when it seemed like Christmas morning would never get here? The wait was endless. Or maybe you’ve had to wait for something more recently, like waiting for the doctor to come out to the waiting room to tell you that the surgery was successful… or waiting for a soldier to come home… or waiting for the call that says you’ve got the job.

Then there are other kinds of waits. Is there anyone who doesn’t check to see which checkout lane is shortest? And that doesn’t mean just by numbers – you have to look at how stuffed the carts are.  Same thing with lines at tollbooths or even stop signs. And some of us will drive 40 miles out of our way to avoid a 10 minute traffic jam.

We don’t like to wait.

Why is it that we don’t like to wait? Part of it is that we just aren’t patient by nature, but another part is that we are often fearful about the results. It’s like why men don’t go to the doctor. We’ll be complaining about something that’s bothering us, but when someone asks, “What did your doctor say?” we’ll answer, “I haven’t been to the doctor” and if pressed on why, the answer is often, “What if there’s something really wrong?!” We don’t like getting bad news. And so often we’re not hopeful about what we’re waiting for. The doctor might give us the news we were dreading. We might not get the job. Christmas might never come. We wait, but we don’t hope.

My generation is a generation that detests generalizations, but, in general, we don’t have a lot of hope. We’re the first generation who stands to earn less than our parents. We fully expect Social Security to have run dry by the time we get there. As famous non-Generation-Xer, Tennessee Ernie Ford said, “You load sixteen tons and whadda ya get? Another day older and deeper in debt.”

Even Solomon wrote, I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11). In fact, he repeats the word “meaningless” times in only 8 chapters.

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” (1:2) He goes on to list pleasure; work, labor and achievement; wisdom; life and death; leadership; dreaming and many words; and money and possessions. They are all meaningless, a chasing after the wind. The saddest thing I can think of is a meaningless life. I know people who wonder why they are still alive; their lives seemed to have lost their meaning, and they have thus lost hope.

We live in a world largely without hope or with misplaced hope. In North Africa and the Middle East, this past year has seen dictatorships toppled… for what? Our culture is full of Occupy this-or-that protests for wealth redistribution. Our president campaigned on “hope” and “change” and struck a nerve. But is that hope real hope? In Ephesians 2:12, the Apostle Paul writes Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12)

Paul was onto something – separate from Christ, we are without hope. Psalm 33 says No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. (Psalm 33:16-17) Where have you placed your hope? When I was in Russia, it was my roommate’s birthday, and he celebrated in good Russian style, by getting falling-down drunk. When he had passed out, another Russian friend told me, not to pick on him, because he was just doing what Russians did. They drank, as Michael explained to me, because they have no hope. I’ve found out that this isn’t a Russian thing; it’s a human thing. Apart from Christ, we have no hope. I honestly can’t blame people who don’t have Jesus for their coping mechanisms. What else do they have?

In the Old Testament we read about some dark times, but even when the prophets were prophesying doom and gloom, destruction and exile, they still brought a message of hope, a message of a Messiah coming in the line of David, one who would save his people. But there came a time when even the prophets were silent. Between the Old and New Testaments, the voices of hope were silent.

It is in this situation the angel Gabriel shows up to Mary, announcing that “The Lord is with you.”  (Luke 1:28b) He announces the impending birth of Jesus, revealing that “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 1:32) A word of hope in a hopeless world.

This is why Christmas is such an important celebration – not because of the load of gifts that will inevitably become next month’s clutter and next year’s Goodwill trip. Not because of the gluttonous Christmas parties. Not because of Santa or reindeer. Not even for the beautiful Nativity scene. But because the baby born is the hope of the world.

Jesus Himself is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope.” (Matthew 12:17-21). In his name the nations will put their hope.

The hymn “My Hope is Built” says it well: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Without Jesus, there is no hope. No other foundation is solid. But because of Jesus, I am hopeful.

Probably the most famous verse in the book of Jeremiah is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Jesus is that hope!

Jesus gives us the hope of living meaningful lives. When we pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we recognize that without Jesus, it is impossible, but with Christ, all things are possible. He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3) This is why Paul can write to Titus that God’s grace, which has appeared to all, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and all worldly passions and to live sell-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. (Titus 2:12-14)

In the midst of this life, we wait. Advent is all about waiting, especially the wait for Christmas. We await Jesus’ birth, but that’s kind of a strange wait – to wait for something that already happened, especially in the midst of a society that can’t stand to wait. Think about it; how early did the stores start playing Christmas music this year? Even the rush to Christmas consumerism has started earlier; it used to be the day after Thanksgiving, then stores started opening earlier and earlier on Black Friday, and this year more and more stores were open on Thanksgiving, but the online deals started even earlier. So many retailers noticed that people were going online to find out what the deals were, so in order to lure their business in, they would offer deals online… right now. So nobody would have to wait and then have the possibility of shopping somewhere else.

But as Paul wrote to Titus, we wait for Jesus’ return. We wait for him to fulfill his promises in us. We haven’t yet “arrived” and God is still doing a work in us. Even so we wait with hope. We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Romans 8:23b-24a Though we are not naturally wired to be patient, Paul writes in Romans 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Part of the joy of Jesus Christ is that not only is he the One for whom we wait, He is also the One who gives us the strength to wait. While Jesus never promised that this life would be easy, he did promise to be with us. Hebrews 10:23 tells us: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Aren’t you glad our God is faithful? We have all had people fail us; we have all waited and then not gotten positive results or answers, but God is always faithful and He always fulfills his promises.

Indeed, as we know from Isaiah 40:30-31: Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Waiting is tiring, and it can be easy to get discouraged. The Bible tells us to put our hope in the Lord, that He will be our strength. Some of you have never put your full trust in the Lord. You are putting your hope in all kinds of other things. That is called idolatry, and God detests it. Even as we begin our Advent celebration, I invite you to spend some time turning your burdens over to Jesus, putting your hope in him alone. And He will be the answer you need.