John Piper sermon extract- Happy in Hope, Patient in Tribulation, constant in prayer Romans 12:12
"Our Joy Is Rooted in Our Hope
Let’s get a good look at this root of joy. We see it when we distinguish joy and hope and see how they are related. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope.” It looks like hope is the soil or the rock in which joy is rooted—the ground where joy grows. Notice the similar phrase here in Romans 5:2, “Through him [Christ] we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and werejoicein hope of the glory of God.” Our joy is rooted in our hope. That is so crucial to see! What does it mean?
It means that for the Christian things may go really bad right now and yet not rob him of his joy. The joy is the joy of hope. Christians set their hearts on how good it will be in the age to come and in the presence of Christ after death. This is why Christians can rejoice in tribulation and not just in health and peace and security. Tribulation drives the roots of joy down into hope. The future joy streams back into the presence and lightens every load.
The Ground and Goal of Christian Hope
What is the ground and goal of Christian hope that makes joy in tribulation possible? Do you know what I mean by “ground and goal”? If we were part of the Union cause in the Civil War we might say, “Ulysses Grant is our hope for victory.” In that sentence Ulysses Grant is the ground of our hope, and victory is the goal of our hope. That’s what I mean. So what is the ground and goal of Christian hope?
The Ground of Christian Hope: The Righteousness of Christ in Justification
Romans 5:1-2 give the clear answer: “Since we have been justified by faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the ground of our hope. God declares us righteous (justification) on the basis of Christ’s blood and righteousness. Verse 6: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” That’s the ground of our hope.
How are you going to face God someday? What will you plead? Your conscience whispers now what it will scream in that day: I am not good enough! There is only one basis of acceptance with God. There is only one way to be accepted with God, only one way to the hope of eternal life—namely, justification by faith alone on the basis of Christ alone. That is the point of Romans 5:1 and 6. That is the basis of our hope.
The Goal of Christian Hope: The Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ
The goal or the object of our hope is at the end of verse 2: “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” The ultimate hope of the human heart is not forgiveness or justification or heaven or freedom from disease. The ultimate hope of every heart is the glory of God. You were made to see and savor the glory of God. Christmas happened, Good Friday happened, Easter happened so that sinners might not be incinerated by the beauty of God but might see it and savor it with ever-increasing joy. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope.” Romans 5:2 completes the thought, “Rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
This is the ultimate experience that will wipe away every tear. This will rectify every wrong. This will make you say that it was all worth it, no matter what you suffered. Listen to the way Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “This slight momentary affliction [=all this life’s afflictions] is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” This was the hope that sustained Paul’s joy in affliction. He preached to himself (and we must): this affliction is not meaningless, it is not absurd, it is not cruel, it is not pointless. No, it is working for me an experience of the glory of God that will outweigh every moment and every degree of suffering in this life.
That is our hope. Its ground is the blood and righteousness of Christ by which we are justified through faith. Its goal or object is the glory of God that one day we will experience in the face of Jesus Christ. "
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Just today I listened to the above Piper sermon and was moved by a line which was not contained in the written extract of the message: "For the Christian, the best is yet to come!" This is so true. It summarized everything that he wanted to say. (Kind of reminded me of Robert Browning's the best is yet to be quote, but that makes me think of a certain school in Singapore which I will decline to mention on this blog and the quote isn't relevant anyway)
Other memorable quotes from the sermon: "Have you ever thought that the greatest act of love that was ever performed was performed by the power of joy rooted in hope?... [Heb 12:2]...
Do not go away from this message thinking this: Well, there was another one of those, other-worldly, conservative, biblical, fundamentalistic calls to drop out and wait for the kingdom. You know that's not what I'm saying. Because that's not what Jesus did, nor Paul, nor any great Christian who has ever been satisfied in Jesus.
I'll say it this way: if your hope, right now, if God is awakening in you an unshakeable and all- satisfying hope for your future, the result will not be dropping out. The result will be that your mind will be so liberated from the way the world lives- craving and scraping and grasping for all the stuff that keeps us from being loving, going for our own stuff, going for our own stuff, stuff, stuff, bringing heaven into this world when it belongs there, the fact that heaven is absolutely secure there means that you don't need it here!
So you don't need that heavenly family, and you don't need that heavenly church- it can be an imperfect church! And you don't need that heavenly cabin, and you don't need that heavenly car, and you don't need that heavenly food, and you don't need that heavenly neighbourhood, you can let it go!
Because it's just over the hill... it's just over the next horizon! Everything you've ever wanted, 10 000 times over! Why would you devote this life to that when it's free just over the next hill? Instead, the biblical response, the Christian response, the Christ-like response to heavenly-mindedness is to be very earthly-useful. Engaged in politics. Engaged in the neighbourhood. Engaged in pain. Of people around you. You're not walking away from pain, you're walking toward pain! Because God has lifted yours and driven your joy with an unshakeable hope!
So don't walk out of this room saying, "another one of those pie-in-the-sky 'hope' sermons." It isn't pie, I promise you. It's Christ. And it's real, and it's coming, and the effect it has is liberation from worldliness and release of love. And the way you sustain the late nights, and the early mornings, and the rejections, and the hardship, and the inconvenience of love, and the perplexities of the Beloved, and how to love a hard, depressed person, is sustained by the joy set before us we endure the cross..."
(: I cannot agree more. I've been a little disappointed of late, by myself, Christians, and the effect of Christianity in Singapore. In the words of some, we might have become too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. The paradox is that we care too much about our programmes, our organization, our politics, our growth and expansion as an organization-we're becoming too earthly-minded, in heavenly-minded form! Have we been striving for the kingdom together or quibbling, wasting much lost time? Have we been building an organizational culture (Bible Studies, Cell Group, Worship practice, Fellowship Groups, Evangelistic Programmes, Prayer meetings, Model answers to difficult questions, Phariseetical pride, A set of moral code and conduct that pleases man, etc.) and not developing true discipleship and promoting an intimate relationship with Christ?
Of course I'm not denying that church activities are profitable. But an overemphasis on the commitment to these activities without an emphasis on the reason why we are going comes to naught. We won't see our activities in heaven, just the souls of man we have come in contact with!
Sometimes I don't know what a real Christian is anymore. It's as good as a cardboard cutout, with imposed expectations and pressures by the church leaders and people who are so-called "spiritual" or "holy". We need more grace from God, less pride and empty striving. I see it in myself, and it reminds me so much of that verse in Luke: "For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger...Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves..."- Luke 23:4, 15
Admittedly, I used to put many expectations on myself and others, often becoming very proud in the process because I thought I was meeting those expectations. Those expectations were my own, not God's. Then in the December of 2006 God taught me a lesson, that I was definitely not as great as I thought I was. I fell, fell so hard that I almost couldn't get up, but God showed me that He wanted me precisely to fall because He wanted me to be reduced to the point of nothingness in my own eyes to accept that the only great thing I had was the saving power of Christ's sacrifice and love in my life. I would say that it was only then when I realized the extent of my unworthiness and the depth of His mercy. O wretched man that I am...
Today, the expectations have gone- I understand that I am a mere struggling weak human whose only power is in Christ. I've made tons of other mistakes since then, and I still struggle with pride. Other Christians may shout accusations, "You're using the excuse 'I'm only human', to continue in sin!" But I want to explain that that's not true. My end goal is still Christ, and I want to stop sinning eventually (and I will! When the sanctification work is done!), but that doesn't mean that I tie on myself and others burdens that they cannot bear. I recognize limitations, but have hope in the transformation power of the Holy Spirit. It's a step-by-step journey and God forgives the repentant. Why are Christians so quick to point the finger at others? As reiterated, we need more of God's grace, and less of empty striving. We're ALL sinners. We all need Jesus.
My prayer and hope for Christianity in Singapore is that it will stop being a passive, snobbish middle-upper class religion but that Christians will turn Singapore upside down with their radical lives full of love, grace and truth. With God, all things are possible! (: Be joyful in hope!