Ludicrous Hope in a Preposterous World

Date: 12 June 2022

Speaker: Sherene wine

The Preposterous

Let’s talk about this preposterous world and what we see going on. What does preposterous mean? Absurd: Ridiculous

Did you know  First of all, we should recognize that whatever craziness and chaos we feel like we are in scripture says this:

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Solomon (the wise) even says in this same passage that essentially there is no meaning to life…it is all vanity. Wow! That can kind of get a person down! But I’ll expand on that later. 

Romans 5:5 (NLT) 

Romans 8:18-21 (ESV) Breakdown

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing

• • • (Keep in mind here that Paul is a guy who really suffered, he’s not somebody who cruised around with a silver spoon and a golden chariot. He suffered whippings, beating with rods, he was stoned, shipwrecked, perils everywhere he went!) 
    •  

20 For the creation was subjected to futility

• (Hebrew word for vanity used in Ecclesiastes translated into Greek is same as Romans 8 futility)

• • Futility: pointless 
  • The world has been subjected to pointlessness!
• bondage to corruption
  • Understanding that the world is in bondage to corruption
  • Corruption is not fixed with your vote by the way
  • God is not American and he votes for himself

• Obtain freedom of the glory of the children of God
  • • Freedom of glory – Not the world’s idea of freedom
    • Glory comes from suffering as we see Christ’s example of suffering on the cross and his ascension to Glory

2 Corinthinas 4:16-18 16

Romans 8:18-28 (MSG)

The Ludicrous

1 Peter 4:13 (GNT) 

Foolish: Laughable

Here’s some examples of Ludicrous hope I see in the Word

• Abraham and Sarah – 

• • Hope for a child when Sarah was barren and they were both old (Abraham 100 and Sarah 90) – Despite the length of time Abraham waited and the absolute absurdity, he had a KNOWING hope.

• David and Goliath – 

• • David hears about this Giant threatening Israel. He starts asking questions about the reward for killing the giant. He essentially thinks to himself “How can this guy threaten God’s people and think he will win?!” David goes out with KNOWING hope. 

• The woman with the issue of blood. – 

• • She has hemorrhages for 12 years, spent all her money on medical care and no one could help her. And in the culture at that time, bleeding was considered “unclean”. Her presence in a large crowd would not be condoned. She was not allowed to touch or brush against people in a bleeding state. But she went out, full of hope “If I can just touch his garment….that’s all I need and I’ll be healed!” She had a KNOWING hope!

• The paralytic at Capernaum – 

• • Jesus is teaching in Capernaum and the crowd is massive, there’s no room inside, but a group of men are determined. They are carrying their paralyzed friend around and this guy needs Jesus to heal him. So they make an opening in the room and lower the man down! There was NOTHING stopping them. They had a KNOWING hope!

• Paul and Silas in Jail – 

• • These two boys were arrested for delivering a woman of evil spirits (she was a fortune teller and when she was delivered, her owners got mad they weren’t going to make money off of her anymore). Paul and Silas sit in jail PRAYING and SINGING. God causes an earthquake, and all the prison doors swing open. The jailer is about to kill himself with fear thinking all the prisoners have escaped. But instead, Paul and Silas stop him, pray over him and his whole family, baptize him and his whole family and the jailer and his family are saved! They had a KNOWING hope! 

In the face of suffering, pain, and unimaginable circumstances, the hope that these stories convey is rather ludicrous wouldn’t you say? None of them seem plausible under reasonable logical deduction. 

The world will view the hope we have in Christ as ludicrous. Because it is! It defies logic!

Hebrew 11:1 (KJV) 

Notice with lighter – The identity of this object, its purpose is to create fire. If it’s not doing that, we consider it futile (pointless). 

You have a vessel, filled with a substance, and equipped with a mechanism for activation. 

When the lighter becomes wet (beaten down by the enemy) the purpose of the object remains. The substance remains. The mechanism is still intact. But there’s an issue with the mechanism being unable to ignite the substance to create the fire. When you attempt to use the lighter after it’s been bogged down, it’s actually releasing that substance! It’s functioning! The only thing missing is the IGNITION of that substance.

The Holy Spirit is FIRE and it is what empowers us to effect the world around us! All the Truth in the world will not be sustained without power to bring life to it.