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Hope by Amy
If I were to ask you what you are hoping for at the moment, what would you say?
Hope.
It’s a funny word isn’t it? Countless times we have sang about it, or prayed for it as a church, there are endless quotes and sayings and verses about it. You get magnets and bookmark and posters with it on, I’ve even got a Christmas decoration that is the word Hope made out of metal suspended on a ribbon. But what actually is Hope? I bought that decoration because I thought it was ‘nice’. Is nice the right way to describe hope?
Hope is a word that makes some people squirm. I think it makes most of us a bit uncomfortable if we’re honest. It a word often on the lips of those annoying people who appear to have it sorted. You know the types – the ones who always say amazing prayers and have the right answers to everything who walk into church with a shiny halo round their heads, who are tired because they’ve been up all night praying. Hope is a word for them, not us general folk right? In today’s cynical world hope is almost seen as a little bit twee or bit wishy washy. It’s a notion that isn’t very solid or reliable. Most people want something that is evident and real and hope is seen by many as flaky.
Hope is also a connected quite often to naivety. When you aren’t really engaging with the real world when you’re ignoring the devastation that’s around us. Is it naïve to hope? Hope is also associated quite often to the arty hippy types who are in a daydream most of the time, the visionaries wishing for a brighter tomorrow…
Hope is often laughed at. Our world is packed full of cynicism and distrust and doubt and despair and doom and gloom. There are so many dramas on TV about conspiracies and documentaries revealing “the terrible truth” behind so institutions that we trust. Magazines are always pointing out negative aspects of the lives of the rich and famous. The news is constantly filled with negativity.
No wonder that hope is such an uncomfortable concept.
I’ve almost come to the conclusion that as a society we’ve forgotten how to hope. Or even that we’re afraid to.
I know someone who’s a Christian, she goes to church regularly, she enjoys chatting about her faith, she prays regularly and reads the bible often….who recently said to me that she doesn’t allow herself to hope because if what she is hoping for doesn’t happen, she’ll be bitterly disappointed and it’ll be too painful to bear. Her philosophy of life is to expect the worst. And she’s a Christian…how on earth is that living out the good news of Christ?
But y’know…I don’t think that she is the only Christian who lives like that. I for one can put my hand up and admit I could do with a few lessons about hoping.
As Christians, as people who come to church, who sing to God every Sunday, we whether we like it or not, represent the teachings of Jesus to the world. to our communities, to our colleagues, to our families, to our friends… that’s our responsibility, to go and make disciples, in other words to go and tell people about Jesus!
One of my favourite quotes is from St Francis of Assisi who said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words”
One of the ways that I think we can best preach the gospel is being counter culture to the world around us and I think one of the most effective ways is being people who hope.
The verse from Isaiah we’ve just heard from starts with the words, “listen all who hope”
Does that mean the cynical among us can switch off from this bit and leave it to the inexperienced, the ones who don’t really know what the world is like? Is God only addressing those who are disillusioned here? Is he only directing those who are naïve? .
I believe that in this opening line of Isaiah 51 God is addressing mankind as a whole, for he knows that hope is something that lives in every single person.
Very rarely when we are asked about hope do we respond with something to do with our faith, or our character or our own achievements or personal development. Most often we respond with hopes and dreams to do with our families, our friends, our communities…i.e. other people.
Rarely do we have hope for ourselves. Why is that? Is it because, like my friend who thinks the worst, do we feel we’re not capable of achieving? Do we assume we’re not worthy of blessing? Have we forgotten how to value ourselves?
Isaiah 51 says, “the Lord will comfort Israel again, and have pity on her ruins. Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.” That comes from verse 3
What if this was describing your self-esteem? Could the way you think about yourself be described as a desert? Are your self-esteem levels akin to a barren wilderness? The NIV uses the word “Wasteland”, The Message uses the words “Dead ground”. The word Ruin is in there also.
Has your confidence been ruined by something?
I often don’t think very highly of myself. Tim, my husband is always telling me off for putting myself down. It’s a weekly if not daily occurrence. But I can’t help it. Its almost as though I expect to mess up because I think I always do, or I assume that I’ll say the wrong thing or embarrass myself because I think I always do... Very rarely do I have confidence that I’ll do a good job or say something worthwhile.
It’s a human trait I think, to think lowly of yourself. Many of us expect good things to happen to others but are surprised when good things happen to ourselves. Its almost like we’ve come to terms with the fact we’re in the background, getting no attention.
There are so many people too who can’t accept compliments. I don’t like getting compliments, it makes me feel uncomfortable and I always think, “they’re just saying that to be nice. They can’t possibly mean it”
Most people are unsure of what to do when someone congratulates them or tells us they approve of something we’ve done.
There are very few people in this world who are confident in themselves, who expect compliments and praise from others. People who know for certain that they are going to do well.
So in reference to the Isaiah passage, mine and quite a lot of other people’s self esteem levels are like a ‘wilderness’ sometimes. ‘Barren’ is a good way to describe my confidence. ‘Wasteland’ is a fair description of my self-belief.
But there is a solution. God is saying in this passage that he can change all that.
To the people of Israelhe is talking to, God is promising to rebuild their society. The idea of re-building society is a big deal. It was considered a huge undertaking, but God is promising, in this passage, that he will. He is God, and no task is too big for him…they just need to trust him.
And God can rebuild confidence. He can turn barren self-esteem levels into blossoming Eden’s. He promises to turn our wastelands of self-belief into beautiful gardens and tells us that joy and gladness will be found there. I’m not sure about you but when I think of myself ‘Joy’ and ‘gladness’ are not words I would use.
But this is Gods promise. And He doesn’t say might, he doesn’t say maybe, he doesn’t say could, or perhaps … he doesn’t say, ‘I’ve tried once before with you and it didn’t work”, he doesn’t say, “Well let’s give it a go but I’m not promising anything…” he says he will. God will bring about these changes. For he is God and no issue is too big for him. We just need to trust in him.
So how can God do this? How on earth can God turn our confidence levels around, how can he possibly make us feel good about ourselves again?
Well the book of Isaiah is regarded as a prophecy of the life of Jesus. The prophet who wrote it knows that one day something will come that will change the world and bring hope. And that something is Jesus.
So what has Jesus got to do with hope?
Surely you can live your life believing in God and Jesus and come to church regularly, and pray and read the bible and be without hope. What is the link?
I want us to take a look at the Gospel reading from Matthew 16:13-20.
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In this passage we see that Peter is sure of who Jesus is. He doesn’t hesitate, he doesn’t have to think, he is confident and he knows straight away who Jesus is.. to him. And Jesus tells Peter that he can’t have learned it from anyone else, or from books or from teachings…so this knowledge that Peter can only come from spending time with Jesus and observing him. Peter has learned for himself who Jesus is.
Who is Jesus to you?
At the end of the passage we have that confusing verse, verse 20, where Jesus tells the disciples (and the word ‘sternly’ was used there) so he means it, Jesus tells them not to tell anyone that He is the messiah.
Why would he say that? If its our role in the world to tell people about Jesus? Why has Jesus asked them, sternly, not to mention it?
If someone tells you what someone, or something is like that you have never heard of, then in theory, you have no need to learn for yourself, because you have been told by someone else what it is like.
The problem with that is, you are only going on someone else’s opinion, rather than your own, for that information that you have been given is second hand.
When I was younger my Mum had been to Paris quite a few times and whenever she spoke to me about it, she always got really excited and animated. She used to describe to me what Paris was like when she had been and why she loved it so much and she always used really vivid descriptions. So whenever I thought about Paris, I always pictured what my mum had described and Because of what my Mum had told me, I thought I knew what Paris was like without ever having been there, But Mum had only told me what Paris was like for her. She only told me the things that meant something to her, the things that she had noticed. So actually I was living my Mums version of Paris. I was living through her opinions of it, and what she had seen, and what she had witnessed. So actually, it was second hand information.
When I was 21 I was lucky enough to go to Paris with Mum and experience it for myself, and it was totally different to what I had expected. It was still as wonderful and amazing as I had thought, but it became my experience, and suddenly I had my own thoughts and opinions. I was living Paris through my own experience, not via anyone else’s.
I think Jesus told the disciples not to mention the Messiah word to anyone, so that people can find out for themselves. He didn’t want people to be spoon-fed this information. He wants people to find out for themselves who he is.
If you were asked today who Jesus is to you, what would you say? And I don’t mean, who you’ve been told he is, I don’t mean the theory of who Jesus is, or who the Vicar says he is, or who you have been taught that he is…who is Jesus to you?
After Peter says, “You’re the Messiah”, Jesus then responds by telling Peter who he really is.
The Message version puts it like this:
“Jesus responded “God bless you Simon, you did not get that answer from books or from a teacher. My Father in heaven has told you who I really am. And now, let me tell you who you are…who you really are.”
I want to suggest today that Hope comes from knowing who Jesus truly is and takes root in us when we find out who we really are. Hope, I believe, is born out of us being secure in both those things…who Jesus is and who HE says you are.
Not who your spouse says you are, not who your family says you are, not who your children say you are, or your boss, or your parents…or even yourself. But who Jesus says you are.
And that is discovered when we spend time with him. It is discovered when we find out who Jesus really is, and who is to us. For when we spend time with Jesus, we get to know him better and only then we will learn what our purpose is and what he wants us to do.
That process….I believe…will generate hope.
I can’t tell you who Jesus is for you, or who he is going to be for you. You have to find out for yourself.
Its no good asking who Jesus is for other people either, and taking their version of him for yourself. It has to be your Jesus.
Who is Jesus for you.
I believe when we find the answer to that we will find out who we are also.
My prayer for you, for you as individuals, as separate families, as a congregation, as a church is that you will get to know for yourself who Jesus is for you. That in turn he will reveal who he wants you to be as individuals and as a church so that your wastelands of self belief, and your barren confidence levels will be transformed into Eden’s.
I want this church to be as striking and as appealing to your community as a beautiful garden would be.
I want your confidence and your self-belief and your hope levels to be as stunning and as attractive as a multicolour flowerbed would be.
God tells us through Isaiah 51 that he will do it, and he will do it through Jesus.
I want each and every one of you to know who you have been made to be, so that your lives can be full of hope and I want that hope to overflow wherever you go and for people to notice it. And for you all to have the confidence to know who Jesus is.
In the next week whenever a cynical view or opinion is about to pass your lips remember that you represent a God of hope. A God who thinks the best in people and who is capable of the best.
Bill Hybels who is a big pioneering Pastor in America says that , ‘the local church is the hope of the world’. I agree with him. But I think that can only be the case if the individuals who make up that local church hope for their own lives and their own circumstances.
And that is the hope for me too. I need it in lorry loads. But in order for that to happen I need to get to know Jesus more. I want to know who I am. I want to be someone who hopes.
So lets spend more time with Jesus. Lets read more about him, lets talk to him more. Lets find out who he is for us personally.
I’m going to read you something that has inspired me a great deal, you’ll find it inserted in your newssheet. You should have received a copy when you came in this morning. Please follow it if you wish. Its called My King and it’s an excerpt from a sermon by an afro-carribean Baptist preacher called S.M Lockeridge. He preached this sermon in the deep south in 1926 when his people were being persecuted. It’s about who Jesus is to him.
So I’ll read this out, I hope it inspires you as much as it’s inspired me, then after I’ve read it out I’ll pray and that’ll be how I finish. If anyone would like me to pray with them about anything I’ve spoken about today I’d be really happy to so please come and find me after the service. If not then that’s fine too.
Its been an absolute pleasure talking to you today. I love this church and I love the people in it. I really look forward to hearing about everything you achieve with God in the future, As individuals and as a church.
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