The Chain Reaction of Hope
Englewood Baptist Church
Sunday morning, April 6, 2008
Recently, I went to Webster’s Dictionary online and typed in the following words: chain reaction. This is one definition provided:
Chain Reaction: a number of events triggered by the same initial event.
So, in other words, a chain reaction is much like dominoes. The first domino falls, and because that first one falls, others are impacted. Sometimes, in our personal lives, things happen through a series of events or a chain reaction. One thing happens and it causes other things to follow. Let me give you a perfect example.
This past Tuesday marked one year since becoming pastor of this church and it has been an amazing year in my life. I began to think this week: how did I get here? How did I, as a 30-year old man, get the opportunity to lead such an amazing church as this? Well, I believe God was sovereign but it happened through a series of events, a chain reaction that began 10 years ago. Let me explain.
Right out of college, I received a job offer in Palm Beach, Florida and I accepted that job. I was going to move to bask in the sun of West Palm. But an event took place that I did not anticipate. My dad become very ill. And because my dad was so sick, I made the decision to stay close to home that year. I passed up the job. And because I passed up the job, I was offered a different job the next year working at a camp in Branson, MO. And because I took that job working at that camp, I ran into a beautiful young woman from Arkansas named Lynley Nix. And because I fell in love with that girl and married her in 2001, I moved to the South. And because I moved to the South, I became familiar with Union University and the seminary program they had there. And because I moved to Jackson, I met a man named Phil Jett and I was given the opportunity to work at EBC. And because I worked at Englewood, I came into this unbelievable role of pastoring this church!
So you see, God was working behind the scenes, just like in the book of Esther, using the everyday experiences of life to work his plan for me. I would not be the pastor today if…my dad had not become sick in the summer of 1998. I truly believe that I would be in Florida today if my Dad had not become critically ill. That horrible summer of suffering led to this moment of great hope. Little did I know that God would use even that to accomplish His plan in my life.
I want to show you something in the book of Romans. Romans 5:1-5 contains the brute force to change your entire perspective on life. If you can grab on to these verses today, you will discover great hope. If you can swallow this, then I promise you….you will be more equipped for tribulation than 95% of the people on earth. Let me show you how God uses suffering to trigger a reaction of hope.
Read with me, Romans 5:1-5.
Last week, we discussed the amazing grace of God—that you and I are saved not by our works, but by a gift from God. We haven’t earned righteousness; it has been credited to our accounts. And Paul says in v. 1… “We have been justified through faith and now we have peace with God.”
Did you know that God has declared himself to be at war with every human being not covered by the blood of Christ. John 3:16 tells us about the love of God: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…. But keep reading that chapter and John 3:36 describes the righteous anger of God.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. John 3:36
But now, because of Jesus Christ, God’s wrath against sin has been satisfied and you and I can live at peace with God. And Paul says in Romans 5:2, “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
But notice that this hope is not just based on some point in the distant future. That joy can come now even in the midst of suffering. Notice verse 3…
So suffering has a purpose. It triggers a chain reaction that leads to hope. Now let me walk you through this process. Let me show you the formula…
The Chain Reaction of Hope
1. Suffering produces perseverance.
V.3 says that you and I can celebrate our sufferings. The word sufferings is also translated tribulations and the word literally means “pressure.” This word was used to describe the process of crushing grapes in order to get wine. Great pressure is applied. It was used to describe the process of pressing olives in order to squeeze out the oil.
What Paul is saying here is simple: without pressure you will never be squeezed into the image of Christ. It is in these moments of suffering that we develop. We develop perseverance.
Now, let’s talk about perseverance. What is that? Perseverance is what I call spiritual grit. It is mental toughness that is developed through trial. It refers to the spiritual muscle required to live the Christian faith.
Think about it in terms of weight training. When a man first begins weight training, he lays down on a bench and he tries to push up the 45 lb. bar. There is no weight on it. After a few days, a few pounds are added. And after a week, 10 more. And as he works at it consistently and puts his biceps to the test, guess what happens? He slowly develops muscle and he can sit beneath great pressure without being crushed. And I don’t have to tell you, that hour of testing is painful. Have you ever watched someone working out with intensity—not the guys who are in their to look at the girls—the guys who are really serious about training? Just look at the guy’s face, and he is making faces like this. That’s not the face you make when you’re eating chocolate cake or getting your nails done. That is what your face does when your body is under pressure, but the more he tests his muscle, the greater the weight that he can handle without feeling it.
I truly believe that God loves his children so much that he tests them. This is not because he likes to see them grimace in pain, but because he wants to assign them more weight. And the more pressure we face daily, the greater responsibility that God place on the bar.
Paul said it this way in 1 Cor. 9…
You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that is gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got...
1 Cor. 9:24-27 (The Message)
Suffering produces that kind of mental toughness displayed here by Paul. He likened himself to an Olympic athlete. In his mind, it was all part of God’s training program.
But let’s look at step two:
2. Perseverance produces character.
Now perseverance and character are close enough to be cousins, but there is a difference. This term character means “proven character.” The KJV translates this word as experience. On the path that God has before you, there are going to be some experiences that will alter the course of your life. You can’t plan for them. Many of these life-changing experiences will involve pain and suffering. You will walk through some fires.
Now must of us would prefer to take a detour around the fire, but God has ordained that you and I walk through some fires. As you may know a refiner is a person that removes impurities from gold. His job was to burn away the dross—all those things that made the metal less precious. And the way that those impurities are removed is through heat. How long should the heat remain on the metal? Here is the answer: The refiner knew that the gold was pure when he could see his face in it.
And if God is the refiner of his most precious possession—his people—then he will leave you in the fire until he can see His face in you. With enough testing and enough endurance, you will develop pure, proven character that reflects the image of Jesus Christ.
I heard of an American student who traveled to Hong Kong to study the Chinese church. Before he had left the States a friend had asked him, “If God loves the Chinese church so much, why does he allow so much suffering to come upon it?”
The student confessed that he had no answer at the time. But after he had traveled to China and witnessed the unmatched devotion and spiritual grit of those Chinese Christians, as they were tested to the point of even death.
And when he got home to the States, he approached his friend and said, “I have a question for you: If God loves the American church so much, why hasn’t he allowed us to suffer like the church in China?”
Do you see what happened? This young man’s view of suffering changed because when he looked at those Chinese saints, he saw the reflection of God. The fire of persecution had made them more pure.
Now, let’s look at the product of this chain reaction. It was triggered by suffering, but the end product is hope.
3. Character produces hope.
V.5, “And hope does not disappoint us…”
I want to talk about this word “hope.” In the English language, the word “hope” carries a hint of uncertainty. It sounds like “maybe.” I hope that the Cubs win the World Series. It might happen; it might not. I hope that my daughter discovers the cure for cancer one day. Hope is like wishful thinking in the English language.
But not to God. When the Bible mentions the word hope, it carries no uncertainty. It refers to a rock solid faith. The Second Coming of Christ is referred to as what? The Blessed Hope. That doesn’t mean the Blessed Maybe. It means that you can stake your life on it—He is coming back. It will happen. So God’s definition of hope does not mean “maybe”; it means unshaken confidence.
Suffering leads to a greater confidence in God. And when you begin to grow confident in God’s power, your spiritual life goes to a whole new level.
I have a pair of glasses here. Now, let me warn you…I am about to look like a super hero. See what I mean? OK, maybe I look more like Clark Kent or Kurt Rambis from 85 Lakers. At any rate, let me tell you about these ridiculous things. My junior high basketball coach forced me to wear these in practice for weeks. These are called “Heads Up Dribble Aid” glasses and they are used to develop a point guard in basketball. When a player first begins to play the game, he is focused completely on the ball and he has no court awareness. He has no idea what is going on around him because he cannot look up. His eyes are locked in the down position.
But when my coach puts these glasses on me, it removed the ability to look down. There is this ledge right here and I cannot see my own feet. And the benefits of wearing these glasses were two-fold. 1) It humiliated me because I bounced the ball off my foot in practice on many occasions. 2) Wearing these glasses forced me to keep my eyes up so that I could see others around me and develop confidence on the court. And here is the shocking thing—as I grew more confident, my game went to a whole new level.
This is exactly what Paul is teaching about pressure. As we face pressure, and we persevere, we develop character and confidence in God. And once a person develops confidence in God, it changes the way you see things. It changes the way you play the game. You begin to look up more and see the world like never before. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full.
But there is only one way for you to have that kind of life, that kind of confidence—it’s all begins with pressure, with suffering.
We are about to take the Lord’s Supper together. If there was ever a man that knew pressure, it was Jesus Christ. No man in history has ever faced pressure like he faced. On the night he was betrayed, he hunkered down in a garden called Gethsemane and sweat poured off his body like drops of blood. He could feel the weight of your sin and mine pressing down on him.
Just moments before that garden, he had been with his disciples, and he taught them about his suffering. He said, “Here is my body and here is my blood. Do this in remembrance of me.” Never forget the suffering that saved you from your sin—so that you might have peace with God. This ceremony was inaugurated by Christ himself so that you and I would never take for granted the pain of Calvary, and the power of Easter.
Note: This table is open to all who have made a profession of faith in Christ.
Read 1 Cor. 11:28…Pause for a moment of reflection.
