Warnings of Hope

Short Note: The preached sermon is different than the written one. The night before God was changing it, but I couldn’t write it, so I had to sleep on it and just make basic notes.

Ezekiel 33:1-16

Lamentations 3:19-33

Mark 13:24-37

How do we find and live in hope? Hope is something everyone needs. It is something that helps us through the good times and the bad. Many people today need hope and they don’t know where to find it. Just as many people try to find hope in the simple fickle things of this world, but when money, time, or energy is lacking, when jobs or friends fail us, as they naturally will, this kind of hope fades away and we are worse off than we were before. We and this world need a hope that we can begin to see, yet at the same time we need a hope that promises much more than this fickle world can. We need a hope that transforms realities, while we wait for its realization. The Word of God, spoken through the Holy Spirit is the only thing that offers that immense hope that sustains us, nourishes us, and points us to the future.

Last week we saw how a life built upon the word of God is the only foundation that will stand the test of the greatest storms, which we will face. Today, we see and hear a warning of this potential disaster or hope. We can help us to avoid the danger and embrace the hope.

Our passage from Ezekial gives us this image of a sentry or guard watching over the wall of a city and the guard either fails or succeeds in warning the city of a coming attack. The guard isn’t to blame for the oncoming army, but the guard could have helped the whole city to save themselves, either through preparation or running away to safety. Not everyone will listen to the warning, not everyone will believe the guard, and not everyone will be willing to abandon what they have, but the guard's warning will lead them to life and salvation.

Ezekial is charged by this as God says he is like this guard. He must warn people of where their sin is leading them. Yet as God is speaking it to us afresh, we understand that God is also charging us as these guards to warn and prepare people. We too have a warning that could lead people to life and salvation. It is our duty to share it, even if people don’t listen, even if they don’t believe it, even if they have things that they are unwilling to leave.

The difficulty of this warning is that it both comes with danger and with hope. We don’t like the idea of an oncoming army that would kill us in our sins or because of our sins. It's not easy to face, but because of our sins, we deserve to die – we have destroyed and distorted God’s good creation, we have turned away from the source of our life numerous times every day and so it is only God’s grace and love reaching out to us that keeps us alive. On top of that, we know that death is around every corner. If we take even a step in the wrong direction while walking down the street, if we turn the car wheel just a few inches, if we consume the wrong thing, or even just trip on something, we could die in our sins. The warning in this context is yes to save our eternal lives, but it is also to save our earthly lives. In the context of the guard, following his warning would lead to someone acting to flee or protect themselves from something that would kill them. In the added context of our lives, God tells us that we are currently wasting away in our sins, weighed down by them, God’s warning leads us to repentance, which leads us to a freer, greater and fuller life with our friends and neighbours, but more importantly a fuller and lifegiving relationship with God.

God uses the example of a guard warning about an oncoming army because he is trying to communicate to us how important, life-giving or dire this warning is. I don’t think we fully understand this. I feel like I am just grasping at a greater truth here, but it is important we know at least to some extent how important this warning is, because on one side it is a warning of danger, on the other side it is a warning of hope. A hope we can rest in and be saved by.

We hear in Ezekial that anyone that believes and trusts in their own righteousness, will sin and no longer be righteous. It’s difficult to hear, because we like to think that the good we’ve done, somehow covers up the bad; the good only covers us, if we remain in it and the only way we can remain in the good is if we remain in God. The absolutely wonderful good news is that at any time we might turn away from our sins, trusting in God’s righteousness and be saved. Again, I don’t think we know how much this is good news. It is saying that there is always hope for you and for everyone. No matter what you have done, or how far you have fallen, or even if you just fell down a pit, all you need to do is turn back to God and he will forgive, redeem and make you righteous. This is good news for us today, tomorrow and into eternity, because our relationship with God changes how we experience and see the goodness of God – as we grow closer to God, we grow closer to his goodness.

If we take that passage that we read from Lamentations that we read together, we can begin to get a sense of what this hope can mean. Lamentations is traditionally written by Jeremiah after the exile of Israel and Judah into Assyria and Babylon. The book is this great act of lamentation as Jeremiah laments over all the horrible things he has been agonizing over as he has seen friends, family and neighbors, who were killed, starved, tortured, dragged away and somehow worse. If you think you are alone in your suffering, we should first look to Jesus leading up to and on the cross, but also read this book. The part we read today comes halfway through the book. Jeremiah has been reflecting on the worst of the worst experiences and then all of a sudden, he begins to see hope. The hope only comes because he knows God: knowing that God will forgive and bless them. He knows that the evil they are experiencing is in large part due to their own evil, so God has turned away and let it happen. Israel and Judah had turned away from God, they were cheating their neighbors, they were stealing from those they should have been caring for to build up their wealth and comfort, they were ignoring the people in need and more. Jeremiah does lament, but he doesn’t blame God, he knows why evil has befallen them.

Instead, Jeremiah hopes and trusts, saying and yet “I call to my mind and so I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end and his blessings are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness dear Lord. The Lord is my portion, so in this I hope”. Physically, socially, emotionally, Jeremiah has nothing left. Evil has consumed everyone, because of their evil. What is left? An unshakable hope that comes from an unshakeable love. God may have allowed evil to defeat evil, but God’s love which never stops is still working. In this, his mercy is bringing to life, even that which was dead. Jeremiah has nothing and yet he can say God’s mercies are new every morning. God’s mercies are not new after a few months or years, they are new every morning, that means that Jeremiah has seen them, he has and can see the work of God’s love and redemption even when there seems to be only loss and destruction. These mercies, love, and blessings, are things Jeremiah is experiencing, they have saved him and are giving something to him, even when life has nothing left. Yet, these same mercies, love, and blessings, are pointing him to a hope that is far greater still than what he is experiencing. We see in this both the warnings of danger and of hope. We see the earthly consequences of turning away from God’s love, but we also see that no matter what has happened, no matter where we are God’s words of hope can still pull us out and show us the way forward: “His blessings are new every morning”.

Lastly, we hear from Jesus about the end times. He is warning us about what will happen. We are all waiting and preparing for God’s Kingdom to come fully: for justice, love, peace, and mercy to reign – for death to be no more, and for suffering to cease. Yet, before our greatest hope is realized some difficult things will happen: wars and rumors of war, even the heavens will be shaken. In some ways, the struggles of this world and those in our lives are great warnings and reminders that we need to be prepared, evil needs to be overthrown, that includes the evil in us, so we too need to change our ways and seek God in His righteousness if we want to endure through the trials of this life to the lasting and eternal hope.

Just as we are guards watching for danger, we are also like attendants watching and waiting for the joyful day when our master comes home. We can be servants that don’t care, become slack, or forget, and so when the master comes, we show ourselves to be unworthy, unhelpful, and evil servants. Or we can be the servants who are prepared and ready to joyously receive our master – the house is well kept, the food is stocked, the lanterns are lit, the other servants and family are cared for and given purpose. It is joyous just to work in such spaces, but then imagine how a loving master would pour out his blessings upon the servant that he finds so prepared. The ironic thing about Jesus’ love is that he tells us that his graciousness goes beyond our expectations. The master who would have every right to be served will instead get dressed and serve us.

So today we have received a warning of danger, but more importantly of hope. The warning of danger is meant to help us see where we are so that we might better live in and pursue the unshakeable hope of Jesus Christ. This word of warning has unimaginable potential. It has the potential, as we saw to reshape us through repentance and redeem us no matter how far we have fallen. It has the potential to give us hope and life in the midst of the hardest situations. It has the potential of helping us to prepare this world so that we and others can make space for the one that truly fills it with good things. AMEN