Lament Night 1

Intro

Hey Y’all, how are you?

Good good.

SO question for you,

Raise your hand if you are a person who likes to plan? You are a planner?

Who doesn’t like to plan? Just winging it everyday?

Who is glad there is a plan but also glad you didn't have to come up with it?

Okay, some of you are more of a type A kinda person, some of you are just here for chaos and some of you are just glad to be here. nothing wrong with that.

Let me ask a different question, who likes to be in control? pretty much all of us.

So, last question, in the last year, has something happened to you that you had no control over? In the last year did something happen to you that you didn’t want to happen?

Yeah, all of us. Some are worse than other, some in the last 5 years your life was turned upside down. Some of us it was a month ago. Either way the fact of the matter is this world, this life, is going to throw us things we were not expecting, life is going to throw us bad things, suffering is going to come at us. This world is broken and we will experience that brokenness.

And if we do not have categories to to help us think through, if we do not have an emotional frame work to work through, we will spiral and lose it. If we don’t know how to draw close to the Lord in times of suffering we will find ourselves more broken than before.

Here are some stats, you are sitting here are about 30 percent more likely to be depressed, experience serious anxiety and deal with suicidal thoughts than kids your age in 2007, my generation, and we were 30 percent higher than the generation of kids before them. SO in about 30 years, the likelihood went up 60%.

So the world is broken and we all have a front row seat to the brokenness right here on our phones. We are bombarded with it, and if we don’t know how to process through we are going go crazy, if we don’t have a theological frame work for suffering, when suffering hit us, and it will, we will be knocked over and knocked out.

So tonight we are going to start a series looking at Lament. Looking at what it is, and why we need it.

We want to equip you to have a theological frame work to deal with suffering and how to express your emotions and deal with your emotions to a God who we call Father.

Lament gives us an opportunity to draw to Lord as sons and daughters.

Context

So before we get in to it, let me pray for our tim ein the word becasue we are going to be sort of all over the place, going to be looking at a theme. So y’all pray with me.

pray

So where do we start? The next few weeks we are going to look at the book of Lamentations, 5 chapters, 5 poems of Lament. But to properly understand that whole book we have to start with the guy who wrote the book.

So we have to start in Jeremiah and I want to start with the most popular verse in Jeremiah. who needs a bible?

Some of you probably know this passage. This is the insta bio passage. We love this verse. But we need to start in this verse with the person who wrote it so that we can rightly understand lament.

If we get it wrong here, we won’t really understand the purpose of Lament.

So Jeremiah 29:11 read this with me.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

There it is, that’s the verse

we love that verse?

We love that it says God has a great plan for you, some translations say to prosper you. no evil, you have a future and hope.

Easily a top ten Old Testament verse.

And i’m not here to tell you that the verse is wrong, God does have a plan, for our good.

But it my not be what we would want but it will always be what we need.

So in order to understand the book of lamentations, the book of lament,

the dirge of death, as the hebrew translates to the greek,

or straight up the hebrew, the book of tears, we need to understand this verse rightly and in its right context.

Context

So, Jeremiah, wrote both of these books, Jeremiah and Lamentations. and probably he wrote them at the same time, specifically he wrote Jeremiah 29 probably around the same time he was writing Lamentations.

Who is Jeremiah?

So Who is this Jeremiah guy? Jeremiah was one of the prophets of Israel, one of the advisors and friend of the king. And Jeremiah is a super interesting guy and has a job none of us want. His was appointed by God to be the prophet of Israel, to tell the people what the Lord said, to them.

That was his job, to be the voice of God to the people of Israel, and at this time they have been rebellious toward God.

So God gives Jeremiah a vision of doom and destruction coming toward Israel. Desolation is upon them. The God tells Jeremiah, go pronounce doom on your people.

And Jeremiah is like idk about that God, and God tells him, to not be dismayed.

So this was his job to go and tell the people what God is telling them. and this is what Jeremiah was told by God to tell them

He Shows up to tell them and their like, so, what’d God say? Can’t wait

Jeremiah 2:2–3 ESV

2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. 3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.”

Then a little more, God tells him to say, Jer. 2:5

Jeremiah 2:5 ESV

5 Thus says the Lord: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

This is how the book opens, the is how Jeremiah’s ministry begins, doom. desolation. and the pronouncement goes on for like 15-20 chapters then there is a lul, then picks back up.

And so this is Jeremiah, the one wrote Jer. 29:11

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

And that verse comes in the middle of Jeremiah recording the desolation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. that verse comes in the middle of God tell Jeremiah that the people of Israel will be dispersed for 70 years.

And so when you read, “for I know the plans I have for you.”

Know that the destruction was a part of the plan to restore Isreal.

Israel had been rebellious, so God had to in, his perfect Justice, deal with the sin of His people. So he allowed their destruction and dispersement at the hands of Babylon.

And so when Jeremiah is writing the words from God down, saying “for I know the plans i have for you.” we find Jeremiah in a season of lament.

So what is Lament?

We don’t like to talk about it very often, cause it is sad. We have been conditioned to just disregard sad things, or ignore, or suppress things that are sad like they don’t exist.

You know how you ask someone hows it going and most of the time, it’s oh yeah i’m fine, never the truth.

We aren’t honest with ourselves about how life truly is.

And so, Lament in its simplest form is expressing sorrow, usually to God.

And so Jeremiah,

most of his life is a season of Lament.

Jeremiah has a rough job in life, tell everyone they’re going to die awful deaths.

And Jeremiah he also doesn’t really like His job or what he’s telling the people.

Check out some of Jeremiah’s talks with God.

He’d be the guy in bible study that you want to ask some qualifying questions of when he got done praying. I’d love to have been in a small group with him.

just example. imagine with me. you’re sitting there, in Sunday school,

you go around the room everyone has something to pray for.

it get’s to Jeremiah and you’re head is bowed. and he starts to pray.

Jeremiah 20:7 ESV

7 O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.

you’re kinda open your eyes and peak out. scoot over just a little bit,

hey buddy, everything all right at home?

But that is Lament right there.

For most of Jeremiah’s life, his world is turned upside down, no one listens to him. he is mocked by his friends, if he really even has any.

So look around at us, this world is broken right? small scale. Look at the news right now.

It’s almost every day now, someone is being killed in macon, someone some one some where is getting shot, or you know body found.

and we glance over that, just shrug it off.

but look at the world, Europe is on fire, it’s as close to war as it has ever been in the last 80 years, and we don’t know what to do.

we look at our own lives, and everyone in here is feeling some sort of hurt.

bad things are happening to people, to people we love and care about.

and we will sit there and ask God, why? we cannot see how some of these things are a part of the plans you have made. for out good?

I know there are a lot of you in here hurting for their friends and family.

and you are asking God why, if you’re good, why is there so much suffering?

and we ask these questions, God where are you?

and our questioning sometimes turns to anger and we get angry with God.

We get angry with God. and that’s okay.

That is Jeremiah. he get’s angry with God.

and that is where we find lament.

Lament finds us when we have emotions towards God that we normally wouldn’t want to have, or feel like we should not have.

and let me tell you, we serve a big God, and he can handle our questioning and emotions. He created emotions, and so if you are angry at God, tell him. pray some of these prayers in Jeremiah

Friendships gone bad, bring it to God. Family member died senselessly, bring it God. Home life is rough, bring it to God.

This is where we find Lament. This is where Lament finds us.

This is what Lament is, bringing our emotions, bringing our suffering to God.

Lament is where we look at God and ask Him, why? if you have these plans for me, why this?

CS Lewis has a great quote about God’s plans for us, and really how we lament.

He writes, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

That is lament — wondering how painful the best is going to be.

So I have a few things I want you to see about Lament. As we start this series on Lament. I don’t want you to tune out because it Lamentations or because it might be sad, or what ever. Stick with me.

Lament is a gift and gives us a voice

So the first thing I want you to see is that Lament is a gift and Lament gives us a voice.

And I know that sounds like I’m crazy.

But Lament is a gift that the Lord gives us. The Lord has given us a place to express ourselves to Him.

and think about that, The Almighty God of all things has created a way for you to try and get your point across to Him. God almighty has created a way for you to express yourself to him. He didn’t have to. He could have told us to bottle that right up and suppress that until it kills us of stress. and he wold have been just in doing so.

But He didn’t, he created a space for us. He invites us to come to his table angry and and upset. He invites us to come sit with Him and eat when we don’t feel like it. He invites us to sit beside Him and ask Him why. Lament is a gift, Lament is an invitation to see God for who He is. to know God deeper.

Jeremiah has written his whole book, plus the book of Lamentations. In his Lament is is asking God why, he is expressing to God how he feels. and not to get ahead but he sees God working through the end and asking God to restore him, and that he may join Him.

Lament is a discipline

So Lament is a gift, but Lament is also a spiritual discipline.

Look around the world, see its decay and its brokenness.

Too often we are desensitized to the decay of the world, to the brokenness around us, to how bad the world really is.

Think about it, even in just the media we consume, we consume so much news everyday that our ancestors would have gone crazy, and we are kinda going crazy. a news cycle is now like 3 hours? if that, where it used to be day, or a week.

But we see the news and it is just full of sin and brokenness, death and destruction. Rarely is there good news to be found. Like after we are done here, pull up Fox, CNN, BBC, New York Time, WMAZ, where ever you get your news, and just read the headlines, anything good there in the front page? or is it just awful?

and what do we do? We just close the app. We just brush it off, give it the ole, Meh.

So how do we lament? Look around, we have to become aware of the world. We have become desensitized to brokenness.

Have you heard the way you boil a frog? Slowly turn up the water temp til he’s dead

thats us

If we stop noticing the brokenness then we can’t join the lord in the restoration of the world.

See lament centers us — lament opens our eyes to what breaks the heart of the Lord.

Lament opens our eyes to what is broken in this world.

When we lament, ask the Lord to break your heart for what breaks His, ask Him how you can join in His mission to restore all things.

Lament brings us to the table to join God in his mission of restoration.

Lament gives us Hope

So Lament is a spiritual discipline, Lament is a Gift and invitation. Next thing we need to see is Lament breeds Hope.

Stay with me, because we just read all about Jeremiah’s live , and that was pretty hopeless. it’s bleed

But if we look through the whole book, we see Jeremiah long and hope for restoration. This is the story of the bible.

this is the story of God and His people. to redeem and restore. yes God knows the plans, some of those plans are going to be no fun, they will cause us to lament.

But the Lord from day one was planing to redeem and restore the brokenness of the world.

Lament wakes us up to the reality that the world is truly broken, and lament wakes us up to the reality that we serve a mighty all powerful God who has a plan to redeem and restore the world.

That we can join him in His mission of restoration and redemption of all things.

Christ is with us in suffering and is the hope we cling to

So Lament a Gift, Discipline, and Hope. the last thing i want us to see is the hope Lament brings us is embodied in Christ.

Christ is with us in our suffering and with us in our lament and is the hope that we cling to.

The author of Hebrews tell us that in Christ we have an empathetic High Priest, one who has lamented with and for us. We have seated at the right hand, a Savior who knows what it is like to suffer as we do and more.

in the Gospels, we see Jesus as he approaches Jerusalem, he echo’s Jeremiah, and begin to weep, begin to lament over the city because he knew that one day, destruction was coming to the city, by the hands of the Romans, and two, the Jewish people were going to miss who he was.

what’s when I was in Israel a few months ago, I got to see the exactly what Jesus was talking about. I got to go to the western wall, which is the holiest site in Judaism because about 40 years after Jesus wept over the city, it was destroyed, and the temple demolished, and so the reason a wall in Jerusalem is so important is because it is as close as they can get to the original holy of holies. Jesus’s prophecy came true and people today are still wailing at the wall looking for a messiah and they missed him 2000 years ago.

Christ knows what it means to lament, and ask God, why.

In the Garden Jesus asks The Father, if there is another way, let that happen. Of Course there was no other way for God’s plan of redemption and restoration to come about. Christ had to Die.

But Christ did not only just die, Christ was raised. that is where our hope is.

Christ was raised and from that point on is redeeming and restoring the world through the mission of His people. and we get to join in with that. We get to be a people who has hope.

We have the Hope that if Christ can raise from the dead, God can restore all things, if he can restore Christ to life, he can restore this world to glory. The new heaven and the new earth are coming. the kingdom is at hand and is now here.

One day we will lament no longer and our hope will become reality.

So what do we do from here?

if you are a follower of Christ

Look around us, ask the lord to show you what breaks His heart, and find a way to join Him in the mission of restoration.

Do this, bring your emotions and your question to God, he’s a big God and can handle you not being happy with Him sometimes, bring them and see if He does not sit beside you.

Do not lose sight of the Hope we have, for we are not a people who have no hope, no, we are the only people have hope that cannot be taken.

Let that hope fill you let that hope move you. Share that hope with the world. Share the good news of the hope we have.

For those of you in here who may not be a follower of christ, can I tell you that with out Christ, you have no hope. you may think you have hope, but there is none. Without Christ, the book of lament stops at sadness.

but the good news is that, Christ died for you. Christ died so that you can live and join Him in the mission of restoration and one day you will be his people and He will be your God.

the Good news is that Christ is restoring all things and he wants to restore you. I’m not saying suffering will end, honestly, suffering might increase, but you will have a hope that will one day become reality.

Your lament will turn to joy and your ashes to beauty.

So consider your life with hope and without hope.

if there is anyone who needs to pray or talk, come see me, or find a friend, . but Come see Christ as Lord, Come see Christ as King.

Pray with me