HOPE

HOPE SERMON... God's Goodness triumphing over despair  16.10.2011
Scriptures: Hosea 2: 14 – 23; Romans 5:1 – 5 and 15:13; Mathew 12: 9 – 21
Intro: At PK this year we were privileged to hear Pastor David Peters share his wonderful testimony and teaching on HOPE as it relates to his journey in ministry and marriage with Jane his smiling wife who after giving birth to 3 sons was confined to a wheelchair with MS and died after 30 yrs of marriage. God took David through some dark times and brought him through with hope for the fulfillment of an early vision of international ministry.  This is now being fulfilled together with Greta who was brought by the Lord to marry David. She had lost her husband after 28 yrs. At PK I bought David's outstanding book on hope.
WHY HOPE?
Hope is a very timely subject for us to consider because we live in a world awash with the disease  of  hopelessness, cynicism, hedonism, depression and negativity: media thrives on bad news. The Bible has much to say about hope and it is a key grace which we can ask God to fill us with.
If we are overflowing with hope we can be bringers of Good News to many.
WHAT IS CHRISTIAN HOPE?

• It's not “I hope so!” as if it will probably never happen or mere wishful thinking.
• Christian Hope is 'a sure and certain confidence in God to fulfill the promises He has given through his Word to you primrally through the Bible and through the dreams and visions he has put in your heart.
• Heb 11.1 ties faith and hope together.. faith in the now and hope in future fulfillment of  faith. 'Now faith', it says, 'is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.'
• St Paul wrote there were 3 abiding realities... aspects of God's character that He wants us to enjoy: faith; hope and love.
• Our CPAC vision statement inspires us to be 'Connecting people and Christ to bring Healing, Hope and Life.'
• The Bible gives 3 great pictures of hope; The door of hope to escape the valley of trouble in Hosea 2; the anchor of hope whose rope passes through this temporary world and is firmly fixed in God's presence and the helmet of hope and salvation which keeps our mind in perfect peace.

HOW DO WE RECEIVE HOPE?
God's hope comes into our hearts when we turn to Christ and are born anew by the Holy Spirit. 1Peterr 1:3 says, 'Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' In fact St Peter's whole 1st letter is full of hope for Christians going through trials that many Christians were facing then and many face around the world today. Before I became a spirit-filled christian I was a depressed person and Jesus has given me hope in many trials. One of my favourite verses is Col 1:27 Christ in you the hope of glory. Before we turn from our sins christian hope  is far away as Rom 3:23 says 'All have sinned and fall short of the hope of the glory of God.'
THE HOPE KILLERS.
David Peters lists the following things as killers of hope: He describes the disease of hopelessness as:
( pg 39)

• Loss of joy and growing depression
• emotional numbness
• low self-worth
• unbelief
• spiritual passivity
• addictions

The hope-killers he describes as:

• disappointment  Prov 13:12  'Hope deferred makes the heart sick'
• disillusionment
• despair
• idealism
• demons

BUT HOPE CAN BE RESTORED

• Jesus restored the  man's withered hand, many crowds followed him and he cured all of them. He's the same today and many are cured directly by prayer and/or with medical and nursing skills which he has allowed mankind to discover and improve. Our reading in Mathew 12 gives the gracious picture of 'a bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning burning wick he will not quench. Our Jesus is the one who comes alongside us when we are most vulnerable and gently lifts us up  He doesn't blow out our fire when we are burning low but blows on us again so we can flame up brightly again.
• When Daphne and I were at one of our lowest points with our little daughter very slow to develop and told by medical people she would always have to be in special classes. It seemed hopeless  but we called all our friends to pray; we took her for special prayer whenever possible and through the prayers and love of many and wonderful medical and teacher support sour daughter made a miraculous recovery and now has a degree, is a trained teacher and works as a tutor and is happily married. God is good and will do good to all who call on him.
• Soon after Jane Peters died one of her friends was under general anaesthetic for an operation and she had an experience of going to heaven. She saw Jane standing up, happy and smiling. This helped David with his grief. 5 months later he had a vision of a lovely woman and when Greta emailed him  he soon realised she was the lady he had seen. Now they're married and ministering together to the nations. Our gospel today finished with the words, 'and in His name the nations will hope' Jesus is the hope of the nations and today Christians like you and me are sharing that hope. Our positive

lifestyles and good works and testimonies must be always be available as  a witness to the positive hope as 1 Peter 3:13 encourages us

SO WE CAN GROW IN HOPE

1. by The word of God...Eph 1:18
2. by Prophecy: words of revelation or encouragement, dreams and visions
3. by Doing good work and good works whether paid or unpaid
4. by always giving thanks I Thes 5:16
5. by perseverance even under suffering Rom 5 2-5
6. by the power of he Holy Spirit  Rom 15.13

THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING THAT YOU MAY ABOUND IN HOPE BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Will you be part of the marriage feast?

Matthew 22: 1-14

On the face of it the gospel story is about a king who was giving a wedding banquet for his son. Well, not that long ago, we were all caught up with the elaborate pomp and ceremony for William and Kate’s royal wedding, the entire service of which was beamed across the world. However, the reception itself was private and only very important guests and close family members could attend.

Jesus spoke to the chief priests and the Pharisees in a parable. He said, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who was giving a wedding banquet for his son so of course, elaborate invitations were sent to members of the royal families and all the important guests. But here’s the thing! All those who were sent these invitations turned them down. The excuse was they were far too busy to attend! I wonder does that ring any bells with us? Again the king sends out invitations imploring his invited guests to attend. This time they respond by killing the king’s messengers. No wonder he is enraged! Imagine the king’s fury and disappointment at being snubbed in this way. I wonder how many of you here this morning have experienced disappointment when, having reached out to your neighbours and friends, inviting them to come to church, discover how few respond. Perhaps that’s why we find this morning’s story so familiar.

We are told the king then invites everyone out on the streets and in the market places. The dinning hall is filled with guests but there is a problem. It just so happens that as the king is `mixing and mingling with the guests, he sees a man who is not wearing the appropriate wedding attire. He is wearing an old, perhaps tattered robe, obviously the gear he wore every day in everyday life, his street clothes. It would be a bit like you or I going to friend’s place for dinner in our old gardening clothes. “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” the king asks.

Perhaps we’d better back up here a little. Commentators have suggested that special wedding clothes may have been provided at the door by the host. This could possibly reflect a tradition in Jesus’ time. Providing the guests with a wedding garment would have been particularly important in Jesus’ parable because many of the guests were drawn from common walks of life and their clothing may possibly have been dirty or ragged. So, in order to maintain the dignity of the occasion these special garments would have been available at no cost. This could also symbolise putting on the robe of Christ. To reject them would be to reject and insult the host’s generosity. We are told the man was speechless. In other words he offered no form of apology or explanation for his rudeness, so the king had him bound and tossed into a place called outer darkness. Jesus concludes the parable with these solemn words: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” On the face of it the story sounds rather harsh, and it is. However, a parable is a story that invites us to dig a little deeper in order to discover its underlying truth.

Firstly, at the king’s reception everyone is invited. Sure, at first, it is an exclusive party. Only the King’s friends and associates are invited. The bluebloods of society and they turn down the invitation. They snubbed the king. Oddly enough, not only do they snub the king but they kill the king’s servants who were sent to deliver the invitation. Obviously, you cannot miss the point that Jesus is speaking about the Jews here, God’s chosen people. Israel had a chequered history of rejecting God’s messengers and stoning its prophets and this wouldn’t have been lost on his listeners.

So the king now opens up the guest list. Go out to the highways and the byways and tell everyone to come. This is where Jesus so often infuriated the Jewish leadership. He openly invited everyone who would come. Jesus was, in effect saying, the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, and therefore the Jewish leadership, no longer has exclusive rights to the kingdom of God. I other words, the sign above the door no longer reads, “Members Only.”

So what does this all mean for us today? Firstly, I believe, that Jesus still invites people to the marriage feast. That marriage feast is the life of following Christ, the experience of committing your life to God, of being saved from the power of sin, the experience of grace, and the experience of being born anew. The invitation is still being asked and the power of God to change people is still just as operative and available today as it was when Jesus told this parable. God is still in the business of converting, changing and calling people to leave what they are doing and to follow him and I believe the invitation to the marriage feast needs to be heard today as much as it did 2,000 years ago.

Secondly, I believe there are still those who will not come, who have not accepted the invitation, and who are as dismissive of the invitation just as our reading suggests. There may be some in our midst today who are too busy with other interests and distractions. They don’t take it seriously. They put off accepting the invitation. There are all sorts of reasons, but the fact is, some have not come to the marriage feast, or they may come but without wearing a wedding garment. In other words, they may come to church. They may even pray, or even be part of the rosters but they are not part of the marriage feast. Why? Because they have not accepted the invitation to come and follow Jesus! They have not experienced what it means to be saved by grace, to believe in Jesus, to be born again. They may know things in their heads but there has been no commitment of their heart.

Thirdly, and very importantly, the message is very clear. If you reject the invitation long enough, there will come a time when it is too late. In this parable, the king sent out his servants to call those who were invited. Some would not come. He sent others to plead with them to come. Amazingly, the king didn’t give up after the initial rejection. He gave them another chance just like he does for us today. Perhaps a new voice, a different approach would convince them. However, when they continually rejected the invitation, the king became angry and destroyed the whole city and turned to others with the invitation. To continually reject God’s invitation to follow Jesus, I believe, is very risky and even dangerous, because there will come a time when it is too late. And let’s face it, none of us know when that time will be.

Jesus makes it clear that those without a wedding garment will be thrown out. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He ends by saying this: “Many are called but few are chosen.” Only those who accept the invitation are chosen. What I’m saying is this; it’s urgent business! It’s not something to be put off, for be very certain if you reject the invitation, you run the risk of bringing upon yourself the judgement of God. I don’t know what form that judgement will take, but it will come. If you believe in the promise of God for your salvation, you can also believe that he will keep his promise about judgement.

The invitation to the marriage feast is God’s invitation to follow Jesus. It is God saying I want to show you my love, my plan for all people and all creation to live in harmony. I want to show you a different way to wholeness, to health, to meaning and purpose.

In conclusion, I want to finish with a story. There was a doctor who one night received a call late at night to say he was urgently needed at the small country hospital. Someone was seriously ill and without a doctor’s attention death was certain. The doctor quickly dressed and took off in his car. At the traffic lights a man jumped into his car, pulled out a gun and ordered the doctor out of the car. “I need your car. Get out,” was all he said. Knowing they were relying on him at the hospital, the doctor managed to hail a taxi. When he finally arrived the nurse met him and told him the woman in question had just died. “You are too late doctor, but would you please have a word with the husband. He is weeping uncontrollably in the family lounge.” When the doctor entered the lounge he found the husband in the corner. To his great surprise he discovered that the husband was the very man who earlier that evening had pulled the gun on him because he needed the car.

Just like that man in the story we sometimes we push out of our lives the very person who can help us. Think carefully about what invitation you accept. Yes, the world’s invitation may appear very glamorous and enticing but its promises are fleeting, and false and will eventually lead to misery and disillusionment. God’s invitation, on the other hand, is entirely trustworthy and will last for all eternity.