Debra K. Brazzel - "A Hope That Does Not Disappoint" (June 7, 1998)

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-	One of the heresies that has existed	0:08
	for most of the history of the church	0:11
	and which continues its prominence today	0:13
	is the belief that if you believe in God	0:16
	and are faithful, i.e. a good person,	0:19
	God will bless you with happiness,	0:23
	success, health and wealth.	0:25
	You can hear this message preached	0:30
	by various televangelists every week.	0:31
	Just believe enough and act in a certain way	0:34
	and whatever you wish for, God will grant you.	0:37
	Of course, your faithfulness also requires	0:41
	that you make generous and regular contributions	0:43
	to the preacher.	0:46
	But in spite of these abuses of power by some preachers,	0:47
	the theology of prosperity has great appeal.	0:51
	It offers a way to control the outcome of life.	0:56
	Be good and do good and God will bless you	1:00
	with the good life.	1:04
	Of course, the implication is that if you aren't successful,	1:07
	happy, wealthy and healthy,	1:11
	then you've done something to deserve that suffering.	1:14
	This belief gives rise to our tendency to blame the poor,	1:18
	the sick and the victim for their circumstances.	1:22
	We wonder what they've done	1:26
	to bring their sorry plight upon themselves.	1:27
	Do you remember the story of Job	1:31
	who lost his wife, his children, his home	1:33
	and his health?	1:36
	His friends who came to comfort him	1:38
	believed that he must have done something	1:41
	to bring disaster upon himself.	1:43
	They tried to help him by getting him	1:46
	to admit that he deserved all that had happened to him.	1:48
	He must have done something to make God really mad	1:52
	because God always blesses the deserving	1:57
	and punishes the sinner.	2:01
	This belief is so widespread	2:05
	that suffering, the experience of suffering	2:08
	is a great killer of faith.	2:13
	In her book "God in Pain,"	2:16
	Barbara Brown Taylor describes it this way.	2:19
	"Long-time believers crash into the first wall	2:24
	"of life-threatening illness	2:27
	"and all the light goes out of their eyes.	2:29
	"They pack their prayer books	2:32
	"when they go to the hospital	2:34
	"but they do not open them once they get there.	2:35
	"They watch television instead,	2:38
	"cruising channels for something	2:40
	"to busy their minds.	2:42
	"They cannot pray.	2:44
	"When they try, their prayer seem to get no farther	2:46
	"than the ceiling.	2:48
	"One of them says he is afraid to pray now.	2:50
	"He prayed before and look what happened.	2:53
	"Now all he wants to do is lie low	2:56
	"and try not to catch God's attention."	3:00
	More than anything else,	3:05
	suffering reveals the fragility of our faith.	3:07
	When disaster strikes,	3:12
	we discover how inadequate is our concept	3:13
	of God, how empty our hope.	3:16
	A theology of prosperity is fine	3:20
	when everything is going well in our lives.	3:22
	We can believe that we have found God's favor,	3:25
	we can rest in the hope	3:29
	that we will continue to prosper.	3:30
	But what do we do when illness strikes?	3:34
	What do we do when the marriage breaks up?	3:37
	What do we do when the business fails?	3:40
	What do we do when the loved one dies?	3:43
	Does that mean God is punishing us?	3:47
	Does that mean that God has withdrawn God's favor	3:50
	or even worse, does it mean that God is puny and powerless	3:54
	to do anything to help us?	3:58
	What do we believe in when suffering comes?	4:02
	We need a faith that is strong enough	4:06
	to stand up to pain	4:08
	and loss and failure.	4:09
	Paul talks about the basis of such a faith	4:13
	in the passage we read from Romans.	4:16
	The starting place for a theologically sound	4:19
	and strong Christian faith	4:23
	is the belief that through Christ,	4:25
	we are set right with God.	4:28
	The theological language that Paul uses is justification.	4:32
	He says we are justified by faith.	4:36
	And we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ	4:41
	through whom we have obtained access	4:45
	to this grace in which we stand.	4:47
	Simply stated, it means that through Christ,	4:51
	all of us have found favor with God.	4:54
	It isn't based on anything we've done,	5:00
	we haven't earned it	5:03
	so we can't lose it.	5:05
	We don't control it, it is given to us.	5:07
	And Paul says that we stand,	5:12
	we build our lives on this grace.	5:16
	It is the basis of our faith,	5:20
	it is the ground of our confidence,	5:21
	it is the source of our hope.	5:24
	Not who we are and what we deserve	5:26
	but who God is and what God has done and continues	5:30
	to do to be in relationship with us.	5:35
	As Christians, we believe that Jesus Christ powerfully	5:39
	and truly reveals who God is.	5:43
	In Jesus Christ, we say that God was incarnate.	5:47
	Through this man who was born,	5:51
	lived, suffered, died and was resurrected,	5:53
	and we say that we've come as close to God	5:56
	as we ever hope to come	5:59
	and that in him,	6:01
	we have experienced the very essence of God.	6:02
	Through Christ, what we've learned about God	6:07
	is that God is not some distant power sending down blessings	6:10
	to reward and punishments	6:15
	to punish.	6:21
	But a Savior giving himself for us, all of us,	6:23
	the good and the bad	6:28
	but especially the bad.	6:30
	In the verses immediately following	6:34
	our scripture reading, Romans 5 continues,	6:36
	"For while we were still weak,	6:39
	"at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.	6:41
	"Indeed rarely will anyone die	6:45
	"for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person,	6:47
	"someone might dare to die.	6:51
	"But God proves his love for us	6:53
	"and that while we still were sinners,	6:55
	"Christ died for us.	6:57
	"Much more surely then now that we have been justified	6:59
	"by his blood will we be saved through him	7:03
	"from the wrath of God.	7:07
	"When suffering comes as it does to all of us,	7:11
	"we can be confident that the God	7:15
	"who poured himself out for us	7:18
	"as a savior doesn't send it upon us a punishment."	7:20
	God doesn't cause our suffering.	7:25
	So why do we suffer	7:29
	and how are we to deal with suffering?	7:32
	Frederick Buechner speaks to this	7:35
	in "The Clown in the Belfry."	7:37
	He talks about all of us as adolescents at some level	7:39
	who are still learning what it means	7:43
	to grow toward pain.	7:46
	Adolescents are those who are in a painful process.	7:49
	The process of discovering pain itself,	7:52
	of trying somehow to come to terms with pain,	7:55
	to figure out how to deal with pain,	7:58
	not just how to survive pain	8:01
	but how to turn it to some human	8:04
	and creative use in their own encounters with it.	8:06
	Adolescents are Adam and Eve in the process	8:11
	of tasting the forbidden fruit	8:13
	and discovering that in addition to good,	8:15
	there is also evil.	8:18
	That in addition to the joy of being alive,	8:20
	there is also the sadness and the hurt of being alive	8:23
	and being themselves.	8:26
	Adolescents are Gautama the Buddha	8:30
	as he recognizes the first of the Four Noble Truths	8:33
	which is that life is suffering,	8:36
	that at any given moment,	8:39
	life can be lots of happy things too	8:40
	but that suffering is universal	8:43
	and inevitable and that to face that reality	8:46
	and to come to terms with that reality	8:50
	is the beginning of wisdom	8:52
	and at the heart of what human growing is all about.	8:54
	To the extent that we are still learning	8:59
	to live with pain and suffering,	9:03
	we are all adolescents.	9:06
	Suffering is universal.	9:10
	So how do we live with it	9:12
	and carry it in such a way	9:14
	that we are not crushed by its weight?	9:16
	Boast in your sufferings.	9:22
	That's what Paul says.	9:26
	Suffering is good for you,	9:29
	it will teach you endurance and give you character.	9:30
	To the person in the midst of suffering,	9:35
	Paul seems about as helpful as Job's friends were to him.	9:37
	I can just imagine how comforted the person	9:45
	who has just been through a bone marrow transplant	9:47
	would be when I visit her in the hospital	9:50
	and say, "You should boast in your operation.	9:53
	"The excruciating pain that you were feeling	9:56
	"is good for you.	9:59
	"It will give you character."	10:00
	It's about as helpful as the person	10:03
	who comes to your husband's funeral and says,	10:05
	"I know it was God's will.	10:09
	"It's for the best."	10:11
	Paul would have flunked pastoral care.	10:14
	(congregation laughing)	10:19
	Now, I could tell you to ignore him,	10:21
	that he doesn't know what he's talking about	10:24
	except for the fact of his life.	10:27
	Paul was a man who knew what it meant to suffer.	10:31
	II Corinthians chapter 11	10:37
	offers the catalog of his sufferings	10:39
	which are so extensive	10:42
	that it almost sounds like a caricature of suffering.	10:43
	Listen.	10:47
	Paul's sufferings included many imprisonments,	10:48
	countless floggings, he was often near death.	10:51
	Five times he received 40 lashes minus one.	10:54
	Three times he was beaten with rods.	10:59
	One time he was stoned.	11:01
	Three times he was shipwrecked.	11:03
	Once he was adrift at sea a night and a day.	11:05
	He had frequent journeys	11:09
	and was in constant danger,	11:10
	danger from rivers, danger from bandits,	11:12
	danger from his own people.	11:15
	Danger from the Gentiles.	11:16
	Danger in the city, danger in the wilderness,	11:18
	danger at sea.	11:21
	Danger from false brothers and sisters.	11:22
	He was in toil and hardship	11:26
	with many sleepless nights,	11:28
	hungry and thirsty, often without food,	11:30
	cold and naked with the daily pressure	11:33
	of anxiety about all the churches	11:35
	and just so that no category of suffering	11:38
	was left out, he had been given a thorn in the flesh	11:40
	to keep him from being too elated	11:44
	by his spiritual experiences.	11:47
	Paul knew what it meant to suffer.	11:50
	And he says that we are to boast in our sufferings	11:57
	knowing that suffering produces endurance	12:01
	and endurance produces character	12:04
	and character produces hope	12:06
	and hope does not disappoint us	12:08
	because God's love has been poured into our hearts	12:10
	through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.	12:14
	These are not pious platitudes.	12:20
	Paul spoke of what he knew.	12:23
	Though he had suffered great hardship,	12:25
	he was yet filled with hope.	12:28
	The kind of hope that was unshakable no matter	12:32
	what danger threatened,	12:35
	no matter what pain he was forced to endure.	12:36
	How do we lay hold of such a hope as this?	12:43
	How do we come to know a hope	12:46
	that does not disappoint us even in our darkest night?	12:48
	Christian hope is based upon two things.	12:55
	First, Paul says we boast in our hope	12:59
	of sharing the glory of God	13:03
	which is another way of saying	13:06
	that we look ahead with confidence	13:08
	because the future belongs to God	13:10
	and we have been promised a share in God's future.	13:14
	We trust our hope to the God who suffered,	13:19
	died and was resurrected	13:23
	and who offers us the power of new life.	13:25
	We boast not in who we are	13:30
	but in who God is and the ways that God has acted	13:33
	to include us in God's life.	13:37
	But we also boast in our sufferings	13:42
	because our sufferings become a way	13:44
	that we experience the power of God with us.	13:47
	The key to hope that endures in the midst of suffering	13:52
	is not that we produce hope out	13:56
	of our own resources	13:58
	but that hope lays hold of us.	14:00
	Notice the slight shift of control	14:04
	from us to God.	14:06
	It isn't that we don't do anything but sit back	14:09
	and wait for hope to lay hold of us.	14:12
	No, we suffer, we endure, we hang on	14:16
	but we don't suffer alone.	14:20
	We don't endure alone	14:22
	with only our own strength to fall back on.	14:24
	The very love of God is poured into our hearts	14:27
	through the Holy Spirit.	14:31
	The Holy Spirit which is the power of God with us.	14:33
	When we've got no resources of our own to draw upon,	14:38
	and we yet find ourselves held	14:41
	and sustained, we know that God lives in us.	14:44
	We can boast in our sufferings	14:50
	because our endurance with hope reveals the power	14:53
	and the love of God.	14:57
	Through the Holy Spirit, God's love	15:00
	is poured into us, through the Holy Spirit the power	15:02
	of God lives in us.	15:06
	This is a mystery that many of us find difficult to grasp.	15:09
	Brother Roger who founded	15:14
	the Taize community explains it this way.	15:16
	"Hidden within every human being,	15:19
	"there is a life that rouses our hope.	15:22
	It opens up ahead of us a way of transformation both	15:26
	for ourselves and for everybody.	15:30
	Without this hope anchored in your heart of hearts	15:33
	and without this transformation	15:36
	that lies beyond your own personality,	15:38
	you lose all inclination to forge ahead.	15:42
	This is not a shear projection of your own desires.	15:45
	It is a hope that incites you to live the unhoped for	15:49
	even in situations that appear to be dead ends.	15:54
	We can boast in our sufferings	16:01
	because through them we experience the power of God	16:04
	to incite us to hope	16:07
	even in the midst of the most hopeless circumstances.	16:09
	When we know that God loves us	16:14
	and that our life and death is ultimately held	16:17
	in God's hands,	16:20
	we can find courage to endure whatever suffering we face,	16:21
	trusting the future to God.	16:25
	We get shaped by hope from the inside out	16:28
	so that hope becomes the very character of our lives.	16:32
	Based not upon our own fortitude	16:36
	or external circumstances,	16:38
	but upon our trust in the love	16:41
	and power of God.	16:43
	My favorite passage of scripture	16:47
	is from the book of Romans chapter 8.	16:49
	This is the one scripture that I know I want read	16:52
	at my funeral because it speaks so eloquently	16:55
	to the hope that does not disappoint us no matter what.	16:58
	"Who will separate us from the love of Christ?	17:04
	"Will hardship or distress,	17:07
	"or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?	17:09
	"No, in all these things,	17:15
	"we are more than conquerors	17:16
	"through him who loved us	17:18
	"for I am convinced that neither death	17:20
	"nor life or angels nor rulers	17:22
	"nor things present nor things to come,	17:25
	"nor powers, nor height, nor depth	17:28
	"nor anything else in all creation	17:31
	"will be able to separate us	17:34
	"from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."	17:36
	This is a hope that can stand up to suffering.	17:42
	This is a hope that can endure the trials of life.	17:48
	This is a hope that can face death.	17:53
	This is a hope that does not disappoint us	17:57
	because it is grounded in God's love and power.	18:01
	You can trust your life to it.	18:05
	(dramatic organ music)	18:18
	♪ Standing on the promises of Christ my King ♪	18:44
	♪ Through eternal ages let his praises ring ♪	18:48
	♪ Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing ♪	18:53
	♪ Standing on the promises of God ♪	18:58
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	19:03
	♪ Standing on the promises of God my Savior ♪	19:08
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	19:12
	♪ I'm standing on the promises of God ♪	19:19
	♪ Standing on the promises, I cannot fall ♪	19:25
	♪ When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail ♪	19:30
	♪ By the living Word of God I shall prevail ♪	19:35
	♪ Standing on the promises of God ♪	19:40
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	19:45
	♪ Standing on the promises of Christ my Savior ♪	19:49
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	19:54
	♪ I'm standing on the promises of God ♪	20:00
	♪ Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord ♪	20:07
	♪ Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord ♪	20:12
	♪ Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword ♪	20:17
	♪ Standing on the promises of God ♪	20:21
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	20:27
	♪ Standing on the promises of God my Savior ♪	20:32
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	20:36
	♪ I'm standing on the promises of God ♪	20:43
	♪ Standing on the promises, I cannot fail ♪	20:50
	♪ List'ning every moment to the Spirit's call ♪	20:54
	♪ Resting in my Savior as my All in all ♪	21:00
	♪ Standing on the promises of God ♪	21:05
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	21:10
	♪ Standing on the promises of God my Savior ♪	21:15
	♪ Standing, standing ♪	21:20
	♪ I'm standing on the promises of God ♪	21:29
-	Please be seated.	21:39
	The Lord be with you.	21:49
-	And also with you.	21:51
-	Let us pray.	21:52
	Almighty God, in Jesus Christ you taught us to pray.	21:58
	And to offer our petitions to you in his name.	22:03
	Guide us by your Holy Spirit	22:08
	that our prayers for others may serve your will	22:10
	and show your steadfast love.	22:14
	Let us pray for the world.	22:19
	God, our creator,	22:31
	you made all things in your wisdom	22:33
	and in your love you save us.	22:36
	Overthrow evil powers.	22:40
	Right what is wrong.	22:43
	Feed and satisfy those who thirst for justice	22:46
	so that all your children may freely enjoy the Earth	22:50
	you have made and joyfully sing your praises.	22:53
	Lord, in your mercy.	22:58
-	Hear our prayer.	23:00
-	Let us pray for the church.	23:04
	Gracious God, you have called us to be the church	23:20
	of Jesus Christ.	23:24
	Heal differences and unite us in faith and service	23:26
	that the church may truly be one body proclaiming	23:32
	the good news to the world.	23:35
	Lord, in your mercy.	23:38
-	Hear our prayer.	23:40
-	Let us pray for reconciliation between peoples.	23:45
	Oh God, whom we cannot love	24:08
	unless we love our neighbors,	24:11
	remove hate and prejudice from us	24:14
	and from all people	24:18
	so that we may be reconciled with those we fear,	24:20
	resent or threaten.	24:25
	And live together in your peace.	24:29
	Lord, in your mercy.	24:34
-	Hear our prayer.	24:36
-	Let us pray for the sick.	24:40
	Merciful God, you bear the pain of the world.	24:55
	Look with compassion on those who are sick,	25:00
	especially those who suffer from cancer	25:04
	and other life-threatening illnesses.	25:06
	Sustain them by your word of hope	25:11
	and bring healing as a sign of your grace.	25:14
	Lord, in your mercy.	25:20
-	Hear our prayer.	25:22
-	Let us pray for the sorrowful.	25:26
	God of comfort,	25:41
	stand with those who sorrow this day	25:43
	that they may be sure	25:47
	that neither death nor life	25:48
	nor things present nor things to come may separate them	25:51
	from your love.	25:54
	Lord, in your mercy.	25:58
-	Hear our prayer.	26:01
-	Let us pray for those who face change and uncertainty.	26:05

Item Info

Title:

Debra K. Brazzel - "A Hope That Does Not Disappoint" (June 7, 1998)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 00:08. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 18:07.
Theologies of prosperity tend to produce a form of faith that crumbles when it confronts suffering. Paul reminds us, however, that we have a hope that is able to endure all forms of suffering and even allow us to boast in our suffering because it produces character. That hope is that God holds the future, and nothing can separate us from God's love. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)
Key quotation: “When we know that God loves us and that our life and death is ultimately held in God’s hands, we can find courage to endure whatever suffering we face, trusting the future to God.”

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4513v93x

Date:

June 7, 1998

Speaker:

Brazzel, Debra K.

Liturgical Calendar:

Trinity Sunday

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Duke University. Chapel

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UA.17.01.0003 CS-0909
ref9967_w0o
uachapelsermaud
duke:320382
dcrau001553
ark:/87924/r4513v93x
4dfc5366-8857-4522-9759-27d65deb57e0

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Debra K. Brazzel - "A Hope That Does Not Disappoint" (June 7, 1998)

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