Part Two - The Megaphone of Hope
The Message Isn’t That Christians Don’t Suffer And Die
The Message Isn’t That Christians Don’t Suffer And Die
That’s not the message. We should not try and paint this wonderful picture that says, “Just give your life to God and everything will be fantastic after that.” The message is not, “Christians don’t suffer,” or “Christians don't have hardship.”
But the message is this, “The grave is not the last part of our life.” The grave isn’t the end of those who have put their hope [trust] in Jesus. We have already been brought back from the dead, spiritually, in Jesus Christ. We’ve already been given the gift of eternal life that will never end. The message is Christians have an overcoming Savior, who has brought us back from the dead. And the grave and death are not the end of us.”
Jesus said trouble is coming. Trouble might not come today, it might not come tomorrow, it might not come this week, or this month but it is coming, but when it comes we need to know that we have an overcoming Savior. “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)
So when the dark night comes and it is tempting to ask, “Why is this happening to me?” We can know it’s not about us. It’s about living in a broken world with trouble, and it’s coming. So that when trouble comes we can jump over the “why” question and say, “I knew trouble was coming, Jesus said hardship was coming. I knew death was coming. I knew these days were around the corner. It’s been calm and I thank God for the calm stretch. But I knew that there would be troubled waters ahead.”
Jesus Offers A Place Where We Can Find Peace
But the message is this, “The grave is not the last part of our life.” The grave isn’t the end of those who have put their hope [trust] in Jesus. We have already been brought back from the dead, spiritually, in Jesus Christ. We’ve already been given the gift of eternal life that will never end. The message is Christians have an overcoming Savior, who has brought us back from the dead. And the grave and death are not the end of us.”
Jesus said trouble is coming. Trouble might not come today, it might not come tomorrow, it might not come this week, or this month but it is coming, but when it comes we need to know that we have an overcoming Savior. “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)
So when the dark night comes and it is tempting to ask, “Why is this happening to me?” We can know it’s not about us. It’s about living in a broken world with trouble, and it’s coming. So that when trouble comes we can jump over the “why” question and say, “I knew trouble was coming, Jesus said hardship was coming. I knew death was coming. I knew these days were around the corner. It’s been calm and I thank God for the calm stretch. But I knew that there would be troubled waters ahead.”
Jesus Offers A Place Where We Can Find Peace
The second thing that we can see in the midst of suffering is that Christ offers us a place where we can find peace. Jesus says, “In Me you may have peace.” Not peace in some belief system, or some historical understanding of Christ, but in a close, personal relationship with Him.
Consider the words of the Psalmist…“I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth - praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.” (Psalm 40:1-3)
The cross is an anchor for us. God is in control, even though He allows freedom. God takes the worst things on earth and uses them for good. The cross tells us that, God paints on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand. The cross tells us that God understands what we are going through so that when the bottom falls out, we don’t run away from God. We run towards Jesus Christ. Because we understand that He's the only one who really understands the kind of pain that we are feeling in our lives.
The cross is an anchor for us when the trouble comes. The cross is also a megaphone that amplifies our message [whatever it may be] to the entire world.
We are all broadcasting something with our lives
Suffering and hardship are amplifiers to whatever is in our hearts. That was true of Jesus. His message is the loudest at the place where His life hurt the most. When we think of one thing that really defines Jesus. One thing really stands out. He died on a cross. That's what history knows about Jesus. He gave His life on a cross.
Suffering is a megaphone for the message that is in our hearts. The question today isn’t, “Is trouble coming?” The question is, “what are we going to amplify to the world when trouble comes?” What’s going to be cranked up volume wise in our life when trouble comes?” It’s us shouting, “This is what I think life is about.” Our message will be based on our life view - the way we look at life, and value life. Most peoples life message is self-preservation, and the preservation of the people they love the most. Most of us want to get as far down the road in life as we can, in the best shape we can. We don’t want to go out at 30, we don't want to go out at 40, we don’t want to go out at 50, or at 60. But we also don’t want to go to 90 and not be in good shape. We all want to get as far down stream as we can with as much calm water as we can without any pain and suffering. And we want the same for the people we love the most.
So a great day is that everybody made it home safely, everybody is in the house, everything’s good, nobody is sick, nobody’s got trouble, nothings wrong, everybody’s good. How are you all doing? We are all good. That’s good. That’s what we were shooting for. Praise God, life is good. Is there anything wrong with having self-preservation and preservation of those you love as the priority of your life?
No one wants hardship to come. No one wants the people they love to suffer, and rightly so. But those can't be the pinnacle things on our list. Those shouldn’t be the consuming things on our list. Because if they are, when death comes, when suffering comes, our mission in life can be snuffed out in an instant.
We might know people whose main priority is to get themselves and those they love safely through life, and all of a sudden the trouble comes and they just slam into a wall. And its just over and their message, their life message what they have purported to be, the story of what life’s all about just crumbles at that moment. And they don’t have anything to say and nothing to hope in and nothing to cling to. But they do have a megaphone because with suffering whether they want it or not. And what they are amplifying to the world is this, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t make sense, God isn’t real, you can’t trust anything, this life is pointless.” And they shout that message at the top of their voice to the whole wide world.
But there should be another purpose for those that have placed their faith in Christ. And that purpose is higher. Yes, we have our safety and the safety of our families as priorities. But way above that is a greater purpose, the purpose of making much of Jesus Christ. It is the purpose of glorifying God with our lives. We might wonder, “Why would I want to make my highest purpose in life glorifying God?” Well, simply because He gave us life. He gave us the life that we have. And if we are believers, He bought us back from sin and death and gave us a whole new eternal future with Him. He’s given us the Holy Spirit. He’s connected us with Him forever. And so the highest value of our lives ought to be lifting Christ up, to make much of Him.
Here’s the amazing thing, if our highest mission and aim in life is to make much of Jesus Christ the one who gave us life - then death, suffering, hardship, and anything else this world throws at us cannot stop our mission.
Then death, suffering, and hardship only become a megaphone to amplify our message, which is, “I believe in Jesus, and I believe in a God who is big, and a God who is good.” That was true of Jesus Christ Himself and we see that when we read the next few verses down, John 17:1, “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.” Jesus was saying, “Lift Me and shine a light on Me, and when you lift Me and shine a light on Me, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to shine that light right back on you, Father.”
Lifting up Jesus
It’s not wrong for God to shine a spotlight on you. He will do that. He wants to cause people to know who you are and what you are about and to see the goodness in your life. But, why? So, that we can say, “Oh, I understand. You have glorified me or elevated my so that I can glorify and elevate You.” That's what Jesus said. It’s the purpose of His life. He’s not about self-preservation. It’s not about getting down the road without suffering. He’s about to be crucified on a Roman cross. So He’s saying, “I’ve got a bigger purpose.” We see this purpose in John Chapter 17. “As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:2-3)
That’s what Eternal Life is
It’s not about going to Heaven when you die. That’s part of it, but eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus. That’s what eternal life is all about - a relationship.
More insight into this is found in ...
John Chapter 12:23-26
“But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 He who loves his life [that’s person number 1, self preservation and all about keeping me intact] will lose it, and he who hates his life [that’s not saying I hate me...it’s saying, I admit this world isn’t all there is...and I want to live for a higher purpose] in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
John Chapter 12:27-28
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. [And now we hear His purpose oozing out] 28 Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”
John Chapter 12:29
“Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
John Chapter 12:29-33
“Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth [a picture of Him being lifted up on a beam of crucifixion], will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”
The cross is a megaphone of suffering. It was for Jesus
The cross becomes the loudest place. Yes, Angels sang when He was born. Yes, God spoke when He was baptized. Yes, when Jesus did the miracles it was God trying to say something. Yes, at the tomb there was a big anthem. But God spoke the loudest to us at the cross of Jesus Christ. And we speak loudest to the world when we suffer.
God’s goodness should not be defined by what is (or is not) happening in our lives. God's goodness should ultimately be defined in the cross. The cross is once and for all, the place to settle the question of, “Is God good?” And if so, is He always up to good in our lives? Of course He is always up to good. And He always has something good happening regardless of how it feels or seems in the present time.
The most important question isn’t, “Is God good”, but “will I trust Him in whatever He allows in my life?” And yes, God is good, and God is in control. Death is not the end. Because of the shed blood of Christ, we can have an assurance of a restored relationship with God, which includes heaven.
2 Corinthians 4:14-18
“Knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 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.”
In summary…
1. Check Our Purpose For Life
If our primary purpose for life is extending and preserving our own life and those we love, we should consider trading up to a higher purpose of glorifying God today.
2. Expect Difficulty
That does not mean that we are counting out the supernatural intervention of God. He does that. If we are in trouble today we would pray, we should fast, we should cling to God’s promises, we should look for a miracle, we should expect that God can do anything. He can change a course. He can put things back together again.
3. Hope In The Cross
When trouble comes we need to cling to the cross of Jesus and don’t let go.
4. Use Suffering For His Glory
Suffering is to be our servant; we are not to be the servants of our hardship. We are not the servants of what’s been handed to us. It is our servant. If our message is God is great and God is good then we should use our suffering to broadcast that message. Our light and momentary affliction [Paul had big time trouble*] is working for us a far more eternal weight of glory. So we look not at the things that are seen but also those unseen. The things that are seen are temporarily and pass away but the things that are unseen those are the things that last forever.
* Paul’s Troubles In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, Paul speaks of his trials in the ministry, “Are they ministers of Christ? - I speak as a fool - I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”
What are we going to broadcast to the world?
The message of hope that we can know the anchor will hold us in the storm and it is the message that says, “Let’s choose to live for the stuff that matters most in the calm stretches and the rough stretches of life.” Remember God is good. The cross proves it.
All text New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted.