Text: Romans 5:4-13
Date: December 4, 2022
Event: The Second Sunday in Advent, Year A
Romans 15:4-13 (EHV)
Indeed, whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we would have hope. 5And may God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7For this reason, accept one another as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God. 8For I am saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs. 9He also did this so that the Gentiles would glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:
For this reason I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and I will sing to your name.
10And again it says:
Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.
11And again:
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples give him praise.
12And again Isaiah says:
There will be a Root of Jesse,
and he is the one who will rise up to rule the Gentiles;
on him the Gentiles will place their hope.
13Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
God’s Hope Brings Joy
As I sat working on this sermon this past week, it was raining. Heavily. Rain can ruin a lot of plans. Our parking lot work has been delayed a few times by weather. A trip to the beach isn’t going to go well if it’s pouring down rain. And if you’re going to make a drive through the mountains, inclement weather is probably not what you want to see.
But, as we in California know very well, the rain is necessary. For all of its potential downsides, the upsides are far more important. And so even if the rain delays or cancels plans that we had, we rejoice to see reservoirs filling up, land being watered, plants being able to grow, and food supplies stabilizing. The rain gives us many reasons to give thanks.
In our Second Reading for this morning, Paul speaks a length about God’s hope, that hope the he provides to us. Sometimes that hope feels like opposition to what we by nature want to pursue and what the world would tell us is important. But, as we continue our Advent preparation, we see the importance of God’s hope preparing us for Jesus’ return.
Paul begins our reading: Indeed, whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we would have hope. Paul is specifically talking about the Old Testament Scriptures in what he writes, but we can broaden this out to the whole of Scripture. Everything in God’s Word was written to teach us.
This week I was reading some sections of 2 Chronicles for my personal devotions. Over the span of two chapters, the chronicler covered two kings of Judah, the end of King Hezekiah’s reign and the whole of Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh’s reign. Hezekiah was one of the most faithful kings in all of Israel’s history. But the account showed where he stumbled and faltered at the end of his life—and then returned to God’s promises. His son, Manasseh, is always lumped in my head as one of the worst kings. And while it’s true that he devoted most of his life to pursuing sin and idolatry, a fact that I had forgotten was that at the end of his life he returned to the Lord in repentance. What a valuable piece of instruction and learning for us.
The hope of God is an everlasting and perfectly-trustworthy hope. When we speak of God’s hope, we don’t do so with the same connotation that we do when we speak of our hope. When we use the word “hope,” we usually use it in an uncertain context: “I hope the car repairs aren’t too expensive,” “I hope it doesn’t rain doesn’t negatively affect my plans,” “I hope that Christmas gift is still in stock.” For all of those, there’s the assumption that while I want one thing, the other is probably more likely.
But not so with God. We do not say, “I hope God forgives my sins,” assuming he won’t. We have what was written in the Scriptures to teach us, to bring us patient endurance and encouragement. What happened when Abraham sinned? God restored him. What happened when David sinned? God restored him. What happened when Hezekiah and Manasseh sinned? God restored them. What happened when Peter sinned? Jesus patiently, lovingly, and privately restored him. This is how God works. This forgiveness of sins, this patient love that God has for his people, is the hope that God gives to us.
God’s hope stands in opposition to the world’s joy and focus. Not because the world doesn’t like exciting news, but the world doesn’t even want to hear about the facts that would make this news exciting. The world doesn’t want to hear about sin. Truthfully, by nature, you and I don’t want to hear about sin. It would be pleasant to be deluded into the false hope that I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fine. But that’s not the instruction of the Scriptures; that’s not true.
So, rather than being deluded by lies, we cling to God’s truth. God is the source and the object of our hope. For as unpleasant as it is to know and be reminded that we are sinners, it’s that much more pleasant to know that we are forgiven. We take John’s direction and repent—turn away from sin, trusting in God’s forgiveness—because we know our Savior’s return is close at hand. Our Advent hope, our Christmas hope, our forever-hope is certain because it rests in the infallible and unshakeable promises and work of our God.
But we know that God’s hope may be like rain in this world. We may endure hardship because we cling to this hope. We may lose relationships and suffer harsh words and mocking. We know that our brothers and sisters in other nations suffer intense persecution—even death—for their faith in Jesus. But as we await the return of our Savior, as we prepare to celebrate his first Advent, we know that for any hardship that God’s hope may bring into our lives, it is worth it, because it is a lasting hope that brings complete joy and peace now, and especially in eternity. God’s hope is like the rainstorm that cancels plans for today but ensures adequate water and food in the long-term: temporarily it may be difficult, but eternally it is so very worth it.
So, we don’t shrink away from this hope. Rather, we magnify it in our lives. Paul says, “May God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, accept one another as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God.” We strive to treat one another in a way that glorifies God. We aim to accept each other just as God accepted us. He didn’t accept us because we were perfect, but he welcomed us with forgiveness. And so we also strive to welcome one another with forgiveness.
We also strive to show this same patient love and forgiveness to those who rebel against this hope, hate this hope, even hate us for clinging to this hope. Paul made clear in the latter part of our lesson that Jesus, that God’s forgiveness, is not just for one narrow band of people. It wasn’t just for the Jewish people; it was for everyone. Today, as well, Jesus’ forgiveness isn’t just for people who love Jesus and live the right way; it’s for everyone.
This season of preparation allows us some unique opportunities to bring this forgiveness even to people who might not like it or might not care about it. You have the opportunity to invite families with young children to join us for Christmas for Kids. You have the opportunity to invite a friend or neighbor or acquaintance to our Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship, to our New Year’s Day worship, to any event or class or moment in God’s Word. Invite them to join you, forward a live stream or online class email, whatever works the best for you and for them. Ensure that they know that this hope is not only valuable to some, but it is for them as well.
The end result of this hope is joy—joy for what is coming and eventually joy in what we experience in full in heaven. Paul concludes our reading with a joyous blessing: Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. May the God of hope do just as Paul prayed for you—for all of us—now and forever. Thanks be to the God of hope now and forever! Amen.
