A sermon Given at Epping Baptist Church
Epping (Sydney) NSW
9 December 2018
Introduction
Shalom and thank you to Andrew for welcoming me again to the pulpit and for assigning me both the topic and the Bible passage to consider. Today we read Psalm 85 and consider the topic, “An invitation to hope.” I understand this is part 2 of a four-part series, where invitations are given: an invitation to peace, to hope, to see, and to receive Him. I like this. I’m not the opening batsman, but I’m included, and I appreciate the welcome.
Today I will also mention some things about Jews for Jesus, the organization with which I’ve worked for 39 years, and a couple of our activities in Bondi Junction and around the globe.
You have received a white card with the words “Jews for Jesus” at the top. Please fill that out during my talk and drop it into the collection as it is passed or drop it off at my resource table this morning. Thank you. (If you are reading this online, just drop me a note there and ask to receive more information.)
Hope is a good theme, especially for folks like me, optimists they call us. Some might render my thinking as Polyanna, but I prefer optimism. Desmond Tutu, former archbishop of South Africa, said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Napoleon Bonaparte said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.”
So, let’s talk about hope, especially at this time of the year, which some call the most wonderful time of the year.
This season of year: The most wonderful
But for many it isn’t. More suicides are committed in December in the US and Europe than any other time of year. I guess when it’s the most wonderful for others, that wonderfulness aggravates the lonely and depressed, and heightens their own awareness of sadness. Suicide is a tough reality; harsh for everyone involved. Those interviewed in mental hospitals and other places after suicide attempts repeat that the main rationale for the attempts is depression and hopelessness.
As I age, one of the most painful realities of suicide is how many young people decide to check out and off themselves at this time. Or any time for that matter. Hope to me sounds like something forward rolling. And despair sounds like something where there is no chance of change. So, when a young person, with their whole life ahead of them, decides to check out and leave life as we know it, it shouts louder to me. It says that we are not offering them real hope; that real hope is missing.
Look, when I was a teen and young man, we did all kinds of things that young folks are still doing today. We were called the free love generation, with drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll. And today young people are still doing those things, but for very different reasons. Back then we did what our parents considered wrong or out-of-bounds so that we could make the world a better place. Today some young people are doing wrong things because there is no hope of a better world, or a change to come. It’s hopelessness and despair. What darkness!
Does the Bible have anything to say about this?
Psalm 85 is our chosen text of the day. And it certainly gives us hope without using the actual word ‘hope.’ Hope is a door, an anchor and a helmet in the similes mentioned in the rest of Scripture and carries a significance of something in the future. Compare faith which is almost always in the now, in the present, hope is something unshakeable and a bulwark for us related to what’s ahead. I suppose that would be a useful light to shine into the darkness of despair, wouldn’t you think?
The text is a prayer which is sung. The words then are lyrics of a song sung in the Temple by the sons of Korah. The song lists some things that God has accomplished.
Verse 1. You showed favour.That sounds like a modern would say, “We won the tournament. I got a raise at work. The Christmas bonus came through, just in time. I forgot to bring in the washing off the line, but my kids brought it in last night!” In other words, if I were God’s favourite, the evidence is in and I was benefited. In ancient Israel, the favour, especially to the land of Israel, has to do with crops and abundant harvest. When God smiled down from heaven, it showed in our economy.
Verse 2. You forgave. This is easy to unpack. If you know about God, and you know enough about yourself, you know that you sin. You know you fall short of God’s standards. You don’t have to be very religious, you just have to admit your failures against people, against those you love, and against God most importantly. Then when you admit those, and you hear these words, “I forgive you,” there is no greater gladness in the world. Forgiveness is cleansing. Forgiveness is a reboot. Forgiveness is life when sin brought death and pain.
Verse 3. You set aside wrath.The sons of Korah sing this phrase. If God didn’t forgive us, then we are guilty, and thus warrant punishment. When they sing that God sets wrath aside, they are saying that I’m justified, that is, just as if I’d never sinned, and cleansing releases God from the requirement to discipline or punish me. It’s God’s initiative and I’m the recipient.
Now all this is a reiteration of the relationship the believer has with God. Then the song turns to request. Given that God has done so many things for us, may we ask him for more? This could be seen as childish demands before Christmas, wanting more and more to satisfy some particular greed. But that’s not the way the Bible describes it. The sons of Korah are not greedy; they are believers. They are singing of the nature of God, not the nature of themselves or all of us in humanity.
Verse 4 then moves to petition.
Restore us.The Hebrew word root is Shuv, meaning return. Shuvanu. Make us return. Return to us. Restore us to something or somewhere. Restore what things used to be like.
The poem is asking God to make relationship with him so significant, that our salvation is demonstrated in hope. “Cause your indignation to cease”. The word indignation can be translated as sorrow, grief, anxiety, anger, displeasure, or annoyance.
In other words, all those things that mire us in the mud of this life, and cause us dissatisfaction or pain, and make us consider despair as the end of it all, God, help rid us of that. My friends, here in Epping, this is hope! It’s tangible hope. And it’s not private.
Three times in this one verse, the ending of the word is “nu” meaning ‘us!” There is something communal about redemption and about forgiveness, and more importantly for our lesson today, there is something communal about hope. Restore us. God of our salvation. Stop this indignation against us. I love that. We should love that. Hope includes my family. Hope includes the guy across the church from you just now. Hope includes the lady who used to sit near you, who won’t attend church any more for whatever reason. We are incomplete without her. Without you. My hope is emptier when you are not included.
The psalm continues.
Verse 4: Will you be angry forever?
Like a kid coming into the lounge room and asking his parents if they are upset or will continue to be upset for a long time. The petition is one based on relationship, not based on a formal, kingly servant to boss feeling. This is a genuine question based on hope. Things can be different. Will you change or will this be passed on from one generation to the next.
Generation to generation
Billy Graham died in February this year and left a legacy of millions of people touched by his ministry. His son and grandson have taken up where he left off, and in fact Franklin is coming to Sydney and throughout Australia next year to bring stadium ministry to us. There was a time when Franklin was not walking with the Lord, and I can imagine Billy praying for him the words of this psalm. He might have said, “God, will your anger go to the next generation?” In other words, please don’t make my son pay for my own sins. Restore us, me and him. We get to pray in good hope for our children, and our pastor’s family, and our neighbours, and for our world, in good hope.
Verse 6. If you revive us, we will rejoice in you.Our condition, seemingly despairing, can be changed. And it’s not private. It’s not individual. God wants to bring us back to life, and cause us great joy.
I was part of the Jesus revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s. I came to Yeshua in 1971 in Kansas City in the middle of the US. I was raised an Orthodox Jew and had a season of waywardness, wandering in the American south, playing hippie, looking for meaning and relevance. In May that year, some brand-new believers were out on the streets and in the parks, sharing their faith. And in that share, I heard a hopeful message. One I’ll never forget is not found in the Bible, but the young witness said to me, “If you accept Christ, the green grass (of the park) will be greener; the blue sky will be bluer.” Now admittedly, that’s nowhere in the Book, but it spoke to my heart. I began to read the pages of the Newer Testament and found in three days that Jesus was the answer to all my deepest longing.
I went to a believer’s house and ended up praying with her and professing faith in Jesus as my Saviour and Messiah and Lord. I immediately wanted everyone to know this joy.
If I had found new life, if would be rude and downright unneighbourly to keep it from others. If I had been forgiven of my sins, I wanted everyone to be forgiven of their sins. Redemption wasn’t private. It was personal, of course, but it needed to be shared.
The lyrics say, “if you revive us, your people will rejoice in you.”
Where is hope really found?
So how will this actually take place? Where is hope, really?
Verse 7 says, “Show us your lovingkindness, your chesed.” The gift of God is eternal life. No one earns it. What do we earn? The wages of sin is death. Our life is complex, to be sure, and the more you know you, the more you know you deserve death and separation from the Almighty. But God, being rich in mercy, because of that great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenlyplacesin Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; notas a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2.4-9)
Doesn’t that quote from Ephesians sound like this psalm? It’s plural. He raised us up. We were dead. He made us alive. Friends this is corporate hope. We are going to be with God forever. Hallelujah!
Verse 8. He promises peace to his saints based on his word. That’s why we unpack a Bible passage at church each week. That’s why we read the Bible at all. His promises are there. We have hope because of what God says, not based on what Ross Greenwood or Kochie tell us each morning about the ASX and the Footsie. Not based on what the Sydney Swans or the Aussie cricketers are doing or not doing in Adelaide this week. Our hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus Christ, my righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. | |
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand, |
It’s the season to share hope
Today is the 2ndSunday in Advent. Most Christians in the West have lost the sacred calendar the church gave us a long time ago. But Advent is a time of waiting. Anticipation. Since about 1930 this anticipation has adjusted in our modern world to waiting for time off from work and more presents under a tree. It’s about getting and the frenzy of packaging gifts for giving.
But Advent is a time of listening and getting right with God in anticipation of his 2ndcoming.
And reading this story again may help you see where your hope is found.
And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. Andit had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2.25-32)
Simeon, this old man in Jerusalem, where I’ve worked twice this year, and let me say the city has features that make it look about the same as it did when Simeon was there, was promised something from God. God told him that he would see the consolation of Israel. Console. Comfort. Greek word is paraclete, like a lawyer, like a hope. Like THE HOPE of Israel. And Simeon saw the baby and took him in his arms. Imagine the faith of Mary and Joseph on this circumcision day to give their new baby to an old man.
The Simeon said this one is God’s salvation. A light to bring light and hope to the Gentiles and glory to the Jewish people. He could have been reading the psalms at the time. IF the Hope of Israel is in the house, then His salvation has come to all mankind. The light to lighten Gentiles. No more darkness. No more despair. Light.
The babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The messiah has come. His name is Yeshua. The Hebrew word Yeshua means ‘salvation.’ His name is his ministry. He didn’t come to heal, although he healed. He didn’t come to teach, although he taught. He didn’t come to do miracles, although they attested to who he was.
He came to save. His name is Yeshua.
He came to save the Jewish people.
He came to save Gentiles.
He came to save Simeon and Anna and Ross Greenwood and David Koch and Tim Paine and you and me and our family.
Thanks be to God for all his love and kindness. And for his word which describes his eternal love for us.
Tonight, we have the event of the carols. We will sing about the love of God in Jesus. We will invite neighbours and friends. We should invite enemies. We should invite those who used to sit in our pew who are no longer here. We have an invitation ourselves.
And that invitation is not only to an event. We invite you to join us in this invitation to hope.
If you receive Jesus as your saviour, you will have hope.
Not a hope for bigger and shinier presents tonight on the last night of Hanukkah, or on Christmas morning.
But a hope for the best news of all, salvation together as a people, who know their God. And our hope is built on nothing less. Nothing less than the Messiah himself.
Won’t you say ‘yes’ to that invitation just now?
Concluding remarks
Thank you, Andrew, for letting me return and share in this festive season. Thank you for this assigned topic and great biblical passage to unpack. Thank you, to each of you, who has given me your ear today. Please consider this invitation. Please join me, if you are already a believer, in sharing this message of eternal life, by donating in the offering, by turning in that white card after you filled it out, by picking up some products on the resource table. Let’s work together to proclaim him, the hope of Israel and the hope of the world. Amen?
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The assigned text:
“Restore us, O God of our salvation,
And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.
Will You be angry with us forever?
Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
Will You not Yourself revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?
Show us Your lovingkindness, O LORD,
And grant us Your salvation.” (Psalm 85.4-7)
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