Hope

The following message is brought to you from the Chapel of Reform Theological Seminary, Orlando. A graduate theological school committed to the authority of God's word where students develop a mind for truth and a heart for God. It comes during a week of intensive courses as part of the RTS Orlando Distance M-Div program. This message is on hope and comes from Reverend Mike Glotto, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, and Dean of the Chapel. To learn more about RTS Orlando, visit the campus webpage at www.rts.edu-flashorlando. You may also find recordings of other chapel messages, lectures, and campus interviews on the resources page at the same address. And now, Professor Glotto. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. And this not only completes a sequence, it completes a circle, if you will, because we read in verse 1 that peace is the consequence of faith, peace with God through all of our Jesus Christ, and that it is the inward dwelling spirit of verse 2 that is hinted at in the hope of the glory of God, so that the hope that is mentioned in verse 1, the hope of the glory of God is completed in the circle of verse 5, the hope that does not put to shame. So we want to contemplate the concept of hope, Paul, is bringing to our attention here this morning. I'll mention to begin, one of my early cross-cultural experiences as a young man was accompanying three Ole Miss fraternity brothers to New Orleans for a spring break. I thought I had come from generic culture of the Midwest, but then I met these three Delta boys, and I realized I was no longer in Kansas or wherever I was raised. And one expression I learned from them because they said it all the time, the whole week we were down in New Orleans was, who's your daddy? You know what that's fresh to me? Who's your daddy? Now if I beat you at pool, I say who's your daddy? If I eat more crawfish than you, I say who's your daddy? And so if I parse Greek better than you, I say who's your daddy now? And as I contemplated that expression, I realized for three boys from the Delta and the hierarchy of Northern Mississippi, there's a little bit of an etymology there that is more complicated than just who's the best person. Because from when you're from the Delta, who your daddy is, makes a big difference. Who's your boast in? What can you claim? And it's of our interest that the word for rejoicing here in Paul's words of Romans 5 as we've heard already this week is not really rejoicing like a carous type of word, but it's actually the boasting word cowcautomai, which everywhere else in the New Testament translated boasting. So

we don't just rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, we boast in the hope of the glory of God. And this is relevant because that word has already appeared in the book of Romans when Paul speaking to the Jews who claimed the law as their boast, learned from Paul that when they sin against the law, they deny their boast. That is, if you boast in the law, you have nothing to boast about because you sin against the law. So our boasting is in the hope of the glory of God. What is hope? Well, hope is the end of a sequence that begins with faith. Faith is the first domino to fall and hope is the last one to fall in place. Faith is receiving and resting upon Christ alone as he is offered in the gospel, the catechism tells us, that's what faith is. Well, if that's what faith is, what's hope? Hope is faith exercised toward the future. But hope is not faith exercised merely toward the future. Hope is faith exercised toward the future for present benefit. Larger catechism, 83, says, what is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy in this life? And the answer, in part, that the catechism gives, is the members of the invisible church which have communicated to them in this, like, by the way, don't cry about the catechism. Exam, happy answers are repeating the question, the means by which God communicates to us, to us, the benefits of Israel. So the catechism does it here. The members of the invisible church have communicated to them in this life the first fruits of glory with Christ. Glory being that revelation where every eye will behold him, the glory that descended on Mount Sinai with up to the heart of heaven now fills the earth. So the first fruits of glory we share in as it goes on, as they are members of him, their head. Remember on Monday, I said there is no benefit quoting John Ray. There is no benefit which is ours under the gospel which is not ours through Christ and Christ's mediation, as they are members of him, their head. And so in him are, here's a wonderful understatement. They are interested in that glory. And the catechism here doesn't simply mean, oh, that's interesting, as a curiosity, but it's a financial term isn't it? When you have an interest in something, you have a stake in something, you have a possession of something, because God takes possession, God has an interest in us, therefore now we have an interest in what is Christ with which he is fully possessed up and an earnest therefore of and hear the things that the catechism lists, the sense of God's love. And Paul, of course, here's talks about the love of God which has been poured out in our hearts in verse 5, peace of conscience. Well, we have peace with God by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. Joy in the Holy Ghost. We rejoice in the hope of glory. And concludes with the hope of glory. I think question, larger catechism question 83 must be based on these verses, at least in part. Hope is a present appropriation of a future expectation that began with faith. And this is a big part of the overall structure of the book of Romans. Abraham believed in hope against hope. In chapter 8, creation is subjected to futility in hope of being set free. And in hope we were saved. And hope that is seen isn't hope. Those are in Romans chapter 8 and chapter 15, the benediction that we will end the service with today is may the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. This is a vocabulary right out of chapter 5. So that by the power of the spirit, you may abound in hope. You could say in certain respects that Paul's goal of the book of Romans is that so is that those who have been justified by faith will abound in hope. But I've never seen any reformed theological conference centered around hope. Yes, around the legal ramifications of the gospel, on the decrees of God. But hope perhaps is a little too existential sometimes for archaeological dissertations. But Paul is suggesting here that the patina of faith, that is that wearing an aging that is the beauty of time, the patina of faith is hope, that over time through trials, endurance, proven character, that faith takes on the patina of hope. This hope is the result of the love of God that's been poured out in us by the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is himself is a possession of a future promise. The spirit is the down payment, Paul says in Ephesians 1, on the future glory that is ours already now. That's a little bit about what the shape of hope is in the book of Romans in Dante's divine comedy on the entrance to Inferno. In the entrance to hell is inscribed this. All hope abandoned ye who enter here. All hope abandoned ye who enter here. It is telling that of all the things which Dante could say to characterize hell that he chose the loss of hope. But I would suggest to you, the scriptures tell us and my own experience tells us that the hope of future glory is almost the easy part when compared to the hope of everyday existence. There's no hope in the hell of the afterlife but there is a hell and hopelessness in this life. This is why the psalmist repeatedly talks about taking refuge in God. One of the great challenges that any Christian faces and ministry just amplifies every note of the Christian experience doesn't it is wondering if what we're doing matters. And I think in ministry perhaps the greatest challenge sometimes is hopelessness wondering if what we're going to do matters. You've seen the iconic photos of the evacuees from South Vietnam as Saigon fell. And there have been times I would be honest with you in my ministry where I thought, am I the last dope out of Vietnam? Am I the last person on the wall? Am I the last person holding the door shut to only turn around and find that everyone else has gone everywhere else? Do what we, does what we do matter. That's where hope meets us in the crucible of ministry is what you're doing today going to count. Is the time you spent doing the right thing going to count when you could have been doing something to advance your notoriety and visibility and interest for your career. I've spoken to some of you in other contexts about the difference between a ministry and a career. A career is always thinking about how I can be known so that I can do the next thing. A ministry is what can I do that the Lord would have me do in this moment when I was high school senior after all the sports were over and we could eat anything we wanted and we didn't have to exercise anymore. It was play time except my high school English teacher came to me and she said would you be willing to come over and play with my 5th grade son a couple of times a week? He didn't have a father and he was very effeminate and starting to get bullied at school and she asked me to come and play with her son. We call it mentoring now. Back then we called it babysitting and all my friends were heading off to the local lake to swim. It was just like some country western swinging in a rope over the creek time of life with pickup trucks and cut off shorts and I was bouncing a playground red rubber ball with a 5th grader who couldn't catch it. It's a good thing it was one of those big rubber balls because it doesn't hurt you unless it's a different kind of game and so I remember my high school principal saying to a friend of mine glowed out what a loser playing bouncy ball with a 5th grader that hurt. That was not just a losing out on playing with my friends but hearing the criticism of somebody who I respected but you know that's actually was just a good object lesson in the preparation for ministry and wrestling with hope. Does what you do that the Lord has called you to do on any given day doesn't really matter especially when you don't see the immediacy of results. Having hoped day-to-day in ministry is one of the greatest challenges of ministry and it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes and doesn't mean we don't waste our time and doesn't mean we don't run down dead ends especially when we're self-willed and unwilling to listen to the counts of others but when we are doing the things God has commanded us to do following example of Jesus considering the least the most important we have this promise we will not be put to shame. Hope does not put us to shame. We have the hope of vindication Paul says it in 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 15 because Christ hasn't been raised your faith has not been. I think Paul's reminder there is precisely the same thing he's reminding us of here that there is one fact which clear cuts burns away and crystallizes the most important thing that ever happened in the history of the world is the same thing that's the most important thing that's ever happened for us on an individual personal basis which is Christ has been raised because of the resurrection nothing we do for Christ is in vain and because we have the promise that what we do for Christ is not in vain therefore we have hope. We have the hope of future glory because of the future glory revealed in Christ has now come to the present and we draw present hope from the anticipation of future glory some of you are here and your family thinks you're adope some of you are here and the job you left they think you're adope and Jesus told us a parable for such a moment about a man who found a pearl of great price and he sold everything for the sake of owning that one thing when I think of Dante's inscription a band any hope all who enter here for us it's a call to abandon all hope in anything else but the resurrected Christ there's only one fact that matters in our day to day existence above all of the facts that Christ has been raised and our faith is not in vain and therefore we have hope one of the best known passages from Flannery O'Connor is from the short story a good man is hard to find and probably many of you have read it some of you more of you even have heard it quoted there is a convict who is contemplating why he should not kill his hostages and one of his captives says Jesus can help you and he engages in what is one of the most profound soliloquies that you'll find in literature this man says Jesus if Jesus was raised from the dead there's nothing to do but throw away everything follow him but yeah I wasn't there I don't know if he was raised from the dead and if he wasn't raised from the dead there's nothing but meanness to life it's not fair that I wasn't there but you see the gift of the spirit testifies to us that Christ has surely been raised and ascended on high sits at the right hand of God and so rather than being dopes we are full of hope may God help you when everything else is dragging you toward shame at following him at bearing his name at wasting your talents and resource and abilities for the sake of being a disciple may God give you the grace of hope because Christ has been raised the spirit is testifying to us that our faith is not in vain so that we might live in the present value of that future reality of the resurrected and glorified Christ let's pray God for anyone here who is a bruised reed near stumbling discouraged tired weary wondering of the chaos to which they'll return today tomorrow Lord grant them a special measure of the spirit of hope help them to see their interest in you because of your interest in us thank you for faith and for faith which makes trials opportunities for meeting God and for growing in endurance the endurance of faith and for the endurance that proves and tests our character so that we are refined by even the worst things that happen to us in life and for how proven character gives birth to hope so that we may set our eyes on what is unseen rather than what is seen we pray this in Christ name Amen