A Sunday School Lesson On Hope

Here is a Sunday school or Bible study lesson that focuses on hope.

A Definition of Hope

The hope that the unsaved have is not the same hope that Christians have because of Who their hope is in. Someone that has hope typically has an optimistic attitude because it’s based upon an expectation of positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life that they know will come to pass. I like to think of hope for the believer as the conviction that no matter what the circumstances are, look like, or might be, God’s plans for our lives are intended for our very best (Rom 8:28) and that even death can’t separate us from God (Rom 8:38). Some express hope in getting a raise, their team winning the championship, or their finding someone to marry, but the Christian hope is not a “hope-so” hope but a “know-so” hope.

What is the main difference between the believer and the unsaved in regards to hope?

Which of these two beliefs in hope is eternal?

Do you have a hope after death?

The Hope of Glory

Romans 5:2 “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Paul suffered perhaps more than all the other apostles but he looked at his sufferings through the lens of eternity and so wrote in Romans 8:18 that “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” If he put his present circumstances (sufferings and all) on one side of the scale and “the glory of God” that we hope to rejoice in someday, it is no comparison. This life is infinitely less that a blink of an eye against the backdrop of eternity but only because we’ve “obtained access by faith” (Eph 2:8-9) through Jesus Christ.

Can you even imagine what the glory of God will be like?

Do you have this hope within you?

Do you tell others about it?

Do you tell others about Him?

No Shame in Hope

Romans 5:5 “Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

If our hope is in Christ then we have no need to shrink back in fear at His appearing because “we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (Heb 10:39). For the Apostle John, his concern was that the church “abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming” (1st John 2:28). Hope will not put us to shame on that Great Day, but for some, will they shrink back “in shame at his coming?” It seems that Paul was the most extensive writer in the New Testament about the subject of hope (13 verses) and third in the Bible in writing about hope only to the psalmist (28) and the Book of Job (21). Was it because the church at Rome needed to hear about hope beyond today? Yes, because a great number of the Christians had lost their jobs, lost their possessions, and many had lost their lives, so Paul wrote, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees” (Rom 8:24). He was trying to give them hope and that their hope is a tangible faith that will bring a certain conclusion (Rev 22).

Why does it mean to you that some will “shrink back?”

Do you have that fear of being one that shrinks back as His appearing?

What does the Apostle John mean by “abide in Him?”

The Hope of the Righteous

Proverbs 10:28 “The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.”

Who is righteous? No one at all, not even one (Rom 3:10-12) because we all fall impossibly short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23) so we need to have the righteousness before we can worry about having hope. Here’s the solution found in 2nd Cor 5:21 where Paul writes that it was “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” There it is! Problem solved. The hope of the righteous, even though ours is imputed, should bring us joy but not so with “the expectation of the wicked,” which is all the more reason to share the gospel with them. It should because “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2nd Cor 5:20a).

Do we become righteous by anything we can do?

Who is our source of righteousness?

Does the hope of Christ give you joy?

Hope is our Anchor

Hebrews 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.”

Our hope is only as strong as the One Who we have our hope in and that is in Jesus Christ of course because only through Him may we enter “into the inner place behind the curtain,” meaning we have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ, so “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23) for “in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (Titus 1:2), will bring to all who trust in Him. Until that day, we are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)

Is waiting hard for you?

We are told to “hold fast the confession of our hope” but does that mean we can lose our grip?

What if someone wavers?

What does Jude 1:22-23 mean to you?

Conclusion

I urge you in your study to look at all of the Bible verses and read them aloud in the class so that you can get the most out of these lessons. Paul was absolutely certain that “there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2nd Tim 4:8). Doesn’t that sound glorious? We know that nothing that can happen to us can take our hope away; not life, persecutions, beatings, tortures, and even death (Rom 8:31-39) “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1st John 3:3).

How does this hope purify us?

How can we live today with the end in mind?

Do you really love (or can’t wait) for His (Jesus) appearing?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.