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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor September
22, 2002 I
want to talk with you today about
offering people hope. The word
"hope," of course, has different
meanings, depending on the
context in which it's used. So
first I want to define the kind
of hope that I'm talking
about. The
Bible is filled with references
to hope, but I want to begin with
three passages that will give us
a clear understanding of the hope
to which I'm
referring. These
passages tell us about a hope
that is sure, that is real, and
that is available to all who turn
to Christ. The
first of these texts is Hebrews
6:13-20. The writer of Hebrews
begins by talking about an
oath God made to
Abraham back in Genesis. He
explains why God
made that oath, and how that
oath, even though made long ago,
continues to give us hope
today. Follow
this carefully. Hebrews 6,
starting in verse 13: Men
swear by someone greater than
themselves, and the oath
confirms what is said and puts
an end to all
argument.
Because
God wanted to make the
unchanging nature of his
purpose very clear to the
heirs of what was promised, he
confirmed it with an
oath. God
did this so that, by two
unchangeable things in which
it is impossible for God to
lie, we who have fled to take
hold of the hope offered to us
may be greatly
encouraged. We
have this hope as an anchor
for the soul, firm and secure.
It enters the inner sanctuary
behind the curtain, where
Jesus, who went before us, has
entered on our behalf. He has
become a high priest forever,
in the order of
Melchizedek. What
was implied in the Hebrews'
passage is made explicit here in
Titus: this hope we are talking
about is the hope of
eternal life. It is a
hope for something beyond this
physical, material
existence. Paul
tells Titus that this hope is of
vital importance. Why? Because it
is the foundation for our faith
and knowledge. He is saying that
our hope is true, and therefore
the things resting on that hope
are true. The
Apostle Peter gives us here four
important points about the hope
we have: "How
can a man be born when he
is old?" Nicodemus asked.
"Surely he cannot enter a
second time into his
mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus
answered, "I tell you the
truth, no one can enter the
kingdom of God unless he is
born of water and the
Spirit. Flesh gives birth
to flesh, but the Spirit
gives birth to
spirit." What
Jesus was saying to him is
this: "Nicodemus, something
has to happen on the inside of
you. You need a new
heart." And
that's what the new birth
does. It changes who we are
from the inside
out. Time
cannot tarnish it. It is
lasting. It will never cease
to be
wonderful. What
that means is that the
presence of the Holy Spirit,
and the things the Holy Spirit
does in, around, and through
us, give evidence to the fact
that God can "deliver the
goods." Our hope is in a
sure
thing. Here's
the bottom line of everything
I've said up to this point: The
hope we are to offer the world is
the hope of eternal life. It is a
sure thing, rooted in the person
and work of Jesus
Christ. Now
we come to the obvious question:
How do we give that hope to
others? What is the vehicle with
which we deliver it to other
people? I've
come to the conclusion that there
are two components to giving hope
to others -- two things that open
the way to a person latching on
to the hope that God offers in
Jesus. The
first component is love, the
second is power. I'll
talk about loving people who are
outside the Church in a moment,
but first let's look at what the
Bible says about loving our
brothers and sisters in the
Body. Consider
the words of Jesus in John
13:35 Also
look at John 17:20-21. Here,
Jesus is praying to the
Father. And
listen to 1 Peter
3:15: Why
would they ask? Because we live
differently than the rest of the
world. We love one
another. Every
human whether they realize it or
not has a basic desire to love
and to be loved. But we live in a
world of hate, violence, greed
and hopelessness. They want
something better. If they see
that we love each other and live
in hope they will come around to
see what we have that they do not
find in the world. So
the first thing we must do is
love each other. Next
we have to love people who don't
yet know Christ. It
is not enough for people see us
love each other, they want in on
the deal. This, by the way, is
why we must be careful to reach
out to people who visit our
church. We can't spend so much
time loving on each other during
our moments of fellowship that we
neglect new people in our
midst. To
get a person to the love of God,
we must let him or her experience
God's love through us -- not just
in church, but everywhere we have
the opportunity. The
relationships we build on love
are the bridges Jesus can walk
across to touch a person's heart
and life. As
wonderful and as necessary as
love is, I believe love alone is
insufficient to give a person
hope. Power is also
necessary. The
Apostle Paul refers to this in 1
Corinthians 2:4-5: Remember
the central question underlying
all religion? We've talked about
it before. It is simply this: Is
God's power available to us and
is it sufficient to change human
life and human
institutions? People
are looking for power that can
make a difference in their lives
and in the world they live
in. There
are three dimensions to God's
power. First,
the past dimension.
By this I mean we must give
testimony to God's mighty acts in
history, both in Scripture and
our personal
experience. Secondly,
there must also be a witness to
God's power in the
present -- what God
is doing now. It
is only then that we can have and
give away hope for the
future -- the
eternal life God has promised
us. Let
me give you an example of what
I'm driving at. You are here this
morning because you thought we
were going to have a worship
service. You figured I would be
here to preach and that I would
have made arrangements for music
and the other things that we need
to conduct a service. And of
course I figured that you would
show up. On
what basis do we make those
assumptions? We were here last
Sunday and the Sunday before.
What if you showed up next week
and Bev and I weren't here and
had made no other
arrangements? You
might put up with that for a
couple of Sundays, but soon you
would quit coming. You would call
the district superintendent and
start looking for another
preacher. And probably you
wouldn't show up again until you
had some assurance that we were
really going to have
church. For
sure, God is different than us
but our faith in God is subject
to the same pressures of
performance. If Jesus doesn't
show up in our midst today, are
we really going to believe that
He is going to come in the future
and bring the fulfillment of
Kingdom of God? And would we have
faith for today if it were not
for the witness of others that
the Spirit of Christ has shown up
in past? Hope
is fueled by the fact that God
has proven Himself faithful. Over
and over again God reminds his
people: "I am the LORD thy God
who brought you out of
Egypt,
led
you and fed you in wilderness,
and
brought
you to the land which I promised
Abraham." The
timeless God revealed himself in
time because God understands that
our humanity demands that our
faith be rooted in historical
reality. We remember the past
because it is the root system
through which we can draw upon
God's presence and power for
today. The
past, along with our experience
of God's presence with us now,
forms the basis of our hope for
what God has promised in the
future. One
more text: Ephesians
2:11-13: But
now in Christ Jesus you who
once were far away have been
brought near through the blood
of Christ. You
and I were once lost as a ball in
high weeds. But God found us and
gave us hope. There
are people out there who are
foreigners to the promises of
God, without God and thus without
hope in this world. Offer them
Hope. Offer them Christ. Love
each other, love them and show
them God's power. On
November 16th, you and I will
have a great opportunity to open
a doorway of hope through the
Athens-Area Convoy of Hope. This
is an outreach to people in our
city who are poor, who are lost,
who are out of work -- people who
need to know that there is a God
who loves them and has plan for
their lives. If
you'll watch the video screens,
I'm going to show you a short
tape about the Convoy of Hope,
and next Sunday I'll be asking
you to sign up to help. We'll be
joining hands and hearts with as
many as 30 or 40 other churches
here in our area. It
is the Body of Christ in Athens,
Georgia, taking a step to offer
hope in Christ to people who
desperately need to know what our
hope is all about. (To
view the video, click
here.)
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
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A
GATEWAY SERMON
Offer
them hope
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
What
is this "hope"? Where does it
come from? And how do we offer it
to others?
When
God made his promise to
Abraham, since there was no
one greater for him to swear
by, he swore by himself
saying, "I will surely bless
you and give you many
descendants." And so after
waiting patiently, Abraham
received what was
promised.
This passage gives us three
important points concerning the
nature of the "hope" I'm talking
about today:
An anchor, as you know, is
a source of strength and
stability. And that's just
what this hope is: it gives
both strength and stability to
our lives;
What that means is that it
is fastened in the Holy of
Holies, which is the place in
the temple that represented
the very presence of God
Himself;
This last point isn't
explicit in the text, but the
implication is clear: the
reason we have this hope at
all is because Jesus entered
into the Holy of Holies as the
perfect sacrifice for our sin.
Our hope is rooted in and is
dependent upon Jesus
Christ.
The second text that will help us
understand this hope is Titus
1:1-2. Here, Paul is describing
his ministry as an apostle of the
Lord:Paul,
a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ for
the faith of God's elect and
the knowledge of the truth
that leads to godliness -- a
faith and knowledge resting on
the hope of eternal life,
which God, who does not lie,
promised before the beginning
of time...
The
third text I want you to look at
addresses the
source of our hope.
Look with me at 1 Peter 1:3-5:
Praise
be to the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ! In his
great mercy he has given us
new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that
can never perish, spoil or
fade -- kept in heaven for
you, who through faith are
shielded by God's power until
the coming of the salvation
that is ready to be revealed
in the last time.
This new birth is
described for us by Jesus
Himself in John 3. Jesus is
talking to Nicodemus, a member
of the Jewish ruling council.
Nicodemus has come to Him and
has said, in effect, "How is
it that you seem to have such
a close relationship with God?
What's the secret?"
Starting at verse 3:
In
reply Jesus declared, "I
tell you the truth, no one
can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again."
The Bible says that death
is an enemy, and that people
live in the fear of death. If
Jesus can defeat that enemy,
he can defeat any enemy.
Well, He did defeat death when
He rose again, and that is why
we have hope!
In other words is certain.
It cannot be destroyed. You
can bank on the fact that God
will fulfill this hope.
Indeed, 2 Corinthians 5:5 says
that very thing:
Now
it is God who has made us
for this very purpose and
has given us the Spirit as
a deposit, guaranteeing
what is to come.
Giving
hope to others
The love factor"By
this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you
love one another."
"My
prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will
believe in me through their
message, that all of them may
be one, Father, just as you
are in me and I am in you. May
they also be in us so that the
world may believe that you
have sent me."
But
in your hearts set apart
Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to
everyone who asks you to give
the reason for the hope that
you have.
The place of
powerMy
message and my preaching were
not with wise and persuasive
words, but with a
demonstration of the Spirit's
power, so that your faith
might not rest on men's
wisdom, but on God's
power.
People
of hopeTherefore,
remember that formerly you who
are Gentiles by birth and
called "uncircumcised" by
those who call themselves "the
circumcision" (that done in
the body by the hands of men)
-- remember that at that time
you were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in
Israel and foreigners to the
covenants of the promise,
without hope and without God
in the world.
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020922a: Offer Them
Hope.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado