(The following was used for an oral presentation that includedextemporaneous and personal remarks not intended for publication. This has not been edited for print.)

Rev. Lonnie A. Richardson
March 25, 2001
Romans 5:1-11; II Corinthians 5:11-21

There Are No Hopeless Situations
In Human Relationships

Are you aware of the tremendous advantage frogs have over humans? They can eat anything that bugs them!Wouldn’t it be great if we could consume our relational problems rather than letting them consume us! What “bugs” you themost about people?

In the past three weeks we have affirmed the promises of the God of hope. Hope in human weakness; hope amonglife's disappointments, and hope in matters of health.  This concluding message, froma practical perspective, is one of the most difficult areas in which to have hope.  Thebelief that there are no hopeless situations in human relationships.  You may be inone now you feel is hopeless.

We are dependent upon each other, but God did not make us totally dependent upon any other human being forour successful living or for our peace of mind, and even our happiness.

There are many very difficult people, but there are few impossible people. A seemingly impossible person, Iam convinced, are persons who are ill, there is a mental deficiency, and there is an emotional frustration. Any person who isnormal with reasonable mental facilities is a possible person. Every person has a door in their soul through which, if you willapproach them correctly, you can get into the kindness, the care and the unselfishness of that person.

Even though the door may never have been opened, or even though the hinges are rusty with disuse, I believeevery person has that door within his or her soul, and you can get inside with them. Or at least a window through which you canlook through. And give you the kind of relationship to that person that you long to have. Or you will see the inside andunderstand why there is an impassible gulf.

Even for those persons who, because of mental and emotional difficulties are impossible, the situation is nothopeless.  God moves in mysterious ways … unheard of, undreamed of, unprecedented,incredible ways. Even though your patience may be tried to the limit, you are disappointed and, discouraged, don't give up. Don'tlose faith.

In Corinthians, the apostle Paul says we are in a ministry of reconciliation. The only way to be cured of thepain of a hurtful human relationship is to forgive. I like what Dan Green of New Life Christian Resources says about who’sresponsible for what regarding human relationships. It is very simply stated:

I am responsible for…

I am not responsible for…

So, you have been hurt in a relationship but have hope in the prospects of reconciliation. The next concernis when and how to reconcile and forgive.

When to forgive and reconcile

How to forgive and reconcile

CONCLUSIONS ABOUT CHRISTIAN HOPE FROM THIS SERIES OF MESSAGES

Hope Is the Ability To Hear the Melody of the Future and Faith Is the Courage to Dance to Its Tune Today.

Faith acts on the hope that you believe Jesus is there. The apostle Paul has a prayer about hope that heoffered to the church at Ephesus. It is found in Ephesians 1:18.

...that you may know what is the hope to which he has calledyou, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us whobelieve,  {Ephesians 1:18b-19a RSV}

Notice that he doesn’t pray in general, as most of us tend to do. He doesn't simply say, "Lord, blessthe Ephesians this morning." He knows that in this context they have lost their vision. That is part of their problem. Theyhave sunk into an attitude of indifferent routine. It seems to them as though nothing is happening in their lives and they aregoing nowhere. They have lost their sense of hope. They have lost the experience of it. So Paul prays that God will enlightentheir hearts so that they may know the hope of God's calling, the hope to which he has called them.

You and I know the need for hope. This word, of course, is one part of the great triad found frequently inthe scriptures -- faith, hope and love -- the essentials to living a fully complimented Christian experience. You findthese linked together often in the pages of the New Testament.

Hope always concerns the future. These people obviously had lost their sense that anything happening nowaffected the future. And this happens to many of us. So what is the hope of a believer? It is described for us very plainly inRomans 8, verse 18:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing withthe glory that is to be revealed to us.

That is the hope -- a glory which is coming, a glory toward which we are moving day by day. That glory iswaiting for us. Paul says it is a glory, which touches the whole world. Paul continues:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because thecreation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. {Romans8:19-21 RSV}

A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment tosee the effect hope has on those undergoing hardships. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. Theresearchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically liftedout of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they weregiven a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!

Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down andrescue them. If hope holds such power for rodents, how much greater can its effect be on our lives?

God reaches for us through Jesus the Christ. There are times when his uplifting power is realized and therewill be times when we are placed back in the waters of despair to swim and struggle. When this happens, have hope in the promisesof God that we are not abandoned to drown in a sea of hopelessness. There are no hopeless situations!

Prayer:

Our heavenly father, we ask that the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened, that these words from the Biblewill come alive in our experience and we too will discover how encouraging is Christian hope. Lord, we thank you for thisencouragement that if we will venture even a little bit, our lives are going to be enriched. And we are grateful that above all,and under girding everything else, is this amazing power that you have placed within us, that is quietly able to bring life out ofdeath, beauty out of ashes, joy out of sorrow, and hope out of hopelessness. Amen.