Scripture Introduction
When the Apostle Paul taught pastoral ministry to young Timothy, he drew specific attention to preaching to the wealthy: “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1Timothy 6.17-19).
Wealth is a particular danger to Christians because it can buy counterfeits to the spiritual blessings of abiding in Christ. Across the globe, millions suffer without means to purchase escape. That fact should neither paralyze us with guilt nor lead us to throw away God’s blessings from a fabricated grief. It does, however, remind us to beware substituting purchased comforts for spiritual peace and joy.
Someone once quipped: “A Christian is like a tea bag – not much good until it has gone through hot water.” Today, Jesus speaks to us about the hot water – sorrow, tribulation, lament, weeping – in short, suffering in this world as a faithful follower of the Suffering Servant. Before I read the text, however, I wanted to remind you to beware substituting purchased comforts for spiritual peace and joy.
[Read John 16.16-33. Pray.]
Introduction
The faithful missionary, Adoniram Judson, endured untold hardships reaching the lost. When he arrived in Burma in 1812, there was not one known Christian in that land of millions, and he and his wife, Ann, were utterly alone. A baby was soon born, but he alleviated the loneliness for only a short time. Eight months later, Roger William Judson died.
Six years, six long, soul-crushing, heart-breaking years passed before the first convert was baptized on June 27, 1819. Thereafter Burmans were oh so slow to come to faith – finally a second, then three, then six, and on to eighteen.
During one period, Judson was imprisoned for 17 months and horribly mistreated. For the rest of his life he carried the ugly marks made by the chains and iron shackles which had cruelly bound him. Upon release, he asked for permission to resume preaching. The godless ruler indignantly denied his request, saying, “My people are not fools enough to listen to anything a missionary might SAY, but I fear they might be impressed by your SCARS and turn to your religion!”
“Impressed by your scars.” They were, you know. In spite of the opposition of that one man, Judson found his way back into Burma, where he translated the Bible and served the cause of Christ faithfully for 38 years with only one short furlough back to America. He knew tribulation – his wife died on the mission field, as well as three of his children by his second wife. And he had worked and waited six years for his first convert. But some years after his death a government census discovered 210,000 Christians, one out of every fifty-eight Burmans! Today almost 9% of the people claim to be Christians.
I have heard pastors from foreign lands observe that the “health and wealth” gospel could never gain traction in their country, because there is no health and wealth to be had. Some of us, on the other hand, have known such ease that we might assume it must always be. I tell you the truth: God would prepare us for tribulation so that when it comes, we are not undone by it.
1Peter 4.12-13: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”
I am intrigued by the intense pummeling athletes give their bodies. What motivates hours in the weight room, miles running, and demanding workouts? Why does the wealthy quarterback return for another year of bone crushing hits and bruised and battered bodies? Why risk the injury that requires multiple surgeries to again walk? Why? For the chance to lift the champion’s trophy at the Super Bowl.
God understands this drive for the prize. 1Corinthians 9.24: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”
Judson endured the scars for the joy of leading men and women to Christ. I do not know what sorrows you will face. But note well how your Lord prepares you. You are reminded, first, that…
1. Hoping In Christ Brings Sorrow (John 16.20a)
Jesus repeats the word, “Truly,” in order to add emphasis. “Write this down,” he could have said, or “Mark my words,” or, “Know this for certain – you will weep and lament.” The absence of the Lord, even with the unshakable certainty of his return, is a real sorrow.
Some people imagine that those who faithfully serve God walk a path strewn with roses. Such is never promised: “The way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7.14). There is a suffering which must be shared by those who would know the Suffering Servant.
But do not expect everyone to grieve with you. While you suffer for the cause of Christ Jesus – even because you suffer for his name – those who hate God will be pleased by your pain. Consider well the treatment Jesus received from the rulers and soldiers, even the passersby to the cross: they mocked him, they scorned him, they derided him. They dressed him as a pretend king and laughed at him as they beat him. A servant is not greater than his master. They persecuted Jesus; they will also persecute his followers. In this world you will have tribulation. Hoping in Christ brings sorrow. But also know that…
2. Hoping In Christ Results in Joy (John 16.20b-22)
“Present grief, future gladness” is a theme God often teaches us. In this paragraph, our Lord says it, then illustrates with the joy that follows the pain of childbirth, then says the same again. There are other Scriptures:
Psalm 30.5: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Psalm 30.11: “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.” This is a work of the Spirit, not a change in circumstances.
Matthew 5.4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Or the profound statement of faith from the weeping prophet, Jeremiah who grieved over a people as no other preacher ever had. Lamentations 3.13-24: “He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Please note this – in every example I have shown you, the Lord neither eliminates sorrow nor rescues his faithful from it. Instead, he transforms the sorrow into joy. These disciples grieved the death of Christ before they rejoiced at his resurrection. It is the same baby who causes such pain, who also brings the mother joy.
Please keep in mind that there is a worldly way of seeking joy in the midst of tribulation, and a godly way. The world’s way is to eliminate or avoid the pain. Joy comes by not having a baby, or giving in to peer pressure, or refusing to make a stand for God at work. “Avoid sorrow and you will be happy” is the world’s advice. God, instead, asks you to look elsewhere, what Jeremiah describes as “this I call to mind.”
Look back – at the cross – and rejoice that Christ has died for your sins. Romans 8.31-39: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things…? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword…? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Look back to the cross and see the love of God and your sorrow will be transformed into joy.
Look up – to the right hand of God – and rejoice that Christ Jesus prays for you! Hebrews 7.25: “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” Psalm 121.1-2: I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” Look up to the heavens and see your Savior praying for your every need.
Look ahead – to the future of lasting and eternal joy. Romans 8.18: “the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.” And this is the particular exhortation that Jesus uses here in John 16: “Yes, delivery hurts – but the result is a baby, an exceeding great joy.” In the same way, when we suffer for the name of Jesus, the result is an exceedingly great joy than none can take from you.
3. Hoping In Christ Means Answered Prayer (John 16.23-28)
There is much in this paragraph that should be explored if we are to develop a full-orbed and biblical understanding of prayer. I have preached on prayer in times past, and, Lord willing, will have opportunity again. Today, let’s just focus on the promise of answered prayer.
God is a consuming fire, a thrice-holy being of infinite power and unbearable purity. How then, can we ask anything of him without being destroyed, and how could he possibly answer? It is not because Christ prays for us, though he does. But that is not the cause of your acceptance. It is that the Father himself loves you because you have loved Jesus and have believed that he came from God.
Do you believe? Then ask, and he will answer, and you will know joy which transforms your suffering.
When I talk with Christians about prayer, I hear a great deal of concern that we will ask too much of God. We seem to live in a kind of perpetual fear that God will be offended by our asking something outlandish, as if we are worried that he will be embarrassed because he cannot actually do something that big.
But when I read the Bible, I hardly ever hear a caution about asking too much. Instead, it seems that God almost universally applauds bold faith which asks without doubting either his power or willingness to answer. Could it be that we do not have because we do not ask?
Not every Christian can preach, not everyone can sing. Some have not the money to give; others lack the skill to teach. Some cannot evangelize, others cannot work in the nursery. But every child of God can pray. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
4. Hoping In Christ Gives Peace (John 16.29-33)
Many voices clamor for my attention. The economic news insists that you worry about tomorrow. Fighting in the middle east demands that you fear the coming Armageddon. Certain groups frighten us with rumors of overpopulation and mass starvation. If none of those bring the world to a catastrophic end in the next week, you will be poisoned by the food you eat or infected with cancer from the radiation you absorb. (I have even heard one rumor circulating the internet that everyone will eventually die.)
Let me set your mind at ease: Christians lived through the great depression and in countries with worse financial disaster. Christians die in wars, sometimes by the millions. Christians have starved to death in mass famine and drought. And I am pretty sure most of us will die.
The difference between the peace the voices promise and that of Jesus is in the last phrase of chapter 16: “I have overcome the world.”
Every other savior says, trust me and do what I say and I will overcome your problems. I will make you rich; I will make your food safe; I will bring peace between Israel and Hamas; I will guarantee clean water and a wealth of food.
Jesus says, No, you cannot buy peace here; in this life, there will always be troubles. But take heart; I have overcome the world. I am making a new place, a world without sin and sorrow; I world where God lives again with his people. In me, and in the certainty of my new world is peace.
5. Conclusion
Christian singer Merrill Womach was in a private plane that struck a tree after takeoff in the winter of 1961. The plane caught fire and Womach was burned badly before crawling out. Some people found him and drove him to a hospital. To their amazement, though he was in terrible pain, he sang:
I’ve found the dear Savior and I’m made whole,
I’m pardoned and have my release.
His spirit abiding and blessing my soul,
Praise God in my heart there is peace.
Wonderful peace, wonderful peace.
When I think how he brought me from darkness to light
There’s a wonderful, wonderful peace.
My peace I give to you; not as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled. Amen.
