The Good News About Bad News
John 1:1-5
Skit…
Have you heard the news? Charlie is in a cast.
That is bad news! No that is good news! At first they thought he broke both legs but it was just one.
That is good news! No that is bad news! Now he can’t work.
That is bad news! No that is good news! The other driver was a fault and is paying for everything.
That is good news! No that is bad news! It wasn’t a car wreck, it was a golf cart wreck and his wife will find out he was playing golf instead of working.
That is bad news! No that is good news! He won the golf match and won $500.00
That is good news! No that is bad news! He lost $499.00 playing poker.
That is bad news! No that is good news! With the other dollar he bought a lottery ticket and won $25,000.00
That is good news! No that is bad news! The IRS found out and they took 2/3.
That is bad news! No that is good news! It left him enough to get his teeth and his truck fixed.
That is good news! No that is bad news! He had to get his teeth fixed because they got broken in a fight when somebody smashed into his pick-up truck.
That is bad news! No that is good news! He won the fight and the other fellow has to pay for the truck.
That is good news! No that is bad news! He got locked up for being drunk and disorderly.
That is bad news! No that is good news! Charlie owed his bookie $8,000.00 and when he heard Charlie had won the $25,000.00 and didn’t pay up, he said he was going to break Charlie’s other leg and knock out those new teeth. So it’s a good thing Charlie is in jail. That is the safest place he can be.
That is good! No that is bad. I just saw Charlie’s mother-in-law going into the jail to bail Charlie out.
Good news/ bad news. Our world is full of both. We got the good news that Saddam was captured. Then we got the bad news that within the hour several people were killed by car bombs.
Last Sunday we got the good news that the Bucks won. But then we got the bad news that if any two of the Packers, Seahawks, Cowboys or Vikings win today, the Bucks are out of the playoffs.
Sometimes the same news can be good and bad… like the girl in college who told my roommate that I was not as ugly as I used to be.
How about Christmas??? For many people Christmas is good news about the holidays. It is bad news about the cost.
Many people will live every day of January dreading the arrival of the bills. A trip to the mailbox will not be joy and expectancy… but with dread and fear.
Some people are living that way every day.
Some are sick or have some pain, but they refuse to go to the doctor, because they don’t want to hear the word “cancer.”
Some live every day with this dark cloud hanging over them, like an axe that is ready to fall. They don’t know when but they are sure it is just about to fall.
Some elderly persons live in constant fear of a fall or a stroke, or some sickness that would get them down, or hospitalized, because they are certain that if they get down it will spell the end.
When I consider these people and their fears I am reminded of a song from my teen years that said, “Sure could use a little good news today.”
Well, I HAVE GOOD NEWS!!!
I have good news about bad news.
First of all let me say…
God’s good news is greater than the world’s bad news
I love the way John puts it in his gospel…
“The light shown in the darkness and the darkness apprehended it not.”
Your translation may say, “comprehended it not.”
The actual Greek word John used was katalambano and it means, “to grasp”
Some interpret it as “grasp the meaning of” and so they translate it “comprehend”.
The other translation is grasp as in “take control over or apprehend”
The best translation is APPREHEND!
The good news (light) shines in the darkness (arena of bad news) and the darkness (bad news) apprehended it over came it not.
God’s good news is stronger than the world’s bad news.
Just as with light and dark… darkness has no power of it’s own. Darkness is just the absence of good news. You can come into this sanctuary in the middle of the night with the shutters closed and IT IS DARK! You can’t see anything. You don’t know where anything is. For all you know there may be nothing there, everything stripped out… or there may be dangerous people waiting for you. But with one small candle, it all changes… reality is made visible. You can see the white pews, the red carpet and the mahogany trim. And the more light you have the more you can see, and the farther away you can see.
Once the candle, or light is there, NO AMOUNT OF DARKNESS CAN EXTINGUISH IT! You can’t go outside and bring in buckets of darkness and eventually overcome the candle.
But one small candle can come into a large room filled with darkness and immediately the darkness is rebuked and rolled back.
That same thing is true of God’s good news and the world’s bad news.
No matter how much bad news you have, no matter how bad it is… God’s good news is greater.
The good news that GOD LOVES YOU and GOD KNOWS YOUR TROUBLES AND YOUR NEEDS… that good news takes away the bad news of fear and worry and loss.
Let’s go back to that word katalambano…
Once we grasp and comprehend the good news… then all of our bad news cannot grasp or apprehend and do away with our good news.
Example: Paul was faced with capital punishment… being murdered
THAT IS BAD NEWS
But he knew the good news… I know that my redeemer lives and that I will go to be with Him, and I will be in a better place.
THAT IS GOOD NEWS
And so all the threats they could make to Paul were useless.
GOD’S GOOD NEWS WAS GREATER THAN THE WORLD’S BAD NEWS.
The second truth for you is…
GOD’S GOOD NEWS TRANSFORMS THE WORLD’S BAD NEWS.
Example: Thursday morning it was about 40 degrees. I saw Grace Girtman about 2 pm and commented that the morning was really cold. Grace’s response was, “Well, if you don’t have to get out in it, it doesn’t matter.”
Now, that was transforming the bad news.
I don’t want to make light of the bad news of the world. It can be very real.
The pain that Larry Hall is going through is real.
The cancer in Becky Hopkins is real
Jerry Windsor’s pneumonia, Coach June’s cancer and Virginia Bufkin’s fibromyalgia are all very real.
You can’t just say they don’t exist or that just because of the good news that God loves them, somehow their pain or disease is removed.
It isn’t! And there are documented cases of God’s saints dying of cancer (Michael Landon) (Preacher Rivers), Parkinson’s (Billy Graham), and other things.
The Good News does not take away all of the bad news, the bad things in life.
BUT IT DOES TRANSFORM THE BAD NEWS.
One example is “persecution.” Paul told his readers they should be happy when they are persecuted because God used the persecution to grow them up, to mature them and to build into them Christian virtues like patience, mercy and gentleness.
The people were truly persecuted, the good news of the gospel did not take away the bad news… but it did transform it… it turned a negative into a positive.
And death too… death outside the Good News (for the non-Christians) was a closed door, an end, the ultimate negative.
But the Good News of the Gospel is that those who are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ DO NO DIE… they live eternally in Heaven.
The good news transformed the closed door of death into an open door through which they entered a better place.
The ultimate biblical text that speaks of the Good News transforming the bad news is found in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is preaching…
Those who mourn will have their mourning transformed into joy by the Good News that they will be comforted
Those who hunger and thirst for the things of the spirit have been transformed into the joyful by the good news that they will be fulfilled.
Those who are meek have been transformed into joy because of the good news that they will inherit the earth.
Those who are falsely accused and those who are persecuted have their tears transformed into joy by the good news that they will receive their reward.
We Christians do not live in a different world from the non-Christians! We suffer with the same traffic, the same weakness of the flesh, the same temptations, and the same slings and arrows of life. The same rain that falls on them falls on us. We endure the same economic downturns and upturns. Gravity and age take the same toll on our bodies as on theirs.
Then what makes us different? What is the point in being a Christian? I mean, if we are just going to be like everyone else.
Paul was honest with his readers in 1 Corinthians 15.
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you. that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS THAT TRANSFORMS OUR BAD NEWS
GOD, LOVES US… SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR OUR SALVATION AND THAT GREAT GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER US FROM ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS.
And Paul tells the Corinthians… OUR HOPE IS BUILT ON THIS ONE TRUTH…
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. 19 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Paul laid it out very plainly… THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST IS…
THE THREAD like a garment that has a hem that holds it together, if you pull out that thread, THE WHOLE THING UNRAVELS
THE NAIL on which all of the Christian faith hangs… remove this nail and it all falls down
THE FOUNDATION on which our whole faith is built and rests. Destroy this foundation and the whole faith falls like a sink hole house.
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD IS NOT THAT WE ARE IMMUNE TO THE SLINGS AND ARROWS… BUT THAT OUR SLINGS AND ARROWS ARE TRANSFORMED BY THE POWER AND TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL.
The Good News about bad news is that BAD NEWS IS NOT THE END!!!!
You may have cancer but that is not the final word
That cancer may take your life BUT THAT IS NOT THE FINAL WORD
The good news is that God is powerful beyond al things and IF HE WANTS TO he can remove your cancer. And if He chooses not to… He will take you by the hand and walk you into the next life, His Kingdom and he will give you a new body… with no cancer.
You may be dealing with some very bad news today BUT THE BAD NEWS IS NOT THE FINAL WORD.
The Good News is that God is greater than whatever bad news you have and He can remove it or transform it into something that will bless you and ultimately God will remove whatever bad news you have.
The last word about bad news is…
GOD’S GOOD NEWS WILL DO AWAY WITH THE WORLD’S BAD NEWS.
That is right!!! One day there will be no more bad news. It will cease to exist. God has a place for His children where His will is completely and eternally done.
God never expected us to live in this world forever. He never expected them to live in the garden forever. But it has always been God’s will to live with His people in a perfect utopian place. He made that place BEFORE he made earth or man. He made it absolutely perfect and the whole time he was designing and creating it… HE HAD US IN MIND.
So he made a place that will perfectly meet our needs. It is so perfect that John could not describe it. He could not tell us all the wonderful things there. But he told us what are not there… pain, suffering, tears, sadness and sickness. He even adds, “NO SEA”. I believe that is like saying “Down to the minutest degree… all of the bad things are gone.”
The Bible also has a tale of two cities. The book of Revelation tells about the city of evil called Babylon, and the city of God — the New Jerusalem.
Babylon represents the bad news throughout the world. It is the epitome of bad news.. it is evil; it is all of the bad things of the world.
There is also Jerusalem… the City of God… the epitome of Good News… it is everything good that God wants to give to his children.
God will destroy Babylon, all bad news, all suffering, all evil, all of the bad things that Satan wants to bring on God’s people.
The Bible says, “In one hour she has been brought to ruin!”
And it will be replaced by the GOOD News.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (Revelation 21:1-4).
God has already assigned a day when it will come to pass. THE BAD NEWS WILL BE COMPLETELY ERADICATED AND WIPED OUT. And God’s Good News will be eternal.
So we have the GOOD NEWS about bad news
1. God’s Good News is greater than the world’s bad news
2. God’s Good News transforms the world’s bad news
3. God’s Good News will (ULTIMATELY) do away with the world’s bad news
“It is so easy to live in the darkness. We can live as though there is no good news — only bad. Like Darth Vader, we go over to the dark side. We can live with anger and negativism. We can give in to pessimism and despair. We can look for the worst, and fail to believe the best. It is so easy to believe in the power of darkness. It seems so strong at times. It appears to be all around us. Everyone seems to be giving into it, and we feel overwhelmed and alone.” Rodney Buchanon
Let me end with this illustration
Our cable program gives us the Sunshine Network. I like that because I often miss the FSU game. But during the week, I can see the replay. I really love the replay for a few reasons.
1. Commercial breaks are removed, it is quicker
2. I already know who won and if FSU lost, I don’t watch
3. I don’t worry if they fall behind because I know the final score.
THE GOOD NEWS (final score) TRANSFORMS THE BAD NEWS (fumble, interception)
Today, some of you are dealing with the fumbles and interceptions of life… the bad news.
It is real and it seems to be the final word.
I have Good News…
I know the final score; I have read the end of the book and WE WIN.
If you can grasp (comprehend) it… the good news will grasp (apprehend) take into custody, the bad news in your life.
There is only one place to get the good news… THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.
Do you need it? Do you want it?
Come to Jesus and He will give it.
Rick Pendlton @ randdp@peoplepc.com
I drew the major points of this outline from Robert Buchanan’s sermon, “A Little Good News” which can be found on www.sermoncentral.com.
