The Advent of Hope

The Advent of Hope

Titus 2:11-15

Introduction: You may have noticed the decorations around the church (or your neighborhood!) have begun to appear. We saw some decorations going up already during our vacation, before Thanksgiving!  For many people Christmas is a time for adorning the house and decorating the carefully selected tree with the symbols that are associated with Advent.  Those traditions are ok, as long as we maintain our focus on the One who is the reason for the season. This week as we celebrate the “Advent of Hope” we turn to a passage in Paul’s letter to Titus and we are reminded that sound doctrine, right teaching of God’s word, is something that we can adorn, it is visible as it impacts us and changes us, it gives us hope, while revealing the beauty of the Gospel to those around us: “…in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” Some translations say, “make attractive” the teaching. When people see that we have hope in the midst of this chaotic world it gets their attention because “hope” is something everyone desperately longs for. The tragedy experienced by the Simon family has us grieving with them as a church family. We mourn, but not as those who have no hope. We have a sure hope that is based on the truth that Jesus Christ has defeated death, he knows us, and one day we will see Him face to face. Hope means to anticipate something with a confident expectation that it is coming. We find comfort in the promise that the suffering of this present age is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18). It seems that Paul is saying that as we live in submission to God’s revealed truth we reveal the intrinsic beauty of who God is, and what he has done in us and for us. For Paul theology is always practical and it must filter from our mind to our heart, to our hands and our feet. The truth He has revealed empowers and motivates us to live by faith.

The Big Idea: The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

I. The Advent of Christ offers hope for humankind: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people…”

            Grace has appeared, because the grace giver, the gracious redeemer, burst upon the stage of human history 2000 years ago. Grace has appeared since he came of his own free will, with a purpose, to give himself to provide salvation for all who would believe.  We are so familiar with the story we can almost forget how astounding it is in the way that it unfolded. After 400 years of silence, the God of all creation, the Lord of the universe who spoke in times past through the prophets, spoke in His Son.  He himself came as one of us. The Jewish people in the first century had a hope based on Scripture, one day the Messiah would arrive and save His people. Contrary to expectations he came under the humblest circumstances not to defeat armies and establish His earthly kingdom, but rather to make a way for forgiveness and life.

            Paul goes on to say that grace appeared, “…bringing salvation for all people…” Not to say that all people would be saved, but that the price has been paid and the gift has been offered, the One Way of salvation through faith in Christ has been extended to all classes of people, and to all races and nations.  Paul had just been talking to masters and servants, to husbands and wives, to young and old, telling them to walk worthy of their calling in Christ.  Jesus is the one and only source of forgiveness and life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the only name under heaven by which we can be saved (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).   The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. The advent of Christ is the Advent of hope, and…

II. The Advent of Hope calls us to live differently:  “…training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…” 

            First of all, we are to live differently in terms of what we don’t do: “…teaching us to renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts…” Sin is a choice.  Our hope in Christ is something that motivates us to live more and more in the light of eternity.  Increasingly our forward focus on Jesus and what He has prepared for us will enable us to say no to sin: “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me…” (Gal 2:20).

             Positively, we are called to live in a way that manifests the fruit of the Spirit, the presence of God in our lives: “…we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age…” Did you know that you are living, already, in the future? We are living in this world, but we are citizens of heaven. We walk in this present age, but we already are partakers of the age to come. As Paul told the Colossians “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son…” (Col 1:13). And so the first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

III. The Advent of Hope calls us to live expectantly… “…waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…”

             Hope involves waiting confidently, expectantly.  The word “hope” usually has a different connotation in English, it’s something we desire or want or long for, but we don’t necessarily have confidence that it will happen.  We “hope” it will, but there may be doubt, our “hope” might be no more than wishful thinking.  One child said, “Hope is wishing for something you know ain’t gonna happen.”  Well biblical “hope” implies anticipation, confidence, faith, based on God’s revealed Word, an assurance that God is good, and a sure expectation that God’s story is going to unfold according to His plan.

            Waiting for what? The first coming of Christ revealed grace, God’s unmerited favor, and provided the basis of the gracious salvation provided in the Cross. His second coming will reveal more fully his unveiled glory. We see a glimpse of His glory now, but wait until we see what John saw in Revelation 1:13-18,

“…and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.  ¹⁴ His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;  ¹⁵ His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;  ¹⁶ He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.  ¹⁷ And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.  ¹⁸ "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.”

            Waiting for who? The language here is quite emphatic, “…our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…” He is our Savior. Because of Him we have hope. He is God, so our hope is sure. Think of that: The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

IV. The Advent of Hope was costly and purposeful: “…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” 

             Christmas is a time for giving, but there is no doubt that the true gift of Christmas was presented 2000 years ago. Ultimately it was presented not under a tree, but hung on a tree.  He “gave himself for us,” that not only means that He came for us, but that he came to die for us.

            He gave himself to redeem us from the penalty of sin. “Redeem” is from lutroo, “free by paying a ransom.” We were guilty, condemned sinners, unable to free ourselves.  There is the famous story of A.J. Gordon who was the great Baptist pastor of the Clarendon Church in Boston, Massachusetts.  

“One day he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, "Son, where did you get those birds?" The boy replied, "I trapped them out in the field." "What are you going to do with them?""I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home." When Gordon offered to buy them, the lad exclaimed, "Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well." Gordon replied, "I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds." "Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain." The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.”

       That’s redemption. The wages of sin is death. That is what we deserved. Jesus paid the price that we couldn’t pay.  He did what we could not do for ourselves. He who was without sin, was made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The Advent of Hope was costly, it was also purposeful.

            He gave himself to make possible a new life, to give us a new heart. In reading through the Bible this week I came across that beautiful passage in Ezekiel 36:25-27,  

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

For that hope to be ours, a price had to be paid. Jesus, the Son, came to be the Lamb who would take away sin.  That grace was revealed in the first coming of Jesus and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

V. The Advent of Hope engages us in mission: “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you…” (Titus 2:10b-15).

            Paul admonished Titus to declare the truth, to speak about the hope we have in Christ, not apologetically, but confidently. It was a mission that Paul himself embraced and lived, and it was something that he expected to see in his disciples.

            We too are called to be his witnesses, to boldly stand up for Christ and to speak the truth in love, with passion and conviction. One of the key themes we’ll see in our upcoming series in Acts is that Jesus is working through the Spirit empowered witness of the church to build His church. The recent campaign by the Billy Graham association, “My Hope for America,” calls on us to let the Hope we have in Jesus motivate us to reach out to those around us, men, women, children who don’t know Him, who desperately need hope. Have you looked for opportunities to share that message of Hope with those in your sphere of influence? It’s not too late. In fact the call to share the message of hope that Jesus offers is the ongoing mission of the church.  Look around, the fields are white for the harvest. We are surrounded by people who desperately need Jesus.  At this time of the year people are perhaps more open to hear what we have to say about the One who gave himself to give us hope.

What is God saying to me in this passage?  The first coming of Jesus revealed God’s grace and motivates us to live faithfully in the sure hope of His return. 

What would God have me to do in response to this passage?  As we enter the Advent season this year may I ask you, do you have hope? I don’t mean wishful thinking or denial, but real hope, firmly grounded in the truth that God became a man, He lived among us, He bore our sins on the tree, He rose from the grave and He will return. The Lord’s Table reminds us why He came, and it celebrates what He accomplished. If you are unsure about where you stand with Jesus, there is no need to doubt. The gift of Christmas has been purchased: salvation, life, a sure hope for tomorrow.  Jesus didn’t brave the lines on Black Friday to buy some Christmas presents to place under a tree, He braved the Cross on Good Friday, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, to purchase the gift of life and hope. But like any gift, it must be received. The Scripture says, whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life, whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  Do you believe that He died for your sins on the cross, was buried, and rose again the third day? Then express your trust and thanks to Him with a prayer like this (God is more interested in your heart attitude than the exact words you use): “God, I know that I am a sinner, I constantly choose to do things my way rather than seeking you, please forgive me. I believe that Jesus died for me on the cross and was raised again the third day. I turn from my sin and I turn to you, I put my trust in Jesus and what He has done for me. I receive Him now as the Savior and Lord of my life. Amen.”  If that is the prayer of your heart you have just received the greatest Christmas gift ever: Life and Hope in Jesus. Amen.