Citizens and Exiles - Forward in Hope [Ryan Ashley]

Daniel 12, Hebrews 11:39-40, John 15:4-5

Hope is the absolute expectation of the coming good based on the very character of God

1. Hope is Rooted in a Person and a Promise not a Circumstance.

2. Hope Requires Patience 

3. Hope Demands That We Look Forward 

Hebrews 11:39-40

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

4. Hope Shows Us Our Place in Redemptive History

“In poverty patience supplies consolation; upon wealth it imposes moderation; the sick it does not destroy, nor does it, for the man in health, prolong his life; for the man of faith it is a source of delight. It attracts the heathen, recommends the slave to his master, the master to God. It adorns a woman, perfects a man. It is loved in a child, praised in a youth, esteemed in the aged. In both man and woman, at every age of life, it is exceedingly attractive.”

Tertullian

“Clearly the early Christians thought their way of life was important, for lifestyle is not inly a product of belief; it is a display of what people truly believe.”

Alan Kreider The Patient Ferment of the Early Church

“We live in the knowledge that there is a future that, while mysterious in its details, is still ahead of us. Though we currently live away from our ultimate home, there is a hope that one day we will no longer be strangers and aliens in the world, that there will be a homecoming to end our exilic journey and bring us to place where we were ultimately created to live.”

Lee Beech The Church in Exile

John 15:4-5

4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

“We must learn again to abide in the Father. Building our public profile is always a much easier task; it is measurable and tangible. To learn to abide in Christ, we must also break from the lures that surround us, while stull offering good news to the culture that seduces us.”

Mark Sayers Disappearing Church