The Hope of the World

Today we have celebrated what God has done and what He is doing through us as His Church. And as great as it is to celebrate what God has done and is doing; this fact remains: God is not done with His Church. Why? Simply put: The Church is the Hope of the World. It is His creation, His dwelling place, and His chosen instrument for bringing about change in our world. And as long as there are people far from God in our world, then our job as His people is not done.

That’s why Rock Springs was founded on the vision to be People helping people become friends, family and followers of Jesus. In other words, we are a church that’s always been about Jesus. And the reason we are all about Jesus, is Jesus has always been all about us. So, as we look ahead to our next chapter, I want to remind us of just how much Jesus is all about us. So, I’m going to briefly focus on three ways Jesus loves His church and how His love for us makes us the hope of the world.

First, Jesus loved you enough to include you in His family. Ephesians 1:5 says, In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. So, if you’ve put your trust in Jesus, you’ve been adopted into God’s family. You are no longer alone in this world. You are now and will always be HIs beloved child. Jesus loved you enough to include you in His family.

Let that sink in. Jesus is an includer. He’s always been an includer. He invited himself to Zacchaeus home and broke religious barriers to eat with him. He shattered racial barriers to bring the woman at the well to salvation. He allowed an unnamed woman to wash his feet to destroy the social barriers of the day. He INCLUDED outcasts. He LOVED the unlovely, and He WELCOMED sinners. Jesus is still including sinners today.
This is how Jesus loved you. And this is how He wants us to be the hope of the world. He wants us to be friends of sinners. To open our hearts and our homes to those who don’t yet know Him. To be less judgmental, more merciful, more loving, so that we might help people find a forever home with Him. That’s the first way Jesus loved us, and it’s how as His people Jesus wants us, His Church to bring hope to the world.

Secondly, Jesus loved you enough to give you new life. The Bible says, that apart from God’s grace, we spiritually dead. We are separated from life with God because we’ve sinned against Him. And if God doesn’t intervene with His mercy, we have no hope of eternal life. So what we need more than anything is God’s mercy. That’s the good news of His love for us. And that good news is also found in Jesus. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5

In other words, God saw the trouble we were in. He knew we had no ability to save ourselves, so out of His great love for us, He gave us mercy. He sent Jesus to save us, when you couldn’t save ourselves. He made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for you, to rescue you from eternal death. That’s how much Jesus loves you. So then, the moment you trusted in Jesus, God removed you from the realm of death and gave you a new life in Jesus. The resurrected Jesus now lives in you, and that makes you spiritually alive to God. Now you can know God. You can know His love and acceptance. You can know His purpose and will for your life and you can enjoy life with God – a life full of meaning, purpose and hope; all because of Jesus.

This is why Jesus saved us: So, we might share this new life with others. You see, there are many people we work out with, play cards with, play pickle ball or golf with who are separated from life with God. They don’t know how good, merciful and gracious HE is. They haven’t experienced His love, His peace or joy. The only purpose they have is to live for themselves. But because Jesus loved us, we have what everyone is looking for – life without guilt, life without fear and a life full of peace, joy and hope. That’s why the church is the hope of the world. This is why we’re always going to be a church that’s all about Jesus, all about making disciples, and all about the Gospel. For its God’s plan that we who are now alive with God, bear witness of this new life not just by our words, but by our lives that have been changed by Jesus.

Which leads me to the last truth about Jesus’ love for us today. And that is this: Jesus loved you enough to not leave you the way you were. In other words, the moment you put your trust in Jesus, God began doing a new work in you to make you like Jesus. The Bible says it this way: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 There’s a lot of truth packed into this verse. But the one truth I want to highlight is this: As we follow Jesus, keep our eyes on Jesus, listen to and learn from Jesus, the Spirit of Christ in us will continually transform us, so that we will become more and more like Jesus.
This is why Rock Springs will always be a people who are learning to follow Jesus as a people of the Word. I am convinced that the greatest weakness in the church today, is our lack of understanding of all we have in Jesus. And why the Church is His chosen instrument to bring hope to our world. So, next Sunday, we are going to begin the Book of Revelation and discover how Jesus desires His church to flourish. How His Church is to be all about Jesus. How we are to be faithful, full of good works and love. Have you ever wondered why Jesus doesn’t just come back to right the wrongs, relieve human suffering and deliver us from all the hatred and evil in the world?

It’s because He created His to church to come alongside the hurting and give healing, to come alongside the helpless and give love, and to come alongside the discouraged and give hope. This is why Jesus doesn’t leave us the way we were. He’s transforming His people so that together we can be conduits of His grace in a graceless world.

So, yes, we celebrate ten years of God’s faithfulness and goodness to us today. But let us never forget, that since Jesus included us in His Church, He still has work He wants to do through us. So let us keep our eyes on Jesus, lets follow Him together, and let’s become the Church He created us to be – the hope of the world.