To listen to this sermon, use the link below:
The Sermon for December 7th, 2025, the Second Sunday in Advent
The Lessons: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-15; Romans 15:1-13; Matthew 3:1-12
The Text: Romans 15:1-13
INTRODUCTION
A missionary was sitting at her second-story window when she was handed a letter from home. As she opened the letter, a crisp, new ten-dollar bill fell out. She was pleasantly surprised, but as she read the letter her eyes were distracted by the movement of a shabbily dressed stranger down below, leaning against a post in front of the building. She couldn’t get him off her mind. Thinking that he might be in greater financial stress than she, she slipped the bill into an envelope on which she quickly penned, “Don’t despair.” She threw it out the window. The stranger below picked it up, read it, looked up, and smiled as he tipped his hat and went his way.
The next day she was about to leave the house when a knock came at the door. She found the same shabbily dressed man smiling as he handed her a roll of bills. When she asked what they were for, he replied:
“That’s the sixty bucks you won, lady. Don’t Despair paid five to one.”
– p. 274, Charles R. Swindoll: Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes. Nashville, Dallas: Thomas Nelson, 1998.
When asked about the Scriptural grounds for hope, we need to have a ready answer, since the Christian hope is one which distinguishes the Church from the world. Today’s Collect, dating from the First English Prayer Book, is a masterpiece of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, which he composed for the 1549 Prayer Book, since it shows that the Holy Scriptures must be heard, read, taken note of, meditated upon, applied, and obeyed. Doing this will nurture the Christian hope we have, which is described as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27c, NKJV). In our New Testament, the virtue of hope is presented as one of the three eternal virtues: faith, hope and love. The writer to the Hebrews describes this hope as “an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews 6:19, KJV), an anchor with the Lord Jesus Christ in the sanctuary of heaven.
THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF HOPE IN CONTRAST TO WORLDLY HOPE
This Christian doctrine of hope is not something vague and uncertain, such as when someone says, “I hope it will rain,” or “I hope the markets will recover.” Such statements express a wish combined with some uncertainty and doubt. But the Christian hope is first of all Christ himself, and then the hope of His Second Coming, which includes for Christians the Resurrection of all who have loved Him. This Resurrection is to life, that is, everlasting life. Therefore the Collect rightly speaks of “the blessed hope of everlasting life.”
THE NURTURING OF HOPE IN THE CHRISTIAN
Our Collect today provides for us the best medicine to cure despair and hopelessness, for it shows us that the way to hold on securely to our hope of everlasting life is by reading, noting, learning, meditating upon and obeying the Bible. All the essential moral commands and teachings of Holy Scripture must become a part of our lives, or be “inwardly digested.” How do we make the Bible an essential part of our lives? Certainly not by allowing it to collect dust on the shelf and by never opening it! On a daily basis we need to engage with the words of Holy Scripture, read and re-read it, noting important verses, passages, and even learning it. The Collect comes to us from a time when not everyone was able to read and there was great value in a congregation listening to the Bible being read from the lectern in church. Gradually, more and more people learned to read, and could read the Bible in English. Today, printed Bibles, as well as Bible apps and online Bibles, are so easily accessible that little excuse remains for not knowing the Bible and all that was written in past times for our instruction. Yet today many Americans grow up with little knowledge of the Bible or understanding of it.
The Collect was emphasizing the value of reading the Bible in sixteenth-century England when not everyone knew how to read. Today the Collect holds great value even though most people in the civilized world know how to read, although I still come across third graders who cannot read. Only now there is a spiritual problem, a spiritual sloth, a reluctance to take up the Bible and read it. The Collect speaks to this problem by first outlining the purpose of God’s inspiration of the Bible, that is, to teach and instruct God’s people in the truths of their faith, in right conduct and in right relationship with God. This statement of purpose is drawn from Holy Scripture itself, from the Epistle Lesson, which contains the words, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.” This insight is amplified in another passage, where St. Paul, in speaking of the punishments suffered by the ancient Israelites in the wilderness, points out, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” Yet again, St. Paul writes to Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
The sin of spiritual sloth, or laziness, is countered by the prayer that we engage with the Bible more than superficially. The Collect’s prayer “that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life” is a prayer for progressive knowledge of and obedience to the Bible.
There are two factors contributing to the strengthening of our hope, two instruments the Holy Spirit uses to strengthen us in this life.
The first of these is patience as we endure the trials that come the way of any Christian. Earlier in the same Epistle, St. Paul writes, “We glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5). Whereas despair and doubt make us question the meaning of our tribulations and sufferings, when we endure them patiently, we are strengthened in our hope in the Lord. But patience alone, without the knowledge and insight given us by the Holy Spirit as we read and study the Bible, is insufficient.
The second factor God has appointed to strengthen our hope is “the comfort of the Holy Scriptures” (Romans 15:4). This comfort is not that of a comfortable cushion, but the consolation and encouragement, as well as the teachings, prophecies and exhortations of Holy Scripture, whose collective effect is to strengthen the human spirit in its faith and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how do we receive the comfort of the Holy Scriptures? Certainly not by ignoring them, or listening only to what pastors preach or teach. Instead, we must read, study, meditate on the Scriptures ourselves, and apply them to our lives.
CONCLUSION
We can understand this progression quite simply like this:
- Hearing the Scriptures read in Church or at home
- Reading the Scriptures on our own or in small groups
- Taking note of what we read, and what it teaches us
- Learning appropriate verses that we can use in our life, witness, and ministry
- “Inwardly digesting” the Bible – that is, one must think about a passage, pray over it, meditate on it, and obey it.
If we use our Bible like this, we shall find remarkable improvement in our life with the Lord. Not only this, but we shall also be able to hold fast to the blessed hope of eternal life all the more confidently and securely, knowing that we are living a life pleasing to God and trusting in Him for our salvation!
Our Epistle Lesson today ends with this beautiful blessing that emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit and his fruit of joy, peace, and faith in causing us to abound, or overflow, with hope:
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
(Romans 15:13, KJV)