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Christ is risen, he has risen indeed. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear Mark and Hank and Noah, to all the baptized and to all those who confess our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus, in the gospel lesson tonight, is giving his last sermon. In fact, this is the last part of his last sermon to his disciples. Right after the words that we heard in the gospel, Jesus takes his disciples out of the upper room and to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prays and is arrested and his passion begins. So we’re deep into Holy Week. We’re on Maundy Thursday. And here we hear the very last words of our Lord Jesus, and I want to impress them on our hearts as well.
Every week, every Sunday, my hope and prayer is that God the Holy Spirit would take these words that we’re thinking about and inscribe them on our hearts and minds so that they would give us his wisdom and his comfort and his courage, not just all through our week, but all through our lives. But this morning I want to press a little bit harder with these words because these words from John chapter 16, verse 33, are some of the most precious, comforting, wonderful words that our Lord Jesus speaks, and they are for us. He says, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer. Take heart. I have overcome the world.”
And we want to think about those words this morning. May God help us, especially as we think about them in their original context, when the Lord spoke these words to the disciples. We know that Jesus is going to have trouble. In fact, we know that it’s only a few hours away from his own arrest. But he also is kind of amazingly concerned at this time, not just about himself, but also about the apostles and the life that they’re going to live and lead after this. Their life is not going to be full of ease and full of comfort, but in fact full of torment and, what Jesus says here, full of trouble.
We have it pictured for us in the windows. I was thinking about it this morning. Surrounding Jesus, we have those 12 football shapes, almond shapes of orange, and in the middle of them, all of these different symbols. Most of them are symbols of how the apostles died. Thomas is symbolized by a club that beat him to death. Matthias is symbolized by the axe that cut his head off. Bartholomew, up on the top right, just under John, who has the chalice with the snake because he was poisoned, but he lived through it. Underneath him is the knife with what looks like a rag behind it, but it’s actually his skin because he was flayed—his skin was cut off.
When Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble,” that counts. Jesus was not setting before them an easy path or an easy life. And the same is true for you. Now, look, there’s a normal dose of trouble that every person has, just living in this world, in this fallen world. There’s sickness and sin and trouble in the world. But for the Christian, it’s not that that trouble is lessened, but in fact, in a very profound way, that trouble is intensified. When the Lord Jesus calls us, he does not call us to take up our lazy boy and follow him. He calls us to take up the cross. And this is what we’re talking about. In this world you will have crosses. In this world you will have tribulation. In this world you will have trouble.
Hank and Mark, when you were marked with the sign of the Holy Cross on your forehead and upon your heart just a few minutes ago, you were made a friend of God and that makes you an enemy of the devil. Just like Jesus, who was baptized and was driven into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil for 40 days, so it is for the life of all of the Christians that the devil himself is after us. So that the gospel does not make our life easier, but in fact in profound ways more difficult.
We have to pin this down because I think there’s a preaching that is the opposite of that in the church, and we have to recognize it. That’s this idea that if you come to Christ, if you believe the gospel, it will make your life better. Now, how do you define “better” is really important here. But here’s the picture that I like to think about. This is from an old evangelist from New Zealand. He gave this picture, and I think it’s really helpful.
You have to imagine that you’re flying in an airplane and that airplane is going to crash. So the pilot calls in the flight attendants and says to them, “Okay, pass out the parachutes, the plane’s going down.” I don’t actually think they keep parachutes, but, you know, in the story, this is how it goes. So the flight attendants grab the parachutes, and the first flight attendant, who’s taking care of all the people in first class, hands out the parachutes to all the people in first class and says to them, “Hey, take the parachute, it’s going to make your flight a lot better.”
“Oh, wow, thank you! Wow, this is free. I bet the people in back don’t get the parachutes.” You know, they grab the parachute. “This is so nice.” And they put the parachute on their lap, and they look at the parachute, and then the plane starts to jostle, and the parachute is in their way, and they’re having trouble reaching the mimosa, you know, and this isn’t making it better. And they put the parachute under the seat in front of them, but they’re cramping their feet, and they can’t move as much. And they said, “They weren’t lying to me. This isn’t making the flight better. I’m more cramped.”
And they put the parachute in the overhead bin. And then the plane crashes, and they die. But the people in the back had a different flight attendant who gave them the parachute and said, “Take this parachute. The plane’s going down, and it’s going to save your life. It’s your only hope.” And do you see the difference? Yes. I mean, now when the plane jostles, you hold on tighter. And when things start to shake, you strap it on. It doesn’t matter if you’re losing circulation in your arms; you’re holding tight to this as if it is your life. Because it is your life.
So we hold on to the promise of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, not because it makes this life easier, but because the world is going down. And this is our salvation. This is our hope. This is our only hope.
So the Lord Jesus tells us, and He warns us about it, that we are not to be stuck in clinging to the things of this world because in this world we will have trouble. So we expect it. I mentioned this morning that this is a mirror verse, and that means it’s one of these verses that we should put on the mirror in the morning so that when we wake up and we look at it and we say, “How are things going to go for me today? How is it going to be?” And here’s the answer from Jesus, at least the first part: “In the world, you will have trouble.” When trouble comes to us, to you, you can say to Jesus, “Just like you promised.”
But Jesus doesn’t just tell us that in the world we’re going to have trouble. He goes on to tell us how we should think about it. Now, this is pretty amazing. I want you to notice what Jesus does not say. Jesus does not say, “In this world you will have trouble, but have some backbone and you’ll get through it.” Jesus does not say, “In this world, you will have trouble, but strengthen your resolve. Be cool, calm, and collected, and you’ll make it through.” It’s not what he says.
Jesus does not even call us to endure the troubles that come to us in this world. He gives us something that would be—you wouldn’t believe it unless it was written down. The Lord Jesus says to his disciples and to you and to me, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. Be of good cheer.” We are called, and if you can imagine, this is not easy, and I don’t want to pretend like this is easy. In fact, I don’t want to pretend like this might not just be the hardest thing that you’ve ever heard—that Jesus, the most difficult instruction that Jesus gives, that in the midst of our trouble and all the troubles of this life, in the midst of tribulation and turmoil and affliction and sorrow and sickness and death, in the middle of all of it, Jesus does not just call us to endure this. He calls us to be of good cheer.
And lest we just think that this is the one time that it happens, it just so happens that this is what Jesus always teaches, and this is also what his apostles always teach. From the last words of the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says this: “Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, rejoice and be exceedingly glad.” Or listen to how James starts his epistle. This is James chapter 1, verse 2: “My brothers,” he says, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Peter writes this, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12: “Beloved, don’t think it’s strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though something strange is happening to you. But rejoice to the extent…” that you partake of Christ’s suffering. James, Peter, Jesus, Paul says this in Romans 5, verse 3: “We glory in tribulations.” So we have it from the apostles and from our Lord himself. You will have trouble, and our response to that trouble is to be of good cheer, joy, rejoicing, exceedingly glad, counting it joy and glory.
That’s what Jesus calls us to.
Now, I want to say that this joy is not only in spite of the trouble, but because of the death of Jesus on the cross, that Jesus gives us this joy through the trouble, in the trouble, that the trouble itself reminds us of this joy. Amen.
In other words, it is in some ways in spite of the trouble, but it’s more than that. It’s connected to it because we know from Hebrews that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. And instead of proving to us or showing to us the Lord’s disinterest or the Lord’s anger or the Lord’s disappointment, when trials and tribulations and afflictions come to us, they are actually signs of the Lord’s approval, indications that the Lord is with us, reminders that he hasn’t forgotten us, but that he continues to bless us and teach us.
And I think in this way, here’s the second picture. Do you remember, and this I think I’ve preached to you before, do you remember the story that Luther tells about being in the dungeon of the king? You have to imagine. So imagine that this church, instead of being so beautiful, is all dusty and nasty; it’s a dungeon. We’re all trapped in this dungeon, right? And not only are we trapped in the dungeon and we can’t get out, but this castle that the dungeon is under is surrounded by an army that’s cannonballing the walls, and the walls are shaking, and the dust is falling. And we’re thinking, man, if it can’t get bad enough, here I am locked in this dungeon, but now the whole castle is about to fall on top of me. Now, that’s what this world is. That’s where we are. We’re trapped in this world, and it’s full of all sorts of troubles.
But here’s what Luther says: the army that’s surrounding the castle is not the army of an enemy trying to destroy you, but the army of your friends trying to rescue you. It’s your father’s army, who knows that you’re in the dungeon, and he’s coming to get you out. So he’s vaulting all of these cannonballs to knock open the walls so that you can go free. And in that way, every time the walls shake, every time the ground trembles, every time there’s trouble and affliction and disaster in this life, in your life, every time it happens, it reminds us that the Lord is rescuing us. It reminds us of what Jesus says this morning: “I have overcome the world.” He is bringing us out of the troubles of this life and into the joys and into the glory of the life to come, and that confidence is what gives us joy and good cheer and rejoicing and glory in the midst of all of these afflictions.
So that the apostles who went to their martyrdoms didn’t go singing a dirge and dragging their feet, but they went even to their deaths with joy. Luther, who preaches one of the most glorious sermons on this text—in fact, I thought of just reading you all 10 pages of Luther on John 16—but I’m going to email it to you later, so you’ll get it. You can read it for your homework. But he preaches in this text about Agnes and Agatha, his two favorite martyrs that he always loves to preach of, especially in this context. Remember Agnes and Agatha were arrested by the pro-counsel because they were confessing the faith and refused to marry them.
The pro-counsel, these Roman wicked judges, said, “Hey, we can kill you. I’m going to burn you, Agnes. I’m going to throw you in prison, Agatha.” And they went undaunted. They left the face of the pro-counsel not sad, not weeping, but joyful. In fact, these old martyrdom stories tell this amazing thing: they leave the condemnation sent to their death—can you imagine this?—skipping like they were being invited to a dance, like a wedding feast. Because that’s exactly where they were going. Death, for them, for you, is the way to life eternal. The worst thing that can happen to you, when you breathe your last, is the very best thing that can happen to you.
So that we know that the Lord Jesus has rescued us from the fear of death by his death on the cross. So that for us to live is Christ, and to die is gain, so that we can go joyfully even in the midst of all of this trouble. We can go joyfully to the grave. What gave them that courage? Luther asked, what gave them that courage? That these young girls could stand undaunted and fearless in front of those who would condemn them to die? Nothing other than the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ who says to them, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer because I have overcome the world.”
Sin, death, and the devil have no claim on you because Jesus has overcome the world. So sorrow has no claim on you. Death has no claim on you. Condemnation has no claim on you because Christ has claimed you.
So may God grant that these beautiful words of our Lord Jesus would also be carved into our minds, hearts, and consciences. He promises that in the world you will have trouble. But then not only does he give the command, but he gives you his spirit so that you by faith would keep it. “Be of good cheer,” Jesus says to you, “be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” May God grant it for Christ’s sake. Amen.
Christ has risen. He has risen indeed. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.