Hope In Christ

Texts: Psalm 33:13-22 and Matthew 12:9 - 21

Happy Advent! Today we are celebrating HOPE. The One who fashions our hearts and observes all our deeds is our Hope. Psalm 33 cautions us that our own strength and our own wiles are not enough. Our hope is to be in the steadfast love of God.

What we are talking about today is big hope. Not little hopes that are more like wishes, but big hopes. Life hopes. Hopes that are born out of the gnawing concerns in our souls. Hopes that are created by amazing promises of things like Eternal Life. Hopes for a future in this world. This is what we are talking about today. These hopes are not mere wishes attached to a fantasy, but foundations of our existence … of our lives.

Our hopes … the foundation of our future … is found in the steadfast love of God. We may be strong. We may be smart. We may be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But our hope, what we count on, must be in the steadfast love of God.

The story in Matthew that we read takes it a step further. Jesus is healing people and getting into trouble with the authorities. He’s trying to keep a low profile, healing as many people as he can. His calling is to bring wholeness to those that he encounters. Jesus is the beloved of God, whose Spirit rests upon him. This story ends with, “in his name the Gentiles will hope." Even though he is performing miraculous healings, we are told that it is in the name of Jesus that hope will be found. The name alone evokes a hope in us that is beyond all the miracles he performed. Jesus the healer; Jesus, the one who brings wholeness; Jesus, the one who offers a future; Jesus, the one who reaches outside of his own circle and offers hope to the Gentiles.

The season of Advent is a time of active waiting and reflecting. This week as we wait, let us reflect on hope. What does it mean to us that our hope is in Christ? How does that come to bear on our lives? Is it an ethereal wispy hope or is it a concrete hope that shapes the decisions that we make? Is it both? Can our hope in Christ be active in the realms of the mysterious and mystical as well as in our flesh and bone existence? Is mystery just as concrete as the stuff we can touch? I believe it is.

Our hope in Christ lives in our spirits and becomes manifested in the way we live our lives. It can move us forward and reveal to us from one day to the next how the Holy Spirit is abiding within us. Whether we are sick or healthy, poor or rich, weak or powerful, we move forward from one day to the next until the day we die. How we move forward and what propels us is something we can control. If our hope is in our own strength or wisdom, if it lives in our accomplishments, then it is fragile and can be crushed. If our hope is in our strength and we become weak or ill, then our hope becomes weak and ill. If hope lives in power and we are beaten or oppressed, then our hope is beaten and overcome. If our hope lives in our power and we maintain our power, then it feels like our hope is strong but the truth is that our power is only as powerful as our next conquest. Relying on some manifestation of our strength or health is not living in true hope – it is living in conquest and control. Our hope is to be in the steadfast love of the Lord.

The Big Hope – the foundation of our future, what we count on – is more than circumstantial. It is more than Jesus’ healings and miracles, it is in the essence of who Jesus is. It is Jesus as Christ. That might seem esoteric or flimsy, but because of who Jesus is, this gives our hope more substance than we can even imagine. Jesus is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. Jesus was in the beginning and nothing was created without him. This is the one we call the Christ.

Moving through life day by day with Christ as our hope means digging deep to build a solid foundation. Philippians 4:12 and 13 says, “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” In other words, the essence of my strength is not derived from my health or fitness, from my status or influence. It is the strength that comes through my relationship with Jesus that gives me my solid foundation.

“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. No merit of my own I claim but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

It is important for us to remember from whence our hope comes. When we are well fed and have power, do we remember that our true foundation is in the steadfast love of God and in the hope of Christ? If we do, then we will be more apt to not abuse what power we have and not take for granted our needs and wants being met. When we are powerless, hungry, or sick do we remember that our true foundation is in the steadfast love of God and in the hope of Christ? If we do, then our Big Hope will not be crushed by our circumstances even if our smaller hopes are.

Finally, as we reflect on hope this week I want to ask you to consider the children in our lives. Where do they see your hope coming from? Do they see you relying on the love of God and Christ? Do they see you relying on your circumstances and your strength? Do they know there is a difference between big hopes and smaller hopes and wishes?

Kids are not fooled easily. Even if they can’t articulate the incongruity that they see in our lives they will see it and it will teach them their core values.

Big Hopes have to do with our future. We want to build our future and this church on a solid foundation – on the love of God and on Jesus our Christ. If this is what we want, then we have to make sure that we are living out this truth and teaching it to the kids. To quote some lyrics from the Dixie Chicks, “Our children are watching us. They put their trust in us. They're gonna be like us.”

Like Paul said, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. If we live relying on the strength of Christ rather than our own strength, the kids will see it and learn it. They will learn humility, confidence, gentleness, faith, and most importantly love. We need to live our faith openly and continue to learn how to hope in God’s love and in Jesus’ name if we want our children to live faithful lives with a solid foundation.

This week reflect on from whence your hope comes. Think about the steadfast love of God. And ponder the hope that is in the name of Jesus, who we are waiting on to celebrate the glorious mystery of the incarnation of God in Christ.