Pastor's Corner

Hope

Gary Thomas wrote an article in 'Christianity Today' which stated Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.

There in the fortress of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband. (Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p. 26.)

In my first sermon of the year I indicated that I would like us to embraces this year 2013 to be the year of Hope, our exultation of hope in Christ Jesus. The question we all ask is what is hope? Here are definitions one secular and the other biblical. Here is how the secular dictionary describes hope. "to have a wish to get or do something or for something to happen or be true, especially something that seems possible or likely. Hope, from the world's viewpoint is just what that definition describes. The world sees hope as a wish or a desire. Hope, for the world, is a longing for something that may or may not take place.

But the Bible teaches us a vastly different definition of hope. Listen to the words of Jeremiah, "Blessed is the man/woman that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is," (Jer. 17:7). "The world says that hope is merely a fond wish or desire. But, the words used for hope in the Bible tell a different story. They teach us that hope is "A deep settled confidence that God will keep His promises!"

Are you fighting some battles today? Of course we all are; but do you have hope? Are we resting in the sure confidence that God will do just as He has promised He would? That is the essence of hope and hope is a possession we all need to be sure we own in large quantities. To help us grasp the true meaning of hope here is a story. "Henry Martyn's Fight"

Henry Martyn was a young missionary to India and Arabia and Persia in the early 1800's. He had left his fianc‚ Lydia Grenfell behind in England in 1806 and would never see her again-he died at 31. On the boat he fought back self-pity and discouragement with the promises of God's Word. He arrived in Calcutta in May and two months later had a devastating experience.

One of the veteran missionaries preached a sermon directed against Henry Martyn and his doctrines. He called his teaching inconsistent, extravagant, and absurd. He accused him of seeking only to "gratify self-sufficiency, pride and uncharitableness." How could this lonely young man endure such a crushing experience, and not only endure but during the next six years have the perseverance to translate the New Testament into Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic?

We can hear the answer in his own journal: In the multitude of my troubled thoughts I still saw that there is a strong consolation in the hope set before us. Let men do their worst, let me be torn to pieces, and my dear Lydia torn from me; or let me labour for fifty years amidst scorn, and never seeing one soul converted; still it shall not be worse for my soul in eternity, nor worse for it in time. Though the heathen rage and the English people imagine a vain thing, the Lord Jesus, who controls all events, is my friend, my master, my God, my all. Henry Martyn fought the battle against discouragement and hopelessness with the truths of God's Word: "Jesus is my friend, my master, my God, my all!" And that is the way we must fight every day, and never stop until the war is over and the Commander puts the wreath of victory on our heads.

I ask this question again - In the midst of your battles, do you have hope? Do you have the deep settled confidence that everything is going to be alright? If you do praise the Lord, then He has already brought you to that special place of blessing from which you can offer praise to His name.

But, if you lack that hope this day, I believe it can be obtained. How? You can do this by Reaffirming your Confidence in the Lord; by Renewing your Commitment to the Lord; and by Resting in your Comfort in the Lord. As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.

And for Christians, hope is a future certainty grounded in a present reality. The present realty is the faithfulness of God. God's faithfulness which He says, He will not renounce or abandon us.

Hope is a powerful thing. G. K. Chesterton said it so well, "There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow."

Martin Luther said, "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. Grace and peace to you all.

Best wishes from your friend and pastor,
Pastor Samuel King-Kabu

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Roger Kenner & Jette Blair.
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