The Paradox of Hope and Hopelessness
by Rev. Kirby Williams
How Jesus turns the agents of hopelessness into the agents of God's glory.
Text: John 1:4-5
Date: 12/02/2018, the Traditional service.
Series: "John: Encountering Love" Part 113
Occasion: Advent
Description:
On this first Sunday of the Advent season our thoughts turn to the hope we have in Christ. And in particular, how John has presented this great theme in the first twelve chapters of his Gospel. We will focus on the paradox of the way Scripture presents the relationship between perceived hopelessness and God's glory. For the more hopeless the situation, the more glorious the deliverance! We will look at five different stories John tells in his Gospel where the agents of hopelessness (whether they be discrimination, disability, blindness, sin, or even death) are in reality the agents of God's glory. In each situation we will see how Jesus turns the very malady that creates the hopelessness into a reason to give God glory. Ultimately we will discover that true hope is based on belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord and not on the circumstances of life, while true hopelessness is grounded in unbelief. This is the paradox of hope and hopelessness.
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I. Introducing the paradox, Ex. 14:4,11-14.
II. Exploring the paradox.
A. Context
B. John's handling of hope and hopelessness.
1. Identifying the agents.
a. The Agent of hope, John 1:4-5.
b. The agents of hopelessness.
2. Stories of hope and hopelessness.
a. Hopeless by birth, John 4:4-42, Acts 1:8.
b. Hopelessly ill, John 5:1-18.
c. Hopelessly blind, John 9:1-41.
d. Hopelessly sinful, John 8:3-11.
e. Hopelessly dead, John 11:14-53.
f. Summation
C. The ultimate paradox, Matt. 27:46, John 19:30.
III. Conclusion: the One True Hope, John 1:4-5.
