Weekly Reflection 12/4/23

Weekly Reflection – Advent: Hope – “Fuel For the Present.”

At Advent, we look back to Jesus’ first coming and forward to His second.  It’s a time we get in touch with the real-experience of living in the in-between.

• Read Luke 1:67-80 as if you are a Jew living in that time. The Jews were living under Roman rule. The Jews had to pay a census tax, a town or village tax, income taxes up to 50 percent, and a frontier tax that was collected every time someone went from one district to another. These taxes went directly to Rome—the occupying empire dominating Israel. In other words, the Jewish people were paying their oppressors to oppress them.
• Now read Luke 24:13-27.  Can you understand how they feel in verse 21? “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.” Luke‬ 24‬:21‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ We had hoped that He was more than just a prophet; that He was also the Messiah, that He would throw off the yoke of the oppressor, the Romans, and save us.

Disappointment

The name for that feeling of let down and confusion and sadness is “disappointment.” Have you ever been disappointed? Disappointment is a daily occurrence, little things and big things that don’t go the way we expected. Let me go a little farther with another question, “Have you ever felt disappointed with God?” Have you ever felt let down by God? 

What do you do with your disappointment? What if disappointment can be rendered for our good? Here’s the thing, disappointment is going to produce something in your life.  It will either spoil and rot and produce things like sadness, anger, bitterness, and hopelessness; or I believe we can use it to produce good in our lives.

Using disappointment to produce something good.

1. I believe one way all disappointment can be used to render something good is when we use it as a reminder.  A reminder that we are living in the in-between, that this earth is not our home, that things of this earth will not last, and they will disappoint us. A reminder that we are citizens of Heaven, that we have a faithful and good Father, that we have a sure and steadfast hope to anchor our souls (Hebrews 6:17-20).
2. I also think that disappointment can also render something good when we use it to ask the question, “Was I putting my hope in something other than Jesus and His truth?” Sometimes the answer to that is no, some disappoint happens and it’s not because we were hoping in something in a wrong way. But I do think that enough of the time disappointment can reveal areas where we were putting our hope in something or someone in a spiritually unhealthy way. What if disappointment is an emotional signal from our body that our hope was set on the wrong object.  What if disappointment comes with a gentle invitation from the Spirit to recenter our heart’s desire?

Illusion

It’s interesting that a synonym for disappointment is disillusionment, meaning – to free from or deprive of illusion. An illusion is something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality. In Revelation 12:9, Satan is called “the deceiver of the whole world.” Satan is always presenting illusions, illusions of hope, peace, joy, and love. What we need is what Paul in Romans 5 calls “a hope that does not disappoint us.” We need a hope that does not disappoint, a hope that is not an illusion.

What exactly is hope? 

• Here’s my definition of hope in Scripture: Hope is the expectation of coming good based on the person and promises of God. It’s a kind of emotional energy that’s based in the future but is fuel for the present. 
• Here’s Eugene Peterson: Hope is not about the future; Hope is about the present … It obviously has to do with the future, but it’s a virtue which is cultivated in the present. It fills the present with energy. It connects the two comings of Jesus, so that we are now participating in them. We’re not just remembering the one and believing in the other; we are participating in … the continuity of the comings.
• Meaning, hope, like Advent, is all about the “in between” All humans are hope-based creatures; unlike the animals, survival is not enough for us.  We need hope that things will get better.  What you are looking forward to really impacts the way you do what you do. People act differently in times of struggle when they have hope and encouragement. 
• I believe the core attack on our hope is the thought that things will never change, the situation will not get better. But God gives hope, hope that change is coming. God promises to make things better. With the ultimate fulfillment being with Him in Heaven.

What Do We Put Our Hope in?

1. Our Hope Is That: Jesus will Return to Make all Things New.
   1. Revelation 21:4-5, Isaiah 51:11, 1 Corinthians 15:51-55
   2. Hope that does not look over the horizon to the life to come is not Christian hope at all. 
   3. As Paul put it, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” 1 Corinthians‬ 15‬:19‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
2. Our Hope Is That: Jesus Is with Us in Our Suffering in the in-between.
   1. That whatever comes, or does not come, we’re not alone. 
   2. ““Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” Matthew‬ 1‬:23‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
   3. Let’s read the last sentence of the Gospel of Matthew, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” Matthew‬ 28‬:20b‬ ESV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
   4. Do you believe that? That the best thing in life is that through Jesus and by the Spirit we have access to the Father.  And nothing – no suffering; recession; loss of a job, dream, or a family member—can take away our access to the loving presence of God at the center of our being.
   5. As John Wesley put it as he lay dying, “Best of all, God is with us.”
3. Our Hope Is That: Jesus will Use Our Suffering to Produce Hope that does not disappoint.
   1. That even then, when your suffering is most acute, it’s not in vain. Wherever suffering comes from, it goes to good if we open it up to God.
   2. Romans 5:2-5
   3. So, God takes us through hard times to temper the steel of our faith and show us that we are real, authentic, genuine, proven, and in that way give us hope that we really will inherit the glory of God and not come into judgment.
   4. That is our hope! Not that nothing bad will happen to us because we’re Christians; but that no matter what happens to us, we’re not alone, and Jesus will use it to produce in us rock-solid hope in Him for the in-between.
4. Our Hope Is That: Jesus will give us glimpses and tastes of the good of our future while we wait in the in-between.
   1. Our hope is not just for the life to come; it’s also for this life.  Remember: the kingdom is now and not-yet. 
   2. Jesus can and does bring forward good from the age to come, into “this present evil age,” from heaven to earth.  God can and does bring forward a sneak peek of our coming life forever. 
   3. Life is full of surprise goodness from God. Keep your eyes open! They are all around you; practice gratitude, take note of how much goodness is already in your life.

Let’s use the disappointment to render something good, a hope that does not disappoint.

“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.” Romans‬ 5‬:5‬ NASB