What are you hoping for today?
Some of you know that one of the things I like to do, especially in the mornings, is go for a run.
When I first moved to Coppell, TX I had never run anything besides a 5k. I wanted to run a half marathon, but I didn’t know how to train for something like that.
That’s when a couple of men in our church said… “We’ll run with you!” And that was important for me because, and you know this is true: Community builds hope.
They had run half marathons and marathons before, so they knew what to do, how to train, and prepare for a half marathon. And here’s what’s amazing, they drove to my house and met me three or four times a week to run in the mornings and they did that for months until… until it was time for the big race.
We chose a half marathon in Irving to run together. And I’ll never forget how excited I was. I’ll never forget how we crossed the finish line together. I’ll also never forget one of the many things you learn when you run any kind of long distance race.
If you’ve ever run a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon, or even a marathon… you know there’s a relationship between suffering and hope.
Somewhere along that race, you’re going to want to quit. You’re going to feel tired. You’re going to feel pain. You will start to wonder if it’s worth it. You will wonder why you signed up for this and even pay money to run in this race that you know you’re not going to win.
But winning the race, that was never the goal. The goal was always to finish.
And to finish well. And in the middle of all that suffering you’re putting yourself through you remember your hope. That at the end of the race you will cross the finish line and they will give you a medal that says, “FINISHER.”
Because of the hope you have, the friends you have, and the training you put in, you run and you run and you run no matter how hard it becomes until you finish the race.
The Problem with Hope
That’s all great when it comes to running a half marathon. But when it comes to life, we live in a world where..
Some people have lost hope.
Maybe they had hope at one point. Hope that the marriage would work. Hope that they would respond to the treatment. Hope that work would improve. Hope that things would change. But, it’s been so long. Things aren’t better. And now they’re losing hope.
Some people haven’t lost hope, they just…
Decided they don’t need hope.
You hope for things you don’t yet have and for some people, if they want something they just go and get it, whatever it is. They don’t need hope because they get what they want when they want it. They don’t wait. They don’t hope. They don’t go without. They don’t need anything, or anyone, so they don’t need hope.
And then there are others who just…
Don’t believe in hope.
They believe you get what you deserve. That you determine your own destiny. They think we are all on our own and whatever you have or don’t have, whatever happens or doesn’t happen, it’s because of what you did or didn’t do. If you work hard, pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, you can work your way into the life you want. This is the American dream after all.
But what happens for all of us is that at some point you realize, you’re running a race called life. And at some point, it’s going to get hard. Suffering is a part of the race. You’re going to want to stop, to quit, you’re going to feel pain, and you will wonder, “Why,” on more than one occasion. Why is this happening? Why me? Why does this hurt so bad? Why did things have to go this way? And you’ll begin to wonder if you can even finish this race called life.
There’s a relationship between suffering and hope. Those who suffer without hope find it hard to finish this race. But for those who have hope… everything changes.
The Thing We Don’t Talk About
I think that’s why Paul, in his letter to this small group of Jesus followers living in the ancient city of Rome some 2000 years ago, wanted to remind them of this HOPE that we have.
In Romans 8:17-25, Paul writes…
17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Can we be honest for a moment? This is the part no one told you about. This is the part that we don’t talk about.
My guess is that out of the thousands of sermons being preached around the world each week, very few will be on this idea of suffering.
We would rather hear sermons on how to live your best life. Or, tell me 3 things that will change my marriage, or bless my kids, or help me be successful in life.
We don’t talk about suffering.
I don’t know if you saw the new Disney movie Encanto that came out a few months ago. The one song in that movie we still talk about is a song called, “We Don’t Talk about Bruno.” Some of you are going to be singing that song in your head for the rest of the day. Sorry about that!
But just like the Madrigal family didn’t like to talk about Bruno, most Christians don’t like to talk about suffering.
Even though Jesus often talked about suffering. Even though Jesus promised that if we decided to follow Him we would suffer.
Even though Jesus himself suffered and died on a cross.
Even though every one of his original disciples except for one died a martyr’s death.
Even though we know we are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus which means a lot of things but most certainly means suffering.
We don’t like to talk about suffering.
But Paul talks about it.
The Good News About Suffering
Paul knew what it meant to suffer for Christ. And he knew that as sons and daughters of God, as co-heirs with Jesus who will one day share in his glory… in other words, one day we’ll get that medal at the end of the race!
Paul knew and he wanted us to know… if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
At first, that might sound like bad news because we don’t like to suffer. We will go out of our way NOT to suffer. We worship comfort. We avoid discomfort of any kind.
But Paul wants every believer in every place in every generation to know…
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Whatever cross you have to carry, whatever suffering looks like for you in this life, here’s what you need to know, what you need to remember, and never forget… it is NOTHING compared to your FUTURE GLORY.
For some people, suffering equals a sense of hopelessness. But as followers of Jesus we have a DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.
There’s a relationship between suffering and hope. And those of us who suffer FOR Christ, those of us who suffer in this life AS Christ followers, remember this… you have unparalleled HOPE.
Our ability to endure present suffering is directly tied our future hope.
What Creation Waits For
Then Paul says,
19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse.
All creation is longing for, HOPING for, all things to be made right, all things to be made new.
We sometimes forget that it’s not just people who are broken by the sin of people, but the world, creation, has been broken by the sin of people.
Just think about it. Before sin there was no such thing as earthquakes and tsunamis, droughts and hurricanes. Tornadoes and floods didn’t exist.
Before sin, everything was the way it was supposed to be. Nature wasn’t broken. Everything God created was good. Perfect. Balanced. In harmony. The way it was supposed to be.
But SIN broke everything. Including the world. Creation. Nature.
We seldom know how destructive our sin is to us, to others, and to the world. We rarely understand the gravity of our sin and what hangs in the balance of our sinful choices. We think, I’m only hurting myself. But it’s a LIE!
Your sin never affects just you.
Eager Hope
Thankfully, our sin isn’t the end of the story. Our sin doesn’t get the last word. Paul says…
But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
All creation has EAGER HOPE! What does all creation HOPE for? A NEW DAY! A NEW CREATION. A future time when there will be no more DEATH, no more separation from God!, and everything will be made right, everything will be made NEW!
This is our EAGER HOPE!
22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
Because Jesus rose from the grave we wait with EAGER HOPE for the day we too will rise from the grave! And that day is coming!
We know that day is coming because God has already given us His Holy Spirit. Jesus promised He would send His Holy Spirit to us and when you confess Jesus as Lord, when you enter the waters of baptism, when you decide to follow Jesus, this is what Jesus does for you. This is how you know God is ALREADY for you while we WAIT for our FUTURE HOPE. He gives us His Holy Spirit to help us.
Paul says,
24 We were given this hope when we were saved.
What are you hoping for today?
Maybe you’re hoping for a friend, a family member, someone you love to come to Christ, to be baptized, to be saved?
Maybe you’re hoping for a cure? For healing? Remission? For a better 2nd opinion?
Maybe you’re hoping for a new opportunity? A new job? A new relationship? A new start?
Maybe you’re hoping things will change? Get better? Or at least not be so hard?
Maybe you’re hoping someone will notice… your pain? Your situation? Your problem? Your need?
Whatever you are going through, whatever you are suffering, whatever hardship you are facing, remember… YOU HAVE HOPE. And HOW you suffer what you suffer matters.
True Story
There’s a story about a some of Jesus’s first disciples who had gotten into some trouble. After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, they just couldn’t stop talking about Him. Every day they would spend their days telling people about Jesus and telling people that He was God’s Messiah.
For the religious leaders in Jerusalem, this was a problem. They had been trying for the better part of 3 years to get rid of Jesus. They had finally succeeded in having him crucified. That part went according to plan. What happened next wasn’t a part of their plan.
His body had gone missing. They didn’t know how. They had heard stories of his resurrection, they had heard from those who said they had seen him in the days following Passover, but they didn’t believe that, couldn’t believe that. They knew he was dead. They stayed at the cross that day until they knew for certain that he was dead.
How could he be alive?
But these disciples, they believe He is! And what’s worse, they won’t stop talking about Him. And the people are buying their story. They are becoming Jesus followers. They call themselves followers of “the Way.” And this is a threat to their power, their influence, their position as religious leaders in Jerusalem.
How You Suffer Matters
So they have these men arrested and put in jail. That will stop it. This is what people in power do when they want something. They leverage their power with no regard for what is right or wrong to get what they want done.
But that night, an angel comes to the jail and opens the gate! You can read this story! You should read this story. You can find it at the end of Acts 5. The angel sets them free from prison and tells them to go back into the city and keep telling people about Jesus!
The next day, the religious leaders gather, they convene a high council to put these men on trial, they send the guards to get them from the jail but… they aren’t there! Now the religious leaders are furious! What’s worse? Someone comes with the news… those guys you arrested and put in jail yesterday, they’re back at the Temple courts teaching people about Jesus again!
They send the guard to arrest them again. They bring them back to court and now, these religious leaders are ready to have them killed just like they had Jesus killed, that’s how angry and full of rage they are.
But instead of having them killed, the council has them flogged. Beaten.
Typically this was done with a whip called a cat of 9 tails. At the end of the whip there were sharp bits of bone, or rock, or other sharp objects. They probably would have gotten 39 lashes.
You can imagine how painful that would have been. Their backs would have looked like hamburger meat. They were beaten within an inch of their life. They were suffering.
Their Response?
You might think, after a beating like that, they would have been done with Jesus.
After all, if this is what it means to follow Jesus, I’m out! You might think, after almost dying, they would be wondering, Where is God? And God, if you’re there, do you care? Do you know what I’m going through? Do you see what’s happening to me?
But I want you to hear their response to their suffering.
41 The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.” – Acts 5.41-42
How you suffer what you suffer matters!
They REJOICED. Why? Because they knew God was with them, God was FOR them, and God considered them WORTHY to SUFFER for the name of Jesus.
The Power of Hope
This is what happens when you have HOPE beyond the grave. This is what happens when you know the Spirit of the Living God is Living inside of you. Your PERSPECTIVE changes.
If you’re suffering without future hope, you will feel hopeless.
BUT, if you suffer what you suffer with FUTURE HOPE, you will have endurance, patience, and confidence.
Hope changes everything.
And there is HOPE for us.
And this HOPE has a name. It’s Jesus!
What if today, instead of praying to God to relieve you from your suffering, you ask God to help you as you suffer to carry His name and to share His name?
You see, every testimony comes from adversity, SUFFERING, where God has the opportunity to prove He is For Us.
FINISHER
One day, we will finish this race called life. And you will receive a crown. And I believe, on that crown will be this word, “Finisher.”
But you can’t do it alone. You need friends. You need people who will run the race with you. This is why we need the church!
And you need training. You need to spend time every day in God’s Word and in prayer. You are always preparing for you know not what.
And you need HOPE. If you hold on to hope, run your race with friends, and train everyday for what may come, you will FINISH.
And when you finish you will hear our Father in Heaven say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
Keep running. Keep hoping. And let’s finish this race together!
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