The Gifts of Christmas: Hope
Scott Bayles, adapted from Outreach
Blooming Grove Christian Church
Christmas is a time of giving. And that means Christmas is a time of shopping. Ever since the wise men from the east showed up at the stable carrying gold, frankincense, and myrrh, people have been exchanging gifts at Christmas.
Of course, it’s much more complicated today than it was for the wise men. For one thing, they didn’t have to contend with shopping malls, all packed full of parents going from store to store to store, desperately searching for a Nintendo Classic or a Hatchimal. The magi didn’t have to worry about sizes, or colors, or return policies. There were no robot dogs in those days, no Star Wars Legos, and definitely no flying drones with streaming video. Just plain old gold, frankincense and myrrh.
I’m reminded of three small boys who were in a Christmas play at church. They played the three wise men and they were to give their gifts to baby Jesus. The first boy stepped forward, held out the gift in his hands and said, “Gold.” The second boy stepped forward, held out his gift and said, “Myrrh.” The third boy stepped forward, held out his gift and said, “Frank sent this.”
Well, this year, just like every year, millions of people, both children and adults, will open millions of gifts. Some won’t fit. Some will be the wrong color. Many will be returned or exchanged. But there’s one gift that meets everyone’s need, one gift that will never wear out, never break or need repairing. A gift that is appropriate for a small child, or a teenager, or an adult, or a senior citizen. Boy or girl, man or woman, it makes no difference. The gift we all need, the most valuable gift of all, is that baby in the manger—the one that this whole season is about. On Christmas, we celebrate the fact that God gave us the gift of His own Son, Jesus Christ.
While Jesus himself is the greatest gift of all he also brings with him additional gifts each Christmas season. Over the next four weeks, I want to invite you to unwrap the gifts of Christmas as we journey through the season. It is our chance to listen to the stories, to remember the true meaning of Christmas, to wait in expectation for the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. The point is not to get rid of the trappings and traditions and celebrations all around us but to take a purposeful journey through them to more deeply experience the gifts of Christmas: hope, love, peace, and joy.
As we unwrap each gift of Christmas over the next few weeks, my prayer is that we discover together that we can trust in Immanuel, God with us. He is bigger than our greatest expectations or our deepest pains. His light shines in the darkness and bids us to draw near. As we do, we discover and realize the gifts He brings—but more so, we discover Him.
The first gift we’re going to unwrap this December is the gift of hope.
We talk a lot about hope.
We hope the weather will be good for our family vacation. We hope that our favorite team will win the Super Bowl—or at least make it to the big game! We hope that we get just what we want for Christmas.
But for many of us, hope lacks a sense of certainty. We hope for things that may or may not happen. It is more like a wish—something that we want to happen but have no way of knowing that it ultimately will. So we keep our fingers crossed and “hope” that everything will go the way we want it to.
The reality is that often life doesn’t turn out the way we hoped it would. Hope is a fragile commodity. When life is disappointing, our optimism is replaced by feelings of discouragement and hopelessness. Before long we run the risk of becoming cynics who believe that there is nothing in which we can confidently hope.
I’m reminded of a boy wrote to Santa Claus, saying, “Dear Santa, you did not bring me anything good last year. You did not bring me anything good the year before that. This is your last chance. Signed, Alfred.” Now there is a little boy who has just about lost hope.
Thankfully, Christmas brings with it the gift of hope. In Jesus, hope is a guarantee, a sure thing. Our hope is actually a “know-so” rather than a “maybe-so.” Let’s unwrap this gift of hope by looking at three types or stages of hope as we journey toward Christmas. The first is past hope.
• PAST HOPE
What is the longest you’ve waited for something? Is there anything you’ve been waiting for your entire life? The people of Israel knew all about waiting. Their entire history was marked by waiting as they looked forward to the coming of a Messiah who would set them free. The Old Testament is full of prophecies about this Messiah. For example, the Bible says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 NIV).
And another well-known prophecy from Isaiah promises, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6 NIV).
These and many other prophecies gave a clear expectation of God’s promised Messiah—hundreds of years before His arrival. But the promise didn’t always make the waiting easy.
The prevailing mood of Israel was anything but hopeful. The once proud nation was now a puppet state of the pagan Roman Empire. The common person lived under the crushing burden of the exaggerated requirements of the religious establishment. They had all these promises that had yet to be fulfilled. Many had begun to lose hope. But the faithful… the resolute… the watchful… they held on to that hope of the coming Messiah.
Phillips Brooks captured the heart of Christmas with one line in the carol he wrote, O Little Town of Bethlehem. That line summarizes what Christmas means to us: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” In the little town of Bethlehem, God met the hopes of all humanity by the birth of His Son, Jesus.
Into this world of cynical hopelessness, true Hope was born. Hope for the forgiveness of sins. Hope for a bright future—forever. Hope for God’s presence and power in daily living. Hope that would enable us to forget the past and set our sights on stuff that doesn’t disappoint. A hope that is a certainty and not just another wish to be dashed on the rocks of reality.
So what can “past hope” teach us this Christmas? As we look back on hope past, we gain confidence and renew our faith in God’s promises to us. The Bible says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).
We can find confidence in the fulfillment of Christ’s arrival. We worship a God who always keeps his promises. God said Christ would come and he came. He may not have come when they thought He should or how they thought He should, but He came! As we prepare for Christmas to come this year, let this season be a journey of building confident hope in God’s promises.
The next stage or type of hope is present hope—hope for today.
• PRESENT HOPE
In the first chapter of Luke, we see Jesus’s birth foretold again. But unlike the Old Testament prophecies, this is a much more personal and imminent foretelling. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she would become pregnant and give birth to the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Really?
Can you imagine receiving that message? Unbelievable, right? And certainly not a message that would naturally make you more confident or hopeful. Like so many thing in our lives, there was still great deal of unknowns that required faith. Mary didn’t know how it would all work out. She didn’t get all the details or even a promise that it would all have a happy ending. But she chose to respond in faith, replying, “I am the Lord’s servant… May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38 NIV).
In the midst of life’s questions and unknowns, do you ever find yourself wishing that Gabriel would just show up and let you know what to expect? I mean, wouldn’t it be easier to just know? Well, maybe sometimes.
But in Mary’s case, it may have been easier not to know. What do you do with information like this? Mary was given a direct message from the angel Gabriel, but even (maybe especially) then it took faith to place her trust and hope in God. Thankfully, Mary responded in faith and held fast to the hope of the promise of Immanuel, God with us.
Today, we know and hold fast to that same hope. Jesus has come and made a way for us to be one with God, through His forgiveness of our sin. His coming changes everything. As you sit here today, the present hope you hold on to may not seem to be changing things. Your heart and mind may be flooded with the concerns and stresses and hardships you face. Any signs of change in your circumstances may be slim to none.
That doesn’t mean change isn’t happening. It doesn’t mean God isn’t working behind the scenes, inside other people or situations. It doesn’t mean He isn’t working inside our hearts to teach and shape us. Regardless of what outward results look like at any given moment, we can find hope in the words of Scripture, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19 NIV).
Our present hope in Jesus doesn’t stop the storms of life. It doesn’t change the immediate situations we face. But like an anchor holds a ship steady against the wind and the waves, our hope holds us firm and secure in the midst of life’s storms. Let this season be one of secure hope in the midst of whatever storms you face.
Finally, the last type of hope is patient hope.
• PATIENT HOPE
In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy and Linus were sitting in front of the television set when Lucy said to Linus, “Go get me a glass of water.” Looking surprised, Linus responds, “Why should I do anything for you? You never do anything for me.” So Lucy promised, “On your 75th birthday I’ll bake you a cake.” Linus thought for a moment, then got up and headed to the kitchen, saying, “Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to.”
That’s what patient hope is all about. It’s having something to look forward to—long term. Many people refer to the Christmas season as Advent. For some, you may only know the word Advent from a calendar with little windows that open up revealing a gift or treat for each day of the month leading up to Christmas.
But Advent is so much more than a countdown.
The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and the season of Advent is marked by expectation, waiting, anticipation, and longing. Advent looks back upon Christ’s coming in celebration, while at the same time looking forward in eager anticipation to the second Advent—the second coming of Christ.
While our focus leading up to Christmas is naturally on the birth of Jesus and His arrival in our world, Advent is also about the future. Advent is not just about preparing our hearts for Christmas but also about preparing our hearts for when Christ comes again. And you may find that waiting patiently for the second coming of Jesus is even harder than waiting for Christmas.
We long for the time when all will be restored and made new. We experience the pain and suffering of today and wait in eager hope for the future. That is where our hope lies: that the baby who was born in a stable in Bethlehem will return again and complete the work of God in our world. And so we wait, placing our hope in Him for the past, the present, and the future. It’s the bigger picture of our faith and of God’s plans for our world. The apostle Paul explained, “We were saved, and we have this hope. If we see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People do not hope for something they already have. But we are hoping for something we do not have yet, and we are waiting for it patiently” (Romans 8:24–25 NCV).
It’s hard to be patient. It’s hard to wait. But I encourage you to lean in and unwrap the gift of hope today. No matter what the department stores try to tell you, Christmas has not yet arrived. This is Advent—a season of preparation, waiting, expectation. There is value as well as excitement in patient and expectant waiting.
May this be a season of wonder as you discover the gift of hope this Christmas.
Conclusion
Hope is a powerful force in our lives and Christmas brings hope. Christmas is also for those who have been longing for a Savior. They may have been devout in their religious observance, but still understand that their only hope is for God to come to them. They have been waiting for God to show up. He has!
And when by faith you embrace Him and all that He promised, you can have a hope that is no longer a fingers-crossed wish that you harbor in your heart, but rather a confident, courageous optimism that is rooted in the certainty of His Word.
Pin your hopes on Jesus this Christmas—you won’t be disappointed!
Invitation
Prayer: God, thank You that in this season of Advent we can unwrap Your gift of hope. Help us to remember hope past, hold tightly to hope in our present realities, and wait with expectation for hope to be fulfilled when Christ comes again.
