Dear Church Family,
I promised in Sunday’s sermon to give you some material that I lacked the time to share due to an abundance of wonderful truth found during the quick five-part series on the glory of God. The series could have been four times as long and not exhausted what the Bible teaches about our Creator’s infinite beauty and magnificence.
Today I focus on part of the glory of God that got a way-too-brief mention in the second sermon. Paul writes in Colossians 1:27, “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Paul in the fourth verse of the same chapter Paul commends the church for “your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.” Indeed, every Christian should yearn to demonstrate those virtues of faith and love to the glory of God. Paul goes on to say their faith and love did “spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven.” The unique hope that God has blessed His people with is a driving force that pushes them to grasp the faith to embrace the Gospel and then to love God and neighbor. God-given hope instills a passion to live as becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. 1 John 3:3 teaches that true hope has a purifying effect on the lives of God’s people.
Biblical hope finds its foundation in the finished work of Jesus who fulfilled the covenant promises of God. Hebrews 6:18-19 tells Christians as they take refuge in what Christ has done as they “take hold of the hope offered” to them and are “greatly encouraged.” Therefore, “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” In a world where people wander to and fro desperate to find the latest thing to hold on to for meaning and purpose, God’s people have a sure anchor that remains true forever.
1 Peter 1:3 gives praise for the living hope that comes by faith “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” This hope looks forward to “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.” One commentator notes, “Believers have an unshakable hope for the future, for Christ’s resurrection is a pledge of their own future resurrection.” As a result I could put this wonderful truth near the end of that sermon, “In a hopeless world, God’s people have HOPE!”
So I leave you with a J. I. Packer quote about the hope that comes only from a redeemed relationship with the Creator God, “The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory—because at the Father’s will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable, so that 30 years later he might hang on a cross.”
Living by grace to His glory,
Pastor Gillikin