St. Matthew’s Sermon 11-27-2016

Hope

Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God. Amen

My Webster’s dictionary defines hope as: To wish for and expect… confident expectation that a desire be fulfilled; wishful trust…

It’s from this use of the word that comes all the negative quotes about hope. Looking at being hopeful, with only these definitions in mind, I agree with, for example, Friedrich Nietzsche (Nee cha) who wrote “Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man”. Or Ben Franklin, who once said, “He that lives upon hope will die fasting”. And Edgar Howe’s words “There is nothing so well known as that we should not expect something for nothing – but we all do – and [we]call it Hope”. 

In our modern time for people of no faith ‘hope’ is nothing more than wishful thinking with a lot of uncertainty. But we, as people of faith, know that there is much more to it than that; just as my Webster’s goes on to expand on the word ‘hope’ as being “something which one longs to be realized” Now we’re at the line between philosophy and religion, between reason and faith! Now we’re at the point where people of faith understand exactly what ‘hope’ is all about and where, conversely, people of no faith cannot understand.

This kind of hope is what we see to be born in the words of Isaiah, as read for us this morning, and we hear “In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it … they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”.  “…all the nations shall stream to it… [and they shall learn war no more].”

This is a remarkable example of the hope we find in our faith, the hope of the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Ah, but there’s still more! Webster continues the definitions of ‘hope’ with: “a person in whom confidence is placed or who could provide what is wanted”.

Now we’re getting even deeper into ‘hope’ as it is used in our faith. Of course, I’m thinking about the one in whom we place our confidence to provide what we want, and that is God! It is in God that we can confidently hope for all that we want and all that we need.

And we’re not done yet! Webster, as if intentionally building up to the climax of definitions of ‘hope’ as related to the Christian faith, adds one last phrase, that being, “…the virtue by which a Christian looks with confidence for God’s grace in this world and glory in the next.

Now! Now we’re really down in the roots of the meaning of ‘hope’ in the context of our Christian faith! “The virtue… by which a Christian… looks with confidence… for God’s grace… in this world… and glory in the next!

This is the meaning of hope that diminishes people like Edgar Howe when they say something as negative as “There is nothing so well known as that we should not expect something for nothing – but we all do – and [we] call it Hope”.

We can expect something for nothing when it comes to God’s Grace! The very definition of which is God’s unearned, undeserved gifts to humanity. And there lies our hope as people of the Christian faith!

However, just because we understand that our hope, our only hope, is in the grace of God which cannot be earned nor bought, that doesn’t mean that we can sit in our easy-chairs and wait for all that we want and all that we desire to be delivered. People who do so were the inspiration for Nietzsche and Franklin and Howe to write the words they did.

Just a few paragraphs back, when I reiterated the key phrases from our Old Testament reading, I omitted one very important part. That being the phrase: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” “…that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

Here we see that we cannot sit confidently in our hope. In these words, we are called to seek God’s wisdom, to spend the time, to put in the effort to learn from our God His paths, His ways; and that we must walk in those paths with Him and for Him. Hope is not a stagnant condition for people of faith, it is a call to active engagement in God’s teaching; it is not just talking the talk, but also walking the walk.

Sometime after the days of Isaiah this message from God was lost. The people of God remained able to talk the talk, but ceased to walk in His paths. That is when God, through grace alone, sent one more teacher, gave humanity one more chance. But this time it was not just another prophet, it was His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Him the people were, again, taught that it is still a requirement to walk in God’s paths and it is through His example that the world can find hope in our faith.

Christ reminds us that God can make real those things we long for; and it is God in whom we can place our confidence and who can provide what we want; and it is God, to whom we can look with confidence for grace in this world and glory in the next.

In this, the beginning of our Advent season, when we look with great anticipation toward the greatest grace God has ever given, the gift of renewal for a broken world, seek to renew your hope. But not the kind of hope that is mere wishful thinking, not the hope that allows you to believe that you can sit back in your easy-chair and wait for the gifts to come. Rather, the hope that gives you strength and courage to talk confidently and to walk in God’s paths with Him andfor Him; that through you’re shining example, “Many people shall say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths”… that they, too, may find true hope and walk in the light of the LORD!

Amen.

Isaiah 2:1-5
2:1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2:2 In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

2:3 Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

2:5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Romans 13:11-14
13:11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

13:12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

13:13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.

13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Matthew 24:36-44
24:36 “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

24:37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

24:38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark,

24:39 and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

24:40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

24:41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.

24:42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

24:43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

24:44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.