18 November 2018 - Carlops church

SERVICE IN CARLOPS CHURCH
18 November 2018

KEVIN SCOTT

HOPE

Readings

Psalm 138

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

138 I thank you, Lord, with all my heart;
    I sing praise to you before the gods.
²I face your holy Temple,
    bow down, and praise your name
because of your constant love and faithfulness,
    because you have shown that your name and your commands are supreme.^[^b^]
³You answered me when I called to you;
    with your strength you strengthened me.

⁴All the kings in the world will praise you, Lord,
    because they have heard your promises.
⁵They will sing about what you have done
    and about your great glory.
⁶Even though you are so high above,
    you care for the lowly,
    and the proud cannot hide from you.

⁷When I am surrounded by troubles,
    you keep me safe.
You oppose my angry enemies
    and save me by your power.
⁸You will do everything you have promised;
    Lord, your love is eternal.
    Complete the work that you have begun.

2 Corinthians 4: 13, 5:1

¹³The scripture says, “I spoke because I believed.” In the same spirit of faith we also speak because we believe. ¹⁴We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us, together with you, into his presence. ¹⁵All this is for your sake; and as God’s grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving.

Living by Faith

¹⁶For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. ¹⁷And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. ¹⁸For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.

5 For we know that when this tent we live in—our body here on earth—is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever.

Reflection

Both readings today speak to us of hope – of the promise of things yet unseen – and of the confidence that we – as believers – should have in our hope.

Confidence – in our hope?

For most of the secular world – hope is not a confident thing – but is a much more tenuous idea – “I’m feeling hopeful” – “I’m hoping things are going to get better” – where hope is a bit like a fragile thread that gets thrown out ahead (without a great deal of confidence) – attaches to the desired item or event – and then is drawn carefully back in – and is expected to break (and hopes to be dashed) at every pull.

Commonly – it’s much more like wishful thinking. The desire for something we might not receive – something that we probably won’t receive. A new job may be hoped for – better health may be hoped for – while not really believing either will be received.

I can relate to this type of hope.

For 45 years now – I have been a supporter of Newcastle United Football Club. In that time they have never won the League – they got close once – have reached only 4 Cup Finals – and have lost all 4 Cup Finals – and have been relegated from the Premier League 4 times – and have won – nothing.

There have been little oases of joy along the way but for the most part the road from August 1973 to the present has been paved with crushing disappointment – followed by crushing disappointment.

Age does help you to rationalise these sort of things – but when we place our hope in anything that isn’t God – whatever it is (and you’d have to be pretty mad to place your hope in a football team like Newcastle) – when we place our hope in anything that isn’t God the likelihood is that disappointment awaits.

It’s almost easier not to hope.

But we’re made to hope – we are made to be hopeful – and our hope should be different to just wishful thinking.

Because our hope is grounded on that which is much more secure – on the steadfast assurance of God and His love for us.

And because of this we can all be as confident as David was in our reading from Psalm 138:

At Verse 1:

David gives thanks to God – with all his heart – with all that is in him he praises God’s name.

Because of God’s constant – constant – love and faithfulness.

“Because you answered me when I called to you – and with your strength you strengthened me.”

I called to you – you answered me – and you strengthened me.

David expresses no doubt and no uncertainty.

And then again at Verse 6.

⁶Even though you are so high above,
you care for the lowly,
and the proud cannot hide from you.

Even though God is so high above us all – He cares – constantly and faithfully – for the lowly – for those who faithfully and humbly serve and follow Him.

And concluding:

When trouble surrounds me – God will keep me safe.

God will oppose my enemies – and God will save me – however hopeless the situation may look to my eyes.

God will do everything He has promised and He will complete the work that He has begun.

These wooden blocks (Hope and Believe) were a gift from my wife, Susan. They usually sit next to our bed and I see them both first thing in the morning when I get up.

The way I’ve got them arranged I see ‘Hope’ first and then ‘Believe’. And that works for me – because sometimes I wake up not feeling as hopeful as I really should – and not as certain and assured as David.

But then when I see ‘Believe’ this usually draws me back to where I know I should be.

[HOPE] Because while our hope – and my hope – may sometimes drift away from the truth – from our faith – from the God that we believe in.

[BELIEVE] For each of us – just like the God that David speaks of – our God remains constant and faithful – and with that reminder from the God that we all believe in – the reminder of the solid ground beneath us – and God’s strengthening within us – we are bound to be hopeful.

God is constant – and His constancy – His faithfulness – should empower us to believe in the things that we can’t yet see – to be truly hopeful.

This is Christian hope.

However uncertain our circumstances – whatever challenges we face – however God may answer our prayers – often not quite in the way we really want Him to – we know God will work all things together for the good.

Romans 8:28

²⁸We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him,^[^a^] those whom he has called according to his purpose.

And as we’ve also been reminded in our second reading this morning – from Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthians – Chapter 4 at Verse 16

Paul’s encouragement here is also for us – living by faith – don’t become discouraged – be hopeful.

To fix our attention not on what we see around us – which can appear troubling or negative or difficult – but fix our eyes on the things that are unseen – such as the promises of God – for each of us as individuals – for our families – for our community – and for our Churches.

It’s just over 2 years now since Susan and I started worshipping at St Andrews. Although we’d lived in West Linton since 2002 during that time we had been part of a small Fellowship in Edinburgh and when it came time for us all to move on – Susan and I had a clear sense that we were to serve God in West Linton and through that in our extended community. So we went to St Andrews – and we knew – straight away– that first Sunday – and without the need for any lengthy discussion – that God meant us to be there.

And the most profound thing that spoke to us that first Sunday – and which has been repeatedly reinforced as we’ve come to know the linkage and the people serving God across the three churches?

The most profound thing was the faithfulness of the congregation of believers around us – a faithful people – standing firm – and serving God – despite the challenges that swirled around them – a faithful people standing firm on the promises of God.

Standing here today it is very humbling to consider all those who have been here before me – who have also had the privilege to bring God’s word in this lovely Church.

That history – speaks of challenges – challenges faced by a rural community and congregation – and of the many uncertainties approached by them.

Sending their young men off to war in far off foreign lands –

The acceleration of the world around them –

Being introduced to and embracing new ideas and technologies –

New ways of looking at the world –

Without having any certainty of the outcome.

Change and uncertainty are uncomfortable and unsettling things – I don’t think there are many of us here who really like change and uncertainty – and we’ve had our share in the past year or so – and there will be more to come.

But they are things which can be embraced – even though the outcome may not be visible to us – they can be embraced with confident hope – with confident assurance that God is at work here – that he has a work – already begun here – but not yet completed.

Many will be the congregations in this Church over those passing years who faced change and uncertainty of their own – but who placed their hope in their saviour, Jesus Christ –

Stood firmly on the solid ground of their faith – in the promises of their God –

and believed – and just believed.

And did not turn aside – but faced all these things – and moved forward – because God called them forward – just as He calls us all forward – individually – each day – and collectively – particularly at this time – along with our fellow congregations within the linkage at Newlands and West Linton.

Embracing the future and moving forward –

Without physical certainty of what lies ahead for us –

But with faith –

And with hope –

The confident hope –

That is firmly grounded on the steadfast assurance of God –

And His love for us all.

Amen.