Hope Brings Renewal 8/14/49
Scripture: Romans 8: 14-28
Text: Romans 8: 24; “For we are saved by hope ---”
Last week, I mentioned the feeling which prevails among many thoughtful people, scientists and philosophers as well as theologians, that scientific and technological development, necessary though it be, is vain and even dangerous without corollary moral force. This viewpoint is a main conviction of our time. It is not new, for it represents truth as old as the hills of time. But it has been sharpened by the awe-inspiring discovery of the power that comes to our hands with each new step in inventive discovery.
Facing this great truth, which was driven home by the prophets of old as well as by thinkers of today, some people get pessimistic. Some live fearfully, altogether distrustful of human nature and hopeless of any other nature, sure in their own minds that there is nothing ahead but trouble. Some are listless, living with crippled powers, only for the day. Whole countries of people whose cities have been ravaged by war and whose governments have been destroyed, live along without doing much to get rebuilt, without expectation of better government, saying, “O well, there will soon be another war between the powers who were allied in victory. And that war will be fought on our soil and over our homes. Why bother to rebuild our cities now? They may be blown to bits before we get moved in.” Some of those without hope, though not unduly fearful or listless, just eat, drink, and are merry for the moment.
There are others - whole nations of them - who are busy rebuilding what was damaged by war or ravaged by occupation, where hope springs eternally new in the citizens’ breast. The government is reestablished, the damaged buildings repaired, fields planted and people confident.
Whenever and wherever hope is destroyed or dormant, life becomes meaningless. When hope is high, life is full of meaning, for we are creatures who live by hope. It is an excellent omen that there are so many people today who do recognize that the enduring good of life is moral striving. When educators realize that it is more important to know and teach what is right than to impart information, that is hopeful. When managers of business and industry are concerned with what is right, beyond the necessity of profits, that is hopeful. When churches grapple with the call of righteousness beyond organization and programs, that is hopeful.
Hope is a prelude to realization of something good. We have in our house a table lamp, the base of which is made of Colorado alabaster. While I was a student at the Western Pastors’ school last month, I found that one hour in the late afternoon of each day was scheduled for recreation. The hour could be spent at sports, volley ball, tennis, horse shoes or hiking. Or it could be spent in the craft shop learning to handle clay on a potter’s wheel or to work with alabaster. I looked at the rough pieces of soft stone which had come from the alabaster quarry. It first I had little imagination as to what would be done with the stuff. Then I saw what was beginning to take shape under the hands of others who attacked those rough pieces with saw, file, chisel and sandpaper. And I heard the instructor describe the things that had been made by students the year before. An ambitious fellow from a home mission church set himself to fashioning an alabaster cross and candle sticks for his church back home. Another decided on a flower bowl for his wife. Seeing a small, rounded piece of the stone, I sawed off a small piece and, in two or three periods, fashioned a napkin ring. Then, knowing something of the way the alabaster felt in handling, my imagination began to work a little more, and I decided on a lamp. It took the craft periods of all of the remainder of the school session to finish it, but by the time I was ready to come home I had the lamp base done. And I had the satisfaction of seeing rough pieces of soft stone turned into a simple creation. The beautiful markings and “grain” of those two pieces of alabaster would have remained hidden and unknown, had I, or someone else, not had the imagination and hope for working them into something worthwhile.
Hope is the fuel of living and it brings renewal like gasoline vapor in a motor. As a motor must have the right fuel, so our living must have the right hope. The hope that we have placed in materialism has led us into destruction and still deals death to people in many parts of the world. The hope of knowledge in secular education has proved a pitfall rather than a blessing to mankind. And educators in many fields, in classroom, church and shop, are aware again of the wisdom of Solomon when that ancient sage said: “Get knowledge, but with all thy getting, get understanding.”
[The verbatim text in pen and ink ends here; the rest is notes in pencil].
A. The agony of hope.
Apprehension over having to give it up.
In illness-a mother (Mrs. McCune) wouldn’t give it up.
Theologian (Weholi) at La Foret - his spiritual pilgrimage
Nervous breakdown after finishing book, and other taxing duties. Went to mental hospital. Feared they would destroy his faith there. Reassured by doctors. Hope renewed in a faith yet better grounded. “The end will be the best yet.”
B. Radical demands of hope.
Paul to Romans: “sufferings of this time not to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” [Romans 8:18]. “We are saved by hope.” [Romans 8: 24].
T.C. Chao - dean of school of religion in Yenching University, China. Regarding church situation in China now.
Communism with its vigorous militant materialism, the great challenge to Christianity, the great competitor of the church. Present tolerance for religion (and for anti-religious expression!) gives the churches their chance - their stern, demanding hope!
“The churches (O misery of this plural!) must do 4 things:
1) clear understanding of their ground - and no compromise of the faith.
2) Internal revitalization to create loving, classless fellowship within the “Body of Christ” (church). Sweep away idol worship, worldliness, hypocrisy, division, ignorance, lukewarmness. Self criticism in the church, repentance, spiritual rebirth. Passionate zeal for spiritual social community.
3) Decide on program of concrete, practical social service.
4) Revolutionize the church organization, theology, ways of living, method of evangelism (person to person contact). Can’t rest on support of a corrupt government just because it is headed by a general who is a church member.
Talk less of “Man can do nothing without God.” More of “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” and “Ye are the light of the world.”
“Challenge of the situation in China is terrible indeed. But it is to be welcomed as God’s judgment on flabby churches, and as an opportunity for a renewal of life.”
“Not to be creative while living in a creative period is the greatest sin of all.”
C. The renewal -- the salvation of hope.
(Mme Curie re radium)
Several months before radium was isolated in their search
for it, Pierre Curie told his wife he hoped it would
have a pretty color. One evening, he returned from
the university - she told him it had something better
than a pretty color. They went to the lab to see.
“Look, Pierre, it has a radiance all its own, and seeks
to make the jars, the wall and even your old coat
reflect its uncanny splendor. It is radium Pierre,
seeking to make everything else, life itself, reflect
light and influence.”
So is the true hope that springs from the gospel of Christ in the church; a power that supersedes the creeds and doctrines and denominations of the church -- that is the spirit and fire of all worthy members of Christ’s family.
This hope saves us and all mankind from futility and despair. Its radiating light and glory springs from our faith in the eternal God.
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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, August 14, 1949 (Union Service).