Our Sermons

Bible Passage: John 16:16-24
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  May 22, 2022

As Christians we all know the company line, so to speak: Easter gives us joy. But it seems like there is a disconnect between our head and our heart when it comes to this in practice. Here we are in week 6 of Easter and the joy of our Lord’s resurrection has quickly faded into memory. Even as we continue to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection this morning, it may be easy to have joy as we sing hymns, but what about when the kids talk back on the ride home? What about when you dread going into work tomorrow? What about when your girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with you? What about when you can hardly move a muscle without feeling some chronic pain? Yes, we know that we should be joyful in Christ’s Easter victory, but when we actually follow the strings, we find our joy is tethered tightly to our ever-changing circumstances. This disorder is what Jesus seeks to remedy today. He wants us to live in light of what we believe. He wants us to take hold of joy for good, to have a joy that cannot be taken away, a joy that isn’t based on circumstances. He speaks of a joy that is based on one, single, irreversible fact, a joy generated out of thin air from his empty tomb. As we look at his words from John 16, I pray that you will come to this conclusion of joy.

Jesus spoke the words of our text to his disciples in the upper room the night before he was crucified. And it’s very obvious that what Jesus said to his disciples was confusing for them. In fact, when you listen to what he said it is rather cryptic. Jesus said, “In a little while you are not going to see me anymore, and again in a little while you will see me…” The disciples had no idea what Jesus was talking about. With the advantage of hindsight, we can see that Jesus was talking about his death and his resurrection. (In a little while you won’t see me—I’ll die on the cross. And then in a little while you will see me—I’ll rise from the dead.) And then Jesus talks about this whole concept of joy in connection with those two important events. He says, when I die that will be your time for sorrow, you will weep and you will wail. But then when I rise from the dead, then your sorrow will turn to joy! Notice that he doesn’t say that your sorrow will go away and be replaced by joy. No, he says that your sorrow will turn into joy! In other words, the very thing that causes you that sorrow will then be a source and cause of your joy. In fact, it will give you a joy that no one can ever take away from you. Jesus is telling us that in the light of his resurrection, no matter what sorrow you have, you can still be complete in joy! No matter what you’re dealing with, in the light of Easter, your conclusion is joy!

It reminds me of a trash compactor. (I know, I know. That sounds weird, but stick with me!) I worked for one summer at a paper core plant and part of my job was taking excess waste to the trash compactor. No matter what I put into that machine, the result was always the same: One solid block came out on the other side. I threw in reams of paper, chunks of dried glue, splintered wood, cardboard crates, you name it, but the conclusion was always the same, after the hissing and crunching, one solid block came out! That’s a bit like Easter. Jesus wants us to know that matter what you put into the equation, the answer, the conclusion always comes up with joy!

As I mentioned before, it’s so easy for us to think that joy is a product of circumstance. That all the right things need to go in and then and only then will joy come out on the other end. In fact, did you know there’s an app to track your happiness? You install this app on your phone and then at random points during the day the app asks you to indicate how happy you are on a scale of 1-10. And then it asks you about all of the circumstances in your life at that moment. What are you doing? What are you thinking about? Who are you with? How much sleep did you get the night before? The idea, of course, is if the developers of this app can just get enough data about the circumstances which make people happy or unhappy, they can figure out the secret to happiness. Jesus offers us a much different alternative. He points to his death and resurrection as proof that joy is not based on circumstance. As proof that you can take anything, absolutely anything, and put it into the hands of God and something good comes out on the other side. 

Just think about it, in Jesus’ death, you had the very worst of everything that’s ever been found on planet earth. You had jealousy and greed, and barbaric human violence. You had corrupt religion, corrupt government at work. You had people who were unwilling to stand up for what was right and people willing to do just about anything to save their own skin. You had all of the world’s sin gathered together, including the sin of all of the people in this room, you had the consequences of sin—death and hell itself—all gathered up, all bundled up like one giant, jagged, bitter pill that was swallowed by the Son of God and buried in his tomb. And what came out three days later? Forgiveness, peace with God, victory over death, eternal life with God and with the people that we love. The very things that normally we would think cause the most sorrow are the very things that cause the most joy. This is how God works. 

Jesus knew that this would be a difficult concept for his disciples to comprehend, as it often is for us as well. So he gives them an example from everyday life to illustrate this. He picked the example of a woman giving birth to a child. A woman giving birth has pain, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of her joy that a person has been born into the world. When a woman gives birth to a child it’s very painful, to say the least. And yet when the child is born that pain is actually transformed into joy. In fact, maybe you’ve heard women say they’ve sort of forgotten about that pain which is why they were willing to have another child and go through it another time. How does that work exactly? Did they really forget? Did they get selective amnesia? Did their brain take that memory and put it into the recycling bin? No, they still remember—they still have that experience—it’s just that that experience has been completely transformed. How they view that experience has been completely reframed. The very thing that caused them pain has now been the cause and source of their joy. 

In fact, I would imagine, and I might be totally off on this, but if there was just a stork who came and dropped off a baby on your doorstep. And if you held that baby for the very first time, the experience would be a little bit different, and not as special or joyful, not having gone through the pain ahead of time. The pain itself is actually a cause, it actually magnifies the joy that ensues. And Jesus is telling us this is how God works! That you can take absolutely anything and put it into the hands of God, and on the other end comes out something that, in many cases, we can’t even imagine how good it is. That you can take the successes, the comforts, the thrills of life, the joy and the laughter, and warm embraces, and you can also take the failures and the frustrations, and the pain and the sorrow, and the loneliness, you can take that all and give it to God and something good will come out! And if that is the case, then you have a joy, as Jesus says, that no one can take away! “Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” If joy is based on circumstances, then at any given moment someone else can take it away from you. But if it’s not, then no one can take it away from you! The conclusion of joy is always yours in Christ.

There’s a saying about the old Puritans, that they had “a haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” It seems silly, but we can act or think like that too! I’m not talking about clinical depression here. In fact, I’m not talking about anything that can be seen outwardly, really. Joyless, thankless hearts can usually feign a smile. Like a woman who wears some fancy shoes that look pretty, but gets home and takes them off as fast as she can because on the inside they were pinching her feet. Just the same, many Christians may look fine and joyful outwardly, but within themselves there is anger and bitterness, not a small amount of which is aimed right at God. My friends, the conclusion of joy in Jesus’ empty tomb is not opposed to unburdening ourselves to God in prayer or sharing our struggles with our friends. This conclusion of joy is not opposed to seeking help or being rightly, seriously concerned about the sin in our lives and the world around us. However, what it is opposed to is a spirit that resents the hand of God. The conclusion of joy is opposed to looking at our circumstances and whining inwardly that God has not been good to us. It is opposed to worrying and grieving as if God is not in control. It is opposed to an angry heart which sets aside the joy of Christ in order to grab onto a grudge or brandish a fist at the world. It is opposed to those who use sinful self-remedies to indulge in fleeting and shallow happiness in place of God’s complete joy. My friends, let’s repent for the joyless aspects of our faith which so often lose focus on the empty tomb of Christ. Soak in this good news: that your joy is not dependent on your circumstances! Forgiveness is yours and the conclusion of joy is guaranteed in Jesus Christ! As he said, “your heart will rejoice!” 

So how does this conclusion of joy soak into our life? That’s what Jesus talks about next and it has to do, interestingly enough, with prayer. He says: Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete. You’ll get whatever you ask in Jesus’ name? Does that really work? What does Jesus mean? Well, we need to understand what he means by “in my name”. Praying for something in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean that after you’re done asking for whatever you want you just tack on “in Jesus’ name, Amen.” and God has to grant your wish. No, it means praying for something “in line with” or “in perfect agreement with” what Jesus himself has revealed to us about God. Including what Jesus has revealed about where joy comes from. Though I know better, I often still act like my joy and my happiness are completely based on my circumstances. And so, as a result, my prayers sometimes become unduly focused on changing my circumstances. Do you know what I mean? “Dear Jesus, help me feel better today. Dear Jesus, help me get this job. Dear Jesus, please give me a better boss. Dear Jesus, give me better employees. Dear Jesus, make my kids listen more. Dear Jesus, let that certain boy or that certain girl like me. Dear Jesus, help my investments go up. Dear Jesus, take this illness away. Dear Jesus, make my loved one get better.” Of course, there’s nothing wrong with these prayers. God does, in his mercy, often change circumstances at the request of his children. But those aren’t the type of prayers Jesus is talking about and making this promise about. Instead, he’s making this promise about prayers in keeping with what he’s revealed about God and what he has revealed to us about joy.

And so in addition to those prayers which we rightly offer, for God to change our circumstances, a prayer in Jesus’ name might sound something like this: [Actually pray] “Dear Jesus, even if my circumstances don’t change, even if things do not get better, give me the wisdom and the faith to know that you will work all things for my good. Dear Jesus, please send your Holy Spirit to convince my heart that because you rose from the dead, you can bring what is best even from what appears to be the worst. Dear Jesus, give me your kind of joy which is not based on this ever-changing world, but only on your undeniable and unconditional grace. Amen.” My friends, Jesus promises that for a prayer like that, for a prayer in keeping with his name, God’s answer will always be “Yes.” Do you want your joy to be complete? Through faith, ask for the very things which Jesus himself has promised to give you.

It may still be difficult at times to see how this works, but I think it will be pretty self-evident in the end. Consider this: Which thought fills your heart with more joy? The thought that after years after years of struggling and frustration, of stress and anxiety, and, yes even prayer, the circumstances of your life get a little bit better. Or would it give you more joy to think that even if those circumstances don’t change a bit, even if they get worse, even if others would curse God because of what you’ve received, you would look at it all and with the strength and dignity of faith still come up smiling? That you could look into the storm and laugh defiantly at the days to come, because you know that it is all working, somehow, for your eternal benefit in your Savior’s mighty hand. This is the trash compactor of Easter! This is Easter’s conclusion of joy! Let’s live like that. Let’s pray like that. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.

Amen.