May 22 2022
Easter 6 May 22nd 2022
First Reading: Acts 16:9-15
Psalm: Psalm 67
Epistle: Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27
Gospel: John 16:23-33
Sermon Text: John 16:23-33
Sermon Title: “Tribulation and Peace: Guaranteed” or “Prayer, Persecution (Tribulation) and Peace”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“I have said these things to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world”. (John 16:33)
According to Holy Scripture, this is the last teaching moment Jesus has with His disciples, before His High Priestly prayer in John 17 and His prayer and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had just spoken to them about their sorrow at His crucifixion turning into joy at His bodily resurrection saying “no one will (be able) take your joy from you”. (John 16:22b) For the resurrection of Jesus brings lasting joy, “for according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. (1st Peter 1:3b)
Next, Jesus speaks to the disciples of prayer. “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. (He was teaching them a new way of praying, in His name.) Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full”. (John 16:23-24) So, we come to the Father, in Jesus’ name, trusting in Him as our Savior and Redeemer, that for His sake, all of our prayers and petitions will be answered. Our prayers are not only “in Jesus’ name”, but according to His Word and will. As Jesus Himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not My will, but Yours be done”. (Luke 22:42) “This is the confidence we have towards Him, that if we ask anything, according to His will, He hears us”. (1st John 5:14)
Prayer “in Jesus’ name” is not just tacking His name onto a prayer at the end of our list of petitions or speaking His name over and over again, like an incantation. Anyone can pray in this way, and many certainly do. But, for the one who believes the Gospel; to pray “in Jesus’ name” is to pray in the name of the One who has conquered sin, death, and the devil for us by His own death and bodily resurrection; Who has ascended in to heaven and “is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34b) at this very moment.
Yet there are many things that make such prayer so difficult. Luther wrote, “the greatest hindrance in praying … is that (in our sinful nature) we think in accordance with the devils’ prompting”. It might happen like this; we begin to pray, but the devil whispers in our ears; you are not yet ready to pray; wait a half an hour or half a day, until you can gather your thoughts and make a proper prayer. Meanwhile, you become busy during the next half hour/day and forget to pray altogether. Or, the devil reminds us of our sins; telling us that we are unworthy to pray to God; until we have become more holy or righteous; until we have done something to earn God’s favor. In other words, How can you, a poor miserable sinner, call God your Father? Or the devil tells you that your prayers are useless, because God doesn’t care about you or your pitiful life.
We must fight against these promptings of Satan. Luther wrote, “if I am not sufficiently ready to pray … I shall be far less ready a half an hour or day from now … therefore, I shall pray the Our Father before I am less ready … for it is better to pray now when you are half ready than later when you are not ready at all … If you wait until you are worthy to pray, you will never pray, therefore begin to pray at once, even though you feel unworthy … be courageous (and pray) even though you are steeped in sin … it is better to fall on your knees while you are in sin and to pray … Father, deliver me from this sin”. (Luther Works, Vol 24, pages 385-387) Knowing our need, Jesus exhorts us Christians to pray with confidence.
Jesus continues to teach them saying, “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. In that day, you will ask in My name … for the Father Himself loves you and 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”. (John 16:25-28)
Jesus spoke to the disciples, plainly after His resurrection, “opening their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45) and after the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would “guide them into all the truth … He will take what is Mine and declare it to you … The Holy Spirit will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”. (John 16:13-14, 14:26b) The Apostles clung to this article of faith and proclaimed it with all diligence as the book of Acts affirms, “every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ” (Acts 5:42) “and exhorting them all to remain faithful to the Lord”. (Acts 11:23a)
All of this that Jesus spoke of is in the very near future, mere hours away, but the disciples still did not understand much of what He was saying to them, though (out of embarrassment) they pretend to. “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”. (John 16:29-30)
Luther wrote, “the disciples want to contribute to the conversation, lest Christ think them so stupid that they do not understand a thing”. Yet even though they do not understand, Jesus is patient with them, for He is not dealing with His enemies who like to play word games in order to trick Jesus into stumbling. “Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come (or will momentarily) when you will all be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave Me alone. Yet, I am not alone, for the Father is with Me”. (John 16:31-32)
Soon, all of the disciples would temporarily abandon Jesus as He was arrested and mocked and subjected to every variety of physical and verbal abuse before being crucified and then raised bodily from the dead. Jesus knew all that He would endure for us and for our salvation, and yet He went to the cross willingly in order to overcome sin, death and the devil for you and me. So that all who believe in Him alone would receive the gift of eternal life through Him.
In this last teaching moment with the disciples, Jesus concludes with these words, “I have said these things to you, that in Me, you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation; but take heart; I have overcome the world”. (John 16:33) In this fallen and sinfully corrupt world, it is said there are no guarantees except for death and taxes. But here Jesus tells us that there are two other things that we as Christians can be sure of in this life; tribulation and His peace.
First let us deal with tribulation. Jesus does not say “you might have tribulation” in this world. No, if you are living in this fallen world, Jesus said, you will have trouble guaranteed. Of course, this comes in many forms and from various sources. Things don’t work right. Cars and farm or other equipment that we need, breaks down. The weather is unpredictable; it rains when we need sun and its sunny when we need rain. Family and friends make promises and then go back on their word. Politicians and business leaders and judges and doctors and teachers (and preachers) and other authorities make decisions beyond our control, that cause us much more harm than good. Our health or that of someone we love, goes bad. The list of troubles is endless, as one song put it “some cancers grow, some planes don’t land”.
Then there the troubles we bring on ourselves by our own sinful and careless actions. Bad decisions we make that we later regret, neglecting the good advice of those we love or worse disregarding God’s Word about the right way to live. This is sin and we are each responsible for our own actions. God gives us His Word and commandments for our good and when we refuse to listen to Him and repent of our sins, we bring tribulation upon ourselves.
But, then there is the trouble that comes to us simply for being a Christian and this is primarily what Jesus is talking about here. He has warned the disciples of this before saying “a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you”. (John 15:20a) The Apostle Paul also warns “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived”. (2nd Timothy 3:12-13)
The values of the world conflict strongly with what Christians believe/confess and how we are to live. Think of all the evils that are considered good in the eyes of much of the world. Sexual immorality of all kinds, is not only tolerated, but promoted openly, even in the public schools. The killing of the unborn is defended and promoted as good and necessary for our society. Atheistic Marxism is the philosophical norm taught in most of our universities in the form of Critical Race Theory among others. Not to mention the increasing covetousness, fighting, jealousy, anger, slander, gossip, pride and open hatred of God; that we hear on a day to day basis.
The prophet Isaiah wrote “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness … who are wise in their on eyes … who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of his rights”. (Isaiah 5:20-23) “They are filled with all manner of unrighteousness … they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them, they give approval to those who practice them”. (Romans 1:29a, 32) Isn’t this what is going on in our culture, our nation? Just to give one example, people are being punished/canceled/censored for simply saying the obvious; that there are only two sexes; male and female.
It is no surprise that the world is so hostile towards the church/Christians. If we call a thing what it is; if we agree with God’s Word and call a sin a sin, we are a threat to the world and how they live. If we bear public witness to Christ alone; that salvation is found only in Him, we represent a condemnation of the world’s idolatry and false belief. When we say, according to the Holy Scriptures, that all men are sinners, in need of being saved, the world will hate us because of it. Again, as Jesus said, “in this world, you will have tribulation”. (John 16:33a) And the Apostle Paul, “Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God”. (Acts 14:22b) So, tribulation/trouble is guaranteed in this world.
Since this is something that all Christians have to endure in one form or another, we should be looking out for one another. As Christians, each one of us is called to care for the brother or sister in Christ who is hurting/suffering. At the beginning of 2nd Corinthians, Paul exhorts us in this way, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jeus Christ; the Father of all mercies and the Giod of all comfort; WHO COMFORTS US IN ALL OUR AFFLICTION, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO COMFORT THOSE (OTHERS) WHO ARE IN ANY AFFLICTION, WITH THE (SAME) COMFORT WITH WHICH WE OURSELVES ARE COMFORTED BY GOD”. (2nd Corinthians 1:3-5)
Of course, Jesus also knows all of our troubles and tribulations; which is no small thing, since He is true God as well as true man. Jesus has suffered as we have for the prophet Isaiah wrote of Him, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief … He was despised and we esteemed Him not”. ((Isaiah 53:3) He is able to “sympathize with our weaknesses … for He has in every respect tempted as we are, yet without sin”. (Hebrews 4:15)
Therefore, we are to “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need” (tribulation). (Hebrews 4:16) “Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you”. (Psalm 55:22) “Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you”. (1st Peter 5:7) “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me”. (Psalm 50:15) “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full”. (John 16:24b)
The other thing besides tribulation that is guaranteed by Jesus for His people, is His peace. “I have said these things to you, that you may have peace”. (John 16:33a) “Peace be with you” (John 20:19b) were the first words that Jesus spoke to the timid disciples when appearing to them on the evening of His resurrection. He also said this to them earlier in this same sermon/teaching, “Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you … not as the world gives do I give to you”. (John 14:27)
The peace that Jesus gives, the world cannot give, nor can it take it away from us; for Jesus made reconciliation; peace with God for you and me, “by the blood of His cross”. (Colossians 1:20) This is not just some “pie in the sky” as some used to call it. It is not just “wishful thinking”. It is not like the sinful world saying “peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11b) No, the peace of Christ is objectively real. It is true whether or not we can see it or feel it; for we who once were enemies of God, now have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Romans 5:1b)
Through faith in Christ, received through the Gospel, we know that even when we are experiencing tribulation of any kind, we still have peace with God; knowing that “nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:38b) We know that when this brief life of tribulation is over; there is an eternal peace and joy that awaits us in the life to come. So, Jesus guarantees that we will have tribulation, but also (through His finished work on the cross) we have peace. In light of these precious truths, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”. (John 14:27) Amen.
“The peace of God …