Series: “Loving Jesus”.... “Spiritual Hope”

Sunday Sermon July 29, 2012               
Eph. 3:14-21 – Mark 13:1-13

We continue in our series titled, “Loving Jesus”… if the core of living a life of faith is being faithful to Jesus, and if believing in Jesus helps us draw closer to Jesus, therefore, what we’ve learned thus far that having spiritual understanding and spiritual authenticity lead to loving Jesus more fully.

And... If having faith in Jesus is not about loving Jesus, and then Christian spirituality is nothing more than a ritualistic endeavor. It might be helpful for a time or season, but will never satisfy fully and will never draw you closer to God. In addition, w/o Jesus, I don’t believe you will ever experience the fullest measure of hope that God promises.

So… today our reflection will focus on how we can have greater “Spiritual Hope.”

Prayer:

I have a confession to make… it can be difficult to talk about hope when for many of us… me included… have difficulties seeing or experiencing any kind of hope in our lives. Yes pastors like all of you have difficulties experiencing hope. It is for the most part…difficult because of all the suffering we see around us… even the suffering we ourselves are experiencing. So… if you find yourself in this spot, then this sermon is as much for me as it is for you.

So to understand Hope we must first “Live with Suffering.”
In part, the human existence is filled with suffering. Some is the consequence of our own bad judgment or miss-deeds. This kind of suffering, while painful serves the purpose of making us wiser or better behaved.

     Theologian Peter Gomes says, “Hope doesn’t deny the circumstances of the present, and hope doesn’t help us get out of our difficulties. Hope doesn’t get us out, but it does get us trough.”

In contrast, what I call the Osteen Effect... your all familiar with Joel Osteen... he says, “You are supposed to live a victorious life — an abundant life. You are not supposed to live under your circumstances. You’re supposed to rise above your circumstances. I know God holds victory in store for the upright. You have not seen your greatest victories yet. You have not seen your best days — they are still out in front of you.”
Osteen claims in his book, “Your Best Life Now,” “If you develop an image of victory, success, health, abundance, joy, peace and happiness, nothing on earth will be able to hold those things from you.”

Of course we know that life is a bit more complicated and full of questions than Osteen suggests. So Osteen is only half right. There are still many questions because life isn’t nice & tidy all the time. In fact… suffering happens all the time and people with the best of intentions have difficulties understanding or seeing any hope. Then there’s the question that Rabbi Kushner asks, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” That question is too long to tackle today. In fact… it hasn’t ever been answered that I’m aware of.

The point is… suffering will happen.

          It will happen to the best of us.
          It will happen because of us and it will happen through no fault of our own.
          Evil exists in the world and so will suffering.
The Bible says, “The whole world lies under the power of the evil one.”
Luther said, “God has put the devil on a leash,” from our perspective that leash is mighty long.

Mark Powell says, “The fact is, many bad things happen to good people simply because the universe is broken and needs repairing. Such suffering is not God’s will. It is not redemptive, and it’s not even necessary. It’s just bad. It’s horrible. And the bible really has one thing to say about such suffering: IT WILL END!!

“Let’s Find Hope”

A seminary prof told a story when he was at the subway. He met a Goth-punk type young man holding a very large book. He noticed the large book and asked what it was. The young man responded, “It’s a Bible.” Have you read much of it? The Prof asked. “Yes I’ve read parts of it. I especially read the end.” Then he whispered to the prof… “In the end… we win!”

This is the greatest Hope we have. In the end... we win! Jesus describes in our bible story all the trouble the world is going to experience. His followers will experience terrible events in their lives. They will be beaten and ridiculed. Life is not going to be easy. With all that Jesus describes he then tells them, “Keep on being faithful… right to the end.” Jesus gives them hope.

YES… even despite all the trouble we see in our world, our communities, our lives… remain faithful. In John’s gospel Jesus says, “remain connected to me… I am the vine and you are the branches.” You know the story.... Jesus tells us to remain connected to him, and when we do... we have hope.

What does God tells us…

“He will wipe away all tears, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain… these things are gone forever.” Rev 21:4

"No more Suffering… I am sure that what we are suffering now cannot compare with the glory that will be shown to us.  Rm. 8:18"

"God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. 2 Peter 3:13"
        
"All will be made New… At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised.   We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won't die or decay. 1Cor15:52"

"We will know all things… Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don't know everything, but then we will, 1 Cor. 13:12"

"We will be like Christ… we are already God's children, though what we will be hasn't yet been seen. But we do know that when Christ returns, we will be like him, because we will see him as he truly is   1John 3:2."

"More than we could imagine… "What God has planned for people who love him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard. 1Cor. 2:9"

Hope is like a little girl waking up on Christmas morning and running out to the barn. She had wanted a pony for Christmas. Upon opening the door of the barn she saw no pony, only mounds of horse manure. Being hopeful she said, “With all this manure around there must be a pony in here somewhere.”

Closing:

You’ll know the story of Noah’s Ark… and you know the struggles Noah had with building this huge boat, and you know that this story beams with hope as well.

I received an e-mail from a guy about Noah titled,

 “11 ways to have Hope, I learned from  Noah.”

ONE:  Don't miss the boat.
TWO:  Remember that we are all in the same boat!
THREE:  Plan ahead.  It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
FOUR:  Stay fit.  When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do
              something really  big.
FIVE:  Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
SIX:  Build your future on high ground.

SEVEN:  For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
EIGHT:  Speed isn't always an advantage.  The snails were on board with
              the cheetaha.
NINE:  When you're stressed, float awhile.

TEN:  Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by
          professionals.
ELEVEN:  No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow

                  waiting.

 I hope you were able to see a bit of hope today… I did… I leave you with this last tid-bit of hope… There is a Native American saying that I really like.

             No matter the circumstance of life you are facing.
             No matter how tough your life might be.
             No matter how much pain and suffering you may be experiencing.
                                 “TOMORROW STILL COMES”


See You Out on the Road