Speaking for God in a Hopeless Time

That's Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. It's like you being outside in the park somewhere and you've lost heart and you've lost hope and you don't know, oh where's God in my life and where did He go? And they took Him away and I feel so hopeless.

And you turn around, there's a guy in coveralls with a straw hat and a rake. What are you weeping for? That's Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. Welcome to A Call to the Nation. In today's message, Carter will show us the method Jesus used to show how we can effectively speak to people in times of hopelessness.

Not using famous people or superstars, just ordinary people coming to someone in a hopeless situation. Let's join Carter now as he opens in John chapter 20 verse 13. Then they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, because they've taken away my Lord and I do not know where they've laid Him. Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking? She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, sir, if you've carried Him away, tell me where you've laid Him and I will take Him away. Jesus said to her, Mary.

She turned and said to Him, Rabboni, which is to say, teacher. There are so many times that there seems to be so much hopelessness in this world. Outside of these doors and the streets of this city and our society as it exists today and even inside this sanctuary to some that are listening, you're living in a place of shattered dreams. You once had great hopes in your heart. You once had a song that had endless numbers of joyful verses in it. And now you find there's a deep sorrow.

You can hardly sing your song anymore. And despair comes knocking at your door every day, trying to take away the little shred of hope that you still have for the future. And so many have given up. They had hopes for the future. They had dreams. They had aspirations. And all of these things now seem to be gone, irretrievably lost.

Of course, the enemy is always there at the door trying to confirm what really isn't true. There's endless efforts going out, even good efforts, producing so little fruit for the kingdom of God. Have you ever been discouraged that your life is having so little impact in your family and your workplace and your community?

Week after week, you hear messages from pulpits like this that talk about the power of God given in the book of Acts chapter two and how they went out and how they prayed. And you go out and you're all encouraged and it just seems to work for everybody else, but it doesn't work for you. Have you ever been there? It's not that you're not working to do something, but it just doesn't seem to bear fruit. And you say, God, am I missing something?

Have I laid hold of a wrong concept of where your power is? And how can I speak for you in such a hopeless time? There's so many people angry, so many people confused, so many searching for a new society and they don't even know what it is they're looking for.

How can we make a difference? Is there a way to speak for God that will make people turn towards truth in such a darkened time as ours? And did Jesus leave us examples of what our speech and life should look like?

I think it's there. Sometimes we just don't see it because it's too simple. We read over, this is a living book, this Bible, we read over passages as if they're just historical facts and we forget that this book speaks to us life every day, every generation, every season. And there are incredible gems of truth in the word of God that sometimes we just miss. And I've been looking and rereading some of these passages, especially that portion of the life of Jesus after he was raised from the dead.

You have to understand, I'm talking post-cross resurrected Christ, a season, a short season where he walked among people before he ascended into heaven. The whole time he was there, he was encouraging people. He was bringing them back to life.

He was giving them clear direction and focus again. I believe he just left us a picture of what we should look like. So in our opening text, think of the context of John chapter 20, verses 13 to 16.

It's a culture which was Rome that considered itself superior to the word of God had arisen. Do we not live in a day like that? I find it incredible when I look at it, you realize this is the risen Christ. He could have appeared any way he wanted to. He could have been hovering 15 feet above the earth in a chariot of fire. He could have had angels with trumpets all around him. He could have been glowing like he was on the Mount of Transfiguration. He could have presented himself with irrefutable evidence that he was the risen son of God. He could have done whatever he wanted to do. He was raised from the dead. All power, all authority was his. But how did he choose to come to this woman in this hopeless situation?

The scripture says she turned around and she assumed he was the gardener. He just appeared as an ordinary person. And when you and I think of what he could have done, that is awesome. I believe he was showing us a pattern of what his church was going to be like. Just ordinary people.

Like you, like me. Coming to somebody in a hopeless situation. He was going to have a body on the earth. That's the whole lesson he was trying to teach because realistically when you study it, he never appeared in recognizable form. Do you know that?

Do you understand that? Every time he appeared, whether it's in the room where they were gathered, whether it's on the road to Emmaus or at the seashore in John 21, every time he appeared, he appeared in a different form. He wasn't recognizable as the physical Jesus they had known.

Yet he still was Jesus. But he was trying to show us I'm going to have a body on this earth. A body of just ordinary non-distinguishable people that I'm going to live inside of.

And I'm going to speak through that body. They're not going to be superstars. They're not going to have an entourage. They're not going to have a chariot and a big band and trumpets announcing them. They're just going to be ordinary people that are walking in the power of God.

Walking in a power that those who are given to their own lust for power will never see it. They'll never understand it. They can't even see it in the scripture.

They'll miss it. He appears as a gardener. Don't you love that? There isn't Christ. It's like you being outside in the park somewhere and you've lost heart and you've lost hope and you don't know oh where's God in my life and where did he go and they took him away and I feel so hopeless and you turn around.

There's a guy in coveralls with a straw hat and a rake. What are you weeping for? That's how it would have appeared to her. She thought he was the gardener.

There had to be something about his appearance that would indicate that. He says why are you weeping? She said if you've taken him away tell me where you put him and I will take him and then Jesus said to her. He only said one word Mary but he said it with such compassion. He said her name with such assurance. He said her name with such confidence. He said her name with such an ability to sustain her.

He said her name is only God can say it. You know it's so important in this generation when everybody is running around terrified. Oh what will I do here and what will I do there and where is God and all of this and how will I get through tomorrow. It's so important to just have that calm assurance that God is in control of absolutely everything. You know I remember years ago I was pastoring in Canada and we bought a church and we were renovating and it was a lot of work. In the beginning a lot of people came out and just cast themselves on this work and then over time it got to be less and less and less and less and every day there's one or two less and then finally it got to the midweek day when it was only me and I'm in this church and I'm looking at the dome and I'm looking at the walls I'm looking at the floors I'm looking at all the work that has to be done and suddenly the hopelessness of it all just began to overwhelm me. I can't do this by myself and it was probably the first time since I'd left full-time employment and gone into the ministry that despair tried to get a hold of my heart and I remember I'm sure that there were prophetic voices out there.

I'm sure that there were tapes I could have listened to but I don't remember any of them but what I do remember is what brought me out of despair. I remember looking up and there was it was towards the evening and there was arched doors in this church and I saw the silhouette because the sun was going down two little old ladies who didn't attend the church they had to be close to their 80s if they weren't in their 80s and they were very frail they had to hold each other and they came tottering in the church door and they walked over towards me and they said in really soft voice one lady said pastor the neighborhood hasn't been the same since you've come want you to know you're doing a good job and don't give up and don't lose heart and it was in the strength of those words that the despair that was knocking at my heart was taken away. You see Jesus had come in the form of two little old ladies that came through the door. The point is that you and I are not called to be superstars. We're not called to have all the answers.

We have an answer within us. We're called to be just ordinary people with faith and compassion. There's been more done in my life through words of assurance and tender hands than every prophet that's ever lived in the kingdom of God.

I'll tell you right now there's been more done through people who just walked up and said it's going to be okay. You don't even have to quote scripture folks. It's going to be okay. God is with you. God's going to keep you.

God is going to help you. In Luke chapter 24 there were some men on the road to a place called Emmaus. Now when you look at the context of this story they were walking away from Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem is the place of promise. It's the place of God's intended coming kingdom on earth as it is. It's the place where his power was going to come. Everybody knew the significance of Jerusalem but these two men are walking away from Jerusalem and they're walking away because they'd lost heart. They'd lost hope. The one they had put their hope in had been crucified and taken away and suddenly this stranger comes walking along beside them in Luke chapter 24 and they didn't recognize him again.

They didn't know who he was. I love this about Jesus. He walks with me the song says and he talks with me. He doesn't abandon me when I'm confused.

He doesn't walk away. You see there has to be a willingness to walk with those who are walking away from a former place of hope and not shout at them but walk with them. We have a tendency to shout at people who are walking away from a former faith in God. We quote scripture at them as they're running out the door but we don't walk with them. The difference is Jesus walked with them and when he walked with them he let them speak and he said why are you so sad and they said are you just a stranger here?

He could have been so offended at that remark couldn't he? But he didn't he didn't even respond to it and he said concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was past tense of prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people and how the chief priests our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Talking to the one who had just been beaten to death, nailed and crucified for them and they had already so quickly lost confidence in him and besides this today is the third day since these things have happened and he had told them plainly I'm going to be raised from the dead on the third day. They didn't believe it and even though they said some had told us that he's risen we don't we just don't we haven't seen it we don't believe it.

Then the scripture says and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded to them in the scriptures the things concerning himself. You see we have to open the scriptures and help people to understand that suffering and sorrow and confusion and darkness does not mean that we've lost the battle. We have to be able to explain to them which he did he opened the scriptures and showed them through all the Old Testament up to of course they didn't have the New Testament at that point but he showed them that it was the plan of God to send his son and have his son die on the cross and have his son take the sins of the world upon himself to be placed in a grave and to be raised again from the dead on the third day so that forgiveness and life and victory could be brought back to those who would put their confidence in him and he had to explain that sometimes darkness has to come before the dawn sometimes suffering has to come.

You see we've allowed a gospel to be preached in our nation that tells people that oh if you come to Jesus it's just going to be sunshine all the way it's going to be health and happiness and it's just going to be bigger and better and broader all the way but how do you explain when things start going the other way how do you explain when when people start walking away saying we had hoped this was the one now we can either shout at them or we can walk with them. Thank God that Jesus Christ is the one who doesn't leave us he doesn't forsake us in our struggles and trials and our moments of questioning and confusion. Remember it was King David himself who was appointed to be king of Israel who at one point in his journey said my God my God why have you forsaken me why are you so far from the words of my roaring in other words I'm calling out to you and you're not answering me. It was a dark night of the soul for King David but yet God's purposes were still faithful to him he was still going to be king because God had decreed it to be so.

My brother my sister no matter what you find yourself in today no matter how confused you are or dark your day may be or how lost your hopes may seem what God promised you is what your life is going to be it's not going to be taken from you. We have to get to a place where we can open the scriptures but not to condemn those that are confused and folks listen to me there are going to be a lot of confused people in the days ahead. There are going to be a lot of people who were in church and we thought this was the Christ we thought this is what he was going to do we thought victory was going to come this way we didn't anticipate that he was going to be crucified the sun was going to be darkened the earth was going to shake the Pharisees were going to rejoice the Roman soldiers were going to be cruel we didn't anticipate this we thought it was going to be a kingdom that was going to come now and we're all going to sit on the right and the left we're all going to rule and reign with him immediately. We failed to understand we failed to see that there was going to have to come a dark day between the day of his promise and the day when that promise is fulfilled. It's a place where our willingness to stay with them mirrors that of Jesus who said he would never leave or forsake his own. Yes there's going to be people come into this church and come into your circle of influence that are going to be confused they attended places and they thought this is who God was and they only to find out the God they thought had forsaken them. No God didn't forsake them was only their concept of God that forsook them but the real Christ has a body on the earth the real Christ has people that look like gardeners and travelers oh hallelujah I don't know about you but I just love it I just love it and how gentle he was with these men when they invited him in he stayed if the doors closed the doors closed I understand that but here's a case where I'm sure and know he had things to do just like you and I do but they they said please stay with us for a night if you will and he stayed even though they were still confused the scripture doesn't say at this point well we know at this point they really didn't see him they really didn't believe yet the hearts really weren't alive their eyes weren't open but they wanted to know more and so you have to be patient people who have embraced a certain view of God they don't change that view overnight but hardship is going to bring them to where you are do you understand what I'm saying hardship is going to bring them to where you are they're going to come they're going to come with their theologies they're going to come with their past views of who God is and you're going to have to be gentle you're going to be patient you're going to have to walk with them you're going to have to be committed to them and he sat down at the table with them and he celebrated with them the purpose and provision of God it's a place where they broke bread and began to understand that God will not abandon you in times of confusion he will not walk away from you when you have questions that you don't have answers for he's not a fair-weather friend that takes off when hard times come Jesus walks with us he talks with us he doesn't leave us well thank God with all my heart I give God praise for the simplicity of who Christ is and then lastly in John chapter 21 his own disciples headed out to fish and I look at it as a type of evangelism we as a church age have tried everything that we know to do to win the lost haven't we we built bowling alleys swimming pools surveys Pentecostal churches are even having dances and wine tasting parties now trying to get people to come in to the house of God we've let them put their feet on the alder rail served lousy coffee brought in musicians that aren't even saved in some cases anything to try to get people in the house of God it hasn't worked has it and if it has it just produced a bunch of people that if you don't entertain them they don't stay they go across the road to the next show and here are the disciples and they're out and they've they fished all night and they've caught nothing and the scripture says in John 21 for when morning had come Jesus stood on the shore yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus now it's important to understand this they still didn't know him physically because in verse 12 it says when he said come and eat none of the disciples dare to ask him who are you they inwardly knew it was the Lord but on the exterior still he didn't appear in a form that they were familiar with but he appeared to them as a servant I love this somebody with compassion came to marry somebody willing to walk and be patient came to the men on the road to the Emmaus we know it was Jesus and then somebody appears as a servant he's the risen Christ he could have walked on the water out to the boat it's what you have to understand and I have to understand but he gave us a pattern of what the church looks like here's people toiling all night he could have done what Elijah did with the prophets of Baal and mocked them maybe the fish are sleeping put the net down deeper but he didn't do any of that he didn't mark their efforts he didn't criticize them he didn't ridicule them he just simply made biscuits and fish on a fire and he asked them a question he said have you caught anything to eat are you satisfied how are your labors what are they producing and you know these men were becoming men of truth because I don't know a single fisherman that tells the truth when you ask him if they've caught anything have you caught anything and they said no and they yelled it from the boat and he said to them cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some now Jesus never did anything just for the sake of doing it there was always a divine purpose to everything he said and he was trying to help them get back to where the victory is Romans 8 34 says it is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen who even is at the right hand of God cast it on the right hand of God cast the net on the place of where God's power is preach the cross of Jesus Christ preach the victory of that cross preach resurrected life in Jesus Christ preach about turning away from the old and turning towards the new get back to the right side of the boat get back to where the power of God is Jesus rose from the dead on the third day he ascended later into heaven and he sits at the right hand of God in all power and all victory and all authority the victory the battle the life we long for everything is in Jesus Christ it's not in methodology everything we look for it's not in singing the right songs is not in having the fanciest building the power of God is found in the victory of Jesus Christ the power of God is found in what he did for us not what we can do for him the power of God is found in his promises to us not our promises to him but his promises to us hallelujah to the Lamb of God we need to preach again the power of God the cross of Jesus Christ when people are hopeless all around you tell them who Jesus is tell them what Jesus did tell them about the victory over sin hell and death tell them about the kingdom of God tell them about the power of God's Holy Spirit tell them about the newness of life that God promises to those who will trust in him tell them about Jesus tell them about Jesus tell them about Jesus you see that's what the church looks like ordinary people ordinary people that have a word of compassion ordinary people who have confidence in God who believe in spite of our storms and our dark nights and we all have them our frustrations our unanswered questions ordinary people who just have come to the place of saying I don't know all the answers but I know who holds the answers and I trust him I trust him with all my heart I trust him with my life I trust him with my future I trust him with my family I trust him live or die I trust the Son of God I've chosen my heart to trust him and when I meet somebody who's in tears because they've lost sight of where God is may God give me the ability as an ordinary person just walking throughout my ordinary day to just speak to them in a way that will bring confidence back in their hearts again and here's what the Lord put on my heart it's for people who can say I'm discouraged myself but I do want to speak for God Lord would you comfort me would you help me so that I too might become a comfort and help to other people would you comfort me today Lord would you speak to my frail heart would you give me the courage to walk with people who need somebody to walk with them especially in the hopeless days in which we live you've been listening to Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City for more information and resources to help you in your walk in Christ log on to tsc.nyc that's tsc.nyc and be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.