1

The Message for Dec 3, 2017

Mark 13:24-37

Hope

Rob Miller, Pastor

We begin with avideo on Hope. Check it out… Video – Hope

Hope - that’s our topic for today. We place our hope in many things but God alone is our hope.

In an old Calvin and Hobbescomic strip - this conversation takes place. Little Calvin says to Hobbes: “Live for the moment” is my motto.

In the next frame he says… You never know how long you’ve got. You could step into the road tomorrow and – WHAM – you get hit by a cement truck! Then you’d be sorry you put off your pleasures!

In the third frame he continues…That’s why I say –“Live for the moment.” What’s your motto?

Hobbes replies: “Look down the road.”

Today we began the season of Advent with hope. We hope for many things as the video pointed out. And yet we, the faithful, live with a certain kind of hope – a special kind of hope – a hope that the prophecies about Jesus are right.

Today we look down the road of our future with hope - looking forward to that day when Jesus will come again… Jesus has already come and as the biblical prophecies tell us – he will come again to complete what he started. Someday Jesus will complete God’s will here on earth as it is in heaven.

We look down the road of life with hope to Jesus’ Second Coming.

Here is an acronym I found for the word Hope -- Hanging Onto Positive Expectations.

Some people are, by nature, optimistic. It’s just the way they are. Others people are, by nature, pessimistic. It’s just the way they are. Some people look for the good… Others look for the bad…

Whether optimistic or pessimistic we often get what we’re looking for. One person sees the nasty thorns – while another person sees the beautiful roses. One person can seeonly the dark side of every cloud – while another person looks for the silver lining.

Hope is for the optimistic and the pessimistic. Hope looks down the road to the future, to the time when God’s promises will be fulfilled. That was true for the people in biblical times and its true for us too. We look forward to the return of Christ Jesus here on earth.

That means our faith is a future-focused faith… Our religion is a religion of hope... Hanging onto positive expectations

When we have nothing else – if we lost everything - wecan stillhave hope.

I could end this message right here -- right now -- if it wasn’t for one thing. Hope is not automatic. It’s easy to lose hope… It’s easy to become hopeless.

In fact, sometimes hope can be very difficult. Sometimes it can be hard to have hope in the midst of disappointments and difficulties. Sometimes it’s hard to have hope when we are overwhelmed with trials and tribulations. Itcan be hard to maintain an attitude of hope when it feels like the world is against us.

I’m guessing that most of us have faced a situation or two where we thought things were hopeless – in our jobs, in our marriages, in our relationships with family members. Some of us have faced seemingly hopeless medical or financial situations. Some of you, right now, may be in a situation that seems hopeless, and you are tempted to just give up. You are not alone.

Our reading for today reminds us to never give up. Someday Jesus will come again to reign forever. Therefore we do not lose hope.

Read Text Mark 13:24-37

When Jesus came the first time - he came to a cold, desolate world that had no hope. Scholars say that it had been about 400 years between Malachi (O.T.) and Matthew (N.T.).

God had not been heard from in nearly 400 years. At least in the O.T. God spoke at times through burning bushes and at times througha gentle whisper and at times through various prophets… But 400 years of silence had led people to lose hope.

If you think about it, it’s entirely appropriate for Jesus, who is the hope of the world, to have come in the form of a baby, because babies are hope personified. They are pure potential. Their lives are all in the future.

I still remember my when our son, Simon and our daughter, Theawereborn. On both occasions I remember thinking --Here’s this new life, so full of potential. A baby can grow up to be anything. Hope says anything is possible.

The hope of the world came wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger in Bethlehem. That’s how hope works. Hope make the impossible possible. Hope sees potential in each one of us.

That’s the kind of hope we are talking about here today. It is not a yearning for something uncertain. It’s a confidence in what is yet to come. It’s looking down the road of the future.

  • Hope is based in fact that God loves you.
  • Hope is built on a firm foundation that God cares for you.
  • Hope is because of the final assurance that God wants to be with you now and forever.

Consider this -- we cannot make it through life without hope. We can live about forty days without food, about eight days without water, about four minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope. Hope is our greatest asset in life.

Where is your hope today? Is it wrapped up in the expectations of a gift under the tree? Is it lost in the darkness that surrounds your life?

Or is it found in the greatest gift ever given… Jesus.

What is your motto for life? Do you live for the moment or do you look down the road of life to Jesus?

I hope you place your hope in Jesus and in him alone because he has placed his hope in you. Amen