The Trajectory of Our Hope--September 28, 2023

The Trajectory of Our Hope--September 28, 2023

"Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel..." [Philippians 1:27]

Do a thought experiment with me for a moment.  Picture someone you deeply care about.  Maybe a spouse, a close friend, a child or grandchild. Someone along those lines.  Got them in your mind?

Okay now: what are your hopes for them?  What do you want to happen for them?  What aspirations do you hold for them in their lifetimes?

I ask because there are different trajectories we might direct our hopes toward, and the followers of Jesus are called to point ours toward goals that the world might find foolish.  Plenty of folks dream for their kids to be honor roll students and graduate summa cum laude, or to make varsity on the team of their choice.  Some wish for their grandkids to get into a good college, or make lots of money, or marry an attractive spouse.  A lot of people picture their loved ones with 2.5 kids and a white picket fence, living a successful life with a growing nest-egg of investments for retirement and a late-year vehicle in each stall of their two-car garages.  We are used to hearing those kinds of hopes for our loved ones: success in careers, comfortable lifestyles, good money, and the whole American dream.  Right?

And then there's Paul, who holds a different hope for the people he cares about in Philippi.  It's not that he is opposed to living a comfortable and respectable life, or having a two-chariot garage and bank accounts overflowing with denarii.  But those just aren't the top of his list.  For Paul, what really matters is whether our lives reflect the Good News of Jesus.  He hopes that his dear friends at the church in Philippi will live in ways that make Jesus known, and that their words and actions will be reflections of God's love.  You can leave the honor-roll certificates and letter jackets behind, as far as Paul is concerned--the life that is really worth hoping for is the life that embodies the gospel.  And that's a different sort of hope from our culture's drumbeat of financial savvy and career success.

It's funny how we all keep wrestling with the pull between those different kinds of hopes, no matter how long we have been following Jesus or how much at home we are in Christian community.  Every so often, my son will ask me something like, "Dad, if I become a world-famous soccer player or basketball star and make millions of dollars for the family, will you be proud of me?"  And these days, I'll answer him with something like, "Well, in that future scenario, are you a decent and kind person who is good to others?"  And often, he'll look at me like I have three heads and am on fire--with utter bafflement.  So I'll follow up with, "Because the thing that matters to me, regardless of whether you have a million dollars or don't have a nickel, is whether you are a kind and decent person.  That's worth being proud of, not whether you're famous or rich."  And sometimes his twelve-year-old brain gets it... and then sometimes he thinks I just don't understand his question.   He's learning what it feels like to be pulled between two different trajectories of hope.  And maybe seeds are being planted for some future day when he has to decide what direction is worth pointing his life in--being a person of love, decency, kindness, and compassion, or chasing after whatever the world calls "success."

When we read the wise voices of the Scriptures, including Paul's here in this passage from Philippians from this past Sunday's worship, it's striking how rarely they care about getting rich or becoming famous, and really how little they are interested in their own culture's version of "the American dream."  But rather, they teach us to hope for something different, something peculiar.  They point us in the direction of what Paul calls "a life worthy of the gospel of Christ."  

Now when Paul says that, he isn't warning us that if we're not good enough, we won't go to heaven; there are no points to be earned or gold stars to be won.  It's rather a matter of whether our lives look like the kind of love we have met in Jesus.  When people look at the way we spend our time and money, do they see choices that look like the way Jesus spent his time (with the anybodies and the nobodies, healing and helping, speaking truth and loving outcasts)?  When people hear our words or read our posts on social media, do they get a glimpse of Jesus' reckless and unconditional love? So when people see the ways we prioritize small acts of kindness over big profits or greater status, it won't matter if they think we are "successful" or envy our cars or houses--they'll see what the Gospel's kind of love looks like when played out in daily life.  That's what is worth spending a life on.  That's what is worth hoping for our children and grandchildren for.

Today, where will you and aim the trajectory of our hope?

Lord Jesus, point our hearts toward lives that embody your love and make your ways known to people around us, whether or not anybody else thinks we look successful.