"Hope in the Midst of Darkness"
HOPE IN THE MIDST OF DARKNESS
First Presbyterian Church Carson City
The Rev. Dr. Dan Chun
alohadanchun@gmail.com
April 23, 2023
I know this is a special Sunday in which it’s the first Sunday since Pastor Bob’s celebration of life service.
I’ve known Bob for at least 14 years. He and I would talk often on the phone while I would be walking my dogs in the morning.
I wanted to be with you all this weekend, as I love his family and I love this church that chose him a couple of years ago to be your pastor.
In fact, to show our support for you all, three of our church members flew from Hawaii to be here for the last few days.
This has been a hard season for this church and for Bob’s family.
As I prayed to the Lord, of what I should preach on, I felt He gave me this passage. Let me read it for us.
The Gospel of Matthew chapter 11 beginning with verse 1.
Matt. 11:1 After Jesus had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
Matt. 11:2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent his disciples 3 to ask Him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Matt. 11:4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
5 The blind receive sight,
the lame walk,
the dead are raised,
and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.”
Matt. 11:7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes?
No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.
9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
10 This is the One about whom it is written:
“‘I will send My messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Matt. 11:11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Amen.
This is the word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
Imagine John the Baptist – who was he and what did he do?
He was a cousin of Jesus Christ.
He was a prophet who, in his words, would be the voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Make straight the way for the Lord.”
John lived out in the open air, the wilderness and many people would flock to hear him and be baptized by him.
He was kind of funky. He wore an outfit of camel hair and would eat wild locusts and honey. He was the first organic vegan.
One day he saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, “Look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’”
John humbly said that he would decrease that Jesus might increase.
Jesus asked John to do the most incredible sacrament of baptism. What a privilege for a human being to baptize the Lord Himself.
And John said he saw during the baptism the Holy Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him
And a voice rang out from heaven saying, ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Think of this: John had the privilege of experiencing the entire Trinity all at once – baptizing Jesus, seeing the Holy Spirit and hearing from God the Father.
He is the only person in the world who had such an incredible once in a lifetime experience.
John had the fire and the passion of being all in for Jesus. He had seen miracles. He had seen people flock to the words of the gospel and get baptized. He had seen and known intimately his cousin Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah.
But then things went horribly for John.
After these high spiritual events, John was arrested.
The king at that time was Herod Antipas. John condemned Herod’s marriage to his wife as illegal and immoral because she had previously been married to Herod’s brother Philip.
So, Herod arrested John and brought him to the palace-fortress of Machaerus located near the Dead Sea in modern Jordan where Herod sometimes lived.
Imagine, poor John.
He was used to the open air where he could feel the wind blowing through his hair and he could find and eat locusts and honey. He could roam anywhere in the broad beautiful sunlight. But now, he was imprisoned in a dark deep dungeon of a jail cell.
How John must have longed to be outside eating wild honey. Now he has prison food. Now his toilet is putrid. His water is probably awful.
And in that claustrophobic cell…something happened that had not happened to him before….
His faith waivers.
It’s a dark night of the soul.
He is so depressed and so full of despair that he confesses his state of mind and state of his soul to two of his disciples…and then he is sooo desperate he says to them,
“Please go to Jesus. Tell Him I’m no longer sure. Ask Him for me, are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Incredible. He is asking, are you really the Messiah? Everything that I preached on and told people about You….was I wrong?
Are you not the Christ….and should we expect someone else to save us….cause right now it just doesn’t feel like You’re the one.”
Friends, right now many of us might feel like we are in the fortress of Machaerus.
How could it be our senior pastor has died? How could it be my husband, my dad, my friend has died so suddenly? Jesus, it’s not supposed to work this way.
We are so forlorn, that it has shaken my confidence.
I am wobbling in my faith, and I fear the future.
The past three years of COVID has already been so hard and now this. We just hired Bob in 2019 to be our pastor and now this. We just got through the worst of a covid pandemic and now this. The Davis family had such high hopes for a new move….and now this.
We can feel like we are in a dark dungeon cell cut off from the dreams and hopes of an outside world.
Are you Jesus, He who is to come, or should we look for something else more reliable?
One of the hardest lessons to learn as a Christian is to dispel with some untruths.
There is always a part of our theology that says….if I work really hard in ministry
…if I try to be moral and faithful…if I pray and read the Bible, then everything will work out the way I want it to be….and I won’t have any pain because I am deeply in the will of God.
But it didn’t work out that way for Jesus, did it?
And it didn’t work out that way for 11 of the 12 disciples who were martyred.
And we can be like John the Baptist and think…how did I end up in the fortress of. Machaerus?
Why is there so much pain in my life? And here I was so faithful and even proclaimed Jesus is the Lamb of God.
So let me give some comfort, perspective and hope even though right now we are in the midst of pain…feeling we are in the trough of life.
Jesus offers us three things:
First: His Peace. I’m not talking a peaches and cream Hallmark card peace, but a deep peace that comes in the midst of pain and not apart from it. The kind of peace that Jesus promised.
Jesus said this in Luke 22:33
33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here ON EARTH you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Notice that Jesus said you MAY have peace. If you turn towards Him, you may have peace. If you try something else – drugs, alcohol, self-medicating, avoidance….you may not get peace. But with Jesus you have the best chance of peace.
The Lord is very realistic. He says here on earth…on earth….not in heaven… while you are here on this sinful imperfect earth you will have many trials and sorrows. That’s just the way it is on this planet….BUT
Take heart Jesus says because I have overcome the world.
Ultimately, He will make things good…He will make things better. Be faithful and patient. God may seem slow, but He is never late. He will bring peace.
The second thing Jesus says is an amazing thing. Jesus says HE, yes, HE, will be praying for us to the Heavenly Father.
I know this is mind-blowing – wait – the Son of God, Jesus, is going to pray for me to the Heavenly Father? Yes, Jesus says, HE will pray an intercession prayer for me.
Where do we get this idea?
Hear this from Luke 22:31-32, as Jesus talks to Simon, who is later called the Apostle Peter. Jesus says,
Luke 22:31 – Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Did you hear that? It starts off with second-person plural.
Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat. All of you. Or as we say in the south.– “you all.”
That is part of the pain on this planet Earth. The prince of this world is Satan. The father of lies; the deceiver.
And he will try to sift you and me like wheat.
When I was young, I remember seeing my mom use a sifter for flour. It was a metal can with a crank on the side that would then twist and turn these metal bars inside to push the flour through the metal grids on the bottom of the can.
Satan desires to sift us and throw us through sharp cutting edges of metal bars.
The bars can represent our fears and anxieties, our depression, our grief, our doubts.
Satan desires to cut up our souls.
But the amazing part of this passage is that Jesus says….you may be sifted like wheat, BUT….BUT I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail.
As you individually or as a church are growing through tremendous grief or sorrow or doubt like John the Baptist, know that Jesus, the King of Kings, the Almighty God is praying for you….to not lose faith. Keep trusting Christ.
For the through line is that as He prays for you and as you get stronger…. someday….someday you will be able to strengthen your brothers and sisters.
Someday you might be able to take your pain and empathize and help and heal others.
And then third, God offers you a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP to get you through.
One of my favorite verses of all time is this. Isaiah 41:10
10 do not fear, for I am with you,
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you; I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
I love this verse. God is telling us don’t fear for your future because He is with us every step of the way. Don’t be afraid….why? because it says ….for I am YOUR God.
He’s not a God, not just any God. He’s not someone else’s God. No, He said, I AM YOUR…GOD! Yours!
And if you know He is YOUR God, know that He will strengthen, help you, no matter how low you feel….and He will lift you up with His victorious right hand.
It is amazing how God can pull us through with His victorious right hand.
Now, you may be wondering….but since I might have some doubts or question God’s goodness like John the Baptist, will God get angry at me?
Well, I have two responses to that.
First, Jesus says to John’s disciples to go back to the fortress and Machaerus and tell John what you have seen and heard…that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
I would say in this season of maybe doubt or darkness…try to think and list all of the miracles or blessings of God in your life.
List them all…maybe beginning with being born and living in this country…and having water and food…but then think, were there times when God, against all odds, answered your prayers? And list them all – maybe beginning with the birth of children or a good job.
You might discover there were many miracles along the way.
As for the question, is God angry at me right now for doubting Him or questioning His presence of why bad things happen to good people? Will He get mad?
Notice in the Matthew 11 passage that Jesus does not get mad at John for questioning Him. Not even a little. Instead, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.” What praise!
What? Instead of criticism…John gets high praise from Jesus?
It means we can have doubts, but Jesus doesn’t get mad, He understands…and He still thinks highly of us.
But then we might think…oh great, that only applies to John the Baptist because he was a prophet. He was a cousin of Jesus. He gets special privilege.
No, that is not what the passage says.
Let me finish the verse in Matthew 11:11 – Truly I tell you, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; YET, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
What? Those least…the lowest in heaven is even greater than John the Baptist?
So you see, God has great plans even for those who doubt or are depressed at times….even us who may be the least in heaven. He will raise us up with His victorious right hand. Really?
Let me close with this story.
Bob and I went to the same seminary – Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, California. Though not in the same graduation class as he is a lot younger than I. I’m so old the school appointed me to be on the board of trustees.
When I went to Fuller to study, it was not a great time for me. It actually was a horrible three years of feeling down, insecure and depressed. Two weeks prior to my first day of classes, my wife said to me, after three years of marriage…you know, I don’t love you…in fact, I never did. She then left me.
Here I was just prayed for in front of my home church and commissioned by our people; I’m committing my life to the life of ministry, and we fly to Pasadena and then my whole world collapses. I didn’t know anyone in Pasadena. Utter loneliness.
Hence, my years at Fuller were my wilderness years. Sadness, depression, lack of confidence, doubts.
People questioned if I should become a pastor because I was divorced. One person said you know parents may not trust you with their children in church because you are divorced. What?
I remember saying to God, if you are really there, and the Bible is true…then it has to be true for someone like me in my situation.
Well, by God’s grace, He pulled me up and I did marry again - my wife Pam.
A few years ago, as a trustee at Fuller Seminary, the school had this great idea. They would pair each trustee with five students, and we would get a chance to eat a dinner together in a student’s apartment. They could tell me about student life and ask questions about the future of the school. I could learn about their challenges and joy.
Well, Pam and I arrived at the dinner and our hostess was embarrassed to say….that none of the four students showed up. They blew me off. Great - rejection again.
But she said, “so I invited the neighbors, I went to the highways and by-ways and invited four others to join us for dinner.” Great! Well, at the end of dinner I asked the students where they lived. And one student said, 250 North Oakland.
I said, “that is where I used to live. What apartment?”
She replied – “Apartment 8.”
I said, “that was my apartment decades ago.”
She asked, “would you like to see it?”
I said…”aw no, I don’t think so.”
And my wife said, “Yes, let’s see it.”
So off we went.
When I walked in, I was surprised I was hit with this huge, gigantic wave of sadness. t was as if the three years of pain came rushing back to me in a tsunami. I flashed back to the day I got the final divorce papers. I remembered where I was standing when I received it and turned to my friends Dominic and Cindy to tell them what this envelope meant.
I remember how the day after I got that letter, I had a New Testament Survey and I flunked it and got an F and it was 50% of my grade. I was transported back in time. ven the Formica kitchen counters, and the bathroom counters looked the same as they were 40+ years earlier.
And then just like a tsunami where the water rushes in and then rushes out, I then felt a new wave of grace.
I stood there thinking….
Hey, I am now standing next to my wife Pam, and we have three wonderful children.
I am standing next to my wife, and we have been married 38 years.
And Pam and I started a ministry called Hawaiian Islands Ministries, and the guy who wasn’t supposed to be a pastor has now trained more than 80-thousand church leaders.
And the guy who wasn’t supposed to become a pastor did become a pastor.
And our church is growing.
And we bought a 246-acre golf club for our new campus because of the growth
And the guy who got an F on his final exam in seminary….hey I am now on the board of trustees!
Pure grace.
I was sifted like wheat, but Jesus prayed for me, and I turned around and now strengthen other brothers and sisters.
I know first-hand that Jesus performs miracles.
I have seen the blind in life receive sight,
the lame walk,
the dead raised from comas,
and the good news proclaimed to the poor.
I know first-hand that I need not have fear or be afraid for God, that my God has helped me and strengthen me and lifted me up with His victorious right hand.
I know, right now feels like the darkest deep pit.
But I am here to say, even if you have questions or doubts about your future…God is here. And as we sing Great is THY Faithfulness…and not Great is MY faithfulness. For I say to you today: Do not fear. Do not be afraid. For He is your God.
Amen? Amen.
Let’s pray….
….For we know that You God, our Lord will eternally lead us…always.
Let us now rise and sing our response.