“But we had hoped …”
The late winter snowstorm was made to order for this sermon. Our topic today is ‘But we had hoped…” We were doing well in February
because we knew that if we could make it to March 1st, winter was over. And so it was. I put away my scarf and gloves for the winter. And so I really couldn’t even take the news seriously that snow was on the way. When the
airlines began to cancel flights, I was even more surprised. It was 
only when I was trying to cross 37th Avenue Friday night without getting my feet wet that I just accepted what was occurring.
Hope is like a Spring flower waiting in the snow. Its fragile. It sometimes doesn’t make it through an ice storm.
My guess is there’s not a one of you in this room that hasn’t at one time or another said a phrase similar to that. “But I had hoped the company downsizing wouldn’t affect me.” “But I had hoped my son, my daughter, was finally growing up, finally getting their act together, finally over that addiction.” “But I had hoped to be married by now, have children by now.” “But I had hoped we’d seen the last of the cancer in our family.” “But I had hoped we’d be able to have a child, another child.” “But I had hoped we’d have a healthy child.” “But I had hoped that when we said those words ‘til death do us part’ that our marriage would be forever.” “But I had hoped that when we moved to New York, it was going to be the best days ahead of us.” “I hoped one thing, but then in reality it was another. I wanted this, but it turned out a different way.”
Sometimes we wonder if the hope of Easter that we talk about … yes, it’s grace for the road behind me, but what about for right now for the road that I’m traveling on, and where I’m headed?
We will look at Finding Summers Hope Again, Searching for Winter’s Hope, and What to Do in Snow. Let’s worship
“But we had hoped …”
When I moved to Buffalo, New York, the guy who was going to have the biggest impact on my life was in England on vacation. Jim is a Presbyterian pastor and 25 years older than I am. He turned 50 when I moved to Buffalo. And Jim has many qualities, but one I admire most is that he doesn’t give up on his plans.
The difference is perspective. If you think that life ends at 100 and you’re getting near the marker, then its time to slow down and accept broken and damaged dreams.
Bob Buford tells a story about when his son Ross was tragically killed in a drowning accident in the Rio Grande River. How he grieved over losing his 21-year-old son. You can imagine how hard that would be. And he said one day in prayer, he just felt like God told him, “Draw a line on the paper.” And he took a pencil and just drew a line on the paper. And God said, “Now write a number, the largest number you can think of below that line,” and he just wrote a one with all kinds of zeroes across the page. God said, “Now on top of that line, write the 21. Now look at that. You have only spent 21 one trillionths of the time you’re going to spent together with Ross.”
Your perspective depends on what you think believe about Jesus Christ. If he has destroyed death, then it makes good sense to go to the choir rehearsal even if you didn’t live through the week.
I know that there are people here who have already abandoned the hope of Summer. You saw what your life could be. You sense how incredible your gifts are. And you have let something defeat you. You might be 20 or 80, people abandon Summer’s Hope at every stage of life.
People around you who have no hope of Christ have abandoned Summer’s Hope. It’s the normal thing to do. What I’m doing is asking you to be abnormal. The way of Jesus is not the world’s way because you have a new and living hope.
My prayer for some of you who’ve been traveling down difficult roads in your life recently is very similar to the prayer that the apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:19-20. I just want to read it for you from The Living Bible. He said, “I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his (God’s) power is to help those who believe him. It is that same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead…” Accept that power to get Summers Hope going in life again.
Jim is now 79 years old and making steady progress on his doctorate at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena. He makes to trips per year to North Asia to encourage evangelism in Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. He is on the Board of Directors of the National Museum of Art in Mongolia and raises money for blankets and Bibles for people in prison there. Jim has Summer’s Hope.
Some of you need to search for Winter’s Hope. Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we do, but by God’s mercy, he saved us.” In 1 Peter 1:3-4,. “God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you …”
This is a living hope, friends. It is the very real certainty of forgiveness and second chances. It is the very real certainty of companionship in the middle of life’s difficult roads. And it is the very real certainty that there is life forever, that death has been defeated, and we can live together forever because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the very certainty that we have a home in heaven, an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. It’s true, it’s hope, it’s a living hope. The hope of heaven.
Our life here is just a little drop of water in the ocean of eternity. It’s not very long, is it ? You ask anybody who lived to be 100 if this life is long. No, it’s not. It’s still just a little drop of water in the ocean of eternity.
Friends, that’s what it means to have a living hope. Heaven is real, friends. Because of what happened on this day, we have the hope of living together forever with God. I don’t know what heaven will be like, but I know I want to go there. In fact, the biblical writers can’t even describe it. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:9, he said, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
They asked a bunch of little kids: What’s so great about heaven? One of the little kids said this,“Heaven is a place where they have streets of gold and you can play right out in the middle of ‘em and no one will run over you.” To him that was heaven. Another little kid said this, “In heaven you can play with wild animals there. I’m going to ride an octopus.” And you know what, I think I’m going to ride a tiger. And then I’m going to ride a giraffe, right after I go hug the Lamb.
It’s going to be a place that is just incomparable. No car bombs, no terrorist attacks, no school shootings, no wars, no racism, no hatred. Not a hint of evil in the whole place. We can throw away our watches, our cell phones, our Palm Pilots, and our handkerchiefs. It’s going to be a place that’s free from disease, free from pain, free from death. It says that God will wipe every tear from our eyes, there will be no more death, mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4).
Some of you live every single day with physical pain. I have good news for you. There is a day coming when your body will be pain-free. It’ll be flexible, it’ll be quick, it’ll be trim, it’ll be perfect. No dentures, no fat grams, no glasses, no hearing aids, no wheelchairs, no artificial limbs, no arthritis. Some of you live with emotional pain every single day. But there’s a day coming when there will be no painful memories, no regrets. There will be no baggage, there will be no struggle, there will be no more broken hearts. A place where all of our inner longings will be fulfilled when we see Jesus face-to-face.
And, friends, you just have to be there. You’ve got to be in that place. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, even if she dies, they will live.” And he asks that question: Do you believe this?
What do you do in Snow? Friends, if you believe that, it changes everything. Today you can invite Jesus Christ not just to be the Savior of the world, but to be your Savior. You can invite him not just to be the resurrection and the life; he can be your resurrection and your life. If you would do that, you’d be so free to live with an eternal hope that’s just surging through your veins every day. And you would feel the companionship in the God of the second chance that we’ve been talking about today. And when death comes, you have nothing to fear at all. And that could be yours today.
Look what it says in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. I love this from The Message translation. It says, “So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.”
And that’s the hope of Easter. That’s the hope that sustains my life. Friends, It’s not the
end; it’s just the beginning of life. Just remember as you leave: Easter hope, resurrection hope. There’s no one here who is beyond hope. I hope you got that. Not even you; there’s no circumstance that you’re in that’s beyond the reach of hope today. And this hope lasts forever. Death itself can’t defeat it. So we have a message to declare to our world when we go back to our homes and our neighborhoods and our workplaces. I’m just trusting that you’ll radiate that kind of hope because our world desperately needs it.
