Faithful Living – Hoping
Romans 8:12-25
July 20, 2014[i]
Today,
we continue our series of sermons from Paul’s letter to the church at
Rome. We have been looking at some of
the middle chapters of Romans to see what Paul has to say to the church about
the theme of living faithfully as followers of Jesus Christ.
So
far, we have talked about:
·
The freedom we
are given by Christ: freedom to live the
way that God wants us to live (Romans
6:11-23);
·
We have talked
about the dilemma we find ourselves in: sin still exercises power and control
over our lives. We want to do what is
right, but we can’t; we don’t want to do what is wrong, but we do it
anyway. We fail, but Paul affirms to us
that God through Jesus Christ can redeem us from what he calls this “body of
death” (Romans 7:15-25a).
He proclaims “thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans
7:25a).
· Last week, we talked about “abiding in the
Spirit”: about walking in the Spirit,
dwelling in the Spirit, living in awareness of God’s Spirit living in you,
loving in and through you. We discovered
that when you walk in the Spirit, the Spirit walks with you (Romans 8:9).
This
morning, we take up the theme of hope:
what is our hope as Christians? This
is not a discussion that takes place in a vacuum. Each of us carries with us something that we
hope for. What is it that you hope for
this morning?
I
have learned a few lessons this week about hope that I would like to share with
you.
1.
Hope is both
time-specific but it also is timeless. We
hope in the present for something in the future. We can hope in the present
because of God’s faithfulness in the past.
Paul says in Romans 8:24 that
“in hope we were saved.” One commentator
that I read this week points out that this is one of the few places that Paul
uses the word “saved” in the past tense.
Because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which
occurred at a specific point and time in history, we find our salvation. Our salvation is tied to our future.[ii]
2.
Because our hope
is for something in the future, we may not be able to see today the object of
our hope. Let’s distinguish “hope” from
simple “desire.”
a.
Desire longs to
escape from the present. Our hope does
not deny our present reality; but anticipates the promise of a future.
b.
Our hope is not
simply wishful thinking; our hope is not simply trading a future attachment for
a present one.
c.
Sometimes, we
need to give up what we desire in order to attain something better. The great “Faith Chapter,” Chapter 11 of
Hebrews, offers the testimony of great heroes of the faith—many of whom did not
live to “receive what was promised, since God had provided something better…” (Hebrews 11:29-40).
3.
There is a
connection between suffering, hope and resurrection.
a.
The “Spirit
[bears] witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children,
then heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if , in fact, we suffer with him
so that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17).
b.
Paul said, “I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory about to be revealed to us” (Romans
8:18). Paul hopes for a time when
“the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain
the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
4.
There is a connection
between faith and hope.
a.
The Book of Hebrews
says that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
b.
Faith is not
something we possess in our heads; faith is something we do with our hearts.
5.
We live with hope
just as we live by faith. Our hope is
possible because we have confidence in the One in whom we place our hope. In the words of Hebrews, we look “to Jesus
the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his
seat at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
6.
We hope with patience. “But if we hope for what we do not see, we
wait for it with patience” (Romans 8:25). We persevere.
“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…” (Hebrews 12:1c).
7.
Our patience in
hoping enables us to become “overcomers.” “In all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans
8:37).
8.
Hope, together
with its present-tense cousin “faith,” make up two of the three gifts that will
remain with us and abide in us. But the
third gift trumps all of them—the gift of divine love. “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these
three: and the greatest of these is
love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
9.
How do we keep on
hoping, even when all the evidence is to the contrary? We keep on loving—loving the Lord our God
with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as
ourselves. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Leviticus 19:18b;
Matthew 22:26-30; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-28). We are able to love because of Jesus Christ,
who loves us. Nothing in our suffering
can defeat the love God in Christ has for us.
“”I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Sometimes,
we need to be reminded. Hebrews 12:1
points to the “cloud of witnesses” who testify to their hope in Christ and who
encourage us to “run with patience the race that is set before us.” I celebrate this morning the life of a young
woman who recently joined that cloud of witnesses. Jamie Gibson Hartley was a friend of our
daughter, Margaret—ten years older than Margaret, but they shared the bond of
music. They would sing together—both of
them had the voice of angels. Margaret
met Jamie at a summer camp that has been organized by a dermatologist
especially for children with skin disorders.
Jamie suffered from a genetic skin disorder called EB. EB causes the skin and even internal organs
to blister. EB patients often have to
have their limbs bandaged because of the scar tissue and open sores. Many EB patients don’t live to see the age of
30. Jamie died on July 10, just short of her 37th birthday. Jamie was not only a talented musician. She also was a gifted artist and
photographer. But she didn’t place her
hope in her music or her art; she placed her hope in Jesus Christ. Here are words that Jamie wrote a few weeks
before she died: “I simply cannot wait
for payback, when my chains are unlocked and my abilities are fully unleashed,
and I am able to more fully thank those who have helped me along this path.
When these hands are made to be like the Savior’s hands and I can finally
follow the example of those who have so thoughtfully and painstakingly served
me. I have been tutored by some of His best, so I will better know how to
serve. I can’t wait!”[iii]
“I
can’t wait!” Hope is the “I can’t wait”
attitude of living on tiptoe. Paul says
that “the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now” (Romans 8:22a), suffering now but living in the assurance that God is not
finished with us or with this world. Hope
is living with the assurance—not something that we can verify with our senses
but we trust with our hearts—that “this world is not [our] final home.”[iv] Hope is the assurance that “On Christ the
solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”[v] Hope is living faithfully, on tiptoe,
whatever our circumstances, with the inner assurance that “soon and very soon,
we are going to see the King!”[vi] I can’t wait!
Can you? Alleluia!
Copyright © 2014 by Thomas
E. Frost. All rights reserved
[i]
Preached at Cunningham United Methodist Church in Palmyra, Virginia.
[ii]
Eugene M. Boring and Fred B. Craddock, The
People’s New Testament Commenatary (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2009), 488.
[iii]
Jamie Gibson Hartley, May 29, 2014, quoted in her obituary online at http://www.affordablefandc.com/obituaries/jamie-diane-gibson-hartley/. Viewed online on July 20 2014.
[iv]
Stuart Hamblen, “Until Then,” copyright 1958 by the Hamblen Music Company.
[v]
Edward Mote, “My Hope Is Built,” reprinted in The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989),
368.
[vi]
Andraé Crouch, “Soon and Very Soon,” reprinted in The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989),
706.
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