This weekend we honor our graduates and their hard work in order to complete their degrees. You have passed the tests, you have written the papers and you have shown yourself worthy of receiving your diploma. As we celebrate with you on this achievement, we commend you towards the next phase of life. But before we do that, we shall take a moment to remember the most important answer to all life’s questions: Jesus Christ. Let us remember, that Jesus is the answer in three important areas of life:
If You Are Hurting, Jesus is the Answer
If you are hurting it is important to remember that Jesus is the answer. Jesus is the answer because He is all-powerful and all-loving. Jesus allows hurt to come to us in order to break us from what is temporary (this world) and He heals that hurt in order to focus us on what it eternal (Himself).
Jesus allows hurt.
Jesus is all-powerful and He can do all His holy will. There is nothing and no one who can stop Jesus from accomplishing His will. We refer to this as omnipotence; which means He is “all-powerful”. Since Jesus is all-powerful, we understand that any hurt and suffering that we encounter are the result of Jesus allowing it to come to us.
Consider Job. Job was a righteous man who feared God. Satan wanted to hurt Job but had to ask permission from the Lord. The Lord had to grant permission to Satan in order to do anything to Job. This reveals to us that God has complete control over all things. This is good news because everything that comes to us must first go through God. Only what God allows to pass to us shall pass to us. This is great news because of our next point.
Jesus heals hurt.
Jesus allows hurts to come to us because He loves to heal our hurt. Every hurt, every pain, every trial that is allowed to come upon you is brought to you by Jesus for the purpose of drawing you closer to Him so that He may heal you. Consider that the end of Job was better than the beginning and the reason was because Job was closer to the Lord at the end than the beginning. Romans 8:28 is a wonderful verse to show this truth because “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” If you are hurting, remember that Jesus is the answer to your pain and He has allowed this pain to come because He loves you and is helping you grow in maturity. Remember, your pain has a purpose.
If You Are Hated, Jesus is the Answer
If you are hated it is important to remember that Jesus is the answer because He is completely good.
Jesus arouses hatred.
I struggled to find just the right word for this point. Jesus arouses hatred because evil hates good and always fights against it. Jesus does not cause hatred in people but His goodness exposes the hatred in people and those who are followers of Jesus will be hated by those who are in darkness. John 3:20 says, “everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” We must remember that if we are Christ followers, we will be hated because of Christ. Jesus said in John 7:7, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.” We encounter hatred but it is not hatred of us but hatred of Jesus.
Jesus heals hatred.
Jesus not only arouses hatred, He heals hatred. Jesus heals hatred because He creates within us the opposite of hatred: love. The reason why we have so many laws is because of a lack of love. Have you ever noticed that no nation in the world has a law that says, “You shall love your neighbor”? Instead, they have laws that say, “You shall not murder your neighbor”. The reason is that no nation can force acts of love so they must punish acts of hatred.
True love only comes from a changed heart. The Bible calls this regeneration. Regeneration is a change of heart that leads to true repentance and faith. Only the Holy Spirit can change our hearts and that change only comes through forgiveness of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.
If You Are Happy, Jesus is the Answer
If you are happy it is important to remember that Jesus is the answer because He is the source of all that is good and right in this world.
Jesus defines happiness.
For the world, happiness depends on what happens, but joy depends on Christ. Jesus defines happiness by detaching it from what happens and frees it from bondage to our circumstances. If you want true joy, then you need Jesus because He is the only one who can bring it.
Jesus causes happiness.
Non-Christians may claim to be happy but this happiness cannot be compared to the joy of Christians. They may claim to “have fun” by getting drunk, getting high, and giving themselves over to all kinds of sexual desires; but the Christian’s joy is greater. They may claim to have so much fun in the pleasures of life, but we all know that those pleasures are momentary. When the pleasure stops, there is no more happiness. Our joy is greater because it is not momentary, but eternal. They eat and drink because tomorrow they die; we eat and drink for the glory of God because we shall never die!
No matter what the question, Jesus is the answer. Let us bring glory to Him for He is wonderful.
First Baptist Scott City, MO 