Living in Hope

Eco Theology: a series which explores the theology of creation care in bite-size chunks

Yesterday I preached at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Costa Mesa about “Living in Hope” from Romans 8:18-25.  As the message was for Creation Care Sunday, I thought I would share a couple thoughts with you (I will later update this with a link to the whole message).

Romans 8:18-25 (NRSV) 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.  19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;  20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope  21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;  23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?  25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Hope here is not wishful thinking but a confident expectation

The hope that we, as Christians, hold on to is not the idea of wishful thinking.  We tend to think of hope like this:

I hope I win the lottery.

I hope I get a raise.

I hope that person likes me.

I hope she forgives me.

We so often think of hope in these ways. There is this deep sense of uncertainty. We think in terms of “perhaps,” “possibly,” “maybe,” “if I’m lucky.” But the hope that Paul expresses here is that of confident expectation. It is a concrete hope, a waiting for something we are sure of.

This hope is like the hope we have in pregnancy. We are driving towards a day when a new order will come about. We see and know that day is coming, even thought it is not yet here. So too with our hope.

We are not defined by our past nor by our present circumstances, instead we are defined by our future.

We tend to define our lives by things that have happened in the past (i.e. the way our parents treated us, scars we bear, experiences we had) or by our present circumstances (i.e. financial difficulties, broken relationships, frustrations with work). However, the future hope that we have is so true, so real, so powerful that it actually reaches back into the present to shape our lives. We tend to think of things as having a ripple effect where the ripples are felt on down through history. But the glorious future that awaits is so great that it ripples forward. 

Returning to the pregnancy metaphor… even though the baby may not have been delivered yet, the parents of an unborn child live in a new reality. The future of that coming baby actually shapes who they are and how they live in the present.

As Christians we are not to be shaped by our past nor by our present circumstances, but we are to be defined by that glorious future that God holds for us. We are to rehearse in the present the way we will live in eternity.

Learning to live as a Christian is learning to live as a renewed human being, anticipating the eventual new creation in and with a world which is longing and groaning for that final redemption. – N.T. Wright, Simply Christian

This hope is held by and for creation as well as for followers of Christ. We can have a confident expectation that God will redeem His creation. In the face of environmental degradations and predictions of doom, we can trust that the God – who is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer – that said He would restore His creation will be faithful to do so. It is for this reason that creation groans in eager longing. It is broken and looks towards yearns for that better future.

The exciting news is that Christ has already won the victory. The battle is won, though the prize has not been awarded yet. Our future home and way of life are secured, though we do not yet live there. Creation will be redeemed, though we do not yet live in the transformed creation. Our future is final though not yet complete.

How might your life look differently if you lived with this hope?

Also consider:

Eco Theology: Redemption of All Things

Q & A: What does Creation Hope Do?

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