Homily Pastor
Dan Neary
Hope
Four Sunday’s of Advent reminding
us that Jesus, Emmanuel – God with us, came. Furthermore, this celebration of
his first coming, his birth or advent, reminds us of his second coming.
In our
celebration of Advent we’ll use the four traditional themes of Advent, Hope,
Joy, Peace, and Love.
We’ve already become familiar with today’s theme: Hope.
Hope.
I find that
there are a number of simple words that, once I really think about them, I
realize I haven’t appreciated their full meaning. Hope is one of those words.
Hope certainly
seems like a word that belongs with this season, this Christmas time of the
year. It seems like there is a lot of hope around… a lot of hoping.
When I think about this word…
especially around this time of the year… I think I translate the word hope into
the word wish. There is certainly a lot of wishing going on this time of the
year.
Wish lists…
wish books… guys in red suits and white beards to who we whisper our wishes.
Thinking about Christmas wishes transported me right back to my childhood. And
for me, the icon of Christmas wishing was the Sears Christmas Catalog.
I went to
Sears to pickup a Christmas Catalog so I could use it as a prop… only to find
out: it no longer exists.
Where I once could pick-up a copy
of the Sears Christmas Catalog, I only found a sign directing me to
www.sears.com
I suppose
that makes sense… I haven’t spent much time in a department store’s catalog…
but I have done plenty of browsing on the Web. Amazon.com is way cooler than
the old Christmas Wish Book… I used to have to stick bookmarks in catalogs and
bend-over pages… now I have electronic wish lists to update.
And then of
course there is eBay… the worldwide electronic garage sale!
And specialty
stores like cruiser-customizing-dot-com (I have a wish list there too!)
And you all
should be sure to shop at collecterrific.com… my parents can really use the
business.
Browsing
these pages at this time of the year, whether on a printed page or a Web page,
is a great deal of fun.
By the way… when I was looking
around for information on the Sears Christmas Catalog… I found a guy who
scanned pages out of a 1971 Sears catalog… I was 6 in 1971.
I think I
have some school pictures in that very outfit!
Any of you ladies remember having one of these fine dresses?
Back on
track:
When I spent hours leafing through
the Sears Christmas Catalog… and even the lesser cousin, at least in my house,
the JC Penney Christmas Wish Book… there were at least three different mindsets
with which I would approach this annual ritual.
Fantasy – I would
page through without any bounds on my imagination. And the Sears Catalog, of
course had a bit of everything. Guns, Boats… (my dad had a Sears boat)… there
was even a time, when you could buy a house from a Sears catalog.
Possibility – Here’s where I would rein it in
a bit… but still push the envelope. I have a vivid memory of one year, in
particular… I must have been 11 or so… my son Alex’s age. I had picked out,
from the Sears Christmas Catalog, a chemistry set. It was that one thing I had
my heart set on. And my parents, especially my dad, had gone to great lengths
to explain to me that there was no way I was going to get a chemistry set… and
I could understand that… the catalog explained that it was for ages 13 and up. Reminiscent
of that not famous line from what is becoming a classic Christmas movie “you’ll
poke your eye out kid.”
And just like
the movie… I got the chemistry set… the exact set as pictured in the Sears
catalog… and just like the movie I think I did inflict some self damage along the
way… a chemical burn or something.
Expectancy – and then there were times that
I knew that what I was wishing for was so reasonable that I could attach a
certain amount of expectancy to the wish. As a kid, clothes or shoes on a wish
list is a pretty safe bet. I can remember one year thinking it would be cool to
have race-car sheets on my bed… so I put ‘em on the list; I got ‘em. You can
pretty much count on getting what you ask for if what you ask for is something
you’ll likely get anyway. It would be like me taking a look at Donny’s
Christmas list and finding fresh tap water on the top of the list.
Not
especially flashy… but a sure-fire way not to be disappointed.
But even with this expectancy
category of wishing… there is no certainty… and that is the difference between
a wish
and a hope.
A hope and a
wish are similar I suppose in that they deal with the future… but they are
entirely different because of this one characteristic: certainty.
And People of
God, you have hope. Not merely a wish… a real hope.
Here’s another way to look at it.
This helped me. In most cases in the Bible, Hope is a noun. It isn’t something
you do… it is something you have. Hope, like righteousness, is imputed. When
you believe, when you embrace Christ as your Savior, you have hope.
We don’t
merely wish for a future with God, an eternity with God, we have hope… we have
eternity with God.
So… about this hope.
This is one of those where we’re taking one sermon and it could be a whole
series… we could do weeks and weeks on hope.
One of my
mentors says that every sermon should have hope in it. And I suppose you’re
right Don.
Source of Hope => Scripture
Romans 15:4
4 For everything that was written in
the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement
of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Everything
that is worth having in this Christian life must be rooted in the Scriptures;
God’s Word is our basis for hope.
Path of Hope => Faith
Hebrews 11:1
1 Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith is
sort-of hope in action. Faith is hope’s present reality… hope
actualized.
Substance of Hope => The Gospel
Today’s NT
passage: Romans 5:1-8
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we a have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we b rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we c also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [1]
Here’s what
makes hope possible… it is what makes hope real.
The Gospel is
our only key to hope. Period. The Gospel is hope.
Moment of Hope => Meeting Jesus
Titus 2:13
13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great
God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
The Blessed
Hope – we will meet Jesus!
Sustainer of Hope => Holy
Spirit
This, again,
is right out of our passage today and it bears repeating.
Romans 5:5
5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
This speaks
to the idea that hope, like righteousness, is not only imputed… it is also
imparted. We are given hope, all of it, a complete and free gift… but hope also
grows in our experience. It grows in our experience with God the Holy Spirit.
Impact of Hope => Bold
Proclamation
2 Corinthians 3:12
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
1 Peter 3:15
15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give
an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you
have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Let us not
forget to share this hope… especially at this time of the year.
I’m not one
of those who gets all down on the secularism of Christmas.
I’m glad for
decorations and lights… and frosty the snowman, and Rudolph the red-nosed
reindeer and all the rest that has nothing to do with Christ.
It is really
OK.
But as those
who are understanding the profundity of Christmas.
That what we
are all celebrating is the birth of Emmanuel – God with us!
Let’s not be
shy about drawing attention to the Christ in Christmas.
This is
hope’s rightful impact.
So What?
Embrace hope.
Today, as a
fitting celebration of Advent… as a celebration that Jesus has come and
purchased hope for your free gift… Embrace hope.
I’m wondering if when I was
talking about wishing if anybody realized that maybe we’ve mistaken wishing
for hope.
Is our
spiritual life, our ideas about life and death and God just a fanciful wish? Really
just something outlandish that we dream about… but no certainty at all?
Or maybe it
is a wish with possibility. Maybe it is a spiritual wish that has some
possibility associated with it. This sort of comes part and parcel with a
good-enough gospel. You know, that gospel that says that maybe if you’re
good-enough we can earn God’s favor. We’re really never sure… but we’ll try
real hard and hopefully, just possibly, we’ll get what we wish for in the end.
Or maybe we
have a wish that is so entirely reasonable that we’ve pretty much got it all
figured out and we’re expecting God to go along with the deal we’ve figured
out. Our wish for eternity is pretty reasonable, at least on our terms, and we
expect it all to work out in the end.
Don’t settle for a mere spiritual
wish.
Settle for
nothing less than the certainty of hope.
When you
believe, you are His.
So today… put
aside wishing and embrace hope.
Receive hope.
Believe in
the Christ of Christmas.
Acknowledge
your weakness; turn from your sin.
Place all
your trust in Jesus… and receive hope.
Celebrate
Advent… the coming of the Christ… by receiving this great gift of hope!