The Relay of Hope

So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory (Eph 1:12).

Somebody had to be first.  Somebody had to tell you.  Chances are you didn't hear the Good News straight from the mouth of Jesus.  

You heard it from someone.  Who heard it from someone.  Who heard it from someone.  You get the idea.  

Paul reminds his Ephesian friends that because God worked in his life, he was able to tell them about Jesus.  

It's been God's plan all along to pass along the Good News "so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory" (v12).  

Somebody had to be first.  But he wasn't going to be last.  Paul didn't let the Gospel stop with him.  He made sure to pass it on.

It's the Relay of Hope.

Have you ever figured out your spiritual family tree?  I can go back to a dude named Edward Kimball from Boston.  

He passed the Good News along to Dwight L. Moody who passed it along to F.B. Meyer.  

He kept it going when he told J.W. Chapman who then told Billy Sunday.  

He eventually shared it with Mordecai Ham who shared it with some guy named Billy Graham.  

He passed the Gospel baton to Clyde Chiles who eventually handed it to me back in 1970.  

Kimball to Moody to Meyer to Chapman to Sunday to Ham to Graham to Chiles to me.  

And now I can't be the last one.  I can't let it stop with me.  I must make sure to pass it along.

Meanwhile back in Ephesus, Paul reminds his friends that there was someone who heard the Gospel before it hit their town.  

He uses the phrase "we who were the first to hope" (v12).  This is actually one Greek verb: προελπιζω/proelpizo.  It's a compound word which means to confidently hope (-ελπιζω/-elpizo) beforehand (pro-/προ-).  

Biblical hope isn't a cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best kinda hope.  It's a confident hope.  It's an expectant hope.  It's a take-it-to-the-bank hope.  

He's talking about a complete trust in who Jesus is and what He's done.  

The radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth lived the perfect life specified in the Old Testament that we've failed to live.  

He died the brutal death of judgment for our sin that we should have died.  He rose to the new life that we certainly don't deserve.  

We trust in Jesus.  We hope in Jesus.  Who He is.  What He's done.  

Paul is simply one of the folks who hoped before the Ephesians.  He's just passing them the baton of the Gospel.

The Relay of Hope.

The man from Tarsus is telling the folks in Ephesus that there was a group of people that trusted in Jesus before they did.  

He's talking specifically about how God first reached out to the Jews.  The "first to hope in Christ" are Jewish believers who trusted that Jesus is their Messiah.  

From the very beginning, God said He was going to us His chosen people as a lighthouse beacon as a means to save the entire world (Is 49:6; 60:1-3).  

Yahweh chose Abraham and promised to bless humanity through his family (Gen 12:2-3).  

Eventually God fulfilled that promised by sending His one and only Son to the Jews as their long awaited Messiah.  

Jesus' first followers were all Jewish (Acts 2:5-47; 1Th 2:13; James 1:18).  Then Christ used them to tell non-Jews that they are invited to the party (Acts 11:1; 15:3).  

His number go-to Gospel guy to the Gentiles was none other than Paul.  During one of his hit-the-road-and-tell-everybody-he-could-find-about-Jesus campaigns, the apostle rolled into Ephesus (Acts 19).  

He reached out first to Jews and told them the great news that Messiah had come.  And then he also began telling non-Jews as well.  

God's gracious Gospel absolutely turned this great city upside down.  All because Paul put his hope in Jesus first.  He was just passing along that hope.

The Relay of Hope.

So who passed that hope you?  And more importantly who are going to tell?  

Someone hoped in Jesus before you.  Someone needs to hear about Him from you.  

Don't let this great relay stop with you.  Don't get stuck with the baton in your hand.   

Keep passing it along until our great Anchor Man returns in the Relay of Hope.

©2013

Jay Jennings