How to Get from Despair to Hope
a sermon based on Romans 5:1-8
by Ken F.
 
I) How can this be? How can you get hope from trouble?

Paul’s pathway is as follows: Trouble -> endurance -> approval -> hope

Let me begin by asking: Why hope is important in the first place? Well, it seems that when we find ourselves in troublesome situations hope becomes the motivation to keep us going.

Examples: 1) Great Depression. People lost all hope after loosing their life savings, their jobs, their livelihoods.

2) This church, this congregation has seen trouble…

3) Today people may struggle spiritually, not just economically; they may struggle with the loss of loved ones, they may feel their life is purposeless and directionless once they face a serious illness, or after they fail in their marriages, etc.

What all of us need to go on, to be able to move on is HOPE

It may well be that we would have less problems in the world, if people were more hopeful. The lack of hope leads to destructive and self-destructive behaviors! Example: Suicide--lack of any flicker of hope. It makes more sense to end the life than to struggle on.

II) Why is Paul writing this to the Roman Christians?

Paul is saying: “trouble is God’s way of discipline, but discipline is good, because it makes you better!” Or in short” no pain, no gain! Another such message is found in Hebrews 12:7-13.

Notice the root connection of disciple and discipline. Jesus’ disciples are those who have been going through discipline and hard work. Paul’s message is: discipline is also a sign of love as God disciplines only those whom he loves like sons and daughters.

Some people overcome obstacles and others don't..... what makes the difference? Hope. But sometimes hope doesn’t come easy. Sometimes, even the knowledge as a Christian that God has a purpose, that God loves us still is not enough to get us out of the despair that often comes from facing a crisis. Sometimes, I have seen this in my work at the hospital. To tell someone in despair that everything will be alright because God loves them will not cut it. Because the person in the crisis may not feel God’s love, in fact they may feel abandoned by God or punished. And our words become meaningless cliché’s to them.

How does Paul say we obtain hope in such a situation (remember the Romans faced a very harsh persecution)? By endurance. Even the knowledge that God allows hardship for a purpose, even the knowledge that God allows it for our benefit and because He loves us, cannot always give us hope. But as we hang in there, God promises to graduate us as his disciples. And as we endure, God promises to make us stronger and to restore our hope.

IV) Challenge:
a. Paul challenges each and everyone of us to find hope in your struggles. What could be a positive outcome of your struggle? What could in the long run be a benefit? Where is the opportunity in your particular struggle, what makes it worthwhile to hang on. For one of the people I visit as they struggle with cancer, it is to hang in there because she wants to see her granddaughter walk and talk among other things. She wants to hold on and endure and the fact that she can endure with God’s help gives her hope.
 

V) Conclusion: Paul is telling us: when the going gets rough . . .

remember that God will not give us more than we can handle.

when the going gets rough, remember that God has given you this challenge to rise above it.

when the going gets rough, remember that God does it because he loves you

when the going gets rough, remember that God believes in you.

when the going gets rough, remember that, as you hang in there, as you persevere, you will find that God approves of you as a disciple.

when the going gets rough, remember that, as you hang in there, God will restore your hope and peace and joy. Amen.