Suffering and the Spirit (Believe • John

Suffering and the Spirit (Believe • John 16) ———————————————————————————————————————————— I’m going to give you a sentence to finish, and I want you to pay attention to where your mind goes first. “My life should be…” Hang onto that. Maybe write it down if you have a paper and pen. Here’s another variation: “When I’m living the best way I know how, my life should be…” And one more: “Because I gave my life to Jesus, my life should be…” Now, I can’t speak for all in the room, but I’m pretty confident in saying that many of us, when we’re gut-level honest, finish those sentences with words like trouble-free, easy (or at least not too difficult), understandable, comfortable, or successful. We may even have a few Bible verses to we quote to support our thinking…like Jeremiah 29:11. By the way, verses like that are usually quoted completely out context, but that’s a different topic for a different day. What I’m getting at here is our expectations. What can we expect from this life? Or another way of looking at it: what does this life owe us; what do we deserve. We all have expectations; we just don’t often pause to examine them. Frankly, many of our expectations are more rooted in culture than the Bible. You might even say that, when it comes to life expectations, many of us are infected with a virus that’s far more contagious and arguably more harmful than COVID: the “virus” of affluenza. Affluenza is the basic assumption that we can meet our expectations through material means. If I have enough wealth, I will live a trouble-free, easy, comfortable, and successful life. In church, we even put this cultural assumption on Jesus. “If I have enough Jesus, I will live a trouble-free, easy, comfortable, and successful life.” We may not say that out loud, but in the deep recesses of our hearts, we have that expectation. Here’s the deal: Jesus didn’t promise to meet those expectations. And the passage we’re going to look at today makes that abundantly clear. In this teaching series called Believe, we’re wanting to see Jesus for who He really is and hear what he had to say so that we might put our trust in Him and find the abundant, eternal life He promised. We’re looking at Jesus through the eyes of John, one of the men who walked closest with him. The past few Sundays we’ve been looking at the extended teaching Jesus gave his closest friends right before he suffered and died for the sins of the world. I’m going to pick up where Jay left off last week in John 15. If you tuned in last week, you heard Jay talk about how Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. He emphasized that God is the gardener who prunes the branches that bear fruit so they can bear more fruit and experience more joy. Today we’re going to look at the second half of chapter 15 through the end of chapter 16. This section can be understood as an explanation of the pruning metaphor Jesus introduced. And as the metaphor implies, we can expect that the pruning will not be very comfortable. In the section of John’s letter we’ll cover today, Jesus makes two important promises. Just so you know, the first promise is not a very pleasant one. But the second promise is pretty amazing. Let’s dive in: John 15:18-25, 16:1-4 Well, isn’t that nice. So, the first promise Jesus makes to his followers is this: the world will hate you and you will suffer as a result. Plainly speaking, when you disciple yourself to Jesus, you will come into conflict with the values, assumptions, and powers of this world; and you will experience suffering as a result. Jesus doesn’t pull any punches. He doesn’t sugar coat. He doesn’t pretend. It happened to him; it will happen to you. Standing in sharp contrast to what Jesus said, many of us assume that something is wrong when we suffer. Our knee-jerk response when we encounter trouble is: “Why is this happening to me?” Am I right? Jesus’ answer: “Of course you! I experienced it, so naturally you will, too.” Rather than questioning ourselves when we suffer, we should question ourselves when we aren’t suffering! Now please understand, Jesus isn’t just some kind of masochist excited about causing us pain. No, He knew something that we often overlook: suffering in his name has an important outcome. He lets us in on that outcome through an important metaphor in 16:21: It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. John 16:21 (NLT) Simply put, there is more going on when we suffer for Jesus’ sake! What we experience here on earth is only part of the story, and not even the most important part. The childbirth metaphor is perfect. I mean, what woman longs for labor? “I can’t wait to get pregnant so I can go through labor and delivery!” That’s just not going to happen. Labor won’t make any woman’s list of favorite life experiences. Illustration: first pregnancy Here’s the thing: after our daughter was born all thought of the pain vanished, swallowed up by the joy of that beautiful baby girl. The joy was so wonderful, we decided to go through that ordeal 3 more times! And according to Jesus it’s the same for those of us who put our trust in Him. We will suffer; but one day our suffering will make sense and we will taste of greater joy. Ultimately Jesus is pointing us to heaven, to that day when we see Him face-to-face. But we get tastes of it here on earth as well. Like when you endure the ridicule or indifference of a neighbor or a co-worker as you talk about your faith in Jesus until one day they decide to place their trust in Jesus. Profound joy! Or when you suffer through a severe trial in your marriage, when love grows cold and all seems lost and everyone around you says, “BAIL!” But you endure in hope. You trust Jesus and work toward reconciliation. And then it comes, the relationship is reconciled and oh the joy! We get tastes of joy and those tastes of joy point to a day when all will be joy. So, the first promise Jesus makes in John 15-16 is, the world will hate you and you will suffer as a result of being his disciple. But Jesus isn’t merely inviting us to toughen up and gut out hardship through sheer willpower. No, quite the opposite. He’s calling us into a deeper dependence on him through the hardship. He wants to grow our relational trust in Him. And how does he do that? Well, that brings us to his second promise in this passage: John 15:26; 16:8-14 Jesus’ second promise is this: When you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you. Through his Spirit, God is with you. In other words, Jesus doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. Now, we don’t learn everything about the Holy Spirit in his passage, but we learn a lot. I want to highlight a few things: 1. Identity: He is God (John 16:15). First, we see that the Spirit is God. In 16:15, Jesus refers to the Spirit using the personal pronoun ‘He’ rather than an impersonal ‘It.’ We learn about the Spirit alongside God the Father and Jesus, God the Son. Three persons, one God. It’s what theologians call God as Trinity. A profound mystery we don’t fully understand, but the more you consider this truth about God, the more amazing it becomes. 2. Role: Advocate (John 15:26-27; 16:8-11). Look at 15:26-27. In Greek, the original language John wrote in, the word translated Advocate is Paraclete. The closest image in our world would be a trial lawyer. In some sense the Spirit is like a prosecutor bringing a case against the world because of sin. In another sense, the Spirit is like a defense attorney: every day the world puts Jesus on trial and the Spirit defends Jesus. Which means of course, we don’t have to defend Jesus. As you see in 15:27, our role is to testify to the work of Jesus in our lives. Pay attention to the roles: the Spirit defends Jesus and prosecutes the world; we testify to who Jesus is and what he has done. Sadly, many of us have so adapted to the world we no longer truly believe that its systems of belief are wrong or in need of judgment. 3. Purpose: Guide into truth (John 16:13) The Spirit will reveal what we need to know when we need to know it. Primarily, the Spirit speaks truth in our hearts as we read the Bible. Peter who was there in the room listening to Jesus later wrote letters to some early churches and described how the Spirit cooperated with human writers to create the Bible. Look at what he wrote: Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NLT) The Spirit guides us to truth primarily through the Bible, but also through the wise counsel of others, through circumstances, and through quiet promptings in our heart. We can be confident that the Spirit is always speaking. We can learn to listen as our minds are shaped by what the Bible says. Lastly, the Spirit through the Scripture has one singular goal. 4. Goal: Glorify Jesus (John 16:14). The Spirit points us to Jesus. We can miss what the Spirit says when we are looking for what we want rather than what He wants. The Spirit’s goal is not to make your life work the way you want it to work. He wants you to know Jesus so you will love Jesus and follow Jesus and get in on the abundant, eternal life Jesus promised! The Spirit is God. He advocates for God and God’s ways. He guides Jesus’ followers toward truth so they will see Jesus, love Jesus, and experience abundant, eternal life. That’s who the Spirit is and what He does. Before I go any further, I want to address some common misconceptions about the Spirit. Things the Bible doesn’t teach but are commonly believed: 1. I should feel the Spirit’s presence. The promise is clear: when you surrender your life to Jesus, the Spirit comes and lives in you. And he begins his work of transforming you from the inside out to become more like Jesus. You may feel His presence, but His presence isn’t determined by whether you feel something. 2. I should have an ecstatic experience with the Spirit. You may have an experience, but the experience is not promised nor is it the point. 3. I have no part to play in regard to the Spirit. The Spirit is a personal Being who has a will of his own. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a part to play. The Apostle Paul described our part this way: If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 (ESV) The Spirit’s job is to guide us to truth. Our part is to keep in step. If you’ve ever taken dance lessons, they provide a great metaphor for keeping in step. The most fundamental necessity for couple dancing is this: one person leads and the other follows. When a couple is in tune with each other, the leading and following are barely distinguishable but it’s still happening. Trouble occurs when followers think they know better than the leader or try to anticipate what they believe the leader will do next. Some of you still may wonder, “What does this look like practically?” Here are a couple thoughts: 1. This is not a problem to solve; it’s a relationship to live! 2. A spiritual exercise called “Spiritual Breathing” can provide a tangible way to “keep in step” with God’s Spirit. Here’s how it works: when you become aware of a relational disconnect between you and God because of sin and unbelief… a. EXHALE: confess your sin and unbelief and surrender to Jesus (1 John 1:9). b. INHALE: thank God for his forgiveness through Jesus and ask God’s Spirit to fill you and guide you (Ephesians 5:18). For example, let’s say you set up a time to meet with a co-worker or family member because you want to share how Jesus has changed your life…and the person scoffs at what you have to say. “How can you believe that nonsense?” You feel rejected and angry and begin disparaging the person in your mind…and maybe with your words. And then you feel that nudge of God’s Spirit. You recognize that you’re ignoring God and making assumptions based in unbelief. You remember Jesus’ words that He is the One who draws people to Himself your job is simply to testify as to what Jesus has done in your life. You practice Spiritual Breathing and thank God for what he is doing in your life, even through the pain of the rejection. He’s pruning you. So, Jesus gave two promises for those who put their trust in Him: the world will hate you and you will suffer as a result; and when you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside of you. Here’s how these two promises beautifully come together for us today: We can trust the Spirit of God to lead us through trouble into joy. At the end of his teaching about suffering and the Holy Spirit, Jesus concluded with this wonderful exhortation: I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. John 16:33 (NLT) Jesus wants his followers to experience joyful peace. Clearly from this passage, the peace Jesus offers is not the absence of pain or trouble. Rather it’s the rest that comes from trusting that God’s Spirit will lead you through trouble into joy. Don Miller, former president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, said this about this passage: “As long as a Christian is in the world he will be pressed as though by a great mob; he will be crushed in spirit as though great crushing weights were lying on his chest; he will know spiritual anguish like that of a mother in labor. This, Jesus has told us. When he speaks, therefore, of peace, it is not the peace of unruffled days but the inner confidence of the warrior who is weary, thirsty, outnumbered and wounded, but who fights bravely on, confident of the outcome, assured of victory. We are saved not from trouble; we are saved in trouble.” Friends, when we follow Jesus, we will experience trouble. But trouble isn’t the end of the story. We can trust the Spirit of God to lead us through trouble into joy.

——————————————————— DEVOTION ———————————————————

Read: John 16 Without the Spirit of Christ, we who believe would only be able to walk by the power of the flesh. Christ gives a foretelling in the Upper Room of what will happen to His disciples, and in a broader sense, all disciples who are persecuted for their faith. They will be cast out of the synagogues, taken before kings, and killed in the name of God. Darkness hates the light, therefore those of us who are children of the day need the Spirit of the Daystar alive in our hearts. In the flesh, we are weak, wounded, cowardly, defeated, selfish, vain, and forgetful. But by the Spirit, we are struck down, but not destroyed, hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed. He brings into remembrance all that Christ has spoken, and He gives us lionhearted courage when our hearts would naturally shy away. He fills our mouths with Christ's words and our hearts with knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Notice the office of the Holy Spirit is declared by our Lord Himself: “He shall glorify Me” (vs. 14). How does He do this? By guiding us into all truth, by speaking what He hears from Christ, and by showing us things to come (vs. 13). Not only that, Jesus has already declared in John 14:26 that the Advocate will also teach us all things, and bring into remembrance all that Christ has said. Notice how the Holy Spirit is always pointing back to the Lord Jesus. He guides us into all truth. Who is the Truth? Christ. The Spirit only speaks what He hears from Christ, and He shows us what is to come. He is our Teacher. Have you ever had the perfect Scripture come to mind at the exact time you needed it? The very One who inspired the Word (2 Peter 1:21) teaches the Word (John 14:26), and He is also the One who brings to remembrance all these things. Many in the church today wish to have the spiritual gifts yet end up making much of the Holy Spirit rather than Christ. The focus is on the gifts themselves, and not upon the God who gives these gifts. The power being sought is found in calling down the Spirit or asking the Spirit to move among us. While it is not a bad thing to ask the Spirit to work, the work of the Spirit is to glorify Christ. Be wary of men and ministries who glory in the Holy Spirit; His one sole office is to glorify Christ, not Himself. “...He shall not speak of Himself…” (John 16:13). Even so, the Spirit of Christ is sent by Christ to indwell the hearts and minds of every true believer. Our Lord Jesus told us it was better that He went away. Why? Because as a physical man, He was in one place at one time, but the Holy Spirit can be in all places at all times, and thus Christ works omnipresently through His church by His Spirit. Not only does the Spirit of Christ bring us strength, teach us doctrine, and guide us into all truth, He is also our Comforter. The same God who moves in power is also called the God of all Comfort, and this is how we who are hard-pressed on every side are not crushed. He whispers the words of Christ to our hearts, and brings into remembrance the great love of our Lord Jesus, to bolster our faith and ignite our hope. Reflection: Who is the man truly filled with the Holy Spirit? How can you know his faith is true, his motives are pure, and his heart is right with God? He is the man who makes much of the Lord Jesus and glories alone in the splendor of the Son of God.