10 years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to a remote tribe in the Northwest tip of Uganda.  Poverty and need were everywhere.  When we arrived at one of the schools, I shared from the Scriptures God’s plan to redeem mankind and bring hope to all peoples.  When I finished, they requested in their own way money from us– we were rich Americans, so naturally had plenty to supply them with all of their desires.  When they finished, there was an awkward silence, because we were working with the very small and weak local church and were not going to do anything to hinder their work in the midst of these people.  When a man from this school got up to more poignantly ask for a hand out, the Christian leader who was with us stood up.  He was from their tribe.  He had clearly heard what I said, and pointed to his head and said you are poor here– this is your only problem!  When you believe in and receive what the Lord has for you, when you change your mentality and trust in God instead of foreigners, then you will be supplied with all your needs.  This people had a mind set of poverty, and had no hope apart from American handouts, which even if we had it to give, would have been quickly used up and they would have been in exactly the same place they were in before we came.  They were a hopeless people.
How about you?  Are you a person filled with hope this Christmas season?  Where does your hope come from?  How does your hope cause you to respond to what you see happening in the world around you?  These are some of the themes we want to explore from the Scriptures this morning.
We are continuing to prepare our hearts for Christ’s advent.  2 weeks ago, we looked at the struggle of Christmas, and God’s solution to that struggle.  Last week, we looked at the joy of Christmas and the source and place of joy in our lives at Christmas and always.  We will continue to build on these themes this morning by looking at the hope of Christmas.  Our theme idea is In a hopeless world, Jesus came to earth to bring hope out of despair, making us a hope filled people.

I. One who is worthy of our hope.

What was the world like when Jesus was born?  In a word, “terrible!”  Israel had not heard from a prophet for 400 years.  They still carried on the traditions of the faith, but the fact that such a large number of people went out to the desert to hear John the Baptist preach and the fact that people were stunned by the authority of Jesus as He preached says volumes about the mind set prevalent in this day.  When a person showed up who inspired hope, tons of people came to hear him, because they were starved for hope in this day.

800 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah declared many things about who the Messiah would be, and what the Messiah would do for His people and for the peoples of the world– meaning the Gentiles.  God chooses His servant, and vows to uphold Him with His hand– which signified His power.  The Spirit of God will be on Him to empower Him to bring  justice to the nations.  Notice the phrases used here and how they describe the worth, the faithfulness and the care of this servant of the Lord for people.  He is worthy of people’s trust.  This Messiah will pursue justice in behalf of His people until it comes to pass.  This prophetic Word from Isaiah would have brought hope into a hopeless situation of his day.  And as Jesus came to earth, He would have brought an impartation of hope, that these Messianic promises would be fulfilled.

When we think of justice, as spoken about in Isaiah 42, we need to understand it as the hearers would have, and not in the narrow way we usually understand it.  What justice means in the Scriptures is bringing everything back into God’s order, where truth, righteousness and love abound.  Justice does have the idea of the Judge declaring people guilty and sentencing them appropriately, but it also has to do with bringing God’s purposes to pass.  In Jesus’ day, other leaders who came into power would smash and rebuild at their whim.  Many leaders have the idea that Hitler exemplified that if one appears weak or deformed, we should simply get rid of that one and start over again. This Messiah/servant would be completely different.  He won’t even break something which is bent or bruised, but will straighten and strengthen this one!  This is good news for us, because we are the bruised reed.   The wick which is smoldering and about to go out, the servant will trim the wick and rest it more deeply in the oil.  He will not crush the needy, but will take all evil onto Himself and return only grace.  As you think about it, this is true power!

The actions of the servant should not be interpreted as weak.  He will establish justice in the earth.  The consistent O.T. question, “Where is justice?” was always answered in this way– “God is sending a person...His Messiah, and He will bring Justice!”  The “islands” of verse 4 represent the weak, the needy, the far away– those who have not yet known the glorious power of the Lord.  These will put their hope in the servant to come.  Of course, this is speaking about Jesus.  Matthew 12 picks up this very Scripture and applies it to Christ.  The weak and the sick were coming to Jesus to be healed.  Justice in this passage, Matthew 12, means restoring health because it is not just for these people to be sick when Jesus will pay the price for their wholeness– God desires them to be whole.  Justice means releasing people from the bondage to demons, because it is unjust for demons to take up residence in people Jesus came to set free.  Justice means bringing everything under the authority and order of Jesus, our Messiah and Lord.

And then, as you read about Jesus, His coming to earth in the humblest of forms, being born to peasants in a barn, laying in a stone feed trough, you almost shake your head in disbelief.  You wouldn’t want anyone to be born into such shabby conditions.  But this was the will of the Father.  He was bringing forth His Son who would identify with the poor, would redeem any who acknowledged their need and weakness and sin. 
Left to ourselves, there are certain things humans can do which are called “good”, which temporarily relieve suffering on some level.  But this is not the fountain from which hope springs.  If a person feeds a needy family for a week, that helps the family for that week.  But if the father is addicted to drugs and so spends much of his pay on drugs, that effort to feed this family will not help the family deal with the real problem.  This is why my hope does not lie in government or educational programs.  Both of these institutions can help in some ways, but my hope is in a person– Jesus Christ!

II. Bringing hope out of despair.

Let’s think about what brings hope and what processes go on in our thinking to give us hope, and then we will be able to both embrace and be a part of what our God of hope is doing this Christmas season to bring hope to this world.  I was speaking with a young Christian man who had a sexual addiction.  He came to me in a state of desperation, because he had gotten so enmeshed in sin that he didn’t see any way out.  In our first conversation, I told him that I was a person of perfect hope, but that my hope had nothing to do with him and very little to do with me.  My hope had everything to do with Jesus’ ability and desire to change his life.  Now, if that young man left his time with me without any hope, how would he have responded?  He would have simply given in to his addiction, because he saw no way out.  When a person feels like they have no option, they give in to ‘what is’ every time.  This is why it is so important for us to be people who carry and convey hope. 
How does this work?  First and foremost, we, as followers of Christ, worship the Giver of all hope.  Like joy we talked about last week, hope originates in the heart of God– listen to Rom 15:13, “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.”  As we worship the God of hope, hope flows out of us as the Spirit of God fills us.  God is the author of true biblical hope.  Biblical hope is not a “Maybe– oh I hope it will happen!”  Biblical hope means it is 100% certain that it will happen because it depends upon God’s Word and will.  God’s Word and will must come to pass.  It is called hope in the Bible because we do not yet have it in our hands– it is future.  But it is for sure!
So we look to God, who came in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the hope He would bring!  What does this look like in the midst of desperation?  First of all, it has to do with salvation– God brings us hope for our salvation.  Listen to Simeon as he took the baby Jesus in his arms,
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29‑32)

Remember, this was prophesied over an 8 day old baby.  Had Jesus already been a light of revelation to the Gentiles and glory for Israel?  No.  But the promise was there!  Jesus was sent by God as His Son and Messiah to complete a work.  It was God Himself coming to do a work that no man could complete, and doing this through His Son!  Jesus came to bring light and hope into the world.

And we, as Jesus’ disciples, also are called to bring light and hope into this world, as Jesus’ arms and legs and voice in this world.  Once we have met Jesus and worshiped Him as our God and Lord, then we are enabled to be carriers of hope.  We carry this hope within us.  And we give it away in the world.  When we go into a desperate situation, or a desperate community, we offer ourselves to be used by God as messengers of hope to those who have none.  Hope for us is eternal, in other words, it does have to do with our eternal destiny; but our hope is more than eternal.  I know that when I die, I will be with Jesus.  There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind and heart about this.  Yes, God will wipe every tear from our eyes and will dwell with His people forever.  I am not experiencing the fullness of this reality yet, but I will one day.  So will you, if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and have accepted Him into your heart and life!
But what about hope for our days on earth?  Where does that hope lie?  In the same place– with Jesus!  Jesus is hope for a world lost in desperation.

III. Living lives filled with hope.

Let me flesh this out a little further in our last point this morning.  Many Christians look at the culture around them and assume that what they see is normal– the way things should be.  Maybe things have been like they are for generations, so they assume this is just the way it is.  What we should do and need to do is to look at the Scriptures and ask the question, “Is this the way God designed or planned for these things to be?”  If something is functioning according to the will of God, there will be justice in every sense of the word in the Bible.  In a family, there will be reconciled relationships– this is the will of God.  Do I have hope in a given family that relationships can be reconciled?  I do!  I believe God can change hearts and cause people to repent of their part in any broken relationship.  If you have a part to play, do not wait on the other person, but you go to your brother or sister or whomever it is and ask them to forgive you for any part you have in the broken relationship.  Do not demand your own way.  Don’t justify yourself.  Play your part, no matter what the other person does.  If the broken relationship does not involve you at all, you play the role of peacemaker.  Ask the Spirit of God to show you how to proceed, but pray and even fast as the Lord leads you to do this, and then offer yourself as a peacemaker.  Bang on the gates of heaven until the Lord restores what is broken.  Sometimes this takes months or years, but refuse to give up until the Lord brings about His justice.  Do not assume this is just the way it is, Christian, but work for biblical justice in your family.

Or, how about our church?  Is everything happening at Trinity functioning the way God intended for things to function, or does God have other ways or means He would like to use to extend His Kingdom?  First, let’s make sure we are walking together, completely reconciled with one another, because we know this is the will of God.  Second, pray and pray some more for your leadership, who need to know the mind of the Lord on every issue.  Make sure your heart is submitted to those God has placed in authority over you.  When you sense what you believe the Lord is saying to us as a church, share it with me or with your elders so we can discern this together.  We would love to see new ministries started, but only those the Lord is asking us to do.  How can we as a corporate body speak hope to those in need of hope this Christmas?  We do this through ministries to kids in the East Florence Mission this Tuesday evening; to our friends in the Hispanic Ministry in a whole variety of ways, to the House of Hope through weekly Bible Studies and ministry there.  We need more of you to be involved in doing ministry such as these, and other ministries the Lord will raise up. 

Or how about in our culture?  How do we bring hope?  We begin to pray for neighborhoods where there is brokenness.  On one level, this is true of every neighborhood, because in every neighborhood, there will be unknown places where there are broken relationships.  Ask the Lord to show you where there are relationships which are out of order and address them when God gives you insight into them.  For example, if you find out about a need in your neighborhood, pray for it and then act with compassion.  If you find out neighbor is about to have surgery, then pray for them and take a meal over to them to show the love of Christ.  When the Lord shows you places of brokenness, do not condemn, but speak peace and blessing, and love people where you live.  But in other neighborhoods in our city, the need is more obvious!  When I drive through a neighborhood in which many of the houses are run down– they need paint, there are broken doors or windows or plywood over certain places, the looks of the area is trashy, and there doesn’t appear to be any joy in that area– this is a place the Lord would have His church minister.   When you see several young men sitting on the front porch drinking beer at 10 in the morning, you know there are issues in that neighborhood.  Is this the will of God for this area?  NO!  Begin in prayer to address the reigning demonic activity which is over the area and people.  I have a pastor friend who has started to curse gang activity in the neighborhoods around his church because the Lord showed him that is what he was suppose to pray.  As he has begun to pray this direction, 3 drug dealers have made professions of faith in Christ in the last 3 months!  Now, they need legitimate jobs to take the place of the job they left!  As followers of Christ, we must refuse to accept as okay or normal anything which is robbing people in our community of hope or life.