When Hope Arises
Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014 – Brad Bailey
Intro
Today we gather around the event that has influenced human history more than any other…and changed more lives than any other.
We gather around the resurrection of Jesus…known as the Christ…which means the anointed one.
The events are described in the four Gospel accounts that are a part of the Scriptures.
Earlier in our gathering, we heard the account of Mary Magdalene first encountering the empty tomb. We’re reminded that Easter begins with one whose hopes appear sealed in the harsh reality of a tomb.
We know that this woman Mary…had experienced the power of Jesus to bring freedom from evil that had been at work in her life. With deep gratitude she had followed him… and when he entered Jerusalem everything changed. He was arrested… beaten…tried by various rulers…and finally crucified. She was there. She watched. He was buried in a cold stone tomb.
On that Sunday morning she comes once again to visit the tomb. She comes in love… but ALSO IN DARKNESS; not just the darkness of the sky, but the darkness of her soul. Her love may have been strong… but her hope couldn’t see anything left to hold onto. He was gone and the world without him was dark… dark around her … dark within her.
> Easter begins where life on this planet often finds us…
• a world not always safe and sane and satisfying;
• a world where the love of family and friends can fall short… prove frail and fragile;
• a world where people we love leave us too soon.
> Easter enters just such a world.
But its right there that the love of God comes. It comes seeking us in the darkness. It is not the love of fairy tales or forced devotion… but a love that reaches into the real world.
Easter begins with one whose hopes appear sealed in the harsh reality of a tomb… and whose expectations are once again left in a natural world.
But there she finds the tomb is not just open…it’s empty.
There she finds that he is alive.
And everything changes.
She is transformed.
All his followers who had scattered now see him and are transformed.
He shows himself to over 500 others and the masses begin to be transformed.
What transforms them? The transforming power of HOPE.
Easter… bears the power of hope entering the world…our world.
> The resurrection declares that God is ultimately in charge after all…and that brings the power of hope that defies all other powers.
In the film The Hunger Games, President Snow rules over a futuristic society called Panem. Every year the people of Panem are forced to participate in a contest called "the Hunger Games," an event in which one boy and one girl aged 12-18 from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death until one winner is declared. In one scene, Snow asks his chief Gamesmaker, a man named Seneca Crane, "Seneca, why do you think we have a winner [for the Hunger Games]?"
Seneca frowns and asks, "What do you mean?"
"I mean," says Snow, "why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts, why not round up twenty-four at random and execute them all at one? It would be a lot faster." Seneca Crane stares at him, obviously confused.
"Hope," muses Snow. Crane, still confused, asks, "Hope?"
Snow continues, "Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it's contained."
Snow concludes, "So, contain it." [1]
There is an enemy who wants to contain hope… a little hope for a nicer life…but not hope for a revolution over the powers of this world.
The resurrection of Christ bring the hope that is uncontained…dangerous…
1 Peter 1:3-4 [NIV]
“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…”
This is a living hope ! When Jesus is resurrected…his risen life can give us a new life.
“Birthed into it”…it is a whole new nature…a new force that is ALIVE within us.
This is the kind of hope that is to the spirit what oxygen is to the body.
“he has given us new birth into a living hope …and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade…”
An inheritance is something that can already be established an unchangeable…even when it has not been fully bestowed. An inheritance establishes your position.
Our “living hope” is the power of the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, to restore our human existence to its eternal relationship with God. We can now inherit a place in eternity outside the consequences of sin and the futility of death.
As Paul said…
Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Through Christ we can have a life that is already set in eternity.
The Book of Hebrews says…
“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.” - Hebrews 6:19-20 [NIV]
In the resurrection of Jesus, God embedded in the earth an anchor of hope …an anchor for the soul…firm and secure. What a powerful image. The hope being referred to isn’t that of nagging optimism or naïve foolishness… far from some type of flighty thinking… it’s an anchor dropped deep into the waters of uncertainty.
Sometimes we speak of “hoping” for something in ways that implies something more like wishful thinking…or simply an optimistic outlook.
"Hope it don't rain," we say. "Hope the economy bounces back." "Hope the sermon is about to end." (That is wishful thinking!)
The living hope is not mere optimism…or wishful thinking.
Unlike wishful thinking… this is hope rooted in reason.
Mary wasn’t expecting anything. …even when Jesus is standing nearby….she can only imagine he is the gardener…or someone who stole the body.
Hope burst forth because Jesus was seen… encountered…and still can be today.
[Indented section below could easily be dropped]…
Some here find it difficult to believe…in God altogether…or God who has spoken through the events and voices of the Scriptures…
My hope for you today…is simply to ponder afresh.
There are some big questions…but there are some significant reasons to consider the central truths of what is revealed in the Scriptures.
God speaking through the prophets long before of what was to come that did in fact come to pass.
These Scriptures spoke of how God would send a Savior…born in Bethlehem…Birth of Christ who would suffer and die. All long before the birth of Christ.
Something worth thinking about.
These Scriptures speak of how God not only called a people to Himself… become the nation of Israel…had spoken of scattering his people to the ends of the earth… a tiny nation….and it would come to pass that Jews were dispersed like no other people… on every continent of the earth.
God also spoke that one day he would re-gather them as a nation. He spoke of many countries then coming against them…but they would stand. That was in the 7th century BC. One would have to be on some other dimension to believe this could happen. Until 1948 when Israel was established as a nation…and the re-gathering was unprecedented. Something worth thinking about.
The Scriptures speak of how humankind would see the fathers turn from their children and children from their fathers. As I stand here today and consider what I see in the world… I find that is something worth thinking about.
God spoke of sending one who would die…and would rise and be exalted.
> We are not celebrating that SOMEONE rose from the dead. That would be interesting… but assuming they dies and life went on…it wouldn’t offer much change. This is the one promised long before… and who promised not only would he be raised…but a whole lot more.
Something worth thinking about.
As one great scholar said… there is one truth at the center of this all: “something really happened.”
A few peasants…with little power or education…were chosen to be the disciples of a young rabbi who began to speak as only God could speak and do what only God could do…and fulfill everything that God had prepared…but then he was crucified by the Roman Empire like so many others. It was over and they fled. What happened on the third day…changed them at their core.
“The Resurrection of Christ is not a belief that grew up within the church; it is the event around which the church itself grew up.”
Maybe you are like Mary… you had a profound experience… but then your hope was lost to disappointment.
Like Mary... what God has is not less but more than what you have hoped for.
When Mary realized who Jesus was, she naturally clung to him…and we may wonder at Jesus’ words:
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. (John 20:17)
It would only seem natural that she would cling to him… but the resurrection wasn’t about restoring an earthly attachment….it was about what he would soon represent in heaven. She had to let go of her lesser hopes in order to drop anchor in the greater hope.
We can anchor our hearts in lesser hopes… and get stuck. Such hopes can become “contingencies of the heart.” We can’t enter into hope… live in hope … because we’ve dropped anchor on some type of hope that isn’t sure.
Notice it says “this hope.” God knows that not all hope will serve the soul well.
The simple truth is, we can drop the anchor of our hearts in lesser hopes.
The Power of Hope Involves Loosening our Grip on Lesser Hopes
To live anchored in this hope involves freedom from other types of hope my heart may have dropped anchor in.
These may include…
• False hopes which need to be let go of.
Case Of Baby Doe Tabor
Mr. Tabor is famous in Colorado history. He was a successful mining man, having made millions from his “Matchless mine” near Cripple Creek, Colorado. He divorced his wife that he might marry the beautiful divorcee, Baby Doe. This illicit marriage became one of the outstanding social events of the early West. The President of the United States was invited to the wedding—and he came.
But soon misfortune overtook them, and Mr. Tabor lost his money. He died a broken-hearted and a poor man. Just before his death he gave “Baby Doe” this final admonition: “Have faith in the Matchless mine; never give it up; it will give you back all that I have lost.” Baby Doe, the now forlorn and aging widow, took him at his word. She lived near, and guarded the Matchless mine for the next 36 years of her desolate life, and stayed near the mine, in the face of repeated court ousters and crushing adversity.
In 1935 she died in a dilapidated shack near the mine, her hopes never realized.
> How easily we can all find ourselves guarding that which will never bring the fulfillment we have hoped for.
(From Christian Victory)
So are so many thing in this world trying to capture our hearts… and in so doing they capture our hopes.
• Fragile hopes which need to be loosened.
These are hopes which may be good… but can hold our hearts dependent when they allow my heart to be stuck in a contingency of ‘if’ and ‘when.’ [2]
This can include hope for relationships, children, new jobs…
They are fine desires… but too fragile to be fragile anchors.
• Failed hopes which need to be grieved.
Many of us have some unmet expectation in life… that we have never resolved…never let go of.
I remember many years ago when our family went through the loss of a miscarriage. I remember some of your hands on our shoulders… your words spoken…helped us really face and feel our loss. My heart lightened… perhaps an anchor was cut loose.
And in that process, we found a freedom to receive the grace God had for us.
For some… to be married…or for marriage to be different….or to have children…or dealing with a loss of health…perhaps there are things you will never do again during this earthly life.
There may be some things we need to grieve…and let go of. If we don’t grieve… we may find we’ve dropped an anchor that will keep us from living in the living hope of God.
Is there an anchor in lesser hopes in your heart? Is there a loss or let down that needs to be let go of… loosened… grieved?
Maybe some of us have found it safer not to hope at all. Maybe you’ve pulled up the sails of your heart so you can’t enter into the new waters of hope. In cutting our hearts off from hope we cut them off from faith.
We loosen that chains of other lesser anchors so this one anchor can truly be ours.
In the midst of our losses and let downs, there is a hope that is alive…a hope that God has provided as a true anchor of the soul.
In the risen Christ is a living hope…that allows us to rise each day and face the uncertainties of life.
In the resurrection of Christ, we discover…
• The Power to Be Accepted and Loved
Mary knew about the powers that can control and define our past…she had been oppressed by them…powers that controlled her. They were powers bigger than her. They were the powers over her past. We all know something of the power over our past… the shame that tethers us down from the hope of who we long to be.
A group of six-year-old kids were asked to write a prayer. Little Arthur stared, fidgeted, and finally wrote: "Dear God, please help me to be the person my dog thinks I am."
Then Jesus… the Christ… spoke into her life … with power. He looked her in the eyes, confronted the powers and set her free.
But there was more than just the authority of heaven… there was the LOVE of heaven.
In God lies mercy…to forgive and accept those who come to him.
In the resurrection of Christ, we discover…
• The Power of God’s Presence with us
Jesus…
John 14:18-23 [NLT]
“I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too. When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. …All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them.
Jesus had been trying to explain this to his disciples who had wanted to hold onto to him as well… as he taught that he must leave in order to send the Holy Spirit who would bring the presence of God is a new and better way.
Augustine, “You ascended before our eyes. We turned to grieve only to find you in our hearts.”
This is why Mary couldn’t hold onto the Jesus she saw.
Jesus’ presence wasn’t leaving. It was being loosed. He wasn’t merely the hope of a woman, but the hope of the world.
He's telling her that he's still going to be with her—with all - but not in the same way he was before. He's going to return to the Father and send his Spirit to be with them, to be in them, always, everywhere. And he still has work for her to do—a message to share.
The great news of Easter is that God can be present with me…each and every day.
Does this mean a trouble free life?
Far from it. The idea of a trouble free life in this world is modern farce. This world is not in a state of peace. We will have troubles. But there is a divine presence that is at work with us. [3]
This is what Paul described when he said:
Philippians 4:13 (GW)
I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.
“The deepest comfort in life is not in material comforts but in meaningful companionship.” What comforts us most is to know that we’re not alone.
Christ rose so that all who receive him could have the very presence of God within us… among us.
He’s here right now… when you go home… lay down… rise up… go to work.
In the resurrection of Christ, we discover…
• The Power of Eternal Life
Jesus knew that death is born of spiritual separation … the final enemy he came to defeat…
He knows what it is to fear death…when you can’t see beyond what you know… and so he also spoke very clearly to his disciples:
John 14:1-3 [CEV]
Jesus said to his disciples, "Don't be worried! …There are many rooms in my Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together.
Jesus wants them to grasp the reality of eternal life.
What could matter more? And what can we know?
We are going to focus on this over the next four Sundays in a series entitled “AfterLife: What lies ahead?”
We are going to listen to what God has revealed about what happens when we die.
God is not silent about eternity…about our eternal destiny.
Over the next four weeks we will reach beyond the sentimentality and conjecture…and listen to what God has said.
Today the power of that eternal life lies before us.
Jesus said, John 11:25
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.”
He calls us to follow him in offering our lives to God. As our Father. [4]
The risen Jesus would simply ask this question: Are we living to die or dying to live ??
Mark 8:34-36
“…He said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
He is calling us to surrender our lives to God…where life…true life exists.
Prayer
“Dear God, Thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ to earth. Thank you Jesus for dying for me and forgiving all my sins. I accept you as my Savior and the Leader of my life, and receive your free gift of eternal life. I want to discover and begin following your plan and purpose for my life… and to know you more and more personally. Amen”
Resources: Generally developed from previous messages and studies I had done on hope. Also drew a couple illustrations from Jim Wallis and Bryan Wilkerson.
Notes:
1. Adapted from David J. Lose, Preaching at the Crossroads (Fortress Press, 2013), p. 49; YouTube, "Hunger Games #4 Movie CLIP - President Snow Scene (2012)"
2. There is a sensitive line between fragile and failed hopes. Sometimes only the Lord can make that distinction clear. A good example of a fragile hope is that of Paul described in 2 Cor.12:7-10.
Paul had a hope… pleaded with God 3 times… it was not changed as he had sought…but he heard god say,” My grace is sufficient…”
He let go. His life stayed grounded in the living hope of God… well anchored.
3. Regarding how we should not assume that God’s presence implies life will be trouble free, consider:
John 16:33 (NIV)
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Hebrews 12:2-3 (NIV)
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
4. Regarding being ‘raised’ through Christ, we can also read:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God…For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5:11-2, 10
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
Romans 6:4-5 (NLT)
And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death (reflected in baptism), we will also be raised to life as he was.
When Jesus went home he left the back door open.
2 Timothy 1:10 (GW)
Christ has destroyed death, and through the Good News he has brought eternal life into full view.
