John Lennon wrote a song titled “Merry Xmas, War is Over” which has become popular around the holiday season. The lyrics go like this: “So this is Christmas, And what have you done? Another year over, And a new one just begun. A very merry Christmas, And a happy New Year, Let's hope it's a good one, Without any fear.”
Such a sentiment is a common theme around the New Year. Hope for the future from the world’s perspective is peace, no death, no fear. But the reality is that such a hope is little more than a wish. The truth is, there is no prospect of peace on the horizon. Disease and war and tragedy continue to claim human life. Economic fear grips the world as we struggle to get out of the recession.
But for the Christian, hope produces something more. Hope produces faith. Faith goes beyond where hope stops. It doesn’t simply wish, it actually believes and acts with assurance on that belief. It’s not based just on sentiment. Hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Specifically, faith is believing not just in a vague hope for a “better tomorrow”, but for a Christian, faith is believing in the promises of God. Believing that God’s word is true and will not fail. And the incredible thing is this faith in God and His word becomes our justification. Romans 4:3, “Abraham believed God and He counted it to him as righteousness.” This faith becomes our justification, producing our salvation, by granting to us our righteousness not on the basis of what we have done, but by faith in what Jesus has done. And this salvation becomes our hope. Real hope for a future without the futility of suffering and death that are the hallmarks of this world. It comes full circle. Hope brings about faith, which produces justification, which produces salvation, which produces a more certain hope.
Consider this passage describing our hope from Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
As we stand upon the precipice of 2012, we don’t know what the future holds. And yet for the Christian, we have hope that supersedes any fear. We have peace with God. We have a future reserved for us in heaven. We have a disease free body waiting for us when this old one wears out.
Listen, Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of our faith. He will walk with us through 2012 and beyond, through whatever trials and tribulations that may lie ahead. He said “I will never leave you nor forsake you. And I will come again for you, that where I am, you shall be also.” This is our hope. A hope grounded in the written promises of God. A hope that perseveres beyond the grave. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in Me shall never die.”
We are starting off the New Year at the Beach Fellowship in our Wednesday evening Bible study with the book of Romans. I hope that you will make a resolution to participate with us this year in this life changing study. Happy New Year.
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