Hopes And Fears
Matthew 5:1-10
Proverbs 10:22-25
If I asked you to list on your outline form ten things that you fear, it would probably take no time at all to list them. Poisonous snakes and spiders, other people’s driving, encountering a drunk driver, flying, etc. I read about a web site that lists over 500 phobias or fears and gives the proper name for each. If I then asked you to list ten things that make you hopeful, I suspect it would take a lot longer.
It’s easy to identify those things we fear. But finding hope is a bit more difficult. Unless we look in the Bible. I did a review of the English word hope in the New Testament and found that of the 75 times the word is used, fifty-two of them refer to hope in God and three more refer to Old Testament quotes that speak of hope in God. The remainder were uses such as Paul saying, “I hope to come to you soon.” When you look at the word fear, as used in the sense of being afraid, there are 32 times that word appears in the New Testament. And again, three times when it refers back to or quotes the Old Testament.
But if you stop to think about it, the people of Biblical times had a lot to fear – both in Old Testament times and New Testament times. From their earliest days, the Hebrew people were always being attacked or held in slavery. Those must have been scary times for them. Things were not much better in New Testament times. And, of course, things didn’t get much better in the years following the advent of Christianity. Consider the barbaric practices of throwing Christians to the lions or burning them at the stake.
Yet, throughout history, Christians have always had hope and the Bible speaks over and over again about the hope that is ours and the reason for it. A study of 1,000 people, aged 65-85, points to the importance of a positive attitude in dealing with life. After almost 10 years of follow-up, researchers found that people who described themselves as optimistic (you could define that as people who are hopeful) had a 55 percent lower risk of death from all causes and a 23 percent lower risk of heart-related death. Optimistic people tend to be more physically active, drink less, and smoke less. They cope with stress more effectively. While one's attitude toward life isn't everything, it does make a crucial difference in dealing with life. And who has more reason for optimism than Christians? The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
Dr. Jerome Groopman defines hope as the “ability to see a path to the future.” That is what those who love the Lord have: the assurance that the future life in the presence of the living Lord Jesus will be far better than anything we now have or might want. I read a story about a little town in New England that was part of a plan to create a man-made lake. Once a dam on the river through that town was completed, the town would be flooded and totally submerged. As the date for completion of the dam neared, people no longer kept their houses in good repair. The streets were no longer maintained. Everything was just ignored and forgotten. After all, why bother – it would soon all be under water. What a great picture of hopelessness. When you can’t see any future, why bother living the present in a meaningful way. Why not just let things go and not worry about them; not deal with them?
As I began today, I asked you to think about what fears you might write down. It would be a fascinating study to hear what each of you might have recorded. Let’s think about fear for a moment. Young people may fear passing their grade in school. As they grow older and approach graduation, they may think in terms of worrying about getting into the college of their choice. As time goes on they will wonder and worry about meeting and marrying the right person. As we grow older, we have ailments and things that cause us to worry about our health and whether we will live long and full lives. Some of you may fear a hurricane coming ashore in our area. There has been one in the Gulf this past week. I remember reading about the hopelessness that abounded in New Orleans, after hurricane Katrina 12 years ago. The article told how people would just break down in tears when they drive by the devastation. It said the suicide rates were up, the drug use was up, the crime rate was up. There was a real feeling of hopelessness among the residents there.
Most of us don’t have to worry about things that the early Christians worried about. Things like being sold into slavery or being tortured for our faith. We don’t worry too much about our country being attacked by another country, but we do worry now about terrorist attacks. With all the attacks in London and Paris recently, we worry about when that will happen here in the States – and where. There are certain advantages to living in a small town and not too close to the big city. Some of the worry about Iran’s nuclear aspirations has subsided. But, North Korea’s long range missile program that can reach portions (if not most) of the United States continue to grow. After all, North Korea already has nuclear capability. And, of course, we all are concerned about the quagmires in Syria and Afghanistan. We just sent 4000 more troops to Afghanistan and shot down a Syrian plane.
According to a Fall 2001 national poll taken by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research: Only one in five report they often feel hopeful about the future; seven in ten reported such feelings in a comparable 1990 national survey. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that 30 years ago, the greatest fears of grade school children were:
- Animals,
- Being in a dark room,
- High places,
- Strangers, and
- Loud noises.
Today, kids are afraid of the following:
- Divorce,
- Nuclear war,
- Cancer,
- Pollution, and
- Being mugged.
A Romanian believer In the 1940s, was jailed and tortured by communist officials in his home country. While imprisoned, he spoke boldly of the gospel to his atheistic captors. About one experience in the 14 years he spent in prison, he wrote, “The political officer asked me harshly, ‘How long will you continue to keep your stupid religion?’ I said to him, ‘I have seen innumerable atheists regretting on their deathbeds that they have been godless; they called on Christ. Can you imagine that a Christian could regret when death is near that he has been a Christian and call on Marx or Lenin to rescue him from his faith?’ The atheist began to laugh, ‘A clever answer.’ I continued, ‘When an engineer has built a bridge, the fact that a cat can pass over the bridge is no proof that the bridge is good. A train must pass over it to prove its strength. The fact that you can be an atheist when everything goes well does not prove the truth of atheism. It does not hold up in moments of great crisis.’ I used Lenin's books to prove to him that, even after becoming prime minister of the Soviet Union, Lenin himself prayed when things went wrong.”
My friends, when one does not believe in God, they will no doubt be afraid of Him. If they do believe in God, but have no real relationship with Him, they will be uncertain about whether to be afraid of Him or trust Him. If they have a relationship with Him, they will not fear Him but will only trust Him and be at peace in the hope they have.
So, what is it that gives a Christian hope? Why can those who believe in Jesus Christ bear the most difficult trials and carry on through the most painful times? The answer, of course, lies in the hope that is promised in Jesus. Jesus said, “I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:25-27 NIV)
Hope, you see, is the thing that keeps people going. Without hope, people tend to give up and give in. Sometimes they give in to despair, but all too often, they give in to the Devil and his schemes. That’s one of the problems of the inner city areas of every major city. The youth there have no hope of getting out of the poverty and miserable living conditions in which they are being raised. Several years ago, a business man went into an inner city school and promised the elementary children that if they kept their grades up and graduated from high school, he would pay for their college education. A large majority of those children clung to that hope and did graduate and went on to college – at the expense of that wealthy businessman.
A seminary professor of mine, Lewis Smedes, has written, “This nation was built by the power of hope. No painter ever set brush to canvas, no writer ever set pen to paper, no builder ever set brick on brick, no enterpriser ever built an enterprise without having hope that he or she could do what they were dreaming of doing. We have not begun to fathom the power of hope in creating better lives for ourselves and our children.”
Smedes also tells of seeing a huge, brilliantly illuminated billboard as he was leaving Los Angeles Airport one time. It carried one simple message in three simple words:
“Keep Hope Alive.” He said, “I must tell you it was the most compelling billboard I've ever seen.... We all need to keep hope alive. Hope is to our spirits what oxygen is to our lungs. Your spirit dies when hope dies. They may not bury you for a while, but without hope you're dead.”
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope! Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should its effect be on our lives.
Pastor Jack Hayford tells this story: “It was a deeply sobering day when I came to Carl's room in the hospital knowing he had only a matter of hours to live. As we sat beside the bed, I said, ‘Carl, how are you feeling?’ A man of deep faith and commitment to Jesus Christ, and a very experienced and highly respected lighting director at CBS, he looked at me, his eyes misted slightly, and he said, ‘Pastor Jack, you know when you're in my business, it's the combination of lights, the skill at blending things together in order to create special effects, that's what my job is about.’ He said, ‘This morning I woke up and in the quiet of my heart, Jesus spoke to me and he said, “Carl, how would you like to direct a sunset?”
Two explorers were on a jungle safari when suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. “Keep calm” the first explorer whispered. “Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run.” “Sure,” replied his companion. “You've read the book, and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?” My friends, if you have read the Book, you know the hope that is there for every believer. That Book, the Bible says, “The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” (Psalms 34:17-19 NLT)
The Lord spoke through Jeremiah and said, “I know the plans I have for you,... They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT) Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. My prayer is that you have found and are clinging to that hope.
In his autobiography Timebends, playwright Arthur Miller tells of his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. During the filming of The Misfits, Miller watched Marilyn descend into the depths of depression and despair. He was fearing for her life as he watched their growing estrangement, her paranoia, and her dependence on barbiturates. One evening, after a doctor had been persuaded to give Marilyn yet another shot and she was sleeping, Miller stood watching her. He said, “I found myself straining to imagine miracles. What if she were to wake and I were able to say, ‘God loves you, darling,’ and she were able to believe it! How I wished I still had my religion and she hers.”
Someone has said, “It is not the way we deal with our human situation that is the basis for hope – hope is the basis for how we deal with our human situation.” If you turn to God’s word for strength and help and hope, you can easily find it. Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (John 14:1-3 NLT)
Paul, who went through all kinds of difficulties and trials because of his faith, said, “For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.” (2 Corinthians 1:5-7 NLT)