The Gift of Hope

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  December 3, 2023

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Read: 1 Corinthians 1:3 – 9 (NIV)
 
Today is the first Sunday in the season of Advent when the theme HOPE calls for our attention.
 
And if there is anything that this world needs right now, I would say HOPE is there at the top of the list… right alongside PEACE, JOY, and LOVE… not coincidentally, all the things that are the hallmarks of the Advent season.
 
Perhaps we can all agree… at least to some extent… that we are living in the midst of some extremely challenging times… times when simply turning on the news can produce feelings of fear and anxiety… engaging in conversations with family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers can raise the level of uncertainty about this world to unprecedented levels.   
 
We can never be quite sure what images will flood the screens on our TVs and laptops or what soundbites will filter into our ears from the radio or general conversations. 
 
There is just so much to try to wrap our minds around… it is enough to fill us with trepidation as we try to make some sense of it all.
 
With everything from the ongoing unrest in the Middle East and the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine… to the political twists and turns right here in this country… not to mention the violence in the streets that is happening even closer to home… It is enough to knock the wind right out of our sails and cause us to feel helpless and hopeless.
 
But let me suggest that our text for today offers us THE GIFT OF HOPE… a gift that is one-size-fits-all… a gift that will never need to be returned…
 
And what’s so great about THE GIFT OF HOPE is that it is perfectly acceptable and completely appropriate to re-gift it… to pass it on to someone else. 
 
And I believe that is exactly what the Apostle Paul was doing when he sent this letter to the church in Corinth which was also passed on to so many others… including those of us who still find a sense of encouragement in Paul’s writings today… all these centuries later.
 
Now, according to scholars, the Corinthian church was established by Paul during his second missionary journey when he spent about 18 months with them…
 
However, by the time he embarked on his third missionary journey, word had gotten back to Paul that there was trouble in the church.  Apparently, the Corinthians were struggling with how they were supposed to conduct themselves as Christians in light of the fact that they were living in an environment that was filled with corruption… where sin ran rampant.  (Sound familiar?  Remind you of any place you know?  Oh, I don’t know, like the world at large today…)
 
Well, back in the day… the city of Corinth had a reputation for being just as decadent, if no more so, than any other  city in the world.  Corinth was a large and prosperous city where idolatry flourished.  There were more than a dozen pagan temples with at least a thousand temple prostitutes.  In fact, according to the commentary in the Life Application Study Bible, things were so bad that the prostitutes in other cities were actually called “Corinthian girls.”
 
Is it any wonder that the church in Corinth was struggling? 
 
Members of the church knew that they had been set free through Christ but some of them were having difficulty understanding just what that “freedom” really meant.  Consequently, the immorality and spiritual immaturity of some members began undermining the work of the church… and the faith of the believers was tested.  And suffice it to say… not everyone was passing the test.
 
That, in large part, is what prompted the Apostle Paul to write this letter to the Corinthian church.  And he did so with several objectives in mind…
 
To address the problems the Corinthians were having… to heal the divisions that had erupted within the church… and to provide answers to the questions that they had about how they were supposed to act in the face of such blatant immorality.
 
While it sounds like a rather lofty goal for a simple letter… the things that Paul wrote to the churches back then and what is still being read to this day were not only words of correction and instruction… but also words of promise and reassurance… so that everyone who read Paul’s writings could receive THE GIFT OF HOPE… even in the midst of chaos, confusion, and uncertainty.
 
Now, looking at the first verses of our text for the morning, we find words of greeting and thanksgiving that are pretty standard when it comes to Paul’s writings…
 
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.” 
 
The verses that follow suggest that the Corinthians had been blessed with several gifts. 
 
Paul tells them that they have been given the gift of grace… and that they have been enriched by Christ in every way… including in speech and in knowledge… all of which Paul indicates is evidence of Christ’s presence in their lives.
 
Paul then goes on to tell the Corinthians that they really do not need anything… confirming that they are not lacking any spiritual gift… even in this time that they are anticipating the day when Jesus will return. 
 
Paul offers them reassurance that until that day arrives… when Jesus does come back… they will be kept firm (in other words, kept strong) until the end so that they will be found blameless when Jesus returns. 
 
And then Paul also encourages them that God is faithful.  To be clear, he is not talking about all those other small-g gods that the Corinthians may have worshiped in the past… or that other folks may have still been worshiping in the present for that matter… 
 
No, Paul is referring to the One true God… the One who gave us His Son to be our Savior… that God is the One who Paul says is faithful.
 
Now I don’t know about you… but being reminded of all that we have been blessed with and being reassured of God’s faithfulness… even in these days as we wait for Jesus to return… well, that sounds a lot like THE GIFT OF HOPE to me.
 
To know that we are not in this alone… that God is with us through it all… that God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us… knowing that this life is not all there is… that there is something greater in store… something yet to come… that gives me hope… and prayerfully that gives you hope as well.
 
Now, this letter to the Corinthians is not the only place where we can find Paul offering THE GIFT OF HOPE to those who need it.
 
For example, over in 2 Thessalonians (2:16 – 17), we read, “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”
 
 Or as it reads in the Message, “May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.”
 
Gifts of unending help and confidence… to know that we can be confident and trust in the fact that there is no end to the help we receive from the Lord… that sounds a lot like something that should give us hope…
 
And over in Romans 5, we read, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”
 
It’s important for us to note that THE GIFT OF HOPE that we find in the scriptures is predicated upon us placing our hope in the right place… we should not blindly put our hope and trust in people who over-promise and under-deliver… the ones who are willing to tell us what we want to hear… whether or not it is true or in our best interest.
 
Nor should we put our hope and trust in the things of this world… things that will rust and decay… things that will depreciate and become obsolete in short order.
 
As the Psalmist David puts it in Psalm 20 (7), “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
 
Make no mistake… there is no greater name for us to trust in… than the name of the Lord our God.  And there is no greater source of hope that we will ever find than God.  
 
Perhaps that is what prompted Paul to include this prayer in his letter to the 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.”
 
Who couldn’t use an overflowing dose of hope right about now? 
 
Just yesterday, I was at an event and one of the attendees asked the panelists what gave them hope to continue in the work that they were doing in the fight for justice and safer communities.  One of them said it was the small victories that kept him energized to keep going.
 
Another panelist said it was seeing so many people gathered together… willing to engage in what can sometimes be difficult conversations…
 
In spite of the challenging work that they were engaged in… they were still able to hold onto hope.
 
So, my question to us today is… what is it that gives us hope to keep doing what we have been called to do as the people of God… as the body of believers… the ones who have been commissioned to go and make disciples… to tell a dark and dying world that there is a Living Savior? 
 
I believe that we find THE GIFT OF HOPE… that overflowing hope that will sustain us… we find it throughout the Scriptures.   Take for example, 1 Peter 1 (3 – 5) where we read:

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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

We have the assurance that unlike earthly inheritances we may receive when one of our loved ones die… we have already been given access to our heavenly inheritance… it became ours as soon as we placed our faith in Jesus.
 
Ephesians 2 (8 – 9) tells us:

…it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We could not and did not do anything to earn our salvation… it was a gift given to us because of God’s grace.  And since we did not and could not do anything to get the gift… there is nothing we can do to lose it.
 
As Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”
 
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us… His willingness to give His life as a ransom for ours… because of that… we have the assurance of God’s unconditional, everlasting love… And that, my friends, is good news and THE GIFT OF HOPE that we can hold onto, both now and forevermore.  Amen.
 
Hymn of Discipleship: My Hope Is Built #537.
 

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