Sermon - Jubilate 2024 - John 16:16-22

Paul and Silas Singing in Prison, Jim Padgett, 1984

Christian Joy in View of the Eternal Resurrection

1. Christians have sorrows on earth

2. Yet, christians have joy, not in the fleeting things, but in the eternal things

Richard Wurmbrand was a Lutheran pastor in Romania in the mid-20th century when his country was under communist control. In one of his books, he describes the suffering which many Christians had to endure in communist prisons. He described living conditions where the prisoners were kept practically naked in cold cells, fed rotten cabbage soup daily and a slice of bread once a week. The communists would torture the christians so severely and in such a vile manner it’s not appropriate to describe in polite company.

Nevertheless, in spite of their horrible suffering those christians still had joy. One of pastor’s Wurmbrand’s stories reminds me of the time Paul and Silas were stripped, beaten, and thrown in prison in Philippi, and in the night they prayed and sang hymns to God. The Romanian christians, in spite of being tortured daily, would continue to sing in their cells. The christians and communists had a sort of arrangement: the communists liked to beat the christians, and the christians liked to sing. So the Christians would sing hymns, and the communists would beat them for singing. 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” What Jesus said was true of the 20th century Romanian christians, and it’s still true today. Those christians living under communist rule had different circumstances than we christians living under whatever form of government we have today, but in many ways the effects are similar. 

The communists silenced christians through legal recourse and imprisoning and executing pastors and prominent lay christians. This way the children could be brainwashed by the communists against Christianity with the christians silenced. In America we have much religious freedom legally, however socially and culturally we do not. There are many things which the Bible says that directly relate to American life, and if the pastor or another Christian were to say these things out loud he would become a social pariah and be socially silenced, so he silences himself. The children are still brainwashed against Christianity since the christians have been silenced. As it turns out the effects are the same, whether the world fights christianity legally or culturally, christianity has been severely suppressed in communist countries and it’s currently happening here in America before our very eyes.

There are, therefore, numerous reasons why Christians may be wringing their hands and filled with sorrow at the state of Christianity in America. But let me remind you, that’s not the christian way. We aren’t losers and we shouldn’t have a loser mentality. The Romanian Christians had joy and would sing in spite of being tortured by communists. Paul and Silas sang in prison. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

How can we christians have that same joy? By looking ahead to the eternal, looking ahead to the resurrection, by having minds set on heavenly things instead of temporal things. Jesus uses the perfect example of a mother giving birth. “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”

In the moment there’s no doubt about it that the mother has great sorrow. She has severe pain, her hormones are all over the place, she’s exhausted, and she’s worried that maybe this is going to kill her. In the moment the most natural response is to panic. However she endures this anguish and after this moment has passed she is filled with much joy when she holds her baby in her arms. You might be tempted to say Jesus here is wrong, that the mother forgets about the sorrow she had, because she doesn’t. In fact, after she’s given birth to the baby, her pain isn’t completely over, since more stuff still has to come out after the baby. Even then, her body is never the same after having delivered a baby, there’s scar tissue and stretch marks and things don’t work the same as they did before in her body.

Those facts of childbirth are what make it such a great example. The mother’s sorrows are not entirely over, yet she has joy in her child. Her joy is in something eternal. Everything else in this world will eventually turn to dust, no matter how great it is in its time. For example, the ancient city of Uruk, located in present-day Iraq or ancient Mesopotamia, was the first major city in the world, and some people think it was the location of the Tower of Babel. Today it is nothing more than a pile of dirt. Everything in this world eventually turns to dust, except for human beings. The only treasure you can bring with you from this world into paradise is another christian. What brings a mother joy in the midst of sorrow? Her everliving child. The mother’s eternal perspective is what gives her joy.

This is also what gives the christian joy: an eternal perspective. Paul, Silas, and Romanian Christians sang in prison after being beaten near to death, because they had an eternal perspective on life. Paul and Silas didn’t flee from their jailor when they had the chance, instead they remained because they wanted to bring him from death into life, from worldly happiness into eternal joys. The Romanian Christians didn’t hate their communist jailors either, instead they evangelized to them in love while being tortured. You know what, many of those communists who witnessed the Christians’ joy converted to Christianity and ended up suffering in the very same prisons beside prisoners they once tortured. That’s the power of this joy which Christ has given us with this eternal perspective!

You, as christians, with an eternal perspective shaped by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, share in that joy! Your sorrow is only for a short while. Your struggles to abstain from the temporary passions of the flesh which are waging war against your eternal soul only lasts for a little bit. “For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though He cause grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love.” Remember that suffering on earth is only for a short while, especially when put into the perspective of eternity, forever, in paradise. Even an entire lifetime of sorrows here is hardly worth comparing to an infinite number of years of joy in heaven.

Even while here, even while suffering, perhaps greatly, we have promises of joy. “Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Jesus promises: “You will see Me,” and “I will see you.” Jesus doesn’t look away from us, even when it’s painful to look at us, He doesn’t avert His gaze from our sorrows. He doesn’t ignore us nor forget about us. Perhaps He sends us worldly sorrows in order to give us a heart of wisdom which numbers our days here and has an eternal perspective focused on the resurrection.

When sorrows seem overwhelming, when the trials of life seem to overtake you, when the anxieties of being faithful beat you down, remember: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” God never quits on His people. God never lets His people down. As bad as it gets, God is still faithful and He is always working. God is good to those who wait for Him, and there is nothing nearly as good as Him, so whatever worldly pleasure alures you remember that it’s not even remotely as good as God. “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” The Lord will act, and when He does sorrows will be no more.

“The Lord is my portion, therefore I will hope in Him.” The Lord who has risen from the grave is our portion and our lot in life. His resurrection is our focus through all of life’s sorrows. He is the eternal perspective that we have in this life. The christian church is like the mother and Jesus is the newborn babe who gives us joy. In Him our hearts rejoice and no one will take our joy from us. Not communism, not American secularism, not a thing in this world can steal our joy in the resurrection.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!