Be Prepared Series

Be Prepared

Text: John 16:1-4

When I was a kid my parents let me watch Saturday morning cartoons. I watched Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, the Flintstones… but my favorite was G.I. Joe… G.I Joe was full of action, and excitement, and danger. And at the end of each episode, there was always a little lesson, and one of the characters on the G.I. Joe team would teach the lesson and then they’d say, “So now you know… and knowing is half the battle.” Later on I learned that this was actually an adaptation of a quote from Cervantes book “Don Quixote” – “Forewarned – Forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory.”… and even later I learned that he was quoting a Latin phrase from the time of the Romans.

In the Boy Scouts, the motto was “Be Prepared.” And again, in order to be adequately prepared, you have to have at least some knowledge of what might happen… or what might potentially come your way.

And in our text this morning, we’re going to see that Jesus held to this philosophy as well…

He wanted His disciples to be ready for what lay ahead of them.

We are in John, chapter 16, and this morning, we’re looking at verses 1-4 (READ John 16:1-4).

Now, before I get to the text, I want you to think about how important it is to be prepared, especially with what could happen in just a few days. One party’s candidate is going to be declared our next President of the United States. One party wins, the other party loses. But depending on what news source you listen to… and where you get your information from… you might be prepared for the outcome… or you might be totally taken by surprise by the outcome. So, if people have a whole lot of expectations, and then those expectations turn out completely different than what they thought – that’s where you can see some real problems develop.

And this isn’t just true in politics… it’s true in every sphere of life. Judas had certain expectations concerning the Messiah. They weren’t informed by Scripture, but rather by his twisted understanding of Scripture… and as it dawned on him that Jesus wasn’t going to fulfill those expectations, he betrayed Jesus and sold Him out for 30 pieces of silver.

And throughout the history of Christianity, there are people who fell into this same trap… They heard that Jesus was a certain way, or that He did certain things… that His sole purpose was to give them their best life now… or some other thing. They formulated ideas in their minds… Again, not based on the clear teaching of Scripture, but their own vain imaginations, or from the teachings of false teachers and false prophets…. But then that thing didn’t happen… whether it was healing, or prosperity, or God jumping when they said “Jump”… and instead of repenting, and going back to Scripture and seeing where THEY missed it, they blame God… they walk away… They show that the Jesus they were believing in wasn’t actually the Jesus we read about in the Bible.

But again, Jesus doesn’t want that to happen… that’s why He says in John 16:1, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.”

So, what things did He say to them? Well… what we looked at last Sunday from John 15 – “The world is going to hate you… the world is going to persecute you… the world is your enemy, not your friend… and if it is your friend, that’s a pretty good marker that you’re not following Jesus as you should.” That’s what He is referring to here in verse 1 when He says, “All these things.” In other words, Jesus wants us to be forewarned, so that we can be forearmed…

And this isn’t the only place that He does this… in-fact; we could probably say that the whole book of Revelation is the same sort of thing… Or Matthew 24 & 25… And other places in Scripture. He doesn’t want us taken off guard, or to develop some false expectations about what it means to follow Him and be His disciple.

So, let me ask you once again, what should we expect as people who have trusted Christ as Savior and Lord?

The answer is hatred! Persecution! And possibly even death. That is our reasonable expectation… and all the good we receive is God’s grace, mercy and goodness. But Jesus says it – “In this world you will have trouble…”. And this goes beyond the trouble that everyone in this fallen world faces… everyone in the world, whether they are a believer or not faces the consequences of sin in the world. All of us are going to have our fair share of disappointments, and heartache, and troubles… But Jesus is talking about active hatred against us as Christians.