After You Have Suffered For a Little While

Good morning. It's good to see you. Thanks. By the way, if you have your Bibles, find First Peter please toward near the end of the New Testament, first Peter chapter five. And we'll read from verse 10.

But I want to thank you for the music. Barry's introduction was interesting. You know that line about wanting to kiss all the girls at Samford? I don't think I ever said that openly. I don't think I ever said that.

I did go there to study music and I thought I was going to be a minister of music. I couldn't pass theory so it didn't work out. But I appreciate good music. So Murray and Bruce and the choir and all of you for your good singing, I appreciate that and it's good to be here on such an important and special weekend to celebrate with you. 1st Peter 5:10.

God is speaking through Peter. And I'm going to be quoting from the New Revised Standard Version. You read along. I'm sure you have multiple versions. God said through Peter, after you have suffered for a little while, after you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus will himself restore you and support you and strengthen you and establish you.

And we'll come back to that in just a few minutes. It's interesting, at least to me how I ended up here this morning. I did retire in May, May 10, after 50 years of ministry and I'm awfully grateful for that. Goes back to Oxford, Alabama when a little church gave me the opportunity to be the part time assistant youth director. And my uncle just happened to have been the pastor of that, of that church.

That was. I was 16 going on 17. And then after we've spent years in Venezuela and Nigeria, but over 40 years as a pastor and I'm really, really grateful for that. But the reason, after retiring, one of the first plans we made was with Jan and Barry to come see Eddie and Sarah Bush because they've been mentors to me. They were like parents to me.

When we were knuckleheaded teenagers in Anniston, we did spend a lot of time over there at their house. So we wanted to come see. We had never seen Eddie and Sarah here in Selma. So we said let's go. And at first it was going to be a day trip and then we said, oh well, stay over, let's go to church at First Baptist.

And then I got a text or a call that said, well, we happen to have opening in the pulpit. The pastor has resigned since you're going to be here, would you preach? And of course, it was an honor to be asked, and it is an honor to stand here. Now, one thing that comes with having been in ministry for 50 years is that I love the local church. I love churches, and I know churches pretty well.

Not because I'm smart, but. But just because I'm old. That's the reason I know churches. I've just been around the block several times. And so I want to acknowledge to you an assumption, and I hope you'll forgive me if I make the wrong assumption.

I hope you will acknowledge my. The risk that I take in just acknowledging an assumption. And my assumption is that in First Baptist Church of Selma, even, in fact, in this room, there's probably some anxiety, there are some unanswered questions, there's some discomfort. There may even be some strong emotions. If that's not true for you, then you are very much the exception to the room.

When a pastor resigns, the church is left with anxiety and discomfort and unanswered questions and strong emotions. So I want to speak to that this morning. And I want to speak about hope. I want to speak about hope, one of my favorite topics.

I want to speak as a pastor, as a shepherd to First Baptist Church of Selma. Most of you I haven't met. Some of you I met just walking around, met for the first time. But if you'd allow me to be a shepherd for a moment, a visiting pastor, if you will, I'd like to speak. I'd like to speak words of hope.

And I want to tell you one of my favorite stories. And you don't know me, so you don't know that I'm an honest person. But every syllable, every detail I'm about to tell you of this story. Story is true. I was for years pastor at First Baptist Church of Huntsville.

We had kids message on Sunday mornings like you did. And so on this Sunday morning, it was Joy's turn to do the kids message. She'd been planning it all week. She'd been preparing, and she had the theme to fit the theme of the service and all that. So Joy was planning on doing the children's sermon.

But Joy on Saturday night began to feel ill. And when she woke up Sunday morning, she was so sick that there was no way she was going to be able to get to church and do the children's message. And so she called a young lady in our church, a young mom in our church named Hope Mackey. And Hope teaches in the kids areas and had two little Kids. And Joy said, hope, I'm too sick to come. Would you do the kids message?

And so Joy explained the theme and what she had planned to say. And Hope, while she was trying to get the kids ready and herself ready, she listened and said, okay, I will. And she got to church and did a fabulous job. It was as if she had been planning it all week herself. So that was Sunday morning.

That Friday night, Carrie and I, my wife Carrie, were down in Tuscaloosa at our niece's middle school court choir concert. And there were a lot of songs. And my mind, I admit, began to wander. And my mind wandered back to the previous Sunday morning. And somehow it dawned on me that Joy More couldn't make it.

And so she called Hope Mackey. And I began to think, you know, when Joy couldn't come. But Hope showed up, and my wheels were turning. And I wrote in the program, when Joy can't make it, hope can. And I elbowed Carrie and I showed her.

She was less impressed than I had anticipated. She gave me one of those, looks like you should be paying attention to the choir. But I was inspired. I mean, that's good stuff. When joy can't make it, hope can.

Say that with me. When joy can't make it, hope can. I wish I could buy you a refrigerator magnet. In fact, when I retired, which pockets it in, a family in our church gave us a refrigerator magnet that says, when joy can't make it, hope can. I mean, that's good stuff because sometimes joy just is not in the moment.

It's just not possible. The wound is too deep, the pain is too fresh, the fear too overwhelming. In the moment, joy sometimes is just almost impossible.

But when joy can't make it, hope can. That's what I want to say to you today for this season, with all anxiety and discomfort and unanswered questions and strong emotions. I want to speak as a pastor to you about hope. And even if my assumptions are wrong, even if there's no anxiety and unanswered questions and no strong emotions, even if I'm. My assumption is wrong.

We all could use a little hope, right? So let's talk about hope. What is hope? Hope is not just mere optimism. Hope is not Everything's going to be all right.

Ism. Hope is not the power of positive thinking. Hope. Biblical hope is far more profound than that. Biblical hope is the deep conviction that by God's grace, no matter what happens, I'm going to be okay.

Biblical hope is the profound conviction that no matter what happens by God's, grace, I will be okay. God spoke through the APostle Paul in 2nd Corinthians 4, and he said, I've been struck down but not destroyed. Eight chapters later, God speaks again through Paul. I have a thorn in the flesh, this malady that God has chosen not to remove from me. But God's grace, his unconditional, undeserved, unlimited, unrelenting love is enough.

And so that's why I say that biblical hope is not mere optimism. It's not everything's going to be alright ism. It's not Pollyanna, it's. It's the deep conviction that by God's grace, at the core of who I am, no matter what happens, I will be okay. Hope is rooted in realism.

Hope is rooted in resurrection. Hope is rooted in redemption. Hope is rooted in realism. Hope does not try to paint lipstick on a pig. Right, Hope.

Hope doesn't deny the tough stuff. Hope doesn't say, ah, you know, let's not talk about that. Hope doesn't say, oh, it's not as bad as we think. Hope acknowledges that sometimes bad things happen. Hope is rooted in realism and saying, you know, things are at this moment, it's kind of hard.

Hope is rooted in resurrection. Hope says that if God can reach into a dark tomb and raise Jesus from a gruesome death, he can. He can reach into the darkness of my life and can bring new life. Hope is rooted in realism and resurrection, and hope is rooted in redemption. Redemption is taking something very bad and turning it into something very good.

And my life is full of those redeeming moments when God has taken something bad and turned it into something good. Some of you all grew up with that old gospel song, like I did all my life was, but all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife, and he made something beautiful in my life. That's. Redemption is taking something that is broken and turning it into something beautiful. Hope is based on realism, not denial, on resurrection, on the power of God to reach into a tomb and on redemption, his specialty, which is turning really sad and awful and frightening and difficult situations into something beautiful.

All right, back to. I said we're going to get back to the text. Let's get back there first. Peter 5, verse 10. And as I.

From the version that I'm reading from, it begins with that phrase, after you've suffered for a little while, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself restore you and support you and strengthen you and establish you the God of all grace, who has. After you've suffered for a little while. And he doesn't deny that for a little while you'll suffer. But then God, the God of all grace, will restore you where you are broken and will support you where you are unsteady and will strengthen you where you are weak, and then will establish you, which in the message version, it reads, he'll put you back on your feet again.

And so from my heart, that's my word from the Lord himself to First Baptist Church of Huntsville, without assessing blame for anything, without assigning blame for anything, just saying that after you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will restore you and support you and strengthen you and get you back on your feet again. I shared that from this text some time ago at a church in Huntsville. The church in Huntsville was reeling. It's a church with whom First Baptist has a sister relationship. So for 12 years, I've known them well, and they've known me well, and I've been in and out, and we have the kind of relationship in which I could speak from my heart, and I spoke from this text, and I said.

And they were reeling. Their pastor. The pastor's tenure had come to a traumatic end. There was anxiety, and there were unanswered questions, and there were strong emotions. The church was.

Was in danger of fracturing. And so I stood before them as someone who loved them, believing they loved and appreciated what I would try. Loved me and appreciated what I would try to do. And I said to them, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore you and support you and strengthen you, put you on your feet again. My wife Carrie and I were there last Sunday.

That's where we're worshiping now. When I retired, I thought I needed to step away from First Baptist for, you know, a season and let them get. Let them move on, get a new pastor and all that. So that's where we're worshiping now.

If we don't get there early, it's hard to get a seat. There are chairs in the aisles. The worship is vibrant. The spirit is good. God has shown favor on that congregation.

Their pastor is a prince of a person and Christian and preacher and. And God has shown favor on that congregation. I am not promising what shall be.

I'm just offering you hope for what can be.

Hope, Biblical hope, The profound assurance that at the core of who I am or our church is no matter what happens, we're going to be okay.

Let me turn the page and say that for that hope to be realized, the people, and I would say this to any church and have said it to the churches I've served, for that hope to be realized, everybody in the congregation will have to set aside differences and preferences and conveniences. And I say that humbly. And I say that not specifically this morning, of course, it's specifically here. But I would say that widely for any church where people have different opinions. For hope to be realized, we have to put aside our differences and our priorities and our conveniences.

And that is not easy because we do have differences and preferences and we enjoy our conveniences. But it's possible. In August, Carrie and I will be back at the Lucas Grove Baptist Church near Upton, Kentucky. It's in the country, my first church while I was in seminary. And they're having homecoming because it's the 130th anniversary of the church.

They were founded in 1896. The wild thing to me is I was there for their 90th anniversary homecoming 40 years ago. It's hard for me to believe. So in 1986, when I was there as pastor, we were celebrating the 90th birthday from 1986. And so I was having homecoming and all that, and I wanted it to be special.

I went through the books of the church, I went through the history and the minutes of the church to see what I might, what kind of nugget I might find. And I found a story I've been telling for 40 years. Jim Skaggs wrote this in the mid-1900s. So he was looking back when he was a little boy and he said, I was sitting in the schoolhouse and. Which was probably a one room schoolhouse in 1896, looking out the schoolhouse window at where they were building the Lucas Grove Baptist Church.

It was the Lucas Grove School. Little Jim Skaggs, who should have been paying attention to the teachers, looking out the window, and he's watching them build the church because the school lot, the church was built on a lot right next to the school. So get the picture. 1896. Jim Skagg says, when I was a little boy, he's looking back in time.

When I was a little boy, I watched them building the church. And he said they had on gold hats and silver hats without any explanation, as if everybody would know what he was talking about. Well, I sure didn't. And I thought, why would decades later he look back and say they had on gold hats and silver hats. What was that about?

Well, that was before Google, so I probably had to go to World Book or somewhere. But I found out what he was talking about.

In 19, no, 1896, there was a divisive, deeply divisive presidential election. William McKinley was the Republican, William Jennings Bryan was the Democrat. And the country was deeply divided over gold and silver. What would be. The question was what would be the basis of the US Currency?

Would it be gold, would it be silver? And that sound, to me, that sounds like a silly thing to divide over, but it was, man, they were deeply divided.

In fact, this morning I googled, I just wanted to check up on the story. William Jennings Bryan gave a passionate speech at the Democratic National Convention. 96. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. This was a big deal in 1896, dividing families, dividing friendships, dividing the country.

And there are people who believe so deeply about their position. And that was the thing, by the way, people wore gold hats and silver hats to determine, let everybody know which side I'm on. And there were people building the church with gold hats and silver hats on, handing, can't you see them handing each other pieces of lumber, hammer and nails and up on the roof together?

And so I don't know what the silver and gold hats are, but whatever they are, it is possible to build a church, even with the differences. On Wednesday, November 6th of 2024, the day after the recent presidential election, you know what? A year and a half ago, we had communion at First Baptist Huntsville. It was a Wednesday night. We planned it six months earlier, in the summer.

We wrote the prayers, we would read together. I wrote my message, we wrote the responsive readings, published them to the leadership of the church. Why do we do that? Because we wanted everybody to know. It doesn't matter who wins.

This is what we're going to say. This is what we're going to pray. This is what I'm going to say. Because we. And we had the place, what we call the family room, a large room was filled with people.

Local media were there because. And we said, we're not going to let the incivility and the division in our country infect, invade and infect our church.

But why do we do communion? We could have had a patriotic concert. We could have played baseball. That's the all American game. We could have had an apple pie eating contest or something, a hot dog eating contest.

Why we do communion? Because communion is about the cross.

And the ground is level at the cross.

The cross is the great levelizer. And that's the only reason we're here this morning.

At the cross, it's not about preferences and conveniences, not about differences. It's about this deep, humble acknowledgment that I am a hopeless sinner. Without.

Without Jesus, I'm nothing. And so we celebrated the cross. We celebrated communion.

Alistair Begg wondered what it must have been like when the thief on the cross made it to heaven. You know the story, right? Jesus is being crucified. One criminal mocks him. The other one says, how can you do that?

We deserve to be here. He doesn't. And the man turns to Jesus and says humbly, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus says, today you will be with me in paradise. And later that day, he shows up at heaven.

Have you ever wondered what that must have been like? Alistair Begg did. An angel asked this man, what are you doing here? The criminal answered, I don't know. What do you mean, you don't know?

I mean I don't know. The angel said, well, excuse me while I get my supervisor. So the supervisor angel came back and quizzed the newly arrived criminal. Just a few questions for you, said the supervisor angel. First, are you clear on the doctrine of justification by faith?

Never heard of it in all my life. Well, let's go to the doctrine of scripture. The guy was just standing, staring. Finally, the angel asked, so on what basis are you here?

And the criminal answered, all I know is the man on the middle cross said I could come.

That's the only reason we're here, the only reason we're in the family of God. The only reason we can talk about hope.

There. At the cross, there are people who love Subarus and people who love Silverados, people who love country clubs and people who love country music. At the cross, there are people in Rolexes and navy business suits and people in shackles and orange jumpsuits, because the cross is the great levelizer. And so I invite you to celebrate what you have in common. And that's your desperate need, the desperate need we all have for.

For grace so beautifully distributed, demonstrated at the cross. And I would say to you, there's still room at the bushes. We used to sing a lot of old hymns around the piano. One of the hymns I grew up on was, there's room at the cross for you. Anybody know that?

There's room at the cross for you. There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one.

Yes, there's room at the cross for you? If you know the chorus, Would you sing that with me? There's room at the cross for you? There's room at the cross for you? Though millions have come?

There's still room for one? Yes, there's room at the cross for you?

Hymn 433 is our hymn of invitation. And I would invite you to be a part of this church family if you're not already. And if you've never come to the cross for salvation, I certainly would invite you. Now, I know you don't know me, but I'm going to get some help from some folks who do know you. If someone were to come, we're going to sing I Surrender All.

Let's stand, please, as we sing.