April 20, 2003 Colossians 1:24-27
“Is there anything beyond the cross?”
INTRODUCTION
A Sunday School teacher asked her class to write one sentence each on "What Easter Means to Me." One pupil wrote: "Egg salad sandwiches for the next two weeks!" As a child, I might have said something very similar to that. But now that I am an adult, Easter means something very different to me. It means the restoration of hope. Someone has said, “We can live forty days without food, eight days without water, four minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope.” Speaking of the role of hope in our lives, Thornton Wilde said, “Despair all too readily embraces the ills it foresees; hope is an energy that arouses the mind to explore every possibility to combat them.”
The people who were a part of the first Easter knew all about the need for hope in order to be able to continue on. They had knelt there at the foot of the cross watching the one who carried all their hopes and dreams die. They had listened as He said, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit”, and then, they saw Him bow His head for the last time. Their guts had wrenched as the Roman soldier plunged the spear into his side removing all doubt that Jesus was really dead. They followed those who carried Him to the tomb, and when they heard the resounding sound of the rock that sealed the tomb, they knew that their hope was dead – sealed in the tomb with the one that they thought was their Savior. They knew what it was like to be hopeless.
Some of you know that same feeling of hopelessness. When you look at your marriage, you see only despair. When you think about your children – whether they are still young or full grown, you wonder what kind of a future there is for them. When you consider your life and the mistakes that you have made, you are tempted to give up hope that anyone could ever love you, forgive you and make something good out of your life.
This morning, my goal for us is that we will experience that same restoration of hope that those first century Christians experienced when they came to the tomb and heard the words, “[Jesus] is not here; He is risen just as He said.” They discovered that there is hope beyond the cross. What you are going through or whatever you have done does not need to destroy you and steal your hope. You can hope again.
1. Beyond the cross, hope endures even through suffering. (vs. 24)
One of the things that threatens to steal your hope is suffering. Suffering has been a part of what it means to be human ever since sin entered into the world. And even though, Jesus paid for our sins on the cross with His own blood, still suffering is present with us and will be until this world is a part of history. You can let suffering steal your hope, or you can hold onto that hope by concentrating on some of the positive things that can come out of suffering.
Suffering can bring believers closer to Christ. (Phil. 3:10) – It teaches us total dependence on Him. How many of you have been through circumstances where you knew that you could not have made it through without the Lord being there? Suffering also brings people closer together. Six of the rescued POW’s could have come home to America and their families sooner than they did, but they chose to wait a few extra days so that all of them would be healthy enough to come home together. Why? Because their ordeal had developed a bond between them.
Suffering assures believers that they belong to Christ. (John 15:18) – Jesus said that we should expect persecution and suffering. They persecuted Him; He promised that they would persecute us. That’s what Paul is talking about in in vs. 24 when he says that he had to fill up Christ’s afflictions. It wasn’t that Jesus death and resurrection wasn’t sufficient to pay for Paul’s or our salvation. It was that the world continues to pour out its hatred of Jesus on us. This will continue until one day when God says that the cup is full, and His judgment will be poured out. Suffering itself and the attacks of the enemy confirm that I am a part of God’s family.
Suffering reminds believers that this world is not eternal and it is not home.
Suffering changes believers and produces hope within us. (Rom. 5:2-5)
I heard about an interesting Scientific experiement that was done a while back at Duke University. A group of behavioral Scientists put some Wharf Rats in a tank of water, and observed them to see how long they would survive before drowning. The average time was 17 minutes. Then, they repeated the experiment, but this time they "rescued" the rats just before the point of drowning, dried them off and returned them to their cages.... fed them, and let them play for a few days, and repeated the drowning experiment. This time, the average survival time for these rats increased from 17 minutes to 36 hours! The scientists explained that phenomenon by pointing out that the second time around, the rats had HOPE. They believed that they could survive this, because they had done so before. One scientist said, "They were able to survive because they had been SAVED". -- Heard on Chuck Smith’s radio broadcast, "The Word for Today". We usually say, "As long as there is life, there is hope." The Duke experiment proved, "As long as there is hope, there is life." -- Bruster & Dale Every time that you make it over some obstacle in your life, it gives you hope that empowers you to make it over the next obstacle that comes along. When you are faced with a situation that threatens to steal your hope, look back. Look back at all those other times that you thought there was no hope. You made it through those. God is still the same as He has ever been, and His power is still available to you. You can make it over.
Suffering captures the attention of unbelievers to bring them to Christ. – Some of you here this morning do not have Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Right now, you are either in the middle of a struggle in your life, or one is coming down the road toward you right now. As you face that struggle, don’t just accept it as a fact of life, but recognize it for what it is – it is the voice of God calling out to you trying to get your attention. Don’t ignore His voice. Whatever situation you may be facing right now will end. But when you die, your response to the voice of God will determine your final fate. Your suffering will either eternally end or will have just eternally begun.
2. Beyond the cross, hope sustains our purpose. (vs. 25)
Last Sunday morning, we learned of the rescue of those 7 prisoners of war from Iraqi prisons after only a few weeks of imprisonment. Every war has military prisoners. Some survive; some don’t. A study was done of concentration camp survivors to discover the common characteristics of those who did not succumb to disease and starvation in the camps. Victor Frankl was a living answer to that question. In a speech he gave after his release, he said, "There is only one reason, why I am here today. What kept me alive was you. Others gave up hope.” One morning a prisoner would just refuse to get up. He wouldn’t get dressed or wash or go outside to the parade grounds. No amount of pleading by his fellow prisoners would help. No threatening by the captors would have any effect. Losing all hope, he had simply given up. He would lay there in his own excrement till he died. The American soldiers called it “give-up-it is”. [But I refused to give up] “I dreamed. I dreamed that someday I would be here, telling you how I, Victor Frankl, had survived the Nazi concentration camps. I’ve never been here before, I’ve never seen any of you before, I’ve never given this speech before. But in my dreams, in my dreams, I have stood before you and said these words a thousand times." He had established a purpose for himself, and it kept His hopes alive through all that he faced. – Victor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning, p. 95, 163.
Paul had a purpose too. His was given to him by God. He was to be a servant to the churches – delivering the message to them and helping them to grow in their faith. He went through a lot of pain in order to fulfill that purpose. He was stoned, imprisoned, beaten, betrayed and shipwrecked. But he never lost hope. He had a purpose, and that purpose kept him going.
Jesus had a purpose. He said that He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came for us. I wonder if when He looked down through history and saw you sitting there if He was tempted to give up hope. As soon as I ask a question like that, I am persuaded of the answer. NO! Jesus knew that there was hope for any situation. It was that hope that kept Him going so that He could fulfill His purpose. In Heb. 12:2, it says that Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. He endured the cross because He was anticipating the joy of having you as a part of His family. He looked beyond the cross to see you.
3. Beyond the cross, hope reveals the truth. (vs. 26)
About ourselves.
Maybe you can identify with the little boy who was overheard talking to himself as he strutted through the backyard, wearing his baseball cap and toting a ball & bat. "I’m the greatest hitter in the world," he announced. Then he tossed the ball into the air, swung at it, and missed. "Strike One!" he yelled. Undaunted, he picked up the ball and said again, "I’m the greatest hitter in the world!" He tossed the ball into the air. When it came down, he swung again and missed. "Strike two!" He cried.
The boy then paused a moment to examine his bat & ball carefully. He spit on his hands and rubbed them together. He straightened his cap and said once more, "I’m the greatest hitter in the world!" Again he tossed the ball up in the air and swung at it. He missed. "Strike Three!" Instead of falling into despair, with all the hope of a child, he said, "Wow, I’m the greatest pitcher in the world." Children are full of hope.
But somewhere along the way, they start to hear and believe lies. Lies like, “You’re no good.”, “No one wants to be your friend.”, “You might as well just go under a rock and die”, “Your only value is in what I can get out of you.” Lies like those steal your hope.
The truth is that every one of you has value, hope and potential. You are made in the image of God. When I remember that about others and about myself, it gives me hope. It blocks the lies so that I can see the truth.
About our world.
A man despairing of happiness in life had climbed upon the parapet of the Brooklyn Bridge and was about to leap into the river when a policeman laid an arresting hand upon him and drew him back. But the man protested to the policeman saying, "You do not understand how miserable I am and how hopeless my life is. Please let me go!"
The kindhearted officer talked with him and said, "I will make this proposition to you: You take five minutes and give your reasons why life is not worth living, and then I will take five minutes and give my reasons why I think life is worth living both for you and for me. If, at the end of the ten minutes, you still feel like jumping from the bridge I will not stop you."
The man then took his five minutes, and the officer took his five minutes. The result was, at the end of the ten minutes, they joined hands and both leaped from the bridge! --McCartney
People are looking for hope, but they are looking for it in the wrong places. False hopes are probably worse than having no hope at all. Someone has said that probably nothing in the world arouses more false hope than the first four hours of a diet. When false hopes fall crashing to the ground, it makes us think that there is no secure place for us to go where we can find real hope.
Our enemy, Satan will try to do one of two things. Either he make you think life is utterly hopeless, or he will try to get you to think that hope is found in things of this world. Commenting on a fellow musician’s suicidal death, Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder, told of how messed up and hopeless his own world was. People think you are some kind of grand person, he said, just because you can put your feelings into songs. Noting the irony of those who look to musicians for answers, he said: "They write letters and come to the shows . . . hoping we can fix everything for them. But we can’t. What they don’t understand is that you can’t save somebody from drowning if you’re treading water yourself." - Tom Sirotnak, Warriors, (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), p. 24
God has revealed the mystery to us that there is no real hope found in the things of this world. It is fading away along with everything in it.
There is a place where you can find a real, secure hope. It is found in a relationship with God. Hope reveals the truth about God.
About God.
Hope reveals the truth that God loves you. It’s hopeless to try and be good enough to get God to love you. But the wonderful message of the Bible is that God loves you in spite of the hopeless condition that you are in.
Hope reveals the truth that God has a plan for your life. (Jer 29:11 NIV) For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Hope reveals the truth that God will never leave you.
A first grader stood up in front of his class to give his speech, “What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.” He said, “I’m going to be a lion tamer and have lots of fierce lions. I’ll walk into the cage and they will roar.” He paused for a moment, thinking through what he just said, then added, “But of course I’ll have my Mommy with me.”
I can face just about anything when I know that I do not have to face it alone. God has promised, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”
4. Beyond the cross, hope awaits a reward. (vs. 27)
For today.
I don’t have to wait until heaven to enjoy the fruits of a relationship with God. Paul speaks of “Christ in me” right now. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is living in me right now. Through the Spirit, He gives me guidance so that I will know which way to go. He gives me power to overcome the obstacles for as the Bible says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And He gives me “love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23) that will enable me to stand strong no matter what kind of cross I am bearing right now. Does any of that sound appealing to you? If you had any of that or took full advantage of that, do you think that it would increase your hope and enable you to continue on with God’s plan for your life? Hope gives me a reward for today. Hope also gives me a reward for tomorrow.
For tomorrow.
(1 Cor 15:19-22) If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
(2 Cor 4:16-18) Therefore we do not lose heart [we don’t give up hope]. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Other men see only a hopeless end, but the Christian rejoices in an endless hope. -- Gilbert Beenken
CONCLUSION
There was a man the side of the road hitch hiking on a very dark night in the middle of a storm. It was late at night and no cars were passing. The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop. Without further thought, he got in the back seat of the car, closed the door and turned to thank the driver for stopping for him. It is then that he realizes there’s nobody behind the wheel. The car starts slowly down the road again. The guy looks at the road ahead and sees a curve coming his way. Scared, he closes his eyes and starts to pray for his life. Just before the car reaches the curve, a hand appears thru the window and turns the steering wheel. The guy, paralyzed with fear, watches how the hand appears every time they come to a curve in the road. Gathering his strength, he leaps from the car and runs to the nearest town. Wet and in shock, he goes to a cafe and asks for a cup of stiff coffee. He quickly drinks his coffee and starts telling everybody about the horrible experience he’s just been thru. A silence envelopes the cafe when the man begins to weep like a baby out of sheer fright from the experience he has been through. About half an hour later, two guys walk into the same cafe and one says to the other, "Look Bob, there’s that guy who got in the car when we were pushing it down the road.” That’s what God does. He reaches His unseen hand down into our lives and turns that wheel when we think we’re headed off the cliff.
When you’ve given up hope, you think all is lost, and it looks like you’re getting ready to go over the edge, remember: the Father is still on his throne, the Holy Spirit is still in the business of saving souls, and that same Jesus who rose out of the grave is coming again.
Is there anything beyond the cross? Yes, there is an empty grave and a risen Savior. There is hope.
