Hope in God
Pastor Lucille Barb, Olpe United Methodist Church
Friday, May 29, 2009
Scripture background: Romans 4:18-22
Most of the graduations are done and the thrill of finishing that segment of learning is over. Graduates are now faced with the new life they have been striving toward. Parents are letting go of their child, trusting them to be responsible for much more than before. When all the hoopla is over and all the parties are done, then it is time to face the future, the scary future.
There are many who will be afraid of that future. After all, you will hear, “I hope the stock market can recover”; “I don’t see how President Obama can do what he has promised”; “How will I, or my child, or my grandchild, find a job in this economy?” And we hope against hope that things will work out. Romans 4:18 says: “Against all hope Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations.” Abraham was already over ninety and Sarah over eighty when God first told them they would have a child. Ten years later, it finally happened. Abraham had no reason to hope Sarah would bear a child, but God gave him a promise and Abraham hoped it was going to happen. And because he lived out that hope, it was accounted to him as righteousness. Abraham was acceptable to God because he had faith in God’s promises, not because of his actions. The Psalmist in Chapter 71 says: “For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord; my confidence since youth ... I will always have that hope. I will praise you more and more.”
What lesson is there for us? It is so tempting to believe we can earn our way into God’s good graces by what we do, and then to expect that because we have been so diligent, God will naturally bless us with success. That’s how it works in school. Hard work pays off. We think if we pray every day, if we don’t use profanity, if we give a tithe, if we treat others like we want to be treated, if we do a better job of acting like a Christian, God will see that we are treated well and nothing bad will happen to us. Why? Because we have “earned” our reward, But that means WE are in charge of God’s actions and that isn’t the way Abraham was made righteous in God’s eyes. Instead he believed God’s promise, against all hope, and he was counted as righteous, not because of actions but because of faith in God’s grace. Of course these Christian actions are wonderful for us to do — in response to God’s love — but we don’t earn our way into heaven. The truth is, most of us are like Paul who cries out, “I don’t understand myself. The good I want to do, I don’t do. And the evil that I hate is the very thing I find myself doing. O wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body that keeps on sinning?” (Romans 7:19, 24) We can’t earn much spiritual wealth anyway because we are unable to do what we know God expects of us. The spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak.
But God doesn’t ask us to be good enough. God asks us to trust enough, to have faith enough, against all hope believing that God will be with us, healing us, leading us, and forgiving us our sins through the perfect sacrifice of Christ rather than through our imperfect attempts to be good. So you can hope in the future, even when it looks bleak because God has said, “I know the plans I have for you; plans to give you a future and hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
May the God of peace and hope go with you into your future.
• “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Lucille Barb, pastor of Olpe United Methodist Church.