Hope Part 2
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:8-10; James 1:2-4; 4:7; 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Two weeks ago I delivered part one of this two part message on Hope. This morning in part two I want to speak specifically to you about hope as children of God. You see, Christians lose hope just like non-Christians and because of this we too can take the extreme steps of ending our lives. This morning I want you to know that our Father knows that we will experience times of hopelessness and it is during those times that we can patiently turn to Him and receive what we need to keep going. We are never alone no matter how much the darkness seems to increase around us.
This morning we are going to take a closer look at what Paul recorded in Second Corinthians chapter one. We will begin reading at verse eight. “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
Paul wrote that they were burdened excessively, beyond their strength, insomuch that they despaired of life. He said that they had a death sentence within themselves and thus they could not trust themselves. Can you see their state of mind? Can you feel how hopeless they were feeling within their own strength? They had nothing left. They felt trapped by the crushing ordeals in their ministry and through Paul’s own words we know that he didn’t know if they would survive. I want you to see this clearly. Many people believe that because someone is a Christian that life is good and full of blessings. Some even teach falsely that the more you give financially the more blessing (health and financial) that you will have and receive. In actuality, life is harder as a Christian because the expectation is that when we encounter times of hopelessness we are supposed to be strong. We are not supposed to have those feelings because we are people of faith. We are not supposed to have feelings of doubt and question if our lives actually mean anything. As a Christian we are supposed to know that life is good and God is always there.
Can you see where I am going with this? Through Paul’s letter God lets us know that we will experience times when we too might fall into feelings of hopelessness. The writer of two-thirds of the New Testament admitted that what he was dealing with was so heavy that he was unsure if he would be able to bear it. Paul’s words in these verses teach us what we should do when we feel like we simply cannot make it any further in our own strength. It tells us what to do when we are facing challenges that, in our minds, seem way too difficult for us to overcome. He simply says that we must surrender to the resurrection power of God, which is what he himself did. When Paul wrote these words he was at a dead place – the place I talked about previously where you open one door just to find another door that needs opening and you never reach the door that allows you to walk through. This is what Paul was facing when he wrote these words.
When Paul said, “we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves” the use of the word “sentence” carried the meaning of a jury handing down a verdict and a final judgment in a court of law. By using this word Paul told us that so many problems were stacked against him and his companions that, by all appearances, it seemed like there was no way for them to escape or survive. They were at a dead-end with nowhere else to go. The odds were against them. The cards were stacked against them. Why didn’t Paul give up? Why didn’t he throw up his hands and say “What’s the use?” Now here me clearly on this because there are many Christians who find themselves in this place but do not take the stance that Paul took. Paul said that their situation and problems looked so insurmountable that, as far as he was concerned, it seemed there was only one possible outcome – death. This tells me that the thought of death definitely crossed Paul’s mind as he thought about the hopelessness of his situation. Doors closing. One after another. Paul, however, chose a different course of action versus giving in and giving up.
In spite of everything that was happening to discourage Paul and his companions, they did not die; they did not fail at fulfilling the job God gave them to do. While it might have looked like the end of the road for Paul, it was really the beginning of a new supernatural flow of divine power into his life. This is why he went on to say that through it all he learned not to trust in himself, but in God who raises the dead. Paul had been under intense pressure, but right in the midst of this horrible situation, God’s resurrection power was released inside of him and he was rescued. Paul said it was so dramatic that it was almost as if he and his companions had been raised from the dead. When we do not know what else to do but turn to God, that’s usually when His resurrection power can begin to operate in us in the greatest way. We must believe that with God there no such thing as a hopeless situation. Do you believe this?
As I was thinking about Paul and his companions, my mind went to a record in the Old Testament about a godly king named Jehoshaphat. He had received word that several nations had banded together to attack Israel. 2 Chronicles 20 says that he was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord. I want you to hear part of his prayer in verse 12. “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” Here was the King of Israel proclaiming before his people that they did not stand a chance against the nations coming against them. But what I find even more amazing is this: he actually said he didn’t know what to do. Can you imagine a president or CEO standing in front of his/her employees when things are looking bad and saying “I don’t know what to do?” Jehoshaphat did this! But the most important thing he said was this: “but our eyes are on You.” In the midst of a hopeless situation, he said “God, I am looking to You (now l grab hold of this) to make a way where there seems to be no way!” Isn’t that similar to what Paul and his companions said? He said that they trusted in the God who raises the dead and then made the declaration “And He will yet deliver us.”
As I said from the beginning, I wanted to talk to us as children of God. New Light, we must come to the point of believing that with God there is no hopeless situation. Do you hear me? That’s the place we have to be in. When we are there then that belief does three things for us, and for those who are watching us: it gives us hope; it gives us endurance and it gives us patience. As I talked about hope two weeks ago, I want to spend my time this week on the aspects of patience and endurance because when we exercise these, especially endurance, we will not succumb to the feelings of total hopelessness because we know that with God there are no hopeless situations and all things truly are possible.
In the New Testament, there are three Greek words that are most frequently translated as either “longsuffering,” “endurance,” or “patience” in modern English Bibles, makrothumia, hupomone (noun) and hupomeno (verb). Both makrothumia and hupomone generally mean the same thing – patience and/or endurance. However, scholars have noted that each has characteristics that set it apart. Makrothumia (or longsuffering) is patience in respect to persons, while Hupomone (endurance) is putting up with things or circumstances. The distinction has been explained this way: makrothumia will be found to express patience in respect of persons while hupomone is to express patience in respect of things/situations. The third word, Hupomeno, is a verb and used intransitively (a verb without a direct object.) It is an action word that means to “tarry behind; still abide; or to wait for.” I know this is a lot to keep in mind, but the reason will become clearer shortly.
Let’s look at the words hupomeno and hupomone because these two words are expressions of how we are to deal with circumstances. As I said earlier with Paul’s example, it was his circumstances that were so heavy that they were on the verge of losing all hope. The word hupomeno is a compound of two words, hupo and meno. The word hupo means “under or by” and the word meno means “to stay or to abide.” When these two words are compounded together they form the word hupomeno, one of the strongest words in the New Testament. It depicts a person who knows he is in the right place and thus, regardless of the pressure, assaults, or restraints that are forced upon him, he has decided that he will not bend, bow, or break under the pressure. He has simply decided that he will stay in his spot and nothing will make him move from it. It is an unrelenting decision to hold fast to that spot and not be moved for any reason. This decision comes from an understanding and belief that with God all things are possible and there are no hopeless situations with Him. No matter how dark a situation gets, you know that you know that you know God is not wavering in His support of you! When we have hupomeno working in our lives it’s not a question of if we will win; it’s just a matter of time until we win. Eventually, even our enemy himself gets tired and surrenders. Remember what was written in James 4:4? It says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) We just have to stand firm until the enemy gives in!
An example of hupomeno can be seen in what was recorded in the first chapter of the book of James. James said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4) James said we should count it all joy when we encounter various trials (temptations) because the testing of our faith produces endurance. Some Bible translations use the word patience. Endurance is evident when a person refuses to bend, bow, or break regardless of the pressure, assaults, or restraints that are forced upon him. Because he knows God has him regardless of the circumstances, he continues to hold his place – he continues to stand put! Now before we leave James I want to make this point: the trials and tests James is taking about are not sickness, disease, accidents, etc. The trials he’s talking about are those things that will tempt you to abandon what the Bible says and not to stand on its truth. How do I know this? Look at verse 5: “But if any of you lack wisdom” – lack the wisdom to deal with the temptation or test you are in – let him ask of God, who gives [wisdom] to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
Like its verb counterpart, Hupomone is also a compound of two Greek words. The first is “hupo,” which means “under, to be under something that’s very heavy”, and the second word is “mone,” which means “to stay, to remain, to continually abide in one place.” The meaning is very similar to the verb. This word means patience that grows only in the midst of trials. This is the type of patience that perfects the Christian’s character because it came through the midst of being tested. “Mone” means you have come to a place where you believe something and you are not going to move from it. It is closely associated with Godly hope (what has been is not what will be.) You see, when we have this type of hope knowing that our current circumstances are temporary, we can hold out for the change. We display both patience and endurance. Hupomone refers to that quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. In other words, Hupomone is a state of mind that declares “This is what the Word of God says. This is what the Word of God promises. I’m standing on it. I’m not moving!” This is important for Christians when we experience hopelessness. We have to go to the Bible, the Word of God, to encourage ourselves. We have to remember what God has already done for us in order to be able to see what He will do for us moving forward. This thought is captured in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 which says, “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3)
Before I close I want to talk little about endurance. Think about endurance. Endurance means the person could have chosen not to go through what he or she went through. The person could have chosen to give in. However, the person made a conscious decision not to walk away, not to back out. Why did the person do that? Why would he make a decision to go through something if he didn’t have to? The answer is he saw past what was in front of him in hope for the unseen. He saw the benefits (rewards) of not wilting, of not giving an inch to the enemy of the soul. He prized what God could give him more than the temporary reprieve he could have received of not enduring. Endurance plays a role in seeing our faith becoming a manifested reality. Endurance keeps us from fainting in our minds because of what we see; because of what we hear. When we choose to endure, we weather the storm. As a child of God we have what we need to weather the storms of this life. I know it gets hard. I know we will have times when we want to give up and give in. Yes we might think death is the only choice for us. But believe me when I tell you that all is not lost. God has not forgotten us nor forsaken us. I want to close this message with a few Scriptures of encouragement for you to have in your vault when you experience times like Paul talked about in Second Corinthians chapter one.
Psalm 34:18-19: “The LORD is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”
Psalm 55:22: “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Hebrews 10:35-36: “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”
Colossians 1:11: “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.”
Romans 12:12: “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; constant in prayer.”
1 Corinthians 10:13: “There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Remember what we read in James 1:5? It goes hand in hand with this verse.
Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Romans 15:5: “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus.”
Romans 15:13: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. We are developing more social media streams so please stand by and we will notify you once those channels are up and running. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
