SEVEN CARDINAL VIRTUES
HOPE
DR. JIM DIXON
MAY 27, 1990
HEBREWS 6:11-20
On May 13th, 1939, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany placed nine-hundred and thirty-seven Jewish refugees aboard a ship called the S.S. St. Louis, bound for Cuba. Each of these Jews paid a great deal of money in an effort to purchase their escape from Nazi persecution. They had great hope, hope of freedom, hope of a new life in a new world, but it did not happen. Adolf Hitler had prearranged that they would be denied access to Cuba and ultimately returned to Germany. When the S.S. St. Louis came to Cuba, and the nine-hundred and thirty-seven Jewish refugees were denied entrance and their hopes were dashed. They sought entrance into the United States but for a multiplicity of reasons they were rejected. Captain Gustav Schroeder turned the ship about and these nine hundred and thirty-seven Jews returned to Germany. Some of them committed suicide in the midst of their hopelessness. Others attempted mutiny, but in vain. The ship arrived at Germany where the Jews were placed in concentration camps and some of them were ultimately incinerated in Nazi ovens. The whole tragic episode was made into a movie a few years ago, a movie called “Voyage of the Damned.” And so it was, but in a sense, it provides a parable of what life is like in this world apart from Christ.
People come into this world with high hope, but soon they realize that death is their destiny, that death is inevitable, that it’s all been prearranged. And they realize that along the way, they’re going to have to experience some significant pain and significant suffering. Some of them in the midst of this scenario feel a desperate hopelessness. More than a million people have committed suicide right here in the United States of America since 1950. More than 28,000 people a year fell to hopelessness. God doesn’t want anyone to be hopeless or want any of you to experience hopelessness. God wants each and every one of you to have what the Bible calls a living hope. Without hope we can’t live. And with respect to hope, God gives us three instructions. And I would like us to explore those three instructions this morning.
First of all, God says, “Set your hope.” This is found in first Peter, chapter one, verse thirteen. The Bible says, “Set your hope.” Now, all of you have hope, each and every one of you have hopes, but your hopes vary. You have chosen to set your hopes in certain things or in certain people. You choose what you set your hope in. God tells us, set your hope wisely. If you do not set your hopes wisely, your hopes will lead to despair and your hope will be in vain.
I’m sure that many of you, perhaps all of you, have heard the old nursery rhyme, which goes “Ring around the rosies pocketful of posies. Ashes, ashes all fall down.” I said those words many times when I was in kindergarten and Montrose Elementary school in Southern California. I didn’t know what the words meant. And of course, most children do not know what those words mean. Most adults don’t, but the words are very old. They come from the Middle Ages, from the continent of Europe when the bubonic plague was spreading over the European continent, the black death. Twenty-five million people died in a matter of a few years. Europe was in chaos. People’s hopes were tested and dashed. People were desperate. It was a time when medical knowledge was primitive and people didn’t know what was causing this horrible plague. The only knew that people were dying.
They thought it had something to do with polluted air. Many of the people took ashes, and normally the ashes were put in spoons, and the ashes were pulled up to the nose in order to induce sneezing. They thought that through sneezing, they would expel the polluted air from their nasal passages and from their lungs. Historians tell us that many people in Europe got their whole family together or a group of families together and loved ones. They would walk through public rose gardens, holding hands, sometimes encircling gardens of roses, believing that the fragrance of the roses would somehow purify the polluted air in their lungs and that somehow it would ward off this horrible plague, the black death. The people took the petals from other flowers called posies, and they would put those petals in their pockets. From time to time, during the day, they would take a petal out and smell it, thinking again, it would purify the polluted air within them and ward off the black death. But ultimately, despite the rosies, and the posies, and the ashes, they all fell down. They died. This nursery rhyme was originally chanted by men in the city of London picking up the dead bodies of plague victims, where 150,000 people died right in the city of London because they had set their hopes on rosies, posies, and ashes.
We live in a world today where the bubonic plague isn’t a big problem, certainly not here in America. We don’t have a great fear in the black death but we have other fears. People still set their hopes wrongly. People set their hopes on rosies, posies, and ashes.
Just a week ago, I was reading once again the Humanist Manifesto I and II – these documents are like a Bible for Secular Humanists. I marvel at the people who have signed these manifestos. Some of them are leaders of America’s most outstanding academic and educational institutions. Some of them are political leaders. All of these people who have signed this humanist manifesto, all of the secular humanists deny the existence of God, but they have placed their hope in man. As secular humanists, they say, man is the hope of the world. Of course, they believe that man is only a highly evolved animal, through millions of years of cell mutation and natural selection, man has evolved to the state that he is in today to the state of modern man. From Ramapithicus to Australopithecus Homerectus, Neanderthal Cro-Magnon… from a hairy quadruped to a shoe shined, hair combed bipod – Evolution.
According to the Secular Humanist, this evolution is continuing and no one knows where it’s going to end up. Maybe we’ll all be a hairless hopping uniped. They don’t know but they do know man is the hope of the world. They really believe that. They really believe that through evolution, through social darwinism and through technology, man is going to usher in a new age, a golden age, an age where pestilence and disease and famine have virtually been eradicated from the earth. An age where war will be no more and peace will cover the earth like a blanket, a golden age.
Evolution, social Darwinism, and technology, rosies, posies and ashes, There’s no hope in evolution. I mean, even you believe in evolution, personally, I think it has inexplicable gaps and a lot of manipulated data. I realize there are Christians who believe in evolution. Even if you believe in evolution, you can’t possibly view evolution as a personal hope. Even if man is evolving to the state of Superman, you’ll be long gone before that happens. And if you really understand science, you know that this universe, this physical universe, is not evolving or progressing towards perfection. The second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy, teaches us that this universe is winding down. It is moving towards randomness and disorder and ultimate chaos.
There’s certainly no hope in social Darwinism. Social Darwinism teaches that human society is evolving towards perfection. Take a look around. What do you think moral and ethical values are eroding? There’s been more war in the twentieth century than any prior century. More people killed by war. There is still hatred in the human heart. There is as much selfishness in the human heart as there has ever been. And there’s no hope in technology. You would have to agree with Alexander Solzenitzen who said, “All the glorified technological attainment of the twentieth century cannot begin to redeem us of our moral poverty. And given the fallenness and the depravity of the human heart, technology is more likely to destroy us than to save us.” Rosies, poses and ashes.
Well, of course, most people in our world have other hopes. Some people have placed their hopes in materialism. They look to the future and they hope that that somehow they can just get enough money and enough stuff to give them fulfillment and enough happiness. And maybe some of you have placed your hope there either consciously or subconsciously. Or, maybe you’ve set your hope on hedonism. You just want pleasure out of life, and you’re pursuing some expectation of pleasure down the road. Or, maybe you’ve set your hope on ascension. You want to climb the ladder of success, and your hope is power, position and prominence. God wants you to understand it’s all rosies, posies, and ashes. It only leads to despair. It’s what the Bible calls in the book of Ecclesiastes, “striving after wind.” It’s what the Apostle Peter called, “waterless clouds.” It’s what the Bible calls, “vanity.” God wants us to know that if we would set our hopes wisely, there’s only one hope. That hope is Jesus Christ. Set your hope on Jesus Christ and set your hope on the promises of Christ. If you set your hopes on Christ and set your hopes on the promises of Christ, it will not end in despair. Your hopes will not be in vain, and you will find fulfillment and eternal life itself.
Secondly, the Bible says, “Seize your hope.” Set your hope and seize your hope. Hebrews, chapter six, verse eighteen, “Seize the hope that is set before you.” This word seize in the Greek means to take hold, it means to grab. It’s not enough to set your hope. You must seize hope.
I know you’ve all heard of the Cape of Good Hope. Cape of Good Hope is a peninsula about a hundred miles northwest of the southernmost tip of Africa. It’s known for its beautiful roads, and its sandy beaches. The Cape of Good Hope was first discovered in 1488 by Baru Diaz, who was a Portuguese explorer. He didn’t call it the Cape of Good Hope, he called it the Cape of Storms because that’s all that he discovered there.
Two years later, in 1490, King John II, King of Portugal, renamed it the Cape of Good Hope, because, he believed that beyond that cape, beyond that peninsula, if someone were to continue on, they would ultimately reach the glory of India. People laughed and mocked him. They thought if you continued on beyond the Cape of Good Hope, you’d find an endless sea or maybe the world would just drop off and you would drop off with it.
In the year 1497, Bosgo Degama, another Portuguese explorer, seized that hope. He got aboard a ship with other men who made the same commitment. They made that journey around the Cape of Good Hope, and they continued on risking their very lives. They continued on until they came to the glory of India, and the hope had become fact.
I hope you understand what God is saying to you today. It’s not enough to set your hope. You’re going to have to get on board. You’re going to have to seize that hope with the faith of commitment. Faith is not mere intellectual ascent. You can set your hope by intellectual ascent, but to seize your hope, you must have the faith, the living faith, and the active faith of commitment. You have to get on board. The patience of Abraham was not a patience of passivity. It was patient endurance that came from commitment. That’s how you seize your hope through faith and patience. Active faith, patient endurance. Abraham had the promises of God before him. All the promises of God were set before him, but he inherited those promises by faith, and it was the active faith of commitment. He had to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, not knowing where he was going. He’s sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. He had to be willing to offer up his only son in faith. We live in a world where so many people claim to be Christians and to have set their hope on Christ, but they’re not willing to seize that hope through faith, not real faith, not active faith, not the faith of commitment.
A few weeks ago, perhaps you saw the article in the Denver Post about the most recent studies of George Gallup in regards to the religious condition of America. According to Gallup’s most recent polls, most people in America claim to believe in the deity of Christ. I was amazed when I read that. Most people in this country claim to believe in the deity of Christ. Most people in this country claim to believe in the infallibility, the authority, of the Bible. I was amazed when I read that. Most people in this country claim to believe in heaven and they’ve set their hope on heaven.
But they’re not willing to seize that hope. In fact, Gallup says we’re a nation of religious hypocrisy. He says most people in this nation are not willing to live their lives in conformity to the teachings of Christ and most people don’t even read the Bible. Religious hypocrisy. Don’t let that be true of you. If you really believe, you can seize the hope, get onboard, live for Christ day by day. Honor Him. I mean if you really want all things to work together for good in your life, then you need commitment sufficient to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. The Bible says, “All things work together for good to those who love Him.” Do you really want God to open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you overflowing blessing? Then you’ve got to have commitment enough to tithe because the Bible says, “Bring the full tithes into my storehouse. Put me to the test. See if I will not open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”
Do you really want things to change in your life? Is that your hope? You’ve got to have commitment enough for fervent prayer because the Bible says prayer changes things. Do you really want to go to heaven? Is that your hope? Then you have to have commitment enough to live for Christ as Lord and Savior. Nothing less will do. Cease the hope set before you. Commit yourself.
Thirdly and finally, the Bible tells us to share our hope. Set your hope. Seize your hope. Share your hope. First Peter, chapter three, “Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is within you.” Always be ready to share your hope. You see, any human being in this world, any person in this world can give some measure of hope to another human being.
In the year 1875, at an institution for the mentally insane just outside the city of Boston, there was a nine-year-old girl who was called Little Annie. She was considered hopelessly born in poverty, born in affliction, born half blind. When her mother died, it was more than she could bear and she just went over the edge. So there she was. 1875. Nine years old in an institution for the mentally insane. They considered her case hopeless because when people came around, she would either just totally ignore them as though they were not there or she would go into a rage and she would attack them.
They put Little Annie downstairs in the basement in what they called the dungeon. They put her in a cage where she wouldn’t see any people anymore. But there was one elderly nurse who was a Christian, an elderly Christian woman, and she had prayed about this and she had hoped – she had hoped for Annie. Every day she would go down into the dungeon and she’d eat her lunch by Annie’s cage. Annie never even noticed her. I mean she could see enough to make out shapes and forms but you would never know if she even noticed this elderly lady as she would sit there and eat lunch by Annie’s cage.
This elderly lady began to bring cookies and brownies that she had baked and she put them by Annie’s cage. She never saw Annie come and take a cookie or brownie, but when she would leave and come back, the cookies or brownies would be gone. She knew that Annie was tracking with some of this. As she prayed and as time went by, Annie began to respond and she began to have hope and she began to communicate with this elderly woman. Soon the staff at this institution for the mentally insane began to notice the changes and they brought Annie up from the dungeon, up from her cage, and they put her upstairs. As the time went by, she began to improve more and more. By the year 1880, she was dismissed from that institution for the mentally insane but she wanted to stay there and help other people.
Well in 1881, Annie was given surgery at the Perkins Institute for the Blind, surgery on her eyes to restore more of her sight. Then she went to work at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston. Then in 1887, when Annie was 21, she had a second surgery at the Perkins Institute for the Blind and more of her sight was restored. Well in that same yar, 1887, down in Alabama, there was a seven-year-old girl who was blind, deaf, and dumb. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear. She couldn’t speak. She was utterly and totally separated from the world. She was in a dungeon of her own her thought, known only to herself. Hopeless. Seven years old and hopeless. Her name was Helen Keller.
Well, Hellen Keller had friends. They couldn’t communicate with her but they cared about her and they wrote to Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone. They said, “What would you recommend?” Alexander Graham Bell said, “Get her to the Perkins Institute for the Blind, and specifically, there’s a woman there – twenty-one years old – her names Anne Sullivan. She used to be called Little Annie. Anne Sullivan – she will help her. She will give her hope.”
So it was that Anne Sullivan went from the Perkins Institute for the Blinded down to Alabama to work with Hellen Keller. In two weeks, Anne Sullivan had, through touch, taught Helen Keller thirty words. It was Anne Sullivan, who taught Helen Keller to read braille. And it was Anne Sullivan who taught Hellen Keller to speak. It was Anne Sullivan who lived with her side-by-side as the years went by and went with Helen Keller to college and sat with Helen Keller in every classroom, through every hour of her studying, so that Helen Keller might graduate with honors. It was Anne Sullivan who stayed by Helen Keller’s side for 49 years. It was Anne Sullivan who gave Helen Keller hope so that Helen Keller could write all those books you’ve read. When Anne Sullivan died, Helen Keller said, “I pray that God will give me courage to face the silent dark until she smiles on me again.” Helen Keller had never seen Anne Sullivan’s smile, but the hope – the hope that she felt when she was in Anne Sullivan’s presence felt like a smile.
You know, sometimes people say, “Well, were Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller Christians?” Some people say yes. Some people say no. I don’t know. But I do know this. As Christians we’re called to share hope, we’re called to be light in somebody’s darkness. Nobody can share hope like a Christian can because you have the Lord of Hope living in your heart, and you have the power of the Holy Spirit to share hope with another human being. Would you be willing to share the hope that’s in you and come alongside somebody in their moment of darkness and in their pain, and by the power of Christ, minister in encouragement?
This is Memorial Day Weekend and all over our country, people are remembering those who gave their lives for this nation, and families are remembering loved ones who have passed away. You can’t help but think of death on a weekend like this. People approach death with different attitudes. I mean I’ve gone to the hospitals for years. I’ve seen some people approach death with sheer terror. I’ve seen people approach death with utter panic. I’ve also seen people approach death with hopeless resignation. But as Christians, we can approach death in hope, joy, anticipation and in excitement because the Lord of Hope lives in our hearts and we know His promises, promises of eternal life. This hope is meant to be shared. It’s meant to be shared. It’s the hope of glory. You’re meant to share it.
The Bible says that as Christians, once we were separated from God, alienated from the covenants and promises, having no hope and without God in this world. But we’ve received grace and mercy in order that we might now declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called us out of darkness into marvelous light. Once we were no people. Now we are God’s people. Once we had not received mercy. Now we have received mercy and Jesus says to us, “You are the light of the world” called to go into a world of darkness and be light – in a world of disease and infirmity and be salt. Share your hope. Set your hope on Christ and the promises of Christ. Everything else is in vain. Cease you hope through true faith that expresses itself in daily commitment and share that hope through the love and power of Christ. Share that hope with other people for Christ’s sake. Let’s end in a word of prayer.