Elpizo Apokalupsis
Hope is Your Birthright, part 2
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
Wildwind’s 6th core value is mystery. I think we live in a world (or at least a society) that has greatly lost touch with mystery. I think many people in our country think that the existence of science has made belief in God unnecessary. Of course it hasn’t even remotely done that. All science can do is observe. Science’s only statements are, “This is what happens” (this is what we’ve been able to observe taking place), and “This is how this happens” (These are the cause and effect connections we’ve been able to observe.) Science can tell us what happens and how it happens. They’ve even gotten good at telling us when things might happen sometimes, but science has not demystified life, in spite of how it sometimes seems. We awake every day into a world that envelopes us in mystery.
When you woke up this morning you had absolutely no idea what was going to happen to you. You could have tripped getting out of your bed and be lying in a hospital or sitting in an ER waiting room right now. You could have awakened with the flu. You could have fallen down your basement stairs. On the good side, you could have realized you forgot to get your mail yesterday and found a check for $10,000. You could have wakened to a surprise from your spouse or kids. Tomorrow you could lose your job. Or get a promotion. And by the end of today, you could be dead – or someone you love could be. Sounds terrible doesn’t it? But it’s true. You don’t have the first clue what life is going to bring to you. The combined knowledge of all the world’s scientists couldn’t begin to put that together for you. You live cluelessly in this world and are under the illusion that you know what’s going on, but you don’t. And you’ve gotten so used to it that you’ve forgotten clueless you really are. The fact is you simply are not aware of most of the things that affect your life in this world. Let’s look at our core value of mystery.
Mystery - We value the mystery of God by acknowledging that he is to be found as much in questions as in answers, seeking as in finding, and doubting as in believing. We will say and do nothing that portrays God as being without mystery. (Job 42:3; Eph. 3:2-9)
We see Job 42:3 as a reference for this core value. Let’s take a look at that and see what we can understand about mystery.
Job 42:3 (NIV)
3 …Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
Here Job has been suffering, and demanding that God explain to him the reason for all his suffering. But finally, after firing this endless brigade of questions at God, God fires back and says, “Who are you to think you can piece all this together? How would you understand the answer even if I gave it to you?” And Job realizes here that as he’s been asking God all these questions, he hasn’t had the slightest clue what he has been talking about. Job realizes that he has been blowing smoke, that when it comes to understanding God, he brings nothing at all to the table.
That’s mystery. Mystery means that there are things going on around us that we are not aware of, causes and connections we would never fit together. Some mysteries are things we become aware of at some point. But so much happens around us we will NEVER understand. The best scientists on earth can name every chemical and molecule in your body but they can’t tell you why you exist. They can tell you that the feeling of love is this chemical plus that chemical, but they can’t tell you why you’d rush into a burning building to save a stranger when there could be no possible benefit to you or to the human species. They can’t explain your intense desire to matter, to make a difference to someone, for your life to be of some value. None of that is required for the species homo sapiens to continue to propagate.
You are surrounded even now by mystery. Not only do you not know what will happen tomorrow, you don’t know what will happen tonight, or five minutes from now. And somewhere, moving in and behind and through all of this, is God – who knows and understands it all. I realized in preparing for this message that mystery is always where hope begins. If we really understand everything, if this world is really all there is, if there’s nothing beyond any of this, in other words if there is no mystery, there’s little to hope for. After all, what is hope? It’s faith in mystery, isn’t it? Hope is faith that the things that are not known will one day be revealed to us, and that they will be better than the things that are known today. That’s hope. You take the staunchest atheist or the most devout Christian and ask if they have hope. If they answer yes, they are placing faith in mystery. There’s no possible way around that. Do you have hopes for your children? Probably so, but only because their future is a mystery to you and you are placing faith in that mystery to work out in a certain way. Do you have hopes for retirement? That’s faith in mystery. Hopes for the future of our world? That’s faith in mystery. So if you want to be hopeful, if you want to embrace hope, if you want to live into the meaning of our phrase “hope is your birthright,” then you need to be open to mystery – to a sense that all is not as it appears.
I have titled today’s sermon Elpizo Apokalupsis, not to be pretentious but to make a point. Elpizo Apokalupsis means Hope Revealed. You didn’t know that until I told you, did I? But even before I told you, that’s what it meant, you just didn’t know it! That is mystery – something that is out there, unknown, and inaccessible to us, that nevertheless surrounds us and can be revealed to us and made known. Elpizo Apokalupsis. Hope revealed.
In the Old Testament book of Judges, mystery descends on a guy named Gideon big time and hope is revealed, because hope is just faith in mystery.
Let’s look at it.
Judges 6:11-17 (NIV)
11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ’Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."
14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?"
15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
17 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.
The angel of the Lord came and sat down. In the Bible angels are often referred to as God, or Lord, not because angels and God are the same, but because it was understand that angels are God’s messengers, and that to be visited by an angel was to hear directly from the mouth of God. So the angel of the Lord came and sat down. The first mystery that is unveiled to Gideon is the mystery that God has his number, his address, his location. God knows exactly where to find him. God has use for him, and he doesn’t have to say, “Can somebody find Gideon for me? Has anyone seen Gideon?” Gideon’s working under a tree and the angel of God just shows up – just like that. A citizen of the next world breaks in on a citizen of this one, because God has his number. Last year we talked about different Biblical names of God and one name we discussed was Jehova El Roi – the God who sees. We see Jehova El Roi again in the New Testament.
John 1:47-48 (NCV)
47 As Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, "Here is truly an Israelite. There is nothing false in him."
48 Nathanael asked, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree, before Philip told you about me."
Jesus saw Nathanael while he was under the fig tree, before his buddy Philip even went to get him and say, “Come check out this guy I just met.” Jesus saw Nathanael was he was over the horizon, where he was in a place where Jesus couldn’t possibly have seen him. It was a mystery. And even though this is Nathanael’s first encounter with Jesus, Nathanael believes instantly.
John 1:49 (NCV)
49 Then Nathanael said to Jesus, "Teacher, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Nathanael had encountered the God who sees – Jehova Roi El. (His faith in mystery led him not to sit up on a mountain with his legs crossed chanting Ooohhhmm, but to place his hope in a specific person. Real faith, real hope, is always specific.) Jesus saw him while he was sitting under a tree. And Gideon encounters Jehova El Roi under a tree. Hope begins when you become aware of the mystery that God sees you – God has your number. God knows exactly where you are and what you’re doing.
The next mystery we see here is that God, in the form of this angel, has given an identity to Gideon of which Gideon is completely unaware. Gideon means something to God that Gideon does not mean to himself!
Judges 6:12 (NIV)
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
Now what’s funny about that verse is that Gideon is, in fact, not actually a warrior at all. He’s just some guy threshing wheat under a tree. But he is greeted with this very powerful greeting, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” What we realize here is that Gideon has no awareness of who he is in God’s eyes. Gideon is one person to himself, but he’s another – and much greater – person to God. Again we see a New Testament parallel of this in the conversation Jesus has with Peter:
Matthew 16:13-18 (NIV)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed [Greek “apokalupto”] to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
18 And I tell you that you are Peter [Greek “petra,” meaning “rock”], and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Gideon and Peter both had an encounter with God where it was revealed to them that they were not who they thought they were. I mean, they were – but they were a great deal more. More than they ever could have imagined. More than either of them would ever have dared to dream. Gideon was just Gideon, but to God he was “mighty warrior.” Man, I’d love it if one day God visited me and called me, “Mighty Warrior.” I mean, what man doesn’t want to be designated a mighty warrior? Or how about Peter? He was just Simon – that big-mouth guy who wouldn’t let Jesus wash his feet. But to Jesus he was Peter, which means “Rock.” Jesus actually named Simon, “The Rock,” and this was a long time before the wrestler came around. Jesus said you are the Rock, and on this rock I will build my church.” Again, guys, the Rock – not a bad name, huh? And Christ is going to build the whole church on Peter’s confession of him as Messiah? Now that’s something to hope for! Check out the names God gives – from Gideon to Mighty Warrior. From Simon to the Rock. Wow! Hope for us begins when we realize God has a name for us. A true identity. A sense of place and of purpose. A calling that, if we embrace it, will lift us high above the life we had settled for, and take us to places we’d have never thought possible, that will inspire our highest hopes. Let’s move on.
Judges 6:12-13 (NIV)
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ’Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."
Next – the angel of the Lord assures Gideon God is with him, but Gideon thinks the angel is talking not about him but about his country. The angel does not appear to the people of Israel, to the army, to the king as a representative of the nation, but to Gideon, under a tree, in person. The angel calls Gideon by name, “Mighty Warrior.” And the angel says, “The Lord is with you.” But Gideon does not hear “the Lord is with Gideon, the mighty warrior.” Gideon hears “The Lord is with the people of Israel.” You can tell by his response. He says, “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” He misses the point. The angel is appearing to him, with a mission for him, promising God’s presence with him, gives him a new name and a new purpose. And Gideon misses the point. He is not aware of God moving, God acting, God speaking, God creating a new person out of him as he stands there, God calling him by name, God promising his personal presence with him in his new role as warrior. It’s right there, but he misses it. That’s what happens with mystery. It surrounds us, but we don’t see it. It takes something special to open our eyes to see what is all around us. The sermon was named Hope Revealed, even when you didn’t understand it.
Mystery surrounds us, but we don’t see it. In the New Testament we have a parallel with this in Luke when Jesus, having risen from the dead, walks along the road to Emmaus, talking with men who simply do not recognize him, even though they’re talking to him about HIM! This is just a case of Gideon missing the point, pure and simple – not seeing the forest for the trees. We all at one time or another live in a state where God is speaking to us, but we may not even recognize it, or we may not understand what he is saying or what he means. God calls us by a name we do not recognize and says things we therefore cannot possibly understand. Hope comes from the awareness that God is speaking, or may speak at any time. When it happens it will probably be shrouded in mystery – it will probably not happen like you’d expect. But we live with hope because God can, and does, speak to us directly.
I think many of you will relate to our next point.
Judges 6:12-13 (NIV)
12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."
13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ’Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."
Gideon doesn’t have the slightest awareness of God’s presence, even though he’s standing in it at the time. Notice he refers to the angel as sir here in verse 13. In verse 15 he calls the angel Lord, which as I said earlier is what angels were called then when you realized they were angels. At first he doesn’t realize it’s an angel. So Gideon lacks awareness of God’s presence in two vital ways. First, he is not aware of God’s presence right there speaking to him at that moment. Second, he is unable to see and understand how God has been with his people in the recent past, saying, “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us…the Lord has abandoned us…” Do you think these two things are related? Do you think it’s possible that if we don’t learn to see God with the eyes of our faith, then we will not even recognize him if he comes to visit us personally? Jesus said as much in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus the beggar. Both of them die, Lazarus goes to heaven, the rich man to hell. The rich man looks up into heaven and sees Abraham and begs him to send Lazarus to warn his brothers and keep them from ending up in hell too.
Luke 16:27-31 (NIV)
27 "He answered, ’Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house,
28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 "Abraham replied, ’They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 "’No, father Abraham,’ he said, ’but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 "He said to him, ’If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’"
This is the story Jesus told about faith. There’s something about faith. You cannot get someone to come to faith by casting faith in a certain light – saying something in a certain way, showing a certain sign, giving a certain proof. Rather, faith must be the light by which you see everything else. So Jesus has Abraham say, “If they have not been convinced already, no miracle will make any difference.” The same faith that allows us to accept that Jesus is the Son of God is what allows us to believe that a miracle is a miracle and not just a coincidence. If you already have faith you don’t need a miracle to believe. And if you don’t have faith, a miracle won’t help you believe, you’ll just explain it away. We see this in the Gideon story. Gideon could not see God at work spiritually in Israel with the eyes of his heart, therefore he could not see God at work in his life right there under the tree with the eyes in his head. We often think that the cure to our spiritual blindness would be to see God in person. The truth is that our spiritual blindness would keep us from seeing God if he showed up. Over and over again in the Gospels Jesus says to the religious people, “Do you not recognize me?” The religious leaders were blinded by Jesus’ appearance – they couldn’t see who he was. Gideon was blinded to God’s presence in front of him and with his people because of the bad circumstances around him. So hope comes when we realize that, no matter how things may appear, God is acting – around us, in us, and through us. Acting in individuals. Acting in circumstances. Acting in nations and between nations. Acting in war. Acting in peace. I read the news on Internet websites for almost two hours last night and there was not a single mention of God. We live in a world that assumes that comprehensive coverage can be given to what’s happening in the world without even a passing reference to God. I believe our blindness is showing. Hope comes when we realize that God is acting. This requires faith in mystery.
Fourth this morning, Gideon has no awareness that his liabilities are not liabilities to God. God says, “Gideon, lead your army against the Midianites,” and Gideon begins speaking our native tongue – “Excuse-ese.” “Who me? I’m weak, I’m from a shabby clan, I’m not a warrior,” etc. God simply says two things to Gideon. First, go in the strength you have. Second, I will be with you. Go in the strength you have, and I will be with you. Gideon’s liabilities are not liabilities to God. Our weakness and willingness + God’s presence, equals power. Gideon is clueless about his capability in battle. He will be successful not because he has God on his side, but because God has enlisted Gideon into HIS cause. You will not deal successfully with the challenges of your life as you wrap them up in the name of God and country. You will deal successfully with the challenges of your life when you get on God’s agenda for your life, and embrace and live out that agenda. God will give you his presence and power to add to your willingness and weakness when your desire is to bring honor to him, not to crown yourself with success and honor. Gideon’s weaknesses were not liabilities to God. Neither are yours. Hope comes when you know that your weaknesses and willingness + God’s presence will equal power. If that’s true, we need to continually seek out and submit our weaknesses to God and allow God to use us right where we are.
Fifth and finally today is something we observe from the last verse of our text this morning.
Judges 6:17 (NIV)
17 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me.
After all of this – God finds him under the tree, approaches him personally, speaks to him, gives him directions, promises his presence – after all this, Gideon says, “Umm, can you prove to me that you are who I think you are?” In other words, he still doesn’t get it. Exactly who it is he’s talking to is still a mystery to Gideon. If you read the gospels you see that over and over and over again, the disciples just didn’t get who Jesus was or what he was trying to accomplish. We’re surrounded by mystery, and when it is revealed to us, we often don’t recognize it for what it is . When we recognize it, we often don’t understand it. When we understand it, we often do not obey it!
Let’s summarize to close. Here’s Gideon. Just a guy threshing wheat. And he has a God-encounter. God sees him and comes to him. God is free to approach us any time. Will you recognize him when he approaches you? Only if you’re looking. At first Gideon has no idea who he is, and then God gives him a purpose – an identity. God has an identity for you. Will you run with it? Gideon doesn’t realize the angel is speaking directly about him, not about Israel. Will you learn to understand what God is asking of you, begin to assume that God WANTS to communicate with you and is probably trying? Gideon couldn’t see God’s activity because of the bad things happening around him. Will you learn to discern God’s presence, even through the bad times? Gideon thought his weaknesses disqualified him from being used by God. God told him to stop making excuses. Are you making excuses? Are you willing to stop? Because your excuses will keep you from living into mystery and that will drain you of hope.
Here’s Gideon completely surrounded in mystery. And the mystery is revealed to him. And he still doesn’t get it. I want to encourage you to become aware of mystery this week and let the trail lead you to God – because God lives in mystery. And without mystery, without God, there is no hope. Hope is your birthright. Elpizo Apokalupsis!
