You know, not too long ago I was sitting in a doctor's office, and as I was waiting, you know, to go back for my appointment, I was scanning through some of the magazines there, not really paying all that much attention to them, when suddenly I was going through one magazine and this intriguing article caught my eye and my attention. The title of the article is Lonely Sundays, and it's written by a young lady. I want to quote some of the article to you. Listen, and I quote. Sunday morning.
Sunlight streams through the window. A bird trills and time stretches before me. An unstructured Obligation-free day. For many people, this is a joy. the light of leisure at the end of the workday tunnel.
For me, this is a terrifying thing. I wake on such days full of disquiet and longing. I lie in bed and stare at the ceiling, and I think. I I'm lonely.
Now, there are many brands of loneliness, this young lady says, but the kind of loneliness I know best is the Sunday morning variety. a feeling that seems to bubble up from deep inside, often without warning or good cause. When it hits, it feels big and permanent and insurmountable. This is more than just a sad feeling, she says. It's a scary feeling.
The fear is that if a bout of loneliness persists for too long, it will fester and grow, mutating into a paralyzing despair. For this reason, I've spent most of my adult life trying to outrun the feeling. busying myself. Filling up my schedule. Holding on to bad relationships.
I've tried drinking the loneliness away, exercising and shopping it away, scouring it away in fits of house cleaning, but no amount of obsessing or drinking or shopping or vacuuming seems to eradicate the feeling: the loneliness always returns. End of quote. Loneliness. The feeling Like we're facing our troubles all by ourselves. Friend, it's one of the most.
discouraging It's one of the most awful feelings that any human being can ever have. And this is what we want to talk about. Today. Remember, we're in a series entitled People Jesus Met. And today, as Jesus continues a conversation that he started and we looked at it last week with his 11 disciples, that is 12 minus Judas who betrayed him, As he continues that conversation this week, he addresses this issue of loneliness.
We want to go back 2,000 years and see what Jesus said to those disciples. And then we want to wind all of that forward and talk about: well, what difference does that make for you and me here in the 21st century?
So, Matthew chapter 28 is our passage. And remember, last week, In his conversation with the 11 disciples, we saw that the Lord Jesus gave them the great commission, not just for the church, but for every member of the church. Here's what he said: Matthew 28, verse 18: All authority, Jesus said, in heaven and on earth, has been given to me. Therefore, Go and make disciples of all nations. And as we said last week, this doesn't mean political nations, it means ethnic people groups.
Go and make disciples of all people groups, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And last week we talked about the impact that God wants the Great Commission to have not only on us as a church family, but also on every single one of us as an individual follower of Christ.
Now, if you missed our message last week, I encourage you to go over to the bookstore and pick up a CD from last week, or to go online and download the message or get the podcast. But there was one more thing that Jesus said in this conversation that we didn't cover last week. We left it out on purpose, but I want to come back this week and I want us to make sure we do cover it.
So let's pick up again. Here we go. Go. Matthew 28, verse 19. We already read it.
Therefore, Jesus said, Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. But there's more, there's more. And behold, Jesus says, this word literally means remember, always be certain that. Never forget, and never forget, Jesus says, that I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Now, this was not just a promise that Jesus made the 11 disciples. Oh, no. This is a promise that he makes to every single follower of Jesus Christ in every age, in every nation, in every situation, and in every crisis. Jesus said, John 14:18, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you, which is why the Bible says, Hebrews 13, verse 5, for he himself, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, has said, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.
Friends, this is the promise of the risen Christ, and therefore, this is the birthright of every true believer in Jesus Christ, namely, the continuous Never ending. Permanent Timeless. Ageless, relentless, unfailing, unflagging, unbroken, unceasing, uninterruptible presence of the risen living Christ with us wherever we go. And whenever we go there, and however we get there, and whatever we do there, Jesus says, I will be with you. And you know, I was so sad when I read this article.
Because I thought to myself, gosh, You know, if I could just talk to this young lady. You know, or some other believer in Jesus could just talk to this young lady, we can fix her problem. We can help her with this. We can make not only Sunday not lonely for her, but we can make Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday not lonely for her. Because if she meets the Lord Jesus, she has Him with her all the time.
Friends, for a believer in Jesus Christ, the loneliness that this woman was feeling is simply mutually exclusive with being a believer in Jesus Christ. And how sad it is that, at least up to the point she wrote that article, that no one has ever told her that.
Well That's as far as we're going to go in our passage for today. Because now we want to stop and we want to ask our most important question. And I know it's coming a little early today, so I caught you by surprise, didn't I? Yeah.
Okay, well, make the adjustment. Come on now. Here we go. Make the adjustment. And all of you out there on the internet campus and all of you here, when I say three, are you ready?
All right, here we go. Come on now. One, two, three. You say, yeah, Alonso what? He said, Lon, you know what I really want to know?
What I really want to know is what magazine you were reading. That you got that out of.
Well, I'm not going to tell you.
Sorry, because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What really matters is what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter 28. And you know, I was conducting a funeral service several weeks ago, and at the service, the 23rd Psalm was read. And I think we all know verse 4 of the 23rd Psalm: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
And I think we all realize that the valley of the shadow of death here in Psalm 23 means more than just facing death. It means walking through any scary situation. Ah, but David tells us about God's solution to our fear when we're in a scary situation. The verse goes on: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why?
We all know it. Say it with me, for thou art with me. Right. You know what I love about this Psalm? I love the fact that in order to relieve David's fears, in order to assuage his anxiety, God did not say to him, Well, David, to fix that, I'll never take you.
Into the valley of the shadow of death. No, no, God didn't say that. What God said is, I may take you into the valley of the shadow of death, but here's how I'll relieve your fears, David. It's with my assurance that I'm going in there right with you, and I'm gonna walk through it right with you, and we're gonna come out the other side, you and me, together. See, my friends, as followers of Christ in the 21st century, this is still true for us today.
When it comes to facing the toughest difficulties and trials in our life, it's the presence of the living Christ right alongside with us in the valley that changes everything. And you know what I really love about this promise that Jesus makes? The thing I really love about it is that Jesus is actually able to back it up. I mean, listen, if Buddha had said to me, Lon, don't worry about anything, I will be with you in the valley.
Well, what good is that? Buddha's dead. If Muhammad had said to me, Lon, don't worry about anything, I will be with you in the valley.
Well, that's no good either. He's dead. And if Confucius had said that to me, or L. Ron Hubbard had said that to me, or Mary Baker Eddy had said that to me, or Joseph Smith had said that to me, it's no good, no good, no good. They're all dead.
If the greatest Jewish rabbi of all time had said to me, Don't worry about it, I'll be with you in the valley, not worth a thing. They're all dead. But, friends, the Lord Jesus Christ is not dead. The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And he's alive forevermore.
And when he says, Hey, when you go in the valley, I'm going right in there with you. When you go into the darkest situations of life, when you go into the deepest black holes in life, when I lead you into the worst valleys of the shadow of death in life, here's my promise to you: I'm going right in with you. You and me, we're going in together. Wow. How great is that?
You know, when you look in the Bible, when we do, and we look at some of the great Bible characters and how God led them into tough times, into their own valleys of the shadow of death. And they needed at times in their life reassurance, and they needed at times in their life courage and confidence and hope. I want us to take a little tour of the Bible, and I want to show you what God said to them in every single case. I want you to see what God offered them to deal with their fears and deal with their anxiety, to give them hope in every case. Ready?
So, you ready for a little tour of the Bible?
Okay, good, because we're doing it anyway.
So, are you ready? Here we go. All right, let's start with Moses, all right? Moses is walking on the backside of the desert. He sees this burning bush.
He goes over to the burning bush, and God says, Now, here's what I want you to do, Moses. I'm sending you back to Pharaoh, and I want you to tell him, Let my people go.
Well, we need to understand that the Pharaoh that he was going back to meet was not just some local little potentate. No, no, this was Amenhotep II. This was the most powerful ruler on the face of the earth in the days of Moses that God was sending him to. And Moses was scared. Moses was afraid.
And to deal with that fear, what did God say to him from the burning bush, Exodus 3:12? He said, Certainly, I will be with you. And then, when Joshua hesitated, when God offered him the armies of Israel to take over after Moses died, and offered him the opportunity to lead them into the promised land, and Joshua was unsure of himself, and Joshua was not positive he could do this. What did God say to reassure him? God said, Joshua 1:5, As I was with Moses, Joshua, so I will be with you.
Fear not, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And when Isaac was feeling insecure and alone in the promised land after his dad Abraham had died, God appeared to him and said, Genesis 26, verse 24, Fear not, Isaac, for I am with you. Abraham may be gone, but I'm not gone, Isaac. I'm still here. And Jacob.
What a conniver that guy was, huh? Stole his brother's birthright, stole his brother's blessing. Esau got so mad at him, he threatened to kill him, and Joseph had to run for his life. He was gone for 20 years. because he was scared of Esau.
And then God all of a sudden appeared to him and said, I want you to go back home. And Jacob said, You're not serious, God. Esau is still there. What did God say to him? Genesis chapter 31, verse 3, he said, Jacob, return.
Don't worry about Esau, and I will be with you. And later in his life, when Jacob was told by God to leave the promised land and go down to Egypt and live with Joseph, and he expressed concern about that, God said to him, Genesis 46:3, Fear not to go down to Egypt, Jacob, for I will go down with you. I love the story of Gideon. Gideon was told by God to attack this enormous force, and he called all the men of Israel together, and he had thirty-some thousand men to start, and God said, that's too many.
So he cut it down a little bit, and he cut it down a little bit, and he cut it down a little bit, and God kept saying, That's too many, that's too many, that's too many. Finally, he got down to 300 soldiers. That's it. God said, that's perfect. Perfect size.
So he said, Now, I want you to take your 300 soldiers and go attack that huge army. And Gideon said, Ha! You're kidding, right, Lord? 300 soldiers going to attack this huge army? You're kidding, right?
What did God say to him? God said to him, Judges 6:16, Fear not, for surely I will be with you. Gideon, it's not you plus 300 soldiers, it's you plus me plus 300 soldiers. We got the thing covered. And then there was King Jehoshaphat, whom God told to leave the safety of Jerusalem when they were being besieged by an army three times the size of Jehoshaphat's army, and to go outside the safety of the city walls and attack them.
And when Jehoshaphat expressed concern, God said, 2 Chronicles 20, verse 17, Fear not, do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out and face them, for the Lord will be with you. Only a couple more. Jeremiah. The great prophet.
God said, Now I've got this message for you to preach, Jeremiah. The problem is, everybody's going to hate you for preaching it. The problem is, everybody's going to hate the message, and they're going to hate you. And so Jeremiah said, Well, then I'm not so sure that I'm up for this, Lord. And here's what God said to him: He said, Jeremiah 1, verse 8, fear them not.
For I am with you to deliver you. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail. For I am with you to deliver you. And finally, the Apostle Paul, who, when he was in the city of Corinth, Acts chapter 18, he made a lot of enemies preaching the gospel. And they were trying to kill him in that town.
And God appeared to him and said, Acts 18:9, Fear not, Paul. Keep on preaching and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one is going to harm you. Friends, the point of all of this is that down through the ages, whenever God took a person into the valley of the shadow of death and they were nervous and they were anxious and they were afraid, God said the exact same thing to every one of them. God offered every one of them the identical solution. For their fear and their anxiety.
He simply said to them, Hey, No matter what happens in that valley, and no matter what dangers are down there in that valley, I am bigger than any valley. I am bigger than any danger.
So fear not, because I'll be with you in that valley. You got nothing to worry about, my friend. And folks, God backed it up. In every case, by doing precisely for these people what he said he would.
Now, I believe as followers of Christ today, all this should have a mammoth impact on our life. The fact that in the good times and in the tough times, the fact that in our successes and in our failures, the fact that when things are going easy for us and when things are going tough for us, the fact that never ever does Jesus forsake us, never ever does he leave us as orphans, never ever are we exposed, are we alone, are we unprotected, are we vulnerable or are we unguarded? Never, because Jesus is with us always, even to the end of the age. When we let this sink in, When we let it permeate our heart and our mind and our soul, look what happens. Hebrews 13:5.
We read part of it earlier. For he himself has said, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.
Now, look, therefore, Therefore, what? Therefore, since the Lord said you're never going to be alone, I'm going to be with you always. Therefore, watch. We can say with confidence, I love this, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid.
What? Can man do to me? Do you hear the confidence here, my friends? Do you hear the certainty here? Do you hear the courage here and the boldness here?
And the fearlessness here and the stability of life here and the inner peace here? But it all comes from knowing That the Lord Jesus is with us every moment of every day. He said, Well, Lon, I understand what you're saying. But you know, sometimes it just doesn't feel like the Lord's really with me. And things sometimes work out in such a way that it certainly doesn't look like the Lord's really with me.
So my question is, how can I be sure that God really is with me when my feelings don't seem to confirm it?
Well, Let me answer that by telling you about teaching my three boys to ride a two-wheeler. You know, when you take the training wheels off the bicycle, right? Everybody knows that, right? And so I would say to all three of the boys at different times when I taught them, I said, all right, now here's what we're going to do. You know, we're going to get you started.
And you're going to pedal, and daddy's going to run right behind you as you ride up the street. And if you start getting a little wobbly, and if you start looking like you're liable to come over, I'm going to catch you, and I'm going to make sure you don't hurt yourself.
Now, this was in the day where Daddy could run up the street. Behind him like that. Which I'm glad I'm not teaching any new people to ride a bicycle because daddy can't do that anymore, but I could do it then.
So I would do this. And you know, the son that I had the hardest time teaching to ride a two-wheeler was my oldest son, Jamie. And you know why I had such a terrible time? It's because I'd get him started, and immediately, as soon as he got started, he'd turn around to look and see if I was still there.
Well, the minute he turned around, he'd jerk the wheel to the side and the bike would go over. And I kept saying to him, Jamie, you cannot learn to ride a bicycle looking backwards. You gotta look forward. And he said, But daddy, if I'm looking forward, how do I know for sure you're really behind me? Good question.
I said, Jamie, Did I tell you I was going to be behind you? Did I promise you I was going to be behind you? Jamie, I would never lie to you if I told you I'm going to be behind you. You don't need to see me to know I'm there. You just need to trust me.
That if I tell you I'm there, I'm there. And you can look forward with confidence and ride, because I'm right there like I told you, whether you can see me or not.
Now friends, do you understand what God's telling us? God's saying it's just like that as we ride our bicycle through life. God says, I'm there. I promised you that. Yeah, I love the fact the Bible says, Titus 1, verse 2, that we have a God who cannot lie.
He cannot lie. And when He makes us a solemn promise, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you, I will be there with you. Friends, you can take that to the bank. If God lied to you, He'd have to stop being God, and He's not going to stop being God for you or me or anybody else. We don't have to see him.
We don't have to feel him to know that he's there. We have his solemn promise that he's there. And so our choice is to do what Jamie had to do. We have to trust him. We can doubt him if we want and keep jerking the wheel and falling over.
Or we can trust him like he wants us to, look forward and ride.
Now I would like to announce at the age of thirty four, my son is now able to ride a two wheeler. I would like you to know that. He can do it.
So God bless him. But you get the point, yes? You say, Well, now, wait a minute, though. I need to ask you this: Do you always get this right? I mean, you mean to tell me that even in some of the toughest times you've been through, you've never doubted God?
No, no, no, friends, I don't mean to tell you that at all. Sure, I have days when my faith struggles, and sure, I have days where I doubt God. But can I tell you the beautiful thing about this? The beautiful thing about it is, even when I'm struggling, even when I'm having a bad day, Jesus is still just as with me as on those days that I'm having a good day. Because it doesn't matter whether I'm having a good day or a bad day, whether he's with me or not.
He's with me because he promised he would be, not because I'm having a good day or a bad day. 2 Timothy 2:13, even when we are faithless, even when we're having a bad day, he, God, remains faithful. He cannot deny his Himself. How great is that news, huh? That it doesn't depend on your day or my day, depends on his solemn promise.
All right, now in closing, let me say. That I know in a crowd such as this, many of us right now. Are in the valley of the shadow of death in our lives, walking right through it.
Some of us are going through maybe a horrible, painful divorce. Or some of us perhaps are facing the serious illness of a child, or maybe we're watching as our own health deteriorates. For some of us, the Valley may be struggling to care for a child with disabilities or to care for an aging and infirmed parent. For some of us, the valley may be going through a deep financial crisis and having lost our job and we can't find another job. Or maybe it's the fact that you had to kiss a child or a husband or a wife goodbye as they went off to Afghanistan for months or went off to Iraq for months or some other faraway place, and you're here by yourself with the family.
And they're gone. Or maybe Some of us here, our valley is that we're carrying the emotional and physical and financial burden of being a single parent mom here in Washington, D.C., or we're fighting the pain of infertility, or we're having a really difficult pregnancy, or we've got a child that's away from the Lord, and the pain of that is just killing us. Or maybe we're struggling with depression or substance abuse. Listen, friends, there are all kinds of valleys of the shadow of death that this life can throw at us. But here's the important thing for us to know: that it doesn't matter what the valley is, and it doesn't matter how big it is, and it doesn't matter how intimidating it is, and it doesn't matter how scary it is.
You and I, as followers of Christ, are not in it alone. We are in it with The living Christ. Right by our side. With his arm around us. saying to us, you and me, Together.
We're going to get through this together. You're not in this by yourself, it's you and me. You know, I gotta tell you, no matter how deep the hole has gotten in my life at certain times. Being able to say out loud. Lord, It's you and me.
You and me, Lord, it's not just me. It's you and me, Lord. We're doing this together, aren't we? Boy, I'll tell you, that brings so much comfort and so much assurance and so much boldness to your life. To be able to say, Lord Jesus, it's you and me.
To even visualize the Lord with his arm around your shoulder. saying, Yep, Lon, it's you and me. Friend, it's you in Christ if you know Him. I don't care what you're going through. You and Christ.
And that will Bring resiliency and hope to your life. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we really needed to hear today what you said to us. Because we live in a very lonely world. We live in a world where lots of our so-called friends, as soon as the valley of the shadow of death, shows up in our life.
They are nowhere to be found. They just head for the hills, Lord. And it's easy for us, if we're not careful, to feel like. It's all on us. We're all by ourselves.
But that's not true if we know Christ. It's simply not true. And Father, we need you today. To remind us. That it's not true, and to remind us that whether we can feel it or not.
Whether we can see you or not, whether we can understand it all or not, if you have given us your solemn promise. And you have. That you will never leave us or forsake us, that you will be in that valley with us. Lord, we need to trust you. Look forward, keep the wheels straight and keep pedaling.
So, Lord Jesus, for many of us here today, who really need To know that your arm is around us. at this time in our life. For many of us here today who really need to know that it's not just us. But it's the living, omnipotent Sovereign Almighty Christ plus us. in this valley.
Lord, lift our hearts today with this great piece of news. and help us believe you. Because you cannot lie. Lord, change our lives because we were here today. We sat under the teaching of the eternal Word of God.
And we pray these things. In Jesus' name. And God's people said, Amen.
