Advent 2 December 9, 2007

“What’s Behind the Curtain?”

Romans 15:4-13

4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs 9 so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.”

10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” 12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him.”

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we moved our worship services from our storefront to Fielder Elementary’s gymnasium, I never thought that would provide me with a perfect, hard-to-use-anywhere-else-but-ready-to-use-here sermon illustration. Behind me is a thick, red curtain. What’s behind the curtain? Some of you may know, but many of you don’t.

It might be something terrible – like a nuclear bomb ready to explode at any second. It might be something fabulous – like a free lunch buffet from Golden Corral for all of us, complete with the most succulent selections of chocolate for dessert. What’s behind the curtain? What’s back there? We have no idea. We’re left to guess what’s back there, whether it is good or bad.

Please put your imagination caps on this morning, and imagine with me it isn’t a nuclear bomb or a free lunch buffet, but that all the fullness of God is behind the curtain. The fullness of the God who is, who was, and who is to come – he is behind the curtain with all of his wisdom and full-blast glory. Back there we could find out what God thinks of us, what he loves about us and what he hates about us. We could get all of our questions answered. Does God care or is he distant? Is he personable or is he angry? Is he a monster? Is he wimpy? Is he ordinary? What’s behind the curtain? There are a lot more questions about God than answers.

The curtain opens a little when we are born into the world. Every human being has a natural knowledge of God. Every person knows a) there is a God who is bigger than me, b) he is not happy with me because of my sin, and c) I need to make that right. But our natural knowledge falls way short. Other than knowing that there is a God and that he is not happy with us when we sin, the rest of the curtain is closed. We are left to guess how to make things right. Maybe I could help some old ladies across the street; perhaps I could work at a soup kitchen. Maybe I must lay down on my face and pray in this direction five times per day. Maybe I simply need to try my best and God will call it good. But is that what God really says about the way to get right with him, or are we only guessing? What’s behind the curtain? Who could know for certain?

Guesswork does not inspire hope. That’s a phrase worth remembering for today, so I will say it again. Guesswork does not inspire hope. A geophysicist wants to find a good place to drill for oil. But he has almost no information to work with. In a sense, the curtain is closed to him. His best chance would be to put a map of the Gulf of Mexico on a dartboard, threw a few darts and said, “Let’s try there.” If he had plenty of money and time, maybe he’d give it a try, but how hopeful would he be of finding oil? He probably wouldn’t put his life savings on the line.

But what if that same person had a wide-open curtain, all kinds of can’t miss data showing a pool of oil just one hundred feet underground as big as a lake? He would be very hopeful of drilling there – so hopeful that it would be a guaranteed winner. You wouldn’t mind putting your life savings on the line to buy that property and drill in that spot because the investment is guaranteed to pay off.

Guesswork does not inspire hope; but facts do. Now let’s apply this to God. If God is back there, and the curtain is closed, and you are left to guess about God, you will never be full of hope. But when the curtain opens up, when you know some facts about God, when you get to see who he is and what he has done for you…now you are full of hope and confidence like a geophysicist who is going to drill in a can’t-miss location and become a multi-millionaire.

Isn’t it wonderful that God has not left us to guess? Isn’t it awesome that he has given us what we need to know for eternity and more on top of that? In the Scriptures, God pulls back the curtain and reveals all kinds of facts about who he is and what he has done. He helps us to eliminate guesswork and give us hope. Listen to verses 4. (read v.4)

What is hope? Hope is a little hard to define. Martin Luther said, “Hope is not something we can see or touch or smell or taste…if we could see it or touch it, why would we hope for it?” Hope is something we cannot see, and yet we are so sure it is ours, we act as though we can. When we hope for something, we expect it to be ours. It is a guarantee; a done deal.

We have hope in God because he has opened the curtain to us. The opening of the curtain provides endurance and encouragement. We are so certain that God will work things for good, we stay calm as things fall apart around us. We are so hopeful God will give us a marvelous future, we lift our eyes even as we are suffering. God opening the curtain to who he is gives endurance and encouragement.

Opening the curtain also inspires unity. As we open the curtain together, that inspires us to keep on opening the curtain even more with one another. That can only lead to even greater endurance, encouragement and unity. What a blessing to open the curtain and find more out about God! What a blessing to be immersed and surrounded by the Word!

So why would we ever in our right minds trade in the enduring and eternal Word of God for guesswork?

But that is what we do. Problems enter our lives, and we give up easily; we act as though Jesus has lost and not won; we have little endurance and even less encouragement. Unity goes out the window too – for we keep track of how others hurt us and are full of discord and ugly comments.

And sometimes as we open the curtain, we are confronted with a sin we didn’t even know was there. We realize that we need to change…so instead of opening the curtain further to discover how the change can happen and begging Jesus to stay with us in order to make that change, instead we actually start closing the curtain to run from the problem. And guess what happens then? Closing the curtain leads to guesswork, which creates all kinds of doubt and anxiety. Instead of endurance there is impatience. Instead of encouragement there is frustration. Instead of unity there is isolation. Instead of confidence there is hopelessness.

So how do we change? We beg God to open the curtain once again. Because, remember, what’s behind the curtain? The God of hope is – the originator, the author, the architect, the owner of hope. Would you like more hope, endurance and encouragement? Then get in the Word and open the curtain. For there God will give to us the very hope that he owns; he will fill us way past “F” on the endurance tank; he will keep us very encouraged and unified and peaceful. The more you open the curtain, the more hope God will give you.

One last thought for today. On earth, no matter how much we study the Word and open the curtain, we will still have some questions. God has told us all we need to know; he has told us more than enough to eliminate guesswork on how to get to heaven – but he has not told us all we want to know. There are plenty of things that are still behind the curtain, things too wonderful for us to know now. But in heaven, we go behind the curtain! In heaven, the full-blast glory of God is revealed in full. There won’t be any questions then; there won’t be any curtain to open; there won’t be any lack of endurance. And until that day comes, “may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” All of that comes when we open the curtain. Amen.