All I Want For Christmas is Hope

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:1-8)

In a world that produces hopelessness, the gospel anchors the soul with a hope that cannot disappoint.

The Needs Only Jesus Satisfies

We are in the middle of a Christmas series called All I Want for Christmas, considering some of the needs each of us has—needs that are ultimately and only satisfied in and by Jesus through His coming into this world. That coming, the Advent of Jesus, is the core of what we celebrate at Christmas, beneath all the cultural trappings.

A need is something essential, something without which we cannot survive. We need air, food, and water to live. But when we line up the human experience with what God reveals in Scripture, we discover that we also need grace from God. We live in a lost and broken world, and every human being—whether they know what the Bible reveals or not—comes in contact with that brokenness. You can probably pinpoint it in your own life, somewhere in those first ten years, through a death or a difficult circumstance. There is a yearning in every human heart for life as it should be.

Grace That Brings Peace

Last week we talked about peace as the Bible reveals it. The Hebrew writers wrote of shalom, which is not merely the cessation of violence but the experience of life as it should be. We need grace from God to experience that, and that grace makes it possible for us to have peace with God.

This is exactly where Paul begins Romans 5: "Therefore, having been justified by faith." That word justified is a theological term meaning that justice has been satisfied. God's perfect, righteous standard is so high we cannot reach it; we deserve His justice. But in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross 2,000 years ago, justice is satisfied, and we lay hold of it by trusting in Him. So Christmas is all about grace from God coming to humanity so we could be reconciled to God—and reunited with one another. The division between humanity goes all the way back to Genesis 3 and is the result of sin. In Christ we are brought back into connection with God and with each other.

A Hierarchy of Spiritual Needs

In the early 1940s, behavioral psychologist Abraham Maslow established his hierarchy of needs, focusing mostly on material things. Living in the United States in 2018, most of those material needs are basically met—and yet human thriving still seems to be lacking. Maslow himself came to discover, as his research continued, that there are transcendent needs that have to do with spiritual things.

I've been proposing a hierarchy of spiritual needs: grace from God, peace with God, and now a third thing—hope in God. Grace from God brings peace with God, giving us hope in God, and this hope is a genuine need. Paul says in Romans 5:2 that through Jesus "we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

The glory of God speaks of God coming into contact with humanity, something all creation looks forward to. Martin Luther, one of the fathers of the Protestant Reformation, wrestled deeply with this. As a Roman Catholic theologian studying Scripture, he knew how sinful he was and how holy God is. When the unholy comes in contact with the holy, it is not a good picture for the unholy—God told Moses in Exodus, "you cannot see Me, for you will die." Luther feared the day he would meet the glory of God. That struggle drove him to the Scriptures, where he discovered that salvation is not by works but by grace—grace that brings peace and makes hope possible.

What Hope Really Is

Why is hope so important? First we need a solid biblical definition. We use the word "hope" frequently, but usually in one of two ways. Sometimes it's an optimistic feeling about the future—like watching the Chargers go into halftime up by 21 points and saying, "I hope they win," only to have that hope smashed. It's optimism, but not certain. Other times it's wishful thinking—"I hope the Padres get to the World Series," or "I hope I win the lottery." But that is not how the Bible uses the word.

Biblical hope is the absolute certainty of future good. It's not blind optimism and it's not wishful thinking; it is absolute assurance, because it is based on the promise and oath of God. Hebrews 6 proves this. The author writes that when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it.

So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. (Hebrews 6:18-19, NLT)

An Anchor for the Soul

Just this week we woke up to news of a massive earthquake in Alaska. Most of us have experienced an earthquake. When I was about nine or ten, I was in Oakland during the 1989 Bay Area earthquake, and it shook me up for years afterward—the ground we walk on suddenly moving. We want something sure and steadfast. And we don't want it only for our material needs; we need it for our soul, because we are more than material. Most anxiety and fear take place in the soul.

So we need a hope that is certain, an anchor for the soul to hold onto amid all the turmoil and upheaval of life—both physical earthquakes and emotional and spiritual ones. Where does it come from? Not from us, not from the luck of the draw. It is not dependent on our church attendance, our Bible reading schedule, our giving, or our volunteerism. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. He is the sure foundation.

Paul writes in Titus 1 of the "hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began." I've had many conversations over the years. Ask most Americans, "If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" and they say, "I hope so—I'm a pretty good person." That makes their hope depend on their good works, and that is shaky hope. You might be better than the next guy, but you are not as good as God. Our certain hope is dependent on the promise of the God who cannot lie. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, "Christ Jesus our hope." When Jesus came into the world, hope came into the world. As the Christmas song says, "A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices."

Why We Need This Hope

There are two reasons we need this hope—one biblical, one practical. The biblical reason is in Ephesians 2, where Paul says, "Remember that you were at that time without Christ... having no hope and without God in the world." This is a hopeless world. The most hopelessness-inducing thing in our culture today is the news. I challenge you to take a 30-day fast from the news; you will find your joy increase. That hopelessness is simply the reality of a broken and fallen world—you cannot manufacture hope apart from God.

The practical reason is sobering. A couple of weeks ago the CDC reported that for the first time in nearly a hundred years, U.S. life expectancy has declined three years running. The two primary contributing factors are opioid addiction and suicide. ABC News quoted Dr. William Dietz of George Washington University: "I really do believe that people are increasingly hopeless, and that that leads to drug use and... potentially to suicide." We live in arguably the most materially blessed nation in human history, and we live among hopeless people. Three generations—baby boomers, Gen X, and Millennials—have run Maslow's experiment, meeting our basic needs, and discovered we are a hopeless people. Solomon already wrote the paper on this 3,000 years ago in Ecclesiastes.

We Cannot Live Without Hope

At the same time Maslow was working in America, another Jewish psychologist, Viktor Frankl, was studying the same thing under very different conditions—as a Jewish man in Austria in the 1940s, who spent years in German concentration camps and survived. He wrote Man's Search for Meaning. In the foreword, Rabbi Harold Kushner writes that Frankl described "those prisoners who gave up on life in the camps, who had lost all hope for a future... They died less from a lack of food or medicine than from a lack of hope." Frankl himself wrote, "The sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect."

We cannot truly live without hope. Science even confirms it; in the last decade psychological research has identified "broken heart syndrome," a physical breakdown brought about by a soulish problem of hopelessness. So where is this hope found? Back in Ephesians 2, after saying we once had no hope, Paul continues: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." Hope comes from grace from God, resulting in peace with God, so that we can have hope in God.

Glorying in Tribulation

Romans 5 continues: "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations." That always gives me a hard time, because I don't find joy in tribulation. When the car breaks down, the dryer dies, the unexpected bill or diagnosis comes, or your boss says, "It's not working out," you don't say, "Yes—glory!" But notice the key word: "knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope." Without that knowledge you cannot glory in tribulation.

Because our hope in God is sure and steadfast—not based on us or on anything in this world but on the promise and oath of God—we can have hope even in the face of trials. When you go through suffering, it reminds you that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." This is not all there is. That is why atheism does not work, even on an existential level: it leaves you completely hopeless, a cosmic accident with no future, forced to manufacture your own meaning. You end up with a culture that doesn't know where meaning is found.

Hope Does Not Disappoint

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Hope in God does not disappoint, for at least three reasons. First, it is based on His sure promise, not my practice. Second, He has sworn by His perfect character to come through to the end—"He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Third, God has already given us the down payment of our future inheritance in the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.

Paul says in Ephesians 1 that in Christ, "having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." Think of layaway: you make a down payment now, a promissory note, and continue paying until you receive the product in full. When you trust in Jesus, God's Spirit comes to dwell in you, giving a peace that surpasses understanding, and that Spirit is the guarantee that God will redeem the whole later.

Saved—Past, Present, and Future

What is our hope latched onto? Romans 5:9-10: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him... having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Salvation appears in the New Testament in three tenses. It is theologically correct to say you are saved—justification, justice satisfied. It is also correct, as Paul tells the Corinthians, that you are being saved—sanctification, God transforming you right now by His Spirit and His Word. And it is correct that you shall be saved—glorification, when "this corruption will put on incorruption" and "when we see Him we shall be like Him."

We have hope in God for eternal salvation. The person who says, "I hope I'll go to heaven, I'm a good person," has only wishful optimism based on works, and has every reason to be anxious. But our hope is sure and steadfast.

What Hope Produces

What does this sure and steadfast hope do in the heart of the Christian? Two things. First, sanctification. John writes, "Beloved, now we are children of God... but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him... And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3). The person basing their hope on good works thinks they must purify themselves in order to have hope. But Scripture teaches the reverse: as you receive God's grace and are brought into peace and hope, that hope motivates you toward purity. "I don't want to do that thing I used to do, because I have hope in God that I'm going to be with Him for eternity."

Second, evangelism. Peter writes, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). In a hopelessness-producing world, the person with sure and steadfast hope is the envy of all hopeless people. Hope in God motivates our sanctification and our evangelism.

This is the perfect place to end at Christmas. Our culture says the holiday is about presents and parties and too much food, but the point of Christmas is that hope has come to a hopeless world in the child Jesus. Take five minutes and you can probably name a long list of hopeless people in your life. If you are in Christ, you have hope—not based on your baptism, your church attendance, or any of those good things, but on the finished work of Jesus.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for the hope we can have as a result of grace from You and peace with You. We have hope in You, waiting for the coming of Your glory. God, I pray that hope would so transform the way we live that we would not be striving to earn peace and hope and grace by our own efforts, but understand that You finished it when You said on the cross, "It is finished." Our trust in You gives us grace and peace and hope.

I pray that hope would be so evident in our lives that it would be attractive to other people who are truly hopeless—even though they may have a new promotion, a big house, and a brand-new car, they are still hopeless. How many times, Lord, have we seen the stories of people who seem to reach everything and yet are hopeless? Help us to rejoice in hope of Your glory.

It may be that someone here today does not have this hope, or has been trying to earn it by good works. Hope comes as a part of God's grace and the peace He gives in Jesus. If that's you and you want to receive this hope today, pray with me where you are: Dear Jesus, I have been hopeless. I need Your grace. Would You come into my life and forgive me of my sin? Help me to follow You by faith. God, give me Your peace that surpasses understanding, and help me to have hope in You. In Jesus' name. Amen.