Hope In Uncertain Times
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
November 15, 2008
Today’s message is called Hope in Uncertain Times. I am not up here today to preach a political sermon. My concern is not with politics, which concern the affairs of this world, but rather my concern is with the church – with her health, her state of mind, her well-being, and her fitness to be the bride of Christ that scripture says she is.
I want to talk to you today, about what seems to be a loss – or rather a giving up – of hope. Here are the things I have heard this week, mostly from Christians:
1. Barack Obama is the antichrist.
2. This financial meltdown will spiral completely out of control, crash our economy, and spell the end of the US as we know it.
3. The end is almost here
Why is it that Christians, entrusted with the ultimate message of hope and sent out to be messengers of a hope in a dark world, are often some of the gloomiest, most depressing people to be around, and some of the most paranoid people I know? What’s that all about?
Let me ask you, how are things for you right now? Are you getting gas in your cars and heat in your house? Do you have money in the bank and people around who love you and a few fun songs on your iPod and a few fun movies on your DVR? Do you have a roof over your head, blankets to keep you warm, and a doctor to help you stay healthy? Three squares a day, more or less? Then as of right now – despite what is happening around you – you are among the most privileged, the most blessed, and the most secure people who have ever lived on this planet. Could that change at any time? Sure. Nothing is guaranteed. Are there things out there that are cause for concern? Of course! But we are to live in the circumstances where God has placed us, not be shooting ourselves far beyond them in order to make wild conjectures about future things. Check this out.
John 11:7-9 (MSG)
7 After the two days, he said to his disciples, "Let’s go back to Judea."
8 They said, "Rabbi, you can’t do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you’re going back?"
9 Jesus replied, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn’t stumble because there’s plenty of light from the sun.
What’s Christ’s message here? First, that we are to walk by the light we have. God has apportioned each of us a certain number of hours and while those hours remain, we are to busy ourselves not with fearful predictions and forecasts, not with doom and gloom, not with anxiously tracking every move of the stock market or hearing or inventing conspiracy stories about our political leaders, but with whatever work God has given us to do. Let us work while it is daylight!
Second, right along with that message is the inevitable fact that one day time for us, like it did for Jesus, will run out. Jesus walked back into a hornet’s nest simply because he knew he walked in God’s will and by God’s light. As long as he was able to breathe and make the choice, he would go where he was needed and do what he had been born and called to do. At the time of Jesus, Jerusalem was under the boot of Rome, and yet there is not one single recorded discourse where Jesus goes off about this and that regarding the Roman Empire. Some terrible things were happening because of government and things were about to get a whole lot worse. But by and large, Jesus stayed on message, which was the availability of the Kingdom of God to ordinary people like you and me.
What did Jesus know? Jesus knew that God had given him 12 hours of daylight. My brother has put this better than anyone I’ve ever heard, when he said, “If it ain’t your time, nothing can kill ya.” Jesus knew this, believed it, and walked in that belief all the way back to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead.
Do you know what concerns me more than our economic crisis, and more than the state of our planet with regard to warming, and more than nuclear proliferation? What concerns me WAY more than any of these things is that so many in the church (have some conversations and go online if you don’t know what I mean) are acting in godless ways. And by godless I do not mean committing sexual sin and worshipping idols and stuff – I simply mean forfeiting what is the main inheritance God has given us as his children, which is hope! So many are giving in to fear and suspicion and paranoia.
God’s people are to be defined by our hope, by our belief that nothing – absolutely nothing – will ever happen to us that God will not use to our ultimate good purpose. So why are there those in the church claiming Obama is the antichrist? Could he be? Sure. So could I. So could you. Chances are very good that none of us are, though, and history is filled to the brim with the names of people who have been branded “antichrist” by the church. Here are a few, and I’m not kidding about some of these names.
Emperor Nero. Emperor Caligula, both of Rome. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Most of the popes who have ever lived. Adolf Hitler. Mikhail Gorbachev. Ronald Reagan. Stalin. Saddam Hussein. Henry Kissinger. Bill Gates. Ayatollah Kommenhei. Prince Charles of Wales. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Mussolini. Bill Clinton. John F. Kennedy. And believe it or not, Sam Donaldson of ABC News.
Here’s our problem, it seems. When someone is patently evil, like Stalin, some say, “He’s so evil he must be the antichrist!” When someone is not patently evil, like Reagan or Gates or Clinton or Kennedy, we say, “He’s so charming and charismatic, I just don’t trust him. I think he’s faking it and that he’s sneaky and one day he’ll do a complete 180 and kill more people than anyone in history.” We’re mystified by the darkness that is in some people, we’re mystified by the charisma that is in others, and I think we’re equally suspicious of both. And as for Sam Donaldson, I mean, he must be the antichrist. How else do you explain those eyebrows?
Anyway, I wonder – would it somehow be a blot on the face of Christianity if we stopped naming people as antichrist and just prayerfully watched and waited? And worked during the daylight?! Because it seems like a blot on Christianity that for all of history up to now, we often have rushed into our foolhardy judgments and assessments and, so far, we’ve been wrong every single time.
Someone from Wildwind wrote to me a couple weeks ago and said he has Christian friends who aren’t speaking to him because he voted for Barack Obama, nor are they speaking to anyone else who voted for Obama. I know someone who questioned the Christianity of a few friends who voted for McCain. My friends, please listen to me. This simply will not do in the church. The division and catastrophizing, the fearfulness, the dread, the doom and gloom, the enmity and anger between people of goodwill – this is not acceptable among those who call themselves followers of Jesus.
Does this kind of hopelessness characterize you? Are you filled with pessimism and doom and gloom over the challenges we face in America? Let me ask you something. What damage would it do to your soul if you cashed in your fear in exchange for unbridled faith? How would it diminish your Christian testimony if you chose to believe that everywhere, in every circumstance, throughout every trial and difficulty of life, your God is mighty to save? Isn’t he?
I mean heck, if he can move mountains, he can fix what’s wrong with our planet, can’t he? Why not ask him, and believe he just might? If he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, then is he frightened or threatened by some closing banks? He already has all the resources we need not just for life in the next world, but for life in this one! Why not ask him and believe he might give them to us? If God has created every person for a purpose and called them to that purpose, and died for the sins of every man and every woman and every child, than surely God’s grace extends to both the red states and the blue states, right? Or are politics more powerful than God? If you are virulently pro-life but a Christian friend is pro-choice, then you can disagree with one another, but can you bring yourself to believe that if your friend is wrong, they are covered by the same infinite mercy and love and grace that covers you when you are wrong? If you voted for Obama and your friend voted for McCain, can you bring yourself to believe that God loves your friend too? Conservatives, can you love liberals who claim to serve Jesus? Because according to scripture they are your spiritual family. Liberals, can you love conservatives who claim to serve Jesus? Because according to scripture they are your spiritual family.
I’m sick of the negativity and the doom and gloom, and the vast majority of it is coming from the church. This absolutely should not be, and I don’t care whether you bleed red or blue, because Jesus is Lord of them both. My friends, one day the end will come. That is beyond doubt. I don’t know when that time will be, but I sure as heck hope that when the end comes, the church has more to say to the world than, “We’ve been telling you this would happen for thousands of years.” I hope the church might be able to say, “Well, it looks like this might be it – but world, we have prayed for you, we have interceded for you, we have held you before God, brought your leaders to the throne of God, and begged God in the name of His Son Jesus to spare you – like Jesus in the Garden, praying God might find some way other than the cross to save human beings – we have prayed until our knees are sore that God might find some way to fulfill his plan in history that will not require you – and us – to suffer. When things have looked gloomy we have prayed to our God who brings hope and asked him to spare us. When politics didn’t go our way, we prayed for our president and leaders and that God would keep them from harming the world, and that God would humble us enough to submit to them. When your finances were shaken, we prayed that good would come to you. When Iran seemed to threaten our nation, we looked to God who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and pleaded with him to move in hearts and minds in that country. We have prayed and fasted and adjusted our spending to help others – we have asked God to change his mind and find another way.”
That is what I hope. Because how on earth can the church be a beacon of hope when it is a purveyor of fear and suspicion and conspiracy theories? Would it damage the cause of Christ if we stopped being so quick to believe the worst? Would Christianity suffer harm if we simply made a decision to be people of hope? Check this out:
Romans 5:1-5 (MSG)
1 By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus.
2 And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
3 There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us,
4 and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.
5 In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles! Troubles develop what you and I need most which is “passionate patience,” also known as perseverance. And then in alert expectancy (that’s code for hope, ya’ll), we’re never left feeling shortchanged, ripped off, robbed, like we got the short-end of the stick, or the other side won.
The doom, gloom, negativity, pessimism, and despair are not from God. And if they are not from God, then we should distance ourselves from them as far as possible. Will it harm our Christian witness in any way to ask God to heal our country and expect that he just might? I mean, we have nothing to lose, right? Whether he does or whether he doesn’t, we still trust in him either way, right? Or is God bound by how this or that election turns out? And I’m speaking not just to those who are freaked out about the Obama win. I’m speaking also to those who have been freaked out in the past however many years about our current president. Will we or will we not embrace hope, an alert expectancy, trust that God is doing his work?
The first two verses of what I just read, are translated this way in the NIV.
Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Through Jesus we have gained access to God by faith into this grace in which we stand – when? January 20th when Obama takes the oath of office, Obama lovers? No. NOW! We stand in this grace RIGHT NOW – and we rejoice in what right now? HOPE!
Through Jesus we have gained access to God by faith into this grace in which we stand – when? After Obama’s term as president is over, McCain voters? No. NOW! We stand in this grace RIGHT NOW, and we rejoice in what right now? HOPE!
Christians, we have no business peddling doom and gloom. Jesus didn’t give us prophecy to scare us, or to give us a tool to scare the rest of the world into getting on God’s team. Jesus gave us prophecy to show us that God is both large and in charge – that politics and nations and their plans don’t rate over him.
Psalm 2:1-4 (NLT)
1 Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
2 The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one.
3 “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”
4 But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.
See, these things that seem so serious to us – the fates of nations and kingdoms and peoples – God is not threatened or afraid. God is not impressed by saber-rattling and political posturing. God is not frightened by global economic downturns.
See, as it turns out, the most powerful people on earth – the President of the United States – and the presidents of all the other kingdoms – they possess power to take life, to bring death and misery and destruction and mayhem. But God alone possesses the power to GIVE life!
John 10:10 (MSG)
10 … I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.
There is no life-taking power that is greater than God’s power to give life.
Matthew 10:28 (MSG)
28 "Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.
See, things are not what they seem anyway. Life isn’t what it seems. What is around us is not what it seems. In Christ, the life we are so afraid of losing is not really the life that matters anyway.
John 17:3 (MSG)
3 And this is the real and eternal life: That they know you, The one and only true God, And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
If you know Jesus and are living to serve him, then you already have real life, and you already have eternal life. You don’t have to wait until you die. The life you now have is of a kind that will never end. Ever! And as I have said before, one day you will close your eyes in death and awake the next instant in the kingdom of your father. THAT is who you are.
Colossians 3:3 (NIV)
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
That life is beyond all harm. And it is your real life!
The gospel is a message of hope. Yes terrible things happen in this world. And yes, God has told us that terrible things will happen at the end of history. But we do not know when that will be, and even if we did, we stand RIGHT NOW in God’s glorious grace – God is RIGHT NOW sufficient for every need. And followers of Jesus are to be known as people of infinite hope.
The Apostle Paul wrote to his former church:
Philippians 2:15 (MSG)
15 Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night.
Let us be breaths of fresh air and lights in the world. Amen.
I was on Dallas Willard’s website the other day and he had a text box there that said, “This is my prayer for you.” I want to read it for you because – this is my prayer for you, and the attitude in which we should live.
My prayer for you is that you would have a rich life of Joy and Power, abundant in Supernatural results, with a constant, clear vision of never-ending life in God’s World before you, and of the everlasting significance of your work day by day. A radiant life and death.
Go in peace.
