The objectives of this lesson: (1) To focus students on the essential role hope occupies in the lives of "the called out." (2) To focus awareness on this fact: this hope (a confident expectation, not a wish) is founded on Jesus' resurrection.
The Christians to whom New Testament letters were addressed lived in a discouraging, frustrating, confusing world. That first century Mediterranean world was controlled and dominated by the Roman Empire. Under Roman control there were many improvements: a more unified Mediterranean world under a dominating legal code; better roads; better trade; improved suppression of pirates and thieves; more freedom and security in travel; etc.
The world in which Christianity began was the world as defined by the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire brought numerous advantages to its world. Conditions were definitely improved over conditions existing prior to the Empire. Though that Empire brought profound good changes, conditions were not perfect.
Yet, it also was an existence that produced despair for many. Those in power positions often inflicted injustice on the powerless. Roman citizenship with its rights and advantages was withheld from many. Slavery openly existed (for some a stepping stone to opportunity; for others an oppressive degradation ending in death). For many, poverty produced a horrible existence with little opportunity for escape.
These are some of the "less than desirable" circumstances existing in the first century world. Though many material improvements existed, many people lived daily lives in despair. Neither material advances nor the gods removed human despair.
All this occurred in a world that was much more religious than today's America. That age abounded with gods who had an obvious presence in every level of life. There were primary relationships between government and gods, the economy and gods, daily life and gods, and even personal pleasure and gods.
The first century world was extremely religious. Idolatrous paganism was more pervasive in their everyday world than Christianity is in ours. People of that time had many visible reminders of the gods' influences. There was every attempt to combine religion and state. Every trade guild has its patron god or goddess. Household idols were common. Honoring some gods involved drunkenness and sensual conduct. Statues, temples, festivals, parades, and pilgrimages were continual reminders of the "presence and importance" of the gods.
Commonly (though not with every god) the gods were viewed as indifferent superhuman beings more prone to cause hurt than extend assistance. Followers had to gain the gods' favor and keep them happy. The gods' actions often were determined by human situations at the moment, not by eternal values expressed in moral behavior. The gods were fickle--knowing "why they smile on us" or "why they do not hear us" was unknowable and unpredictable.
While there are specific exceptions, commonly gods were seen as superhuman and basically disinterested in human affairs. Commonly, objectives in worship were to keep the gods happy to avoid their displeasure. Since the gods often were involved in what Christianity defines as moral and ethical failures, there is a contrast in what early Christianity defined as "good," "moral," and "ethical" and what many gods defined as "good," "moral," and "ethical."
One result of this view of the god's self-centered preoccupation was human despair. Some saw no source of help in the gods. Some in fear felt compelled to keep the gods happy to reduce troubles. Some faced life with the resignation of "what will happen, will happen." Many found life an existence without hope.
When that which you regard to be "a god" continually declares your "nothingness" through neglect, the result is despair. Some first century people concluded, "Since the gods reject me, I reject the gods." Atheism is an ancient human response to deity's existence. Interestingly, even ancient humans were aware that significant hope must be based on realities more enduring than fickle humanity.
The living God Who raised Jesus from the dead had distinguishing marks. Included in the characteristics that distinguished God from the gods were His motives in Jesus' resurrection. (1) In that resurrection He kept a promise made centuries earlier. (2) Since physical death was humanity's ever-present enemy, He resurrected Jesus to provide people hope. Being God the Promise Keeper who extended hope placed God in genuine contrast to the gods. To see the contrast, read Acts 17:22-31.
There is a distinct difference in the motives of the living God and motives of the gods. The living God declared the depth of His concern for humanity in (1) the gift of His son and (2) the resurrection of that son. The living God was motivated by love for humanity. Disinterest never explains His attitudes or His actions. One of His specific objectives is to provide humans hope.
To grasp the hope that sustains the "called out" and reflects God in their lives, Christians must include some basic understandings in their self-definition as God's people. (1) Evil perverted God's "very good" creation (see Genesis 1:31 and 3:8-19). (2) This perversion prevented the creation from achieving God's intent (see Romans 8:18-25). (3) The hope Jesus' resurrection provides to responsive believers will become full reality in God's home/world, not this physical world. [Understanding # 3 seriously impacts the Christian's purposes in this life.]
Bottom line understanding for the person who trusts God and trusts Jesus' resurrection: evil perverted physical existence beyond recovery. Thus the hope [confident expectation] God provides through Jesus Christ's resurrection is the hope that goes beyond existence in this world. Never forget God's son was executed, many of the apostles were persecuted, and some of the early Christians were martyrs. Yet, they were sustained by hope. Hope's objective is not focused on God allowing us to acquire what we consider ideal materially. The objective is to live with God in His world. Read Hebrews 11:13-16.
So much emphasis is given this hope that not every relevant scripture can be considered in one lesson. So fundamental is this hope to the existence of the "called out" that Paul used it to defend himself when charged by Israel in the Roman court system. Consider Acts 26:6-8. (1) Paul declared he was on trial because of the hope God gave Israel's ancestors. (2) That hope was the reason the twelve tribes of Israel served God. (3) The people who existed in that hope accused him of defying the hope. (4) God verified that hope in a resurrection. It was impossible to understand the Christian Paul as a person or his actions if this hope was not understood.
Paul's use of hope as a defense in a Roman court hearing should speak loudly to the Christian of today's world.
Consider Romans 4:16-25. (1) Access to God's promise is achieved by having Abraham's faith [not through ancestry or some special dispensation from God]. (2) Access to God's promise is based on God's grace [His goodness!], not human worthiness or achievements. (3) Abraham is the Christian's model of hope because he trusted God when God's promise seemed impossible. (4) Abraham's faith was expressed in maintaining hope! (5) For our sake, God credited Abraham as being a righteous person so that we would find the hope of faith in Jesus' resurrection just as Abraham found the hope of faith in Isaac's promised birth. The same hope that sustained Abraham sustains the Christian as he/she trusts God!
Stress that the common denominator in all ages for godliness was trusting God. Stress that an expression of that trust is hope. One of God's objectives in Jesus' resurrection was the creation of a hope greater than physical death.
Consider Romans 5:1,2. (1) Confidence in God's promise seen in Jesus' resurrection justifies the Christian. (2) God's justification enables the Christian to be at peace with God because he/she is in Christ. (3) Justification and peace allow the Christian to stand in God's grace. (4) The result: the Christian experiences a sense of exultation in God's glory because he/she exists in hope of the eternal. He/she praises God!
A reason for justification and peace is hope.
Consider Romans 15:4. Scripture was written to encourage us to persevere in a sense of encouragement that enables us to live in hope. In a real sense, our hope to exist in God's presence verifies Scripture's purpose.
Through numerous forms of verification, Scripture declares we have genuine hope because the God who cannot lie keeps His promises. Our hope declares our confidence in the messages of Scripture!
Consider Romans 15:13. This is the impact of eternal hope on physical existence: it fills the Christian with joy and peace through the expectation of living with God. The power that makes that hope possible in this hostile world is supplied by God's Spirit.
For the person in Christ, joy and peace do not depend on favorable physical circumstances.
The impact of this hope on physical existence takes many forms. (1) Steadfastness (Colossians 1:23; I Thessalonians 1:2,3); (2) a refusal to grieve as the hopeless (1 Thessalonians 4:13); (3) salvation's helmet (1 Thessalonians 5:8); (4) the soul's anchor (Hebrews 6:18, 19); and (5) an explainable reason for enduring when circumstances are horrible (1 Peter 3:15) are some impacts. Note the frequency that hope is mentioned in numerous letters. This verifies it to be an obvious quality of life in the "called out." Why can we exist in a hope deprived world as a people of hope? The resurrected Jesus the Christ makes that possible (Colossians 1:27; 1 Timothy 1:1)!
Stress that hope created by Jesus' resurrection expresses itself in many ways.
This must be clearly understood by Christians: physical life can never achieve the ultimate form of existence. God's sovereignty cannot be fully restored in this physical world. We can allow God's sovereignty to be restored in our lives. However, our desire to be a part of a world that willingly surrenders to God's sovereignty will be realized in His world, not this world.
To the degree that the "called out" place their confidence and expectations in material possessions, they abandon the hope of resurrection in Christ as the primary purpose for human existence.
If we are to represent God as a people who are "called out" of a rebellious, evil world as a kingdom of people who belong exclusively to God, we must be a people whose lives are characterized by genuine hope. This hope is genuine expectation, not "pie-in-the-sky" wishing.
This is not a suggestion that we abandon reality, but that we expand reality to include continued existence after death.
Thought Questions:
Attitudes and behaviors that declare a believer exists in hopelessness destroy a primary reason for being a part of the "called out." For those among the "called out," every aspect of existence is a declaration of spirituality.
The Christian refuses to allow any lifestyle in physical existence or any material possession/condition to define the human purpose for existence. Human purpose is defined by God, not the physical world.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 6