HOPE

Carl Emerson said:

Hi there,

We discuss Faith very commonly.

We discuss Love less commonly.

We hardly ever discuss Hope !!!

These three abide - Faith Hope and Love.

There seems to be a big divide between folks when discussing expectations IN THIS LIFE....

Some claim that because the disciples were all but one murdered - that the new covenant makes no promise beyond sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

It seems that to them we sit in the gospel bus, belt up, and hold on tight, ready to take whatever comes. Folks sit in pews holding onto faith and love with little hope. Just an expectation of better things in the NEXT life.

Then there are those who see promises in the scriptures like...

IS 54:11“O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And your foundations I will lay in sapphires.

12“Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies,
And your gates of crystal,
And your entire wall of precious stones.

13“All your sons will be taught of the LORD;
And the well-being of your sons will be great.

14“In righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.

15“If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.
Whoever assails you will fall because of you.

16“Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.

17“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

...and they accept such assurances for them personally.

Some claim this is out of order as it was meant for Israel at a time in history and not for New Covenant believers.

Yet we read Jesus promised the following...

Matt 19:29

...everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children
or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

So what is the legitimate scriptural hope for believers in the New Covenant IN THIS LIFE ???

Lets talk about HOPE IN THIS LIFE.

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To sidetrack for a moment, it’s interesting that you acknowledge that love is discussed less frequently. That happens to be a Reformed contribution mainly, focusing so heavily on faith as they did perhaps. Historically love is the heart of the Christian faith. It’s the very motivation behind everything Jesus said and did, the reason He came, the reason He died. It’s an integral aspect of God’s very nature, and the nature He desires to accomplish in us. Love defines righteousness or justice in man beyond the virtues of faith and hope which is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are. We’ll actually be judged on our love according to classic teachings I’m familiar with. It could be said that to the extent that we love, faith has accomplished God’s goal for us.

But I know, this thread is about hope. Our hope in this life is to gain the peace, joy, and love-and even more of all the virtues including faith- that make this journey on planet earth endurable regardless of how bad our storms may be. My mother was a woman of great faith. She endured the disease of ALS which gradually shuts down the body as the mind remains intact and sharp, over a period of three years in her case, until finally the diaphragm is too weak to support sufficient respiration and death finally occurs, with a grace that I’m still in awe of. She lived each day at a time as fully as was possible and often stated, eventually through an electronic keyboard that produced vocal messages, “It’s Gods will”, never once complaining about her lot. Amazing. I knew a man who took his own life as soon as he received the same diagnosis. And hope regarding the next life affects how we live this one. And maybe that leads to the next thought.

For the record, in strict theological terms the virtue of “faith” has been considered to consist of intellectual assent to truths proposed to us regarding the nature and will of God (which is why it can be said that even demons believe), while the virtue of “hope” was taught to be more akin to trust and even confidence regarding the promises of God, both virtues being gifts, of course. Hope is much more than a wish IOW, but rather a strong sense and trust about future goodness to be realized and attained. And then we all know about "love" of course, but never enough -as I see it.

What are you hoping for?

I certainly do not need any more opportunities to: see, experience, provide, receive and grow in Godly type Love.

This world is not to be a heaven on earth, that is not its purpose.

This messed up tragic burdened world is the very best place to help willing individuals fulfill their earthly objective. This world is providing us with the privilege and honor of allowing Christ to work in and through us to help others and if we die trying it is even better.

Does health and wealth produce better Christians?

There will never be some sort of physical utopian promised land attainable in this life.

Carl Emerson said:

Yes but the Kingdom is within you - and when you are obedient to Him there is blessing that you walk in - hence a realm of blessing - but as you say not a physical place.

On the other hand He can appoint a physical place for a season - a retreat - a community - a believers family home - in which He is honoured.

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I agree. And there will also be trials and sufferings and ultimately physical death-the rain falls on the good and bad alike. And either way the Kingdom still exists within, during and in spite of such inevitable things.

Carl Emerson said:

"Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you...

Is that not a New Covenant promise?

Unless you are born again you cannot enter the Kingdom of God...

Is the Kingdom of God not a realm of blessing conditional on obedience?

Is the Kingdom not for us now - an invitation to walk in the reign of Jesus?

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As a Christin you have this so you do not need to “hope” for it sometime in the future.

Those “things” are what even the pagans ask for and cannot get, so what are they?

When you leave church do you ever ask “Where are we going to eat?” Do you ever go to your closet and say: “I have nothing to wear”? Go to the TV room and ask “what can we watch”?

The “things” we get is what Jesus has been talking about which is relieve from our anxiety over things. It is not the thing itself, but the anxiety over the thing.

A person in prison does not have to ask “what am I going to wear” or “what are we having for supper?”, we do not need to ask because it makes no difference.

Carl Emerson said:

OK so when the Scripture says "These three abide - Faith Hope and Love... You think that Hope only applies to the next life??? Yet Faith and Love clearly apply to this life...

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There is nothing left to hope for in heaven.
We have a desired expectation here on earth for heaven.

Carl Emerson said:

Well I am staggered - no wonder the Church lacks motivation if there is no Hope and promises to be fulfilled in this life !!!

It is a sad day... these two abide - Faith and Love but no hope !!!

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I'm not sure if I understand. The hope of a next life actually gives meaning and purpose and order to this life, such that Christian society from very early on made enormous strides in establishing the educational system, in arts and sciences, in pursuing excellence in general, in building orphanages and hospitals and feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and virtually putting altruism on the map as the light of our faith elevated the value of human life, even that of our enemies, to a place much higher than it had ever been before. Christianity, properly understood and lived out, is not at all about a pie in the sky, mind in the clouds, other-worldly only mentality; eternal life starts now; the kingdom of God has been established in our midst.

We no longer live in a hopeless, lost and dying world that would otherwise amount to nothing much more than a giant slaughterhouse at the end of the day. But it's still not about what we can "get" here-there's nothing of any real eternal value to the offerings of this world.

Carl Emerson said:

I appreciate your response.

You say hope in the next life gives hope in this life - sure there is truth in that, but that is not the full story.

He also wants us to have hope for this life and not be fatalists.

It is not about 'getting' it is about what He wants to give.

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I don't think fatalism was the theme of my post. It also depends on our values-on what we might want and expect to "get".

Carl Emerson said:

Hi there,

We discuss Faith very commonly.

We discuss Love less commonly.

We hardly ever discuss Hope !!!

These three abide - Faith Hope and Love.

There seems to be a big divide between folks when discussing expectations IN THIS LIFE....

Some claim that because the disciples were all but one murdered - that the new covenant makes no promise beyond sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

It seems that to them we sit in the gospel bus, belt up, and hold on tight, ready to take whatever comes. Folks sit in pews holding onto faith and love with little hope. Just an expectation of better things in the NEXT life.

Then there are those who see promises in the scriptures like...

IS 54:11“O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And your foundations I will lay in sapphires.

12“Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies,
And your gates of crystal,
And your entire wall of precious stones.

13“All your sons will be taught of the LORD;
And the well-being of your sons will be great.

14“In righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.

15“If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.
Whoever assails you will fall because of you.

16“Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.

17“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

...and they accept such assurances for them personally.

Some claim this is out of order as it was meant for Israel at a time in history and not for New Covenant believers.

Yet we read Jesus promised the following...

Matt 19:29

...everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children
or fields for the sake of My name will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

So what is the legitimate scriptural hope for believers in the New Covenant IN THIS LIFE ???

Lets talk about HOPE IN THIS LIFE.

Click to expand...

I think I did a blog post on this. Let me check what I said and get back to you

Hopelessness is what flings us into the presence of evil.”

I wish I could remember what book I read that in, so I could give the author credit. There is so much in that sentence that I don’t know where to begin. It is truth on so many levels. Scripture is full of references to Our Hope. The Hope found in knowing God and knowing future Glory will be ours. Another hymn says our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. And when the enemy is able to steal that? We are left with nothing. We can endure searing, hellish trials in this life as long as we are still able to sing “Amazing Grace” even in the face of death. We can even rejoice in suffering, grudgingly, if we but know that suffering will provide growth and deeper strength within us. We can dance in the rain, ignoring our chilled skin. We can climb mountains of pain and find joy on top, if we can cling to Hope. Without it, evil surely and steadily, will creep into our broken places and inhabit us. It will spill out of us and wound others. But with hope to sustain us, all the sin and death in this world is only a momentary distraction. Hopelessness is the death of the Soul.

And now you would expect me to start talking about heaven. And that’s a good place to start, but our hope doesn’t end there. On this beautiful fall day, I can certainly see glimpses of Glory all around. And yet nature is still groaning, as Paul says, for restoration, (Romans 8:19 through 23) and we sure have seen her doing a lot of groaning lately.

In Matthew 19:28 Jesus speaks of a renewal of all things when all will be made right and justice restored to this world. Revelation (21: 1-5) tells us of a new Heaven and a new Earth, a moment when Heaven comes down to Earth and every tear will be washed away.
And Peter reminds us:

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9)

“But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

2 Peter 3:13

I used to think two false things about end times, because of the way I understood what was taught to me in church. One was that God would destroy this Earth, and that would be the end of it. The other is that heaven would be our final home. What? It isn’t? If you read these passages you’ll find exactly what I’m talking about. So don’t take my word for it.

God isn’t through creating. He isn’t done restoring souls and he isn’t done making all things new. The end times are nothing to look forward to with fear and trembling. We should look forward to them with rejoicing and great hope. If the Incarnation was the beginning, and what a beginning it was, how glorious will be the ending for those who believe? And more to the point, the end is not the end. It’s only another beginning. So if you’re ready to give up on this world and on humanity, it’s time to look up and put your faith in something real and solid. At the end of this age God will usher in a new one where all will be made new and made right. There is plenty of reason for Hope and we’ve never needed that Hope more than right now.