Living with Ultimate Hope

Well, good morning. My name's Rene. I'm another one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. Super glad that you could join us today on this absolutely beautiful Sunday morning.

Well, I want to start with a true story of an amazing discovery that marine archaeologists made on March 5, 2022. Off the coast of Antarctica, divers went down and then sent a remote vehicle even further down and found one of history's most renowned lost shipwrecks 10,000 feet below the surface of the Antarctic ice, the wreck of the Endurance. Do you see its name there on this turn? The Endurance. And it was discovered almost 107 years after she sank in what one of the explorers called a brilliant state of preservation.

Now, in the Hope Rising book, I tell her story. This man, British explorer Ernest Shackleton, was her captain on an expedition to the South Pole. Unfortunately, the ship suddenly one day became trapped in quick frozen sea ice, and they could not get out. Their only hope was to send the foremost experienced sailors, the captain, Shackleton, and three other men off in the lifeboat, which they had to drag over miles and miles of ice before they could have any hope of finding open ocean. And they went off in search of civilization, leaving the entire rest of the crew behind with what they were able to salvage from the ship before it sank.

Shackleton promised the lost crew that he would return. However, later when he tried to go back in a rescue ship, he found huge icebergs blocked the way. And then a second ship, again icebergs, blocked the way. A third ship, icebergs, blocked the way. It took months and months and four attempts. During all this time, no communication with this man, no idea if they were alive or dead.

Finally, he was able to get through with a sense of foreboding. And he went back to where he left them on an ice-bound island called Elephant Isle. And you know what he found? After trying to get through to his men for all of those months, they were standing on shore, ready and waiting for him. Their sleeping bags were all rolled up. Everything was packed. They were ready to board. This is actually a photo that the crew took when they finally saw their captain returning for them. And best of all, every single crew member survived in excellent health.

Now, on the rescue boat, after they got the men out as fast as they could because the ice was freezing up the ocean again, Shackleton turned to the leader and said, you know, it was a good thing that you were all packed and ready to go because we really had to get out of there. But how did you know that I was coming today so that you were all packed up? Did you have lookouts up on mountains somewhere that were relaying this news to you? And this was their reply. We never gave up hope. Every single morning, we rolled up our backs and packed and reminded each other, the boss may come today. Say, the boss may come today with me out loud. The boss may come today.

Now, that'll preach because that's the exact same attitude that the earliest Christians had actually about Jesus Christ. Let's talk this morning about living with ultimate hope. We started this series, Hope Rising, on Easter weekend. We even wrote a 30-day devotional book that we've made available for free. You can download the PDF on our website. Now, this morning, we ran out even though we printed thousands of these, which is wonderful. There's a new shipment on the way. It's going to arrive tomorrow. It's three times as expensive because of tariffs. No, just kidding. I'm joking about that politically, perhaps too soon. But that's going to be available for free starting on Monday here, or you can pick it up next weekend because we want to get this in the hands of every single person here.

Every day, there's a prayer about hope. There's a scripture about hope. There's a story about hope to kind of fill your hope bucket during this series. And we need this. All the data shows that in America, we are feeling lower hope about life right now. There's rising despair, pessimism about the future, increased sadness. And I find this interesting. Sociologists say that you can see it in pop culture. Think of it. For example, I like sci-fi. And the sci-fi shows these days, instead of an optimistic future where a diverse crew of loving people bring peace to the galaxy, what we have is The Last of Us, Fallout, Silo, right? And post-apocalyptic fiction in books is a booming genre. The future as dystopian, decimated, discouraging.

I mean, even Star Wars on this May the 4th day went from a new hope to very grim and foreboding in tone. Now, listen, I'm not saying these are bad shows or bad art, but I'm saying they reflect the cultural mood right now. Now, what's really intriguing to me is that the early Christians in the ancient Roman Empire were experiencing a wave of persecution and oppression. They could have gone around thinking that their future was dire and gloomy because it was dire and gloomy. The empire was against them. The establishment was against them. You think of this, all of their leaders, what's called apostles, every single one ended up either imprisoned or killed for their faith.

So they could have just been bummed out about their hope. Yet the word they use most often to describe their future is hope. Let me just give you a taste. Look at some of these verses. These-- most of the New Testament is letters written by early Christian leaders to other early Christians in the first century. So this gives you a sense of how they looked at the future. Look at what they were expecting. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. The second coming of Christ. Or, We wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Or, We too wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies that He has promised us. So are you seeing a theme there? You could put it this way, "The boss might come back today." Right?

Or look at this verse, 1 Thessalonians 4:13. "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep." Now, fall asleep, this was the uniquely Christian way of talking about dying. This was something that came-- the Christians were the first ones to talk about death in terms of its sleep because they were like, well, it's temporary. Death is kind of like a longer sleep because you're going to wake up. Watch this. "Or to grieve like the rest of men." Now, it's very normal to grieve. It's not right to say, oh, you're a Christian. You shouldn't be grieving a loss. Jesus grieved. He wept at the funeral of his friend Lazarus. This is not talking about that kind of healthy grief. He's saying, I don't want you to grieve hopelessly like those who have no hope.

So a guy named Paul is writing this, and he's writing as the rest of the New Testament was written in this context of the first century Roman world. Their religions didn't really have a concept of a conscious, personal, happy afterlife, like this inscription that archaeologists found on a Roman tomb. It reads, "After death, no reviving. After the grave, no reuniting." No hope. But the Christians believed something different than that. Christians believed that the resurrected Jesus is returning, and then we will be resurrected too into a new, beautiful, restored world where all evil is gone, one day.

And the very first follower of Jesus just loved this idea. Check this out. There are 318 references to the second coming of Christ in the New Testament. 318. 23 of 27 New Testament books refer to it. In fact, most of the time when the New Testament talks about having hope, this is specifically what they are talking about, the hope that there will one day be a day when all the bad things are undone and all the good things are redone and perfected.

I just want to show you how much for centuries this idea captured the imagination of followers of Jesus. One of the earliest church buildings in the world was this building. This is in Thessalonica, Greece, northern Greece, Macedonia. So this was built to be a tomb of one of the Caesars, but it was abandoned because they decided to put his tomb somewhere else. So the local Christians claimed the building. Nobody else wanted an abandoned tomb. And they remodeled it, and it became one of the earliest Christian churches ever that was specifically intended for Christian worship outside of a house. So very, very early on.

Well, just a few years ago, archaeologists thought, OK, there's paintings on the walls and there's plaster, but that's probably from later. Let's carefully chip those off, and let's see what the very first decorations of this church by the very, very earliest Christians were all about. So they chipped it off, and all of the original paintings are about the return of Jesus Christ. Every single one. This idea was so compelling to Christians, you can imagine, suffering Roman oppression and persecution. And it continued to be for centuries.

I mean, listen, it's in the news when the Catholic Cardinals meet this week in Rome, in the Vatican, to elect a new pope. They're going to be meeting in the Sistine Chapel. Now, that is a nice boardroom, I just have to say. But they're going to be meeting under the ceiling vaults painted by Michelangelo. Well, 25 years after Michelangelo finished the ceiling, he was coaxed out of retirement and offered an opportunity to paint the huge blank north wall of the Sistine Chapel. And at first, he was uninterested. I don't want to do it. Then he said he would, if he could paint the scene from the Bible that he wanted to paint, the return of Jesus Christ.

The day when Jesus arrives in glory, and dead bodies rise out of the grave, and those who are alive are caught up into the air to be with Jesus or sent to judgment. But what I'm saying is, for centuries and centuries and centuries, this idea was central to our faith. The boss is coming back. The blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of Jesus. Yet for so many Christians today, in my observation, it's almost a little bit embarrassing to talk about the second coming of Jesus, or that day when all things will be perfected and remade, and so on. It's kind of confusing if it's not embarrassing. There's a lot of misunderstanding about it.

And my theory is, it's been weaponized by some doomsday cults who've claimed, well, we know exactly when Jesus is returning. So come and join us on this hilltop, and give us all your money, and put your robes on, and wait for the appearance of Jesus Christ. And it's also been the subject of failed predictions. So you've got doomsday cults, you've got failed predictions, and so people are kind of like, this is a radioactive idea for some people. But there's real beauty to this idea. There's real power to this idea that we often miss.

And so what I want to try to do this morning is recapture the essence of this, and show you four truths that inspire ultimate hope. And as I've just shown, you have inspired hope for Christians for centuries. And when you really understand this, what you'll be motivated to do is not join a doomsday cult on a mountain compound somewhere. As you'll see, what you'll be motivated to do is face the challenges of this world with energy, and with focus, and purpose.

So jot these just four words, because I want you to really get this. There will be a day when I will be first resurrected, resurrected from the dead like Jesus. So Philippians 3:21 says, when Jesus returns, He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body, like His body. What was His resurrected body like? Luke 24, after the Resurrection, Jesus said, look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. So His body's transformed, yet still physical. He ate food. He touched people. And I love that He specifies, it is I myself. It was really-- Jesus was still Jesus after the Resurrection. And you will still be you.

After this life, you're not going to just be dissolved into an anonymous universal consciousness. As one writer put it, if Bob is no longer Bob when he gets to heaven, then Bob did not go to heaven. And that is a good point. But it gets better. Second, on that day, I will be reunited with those who have gone before. I love this. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians, for since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with Him the believers who have died. And we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And this is the scene. This verse is the scene that Michelangelo painted on the Sistine Chapel wall. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Look at all the words like together and with them and we and with the Lord. You can see the emphasis in this verse is on the reunification. As a pastor, many times I've heard people express at funerals, I'll never be able to hug them again. But according to these verses, those words are actually not true, not for those who trust in Him. And that really brings hope when you've lost a loved one or when you're facing death yourself.

I, one of my earliest memories as a child, is brushing up against my father's stubbly face before he shaved in the morning and smelling his aftershave. And it's one of my earliest memories because, of course, many of you know he passed away just before I turned four. But I'll be able to rub that cheek again according to these verses. And I'll be able to kiss him and hug him again, and so will you.

Garvin Byrne was a young boy who was born with a rare disease that stopped his physical growth when he turned five. And then when he was 11, he was diagnosed with a rare form of terminal leukemia. Well, shortly before he passed, when he was just 12 years old, he was interviewed on British television, several years ago now. But it's so profound. I want you to watch this.

- That's to-- oh, God says to shut your eyes. And that-- and you just go to sleep. And then the next minute, you open your eyes. And you'll find you're in a lovely place, just so beautiful that you want to stay there and be with Jesus forever. And all my friends, or most of my friends, who I knew down on this earth, that I believe, have gone to God. And when I-- and I hope that when my time will come, I shall see them and go up and say hello to whoever I lost. Like, I never saw my grandma, Grandma Daugherty. And I hope to see her in heaven and my grandpa and my-- some of my aunties and my Uncle Christy, who I used to know down here very well. And I'll meet all those people back up there.

OK, first of all, isn't he adorable? And second, I love how he corrects himself. All my friends-- most of my friends will be there. I'd like to know who didn't make the cut and why. But the interviewer then asks him why he has so much ultimate hope. Listen to his answer.

- Well, feel sort of almost as if I want to go there. Because I believe that there's a life after death.

- What do you believe that life is like?

- I believe that life to be joyful, happy, no pain, complete suffering over and done with, just complete joy and happiness. And I believe in a Christ, a loving Jesus, and this loving Jesus, who I love and who I think to be a very special person to me. He's a special friend to me. And he's always got his arms outstretched. I always believe he has his arms outstretched to me whenever I'm in trouble.

Isn't that beautiful? You're starting to see why the earliest Christians called this their blessed hope. Now, if we are raised and reunited, then where are we all going to live? Well, that's the third point. The whole world is going to be restored, restored. And this is where we get into the Bible's descriptions of heaven, right? The ultimate heaven, where we're going to live together in our resurrected bodies.

You ever wonder what is heaven like? So many people have come up to me over the years as a pastor and said, I got to confess something to you. I am terrified of dying. I said, oh, you're afraid you won't go to heaven? They go, no, I'm terrified because I'm afraid I will go to heaven. And it looks so boring. And I get it because in Hollywood, heaven looks like Aptos in June, just a fog bank forever. Sun never comes out. And people go, is that what heaven's like?

Sometimes little kids come up to me and they say, my dog died. Will there be dogs in heaven? And I say, well, I don't know, the Bible's not clear on that point, but it could be. We can hope. Or they say, what about my cat? Will there be cats in heaven? Then I say, no. I mean, I say it could be the Bible's not clear on that point. But here's the surprise plot twist at the end of the Bible. I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people. Up there is coming down here. He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.

Again, all these-- the language of togetherness. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Now, stop just a second there. I love that image, wipe every tear. Because the earliest comfort that we receive in life is our moms and dads wiping tears when we cry. It's such a visceral image with roots down into our subconscious minds. And this is what the ultimate father, God the Father, will do for us. Shh. And all our tears are soaked into his love. And there will be-- here's what's not there. No more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, I am making all things new.

Now, notice that it says, I am making all things new, not I am making all new things. And for years, that's kind of what I thought the Bible taught, right? The Earth is going to be burned up and there would be all new things, that shadowy, vapor-y, cloudy, fog-bank things. But he says, I'm making all these things, all-- there's nothing too small to be redeemed by God and nothing too big. I'm making all things new. He's going to take what's good about this Earth and redeem it. And I can't even conceive this, but I like to think of places like Yosemite or the Pacific Coast or the Redwood Forest, as glorious as they are, perfected in beauty and culture too.

The Bible describes vineyards and gardens and feasts and music. It's so tangible. I think that the historical biblical conception of the afterlife has been subsumed by this vague Hollywood image of heaven with halos and robes and angels floating on clouds forever with nothing to do, which to most of us is really not all that appealing. The biblical idea is much more like this, like a photo spread in Travel and Leisure magazine or something, right? It's a feast in a vineyard with great food and laughing, very tactile imagery.

And in case you think I'm overdoing it, this is like everything in this picture's in the Bible's description of heaven. Like Isaiah 65 says, see, I will create new heavens and a new Earth. They'll plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Jesus said, blessed are you who weep now, for your laugh, in that day you'll leap with joy. It's going to be super fun. And he said, people from the east and the west and the north and the south will sit down at the feast in the kingdom of God. Doesn't that sound good? Doesn't that sound like hope?

The idea is that God redeems all of creation, not just the spiritual invisible parts. All of creation is redeemed. It's Eden again, right? So to recap, and just to be clear, the Bible teaches you have a spirit in your body. Your spirit is what goes to be with Jesus when you die. Meanwhile, your body stays in the grave, but that's not the end. The Bible teaches one day your body will be resurrected just as Jesus' was, reunited with your loved ones. And on that day, all of God's creation will be restored and liberated from the curse of sin and death.

And I think this is really what we long for, right? Nobody says, you know, when I die, I hope I get to be a disembodied spirit forever. That's a ghost story. That's not a hope story. What we long for is to enjoy taste and touch and music and art and beauty and love. And the Bible's point is that is what we get. And it gets even better. How can it get better than that? Well, God is a giving God, and he just piles good upon good. And the final point is that I will be rewarded. Rewarded.

Watch this. This is-- I think it could blow your minds. Jesus said, behold, I am coming soon. Boss is coming back. My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. Now, what's that mean? Because you might be thinking, well, I mean, I'm not going to get anything because I haven't done anything great with my life, right? My reward? Uh-oh. What's this mean? What am I going to be rewarded for? The Bible talks a lot about this.

First, you could say no suffering is unnoticed. Paul said, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. I think this is a phrase we often miss. Are achieving for us. Somehow, our suffering here earns reward. Now, that doesn't mean you should make yourself suffer so that you'll earn a greater reward. That's a perversion of this idea. The idea is that those who suffer now, God sees that suffering, and there will be a recompense.

I think of people who struggle with mental illness, or maybe people in long-term care units who've been suffering for years, or especially those suffering for their faith. God sees, and God knows. Paul says light and momentary. I think of that famous line of Mother Teresa's. She said, one day, all our suffering on Earth will seem like one night in a bad hotel. I love that. And no sharing is unnoticed. Jesus promised it. Look at this verse. Anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his what? Reward. A cup of water, that's the smallest possible gesture. The point clearly is that everything you do now counts for eternity.

The smallest-- Do you even remember, everybody, that you'd given a cup of cold water to when they were thirsty? You couldn't remember. God remembers. He not only remembers, but Jesus says, yeah, you're going to be rewarded. You'll be rewarded for things you've long forgotten. And no serving is unnoticed. Some of you say, I've been trying to be a good influence at school or at work, or I've been trying to do the right thing in my family, and nobody seems to see. God says, I see it.

He says, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for people, since you know that you'll receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. What's incredible is, he says here, whatever you do, there's going to be a reward if you're doing it for Christ, working at it with all your heart. I mean, in other words, you're not just doing a good job at work so that you get a good performance review. Actually, even your work, God, rewards. If it's done from that kind of a pure motive-- I mean, this is just amazing, right?

Maybe you're a faithful parent. Maybe you're a single parent. And you feel like nobody has any idea how nonstop it all is, the laundry, the driving, the commuting, the helping with homework. Well, God knows, and God sees, and God says, I cannot wait to give you a reward for that and say, good job. I mean, look at this list. The idea really is because God is a gracious God, because he is a loving, merciful, gracious, compassionate God. Gracious is a part of his essential character, right?

So when we're in heaven and we're saved from sin, how can God continue to be gracious then? By lavishing rewards on us. Because grace is an essential part of his character, he will continue to be gracious to us for eternity. So when you see all of this together-- resurrected, reunited, restored, rewarded-- this is the image of their future that these first Christians, under the thumb of the Roman Empire, were living with. This is what they meditated on daily. And look how this changed them.

Paul says, therefore, since we have such a hope-- the kind of hope I've just been describing-- we are very bold. Again, it didn't make them want to retreat somewhere and suck their thumbs while they waited for Jesus Christ to come back. It made them bold. It made them do good things in the world and good works. Why? There's going to be a reward. Boss is coming back, right? And also, this meant that the Roman Empire's main means of crowd control, which was the threat of death in the arena or on a cross, didn't mean anything to the Christians.

Christians were like, you know, that's temporary. It's a-- you know, I mean, maybe if you crucify me, I'll get a reward for that. Go ahead. I mean, it was like it made them psychologically invincible. And it's not just them. I want you to meet somebody with that kind of hope. On May 9, 2020, Ben Kelly was surfing here in Santa Cruz County when he was fatally attacked by a great white shark, and his widow, Katie, was suddenly faced with a new reality. And many of you know Katie. She's just been a great help here with our Grief Share program. But I wanted her to share with you via video where she finds her ultimate hope.

Watch this.

- Hi, Twin Lakes Church. My name is Katie Kelly. And it's a huge privilege to be able to talk with you today as the topic of hope has become so crucial for me in these past five years. On May 9, 2020, my sweet husband Ben was attacked by a shark while surfing at Sand Dollar Beach. That day, he met Jesus face to face. And my life was changed in an instant. Suddenly, I found myself a widow at 27 years old.

When I think about hope, it has colored the entire last five years of my life. It's genuinely the sole reason I'm alive today. I found myself wondering, what's the point of living in this world that's filled with so much pain if it's all there is to hope in? I've clung to the fact that this life isn't all there is. And that has changed everything for me. It's given me the ability to rely on something greater than the current suffering and pain I've experienced.

This journey has been super painful and so agonizing, as I've grieved not only just my husband and my best friend, but also the life I knew in the future I dreamed of that was stripped away within a second. Though it hasn't been easy, and I've definitely had seasons of wrestling with my faith, I've also seen and felt God's nearness in ways I've never experienced before. Because of Jesus's death and resurrection, his saving grace and love, I have found a will to live, to still find joy and beauty amidst the pain each day, and continue to trust and see God's love, even in the heartache.

I've found hope that death won't get the final say, that I get to see Ben again, and hope in a place beyond this where there will be no more tears, pain, or suffering. I truly felt like I'd lost everything, but I quickly realized while maybe I hadn't an earthly sense, I hadn't lost Jesus. And it kinda sums it up in Romans 8:38, which I was reminded of early on, where it says something to the effect of, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor anything else will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." And I've found that to be true.

Everything can be stripped away, but nothing can take away Jesus. His love for me, the hope that he brings, nothing can take away the promise of heaven for eternity. Through these last few years, God has put a new calling on my heart. I created a nonprofit called Through It All Foundation with a mission of being God's tangible love for those in the midst of tragedy and loss, especially those after the loss of a loved one.

And we've also been given the huge privilege by Santa Cruz County to continue to honor Ben's life through the Ben Kelly No Contest that's coming up in a couple of weeks at the point, actually. It's so much more than just a contest. It's a super fun day to bring the community together, not only honor Ben's life, but also share about what mattered most to him, which was God's love and the hope he brings. So yeah, we'd love for you to come and join us on May 17th.

But just to sum it all up, this is never what I imagine my life to look like. But even in the midst of it, hope has changed everything for me. There's been beauty in the midst of brokenness. And because of Jesus, I truly believe Ben is more alive today than ever before.

Isn't that beautiful? And so the obvious question, right, is how do I get this hope? I want you to look at the last verse in your notes. I'll put it on screen too. This is almost the last verse in the whole Bible. It's during a vision of the new heavens and the new earth. And then there's this invitation. The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let him who hears say, "Come." Whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

It doesn't say whoever qualifies. It says whoever wishes. It doesn't say whoever is good enough. It says whoever's thirsty. I love that the Bible basically ends with this invitation. It's like God's like, it does not sound good. So now just take the free gift if you're thirsty for that. And being thirsty for that feels like freaking out, thinking about your own future or thinking about your own mortality. You don't have to feel that way. You can look forward and concentrate on your future as a day of blessed hope.

Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that you can too. You know, people are getting baptized today in just a few minutes. And these are people who've come to believe that Jesus is their Savior and Lord. They're publicly proclaiming today that they've accepted this free gift. But you know, when they're baptized, they're baptized under the water and they come out again. And the symbolism is just as Jesus was died and buried and is resurrected into newness of life, I'm placing my trust in that Savior and that that's my future too. And that that's the shape of my whole life that we all go through crucifixions and resurrections until the ultimate resurrection.

Man, that's hope for today and for tomorrow. I started with the story of Shackleton's expedition. How did those men keep themselves ready for his arrival? Well, as we saw the belief that Shackleton would rescue them one day, kept them going every day, but I'll be very specific. They held concerts. They rescued one instrument from the ship before it sank. It was a banjo. Every single man learned to play that banjo. And they all gave concerts every night. They organized a soccer league with different teams. They did exercises. They did experiments that they believed would be meaningful because their research would be known to the world.

What I'm saying is their ultimate hope fueled their daily hope because they told themselves the boss is coming back. Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads with me? Thank you so much, Father, for such a hope and such a promise. And God, I pray right now for anybody who feels like they have no hope here, who looks at their life and their death as just a blind alley. God, I pray that you'd give them peace this day as they put their trust in Jesus who conquered death.

May they turn to you and say, Jesus, yes, I'm taking that free gift of the water of life. And God, for all of us, may we all hope for the return of our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and live daily in light of that hope with joy and peace and boldness and confidence. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.