CROWNED WITH HOPE

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.”  So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:11-13)

 

 

But, we don’t like to wait do we?  Yet, Scripture says that is through patience that we inherit the promises of God (Heb.6:12).  God doesn’t make his saints in a microwave, but a crock pot!

There has been a pattern established throughout the Old Testament portraits of hope that we have seen studied—God gives a vision, there is the death of the vision, and then God resurrects it.

Adam and Eve were created for hope, but that hope was shattered as a paradise became a place of death because of sin.  God would resurrect that hope through the Last Adam—Jesus Christ who came to reverse the curse.

Abraham was called to hope.  God summoned him with a promise that he would be the father of many nations although he and his wife Sarah were old and childless at the time.  The biological clock ticked down and years later when it was impossible for the aged couple to have a child, God brought a miracle baby named Isaac into their lives.

Joseph showed the conquest of hope.  He had a dream that he related to his brothers that they would one day bow to him.  His brothers sought to destroy that dream.  They sold him into slavery, and he wound up in a prison in Egypt.  But God brought him out, placed him as second to Pharaoh in Egypt and one day his brothers did bow before him!  Hope had conquered.

Moses displayed the confidence of hope.  He was birthed for a special purpose—to be the deliverer of his people from slavery.  But, he prematurely took matters into his own hands in an abortive attempt and because of that failure had to flee for his life.  There would follow forty years of desert discipline getting him ready for his task.  Then God called his name and dispatched him to do his duty.  Reading the story should fill us with a confident hope in God’s faithfulness despite our fears, failings and frailties.

Now, we come to David.  He will be crowned with hope.  The same pattern of the birth, death and resurrection of a vision will be seen in him.  David had to wait, but God was at work.

 

CONFIDENT HOPE DESPITE FRAILTY

“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”  But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”  (Exodus 3:10-11)

 

If a cat ever sits on a hot stove that cat will never sit on one again!  In fact, he won’t even sit on a cold one! 

 

Have you ever been burned?  You tried to do something good and it blew up in your face.  It’s hard to see yourself as anything but a failure and in your mind promise, “I’m not doing that again!”

 

So it was with Moses.  God showed up in dramatic fashion to arrest his stumbling servant’s attention.  But, Moses began to question whether he was the man for the job.  His past failure accentuated his present frailty and he began to make excuse after excuse.  “Who am I?” he incredulously responded to God’s re-commission.   The Lord let Him know—and we must grasp this—it isn’t who we are, but Who God is that makes the difference!

 

God answered each objection Moses presented.

 

He answered by giving SIGNS.  In Exodus 4:1-9 there are three supernatural signs offered to Moses. 

 

Here’s the first:

 

Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ” ‎So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”  And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), “that they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” (4:1-5)

 

God doesn’t call us without equipping us.  If He has a work for us, then He provides the tools.  This shepherd staff would nevermore be the rod of Moses, but would be called, “The rod of God.”  It is a symbol of the power of God committed to the hand of man.   In the hand of Moses, that staff could only do what Moses could do—and that’s not much—but surrendered and reclaimed in faith it could do what the great I AM could do!  But what we have must be surrendered to Him or it has the nature of the Serpent about it!

 

Moses was also given SUPPORT.

 

Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”  So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?  Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”  So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.  Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.  So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God.  (Exodus 4:10-16)

 

Moses had limitations.  He worried about his speech impediment.  Plain and simple, none of us have all the gifts, but all of us have some of the gifts, so that together we can do all God has for us despite our own frailty.  God gives people to assist us. 

 

Hope has been reborn!   Look at this:

 

Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.  ‎And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people.  ‎So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. (Ex.4:29-31)

 

There would be more challenges to be sure.  Still God would overcome and fulfill His promises.  Human frailty does not short-circuit His omnipotent ability.

 

So you’re messed up.  You think God wouldn’t have you.  How many fail to come to Christ because they think they have been too bad or waited too long?  While there’s breath, there’s hope—but don’t delay another day!  God can give you a brand new start in life, and a brand new destination for eternity.  You can be reborn spiritually. 

 

A lot of Christians aren’t doing what they might because of allowing past failures to hold them back.  Let me ask you, “What’s in your hand?”  You may think it nothing, but God can transform it into something.  Surrender to the will of God.  There is hope for you to yet fulfill His purpose for your life.

 

 

 

CONFIDENT HOPE DESPITE FAILURE

Moses tried to do God’s work, man’s way—and that is a recipe for disaster.  He killed one Egyptian to deliver one Hebrew in one day.  God could do so much more through yielding to His almighty hand instead of Moses taking matters into his own hands.  God’s plan was to deliver a million and a half in a matter of minutes by drowning the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea!

Moses took A LEAP WITHOUT LOOKING.

Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.  ‎So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  ‎And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”   Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!”  ‎When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.  (Exodus 2:11-15) 

Remember the old axiom, “Look before you leap?”  Well, Moses did look around, but he failed to look up.  He looked before he took a leap of faith—he just looked in the wrong direction and his faith was in the wrong person—his own self-sufficiency.

I’ve done that.  Have you?  It never works.  But this always does, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”  (Prov.3:5-6)

How many times we end up in a mess because we run ahead of God!

Moses needed A LABORATORY FOR LEARNING. When Moses sat down exhausted by that well, I can imagine the Devil took a seat alongside him: “Boy, did you foul up!  God is through with you.  So much for your big plans!  There is no hope for you.” 

But God would use that very desert as a discipline in Moses’ life.  The scorching wind driving stinging sand would scour the self-sufficiency from Moses and polish him into a smooth surface that would reflect the glory of God.  He would spend 40 years in a laboratory laying aside his ways and learning to lean on God’s strength.  Satan may have said, “There is no hope!”  God said, “I’ll show you!”  God’s hope never fails!

 

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.  (Rom.5:3-5)

Then there came that fateful day when God called his name and restored his hope.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  ‎And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.  ‎Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”  ‎So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”  Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.  And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.  Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.  ‎Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”  (Exodus 3:1-10)

Maybe today God is calling your name.  Don’t listen to the voice of failure that brands you hopeless.  Failure need not be final!  Hope in God to cleanse and restore.  A dirty vessel can be cleansed.  A cracked pot can be mended.  Nothing is too hard for the Lord!

CONFIDENT HOPE DESPITE FEAR

And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.  So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.  But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.  And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.  Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it.  And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”  Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”  And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother.  Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.  ‎And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”  (Exodus 2:1-10)

This world is no longer a paradise.  It can be a downright dreadful place.  Death reigns because of sin, and the fear of death is the King of Terrors. 

Why would someone want to bring a child into such a world?  It isn’t a good time to raise a child in this hostile environment we may think.  But, it never has been, and certainly was not a family friendly era when Moses was conceived.

This gives to us AN ILLUSTRATION OF A PARENT’S HOPE.  Pharaoh had felt threatened by the growing number of Hebrew slaves—and decided to make the population manageable by killing every newborn son.  Despite this, Amram and Jochebed had a son and hid him.  They saw something in him and sought to spare him, even at the risk of their own lives.  They had hope that this child might be a hope-bringer—and indeed he was!

This leads to AN IMPARTATION OF A PARENT’S HOPE.  Moses had a hope planted in his heart by his mother and nurtured in his childhood.  He was a special child who had been spared from death for a special purpose.  Not even an Egyptian education and pagan environment could take that hope from his heart—that someday God would use him to help liberate his Hebrew brethren. 

One of the most important things we can do for our children is give them hope!  So many are bombarded with bad news that they ask, “What’s the point?”  No wonder so many adopt the old philosophy, “Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!”

The future for the child of God isn’t to be marked by fear and a sense of futility, but by faith and hope!  Who knows but what that baby boy or girl may be the next Moses or Miriam and help multitudes find freedom from sin and death.

I think of the discussion of Gandalf and Frodo in the movie, Fellowship of the Ring, where Frodo is burdened by the evil of the times and the weight of his mission. 

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.

Embrace hope and express it to your children and grandchildren!  Tell the teens!  There is evil at work in our world as in ancient Egypt.  But, there is another Force at work in this world—the Spirit of God—and that is an encouraging thought!

CONFIDENT IN HOPE

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  ‎And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.  ‎Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”  ‎So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”  Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.  And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.  Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.  ‎Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”  (Exodus 3:1-10)

The right thing done the wrong way is still wrong.  The right thing done the wrong time is also wrong. 

Moses made both mistakes.  He tried to do the right thing in his abortive attempt to liberate his fellow Hebrews—but by killing an Egyptian oppressor with his own hands it was the wrong way and wrong time.  Only the right thing, done the right way at the right time is always right.  Otherwise, what you have is a mess! 

Some of us have made such a mess.  Does God have a message in our mess? 

Must we say, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”?  If that is so, then only perfect people have hope.  Everybody else is ruined—and that’s everybody—for all have fallen short of the glory of God. 

There was hope for Moses and there is hope for me.  Of that we can be confident.  God was going to carry out His plan through Moses in His time and His way.  Failure need not be final.  We can get up and go on by the grace of God.  The Lord knows who you are and where you are and He may be calling your name today.  Are you listening?  Will you turn aside and meet with Him?

CONQUERING THROUGH HOPE: THE CONQUEST BY HOPE

"Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth." (Genesis 42:6)

Joseph's story is the stuff of dreams.  He had two dreams about his brothers someday bowing to him.  His brothers had other ideas and did all they could to destroy the dreams.  But Joseph never lost hope and when in prison two men each had a dream and Joseph's interpretation of those two dreams would eventually lead to his release.  Two years later, Pharaoh has two dreams.  When none of the Egyptian soothsayers could interpret the dreams, the butler recalls Joseph who had precisely interpreted his dream and Joseph is summoned.  Joseph tells Pharaoh that there will  be seven years of bumper crops followed by seven years of famine.  He goes on to make a recommendation.

“Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one- fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.” So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 41:33-43)

Eventually Joseph's brothers would come during the famine to find food and would bow before him as God said!  He will end up saving his family from starvation and in so doing will keep the hope of salvation alive.  If the Hebrew race had not survived we would have no Savior--and no hope!

When their father dies, the brothers fear Joseph would get revenge.  Note Joseph's response:

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19-21)

Joseph recognizes the sovereign hand of God in this and was submissive to God’s plan.

Our hope rests in this--God's will cannot be thwarted!  His purposes will be fulfilled!

Hope is unconquerable!

CONQUERING THROUGH HOPE: THE CONFLICT FOR HOPE

“Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.  And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.” Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.  Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”  So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.” And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.  Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.  Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming!  Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” (Gen.37:12-20)

Joseph’s brothers are not so thrilled with his dreams.  They determined to end them—and crush his hope.  They do a good job! 

There will always be dream-dashers whose mission in life is to pull you down to their level.  They have a pit to chunk you into as these brothers did to Joseph. 

But for Joseph, it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.  It seemed all downhill—into a pit, into chains, down to Egypt, into prison—down, down, down!  Ever feel like life itself is a “downer”?  It is hard to maintain any semblance of hope when every circumstance cries out to the contrary!  You will have to fight for hope—there is a conflict and you are in combat to keep what God has put in you from being conquered by all that is happening around you!

From his brothers’ evil clutches, Joseph will be delivered into the hands of the Midianites who make him a marketable commodity.  He will be a good slave and a blessing to a man named Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh’s guard, but Mrs. Potiphar lusts for him and seeks Joseph’s affections.  Salivating at the possibility of bedding with this Hebrew hunk, she appeals, “C’mon over big boy!”  She sets the temptation before him wrapped in perfumed sheets of silk day after day.

He rejects this as a sin against God!  It still is by the way!  When she grabs hold of him and seeks to pull him into bed, he runs and she tears loose his garment and then cries out that Joseph tried to rape her.  The proof is in her hand.  As has been oft repeated, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

All he had tried to do was honor God—and what did he get for his faithfulness?  Fetters!  His reward for devotion was the dungeon!  He is cast into prison. 

But when Pharaoh’s baker burns the biscuits and his butler spills wine on the carpet, they just so happen to wind up sharing a cell with Joseph.  No coincidence—it was providence! 

They have a dream and Joseph interprets it—good news and bad news—the baker will have his head lifted off in execution and the butler will have his head lifted up in employment. 

The butler promises Joseph that he won’t forget him!

But, he did.  Joseph would be there in shackles for two more years!  It seemed all hope was gone—but Joseph trusted in the promises and timing of God.  There is more to the story than meets the eye.  The butler may have forgotten Joseph, but God had not.

Yet, it does seem at times that God has forgotten us.  We languish long in a prison of problems.  Just when we think things can’t get any worse—they do!  Our prayers echo from the ceiling and mock us.  There is a conflict in our soul between the assurances God has expressed and the adversity we are experiencing.

Will you fight for hope?

CONQUERING THROUGH HOPE: THE CONCEPTION OF HOPE

Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.  ‎So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”  And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.  Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”  So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”  ‎And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:5-11)

This hope that was conceived in the heart of Joseph was implanted by God.  It wasn’t a childish fantasy like I had, but it was the intended purpose for which God brought Joseph into this world—that one day he would make a difference in the world—and what a difference he would make! 

Now, I would not suggest that all of us will become a Joseph in the magnitude of impact we will have—some are set apart by God for the greatest works—greatness as defined by numbers and notoriety.  Maybe the teenager in our home or church youth group will be the next Billy Graham.  God does call modern day Josephs!

One thing is for certain—whatever God has for us to do is never a small work if done for Him.  It has a weight of glory and an impact of eternal significance.  If we do not make a difference on a global stage, as Joseph did, we can nevertheless exert an influence in our little corner of the globe in the spirit of hope that filled the heart of Joseph. 

I want to remind you that it is faithfulness to what God has set before us to become and achieve that determines your success irrespective of human evaluation.  God created you with certain capacities and competencies that you can develop and employ to the full.  When you were born again, He bestowed spiritual gifts upon you. 

Not all of us are equal in the size of the capacity we have to serve Him.  The reality is that some have a bigger stage and a larger ability.

Do not be discouraged!  God has equally distributed to all His children the opportunity to be all He has called us to be!  It isn’t the ability we have potentially, but the availability we have practically that brings the smile of heaven.

What is the hope God has birthed in your heart?  Why are you here in this world and in this time?  What difference does it make? 

God intends for us to make a difference.  You—yes you—can be a modern-day Joseph!

CONQUERING THROUGH HOPE

When I was a boy, I wanted to be Superman.  I was inspired by the TV show that came on our old black and white Motorola each weekday afternoon that began: “Faster than a speeding bullet; more powerful than a locomotive; able to leap tall buildings at a single bound.  Look—up in the sky!  It’s a bird; it’s a plane; no, it’s Superman!”  I would tie a towel around my neck for a cape, extend my arms and jump off the porch, “flying” around the yard for a while until I encountered kryptonite—Mom’s kryptonite!  She would say, “Get in here and clean up your room right now!”  Then I became Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for the Daily Planet, took off my cape and put on my glasses—robbed of my super powers!

Superman wasn’t the only afternoon show to grab me.  Another one came on around suppertime—the Lone Ranger.  It would hear the William Tell Overture and I was captivated by it immediately.  So, that evening I might be the Lone Ranger, and would cut out a cardboard mask, grab my cap pistol, and mount a rocking horse with, “Hi, ho Silver—away!”  I’d chase outlaws until time for bed—and was quite successful at it.

Our local TV affiliate would periodically run the old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies.  If I watched one, I whipped off the shirt and shoes, beat my chest and did my best Tarzan yell as I swung from the swing set.  It was a jungle call that surely struck fear into all the lions in our neighborhood—or, at least, the elderly lady next door!

Youth is a time for dreams—a time when hope fills our hearts. 

That was true of a young man named Joseph.

Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.  ‎This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.  ‎Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.  ‎But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.  ‎Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.  ‎So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”  And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.  Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”  So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”  ‎And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:1-11)

But this was no childish fantasy inspired by a television show; it was a God-given dream implanted in his heart.

Do you have one?  What are you doing about it?  God has a purpose for your life—and it’s time to find out what it is and fulfill it—to take the first step, or the next step—even perhaps recover from a misstep. 

HOPE DECLARED

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:1-3)

Abram is called to hope!  God declares it.  The promise of God is given of a family and a future—an unbreakable covenant of grace grounded on the unshakable character of God! 

Picture this: Abram was a wealthy man living in idolatry in Ur.  But despite all that he had outwardly, we would suppose that there is a longing inwardly—a questioning, “Is there any hope?”  We can imagine that nagging doubt as at his age, someday—maybe soon—he will leave it all behind, and then what? 

It is an age-old question isn’t it? 

We know that something is missing—what some have called a God-shaped hole in our soul.  What we need is a life-changing encounter with God—for that alone can bring us hope. 

That is the call Abram receives and he responds with faith and obedience.   He does not know where he is going, but he knows where he is—in sin and condemnation—and so he casts caution to the wind and ventures all on the promises of God.

Have you done that? 

You need do nothing to stay where you are—without God and without hope.  That is our natural state.  But, as happened to Abram, God is speaking to you through His Word today—calling you by name to a future and a hope—the hope of heaven!  Heed His call now!

CALLED TO HOPE

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.  ‎I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.  ‎I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:1-3)

A number of years ago a submarine was rammed by a ship and sunk to the bottom of the sea.  The crew was trapped, even as frantic attempts were made to rescue them.  One of the divers thought he heard a tapping on the submarine’s hull—and putting his head against the steel shell recognized Morse Code and the repeated question  “Is…there…any…hope?” (paraphrased from Swindoll’s Ultimate Quote of Illustrations and Quotes) 

In the Garden of Eden, humanity was struck by sin and began to sink.  In fact, mankind sank so rapidly that by the time of Noah, the depth of depravity caused God to wash over them in waves of wrath. 

Only Noah and his family emerged from the ark, for a fresh start.  But that didn’t last long and by the time we reach Genesis 12, the world is immersed in idolatry.  At the bottom again, comes a tapping, “Is there any hope?”

It was then that the sovereign grace of God reached into the hotbed of heathenism and called a man named Abram.  He was called to hope, and in his story we find hope in our perverse age.  This week we will listen to that tap, tap, tap, “Is there any hope?” and hear how grace responds.

“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Rom.5:20b).  Now—there’s some hope!

 

 

"I'VE GOT TO GO TO WORK" OR "I GET TO GO TO WORK"

How we a start out a Monday morning in a workaday world sets the tone for the course of the week.  God knows we need a break; He set the Sabbath principle for our good.  Still, following our rest from weariness, there is to be the renewed cycle of a return to work.

For the child of God, all things are to be done “Christianly.”  The dichotomy between secular and sacred is an unbiblical notion.  We do not hang up our faith in the closet with our Sunday clothes after church, and don a secular suit for the remainder of the week.  While out apparel may change, our attitude toward life is to be constant—that we are ambassadors for Christ at all times—in the church, in the home, at our play, and even in our work.

There is a DUTY in our work.  “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” (Gen.2:15)  Work is not a punishment associated with the curse.  The difficulty associated with work is a consequence of sin.  But, from the outset, humanity had this assignment from God—to care for His creation.  I show my humble devotion to God when I go off to work.  Unless I am asked to do that which is contrary to the will of God, then I am to fulfill my duty to God as I work.

There is a DIGNITY in our work.  “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (Gen.1:28)  We are, as it were, God’s agents to govern His creation.  We have a sacred stewardship to care for God’s world, and when I do my job well I am joining in partnership with His purposes—carving out a little bit of paradise again, reclaiming it from the curse of sin which lies like a somber cloud over creation.

There is a DELIGHT in our work.  God looked with pleasure on all that He had made and declared our creation and our assignment as, “very good” (Gen.1:31).  What He finds pleasure in should bring joy to us!  Paul would put it this way, “Slaves, obey your human  masters in everything. Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men…” (Co.3:22-23 HCSB).  If the Apostle expected a slave to so respond to his master, then surely the Spirit of God intends for us to find delight in working for our employer!

There is a DECLARATION in our work.  If we are slothful, or somber, we silence our opportunity to declare the hope we have in Christ.  People ought to see something different about us on Monday—a spirit, a joy, a hope—that they don’t have and that they need and crave.  This will lead them to inquire as to this amazing spirit and we can respond with a declaration of the difference Jesus makes, “But 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 Pet.3:15)  To claim to follow Christ and to be a slacker on the job—or grouse about it—undermines the credibility of our testimony.

There is a DEADLINE for our work.  Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.”  We all have a limited number of days on this planet. One day we will punch the clock for the final time.  As long as God gives us strength to rise out of bed, we should be grateful and industrious.  A glad and thankful attitude ought to mark the realization that God provides us the opportunity to serve Him and supply our needs by having the health to be on the job for another day.  We then are, “redeeming the time,” by exchanging the coin of this realm for the currency of eternity.

That leads me then to say, there is a DESTINY in our work.  Heaven will be an extension and elevation of the good of this life.  We will be rewarded for our labor if done in the right way and for the right motive,

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  ‎Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.  ‎If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Cor.3:11-15)

We are wrong to consign this judgment to only those “spiritual” works we do in connection with the church.  None should neglect what happens within the four walls of the church building, but God is watching what happens inside the walls of the factory too!  God bless the missionary who travels overseas to share the Gospel, but God rewards the missionary who journeys to the office and lives the Gospel, also!  You may not get the paycheck you merit in this lifetime.  But, what can compare to the payday in that Day?

Let me challenge you with a DEMONSTRATION of our work.  Two men have been instrumental in teaching me the virtue and value of industry—my father, Homer Thurman, and my father-in-law, Bob Crayton.  My Dad exhibited a work ethic that was superlative in going to the grocery store as a produce manager, going to the church as a choir director, and laboring at home mowing grass, planting gardens, washing cars, building and repairing houses.  Perpetual motion was his lifestyle.  His health has now declined but his example remains in my memory and challenges me.  Though I did not know him as well or as long, my wife’s father struck me as the same kind of man.  During the time I knew him, he was the foreman of a large cemetery—not exactly the most glamorous of jobs (though I did remark, “He’s over a lot of people”).  Yet his attitude was great and his effort was excellent.  Those who worked for him had a model supervisor.  His last years were spent caring for an invalid wife—which he did with the same devotion and more.

So, which will it be, “I’ve got to go to work,” or, “I get to go to work!”?