LESSONS: John 14.23-29; 1 Corinthians 15.19

SERMON TITLE: That You May Believe! Hopefulness

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. In 1974, I had the opportunity to hear Bishop Fulton J. Sheen speak at First Congregational Church, Beloit.
      1. It was an exciting and packed-church event.
      2. Bishop Fulton Sheen was especially noted for his wit. (1)
        1. Dr. Robert Anthony, in Dr. Robert Anthony's Magic Power of Super Persuasion, wrote that Dr Sheen once said that he thought applause summed up the highest Christian virtues.
        2. He felt that if anyone clapped before he spoke, they were expressing faith.
        3. If anyone clapped in the middle of his talk, he thought they were expressing hope.
        4. And if anyone clapped at the end, it was an act of charity.
    1. I have never had anyone applaud any place in one of my sermons.
      1. I do not know what I would do if it happened.
      2. How would I understand it.
      3. Perhaps at the end someone breathed a sigh of relief and prayed, "Thank God, that's over!"
  2. Hope in something can be ephemeral (temporary) or concrete.

MAIN BODY:

  1. First, let us deal with the ephemeral.
    1. Here's a story some claim is true:
      1. A man was standing in line at the bank when there was a commotion at the counter.
      2. A woman was distressed, exclaiming, "Where will I put my money?! I have all my money and my mortgage here!! What will happen to my mortgage?!"
      3. It turned out that she had misunderstood a small sign on the counter. The sign read, WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD FRIDAY.
        1. She hoped that her money, her mortgage, her investments were secure.
        2. She is confronted with the fact that they might not be.
        3. I guess Easter was not uppermost in her thoughts, because she thought that the bank was going to close "for good" that coming Friday.
    2. Viktor Frankl (2) is my favorite psychiatrist because of the school he founded and proved to be the most beneficial,
    3. In his book, Man's Search for A Meaningful Faith, he writes:

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I once had a dramatic demonstration of the close link between the loss of faith in the future and this dangerous giving up. F-, my senior block warden, a fairly well-known composer and librettist, confided in me one day: "I would like to tell you something, Doctor. I have had a strange dream. A voice told me that I could wish for something, that I should only say what I wanted to know, and all my questions would be answered. What do you think I asked? That I would like to know when the war would be over for me. You know what I mean, Doctor-for me! I wanted to know when we, when our camp, would be liberated and our sufferings come to an end."

"And when did you have this dream?" I asked.

"In February, 1945," he answered. It was then the beginning of March.

"What did your dream voice answer?"

Furtively he whispered to me, "March thirtieth."

When F- told me about his dream, he was still full of hope and convinced that the voice of his dream would be right. But as the promised day drew nearer, the war news which reached our camp made it appear very unlikely that we would be free on the promised date.

On March twenty-ninth, F- suddenly became ill and ran a high temperature. On March thirtieth, the day his prophecy had told him that the war and suffering would be over for him, he became delirious and lost consciousness. On March thirty-first, he was dead. To all outward appearances, he had died of typhus.

Those who know how close the connection is between the state of mind of a man-his courage and hope, or lack of them-and the state of immunity of his body will understand that the sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect. The ultimate cause of my friend's death was that the expected liberation did not come and he was severely disappointed. This suddenly lowered his body's resistance against the latent typhus infection. His faith (read hope) in the future and his will to live had become paralyzed and his body fell victim to illnesses--thus the voice of his dream was right after all.

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The observations of this one case and the conclusion drawn from them are in accordance with something that was drawn to my attention by the chief doctor of our concentration camp. The death rate in the week between Christmas, 1944, and New Year's, 1945, increased in camp beyond all previous experience. In his opinion, the explanation for this increase did not lie in the harder working conditions or the deterioration of our food supplies or a change of weather or new epidemics.

It was simply that the majority of the prisoners had lived in the naive hope that they would be home again by Christmas. As the time drew near and there was no encouraging news, the prisoners lost courage and disappointment overcame them. This had a dangerous influence on their powers of resistance and a great number of them died.

  1. Secondly, let us deal with the concrete.

    2. "As we said before, any attempt to restore a man's inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal.

    "Nietzsche's words, "He who has a why to five for can bear with almost any how," could be the guiding motto for all psychotherapeutic and psychohygienic efforts regarding prisoners.

    "Whenever there was an opportunity for it, one had to give them a why-an aim-for their lives, in order to strengthen them to bear the terrible how of their existence. Woe to him who saw no more sense in, his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost. The typical reply with which such a man rejected all encouraging arguments was, "I have nothing to expect from life any more." What sort of answer can one give to that?

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    What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life-daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual...

  2. Does this fit directly in with Paul's conclusion in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, (NRSVA)


    3. 12Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ--whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. 19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

    1. Hope liberates fear.
    2. If we do not hope in things that are seen, but in things that are unseen, yet seen.


      3. Very famous carving in the west door of the church at Staunton Harold in Leicestershire:
      In the yeare 1653
      When all things sacred 
      were throughout ye nation
      Either demolisht or profaned
      Sir Robert Shirley, Barronet,
      Founded this church;
      Whose singular praise it is, 
      to haue done the best things 
      in ye worst time,
      and
      hoped them in the most calamitous

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    3. HOPE (3) Trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God's promises. Biblical hope is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God's guidance. More specifically, hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future. This contrasts to the world's definition of hope as "a feeling that what is wanted will happen."
  3. Resurrection hope is not escapism; it is the certain knowledge that something better's coming. (4)
    1. A friend writes:
      1. "Last year I hoped that the Orioles would make it to the World Series. They didn't.
      2. "I also hoped that my investments would do well enough to sustain dreams of early retirement. They didn't.
      3. "I occasionally hope that creative types will use their talents to produce the kind of art and music and television and movies that uplift our spirits and inspire us to try to be better than we are. Last I checked there is still a Warner Brothers Television Network.
      4. "When my mother found out she had breast cancer, I hoped that she would be able to avoid a radical mastectomy. She didn't.
      5. "When 6-year-old Ryan Caspar lay in the hospital suffering from a malignant brain tumor, I hoped for a cure. He died."
    2. When you feel like the patron saint of lost causes, it is easy to ask whether God has abandoned us, or whether God is there at all. 
      1. This is precisely what was beginning to happen among the Christians Paul addresses in today's passage.
      2. They were new Christians who were in danger of giving up their faith because of the hostility and persecution they faced.
      3. What could they do? What can we do?

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  4. We have several choices. There are simply no other choices, only variations and combinations of these four:
    1. Choice #1: We can abandon all hope.
      1. The first choice leads to bitterness or insanity.
      2. If we really took the enormous suffering of the world to heart, and saw no way out, no final justice or redemption, we'd either become embittered in our despair, or we'd crack under the strain, which suggests this is not a good choice.
    2. Choice #2: We can pretend things aren't that bad.
      1. The second option is a much more common choice than the first.
      2. Pretending things aren't that bad reveals itself in either naïve optimism or willful attempts to remain blind to other people's suffering.
        1. Some naïvely optimistic pretenders are optimistic for themselves, as they believe the bad stuff only happens to other people who somehow deserve it
        2. These are very unpleasant people to be around when you're suffering, and they don't tend to do too well when suffering finally catches up to them, either. They get stuck on the question: "What did I do to deserve this?"
      3. Other naïvely optimistic pretenders are optimistic for the sum total of humanity, believing that we can create our own paradise on earth if we just work at it together. But even if this were possible - and every bit of evidence in the history of humanity says it isn't - this future paradise wouldn't undo all of the pain and suffering and crushed hope of the past.
      4. On the other hand, blind pretenders simply try to ignore pain as much as possible, usually by running away - making a break for it, an escape attempt - from suffering.
    3. Choice #3: We can believe that it's all part of the Big Plan.
      1. Nolan Finley in The Detroit News, Quoted in the Joyful Noiseletter, June-July 2001, p 2
        1. "My uncle was the head deacon of a small church in the hill country of southern Kentucky. When the worshipers decided to boot a less than inspiring preacher, it fell to Uncle Baker to draft the letter of discharge.
        2. "He took the task seriously, struggling through the night to find just the words to convey the flocks displeasure.
        3. After crumpling a ream of paper, he finally gave up and penned this simple sentence:
        4. 'We the undersigned members of New Sulfur Baptist Church would druther have your vacancy than your presence.'" (5)

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      2. Is it fair to ask ourselves, if there is a plan, Whose plan is it?
        1. God's plan.
        2. I have not found in the Bible that God has a plan for anyone's life, other than that all might come to repentance through Jesus Christ.
        3. We will be tested and tempted but there is always a hopeful way of escape.

          (1 Corinthians 10:13 NRSV) No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
        4. God will not let you be tested beyond your strength.
        5. James reminds us that the testing does not come from God.

          (James 1:13-17 NRSV) No one, when tempted, should say, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. [14] But one is tempted by one's own desire, being lured and enticed by it; [15] then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. [16] Do not be deceived, my beloved. [17] Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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    4. Choice #4: We can learn to trust in the one who generates trust which is the ultimate hope.
      1. This choice is Paul's choice.
      2. In this letter written to despairing Christians 2,000 years ago, he reminds them that their real hope lies in resurrection.
      3. No matter what happens in this life, Christ has won for them an inheritance in heaven that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading.

CONCLUSION:

  1. Bob Considine, in his book They Rose Above It (6), likes to tell the true story of how he accompanied an infant Vietnamese orphan to the U.S. so she could be adopted after the Vietnam War.
    1. On the long flight to the U.S. the baby's eyes overflowed with tears, but she made absolutely no sound.
    2. Considine found a stewardess and asked her what the problem was.
      1. She had seen war orphans before, and was quick to tell Considine that this was normal.
      2. As she said, "The reason they don't make any noise when they cry is because they learned a long time ago that nobody will come."
  2. When we cry do we trust that someone will come.
    1. Read John 14:23-29, (NRSVA)
      1. 23Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
      2. 25"I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
      3. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
      4. 28You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
      5. 29And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
    2. You may believe
    3. You may trust in me.
    4. You can live in unlimited divine hope.
  3. It is not pie in the sky by and by it is all there is.


    4. 1. Dr. Robert Anthony, Dr. Robert Anthony's Magic Power of Super Persuasion, (New York, NY: Berkley Books, 1988).

    2. Viktor E. Frankl, "Man's Search for Meaning,"(New York: Washington Square Press, 1984) pp 96-98.

    3. Holman Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1991 Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

    4. Quoted in "Homiletics", April 11, 1999, Keep Your Fork, Copyright © 1999 by Communication Resources, Inc. Used with permission

    5. Nolan Finley in The Detroit News, Quoted in the Joyful Noiseletter, June-July 2001, p 2

    6. Bob Considine, THEY ROSE ABOVE IT, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1976 p. 16.

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