Romans 15:13: Abounding in Hope

INTRODUCTION

Rabbi Hugo Gryn was imprisoned with his family in Auschwitz during World War II. Food supplies were meager and the family lived just above the starvation level.

One year at the time of the Festival of Hanukkah, Hugo saw his father take a lump of margarine—something very precious—and was horrified to see his father use it for the Hanukkah candle.

The boy asked his father how he could do such a thing, and his father said, “We know that it is possible to live for three weeks without food, but without hope it is impossible to live properly for three minutes.” (Morna Hooker, on Philippians 1.19-36, in The New Interpreter’s Bible, p493).

Someone has said, “There is no way to get through life if you don’t know how to get through suffering. And there is no way to get through suffering unless you have living hope” (Tim Keller).

Listen to this blessing Paul writes near the end of his letter to his friends in Rome:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing;

so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

I. Let’s talk about that little word, “hope.”

A. In everyday speech we use the word “hope” in a careless way—as if hope were merely wishing.

We say, “I hope it doesn’t rain.” “I hope I win the lottery.” “I hope the cold weather is over.” ”I hope my daughter calls today.” “I hope this pain is nothing serious.” “I hope my money doesn’t run out.”

B. But if you look the word up in your dictionary, you will find that “hope” is a stronger word than that. My dictionary defines “hope” as “a desire accompanied by expectation.”

In true hope, both desire and expectation are included.

Sometimes we expect things we don’t desire.

Some people are always expecting the worst. They are the pessimists.

Some people are always expecting the best. They are the optimists.

Someone said, “An optimist is a guy who doesn’t have much experience.”

We often strongly desire things we never expect to receive.

People say, “hoping against hope”—which means wishing hard for something that almost certainly isn’t going to happen.

But hope—in the sense that it’s used in the Bible—is earnest desire combined with strong assurance.

II. Think about how your desires have changed over the years.

A. When you were young, your greatest desires may have been to be successful in your career, to own a good house, to drive a nice car, to have a loving husband and happy children, and someday to retire, maybe do a little traveling and enjoy your “golden years.”

But the “golden years” are over now. Those things are mostly in the past. Those hoped-for things are now memories—good memories, indeed and worth treasuring, but still memories.

B. But if we have been walking with Jesus along life’s way, other desires have taken possession of our hearts: desires that look forward to things that are still in the future.

Here are some of my desires in the last chapter of my life:

…the desire that God will become more and more real in my life.

…the desire that I will become more and more tenderhearted, kind, humble—more like Jesus.

…the desire that my life will have blessed others…maybe guided someone to God.

…the desire to meet Jesus, reunite with those I have loved, and make new friends in the Better Country.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible says, “The memory of the righteous is a blessing” (Proverbs 10:7). I hope my memory blesses someone.

III. But what grounds do we have for expecting those things we so earnestly desire?

A. Hope, in the Bible, is assurance—assurance that what we so earnestly hope for, will surely happen.

That is what St. Paul means when he prays: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Earlier in the Book of Romans (8:31-32) Paul wrote: “What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?”

In the book of Hebrews we read, “We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…” (Hebrews 6:19).

B. The Bible both sharpens our desire and nourishes our expectation.

A psalmist said to God: “You show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

And again, in the very next psalm: “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with beholding your likeness.” (Psalm 17:15).

St. Peter wrote about hope: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”  (1 Peter 1:3-4).

C. Sometimes the Bible stimulates our imaginations to even see into glory. John paints this picture of Glory for us in the next-to-the-last chapter of the book of Revelation:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,

and the sea was no more.

And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;

and I heard a great voice from the throne saying,

“Behold the dwelling of God is with men.

He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,

and God himself will be with them;

he will wipe away every tear from their eyes,

and death shall be no more,

neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more,

for the former things have passed away.”

and he who sat upon the throne said,

“Behold, I make all things new.”

CONCLUSION

Our text calls God “the God of hope.”

God is the God of Hope because God is the foundation on which all hope is built.

God is the God of Hope because God is the builder who builds hope into our lives.

God is the God of Hope because God is the object of our hope.

Our text speaks of being filled with joy and peace and abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit is to live with the enjoyment—in anticipation—of our glorious inheritance.

To abound in hope is to live with a peaceful heart—knowing that all will be well, all tears wiped away, all sorrows forgotten.

To abound in hope is to have the strength to be faithful—to the very end.

A STORY

This story of hope comes from Rwanda where a few years ago there was a terrible war between the two tribes of the country—the Hutu and the Tutsis. The Hutus were killing the Tutsis and the Tutsis were retaliating by killing the Hutus.

One day a band of Hutu killers stormed into an orphanage run by Catholic sisters.

“Point out the Tutsi children!” they shouted.

But the nuns refused. “We only have children of God here!” they said.

Furious, the killers herded the whole orphanage to a mass grave.

The sisters began to sing a hymn of praise. The children picked it up.

That didn’t faze the killers.

One by one the sisters were killed. Then they began killing the children.

But the children kept singing until there was just one treble voice wafting into the sky.

Even when only a single child was left, that child was still singing.

(adapted from Miriam Adeney’s book, Kingdom Without Borders, p234)

This prayer comes from a holy man who lived more than a thousand years ago. He is known as St. Bede, the Venerable. He died in A.D. 675, more than 1000. But among other writings, he left us this prayer:

O Christ, our Morning Star,

splendor of Light Eternal,

shining with the glory of the rainbow,

come, waken us from the grayness of our apathy,

and renew in us your gift of hope.