Series: “What To Do”
See also I Don’t Know What To Do; But I’m Disappointed; But I Just Can’t Win; But Life is Too Hard; What You Need, God Has)
As I choose this passage to preach, I knew that these three verses were the three from the entire 16th chapter of John that I would concentrate on. In fact, verse 33 is what I plan to focus on the most. But I wasn’t sure how much of this chapter I wanted us all to read together. So instead of reading it all I kind of want to set the stage for verse 33.
John 16 falls toward the end of what scholarly types like to refer to as The Upper Room Discourse. The Upper Room Discourse is the conversations Jesus has with His closest Disciples found in The Gospel of John in chapters 13-16. In these chapters Jesus tries to explain to his disciples exactly what must happen in the days to come. He explains to his disciples the importance of being servant leaders. He explains to them that He is the Way, The Truth and the Life. He tells His disciples about The Holy Spirit and about what an abundant life his followers will have. Jesus explains that the world will hate those who believe in Him. And then in chapter 16 Jesus begins to explain why he took the time to teach His closest followers this. Look at verse 1 of chapter 16.
“All of this I have told you so that you will no go astray.”
Jesus went to all of this trouble because He knew that there were tough times ahead. And then Jesus again explains that “in a little while” they will see Him no more and then they will see him again. Now if there is anything you have learned from me over the past year of sitting through my sermons, hopefully it is that the disciples were not the sharpest knives in the draw. It usually took a while for it to sink in. But eventually the disciples figured out what Jesus had been talking about. Once the idea that Jesus is going to die soon hits them, Jesus tries to comfort them. Look at verse 20.
Once Jesus is finished the disciples get it. They get. Finally they believe. And this takes us to our passage.
Read passage. – pray.
Jesus knew the disciples, those closest to him would suffer because of their faith. Except for Peter and John, we lose track of Jesus’ disciples after the Gospel accounts in our Bibles. But when we look at ancient church traditions we see that most of the disciples continued to spread the Gospel and paid the ultimate price. John was exiled and died of natural causes. Phillip, Thomas, Bartholomew, all the others but John were martyred. We know Peter was crucified upside down during Nero’s persecution. Andrew was crucified in Achaia. James, son of Zebedee was killed by Herod and the first martyred.
Jesus knew the disciples would face trials, persecution, and death. He knew they would have grief. So he comforted them. And Jesus comforts us as well when we are having problems.
There is a story about a man named Jack who was walking along a steep cliff one day when he accidentally got too close to the edge and fell off. On the way down he grabbed a branch which temporarily stopped his fall. He looked down and to his horror saw the canyon fell straight down for more than a thousand feet. He couldn’t hang on to the branch forever, and there was no way for him to climb up the steep cliff.
So Jack began to yell for Help, hoping that someone passing by would hear him and lower a rope or something. “Help, Help! Is there anyone up there? HELP!” He yelled for hours but no one heard him.
Do you ever feel like Jack? Do you ever feel like your just hanging on and that no one can help? Perhaps, at work or at school. Perhaps in your family life. Perhaps you face difficulties, maybe you have found yourself in a mess, legal or ethical, that you have created for yourself and you have this awful feeling that you are just hanging out there on a limb by yourself.
I think there are times we all feel that way. We feel like no one will ever be able to supply everything we need to overcome the difficulties we are facing. Believe me, there are times in my ministry, times in my personal life that I feel I am hanging on a limb all alone. But I take comfort in one thing. I take comfort in the words of Jesus. I know that what I need God has.
First, God has some great advice. Look at verse 33.
“I have told you these things.”
That right there is a mouth full. God tells us a lot. God gives us lots of advice in His word. When I find myself in an impossible situation I know there is one place I can always turn to, The Bible. While away in Russia, my wife discovered that God had taken the soul of our baby to be with Him weeks prior. It was a horrible feeling for both Renee and I. We recognized the pain of the tragedy and on top of the loss of our baby was the separation. My being in Russia and her being in Muncie. But when I spoke to her she told me that she had found some great advice in the Bible. Renee had read the 16th chapter of John and read that “Now is the time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice and no one will take away you joy.”
Renee and I both turned to God’s word for advice. It was exactly what we needed. He has some great advice waiting for you in His book. Open it sometime when you are facing problems or personal tragedy and see what you might find. .No matter what you are facing, What you need God has.
But Jesus goes on in verse 33. He says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
September 11, 2001. This is a date that we will never forget. Next month we will recall the pain, recall the tragedy. For some I am sure not a day passes that they remember what occurred on that day. Despite all the hate and all the death, that happened that day and since because of the war, we have hope. God offers us peace. Peace in the midst of pain. Peace in the midst of grief. Peace amidst the war. God offers us peace. There are often times in our lives that we all need peace. What you need God has.
Jesus goes on to state the obvious to the oblivious. “In this world you will have trouble.”
God may have peace but God also has pain. We don’t want the pain. We don’t want the trouble. But Jesus explains that you will have pain.
The great evangelist Charles Spurgeon once said, “I dare say that the greatest earthly blessing that God can give to any of us is health, with the exception of sickness.”
You see God does not want us to waste our suffering. We learn from our mistakes. God knows this. Often we wonder why God lets people suffer, why he would allow pain and tragedy. I can’t say I know the complete answer to those questions. If I knew the exact reason why God allowed suffering I would write a book and retire. But I don’t. But what I do know is that He does and that through the suffering we can mature.
It’s the ABC’s of spiritual growth: Adversity Builds Character. I have had my share of problems in my life. But I doubt I would want to change anything. Because even the mistakes, even the pain and suffering, have made me the person I am today. I pray I learn from the pain I face. If you want a Biblical example look at Jonah. Jonah tries to run from God and ends up in the belly of a great fish. Now, we picture Jonah in the empty chasm of some large whale. But in all reality I imagine that it would hurt to be swallowed by a fish. But if Jonah had not been put in the pain, he would have either died or never done what God wanted him to do. Jonah needed pain, God obliged.
Now I am treading on some theological tight rope. Does God cause pain? I would say that there are times that God causes pain directly, like Jonah or Job, perhaps some of you have stories to tell about this. But more often I believe God lets us face the pain we create for ourselves. That is why I pray as Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead me NOT into temptation, deliver us from evil.” My own temptation can cause me pain. Like eating that leftover piece of pizza at 1 a.m. But often temptation cause more trouble that simply heartburn.
But when I need pain, it seems to find me. And I hope we learn from our mistakes and the pain that God thinks we need. What we need God Has.
(Pause) So Jesus explains that we will have trouble in this world and then he says, “But take heart” The King James says, “But be of good cheer.”
I love these passages of scripture. Jesus says, Hey you will have problems, but be of good cheer. I think we often have a problem understanding these passages because we think of things in terms of happiness, instead of joy.
God offers us joy. It is my conviction that happiness is only a product of joy. Happiness can be temporary. We find happiness in a Big Mac with fries. We find happiness when our favorite Survivor wins a million dollars. We take happiness in the things that are temporary. Happiness is short term, it is short lived.
Joy is eternal. Joy is hearing your baby say, mommy or daddy the first times. Joy is watching your children graduate from high school, then college and become a good citizen, a good Christian citizen. But ultimate joy is knowing Jesus Christ as your personal savior. The ultimate in joy is having a best friend that is always be there and will always offer you hope and love. Joy is what will truly help us to weather the toughest of storms. It is when we know that despite all of the problems, Jesus.
It is the times when the happiness wears off, the storm comes, yet the smile still remains that we know we have the joy of Jesus. What we need God has.
A ship wrecked in a furious storm and the only survivor was a little boy who was swept by the waves onto a rock. He sat there all night long, until the next morning, he was spotted and rescued. “Did you tremble while you were on the rock during the night?” someone later asked him. “Yes,” said the boy. “I trembled all night – but the rock didn’t”
Look at verse 33 again. “Take Heart” Jesus says, “I have overcome the world.”
What we need God has. Because in the end what we need is victory. When your world trembles, when you tremble all over, all night, remember that the Rock doesn’t tremble. The rock of our salvation will stand strong. On that day when Jesus hung on the cross God gave us everything we needed. He gave us a savior, His one and only son. And on that day Jesus won the victory and He gave the victory to his believers.
So when you feel like your world is falling apart, the walls are falling in and everyone is out to get you, it does not matter. If Jesus is your master, you can say with all the confidence Jesus said it, “I have overcome the world.” “I have overcome the world.” Nothing can stop me now. What you need, God has. But you have to trust him. You have to believe it is true. That is the kicker.
Remember Jack hanging out on a limb of a steep cliff. Jack has nowhere to go and is about to fall to his death. He is yelling out, “Help me.” Well, he was about to give up when he heard a voice.
“Jack. Jack. Can you hear me?”
“Yes I can hear you. I’m down here!
“I can see you Jack. Are you all right?
“Yes, but … who are you and where are you?”
“I’m the Lord Jack. I’m everywhere.”
“The Lord? You mean God? God please help me! I promise – if you’ll let me down from here, I’ll stop sinning. I’ll be a really good person. I’ll come to church every Sunday and even volunteer at the church.”
“Easy on the promises Jack.” God says, “Let’s just get you down from there and then we will talk. Now here’s what I want you to do – listen carefully.”
Jack said, “I’ll do anything, Lord. Just tell me what to do.’
“Okay. Let go of the branch.”
After a short pause -- nothing happened. God spoke again to Jack.
He said, “Let go of the branch. Just trust me. Let go.”
Again a long silence, and finally Jack yelled, “Help! Help! Is anyone else up there????”
What we need God has. But we have to trust him. Ever felt like Jack, out on a limb, in a world of trouble? We say that we want to know the will of God, but when we find out what it is, we can’t handle it. We think that it is too scary or too difficult. We decide to look elsewhere.
God will often challenge us to let go of the things that stand between us and God. He will challenge us to trust Him with our life. But when we let go, when we trust God fully, we find freedom and safety in His hands. We find that what we need God has.
Let us pray.
Please e-mail me with any comments or if you use any part of this at your church at Mail4ChrisR@aol.com. I would love to hear about it. God Bless! - Chris
