The Lord gave me a phrase that I’ve heard many times before on social media, but never really thought about turning it into a sermon. Maybe I have once or twice, but it was just a nice, encouraging phrase you share through a meme or whatever. This week, the Lord prompted me to turn it into a sermon, and as I was thinking about which scripture to tie this with, I came across one that works well for Communion Sunday.
So let’s take a look.
If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Acts 13, and we’ll read verses 26-31. And you’re probably saying to yourself, wait, Acts is after the gospels, it’s after the cross, after Jesus rose from the dead, what does this have to do with communion?
As we discussed a little bit last week, our hope is in the cross. No matter what we face, no matter the challenges, our hope lies in the freedom and forgiveness of the cross. Our hope in an eternal glory with no suffering, no shame, no sickness, and no death.
We also have hope for the here and now. Because of the cross, we are made right with God, children of God, and therefore, loved and protected by our heavenly Father.
So how does Acts 13 tie all of this together? Let’s see what it says, starting with verse 26.
Scripture: 26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
The meme that I often come across is just two words–’but God’, often followed by ellipsis, those three or four dots that go off into nowhere. Sometimes those ellipses are at the beginning and simply end with ‘but God’ and other times, the ellipses are at either end of those two words. Why the variation? Because we all have a ‘but God’ moment.
All hope is lost…But God
But God came through just when I needed Him by…(fill in the blank)
Or I was lost and I was blind, but because of God’s amazing grace, I am found and I can see.
Going back to our scripture again, can you imagine how lost Jesus’ disciples were when he died? He didn’t save himself. He didn’t start an uprising like we thought he would. God didn’t intervene. What happened? How could this have happened? Why did God allow this to happen? Did Satan win? Now what? What hope do we have but to possibly be next? If we play our cards right, maybe they’ll let us live quietly as tax collectors and fishermen and carpenters again. Of course, in great shame and humiliation that will curse our wives and children for generations.
Verse 29:
29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.
Verse 30:
30 But God raised him from the dead,
Going back to Romans Chapter 8 again–in the Amplified Version, Paul says:
10 But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
[Remember last week we used the word, propitiation, which means appeasing the wrath of our offender and bringing us back into reconciliation with him. God imputed his wrath on Jesus, who, as our logos or Word, therefore bridged the gap between us.]
11 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
In other words, the Spirit within us is the Holy Spirit, and through the Spirit, Christ dwells within us, giving us a new spiritual life, victory over the sinful nature, and in the end, freedom from even the last physical effects of sin, which is death. (Bridgeway Bible Commentary, paraphrased).
Do you remember the story of Joseph? Not Jesus’ earthly father, but Joseph with his amazing technicolor dream-coat?
Jacob, his father, was in love with a woman named Rachel, but Jacob was tricked into marrying Rachel’s older sister instead. In those days, you could have more than one wife; it was not yet unpermitted. And so after Jacob waited seven years for the hand of his first wife–whom he thought was Rachel, he waited seven more years for the one whom he truly loved. Imagine being his first wife, Leah–how hurt she must have been, knowing she was married but unloved. Then, her husband marries the one he truly loves, and it happens to be your own sister.
And so Jacob and Rachel have a firstborn named Joseph. Rachel died in childbirth to her second son, Benjamin, so imagine now Jacob’s heartache. And so it was natural, not good but natural, that Joseph then became Jacob’s favorite son.
So, going onto Joseph now,
Joseph received special attention from his father, symbolized by a beautiful coat of many colors. Back then, color was expensive, so a coat of many colors was expensive, symbolizing a great gift. As you can imagine, this favoritism sparked intense jealousy among his 10 older brothers, which intensified when Joseph shared dreams that he had, which suggested a future dominance over them.
That was a no-no in that culture. The oldest was the heir, and then down the line. But this was not only backwards but insulting.
So, Joseph’s brothers had enough. They sold him into slavery to traveling merchants from Midian who were heading to Egypt. Then, the sons told their father that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. And you can imagine Jacob’s grief over that. He waited 14 years for his beloved bride while being married to a woman he didn’t love. Then, after 17 years, he loses his most treasured son.
In Egypt, the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of the Egyptian Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard (Genesis 37:36).
I like how Biblestudytools puts this: How Joseph must have wished he knew how to please his brothers. Then he could have avoided all of this. But this was all part of God’s plan to show that He works all things together for good (another reference to Romans 8), even if evil seems to be winning. And much more evil and suffering were up ahead for Joseph.
Now I’m trying to keep this brief, but it’s hard to do because we need to remember the whole story. It’s kind of like the Esther series. I had to go through the whole story in order to make a point for us today:
In Max Lucado’s book, “You’ll Get Through This,” he recounts the life of Joseph and puts his experience in perspective for us. “Joseph arrived in Egypt with nothing. Not a penny to his name or a name worth a penny. His family tree was meaningless. His occupation was despised…No credentials to stand on. No vocation to call on. No family to lean on. He had lost everything with one exception: His destiny. Those odd dreams had convinced Joseph that God had plans for him” (p. 15).
Joseph soon “found favor” in the eyes of his master Potiphar, so he was put in charge of the entire household. What we haven’t heard until this point in the story is that Joseph was “well built and handsome,” and once Potiphar’s wife began to notice just how attractive he was, she tried to seduce him. Joseph, a man of incredible integrity and indebted to God for saving him from the pit, refused her. One day, when all of the servants were gone, Potiphar’s wife grabbed Joseph, but as he pulled away from her, she grabbed his cloak, and he ran off.
When Potiphar returned, his wife accused Joseph of trying to attack her. Rather than giving Joseph the benefit of the doubt, Potiphar burned with anger. He immediately threw Joseph in prison, once again causing him to face unjust imprisonment. And yet, in keeping with the rest of the Bible story of Joseph, he once again rose to the challenge because of the One who was always with him.
Despite his circumstances, Joseph still–in prison–consistently demonstrated integrity, leadership, and faithfulness, earning respect and responsibilities. His gift of interpreting dreams eventually caught the attention of Pharaoh himself.
Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s troubling dreams, predicting seven prosperous years followed by seven years of devastating famine. Impressed by Joseph’s wisdom, Pharaoh appointed him to oversee preparations for the famine, making Joseph second-in-command over Egypt. Joseph was about thirty years old at this pivotal moment.
Under Joseph’s administration, Egypt stored abundant grain during the prosperous years, effectively safeguarding against future scarcity. His prudent management not only ensured the survival of Egypt but also provided assistance to neighboring lands.
The famine ultimately affected Joseph’s family back in Canaan, forcing his brothers to journey to Egypt seeking food. Unaware that they stood before their betrayed brother, the brothers sought aid from Joseph, who recognized them immediately but concealed his identity. Through a series of careful tests, Joseph assessed their sincerity, repentance, and genuine change of heart, particularly in their protective attitude toward Benjamin, their youngest sibling.
Joseph, profoundly moved by their genuine repentance and care for Benjamin, finally revealed his true identity in an emotional reunion. Rather than choosing revenge, Joseph extended profound forgiveness, declaring, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). Joseph’s forgiveness reunited his family, brought healing to emotional wounds, and provided safety and security for them in Egypt.
So all of that to say…But God.
This is one where the ellipses would be before, in the middle of, but, and God, and then after as well. Can you imagine? Thirteen years passed from his initial enslavement at the age of seventeen to his elevation as second-in-command at the age of thirty. Another nine years passed before his reunion with his brothers, marking a total of twenty-two years separated from his family. Imagine the immense patience, endurance, and faith Joseph exemplified.
Remember what Joseph named his son? Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” Pause there for a moment. And imagine thirteen years of one bad thing after another, yet God blessed him so abundantly that he forgot all of his troubles.
But what about us? Can God…or the better question is, will God? Well, we have hope through Joseph’s story, the testimony of those around us, maybe within this church or fellow Christians you may know, or just the testimonies you see on Christian television or radio or books, or online.
Plus, we have the enduring testimonies of others throughout the Bible.
We have stories of Jesus healing people wherever he went. Two of those stories came to mind while preparing this message.
First, imagine the woman with the issue of blood.
This wasn’t just a physical issue, but this was an emotional issue as well.
Anyone who the woman would have touched would also be deemed unclean. In other words, since Jesus was touched by the woman, He would have been declared unclean.
Divine Narratives put it this way
The stigma attached to her condition would have been profound. In a society where communal worship and social interaction were central to daily life, her unclean status would have rendered her an outcast. This exclusion extended to the temple, the heart of Jewish religious life, where she would have been barred from participating in worship and sacrifices. The psychological toll of such isolation cannot be overstated, as it would have affected her sense of identity and belonging.
For 12 years, she waited, and according to the Bible, she exhausted all of what medical treatments available at the time. She had no hope. Then, along comes Jesus. She wasn’t allowed inside the temple walls, but somehow, she got in. And she believed that if she could touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed. Why? How did she know that if she just touched the hem of his garment that she could be healed? Because her scriptures said so.
We’ve all probably heard the prophecy from Malachi that said, there is healing in his wings. There are some different interpretations of that, but one is that this word for ‘wings’ in the Hebrew is another word for the tassels of the garment that rabbis wore.
They were apparently known as ‘wings’ in Hebrew.
When the woman grabbed the hem of Jesus’ garment, it was not just in faith that she would be healed; she unintentionally made a statement to everyone around her. If she isn’t healed, she’s made a ritually clean rabbi unclean, and in doing so, she’s saying that she’s willing to risk being stoned for this. But if she is healed, she’s demonstrating that Jesus is the Messiah, and so aren’t the gospel writers by putting her story in their gospel.
One more story. This one is short and simple:
John Chapter 9, the first three verses say this: As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
That kind of throws you back a bit, doesn’t it?
God, in his sovereignty, intentionally created someone to be born blind. Why? So that he could suffer half his life? Is God just being cruel? No. So that God could display his own glory and receive glory through this blind man.
You’ll notice the first thing the disciples say, “who sinned that he was born blind?” I think I touched on that a little bit last week, how we still found this thought among Christian circles just a few decades ago.
We don’t know how old this man was, but he was a grown man at this point. Born blind. So he waited longer than the woman with the issue of blood, perhaps as long as Joseph, maybe even longer.
David Guzik from Enduring Word Commentary said, “Think of all the times the little blind boy asked his mother, “Why am I blind?” Perhaps she never felt she had a good answer. Jesus explained, it is because God wants to work in and through even this. Jesus pointed the question away from why and on to the idea, what can God do in this?
In this man’s case the specific work of God would soon be revealed: to heal him of his blindness. God may reveal His works in other lives in other ways, such as joy and endurance in the midst of the difficulty.
Conclusion: All of these stories have a common theme. But God.
Imagine how many times they must have cried out to God, asking ‘why?’ Think of Job. He suffered tremendously.
He lost his family, his wealth, and his health. The opposite of what the Word of Faith and Prosperity Gospel teaches. Like the story of the blind man, Job’s three friends insist his suffering is punishment for sin. Job contended that his life was not one of sin. God confirmed that at the very beginning, which is why he allowed Satan to try Job so harshly.
This was a contest between God and Satan, an I told you so moment. And Job, the whole while, had no idea. He endured this tragedy not knowing why, and not knowing if he would ever recover. Ever been there? Even for a moment?
Maybe you’ve had to wait a long time for God’s promises to come true for something or some things in your own life.
Maybe you’re at a Red Sea moment where there’s no place to go. Imagine the shock and awe from not only the Hebrew people but also Pharaoh’s army when God stepped in and did the unimaginable.
Maybe you’ve exhausted everything except the hem of his garment.
Maybe you’ve found yourself at a great high in life, then a great low, then even lower–like Joseph.
Maybe you’re like the disciples, wondering what happened? How could this be? Now what? But God. Imagine the shock, not only from them, but the ones who put Jesus to death.
As the old Sam and Dave song says, “Hold on, I’m coming.” God is not going to let his children go. It may seem like God’s got his hands full and he’s not able to come to your rescue because he’s juggling everything else in this world, and we’re just out of his radar. God’s promises are for every one of his children. As I concluded last week, I’ll conclude again this week. If we who are considered evil by Jesus know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will God give good gifts to those who ask him?
In 1 Cor. Paul says,
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
One more quote. This is from Pamela Palmer at biblestudytools.com
She says
When we say yes and amen, it is an expression of our trust in God’s faithfulness. When we say yes and amen, we are putting our focus rightly on God’s promises found in the Bible instead of being distracted by the passing trials in this world. When we face hardships or obstacles, we can look to Scripture for encouragement and hope. This verse challenges followers of Jesus to trust in God’s promises found throughout Scripture because they are guaranteed and affirmed in Christ Jesus.
At times we may feel that not much can be counted on. The world around us changes quickly and there are many letdowns we endure. Scripture teaches that God’s promises will never fail! It is in Christ that every promise of God is yes and amen – meaning that God’s promises are guaranteed and confirmed through Jesus. God loves His children and wants us to have confidence in His promises no matter what is happening in our lives, the changes we face, or the uncertainty of the world. We can be confident of what’s to come!
