Commencement Address

REVEREND RANDY POPE

It’s a great privilege to be with you today. I am going to begin with a discouraging prediction. Considering the limited time, I’m going to jump right to it. Do you realize that between four and ten years from now there will be many of you, who are now Christ-followers, that will choose not to follow Him? That’s what statistics show of churchgoing graduates from high school. Sixty percent of graduates, when they graduate from high school, will quit going to church. I wonder why that is? Why would they be Christ-followers, and then suddenly decide to not follow Christ?

I’m going to suggest that in part, it’s because of something that will happen in your lives. We’re going to become discouraged with God, disappointed with Him. Some of us will even be angry with God. That can be reasonable because of shattered dreams. Whether it be the death of a loved one or your personal circumstances. Somewhere along the line most of us are challenged in a very extensive way to ask “Can I trust God? Do I really want to follow a God that would allow this to happen to me?” You are a group of students that have been taught well, and you know that our God is a sovereign God. He can do whatever He chooses to do. So why does He choose to let us go through pain, suffering, and heartache? All the hardships you can think of, I’d put them under an umbrella of what I call the three most unwanted gifts from God.

Number one is what I call simple suffering. Be aware that any suffering you are going through, assuming you’re a Christian, is not a punishment from God. Consequences, perhaps, but not a punishment. In fact, God never promised a follower of Christ that because you follow Him, you are never going to have any problems. In fact, the opposite is promised in scripture. Listen to what Jesus says in John 16: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Peter, in 1 Peter 4, says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” You see, suffering is something God uses to get us to a destiny that we would never have chosen on our own. Listen to what James 1 says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Here’s the psalmist David in Psalm 119, “It is good for me that I was afflicted that I may learn your statutes.” A lot of your peers, maybe some of you, are going to say “I don’t buy that. God would never inflict his loved ones with pain.” But oh, how little do we understand.

I spent a good bit of time with one of my dear friends who is 15 years younger than me. Cancer has eaten him up and has left him in pain for the rest of his life—however long that life is going to be. I watched him as tears rolled down his face as we had dinner. He looked at me and said, “The greatest thing God has ever done for me was to give me cancer. I praise His name like never before. And if I could have this cancer taken away, and lose what’s happened in my heart, I would say absolutely not.” Remember the number one unwanted gift is simple suffering.

Number two is weakness. This is how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 12, “But he said to me, ‘my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Does anybody want to be weak? No, we want to be the strongest. We hate weakness. We despise it. We fight against it. We deny it. The Apostle Paul knows a lot more than we do about what it means to walk with God. This was so hard for me to understand as a young man. God called me into a profession that I am very weak in. I’ve been preaching for 40 years, and I can’t tell you how difficult it is to prepare and deliver a message.

You don’t know the weakness that I experience when I stand up to speak. I never find myself wanting to go somewhere to speak. I feel like the person who has a fear of heights, and God says walk to the edge of this big canyon and look down. But God says to me week after week, “Lean forward and flap your arms. You’ll be okay.” And it keeps happening, time and time again. I am so thankful for my weakness as it allows God’s strength to be displayed.

The third and final gift is denied abundance. This means God denies us the abundance that we desire. Proverbs 30:7-8 says this, “Two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me.” He asks that lies and deception not be a part of his life. But listen to the next one. “Give me neither poverty. Okay, got that one. Nor riches. Don’t give me riches. He asks to be fed with the food that is good for him. He asks to be given only what he needs. I thought, at first, that maybe God was saying it’s wrong to have abundance. No, it’s not wrong. God is going to give a lot to some, and He is going to give less to others.

But here’s the answer, and you remember this for a lifetime. If you are seeking after riches - you should understand that being rich is not just having a lot of money. It is also good health, intelligence, family, and faith. It’s being a superstar pastor, and it’s being an incredible business leader. He who shows the loving-kindness of God in everything he does, will be a wise one. Psalm 107:43 says, “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”

So, what are you going to do with these three unexpected gifts? You may see them as your enemy, something to fight. Or, by faith, you may welcome them. And people may wonder how you’re able to welcome simple suffering, weakness, and denied abundance. You can be quick to give glory to the One who enables you to do that. Because of the gospel—the good news of Christ—God can change our hearts. And He will take those three unexpected gifts and shape you into everything you ever hoped you could be.

Let’s pray. Father in heaven, I pray for these young folks. Bless them and use them. I pray they would have the wisdom that only comes from knowing you. That when they experience suffering, when they experience weakness, when they experience denied abundance, they would keep hanging on to the truth of your word and trust you for the good things yet to come. We pray in the wonderful and matchless name of Christ our Savior, Amen.