Got Hope?

 My oncologist placed on my wrist a purple silicone band that simply said “HOPE.” I have not thought too much about it until the other day while reflecting on what had taken place in my life that I have never heard a sermon or teaching on “HOPE.” I ask my pastor if he had ever preached a sermon on hope, or had even heard a sermon on hope, he replied “no come to think of it, I haven’t.” Since then I have asked several other pastors, and got the same reply. That is why I want to explore “HOPE” with this writing.

I was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer that had spread to my brain. The official description of the condition is “Extensive Stage Disease.” The doctors gave me two to six months to live.

That was FOUR years ago, and the same doctors tell me today there is no sign of cancer in my body today. Even the often long lasting effects of chemotherapy are subsiding daily.

While thinking on the mighty miracle God had rendered in my body, I began to reflect on the simple word, “HOPE” imprinted on my wristband. Through out my Christian walk over many years I have heard many teachings from 1^st Corinthians 13:13 “For these three things are abiding, faith, and hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.” But most of the sermons or teaching received was either on “Love” or on “Faith.” I could not remember a teaching on “HOPE.”

In the Old Testament the word “hope” appears 69 times, and in the New Testament it appears 61 times. Yet we hear so little about it. 

So, what is “HOPE?”

The natural world defines HOPE as “to wish for something with a possible expectation of its fulfillment.” In fact, in daily life we often use the word “hope” when we should use “wish.” Many times we say “I hope it will rain this week.” The word “hope,” if properly used, implies a certainty or confidence that it will, in fact, rain. If there is no such confidence, then it would be more proper to say, “I wish it would rain this week.

The Thesaurus helps us define HOPE as: expect, trust, and anticipate.

Strong’s Dictionary define HOPE (Greek: elpis [el-piece]) as “to anticipate, usually with pleasure; to have expectation or confidence.”

HOPE for a Christian is anticipating with pleasure the expectation that God will perform His Word as it is written.

So, what is the difference between HOPE and FAITH? Hebrews 11 tells us that FAITH is the substance of things HOPED for. FAITH is the evidence of things not seen. It is important to take note of the relationship between HOPE and FAITH. HOPE is the trust and confidence that God will perform His Word as it is written, giving us the ability to anticipate with pleasure, having confidence. FAITH gives substance to the things we HOPE for. FAITH calls our HOPE into being.

Without HOPE, faith does not work!  

So, how do we get HOPE?

 I had to go back to the 1854 writings of Charles G. Finny to find anything substantial explaining Biblical HOPE. It seems not many have written on the subject.

Hope has a psychological side made of two elements; desire for something and expectation of receiving that which you hope for. This desire must be strong enough to call your mind and body into action. You must become the person that not only desires something, but is willing to work for what he honestly hopes to attain.

For HOPE to be effective you must believe your desire is possible, and you must expect it to come to pass.

For example, you may hope to get an education. If so, you set your desires upon it. Your hope, the combination of desire and expectation, stimulates your effort.

In his Commentary on Romans 15:13: Matthew Henry put it like this: The joy and peace of believers arise chiefly from their hopes. What is laid out upon them is but little, compared with what is laid up for them; therefore the more hope they have the more joy and peace they have. Christians should desire and labor after an abundance of hope.

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:1 – 10 telling the Roman Christians that their hope will often be made stronger, in fact the tenor of the following verses reflect the annealing* of metal in a blacksmith’s shop.

* To subject metal to a process of heating and slow cooling in order to toughen and reduce brittleness

Romans  5:1 – 10 - “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, HOPE; 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.

Heb 6:17 – 19 - Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability (unchangeable) of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the HOPE set before us: Which HOPE we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail;

HOPE gives us an anchor for our souls, an anchor that is sure and steadfast. To be a useful anchor, hope must hold fast.

When the Bible uses the word “hope” in reference to events in the future, there is no doubt at all that the events will happen. Paul writes in Titus 1:1,2 – “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness, a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”

The Anchor of the Soul

God speaks about the future for a reason. He wants every Christian to be committed to Him in good times and in bad times. He speaks about the future to give us hope, to give us an anchor for their souls; an anchor to hold them steadfast to Him. Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

God’s use of the anchor to represent the believer’s Hope is fitting as an anchor keeps a boat from drifting away with the currents or being blown away in a storm. Using an anchor to describe the purpose of the Christian hope makes perfect sense. When a Christian has a clear picture of what he is hoping for in the future, especially the rewards that the Lord has for them it helps to keep them from “drifting away” from his commitment. An anchor prevents a Christian from being “blown away” from God during the storms of life.

Because hope is referred to as an “anchor,” the anchor was the earliest known Christian symbol. It was used to represent the Hope of resurrection unto everlasting life.

At Pompeii, buried by lava in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, a ring was found with a beautiful image of an anchor and the Greek word elpis, “hope,” inscribed on it. Some of the earliest Christian graves have an anchor carved into the headstone.

Christians today use a cross as their common symbol, but there is no reference to the cross ever being a revered Christian image until after the Roman Emperor Constantine became Christian around 325 AD. Until then cross was abhorred as an instrument of torture by early Christians. Before that the anchor was the symbol that the early Christians used to show their hope of resurrection and an everlasting future.

The Psychological Value of Hope

Satan has constantly attacked the subject of HOPE because of the value that it has to anchor people to Godliness and truth. One of the reasons the Hope is an anchor for the Christian life is that hope energizes people and gives them strength to endure in a way that nothing else does. People without hope become defeated, broken, and unable to cope with adversity. Hopeless people give up!

The feeling of being “hopeless” is devastating. A person with no hope, with no expectation of good, often sinks into depression and despair and may even commit suicide. The effects of being hopeless are well documented. People who have no hope of everlasting life grieve over death in ways that Christians who are confident of everlasting life do not.  

Having hope is vital in the medical field. Modern medicine acknowledges the healing value of hope because hopeful people have more strength and endurance.

Christian work can be difficult. It is often under-financed and under-appreciated. Why would anyone work—often on a volunteer basis—in those conditions? One answer is that many people start out being very idealistic, but idealism usually does not last long in the “real” world. Without a vivid hope to sustain them, they eventually burn out. Having a vivid hope, however, gives people strength and energy to press on. The lack of appreciation can be dealt with when one realizes that there will be rewards that he or she will receive at the Judgment. Paul wrote about this very thing in 1 Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Our God is the 'the God of hope' (Rom. 15:13), so we can 'place our hope in the living God' (1 Tim. 4:10). Those who do not know Christ personally are 'without hope' (Eph. 2:12, cf. 1 Th. 4:13). On the other hand hope is so much an essential part of Christianity that Paul says without it the Christian is the most miserable of all persons (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Teaching “Hope” strengthens and invigorates Christians. The scriptures concerning the Hope are clear.

In 1 Peter 1:1-19 Peter says four things - explicitly or implicitly - about hope.

(a)   First, Christian hope is CERTAIN, simply because God is its author!

(b)  Second, Peter says our hope is LIVING (1:3). The very word 'living' implies a future, a destiny. Hope, says the author of Hebrews, is 'set before us' (6:18). We are encouraged to 'hope to the end' (Heb. 7:25). Just as a truthful God provides grounds for our hope's certainty, so 'the living God' guarantees that our hope, too, is living.

(c)   Third, Peter says our hope is a RESURRECTION hope (1:3). God raised Jesus from the dead, and this fills us with a living hope.

(d)  Finally, Peter says this hope is a very PRACTICAL thing. You have to realize Peter was writing to people who could literally become food for the Coliseum lions at any time. This is real 'crisis theology'. Such hope was the spiritual motivation, not only to wait for the end of all things, but to 'live in hope' in the here-and-now.

The idea of hope manifests itself throughout the New Testament. Our God is the God of hope (Romans 15:13) so we can place our hope in the living God (1 Timothy 4:10). Those that do not know Christ personally are without hope (Ephesians 2:12 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul says that without hope the Christian is the most miserable of all persons (1 Corinthians 15:19) 

You see, life is difficult. Morning to evening, each day is a problem- solving period. No one's life is problem-free. Life is problem- solving, and problem-solving is life. To be human is to have problems. But to be Christian is to have problems - and hope. To the Christian, hope is the knowledge that as we learn to trust in God’s promises we are changed for the better (Romans 8:28). It is the conviction that no matter the circumstances, God's plans for our lives are good, regardless of what we see, hear, or feel.