Romans 8:25

November 30 2016 Sermon Advent Midweek 1

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

It happens to us all. Inside of us is a feeling, more than a feeling, a conviction, that what we experience right now in real time is never enough. We long for something more and something better. Great poets and thinkers like George McDonald, T. S. Eliot, and C. S. Lewis have all noticed it in us; this deep longing for what we do not have but know must be out there. The apostle Paul sees it as universal when he writes in Romans 8:19 that all creation is "waiting with eager longing."

It can happen in sickness, terror, or deep disappointment. We sense that somewhere in time or beyond it, there has to be more, and it has to be better. It is not surprising to read Paul's observation that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us (v 18)". It can also happen in moments of ecstasy. A beautiful concert or a moment rich with love fills us with joy. We may even say, "It doesn't get any better than this!" Yet, when the moment has passed, we quickly wonder when the next great moment will come, expecting it to be even more fulfilling.

It's as if what we have here and now is only a shadow of what is to come. It's as if earth is begging for heaven, and we live in the middle of in-between. And just here is where Christian hope is to be found. Paul mentions hope repeatedly in these verses from Romans 8. Anticipating something more and better, we wait, we imagine, we believe, and we grow in character. These are the components of Christian hope: waiting, imagination, faith, and character.

When we hope, we do not have what we have been promised or expect. So we must wait, not as in a waiting room where we sit and read magazines or take a nap, but as in a contest calling for endurance, as in a war still engaged. Paul likens it to the waiting of a woman in labor. This is active waiting. It is ancient Israel waiting for the Messiah with all its prophecies and sacrifices along the way. Hope means time is passing, and we must wait. But for what? What are we New Testament Christians waiting for? For God to fulfill the promise, "From heaven above to earth I come." For the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (v 21), Paul writes. For "adoption" and "the redemption of our bodies" (v 23), on the day he comes. All of that and more will be ours at the return of Jesus Christ. So, whatever we know about freedom or glory or being God's children or redeemed bodies pales next to what is still to come. There is more ahead in Christ, and it is better, if we just wait.

And when we hope, we cannot see, as Paul writes in v 24: "Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?" In a painting by George Frederic Watts ("Hope," 1886, at the Tate National Gallery in London), hope is depicted as a blindfolded woman in tattered clothes clinging to one last unbroken string on her harp. She cannot see, but she keeps playing and listening. Jesus said to His disciples, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). We cannot see Christ now. We can see signs of His presence. We can see evidence of His love. The time will come, though, when we will see Him, when "every eye will see Him" (Rev 1:7). For now, we may not see, but we can certainly imagine. Our hope is nourished by our imagination. So, the prophet Isaiah in presenting hope presents picture after picture, image after image, of what lies ahead for God's people. The New Testament does the same. Consider the book of Revelation, a treasure impossible to read without our imagination engaged.

This lack of sight where hope is concerned comes because hope is so tightly connected to faith. This is the third component of Christian hope. We wait. We imagine. We trust. The writer to the Hebrews defines faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith and hope are partners. Faith gives hope its content, its substance. Faith roots what we imagine in the sure promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Faith tells hope, "I know we're missing something. This can't be all there is. This is not the whole story. God has promised more. God has promised better." God has promised to come: "From heaven above to earth I come." He fulfilled His promise when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He has promised us to come. He comes to us in the means of grace, in our Baptism and on every Lord's Day in word and Sacrament. He promises us to come again on the Last Day to gather his elect into his eternal kingdom with him.

We should add one last contributor to hope, character. In Romans 5:3-4, the apostle Paul writes that "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." Suffering over time calls for perseverance and stamina. In the process our character is strengthened, and one of the virtues produced on the field of hardship is hope. We learn in the crucible that God can be trusted.

So it is that God gives us time, imagination, faith, and even hardship. When these come together, we have hope, not just a wish, not even just a prayer, but Christian hope. This is how hope works. In Colossians 1:27 Paul describes this hope as "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Jesus Christ is our hope. His sacrifice on the cross, His love, His power, His wisdom, His victory over death, His promises, His constant presence — Christ-in-us gives us hope! And this hope, unlike so many other gifts, will never disappoint us (Rom 5:5). Amen.