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Introduction

John 20

Last week we celebrated the resurrection and one of the main things we tried to emphasize was that the resurrection as recorded in the New Testament is not just a story. It’s a true story.

This is super significant because. Because if we are to be saved from real dangers we need real saviors. A man with heart disease needs to be saved by a real surgeon not story about one.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that act of conquering death, because it actually happened, can in a very real way apply to our death problem. That was last week. But this week, we encounter something that takes it to the next level.

What we are going to see in the passage today is that this resurrection event was not just a point in time accomplishment that changed a real thing in history. It was a point in time event that has continuing implications to the present day. There is very real, ever changing, moment by moment significance for all who claim to be followers of Christ.

Consider the difference between these two scenrios:

Consider first a builder who frames, plumbs and drywalls your house 20 years ago, completed the project and has moved on. You’d be experiencing the effects of his real work but his real presence no longer affects you.

Compare that to living with that builder who lives in the home he built. You interact with him daily. He helps you with the dishes. He makes requests of you. He decides to remodel the house, adding on, asking if you could clear out a room because the flooring needs to be torn out or the kitchen needs updating. Being a Christian is uncomfortable because it’s constant submission to the master remodeler who is using you to accomplish his grand mission.

God did not just enter into this world, fix the death problem, and then move on. In the text, we see that God enters in and fills the house. The Spirit of God literally indewells us. The same God that conquered the grave is now on a mission to conquer the world by indwelling his followers.

You see Jesus could have lived, died and even rose from the grave. And he could have conquered death and moved on. In that case he would’ve been a wonderful teacher, a wonderful example, and we could’ve known him the way you know any great person. We’d benefit from his real accomplishments in history. He lives on in his teaching. He lives on in the stories we have of him. He lives on in our hearts. He lives on the way any great person did.

But in this passage we see that God doesn’t move on. He moves in. And because of that the relationship you should have with the God of the universe is qualitatively different.

Here’s what we are going to see in the text. We are going to see two gifts that are given us by Jesus and those two gifts change us in two ways.

Let’s see this in the text itself.

Now this is the disciples first view of the resurrected Jesus. We made the point last week that Mary just never suspected the resurrection. She comes and sees the stone rolled away and her thoughts didn’t go, “It’s true. He’s risen from the dead just as he said.” She thought the body had been taken away. Even when she saw two angels, her thought was, “Oh, I see, the angels must have taken him somewhere.”

And what this should illustrate is not the dullness or faithlessness of Mary but the just how foreign the concept of resurrection really was. 1st century Jews and Romans didn’t really believe in resurrection. They just didn’t. It wasn’t part of their worldview.

So Jesus Christ shows up in the room and it’s not so much that they don’t believe it, they aren’t able. They are missing the category. It’s too wild and fanciful.

Luke’s account tells us that when Jesus entered they were terrified.

He says, “You’re a ghost.” That’s their worldview. Remember we talked about Shades, Sheol, the Grave. Dead people get a one way ticket to the grave, the house of Spirits.

The disciples’ perception of Jesus as a ghost has nothing to do with Jesus’ appearance as if he was somehow translucent or something. It has everything to do with their assumptions. Since dead people stay dead, it’s their only explanation for what they are seeing. Even though he looks completely like a real human being, he must be a ghost.

Jesus shatters the paradigm. They had a paradigm that insisted resurrections don’t happen. So Jesus has to first prove that he’s human. He said, “You think I’m a ghost? Okay, give me a fish? He ate the fish, and he said,”Have you ever seen a ghost eat a fish?"

Now as a side note, many have noticed that these kinds of detail are such strong evidence of non-fiction writing. On the surface, it seems like the opposite. It seems so fanciful. What could be more fiction-esque than to have a ghost eat a fish.

But think about it. We’ve seen so many strokes of literary genius from John. He’s an amazing writer. There’s thick deep irony, rich metaphors. There have been several times in reading the book that I’ve shuttered in marvel as I’ve seen double and tripple layers of meaning in the telling.

Now given that kind of literary genius, ask yourself, honestly, what fiction writer would ever finish his account by having Jesus walking through a wall and eat a fish? It sounds so silly. After all this serious talk about Jesus as God, that’s the best conclusion you have? The only reason you’d write that down is if it actually happened.

A lot of discussion goes into the post resurrection appearances of Jesus and the nature of his body. And for good reason because the Bible says many times that our resurrected body will be like his so we have a vested interest in understanding it.

Philippians 3-4

It’s an interesting feature of the narrative accounts that in many of the post resurrection appearances, the disciples did not recognize Jesus. And many readers are troubled by this. In some cases the text says that Jesus intentionally hid it from their eyes. In other cases, it seems that they simply just didn’t recognize him. And that bothers us. Why didn’t they recognize him. The doubt that surfaces is maybe it wasn’t really Jesus? Maybe it was someone else? How could you not recognize someone you have spent the last 3.5 years with?

Now whose got the assumption problem? Think for a moment about the assumptions we bring to the table in a question like that. If I were to die today and then in two weeks time, I were to be raised with a new body, what you would expect me to look like? Like I do right now. But why should you expect that? What if I was 99 years old and on my death bed, how would you expect me to raise? What if I was 1 years old? You see the point is that the body is just the shell. The body houses who you really are which is a soul. The Bible clearly teaches that the resurrection body will be similar but different than what we have now. Isn’t that what we are hoping for?

I’m just saying, if my resurrected body looks and operates like my 45 year old body, I’m going to be a little disappointed.

The point is that Jesus was in his resurrected body, not his earthly body, and that resurrected body apparently shares many of the same similarities but in many ways, it is very different. It should be expected that the disciples struggle to recognize Jesus if he is in a body of a qualitatively different sort.

The Bible makes it clear that the soul is the same but that the bodies given to us now and the bodies given to us later share many of the same qualities but they are also different. Just two quick cross-references here on this point.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul is describing the resurrection body and he compares our current body as a seed you put into the ground.

1 Corinthians 15-16

And the point is that our resurrection body is related to our earthly body, it sprouts forth from it, but it’s different. And how is it different? He explains.

So Jesus is resurrected in a related but new body. That’s why they at first struggle to identify. And this too becomes for us an evidence of authenticity. Once again, if this is a made up narrative that you wanted people to believe was true, would you write a story in which you introduce doubt about the identity of the risen savior?

Now the first thing this resurrected Jesus says is “Peace be with you.” In fact, he says it twice. He gives the gift of peace. And that peace is going to change them.

You can see the change right here in the text. They start out frightened. Look at them! They are cowarding behind locked doors. They are fearful of death by crucifixion by association. They are scared of being imprisoned as co-conspirators. I’m sure there were rumblings of this sort. There were many examples in Roman history of putting down entire sects, entire divisions, entire families to make a strong point. I’d be scared too. They start out absolutely controlled by fear.

Here’s what Jesus shows them. Fear and anxiety have their antecdote in the resurrected person of Christ. And if we think about this carefully, there’s two reasons for this:

First, because the resurrection redeems suffering. Whatever you are worried about has it’s ultimate solution in the resurrection. What’s the worst thing that can happen to you? Just give me the thing you are worried about the very most? Death. On the scale of problems in the world, that’s a pretty big one. But Jesus just stands there and smiles.

Oh, that’s all you’re worried about? I thought you were worried about something significant! No problem. There’s a resurrection! You are totally good. Peace be to you. Peace to you friend. There’s an emphasis in the text on the wounds of the hands and side. Why are those wounds there? What do those wounds represent? Pain, suffering, tragedy, abuse, terror, abandonment, injury.

So the resurrection gives a new posture toward tragedy. The resurrection of Jesus allows them to look at difficulty, trial, all the fear and simply rest. If God can redeem that terrible injustice, that terrible trajedy, then certainly he can redeem my lesser suffering. Why? Because in the end the big problem is redeemed. The massive problem is solved. Whatever suffering you are experienced is resolved in the resurrection. (Health problem - solved. Relational problem - solved. Marital problem - solved).

Fear and anxiety have their anecdote in the resurrected person of Christ. We said there’s two reasons for this. First, the resurrection redeems suffering, but secondly, the resurrection gives us access to gladness.

You see it’s so much more than just eliminating the problem of suffering and our eventual death. Okay, great you are freed from the prison of suffering? But what are you being freed to? What is on the other side of those prison doors?

And I love the simple way it’s said, "The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." Sometimes the Bible just surprises me in the simple way it says things. At first it seemed so understated to me. What do you mean, glad? How about ecstatic, overjoyed, elated, euphoric, delirious with joy? Glad? But the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed. Sure, they were relieved when death had been defeated, but they were glad when they saw the Lord.

When are we glad? When the deep needs of our souls are met. When we are deeply satisfied. We are glad on the first beautiful warm day of spring after freezing all winter. There’s a gentle thawing of the earth that softly turns to gladness. We are glad to see a mother with her string of baby ducklings. We are glad to see the tulips pushing up through the soil and bloom. Jesus Christ makes our hearts glad. It’s not a satisfaction that comes on us from the outside but rather one that warms from within. We go from trouble, anxiety, fear to the peace of gladness of simply being in the presence of Christ.

Is that not how you generally experience the Lord? You open your Bible and maybe at first it’s a bit forced, a bit out of duty, but the gentle heat of the love of God warms your heart.

The preaching of his word, fills your hungry soul,

the prayers that you pray satisfy your thirsty Spirit,

the songs that you sing give wings to the feelings in your soul and you are glad.

The Psalms use this word over and over.

Psalm 16:8-9, I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.

Psalm 21:5-6 His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6 For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.

And there’s 35 more verses in the Psalms just like this.

So Jesus gives the first gift of peace which changes their posture from fear to gladness.

Now there’s a second gift given.

And that power comes in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Now before we get too far we have to address a pretty significant interpretation question here and maybe a lot of you are already asking this. If Jesus is breathing on them here and they are receiving the Holy Spirit here, what is Pentacost all about? I thought the Spirit was first given at Pentacost?

There are several views on this. More liberal scholars will say you can’t harmonize John and Acts and this is merely John’s telling of the giving of the Spirit.

Other people will make the point that there isn’t an article in front of the word Holy Spirit and so this isn’t talking about THE giving of the Holy Spirit but rather it’s some lesser giving of the Spirit. But I don’t think that view works very well for a variety of reasons. I think there’s a better answer.

I think this is a symbolic representation of what is about to come. Here’s why:

First, if we say that this is the predicted coming of the Spirit we would be encouraging an internal inconsistency with the book of John itself. Remember back in John 17, Jesus says that the Spirit would not come until AFTER Jesus’ ascension to the Father and subsequent glorification. So for the Spirit to come now, it would seem to be an internal inconsistency even with John.

If this was the promised giving of the Spirit, it certainly doesn’t seem like it made much difference. 8 days later they are still behind locked doors. The disciples slide back to their own employment. They are back to fishing. They are still comparing themselves one to another. If this is the giving of the Spirit that was prophesied in the OT, that Jesus predicted, then quite frankly, the results are underwhelming and disappointing. We’d have to conclude that the promises of John 14–16 are grossly inflated. Compare this to the dramatic shift in disposition when the Spirit is given at Pentacost in Acts

Then what’s up with this breathing business?

The way it’s translated here in the ESV makes it sound like it was the breathing itself that imparted some sort of gift. But the Greek word is just the word breathe. There’s no phrase, “on them.” I read an article on how this word is used in the LXX which is the Greek translation of the OT and it seems like a slam dunk case to me. It seems almost certain that it should be translated and let me demonstrate………………………[breathe deeply before speaking it] “And with that he breathed, and said,”Receive the Holy Spirit." I tried to illustrate it there. The idea is that he filled his lungs deeply exhaled deeply as we do when we are filled with emotion and want to gain composure before making a significant statement. So we shouldn’t read that breathing as if it’s some sort of mystical imparting of the Spirit.

A better way to think of this is that he wants to link this impending gift with his resurrection appearance. He is readying them for something big about to happen.

A comparable analogy might be the washing of the disciples’ feet: Jesus said, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me’ (13:8). We know that the foot washing itself points forward to the spiritual washing achieved by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is anticipating what’s coming.

There’s other examples of this sort of thing in the book of John. Remember Jesus says during the last supper, “Now is the son glorified and God is glorified in Him.” That’s referencing the crucifixion that is imminent but not immediate.

Now however you slice it, there is a special empowering work of the Spirit being referenced here. There’s something new.

This helper that has been promised all through the book of John, and Jesus is letting them know that it is imminently upon you. Finally, Christians have available to them access to God himself which is necessary to do spiritual work.

And can I just say, we need the Spirit. We need Him. Oh how we need Him.

If we are honest, that need is pretty counter-intuitive. Sometimes our intuition is amazingly accurate. We have a gut feel that someone isn’t quite happy with us and we don’t know why? We have a sixth sense that something’s off in the way that guy is walking across the street. It doesn’t look right. Or it can be positive. Maybe an intuition about where to look for that missing ring, or an intuition about an investment. Our intuitions are amazing.

But there is one area where our intuition is completely broken. One area where it’s completely worthless. And that is our need for the Spirit of God.

Never trust the voice in your head that insists, “I pretty much got this." Our intuition tells us that basically we know enough to make the right decisions, we have adequate wisdom to figure things out. Never trust that voice that says, "I’m pretty good at self-assessing.”

I am pretty competent to run my life. We can probably do it on our own, but if God wants to come along and help us out, we’d sure be thankful. Occasionally, we might acknowledge some need in the big decisions or tough trials but we pretty much got this.

That’s what we believe. But that’s NOT the reality.

The reality is we are utterly helpless without him.

We have no ability to open our blind eyes or the eyes of the blind people we minister to.

We can’t change the smallest sin. We can’t confess the smallest weakness.

We are completely dependent on him down to our slightest, smallest breath.

We are in no way able to make good decisions. We lack perspective and wisdom.

Listen to this quote from Charles Spurgeon,

The Holy Spirit is the engine for spiritual change. Without this power, we can do nothing. Now there’s a reason this power is given.

In the same way that the gift of peace changes our posture from fear to gladness. The gift of power changes our purpose.

Now notice from the text what our purpose becomes. In verse 21 we see it.

So as the father sent the Son into the world on a mission so Jesus sends us into the world on a mission. And what is that mission? To proclaim the good news of the forgiveness of sins. To preach the gospel.

Now notice how he articulates our part in this gospel mission. It’s actually quite frightening:

So let’s get our minds around this.

Now the first thing to say here is obviously Jesus is not giving people the authority to save some and condemn others. Jesus is simply referencing the sharing of the gospel, which either brings men to repent as they hear of the ready forgiveness of God, or leaves them unresponsive to the forgiveness of God, and so they are left in their sins.

But, why is it said like this? Why is it put in this sort of terminology. The answer has to do with authority. This isn’t unique to this passage. Jesus has done this already on a couple other occasions. Remember Peter’s great confession? Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God and Jesus replies.

After Peter’s great confession:

Matthew 16

It also is a bit reminiscent of the church discipline process described in Matthew 18.

Matthew 18

[RETURN TO TEXT]

Now in all three of these passages, what Jesus seems to be doing is transferring his authority to men. This was a huge light bulb moment for me even just recently. Remember what Pilate says to Jesus, “Why are you not speaking to me. Do you realize that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?" And Jesus says to Pilate, "You would have no authority unless it was given to you from God.”

He’s not disagreeing that Pilate has the authority to do that. But he’s reminding Pilate that his authority is a derived authority, an authority given to him by God. Meaning, Pilate has someone he’s accountable to.

In the great commission Jesus says, “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me… Now, go. He’s delegating to us. He’s giving us authority to do something in the name of God who has all authority. Our authority to preach the gospel is a derived authority.”

Until very recently, I thought exercising authority was a sign of pride. I would say, “Who am I to think I know how to lead people? Whom am I to say that my idea is better than the next person’s idea?” And by the way, what is the answer to that question. Answer: I’m nobody. God has all authority.

But when God delegates his authority, then all of the sudden you do have the right. In fact, you now have responsibility.

It’s why Paul says to Timothy

Titus 2-3

Paul is saying, “Titus, your authority to be a pastor in the church is derived from God.” Use it to rebuke, exhort, preach, declare. Abuse of authority does not make authority a bad thing. All of us have a desire to be under good teachers, good coaches. None of us have any authority to do anything unless that authority is given to us. Who am I to stand up here and preach. I am nothing. But God has given pastors authority to speak for him. It’s scary. That’s why James says, that teachers will be held to a stricter judgment. More authority means more responsibility.

[RETURN TO TEXT]

The reason this is important is because it moves it out of the realm of request. In a submission relationship when someone gives you authority, you it’s not optional. You have a responsibility. Now you have to answer for it. Now if it’s not done, you are on the hook because you were given the authority.

If I tell my kids, you are in charge of your sister until we get home. I have delegated to them for a short period of time my authority and they don’t have a choice. Their responsibility to take up that authority flows out of our previously established relationship that I am the father and they are to submit to me as their children. I have authority I have over my children. And that authority to lead my home is an authority given to me by God. So if I abuse that authority or if I neglect my responsibility to be a father the way God has asked me to, I will answer to God for that.

Now let’s just at the outset say, this is uncomfortable. What this does is totally interrupt the course of our life. What this does is interfere and meddle with our plans.

The great commission of Jesus is a pretty significant plan interrupter. You might be saying, "

I have a career I’m needing to pursue.

I have a relationship I’m involved in and I really don’t have time for that.

My sports career is taking up all my time.

Why do you think we moved to Boise? We wanted to get out of these nightmare situations.

I want to get away from hard people and hard situations, not move toward them.

I didn’t want that job. I was kind of interested in retiring on the beach.

I kind of had my mind set on doing something a little more relaxing. That sounds like a lot of hard conversations and confrontation."

Listen, let me put this bluntly. If your reaction to the great commission is that’s good for some people, think again. You have been given the authority, which means you now have responsibility given to you by God and you will be asked to give an account as to what you did with that authority. If Jesus is your Lord, you don’t have the choice. It’s not like you can negotiate with God on this point. He’s the boss. He’s the King. If the resurrection is history, if this is real, then this commission is just as real.

You might say, “I like coming to church on Sunday but to make my entire life about this feels a little invasive. I thought about going into ministry at one point, but then I took a different path. People who choose to go into ministry are supposed to do that but not me. I didn’t choose that.”

That’s not true. If you choose to be a Christian, then you have chosen to submit to whatever he asks of you. Don’t come to God expecting him to change you and satisfying you if you won’t allow him to challenge you.

God is challenging everyone in this room right now to take up the great commission. When is the last time you shared your faith with someone? Jesus says here, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." You know one of the best ways to withhold forgiveness from someone. Don’t tell them how forgiveness can be experienced. That’s heavy. But can you argue?

Listen, you have been given the authority, which means you have been given the responsibility to preach the gospel. You might say, “Who am I? I could never do that?” True. But don’t hide beneath that humility. That’s what I’ve done for years in my life and I’m repenting of it. No the authority has been given. So take that authority and use it for the glory of God. You are an ambassador of the message of the king of Kings. Preach Jesus. Preach how wonderful he is. Preach how glorious!

Yes, you are weak and yes you are nothing. But that’s why you’ve been given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will make your nothing words into something.

God might be calling you to do things you don’t want to do. So be it.

God might be showing you things you don’t want to see. So be it.

God might be telling you to believe things you don’t want to believe, fine.

That’s okay. Wouldn’t you expect that from a real God. Don’t you want a real God who changes you and others?

Conclusion

The Message of Jesus when he rises from the dead can me summarized in three words:

Peace.

Power.

Proclaim.

Christian, Jesus Christ is everything! Let us take up our responsibility. We have nothing to fear. We have the power of God in us. We have a message that is true and saves sinners. Let’s do this.

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Introduction

John 20

There are stories. And then there are true stories. There is fiction and then there is non-fiction. Now here’s the claim this morning. What we are about to read is not fiction. It’s a narrative account describing something that took place in history.

A lot of us come in here this morning, consciously or even subconsciously, not terribly concerned about that point. Why? Because reading about the life of Jesus is just a good read. It is a good story. It inspires us the way a story inspires us. A good story has lots of drama, great character development, and unpredictable plot line, lots of irony, lots of tension and then there’s this resolve at the end and we love it. And what a happy ending, Jesus Christ rose from the dead!

We are addicted to that feeling of drama that resolves, of happy endings.

Think about great stories we all love:

Cinderella gets taken advantage of, marginalized, mistreated, but then in the end there’s justice, the slipper fits, and she marries the prince and we feel great.

The White Witch in Narnia has her stranglehold and it’s always winter but never Christmas. And all these creatures are turned to stone. And there’s this deception. But then Aslan is on the move. And the land begins to melt. And the white which is defeated and we feel great.

But here’s the thing and I hate to break it to you: Cinderella is not a real person. There aren’t magical pumpkins. There is no such thing as a white witch. There is no actual lion named Aslan.

And in a way, who cares, because we don’t need the story to be real for it to be meaningful, to have a purpose, to move us, change us, exhilarate us, even shape and transform us.

But, here’s the point: a story does need to be real if it’s going to change what is real.

There’s a pretty big difference between writing a story in which you win a million dollars and actually winning a million dollars. Which would you choose?

You see in order to be helped in the physical realm, the helper must be real. He must exist.

if the building you are in is burning, you must be saved by a real fireman, not a story about a fireman.

If the heart in your body is failing, you must be saved by a real heart surgeon, not a story about one.

So when we come to the Bible this morning, let me ask you a question, "Is this a story about a man who rose from the dead or did a man actually rise from the dead? Is this another happily ever after story the likes of Cinderella or is this history?

Listen, everything depends on it. EVERYTHING. The whole meaning of the Christian faith depends on the factual basis of this claim, that what we just read actually happened. That’s why Christianity if a faith that is concerned with apologetics - the historic defense of its claims.

If it’s not true, then the whole thing is worthless.

Who Jesus factually is the foundation for what he’s done.

In other words if Jesus is a great story, then he has done nothing about death.

If Jesus was just a man, then he’s done nothing about death.

But if Jesus was God come in the flesh, and he really did rise again, then death has been abolished and eternal life awaits all who place their faith in Him!

So today we are going to look at the REAL story. We have only two points today. We are going to listen to the story, the real story and then we are going to consider the implications of it.

Now let’s enter into the narrative. Last week we left off at John 19:42. Joseph of Aramithea along with Nathaniel, laid the body of Christ in a rich man’s tomb very unknowingly fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah 53:9

Isaiah 53

So the Friday sun of Nissan 14 sets. And when the sun went down, hope went down with it.

That night as far as anyone saw, or could see, Christianity was dead.

It was utterly destroyed by the murder of its founder and sole leader. At that moment, as the stone was rolled shut, and silence filled the air, nothing could have seemed more abjectly weak, more pitifully hopeless, more absolutely doomed to scorn and extinction, and despair, than the Church which He had founded in his name.

Imagine how empty the words of Jesus would have rung in Peter’s ears, “Peter you are Cephas and upon this Rock I will built my church.” Look at what Jesus left.

It numbered a handful of weak followers. Peter, the most hopeful member in terms of boldness, had denied his Lord 3 times with lies and cursing; the most devoted had forsaken Him and fled.

They were poor, uneducated, ignorant, and frightened. They could not claim a single building. They didn’t have a single sword. They had no money. They possessed no notable skills. They wielded no political influence. They had no religious influence.

If they spoke Hebrew, their own language, it betrayed them by its mongrel dialect;

If they spoke the current Greek of their region, it was despised as the uneducated version, the redneck version, the miserable, despised version.

Here you have an insignificant, weak band of Galilean fisherman wielding a cross of wood trying to overcome the world. But here’s the thing: they did.

I want you to think about this: The best selling book of all time is Don Quiote with 500 million copies printed. Do your realize that there have been over 5 billion copies of the Bible printed translated into more languages than any other book.

The Bible has been the NYTimes best seller every year since its inception. Every year, the Bible sells twice as many books as any book on the NYT best seller list. Last year over 26 million Bibles were sold in the U.S. alone.If you were to leaf through one of these 25 million copies, whose words would be highlighted in Red all throughout? The man who was whipped, nailed to a tree and laid in a tomb. But it ABSOLUTELY COULD not have been this way had Jesus stayed there.

How could it? Paul was preaching throughout the Roman world. He’s writing 1st Corinthians in A.D. 52. Even the most secular God-hating historian will grant you that fact. That’s 25 years after the event happened. Nobody who actually lived it would believe it, if Jesus was in the grave. There would have to have been hundreds who could personally testify to the resurrection. Otherwise, all you’d have to do is produce the body and the whole thing would be over.

How did this empire transforming message begin?

So let’s pick up the narrative in John chapter 20:1. It is early Sunday morning (still dark).

I’m not sure what you all have in your heads here. For a lot of year, in fact all the way up until college, I had a flannel graph picture in my head of a large boulder in front of the mouth of a cave that was pushed aside. Let me try to give you a better picture.

And inside the tomb it would would have looked something like this. There are many, many examples of this in archaeology.

So the body is placed upon that shelf for one year. And then after the body has decomposed the bones are gathered up and placed in these ossuaries or bone boxes.

So Mary comes to the tomb and she comes to anoint the body. The idea is that as the body decomposes, it’s going to smell. So to combat that odor, you put spices. The more wealthy, the more honored, the more perfume. She comes bearing whatever spices she had; it’s very early Sunday morning. It’s officially after Sabbath. She finds that the stone has been rolled away.

So Mary comes to the tomb. She probably has a desire to put some burial spices on Jesus. But when she arrives she sees the tomb is open. This frightens her so she runs back to tell Peter and John. John wins the footrace but doesn’t enter the tomb. Peter in characteristic brashness, doesn’t care if the tomb will defile him, he just plunges in headlong only to discover that the burial clothes of Jesus have been set aside. The head garment which we were already told was made of fine silk and was folded neatly by itself. This was certainly not the way a tomb raider would have dealt with that costly piece of cloth.

All throughout the text, there’s these little details that nobody would include, unless of course, it actually happened. In other words, it’s an appeal to go check. As and see what other say. See if the stories check out.

Mary stays back while Peter and John return to their homes. She is then the first to see Jesus. As many have noted, it’s highly significant that in a culture that did not honor women, Jesus first reveals himself to a woman.

It’s significant on a a couple of levels. First it’s significant because it’s obviously a choice. Jesus is always preferring the lowly, those who are trodden under foot, those who are overlooked. And he honors Mary in choosing to appear to her first.

But secondly, think about this from the standpoint of credibility. Put yourself in the shoes of an author who is trying to fabricate a mystery, and you wanted people to really believe this stuff, who would you put as an eye-witness to the resurrection? You’d pick some high posting official. You wouldn’t pick a woman, who in the Jewish context, couldn’t even testify in court because of her gender. The only reason you’d do that, is if in fact, it actually happened.

In seeing him, she falls to the ground grasps his feet and says Rabboni, which is an extended form of Rabbi.

In rabbinical Hebrew this expression is regularly applied to God. This may be Mary’s way of addressing her teacher as God.

Much has been written about Jesus’ statement, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father;” The Greek is very difficult and unusual here.

I think some of the confusion in this verse comes from the way we naturally read the phrase, “I am ascending.” Jesus says, stop clinging to me for I have not ascended to my Father as if to say that touching Christ in his pre-ascended state is not proper. Until then, stop clinging. But that would be a strange reading since Thomas is later asked to touch Jesus.

Here is the paraphrase that I think is most helpful, "Stop touching me for I have not yet ascended to my Father.

I am going to ascend but that time is not now, so stop acting like I’m going to immediately disappear! This is a time for joy and sharing the good news, not for clutching me. Stop clinging to me, but go and tell my disciples that I have risen. I promise I’ll still be here when you get back!

And so Mary obeyed and the message of the risen Savior began to spread. And just think about what has happened.

It went first to the Disciples, from the Disciples to the 500 from the 500 all around Jerusalem.

From there it spread to all Judea and even the despised people of Samaria.

From there it spread to the Aramaic-speaking peoples along the Mediterranean coast and also to the inland parts of the Roman Empire, and beyond that into the Parthian Empire

Southern Indian coast

By the latter half of the second century, the resurrection of Jesus had spread west throughout Media, Persia, Parthia, and Bactria

In the fourth century it was Frumentius who brought Christianity to Ethiopia and it began spreading into Africa.

Christianity spread to other great pre-modern states, including the Kingdom of Aksum where it became the state religion.

Even the Germanic peoples gradually heard about the resurrection of Jesus and the claims of Christ and many became followers of this resurrected King.

And down through the corridors of history it continued to spread. We stand here today nearly 2000 years later as recipients of a message first spoken by the mouth of Mary, “He is risen from the dead.”

Now what are the implications of this? What does this mean? How do we interpret the claims?

Many think Christianity is just a philosophy. If Christianity is just a philosophy, you can reject it and there’s no problem, because philosophies are a dime a dozen. If that philosophy isn’t anchored in anything objective, well you have just as much of a right to develop your own philosophy as the next guy.

And that’s the level at which a lot of people reject the Christian faith. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you. But you know, I personally don’t like this idea of submitting to a set of morals because it conflicts with what I think is good for me. I really don’t like the idea of a God who is angry at sin.

The only reason someone would feel the freedom to say that is if they thought Christianity was merely an idea. Nobody says this sort of thing as it relates to real things in a real world, things that demand your submission. If a forest fire is coming your way, you don’t say, “I won’t submit to a flame that destroys property. How cruel.” That’s insane. You just run for you life.

Why? Because the flame doesn’t care what you believe. It doesn’t care what you feel. It just is. It will just consume you if you are in the way. It will consume you because it is real and you are real.

Let the full weight of the Christian message come falling down upon you right now. Let me distill it to two points.

You will die. You will perish because you are finite and this real world destroys living things. There are not a lot of certainties in life, but that one’s pretty certain. No matter how many pushups you do, miles you run, one day you will be put into a box and buried in the ground. And as obvious as this is, it’s easy to forget.

But Christ Jesus, because he rose, made a way for you to rise. Do you hear this?

This is not a philosophy like Buddhism or a set of philosophical social ideals like Marxism. This factors into the very fabric of reality like physics or time or space. The claim is that Jesus Christ has conquered death.

This is why the resurrection matters. This is why Paul says, “If Christ was not raised we are still in our sins and we are all of all men most to be pitied.” If the resurrection isn’t history, this whole thing is a joke.Ggo home.

But if it is true - and that is what we are claiming and what billions of people who have lived and died before us have claimed, then death has lost its sting. The fangs of death have been pulled out for those who believe. There’s no venom in it. There’s no fear. Death is safe for the believer. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then he holds the keys to eternal life as he claimed.

The main message of Christianity is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And because of that, death has been defeated. It’s what made Christianity so powerful in the first century.

Ben Myers who specializes in systematic theology and the history of ideas recounts the way this transformed the early church:

“Christians would assemble for prayer in tombs. They would worship Christ among the bones of the dead. Believers would raise the bodies of martyrs in the air and parade them through the streets like trophies. At funerals they would gaze lovingly on the dead and sing psalms of praise over their bodies. Such behavior shocked their pagan neighbors. According to Roman law, the dead had to be buried miles away from the city so that the living would not be contaminated. But Christians placed the dead right at the center of their public gatherings.”

And this was true of Christians up until very recently. For centuries the dead were buried right in the churchyard and you’d walk through the graveyard on the way to church to remind yourself that one day, you too will be there, but a resurrection is coming. Christ has overcome the grave.

A real God entered into real space to help real people from the very real problem of death. That’s the whole message of the book of John.

These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God and that by believing you might have life in his name.

How Do You Receive Him?

Now under what conditions does this eternal life apply to us? Or to say it another way, what is the difference between a Christian and non-Christian? Think about what kind of person it is that becomes a follower of Jesus.

Can we point to qualities that makes a person more likely to receive Jesus? It’s very hard to do.

You can find genius on both sides of the fence. There are hundreds of nobel laurretes who have claimed the name of Christ. You can also find hundreds of idiots. Genius and fools are on both sides of the fence.

It has nothing to do with personality. Every enigram type is represented. It is a faith which appeals and equally repels all personality types.

It has nothing to do with wealth or power. You have professional athletes on both sides, you have powerful CEO’s, politicians, you have window washers, fast food workers, mechanics, engineers making all amounts of money. You have wealthy and poor on both sides.

You have famous and infamous on both sides.

You have people who go through terrible tragedy and some harden themselves against God and some turn to God.

It has nothing to do with cultural appetite as it has spread in every culture in every continent of all times. Let the statistics speak. You have an equal divide.

To some, God is discoverable everywhere; to others, nowhere. The same evidence, the same access to information, the same book being read. What’s the difference.

You know what a Christian is? A Christian is one who has found eternal life in Jesus.

The search for eternal life is not unique to Christians. Let’s just be clear, that search for eternal life that is RAGING in every single person who has ever been born and it’s not just a search for an eternally beating heart. We don’t just want to biologically live forever. Who wants to live forever hooked up to a life support machine. End the misery, please.

When we say we all want eternal life, what we are saying is that we want meaning, purpose, happiness, and satisfaction that lasts FOREVER. The search for eternal life is really the search for God. It’s the search for the ultimate.

What is your highest good? What is the thing you really live for? What is that thing that if, we give ourselves to it completely, will provide us with satisfaction, meaning, happiness.

We all have things we enjoy that give us life, things that are life-giving to us.

Jesus say, those things are only life giving because I made them. I am life. “I am the bread of life. I am living water. I am the true vine. I am the way the truth and the life. I am the resurrection and the life.” These are all fantastic, monstrous claims of joy. Jesus is claiming to satisfy!

But we’ve been duped so hard so many times in life, tricked, swindled, and taken advantage of that many of us choose to protect our hearts from the possibility of ever being hurt again by another swindler, that we push Jesus away and refuse to even entertain the possibility that this offer might be true.

The real answer for the reason people accept or reject the Christian faith is not an intellectual one, a social one, a factual one….it’s an emotional one. We all have a highly irrational love for that thing we BELIEVE will satisfy. It’s the same irrational connection that binds a drug addict to his drug.

Think about the devastation of addiction. Of course the initial hit is euphoric. But the problem is you need more and more of the addictive substance to get less and less of the satisfaction. That ends up destroying a person because there’s diminishing returns on joy.

It’s scary. The problem with addiction is that the addict is trying to be satisfied with something that cannot actually satisfy. It has some of what is needed for satisfaction but the substance itself lacks the necessary properties necessary to truly satisfy.

And while the addicts knows this, he also doesn’t know anything better and he is terrified of not having that thing that at least brings him some pleasure.

And so he will destroy his family to get it.

He will destroy his health to get it.

He will destroy his integrity and respect to get it.

And even though the LOGICAL answer to his satisfaction problem is to surrender his addiction, emotionally he can’t do it. There’s too much fear.

Believe it or not this is the exact same reason why so many can’t accept Christ.

We are all addicts. We are all trying to extract from this world, something this world was never meant to give us. And admittedly it isn’t perfect, but its something.

Some of us are getting a good bit of satisfaction from our appearance. People find us attractive and it feels good to be wanted.

Some of us are addicted to respect, power, approval, comfort, control. It’s quite satisfying to have those things.

Some of us are addicted to money. You can do so much with it. It feels great.

Some of us try to find it in religious self-righteosusness, our morality, our family. We are very satisfied at our moral accomplishments.

How well is this really working? How long will it last? The longer you live the more you realize how shallow this is.

And there’s a reason it’s shallow. And to understand why it feels so shallow you have to understand what’s driving the addiction. What’s the craving? It’s the quest to have a reason to be loved. You see, we want so badly to be loved but we all have this haunting suspicion that we are not lovable. We know it at the core of who we are so we are working, working, working to silence the condemning voices in our heads.

We want people to look at our athletic accomplishments, work accomplishments, financial accomplishments and we want people to respect those accomplishments and love us because of it.

Or We want people to look at our smashing beauty and love us for it.

Or We want people to look at our well-behaved family and love us for it.

That’s the hit. That’s what feels so good. That’s the drug. The compliments that people give us are so satisfying. It’s so addicting. We love the praise, the words of affirmation. But just like a drug they diminish in their effectiveness over time. We need more and more. It never quite silences the voice of condemnation inside our souls.

But you know what the message of the cross is to the world. I can silence it once and for all. Because the reason Jesus Christ loves you has nothing to do with your performance. While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you.

Romans 5

Jesus comes to us and says, “I did not die for you because you were loveable.” I died for you because I chose to love what was not loveable. Stop believing that you need to do something to be loved.

And here’s the mystery of mysteries, it is that gaze of love that actually gives us value. Remember the story, beauty and the beast. The beast is hideous. He wants to be loved but he knows that he can never experience love because of who he is. And he can’t change that! And he’s destroyed by it. He’s terrified. He’s a monster because of it. But then the princess sets her gaze on him.

You want to know what the great lesson of Beauty and the Beast is? A thing must be loved before it is lovable.

And Jesus as Lord, Jesus as the ultimate good, Jesus as God, says, "I love you." Don’t try to extract your value from your performance, your talent, your looks, your accomplishments. Lay it down. Make your choice. You can’t have both. Lay down your money. Lay down your career. I demand it all. I demand total allegiance. Die to self. Give up everything and follow me. I am the resurrection and the life. I love you. I am that ultimate thing you’ve been searching for your entire life. Have the courage to give up your drugs of approval from men and follow me.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever belives in me should not perish but have everlasting life. PHYSICALLY AND SPRITUALLY.

You know how to have eternal life? Believe who he is. That Jesus Christ was real, that he was God and that he died for you. And then allow Christ to love you.

And if you do that, the whole gravitaitonal center of your life will shift. Because it’s not longer about trying to work hard to become loveable. You are made loveable by the love of God. In the same way that a stock shoot up in price becaause billionare sets his eye upon it, you become precious because God sets his love upon you.

FAITH COMMUNITY BIBLE CHURCH, JESUS CHRIST, THE KING OF KINGS LOVES YOU.

Receive that love. The next step is for you to be baptized, to identify yourself as a follower of Jesus Christ who is loved.

Slideshow for this message is available

Introduction

John 19-20

Last week we talked about the irony of the crucifixion. If you recall, irony is this powerful literary device where what appears to be the case on the surface is not actually the case. Where the characters in the story are enveloped in one understanding, but if there were a full understanding, if the reality was revealed to them, they would be astonished.

Last week we looked at the crucifixion narrative itself. We looked at what happened, the trials, the mocking, the nails, the pain and torture, the wrath of the father poured out upon his Son and ended with the words, “It is finished.”

Today we are going to be looking at what happened between the words, “It is finished” on Friday and “He has risen from the dead” on Sunday morning. And much like the crucifixion, what appears to be the case and what is actually the case are two completely different things.

Today in the text we have this irony. You have the surface reading which is nothing more than biology. And then you have these deeper reading of theology.

Biologically, Men struck Jesus to end his life. That’s one judgment. The judgment of men.

Theologically, God struck Jesus to redeem our life. That’s the judgment of God.

Picture with me that moment on the cross when Jesus bows his head and says, “It is finished.” I think, had you been standing there, you would literally feel a shutter run through nature. The other gospel writers fill in the white spaces between verse 30 where we ended last week and verse 31 where we begin this week.

Matthew, Mark and Luke all record that the temple curtain was torn at this point. Do you remember Zechariah from the beginning of the book of Luke? He was chosen to enter into the holy of holies. This only occurred once a year, and according to Scripture, this had to occur on Nissan 14 at twilight. If you harmonize the time references in the gospels, this offering of incense for the sins of the people was probably taking place or about to take place exactly as Jesus speaks these words.

So you can imagine the drama. Many priests are assembled to perform what undoubtedly in their minds is the most important priestly duty of the year.

They are getting ready to send in the man who was chosen by lot to offer incense, they are tying some bells around his feet and rope around his waist in case he enters the temple unclean and is struck down by God, when suddenly the 60 foot wide 30 feet tall 8 inch thick curtain tears from top to bottom. I just imagine all the priest staring in silence at this gaping hole, looking at the holy of holies, and then one guy saying, “uh, now what do we do?”

We also know that a great earthquake takes place and dead men rising from their tombs. Two extra-biblical sources also mention strange things happening during this time. For whatever its worth, Josephus who was a Jewish historian who lived around the time of Christ, records that there was a mysterious extinction of the center and prominent candle in the golden candlestick. Josephus as well as the Talmud both say that in connection with the earthquake, the two large gates of the temple were swung open.

Luke also records that the Soldier who was guarding Jesus, who undoubtedly had witnessed many crucifixions, when he witnessed the supernatural events surrounding Jesus’ death concluded, “Surely this must have been the Son of God.”

And there Jesus hangs.

Jesus died on a Friday. Sabbath was Saturday and since this was the Sabbath that also happened to be during the Passover week, it was extra special (hence the description, “high day.”)

It was the normal practice of those who were crucified to be left on the cross for days long after they were dead.

But this was not the case with Jesus. The Jews were pleading with Pilate on the basis of Deut 21 which says if you hang a man upon a tree, don’t leave him there overnight because everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed.

So, again, the irony…. The Jews, who apparently did not think it a problem to inaugurate the Passover feast by murdering their Messiah, were seriously alarmed to see Jesus hanging on the cross as the sun began to set because they wanted to honor God by keeping his commandments. I’m sure God was honored by their obedient hearts.

And so they asked Pilate to break the legs of Jesus so that he might be taken off the cross before Sabbath began. This practice was known as crucifragium.

It’s hard to even imagine, but the idea is that the bones of the legs would be crushed with a hammer or mallet. Archeologist have uncovered some skeletons of crucified men with their bones broken as described here.

Because the legs were broken, the victims could no longer lift themselves up with their feet and so they either died of suffocation or from the pierce of the spear which was soon to follow. The breaking of the bones was viewed as a sort of increase of punishment to compensate for what would otherwise be a much slower death.

Pilate must have agreed with the Jews, possibly wanting to just get this whole nightmare over with, and so he orders the breaking of the bones. We know from the other gospel writers that Jesus was crucified between the two other criminals and so the soldiers probably started from the outside and worked their way toward the middle. After breaking the legs of the criminals they arrive in the middle only to discover that Jesus is dead.

The soldier’s job was to insure that the victims were truly dead before taking them down. This was an essential element in the mind of Rome. The cross was designed to put down seditionist. Once on the cross, you would die. There was no chance of escaping. In fact, if a solider took down the body of a man prematurely, and that man so much as twitched, all the soldiers assigned to guard the cross would be themselves hung on crosses. So the Roman soldier standing next to Jesus, in an effort to ensure that Jesus was truly dead thrusts his spear into the side of Jesus. This was most certainly not a prick but a deep thrust which was designed to penetrate clear to the heart. When the soldier pulled out the spear, John goes out of his way to explain that from this wound flowed blood and water.

What happened here medically is not certain. And when I say, not certain, I don’t mean that there are no explanations as to how these things can be so. There are many explanations, but they are not certain which particular explanation fits the narrative. The first theory says that when the solider pierced the side of Jesus the spear went through the lungs and into the heart.

According to this theory the blood would have come from the heart and the water would have come from the pericardial sac. I say that like I’m an expert in pericardial sacs.

Another doctor, A.F. Sava, disagrees. His theory is that blood and water was present just inside the rib cage between the pleura lining the chest and that lining of the lung. Severe chest injuries show that non-penetrating injuries of the chest are capable of producing an accumulation of fluid that had hemorrhaged in the space between the ribs and the lungs – it may amount to as much as two liters.

He thinks that “the brutal scourging of Jesus several hours before his death upon the cross, was sufficient to produce a bloody accumulation with the chest, so that the settling by this fluid into layers and its ultimate evacuation by opening the chest below the level of separation must inevitably result in the ‘immediate’ flow of blood followed by water.”

Ultimately, how exactly this happened matters very little. What does matter is the reason John included this detail. He included this detail to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus actually died.

When John says that out of Jesus’ side flowed water he is more than likely referring to serum. Serum is part of blood and separates from blood when the heart stops beating. Or to say it another way, it is difficult to get serum when your heart is beating. The presence of water in the wound would be proof of death. So that is why this detail is included.

Normally, the bodies of the crucified victims were left to hang on the cross, and then their bodies were eaten by birds and dogs.

The refusal of a proper burial was a feature of crucifixion, not an accident. It was a final denial of your dignity, your humanity. But in the case of Jesus, he was—as the Gospels are at pains to point out—buried. This is not what a first-century person would expect to have happened.

The text goes on to say that Joseph of Arimathea mustered up courage and approached Pilate to ask him for the body of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin, the same ruling body of people who had illegally conspired to kill Jesus the night before. So you can understand why this happened secretly. He was scared out of his mind that his peers might find out. It seems that the timidity and weakness of faith that had prevented him from sticking up from Jesus the night before grew and now emboldened him.

Since he could no longer defend Jesus as His Messiah and Lord while he was alive, he would at least show him honor in giving him a proper burial in his death.

The amount of stigma associated with this kind of act can hardly be felt. But watching the boldness of Joseph of Arimathea generated courage in the heart of Nicodemus who was also a member of the Sanhedrin to partake in the burial of Jesus. The text says that Nicodemus contributed about 75 pounds worth of burial spice. This was a ridiculously lavish amount. In the Talmud there was a man named Nakdimon Ben Gorion. If this man is the same Nicodemus as mentioned in the Bible, as it seems likely it is, then he was a man of enormous wealth.

And there you have it. There’s what happened on the physical level, the biological level. This is the human perspective. This is what people are seeing and thinking as they are looking at the dead body of Jesus. And there’s all this emotion associated with grappling with that reality. What does Mary the Mother of Jesus think?

There is this incredible suffering that results in the human Spirit and these questions start surfacing. Why? Lord, why would you allow this terrible tragedy? How am I supposed to reconcile the idea that you are in control, that you have my best interest in mind, that you care for me when I’m staring into this terrible reality? How, Lord?

Well we find the answer in theology.

Biologically, Jesus lived a life which started in the way ours start (with a birth) and ended in the way ours end (with a burial). From a womb to a tomb, and everything in between, he lived our life. It began as ours begin, and ended as ours ended. He took the human-train all the way to its final destination, the grave. And this was entirely necessary to fulfill a THEOLOGICAL point.

Every biological point - the blood, the tomb, the piercing, the water flowing - is preparation for the theological point.

Did you see the theological point in the passage we read? Everything was biological with the exception of these two fulfillment passages, one from Zechariah and one from the Psalms and Numbers.

John is connecting all this biology to theology. You see this man getting stabbed with a spear? You see that water and blood gushing out? That should ring a bell, you people of God. That should cause you stiffen in chair and shudder with realization. Something predicted long ago has just been accomplished.

And he quotes Zechariah 12:10.

Zechariah 12

In the context here, we are reading a prophecy, and God in speaking about a time yet future where the Gentile nations who have laid siege to Jerusalem will be defeated and God says, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. *They shall look on me, on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourns for an only child”

Now notice something about the pronouns here. It’s really interesting:

Who is the I referring to? I will pour out… Who is the I referring to? God

Who is the me referring to? They shall look on me. Who is the me? God.

Now it changes from 1st person to 3rd person. They shall look on me, on him whom they have pierced.

So by looking on him, this servant of God, they are looking on God. God is pierced when his representative, the Shepherd is pierced. It is a really cool evidence of the trinity in OT prophesy. The coming Messiah, the coming servant, would be God himself.

Now why a pierced Messiah? That was such a confusing concept. To many the idea of a pierced Messiah would be horrible. Why would the coming servant suffer? Why would the Messiah need to be pierced?

That question is answered in the second prophesy that is mentioned in the text. When the soldiers came to break the legs of Jesus they found he was already dead and so they did not break his legs and the text says that this was to fulfill the words of Scripture: Not one of his bones will be broken.

This is probably a reference to either Psalms 34:20, “he keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken” but more likely, you what this is referencing?

Numbers 9:12 which states that the Passover lamb was to be prepared without breaking any of the bones.

You see in the cross you have these massive themes culminating. Who is this Jesus? Who is this dead man hanging on the cross. Biologically, he died like any other man. The color drained from his skin as his heart stopped beating. He’s just a dead man. Ah, what appears to be the case and what is actually the case are two completely different things.

This is not a normal man. This is God. That’s why John has made such an effort, time and time again, to demonstrate that this man who hangs upon the cross is in fact God. This man who hangs upon the cross is YHWH. You will look on me - on HIM whom you have pierced.

And in this moment, for astute OT students, two streams of OT redemptive thought come colliding together. On the one hand you had this theme of sacrifice. That God would save through sacrifice. And on the other hand you had this theme that God would save by sending a Messiah (a Savior) who would save the people.

And in these fulfillment prophesies the OT student would stand their with mouth wide open realizing that the Savior had become the sacrifice.

Rewind back in your mind to John chapter 1. What did John the Baptist say when he first saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

You see it is the death of the Passover lamb that atoned for the sins of the people. God would pass over the sins of the people by offering a lamb, a spotless lamb, a lamb whose bones had not been broken, in place of the sinner.

That was accomplished in the BODY of Jesus. Listen how Colossians 1 states it.

Colossians 1

Do you see what the cross has done? You are reconciled. You are brought near to GOD by his death. Remember last week we talked about Jesus, when he said, it is finished was saying, I completed the mission, I completed the work. The telos of my life has been realized.

What was that work? What was that work: RECONCILIATION. There was a chasm. There was a giant chasm. A massive chasm that existed between God and man. You were alienated one from another. There was an infinite distance. You want to know what the Bible calls that infinite distance. DEATH.

Where does sin lead? Sin leads to death. And how can those in death, be with God? Do you see the chasm that must be bridged? Do you see the reconciliation work that must be accomplished?

Now to illustrate this, it might be helpful to take a look at the apostles creed. Many of us have recited the Apostles Creed? This creed is very old. As a matter of fact it dates to about 130 AD. It was not written by the apostles but it was written to describe the doctrine of the apostles.

What is this whole idea of Jesus descending into hell. That makes a lot of people uncomfortable. What was he doing there? And yet from very early on, there was a historic confession among Christians that Jesus descended into hell. This is along side things like virgin birth, creator God, etc. So where does this idea of descending into hell come from?

This word hell is important. However, as Inigo Montoya said in The Princess Bride, I do not think that word means what you think it means.

In the New Testament there is a word which aligns with what we think of as “hell” - the place of separation from God, the place of eternal torment, weeping and nashing of teeth. All those horrible pictures. That’s the word Gehenna.

But the word in the creed is the word that refers to Sheol, or Hades, which is, more broadly, the place dead people go. It’s like us saying, “he went to the grave.” We aren’t commenting on his eternal state of heaven or hell. It’s just the place of the dead.

Let me give you just a small snippet of understanding of the Bible’s view of the afterlife. In the Bible you have three realms of possible existence: heaven, earth, and under the earth.

Picture a house with three stories. To be in the house means you are one of those three levels. Heaven, earth, or under the earth.

Hades, Sheol, the grave is the place under the earth. It is the place of the dead. What is this place like? When the Bible describes it, it almost has a feeling of hibernation for the souls. There’s maybe a small amount of consciousness but the souls are waiting until the next stage of redemptive history unfolds. And at the judgment, we are told that sheol is emptied. And everyone is resurrected, some to eternal life and some to eternal death.

So it is to this place that Jesus went when he died.

This is what the creed is saying. Jesus died, and as a result of being dead, he went to the place of the dead, to Hades.

But as Acts 2:31 says, “he was not abandoned to Hades.” and as verse 24 says. Death could not hold him, and God raised him from among the dead.

This is what we are on the cusp of celebrating in Easter: Jesus Christ returned from the dead. Do you know how rare that is? Death is a destination famous issuing one-way tickets. But Jesus Christ returns.

And one of the things he does while in Hades is bring the blessing of his death to those who had died in faith before him.

Have you ever wondered what happened to OT believers who died without knowing Jesus? Ephesians 4 has something to say about that.

Ephesians 4

What this appears to be saying is that Jesus proclaimed to those who never had a chance to understand God’s redemptive plan, what had been accomplished. And they had a chance to hear it from the mouth of the Savior himself.

It also seems from 1 Peter 3 that Jesus proclaimed to those who did not die in faith that a regime change had taken place. He let his enemies know that Satan had not prevailed. And he proclaimed to them that every knee shall bow, according to Philippians 2:10, “in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10)

Jesus now holds the keys to death and Hades (Revelation 1:17-18).

The gates of Hades will not prevail over the church (Matt 16:8), because those gates have been smashed down by Jesus.

What Jesus has done is make death a safe and blessed place for all who now die in him. Death is safe. Do you hear that? In the Old Testament, death is never good. It is something always to be avoided, even by those who know God.

But by the time of the New Testament, a person like Paul can declare that to die is “better by far” (Philippians 1:23). The book of Revelation says “blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on” (Revelation 14:13). Why the change? Because he has conquered the place of the dead.

Those who die now, because they know Jesus, die with the conscious blessing of knowing that the resurrection is just around the corner.

Listen to how Hebrews 2:14-15 says it.

Hebrews 2

What appears to be happening in death, what is actually happening in death are two completely different things. What has happened to all people of all time in death, for the believer, is not happening. We have been delivered from the slavery of death. Praise God.

Good Friday Introduction:

Now we are on the cusp of resurrection Sunday. But in terms of the church calendar, between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday stands Good Friday. Now for the last several months we’ve been in Good Friday in terms of our study of John. So we are well immersed in this theme!

But here’s what we are going to do. We are going to have a very simple service. It’s going to have a stripped down feel.

What we are going to do is read a harmonized version of all four gospels leading leading right up to just before the resurrection.

And to show you what I mean let me give you a little snippet. Here’s what I mean by harmonized version.

Yellow is Mt, Red is Mark, Green is Luke and Blue is John. So as we read this, no detail will be left out. And it’s going to take us about 35 minutes to read it. We will take one break in that reading and do some singing. And then in the end we will take communion. It will be wonderful. So come back 7pm and let’s worship through the public reading of God’s Word, song and communion.

Slideshow for this message is available

Introduction

John 19

Good morning. We are fast approaching Easter which is the high point of the Christian Calendar. And as you can probably foresee, the resurrection narrative in our study of the book of John is going to align with the Easter Calendar for this year. So we look forward to that!

One practical note regarding Easter, if this year is anything like last year’s Easter, we are not going to have space UNLESS a whole chunk of you move to first service. So in an effort to encourage that, we will have a children’s ministry program 1st service to accommodate as many of you moving there as possible. So please consider making that switch for this one Sunday and attend first service to free up space in the other services.

Resurrection Sunday is coming. But today we have a darker scene which made that day necessary. Today we come to the crucifixion narrative which is the climax of the book of John which is the climax of the gospels which is the climax of the NT which is the climax of the entire Bible.

You can’t get any more central to the Christian faith than the crucifixion.

If you compare religions, Christianity is the reverse of every other religion and really, every other biography you’ve ever read. A biography, by definition, focuses on the life of a man. The word biography comes from two Greek words. Bios means life and graphes means writing. So the idea would be something like writings about someone’s life. In your typical biography, how many pages focus on the death of a man? Maximum, maybe 5 pages out of 300. What’s there to say? He died. Everyone dies. The biography of Jesus’ life is quite different. It is the reverse. There is very little written about his life and everything focuses on his death. The focus of the gospels is on the giving of Jesus’ life rather than on the living of his life.

And in the words Jesus Christ speaks from the cross, we are going to see why this focus is so important.

Background

Now, our passage picks up today with Jesus being led to the cross after a final pronouncement by Pilate.

What makes this passage so intense is the irony that is felt as we read the text. The climax of the Bible is communicated to us through crackling IRONY.

What is irony? Irony is this powerful literary device where something, on the surface, appears to be one way, but in reality it is something entirely different. Irony is appearance vs reality. The surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are two completely different things.

For example, last week we saw Pilate drag Jesus before the Jews and pronounce, “Behold, your King!” You could not have a more ironic statement.

Because on the human level, Pilate is mocking the Jews. He’s displaying the bloodied Jesus before the Jewish leaders and saying, “Does this man look like a kingly threat? This is what you woke me up at 7am to adjudicate?” Behold your King. He’s being sarcastic. The appearance is that Jesus is a weak kinglet who cannot save himself and is about to be crushed by Rome.

But we as readers are shuddering because we know the reality. We know the terrifying, truthful gravity of his words. Before Pilate stood the lion of the tribe of Judah. The God who created the universe with a word. Pilate was ‘judging’ the Judge of the all the earth. Could there be a more true statement, “Behold your king!” The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords.

That’s irony. There’s this double audience. We as readers know something that the characters do not. Irony depends on this double-layer, these two-stories working in tandem.

Now there are so many ironies going on here but we are going to limit ourselves to just three:

The irony is that on the surface, to the common observer, it APPEARS that Jesus is GUILTY but in REALITY it is the Jewish leaders who are guilty. The verdict of the religious system of the Jews and the verdict of the judicial system of Rome is that Jesus is guilty, (that’s the appearance) but the verdict of heaven is the Jews and Romans are guilty (that’s the reality).

We see in the text that Jesus was [highlight it] delivered over to be crucified. That delivering over is a summary statement of six trials Jesus has endured - 3 religious trials by the hands of the Jews and three civil trials by the hands of the Romans and it culminates in the crucifixion. We don’t see all those trials in John’s record but if we put together all four gospels we see:

We know a ton about the legal process of both the Jews and the Romans. It is the basis for our legal process here in America. The Mishna has entire tractates written on the legal process. Based on that understanding, clearly the Jews either fudged the law or knowingly broke the law. For example:

Illegalities of the Trials

No trials were to occur before the morning sacrifice. Why? Trials were to be public. Jesus was interviewed and tried by Annas and Ciaphas at night.

The assumption of innocence until proven guilty was a hallmark of Jewish jurisprudence which meant that the accused person could not be mistreated. Jesus was mistreated before proof of guilt.

An accused person could not testify against himself. And if he did testify, he could not be condemned on that testimony alone. Jesus was asked to do testify against himself and then condemned on that basis.

There were to be at least two or three witnesses, and their testimony had to be in perfect agreement. The testimonies did not agree.

In cases where the death penalty was issued, it required that the court begin with arguments for acquittal (the defense presenting the case for innocence), and then followed by arguments for conviction (the prosecutors presenting the case for guilt). In Christ’s case the record only records arguments for guilt; no arguments for innocence were presented.

All the Sanhedrin judges could argue in favor of acquittal, but not all could argue in favor of guilt.

When the charge was blasphemy, guilt could be established only when the defendant had actually pronounced the very name of God. Jesus had merely alluded to Psalm 110 and Daniel, although everyone present clearly understood His claim.

Each witness in a capital case was to be questioned individually and not in the presence of other witnesses.

In capital cases the trial and the verdict of guilt must not occur on the same day; therefore a verdict of guilt must be announced the following day.

For this reason trials were not to be held on the eve of a Sabbath or other festival.

Voting for the death penalty had to be conducted individually, beginning with the youngest, so the youngest would not be influenced by the voting of the older members.

Now let’s ask the question, “Who is guilty?” Do you see the irony?

Are the religious leaders innocent? Certainly they thought so. On the surface, they looked so pure. They tithed their spices. They refused to enter Pilate’s residence for fear of defiling themselves for Passover. Wow, you guys are so fastitious….so holy…so pure.

Here they are claiming loyalty to God in every way and yet crucifying God. They are claiming royalty to YHWH by keeping Passover with exacting precision.

You know how passover ends? It ens with a prayer. “From everlasting to everlasting, you are God; beside you we have no king, redeemer, or savior; no liberator, deliverer, provider. We have no King but you” (b. Pesahim 118a).

Oh we so admire your dedicated to God. And then just hours later those voices would be crucifiying God yelling, “We have no king but Caesar.”

This irony is so appropriate because it was the fact that he was innocent that made him the perfect sacrifice for guilty men. He who knew no sin, became sin that we might become the righteousness of God.

It was the judge of the all the earth who was judged so that we would not be.

Was it innocent men putting to death a guilty Christ? No it was an innocent Christ who was saving guilty men.

The Story

How that salvation narrative unfolds is brutal. Jesus is led away. Because of the Feast, many people were present and Rome relished the opportunity to strike terror into the heart of potential Jewish rebels by publicly crucifying Jesus along with at least two other criminals.

Jesus was forced to carry the cross member of his own cross which, according to the other gospel writers, proves physically impossible for him for understandable reasons. Jesus was terribly weakened at this point.

For days Jesus had struggled under violent internal agitation, an evening of deep, overwhelming emotion, and mental anguish where he sweat great drops of blood in anticipation.

He had just endured a sleepless night of 6 trials, the interrogation by Annas, then by Caiaphas, the painful ridicules by the Sanhedrin, then by Herod’s bodyguard, the long exhausting scenes before Pilate, then from the Roman soldiers.

He had been violently mistreated, spit upon, received open blows to the face, and sickening lacerations from the bone laden whip.

All of that severely weakened him so that he now totters under the weight of the timber. Simon the Cyrene is pressed into service to bear the cross, not out of sympathy for Jesus but in an effort to expedite the punishment.

They arrive at the place called Golgotha, the place of the skull where Jesus would be nailed to the Roman instrument of torture. The three crosses were laid on the ground, the sign Pilate had prepared was fixed to the top of the cross. He was then humiliatingly stripped of all his clothes. His shredded back was lain against that implement of torture. His arms were stretched along the crossbeam, and the point of a huge nail was placed into the palm of an open hand or in the wrist between the radius and ulna and was driven through the flesh and into the wood by the blow of a mallet. Then through each foot separately or possibly through both together, another nail tore its way through the quivering flesh.

To prevent the hands and feet from being torn out by the weight of the body which rested upon nothing but four open wounds, an unsatisfyingly slanted wooden seat supported a portion of the weight.

Now picture the cursed tree lifted with its human burden and dropped into a hole dug for that purpose. The cross lands solidly at the bottom of the hole and new flesh is torn. The feet were not far from the ground, and probably within reach of hands to strike him. He would hang for hours to be abused, outraged, and mocked.

The ever moving multitudes, with the blood sick curiosity, thronged to gaze at sight. And there in tortures which grew more and more unsupportable, more and more maddening as time flowed on, Jesus hung in a living death.

A death of crucifixion includes all that is loathsome and frightening about death - dizziness, cramping, starvation, sleepiness, fever, public shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation and untended wounds.

The unnatural position made every movement painful, the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed, the wounds inflamed by exposure, gradually becoming infected, the arteries especially of the head and stomach becoming swollen with blood.

The Pharisees looked upon Jesus and saw the sign that hung above his head.

Pilate, who was a Roman, and had undoubtedly written this sign to publicly scorn the Jews. Pilate was probably very happy to prod his detestable subjects. He knew it would irk them and he loved that fact. He probably meant that in one sense this was the King of the Jews, the most noble he had ever seen, the most dignified, the most respectable specimen of that undesirable race.

Pilate in some act of incredibly, unknowing irony likely thought to himself, these Jews are so despicable, so detestable they can’t even recognize that they are wanting to nail to a tree their most noble specimen.

The sign was a mockery of the Jewish leaders

Pilate refused and was happy to thwart the desires of those who had forced his hand that morning.

Then came the furious insults, “He saved others but can’t save himself,” Unrestrained by the sight of helpless anguish and the look of eyes that began to glaze in death, they stand beneath the cross congratulating one another with scornful wickedness, "Let this Christ, this King of Israel come off that cross. Then we will believe." Seeing the boldness of the Jewish leaders, the soldiers join in mocking.

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

It is among the thickest irony of this narrative, then, that the people who jeered at him would insult him for his inability to save. They mock, "If you have power then demonstration that power by freeing yourself from the cross and bring about your own salvation. And therein lies the irony! The great demonstration of power is staying on the cross because it is through the cross that salvation is made possible, not for him but for you. The appearance vs the reality.

So there Jesus hangs, and, in the fading consciousness of the Son of God, he doesn’t hear a single word of gratitude, not one thank you, not even a whisper of appreciation or love. Instead what rang in his ear was blasphemy, spite, baseness, falsehood, savagery and stupidity. These were like polluted, muddy and miserable, putrid streams which boiled under the cross before the dying eyes of Jesus. There were a few there he loved.

Here we have this sweet exchange. Jesus was handing over his mother to be cared for by John. Even as he hung dying on a Roman cross, suffering as the Lamb of God, he took thought of and made provision for his mother, at the hour of his supreme devastation.

And now comes the thirst.

There is the appearance of the thirst and then there is the reality behind that thirst.

It was now noon. The sun was beating down in full strength, and of course he was thirsty.

But there is something much more significant going on. In a very real, display of spiritual judgment, God pulls a curtain of darkness over the entire earth. In an act of mercy on humankind, God shields our eyes from what he does next. Now God must deal with his Son. The jeers and taunts, and confident ridicules melt away in the spiritual darkness that envelopes the globe. The deathly, cold black air suffocates the city. For three hours, the wrath of God was violently released upon his beloved Son. In measured and very controlled judgment, the merciless, repeated blows fell upon Him - the slashing into the sinless lamb. He who knew no sin became sin for us. In the words of Ephesians 5:2, “Christ loved me and gave himself up for me a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Jesus was draining the cup of judgment down to the last bitter dregs and as he does, he cries out, “I thirst.”

The irony does not escape us. Many observers would have seen this as a physical plea for water. And certainly, raging thirst was among the worst aspects of this form of death. But this cannot be all that is meant. Up until this point, Jesus hasn’t said a word about any kind of discomfort or pain at all. When offered the wine previously, he had refused.

Think about everything he’s been through. He hasn’t echoed a single word of complaint. Not one. They put a crown of thorns on him. They struck him in the face with a club. What does the text say? Over and over it says, “He did not open his mouth.” Do you think that now at the very end, finally now, he’s asking for some comfort for physical relief? Is he merely thirsty? Of course not. It even says so. [highlight] “That the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” In other words, this thirst, this parchment has been predicted from the prophets of Old.

It causes us to think about it a little more deeply. You see, all five times when the word thirst is used in the book of John, it refers to spiritual thirst.

What was taking place on a physical level was also occurring on a much grander scale on the spiritual level.

All through the Bible, whether you are in Jeremiah, or Isaiah or the Psalms, thirst is used as a metaphor for spiritual need. And it’s a tremendous metaphor. There is something that your body needs just as much as water. And if you don’t have it in your soul, you’re going to shrivel up, you’re going to burn up, and you’re going to die. You need God.

What Jesus suffered on the cross those three hours for us and our salvation we cannot know. But we have a window into that suffering through the words he speaks, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” There’s the thirst. This is a reference to Psalm 22. You don’t have chapter and verse in those days. You often reference texts by quoting the first line.

Psalm 22

And in this Psalm you have the experience of suffering as predicted by the Psalmist. Startling detail.

Why is Jesus Christ now crying out about his thirst? The spear, the the scourge, the whip, the nails, the crown of thorns, the clubbing in the face, the pulling of the beard, it all points to a spiritual reality. He was literally going through hell. **When he says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is that hyperbole? When he says, “I thirst,” is he really, really just thirsty? Could that possibly be after all he has been through? No. Jesus was, in that mysterious dark and terrible hour, enduring on the cross the weight of the sin of the world.

But there was a physical reason that he may have asked for the wine as well. Not to receive comfort but to make a last and final statement. With the tongue stuck to the roof of the mouth he would hardly be able to speak. And he had one more thing that must be said.

And so finally after fully absorbing the wrath of God, Jesus bows his head upon his chest, his heart probably bursting at this point and utters his last words, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

And Jesus died. And here we have the greatest irony of all.

The irony here is so thick. When the Pharisees hear these words we could imagine them dancing around the cross like jackals cackling in victory. There is a simple appearance of triumph. They have killed the Messiah.

But they are deprived of an important piece of information about the plot that surrounds them. This WAS the plan. It had been the plan all along.

You tried to foil God’s plan and you thought you thought you were an antagonist against Messiah but in reality - veiled to you - you were in service to him. Judas your kiss of betrayal was the advancement of God’s plan. You tried to humble him to the grave but you exalted him into the heavens. You tried to destroy his name but you magnified it. Your efforts produced the exact opposite result.

It is finished. There’s a lot to this phrase that doesn’t meet the eye. The Greek phrase behind this is pretty rich. It’s all one word in the Greek.

τετέλεσται (tetelestai) from the root telos.

This word is super rich in Greek philosophy. The philosopher Aristotle used the word all the time to describe the full potential or inherent purpose or objective of a person or thing.

The telos of war is victory.

The telos of a race is the finish line.

The telos of marriage is making a family.

The telos of business is the creation of wealth.

The telos of vacation is rest.

Telos is a word that ALWAYS 100% of the time, without exception means that there must be a design or plan.

So, when Jesus says, “It is finished,” what he’s not saying is “Something I didn’t like has happened to me but now it’s finished.” He’s doing what an artist does when he steps back from a canvas, “It is is finished.” The work I set out to accomplish is complete.

Remember just a few hours ago Jesus prayed that high priestly prayer in John 17. He said.

John 17

There’s the word again. That word accomplished comes from that same root, telos. A completed, finished, accomplished the work you gave me to do. Think about the implications of that.

The telos of Jesus’ life was this moment of death. That’s the whole reason I have come. The telos of every other life that has every lived has been thwarted by death but the telos of Jesus life is death.

Jesus is 1 Corinthians 5 is called the Passover lamb. Why? Because he must be killed at Passover. In Matthew 26.5 we read that the Jewish authorities wished to get rid of Jesus but had already determined, not during the Passover lest it cause an uproar. And yet here he is, hanging on the cross during Passover. It is finished. Mission accomplished.

He’s talking about something he has accomplished. What he’s saying, therefore, is I have finished the work I began. Mission accomplished. Goal reached. Plan fulfilled. Design realized.

Several places in the book of Acts when the disciples would go out into the world to preach the gospel, they would make this point explicitly. Jesus death was not an interruption of the plan. It was the plan.

Acts 2

Acts 3

Acts 4

The plan was that through death, that life would come. That’s the great irony. The greatest irony.

I have done all the work. And believe me, there was work to do. There was needed suffering. There was death. And that work is finished.

There was a chasm. There was work to do that you could have never done. Jesus is saying, “I have traversed the infinite distance between you and God, and there is not an inch left. I have done everything necessary to bring you right into his arms. There’s not one thing left for you to do. I’ve done it. I’ve done it completely. It is absolutely and utterly finished. There’s nothing else for you to do at all. Period.”

It is FINISHED. And he died.

The Crucified One is the true king, the kingliest king of all; because Jesus Christ is able to turn dreadful instrument of torture into a throne of glory and in so doing reign the universe from a tree.

“The groan of Calvary is mightier than the thunder of Zion.”

Communion

Well today, we could not do a service like this without serving communion.

What we celebrate in communion is nothing less than the FINISHED work of Christ. He accomplished everything necessary for you to be blindingly, brilliantly beautiful in God’s sight right now, the moment you accept what he has done.

If you could summarize Christianity into one word, it would be this one: “It is finished.”

Every other religion in the world says, “God has started the work now it’s up to you to finish the work.” The gospel says, “Don’t even think about working. Don’t you dare work. Receive the finished work.”

The telos of our life is to receive the finished work of Jesus Christ and you do that it opens up the fullness, the completeness, the immediate access into the blessings and totality of what God intends for you to have as a human being.

Let’s prepare our hearts: SING.

This was the plan all along:

1 Peter 3

The gospel is a long list of ironies.

Being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.

The righteous for the unrighteous.

He died that we might have life.

He was exalted through his humiliation

The last are first

The meek are blessed

The wonder of all wonders, however, is that God orchestrated the plan to crush Jesus (Acts 2:23). And this he was pleased to do (Isa 53:10) because Jesus’ death brings life to the world.

John 19:1-16

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.  He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

Heavenly Father, Your word says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before his shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth…Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:6-7; 10). God, as we gaze on Christ this morning, and examine the sufferings of your Son together, cause us not to pass over the beauty displayed in this text. Help us to have a resolute focus on the beaming radiance of the glory of God in the face of Jesus, even in his sufferings (2 Cor. 4:6).

Jesus, we praise you, exalt you, and rejoice in you. At your name, “…every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). As we see you mocked, maligned, and misunderstood in this passage, we bow our knees and declare that you are King. We confess again this morning that you are Lord (Romans 10:9-13). We wish to say truly what is only said mockingly in this passage: Behold, Christ the King!

 

Holy Spirit, we pray together that you would empower the preaching of your word. Strengthen each of us in our inner beings to repent of our sin and to comprehend “…with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18-19). Open our eyes to see the Suffering Servant as he really is. Expose our hearts of unbelief and cause us to trust you from an even deeper place in our hearts. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Good morning Church, my name is Trent Houck, and it is my joy as one of your pastors to unfold God’s word with you this morning. Please turn in your Bible’s to John 19:1-16 with me if you are not already there. We will begin unpacking this text in a moment.

I want to begin by illustrating what I think this text is asking you to do today. In The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis describes the suffering and subsequent death of Aslan, the Great Lion. After his mane is shaved, his throat is cut, he is strapped to the Stone Table, and his life flees from him. Lucy and Susan initially hide, but then they run to Him. They nestle up near the lifeless body, seeking to comfort themselves in the wounds of their lost friend. This text is calling you to do the same thing with the sufferings of Christ. We are inclined in the Western World to run from suffering, to numb suffering, to ignore or distract ourselves from suffering, but today, this text is calling you to look head-on into the sufferings of Christ and to see your own suffering in his light. We are headed down the dark road to Calvary’s Cross.

Spoiler alert: Aslan is raised from the Dead. And so is Jesus. If you’re having a particularly rough day, just read the conclusion of the book of John this afternoon. Today, we’re going to seek to soak in the wounds of Christ. There is a heaviness to this text.

I am going to state my main point, explain my subpoints, and then we will unpack them together in the text.

Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate for you.

Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate for you.

This statement matters to the Church for three reasons:

Because of its historical reliability. As Benj Foreman helped us to see last week, Pilate was a real, historical figure. Caiaphas, also, lived and breathed and died. Jesus Christ is just as real as Pontius Pilate or Caiaphas, and even more so. I am not going to spend a lot of time proving that today.

For its theological significance. Jesus Christ, the God-man, God-incarnate, the Second Person of the Trinity suffered under Pontius Pilate. The reality of that suffering is theologically jarring. How can the eternal God die? How could it be that the Author of Life could suffer? We’ll spend most of our time here.

It’s relevance for us today. Jesus’ suffering transforms our own suffering.: Jesus Christ, this historically verifiable, theologically significant figure suffered for you. In your place. On your behalf. Every moment of Jesus’ earthly humiliation was a stroke on the canvas of your redemption. Every laceration from the Roman guards is an objective, historical, reliable evidence of the pulsing, never-stopping love of God for sinners. Each one of them is directed at your heart for the glory of God. This is where I hope your heart opens to God.

Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate for you. As a way to apply this, I want you, if you are a believer to say this out loud and insert your name in the blank:

“Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate for Trent Houck.”

 

 This truth is central to the Gospel. It is central to the Christian life. We would not be and could not be saved without this truth.

 

So, we will unpack this main statement with five subpoints. Consider them as five courses in the most delightful meal. Or, five sunbeams, that radiate from the sun to shine on your soul. In these five statements, you are being invited to behold, to see, to taste, the beauty and glory of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You will be tempted all throughout this passage to look away. You will be tempted to engage in distracted thoughts, to plan, to feast on fantasy, but I would challenge you as we look at this passage to keep redirecting your gaze, your attention, to Christ. Let your heart be changed by the vision of Jesus in this text. Nestle in his wounds.

“Behold, the Man”: Jesus Christ suffered as the Man-God (John 19:1-5).

Behold, “The Son of God”: Jesus Christ suffered as the God-Man (John 19:6-8).

Behold, Jesus suffered for sin (John 19:9-12).

“Behold, your King” (John 19:13-14).

Behold, King Jesus: Christ Crucified (John 19:15-16).

All throughout the book of John, the spiritual sight [the spiritual ability to behold] of John’s audience is being engaged. From the early chapters describing light and darkness (John 1), to the scene about the man born blind (John 9), John is concerned with light and darkness because he is concerned about spiritual sight. You remember John 20:30-31,

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Life implies spiritual sight. In fact, the culmination of the story of the man born blind is not the miracle of physical sight, but spiritual sight. “Spiritual sight” is belief in the Son of God. John writes,

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”  (John 9:35-39)

Belief implies spiritual sight, which reveals a new heart. Earlier in John 2, it appears that Jesus sees something in human beings that humanity is blind to:

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing [physical sight]. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man [sin…spiritual blindness].

What is in man from Jesus’ perspective?

 

In our passage today, we are going to see in flagrant clarity what is in man: sin. The utter depravity and weight of our sin is going to be pictured for us as Pilate speaks the truth blindly: “Behold, the King of the Jews.” He does not know what he’s saying. In fact, he says it to spite the Jews. He mocks his hearers, but he speaks what he does not know. The Spirit of God uses Pilate to speak truly. Pilate is cultural Christianity impersonated. He recites creeds with an empty heart. Seeing, he does not see.

Further, we are going to see sin’s central cry on the mouth of the Jewish Leaders: “We have not king but Caesar.” The Jewish leaders, standing before the nearly slain, sovereign God-man scream at him, “We have no king but Caesar.” The Jewish Leaders embrace full-scale paganism in order to put away threats to their self-conception. This to fulfill ancient Israel’s cry, “Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5). And, God’s indictment on human sinfulness: “…they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Sam. 8:7).

There are themes that come to near explosive fulfillment all throughout this passage, in Pilate, in the Jewish Leaders, but even more so in the near-silent presence of Jesus. If you were to examine Jesus’ life in this passage, you would find us here: near the deepest stage of Jesus’ humiliation (Diagram 1).

So, before we start unpacking this passage: Do you see the sufferings of Christ for what they are? If you do, you will begin to see your own suffering differently. If you fail to see Jesus’ suffering rightly, the focus of your gaze in suffering will be on yourself.

Pilate suffered from deep, superstitious fear. That’s real suffering. But, it’s self-focused suffering. His own life was his main concern.

The Jewish Leaders suffered. They had been broken, beaten, and harassed by Rome, but they failed to see their own hearts as idol factories.

Only Jesus’ sufferings are meritorious, righteous before God. Only Jesus’ sufferings can save. His suffering accrues for you a righteousness that stands before God. God the Father approves of his suffering. Only if we see this can we understand our own sufferings accurately.

In fact, if we see Jesus’ sufferings rightly, our own suffering becomes a means by which we join Jesus in his own sufferings. Our pain, our loss, our mistreatments, abuses, and traumas can be a conduit through which we understand who Christ and what he suffered.

Because Jesus has accomplished something through his suffering for us, he can accomplish something in us through our sufferings.

So, let us turn to our first point:

 

“Behold, the Man”: Jesus Christ Suffered as the Man-God (John 19:1-5)

 

First, Jesus Christ suffered as the Man-God. Jesus did not evacuate his humanity, or take refuge in his deity as he suffered under Pontius Pilate. While we seek to escape our suffering through distractions, comforts, Chocolate, or fantasy, Jesus walks through his suffering with his eyes wide open. Jesus shivers through the night without a blanket. His physical body, and his human mind endure severe suffering. Roman torture was designed with scientific precision to maximize human agony. Jesus was slowly, moment-by-moment caused to suffocate under the weight of white hot pain. We read:

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

Jesus here suffers on three accounts:

He suffers flogging. This is a hideous torture. Yet, this is flogging 1 of 2. Jesus is flogged here because Pilate wants to punish and release him. He wanted to publicly humiliate him, show that he is a weak, spineless threat. Immediately prior to the crucifixion, he will be flogged more severely. One theologian writes, “The Roman scourge consisted of a short wooden handle to which several thongs were attached, the ends equipped with pieces of lead or brass and with sharply pointed bits of bone. The stripes were laid especially (not always exclusively) on the victim’s back, bared and bent. The body was at times torn and lacerated to such an extent that deep-seated veins and arteries—sometimes even entrails and inner organs—were exposed. Such flogging, from which Roman citizens were exempt, often resulted in death. Or it preceded execution…” So, there Jesus stands, beaten and bruised.

He suffers physical abuse. This is distinct from flogging, in the sense that the Roman guards “struck him with their hands.” It wasn’t enough that they beat him with rods, or whips, they used their own hands. They pressed a crown of thorns on his head, puncturing the skin around the scalp. And, they laid a robe on his battered body.

He suffers public ridicule. Physically, Jesus is suffering. Emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically, Jesus’ physical sufferings are being interpreted by those around him as a joke. The guards say, “Hail, King of the Jews” (19:3). The literal word is Χαῖρε, which translates as “Rejoice!” Jesus had just recently used this word to encourage his disciples, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). Here, the guards use it as a taunt, a joke. Further, Jesus is publicly displayed with his mock crown, and purple robe: “Behold, the man” Pilate says.

 

All of this is meant not only to publicly shame Jesus, but to publicly shame the Jews for thinking, believing and considering Jesus to be a threat. John plainly puts it, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). Pilate says, “Look at this man! What a danger! What a threat! He has no power, no soldiers, no physical strength to overcome Rome. Just like every other Jewish person.” You can nearly hear Pilate’s laughter.

And yet, there is a deeper laughter. Beneath the laughter, taunts, and sin of Pilate and Rome, God the Father “…sits in the heavens [and] laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill’…Now therefore, O Kings, be wise; be warned O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:4-6; 10-11).

If you have suffered physical, emotional, or spiritual abuse, please see from this passage that:

Jesus understands. He underwent physical harm, emotional ridicule, and spiritual mockery. His spiritual ‘leaders’ used their spiritual authority to crush him. Jesus is acquainted with your suffering.

God is not indifferent or silent. God is not sitting idly by watching evil unfold. God does not remove himself, or escape to cope. God is undeniably present in the person of Jesus by his Holy Spirit. While Jesus has been silent thus far in the passage, he is not absent. Formerly, Jesus declares their works to be judged: “And this is the judgment: the light has come in to the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Jesus condemns the harsh abuses that you have experienced. He hates evil. He came as light to expose the works of darkness. He rages against abuse and abusers. And he will exact perfect justice either by faith in his perfect suffering, or by an eternity in hell.

Jesus, the Man-God, suffered in his human body, mind, and heart in his approach to the cross. But, what about the Son of God?

Behold, “the Son of God”: Jesus Christ Suffered as the God-Man (John 19:6-8)

 

Second, Jesus suffered as the God-man. Jesus suffers, not only in his humanity, his body, his mind, his heart, but Jesus suffers as the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus, like a dam opening, allows a surge of suffering to be invited into the Godhead. The cup of God’s wrath, fury, and vengeance is being poured out on the Son. God felt pain. In the most excruciating sense, God’s finger got smashed in the door of human sinfulness. In fact, it was the will of the Father to crush him. God’s neck was placed in the stocks and under the blade of the guillotine. We read in verse 6:

6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.

The grammar in this passage is important to observe. The Jews are commanding Pilate to crucify Jesus. They are not asking. “Crucify him!” is in the imperative (command) second person singular. Added to the grammar is the sound of multiple voices in shrieking violence and fear. “Pilate, Crucify him!” Pilate still sees this whole exchange in a joking manner as he taunts the Jews: “Take him yourselves and crucify him, [oh wait, you have no authority to crucify him, ha!]. From the Roman perspective, he’s as innocent as you miserable people.” The Jewish leaders, seeking to exploit every linguistic breach, see this as an open door to trap Pilate. They move their castle one move closer to the king in this chess match. “No guilt?! No guilt?!”

“We have a law” they say, “and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” To be clear, these is not a peaceful chess match. This is not a peaceful protest. The Jews are not sitting quietly, respecting the rules. The Jews are screaming out demands. Matthew records that “…a riot was beginning” (Matthew 27:24). And, Pilate, is not without his own streak of violence: Pilate, who mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices (Luke 13:1-2). Pilate, who will do anything to satisfy the crowd (Mark 15:15), and who will reconstruct ‘truth’ as political expedience (John 18:28-40). These interactions are about as stable as the feuds of rival gangs. The smallest straw is added and the camel’s back breaks. The straw here is the phrase, “The Son of God.”

We know that this phrase broke Pilate because of his reaction: “When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid” (John 19:8).  One author notes, Pilate, like all Romans of his time, were deeply superstitious. One commentator notes, “The claim to be king of the Jews was a capital offense against Roman law; the claim to be the Son of God was a capital offence against Jewish law.” So, Pilate is thrown back into a deep confusion. Is this one of the sons of the gods, even the Jewish God?

Who is this person? As readers, we can see that the Jews speak accurately about Jesus, though they misjudge him. We can also see that Pilate, who once spoke accurately about him, is now not so sure about his identity.

Scripture shows us the true identity of Jesus: the Son of God, who suffers.

But, what is the purpose of his suffering?

That leads us to our third point:

 

Behold, Jesus Suffered for sin (John 19:9-12)

Third, Jesus suffers for sin. Jesus, not only suffers in his physical body, but he also suffers as the Second Person of the Trinity. While we can see this plainly as readers, Pilate’s eyes are blinded to who Jesus is. Because of this blindness, Pilate goes to further investigation. Through this investigation, we see that Jesus’ express purpose is to suffer and die for sin. We read in John 19:9-12,

 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” [what is your origin? Do you come from the gods, or the Jewish God?] But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you [what I’d rather do!] and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Here we see that Jesus is actually the one in control. He redirects Pilate’s attention from Jesus’ origin, “Where are you from?” to Pilate’s obsession with his own authority, which is at the heart of Pilate’s sin and fear. Jesus’ validates that Pilate has this authority, but he explains that it is derived authority. “Remember, Pilate, you are doing the will of God.” One author notes, “Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate all acted under God’s sovereignty” But, Pilate, likely being a pagan relativist, polytheist would only interpret this phrase as non-threatening confirmation that Jesus’ issue was not with Rome or Pilate, but with the Jewish system who handed him over: “Therefore”, Jesus says, “he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:11).

Here though, Jesus draws our attention to a very important point: misunderstanding God always leads to the abuse or misuse of authority. Always. We cannot think for a moment that we are exempt from having a theology of God that leads to a proper understanding of authority. So, if we are in some position of authority, we would do well to reflect on that authority:

Fathers: Do you see your authority as derived from God? Do you see your main aim to reflect your Heavenly Father? Or, to enjoy the comforts of power?

Mothers: Do you see your authority as derived from God? Do you understand your parenting as within the realm of God’s authority?

Children: Do you see the authorities in your life as gifts from God?

Pastors and Elders: Do you measure your authority by the word of God?

Public Officials: Do you see your authority as serving to carry out God’s will?

Teachers: Do you see your authority to instruct under God’s sovereign rule?

 

Jesus draws two things out with his comment “He who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”

Pilate, you are sinning against God by washing your hands of responsibility. Your sins of omission will be held against you. Your passivity is allowing the death of the Son of God.

Similarly, the man or woman who passively watches the abuse of pornography is guilty of sin.

The man or woman who passively allows his heart and mind to be drawn into fantasy, fornication, and folly is guilty of sin.

The man or women who passively allows sin is sinning. Not doing something when something should be done is sin.

What are you allowing to slip through your fingers?

On the other hand, Jesus says, Pilate, the high-handed sins of the Jewish Leaders are greater. Active, initiative-taking sins of rebellion against God will be treated with greater blows.

The man or women who actively sets up the scene for pornography to take place is guilty of sin.

The man or woman who plans, strategizes, and implements human trafficking is guilty of sin.

The man or women who actively promotes and participates in rebellion against God is sinning.

In what ways are you clenching sin in your hands?

Jesus says, make no mistake, I am here on account of sin. Yours and theirs. I am here because one man, Adam, failed to receive God’s authority. This leads us to our fourth point:

“Behold, Your King” (John 19:13-14)

 

Fourth, Jesus is a Suffers his Kingly Enthronement. Again, the Jewish leaders are exposing their hearts: they are acting out of their spiritual blindness. Further, Pilate is carefully trying to carry out their appeasement. He is the ultimate people pleaser. He is trying to balance the Jewish Leaders, Rome, and you might even say Jesus himself, by letting him go free. So, we read:

12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.  He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

Pilate is still in the taunting mode. He uses this opportunity, by sitting on the judgment seat, by presenting the bloodied Jesus to them, by crying out “Behold, your king” to ridicule the Jews into suppression. But, the Jews, being accustomed all throughout their history to this kind of malice, seem to be immune to Pilate’s insults. They have learned habits of deep, stiff-necked stubbornness, and they again move their castle nearer to the king. They say, “Pilate, please understand, by Son of God, we mean that Jesus has made himself a public threat to the empire. He has made himself to be a king. Won’t you deal with this? If you don’t you are subject to his conspiracy!”

“Okay,” Pilate says, “Let’s take a look at your ‘king.’” Again, Pilate’s laughter emerges. “This? This is your king? You can do better than this!”

Now, as readers, we have to take a step back. In this moment, it’s as if the sun shines at noon, the sixth hour. The brightest light of the day is beaming down to display with complete clarity that Israel’s God, Israel’s King is before them. John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” and “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” (John 1:18). Also, this is the day of preparation of the Passover. John is a master of layered meanings. It is no mistake that at the moment of brightest light in the book of John, the sun’s rays delight in the Son of Man. It’s not a mistake that in the day, John the Baptist cries out, “Behold, the lamb of God” (John 1:36). The light of the world and the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world is standing ready to be slain. Even the Pagan high priest of Roman Rule declares the truth about Jesus: “Behold, Your King!” All the prophetic words, the writings, the Law, are summed up in these words: Israel, Behold your king! Look at the face of your God! Look at his glory in the face of Jesus!

Do you see him Israel? Will you reject your king? But, they can’t se him. They are blind.

That leads us to our final point:

King Jesus: Christ Crucified (John 19:15-16)

In the greatest of dramatic ironies,

15 They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

This is the ultimate betrayal. The heart is exposed at noonday. Israel will take no king but Caesar. It is as if in the moment of visible, spiritual infidelity. In front of an onlooking husband, in broad daylight, the beloved wife says, “I have no husband but you” to her adulterous lover. Spiritually speaking, this is adultery: idolatry of the highest kind.

No matter how strategically Pilate tries to avoid it, he finally takes moral responsibility for being coerced to crucify Jesus, “Shall I crucify your king?” Here all of his sins of omission are shown for what they are: spineless people pleasing. No matter how strategically the Jewish Leaders try to avoid it, they finally expose what is in the heart of every man: idols. The willingness to commit spiritual adultery for whatever cause serve our highest pleasure. The endless pursuit of happiness of the restless heart who will not take a king over the self, the nation, the collective establishment of our own sovereignty.

So, Pilate agrees. And, in this, he participates in the greatest sin that humanity has ever committed: the crucifixion of the Son of God.

16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

 

This brings us back to our main point:

 

Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate for you.

By now, our mouths should be open with awe at:

The gruesome reality of our depravity and sin.

The beauty of Jesus’ sufferings

The glory of God in placing Jesus here for us.

 

I think we can fold this into application to our own lives in the following five ways:

Jesus dignifies all of our human suffering by suffering in our place. On account of sin, we deserve death and hell. We deserve to suffer apart from Christ for all eternity, but because of what Jesus has done, our suffering does not mean that we are living under God’s wrath any longer. The book of Hebrews says, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” (Hebrews 12:4). Your suffering is evidence, not of God’s wrath poured out, but of God’s Fatherly discipline. Nothing you experience is outside of God’s Fatherly care. Jesus suffered so that you might endure.

Jesus can, therefore, speak directly to your suffering. We often fail to speak kind words to people’s suffering. Because we are so afraid of silence, we say silly, hurtful things to people who are in pain. We are often like Job’s friends.

Joni Eareckson Tada writes, when she realized her paralysis was permanent, “…inside, I died” but, she goes on, “…nothing is more freeing than knowing that God understands.” Jesus speaks words of true understanding.

Mark Vroegop, in his book, Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy describes the loss of his daughter before birth, “Our baby, only a few days from entering our lives, had died. The crashing waves of grief in that moment were overwhelming. But our journey was only beginning. A few hours later we checked into the hospital. I sat by my wife’s bed as she endured hours of labor. We prayed and cried together. About twenty-four hours after hearing the crushing news, I held the nine-pound body of my lifeless daughter, Sylvia. As I cradled her, swaddled her blanket, I longed for her to wake up. Her fully developed body looked so normal. But there was no breathing. She was beautiful but not alive.”

When we suffer, we long for presence, rather than words.

When we say things like, "Something good will come of this. Or, you'll move on" we can unknowingly increase the pain of the one experiencing the loss."

The best thing that we can do is to provide space for a person to grieve.

Read someone else’s words, namely, the Psalms in a person’s grief.

Remember what Jesus speaks to us in our grief and loss is: I am here. I know. I am with you. I am for you.

Let Jesus speak directly; our speech should be indirect and secondary.

Jesus exposes whether or not ‘our suffering’ is merely the result of our idolatry. An idol is,

“…an object of trust that takes the emotional and practical place of God.”

To quote Tim Keller, “It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart, imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. A counterfeit God is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worthy living.”

Mark Vroegop writes, “When your culture or city or life falls apart, it can be revealing.”

Pilate’s idol of self was clear. The Jewish Leaders were exposed.

Consider how our complaints, comments, and greatest concerns show our attachments to things that God’s word does not promise us. Our positions, power, money, health, homes, families, and lives are all subject to change. Our object of greatest joy is not.

Consider how you would respond if:

Your relationships are strained by the intrusion of new friends.

Boise continues to grow, creating market instability, flourishing for some, and dashed dreams for others.

We lose our pinterest-worthy suburban paradises, our hipster coffee shops, Patagonia goes out of business due to its approach to sustainability, and we can no longer cling to our comforts.

We lose our jobs, or are forced to relocate.

We don’t have a clear source of material well-being. So, we have our lack of spiritual well-being exposed.

In this passage, Jesus shows us what true suffering is, and what it is not.

Jesus rescues us from ourselves through suffering. For believers, our suffering is not wrath, but it is rescuing.

In early January, I transitioned ministries, lost friends, was experiencing some seasonal and situational depression, got COVID, lost taste and smell and sensations of hot and cold in my body, and lost a sense of emotional connectedness to my family and kids and closest friends for a number of days. It was completely disorienting. I was also experiencing insomnia.

For whatever reason, God allowed me to walk through a sort of ‘spiritual winter.’ My idols were being laid out before me, one by one. Quarantined at home, I reached out immediately to close friends and family, who supported me and loved me. I told my wife, who prayed for me. This experience did not begin to break until standing in front of the sink as I did the dishes after another tasteless meal, I listened to these lyrics that echo the Psalmists cries:

When the storm clouds rise

And the sky is dark

And I'm pressed with anxious care

I've a safe retreat in the strong, high tower

For no ill can harm me there

I'll hide in Your safe retreat

Hide in Your safe retreat

When the storm clouds fly

'Til they pass me by

I will hide in Your safe retreat

When the lightnings flash

And the thunders roar

And the storms in fury beat

When they seem so sure to engulf my soul

Then I'll hide in Your safe retreat

Soon the storms will pass

And the sky will clear

And my rest be calm and sweet

I will trust and wait with no anxious fear

For I'll hide in Your safe retreat.

I began to weep. My soul could still taste the truth in the music, even if nothing else seemed to feel right. I realized in that moment, that even if I never felt anything ever again, God would still be a safe place for me, even protecting me from myself.

Christian, God will carry you. He will complete the work he started in you. You don’t have to be afraid. His promises are more sure than your suffering.

The Way through Suffering is to Nestle in Jesus’ Wounds, not your own. In the Lion King, Mufasa is crushed under a stampede after the betrayal of Scar, Mufasa’s brother. As Mufasa, the great king, lay dead in the ravine, Simba, Mufasa’s son comes and nestles his head under his great Father’s mighty paw. “Dad, wake up!” He cries. Something died in Simba that day. In a similar way, we are being called to follow Christ into his sufferings. We are being called to nestle in his wounds, not our own.

Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

And,

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:8-11).

Because of the reality of Jesus’ sufferings, every bit of our suffering and loss will be undone. Our believing, lost loved ones will be restored to us. Our pain will end. Every tear will be wiped from our eyes. Let’s press past our sufferings into Christ!

Let’s pray. Father, as we close, we want to let our hearts marinate in this truth: Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate for us. As we reflect and pray, give us a deep joy in yourself. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Slideshow for this message is available 

John 13-18

Introduction

Jesus once asked Peter, “Do you know who I am?” Peter nailed the answer, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” The Holy Spirit revealed that to Peter. We call that Peter’s great confession. It was out of that great confession that Jesus renamed Peter “Cephas” which means rock and said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” That’s quite the compliment. To be called a rock means you have strength, you are immovable, brave, not affected by storms that normally destroy weaker and lesser things.

Today we are going to observe Peter, Cephas, The Rock, the one who boldly confessed Jesus as his Lord, the Son of God, the Messiah, we are going to see this man crushed into particles as he denies before a slave girl what he confessed before the creator of the universe. Peter the rock, pulverized into a pile of sand. Peter, the sand pile.

There are two lessons that come out of today’s text. Lesson #1: We are far weaker than we imagine. If we don’t see ourselves (our denials of Christ) in Peter we are missing the point of this passage all together. In fact, we could even go further in saying, “If you don’t see yourself in Peter, you are Peter.” We are all weaker than we think.

But there’s a second lesson that comes out of the text as well. Lesson #2: Christ is far greater than we dreamed. Even though we are faithless, Christ is faithful for he cannot deny himself. However great you think Christ is, he is greater.

Let’s watch these two great truths unfold in the text.

Review

Let’s recall the big picture here? If you remember, the book of John is heavily weighted in terms of content to focus on the last week of Jesus’ life. And when I say, heavily weighted, I mean you have a mouse over here and an elephant over here. Like, heavily weighted. To put things in perspective, 5 months ago we started chapter 12 which is John’s record of the triumphal entry which happened on Sunday of the passion week. So in five months of preaching, we’ve gone Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And in three months, we’ve done nothing but sit in the upper room with Jesus listening to him talk to his disciples and pray for them. John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are all part of this extended upper room discourse. It took us 5 months to preach through what took Jesus just a few hours.

The Betrayal Prediction

There’s one very particular scene in that upper room that we need to recall for the purpose of today’s message. Let’s roll back in our minds to John 13:

And the text says that when they heard this, it wasn’t obvious who it was.

This uncertainty says at least two things. First, it says Judas was an amazing con-artist. He fooled them all. None of them suspected Judas. But secondly, it implies that each of them were uncertain of even their own loyalty. An honest examination of their own heart revealed they were capable of it. They might be the one. So there’s the swirling uncertainty. Who is going to betray him?

So Peter motions to John to ask Jesus who it was. And Jesus identifies the betrayer as Judas. And you could almost imagine Peter reconvincing himself at this point, “That Judas guy might deny Jesus, but I will never deny him. I will follow him wherever he goes.” But then Jesus says this:

You can imagine Peter now, doubling down on his exaggerated confidence. “Can’t follow you? Bet me. You think I’m too weak to follow you? My devotion is greater than any man. I’ll prove it. Try me. He can’t possibly be questioning my devotion. I don’t understand.” So he asks a clarifying question:

“That wasn’t any help at all. What is he talking about? It almost sounds like he’s testing me to see if I’m willing to take this all the way. Well, I am!”

Peter felt so confident.

1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” Peter, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. You are matchsticks before Him. You ought be trembling not swaggering and beating your chest.

Now I review all that because that was months ago that we went through all that on Sunday morning, but in terms of how it unfolded, that evening it was just minutes ago. Let’s just put a time stamp on this. Let’s say this upper room conversation with Peter was at 9pm. In just a few hours, maybe 1am, Peter the rock is going to be playing sand in the hands of a slave girl. All that confidence and swagger exposed for what it truly was. Sand.

Lesson #1: We are far weaker than we imagined. Lesson #2: Christ is far greater than we dreamed.

The Kidron

Now in what way was Christ greater than we dreamed. We see part of the answer here.

Everything in the narrative is constructed to let you know that Jesus is in complete control. Nothing is happening to him. He is directing everything. Even the smallest detail points to this.

The disciples leave the upper room from which they just finished celebrating passover. Keep in mind that as Jesus eats that passover lamb he is anticipating that in just a few hours that lamb sacrificed would be his body. He was the ultimate lamb that would take away the sin of the world.

As they leave the western hill where the upper room was located and descend into the valley on his way to the garden he would step across that brook Kidron which at that time would have been running red with the blood of the tens of thousands of lambs that were slain. You see during Passover an incredible number of lambs were sacrificed. So many lambs were sacrificed that they build drainage channels under the temple mount to deal with the blood that was created from all this slaughter.

Josephus records a Passover celebration during his time in which he estimates that the participants who gathered in Jerusalem to perform the sacrifice in the year 65 C.E., were “not less than three millions” (Jos., Wars, 2:280). So even if there’s hyperbole mixed in, that’s a lot of lambs which means a lot of blood. And that blood all had to go somewhere.

It drained out the side of the temple mount and drained into the valley below. You can imagine how that would have just arrested his imagination. It would have frozen him in his tracks. All those sacrifices point to the great sacrifice. And so he steps across the brook Kidron as he steps toward the cross.

And all that anxiety gets bound up in his heart. Now between verses 1 and 2 in John we have the entire Gethsemane narrative. Mt, Mk and Lk record that as the disciples entered the garden Jesus gave specific instruction to wait and pray. He came back to find all the disciples sleeping. Can you blame them? They had had a very long day. During Passover, several hundred thousand people were in Jerusalem. There’s massive crowd fatigue. It would have been near impossible to sleep in. They had woken early, they had prepared for the Passover meal. I’m sure they were physically and emotionally drained. I certainly would have fallen asleep.

Even though all of the disciples fell asleep, Jesus singles out Peter and says: “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not stay awake and watch with me even one hour? Keep alert and pray that you might not enter into temptation. The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

You know what Jesus is saying: We are far weaker than we ever imagined.

He is warning Peter. A few hours ago you told me that you would die for me. I believe that you meant that in your soul Peter. I believe that you felt that way. But you said those words within the safety of the castle walls. Will you say those words when you are alone on the battle field. The flesh is weaker than you think.

But Peter sleeps. His mind is sluggish, his spirit is unprepared, and he has no spiritual frame of reference.

Jesus on the other hand prays three times, begging the father to remove the cup. Jesus utterly alone staring in horror at the cup he must absorb, sweats great drops of blood in anticipation. And he says, “Not my will but yours be done.”

Lesson #1: We are far weaker than we imagined. Lesson #2: Christ is far greater than we dreamed.

You see, it’s all voluntary. John is making that point over and over. Jesus knows what he’s doing. Vs 4, “Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him….asks, who do you seek?” Now the fact that Jesus is in control is made even more dramatically in what happens next.

You know what Jesus is doing here? He’s just ever so slightly flexing…just a tiny, tiny bit. He’s just peeling back the tiniest corner of his divinity. Before he gives himself up, before he lays his glory aside, before he goes to the cross, he communicates in the strongest possible terms, “You are not taking me. I go on my own free will.” Even just a slice of glory through the chink in the wall is enough to knock an entire Roman legion flat.

Why do they get knocked flat? Because, quite simply, they are in the presence of something far greater than them. Any time we are in the presence of something far greater us, we are knocked off our feet. Imagine standing 100 feet away from a space X rocket as it takes off. The power of that would knock you flat. Try to stand against an avalanche, a tsunami wave, a tornado.

In all those examples, the sheer power, the weight of those forces barreling down upon you illustrates your feather-like composition. You’re nothing by comparison. You don’t tell it what to do. It tells you what to do.

The Bible says over and over again that in the presence of God nobody can keep their footing. Ezekial sees God and falls flat on his face. Isaiah sees the throneroom. Faceplant. In 2 Chronicles 5 the priests try to minister to the Lord and the shekinah glory fills the temple and they just melt.

Here is the Word made flesh. Here is Jesus, the God-man. And these tiny, insignificant, inconsequential, nothings step up and seek to arrest the living God. Jesus asks in utter irony, “Who do you seek?” And they answer, “Jesus of Nazareth.” And what is the reply of Jesus? In our English it says, “I am he.” But you want to know what it is in the Greek. It’s simply, “I AM.” This is like the ultimate climax of the I AM theme in the book of John.

Every other religious leader in the world points to a way outside of themselves. Let me guide you in the way. Are you hungry for spiritual food? I am the bread of life (6:35, 48, 51). Are you unable to see? I am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5). Are you looking for entrance into heaven? I am the door of the sheep (10:7, 9). Are you looking for a leader? I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14). Are you looking for life? I am the true vine. Are you looking to escape death? I am the resurrection and the life (11:25).

But all of these I AM statements point to the great I AM. Before Abraham was, I AM. Who are you looking for. I am it. I am everything. Who are you looking for? Jesus of Nazareth? It’s like the ultimate double meaning. Yes, I am he. But who is he? Jesus is the great, I AM. The I Am of Is 42. The I AM of Ex 3. I AM GOD.

Are men arresting God? Are men able bind the Lion of the tribe of Judah? Are men able to capture and crucify the Spirit of God? Nothing and nobody tells God what to do.

Lesson #1: We are far weaker than we imagined. Lesson #2: Christ is far greater than we dreamed.

Now imagine what it would have been like to experience this. If you were a disciple, this flex of Jesus would have been pretty ridiculously cool. This would have been the first display of power that was used not to heal people or help people, but as a weapon of defense. I can almost perfectly envision the flare of excitement and knotting of the stomach, especially in Peter. Peter sees the flex and he’s all emboldened. He thinks, “It’s showtime. Finally, now, it’s getting real. I’ve been waiting for this day my whole life. Time to prove my worth. Time to prove my loyalty.” He’s all in.

What? Are you serious? When power was there he was brave. It’s not hard to fight boldly when you know there is a guy standing next to you who can raise people from the dead. But now what? What happens now? Fear…in the absence of the direct evidence of the presence of God, his fears take over.

Peter confused walking in the Spirit with fleshly resolve. Mere natural strength and courage are of no avail in battling the prince of the powers of the air. Satan had demanded permission to sift Peter like wheat. And now his very soul was being shaken and blown away. What power does weak, emaciated human resolve have against the spiritual weapons of Satan? Did he really think that mere determination would enable him to withstand the attacks of the Evil One?

And suddenly, confusion sets in. And we get this contrast, this sharp, sharp contrast of the love of Christ for Peter with the love of Peter for Christ. Peter is all alone.

Annas was the high priest who had presided from AD 6-15. So even though he was not the current high priest he still wielded a lot of power. Caiaphas was the current high priest. So they first go to Annas, the former high priest.

Peter is all alone with his fear. So bold and so, so scared. So tiny. So small. So fragile. He’s slinking in the shadows. He has no plan. Peter wasn’t ready and because of that he fell - dropped by a door girl.

Gone were all of his heroic promises to Jesus, gone was all the courage in his heart, gone was all of his fleshly self-confidence. She asks him a simple question, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” No.

Jesus is objecting here to the midnight trial. Why are you doing all this under the cover of darkness? This is illegal. And they slap him.

What a chilling scene. Everyone is standing around the fire. Peter is frozen to the core of his being. He is improperly dressed, he is nodding off from weariness.

Comparing the other gospel writers, we find out that the servant girl had been going about telling others, “Certainly this was also one of his disciples.” There’s a witch hunt mentality beginning.

Then suddenly and unexpectedly, one man jabs at him, “Hey, you were one of his disciples. Your accent gives you away.” Peter says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The flicker of the firelight reveals his features. “Hey man, don’t try to hide it. It’s obvious. You’re a Galilean.”

Peter’s heart now starts to race. His mind is spinning a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out what he should say… what he should do? He’s a cornered animal.

Another chides, “Listen, I was in the garden and I saw you there.” Peter exclaims, “Seriously, knock it off. I don’t want to be associated with that guy. What more do I have to say, I know nothing of this man.”

At this point, Peter is so frantic he doesn’t notice that across the courtyard Jesus is emerging into the open. **At this point maybe the servant of Malchus enters the scene and says, “I was standing right next to you.** You are the one who cut off Malchus’ ear. I saw you. You were there. Admit it.”

And I picture Peter with wild eyes, darting back and forth, scared, on the verge of tears, frightened and confused standing up with heart pounding out of his chest screaming, “I swear to you, I don’t know the man. I never knew him!”

And I picture that scream so out of place and loud that it silences the courtyard for a moment. The echo of those words rattle around in the night sky. All eyes are on his including Jesus’ and the rooster crows. And you can only imagine what it felt like when Peter’s eyes met Jesus’ eyes.

Michael Card who wrote an excellent biography on the life of Peter entitled, The Fragile Stone: The Emotional Life of Simon Peter talks about this look.

“The understanding gaze of Jesus could not have been one of disdain or condemnation. That was not Jesus’ way. After all, Jesus would be condemned for Peter. I believe the only look that could have broken Simon as it did was one of love and forgiveness. Which is just what we would expect from the Savior. And just now, seeing Peter at his absolute worst, Jesus is willing to turn and go to the cross for Peter- and for you and me. After all, he sees us just the same way as he first did Peter. He gazes at us all with that understanding stare and sees all our potential, all our frailties and faults. And yet he was willing, even while we were still sinners, to take up that cross for us.”

Peter learned his lesson at the bitter rock bottom. Jesus let him fall and bounce a few times. And it hurt badly.

Imagine that moment. Standing in the courtyard. It is predawn. The fire flickers on the faces around you. All eyes are on you. The cursing, blasphemous word is in echoing through the courtyard and you see Jesus- blood running down his cheek, bound, and he looks at you with love and forgiveness.

And now it all snaps into focus. Back in the upper room, Peter was banging on his chest like King Kong. “I’m better than that Judas guy. Here’s why Christ ought to love me. I’ll die for you.” Will you, Peter?

All it takes is a little pressure, a little threat, and all of the sudden the white hot loyalty fades away. All of a sudden that fierce allegiance and devotion turns into a back-peddling, panic, and pathetic cowardice.

Lesson #1: We are far weaker than we imagined. Lesson #2: Christ is far greater than we dreamed.

Jesus came to save sinners, wicked, undeserving, Christ denying, God hating, selfish, lustful, lying sinners. And when God in his pleasure reaches down and saves us, his glory is put on display!

Do you remember Jesus high priestly prayer? “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” And what the nuclear core of the GLORY of God. The love of God. It’s happening before our eyes.

The pinnacle of the glory of God is the love of God and the pinnacle of the love of God is the cross of God. Here we have the stabbing injury of betrayal becoming for Peter and for us, a beacon of the love of Christ for sinners. Another reminder that NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.

Communion

Today is communion Sunday. What a note to celebrate communion!

Lesson #1: We are far weaker than we imagined. Lesson #2: Christ is far greater than we dreamed.

Or in the words of Paul to Timothy, “Even though we are faithless, he is faithful because he cannot deny himself.”

You see, in the end, it’s all about God and none about us. It’s not about our strength, our power, our belief, our good works, our righteousness. Peter’s biggest mistake was thinking he had something to offer.

And that’s not just Peter’s mistake. That’s every human’s mistake. Without us constantly reminding ourselves of the cross, without reminding ourselves that we are just like Peter, without us preaching to ourselves that we bring NOTHING, that it was WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, Christ died for us, we will very quickly revert to the belief that is faith plus works that is the basis of our salvation.

To go back to the age old question, “If you were to die today and God were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my kingdom?’ what would you say?” Formulate the answer to that in your head.

If your answer begins with the first person, you’ve committed the error of Peter. Because I left everything to follow you. Because I can do these great works. Because I believed. Because I have faith. Because I am committed when others aren’t. Because I am faithful. Because I have better theology. Because I have put in the work. Because I am senior around here. Because I am more humble than you.

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12 ESV)

Learn the lesson of Peter without having to fail like Peter. We have done NOTHING to earn heaven. We aren’t faithful. We haven’t left everything to follow Christ. We love money. We are prideful. We can’t admit when we are wrong. We think too highly of ourselves. We are all cowards.

Why should God let us into HIS PERFECT, BEAUTIFUL, STAINLESS kingdom? The only answer that Christ accepts is a third person answer. Because HE! Because he died for my sins. I don’t know why I am here. I don’t belong in this place!

Do you realize, when you die and go to heaven one of the scenes you will see is the angels around throne screaming, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the Lord God Almighty.” And you see the galaxy spinning power of YHWH with your own eyes and you see perfect holiness in all it’s splendor, you will only have a third person answer on your lips. You will recognize in a nano-second you don’t belong in this place. You will recognize in an instant that all your righteousness is like filthy rags. Why in the world am I here? How in the world am I here? Why do you I get to enter into this place? What’s the answer? Because the man on the cross, whose name is Jesus, said I could come. That’s it.

We are going to sing Rock of Ages and the third verse says this:

Naked, come to Thee for dress Helpless, look to Thee for grace Vile, I to the fountain fly Wash me, Savior, or I die

That is the cry of the man who knows his need for Jesus. We are far weaker than we imagined. But Christ is far greater than we dreamed.

Slideshow for this message is available 

Introduction

John 17

Prayer

Holy Father we come to you today because we need unity. Father, our world is splintering. Our country is splintering. Lord we are not the united states. We are divided. There is division between police and citizens. Between races, socio-economic classes. Our churches are splintering. Even within this building, Father, relationships are splintered. Father, in your Word which you say is the very source of sanctifying power in our life, Jesus has prayed for us that we would be one as you are one so that the world might believe that you sent Jesus into to the world.

Father may we be one, as you are one, so that the world might behold your glory. May we be one, as you are one, so that we might experience the joy you experienced as you set your face to endure the cross and despise the shame. We want to be one as you are one to enjoy your design, to celebrate you love, to revel in your goodness.

Father, we confess we are not one. We confess that our own personal kingdoms matter more than your kingdom. We confess that the mission we care most about is not your mission. Sanctify us Lord. Set us apart unto that mission. May we see that there is nothing more glorious than your love and that there is nothing more meaningful than sharing that love with others. Unite our hearts that we might fear your name. Amen.

Introduction

Today we return to the high priestly prayer of Jesus which is the prayer that Jesus prays for his followers just hours before he is arrested, tried, and then crucified.

And last week we pointed out that the main point of the prayer was the glory of God. Jesus wants us to love the glory of the Father. To really love the glory of God, we need to understand the love of God which is the peak manifestation of that glory. To really understand the love of God, we need to understand the cross of God which is the peak manifestation of that love. That’s how the prayer begins.

So the goal of everything Christ is doing here is pointing to the glory of God. Now here’s the main point of today. There’s a byproduct of loving the glory of God: Christian unity. It’s our theme for the year.

To be unified is glorious. To be divided is disastrous. Why? Because something very important is lost.

This is what we look like when we lack unity. We are like a picture that has gone through a paper shredder. This is not unity. It used to be unified. When this was printed, the algorithm controlling the motors placed dots of ink on a page with brilliant precision and formed a beautiful image, but now all you have is chaos. This single piece of paper has been shredded and then cross shredded into tiny bits. And because it’s now completely out of order, even though all the pieces of the message are present, nothing can be communicated.

Here’s the point: when the unity is lost, the message is lost. And when the message is lost, the individual pieces become worthless. Throw it away. Use it as fire starter. What use is a little dot of paper out of context? The pieces only have value as they are connected to the whole.

I begin with this illustration because this is precisely the point Jesus is making in his high priestly prayer. Jesus is praying for unity, not because unity is more comfortable than disunity, not because unity promotes social health, but because the unity of his church communicates a very important message. When unity is lost the message is lost. And when the message is lost, what’s the value of the individual, shredded pieces?

The message of the gospel is connected to our unity with one another.

When we look at the church today, when we look at the Christian landscape, it probably looks to you like this ball of shredded paper. Sin has shredded and then cross-shredded the original design. Are we really unified? There’s schisms, relational fissures, and divisions. It’s so fragmented and chopped into pieces, we hardly believe it’s possible. There’s too much disunity. But that pessimism has no place in God’s church.

There is a design and it can be realized. Let’s see Jesus’ view on this matter.

Defining Unity

Let’s define the unity design because the type of unity Jesus has in mind is a kind of unity that cannot be known by the world. Let’s observe it in the text. You may remember this from last week.

Here’s my definition of unity that comes out of this text.

In other words, there are differences. And those differences serve a purpose. The differences are by design to advance the mission of God’s kingdom. So what we need is not to remove the differences but to reground ourselves in the truth and mission that binds us.

So rather than an outline today, we are going to take a look at each of the words in this definition of unity.

We are distinct and THAT is NOT a problem. We are different. That is good! Most solutions for division begin by trying to remove the distinctiveness of people. This way of thinking concludes that sameness equals unity. Because after all, if we were the same, then this problem wouldn’t exist, and so let’s implement things that make us more similar.

This is exactly the approach of critical race theory, marxism, facism, communism and many other philosophies that have tried to solve the problem of disunity. These theories share in common that the friction we experience in society is a result of our differences. So we find unity by removing differences. We make you all live in the same houses. We make you all have the same amount of money. We make you all get the same type of education. We make you have the same number of kids.

And the assumption is that if you remove the power differences that exist between people then you will create unity. It’s the belief that the problem is our differences in power, money, advantages, etc.

This is also the approach of feminism. Feminism says that the fundamental problem of oppression is that there should be no distinction between men and women in terms of roles, ways we function in society, opportunities, etc. It’s a belief that the problem is our differences. So there’s this pretty strong push to remove distinctions.

Now here’s why this never works. It never works. Because when is enough? If you focus on sameness in your relationships and sameness is your goal, then who gets to judge when it’s the same enough?

History of Feminism

Let’s take feminism as an example. You have first wave of feminism which was around the turn of the 20th century. And you have a giant push for sameness and equality in terms of voting. And eventually that was successful. But are things entirely the same? The answer of history is no. That’s not enough.

In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, which argued that women were chafing against the confines of their roles as wives and mothers. And that began the second wave of feminsim. So there was a giant push for sameness in terms of working opportunities. And this too was largely successful but are things entirely the same? The answer is no. That’s not enough.

The third wave of feminism began in the 90’s and is characterized by embracing the spirit of rebellion instead of reform, third-wave feminists encouraged women to express their sexuality and individuality.

And that brings us today that some call the 4th wave where we are debating things like intersectionality, transgenderism, and a social media capable of fueling activism in things like the #metoo movement.

We could do something similar and chart the progression of racism throughout the last two centuries. And here’s why this is so confusing to people. Because clearly our culture needed to change. Clearly, the laws that founded America were racist and sexist in nature. No question. And then when the laws were changed, the culture was still systemically racist and sexist. But what’s the solution? Is the solution to achieve sameness? Who’s going to say, “Okay, we’ve come far enough.”

Where’s the equality and sameness finish line? The conversation has turned into a verbal war. We are rioting. We are verbally destroying one another. Is that the solution to our lack of unity?

Year’s ago there was a far side cartoon that I loved and I think this illustrates the problem better than anything I know.

The reason this is funny because it highlights the irony between our stated and functional missions. How can you intentionally destroy life, safely?

And in the same way, there’s an irony in the way our culture is trying to achieve unity. How can you intentionally destroy people and value them? We are using nuclear weapons that are going to destroy society to create unity? Is the path to unity through warheads? Where do we turn? How about to Jesus!

The Christian worldview comes at this from a completely different direction. The Bible isn’t trying to make men and women the same. Men and women are different by design. There is a purpose to the differences in gender. Personalites are different by design. Race is different by design. Cultures are different by design. God created the differences ON PURPOSE.

And so rather than try to eliminate the distinctions and distinctiveness, the Christian says, “Where do I fit into the canvas?” The Christian realizes that all these differences are intended to be stitched together to create a canvas that shouts the glory of God. That’s the design.

The problem is not our differences. Our differences are beautiful. Our differences are what makes the design. If every single bit of paper in this pile were exactly the same there would be no meaning. There would be no message. There could be no design.

The problem is not our differences. The problem is that we are not controlled by a single mission. Unity begins with a common mission.

We are different people going in the same direction. We are different people on the same mission and the differences are designed to achieve a purpose. The direction is what unifies.

You see, once you clarify the mission, then the differences can compliment and supplement one another. And that is why it works. Because the goal never changes. Instead of trying to make men like women or women like men, men act like men to the glory of God and women act like women to the glory of God according to their design. We speak uniquely from our platforms and instead of using our platform and power to bolster our own mission we use our platform and power to bolster the mission of God. And of course the mission of God is about highlighting the love of God for broken sinners. It’s about sharing that love with other people.

The focus has to shift away from sameness to a focus on what the gospel has done to unite our differing missions into one mission. Sameness is difficult to define because some people are always going to be more powerful in some ways and less powerful in others.

We need to focus not on tearing down our differences but instead on tearing down our personal kingdoms. We are all trying to build our kingdoms and that’s why there is conflict. Our problem is we are on different missions. There’s only one kingdom! There’s one mission. It’s the mission of the father.

That’s what Jesus is saying here.

If we don’t share a single goal, if we don’t share a target or destination, then we are all just going to do our own thing. When everyone is doing their own thing, of course it’s going to be a nightmare. Listen to an orchestra warming up:

Is that a beautiful sound? It’s terribly dissonant. What’s the problem? Is the problem that they are not all violins? Do the cellos need to become trumpets? Do the drums need to become french horns? Even if they were all violins, it would still sound like garbage. Why? Because each of them have gone their own way.

But when the conductor comes in and begins to lead them, when they are grounded in a mission (to compose a beautiful piece of music) which is grounded in TRUTH, objective notes on a page that exists outside of their own minds and when their eyes are on the conductor, what do you have? All of a sudden the individual parts become a glorious whole. Here’s that same orchestra united in one mission following a single conductor.

You can hear the violins compliment the cello which compliment the brass. Each in their own part at the right time, some backing down, others rising up. Some not playing at all in parts and then taking the lead elsewhere. All being controlled by the same purpose. That is unity. Unity is achieved with a shared mission.

Remember last week we talked about what it meant for Jesus to consecrate himself?

Jesus set himself apart from common activity to do the activity of the father. He was on the mission of the father. Here’s how Jesus is structuring his thought: I am not going to live for myself. I am consecrated, set-apart to do the will of my father.

So Jesus is on the mission of the father. That’s what creates unity. And how do we enter into that unity. By being on the same mission. We too have a conductor. We have a choirmaster. We have someone who is ORCHESTRATING our life. We are different in our roles but we are unified in our purpose.

Of course it’s going to be madness if everybody just does whatever they want in this world. Do you remember in the OT, the period of the judges? That time period without question was the low point of Israel’s history. I mean, people were sinning like banshees. It was crazy town. And you know how the Bible describes this sewer of Israel’s history?

Judges 17

There was not a shared mission. There was no common purpose. The king provides the purpose but without the king there can be no direction.

Imagine a bunch of balls scattered all over the table. But those balls are all connected by strings to a single point. You could imagine pulling up that point and all the balls come together. Those strings represent the shared mission given by the shared leader.

But notice what else is implied in the chaos that reigns during the period of the judges. Without external direction where does the direction reside? In themselves? In their own eyes? I’m finding direction internally and looking at the world through my eyes. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Through my eyes, through my perspective, this makes sense. But what happens when another person views it from a different perspective, from a different set of eyes? Who is to judge between the two? Who is to say that one man’s perspective is better than another man’s perspective?

There can be no tiebreaker. And so it’s every man for himself. The only way to break the tie is to allow something from outside of us to come in and make a judgment. We have to submit to an authority outside of ourselves. You want to know what we call that force outside of ourselves? We call that truth.

Now in the text this is pretty obvious feature. Truth is right there in plain sight.

Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. If there is no truth there can be no legitimate unity. Why? Because only external forces can truly bind together individual.

You see, if it is true that we are individuals who all see the world differently through our own eyes then we have to agree to submit to something outside of us that overrules both our perspectives. We have to agree to surrender our individual will to a tie-breaker authority beyond either of our two perspectives. We have to say, even though I feel like my violin part ought to be really loud right here the conductor is telling me to be quiet and not play at all. I have to trust that what seems right in my own eyes, is not actually right.

We all operate on what we believe to be true and right in our own eyes. That’s understandable and logical. But you want to know what else is understandable and logical? Not everyone can be right. Just because you believe it to be true doesn’t mean it’s true.

We need to be more self suspecting. We need to be more willing to link the suffering and difficulties in our life to the terrible perspectives we house within our hearts. You see, when we start living our lives according to a lie, then all of a sudden, guess what? There will be consequences. Affairs make adulterers miserable. Lies make liars miserable. Selfishness makes selfish people miserable.

But every adulterer, liar, and selfish person is surprised when it doesn’t work out. We find ourselves surprised when we try to live according to our own truth (which is a lie) instead of God’s truth. We act as if of our belief in our lie ought to change reality. Should it? Of course not. Why should we be surprised?

Two years ago, I sprayed broad leaf killer on my grass to clean up this clover and dandelions that were destroying my lawn. So I got pretty aggressive and really soaked them. But turns out I grabbed the wrong bottle and it was round up. And of course these giant patches of my lawn got scorched. I murdered my lawn. Of course, I had the best of intentions. But what I believed to be true didn’t matter. Why? Because truth exists outside of whatever is going on in my thinking. It doesn’t matter what I think at the end of the day, truth is truth. What is true will be true regardless of what I want.

Truth will unite because it exists outside of who we are. Something beyond the individual has to organize and bind us together. Just think about it in the physical realm for a moment. I can only be bound to another person by a chain that exists outside both our bodies. I could never be bound to another person by my own arm. The other person could just shake me off or I could let go. And vice versa. Something outside of us has to connect us.

Truth and mission are those two things. Here’s my favorite thing about truth. It just is. It just sits there. It’s unkillable. It’s unarguable. In a world of bickering, fighting, bullying, biting, yelling, screaming, petty opinions flying this way and that, people’s feelings getting hurt here and there, grudges, bitterness, anger, resentment: truth is like a giant titanium cube in the center of the town square. It just is. It’s unaffected. It doesn’t even exist in the domain of all the yelling and screaming. Try yelling at a giant cube of titanium truth and see if you can get a reaction. Truth just exists outside of us. It’s true whether you like it or not agree with it or not. It was, is, and will be. Time can’t change it. People can’t change it. Chance can’t change it. It just is.

Unity begins with a shared mission rooted in truth. Now here’s the reason that mission and that truth are in fact unifying. Because they originate from God himself. That’s the reason for the word divine.

You see the pieces have to be ordered and fit together if there is to be meaning.. If you just took a million pieces of shredded paper from across the world and tried to stitch them together there would be no way to do it because there has to be an original design. The differences would have no meaning.

But in the case of God’s children, there is meaning. There is an intended differences which create meaning in the design.

In the same way that the strokes of a paintbrush come from the mind of an artist and bind the painting together, the glue that binds us together in our differences originate in God himself. God, when he created us, has a masterpiece in mind. There’s a reason for the differences.

Now follow this because this is so key to the concept of Christian unity: in the same way that the Father and the Son share unity we are to share in that unity. See it in the text.

All true Christian unity patterns itself after the way the Father and Son relate to one another. You see it further in verse 22.

What is Jesus saying? Christians need to be unified in the same way that Father and son are unified. In other words, whatever unity exists among believers needs to be a replica of the unity that exists between father and son. And what kind of unity does the father and son share? Unity in mission rooted in truth. They were one in the mission of redemption. They played completely different roles, but were one in purpose. They were one in love for humanity. They were one in their love of glory.

The Big Picture

Now there’s a result of unity. There’s a message that is communicated in unity. And here it is.

The phrase ‘so that’ is a purpose phrase. It tells us the result of unity. God designed unity to communicate a message to a watching world.

Do you realize, that your witness, your testimony, your light, much of your gospel power comes from the way in which you relate to the community? Sure, you can share your personal testimony and you should but what will prove to a watching world that the father sent the son and what will prove to a watching world but the father loves them is the beauty of unity.

You want to know the portrait that is painted when the church lives together in unity? They see Christ. Christ is seen. Each Christian like an individual pixel on a screen that paints the beauty of the love of God. That they may become perfectly one, SO THAT the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Now in order to experience unity, what needs to change? Well, this might be obvious, but it’s our hearts.

Let’s get real…the thing that needs uniting is our heart. People don’t need uniting as if the problem is with the skin or shapes of bodies or preferred habits. What needs uniting is the heart.

You see the division on the outside is merely a symptom of division on the inside. The real division, the real schism, the real fissure is in the heart.

Now it might be helpful to show how these two concepts relate by looking at Psalm 86. So let’s look at this Psalm:

Psalm 86

Now what’s he saying? He’s saying this is how it ought to be. This is what a whole heart looks like, a complete heart, a unified heart. It’s what we talked about last week. He’s describing a complete heart that is committed to the glory of the Lord. And that’s what is expressed!

Now notice how TRUTH, GLORY, and UNITY relate here.

Teach me your way. Give me TRUTH. Sanctify me in truth. Your word is truth. Now look. What does that truth do? That truth unites my heart. The problem of disunity is that the heart is divided. We are fragmented creatures. The heart is disordered. We have conflicting impulses in us.

We aren’t whole. We aren’t on the same mission We aren’t singular in focus. But, when we are confronted with truth, that truth defrags our heart. The heart becomes united, and out of that unity of heart comes worship and we glorify the Lord.

This is a description of David’s personal experience but it perfectly maps onto our corporate experience of division, dissension and disunity.

When our individual hearts unite, we see the glory of God. The glory of God shines in us. And that collective shining is what unifies. And it is what communicates the message of the gospel. But without that, there can be no unity. You want to know what this ball of shredded paper is? It’s Van Gogh’s famous painting Starry Night.

This was painted in 1889. Van Gogh was increasingly disillusioned by institutionalized religion and he painted this picture to describe the deep state of despair in his soul. So you have in the painting a deep indigo sky which is representative of the infinite presence of God. The heavenly bodies are yellow which was van Gogh’s color for sacred love.

So the heavens are declaring the glory of God. Kind of like our introduction from last week from Psalm 19:1. Then you have the divine light of the heavens repeated in all the little buildings below.

But there’s one building with no light at all, it’s the church. Its darkness speaks of God’s judgment. It’s just icy, cold, and dead. It’s distorted in shape. That’s a sad picture.

Now what makes the church dead? What makes it cold? What causes the light to go out? You know what the answer is? The light does not originate in the people of the church. We simply reflect in our hearts, the glory of God. We as a people look to God, see God, revel in God, worship God, and then suddenly we become collectively BRIGHT. Why? Because we are all on the same mission to point people to the all-satisfying person of Jesus Christ. We are all on the same mission to glorify God.

The glory of the heavens shines in the people of the church and that collective GAZE creates UNITY. The light doesn’t come from the people. The unity doesn’t come from the people. It comes from the heavens.

Application

So how do we pursue unity? What are the practical steps we need to take in order to apply this passage?

Ask yourself the question: what mission am I on? Whose Kingdom am I trying to build?

Are you transfixed and amazed at the glory of God? Is your focus on him? If so, you will find yourself in joyful lockstep with others who are marching in the same direction. And that joyful lockstep will be attractive. It will communicate something beautiful to a watching world.

Slideshow for this message is available 

Introduction

John 17

Today we get to eavesdrop on one of the greatest recorded prayers ever prayed. And we are going to tackle this great prayer in two sermons which feels to me like trying to eat an elephant in two bites.

Now, if you are a normal human being, your brain is going to rebel and resist some of the concepts in the message today. The concepts are not intuitive. What is supposed to be beautiful, attractive and deeply satisfying may not appear that way to you. In fact, you may even feel offended. You may just be confused or disoriented. But don’t trust that reaction. Just because something doesn’t initially look good doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Our feelings sometimes lie to us.

For example, when I first heard about the concept of sushi, I thought it was the most disgusting thought ever. Raw fish? Are you kidding. That’s gross. But people kept on telling me it was amazing. I kept looking at it from a distance wondering what I was missing. And once I finally dove in and was able to open my mind to it, it’s not just palatable, it’s now my favorite food.

What this passage does is teach us to love the glory of God. Maybe you already love it, or you are learning to love it, or maybe you looks at it from a distance like raw fish. Why would I want that? That’s okay because by default, our spiritual palate isn’t adjusted to it.

We say things like, **“Isn’t that kind of arrogant of God to want his own glory?** God is jealous for his own glory? What kind of monster says that?” Of maybe you say, “Well if we are allowed to talk like that, then if I’m honest, I kind of like it when I get glory. Can I be jealous for my own glory?””

But believe me, loving the glory of God is so much more delicious than loving your own glory.

And let me give you an example of how that can be. Just give me 3 minutes. Here’s a video of our sun. Every second of this video is one day of footage.

The sun is amazing. There’s so much power here, it just boggles the mind. It’s about the equivalent of 1,820,000,000 of the most power nuclear bombs ever invented every second. Temperatures inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius. The sun generates this intense solar wind which is a stream of charged particles that travel around 450 km per second through the solar system. And of course the size! This one star is very large compared to our earth. About a million earth’s could fit inside the sun.

But it’s very small compared to other stars.

And of course that’s just one star in our galaxy that contains 200 billion stars.

And of course that’s just one galaxy in the estimated 200-400 billion galaxies.

A star is an amazing thing.

But what IS a star?

In C.S. Lewis’ story, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, there’s a conversation about the nature of stars. In C.S. Lewis’ world of Narnia stars are very different than the stars in our world. And so one of the characters named Eustace points this out. Eustace says, “In our world, a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.” And then there’s this powerful line, “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is but only what it is made of.”

What is a star? In other words, what is it for? What is its purpose? What is the meaning of a star? The Bible has an answer for this:

Psalm 19

A star is glory-beacon proclaiming the power of God. When I look at a star, I realize that there’s a massive God out there and it isn’t me. There is a being out there with serious glory.

When we look at a star and we think how massive and powerful that is and we think, “God made that?” Suddenly he has GLORY in our thinking. He has gravity in our mind. If God is that powerful, he matters. His opinion ought to heavily factor into my decision making. Right?

What is a star? It’s a glory-flashlight. It’s a glory-syringe to inject the towering majesty of God into our imagination. That’s what a star IS. That’s the design, purpose, meaning.

Now the reason I bring this up is because most of us can appreciate the glory of God, the WEIGHT of God by looking at stars. A star is a glory-beacon. That’s what it is. We like that kind of glory.

But at the end of the day, that’s what everything is. Why does anything exist? Why is anything the way it is? Why is there suffering? Why is there mountains? Why is there simplicity and complexity. Because in the end, it all brings God glory. The Bible teaches us that all of history, all of activity, our life, the birds, whales, our life, everything points to the glory of God, is about the glory of God.

Passage Today

Now the passage today teaches us this: The very pinnacle display of the glory of God, the very height, the towering peak of the glory of God is not stars or galaxies or supernovas or black holes as amazing as they are. It’s not whales or the human genome. The very pinnacle of the glory of God is the love of God. And the most GLORIOUS display of the love of God is the cross.

So, when we look to the cross, and see the supreme, ultimate love of Christ, we are beholding the most brilliant, blinding glory point in all the universe. The love of God for sinful men is like a giant star that shines forth the glory of God. It’s massive, bright, and eye-watering. It’s the loudest proclamation of the weight, splendor and GRAVITY of who God IS.

That’s what God IS. God IS LOVE and THAT is GLORIOUS. That’s the main point of the high priestly prayer. So first, it’s important that you just see that with your own eyes!

Now you can see the glory of God everywhere in this section.

But we need to see that the glory mentioned here is linked to the love of God for us via the cross. And the way to do that is to note something we pointed out clear back in the beginning of John. All through the book of John, Jesus’ life is threatened in some way or some sort of expectation is thrust upon him and Jesus keeps saying, “My hour has not yet come,” (2:4; 7:6; 7:8; 7:30; 8:20). And every time John uses this phrase, he’s referencing what? What’s the hour? The hour of death? The hour where he will be crucified.

But look at what he says here. Now what does he say? The hour has come. It’s time. The hour has come to what? To be glorified… So therefore, the hour of maximum glory is the hour he hangs in death because it’s through the cross that the love of God is manifest. The cross will be the stage upon which the glory-love of God is revealed.

Do you see that? The greatest evidence of God’s glory is his love and goodness to undeserving people. Has someone hurt you badly? Have you felt betrayed, injured? Think about how hard it is to forgive that person much less love them?! Much less die for them! That is GLORY my friends. GLORY!

I want to point out something you may have never noticed before. Do you remember in the OT when Moses was trying to lead a bunch of rebellious people? I mean these guys were outright criminals. And he needed some encouragement. Man, is this whole leading your people thing even worth it?

Exodus 33

What is the response to the request of Moses? God show me just how amazing you are. Show me your gravitas. Show us that thing about you that would just blow my mind. Show me the thing about you that makes you the most glorious being in the universe.

How does God respond? Does he give Moses a glimpse into the center of a star, the center of a galaxy? No, look at this.

You want to behold the glory of God? God says, “Look at my goodness. Look at my graciousness. Look at my mercy. You want to behold the glory of God? Then look at my love.” Moses asks for glory; God gives him just the trailing edge of his goodness.

We see the full splendor in the cross. It’s true. In some ways, we probably see more than Moses. Seeing and beholding and reveling in the glory of God is the entire point of history. In Habakkuk 2 when Habakkuk looks forward to a day of restoration, do you know how he describes this future kingdom day of joy? Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”

What does that mean? That means, the whole earth will know the height and depth and length and breadth of God’s love. They will see, according to this passage, the trinitarian love of God how the Son loves the Father and the Father in turn loves the Son. And they will see how the trinitarian love of God spills over into his love of humanity. And when we see that love, when we see that GLORY, we will worship.

Now until that day, Jesus is going to pray for his followers, 5 things. There’s 5 things for which Jesus petitions the Father.

Now the reason this protection is necessary is twofold. Jesus as their direct protector is going to be leaving the world. But more significantly, the world is going to hate them.

You see the world as defined by John is this domain that exists in open hostility to the kingdom of God. So the picture is you have two countries with their respective citizens living in them. And those countries are at absolute war with one another. It’s Ukraine and Russia. The tensions are building. All the guards are up. The propaganda of the one country teaches you to hate the citizens of the other country.

Now let’s say you are a citizen of Russia right now working in the highest level of Russia’s military headquarters. And then all of a sudden you flip allegiances. Uh, that’s a problem. You have gone from an important executive with power and respect to a traitor. Your actual life is at risk.

And that is exactly what happens when you become a follower of Jesus Christ. You are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the beloved Son in Christ Jesus. You are perceived as a traitor. Your loyalty is now with another. You are praising the King of another country. You follow his orders. You love their values.

And because of that you now become a threat to a way of life and everything valued in that country. Why would you desert our country? You too good for us? Let’s kill him. And so Jesus prays for our protection knowing the world will always be hostile to the message of the gospel.

Now, here’s just an aside. Ukraine and Russia are heavily in the news right now and we need to pray for them. But I want to instruct us how to pray.

We’ve supported Vladamir and Yulia Vlashenko. Years ago they were serving in Cremia in the southern part of Ukraine before it was Annexed by Russia. Now they are in Poltava which is close to the Eastern border with Russia. Recently we’ve received an update from Slavic Gospel Association that they are safe but things are changing hourly.

Now Bret Laird who is a good friend of mine was our connection to Ukraine. He served in a seminary there for 15 years. We visited him on several missions trips. He’s preached here at this church on several occasions.

So there’s very few people more qualified to comment on this and here’s what he says in a post from this week:

To understand what is happening and why, we need to look beyond the physical warfare which fills our screens to the spiritual warfare that is unseen.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

When the Soviet Union collapsed, and with it the state-imposed atheism of the Communists, there was a great spiritual harvest. Millions came to faith in Christ. And while the Lord brought in a harvest from all over the former Soviet nations, by far the greatest number of conversions occurred in Ukraine.

Ukraine has always been the “Bread Basket” of eastern Europe, and that is true not only agriculturally, but spiritually. Ukraine is truly “The Bible Belt”–not only of the Slavic countries–but now of Europe itself. And beginning in the mid-2000’s, churches all across Ukraine began sending missionaries to the least-reached and hardest to reach peoples of the world. The Bread of Life is going forth from the fertile spiritual soil in Ukraine to every continent on earth.

THAT beloved, is what Satan is desperately trying to stop. THAT is the spiritual warfare behind the physical warfare. Satan’s primary strategies have always been to POLLUTE the message of the gospel or to PERSECUTE the messengers of the gospel.

But here’s the good news: The Word of God cannot be chained. As millions of Ukrainians flee the violence, there will be many born-again believers among them. And they–just like they did in the first Russian invasion in 2014–will carry the gospel of Jesus Christ with them wherever they go.

What men intend for evil, God will use for good.

I lived among these believers. I know them. I’ve seen how they respond to war and to life as refugees. I’ve seen their courage and their devotion to Christ firsthand. So I am confident–and praying–that they, like the refugees from the church in Jerusalem described in Acts 8:4, will take the gospel with them wherever they are scattered by this invasion.

“Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.” -Acts 8:4

THAT is what GOD is doing.

What better way to apply the sermon that to pray for protection for these brothers and sisters. Let’s just take a second mid-sermon here to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Ukraine. Jesus prays for protection. Let’s pray that for them.

Now I won’t say a lot about this now, because next week this is going to be the focus of the sermon. I told you this was a prayer broken into two sermon-sized bites and this point will be the second bite.

The one thing we will say today is that true Christian unity finds its power in the very nature of the Godhead and flows out of the love of God for us. That’s the nuclear core.

It’s so incredibly different than ANY other kind of unity. The power is there and we are praying for God to do this work among us as a body.

Now the word sanctify in English comes from the Latin word sanctus which means holy. So really it’s a word that means holify. And the word holy means to be separate or to set apart away from common use.

So take it out of the realm of religion for a moment. In our home we have a cupboard with all our cups. And they get used constantly. There are some plastic cups and some thick glass cups. They are strong, durable. They get kicked around.

But then when my daughter has a birthday party with her friends, out come the tea party cups. And these are super fragile, beautiful thin walled cups with ornate decorations. These cups are set apart. They are holy unto tea-parties. That’s what the word HOLY means. Set apart unto a very special purpose. There’s common use cups. And then there set apart, holy cups. Do you see the difference?

So God all through the Bible is called holy. In fact, that’s how Jesus addresses the Father at the beginning of the prayer, “Holy Father.” He’s set apart from humanity. There’s common man. And then there’s God. Totally different. Totally other.

You have common power. And then there’s God’s HOLY power. Separate and distinct and totally other.

You have common love. And then there’s God’s HOLY love. Separate and distinct and totally other.

And so Jesus here is praying that we would be sanctified, holified in truth. You see, the way this sanctification happens, the way this holification happens is through the truth, through the WORD OF GOD.

All through the Bible it is the Word of God which sanctifies his people: Joshua (Joshua 1:8–9), an Israelite king (Deuteronomy 17:18–20), and any faithful believer (Psalm 1:2).

But it is a very specific truth of the Word of God that ultimately SANCTIFIES us. And we can discover what Jesus is referencing specifically by asking ourselves this question: “What does Jesus mean here by sanctifying himself?”

You don’t see as obvious in the English translation. The translators tried to make this less confusing by using the word consecration. But it kind of masks an important concept.

Notice the ESV says consecrate (Jesus says, “For their sake I consecrate myself,”). But that’s not what the Greek says. The Greek word is sanctify.

So what does it mean that Jesus sanctifies himself? Obviously, it can’t mean to get rid of sin since Jesus had no sin to eliminate. No, instead what he means is that he sets himself apart from common activities of man to do his Father’s will, and his Father’s will alone — and that means he willingly, gladly goes to the cross, however repulsive and horrifying the prospect is. Do you see the idea?

If I sanctify myself for the purpose of the father, namely going to the cross, then it will be through my sanctification, that my followers will be sanctified. The obedience of Christ makes sinners holy.

Because unlike Jesus, we can never be sanctified, set apart for God, without Christ first setting himself apart to do the Father’s will.

That is the good news; that is the gospel; that is the truth. That truth is what truly sanctifies us.

This whole prayer is about us patterning ourselves after the Godhead. Do you see it? Christ’s sanctification mission becomes now becomes our mission. Because Christ set himself apart from common activities of the world to do the father’s activity, namely to save us, we now as saved people set ourselves apart from the common activities of the world to pursue the father’s activity of sharing the good news with others.

So what does that mean for you? You don’t do what the world does with your time or your money. Your time is sanctified, set apart for God. You don’t run your business like other people run their businesses. You don’t work for your boss like other people work for their bosses. Why? Because you are set apart. It’s redeemed for holy purposes. So take a look at what you do? How much of it is sanctified and how much of it is common? How much of it advances the mission of God? That’s the only question that, in the end, truly matters.

Jesus is here praying for our joy. That is wonderful. That is so encouraging. Do you feel like you lack joy right now? Jesus has prayed for you that the same joy that he experienced might be experienced in you.

Do you want to be as happy as Jesus? Jesus has prayed for you that it might be so. Now don’t think that means that you will be free of trials. Jesus praying for the disciples joy does not mean that they will be free of uncomfortable circumstances. Literally the verse before this prayer Jesus says, “In this world you will have tribulation.”

2 Timothy 3:12 says, “All those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Persecution, suffering, trials does not equal joyless living. Do you believe that? Jesus is praying for the kind of joy he had. Was that circumstantial?

Hebrews 12

There has to be a lot of joy in front of a person to endure the cross. Don’t you think? What was his joy? His joy was the glory of the Father. The glory of the Father flooded his horizon so that was all he could see. Do you see how beautiful that is? Do you see how marvelous and glorious that is? And what is the ultimate glory of the Father? What is the most GLORIOUS attribute of the father? His Love. Jesus saw the LOVE of God and is praying that you too might see the Love of God and be transformed by it.

Is that not incredible?

Jesus’ own joy in doing his Father’s will was based on his ability to see the love of God for him. And that is where our joy comes from as well. As we see the glory of God which really is another way of saying, as we see the love of God, we are delighted and thrive regardless of circumstances. Even though the word joy isn’t used, look at verse 24. You can hear it just oozing out of the text.

Jesus just longs for his followers to see the love of God. That longing to be with the father, to do the will of the father who loves him so much. That is what he wants. This is the joy that Jesus prays for his disciples.

Fifthly and finally, Jesus prays that we would be with God forever in heaven. That we would have that eternal life that has been such a focus in the book of John.

Again, what is life? THIS is eternal life: that they KNOW the Father. This is the goal. This is the end. This is heaven. Knowing God. That’s it. There’s nothing better. There’s nothing more infinite.

If you’re picture of heaven is camping or sitting by a pool or enjoying great food, you are a million miles away. You are nowhere in the zipcode of heaven. What is life? What is eternal life? What is heaven? KNOWING GOD. Reveling and basking in the glory of God. That’s what it means to GLORIFY God, to simply recognize what is. To simply acknowledge his otherness, his separateness, his supreme attractiveness, his worth, his towering love, his infinite love, his life-giving, bitterness-melting, overflowing love. That is heaven.

That’s why everything is about glorifying God. We come back full circle to the glory of God. Look at the picture of the throneroom in Rev 4.

Revelation 4-5

And then he describes 24 thrones with elders and four living creatures who were praising God. And then you get this climactic scene at the end.

This is life: that they might know the father. This is eternal life: knowing that God. FCBC, this is life; there is no greater life. Jesus says, I am the way the truth and the life. Why is that? Because life is in the father. No man comes to the father except through me.

Thus the ultimate petition, the final petition, the mega-petition is to see the glory of God which is to say, that the final petition, the mega-petition is to see the love of God in sending his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Application

Now, I want to pause for a moment. I mean this kind of thinking is so lofty. It’s so grand. But just stop for a moment. Think about who Jesus is praying for. You know who these people are; you’ve been reading about them. All they ever do is quarrel. All they ever do is doubt. They gossip. They whisper in secret about whose better. All they ever do is scramble for preeminence. And worse still. They’re about to desert him and deny him within a matter of hours.

And for these people he’s praying for protection, unity, sanctification, joy, life. The disciples were a train wreck. They were a mess. In a strange sort of way, that is a tremendous comfort.

Because we are a mess. Who here comes without significant embarrassment in the dark corners of your life? Who here has it all together? Who here is free from sin? We are all a mess. If being broken and sinful describes you, welcome to the party. Jesus is praying for you. Jesus is interceding for you. Jesus is your advocate. Jesus is your defender. It is through Jesus that you will see the father and fall on your face and cry out HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!

You see at the end of the day, it’s not that you accept Jesus into your heart. Jesus places you into the Father. You did not choose me. I chose you. Jesus is doing the work. Do you not see, that no matter what goes down in your life, Jesus loves you. You can’t separate yourself from the love of God. And the glorious, brilliant, blinding, star-like nature of that divine, perfect love is going to gnaw at those places of rebellion and break it down and it’s going to grow and grow and grow until your entire horizon is filled with it and then it’s going to leak out of you and into others and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of his Glory and the experience of his LOVE.

Slideshow for this message is available

Introduction

John 14-17

Water is such a dynamic medium. If you spend a lot of time near a large body of water, you get the privilege of watching it go through all sorts of variation. There are times when the water gets so smooth, it’s like a mirror. It’s so smooth it almost feels like a crime to throw a stone in on it.

Then there are other times when the wind starts howling and skys darken and the waves just leap up off the water and crash down. It’s scary to be out on the water in those conditions.

Water is a good metaphor for the heart. When there’s a lot of stress and anxiety and pressure in life and the heart is stormy with worry, fear, unresolved tension, we call that troubled. But when all that tension melts away, and it’s a smooth, calm day and your toes are in the sand and there’s not even a ripple on the shore, we call that peace. Who wants some of that? Of course we do!

We all want peace. We crave it. Jesus in the passage today tells us how peace can be possible even in the midst of the storm. The kind of peace he’s offering isn’t environmental. It’s not a breathing technique or stress management tip. It’s a gift of the Spirit of God.

Review

We are in the end of John chapter 16 and we would benefit to recall that everything from John 13-17 takes place on Thursday night of the passion week, the night before Jesus dies. So these are his last words. Packed into these chapters is the summary of the most important things that Jesus wants his disciples to understand before he leaves this world.

Jesus knows that a great and terrible day of future suffering is coming for the disciples. He knows they aren’t prepared for it. What they need is this supernatural a heart-as-smooth-as-glass peace. Even though the world is raging, their hearts are still. How can the disciples experience peace in the midst of suffering? That is the focus of everything Jesus says. And the end of chapter 16 is a summary of how to get peace which really is a summary of the entire discourse.

Any offer of peace must contain three things. And without those three things it cannot be a true offer of peace.

Truth is a huge theme in the upper room discourse. We are in John 16 but if we jump back just a bit to John 14.

Truth, truth, truth. What you need for the coming suffering is truth believed but not yet seen. We call that faith. Why is this so important? Because in suffering your feelings will run in the opposite direction of truth. Your feelings are derived from what is seen.

Remember from last time we were in John? He uses that great analogy of childbearing. As a woman goes through labor and her entire horizon is filled with pain and she cries out. In that moment the suffering eclipses the reward.

In that moment what does she FEEL? This isn’t worth it! This is terrible. Her feelings focus only on what she can see - pain! But the truth is, it is worth it. When the baby finally comes, the reward far outstrips the suffering. She smiles and rejoices and gladly accepts the suffering.

Truth not seen, which we call faith, is able to regulate and stabilize the feelings that arise in suffering.

Now what he’s saying here is that this grounding truth is revealed progressively. What do we mean by progressive? In the eyeglass industry they offer us progressive lenses. Which means the prescription starts low and as you look up the prescription gradually increases.

In the same way, truth is progressive. Truth begins with a very low comprehension. In other words, we understand what the words mean but they have a very low impact. But as you look up, as history unfolds, as you grow in your faith, you see more and more clearly.

Now specifically for the disciples, he’s referencing the contrast between what is enigmatic or cryptic during the ministry of Jesus, and what becomes plain or clear after Jesus’ death, resurrection, glorification, and the giving of the Spirit.

Jesus says, right now you are living in a fog. Fog obscures reality. It’s all there. It’s all present, but the fog obscures it. It can’t be seen until that fog is lifted. No matter how hard you try to stare, it’s just a sheet of flat gray.

Jesus is saying, “Trust me; it will all make sense. Trust me; when the fog lifts you will see.” The truth will be there in plain sight. You will understand. It will no longer have to be understood through metaphors (ie. it’s like a woman in childbirth). It will be as obvious as the noon day sun.

What is this truth that they could not yet see? Suffering precedes glory. That in order to reign, Christ would first have to suffer. That in order to give us life, he’d have to give his life. That in order for the wall of separation to be torn down, his flesh would have to be torn. That in order to rise he would first have to fall. That God would have to be just and the justifier of all those who believe.

We now see this. The fog is lifted for us. The truth is glorious. We see through powerful progressive lenses. But they could not. Here’s why this is so important. BECAUSE, in SUFFERING, it FELT like the father had BETRAYED them. In suffering it felt like it was all a giant mistake.

THAT’S what it FELT like. That was not the TRUTH. The truth was, they were in a fog. After the resurrection, everything Jesus had said would come into focus. The words would loose their mysterious character. The fog would lift. And they would finally understand the nature of the Father. The Father had not betrayed them. The father had saved them. The Holy Spirit would bring to mind all that Jesus said and it would finally make sense. Do you remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus? After Jesus rose, Jesus appeared to them.

Luke 24

It was all making sense. Finally, the penny dropped.

Now the point of application for me and you: do not think that just because you have the truth in front of you, you apprehend everything that can be understood. We see through a glass dimmly. Whatever truth you relish, you relish in a mere 1/10th part of the reality at best.

How many of you have had the experience where you read a part of the Bible and even though you’ve read it a thousand times, something about it leaps off the page and you say to yourself, “How is it that I never saw that before?” I feel that way with the entire book of John. I’ve read the book of John so many times in my life, and yet this time through it’s like it’s all brand new!

And so the lesson is this: do not make decisions based on what you can see is true. Make decisions based on what you are told is true. Because there is always more than meets the eye. There is more to be seen.

Because suffering is coming. And that suffering will rock you back on your heels such that everything you ever thought was true no longer feels true. But it is true; so believe it.

That is faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not yet seen. Faith is the assurance of truth not yet seen.

That truth believed makes for peace. Any offer of peace must contain three things. And without those three things it cannot be a true offer of peace.

Here’s the second point.

Here’s just a bedrock truth that will sustain you through any suffering. God loves you.

Again, this is a huge theme in the discourse. John 15:12-13, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Now this is a little clunky in our ears but here’s the point he’s making. Yes, you will ask in my name but don’t think that means that I have to petition this grumpy father who is resistant to helping you. That his natural inclination is against you and I have to go up there and change his mind.

That’s not it at all! Far from it: the Father himself loves you, and needs no prompting from the Son. God loves you.

Why is this so important to recall? Because there is one question (and it’s always the same question) that arises in suffering. If God loves me, why is he allowing me to suffer?

The fact that we ever ask that question, proves we are in a fog. All I see is evil. All I feel is pain. And you are telling me that this suffering is for my good. How do I know that is true? It is true, but the fog obscures it.

We can’t possibly understand how evil, pain, suffering could work out to the glory of God. We try to make sense of it: if God claims to loves us, and if God claims to have the power to remove the suffering, but he chooses not to, then there are only three options.

God is not telling the truth: He does not love us

God is not telling the truth: He lacks the power to remove the suffering

The suffering is ultimately for good

That is why understanding the love of God is so important. If we really believe he loves us then we won’t question that suffering is for our good. It’s the only option where God is not a liar.

How it’s possible for God to use suffering for good can be seen if we stop for a moment and think about the relationship between truth and love. As much as we say we are for truth, none of us like truth when that truth is directed at us in unflattering ways. Our suspicion arises when someone stabs us with truth. It hurts. It feels malicious. Friends don’t hurt one another. You have stabbed me with truth for no apparent good reason.

For example, if out of the blue, someone smacks your neck from behind with with a rolled up newspaper just as you are ready to sip your coffee, you will likely erupt in anger. What in the world! Why did you do that? I spilled all over my freshly washed clothes. You will perceive it as an attack from an enemy. But if the person replies, “You had a giant black widow on your neck about ready to bite you,” then your perspective shifts. You realize it was for your good. Your perspective shifts because you now understand the reason.

If you had 100% confidence that only good was always intended, you would not react that way. You would instinctively look for the good even in the hurt. But since sin and malice and evil are so common, so woven into the fabric of our experience, so part and parcel of the air we breathe, we are programmed to conclude that all hurtful words are delivered from the mouths of unloving people.

Think about it, what’s the main reason conflicts go bad? What’s the main reason that people get hurt and angry and bitter one toward another? What’s the main reason that tensions rise and there cannot be resolve? Because we don’t believe that they are ultimately for us. We believe their hurtful words are delivered out of spite, jealousy, envy, retaliation, bitterness. We cannot receive truth because we don’t believe it is the truth because we don’t believe the other person loves us. And because we don’t believe the other person loves us we don’t believe they have our interest in mind when the truth injury thrust is inflicted. Instead we yell, “You are trying to hurt me and injure me!”

What Jesus is saying here is this, “I want you to understand that the Father loves you. I love you. And there will be a period of time when all you feel is the wack on the head with a rolled up newspaper and you won’t have an answer. You will have no explanation. Why in the world would God allow this to happen? In that moment, you will have no answer to console you. The only thing you will have is the belief that God loves you. Let that be enough.”

This has been the plan all along. This injury has been the plan from the beginning.

Many commentators see in this verse the summary of the entire ministry of Jesus. It’s hard to disagree. This is the summary of the redemptive plan of God which is to say, this is the summary of the love of God. It harkens back to John 3. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is the mission of God from the beginning. LOVE. Now, Jesus speaks all these things, and the disciples latch on thinking they get it.

No misunderstanding is more pathetic than the misunderstanding which insists there is not misunderstanding. That’s what is going on here. The disciples clearly DO NOT understand. They exclaim and pronounce understanding but they clearly do not get it.

They think that the time for speech without mystery is now. They think that the time for clarity that he’s referencing is the current moment just because he switched from a metaphor to an indicative statement. And we know that this is the proper interpretation because of how Jesus responds. Look at what Jesus says. Read this expression of Jesus with heavy exasperation, maybe even sarcasm.

You think you believe. You don’t believe. And the coming hour of testing will prove it. The coming hour of testing will find you all wanting in a very significant manner. Peter had already been warned of his future failure. But now it’s not just Peter. Every disciple is in the crosshairs. You are all going to deny me. Why? Because you don’t yet see. You don’t fully believe. You cannot comprehend the plan of God just yet.

One of the lessons of the Scriptures is to teach us self-doubt. You think you believe? You think you are doing it for the Lord? You think your motives are pure? You think you are strong. You think your theology is rich and powerful and pure. You think you can weather a storm with that bedrock belief of yours.

Say it to Jesus. What will he likely say back to you? Now you believe?! Nope. You really don’t. It seems so harsh. It seems so cruel to question the sincerity of my belief. Nothing is more insulting than to question the validity of someone’s feelings. It’s like the greatest insult. It seems like such a merciless, unnecessary thrust.

But here’s the thing. It’s true. Our belief is so small, so fickle, so temperamental, so conditioned upon our comfort and good circumstances. And Jesus exposes that. You believe as much as you can. But your belief is inadequate and I will make it adequate through suffering.

All through the gospels Jesus is in the business of dampening down the enthusiastic confessions of faith.

John 2 - Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. - But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

John 6 - Lord to whom shall we turn?

- You have the words of eternal life. - Did I not choose you and one of you is a devil?

Mark 8 - Who Do People say that I am? - You are the Christ, the son of the living God. - Three sentences later Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me Satan. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Mark 10 - Peter says, “See Lord, we have left everything to follow you.”

- Many who are first will be last and the last shall be first.

Mark 14 - Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” - And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” - But he said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

What is the lesson? Our faith is week. Our sight is week. You might feel like you believe, but don’t trust those feelings. Do not trust that we who see the truth are strong but that the God who sees, will make you strong through truth. Do not trust that we have a strong love for God. Trust that a strong God has love for us.

The emphasis is on the God of truth and LOVE who helps us believe. In order to have peace we must have truth and love. But there’s a third thing needed in any offer of peace: power.

And here’s why? Because without power, all the love in the world cannot stop evil. In order to stop evil you must be stronger than it. We can stop a marble from rolling across the table because we can easily overcome it’s power. We can stop a caterpillar from inching his way across the floor because we are so much more powerful.

But there are so many things we can’t stop. Why can’t we stop a virus? Because we lack the power to operate in the realm of the invisible. Why can’t we stop volcanoes, tsunamis? We aren’t strong enough to stop the earth’s crust from moving. Why can’t we stop crime, corruption, rape? Because no person has power in the invisible realm of the human heart.

We can’t do it. We can wish that these catastrophes did not exists. But we lack the power to actually overcome it. You cannot overestimate how important the question of power is. Does God have sufficient power to overcome the evil? Is the suffering purposeful or mindless? Is it a product of chance or a product of design? Can it be controlled or not? Can it be stopped or not? Listen to the words of Jesus.

I have overcome the world. Whatever evil purpose exists. My purpose triumphs over it’s purpose. Hallelujah.

Notice that the text says, “In the world you will have tribulation.” That is a flat out guarantee. The God of perfect love and infinite power says that tribulation will be part of your life. Accept that.

The reason this is so important is that it challenges one of the most fundamental assumptions of the industrialized Western world.

Here is that assumption: if we are interested in maximizing the welfare of our citizens, the way to do that is to maximize individual freedom and eliminate suffering. Why? Because the more freedom we have and the less suffering we experience, the happier we will be. This, I think, is so deeply embedded in the water supply that it would never occur to anyone to even question it.

And yet, Jesus says here, “In the world you will have tribulation.” Why? Answer, because I love you and I want to give you peace.

How can that be? How can the prison of suffering that is inflicted by the hands of evil men be for my good and bring peace? Answer: Because I have overcome the evil. I am more powerful than the evil that produced the suffering; therefore, my purposes will ultimately succeed over evil’s purposes. I have overcome it all. There are sovereign purposes that you don’t yet see, but exist. Can you accept that?

This is powerful folks. Jesus is saying that the reason we can persevere is because of the triumph of Jesus: I have overcome the world (cf. 12:31; 1 Cor. 15:57; 1 Jn. 2:13–14; 4:4; 5:4–5).

What will enable us to ultimately prevail? The power of Jesus Christ.

The verb ‘overcome’ used here is a verb that indicates victory; Jesus has conquered the world. It speaks of the enemy raising up the white flag. It’s the word used to describe that moment when the enemy admits defeat. When the foreign king has been defeated and he is drug through town being led as a captor of war.

Victory. Jesus has defeated the prince of this world and he’s being drug behind in a line of captors with the spoils of war.

Jesus’ point is that by his death he has made the world’s opposition lame and beggarly. The decisive battle has been waged and won. The world may continue its wretched attacks, but those who are in Christ share the victory he has already won. It’s over. It’s done. It’s finished. The battle is over. Victory is ours.

Knowing this absolute reality, we take heart. We share in that peace.

Listen, this DECISIVE VICTORY of CHRIST is behind all the promises of the NT and we see it perhaps most strongly in Romans 8 in that climactic verse, if God, the VICTOR, the triumphant one is for us who can be against us? Nothing.

Play this out logically. If God is not for us, then what? Then everything is against us. Is that not true? If God is NOT for us, then the whole world is trying to get you. The UV rays of the sun are against you. They are breaking down the collagen in our skin and wrinkles begin to form. Time is against you. Every moment you live is one moment closer to the day you die. Every day you live one fewer day exists for us to experience our dreams. People are against you. People are using you. They are climbing on top of your back to make more money. Even your friends are not really friends. They are leeches trying to extract from you things they need. Everything is out to kill you. Criminals are trying to kill you. Wild animals are trying to kill you. Heck, even tiny, microscopic viruses are trying to kill you. And whatever doesn’t kill you, mutates and tries again!

But listen, if God is for you, then nothing can be against you. Why? Because Christ has overcome the world.

To live is Christ and to die is gain. There is not a bad option when the King of Kings is Lord of Lords. It’s a win - win.

Conclusion

Let’s conclude the service by reading the second part of Romans 8 together. It’s such an amazing passage. I want to read about 20 verses here. And there’s really very little commentary needed. It’s touching on this exact theme. Paul begins by talking about suffering. He’s talking about difficulty and hardship. He admits the reality of it. In this world you will have TRIBULATION. Paul agrees.

Romans 8-9

Does that not describe the suffering you feel. Do you feel the world broken? We do. Do you feel the shadows deepen? We do.

Do you see it there in Romans 8. Suffering. Are you groaning? Are you suffering? Do you wonder what all this senseless suffering will produce? There is an answer my friends. Christ has overcome the world. Listen to it in all its glory.

Friends, there is hope. There’s a truth that we cannot yet see but once we will see it, it will change everything! There is hope of future redemption in Jesus Christ because he has overcome the world. Amen?

Maybe your suffering is so significant that can’t even muster up the strength to hope. Even then, there’s hope, because the Spirit is there to pray on your behalf! The Spirit is our helper. Amen?

What is our hope? That God’s good purposes will be realized. Church, there is good coming. There are good purposes in our suffering. Amen?

Jesus is making us like him. Despite our sin. Despite our failure. Despite our weak faith, Jesus is doing the work. He, ACTIVELY is conforming us into the image of his son. Amen?

This is chain reaction of God’s promises being realized before our eyes. There is a future reality that awaits us. This domino reaction was started before the beginning of time, is being experienced now and will culminate in our glorified future. Amen?

Nothing can be against us. Church, nothing can be against us. Amen?

God has given us the most precious thing he possess, his one and only begotten Son. He cares for us. He will withhold no good thing from us. God loves us. Amen?

Jesus is our advocate. Jesus is in heaven demanding justice for the finished work on the cross on our behalf. We are justified. We are acquitted. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen? Because of that we are secure.

Church, we have a promise that we are eternally, powerfully secured with Christ’s love. Amen? That doesn’t remove suffering but it does change the outcome.

Jesus has overcome the world. Can I get an amen?

Amen? Is he worthy? Is he worthy? He is!