Hope that Gives Grit

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

    So last week I drove up to Burlington, Vermont. for some skiing and to visit my daughter. And we left on Sunday, and Sunday was a big snowstorm and ice storm. And it was treacherous driving in New York, and then it turned to snow. We finally arrive in Burlington, and we find a spot, and we park, only to discover that there's a parking van.

And at 5 o'clock in the morning, we have to run outside because our van's about to get towed. Finally get that settled, and then the next day we were supposed to go skiing, but it was negative 25 below. Thankfully, we got our tickets transferred to the next day, and in the end, we had a great time. It was fun, but it had some challenges, some setbacks. It took us a lot longer to get there. Driving was a little bit precarious. It was a fun adventure, but that's what life is like for us, a lot. We have our idea of how something's going to go. We have a vision for what it'll look like, but we're met with different challenges, loss, failures, setbacks all along the way.

We're in the midst of our series, tidings of comfort and joy and what we're exploring is how does Christ's arrival in history bring tidings of comfort and joy. And here what we see is Paul tell us in Philippians 3 that because of his certainty of who he is in Christ, he has hope, hope that gives him grit to be able to push through and persevere in the midst of life's challenges, failures, and setbacks.

So, I want to highlight three things for you today to help you grab a hold of that same hope that has that kind of grit you need to persevere.

The first is that Paul sees all of this through the lens of the power of resurrection. In Philippians 3, he says that he wants to know the power of Christ's resurrection and to share in his sufferings. So in this way, what we see is we see that Paul's mindset is that even challenges, setbacks, and failure can actually be a doorway to new life.

Now, Paul doesn't believe that God is the author of these things. God is never the author of death, evil, sin, and brokenness. But God still can use those things in such a way to bring life. Certainly, this is what we see in the cross. In Jesus death, he turns evil inside out by conquering it, by submitting to it, and then rises.

And so that power of resurrection continues to meet us in our life today. And so you and I have a hope that overcomes death and loss.

We're doing some renovations in our house and my wife was doing some work on the bathtub and it ended up with some rust streaks. But it turns out if you pour hydrogen peroxide on those rust streaks disappear.

They are transformed. For you and I, we have to remember that our challenges, setbacks, and loss can also be transformed. They can be transformed in such a way that we can grow in character, we can grow in connection with others, and that even in the midst of those setbacks and challenges, while sometimes there will be short term pain and loss, we are reminded that the future that we still wait for is one in which the world is restored, where death and evil are vanished forever, and that we get to live in the midst of the goodness and the beauty and the wonder that we crave and desire.

And so that promise, that future hope that we have, gives us the grit to recognize that our lives now will be transformed.

One of the things that I can say that I think is helpful is to reflect on how have we seen loss be transformed. You can see it in the cross, but maybe you have a story in your own life in which what you thought was going to only be lost also became something else.

Maybe you lost a job and found another one that was actually far greater. Maybe you lost, a person, and in the midst of that you found someone else. And so, these kinds of things happen in our life, and being able to see that loss, while in some ways can be painful, it also can be a bridge to something new.

The second thing that Paul does, as he talks about in Philippians 3, this idea that he forgets what's behind, and he presses and strains forward. I think for a lot of us, when we are feeling trapped, when we lack grit. It's because we're stuck in the past. We haven't let go of what's behind us, but rather we're woulda, shoulda, coulda ing on it.

We're wishing for a different past so that our present might be different. And of course when we're there, we get stuck. And we don't move forward at all. But rather what Paul says is that because he is confident, that he is empowered and loved by Christ. He can forget his past. And by forget it, he just means that he's not tied up in it. That he trusts that his whole story leads him to now. And this, his whole story can be something that God has used to shape him and who he is. And so what that does is it allows him to press forward. To press towards the good. And so for you and I, that's a thing that we're always called to. How do we press towards the good?

How do we let go of the past? And so let me ask you, what are, what is something that you might let go of and what might you press and strain towards?

I think it can be helpful in our family and our workplace in our community to think okay Well, what am I holding on to? What am I rolling around? What should I let go of? And once I let go of that, where am I going? What can I strain and press on? Because that's a different part of this hope that has a lot of grit to it.

The final thing that Paul tells us is he tells us to not forget what we have already attained. And for Paul, that's a lot. What he believes he has attained is that in Christ he is loved, he is forgiven, he is empowered, he is not alone.

He is set free to be the kind of human being that pursues character and kindness and patience and goodness and can endure all things and bear all things. And so he's like, don't forget that that's who you are, that's your identity. Hold on to that.

You know, I think as human beings, we often neglect what we have. As soon as we have it, we no longer appreciate it. I think Paul's telling us, Hey, hold on to what you have. Hold on to this hope that you have in Christ and don't take it for granted. But know that it's there so that you can have the kind of grit that's required. And so to help us practice that, I would say, how might you pray?

You know, a lot of times I think that we think about prayer as almost a transactional situation. We create a list that of things that we want, sort of like when we submit it to Santa and say, Hey, I would like these things, can you bring them to fruition? But when we look at Jesus prayer life, it's different.

Prayer life is about engaging and understanding the kingdom that he is a part of. That's the hope he has. And so I think for us, our prayer life should be one in which it's helping us to see, to remember the hope we have. It's helping us to see and be on the lookout for the way that loss and setbacks might be transformed into good. And helping us identify what we need to let go of. And helping us identify goals that we can press and strain towards.

Hey, I know that this week you will run into some failures, some setbacks, some challenges. Some of them might be big, some of them might be small. But remember the hope you have in Christ gives you grit, because it connects you to resurrection power. It allows you to forget what's behind you and strain towards what's in front of you. Because you are certain, and you remember, that you are in Christ and you are loved and you are forgiven. And so go be that person this week. Hope you enjoyed it. Take care.