Message on Hope for 11/30/2025
Why is HOPE the theme of the 1 st Sunday of Advent? Is there any significance to
the order of the themes? What insights can we gain about Christian hope that will
help us prepare for this holy season of Advent? I did some research about hope,
and want to share with you some of what I’ve learned.
---Most of you probably know that many Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled
in Jesus’ birth. In fact, there are over 300 prophecies about the coming of the
Messiah.
In Is. 7:14 – “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call
his name Immanuel.” (meaning God with us.) In Isaiah 42: 1-2, Jesus is referred
to as “The Hope for all Nations.” In Is. 63, we are told --and promised --of the
second coming of Jesus – these are promises that brought great hope to the
Israelites, which also bring great hope to us.
The other advent themes—Peace, Joy and Love -- are all fruits of the spirit. But
HOPE is not listed as a fruit of the spirit. Other than fulfilling prophecies and
giving hope to the Israelites and to us, does hope have other significance to us at
advent? While hope is not a fruit of the spirit, we are told over 150 times in the
Bible to have hope in God. We are familiar with the verse 1 Corin. 13:13 which
states,
“Now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is
love.”
My research shows that HOPE, Faith & Love are considered to be the 3 Christian
virtues. They are called theological virtues because they are related to God, they
are given by God, and it is God who infuses them into our souls. According to St.
Thomas Aquinas, a 13 th century theologian and philosopher,
“Hope comes from God: Hope helps us desire and want to work toward
eternal life with God; Hope brings us closer to God. Hope is a Divine Gift.”
---Hope is available to us, but God does not pour it on us—it is there, but we have
to choose it. Just as we need to open the door of our hearts when Jesus knocks,
just as we need to accept His invitation to “Come to Me,” we need to ACCEPT the
Gift of Hope. A devotional I read recently says,
“Pause briefly from time to time so you can consult with the Spirit. He will
not force you to do his bidding,-- (he will not force you to accept His gifts) -- but
he will guide you --and bless you –as you give Him space in your life.” Repeat:
“as you give Him space in your life.”
I have 3 challenges for us this morning—the first one is will you accept the gift of
hope? A package needs to be acknowledged and accepted after being delivered --
will we accept God’s gift of hope this advent? It is here, available to us from God.
(WALK TO PICK UP GIFT)
---But we need to do more than accept the gift of hope. The Gift of Hope must be
OPENED. Hope is here, it is available to us. Jesus is our hope, and His birth has
made him accessible to us, approachable and available. I have discovered that the
title “Son of Man,”—which is how Jesus referred to himself-- means just that:--
that Jesus is approachable and accessible to all of us, to everyone. But just as
some packages take time, effort and work to open, opening the gift of hope
requires some work and time. John Piper, a current famous Christian author and
theologian talks about the necessity of working at accessing hope and working to
have a hopeful, heaven-minded view.
John Piper, on the topic of hope, says,
“We need to set aside time to focus on God through prayer, asking God for
insights and a deeper understanding, we need to study and meditate on the
Bible.”
In this busy, busy season of advent, will we take time to be with God? To be
still, to be silent, to study His word, and to pray—will we take the time, will we
open our lives and our schedules to make space to connect with God? Do we have
room in the “INN” of our daily lives, for Jesus? Or, ironically, are all the associated
activities of Christmas crowding out God and Jesus and the spiritual gifts available
to us?
---One of the most exciting and insightful things I discovered in my research for
this message, is that opening the gift of hope allows us to receive other spiritual
gifts and fruits of the spirit.
“Hope is seen as the root or foundation that gives life to other virtues, like
peace, and joy and love. Hope leads to a desire for God, which fuels the growth
of hope itself.”
(OPEN GIFT OF HOPE HERE AS NEXT PARA. IS READ)
As we open the gift of hope, we are pleasantly surprised with additional spiritual
gifts—the fruits of the spirit of Peace, Joy and Love are given to us as we accept
and open our lives, our schedules, our minds, our hearts and our souls to hope.
The order of the themes IS significant, -- HOPE is first because if we have a secure
HOPE in Jesus, we will be at PEACE, we will feel true JOY, and we will grow in LOVE.
---I’ve talked about accepting the gift of hope, and opening the gift of hope, and
lastly, I’d like to talk about applying and using the gift of hope in our daily lives.
Maybe you’ve given a gift to a loved one in the past, and then later discover that
while your loved one accepted your gift, and opened your gift, they are not using
your gift. You somehow saw it stashed away in the back of a closet or in the
basement, unused. I wonder if God may be disappointed when we don’t access
and open and use His wonderful gifts?!
--So the 3 rd challenge to all of us is to apply and use the gift of hope in our daily
lives. But how do we use and apply Christian hope in a practical way and what
results will it have on our lives? John Piper, in a sermon about hope, says:
“A person with a heart and a belief that is passionate for heaven (because
of their hope) is a free person… a person free to enjoy God on earth by loving
others. With a heaven-minded hopeful attitude we are also more useful to God.
The solution (in our world) is Christian hope, fueled by a vision of heavenly glory.
This should move us to do the labors of love for others while we are here on
earth.”
If we have Christ-based hope in our daily lives, we will have the right priorities, the
right perspective, we will not being so self-centered or self-absorbed—and we will
end up being more Christ-like people.
In doing this research on hope, I found out that there are 3 types of Biblical hope:
LIVING HOPE, HOPE of GLORY, and BLESSED HOPE. Learning about these different
types of hope can help us know how to apply and use hope in our everyday lives.
BLESSED HOPE is defined as a confident hope in the return of Jesus, based on the
verse in Titus 2:13 which says,
“The blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior
Jesus Christ.”
According to the Psalm Wisdom site,
“Blessed Hope hope makes us purposeful. Believing in Christ’s return
teaches us to live more self-controlled, upright lives now, this knowledge gives
us the strength and motivation to persevere in performing good works, it shifts
our focus away from earthly concerns, giving a sense of purpose beyond this
life.”
HOPE OF GLORY redefines our suffering in light of an eternal perspective.
(According to the Psalm Wisdom site,)
“Hope of glory transforms pain into purpose. In God’s hands, what breaks
us down can build us up. Hope of glory teaches us to trust God’s pace and
timing—not our own.”
We’ve heard the verses in James 1:2-4 that tell us
“Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you
know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance
finish its work so that you may be mature and complete…”
LIVING HOPE is an active and present hope that gives us encouragement and
strength, it is meant to be PRACTICED DAILY. The Psalm Wisdom site says,
“Living hope isn’t born from strength, it’s born from surrender. When you
stop trying to control everything and start trusting that God is working even in
the silence, that’s when hope become alive… Jesus is our living hope. 1 Peter 1:
3-4 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great
mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Having a Living Hope tells us to not worry and not to be anxious. In 1 Peter
5:7, it says:
“Cast all your anxieties on Him.”
And a shortened version of Isaiah 40:31 says:
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength…they will run
and not grow weary.”
We also know that Jesus is Immanuel, which means that God is with us. If
we truly believe and focus on Jesus with us in our everyday lives as our living hope,
we will be more loving people. When we do NOT focus on Jesus and his spirit
being with us, we can fall into despair, anxiety, and even depression—all of which
are the definition of hopelessness. Psalm 42:5-6, 11 acknowledges the earthly
disappointment we will inevitably feel at times.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put
your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” That verse is
repeated again at the end of the psalm, reinforcing its significance.
We can make a choice in our everyday life to focus on our promised victorious
end. If I were running in a marathon race, I imagine I’d feel exhausted and feel
like giving up, not knowing if I’d be able to make it to the end… But if I KNEW I
would successfully finish the race, if I KNEW I’d be victorious, I would persevere,
I’d push on. That’s the difference that Christian hope can give us. We can stop
wasting our time stressing about what might happen ‘then’ and instead fully enjoy
‘now.’ The result of not being stressed, anxious and full of worry is that we can be
more calm, more loving, and more generous to others.
Ps. 33:20-22 gives us some specifics of what to do:
“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our
hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us,
Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”
We need to remember to wait with confident expectation for God to act, to
go to him with our problems rather than looking to worldly sources for help, we
need to rejoice in him, we need to “let go and let God,” totally trusting in him--
these are all steps in opening up and applying and using the gift of hope in our
everyday lives.
The Psalm Wisdom site concludes by saying,
“When we live with all 3 kinds of hope, our souls stay steady. We start
living like it matters, we love deeper, we forgive quicker, we live
lighter—because we know that justice is coming, that mercy wins. If we have all
3 kinds of hope, we are made strong in the present, patient in trials, and joyful
for what’s ahead.”
As it says in Hebrews 6:19,
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
This advent, let us hear Jesus calling us and offering us his hope, his high hope, his
highest holiest hope—this validated hope that is time-proven, time-tested, and
truly trustworthy. We know that God will fulfill his promises. St. Thomas Aquinas
said:
“Hope is a confident expectation of God’s promises—His promise for
eternal life, for His perfect goodness, and for His providence. Hope provides a
certainty that God’s promises will be fulfilled.”
That prompted me to look up how many promises God makes to us in the
Bible…so many more than 25, so many more than I would have guessed! There
are approx. 7500 promises that God makes to us in the Bible! That is another
major reason to be filled with hope! And as 2 Corin. 1:20 states,
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in
Christ.”
God’s greatest gift of Jesus is available, approachable and accessible to you and to
me, NOW, HERE, TODAY. Let’s not ignore God’s gifts, leaving them unopened or
unused. This advent season, let us fully accept, open and apply this most
wonderful gift of hope.
From Romans 15:13:
“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.”