The Hope of Glory

Hope Rising is our current message series. Hello and good morning. Thank you very much. My name is Mark, one of the pastors. And wow, it gives me joy to see your faces this morning. So glad that you're here with us in this room, or you are out in the lobby, or you're watching us on the live stream. Wherever you are, we are glad that you are with us. And especially if you are visiting from out of town because of the holiday weekend, we're super happy that you are with us here today.

As we begin, I would like to say for the record that we were never technically lost. By we, I mean my wife and Laura—my wife Laura and I—we were backpacking in a wilderness area. And we had spent the night beside this beautiful lake. And we're just kind of getting into this backpacking week. See, I'm a little bit tired there, dragging. But if you look through the trees, you'll notice the top of a mountain here. Our destination for our next night, our next campsite, was somewhere on the other side of that mountain.

As we set out, Laura pulled up an app on her phone called AllTrails. You can see your trail. You can see your location. You don't even need a cell signal. It just uses the GPS on the phone. And so there was the trail on her phone, but there was no trail actually on the ground beneath our feet. Like, we could see little traces here and there of an old trail, but the vast majority of it had been erased. And so we began to experience what my 20-year-old son, who is a wilderness guide, calls level two fun. It's fun when you're in your 20s. But we didn't want to turn around, and so we bushwhacked and crawled and scrambled and clawed all the way up the side of that mountain.

We were just—like, almost there was a saddle, a low point. We didn't go for the summit. There was this saddle in it. That was where we wanted to get. We were like 100 feet away, but between the top and where we were standing was a snow field. And we were not going to set foot on that snow because while not vertical, the face was very steep. And so you start sliding on that snow, and well, it's a long way down. While I go to try to find a way around the snow, Laura takes her pack off, sits down, and thinks to herself, as she would tell me afterwards, this is the hardest thing I've ever done. Bear in mind, this is the same woman who labored to deliver all four of our babies.

Eventually, we did find our way around the snow. And here we are up at the top of that ridge right there. We are so happy to be there, proud of ourselves, thinking not the kindest things about our son Luke, who actually designed that route but had never been on that trail that doesn't exist. There's a distant look in my wife's eyes. You might have noticed that. I think that's due to trauma or something. But we're at the top, like I said. And in the distance, we see the lake.

Oh, wait, before I get there. Here's where we started. We're down here at this lake here. Here's where we were camping. We told ourselves that if we got up there—oh, and by the way, this is snow kind of going steeply down the side of the mountain. We told ourselves when we got to the top—I don't know why we assumed this, but we both did—that magically, the trail would be there waiting to take us down the other side. No, it was not there. It was not there at all.

We did have this going for us, though. We could see the lake that we were going to set our camp at. And that made all the difference. Like, we had total confidence. No matter what, we were going to make it down to that lake, trail or no trail. And so we plunged ourselves into more level 2 fun. I mean, we went through Manzanita and all sorts of thickets and got scratched up until we actually landed on a trail that took us to the lake. And we set camp. We basked in the glow of our adventure and talked about, maybe Luke is not going to be in the trust after all.

Here's my point. When you have a clear view of your destination, you can press through challenges and obstacles that would otherwise overwhelm you. You know what I'm saying? But when you don't, when you cannot see your destination, that's a different story entirely. A pastor, an author named John Maxwell, puts it like this: where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present. And that was us on the first side of that mountain, with no idea if our destination was really there. It drained us physically, emotionally, mentally.

But once we got to the top and we could see that lake, we had total confidence, like I said, that we would reach it. If we were to turn this quote around and make it more positive, where there is hope in the future, there is power in the present. And so I wonder, I wonder, can any of us here this morning use more power in the face of a challenge in your life right now? Got some honest folks here. A strained relationship, or perhaps a health issue, or your financial or employment status. Something that's looming over you, that's sapping you of hope and strength.

We're not always able—in fact, we're often not able—to change our circumstances. But we can always choose where we will fix our hope. And where there is hope in the future, there's power in the present. We are going to see that big time today because the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, distills the core of our hope into just seven words. Seven words that sum up the hope for every Christian. And here they are: Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is the answer to your greatest fear. It is the answer to your biggest problem. It is the answer to your life. And it is the answer to your death.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's the confident expectation that God is going to make good on every single promise He has made to us. Our redemption, our resurrection, new creation, and the life of the world to come. That is the hope of glory and so much more. So let's take a closer look at this. Let's just unpack this, starting with just the word Christ. Christ. Most of you know that Christ is not Jesus' last name. He wasn't born to Mr. and Mrs. Christ. It is a title. It means anointed one, Messiah.

Whatever you think of Jesus, it does not even come close to who He truly is. We simply just don't have big enough imaginations. How could we capture in our minds the glory of the Christ? Well, again, Paul is going to help us here through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he writes about Jesus Christ throughout Colossians. But starting here in chapter 1, verse 15 and following, he says this. This is actually a beautiful poem that he's put together. And it says this: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things. And in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross."

Wow. We're talking about the one who said, "Let there be light," and boom, our universe came into existence. In the vastness of space, He made a home for us, a place filled with spectacular beauty and teeming with amazing creatures. All things created by Him and for Him, our Christ, our God, who delights in hummingbirds and sunsets and gives the lion his roar and the stars their twinkle. Now let me ask you, when was the last time you were filled not just with awe of creation, but awe in the face of the Creator?

One very memorable time for me came when Laura and I, along with her folks, were staying with friends at their lakeside home in northern Wisconsin. One night, about 12:30, we got up to see the northern lights. Anyone ever seen the northern lights? A few of us. It's a privilege. And if you have, you know there is no photograph, no video that can ever do justice to the northern lights. It is amazing. We were blown away because the lights, they undulate like a sheet blowing in the wind. They dance almost as if they're dancing to the singing of angels that we can't hear. It's so amazing. We could not help just spontaneously saying out loud what David says at the beginning of Psalm 19, "The heavens declare the glory of God." You're in awe of this phenomenon, and you're in awe even more of the one who created it.

So ask yourself this this morning, how do I see Jesus? How do I see Jesus? As someone who has some good things to say, kind of like the ultimate life coach? Or as scripture says, Emmanuel, God with us? I remember years ago, like in the late '70s, 1980s, there was a popular bumper sticker that you would see. It wasn't uncommon to see. It said, "God is my co-pilot." Remember this? "God is my co-pilot." And no offense, but if you had that sticker, I kind of want to say, really? Co-pilot? Like, hey, God. Lucky for you, I got a seat in the car. You can be my co-pilot. I might even give you control from time to time. But just remember who the pilot is. He is the Christ.

The clearer we see His majesty, His grace, His love, His power, the more it fills us with hope. It gets better than this because He is also not just Christ, but He is Christ in you, in me. This is used in plural. All these used are in the plural, by the way. So we're talking about all y'all, all of us. He is Christ in us. I heard someone say that Christ died for you so that He might live in you. And this is what it means to be a Christian, right here, to have the Spirit of Christ alive, dwelling, making His home in you. This means that what is true about Him is also true about you. It changes you in very significant ways.

I got this from a sermon by a guy named Joe Witwer. Joe points out two things that change when you are in Christ. For example, I've got this ball, and I've got this bucket. The first thing that changes when we are in Christ is our status, our state of being. So I put this ball in the bucket. What is the status of the ball now? It's in the bucket. Very good. Because of that, it says, like for instance, in Colossians 1, "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." In other words, in Christ, you have infinitely better status.

So like for instance, if I were to swing this bucket around and swing it enough, the ball would what? End up out in the third row. No, it doesn't. Because the ball, it is now connected to the bucket. Its status is in the bucket. Just like when our lives might go a little bit topsy turvy, we are still in Christ. We are in His bucket. Now, just like your state of being is connected to Christ and your status is in Christ, the second thing that changes is that the Bible uses a metaphor of being the bride of Christ. We are His bride. And that's about the status of our relationship with Him. We are bound to Him by this connection that the Bible equates again to a man and a wife.

So like this ring on my finger says everything about the status of my relationship with Laura. You and I being in Christ, again, is about the status of that relationship. Just last weekend, I performed a wedding. During the ceremony, I actually focused on these next two verses that are in Colossians, chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, where it says this: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live," what? "in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." To kind of drive this point home, I gave the bride and groom a little tiny oak tree. Just still attached to the acorn, about three inches tall. I said to them, this is your marriage today. It's new and just beginning, but full of promise and potential.

I did that because I'd been to this wedding venue before. I knew that there is a giant oak on the property right next to where we would have the ceremony. I then pointed from the little oak to the big one, and I said, that's your marriage 50 years from now. That's the hope. That's the potential that you have in this moment. That's the vision that I would want to instill in your mind. Of course, that huge oak got that way because it's deeply rooted, right? Just as Paul says that we are deeply rooted in Christ, and it builds us up. Paul's going to kind of pull this all together, this idea of status and relationship in Galatians 2:20 when he says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

That's perhaps Paul's favorite expression, Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. That's why I have hope today. That's why most of you have hope today because you know that Christ loved you and gave himself for you. Most of us would affirm that in our life today, but I would be remiss if I didn't just nudge some of us perhaps here today. You're just kind of checking things out, or you've been feeling like Jesus has been tugging on your heart kind of persistently, and so I would encourage you to ask the question, is Christ in me? Is He in me? Because there's a difference. You can sit in church for decades. That does not automatically mean that Christ is in you any more than if you were to sit in a garage long enough and suddenly it would make you a car.

Jesus does not kick down the door. Jesus allows us to invite Him in and say, yes, I want to belong to you. I want to be in your bucket. Perhaps if you sense that He's knocking on the door of your heart, you can in the privacy of your mind right now—He can read minds—say yes, Lord. I want to belong to you. I want what you did for me on the cross to be real, that I affirm in my life and I live the rest of my life through that reality. You can do that right now. In just a few moments, I'm going to pray for you. Because for all of us who have said yes to Jesus, these seven words are true: Christ in me. And finally, the hope of glory.

You know, there's a school of thought, which I think has a lot going for it, that your expectation of the future impacts your motivation in the present. Expectation impacts motivation. For example, if someone were to come to you and say, hey, I have a job that I would like to offer you. It will take you a year. And after you're finished, I will hand you a check for $100,000. Or instead, the same person says, I have a job I would like for you to do. Same job. It will take you a year. And when you're done, I will hand you a check for a million dollars. Which offer is more motivating? Expectation impacts motivation, which brings us to the hope of glory.

You just look at what Paul says in Colossians 3. He says, "Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your heart on things above. Stay focused, keep your eyes on the prize, so to speak, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will appear with Him in glory." You know what they call that? They call that a bright future. The brightest one of all.

I mean, right now, let's face it, our bodies are breaking down, slowly failing us, but we've already been resurrected in Christ. It is that sure. His resurrection is the guarantee of your resurrection. So set your mind on this. Or perhaps you have regrets. You carry with you this deep shame from your past, but when you are in Christ, your life is hidden in Him. Your slate is clean. Again, you're in His bucket. The day is coming, as surely as we are here right now, that His kingdom will come in all its fullness. It will be on earth like it is in heaven. We, along with people of every nation, tribe, and tongue, will be there with Him. So let that hope motivate you now. Live now in light of them.

As Paul says elsewhere, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here." A scholar and theologian, N.T. Wright, likes to talk about our lives in Christ as little working models of new creation. Like this church is a working model of the new creation. Not perfectly, but even so, it gives the world a glimpse of what the world will be like when Jesus sets it right and makes all things new. It's a glimpse of what is to come, both individually and corporately.

The final question for us to consider this morning is this: how is my hope shaping my life? Like, how does this change me? How does this motivate me? How does this impact my attitude, my outlook, my relationships? You know, there's a big difference, like I said at the top, when you can see your destination. Now, we don't see Jesus physically, but through the eyes of faith and through the promise of scripture, we know where our destination is heading. So how does that impact your life right now? How does that give perspective to the things that are part of your experience?

Here's what I'm talking about. Since it's Memorial Day, Memorial Day weekend, I reached out to my mom's best friend of over 70 years. Her name is Janet, and I did this because Janet's brothers, two older brothers, were both Air Force pilots during the Vietnam War, and both of them lost their lives. Her oldest brother, and I just have to say that in addition to the extra day off and the burgers and the barbecues, we also honor the sacrifice and sacrifices of people like Janet's brothers and countless others, and we are grateful for their service, but we honor them.

Her older brother was flying a reconnaissance mission and something happened, a mechanical failure in the tail section of his jet, which led to a crash. Three months later, her other brother was flying his jet over Vietnam with a payload full of firepower, but he was running out of fuel because while the plan was to refuel his jet in midair, there was a mechanical glitch with the fuel system and they were not able to refuel his jet, and he was running desperately low. At the time, he was over the mainland, but he did not want to eject from his jet, which he could have, because he did not want to take the chance that when his jet crashed full of all of that ordinance, it would lead to civilian casualties.

In a heroic moment, he flew his jet out over the Gulf of Tonkin, and then he ejected. The seas were very rough, and so they were not able to find him in time. Meanwhile, while this was all going on, I was about four years old. I was oblivious to all of this. My mom would often bring me over to visit Janet's mom, her name is Mrs. King. Mrs. King was confined to her bed; she had severe rheumatoid arthritis, and those trips to her home are among my earliest memories in life. I can still remember seeing her in her bed, and she would say things to my mom about me. She would tell my mom I was special. She would point out things she thought were exceptional, like right in front of me.

I'm kind of soaking this all in, in my little four-year-old brain, I'm going, I really like Mrs. King. I obviously didn't have the capacity or the wherewithal, the awareness of the time to have a conversation with her about her faith and how she processed this horrific grief. But what I do know is there's no way she could have been that warm, that loving, that gracious without a deep reservoir of hope in Jesus. I know this because she passed that hope along to Janet and her siblings. Janet told me on the phone just yesterday morning how she still remembers a bus would pick her up and her brothers and sisters to take her to the kids' program at Twin Lakes Church long before we ever moved out here to Aptos. And what a legacy.

In light of her family's story, I asked Janet, I said, "In light of all that you and your mom, your dad, all that you experienced, what does it mean to you, Christ in you, the hope of glory?" She's in her 80s now, and so she said, "Well, you know, I think about that more and more and I wonder what it will be like." Then she goes, "Oh, but I know this much. We are all gonna be together." Indeed she will. All of us who know Christ in you, the hope of glory. Amen? Amen.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your presence in us right now. And so Lord, I pray for each of us that you would just fill our hearts with hope today. That we would revel in all that we have and we don't even know all that we have. But to the extent, Lord, that we can just in with holy imagination and with a little bit of dedicated focus, we would be filled with hope because of you. And so Lord, we focus on this today. We ask you to fill us with this, help us to face the various things that are going on in our life right now.

May they never, though felt genuinely, may they never divert our gaze from what we know to be your promise, your reality, your goodness to us, and what all lies ahead. I pray for the one, as I mentioned or more, that this morning they said, "Yes, Lord, I wanna belong to you, I wanna be a part of your family. I want to be a new creation. I recognize my need and I ask you to come into my life and forgive me of my sins and give me the life that I know I can have because of the surety of your resurrection. Help me to follow you and help us as a church, Lord, to come alongside each other and encourage and nurture each other spiritually and otherwise."

Oh, Lord Jesus, again, we thank you for this day, we thank you for this weekend. We trust that you are with those, Lord, who are remembering those who are not with us now because of their service to our country. We honor them and we say thank you for them as well. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ and all God's people said, amen, amen.