This week we take a pause from our series on the Epistle of James to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. This week Pastor Derek teaches us that "The resurrection is our constant source of unshakeable joy".
For more resources join us at www.pgfirst.com
This week we take a pause from our series on the Epistle of James to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. This week Pastor Derek teaches us that "The resurrection is our constant source of unshakeable joy".
For more resources join us at www.pgfirst.com
The Joy of the Resurrection, John 16:16-24
On the surface, baking may seem like an easy thing to do. After all, what’s so hard
about following a recipe, mixing everything together and throwing it in the oven? While
some baking may be that simple, experience tells us otherwise, and there’s a good
reason some of us are not allowed in the kitchen. It seems to me that cooking is set up
for disaster. There are all kinds of strange abbreviations, such as tsp., tbsp., lb. Then you
have equivalents, such as 8 tbsp. equals 1⁄2 cup, and substitutions and doubling and even
tripling the recipe. Even if you manage to get all of that right, you still have to use the right
ingredients. Although ingredients may be stored in same cabinet and in similar
Tupperware containers, a wrong ingredient can lead to disaster. It’s amazing how an
error with one little ingredient can drastically change the finished product.
Here’s a question. “What are some of the essential ingredients of biblical
Christianity?” What would you say? We could answer that in several ways. We could say
that Christianity is a religion of truth, or grace, or mercy, or love, or holiness, or even
justice. All of these, and several more, would be correct answers. But I wonder if joy
would make the list, if we would consider joy to be an essential ingredient to Christianity?
If we were to search the Bible, we would discover that Christianity is a religion of joy. The
concept of joy is all over the Bible, in fact the word “joy” is used over 225 times and the
verb form, “rejoice,” is used over 250 times. As examples, Paul commands us to, “Rejoice
in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Or as James led with, “Count it all
joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” (Js. 1:2)
Now, despite it’s prominence in the Bible, we could all stand to have more joy. By and
large, our lives are a far cry from “rejoice always.” Rather than obeying the command as
much as we could, our lives are marked by pockets of joy that are correlated to the
situations we find ourselves in. If life is going well, then we have opportunity to rejoice.
But if we are facing hardship or unforeseen trouble, then joy is nowhere to be found. As
Martyn Lloyd Jones said, “The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful Church...
Unhappy Christians are to say the least, a poor recommendation of the Christian faith.”
So, how do we have more joy? This Easter morning we are going to examine one of the
greatest (if not the greatest) and most overlooked sources of joy- the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. According to Jesus, the work of the Father in raising His Son
from the dead should be for us a source of unceasing and unalterable joy (20b, 22b).
In this text, Jesus and His disciples are in the Upper Room, and He is hours away from
being betrayed and handed over to His enemies. He has been preparing them for His
departure and explaining how His work will continue in His absence. Naturally, they were
filled with grief, as any of us would be facing the prospect of the loss of the loved one
(16:6). In their confused and foggy state, Jesus confirms that His death would not be the
end, because His death would set in motion His resurrection. And in this text, we learn
that... The resurrection is our constant source of unshakable joy.
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To communicate this truth to His disciples, Jesus made a somewhat cryptic statement
(16). Although the disciples were confused by what He said, it’s clear in context that
Jesus is referring to His death (weeping and lamenting) and resurrection. So, Jesus is
saying, “A little while, and you will see me no longer (because I will die on the cross); and
again a little while, and you will see me (because I will be raised from the dead).” This is
no different from what He had been teaching them all along (Mk. 9:31-32).
Like a wise teacher, Jesus draws out their confusion so that He can help them discover
the joy of the resurrection (17-19). Up until this point, all they have known is the sorrow of
the cross, but now Jesus explains how their sorrow will be turned into permanent joy. And
in the remainder of the passage, Jesus gives us two reasons why the resurrection gives
us unshakable joy.
First...The resurrection gives us unshakable joy because it transforms our perspective
(20-22). Jesus says, “Truly, truly.” This is one of Jesus’ “double amen” statements.
Whenever Jesus wanted His disciples (and us) to really pay attention to what He says,
He would start in this way (23). Notice that Jesus doesn’t chastise them for their sorrow
(as if it would be wrong to grieve over the death of their Master). Instead, He explains that
a transformation would occur. The enemies of Christ would rejoice over His death, but
their pseudo joy would be short lived. Yes the disciples would experience sorrow, but their
“sorrow would be turned into joy.”
The disciple’s experience gives us one of the most vital principles for experiencing joy,
which is this. Rather than preventing all of our unfavorable circumstances, God uses the
resurrection to transform our perspective so that we can have joy. Our approach is
commonly this. “God, please keep the bad stuff from happening to me, and please keep
the good stuff coming, so that I will be a joyful person.” The problem with that is, our lives
will be full of trouble (16:33; Ps. 90:10). If we could never experience joy in the midst of
trouble, then our joy would be entirely determined by the situations of life (50/50 at best).
Instead of preventing all trouble from entering our lives, God sovereignly filters our
hardships, and He turns our sorrow into joy. He doesn’t remove our sorrow, He turns it, or
He “causes it to become joy.” God works in our trouble to transform our perspective so
that we can have joy in all things and at all times (Hab. 3:16-18; 2 Cor. 6:10). In the case
of the disciples, God did not prevent the death of Jesus (the source of their sorrow), so
that they could be joyful. Rather, He caused them to see the death of Christ through the
reality of the resurrection, which would result in permanent joy (22b).
To illustrate this principle, Jesus used the common experience of a woman giving birth
(21). Any woman who has given birth would attest that childbirth is one of the most
painful experiences a human being can go through. Even with modern anesthesia, it is
impossible for a woman to have a pain free childbirth. It’s just part of the curse (Gen.
3:16). Rather, than taking away a woman’s pain so that she can be joyful over the birth of
her child, a baby is born which transforms the anguish of childbirth into joy. Is the pain
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immediately removed after a child is born? No, but the joy of a child being born
overwhelms the pain, thrusting it into the background so that a woman can be joyful
because her child has been born into this world.
And so it is with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, God transforms our perspective so that we can have joy in all things. Obviously,
we are not going to have that initial experience of joy that was exclusive to the disciples.
That’s fine, because Jesus isn’t interested in a one-time shot of joy, He is interested in
permanent joy through the resurrection (22). “Take” literally means “to lift something up
and carry it away.” It’s used in John 1:29, of Jesus “taking away the sin of the world.”
Here, it’s in the present tense, meaning, no one or nothing, will be able to rob your heart
of the joy that is yours because Jesus is alive.
But how does this work? How can an event that took place almost two thousand years
ago be a constant source of unshakable joy? The answer is, by understanding the effects
of the resurrection and by applying those truths into the situations of life. Let me give you
a few examples. Because Jesus is alive, everyone who is in Christ has been raised to
walk in newness of life (Ro. 6:4). Regardless of what you may face in this life, you can
have joy because you are a new person in Christ. Or, because Jesus is alive, death is not
the end for everyone who believes in Him (11:25). Therefore, even when dealing with the
intense sorrow of death, we can be joyful, because death is not the end, its just a
temporary goodbye for everyone who is in Christ.
Or, because Jesus is alive, you can be assured that your sins are forgiven (1 Cor. 15:17).
That should give us unshakable joy. Or when you’re dealing with the breakdown of your
body, you can have joy, because Jesus is alive, everyone who is in Him will receive a
resurrection body (1 Cor. 15:20-23). We must learn to view life from the vantage point of
the resurrection, and when we do, God will turn our sorrow in unshakable joy.
The second reason the resurrection gives us unshakable joy is this. The resurrection
gives us unshakable joy because it set in motion a new privilege in prayer (23-24). After
Jesus was resurrected, He spent 40 days with His disciples before He ascended back to
heaven. “In that day you will ask nothing of me” looks beyond His resurrection to the
Ascension, of His return to the Father in glory when He would no longer be physically
present for His disciples to ask Him questions (16:5).
Instead, Jesus explains that a better situation will come about. Because Jesus is in His
ascended state, we enjoy a new privilege in prayer-praying to the Father in Jesus’ name
(23b-24). In other words, we get to pray to the Father directly. Instead of just having
physical access to Jesus (which limits “who” can ask and “how much” they can ask)
every disciple of Jesus can go directly to their heavenly Father, whenever they want and
for as long as they want, and boldly pray in Jesus’ name. You don’t have to take a
number, you don’t have to stand in line, you just humbly come and ask. The
awesomeness of that needs to soak in (16:26-27).
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This is the third time in the Upper Room that Jesus said we would be able to pray in His
name (14:13-14; 15:16). Far more than being a tag on to the end of our prayers, or a
blank check to ask for whatever we want, to pray in Jesus’ name means that we pray for
things that are consistent with His character. It means that we humble ourselves under
the authority of Jesus, recognizing that we can come to the Father because of His work,
and that we ask for things that are in concert with His will. It is to pray for things that will
bring Him glory and advance His Kingdom (Ps. 37:4; Mt. 6:33). This is the awesome
privilege of prayer, which we should never grow tired of. And when we pray in Jesus’
name, the Father will answer our prayers, in His timing and in His way, and our joy will be
full (24b).
The resurrection is our constant source of unshakable joy.
Action Points:
1. Approach life from the perspective of the resurrection.
2. Maximize the privilege of prayer that the resurrection set in motion.
3. Believe upon the risen Christ.