Rev. Darren May
Isaiah 2:1-5
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,[a]
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Romans 15:1-13
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.” 10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Advent One – Hope
Advent is a time for new beginnings, new life, new birth and new hope! We live in the Christian tension of the already (in that Christ has come and shown us a way), but we also live in the not yet, we live in the reality of now but still something greater to come (Christ will come again to heal, restore and bring about all things new). We live in both realized celebration and continued hoping. We celebrate the reality of the outcome of Easter morning. We celebrate advent with the knowledge and angst that we know Christ has come to us as a child and ministered to the world in grace and truth. But, we also celebrate advent with the hopeful anticipation and certainty that Christ has died, Christ has risen and Christ will come again – and that in this moment, in these days, God will continue to draw close to us, abide with us and renew us. We live knowing the joy of God, yet we also live knowing that a greater joy and a better hope await us.
What is hope? Hope is a firm belief that out of our circumstances, whatever they are, whether good or bad, whether in great joy or great trial, something better will arise. Hope believes that life continually gives birth to greater good and higher blessings. Hope is the belief that events will turn out for the good because God is good. Hope is anticipation or expectation. Hopeful words include: “I hope that so and so will forgive me, I hope that through regular devotion and dedication of time towards God, my relationship with God will get stronger, I hope that good will come out of every bad things we see on this earth because God is sovereign, God is sovereign even when I don’t feel He is King and Lord.”
For us, for our profit and good, in our lives as Christians, the Apostle Paul writes to the church “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” God is hope and we are to abound in hope. What does abound mean? It means to exist or occur in great quantity, to be well supplied, and to be filled. The God of hope supplies us abundantly with hope, and the Holy Spirit, living and dwelling in us fills us with hope. Does hope abound? Is hope abounding – is the great hope in our midst?
In Romans 15:1 Paul says, “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves”. The hope that shines forth from this command is that we are not all at the same level. We are all needy and we are all needed. As a church, as a community, we live in relationships with other people. So, when we are weak, we cry with the comfort and assurance that others are crying with us, but still, others are modelling faith and love and action because they are stronger and they are upholding us in our weakness. When we are strong, we rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Yet and still, when we are strong and another is weak, we become, through love and adoration, their strength – we are the incarnation of the Presence of Christ. When we are weak, others come along side us and encourage and build us up. We have the hope-filled opportunity to think about other people, to be considerate of them and mindful of them, and, in doing so, we are called to be longsuffering and patient with one another.
What kind of place would it be if we gave one chance to everybody? Isn’t it tempting to peg people, to label people a certain way and then avoid long-suffering with them so that we never change our attitude towards anyone? Then, we never draw close to anyone. We believe that no one can change. We miss risking the opportunity to love. Loving people is a risk – we might get hurt, we might be blessed, we might get hurt and overcome misunderstanding to arrive at a place where we end up greater friends with those we might think, in this moment, that we cannot like or love. God is calling us to hold out hope to one another through and because of the birthing hope of advent and the reconciling love of the cross.
Paul goes on to say, “Each of us should please his neighbour for his good, to build him up.” Hope abounds when we build up one another. Hope to continue, to press on, to keep going comes from the pouring out of love from others, and we give the gift of hope when we build up of our neighbours. When we constantly consider the good in one another, it profits us. As a whole, in general, we are deficient people who often lack self-confidence and we need to hear words that will encourage us and fill us with hope.
The point of this is drawn home for us as Paul continues and says, “Even Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” The greatest example of being concerned for the welfare of others is Jesus. Hope comes from Jesus example and model. But, Paul goes on to say, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”. We gain hope from other believers, but, another source of hope is the Word of God. Sometimes we struggle to find a disciplined and gainful way to regularly and deeply study God’s word. Hope abounds through the powerful words, promises and the completed actions of God. God communicates with us through His Word and through the ways He delivers on His promises.
Furthermore, we know that God gives us His Holy Spirit to comfort and encourage us, to build up hope in us and to give us strength. God is the author of encouragement. Our ability to have hope is rooted in God himself. God gives us a heart of faith to believe all things and hope for all things, God gives us the ability and strength to love others and care for others.
So, Paul teases this out further. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Our willingness to love, to accept each other, our willingness to forgive, to start anew, to rebuild brokenness, is a matter of worship. We do not reconcile relationships for our own benefit; we accept one another, forgive and set people free because it brings glory to God. We are encouraged by God to treat other people as God has treated us. When we see people and treat people in the light of the glory of the way God has dealt with us, we point attention to and rally under the banner of the grace and mercy of God. We honour God. An unwillingness to accept and love other believers shows ingratitude towards the acceptance we have been given in Christ. Forgiven people should be forgiving people. If you long for hope, there is hope. Ask for it. If you cannot feel or receive hope from others, know and be assured that God knows – God is our reconciler – God loves. God is our deepest hope.
Now, here is our key verse for today. Let these words sink into your skin, bathe your soul and fill you with life and breath and hope. Memorize these words. Hear them as a benediction upon your head and write them on your heart. “May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
We experience joy and hope, peace and love through trusting in God. The more we trust God, the greater our hope. As we grow in grace, the Holy Spirit works within us, increasing the depth, the breadth and the intensity of the hope in our souls. When we overflow with hope, when hope is abundant and abounding in our lives, when we are fountains of hope overflowing into the lives of others – we bless and are blessed, we revive and restore the souls of the parched. We become fountainheads of living grace.
The practical, living application of hope is that with God, there is no reason not to hope. There is no situation or position we could possibly be in where hope cannot infiltrate us and fill us. Hope is the fuel of life in Christ. So, there is nothing to fear. Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning. When we weep, we weep with promise. When we rejoice, we rejoice in a sure and certain foundation. Our trials are temporary. I cannot think of a situation in life that cannot, eventually, in Christ, get better. This is true, abounding hope.
As we wait in hopeful expectation to celebrate Christ’s first advent, we also wait in hopeful anticipation of the consummation of Christ’s Kingdom at His Second Advent. The greatest hope, the greatest comfort, the greatest promise we can cling to as Christians, is that we need not fear, but rather, look forward with great anticipation to this:
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
Life is good. In this season as we watch “It’s A Wonderful Life” again, we can say life is beautiful. But there is still so much more to look forward to. One day, we will sit at the feast of the Lamb, and there will be nothing more to hope for, because our hope will be fulfilled in Christ. Amen.