[Main thoughts taken from Max Lucado’s book Just Like Jesus]
Theme: A Hopeful Heart
Hope is like gold in the garbage.
- In the midst of all the trash you find something precious.
- In the midst of the darkness you see a ray of light.
Look at Jesus at the lowest point of His life - the night before His death.
- Between the prayer at Gethsemane and the mock trial by Pilate, Jesus experienced life’s darkest moments.
- Except for Jesus, not one person did one good thing during that hour.
Try to look for some sense of decency or a speck of character, and you won’t find it.
- What we find is a heap of human deceit, lies and betrayal.
- Yet in it all, Jesus stood strong. He saw reason to hope, a purpose to endure.
The darkest night of Jesus?life was marked by one crisis after another.
- In the Garden of Gethsemane, we see an unanswered prayer.
- Jesus had offered an anguished appeal to God. "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matt 26:39)
It was not a calm and serene time of prayer.
- Matthew says Jesus was "sorrowful and troubled" (v.37). This was what He said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." (v.38)
- Matthew says Jesus "fell with his face to the ground" (v.39) and cried out to God.
- Luke tells us that Jesus was "in anguish" and that "his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground". (Luke 22:44)
I believe never was there a more sorrowful plea from earth, and never has heaven offered a more deafening silence.
- The prayer of Jesus was unanswered. He knew it. It was not going to be God’s will.
- There was no solace for him. Even his closest friends were sleeping.
* * * * * * * * * * *
And then the second hurt came, in the form of someone He had spent 3 years with - betrayal.
- Judas came with a large crowd armed with swords and clubs! (Matt 26:47)
- John says a "detachment of soldiers" came (John 18:3) = 200 soldiers. Even if it was not the whole detachment turning up, it would be a large crowd with many religious leaders.
- Matt 26:48 "Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." What an irony, that the sign of betrayal would be a kiss, a sign of goodwill and love.
Having done so much good - healing their sick, the lame, and the blind, providing them with words of comfort, hope and love - the crowd now turns against Him.
- Rejection, despite all the good He has done. No one stood by Him, literally.
- Matthew confessed: "All the disciples deserted him and fled." (Matt 26:56). Complete abandonment.
The last time we see the disciples so united in doing the same thing is just a few verses before - in Matt 26:35 "But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same."
- How sad! ALL pledged loyalty and yet ALL ran.
- Wherever you turn, the picture was the same. A friend betrayed him. The disciples left him. The people rejected him. And God did not answer him.
- What a night! It all came in one night. Never has there been so much darkness.
- From a human point of view, Jesus?world has collapsed. No answer from heaven, no help from the people, no loyalty from his friends.
That may be how we would see it. That may be how a reporter would write it. But that was not how Jesus saw it.
- He saw something else entirely. He knew the Father was with Him. He knew He was fulfilling God’s plan. He knew this has to happen, in order for the good to come.
- He was not blinded to the surrounding, but He was not limited to this vision. He saw the hand of God in everything that was happening.
- Listen to what He says to the disciples (Matt 26:54): "But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" and then in 26:56 "But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled."
Can we do the same? Can we see the will of God in the midst of chaos? Can we see the purpose of God in the suffering and pain?
- Can we still see the goodness of God in the problem we face today? We are beaten if we can’t. We have fallen into the trap of the devil if we cannot.
- Defeat comes, not because of the harsh realities around us, but from the inability to see God’s goodness and goodwill in them.
Annie Johnson Flint was crippled and twisted most of her life with arthritis, yet out of her ordeal of protracted pain, she developed sensitivity to suffering that helped her understand and encourage others who also were suffering.
God hath not promised skies always blue, flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, swift easy travel, needing no guide.
He hath not promised we shall not bear many a burden, many a care.
But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.
Paul says in Rom 8:35-37
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, IN ALL THESE THINGS we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
God did not remove Paul from his struggles. He change the way he looks at them.
- The solution is not to avoid trouble, but to change the way we see our troubles.
- When we serve God, the devil will be unhappy. There will be problems in ministry. God’s way is not to remove the problems, but to change the way you see the problems.
God can correct your vision. God let Joshua see the angel of God, Elisha sees the army, and Saul sees the living Christ.
- Heb 11:24 says, "By faith MOSES left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible."
- Heb 12:2b says, "For the joy set before Him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
So stay focused on your goal. God has something big in front of you.
- Clare Booth wrote, "There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them."
- God’s purpose for your life is always greater than the problems in your life.
- The problems that you’re facing right now - wherever they are - have an eternal purpose. They have a long-range benefit, in God’s sovereign plan.
- If you look at them as short-range problems, you’re going to get discouraged. But if you look at the long-range purposes, you will be encouraged. God’s will be done!
FM93.8 Live has this segment called A Slice of Life, by Eugene Loh, and the tagline is: Change your perspective, and it will change your life.
- For the Christian, our perspective is a divine one, a heavenly one, an eternal one.
- Psalm 25:3 "No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame..."
When we feel we have nothing left to give
And we are sure that the "song has ended" -
When our day seems over and the shadows fall
And the darkness of night has descended.
Where can we go to find strength
To valiantly keep on trying.
Where can we find the hand that will dry
The tears that the heart is crying -
There’s but one place to go and that is to God
And, dropping all pretence and pride.
We can pour out our problems without restraint
and gain strength with Him at our side -
and together we stand at life’s crossroads
And view what we think is the end.
But God has a much bigger vision
And He tell us it’s "Only A Bend" -
For the road goes on and is smoother.
And the "pause in the song" is a "rest."
And the part that’s unsung and unfinished
Is the sweetest and richest and best -
So rest and relax and grow stronger -
let go and let God share your load.
Your work is not finished or ended -
you’ve just come to a bend in the road.
- Helen Steiner Rice
