Populus Zion
December 9, 2012
If we began the Church Year honed in on God’s grace, today we continue it
in hope. In the Epistle for today Paul says that “whatever was written in
former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through
the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” The history Scripture
lays out of the people of God is a history of hope. Constantly pointing them
back to what God has done so that they may look forward to what He will do. One
thing that should characterize us as Christians, as God’s people, is hope. We
need to be people of hope. When the world sees us holding on to the belief that
our Lord will return in glory it sees people who are deluded. Or who just need
something to hold on to. But the Bible calls it hope and we hold on to it
because what our Lord says to us has proven more reliable than what the world
has said to us.
And so Paul concludes his Epistle for today with a benediction: “May
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” We don’t just hold out hope,
we abound in it. Paul calls our God the God of hope. God gives hope. Just as He
is the God of love and the God of power and the God of peace and the God of joy
He is the God of hope. He loves us and gives us love. He is powerful and gives
us strength. And He gives us hope. Love and joy and peace and strength are
standard fare we expect from God. But hope is a little tougher to get a handle
on. How exactly does hope help us out? Why not just give us the goods right now
instead of expecting us to wait and rely on Him to fulfill His promise?
This is what we learn today as we move into the Church Year. To begin
the Church Year we see Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Christ is
carried into that place where He will accomplish all that is necessary for salvation.
This is how we are taught grace. Grace is God giving to everyone what they do
not deserve, which is eternal salvation. He does this out of pure love and
mercy. Our sin and guilt are dealt a death blow on Calvary. That’s why the
Church Year begins this way, because without this there is nothing to talk
about. There is no hope, no ultimate victory, no ultimate purpose to life. But
with this there is hope. That’s why we move on, then, in hope. It’s why we
settle in for the long haul and say, “We know what our Lord has done, now we go
forward seeing Him carrying it out to its ultimate realization.”
Again, to the world this is living in a fantasy world. But don’t we
yearn for something more? Don’t we long to see greater glory than what this
world offers? Yes, we do, and that is what God provides. That we don’t want to
experience any suffering or any waiting shows that we’re still trapped in our
worldly ways of thinking. To break us out of that our Lord has to give us hope.
If you have a little child you want the very best for him or her. You want them
to have everything good you could possibly give them, but you don’t dump it all
on them at once. You give them what they need. You guide them as they grow. You
teach them and help them see that patience is not just a virtue but vital to
their growth and life. You may not think of it this way, but what you are doing
is giving them hope.
You are teaching your child to be a person of hope. Not wanting
everything now. Or at least, not always acting on their wants. Being restrained,
circumspect. Stepping back and looking ahead in hope, knowing that not getting
everything now is actually better than all of it being dumped on them at once.
As we grow from childhood to adulthood we continue to learn and grow. We see
that this never stops. As adults we continue to need to live in hope. One way
we as a people gathered in a Christian congregation can see this is in how we
live lives of stewardship.
Have you ever thought about why, if it’s so important that God has His
people gather together so that they may receive His gifts of forgiveness, life,
and salvation, and be equipped by Him to make known the Gospel and serve
others, that He doesn’t just make it very possible, very easy to do? Instead,
we struggle. We have belt-tightening budget meetings. We are called upon to
give offerings so that the work of the Church can continue. God is the God of
all power, is He not? Does it really have to be so tough for a Christian
congregation to get by and do the work of the Church?
Yes, it does. And the reason why is not because God can’t do it another
way. It’s because He won’t, in the same way we wouldn’t dump everything on a
child but instead teach, and lead, and guide, and give as necessary. He does it
because He is the God of hope and is teaching us to be people of hope. We
probably never think of commitment and the giving of our offerings in terms of
hope. Maybe we should. Maybe we should stop thinking in terms of giving our
offerings because it’s what we’re supposed to do and begin thinking of it in
terms of what we simply do as people of hope. Hope is sorely misunderstood in
our culture and I’m afraid in the culture of the Church as well. We think of
hope as something that might be, and boy, will it be great if it ends up coming
about. That’s not what hope is. At least, it’s not what Paul is talking about
in the Epistle reading. It’s not what the Bible is teaching us when it teaches
us that we are given hope by our Lord.
In giving our time, talents, and treasure we do it not out of
obligation but out of hope. When our flesh says, “What’s the big deal?”, hope
calls to us from the distant future and says, “It’s eternally significant.”
When we are tempted by fears, realistic and natural, that we won’t be able to
make it financially, the God of Hope calls to us and says, “Even though your
circumstances look bleak, I see the whole of history and the whole of your life
and I have you in my care.” That’s hope. It’s certain because God’s word is
certain.
Hope is not “I hope it’s going to happen,” it’s “I know it’s going to
happen even though I don’t see it yet.” Hope is looking at our circumstances
and not bemoaning the fact that they look bleak, but rather seeing them through
the lens of what our Lord has told us about them. It’s holding out hope, not in
the hopes that what He said is true, but in the knowledge and certainty that
what He said is true.
Each of you has come here today with various trials and struggles. Some
of you look ahead and see a bleak picture and wonder why you need to have hope.
Wouldn’t it be better if God took care of your trials? Wouldn’t that do much
better to give you hope for the future? The answer is no. The only way for God
to truly love us and help us and give us the strength we need is to empower us
to be people of hope. We know what He has accomplished. He has come as a man
and He has come for the purpose of saving man. Now He directs us to look ahead.
His words in the Gospel reading makes us aware of what we need to know: “there
will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations
in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting
with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of
the heavens will be shaken.”
This is startling. If you want to give your child what is good and what
is best for him you don’t want to go about it by scaring him. Yet, this is not
what Jesus is doing here. Even as part of raising your child is warning him,
making him aware of things he needs to know, not to frighten him, but to
prepare him, part of our Lord’s caring for us and guiding us is making us aware
of what we need to know. If you are struggling in your life you have hope. The
startling details of Judgment Day, in which the very powers of the heavens will
be shaken!, are given to us by our Lord so that we may be people of hope. There
is nothing you will face in life that is beyond the purview of your Lord. You
may wonder how you’re going to get through your trials. God doesn’t. He’s going
to get you through. He gives you hope.
He knows what you are going through. He says also in the Gospel
reading, “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with
dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you
suddenly like a trap.” Sometimes things in life can seem overwhelming. Sometimes
we turn to things for relief, for something to take us away from the pain and
the strain difficulties put on us. Alcohol may deaden the pain for a while but
ultimately what happens is what Jesus has warned against: Our hearts get weighed
down. In other words, turning to things other than relying on God in hope. This
always makes things worse. Even being weighed down by the cares of this life
makes things worse. There’s a difference between caring about things and
worrying about things. God gives you hope, not a call to get so wrapped up in
the day-to-day things of life that you lose sight of the call to greater glory
on the Last Day and the present call to love and serve others.
Living in hope isn’t easy. Otherwise it wouldn’t be hope. The call to
live in hope is always an exhortation to look ahead and live in certainty that
what your Lord has promised you is as good as if you experience it in its
fullness now. When Jesus describes what will occur in the Last Times He does so
to give us hope. He does it so that we know that we shouldn’t lose sight of who
He is and what He does for us. It’s so that we don’t lose sight of who we are
and what He has called us to. It’s so that we don’t go about day-to-do life as
if His death and resurrection don’t have any impact on who we are and how we
live and His ultimate purpose for us. In short, it’s to give us hope.
He says, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and
raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Your redemption has
been accomplished. This you know for certain. He redeemed you on the cross. He
has given you forgiveness, life, and salvation in your Baptism. He gives you
this very same forgiveness, life, and salvation along with His body and blood
He gives to you to eat and drink in His Holy Supper. You don’t hope these
things are true, you know they’re true.
You know what else you know? Your redemption is drawing near. You have
hope. You live in hope. You know. You know that the God who has redeemed you
from sin, death, and the devil is the God who will redeem you from the fallenness
of this life. He will come again, this time in glory, and bring with Him all
the fullness of His power, His glory, and His love, and you will live in it
forever. Amen.
SDG
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