Modern society loves the idea of hope. From catchy pop tunes to political slogans to home decor, “hope” is everywhere. Perhaps our infatuation is tied to the plethora of reasons to lose hope. Discouragement is so easily summoned in a world crippled by the Fall, yet because we are made in God’s image, we instinctively know that despair doesn’t have the last say.  

Irwyn Ince knows this. In his years as a pastor and now coordinator of Mission to North America, he sees how believers struggle to hold on to hope in a sin-sick world that wears them down. While working as the executive director of the Grace DC Institute for Cross Cultural Mission, Ince heard black pastors confess that they had lost hope in ever seeing the intercultural worship described in Revelation on this side of heaven.

It was with struggling, suffering believers in mind that in February Ince released “Hope Ain’t a Hustle: Persevering by Faith in a Wearying World.” The book is an analysis of the Christian’s sure hope in Jesus, as expressed in the book of Hebrews.  

What does Ince mean by “hustle”?

He begins the book with an anecdote about traveling through New York City with his son and waiting in line at Penn Station to purchase MetroCards. As they waited, a “vendor” called to them promising that he had the MetroCards Ince needed, but at a much cheaper price. Salesmen hawking such dubious goods are common in New York City, but it’s a scam, a hustle. 

“The hustle offers someone something of value, or something another person may desire,” Ince writes. “If you were to obtain this item through the prescribed means, it would cost you much more than what the hustler is selling it for.” 

The problem is that this promised shortcut leaves the buyer disappointed. Christian hope, Ince argues, is not a hustle; hope is not a shortcut around life’s pain, and it does not leave believers feeling cheated.

The term “hope” carries many shades of meaning depending on the context, so Ince carefully derives his definition from Scripture. Hope isn’t an aspiration or wishful thinking, he said. “Hope is embodied.”  Drawing on the work on Herman Bavinck, Ince sees our hope as inextricably linked to who Jesus says he is and what he has accomplished. “It’s our posture and how we live in the world based on what we know to be true of who God is and what he has said,” Ince told byFaith. 

In a culture of contempt, God’s people are called to demonstrate a better way, and hope equips us for this task.

In 2020 Ince released “The Beautiful Community” in which he argued that the gospel imperative to pursue unity in diversity across lines of difference is rooted in reflecting the beautiful community of the triune God. The next question, Ince told byFaith, is how to hold on to hope for this vision of beautiful community. 

“I wanted to write about hope and why we’re called to hope,” he said. “I love the letter to the Hebrews and the emphasis around the exhortation for them to endure.” 

The believers who first heard the Hebrews sermon were facing persecution. They sought relief from their persecution, and, “in an attempt to take control and secure that relief, they were willing to compromise their faith,” Ince writes.

Ince calls the unnamed author of Hebrews “the Pastor,” and describes the book as an extended pastoral exhortation to endure despite hardship. “This is not a theological treatise separated from real life,” Ince said. “It’s written to sufferers.”

Christians have always had reasons for discouragement. After all, Jesus promised his disciples that they would have trouble in this world (John 16:33). But the church is not immune to the particularly toxic political, social, and economic divisions plaguing American culture. In this hostile atmosphere, people do not merely disagree with each other’s ideas; they reject the person behind the ideas, too.

 

In a culture of contempt, God’s people are called to demonstrate a better way, and hope equips us for this task, Ince says. Believers gain strength for the task by looking to Jesus. By considering who Jesus is and what he has done as our prophet, priest, and king, God’s people can endure this world’s hardships.

But it’s a daily decision that the believer must make. And believers need each other in order to live out this gospel hope. 

“You will fall and falter if you’re trying to live our assurance of Christ by yourself. As imperfect as the bride is, we need one another if we’re going to hold fast to the assurance of our hope all the way to the end,” Ince said.

He likens the work of hope to the African American spirituals, which are the songs of a suffering people, but full of hope. The songs came out of a community of faith as men and women encouraged each other to hold on to hope despite their grim circumstances.

Though based on the book of Hebrews, “Hope Ain’t a Hustle” is not an academic commentary. Ince wrote it for “thoughtful believers,” pastors and laypeople who take seriously the authority of Scripture. But readers don’t need a theology degree to grasp Ince’s message. He also hopes his message will reach searching nonbelievers, too.

The book is divided into three sections: living in the “danger zone”, keeping hope alive, and the need for endurance.

Ince defines the Danger Zone as life’s hardships and the sinfulness in our own hearts and in others that threatens our ability to hold on in faith. The fallenness of the world and our hearts “can deceive us and harden us against the living God,” Ince says. 

Keeping hope alive while existing in the Danger Zone is challenging. Ince notes that it can be tempting for believers to use earthly power and clout to shore up their flagging faith. But God has given us another way. Ince notes that “Christian hope presses in the opposite direction” by overflowing toward others as Chrisitans pursuing unity through diversity.

“Hope strengthens us to resist the polarization,” Ince told byFaith. “We will demonstrate a better way as God’s people and refuse to let ourselves be defined by the polarization of our culture.”

Ince hopes that “Hope Ain’t a Hustle” will encourage believers to look to Jesus for the strength to persevere to the end. In Christ, Ince says, we find the resources for living at peace with others and holding on to hope for the life to come. 

“We have to have a vertical gaze to persevere in a horizontal way in this world,” said Ince. “Consider Jesus. Jesus suffered too. This glorious Prophet, Priest, and King is the suffering servant, and he is exalted now. The hope is Jesus.”