Transformations

Introduction

Illustration: Gold ore to Gold transformation.

People have a way of being really… messy. Messed up even. We’ve all been around long enough to know that human beings are flawed. But we also know from Scripture that Jesus wants to make us new again. There’s a beautiful scene in the chosen where Nicodemus finds Mary Magdelene. In the show he tries to help her when she is possessed by demons and fails to make any difference. Then he later runs into her on the street, completely healed. When He asks her about what happens she explains about the man she met who healed her and sums it all up by saying “Before I was one way, and then after I was completely different.”

I believe that’s the story of everyone who comes to know Jesus. This is no less true of the eleven disciples Jesus was speaking with in the upper room during passover. We have been studying John together in our series “Believe and Live: The Gospel According to John” and seeing what it can teach us about being disciples. Let’s take a look at the rest of chapter 16 together. This is starting at verse 12.

John 16:12–33 CSB

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you. “In a little while, you will no longer see me; again in a little while, you will see me.” Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this he’s telling us: ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again a little while, you will see me,’ and, ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They said, “What is this he is saying, ‘In a little while’? We don’t know what he’s talking about.” Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, and so he said to them, “Are you asking one another about what I said, ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me’? Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. “In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. “I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I am not telling you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” His disciples said, “Look, now you’re speaking plainly and not using any figurative language. Now we know that you know everything and don’t need anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

There’s a lot going on here. There was a few different directions I could go with this sermon, but looking at it I picked up a bit of a pattern. I noticed that Jesus is looking at the disciples as they are now, and telling them of a future where they will be completely changed. He is promising them that they will be transformed. Right now they are confused and lost, but Jesus will transform them so that they will have clarity. Right now they are filled with sorrow that He will be going away from them, but soon they will be transformed to people with joy that can’t be taken from them. Finally we will see that they are fearful now, but Jesus will give them all they need to be courageous through His conquering the world for us.

Confusion Transformed to Clarity

Illustration: There comes a time in every parents life where your child asks you a question that you know they aren’t ready to know the answer to yet. I don’t think I have to give any examples, we all know what I’m talking about. Katie and I try to be honest with our kids, so we don’t lie when they ask these questions, but that doesn’t mean we tell them the whole truth either. We might be a little more vague and mysterious about the way that we say things.

In many cases this is how the Bible handles complicated truths. Looking now at all of salvation history in the Old and New Testaments we can see how it all fits together and what God’s plan was from the beginning. That’s not how the people who lived for it experienced it. Abraham for example didn’t even live to see his family grow beyond a handful of people and had to trust that God was telling the truth when He said His descendants would outnumber the stars, and He had no idea what God meant when He said the nations would be blessed by His descendants.

The same could be said of Jesus’ disciples. They were living their ordinary lives in 1st century Israel when Jesus showed up and called them, and they slowly learned from His teaching what they needed to know about how God was going to deliver His people through the Messiah. Here they sit in our passage this morning having spent 3 or 4 years with Jesus, watching Him do miracles and hearing His amazing sermons. Yet they still didn’t have the big picture fully in view. At this point, they were still feeling lost and confused. Jesus knows this. Let’s look at what He says to them in verses 12-18.

John 16:12–18 CSB

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I told you that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you. “In a little while, you will no longer see me; again in a little while, you will see me.” Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this he’s telling us: ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again a little while, you will see me,’ and, ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They said, “What is this he is saying, ‘In a little while’? We don’t know what he’s talking about.”

Throughout this conversation in the upper room we see all kinds of signs that the Disciples were confused. They ask bewildered questions, they get things wrong. This has been true for their entire journey so far. Sometimes the disciples seem almost comically confused—but if we’re honest, we’ve been right where they were.

Jesus hasn’t been confusing them on purpose. They are like children who need to be taught, but aren’t ready for the whole truth yet. As Jesus says at the beginning of this passage He has more to teach them, but they aren’t ready. The day is soon coming though when they will be ready. What happens between now and then? The cross and the empty tomb. The death and resurrection of Jesus makes way for this first transformation in the disciples. They go from being a confused and lost group of men trying their best to follow Jesus faithfully to the confident men we see in the book of Acts, starting to transform the world with the gospel message.

Jesus promises them here that the Holy Spirit will come so that they will know the truth they need to know, and that’s what takes them from confusion to clarity. Before then Jesus needed to finish His work on the cross so that they would be ready, but once ready they show their clarity well. Peter goes from asking bewildered questions of Jesus and totally misunderstanding Jesus’ act of washing their feet, to the man who delivered the powerful sermon of Acts chapter 2. For the sake of time I won’t read the whole thing to you, but let’s just look at the end of it. This is Acts 2:32-39

Acts 2:32–39 CSB

“God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord declared to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Does that sound like someone confused about what is true?

We are blessed to live in a time after the cross. Though we all learn and grow over the course of our discipleship journies, we don’t have to live in the fog the first disciples did before the cross of confusion about what Jesus came to do. We know what He did for us, and we can have that same clarity available to Peter on the day of Pentecost. Jesus promises the Holy Spirit not only for the Eleven, but for all of us. Pray with me for the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, so that we can be like those early disciples, we can be world changers and history makers who speak with confidence about what the Gospel is and the hope that God gives to the world.

Sorrow Transformed to Joy

Illustration: In these sermons I like to give personal stories or compelling images that illustrate the points I’m making. At this point though, it’s pretty impossible to top the illustration Jesus Himself makes in the passage. As a father of three going on four, I have been eyewitness to the pain of childbirth. The fact that we’ve had more children since—now expecting our fourth—is proof of what Jesus is saying here. The joy of holding and raising that baby are worth the trial of giving birth.

Although childbirth is perhaps the greatest example of this, it is not the only one. There are lots of things people do all the time that are challenging and even painful, but they do it for the joy that will come after the hardship. Any of the creatives in the room know what I’m talking about. Writing a book or painting a picture can be challenging and can be hard work, but the result is worth it. Even training for a marathon or finishing a tough semester in school brings joy on the other side of the hardship. Climbing a mountain is a challenge that rewards you with a breathtaking view you’ll never forget.

The disciples are about to face a pretty significant trial. Though Jesus Himself obviously takes the brunt of the pain and suffering, let us not forget that the disciples had to watch their beloved Rabbi tortured and killed. That would not be an easy experience for them. At the time of our passage this is still ahead, and the disciples don’t really know what to expect. Here is how Jesus reassures them for the trials to come:

John 16:20–24 CSB

Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. “In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked for nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

So they are sorrowful now when He tells them He must go away, and their sorrow will certainly increase as the night goes on, but their sorrow will turn to joy. Notice something interesting about that? Jesus doesn’t say their sorrow will be replaced with joy, He says it will be turned to joy. This is why His illustration of childbirth is so particularly apt. The thing which is causing them pain will soon also be the thing causing them joy. The death of Jesus may break their hearts now—but soon, that same cross will become their greatest joy, and ours too. I mean the cross has gone on to be the symbol of our faith. The moment which saved us from our sins and made a way for us to live forever.

This is why they will go on to be people of joy, despite the fact that the days to come after the resurrection will be filled with persecution and rejection for them. Jesus promises that no one will be able to take their joy for them, and history proves Him right. Consider Paul and Silas, future disciples of Jesus who are jailed for preaching the gospel. How do they respond to being thrown in jail for following Jesus? Acts 16:25

Acts 16:25 CSB

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

With prayer and singing. Paul also wrote this encouraging verse while in prison another time, Philippians 4:4

Philippians 4:4 CSB

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Just to make sure you don’t miss this, he wrote that verse by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit while in prison for the sake of spreading the gospel.

My friends, we too can have our sorrow turned to joy. This has come up a lot while we’ve been walking through this conversation in the upper room, but repetition helps us remember, right? There will be trouble in this world. There will be suffering. We will go through trials. But we shouldn’t be people of sorrow. We should be people of joy. No one should be able to take our joy away. That’s because our source of Joy should be Jesus Himself, and no force on earth can take Jesus away from us. So my friends, let’s ask ourselves if we are people of joy. When hard times come, do you hold on to your joy in Jesus? Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit’s strength to do just that. Because Jesus said, ‘No one will take your joy from you.’ And if He says it—it's true.

Fear Transformed to Courage

Illustration: Fear can be something of a situational condition. The same scenario can be more or less frightening depending on your situation. For example, free climbing a rock wall I imagine is more frightening than doing so with a harness. I say “I imagine,” because I have not really attempted free climbing a rock wall, because the idea scares me. I have climbed a rock climbing wall with a harness though, because knowing that I had that rope gave me the courage to climb that wall.

There’s nothing wrong with relying on someone or something else to give us courage. I think that this is a place we can sometimes get mixed up. I think that courage is a virtue which we should all strive for, but sometimes stories can sort of make it out to be something you should be able to summon up on your own, as if courage doesn’t count if you have help or something.

Jesus doesn’t intend for us to just summon up courage on our own. In the case of His disciples, He knows their courage is about to fail them. Here are His words of encouragement to His fearful disciples:

John 16:30–33 CSB

Now we know that you know everything and don’t need anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus responded to them, “Do you now believe? Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Throughout the gospels we see lots of moments where the disciples give in to fear. For example when they’re in the storm at sea and Jesus is napping on the boat. This is in Matthew 8:23-27

Matthew 8:23–27 CSB

As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!”

This is just one example among many of the disciples giving in to fear. Here Jesus recognizes they are about to give in to fear again. He gives them what they need so that after the resurrection they would move beyond their fears, and become people of courage. What is it they need? Confidence that Jesus has overcome.

They aren’t being asked to just be brave and summon up courage from nowhere, they are being asked to have courage based on Jesus’ victory, because Jesus will still be with them through the power of the Holy Spirit. We have courage for the same reason Jesus faced the crucifixion with courage, because we know that we’re not alone. Jesus said that although His disciples would abandon Him that He will not be alone because the Father is with Him. So when these same disciples face persecution and death they do so with courage because Jesus is with them.

That same victorious Jesus is with us today, FCC. So we’re called to be people of courage—not because we have nothing to fear, but because the One who overcame the world stands with us. Because He lives, we can be bold. We can speak truth in love. We can resist compromise. We can share our faith, even when it’s hard. What could we do for the Kingdom, if we really believed the victory is already won?

Conclusion

We follow a God who really transforms lives. And that’s one of the strongest witnesses to the truth of the gospel today. When we look back at how the disciples changed—and how people continue to change when they come to Jesus—we see living, breathing testimonies that Jesus is who He says He is. His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead truly make us new.

He transforms us from people who are lost and confused, stumbling in the dark, into people of clarity—people who know the truth of the gospel.

He transforms us from people defined by sorrow and suffering into people marked by deep, abiding joy that isn’t shaken by circumstances.

He transforms us from people paralyzed by fear into people of courage—people who walk boldly through life, side by side with God Himself.

So when I look in the mirror, do I see someone who’s been transformed?

Are we a church of transformed people?

The markers we should see in ourselves are clarity, joy, and courage. But hear this: we don’t get there by trying harder or motivating ourselves better. We get there by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So here’s my challenge: pray, “Lord, transform me.” And then—brace yourself for what God will do.