"11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good." -- Titus 2:11-14
W. Colin McKay wrote a play entitled, “Hope Springs Eternal”, where a teacher talks a lady out of jumping off a bridge. This lady then talks the teacher out of jumping off that same bridge. One of the things the teacher tells the lady is that life is hope and that hope is eternal. He uses hope to talk her down off the edge. Lack of hope brought her to the edge, hope brought her down.
Life can seem hopeless sometimes. The world can throw all sorts of problems your way. It may be problems at work, where your boss tasks you with jobs that are over your head, or with too many jobs and than calls you to the carpet when you do not get them complete on time or with the quality he expects. It may be problems with family, directly, with conflict running deep in your family. It may be indirectly, where a family member is deep in crisis and you feel powerless to help. It may even be financial. Perhaps you are living paycheck to paycheck, barely able to make ends meet. Perhaps, you cannot make ends meet. No matter what the avenue, life can be full of problems, and it may seem like all hope has gone. Paul felt that way once. Paul, arguably the greatest apostle, was pressed beyond his ability to endure. Paul, who wrote half of the New Testament had so many problems he despaired of life:
"8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." -- 2 Corinthians 1:8-9Life can be hard and full of difficulties for everyone. It may seem hopeless, but we do have hope. There is always hope. Let's keep reading the above passage and see how Paul made it through his difficulties:
"10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our[1] behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many." -- 2 Corinthians 1:10-11Paul put his hope in the Lord, and the Lord helped him through his peril. He will help us as well. No matter what our problems may be, no matter what the world may throw at us, we have a savior who is greater than all of that and who has overcome the world:
"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." -- 1 John 4:4Jesus Christ has overcome. He has overcome the world, and He has overcome death! Jesus can overcome anything that you can bring before Him. No problem is too great or too small for our Savior or our Father. When life seems hopeless, God is hope. If your problems seem insurmountable, bring them to Him. Nothing is ever truly hopeless. I thought finishing this article would be hopeless. In thirty minutes time, this computer locked up 3 times. I lost and rewrote parts of this article 3 times, but it still got finished. That may seem small, but when the screen froze the third time, things were seeming pretty hopeless. I prayed. I asked God for help. I asked God to help me with hope. He did. It really is that simple!"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." -- John 16:33
Does this seem like a small problem? So the computer froze, why bother God with that when there are wars and people are starving? Because God cares about each and every one of us. God cares about you. No matter how small you think your problems are, HE CARES! God cares about you, so whether small or big, you have hope in God! Whether small or big, bring our problems to God, "and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).
Not only can Jesus overcome each of our individual problems, but He can, in fact has, overcome the problems of the church as a whole. And right now, the church is facing a lot of problems, both internally and externally. Internally, we have churches that ordain people who are openly living in sin. People living in open defiance to God are being elevated to lead His people. We see Christians replacing God's love with man's condemnation. Man has usurped the throne of judgment from Jesus Christ. Rather then extend God's love to those who are in need of love, pray for those who are in need of prayer, help those who are in need of assistance; people judge and condemn those who they feel it appropriate to judge. We see the body of Christ splitting and dividing over minor issues. In deed, things seem to be hopeless inside the Body of Christ.
If that was not enough, the church is under attack from the world as well. Groups like GLAD, who promote a sinful lifestyle as normal are urging Christians to stop giving their tithes to churches that speak out against homosexuality. Some individuals are calling in bomb threats to Christian Churches and schools who do the same. In Canada, the government has passed legislation that makes parts of the Bible illegal as 'hate speech'. Here in the U.S., groups like the ACLU are fighting to remove every mention or even hint of Christianity, this side of the church doors, from all over America.
Just this week, I was told I needed to cut down my 'discussions of a religious nature' at work. Recently, a superior court ruling in MA told the state legislature that they must create legislation allowing homosexual couples to marry, and, at the time of this writing, officials in San Francisco, CA, are conduncting marriage ceremonies homosexual couples, despite the laws put into place by popular vote. At a glance it almost seems as if Satan is winning the war in this world. That's because the world is Satan's kingdom (Luke 4:5-6). Satan is, in fact, known as the prince of this world (John 16:11). As a result, Christians will be fighting against both the devil and the world. The good news is, we are not fighting alone. Jesus Christ is fighting with us; He is fighting for us. Sure, at a glance it may seem the devil is winning, but upon closer inspection we see that Jesus Christ has already won! We saw above that He has already overcome the world. He told that to His disciples the night he was betrayed, while walking in the garden. Yes, before He was arrested, tried and killed, Jesus knew that He would be victorious. He came to earth for that very purpose! Still, what Jesus went through was not fun, but he knew that even though some pretty horrible things were going to happen to Him, He would arise and be victorious. Through all His suffering, Jesus had the hope of victory, and He was victorious:
"5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' " -- Mark 16:5-7With His resurrection, Jesus Christ became the Champion. Now, all His enemies will be brought under His feet:
"25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.Jesus Christ has overcome. Jesus Christ has won. He alone is the Victor, the Champion. Now, with Jesus and through Jesus, we have the hope of being victorious as well. With Jesus' resurrection, our life and victory have been guaranteed. Jesus Christ became victorious over life and over death, so that through Christ, we may have victory as well:"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." -- Isaiah 53:12
"14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants." -- Hebrews 2:14-16
" 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." -- 1 Corinthians 15:56-58
"33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." -- Romans 8:3-34
We are at war, and there are times, it will seem as though the world and the devil are winning. The circumstance the church is in can seem hopeless. However, through it all, we have the hope of victory. While Jesus was suffering, He knew He would be victorious. Through God's Word, we know that we will be victorious. Jesus Christ has defeated Satan and overcome the world. Through Christ we will have victory as well. Though the world surrounds us, and the devil attacks us, we hold on to the hope that we will be victorious. What's more, the day is approaching when Satan will be defeated for good and, with Christ, we will have our final victory over all. "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:20)
Jesus Christ has overcome death and has overcome the world. He is our champion and our victor. Our God is our comfort and our refuge. While we are on this earth, we are going to have problems, both individually and in the church as a whole, but God is greater than all of that. As Christians, we have hope. Yes, there are times where we will suffer. No, it is not fun, going through problems is tough, even when you know God is going to get you through them, it is still hard, but everything here will pass away. All the problems we face will pass away. Jesus, He is eternal, and with Him in your life, you will outlast all the difficulties life can throw at you. We as a Church will overcome and out last anything the world can throw at us. No matter how desperate things get, there is always hope. Our hope is in the eternal, and as such, our hope is eternal.