Real Hope in a Broken World | Ken McIntyre

We all walk through seasons that feel dark, overwhelming, or uncertain. In this Christmas message, Pastor Ken explores where we often look for hope and why those places can leave us feeling even more discouraged.

Drawing from Isaiah 9 and the story of Jesus’ birth, we’re reminded that real hope isn’t positive thinking or coping. It’s a person. Jesus steps into our darkness as the light of the world, offering wisdom, strength, care, and peace.

If you’re longing for hope this Christmas, this message is for you.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kal, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith, and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- I'm sure you've heard or even used the phrase, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Uh, in the 18 hundreds, railroads were, uh, popping up all over the US and one of the major engineering breakthroughs of that era was that no longer did you have to go around a mountain, but engineers figure out how to go through the mountain. And so imagine being one of the first, uh, passengers on one of those trains, right? You're heading towards a mountain full tilt, broad daylight, and then bam, pitch black, a little bit freaky, and he's gotta hold on. You don't know how long you're in there. And then you see a little glow at the far end of the tunnel, right? A sign that you've almost made it through the darkness, right? There's light at the end of the tunnel. That's where that phrase came from. Now, we still say it metaphorically to refer to hope. You know, I'm sure, uh, you've used that before, right? It's a tunnel called winter, right? December hits, and this is our life. This is our life. For the next four or five months, the sun

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00 PM you're gonna argue with your kids to put on their snow pants every single morning. When you start your car, it's gonna seem like it's gonna kill you, right? Like this is, this is our life. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for us right now, . But then February starts and Costco has beach chairs and, and five packs of sunscreen. And you think to yourself, you're like, oh, there's light at the end of the tunnel. You know, maybe if you're in college in, in January, it's your last semester, you know, until you're, until you're done, done. It's like, ah, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe you're just counting down just a few more weeks until that holiday, right? There's light at the end of the tunnel. You know, many of you are gonna be at your child's Christmas concert in a few weeks, right? And they're gonna have to sing these songs. And at that last song, you're gonna think to yourself, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Like, when we say that, what we mean is we have hope that we're gonna make it through this. That's what we mean. And hope is a tricky thing, isn't it? I'm not sure we know what it means. Depending on who you ask, you're gonna get def different definitions of what hope is. If you talk to someone who has more of a naturalist bent, or maybe an atheist or a skeptic, they're gonna talk about hope as a psychological coping mechanism, right? A tool that we use on ourselves to deny the darkness of our situation, right? It's just something that we do to help us, uh, work through an unbearable situation to help it make it seem more manageable. So if a family member is terminally ill, we have hope that they're gonna make it through, even though all of the evidence says that they won't. The alternative of thinking about what could happen, it's too painful. And so we cope with hope. It's a trick we play on ourselves to avoid facing reality. Now, for a secular, modern person, it might not mean that hope means more like wishful thinking, like, I hope my team wins, right? It's optimism, right? It's this idea of if I just stay positive, if I just smile through it, then maybe I can manifest a better tomorrow. That's the idea. It's it's the spiritual version of Thomas the Tank Engine, right? I think I can, I think I can. And so we believe that if we hope hard enough, the universe will reward us with a favorable outcome. It's like, is that it? Is that all hope is? Is that why we named this church Hope City? Just a place where you can cope, just a place with fairy tales and wishful thinking. It's like, nah, it's way, way better than that. And there's no better way to talk about what hope is than to talk about Christmas. So today, we're going to look at the quintessential Christmas passage read every year in every church around the world. And for good reason, it's found in Isaiah nine. It was written in the eighth century BC and Isaiah lived through a pivotal and terrifying, uh, moment in Judah's history. Judah is the southern kingdom of Israel that consisted of two tribes. Now, Assyria was the dominant world superpower at the time, okay? It was the empire that came before Babylon. We talked about Babylon in a series of Daniel. Well, Assyria came before that. And they weren't just big, they were brutal. They would swallow up other nations around them like wildfire. And in 7 22 BC the king of Assyria came into Northern Israel, which consisted of 10 tribes and wiped them out, decimated them, families torn apart, people deported, cities burned. And for the people of Southern Israel, of Judah, it was the worst case scenario. Their neighbors to the north were all but gone, and they knew that they were next. And all of the evidence pointed to their soon coming destruction. So Isaiah is writing to them in this moment, and to these people who are in a tunnel, like a pitch black tunnel. And he doesn't tell them to, to cope. He doesn't say, Hey guys, buck up. You know, he doesn't promote optimism or wishful thinking. He doesn't say, guys, you just gotta believe. He doesn't say that. He says something else. And so we're gonna read verse one of chapter nine says, nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulon and the land of Neftali. Those were two of the northern tribes. But in the future, he'll honor Galilee, which is where the northern tribe is. That's the region, okay? Galilee in the future, he'll honor Galilee of the nations, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan. Now, you probably notice that word nevertheless, in there, nevertheless, means we sort of have to talk about what came before this, right? It, it's cluing us into something. And so you have to back up to Isaiah eight, and Isaiah eight is talking about the posture in the heart of the people in Judah. And it's not a good scenario. This is what we read. It says, distressed in hungry. They will roam through the land. When they're famished, they will become enraged and looking upward will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and we'll see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom. And they'll be thrust into darkness there in a tunnel. There's no light at the end of it. It is just dark. And here's the thing about darkness. It can always get darker. There's black and then there's pitch black. Maybe you know what I'm talking about. I've heard it been said that hell is a bottomless pit, meaning you think you've hit the bottom, and then the ground gives way even more. You think you've cried your last tear, and, and, and it comes again. You think you've gone through the worst of it, and another wave hits you. Isaiah's saying that's what's happening to Judah, but really he's just describing life. So the people in Judah, they're, they're searching for hope because that's what hopeless people do. And so where does Isaiah say that they begin to look for the hope toward the earth? And what do they see when they look more fear, more distress, and more glue, and they're thrust into an even greater darkness? I was thinking about that, about how the dark can get darker when we put our hope in the wrong things. It's when you're lonely, which is a dark place. And so you reach for a relationship. Almost any relationship will do, hoping that it will cure the loneliness, but it, but it backfires and you end up more alone, more hurt than when you started. It's when work or, or family or life is just difficult. Like you're in a dark place. And to make things bearable, you reach for something to cope. You reach for alcohol, you reach for food, you reach for shopping, you reach for pornography, hoping that it's going to help, hoping that's gonna make things easier. But you're worse often before.'cause not only has life not gotten easier, now you have an addiction that you got to wrestle with. It's when a marriage begins to unravel and longing for connection, you begin to hope you'll find it in somebody else. And you've now just entered territory that is more dark, more destructive than when you began. What is Isaiah telling us? He's saying that misplaced hope will make your life worse. You always have to hope in something, right? It has to latch onto something. And Isaiah's saying, if you latch it onto the wrong thing, your life is going to be worse than it is now. Because in this isn't just a, a, a, a, this isn't just an Isaiah, you know, eighth century issue for Judah, this is an US issue. When we look for hope, we still look towards the earth, right? What do we look towards? We look towards medicine or, or government or technology, all wonderful things that, that, but not things to put your hope in. You know, when it comes to medicine, we say, well, if it just progresses, then we can learn to solve suffering and beat, beat disease. And we can live longer, and we take these steps forward. But then what happens? A new disease emerges. A virus mutates the treatment doesn't take our body still age, we still die. Medicine a good gift, but a terrible hope when it comes to government. We say, well, if that just progresses, if we just kind of finally elect the right person and pass the right laws, then, then we can, then we can restrain evil. Like, yeah, yeah, but, but we can't remove it. You know, when it comes to technology, we say, well, if that just progresses, then everything's just gonna get safer and more efficient, and we become more connected. And in some ways that's true. But what else is true? We've never been more connected and never more lonely at the same time, never more anxious, never more depressed, never more fearful. It's created a porn addicted doom, scrolling generation that can't tell what is real and what is fake. All poor things to latch our hope onto. And so, like the people of Judah, when we look to the earth for hope, it will leave us in an even darker spot. It's like, well, why? Because the world is a dark place. That's the message of Christmas. I know it's not the Pinterest board version, it's not the peppermint mocha version, but that's, that's the message of Christmas. The world is broken. The second part of the message of Christmas is even more depressing. We can't fix it. That's the message of Christmas. The world is broken and we can't fix it. And you might argue, no, no, no, no, no, no. Christmas is like singing angels and shepherds and little baby Jesus, and, and myrrh and Frankenstein, right? Or whatever it's called, right , that that's what Christmas is about. Not this stuff. It's like, okay, well, yeah, yeah, it's about, but it doesn't start there. It starts way, way, way before that. It starts in Genesis, in Genesis three, the spotlight falls on Eve, not because she's the villain of the story, but because she embodies something profoundly human. She embodies you and she embodies me. God had already given her everything that she ever could need in life, meaning, security, purpose, everything that we strive for, she already had in God, but she looks away from him. And where does she look towards the earth to give her something that only God could give. And so she listens to the serpent's promise of wisdom and self-determination and independence. And since that day, all of humanity has just been reenacting that same choice. And Genesis three reveals that looking to the earth was the cause of the problem in the first place. So it cannot be the thing that solves it. But here's the thing. God, in the middle of this bomb that just went off in the middle of the wreckage, he makes this Christmas promise, he says this. So the Lord said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed, are you above all livestock and all wild animals, you'll crawl on your belly and you'll eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. And here it is. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. Shame and fear. Just enter the world. I mean, it's as fresh as it gets. Eve doesn't even know the damage that has been done. And God tells her, I'm gonna fix this, not you. I'm gonna fix it. And to the serpent, he says, just wait. Just wait. A man is coming. Who is going to crush your head? There is light at the end of the tunnel for the world. So that's Christmas in three parts. The world is broken. You can't fix it, but God will. So I think we're ready for Isaiah nine. The rest of it now says this. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. The people of Judah and us in the past. He humbled the land of Zebulon and the land of Nept. But in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan. Isaiah's saying that in the exact same spot where hope vanished, this, this Galilee region, this, this land of Zebulon and Naftali in that place where hope vanished, where, where gloom set in, where the dark was at, its darkest from that place, Isaiah's saying, I'm gonna fix it. God is gonna do something here. It's like, well, what is he gonna do? Verse two says this, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness. A light has dawned. How's he gonna fix it? Well, not through a coping mechanism, not through, not through optimism or wishful thinking. It's like no, a, a, a light like, like, like a, like real hope. And Isaiah doesn't prophesy here better medicine or, or, or government or technology, nothing like that. Something way more unexpected. He promises a child. Verse six says this, for to us, a child is born to us. A son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father and prince of peace. That light, that, that hope, it's a, it's a child, but not like, not a mere child. We have these four names, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father and prince of peace. And you have to wonder is is this the same child promised in Genesis three? Is this the one who would heal the world's deepest hurts and wounds something medicine could never do? Is this the one who would finally destroy and remove evil something governments have not been able to figure out? Is this the one who will really connect us back to God and really connect us back to one another, something technology cannot achieve? If it is, and who is he? Who is this child? So we gotta fast forward to Matthew four. You can understand Matthew four if you know Isaiah nine, but if you don't, Isaiah nine, Matthew four doesn't make a lot of sense. But now that your Old Testament, uh, scholars, you understand, Matthew four says this, when Jesus be, when Jesus heard that John had been and put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee as that region of northern Israel leaving Nazareth. He went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulon and Naftali to fulfill what was said to the prophet Isaiah, land of Zebulon and land of Naftali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles, the people living in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death. A light has dawned that great hope, that great light, that that child of Isaiah nine, he has named Jesus. And Jesus says this in John eight. He says, I and the light of the world, Christian hope is not a coping mechanism. Christian hope is not wishful thinking. Christian hope is that God himself has entered the tunnel with you and will like the way Christmas is the promise that you and I, we don't have to walk in darkness anymore. Jesus says this, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Hope is that God himself has broken into the tunnel of humanity into our world, into your world, that God himself and the person of Jesus Christ is with you. And not only will he light the way he is, the light himself. And so here's what that means for you. It means that you can bring him your confusion and receive his wisdom because he is the wonderful counselor. It means that you could bring him your weakness and receive his strength because he is the mighty God. It means that you could bring him your wounds and receive his care because he is the everlasting Father. Means you could bring him your chaos and your mess and receive his peace because he is the prince of peace. I wanna show you a picture that was painted by a nun named, uh, sister Grace Remington. And the reason I wanna show it to you is because, uh, it's my favorite painting. Uh, and it's the best image of Christmas you'll ever see. And art is tricky because I can't even, I'm not even gonna look at it because it just, it's just too much for me. But I want you to take a look at it. Uh, on the left, uh, is Eve on the right is Mary, just study it for a moment. Eve has the, the fruit in her hand when she looked away from God, looked towards the earth through only the things that God could bring her. And so you see the shame, you see the sadness of her faith face. You see the serpent just wrapped tightly around her ankle. It's like she's trapped. Maybe you came in today and, and, and you feel a little bit like, like eve. Then on the right side, you see Mary, and my favorite part of the whole whole painting is Mary's foot crushing the serpent's head. You see Mary gently taking Eve's hand, putting on her belly. Obviously, I, I don't know what they talked about in this painting. I mean, this isn't historical, right? It's just an image. But you just wonder if like Mary's like, Hey, don't worry. Fixed it.- And- So for me, it's like, if you wanna know what hope is, it's like I look at this picture like this is God's answer to darkness, the light of the world. Today we're gonna respond by taking communion together.'cause everything that we've talked about to this point converges in communion. Isaiah showed us what happens when we look towards the earth for hope. It just disappoints. Isaiah says that we can lift our eyes to the one who came down from heaven. Isaiah declares at the light of the end of the tunnel. It's not a metaphor, but it's a person. And when we hold the communion emblems, we are saying that we receive the one who entered the darkness. And he is the light of the world and he is our hope. And so when we take communion, what we are saying is we are latching our hope onto Jesus Christ. And nothing else. Lemme pray. Lord, we prepare our hearts before you. We lay them wide open. Lord, as we think upon the darkness of the world where we often look to for hope, and we often receive just more darkness, and many here are walking in a place of distress, of gloom, of, of fear. And Lord, right now, we look to you, we look to Jesus Christ and we lift our eyes off the earth. Lord, as we take communion today, we declare that you are the wonderful counselor. We declare that you are our mighty God, that you are our everlasting father, and you are our prince of peace. And so Lord, you are the light that come has come into the world and we put our hope in you. Amen. Amen. If you have latched your hope onto Jesus Christ, then I would invite you to take communion with us today. If you have not, if you're not a Christian, then you, I'm just gonna ask that you just observe this moment. And so as we take the bread and as we drink the cup, we are declaring that Jesus and Jesus alone is our hope in the darkness. Let's take it together. If you're ready, we can take the drink together as well. I can ask that you put those in the seat back in front of you. And if you can stand with me in this moment, I'm gonna ask that you respond to the message today. I'm gonna ask that you respond in worship.'cause hope has come and hope has a name. And his name is Jesus Christ. And he has come into the tunnel of humanity. He has come into your world to light the way. And as we worship, we can know that we no longer have to walk in darkness, that God is right there with us. So I'm gonna ask that you sing and you sing loud,- Free Hallelu has lost on me. You have Jesus Christ in your name. Jesus Christ- Came the morning. That's you. Seal the promise your body begin the roaring declare the- Jesus, Jesus Christ forever. We'll see- Whatever, whatever tunnel you're in, whatever you're going through, whatever tunnel you're in, whatever dark place you're facing, remember the pain of your situation, whether it's loneliness or stress or fear, you can't even name know that the light of the world is with you. That hope is, that God is with you wherever you are, that you no longer have to walk alone. You no longer have to walk in darkness. And it's not just that God is with you in the darkness, but the promise of the Christian faith. And the great hope is that he's defeated the darkness, he's defeated. You can live in light, you can live in victory. You can live in hope because the Christmas promise that God is with you. If you're here today and you do not know this hope, you do not know Jesus Christ, but you'd like to, I wanna invite you to put your faith in him, the light of the world, the promise of Isaiah nine. The promise of Genesis three is that God is with you. And you can know him in a real way today and you can receive real hope and you could do away with the coping mechanisms. You don't need them any longer. You can do away with the, with the wishful thinking because you have something real. You have Jesus Christ, God with you. And so if you want to put your faith in Jesus today, I'm gonna ask that you pray with me. I just wanna encourage everyone to pray with me as well. Jesus, I thank you for Christmas. I realize that things are broken. And despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to fix it. But God, I trust that you have and you've done it through a child, through Jesus Christ, Lord, who didn't stay there, who lived a perfect life, a sinless life, who went to the cross and on the cross the sins of the world, both mine, both ours have been placed upon Jesus. And Lord, when Jesus went into the grave, so did our sins, so did the things that separated us from you. But Jesus rose from the grave victorious, but he did not take our sins back alive with him. Those are still gone. And so, Lord, we join ourself in this resurrection life. We join ourself to Jesus Christ and we put our faith in him. And when we do, Lord, we are new creation. We are new, we have hope, we have light. We can have life, we can have freedom and peace. And so we look to you today, Jesus Lord, I pray that my friends here today who have never been able to call you, wonderful counselor can who've never been able to say that you are their mighty God will be able to today, or their everlasting father or their prince of peace. We thank you Jesus, that you are the light of the world, and we latch our hope onto you and to you only. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. If you prayed that along with me today, uh, you, you are making the best decision of your life. And we would love to be able to help you take some of those next steps. We're gonna have some, a team here at the bottom left who would love to hear your story and pray with you. If you can't do that today, I wanna encourage you to tap the disc in front of you or you can go to hope city.ca/life. Thank you so much for being in church today. We'll see you next week.