Word of Salvation – Vol. 30 No. 47 – Dec 1985

 

The Hope Which Does Not Disappoint Us

 

Sermon by Rev. J. Vander Reest on Romans 5:5

(Suitable for New Year’s Eve Service)

Readings: Romans 5:1-11.

Songs: 287: 1,3; 242: 1,2,3,4; BoW. H.705; 192; BoW. H.902.

 

Do you have that problem too, that you get disappointed?  We do, don’t we?  We get disappointed with the world, with the people around us and with ourselves.

We get disappointed with the world, because of its ugliness, its violence, aggression and hatred.

We get disappointed with our family.  The parents get disappointed with the children and the children with the parents.  We get disappointed with our relatives and we discover that our friends are not perfect after all.

And then there is the Church.  Well, don’t we get disappointed with the Church at times?  And there seem to be so many who get disappointed with the Church.  There are those for whom the Church is too strict; for others again too lax.  Some say the Church is too progressive, for others the Church is too conservative or too old-fashioned.  There aren’t many who are not disappointed with the Church, sometime or other.

But let us not forget ourselves!  We do get pretty disappointed with ourselves, don’t we?  We wish we could contain our temper better and did not fly off the handle so soon.  Or, if only we could be more patient and were able to listen better, without having to say something all the time.  If only we did not find ourselves so important and could forget ourselves for a while and concentrate on others.  Yes, looking back on ourselves there is much to be disappointed about.

Now once you start adding all these disappointments together, they could become one large disillusion, which could make us feel depressed, downhearted, pushing us to despair.  So we begin to ask: What hope is there still?  What hope is there still for the world, for my family, for myself?  What perspectives do we still have for the future?

Before we answer those questions we do need to ask ourselves for a moment, what do we do with those disappointments?  In other words: how do we handle them?  Have you ever asked yourself what you do with your disappointments?  You know what a lot of people do?  They begin to project their own disappointments and failures onto others.  They make others the scapegoats for their own mistakes and accuse others of the failures and faults they make themselves.  And so we can hear that a person says to his/her partner: If only you could be more interested in me; spend more time with me; then I could be nice and more loveable!

Can you hear it: If only you COULD, then I CAN!  We usually expect changes to start with others rather than with ourselves.

And then there are people, who literally ‘work off’ their disappointments.  To hide their disappointments or disillusion they bury themselves in their work, their study, or their hobby.  One can hear such a person say: I must make a go of it this time!  I must try harder; this time it must be a success.  These people cannot bear to be a looser; they cannot live with themselves as a failure; they must make a success of it and of their life.

Now we all try to do this of course.  And also as Christians we are not allowed to bury our talents in the ground.  Indeed we must try to give all that we have and work on things.  But that is different from not being able to bear a loss, or a disappointment.  Let us not forget that often we grow more from disappointments than from successes.

It is of course possible to become so despondent, depressed or disillusioned by disappointments that we begin to ask: What hope is left?  What are the perspectives for my life?

And especially at the end of another year and at the brink of a new one, we are inclined to ask ourselves: What are the prospects for me?  How does the future look?  What hope do I have?

In our text the apostle Paul also speaks about hope.  And in the passage we read, he very clearly says that we should rejoice in our hope.  He speaks about a hope which does not disappoint.  There is one thing, says Paul, about which it is impossible to become disappointed and that is our hope!

Let us listen therefore to the Word of God which speaks about:
            A Hope which does not Disappoint!  And we see:

                        1.  The Blessings of our justification by faith

                        2.  The hope which is based on God’s love.

1.  The Blessings of our Justification by faith.

Paul speaks in our text about hope, but he does this in a particular context.  And although our text is verse 5 and we want to hear how it speaks about hope, we can only understand this verse if we look at the preceding verse as well.

Paul says, God’s plan for our lives starts in a sense with justification.  Once we are taken up in that relationship with God through faith in Christ Jesus, there are a number of blessings which flow to us.  The first one he mentions is: peace with God.

Through our relationship in Christ we obtain the peace with God.  No longer are we at enmity with God, but God himself – because we are justified – has made us at peace with him.  And that is a peace which passes all understanding!

But there is more!  We also receive the blessing of sharing in the glory of God.  Not only are we now at peace with God, because we are justified, but we also will share in the glory of God.  Not always will we be the sinners we are now; not always will we be sinful in nature, unrighteous and prone to failure.  There will come a time that God will restore us to the image we had at first.  He will make us again perfect sons and daughters after the image of Christ.  Then we share in the glory of God.  That is another blessing in store for us!

And then we notice in our text that Paul interrupts himself, as if to say: but this doesn’t mean that we are already promoted to a life of glory and perfection; as if the Christian is guaranteed an unhindered life of success!  Oh no, says Paul, although we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God, we know that in our present situation, in our temporal life we will have suffering.  The future glory does not cancel out the present hardship, pain and even suffering which we may experience while on earth.  The life of a Christian is not without its disappointments, disillusions, setbacks and even pain and suffering.  But, that should not surprise you; that should not make you despondent or bring you to despair!  You must remember that God often uses and blesses our hardships and sufferings.  Paul says: ‘More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings!’  And you know why?  Because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character and character, hope!’

No, success is not always an undisputed and undivided blessing!  There are times that we definitely grow much more through sufferings.  Hardships often bring out in us the good qualities like: perseverance; it shapes our personality and character and it makes us live in hope.  And as Christians that is what we all need to learn, namely to live in hope!

2.  The hope which is based on God’s love.

And the hope, the apostle Paul is speaking about, is not just any hope or some vague expectation.  Paul uses the word hope in a certain way and it is filled by him with a certain content.

Pauls says, hope does not disappoint us, because this hope will keep our eyes fixed on the future, fixed on the redemption and future glory which it will bring.  This hope will help us to keep the right perspective in life.  This hope will help us to overlook the imperfections, the hardships and the sufferings of our present temporal position and situations and will help us to look forward.

And with overlooking our present problems I don’t mean that we need not work on them or that like an ostrich we should put our head in the sand; close our eyes for the things that need to be done by us.  No!  We need to do all we can!  We are not allowed to become passive, merely consuming Christians, waiting with our arms crossed until God throws things in our laps.  Certainly not!

And in regard to the year before us; we need to plan, we need to work; we will need to use all the talents the Lord has given us.  But when all we could do, has been done then we may rejoice in the hope which we have because of our faith!  We may rejoice in that hope which helps us to overlook our disappointments.  We must rejoice in that hope which helps us to look over the top of our present woes, into the future, waiting for the wonderful and exciting things to come.

Just like that child, that was standing with its mother in front of the counter in the shop.  The child was standing on its toes pulling itself up on the overhanging ridge of the counter, just high enough so that it could look over the top of the counter into the store of beautiful goodies!

Our hope, in which we rejoice, helps us to look over the top of our worries, our setbacks and disappointments into the store of God’s promises!  We rejoice in our hope, because it makes us concentrate on the things which are in store for us.  And this hope does not disappoint us, says Paul.

Perhaps, at this point, you would like to ask, but how come?  How come that while all the other things in life do disappoint us at times, including the Church and our own faith?  How come that this hope doesn’t and will not disappoint us?

Because this hope is based on God!

That is the whole argument of these first five verses of Romans 5…!

Paul says: God; not only your justification, but also your peace with God; your sharing in the glory of God and your hope, it is all based on God!

It is God who justifies!

It is God who gives you peace!

It is God who loves you in Christ!

It is God who promises you redemption and eternal life!

And you may hope for all these things with certainty!  It is a certain hope, which will not disappoint you, because it is based on God’s love!  On God’s love!

Now why does Paul say: on God’s love?  Paul could also have said, this hope is based on Christ.  Or on your faith in God, or on your justification and salvation.  But he sums all this up – he takes all these things together and ties them together – by saying: Your life, present and future, is all based on God’s love.  God’s love made it possible that Christ could come into the world for our salvation.  It is because of God’s love that we are justified; it is because of God’s love that there is a future and therefore hope.

Just imagine, congregation, that we would not have or would not know of God’s love; just imagine that there wasn’t God’s love.

Life would be without perspective and future and hope.  Life would be like a cell, which would hold us captive.  Life wouldn’t be bigger than a room four by four feet, without a window, without daylight, without any perspective.  Life without hope would close in on us and reduce our life to gloom and darkness.

Thank God that he reached out to us and to our world in Jesus Christ, in his great love.  Thank God, that he took the initiative to come to us with his Holy Spirit and brought life to us through regeneration, justification and faith.

Thank God that we could celebrate Christmas and that we may enter a new year filled with that hope that makes us look forward expectantly!  No, don’t let the disappointments in your life rob you of your joy and perspectives.  Keep in mind that as Christians you have been justified in Christ through faith and that means – amongst other things that we have a hope based on God’s love.  And therefore a hope which is sure and certain!

Congregation, rejoice in your hope!

Rejoice in the hope which does not disappoint, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us by faith in Jesus Christ.

Amen.