Weekend Sermon

     Welcome once again to another edition of the Weekend Sermon.  It is good to be with you once again this week.  I hope that everyone is doing well.
     Last week, I asked those of you who read this blog to pray about my employment situation.  There has been one positive step.  However, it is small step.  In order to remain in my current job, I had to take a test and pass it.  This last Wednesday, my friend Douglas did me a great favor and drove me over two hours to the testing center.  I passed the test.  Thank God.  I don't know how much good it is going to do.  Please, keep praying that the Lord will work in this situation.  All of the financial struggles are making me very depressed.
      Let us all keep praying about the Ebola situation.  The virus continues to spread.  Let us pray for an end of this vicious disease.  Let us all continue to pray for peace in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine.
     In the message last week, I wrote about the love of Jesus.  I hope that the message has stayed with you this week, and that you continue to remind yourself that no matter what may transpire in this life, Jesus loves you.  He has prepared a place for you, and one day, we will be with Him for all of eternity.
     In today's message, I want to focus on a theme that I've dealt with sporadically in the past here on the blog.  In past messages, I've written about the fact that just because a person is a Christian, he is not immune from the problems of this world.  I've written about the fact that I believe that Jesus offers us an ultimate hope.
     With this in mind, I've been thinking about some individuals in the Scripture who had a rough time in life.  They were tremendous men of God, but they suffered from disease, depression and poverty throughout their lives on this earth.
     One individual I've been thinking quite a lot about recently is the prophet Jeremiah.  Jeremiah was called by the Lord at a young age.  He was told that he could not marry nor was he to have any children.  Jeremiah's task was to warn the people that judgment was coming in the form of an invasion by the forces of Babylon.
     Jeremiah was often depressed by his task.  In Jeremiah 20:14 Jeremiah states, "Cursed be the day I was born!  May the day my mother bore me not be blessed!  In verse 17, Jeremiah states that he wishes that his mother's womb would have been his grave.  Jeremiah was definitely depressed.
     In spite of facing persecution and obvious depression, Jeremiah remained faithful to his task, and he proclaimed the message given to him by God.
     Job is probably the great Hebrew Bible example of a man who faced enourmous burdens in life for no apparent reason.  Job lost all of his children, all of his wealth and his health totally collapsed.  On top of all that, his wife was of no support whatsoever, and his friends seem to me to have been more trouble than they were worth. 
    In spite of all of these burdens, Job did not curse God and die as his wife suggested.  Instead, Job remained faithful to the Lord.
    In the New Testament, Lazarus is someone who I have thought a lot about lately.  I am speaking here about the Lazarus in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and not the Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead.
    Lazarus laid at the rich man's gate.  He was homeless and had nothing to eat.  Lazarus was covered with sores, and the dogs would come and lick his sores.  This wasn't something comforting.  In the society in which Lazarus lived, dogs were not looked upon as pets as we think of them today.  They were considered unclean and horrible creatures.  To be licked by a dog meant that you had fallen to the lowest level you can go to in life.
    As far as many of the religious people in Jesus day would have been concerned, Lazarus must have been a great sinner to be in such circumstances.  Nothing could have been farther from the truth.  In spite of his misfortunes in life, Lazarus was taken to Heaven when he died.  All of the troubles of his life were a distant memory.
     The Lord Jesus is the greatest example of a man who lived a holy life yet was persecuted and had nothing.  Jesus was without sin.  He only went about doing good and teaching the path of love and righteousness.  In spite of this, He was despised and rejected by men who cried out, "crucify Him.  We will not have this man to rule over us."  
     Jesus died on a cross.  This was considered a curse in Jesus' day.  Only the wicked were crucified.  However, God the Father demonstrated that He was well-pleased with everything that His Son did on this earth when God raised Jesus from the dead on Easter morning. 
     These four individuals are important to me right now each for different reasons.  Jeremiah demonstrates to me that even though I might be suffering from depression, that doesn't mean that I am forsaken by God.  Jeremiah was a tremendous servant of the Lord in spite of his depression.  The Lord knew that what Jeremiah was going through was hard, and the Lord never condemned Jeremiah for expressing his anguish and depression.  Some Christians claim that a true believer will not be depressed.  Tell that to Jeremiah. 
     Job is an inspiration to me because he faced hell on earth and kept going.  I told you last week that I felt like I was at the lowest point in life on three different occassions.  Job faced it all.  He never gave up on the Lord.  Job was told by those around him that he must have some kind of sin in his life that caused all of his misfortune.  Job knew better.  At the end of the book of Job, God states clearly that those who condemned Job had spoken wrongly about him.
     Lazarus demonstrates to me that just because you may not have a lot of money, fame or power, you are still dearly beloved by God.  No one I know of in the Bible had it worse that Lazarus, but he loved the Lord.  And the Lord loved him.
     Finally, I look to the highest example of Jesus.  He suffered and was rejected, but He was without sin.
    This life will not always be easy.  These four examples demonstrate this.  A person can follow the Lord faithfully and still face hardship.  Being a believer does not provide immunity from despair, depression, sickness and hardship.  But, being a believer does provide an ultimate hope, and that is what the Christian faith is all about.
     Those who have put their faith and trust in the person of Jesus Christ have the assurance that this life is not all that there is.  Beyond this vale of suffering, there is an eternity with the Risen King of Creation. 
     Problems may beset us now, but it will not always be that way.  One day, when we are in the presence of Jesus, all will be well.  There will be no more poverty, sickness, depression, anxiety, war, famine or any other problem that the human mind can fathom.  All will be put right in the presence of Jesus.  That is the ultimate hope.  That is my ultimate hope.
     Like me, your life may not be what you want it to be now.  Look to Jesus.  One day, it will all be well. 
     So what do we do in the meantime.  We follow the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.  We recognize that when we have an ultimate hope in Jesus, even death is not something to worry about.  Those who are in Christ can rest assured that this life is but a vapor that is soon passing away.  Those who remain faithful to the Lord will rule and reign in righteousness with the King of Kings.  I hope that day comes soon.
     Next week, I will once again post a sermon.  I will try to do a book review midweek.  May God bless you all .  Amen.