First Reading Isaiah 44:6-8
6Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. 7Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 8Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
Psalm Psalm 119:57-64
57You only are my portion, O Lord; I have promised to keep your words. 58I entreat you with all my heart, be merciful to me according to your promise. 59I have considered my ways and turned my feet toward your decrees. 60I hasten and do not tarry to keep your commandments. 61Though the cords of the wicked entangle me, I do not forget your law. 62At midnight I will rise to give you thanks, because of your righteous judgments. 63I am a companion of all who fear you and of those who keep your commandments. 64The earth, O Lord, is full of your love; instruct me in your statutes.
Second Reading Romans 8:18-27
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Gospel Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
24Jesus put another parable before {the disciples}, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
The Magic Ingredient
Years ago, in his book Success through a Positive Mental Attitude, business writer Napoleon Hill told about a successful cosmetic manufacturer—probably Charles Revson, the founder of the Revlon cosmetic company—who decided he would retire at the age of sixty-five. Each year thereafter, his friends and former business associates gave him a birthday party and tried to find out the secret of his success; in other words, the “secret” for his special cosmetic formula. But year after year he refused, good-naturedly, to reveal his secret. “Maybe I will tell you next year,” he would always say.
This went on for ten years until the businessman celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. As usual, his associates begged him to share the secret formula with them, so they could continue the business after his death. Finally, he yielded to their insistence. “In addition to the things which I use which are commonly known,” he said, “there is one secret ingredient that I package with every bottle.” By this time, everyone at the party was listening with rapt attention. “What is it?” an anxious friend inquired. “Please, don’t keep us in suspense any longer.”
Revson replied: “I never told a woman that my product would make her beautiful, but I always gave her hope.” “Hope,” he said, “is the magic ingredient.” This brings us to our topic for today: hope—in this case, Christian hope. Hope is the magic ingredient—whether in life or in death, in good times or times of sorrow. The magic ingredient is the assurance that regardless of how challenging things may seem today, God assures us that He is in charge and that, as St. Paul says in Romans 8:28, “all things work to the good for those who love Him.” That, is hope.
In today’s epistle lesson, which is devoted to hope, St. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (vs.18). Then just 8 verses later he says, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (vs. 26-27). Think about these statements for a moment. No matter what troubles today might hold, something better awaits us, AND, even when we’re so pressed down under the weight of current circumstance, God doesn’t leave us to our own devices, rather He’s still there providing an intercessor for us. What more can we ask for to give us hope? We know God has already provided everything we need for our salvation, and now we’re also assured that we are not abandoned in our time of need and that in the end, there’s something by far better to look forward to. Isn’t this what hope is all about?
All we have to do is trust that God can, and will, do what He says He will do, and we can have the joy and hope we need. As St. Paul assures us, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Paul knew that none of us gets through life without wrestling, at some time or another, with a myriad of challenges. And at times, these difficulties can be problematic. During the Vietnam War, Admiral James Stockdale was the highest-ranking U.S. officer taken as a prisoner by the Vietnamese.
On the 9th of September 1965, Stockdale was forced to eject from his Naval A4 aircraft and landed in a small Vietnamese village where he was taken prisoner and was beaten severely. For the next seven and one-half years, James Stockdale was held hostage in Hao Lo prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton, under horrific circumstances where he was tortured regularly. As the senior Naval officer, he was one of the primary organizers of prisoner resistance.
Tortured routinely and denied medical attention for the severely damaged leg he suffered during capture, Stockdale created and enforced a code of conduct for all prisoners which governed torture, secret communications, and behavior. In the summer of 1969, he was locked in leg irons in a bath stall and routinely tortured and beaten. When told by his captors that he was to be paraded in public, Stockdale slit his scalp with a razor to purposely disfigure himself so that his captors couldn’t use him as propaganda. When they covered his head with a hat, he beat himself with a stool until his face was swollen beyond recognition. When Stockdale was discovered with information that could implicate his friends’ “black activities”, he slit his wrists so they couldn’t torture him into confession. During the course of his captivity, due to torture, his leg was broken twice. Despite all he endured, he didn’t give in or give up.
In fact, Stockdale became a remarkable inspiration to his fellow soldiers. Jim Collins, author of the best-selling book, Good to Great, had the opportunity to spend time with Stockdale. Collins writes, “What separates people, Stockdale taught me, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life.” Stockdale believed that if you retain faith, then you will prevail in the end regardless of the difficulties—and at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be, you will be victorious.
Collins went further to write; Stockdale’s convictions were not based on blind optimism. When asked about prisoners who did not survive, Stockdale replied, “Oh, that’s easy, [they were] the optimists. These were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. One by one,” he said, “they died of a broken heart.” Obviously, James Stockdale didn’t die of a broken heart.
In fact, in 1992, after the war, he was named as Ross Perot’s running mate in the race for President of the United States. But what’s important to notice is Stockdale’s emphasis: hope is not the same as blind optimism. Hope comes from our trust in God and God’s promises. Blind optimism is the fatalistic belief that somehow everything will work out fine. Without God, nothing is certain, except taxes, death and judgement. With God, we still have taxes, but we have no fear of death and judgement.
Another good example of persistence in the face of adverse situations, is the early Christian community. They faced horrific circumstances at times, yet they never gave in to doubt and fear. They were certain that God was with them and that God would see them through. They embodied St. Paul’s words—their “present sufferings were not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” How else could they keep going if they didn’t have that source of hope?
Years ago, a husband, wife, and their grown son emigrated from Sicily to southern Illinois. There both father and son found work in a coal mine. But then tragedy struck. There was an explosion in the mine. The father was killed, and the son was maimed. While he was recovering in the hospital, the young man, along with his mother, came to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. This had such a profound effect on them that they changed their surname. The name they chose for themselves was Sperondeo (SperondE). In Italian Sperondeo means, “My hope is in God.” This phrase became the young man’s inspiration to complete college and graduate school and become a college professor. His name was the motto of his life—Sperondeo—“My hope is in God.”
Where else can this kind of hope be found? The Government? Education? Science? None of these can give us the assurance we need during dark times. Only our God given faith in God’s promises can do that. It’s like a story that Lutheran Pastor Reuben Youngdahl tells. It’s about a young man he met while visiting in Dublin, Ireland one summer.
Youngdahl noticed this young man had on his desk a plaque with two words on it. The words were “But God.” Pastor Youngdahl was so impressed by this plaque that he had one made up, just like it, for his own desk. Visitors to his office would ask him, “What do you mean by those two words— “But God”? He explained that in his hour of deepest need he had learned to say, “But God . . . will help.” In a moment of utter despair, he could say, “But God . . . will give me hope.” In a moment of loneliness, he could say, “But God . . . is with me.” When he felt insignificant and unwanted, it would help to repeat, “But God . . . loves me.” “That always turned the scale from despair to hope, from defeat to victory, from sin to salvation,” he reported.
“But God . . . even in the midst of despair gives me hope; it’s the assurance that He is with me always, that He intercedes and prays for me when I don’t even know how or what to say, and the guarantee of a secure future. What more can a person ask for? You see, God given hope is much more than blind optimism that everything is simply going to work out all right. Faith in God recognizes that life can often be hard—sometimes brutally hard—but if we maintain our faith, and if we will persist and not give up, God will come through for us. As long as there is hope—Christian hope—life is worth living.
The late Emil Brunner once said, “What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life.” He was right. Really, a hope-filled life is the only life worth living. Let me tell you about another gentleman who discovered the meaning of such hope. Those among us who are Panther’s fans may recognize the name Russell Okung.
Okung was selected twice to play in the Pro Bowl while with the Seattle Seahawks. He played with Denver and with the Los Angeles Chargers. Earlier this year he signed a contract to play here in North Carolina with the Panthers. I highlight this offensive tackle because he’s a man with strong convictions. While with the Seahawks, he did an interview in which he shared his faith in Christ.
During this interview he said, “I grew up being extremely self-sufficient. My father passed away when I was a young child, making me the man of the household. Since then I’ve taken on that responsibility. As I grew up, I did a lot of things for myself and became really independent. “[However], in college, a hurricane went through Houston and my mom and sister were at the house by themselves—I was off at school. It was a tough time. They called and said the house had flooded. “They told me they would be all right, but I remember looking at myself and asking, ‘Why?’
“Why was this going on? Why did my father pass away when I was a child? Why did I feel this way? “All of these ‘whys.’ In asking that, I found out some things were just out of my control; I couldn’t do everything on my own. I thought that there had to be something bigger to make sense of what was happening in my life. “I remember sitting at chapel one day when God spoke to me.
Okung continued, “It’s crazy how God will come to you even in the most small, subtle ways — maybe even a whisper. He told me, ‘You don’t have to do this alone. You’re not by yourself.’ “At that moment, I realized God had always been there—since I was a very small child even. Even though I thought I was doing things on my own, I couldn’t have done anything without Him. “When that happened, I knew God could only be my present hope. If I truly believed in Him, everything would take care of itself.
“And it did. “All of a sudden, I noticed things were changing. I felt more of a peace within me and a peace about my situations. I learned and trusted God with everything I had and decided to give it all to Him.”
Russell Okung, a big, tough two-time pro-bowler, was describing the magic ingredient in his life—hope, Christian hope—the belief that we may go through some rough times that we may not understand, but if we trust God and persist in our faith in Him, God will always come through. We are never alone.
St. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” And starting down in verse 26 we read, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Faith in the fact that God sustains us, that He walks beside us, and at times carries us, and that He is preparing our eternal place for us, is the only source of hope that we need. We have no need for blind optimism. Our hope in God, truly is the magic ingredient, that takes life to a whole new level.
Amen
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