The Second Sunday in Advent
December 4, 2016
Romans 15:4-13
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the time of the year when many children are anxiously looking forward to something special that either comes in the mail or is tucked into the newspaper. It is— the Christmas toy catalogue! Countless children will go through that catalogue page after page after page and either mark or write down on a piece of paper all the toys that they are hoping to get for Christmas. It doesn’t take much to imagine the excitement on the faces of those children, does it? Each and every one of them will undoubtedly be filled with hope! Even if the parents try to be more realistic than their children, even if Mommy and Daddy tell little Joey or little Sally not to get their hopes up too high— do you think the little ones will listen? Probably not.
This is indeed the time of the year when the hopes of many people run very high, my friends. Some people are hoping for peace on earth while others are simply hoping for peace in their own home. Some people are hoping for something that sparkles while others are hoping for something that says “Craftsman” on the side. And yes, many people are hoping for things that say: No assembly required!
While this is a season of hope sadly there are also many reasons for people to say— Don’t get your hopes up to high! Depending on what we are hoping for and depending on what our hopes are based on our hopes can evaporate as easily as snow in Florida!
As we continue our sermon series entitled Advent Imperatives we focus our attention today on a portion of Scripture that I think loudly encourages us to: Overflow with Hope! There are two imperatives found here in our text. The first imperative is found in verse 7, “Accept one another.” The second is a group of parallel imperatives found in verses 10-11, “Rejoice…Praise the LORD…sing praises to him.” Today then let’s see that as you and I overflow with hope— true hope— we will indeed “accept” each other and we will “rejoice”!
Since it is so easy for our hopes to be dashed, since we know from personal experience that we need to be careful not to get our hopes up too high, we need to make sure that if we are going to overflow with true hope that our hope must have a solid foundation! The good Lord gives us the only rock-solid foundation for our overflowing hope in the opening verse of our text. We read, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
This is a perfect passage to highlight in your own personal study Bible. God’s holy inspired Word gives us example after example of why we are to overflow with hope! When Adam and Eve rebelled against their loving Creator and brought sin into and onto the entire human race they may have thought that all hope was lost. Was it? Absolutely not! God promised that He Himself would provide this world with a Savor from sin. Since God has fulfilled that promise we now have reason to overflow with hope! When we are troubled by our own guilt, when Satan assails us with our own sins we find hope in knowing that God Himself has declared us “Not Guilty!” When Abraham and Sarah found themselves old and childless, when Joseph found himself sitting in the bottom of that well and then later found himself sitting in a prison cell in Egypt, when the children of Israel found themselves trapped between the Red Sea and the mighty Egyptian army, when David found himself guilty of both adultery and murder, when the people of Judah and Jerusalem found themselves being led away as captives to Babylon, they may have thought to themselves that all hope was lost. Was it? Absolutely not!
Time and time again when God’s people found themselves helpless in a hopeless situation Scripture reveals to us how our God stepped in to provide His people with overflowing hope. The ultimate proof of that truth is of course, found right there on the cross of Calvary’s hill. When we human beings were completely helpless, when our situation seemed absolutely hopeless “God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). So whenever you are feeling helpless, my friends, whenever you find yourself in a situation that seems hopeless sit down and read the holy inspired Word of your God “so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
When our overflowing hope is indeed based on the rock-solid foundation of God’s holy Word then our overflowing hope will lead us to gladly follow the first Advent imperative found here in our text: “Accept one another.” Look at verses 5-7 or our text. Paul writes, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”
The Christian church in Rome was struggling with a problem that still plagues the Christian church right down to this very day. In one word the problem was— and is— prejudice. The congregation in Rome was made up of both Jews and Gentiles. Tragically, the Jewish Christians looked down on the Gentile Christians. Earlier in this same letter Paul alludes to some of the reasons as to why the Jewish Christians may have thought that they were “better” than the Gentile Christians. In Romans 9:4-5 Paul says concerning the descendants of Abraham, “Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”
When the Jewish Christians looked at all of the unique blessings the Lord had bestowed on the children of Abraham down through the ages they may have thought that those blessings gave them a “spiritual edge” over the Gentile members of God’s church. But it simply was not so! The overflowing hope that God gives equally to all of His children, the overflowing hope that is based on the fact that Jesus is the Savior of all people— both Jew and Gentile alike— this overflowing hope is what gives us the “spirit of unity” that God Himself wants in His church, my friends— including our own congregation! When our unity is based upon the hope of Scripture then with “one heart and mouth” we will gladly join together— without prejudice of any sort— so that we can “glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you.” When we truly understand that Jesus has “accepted” us not because we had a lot of potential, not because deep down inside we were basically good, not because we at least tried to do our best but only because of His grace and His goodness and His mercy then surely we will not only overflow with hope in our own heart, but that overflowing hope will unite us as brothers and sisters in Christ, as a family of believers.
When our overflowing hope is indeed based on God’s Word, when our overflowing hope is based on the fact that Christ has “accepted” us, we will not only gladly follow Paul’s imperative and “accept” each other but we will also gladly follow Paul’s imperative to “rejoice” and “sing praises” to the Lord, our God!
Look at verses 9, 10, 11 & 12 of our text. Using four Old Testament passages the apostle Paul proves that the hope that only God can give to us, the joy and the peace that comes to us only “by the power of the Holy Spirit” is something that the “God of hope” always intended for all people irregardless of their racial or ethnic background. Now I certainly can not speak for you, but as a Gentile, as someone whose ancestors are not Jewish I rejoice in portions of Scripture like this! I rejoice in knowing that the Lord’s Messiah came into this world to save me too! I rejoice in knowing that the Lord’s Christ suffered and died on the cross to completely pay for my sins too! I rejoice in knowing that the “Root of Jesse” physically rose from the grave so that I could overflow with hope too! So when our Savior God says to us Gentiles, “Rejoice!,” when our Savior God tells us Gentiles, “Praise the LORD!” we respond by saying, Amen! Hallelujah!
There are probably countless children who either have or will be going through the Christmas toy catalogue page by page by page and marking all the toys they want for Christmas. Some of those children may hear their parents say to them, “Now, don’t get your hopes up too high.” By the grace of God, my friends, we already know what we have already received for Christmas— the greatest Gift of all! As the Gift of God’s own Son causes us to overflow with the hope that can not be disappointed may we truly take to heart the Advent imperatives that our God gives to us here in our text for today: “Accept one another just as Christ accepted you!” and “Rejoice!”
To God be the glory!
Amen
