“The Missing Ingredient” (Part Two)

This week we are considering the desperate need for hope among the people of God. Yesterday we tried to clarify what hope is and what it is not. Today, we look at where hope is found…

Where Can I Find It?

Outside Christ, the only way for people to have hope is as a result of human initiative or human ability. Yet, in reality, the Bible describes those outside Christ as “having no hope and without God in the world.” (Eph.2:12)

Fine. But what about us? If we are be characterized by hope, what is the ground in which that grows? Two keys…

1. The Resurrection

• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)
• If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. (1 Cor.15:19-20)

Let’s face it, if “hope” is joyful, confident expectation, it is impossible to have that without a clear understanding of what happens after you die.

2. The Scriptures (Romans 14:5)

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Here, Paul is giving his statement on the value of the scriptures (“whatever was written in earlier times…”), stating that it was written “for our instruction.” In what? What are we supposed to learn from the scriptures?

Perseverance (see Rom.5)

and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom.5:4-5)

In ease and prosperity we never have the opportunity to see God work. If we bail out and give up, we never have the opportunity to see God work. But, in perseverance, we can personally experience:

• Grace of God
• Power of God
• Provision of God

Those are the things that times of endurance teach us that times of ease cannot. The lessons of hope are formed so that, when we do face further trials, we have confident trust in the power of God. See the “but not” reality of Paul in 2 Cor.4:8-9:

we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…

Encouragement of Scriptures: how?

• We see there the character of God (holiness, grace, love);
• We see there the power of God (creation, provision, care);
• We see there the stories of the people of God… like the bear and lion experiences that set the stage for David and Goliath.

And God has not changed! Tomorrow we will see why this matter of hope is so vital to the life and witness of the church today. I trust you’ll check back for that important piece of the conversation.