The Fruit of Hope: Joy

From Gospel Translations

The Fruit of Hope: Joy

Romans 12:11-12

Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Today we begin to answer the last question in our series of messages on Christian hope. Until now we have asked four questions:

1. What is the definition of Christian hope?

Answer: a confident expectation of good things to come (Hebrews 6:11).

    2.  What is the ground of Christian hope?

Answer:

• the sovereign grace of God (2 Thessalonians 2:16), and

• the good news that Christ died for sinners (Colossians 1:23).

  3.  What is the cause of Christian hope in the human heart? What brings it about and sustains it?

Answer:

• the work of God in regeneration (1 Peter 1:3), and
• the promises of God in his Word (Romans 15:4).

 4.  What is the content of Christian hope? What are we hoping for?

Answer:

• the appearing of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13),
• the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23),
• the consummation of our righteousness (Galatians 5:5),
• sharing the glory of God (Romans 5:2), and
• inheriting eternal life (Titus 1:2; 3:7).
  

Now we will pose one more question and, Lord willing, spend the four Sundays of July answering it. The question is: What is the fruit of our Christian hope? What comes from hope? Does hope produce anything in daily life?

Hope as a Tree

Let's use a picture to try to see what we have been doing over these weeks. Picture hope as a tree.

The ground from which hope can grow is the grace of God and the gospel of Christ.

The sprouting of the tree, the beginning of hope, happens in regeneration, or new birth.

The nutriment that sustains this new hope and makes it grow strong is the Word of God, especially the promises.

The strong fibers of the wooden trunk are the confident expectation that someday we will meet Christ face to face, we will have new bodies that never get sick again, we will be totally free from the struggle with sin, we will share in the glory of God, and we will never be threatened with loss because the new life will last forever and ever.

This simply leaves us now with the question: Does this tree bear fruit? The answer of the New Testament is a resounding Yes! And we are going to look at four of these fruits of hope.