John: Jesus's Victory Is Our Eternal Joy

Ministry Associate Calvin Chu preaches from John 16:5-33 about Jesus’s teaching about joy and sorrow. Discussion points: Jesus acknowledges that the disciples are going to experience pain and sorrow when he leaves them; good theology isn’t always what people need to hear while they are in a hard time, know the promise that Jesus will return to make our joy complete and lasting.

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  Scripture reader: [John 16:5-33] But now I am going to him who sent me and none of you asked me, where are you going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away for. If I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me concerning righteousness because I go to the father and you will see me no longer concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.

  I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them. Now, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own authority. Whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me for, he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the father has is mine. And therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you a little while and you will see me no longer and again, a little while and you will see me.

  So some of the disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me and because I am going to the father. So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. So he said to them, is this what you are asking yourselves? What I meant by saying a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful. But your sorrow will turn into joy.

  When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born, born into the world. 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. In that day, you will ask nothing of me.

  Truly, truly. I say to you whatever you ask of the father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now. You have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that. Your joy may be full. I have said these things to you in figures of speech, the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the father. And that day you will ask in my name. And I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

  I came from the father and have come into the world. And now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. His disciples said, ah now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Now, we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God. Jesus answered them. Do you now believe behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone yet I am not alone for the father is with me. I have said these things to you that in me, you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation but take heart, I have overcome the world.

  This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

  Preacher: Good morning, everyone. It's good to be here this morning to share God's word with you. So a little bit about me, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. So, you know, when I was teenagers, when I came to, to know Jesus and know the Lord and began to just be introduced to like the world of Christianity. You know, I grew up in like a traditional Chinese home where there was a lot of sort of like ancestor worship. And so like, religion really wasn't like a part of, of like what we did.

  But the thing that's really interesting is that even though I didn't grow up in a Christian home, my mo I did hear the name Jesus very often in my life one, you know, stubbing my toe, you hear, oh the Lord's name. But also the only thing that's really interesting is my mom. So I was the type of kid that always be negotiating with my parents. Like I wanted this thing and then I would try to talk to them. And then my mom, she would always go in, in Cantonese. She was like, don't talk to Jesus to me.

  Like, basically, it's this idea of like, don't evangelize to me, don't, don't argue with me. And those, what was really interesting is that in like years and years and years later in thinking about that, I realized that there was a like logical aspect that was tied to the idea of Christianity, right? So my mom is like, don't argue with me, don't give me these logical arguments. Don't, don't, don't, don't use your words to try to convince me. And, and I think that that stuck with me because my experience in Christianity has very much been wrapped up in like logic and like, understanding what I know and what I think.

  And I always felt like a bit of an impostor, you know, when I started going to church because I didn't grow up in church. So I didn't have all like the Sunday schools and the V Bs s and I didn't have like a children's Bible that like, I learned all the stories where, you know, so when I was in Sunday school and as a teen there, someone would ask the question and I was like, II, I don't know, I don't know what's the answer. But then like a room full of other kids been like, oh, I know, I know, I know answers Jesus, you know, that, that sort of thing. And, and, and and in, in hindsight now I realize that like, oh, that they probably were just guessing.

  But, but, you know, I think there is a difference though, you know, there's a difference but we live in this especially like in the kind of evangelical circles that I think we may, maybe a lot of us sort of go through is we definitely rely on this logic part of it. But he also felt like an impostor because, in my, my faith upbringing, it was, especially because it leans so much into the aca academia or, or like the thought process when I would go into spaces that were like a little bit more emotional, maybe more like charismatic. I, I didn't have that either. You know what I mean? Like, I, I wasn't, I didn't have that sort of like expression that became very natural to a lot of my friends who grew up in that sort of environment.

  And so here I am in the middle, I have not enough like theology to be able to express like ideas and then neither do I have enough like emotional understanding. And here I am so this, this middle child trying to navigate my, my faith. And what I think is interesting is that when you're in this middle place, when hard things happen, when struggles come, when, when you reach this point of sorrow, you are sort of stuck, you don't know which to lean into. You don't have enough theology to be able to logic your way out of that. But neither do you have enough emotional understanding to be able to, to pull yourself up, to lean into joy, to lean into you know, feeling, just appreciation for, for who God is and the, the, the heart, the happiness that you've experienced previously.

  And I find that I find that I'm not alone in that. I find that a lot of folks that I've, I've interacted with, they also feel it. So I don't think it's exclusive to those who came to Christ later in life. in the teenage years is not later in life. So II, I forget that I'm I'm old now. But but thankfully, I think what we see in our passage today is really a deeper understanding of the work of Christ that bridges that gap, that really helps us understand the importance of both of those things. And I think in particular, in the moments where we feel despair in the moments that we feel a deep sense of sorrow.

  And so I'm gonna pray for us and then we're gonna dive into the passage a little bit here. So let's pray, Father God. I just indeed, I thank you for your word because in your word, we can find these truths, we can find these truths that do require a bit of thinking, do require logic, but also require an emotional understanding, require a sensitivity to your leading through the spirit. And so God, we just pray that your spirit would lead us. Now as we look at your word. Indeed, God, please get me out of the way and let your spirit speak, your words, speak to us this morning. As we continue to look at this passage, I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.

  So our this morning, our passage picks up that Jesus is continuing. And what we've sort of discussed is the upper discourse where we left off and, and basically, Jesus is now telling his disciples again that he is going to get ready to be leaving and on the surface when we read it, it sort of feels like, wait, what's, what's the big deal like you're gonna leave and then you're gonna come back if you kind of read it outside of the context of the entirety of the gospel of John. So and, and I think actually the the disciples sort of feel similar. They don't exactly understand we've already said, but I'll look at it again.

  Verse 16 says a little while and you will see me no longer and again, a little while you'll see me. So some of the disciples said to him, what is this that he says to us a little while and you will not see me and again, a little while you will see me because I'm going to the father. So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about. So there's a bit of confusion here, right? But Jesus knowing that he, they're gonna have this question says this in 19, Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him.

  So he said to them, is this what you're asking yourselves? What I meant by saying a little while, you will not see me and again, a little while you will see me so verbose. But you know, verse verse 20 says, truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice, you'll be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. And so I think what's interesting here is that what Jesus does is he sort of says, I, I understand the logic part of you is not, is not connecting here.

  And what's interesting is that this is not the first time he's talked about this. He's actually mentioned this a bunch of times, like if you look through the, even, even within the upper discourse, he, he said it a couple of times. But if you look up through different passages, Jesus has sort of foretold this change that he, he will die and he will come back again. He's sort of speaking in, in like in like metaphor because they don't understand it. He talks about that in a little bit.

  But here, what's really interesting is that he goes to this analogy of labor like giving birth. And so, you know, I know not everyone here has, has given birth, but I think we all generally understand that like pushing a baby out of our body is like a painful experience, like, generally, like, you know, I think we can all sort of agree to that. I don't, I don't think that's gonna be something that most people will, will debate online. And so it's really interesting that he uses this as an analogy because what he's saying is the world, this new reality is going to be coming about, like, what's going to happen, the pain that you will feel as the disciples because of what's happening is going to give birth to a new reality, right?

  And so he says here when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because of her hours come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Verse 22. So also you will have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. And in that verse 22 is really interesting because if you kind of break it down, he does both appeal to the disciples emotional state, but also their they're sort of like their theology, their thinking, alright.

  He says you will have sorrow now, but I will see you again. So you'll have so you'll feel when this pain comes, when I leave you. When I'm gone in a little while, you will feel the sorrow, the sadness, but I will see you again, know in your mind that when you're here in the sorrow, I will see you again. It's important for you to know that because what you know can affect how you feel. And when you see me again, it goes to the emotion again, your hearts will rejoice, right? And no one will take your joy from you, right? You have the sorrow, the sorrow is temporary because when I come back, that will go away. No, I'm coming back, that will go away. You will be here and then know that this joy will be here. You can rejoice and then know it's not going anywhere, it's gonna remain with you because of how this new reality that's being born through the pain of him leaving and coming back. And so I think it's so important for us to really understand that we need both of those things.

  The the I was thinking about this and on November 1st a few years ago, I got a call from my friend. He was distraught and he was telling me he just got off the phone with the authorities in a foreign country. And what happened was that they told him that his brother had been in a car accident. His brother was traveling for his birthday with a friend and his friend, his friend who was with him in the car, he di he died, he died instantly. and, but he, his, his my friend's brother was, is, is in the hospital in critical condition.

  Obviously, my friend is like a mix of emotions. He, he's upset, he's worried, he's hopeful, right? Like he, he's like, maybe, maybe my brother will, will make it out because, you know, when you're sort of in this life support stage, he's like, may, maybe he'll make it out. And so he's, he's a mix of all his emotions. And we, we talk through the logistics of like, he's like, I, I gotta get over to the other side of the world because I, I wanna be there with him. And then sort of talking through the logistics of like, what is, what is life support? What does that mean? I'm not a doctor. So we, we went and we talked to some friends who could kind of feed us some information about what that all means, what the, what the doctors were saying over there.

  And then on November 3rd, my brother's friend passed away. his 24th birthday was November 8th, so he didn't even make it to his 24th birthday. And over the next few months, I walked with him through his pain and emotions, all the if only I had or all the if what if this had happened? And I remember on one occasion, I, I remember talking to him through his deep feeling of sorrow. And I remember responding to him saying Jesus will provide the strength to get through this season and you will be stronger from it.

  And at the time, it felt like, oh, this is like, this is like theologically true. This is like a good bit of like theology, right? This, this will, will speak to him. And I remember years later, he, he had told me and not like an angry, we're still good friends because it was not like an angry sort of piece. But he's remember, he remember me sharing with me, he's like, you know, when you shared that with me, it actually didn't really comfort me because he said that he, he appreciated me trying. But he, he said that what pained him was that he would have traded all the learning and strength and growing that he had if he could have his little brother back.

  And to me that taught me a lesson in that day that theologically what I said was true. Absolutely. And that's not saying that that's a bad thing, but there was an element that he just wanted to me to speak to or address the emotional state and where he was. And so I think that what we need in these situations are more than just Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me. So that's good, that's good theology. And for some of that, that is the right thing to hear at the right time.

  But sometimes we need a deeper than surface level understanding of the gospel to speak through these moments where we have this deep dread and sorrow. When our family members are sick, when our relationships with our, our, our, our, our siblings, our Children, our spouses, our partners are just falling apart around us. When the it seems like nothing is going right in our lives.

  We do need good theology. We definitely do. But I think we also need to understand that there is an emotional part of us that needs to be addressed. And here's the beautiful thing. We have a savior who is aware of that in his preparation of the disciples. He does not just say this is what you need to know. I'm going away for a while, I will return and then he and then he goes, he says to him, I am going away. I will die. You will feel sad, you will feel sorrow, but I will return and you will rejoice that to me is an incredible reality that our savior is not unaware that we need to be whole holistic people having right theology, but also needing to be fed and nurtured emotionally.

  And so if you've been a part of a church community or Christian community long enough, then you've probably heard or said these words to someone who's struggling. God is in control. God works in mysterious ways. We cannot know the mind of God again, those are all true. Theologically solid statements, but they're also very one sided, they're also incomplete. And I, I love the fact that Jesus says to his disciples, he basically preemptively validates their feelings. It's ok to feel that sorrow. It's ok.

  But know what you need to know, know the promises that I've given to you and in the moment that you are there, be there, I'm ok with you being there, but don't stay there, know that I've made promises to, you know that I'm, I've, I've made theological statements that will help nudge you along. And so I think at the end of the day, what Jesus does on the cross, which he's, he's sort of foretelling to his disciples once again, is that his death and resurrection, which he is, is pointing when he says I'm going away and I'm coming back, he points to his death and resurrection to, to his disciples.

  He's like my death and resurrection will do more than just get us a ticket to heaven, which I think the sort of beginning level of understanding of the gospel is that so that's not untrue, but what it does for us is what he's been trying to get the disciples to understand for at least three chapters. So I want to read some just so you understand that there's a line of logic that continues John 1418 and 20 says, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you yet. A little while and the world will see me no more. But you will see me because I live, you will also live in that day. You will know that I am in my father and you and me and I and you 1425 to 27. These things I've spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the helper, the Holy spirit whom the father will send in my name will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance. All that I said to you. Peace. I leave with you my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives. Do I give it to you? Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid.

  16, 4 to 7. But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not say these things to you from the beginning because I was with you. But now I'm going to him who sent me and none of you asked me, where are you going? But because I've said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away for. If I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

  My last chunk that I want to read for you guys. Here is 1612 to 15, I still have many things to say to you, but I cannot bear them. Now, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth for. He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come, he will glorify me for. He will take what is mine and declare it to you all that the Father has his mind. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

  What we see here. And even in, in the, the passage that we we've already read for for this morning is that jesus' death and resurrection does not just give us this ticket to heaven that we get to get go into the amusement park of, of, of eternal life and they get to all the sadness goes away. But that is true. But it, it, it makes a difference for us today. And what jesus' death and resurrection wins us is access and proximity to God that the world had not pre had previously had access to. It was previously impossible.

  When you look at all the passages that I just read, we see that he says that he mentions the father. And every time he mentions the Father, he basically says, you can make these requests when I go away. And when I come back, when I die, and when I come back from the, the the dead. You will have access to ask directly to the father through me. In my name, you can pray directly to the father and ask him for anything. It says this in the passage that we said this morning, in that day, you will ask in my name. And I do not say to you that I will ask the father on your behalf for the father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God, I came from the Father and have come into the world. And now I'm leaving the world and going to the Father.

  It was what Jesus did. We now have access to the father. And this is something in like the post resurrection period that we just sort of, yeah, of course, we can pray to the father and we trust that the father will hear us. But that was necessary. jesus' death was necessary for us to be able to do that if that doesn't happen. If Jesus doesn't go away and then come back. We don't have access. We still have to go through an intermediary. We still have to probably do the, the sacrificial system and hope and pray that the father will hear us.

  But because of the death and resurrection of Christ, we can now in the seat we're sitting in, we could be wearing pajama pajama pants, we could be half asleep. It could be 6 a.m. It could be 4 p.m. It does not matter. We have direct access to the father because of, of the work of Christ and my friends that should cause us to rejoice, that theology should cause us to rejoice that rejoicing should feed our theology. But wait, there's more as if I was an infomercial person because he also mentions the helper, the Holy Spirit because of the work of Jesus, of him, going away, dying and coming back from the grave was showing as a sign that his sacrifice was worthy and acceptable. We have the helper and every single time he mentions the helper, the Holy Spirit, he says that we, we have access to the Father.

  If he mentions the Holy Spirit, he talks about how the Holy Spirit will help us understand. I'm just gonna read a bunch of passages or two passages in particular. So that did you see that this is coming from the text? 1425 to 27, These things I've spoken to you while I'm still with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send mine in will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance, all that I have said to you. I was 1612. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them. Now, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth and he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare it to you the things that are to come see.

  I think it's easy to sort of like dunk on the, the disciples. You're like, how could you not, how could you not three chapters? Like you still don't get it. Like what is wrong with you guys? And I think sometimes we think about this and we, I, I, when I was younger, I was like, oh, well, if I was with Jesus, if I was walking around Jesus, these are these miracles, I would never doubt, I would never ever doubt if I saw like the like how many extra loaves, how many extra fish? But that what like my, like my faith would be rock solid. I would never doubt. And he, he, he's saying it very plainly. He says he's gonna go away, he's gonna come back duh, the death and resurrection, obviously.

  But the thing is we have the benefit of this post resurrection life that the spirit has descended on us, the spirit who gives us all understanding. And so that's why we can understand. That's why we can look back and go. Oh I see. Because of jesus' death and resurrection. We have this access. We can now connect with the father. We can be counseled and taught and reminded and prompted and nudged by the spirit. And so if you are in a place like the Jesus was talking about the disciples. We're going to be in this deep sense of sorrow and dread and helplessness and hopelessness. Know that you are not alone.

  See the reason that we can have access to the Father and to the Holy Spirit is because Jesus has been connected, he has been one with them forever, in eternity, past into eternity, future. And so when he does that, and he says in my name, you will have access, you will have access, you, you, your, your, your name is on the list. You can go into the, the VIP section. But it's so hard because sometimes we feel like we're in the middle. And in fact, a lot of times when we read verse the la the last two verses, it can actually cause like a sense of like guilt or pain and says this 32 behold, the hour is coming. Indeed, it has come when you will be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone yet I am not alone for the father is with me. I've said these things to you that in me, you may have peace in the world. You will have tribulation but take heart. I have overcome the world.

  This, this verse, the last verse can bring a lot of comfort and, and hopefully it does. But the truth is especially when we're in moments of pain. We go, what is happening? Why am I wh wh why is this happening to me? And even that question, why it tells me that it's using my logic. I'm, I'm thinking, what is it that I know? What am I missing in my understanding? And a lot of times when we think about this, we, we feel like this verse means that life will be trouble free. If I'm, if I'm truly a Christian, then my life would be easy. I wouldn't be struggling. And so maybe I don't have the faith, maybe it's me, maybe I'm the problem or sometimes people think, well, I if, if I truly was one with God, if, if I truly was a believer in Jesus, then whatever troubles I had, it would go quickly. I mean, it, it says that Jesus has overcome the world. So like, shouldn't these things be over quickly? Why is it still, why am I still in that place or the other thing that we could feel from this passage?

  This is the last verses. Well, if I were truly a believer, then I would be unaffected. Like why am I complaining about the there is a small thing in my life when Jesus conquered sin, like, shouldn't I have a better perspective on life? Shouldn't I be, shouldn't this alone encourage me? But what it means that Jesus has overcome the world is that difficulties are part of life. And he literally says it in this verse, in the world, you will have tribulation.

  And for some of us, I think we need to like just not even read the second part yet in this world, in the world, you will have tribulation. You sitting in the seats will have tribulation. That is part of the normal, broken already, but not yet. Jesus has come once, but we're waiting for him to come back again. It's reality, you will have tribulation. There's nothing wrong with you necessarily if you are in a bad place, but take heart, I have overcome the world.

  Jesus is saying that his peace can sustain us through these hard times. Jesus himself experienced sorrow and anguish. His promise of peace is not that we will not have struggles or that it won't affect us. It just means that he will be with us through them and that he has equipped us with proximity to the father, the one whom we can ask for anything and we know that he will hear us. He may not give it to us in the way that we want or the way that we're specifically asking, but we have access, which is previously impossible and we not only that we have access to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to come for us, to encourage us, to bring to remembrance truth that can speak to our emotions, speak to our heart.

  And so hopefully, my friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope encourages you to indeed take heart knowing that his victory is our source of peace. And so as we prepare for communion, I really want us to reflect on that. You know, maybe before you take the elements, you just, you read the first part in the world, there will be tribulation, there will be troubles, there will be sorrow, search your heart. Is that where you are? And what is that doing for your, your, your relationship with him? What is that doing for your relationship with others? Is your denial of that getting in the way of understanding what Jesus has told you and maybe you are there you go. No, I know like some of you are like, I know I'm in a hard place. And so maybe for, for those of you who are there, then you read the other part, take heart and overcome the world.

  On the night that Jesus was betrayed. Jesus took the bread and broke it, saying this is my body broken for you and they took the cup and said this is my blood shed for you, do this in remembrance of me. So each week we participate in the sacred meal reminded by Jesus sacrifice, reminding us of jesus' sacrifice. and his his presence with us. Let me pray for communion and let me pray for us as we prepare for that.

  Father God, I know that for me, I need encouragement. I know that there are times this week, there are times this month, there are times this year that I have felt, the weightiness of despair, the weightiness of sorrow and God, I, I admit that I've leaned too much on one over the other. I've leaned too much in terms of my emotion. I've leaned too much in terms of what I know. And God, I just, I just thank you. It brings you so much comfort to know that we have a savior who tells us to be aware of both. And so, as we're prepared to take the, the communion meal this morning, I pray that you would move us, prompt us. Your Holy Spirit would do what he does and to point us to you and point us to where you want us to go and we thank you that you hear our prayers and pray all in Jesus name, Amen.