Missions and You

As our missions conference continues this week at Boothbay Baptist Church I've been challenged to consider our role as God's missionaries in this community.  After Eric Brown's visit tonite and Fay Christy's concert on Saturday, I'll be preaching next week on Matthew 9:35-38. This paragraph is "tucked in" to Matthews Gospel between a series of miracles that Jesus did, and his discourse as he sends out the disciples to preach and to heal.  Four verses, but there is so much here!  The attitude of Jesus as he considers the world, the condition of those who don't yet know Him, and the command He gives his disciples in light of the need.  Duane's message on Sunday, and the evaluation we received from the Ministry Mapping team have me asking myself, am I moved with compassion in view of the need in our community?  Do I see my neighbors as Jesus sees them?  Am I willing to be available, even if it means sacrificing, to reach out to them with the love of Christ?  Are you?  May we prepare our hearts together to hear from Him as our missions conference continues.

God's Undercover Missionaries

This week I didn't preach - and I heard one of the most timely and relevant messages I've heard in a while as Missionary Duane Mansveld from Missions Door shared about the work he and his wife Miriam are doing on the streets of Montreal. This is the link to the audio of his message:
 http://boothbaybaptist.com/~boothbay/media.php

     When we were planning the visit of our ministry mapping team (last week) we already had the dates for our missions conference set.  I am always blessed to see how God in His sovereignty puts things together and amazed that His timing is always right.  The ministry mapping team challenged us to be more missional in intentionally reaching into our community.  Duane reinforced that message: that is what he and Miriam have been trying to do in Montreal, and that is what we must do here in Boothbay.  Do we see our neighbors as Jesus sees them?  Are we conscious of the fact that we have been placed where we are by God as a part of his missionary plan?
 
     Father, please, give me, give us, a heart to love our neighbors as you do, an awareness of the presence of your Spirit to empower us to reach out to them, the faith to trust you to accomplish your purpose through us and in us, the boldness to give a reason for the hope that is in us.  To God be the glory, Amen.

Ministry Mapping - A Shepherd's initial reactions

Someone said as they were leaving church yesterday afternoon, "That was a bit like trying to take a sip of water out of a fire hose!"  We were certainly given a lot to consider, think about, and pray over.  One thing is certain: how we respond to this weekend's visit will have a profound impact on the future direction of our church.  My first concern however, is to temper the condensed and necessarily direct flood of assessment and information, with my perspective as one of the Lord's under shepherds entrusted with the care, protection, leading, and feeding of the "flock" here in Boothbay.  I know you, the people of Boothbay Baptist Church. I know that you love God, love each other, and hurt for the unsaved in our sphere of influence. If there is a lack of focus and vision in terms of growing in our walk with the Lord and being effective in His mission, that has to be a reflection on leadership (meaning me!), so please don't be discouraged by anything we have heard.  I will be discussing and assessing what was shared with the elders and other leaders of the church as we determine where we go from here. Please continue to be in prayer as we seek to hear what God would teach us through this process. As your brother and co-worker in Christ let me share with you the words of Paul in Philippians 1:3-6...   "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,  always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,   for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,  being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..."

The Lord's Prayer: Part 1 John 17

The Lord’s Prayer: To God be the Glory!

John 17:1-5

Introduction: If I were to ask you the Lord’s prayer most of you could recite it. In some traditions its referred to as the “Our Father,” as it begins with those words in the English language.

 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.  ¹² And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.  ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. (Matthew 6:9-13).

But there Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray. The most extensive example of a prayer of Jesus himself is found here, in John 17. Some commentators from the past have made a point of the depth, eloquence, and beauty of this chapter. On the surface it is a kind of transitional chapter, as it echoes some of the themes Jesus has been teaching his disciples in the preceding discourse, and also anticipates the unfolding story of His betrayal, passion, and resurrection to follow.

·        John Knox said, “The 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, is, without doubt, the most remarkable portion of the most remarkable book in the world…”

·        Melanchthon, the reformer said: “There is no voice which has ever been heard, either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy, , more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer offered up by the Son of God himself.”

·        J.C. Ryle said, “The chapter we have now begun is the most remarkable in the Bible.  It stands alone, and there is nothing like it.” 

We’ll take three weeks to look at this chapter as we see Jesus praying for himself (and his mission and the Father’s glory), for his disciples, and for all subsequent believers (including us!).

     Some people have such intimate fellowship with the Father, aren't you just blessed to pray with them?  I've had several such acquaintances through the years. What a profound privilege it is to listen in, as the Lord Jesus Christ himself prays to the Father.  What a convicting thought to consider that Jesus found prayer necessary yet we so easily see it as something that we can fall back on as a last resort when there is nothing else we can do.  Have you ever said, “well I can’t really do anything, at least I can pray!” That is the foundation that should under gird every choice, every action of our Christian life. First and most importantly we should pray, and then God will often allow us to be part of the answer as we put feet on our prayers to act.

The Big Idea: Jesus prayed to the Father, submitting to His will and seeking His glory. Because of Him, we who are in Christ can and should do the same.

I. JESUS SET AN EXAMPLE OF PRAYER (17:1). We’ve seen several times in this section of John Jesus inviting his disciples to pray, and assuring them that the Father would hear and answer. Now He teaches by example…

Think of it, Jesus prayed: “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven…” We have examples throughout the gospels of exactly this same truth: Jesus, during his earthly ministry, regularly and consistently spent time in prayer. He prayed before every key event and action of his life.  Often we are simply told that he prayed, this is one prayer that is reported in some detail, but it is exactly that kind of intimate, personal, communion with the Father that Jesus experienced. The obvious question for us: if it was important for Jesus to pray, how much more important and necessary is it for us to pray?

Secondly, notice that Jesus prayed to the Father: “…lifted his eyes toward heaven, and said, ‘Father’…”  When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He also instructed them to pray to the Father: “Our Father in Heaven…”  John in his Gospel presupposes a right understanding of God: Father, Son, and Spirit. We sing it most weeks in the Doxology: “Praise God from whom all blessing flow, praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”   It is important to remember that Jesus never speaks of His relationship with the Father as being the same as that of his followers to the Father. He is uniquely “THE SON,” not merely a son or a child of God in the same sense that we are. 

Jesus prayed that the Father’s plan would be accomplished in His life in the Father’s time:  “Father, the hour has come…”  Repeatedly in John we’ve been reminded that the clock was ticking, “it was not yet His hour” but “the hour was approaching.” God had a plan that had to be fulfilled. It was necessary. It included the Cross.  Remember in the disciples’ prayer Jesus said we should pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…”  The hour has been approaching as the cross draws nearer.  A key transitional verse was John 13:1  “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved…” Jesus was fully submitted to and committed to the Father’s plan.

Jesus prayed that God might be glorified in Him and through Him “…glorify Your Son that Your Son may glorify You…” For Jesus to be “glorified” in John, He would be lifted up – “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up…”  John repeatedly echoes that paradoxical truth, the double entendre of the “lifting up” of the Son. It anticipates his physical “lifting up” on the cross but also views that act as His exaltation, as the Scriptures are fulfilled and the unfolding events vindicate his claim to be the Messiah.

Now remember the context: Jesus has spoken to his disciples about the hatred of the world that would inevitably come, and the certainty of trouble and tribulation that would surely be experienced. He was going to the cross, but even as He called his disciples He cautioned them to consider the cost: “If anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me…” 

The Father is glorified as Jesus exercises His authority to save: “…your Son also may glorify you…” As the Father’s plan is carried out in human history, He will be glorified. Some of the manuscripts end the “disciples’ prayer” with the doxology, “Yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.”  Jesus prayed to the Father submitting to His will and seeking His glory. Because of Him, we who are in Christ can and should do the same.

II. THOUGH HE HAS ALL AUTHORITY, JESUS PRAYED:  “… even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life” (17:2). Jesus will say to his disciples after the resurrection, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples…” Think about this context, He has all authority and we are called on to pray in Jesus name! That truth was stated prophetically in Psalm 2:8 were the Lord said to the anointed: “Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.” Also remember, He has all authority, and we are invited to ask in His name:

  Jn 14:13-14  "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ‘If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

  Jn 15:7-8  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  ⁸ "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

  Jn 15:16  "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

  Jn 16:23-24  Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.  ²⁴ "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

     If praying means asking the Father in the name of Jesus, the one who has all authority in Heaven and on Earth, one truth Jesus is urging on His disciples (and on us!) is to pray! This is not an invitation to look at God as an Amazon.com gift card with an inexhaustible balance.  Prayer is related to God’s mission, and God’s mission is about people and ultimately the glory of God.  As His mission is carried out the gospel is preached, the elect believe, disciples are built up, and God receives the Glory.  And if Jesus prayed to the Father submitting to His will  and seeking His glory how much more should we?  And because of Him we who are in Christ can and should do the same.

III. JESUS PRAYED, AND OFFERS US A LIVING RELATIONSHIP THAT WILL GIVE US IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THE FATHER: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (17:3).

             The language here is clear: the heart of the life that God has offered us through faith in Christ is an authentic, personal, relationship with God. Knowing the Father, through the Son.  In Portuguese I had trouble at first distinguishing two different verbs that were used to translate the English word “to know.” One had the sense of knowing the facts about something, the other was more about “knowing personally, intimately.” That is what this context is referring to. Not just knowing the facts about God, but knowing Him personally, being in a real relationship with Him.

            Knowing the Father, and the Son are connected once again.  “That they may know you, and Jesus Christ, who you have sent…” The word choice here translated “sent” is the verb, apostello, “sent (with a mission).” Jesus came not simply to visit us, but He had a mission to accomplish. Another reminder that the pinnacle of that mission was at hand as His hour, the hour of His lifting up, was at hand.  This is the Jesus who prayed to the Father, submitting to His will and seeking His glory. Because of Him, we who are in Christ can and should do the same.

IV. JESUS PRAYED, AND HE DID THE WORK THAT WILL ALLOW US TO APPROACH THE THRONE: “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (17:4).  Some work was still future. But an unalterable chain of events had already been set in motion. Judas had gone out, betrayal, arrest, a mockery of a trial, injustice, and yes, substitution and redemption would soon follow.  From the Cross He would finally say, “It is finished…” TETELESTAI – the word which was stamped on receipts and contracts when a debt had been paid in full and an obligation satisfied. That part was still future, but it was an assured fact. Jesus had been faithful, sinless, revealing truth and grace, and because of Him, we too can approach the throne. Not because of what I am, but because of what you’ve done, not because of what I’ve done, but because of who you are. Its all about Him and what He has done.  This is the Jesus who prayed to the Father, submitting to His will and seeking His glory. Because of Him, we who are in Christ can and should do the same.

V. THOUGH HE SHARED THE FATHER’S GLORY, JESUS PRAYED:  “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (17:5).

     This speaks to the unique identity of Jesus, and his eternal relationship with the Father. The reader of the Gospel encountered this truth before even hearing the name of Jesus: John 1:1-2  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ² He was in the beginning with God.” Eternal God, God the Son, became a human and dwelt for awhile among us. The One who spoke and created the universe humbled himself, taking the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men. And he prayed. Will you?

What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus prayed to the Father, submitting to His will and seeking His glory. Because of Him, we who are in Christ can and should do the same.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Pray… In this world of trouble, we come to the Father, in the Name of the Son, submitting to His will, seeking His glory.      

• We are to pray for those in authority.
•   We are to pray for God’s mission to be carried out in the world.
•   We are to pray for the mission field to which we are sent, those in our sphere of influence. Have you identified some people around you, family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, for whom you can pray? Commit to praying for them daily, and ask God to give you an opportunity to give a reason for the hope that is in you.
• Consider hosting a “viewing party” for the Bible mini-series event on the History Channel on Sunday evenings in the month of March. Free party hosting kits are available at www.bibleparties.com

                                                                                                                        Amen.

The Path to Joy: Walking in Love, Faith, and Hope

The Path to Joy: Love, Faith, Hope

John 16:24-33

Introduction:  The passage we’ll be looking at today is one I planned to preach on last Sunday.  It’s been often said, “man plans, and God laughs!”  He clearly had another message He wanted us to hear last week and I’m thankful that Jim Beliasov was ready to give it. Some folks had their plans changed again this week while they waited for weather conditions to improve enough to make travel safe.  God has a plan for us that we have seen alluded to in this gospel.  Jesus wants His disciples to experience true joy – and as He is preparing them for what will be a painful transition. He lays out in these verses some key attitudes that will enable them (and us) to experience the joy that He wants for us even when the path takes an unexpected turn.  We sometimes can get the impression from people that God must be a “cosmic killjoy” – we are always talking about the things He doesn’t want us to do!  God does want to save us from destructive and harmful behaviors that will ruin our relationships or destroy our bodies.  Psalm 1 begins with a statement that makes it clear that real happiness is what God wants for us, and it is not found in going the way of the world:

“Blessed [happy] in the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in His Law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1,2).

 Remember what Jesus said in John 10, “I am come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly…”  That’s his desire for us, joyful, purposeful, fullness of life: the abundant life.  Joy in the Lord is a part of His plan for us, but what does that mean?  One preacher said “…joy is fun without the hangover…”  Maybe, but that doesn’t go far enough.   Consider the context! How can we experience joyful living, when even this context makes it clear that we are going to experience hatred from the world if we follow Jesus?  How can we have joy if we are going to pass through trials and tribulation? Paul said “…now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (I Cor 13:13). Jesus alludes to these same three attitudes as He describes the path to joy that He will lay out for his followers. 

The Big Idea: True joy is found in loving God, taking Him at His word, and trusting in His promises, both for today and for our tomorrow.

I. The Path to Joy begins with the love of God (24-27a).  “…the Father himself loves you because you have loved me…”  It’s hard to pick out a single over-riding concept that John has chosen to emphasize, but one of his “big ideas” is set forth repeatedly in the Gospel of John and emphasized again in his first epistle: God loves us, and because He first loved us we should love Him and love each other.

            First, let’s take a look at the context: Jesus sets forth a key to experiencing a joyful, joy filled, life in a world full of suffering: prayer to the Father, through the Son (24). “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy will be full (or complete).”   In a world marked by hatred and trouble God’s desire for us is that we experience fullness of joy. Prayer sets the stage for that experience. 

       Praying in the name of Jesus is not about merely tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name, amen” on the end of our prayers. It is consciously recognizing that we are in Christ, and on the basis of His righteousness we have been reconciled to God, and so embracing the privilege of approaching the throne, knocking, seeking, asking.   As we do that we will have joy, because our will and our asking will be conformed to His will. We will want more and more what He wants. Because He has loved us, and we know He has loved us, we love Him, and we come, seeking and asking in Jesus name.

             The Love of God is the foundation for all of this (v.27): “For the Father himself loves you and you have loved me…”  This theme has been important in John’s Gospel, as it also is in his first epistle. Almost sixty times some form of the English word “love” appears in the gospel.  The two different Greek words that John uses don’t seem to be strictly differentiated. In general we can say that agapao, speaks of love that is based on choice, on commitment to a relationship, phileo has more of the idea of his familial affection for us.  That’s the root that is used here in this context.  He not only has chosen us to be His children (see I John 3:1), He has genuine fatherly affection for us.  Not all of us experienced that from our human fathers. But God’s love is true and eternal and it never fails.

      Of course it’s not only John’s Gospel but the entire salvation story that is based on God’s love: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…”  (John 3:16a). That love of God for us is so transformational that John has said twice that "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  ³⁵ "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35; cf. 15:17). 

        In his first epistle in almost every chapter he touches on the subject of love. In 1 John 4:7-21 it is clear that the foundation is God’s love for us. Our response is to love him, and to love one another.

1 John 4:10-11 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

1 John 4:19-21 “We love Him because He first loved us.  ²⁰ If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?  ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”

Friends, we can’t overemphasize the importance of what Jesus is saying here.  We choose to love each other because God has loved us. But that’s not all. We are a family. Which means we care for each other and watch out for each other, and bear one another’s burdens. As we spend time together and invest in each other’s lives we also grow in our fileo love, we develop genuine, sincere affection for one another. We’re a family! And that is part of the Father’s provision for us to experience real joy, a rejoicing in the big picture that let’s us get past the burdens of the moment.   True joy is found in loving God and each other! It also  means taking Him at His word, and trusting in His promises, both for today and for our tomorrow.

II. The Path to Joy is grounded in faith, taking God at His Word (27b-32). “…we believe that You came forth from God…” Faith is another key idea that John writes about.  It includes affirming the true doctrines that God has revealed (that might be called intellectual faith). That is important and necessary. There are absolutes and God’s word is true. It also means trusting him, and submitting to his Lordship in our lives. James drove this idea home when he said “You believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe, and tremble.”  This summer we hope to have a Sunday School class on “What we believe.” Each week we’ll take a different statement from our church’s doctrinal statement and analyze it in the light of Scripture, and then ask “What difference does this make in my life?”

            Faith is one of the key interests of John in writing his account of the life of Jesus.  We’ve referred many times to the statement he makes at the end of chapter 20, “Many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. These have been written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name.” It’s the same word that was used in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

      The NIV starts v.31 with an exclamation from Jesus, “You believe at last!”  Since there were no punctuation marks in the ancient Greek manuscripts, it could be possible in this context to read a question, “Do you finally believe?” After all they had seen and heard the disciples finally have come to believe a fundamental truth: Jesus is who He claimed to be:  “…you have believed that I came forth from the Father…” Here the language is in the Greek tense that indicates a past action with continuing results. Jesus came from the Father and was now with them. In the context of John’s gospel this is saying not only that they affirm his pre-existence, but also have come to recognize his deity. He is the Son of God.  They have come to a correct, albeit partial understanding, an accurate (but still incomplete) faith in who Jesus is.  But part of what He had been teaching was yet to “sink in.”

      The disciples still don’t understand all that Jesus is saying. They repeat: in John 16:30 “…By this we believe that You came forth from God.” That is correct, but notice that Jesus is consistently referring to “the Father” while the disciples simply say he came from “God.” Jesus has been revealing the Trinity to the disciples, but that are not quite ready to receive that truth. He taught them about the coming Comforter, the Father, and also revealed His own deity clearly and repeatedly. That is something they would be able to put together only later.

     But what about the second thing Jesus said, “Again, I leave the world and go to the Father" (John 16:28). They don’t even mention that, it’s as if they didn’t hear it – certainly they didn’t yet understand and believe it. After the resurrection their eyes, ears, and minds would be opened and Jesus’ teaching “pre-cross” would strengthen their faith (and ours!) in that day!  

            One point here for us is that Jesus’ word is absolutely reliable. The Word of God is true, we can take God at His Word! To believe the Word we have to hear the Word: Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. That means reading the Bible consistently and persistently. It means taking in its teaching and engaging our minds and hearts in what it says. We should “long for the pure milk of the Word that we might grow thereby…” (I Peter 2:2). True joy is found in loving God, taking Him at His word, and trusting in His promises, both for today and for our tomorrow. Because we love God and believe Him, we look ahead confidently, expectantly. That is hope.

III. The Path to Joy means abiding in Hope, confidently expecting victory in Jesus (33).  “…in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble…” The word “hope” does not appear in these verses, but the concept permeates it. In fact it permeates this entire context. “Hope” in the biblical sense is not wishing for something that you know probably won’t happen.  On the contrary, hope is a confident expectation about the future based on God’s revealed truth. One of the key purposes of this entire discourse is that Jesus wants his disciples to have hope, even when it seems that the world is falling apart around them. Have you ever experienced a season in your life when you were overwhelmed with hopelessness and despair? I have been there: desperate, near the point of giving up, unable to see the truth.  Jesus was right there, waiting for me to open my eyes and to take His hand.

            Although we live in a world in rebellion against God, we can have peace, what Paul would call “a peace that passes understanding,” a peace that goes beyond circumstances, because we are “in Christ.”

            “In the world you will have trouble (tribulation)…” Jesus did not hide the truth from his disciples – he did everything possible to prepare them for what they would encounter. Trouble would come, but have peace, be of good cheer, because He, Jesus, has overcome the world. Jesus wins! If God is for us, who can stand against us! Paul knew this truth when he said “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!”

What is God saying to me in this passage? True joy is found in loving God, taking Him at His word, and trusting in His promises, both for today and for our tomorrow.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? The truth of this passage is not a easy one that you simply affirm and do. It’s a path we walk, a way life that we grow into. We all want to be happy, we look in the wrong places, God promises us JOY if we’ll love Him, believe His Word, and confidently hope in His promises.     AMEN

Thanks Pastor Jim Beliasov!

I was sick last week, and started on an antibiotic only on Friday. I called Jim B. who is retired pastor and member of our church, but out preaching many weekends. My request was that if the church he was scheduled to preach at cancelled because of the coming blizzard, would he kindly stand ready to preach for me on Sunday if I was not able.  We spoke again on Saturday, and since I was still not feeling better I asked him to preach for me on Sunday, and he agreed.  God is in control, and the message that was planned for another church was clearly one that God wanted us to hear.  The audio can be accessed through the church's web site at www.boothbaybaptist.com.  It was amazing to me that we had about 70% of our normal winter attendance the day after a record breaking storm!  Mainers are a hearty lot and particularly adept at moving snow. They are not about to allow a couple of feet of the white stuff keep them home!
Keep looking up, God willing I'll be back in the pulpit on Sunday.
Pastor Steve

It's Friday, but Sunday is Coming!

[This manuscript varies a bit more than usual from what I actually said on Sunday, so consider more of an explanation of what I was trying to say! SN]

It’s Friday, but Sunday is Coming!

John 16:16-24

Introduction: The clock was ticking, Calvary was approaching. Of course Jesus knows what lies ahead and He is preparing His disciples for a painful transition. Ironically He knew they wouldn’t understand His words until after the resurrection, but even so He taught them so that when the time came they would see that all of this was part of God’s plan. The journey is important to God – He is interested in every step, every bump, every obstacle, along the way.  It’s like the hand of the potter, gently pushing at the spinning lump of clay on the wheel, shaping it, slowly, intentionally, into what He wants it to be.  He promises that there is a plan that He will bring us through, and the end of this story is better than we can possibly imagine.  A thousand years earlier the Psalmist said: “Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).  The night was approaching, but hope would soon dawn! Jesus’ impending departure would bring grief, but God’s unfolding plan would turn that into rejoicing.

The Big Idea: Trouble will come, but take heart, Jesus is with you, and Jesus wins!

I. God isn’t surprised by suffering, so be encouraged, He has a plan! Jesus, once again, predicted His death and resurrection (16-18).

Jesus predicted his departure and promised his return. We read in John 16:16,  "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father." Repeatedly in John we see Jesus knowing what no mere man could know. He knows what people are thinking, what they are planning. He also knows what will happen, and when. Omniscience is an attribute of deity, and in John it’s one more evidence in John that Jesus is who He claimed to be: God the Son.

 It’s important to note that though Jesus knows what will happen, He is not interested in avoiding the Cross. He does not try to find another path, a way to evade the pain ahead.  He is confident that there will be a way not to substitute a joyful situation for a painful one, but rather to transform His approaching pain, his betrayal, rejection and crucifixion, into cause for rejoicing. “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross” (Heb 12:2).

The principle here, according to Wiersbe, is that “God brings joy in our lives, not by substitution, but by transformation.”      

The cross which was an act of unspeakable injustice and pain was transformed by God into something beautiful, a demonstration of God’s love for His sheep.

            Now the disciples are confused by Jesus’ answer, as we read,

“Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"  ¹⁸ They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'? We do not know what He is saying” (John 16:17,18).

No big surprise there!   Repeatedly in John we see the disciples, along with Jesus’ other hearers, misunderstanding what He was saying. But we shouldn’t be too hard on them.  The main point seems pretty clear to me, but even after 2000 years, with the benefit of looking back on how the story actually unfolds, commentators still aren’t in full agreement about the details!  The first “little while” is almost surely referring to the cross, but some scholars think its talking about the cross in connection with the resurrection and ascension. So the disciples are to be saddened because soon Jesus will be gone. It’s the departure that is linked to the coming of the Comforter in the preceding context. The second “little while” would then be either His presence with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost or his return in glory.  I take it a little differently. I think first he is referring specifically to the Cross – that will surely bring confusion, mourning, even despair. The second “little while” is the resurrection – which, yes, is inseparably linked to his second coming and our future resurrection.  After all, Paul says in I Corinthians 15 “Now Christ is raised from the dead, the “first fruits” of those who sleep.”  The “first fruits” is part of the harvest, the eschatological harvest linked to the culmination of God’s plan.  You will sorrow, He tells them, but your sorrow will be turned into joy!

            The good news is that whatever we face, we can be assured of ultimate victory through faith in Christ. He was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief…”  He bore the sin of every human that would one day trust in Him. It seems to me that in Gethsemane, as He prayed to the Father, perspiration falling from his brow like drops of blood, the weight of our sin was already beginning to crush him. The night was approaching, but hope would soon dawn!  Weeping would last for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30:5)!  Jesus’ impending departure would bring grief, but God’s unfolding plan would turn that into rejoicing.  For those who would follow Him, trouble will come.  But take heart, Jesus is with you, and Jesus wins!

II. God knows our struggles and will help us on the path to joy (19-24).  Romans 8:28 is one of those oft quoted verses we can hardly understand: “God causes all things to work together for good…” All things?  Even the times of hardship and suffering, pain and confusion?  How can that be?

             First of we can be encouraged that He knows our confusion when life doesn’t make sense (19). The text says, “Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him…” This is another example of Jesus knowing what his disciples were thinking.   From the first chapter and his encounter with Nathanael: “How do you know me?” and the second chapter when the gospel writer John tells us “He knew what was in men…” and repeatedly through the Gospel we’ve seen the omniscience of Jesus revealed. He knows us, intimately, which means He knows where we are struggling.

            He also understands our pain when life hurts and promises that better times are coming (20-22). “I tell you the truth: you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve…”  Great! Just what we wanted to hear right?  He’ll repeat it again at the end of this chapter, v.33, “In this world you will have trouble…”  He told them the truth. He had already warned them to expect hatred from the world if they chose to follow him.  Now he is explicit: that means trouble is coming for you, along with weeping, mourning, grieving. If you have been a Christ follower for more than five minutes you already know that is true (if perchance you don’t know it yet, take heart, a reality check is surely on the way!).  When I came to Christ the time I had the most difficulty in trusting that God was present and had a plan, was in the midst of tragedy, when loved ones were critically sick and dying.  A younger brother, my five year old nephew, my mother, my dear sister, all died too quickly, too young.  Why God? Why? We all experience those moments. Whether its bad news from the doctor, or the death of a loved one, or struggles in a relationship, Jesus understands our pain.  It is essential that we learn our theology in the light, so that we can trust Him in the darkness. He is there with us, and somehow he promises to do something amazing. He did it in the cross.

            Jesus says to them “You will grieve, but your sorrow will be turned into joy…” Pay attention to what He says and what He doesn’t say.  He doesn’t promise to replace our sorrow with joy, He promises to transform it. Jesus uses the illustration of child birth in this passage. We’ve had a few babies born around here over the last couple of years, by the time we get to see them, it’s all joy!  But that same baby just hours before was giving mama quite a bit of pain! One of our moms who just gave birth had advice for me to pass on to our daughter before she delivered: “I highly recommend an epidural!”  Another dad, shortly after the delivery explained to us, “It really wasn’t that bad.”  His wife looked at him and said “It was bad.”  But the source of that pain is transformed into a source of great joy.  Soon, the joy of a new life is all the matters!

            The disciples were about to pass through a time of confusion, pain, uncertainty, mourning. The cross was coming. Though Jesus had explained it and prophesied it’s coming, they did not understand. But it was through the Cross that God was going to do something glorious!

            One of my favorite quotes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy was actually not in the book. It’s a scene when Sam is talking to Frodo, expressing faith that somehow this story was going to have a great ending:  

Sam: It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something…

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?  

Sam: That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.”

Because of Jesus we know that God has an amazing story He is writing on the stage of human history. It can seem dark and discouraging at times but we can hold onto Him, because He is good, and He promises that the end is going to be better than we can imagine!       

He wants us to learn the principle of prayer and promises that He will answer (23-24).  He wants joy for us! Pray teaches us to acknowledge His sovereignty, to rest in His goodness, to trust in His omniscience. We’ll talk more about this next week, but as we pray we acknowledge

What is God saying to me in this passage? Trouble will come, but take heart, Jesus is with you, and Jesus wins!

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? What is the pressure that you are passing through right now?  Nothing touches us that hasn’t first passed through the hands of our loving heavenly father, nothing. He will transform your suffering into joy. He did it on the Cross. He bore our sorrows and carried our griefs. All of our sin was laid upon Him. In a few minutes we’ll celebrate the Lord’s Table together. The focus is on the cross, on his purposeful, intentional, self-sacrifice. For us!  God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all – how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Whatever we face, whatever our sorrow, He can transform our sorrows into joy. The sufferings of this present world (can be great, but they…) are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.  “It’s Friday… but Sunday is coming!”    AMEN.