Part One - The Anchor of Hope
The Huge Potholes of Life. Some of us might have thought that when we started following God that everything would start falling into place, and instead everything started falling out of place. It seems like as soon as we started following God things have gotten as bad as they have ever been.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 16 Jesus is about to be crucified. And He speaks about two things in this passage, and they are both true, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
That’s take possession of, that’s not hope for peace, or wish for peace, but have peace. And Jesus tells us where we can have that peace. In Him we can have peace. Some might wonder, “What peace is Jesus talking about?” The peace that He is talking about is only found in a relationship with Him.
There Are Two Realities
There is a spiritual kingdom, one that has no end and is perfect and beautiful, and a present reality, this world, broken down, falling apart, corrupted by sin, filled with chaos. “In this world, you will have trouble.” Is there anyone who understands trouble, big time trouble? Not the, we lost the keys trouble, not the argument on the way to church trouble, but huge faith shaking trouble. The kind of trouble that rocks us down to the core, and makes us think things like, “I don't even know if there is a God”, kind of trouble. Big time Mt. Everest sized trouble that comes and almost snuffs us out. It may not be this morning, it may not be this week, but it's coming. And that's why its good news that we know where peace is found.
We Are In Two Overlapping Realities
One is called trouble and the other way above it is an overcoming Savior. And they are both true at the same time. If we separate those realities we will get two really bad theologies… (Or a spiritual viewpoint for life.)
One viewpoint - Life’s hard
Get used to it. Roll with it. That’s just the way it is and you can't do a thing about it. Not a good spiritual viewpoint. It certainly doesn’t sound very overcoming.
Another viewpoint - The flip side of the first one. God’s for us. I’m a Christian, and therefore everything is going to be smooth sailing from here for me. I’m not going to accept that there is going to be any hardship. Nothing bad is going to happen to me.
The Huge Potholes of Life. Some of us might have thought that when we started following God that everything would start falling into place, and instead everything started falling out of place. It seems like as soon as we started following God things have gotten as bad as they have ever been.
In the Gospel of John, chapter 16 Jesus is about to be crucified. And He speaks about two things in this passage, and they are both true, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
That’s take possession of, that’s not hope for peace, or wish for peace, but have peace. And Jesus tells us where we can have that peace. In Him we can have peace. Some might wonder, “What peace is Jesus talking about?” The peace that He is talking about is only found in a relationship with Him.
There Are Two Realities
There is a spiritual kingdom, one that has no end and is perfect and beautiful, and a present reality, this world, broken down, falling apart, corrupted by sin, filled with chaos. “In this world, you will have trouble.” Is there anyone who understands trouble, big time trouble? Not the, we lost the keys trouble, not the argument on the way to church trouble, but huge faith shaking trouble. The kind of trouble that rocks us down to the core, and makes us think things like, “I don't even know if there is a God”, kind of trouble. Big time Mt. Everest sized trouble that comes and almost snuffs us out. It may not be this morning, it may not be this week, but it's coming. And that's why its good news that we know where peace is found.
We Are In Two Overlapping Realities
One is called trouble and the other way above it is an overcoming Savior. And they are both true at the same time. If we separate those realities we will get two really bad theologies… (Or a spiritual viewpoint for life.)
One viewpoint - Life’s hard
Get used to it. Roll with it. That’s just the way it is and you can't do a thing about it. Not a good spiritual viewpoint. It certainly doesn’t sound very overcoming.
Another viewpoint - The flip side of the first one. God’s for us. I’m a Christian, and therefore everything is going to be smooth sailing from here for me. I’m not going to accept that there is going to be any hardship. Nothing bad is going to happen to me.
Both of these views apart from each other are terrible theologies, and they don’t work.
But if you put them together, then you start to enter in to what Jesus is talking about. And it is this... trouble comes, life hurts, but God is bigger, and God is always at work. Christians are not exempt from difficulty. We are going to have just the same hardships the rest of the world is going to have. But we have confidence in Jesus, who said, “In it all, through it all, no matter what happens, at all times I’m an overcoming Savior”, and there’s hope in that. We may not know when but we need to know that trouble is going to come. And when it comes, this is the question, where do we turn? Our life may be great right now, but in a day or a week, and hour, or a moment, maybe next month, or the month after that, the bottom going to drop out. Where do we turn when life hurts most? Where do we turn when the bottom drops out?
Somewhere to Turn
There is somewhere to turn when life hurts. It is to the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s where we turn when the bottom drops out. But someone might say, “Wait a minute...the cross, that’s about the past, that's about salvation, that’s about having our sins forgiven.” No, the cross is the centerpiece, the cross is the core, and the cross isn’t something we come to and do business with God, and then move on from in life, the cross is everything. “We have this hope [the new relationship with God through Jesus Christ] as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf...” (Hebrews 6:19-20a, NIV)
The word picture that the writer of Hebrews gives is an anchor for the soul - that is where we have to be focused when life hurts most. We might get shipwrecked here; we might get washed over all together. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us, we’ve got to have something that’s going to go into bedrock - that’s going to keep us from going all together out of the picture. And that is the cross of Jesus, and what He’s done for us. It’s not just something that gets us into Heaven, it’s an anchor for the soul. For eternity and salvation, and an anchor for all the steps of this life. And that's the thing that we have got to be holding on to when life hurts most. That’s the place that we’ve got to be.
If we will look at the cross when life hurts most we will see four things…
The first thing that the cross tells us is that God loves us. It’s at the cross that can understand that God loves us. That’s what we need to know most when the bottom falls out of life, “God loves me.” Because one of the thoughts that might have run through our minds when trouble comes is, “God must not love me, because He is letting this happen to me.” The only way to get past that thought is to get eyeball to eyeball with the cross of Jesus. The cross is the place that we know that God loved us before we ever made a move towards Him. 1 John 4 says it this way, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10, NIV) So when the bottom drops out we need to say to ourselves, “Get your eyes on the cross because as soon as you do, you’ll at least know this that God loves you.” This is not going to be a simple answer, please understand, that's not going to make sense maybe of what’s going on, it’s just going to assure us in the middle of it all, one of the things that we are going to be anchored to is, there is a God who loves us unconditionally and He always has. And we know that it is true, not because of our circumstances (they may be telling us that opposite of that.) We know it’s true because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
The second thing that the cross tells us is that God allows freedom, but He maintains control. We probably don’t fully understand this completely. But we see it at the cross. Here is an example. At the cross men crucified Jesus. Acts chapter 2, says that He was crucified at the hands of angry men. One of the authorities came out because it was a religious holiday, and he would always release a criminal on a holiday. He said to the crowd, I’m going to release somebody today. So He says, I’ll let you guys decide, you want Barabus, a notorious criminal, or do you want Jesus? And they started yelling, “We want you to free Barabus and we want Jesus Christ crucified.” That looks like a mob gone crazy, and it looks like nobody is in control. Guys came to work and they punched a clock, and they crucified Jesus. The guys who crucified Jesus didn’t have anything against Him, some of them were just going to work that day, and their job was, we crucify people. Who’s coming today? That guy, put him down, drive in the stakes, raise up the beam, go home and see the family. It’s just done. It’s men doing their job, it’s freedom, its choice, it looks like chaos, but when we see the cross, was God in charge or not? Did men make choices? Yes. God allowed freedom and He maintained control and He's doing that right now.
God is in control of our life. And He always in control of this world. But this world is crazy and it's broken down and because of the freedom of this world, all kind of horrible stuff happens and all kind of trouble comes into our lives. Some might say, “Well why didn't God stop that?” He will and He can. But when He does, life, as we know it will be over. He will stop all the craziness. But for now, there’s trouble, and an overcoming Jesus.
The third thing that the cross tells us is that God can use the worst for eternal good. Now if we were at the cross, if we were there on Good Friday, what would we think? We might think God is not powerful or even real. Or we might think everything He promised was just a fairy tale. We might think that there’s nothing to believe in. Standing there we might think this is the worst possible thing that could ever happen on planet earth, that the Son of God would be beaten, stripped naked, beaten, and crucified to death. But we are not standing at the foot of the cross. We are not on Good Friday. We are here today with all these years of history behind us. From our vantage point now we might see the cross of Jesus is perhaps the most beautiful ever. And that’s because God can take the worst thing and turn it into something for eternal good. And we have to know that when the bottom falls out of life.
There’s a fourth thing we see when we look at the cross, and it is that God paints on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand. If we saw the cross as a snapshot we might think, “Man, God has lost control, or He isn’t loving or powerful.” But now we see it as a little part of a huge mosaic of the story of God. And it’s really the bright, shining tile in that mosaic. It’s because God is always painting on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand. At the end of the day there’s hope. There’s an anchor for the soul at the cross of Christ. God has never lost control. God will take the worst and use it for eternal good. God is painting on a canvas bigger than we can see, or understand. That cross is saying, “God understands and God cares.”
Consider this example - The Disciples in the Storm (Mark 4)
Many of the disciples were seasoned fisherman and yet they feared a storm that came over them in the boat, so much so that they came to think that Jesus who was with them didn't care. Reading in Mark 4:35-40, “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Also Matt. 8:23–27; Luke 8:22-25) These fearful disciples later became bold in trusting Christ and spreading the gospel to others.
When bad stuff happens we might want to run away from God, be mad at God, and hate God. But if we look at the cross we can't because we realize we can’t stop with the question we all want to ask, “God, why is this happening to me?”
If we will look at the cross another thought might emerge, and it is this, “What’s happening to me happened to you. You know about pain. You went through loss. You suffered death. You were mistreated. You were rejected. You’ve been there, you know. You can relate to me right now.” “I’m not going to run away from the cross. I’m going to run to the cross. I won’t run away from you Lord, I’m going to run to You because You are the only person who really knows what I’m feeling right now and what I’m going through.”
Sure God can change the circumstance. And we pray that He would, and sometimes He does. But… The cross is proof that God doesn't always change the circumstance. The cross is also proof that He always has a purpose in every circumstance. God also promises He will never let go of us no matter what comes our way.
He will hold us and His truth and His cross will be an anchor for us no matter what. And it may not be for us today, but it is coming, big time trouble, and when it does, the hope in trouble is the cross of Jesus Christ.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29) “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)
Our afflictions work in us a far exceeding weight of glory. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things, which are seen, but at the things, which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18)
All text New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted.
Somewhere to Turn
There is somewhere to turn when life hurts. It is to the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s where we turn when the bottom drops out. But someone might say, “Wait a minute...the cross, that’s about the past, that's about salvation, that’s about having our sins forgiven.” No, the cross is the centerpiece, the cross is the core, and the cross isn’t something we come to and do business with God, and then move on from in life, the cross is everything. “We have this hope [the new relationship with God through Jesus Christ] as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf...” (Hebrews 6:19-20a, NIV)
The word picture that the writer of Hebrews gives is an anchor for the soul - that is where we have to be focused when life hurts most. We might get shipwrecked here; we might get washed over all together. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us, we’ve got to have something that’s going to go into bedrock - that’s going to keep us from going all together out of the picture. And that is the cross of Jesus, and what He’s done for us. It’s not just something that gets us into Heaven, it’s an anchor for the soul. For eternity and salvation, and an anchor for all the steps of this life. And that's the thing that we have got to be holding on to when life hurts most. That’s the place that we’ve got to be.
If we will look at the cross when life hurts most we will see four things…
The first thing that the cross tells us is that God loves us. It’s at the cross that can understand that God loves us. That’s what we need to know most when the bottom falls out of life, “God loves me.” Because one of the thoughts that might have run through our minds when trouble comes is, “God must not love me, because He is letting this happen to me.” The only way to get past that thought is to get eyeball to eyeball with the cross of Jesus. The cross is the place that we know that God loved us before we ever made a move towards Him. 1 John 4 says it this way, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10, NIV) So when the bottom drops out we need to say to ourselves, “Get your eyes on the cross because as soon as you do, you’ll at least know this that God loves you.” This is not going to be a simple answer, please understand, that's not going to make sense maybe of what’s going on, it’s just going to assure us in the middle of it all, one of the things that we are going to be anchored to is, there is a God who loves us unconditionally and He always has. And we know that it is true, not because of our circumstances (they may be telling us that opposite of that.) We know it’s true because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
The second thing that the cross tells us is that God allows freedom, but He maintains control. We probably don’t fully understand this completely. But we see it at the cross. Here is an example. At the cross men crucified Jesus. Acts chapter 2, says that He was crucified at the hands of angry men. One of the authorities came out because it was a religious holiday, and he would always release a criminal on a holiday. He said to the crowd, I’m going to release somebody today. So He says, I’ll let you guys decide, you want Barabus, a notorious criminal, or do you want Jesus? And they started yelling, “We want you to free Barabus and we want Jesus Christ crucified.” That looks like a mob gone crazy, and it looks like nobody is in control. Guys came to work and they punched a clock, and they crucified Jesus. The guys who crucified Jesus didn’t have anything against Him, some of them were just going to work that day, and their job was, we crucify people. Who’s coming today? That guy, put him down, drive in the stakes, raise up the beam, go home and see the family. It’s just done. It’s men doing their job, it’s freedom, its choice, it looks like chaos, but when we see the cross, was God in charge or not? Did men make choices? Yes. God allowed freedom and He maintained control and He's doing that right now.
God is in control of our life. And He always in control of this world. But this world is crazy and it's broken down and because of the freedom of this world, all kind of horrible stuff happens and all kind of trouble comes into our lives. Some might say, “Well why didn't God stop that?” He will and He can. But when He does, life, as we know it will be over. He will stop all the craziness. But for now, there’s trouble, and an overcoming Jesus.
The third thing that the cross tells us is that God can use the worst for eternal good. Now if we were at the cross, if we were there on Good Friday, what would we think? We might think God is not powerful or even real. Or we might think everything He promised was just a fairy tale. We might think that there’s nothing to believe in. Standing there we might think this is the worst possible thing that could ever happen on planet earth, that the Son of God would be beaten, stripped naked, beaten, and crucified to death. But we are not standing at the foot of the cross. We are not on Good Friday. We are here today with all these years of history behind us. From our vantage point now we might see the cross of Jesus is perhaps the most beautiful ever. And that’s because God can take the worst thing and turn it into something for eternal good. And we have to know that when the bottom falls out of life.
There’s a fourth thing we see when we look at the cross, and it is that God paints on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand. If we saw the cross as a snapshot we might think, “Man, God has lost control, or He isn’t loving or powerful.” But now we see it as a little part of a huge mosaic of the story of God. And it’s really the bright, shining tile in that mosaic. It’s because God is always painting on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand. At the end of the day there’s hope. There’s an anchor for the soul at the cross of Christ. God has never lost control. God will take the worst and use it for eternal good. God is painting on a canvas bigger than we can see, or understand. That cross is saying, “God understands and God cares.”
Consider this example - The Disciples in the Storm (Mark 4)
Many of the disciples were seasoned fisherman and yet they feared a storm that came over them in the boat, so much so that they came to think that Jesus who was with them didn't care. Reading in Mark 4:35-40, “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” (Also Matt. 8:23–27; Luke 8:22-25) These fearful disciples later became bold in trusting Christ and spreading the gospel to others.
When bad stuff happens we might want to run away from God, be mad at God, and hate God. But if we look at the cross we can't because we realize we can’t stop with the question we all want to ask, “God, why is this happening to me?”
If we will look at the cross another thought might emerge, and it is this, “What’s happening to me happened to you. You know about pain. You went through loss. You suffered death. You were mistreated. You were rejected. You’ve been there, you know. You can relate to me right now.” “I’m not going to run away from the cross. I’m going to run to the cross. I won’t run away from you Lord, I’m going to run to You because You are the only person who really knows what I’m feeling right now and what I’m going through.”
Sure God can change the circumstance. And we pray that He would, and sometimes He does. But… The cross is proof that God doesn't always change the circumstance. The cross is also proof that He always has a purpose in every circumstance. God also promises He will never let go of us no matter what comes our way.
He will hold us and His truth and His cross will be an anchor for us no matter what. And it may not be for us today, but it is coming, big time trouble, and when it does, the hope in trouble is the cross of Jesus Christ.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29) “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)
Our afflictions work in us a far exceeding weight of glory. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things, which are seen, but at the things, which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18)
All text New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted.