John 16:16-22

 Read: John 16, Sing: Jesus. Thank You; Listen: Christ the Victor

Sermon notes for point #2 Resurrection joy (comments to follow)

-The disciple hearts would be full of sorrow- it will feel like defeat, but, it's not! They can expect their sorrow to turn into joy.

-Labor analogy Suffering ends in joy. All the pain disappears into tears of joy and relief.

-The disciples sorrow will turn into joy. A proof of the resurrection- these once confused and scattered disciples become full of joy and share the Gospel, unto the point of death. 

-Joy came from the Resurrection

Jesus has been risen! He cannot be taken from us. This is "Steel for our spines," as we fill ourselves with resurrection joy and Christ centered truth.

-our resurrection joy must be based wholly on Christ.

-"are you fixing your eyes on Jesus? Have you fixed your mind on what He has done?"

Personal comments:

I was so struck by today's passage. It is incredibly powerful. I am continually grateful for men who faithfully preach the word, that help exposit these sometimes hard to understand passages, that we can ourselves grow in wisdom and grace.

Do we live expecting our sorrow to turn into joy? Eternal joy? The past year has brought out a lot of bad in a lot of us. At first it was the fear of the unknown, what is this pandemic? Then it might have been job loss, or loss of people we love, or freedom, or school...whatever it was...were we able to set our eyes on things that are above? Did we find ourselves rooted in hopelessness and fear or peace in the Sovereignty of our Savior?

I was shocked at how much idolatry flowed out of my heart. One being the right to live a long life. Aren't we all entitled to 80 years on this year?! Suddenly the fear of death took over the world as we realized our mortality. That something unplanned could shorten our days. Well, truth be known, we don't number our days to begin with. We can hide and protect all we want but we cannot extend our lives even 1 hour past what the Lord has decreed. Our certainty should be built into and on our Savior and what He has done. Because one this is certain, each and everyone of us will die. Each of us will stand before the throne of God. What will our days have been spent doing in the meanwhile? What idols did you feel creep in? Where did you place your hope? On American liberties? On a mask? On social distancing? On our freedom? On our government?! Or...did you find yourself centered on Christ's truth and resurrection joy?

I am sure we have all fluctuated between these. BUT, friend, now is our chance to calibrate! We have a saying in our family when this feel off whack. We call it "righting the ship," we use the time to address things that are either in big ways or little ways steering our ship off course (Christ) and set our hearts to correcting it. Well what better time that Easter/lent to right our ship. To recenter on Christ Centered truths and establish our own hearts in His resurrection joy.

I loved the comment " steel for our spines." Oh that it would be biblical saturation and His word that served as our steel. Am I fixing my eyes on Christ by soaking in His word? That I can help but pour out the love of Jesus? That might seem unrealistic, but lets as ourselves what we soak in now? Does our social media time last longer then our reading and prayer time? Does our exercise routine trump our quiet time in the morning? Do we spend more time picking out outfits or doing our hair or out with friends then we do nestled into Jesus? It adds up. And to many, who might even want to roll their eyes at this, I ask gently why? What have you replaced Jesus with that He is no longer enough?

As we journey through today and tomorrow and into the weekend, we will be wrapping up 16 with more promises of hope. Triumphant joy in Christ. This will lead us into chapter 17, to me one of the most intimate chapters in all of the bible, we get to hear Jesus praying to His Father. May we prepare our hearts and right our ships as we journey to the cross and then prepare for the glorious celebration of resurrection joy!