Take Courage

Intro

I’ve shared before that I am a big Lord of the Rings fan. Return of the King is actually my favorite movie. I remember going with my dad and brother to see it on Christmas day over 20 years ago now. At least once a year or so, I get together with some friends and we do a Lord of the Rings extended edition marathon day. It is about 11.5 hours worth of movies, so we start around 8 in the morning and, with a couple breaks in there, end around 9pm. It’s wonderful and I love it.

A few years ago, Amazon released news that they would be creating a television show based on the Lord of the Rings universe called “Rings of Power”. The series is essentially a prequel to the Hobbit, which is a prequel to the Lord of the Rings. Some love it, some hate it. I thoroughly enjoy it. In fact, there is an episode in there that I would gladly defend as the greatest television episode of all time. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend the series.

I will try my best here not to spoil anything. In the first season, there is a group of people in a small village that have some weird things happening. As it turns out, the enemy is entering their village, and ultimately chases them out for a time. The people rally together to land a devastating blow to their enemy elsewhere, then they return to their village for a final defense to try and wipe them out once and for all. As they are preparing for battle, the people are unsurprisingly frightened and nervous as this is something they haven’t had to do before. This is their last stand. An elf by name of Arondir, speaks up to rally the people, and here is what he says;

“Our enemy has been sighted. We survived them before, now we must do so again. Tonight. Our position gives us an advantage, but to use it, we must draw the enemy in close. We must wait until every last Orc has crossed that bridge to spring our attack. This will test your nerve; let it. Take heart, all of you. I have seen smaller armies defeat greater foes. Soon, the sun will set. Do you part, and I swear to you, you shall see it rise again. Do you believe it?”

Have you ever felt like the world is just crashing down around you and you’re backed into a corner bracing to make your last stand? Have you ever needed someone to come in with a rally cry that brings you to your feet and gives you the strength not only to press on, but to believe that you can win?

Jesus is here giving that rally cry. But not in the same sense of rallying you to your feet in hopes of victory, but rather rallying you to the victor who is assured victory. This section of Scripture reflects the overarching narrative of the Bible, pointing us to Christ as the ultimate source of hope and encouragement for believers, fulfilling God’s promises of salvation and triumph over evil.

Think about all that Jesus has been teaching His disciples in these last few chapters as He turned His attention to preparing them for the road ahead. Much of what He has taught them is how hard life is about to be. The big notes being, He’s going to leave them and they’re going to be hated. It’s about to get rough. They’re about to feel like the end is right around the corner, much like we may feel at times. But take courage…Jesus has overcome the world.

Though we face tribulation, our victory is assured through Christ who has overcome the world, so take courage. And I know that can be hard, but we work our way through the text, we will look at three things that help align our hearts and minds to abide in the courage that Christ has given us through His assured victory. To aid you in remember them, they all start with the letter P. Let’s start with 23-25, pray with confidence.

Pray with Confidence

John 16:23–25 “In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.”

Start at the beginning here, just so we can make sure we’ve got the context of what is happening and why Jesus is shifting the conversation. When Jesus says, “in that day”, we can gather that the day He is talking about is what He just spoke to the disciples about in the last few verses - the day where they see Him again. When Jesus is beheld by the believer, either in this context of the disciples seeing Him after His resurrection, or in our context of meeting Him in His kingdom, all that was once mystery will become plain, so plain that no more will there be question of what is or could be. When the believer sees Jesus. full knowledge of truth is revealed. Remember what I said last week? The disciples didn’t remember a word that Jesus said about His resurrection, no matter how many times they were told, until Jesus had already came back, and then suddenly all that He said was plain to them and no longer did they question that which He had spoken to them earlier.

Now, as the verse passage presses on, we can almost read the rest as “but until” statement. In that day you will not question Me about anything, but until then…

So what do we do until the truth is revealed? What do we do while we await an answer and an end to all of our questions? We pray. Not just prayer hoping that things will get better, but confident prayer that God will carry us through until then.

What this passage does not tell us is that God will give us whatever we want, or that He will answer our prayer however we see fit. Because if we begin to believe that, then we begin to develop an altered view of God both before we go to Him in prayer and again after we don’t get what we were hoping for.

What this passage does teach us is that God is a giving God, that He has within Him a desire to bring us joy, and that He intends to make what is a mystery known to us. And we see this elsewhere in Scripture.

Jesus says, if you ask anything from the Father in the name of Jesus, He will give it to you. We see an extension of this teaching during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7.

Matthew 7:7–11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Jesus makes clear that not only is the Father ready and willing to give to His children that ask, but what He gives is good. And not just good, but what He gives is the best. If a broken, mere man can give good things to His children, how much more can THE Good Father give to you? And here Jesus introduces a new power in prayer; not simply asking the Father, but asking the Father in the name of Jesus. Because of Jesus, the Father gives all the more, going so far as to give His Son, the greatest gift of all.

When you’re backed into that corner and you need to take courage - pray. Our strength and resolve comes not from ourselves, but from a reliance on God’s provision and purpose, as unveiled by Jesus. Bold and confident prayer leads us to a strengthened faith when we are faced with life’s challenges, and prayer anchors the heart in God’s sovereignty, bringing about a courage within us that we could not build up on our own. We may not get all we ask for, and we may experience things we don’t ask for, but for the one who prays there is courage and strength to face what may come, knowing surely that Christ’s victory over the world is plain as day.

So the first P that anchors us in the courage that Christ calls us to have is to pray with confidence. Not just any old prayer, but prayer with faith and trust that God has this all figured out. The next P is to persist in God’s love. Let’s look at verses 26-28.

Persist in God's Love

John 16:26–28 “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

Jesus now shares more of what the coming day when we see Him again will look like. We will pray and we will ask in the name of Jesus, but rather than Jesus going to the Father to ask on our behalf, the Father will answer because of the love He has for us as we have love for and belief in His Son. The Father answers the Son, and because we have believed in Jesus we have now become sons of God and co-heirs with Christ, having the direct relationship with the Father that Jesus Himself has. So now when we ask in the name of Jesus, the Father sees our love for Christ and then extends His love for Christ to us as His children.

Ephesians 1:5–6 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

We are adopted as children of God through Jesus Christ, according to the will of God, to the praise of His glory and grace, a free gift given to us because of what He has given Christ. And now as believers in Christ, as those who love Christ, this gift is bestowed on us; that is, the gift of the love of the Father. But we’ve gotta believe in Jesus. We saw several months back in John 1:

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

If we believe in Jesus, then we become sons of God as Christ is the Son of God. We become co-heirs with Christ to the riches of heaven. And when the day comes, and we ask in the name of Jesus, then we shall be answered not because Jesus asked for us, but because the Father Himself loves us. Our relationship with Christ brings us into this relationship with the Father.

Here Jesus is urging His disciples to trust in this divine relationship. As we discussed earlier, how much will He give us good things because of the love that He has for us? Not only do we cultivate trust in this relationship through regular prayer, but we also do this by abiding in the love that He has for us.

Remember what Jesus said to His disciples a couple chapters back? The world is going to hate you. And in that context we talked about the comfort of Christian fellowship and having a group of people that we can go to to experience a love that the world won’t provide. But in this context, let’s understand it as the love that the Father always has for us no matter how the world feels about us.

The only way that we are going to have the strength and courage to face the day that we are in is if we are firmly rooted in the truth that God loves us, and because He loves us, He gave us His Son. And because He gave us His son, He gave us a way to salvation by faith through belief in that Son. Ultimate strength and courage are the by-products of know that we are cherished by God, who is always involved in our lives because He loves us and cares for us. And by remembering and embracing this love, we can face what lies ahead with confidence, knowing that we are never abandoned because we are never without the love of God.

So when the world is crashing around us, when we feel surrounded on every side, when we feel overwhelmed by the fear that the enemy tries to bring about, we can rest knowing that God loves us and will never forsake us. And we can speak like the Psalmist;

Psalm 3:5–6 I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me round about.

So take courage and persist in the love of God. You are His child and He loves you.

Finally, we will go to our last four verses and to our third P, prevail with peace. Verse 29-33.

Prevail with Peace

John 16:29–33 His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Looks like the disciples are finally starting to get it. Someway, somehow, in this moment that believe Jesus to be speaking plainly. Even though they still don’t get a lot of what He has been talking about, it seems they are beginning to understand the final picture of what life will be like when Christ returns. Because this truth has been spoken so plainly to them, they are now believing all the more in Jesus, knowing and trust all the more that He has come from God. And now today this truth is plain for us as well. But do we believe it? Do we trust in it?

Jesus turns to His disciples, saying, “Do you now believe?”, and then quickly delivers more bad news. They’re about to be scattered, and they’re going to leave Jesus alone. Of course, Jesus is most directly talking about the cross. Only one disciple is recorded as being present at the cross, and that is the author of this gospel, John. Peter followed Jesus for a little while, but then ran off. And the other nine didn’t make it as far as either of them.

But why is He telling them all of this? So that they might have peace. Sounds a little bit crazy, right? The world is going to hate them, Jesus is going to leave them, but also these things are necessary and Jesus will return, and He told them all of this in advance so that when these things happen they have peace. And this isn’t the only place where Jesus says something similar. When He warns them about things to come, He gives them the heads up so that they would have peace.

Imagine being in the middle of the darkest moment that you knew was coming. How do you usually react? Or maybe you didn’t know the specifics about what would come at the end, but you knew what the final picture was. How do you usually respond to things when they are at their worst or are getting worse? Do you feel peace? Do you feel victory? Or, probably more realistically, do you feel anger, bitterness, frustration, confusion, rage, depression…pick your poison. When Jesus gives instruction on what is to come, He echoes the same final command - I have told you this so that when the day comes you are not afraid, or so that when the day comes you may have peace. And here Jesus is telling His followers that they are going to be hated and that He is going to be gone for a time, but while all of that takes place they may in HIM have peace. Not a peace that fits within their own understanding, not a peace that says the darkness will never touch you, and not a peace that says you need to fight for the way you want things, but a peace that surpasses all understanding so that even when the world comes down on you you remember first a foremost the promises of Christ that says He is coming again and will make all things new.

I think often we can get ourselves wrapped up in how hard life is when we know that promise of a returning Christ in store for us. But even in the midst of that promise, we struggle to have peace. We get worked up, we get antsy, we get nervous, sad, and sometimes we even get angry because of what the world chooses to do and how the world chooses to treat us because of Christ. And now instead of looking forward to the true promises of Christ with peace in our hearts we look forward instead in desperation and out of fear for how much worse things could get. But Jesus didn’t reveal what He has given us in Scripture so that we would brace for the impact of our own emotional response to turmoil, but so that when the suffering comes we might consider it not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. We take the truth of Jesus so that we might see these light and momentary afflictions not as battles that we are losing, but as steps towards the final victory, producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

Christ’s victory is sure, and because Christ’s victory is sure, then we can have peace in Him that carries us through what feels dark and heavy. Because of His resurrection we need not fear pain and death, but merely rejoice that what this prince of darkness uses to bring about pain and death only cultivates life in and for those who are called sons and daughters of God. We prevail because we have peace in Christ and He is sure.

Conclusion

Going back to that TV show, Rings of Power, there is another line by the character Arondir just a moment later in the same seen. There is a young boy who is frightened, so Arondir tries to bring about some additional hope in him. Here is what he says at the end of the conversation:

Arondir later: “In the end, this shadow is but a small and passing thing. There is light and high beauty forever beyond its reach. Find the light, and the shadow will not find you.”

Simple as that. The shadow of this world is on borrowed time. It is a small and passing thing. And while the shadow is here it feels darks, and it feels heavy…but there is a light that brings us hope. And if we just go to that light, the shadow might try, but it will never prevail over us.

So how do we cling to this light? We pray. And not just pray, but pray with confidence, knowing that we serve a good God who gives good things and He will hear us and bring us through. We persist in the love of God, never wavering from the knowledge that we are loved and cherished because He now calls us sons and daughter. And we prevail with peace, knowing that the victory is sure and the promises are certain.

So when it feels like the world is coming against you, and when it feels like everything is falling apart - take courage, for He has overcome the world. You don’t have to. Let’s pray.