Well, welcome again to another edition of Struggling Well, our podcast that we love doing and, but we it's interesting. We've been tracking things of where people listen to us. And don't ask me why. Don't ask me who, cuz I don't know. But those of you in St. Kits that listen to us, thank you. And those of you in the Philippines who listen to us, thank you. it's crazy to think that there are places around the world where people are actually listening to this podcast. And we hope it's encouraging you wherever you may be, even here in the good old US of A. So Suzi, you have some thoughts that you want to get going from your study all summer long in the book of Romans.
I do. I want to say welcome as well. it's been a crazy, weird, strange, nice, fun, beautiful, not so fun summer for us. but I've been thinking a lot about hope. And when I got to chapter 15 of Romans, you know, we've done a little bit in Romans before, just a quick flyby, but getting to chapter 15 in Romans, the word hope really came out to me in a different way. Maybe God was highlighting it because he knew what was up ahead for me. I'll tell you a little bit about that. I'm we're not sure exactly why my joints are weird and funny, but I've got some funky joints. I've had a number of orthopedic surgeries in my lifetime. As a matter of fact, the orthopedic hospital here in our city starts laying people off if I don't come in. So I try to, you know, offer up a joint every few years. So, I recently had some joint surgery done on my right hand, which is my dominant hand. And I know that in my thinking about it, the phrase I used was well, I hope that this surgery works. So, as I begin to think about what I'm hoping in that particular situation, I guess I'm hoping that the surgeon has done his job above and beyond so that what has been an issue suit is no longer an issue. So, I've placed my hope in this man who apparently is the best hand doctor in our town. And we'll see because I'm right smack dab in the middle of it. And we'll see whether my hope was well placed or not. But Paul is writing to the church and he's hoping for something that is really almost impossible. he's hoping that the Jews and the Gentiles can become one. And if you know anything about church history or anything about the relationship between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, there was always a rub. There was always something that caused division between them. And Paul was so anxious for them to become one in Christ. if you look at Romans 15, we'll start in verse 8 again. I guess for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised, that's the Jews, to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs. That's a huge verse right there. And in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. And then later on he says, "Praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let all the people extol him." And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles. In him will the Gentiles hope. Then he says in verse 13 and he's done in previously in chapter 15 he's spoken a lot about the relationship between the Jewish believers and the gentile believers and a lot of it came up because the whole idea of circumcision was a big thing but if you look at the fact that the Jewish believers had been raised in the law and they loved the law and they tried to follow the law and the Gentiles were more their issues were more with dealing with idols and eating things that were unclean. And so these two factions when they came to know Christ, trying to drop all that behind them was almost mission impossible. But that's what Paul was hoping for. And this is what he says. 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. And as I think about that between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers, Paul was saying, "I hope that you guys can see that you're united in Christ and that both of you have the same hope in Christ." Then that got me to thinking about my own life. And like I always like to do, I should have been an investigator like with the FBI or CIA. What do you think, Jimmy? Is it too late?
It may be a little too late.
I don't think so. Who would suspect an old woman investigating everything? But it's fascinating to me. So, I do a lot of research. When I look at a verse that puzzles me, I like to go online and I read other pastors, commentators, I look at lots of different books that come from different angles. And I found an article by someone written in 2012. And I want to bring up his name because I want to give this guy full credit for it. His name is Steven J. Cole. And if you're out there, Stephen J. Cole, this is a shout out to you. He wrote this in 2012. he wrote his thoughts about abounding in hope. And he asked this question after his study in Romans 15:13, does the verse when it speaks about us being filled with hope, does that even come close to describing me? Do I abound in hope? Is my life filled with all joy and peace in believing? And I think that's a question we need to address today. we have a lot of hope in things. We hope that some of you that are very politically minded are hoping that the next election will solve the issues that you may see as problems in our country. maybe you're hoping that your teenage child will straighten out and be able to go on to college and become a functioning adult. Maybe you hope you can lose those 10 lbs you've been struggling to lose. We use that word a lot. But when this man Steven Cole studied this He asked those very important questions. Does that describe us at all? Do I even understand what it means to abound in hope? And is my life filled at all with joy and peace? You have any thoughts on that?
I was wondering if you wanted me to say,
well, you know, I could take the whole morning. I really
that's fine, too. yeah. So, it's a verse that had meaning to us as a family because we developed the process or the rhythm of we don't do New Year's resolutions. We never have really, but we started a few years ago in claiming a verse for the year. And I've marked it down in my Bible. It was in 2019 that this was the verse that we carried with us through the year. And this was the year that we transitioned away and I retired from Church at Charlotte. and it was a verse that kind of walked us through 2019. And what I find to be very interesting in it is it's by the power of the Holy Spirit
that we abound in hope. So it's not something even that we can generate ourselves. Now we can make choices but we have to recognize as in everything in the Christian life it comes through the power of the spirit who lives within us that I look first of all I need to be looking towards Christ for my hope. I don't look towards these things of this world to provide hope because they're going to disappoint. But he won't disappoint and it's yielding over to the power of the spirit as I answer those questions that you talked about earlier that this man wrote back in 2012. if I'm going to abound in hope, it's going to come from the power of the spirit who lives within me.
It's interesting because in the book of Romans, Paul uses the word hope more in that book than in any other letter that's written. And it's really, I think, in any other letter or book in the Bible. I'm not totally certain about that, but I believe that's true. And you see in verse 13 this cycle that the God of hope he it starts out with me may the God of hope he wants to give us hope. So he wants to give us what he has focusing on putting my confidence in him and what he says because real hope has an object and it doesn't like you said it doesn't come from me. I you know I hope that this surgery on my hand works out because I'm hoping in this doctor who's supposed to be the best or I'm hoping also that my body will do what it should do, which is heal. We don't know that. And that's precarious. But my hope in God is an anchor,
right? And it's one of the places where the English language to me comes up short because like you said, that word can be used in different ways. And when it's used in different ways, it either can come with a level of certainty. When I put my hope in Christ, there's certainty there that the spirit will produce in me the desire to look to him for hope that has a certainty to it. But there are other times when I use the word hope, it's a it's kind of a wishful thinking. So it's really the context in which I use it. But the only place I feel like I can use it with absolute certainty is, you know, I hope in what Christ is going to do. I hope in his return, not because I don't think it's going to happen, but because I am placing all my thinking towards the solutions to my life coming from him.
I think this gentleman Steven Cole when he asked that question, does it come close to describing me? I wonder if our kids would describe either you or myself as abounding in hope. How would they describe my faith journey? How would they describe yours? That's I think that's something we need to think about as well.
We can think about it. I'm not sure. want to ask the question. I mean, I, you know, I don't know what the answer would be. And so, that's one of those times we go, maybe I'll just think about it, but not ask the question. But it's fair. It really is. The people closest to us, would they see us as people who are full of joy and peace because we believe and we place our hope in Christ. So, those are some things for you to think about as they will be things for us to think about. And who knows, maybe you'll risk asking somebody whether that describes you or not.
Thanks for being with us. Thanks for joining us. To learn more about the Struggling Well podcast, visit tandemspirituality. com.