[0:00] Amen. Welcome again. If you would take your Bibles, we're going to read God's Word together. It's nice when they plan all the music for the sermon. It seems that for the passage, it's really nice that way.
[0:12] I don't know who was looking at my notes this week, but it worked. We're going to read from John chapter 16, continuing in our series from this section of John.
[0:24] Beginning at verse 16. A little while and you will see me no longer. And again, a little while and you will see me. Some of Jesus' disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us?
[0:39] A little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me. And because I am going to the Father. So they were saying, what does he mean? A little while.
[0:50] We do not know what he's talking about. And Jesus knew what they wanted to ask him. So he said to them, is this what you're asking yourselves? What I mean by saying a little while and you will not see me.
[1:01] And again, a little while and you will see me. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament. But the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
[1:16] When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish. The joy that a human being has been born into the world.
[1:28] So also you have some sorrow now. But I will see you again. And your hearts will rejoice. And no one will take your joy from you. In that day, you will ask nothing of me.
[1:41] Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full.
[1:55] I've said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day, you will ask in my name.
[2:08] And I do not say to you that I will seek the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you because he because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
[2:22] I came from the Father. And have come into the world. And now I'm leaving this world and going to the Father. His disciples said, Oh, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech.
[2:37] Now we know you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God. And Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?
[2:49] Behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
[3:02] I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world.
[3:14] Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. Please be seated. I don't know if you saw the front page of the Times Free Press last Sunday morning.
[3:26] They began a series about gun violence in our city, and it had this picture on it of these three boys, about the age of my boys, maybe 9, 10, 11.
[3:40] They're sitting outside. They don't have shirts on. They're smiling. They're laughing with one another. They're waving to the camera, but they're sitting right underneath a yellow line of police tape.
[3:53] And if you read in the story, what it tells you is, is that these three boys, there was a shooting right outside of their homes. And so these boys came out, and were sitting there about 1 o'clock in the morning, when the photographer took a picture of it.
[4:09] That story, or that picture, was part of a story that went out this week. It was a series this week, about the cost of gun violence in our culture, and the economy of Chattanooga.
[4:21] And this picture was taken about the year 2000. So it's been a few years. And what the story went on to say was that of these three boys, all three of them had been arrested, and a couple even jailed on gun-related crimes.
[4:38] In that picture, watching these boys, that looked a lot like my boys, has haunted my imagination this week. I keep thinking about it, and thinking about these boys, and it creates in me this sense of hopelessness, and longing.
[4:54] Because it feels so senseless to me, that our culture, has such intractable problems, that the lives of small children, end up getting dragged up, into the wake of our culture's problems, and their lives get chewed up, and spit out, as a result.
[5:14] It's tragic. Of course, every few years, in this week's articles, we're no different. Every few years, we have somebody who comes in, and tells us, hey, look, just a little while, and we'll get this fixed.
[5:27] There's going to be some new initiatives, we've got some new laws, we're working on, there's going to be new enforcement, in just a little while, all that's going to take its effect. Just wait a little while. I don't want to wait a little while.
[5:40] You know, a lot of our life, we hear those phrases, just in just a little while. You know, in just a little while, I'll connect you to the proper customer service person, who can handle your request.
[5:58] You know, kids, you know this. Mom, can you take me somewhere, in just a little while? In just a little while, your husband is finally going to get his act together.
[6:12] In just a little while, your boss will notice your work, and reward you appropriately. In just a little while, somebody might notice you on the dating app.
[6:22] In just a little while, your cancer will be in remission. In just a little while, you'll have a new pastor to lead First Press. In just a little while, everything will be better.
[6:34] I got to tell you, I hate a little while. I don't like it at all. And I think part of the reason I don't like a little while, is because it means that things are changing.
[6:46] Sometimes I want things to change, like gun violence. And I don't want to wait around a little while, for gun violence to change. I'm impatient for it. But other times, a little while means change is coming, and it's scary, and it's disorienting.
[7:01] Like when I went home, and told my children, in a little while, we're going to move from your home in Texas to Chattanooga. A little while leaves us with this vague sense that something important is happening, but that we don't yet know the outcomes of it.
[7:21] Will it turn out? Will it turn out well? Will it be a good outcome? Will I be okay in a little while? A little while.
[7:33] I think that's what makes this passage so interesting and challenging, because Jesus is trying to help His disciples to see that in just a little while, everything's going to change.
[7:45] Their relationship would be different very soon. Remember, this passage comes as part of the larger passage on the last Thursday of Jesus' life. He's eaten dinner with them.
[7:58] He's taught them. He's prayed with them. He's been with them in this intimate time. And now it's Thursday night, and the soldiers are probably on their way even now. He'll be betrayed.
[8:09] He'll be arrested. And by the next day, he'll be dead. And so Jesus was trying to encourage them and clarify the future for His disciples. And so the focus of this passage is on Jesus giving them resources or gifts in order to deal with the little while that is right in front of them.
[8:30] And He actually details two gifts that we'll look at, the gift of joy and the gift of peace. And those two gifts are meant to sustain the disciples in this season of a little while until He would return.
[8:44] It's a pretty simple passage in that regard. There's just a lot going on. And the first question we have to ask of the passage is, what does Jesus mean when He says, in just a little while?
[8:55] In just a little while, you won't see me. And then in a little while, you will see me. What does that mean? Well, scholars have actually talked a good bit about this passage because it's not totally clear.
[9:06] There are two main explanations they give. The first one is pretty simple. It's just the plain reading of the text that Jesus means that the next day He will go to the cross. He will die.
[9:16] They won't see Him anymore. And after three days, a little while, He'll raise from the dead and He will have resurrection appearances with them and talk with them. And that's true, certainly.
[9:28] But it also seems as though there's more to what Jesus is talking about. There's an expanded interpretation that builds on that immediate little while.
[9:40] There's an immediate term, little while, and then there's a larger context, little while. That in a little while, He would die, and in a little while, He'd be raised. But that death and resurrection would point forward to Jesus' future and final return in glory.
[9:58] See, I think you have to read this entire passage with that cosmic viewpoint. In a little while, He'll come.
[10:12] In a little while, things are going to change. But in a little while after that, everything will be okay when He returns again. And here's the thing. Here's why that's important.
[10:22] Because if that is the case, then Jesus' gifts of joy and peace are something that not only the disciples should experience, but that we should experience alongside of them.
[10:36] As we too await Jesus' final return in a little while. Similar to the disciples, we live in this in-between time. In between Jesus' first coming and Jesus' return in glory, His second coming.
[10:51] And this time is a time of uncertainty. It's a little while. You know, every uncertainty in your life that you face can be seen as being grounded in the uncertainty between Jesus' first and second comings.
[11:14] Your loneliness and feelings of alienation and just wanting to have people who would love you is a reminder that you will not be at home in this world until Jesus returns and brings the new heavens and the new earth to bear.
[11:32] Your wayward child, the difficulty of waiting a little while on your wayward child, you see in light of the fact that we live in a world where the powers of the world and the flesh and the devil have blinded the eyes of people and we don't see clearly.
[11:52] And that child can't see the truth, though you try to tell them. And we need Jesus to return. That besetting sin that comes back year after year after year that haunts you.
[12:09] Reminds you that you live in a world that though you have been redeemed, you have not been fully made right as you will be one day when Jesus returns.
[12:20] You see. In a little while, Jesus is going to restore all things. And during this little while, he provides for you and me to live with fullness, even though we live in a world of difficulty and uncertainty.
[12:37] And so he gives us joy and he gives us peace. Those are his two gifts for us. What are those? How do they how do they work themselves out? Let's look at joy. Where does that joy come from?
[12:49] Well, here's what's interesting is that the joy comes from the clarity of seeing the fullness of the story worked out. Remember, Jesus gives the the image of the woman in labor.
[13:04] He says she is able to go through the challenges and the pain and the difficulty of labor because she knows what is coming, because she knows that the child that is to be born will overwhelm the difficulty of childbirth with joy and delight and fullness at this new life.
[13:23] In the same way, the disciples in just a few hours were going to get a much fuller picture of what Jesus came to do. They're going to discover in just a matter of hours that Jesus was going to actually die for his people.
[13:38] Maybe they had an inclination of that. But then in three days, Jesus was going to rise again and they had no idea that was coming. And then in 40 days after that, Jesus was going to pour out the spirit upon them in a way that they had no ability to comprehend beforehand, even though Jesus had just promised that about five verses before our passage.
[14:04] The disciples were going to see the fullness of the story in Jesus. In fact, Paul tells us that we are actually in a privileged position over the disciples.
[14:15] Though we didn't walk with Jesus, we now have the scriptures. In fact, we have four gospel stories that tell us about him. We've got Paul and Peter who tell us how to understand the fullness of the story.
[14:28] We've got 2,000 years of church history that the Holy Spirit has been opening the eyes of people to understand the fullness of the story of Jesus.
[14:38] Jesus. And so we have to ask the question that ought to produce joy in us to know the fullness of the story.
[14:49] So if you don't live with a certain amount of joy in your life, you should ask the question, why? Is it possible that you don't live with a fullness of joy because you don't live in the fullness of the story?
[15:03] That you neglect the story of the gospel, the story of the scriptures, imagine how painful childbirth would be if the mother refused to think about the end of the story of the child that is coming.
[15:19] But Jesus gives another key to understanding how that joy is furthered in us and created in us and how we can know if we don't have that joy and he links it to prayer.
[15:32] Perhaps you've noticed these last many weeks as we've been going through these passages, Jesus consistently tells the disciples that they're to pray. Over and over, he says this.
[15:42] Look at verses 23 and 24. They're typical. He says, In that day, you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
[15:57] Until now, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. In fact, in the three chapters that we've been looking at six times, Jesus says, Ask anything in my name.
[16:15] Anything. It's like he's just tempting the disciples. Ask me for anything in my name. He wants them desperately to come to God and ask God to provide for every need that they have.
[16:32] He wants you to ask him. He wants you to come to him and he wants you to do it in his name. What does that mean? You know, some people think of that as it's kind of a mantra.
[16:44] You know, it's not a real prayer if you don't say in Jesus name. It doesn't count. Nobody heard it. It's not. That's not it at all. It's not a magic spell. What Jesus is talking about here is when he says in his name, you could substitute in this, that pray in my mission.
[17:02] Pray in in accordance or in in consistent manner with what I desire. You see, you're supposed to know the story, the fullness of the story, disciples, and then you're supposed to pray in a way that is consistent with that story.
[17:21] You are to pray in a way that Jesus might be praying if he were sitting in your shoes. is another way to think about that. Pray what he desires. And when you pray this way, not only does God answer, but he says that your joy may be full.
[17:42] See, our joy doesn't come as a result of us obeying and praying and doing all of that. The joy is already there and the prayer brings it to fullness and completeness and enhancement.
[17:58] It's amplified. Our joy begins is amplified in prayer. See, if you want joy to sustain you in the little wiles of life and awaiting Jesus' return, you'll find that as you know the story and as you participate in prayer.
[18:16] Have you ever don't you know people whose circumstances are terrible and yet they just exude joy? Aren't they amazing? I experienced this a couple years ago going to South Africa.
[18:29] I was in the slums of rural South Africa and talking to these people who have nothing, nothing, no running water, sometimes one light bulb full of electricity.
[18:44] And I'm walking around with my brand new iPhone in my pocket about to get on a plane to come back to the States and these people had more joy than anybody I knew. Joy.
[18:55] It was an abiding sense that transcended their circumstances, whether rich or poor, healthy or sick, lonely or well loved. In every little while there can be joy.
[19:11] Joy, happiness is what we talk about in our culture. You know, our Walt Disney culture, happiness is the fleeting feelings that come from good circumstances.
[19:23] But it ends. Joy is an abiding sense of well-being. And that's what Jesus has for us. That's the first gift that he has for his disciples and for us is joy, but he also has peace.
[19:37] What does that look like? Well, hilariously, Jesus tells them that he's been talking in figures of speech and and now he's going to talk straight with them.
[19:48] I think that's hilarious because I think this, you know, I think Jesus is pretty hard to understand sometimes. I'm with the disciples here. I'm not sure how clear it is. If you know, if you read it clearly, let me know.
[19:59] You're probably smarter than me. It's a little confusing, but one thing is very clear. Look at verse 25. I've said these things to you in figures of speech.
[20:10] The hour is coming when I'll no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father. And in that day you will ask in my name. There it is again. And I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and believed that I came from God.
[20:32] He loves you. The Father loves you. That is what Jesus wants you to know here, is that you have the love of the Father because you have believed in Jesus. This is classic, right?
[20:44] Classic salvation language here. God loves you because you believed in God. This is the story of salvation that each one of us has been born in bondage under the power of sin.
[20:59] The problem in our life is not that we do individual sins, that we lie or cheat or look down in arrogance upon other people.
[21:12] We judge others. Now, those are problems in their own right, but that is not the problem. The problem is that every one of us lives under the power of sin, and because of that, we are then enemies of God.
[21:27] God. But Jesus, by his obedience and his death and his resurrection, has achieved a victory over the power of sin, and those who by faith then are a part of Christ are no longer enemies of God.
[21:49] We have been made at peace with God. And the way that our relationship with God now is not one of not an adversarial relationship, but a relationship of love.
[22:04] The conflict has been destroyed forever, and that's what Jesus means. God loves you because you believe in Jesus. But there's actually more.
[22:16] One of the things that I discovered in this text this week, studying it that I'd never seen before, was this little confession of faith. It's the most simple confession of faith, maybe in the Bible, and yet really profound and clear in verse 26.
[22:30] It's actually structurally it's structured in a chiasm, and you can almost see it in a V structure. Let me read this to you. Verse 26. I came from the Father.
[22:42] I have come into the world. I am now leaving the world, and I am going to the Father. Came from the Father. I came into the world. I'm leaving the world, and I'm going to the Father.
[22:53] What does that mean? I came from the Father. Talking about Jesus' deity. He is the eternal God. One in three with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
[23:04] He is everlasting and almighty. He has come into the world. Speaking of His incarnation, His taking on flesh, living a perfect life.
[23:16] He is now leaving the world that the disciples will see the next day in His crucifixion and sacrifice for sin, in His resurrection, in His victory over the powers of the world and the flesh and the devil.
[23:31] And He is returning to God in His ascension and His now sitting at the right hand of God ruling and reigning over everything in this world, every power in this world subject to Him and Him sitting there interceding on behalf of His people.
[23:49] This is what we are to believe to be Christians. Is that what you believe? Do you know this is true? That is where salvation lies in the victory in the person in the work of Jesus.
[24:09] Now we understand the disciples say verse 29. Oh now you're speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Now we get it.
[24:21] You know they've said this before you know Peter said this the disciples have said this a couple of times oh yeah yeah we get it now now we see in fact the Pharisees and others who don't end up believing have said the same thing oh now we get who Jesus is and Jesus says in 20 and 31 oh do you now believe oh now you get it and then he tells them what's about to happen the hour is coming indeed it has come when you will be scattered each to your own home you'll leave me alone oh you think you believe but you really don't you know I think we have to turn that self reflectively how many of you can hear me talk about Jesus and say yeah that's what I believe and yet difficult circumstances come and that belief crumbles we believe but we don't really believe why does
[25:30] Jesus do this we might not believe as clearly as we might think that we believe why would Jesus tell the disciples that they're all going to be scattered heard he says I've said these things to you that in me you might have peace what is it about telling his disciples that they're about to fail that is going to give them peace you don't know what you're talking about and that's going to help you it's because what it is going to do is remind them where their peace really comes from you know if you know anything about Christians in the church if you're not a Christian you know this as well as anybody Christians are about the first people to tend once they get a little bit of knowledge they tend towards self confidence and self reliance just like the disciples do we get a little bit of success and we think we've mastered everything we have a little bit of success we have churches that begin to grow with people and we think that we've got everything that we need we are so given to self reliance and self confidence and
[26:53] Jesus is trying to root that out at the very source and say no you don't have what it takes it doesn't matter if you've been in church your whole life you do not have what it takes you will not succeed based on your wisdom and your theological acumen and your success and your gifts your wealth no you won't the disciples would be scattered and Jesus would go and graciously gather them up like a mother hen with her chicks they would struggle against the world and the flesh and the devil but what does Jesus say right here in this world you will have tribulation but take heart why because I have overcome the world see the peace that Jesus is talking about here or the yeah the peace that Jesus is talking about is similar to joy you know we tend to think of peace as peacefulness as serenity the absence of conflict but that's not what
[28:04] Jesus is talking about Jesus is more like the Old Testament idea of shalom shalom is that all the conditions of human flourishing are are present see Jesus is establishing a true and lasting and forever and circumstance denying peace in the world and in your lives this is not a peace based on anything that we have done or could do we will struggle with tribulation but he has overcome the world see I think most of the time that for most of us we think that joy and peace are going to come for us when we change our circumstances somehow I mean think about the disciples Jesus is now he's coming to that climactic moment and he's going to send the disciples out and what is he sending them out to to great success and glory and fame he's sending them out to leave their families to go plant churches to endure hardship and rejection to be brought in before rulers and governors to give an account to people who will accuse them of nefarious things to be on the run to to be jailed and imprisoned and unjustly treated to in many cases to be martyred before they ever saw the fruits of what
[29:38] God was doing in their lives you see Jesus' victory didn't make their circumstances any easier yet in the midst of going out they had joy and they had peace you see that's where the tension of this passage really lies because Jesus on the one hand is saying that he is victorious over all things and yet he also says you are to go out and live in the midst of this difficulty see question is can you have joy and peace if your circumstances don't change of course you can Jesus said is has overcome all the powers of the world and the flesh and the devil but that does not mean that you won't have to get up and go patrol the streets or deal with sick children or go to class tomorrow morning see Jesus has overcome he has overcome the powers of material poverty he's overcome gun violence he's overcome alienation and loneliness he's overcome cancer he's overcome racial strife he's overcome political divisions he's even overcome pastoral transitions
[30:57] Jesus is announcing right here before his arrest that there is no power in the world that can stand up to the power of Jesus Christ ruling and reigning and ascended on high and for his people he will give them joy and peace as they live in the midst of a broken world where it seems like the world and the flesh and the devil are unmatched it seems that way for a little while but it is only for a little while because in a little while death will have no more sting in a little while injustice will be made right in a little while cancer will be put to death itself in a little while Jesus will return and we will see the fullness we will see the glory and yet we wait for a little while and in the midst of that we are called to hope we are called to peace church of
[32:10] God you and I have turned away from our father if we are people who live without joy and peace in the midst of our difficult circumstances because we've essentially said that our circumstances invalidate the overcoming nature of Jesus victory Jesus has overcome whatever circumstance you happen to be in that must be true for you that you have joy and peace in the midst of all of that you will find that joy and peace as you rest in the victory of Christ no power of hell no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand as the hymn writer said there's great comfort in that because it's right in the midst of tribulation and difficulty that we find that to be true you