“For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.” And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.” 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.” Romans 15:8-13 ESV
We live in unsettled times. I know you know that but sometimes it helps for us to focus on what should be obvious but for a variety of reasons isn’t – chiefly our confusion about what Scripture says.
The world uses the word hope in a different way than the Bible does. In Biblical philosophy hope isn’t vague. It isn’t a result of man’s will/strength. It isn’t attached to a worldly deliverance (political, financial or circumstantial) or the expectation of some kind of humanistic utopia. Study the language of modern life. Listen for the buzzwords. Listen for them wherever you go. Outside of God, humanistic religions and philosophies are continually talking about hope and deliverance. On the one hand there’s the emptiness of the spiritual void – a kind of stoicism that says the path to “inner peace” is to just accept things the way they are. That’s spiritual suicide, though. That tells a man to endure the evils and sorrows of life because in the end there’s nothing really to be done about them.
On the other hand there’s the false hope offered by the idols of our time. Poverty. Education. Healthcare. Vote for such and such and all these problems will go away. The idol-state promises the moon. Former president Obama even had “hope and change” as his campaign motto. He was half right. It will require change for man to truly have hope. The problem is that sinners trying to fix sin without Christ is like a man spitting on an inferno in order to save himself. In all these things look carefully. Humanism is always offering false hopes outside of Christ.
Another thing that’s important: Biblical hope isn’t arbitrary optimism. Biblical hope is grounded in facts. It doesn’t say vacuous things like “well, it’ll all work out in the end.” That’s nonsensical humanism at its core. In “the end” is death. Men speak of karma these days…of impersonal forces that are supposed to somehow make life alright. Over against all of this hubris, wishful thinking and outright idolatry stands the truth of Jesus Christ and His empty tomb.
Scripture renders hope as “elpis” and it means to have a “favorable and confident expectation.” In Titus 1:2-3 we read:
“In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior…”
What this means is that our hope is on solid ground because that ground is Christ. You see, God promised eternal life before the ages began. God doesn’t have mood swings like we do. He isn’t on a high one day and then feeling low the next. From eternity past (wrap your brain around that concept!) He predestined Christ to die for your sin so as to accomplish what you and I couldn’t. Christ is, therefore, the ground and foundation of real hope. This is what we mean when we say that Biblical hope isn’t wishy-washy empty-headed optimism. Unless sin and death are answered, man loses. He loses all.
Clint Eastwood’s William Munny says this about death: “Funny thing about death…it takes away everything a man has, and everything he’ll ever have.”
But in 1 Timothy 1:1 we read:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our HOPE…” (emphasis mine).
Christians are the greatest realists in the world. They see it all as it really is – without the sin-shaded lenses of humanism, lust, greed, pride, and wishful thinking. And yet, yes, we have the great hope of Christ. Not just a vague hope either, but one full and robust because its object is the sweet perfection of the Lord Christ Himself.
A soul without hope is dying. And not merely passing softly in the night but in a most slow and agonizing manner. A man whose heart is broken by despair, bleeding out slow drops of hope, draining the life from him, is a dying man indeed. He’s the curmudgeon that’s lost hope. Or she’s the woman who’s been “burned” and let down by life. The failures and disappointments pile up. Scars of bitterness start to cover all all those wounds. Like smoke rising that chokes a man’s lungs, burning them, and cutting off retreat, so is this despair. The thing is, such bitterness is RATIONAL outside of Christ because there is, indeed, no hope. Mankind will lurch this way and that. He’ll stagger down the hallway of history opening and closing doors, rearranging things in diverse rooms. In sin, man is, as Jeff Durbin so aptly put it, rearranging the furniture as the house burns down. Yes, outside of Christ, man should be hopeless. History confirms this. Ten out of ten men die and no philosophy or dictator or political movement has ever fixed this elemental fact.
So, Biblical hope isn’t arbitrary. The empty tomb of Jesus Christ is the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19). Despair is vanquished because we know that, though we can’t make sense of all things now, we have the God who makes sense of all things. Man simply cannot live without hope. As much as he needs water and food for his body, he needs hope for the soul. Where our hope resides tells us everything out us. When we see evils, when we encounter frustrations, and when despair whispers to us that all is lost, who/what do we seek?
Rudyard Kipling foresaw the collapse of humanism. In 1919 he wrote,
“As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man…there are only four things certain since Social Progress began…that the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire, And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes babbling back to the Fire; And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins when all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins, as surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn, the Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!”
Kipling saw right through the false promises of humanism. Now, 100 years later, we’re living in that collapse. Humanism is falling in on itself into a dark nihilism. No utopia is promised anymore since the crazed schemes of socialism have all destroyed themselves. No worldwide worker’s paradise is envisioned upon which we might sacrifice hundreds of millions of more lives. Now we have little souls dreaming no bigger than claiming they choose what gender they are. In 100 years of high humanism we went from trying to make over the whole world to dressing in different clothes. We’ve presently scaled back our latest attempt to build a Tower of Babel. We settle now for a small condo in the Detroit of humanism. We’ve scaled back. We’re going lower, not higher. Outside of Christ the logic is inexorable. Outside of Him who is the source of life and hope we’re Nebuchadnezzar, unshaven, unwashed, living in the fields like an animal.
Against this hopelessness stands Christianity. It’s an expectant hope in the God of Scripture who makes all things work together for good. Our highest goal is, therefore, to believe Him! Faith is life’s great work and the fuel that faith burns is hope. In hope we go into our vocations and work, not as men-pleasers, not merely to make ends meet, not merely to make as much as we can, but because we know the most incredible thing of all.
We work truly, no matter what we do, for God! We persevere because of hope…hope that rests in God and sees Him in all. When the writer of Hebrews says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” we’re given the key to Christian living. Our goal is different because our faith is different. The goal of humanism is heaven with sin. That’s impossible because sin destroys. The goal of Christian living is faith and love worked out through the hope we have in Christ. Do you think for a moment, Christian, that the Lord who personally died for you, was tortured for you, so that you may have all, will not reward you for your work in His name? Do you think He’s a God of small honor? Do you think He doesn’t see your struggles? Oh, how the Christian heart melts because of this misunderstanding. He disciplines those He loves, Christian…and that’s you. Yes, you. He’s refining you because He loves you and not, repeat not, because He doesn’t care.
Hope will tell you the truth so long as that hope is in Christ. Hope will allow you to see the spiritual reality that’s behind everything. Indeed, the smallest victory in faith and your personal struggle against sin has eternal consequences. Refresh your soul upon the promises of God and the hope that is yours in Christ! Today you wait eagerly, expectantly, full of praise though there’s pain and drudgery. You wait because of Him and work for Him because you know the promises and feed your thirsty, parched soul upon them.
“For God is not so unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake in the serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:10-12).”
Recent Comments