Abounding in hope

by Pastor Matt Anker, President (Elect), LM-A

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13 ESV)

Hope can be a fragile thing, especially when it is wrongly placed. When our hope is centred in individuals or in organisations or in politics, we are bound to be disappointed and feelings of hopelessness can quickly consume and destroy us. Hopelessness is the realm of the Devil who longs to see God’s people spiralling in despair and robbed of the hope our Heavenly Father has prepared for us in His Son Jesus Christ.

It appears to me that many who have contended for the truth of God’s word over the past decades, especially as it relates to the issue of the ordination of women, have got to the point of feeling hopeless in the face of the unrelenting efforts to overthrow the clear Word of God. This hopelessness can have devastating consequences as it leads to questions about our future in the church and the faith that will be proclaimed to our children and grandchildren.

Lutheran Mission – Australia is seeking to serve you in these dark and latter days where the odour of hopelessness lingers and threatens to overcome us all. We want to see people renewed in the hope that is ours in Christ, and buoyed up by the hope that comes when we trust in His promises.

There is hope for the church of the future – not because of LM-A – but because of Jesus and His Word of promise. As the apostle Paul writes, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom 15:4).

Dear friends, hang on to the hope that is ours as the baptised people of God and proclaimed through the Holy Scriptures. In Christ we have the hope of eternity secured in His blood, and the assurance that even the gates of hell will not prevail against His church (Mt 16:18). Perhaps the future of the church may look a little different from what we have become accustomed to here in Australia, but we do have a future in Jesus. And it is in Him that we ultimately hope.

So “let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23).