THIS WEEK’S SERMON
Take Heart, Christ Has Overcome the World
John 16:1-33
Sermon Reflection
Tribulation has a way of doing two things to a Christian. It either drives us deeper into Christ, or it carries us away from him. Jesus knew that. So he gathered his disciples in the upper room, and he told them the truth about what was coming, persecution and tribulation, to keep them from falling away. We need those same words today.
We are tempted to fall away when faithfulness to Christ costs us or hurts us. The disciples expected that belonging to Jesus would lift them into seats of honor and influence and respect. Instead, Jesus promised hostility. We often expect something similar, that somehow by following Christ our paths would just smooth, like all the red lights would turn green as we’re driving down the road. That’s not what our Lord has promised.
But Jesus lifts their head to the surprising reality. He says, I have overcome the world. And with the Father, I now hold everything in my hands. Take heart because Christ has overcome the world. Jesus gives us four assurances. The helper has come. The Spirit that Jesus sends is not a backup plan. He is the personal presence of Jesus Christ within the church sent to make us bold under pressure. The disciples did not lose Jesus at the ascension. They received him in a much deeper way.
Grief gives way to life giving glory. Christian sorrow is not the end of the story. It is the labor pain of joy that no one can take from us. The pain of labor is not a sign that something is wrong. It is a sign that something is being born. Jesus does not tell us that the labor will not hurt. He does tell us the pain is going somewhere.
The Father is for us. Jesus did not come to drag a reluctant Father into kindness towards you. Jesus did not change the Father’s mind about you. Jesus came because the Father first loved you. The Son is not the cause of the Father’s love. He is the proof. So stop praying as a stranger. Stop praying as a defendant. Pray as a loved child because that is what the cross has made you to be.
And finally, the world has been conquered. Christ has already overcome the world, past tense. So the Christian’s stance towards the world is one of blessing, not bracing. As you walk into your week, do so not as someone holding the line for God but as someone whose Lord has already won. When the cost comes, and it will, do not soften the confession. Do not retreat from the witness. Do not fall away. Look up at the Christ who hung in your place and who rose for your salvation. Take heart, Christ has overcome the world.
Meditations for This Week
1
The Helper Has Come
The Spirit Jesus sent is not a memory of Jesus but the personal presence of Christ with us. Because the helper has come, we do not have to manufacture boldness from below, for it is supplied from above. When you walk into the meeting where your faith will be mocked, or the family conversation where it will be ridiculed, you are not alone. Confess your fear, and ask him to take what is Christ’s and make it real in you at the very moment you need it.
2
Labor Pain, Not Death
Jesus does not promise that following him will spare us from sorrow, but he does promise that our sorrow is going somewhere. The pain of labor is not a sign that something is wrong; it is a sign that something is being born. Because Christ is risen, every loss carried for his name is being used to birth something glorious in us and through us. Do not let your sorrow lie to you, for the joy that comes from belonging to the risen Christ cannot be stolen.
3
Loved by the Father Himself
The Father himself loves you. Jesus did not come to drag a reluctant Father into kindness toward you; he came because the Father first loved you. The Son is not the cause of the Father’s love but the proof of it. So come to him in prayer not as a stranger or a defendant, but as a loved child, for that is what the cross has made you to be.
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