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The Hope of Glory Rodger Hamilton April 23, 2014 Words like “hope” and “glory” are part of our religious jargon which mean many different things to different people. And as I speak today of “The Hope of Glory” I want to be sure it is clear to everyone exactly what I mean by those words so that we’re all on the same page , and so you don’t draw conclusions that I am not trying to communicate based on a different idea of what “hope” and “glory” are. “Hope”: “Confident expectation” (as opposed to “wishful thinking”) “Glory”: There are numerous facets to the meaning of “Glory.” These include: Praise & honor; good reputation Blessedness; sublime bliss, joy / rejoicing Perfection of character, esp. righteousness Radiance, brilliance These definitions are all aspects that emanate from the highest sense of the word “Glory” as it applies to God, which is: “The nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, i.e., what God in essence is and does; the substance of Divinity.” (“I AM”) Together with this essential nature of God is a sense of weightiness; significance; substance. (Again, “I AM”.) Example: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 KJV 1 So, when we praise and worship, that is, “glorify God” or give “glory” to God, we are proclaiming who “HE IS”, ascribing to God the attributes of glory in all the ways he has revealed himself, i.e., righteous, majestic, holy, loving, etc. Likewise, when God attributes glory to us (John 17:22) he is proclaiming and defining who we are in Christ. By the creative power of his Word, he is giving us substance and significance as he brings into being our new identity, which is being “transformed into his likeness with everincreasing glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:18) . And along with Christ-likeness come all the other facets of glory which are associated with God’s essential nature: perfection of character, blessedness and joy, radiance, etc. So as I bring this message, bear in mind that when I speak of “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) I am talking about a “confident expectation of becoming Christ-like,” as we will be when we see him face to face. (1 John 3:2) This Easter, my wife and daughter-in-law made a shocking decision: they decided that the traditional supper entrée ought to be fish, rather than ham! Can you believe it?!? Why?!? Well, it seems that’s what Jesus ate at the first Easter… According to Luke, after Jesus appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus on Resurrection Day, he appeared to the Eleven in Jerusalem… “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled and why do doubts rise in your mind? Look at my hands and feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’ 2 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (Luke 24:37-42) Ham, of course, would definitely not have been kosher, so the very first Easter Supper was broiled fish! And as we imitated that first Easter supper around a steaming platter of baked salmon, we discovered that our menu was a great facilitator for discussion about the Resurrection. In the week leading up to Easter, a poll was conducted in which people who professed to be Christians were asked if they believed Jesus was actually physically raised from the dead. According to the pollsters, a mere 2% answered “yes”! Now, obviously, polls can be biased to produce the results the pollsters want, which in this case was clearly to promote the idea that the resurrection was merely a metaphor. But it struck me that the other 98% of professed believers polled either don’t know the Scriptures, or they don’t accept them as the true words of God! Because the Scriptures are adamant that Christ DID, in fact, physically rise from the tomb, and they are emphatic that our entire faith is predicated on that Fact! Paul writes that, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. Your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:14; 17; 19) It strains all credulity to try to present such a statement as a metaphor! 1 Peter 1:3-5 says, “In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus 3 Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Regarding the power of this “living hope” that’s ours in Christ, Paul prayed, “…that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead…” (Ephesians 1:18-20) We have been born into a “living hope” – a hope that gives us the very resurrection power of God for godly living! But if Christ is not raised, then the prayer of Paul is futile our faith is a farce and our hope is a hoax! If Christ’s bones yet lie in Joseph’s tomb, our God is as impotent in our lives as any dead idol the world worships! But Jesus’ disciples were powerless to comprehend with their worldly minds that Jesus would literally raise from the dead, even though they were explicitly told so before the fact. And because of that, their faith died with Christ in the gruesome finality of the cross. Even when they were confronted face to face with the joyous reality of the Resurrection, they only experienced amazement until their faith was transformed through a simple filet of fish! It wasn’t until they embraced the reality of the Resurrection that their faith came alive with the power of God to transform their experience from grief and despair to hope and joy. 4 But, as Rob taught in his Easter message, they first needed the “eyes of their heart” to be enlightened before they could see the truth of the Resurrection; until the disciples received Revelation, they were blind to the truth, and in their blindness, they were hopeless. In my past two sermons I focused on the joy of the Lord, and I said that joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit which blossoms from a forward looking hope – a living hope that’s firmly founded on the Fact of the Resurrection! But until the eyes of our hearts are enlightened to that hope, as Paul prayed, our vision will be like the disciple’s: myopic, short-sighted; our experience of the boundless blessings of God will be limited by our perception of our circumstances. And in order for our experience to be transformed it is first necessary for our minds to be renewed, as Romans 12:2 says. In order to walk in the Joy that the Lord wants for us, we need a new perspective – God’s perspective! Only then will we be able to discern God’s will in our circumstances to be “good, pleasing and perfect.” Only then will we be able to accept the things he allows in our lives and embrace them as blessings. Only then will we run and not be weary, walk and not grow faint, as we experience the power of the joy of the Lord! But in order for our minds to be renewed, in order to have a God-given vision, we require Revelation, because the things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned, and the man without the Spirit does not and cannot accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Paul writes of “God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 5 But, Paul continues, “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” “We… have received… the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” Therefore, “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) Jesus promised that when he rose from death and returned to the Father, he would send the “Counselor”, his own Holy Spirit, to reveal all the truth of the Father to us. (John 16:5-15) And now the Holy Spirit of Christ lives within us to give us the revelation and understanding of God’s “secret wisdom,” which God “destined for our glory before time began”, and without which our walk would seem meaningless, hopeless and cruel! And Colossians 1:27 reveals this mystery as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The restoration of the glory of God in us is a living hope - a hope to live by; it is our destiny; it is our inheritance! And this has been the plan and the purpose of God since before time began, which he is accomplishing now through the Spirit of Christ as he dwells in power within us! When Jesus prayed for all believers before he went to the cross, he spoke of his glory within us as an accomplished reality: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.” (John 17:22-23) And yet this same glory that Jesus spoke of as “now” remains an inheritance which awaits us in the “not yet” - a living hope, kept in heaven, secure and imperishable, as Peter wrote. (1 Peter 1:4) Meanwhile, “…(we are) marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14) “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” 6 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:6-9) Can you see how the Holy Spirit, Christ in you, enlightens the eyes of your heart to inform your day-to-day circumstances with a forward looking hope that empowers you to walk in joy? It is the mind of Christ in us - his Holy Spirit - who reveals our trials in the context of hope and who transforms us by the renewing of our minds so we can approve God’s will as “good, pleasing and perfect,” to grasp by faith that he really does work “all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Speaking of the glory which is our hope and destiny, Paul wrote of the New Covenant: “…will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men (the Law) is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” (2 Corinthians 3:8-10; 12) This truth is veiled to those who are perishing – they cannot perceive it. But for us who are being saved, the ministry of the Spirit enlightens us as to what God has freely given us, and 7 removes the veil of dullness that clouds our vision so we might understand life from the perspective of God’s purpose for us. “Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (v. 16; 18) “What was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.” No comparison! This is the mind of Christ that reveals a hope of greater worth than gold refined in the fire, as God works through our fiery trials to refine and burnish his likeness in us, as we ever-increasingly reflect his glory! “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us,” Paul writes in Romans 8:18! “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) As I considered these bold, even superlative exhortations, I found myself thinking, “Sure, that’s easy for you to say – after all, I’m just little old me, but you’re the Apostle Paul!” And, as our Adversary would certainly say, like the wily politician that he is, “I knew the Apostle Paul - and Rodger Hamilton, you’re no Apostle Paul!” But there are a couple of responses that give the lie to that kind of thinking: 8 The first is that Paul himself said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) “Join with others in following my example…” (Philippians 3:17) And as I consider the example that Paul set, I see that he walked the talk. Through all the hardships he endured, he never lost focus on the hope set before him. An examination of Paul’s obedience and faithfulness to his calling in Christ reveals a life of extreme trial: on display, condemned to die, a fool for Christ, weak, dishonored, hungry and thirsty, brutally treated, in rags, homeless, cursed, persecuted, slandered, having become the scum of the earth, in troubles, hardships and distresses, in beatings, imprisonments and riots, in hard work and sleepless nights, five times flogged with the forty lashes minus one, beaten with rods, stoned, shipwrecked, in danger from rivers, bandits, countrymen, Gentiles and false brothers, and besides all these, his concern for all the churches! This was the example Paul set; this was the context in which he wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) Because he was becoming transformed by the renewing of his mind, Paul could honestly say, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13) Because Paul was informed by the enlightenment of the Spirit of Christ within him, he was empowered to accept his trials as God’s good, pleasing and perfect will! Paul didn’t focus on his difficulties - except as they were a medium for God to transform him. 9 Rather, Paul pressed on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him! (Philippians 3:12) Paul exemplified the exhortation of Hebrews 12:2-3: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” “Therefore we do not lose heart,” he wrote. “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) What a profound transformation came about in the mind and heart of the man who once was Saul – burning with misguided religious zeal and breathing murderous threats against the followers of the Way! What happened? On the road to Damascus, intent on persecuting those heretical infidels, those pathetic “little christs”, Saul was waylaid by grace – disarmed and dissuaded, sought out and confronted with the love of the living, resurrected Christ, brought face-to-face with his own spiritual blindness as his companions led him sightless and impotent into the city. All things considered, God would have been just and righteous to strike Paul dead right where he stood! 10 But… Grace upon grace, the Holy Spirit, through Ananias, removed the scales from Paul’s physical eyes, and enlightened the eyes of Paul’s heart to give him the revelation of the living hope to which he was called, the riches of his inheritance in Christ, and the incomparably great power of God at work in him! The very same power which God exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead began to work within Saul, the persecutor, as the Spirit of Jesus took up residence in his heart, transforming him into Paul the Apostle of Christ, rerouting him off the road to Damascus and onto the path to paradise! What changed Saul into Paul? The risen Savior – Christ in him, the living hope of glory! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all could experience such a profound experience in our Christian journey? What a blessing it would be to walk in the joy of the Lord, for the darkness of our path to be illuminated by the shining hope Paul professed! What a joyful transformation would happen if our minds were renewed and we became empowered to approve God’s will in any and every situation! How acceptable and pleasing to God is such spiritual worship! Good News! Jesus is risen! And just as Jesus shared that piece of broiled fish with his dismayed and dumbfounded disciples and so opened their eyes that first Easter evening, so he desires to reveal himself alive in us! And he says to each one of us, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20) 11 Christ in you is the hope of glory! And the moment we open our hearts and receive the Spirit of Jesus within us, then the power of God that raised Christ from the dead begins to inform and transform us and fit us for the glory that is our destiny and our inheritance! We receive the Spirit of sonship, who testifies and enlightens us to the truth that we are co-heirs with Christ who share in his glory as we share in his sufferings. (Romans 8:16-17) We become indwelled by the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation, as the eyes of our hearts are enlightened to know the hope to which he has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance and his incomparably great power for us! We are enabled to embrace with vibrant faith the proclamation of Romans 8:18-39, and shout a joyous “Amen!” to that marvelous and sure promise! (READ) Christ in us is the hope of glory! Nothing, nothing, but nothing can prevent him from accomplishing his purpose in us – if we will only open the door and invite him in… Today, if you hear his voice, don’t harden your heart! Sinner: Now is the day of your salvation! Believer: Now is the day to work out your salvation; now is the day to walk in the power of the Resurrection, in the Living Hope, as Christ lives in you – the hope of glory! Now, to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and 12 with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen! 13