Sorrow to Joy - Pt. 2
Notes
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16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.”
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 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.
21 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.
22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
23 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.
24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Setting the Stage
Setting the Stage
Hopefully, you will remember from last Sunday…
19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’?
This is the grace, mercy, and long-suffering that we get to experience in our Savior…every day.
He Calls Them Out, Yet Responds With Compassionate Care
He Calls Them Out, Yet Responds With Compassionate Care
We discussed this point last week.
Now, look at Jesus’ display of…
Compassionate Care
Compassionate Care
20 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.
Jesus is foretelling the glorious result of His mission.
In this context, I think Jesus is specifically speaking to the fact that they will lament His death.
So, I want to speak to this process this morning.
This process that is known biblically as lamenting.
I want to take some time this morning for the very important biblical topic of…
Lamenting
Lamenting
This is something that has been lost in our culture for a long time.
It is a lost privilege that I’m not sure the current church understands, nor practices.
We’ve been given the emotion of sadness by God.
The Bible is filled with lamenting as a good and godly thing to do.
When we talk about lamenting, we’re not talking about disappointments that just need a good laugh to get over.
We’re talking about deep grief.
The world, depending upon where we are on the current wave of the culture, will tell you to do away with all sadness (ignore it/hide it) or to experience it but not process it.
Either, to sort of deal with sadness in a sort of stoic manner.
Or to just deal with it on the surface, but never process it to get through it.
So, I want us to look at how to lament, biblically:
Don’t Hide or Avoid Sadness
13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.
What’s being said is masking your grief does not get rid of grief.
And, it usually makes it worse.
Too often we
Lean on Your Church Family
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
The church is a community that experiences life together.
We don’t fake it through the seasons.
We experience the seasons together.
When exciting news comes, we celebrate together.
When tragic news comes, we weep with one another.
20 Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, and like vinegar on soda.
Trying to hurry people through sadness makes it worse than it is.
It’s like taking the coat and gloves off a person in a blizzard.
That’s a pretty severe analogy for what it’s like when we try to hurry someone through their experience of sadness.
Again, we’re not talking about minor disappointments where ice cream and a joke are the cure.
We are talking about deep sorrow.
Sadness makes us uncomfortable, and so we want to pull people through it so we’re not experiencing it.
But, the Bible calls us to be with one another through the sadness.
I remember an older pastor sharing with me their fear of walking into a home where tragedy had struck.
And, the young pastor said, “ I don’t know what to say.”
And, the older pastor said, “Tell them that. Because what really matters is that you’re there.”
And, many times it’s best to not try to speak into a situation unless you’re asked to speak into a situation
Understand that Sorrow is Good
The world’s cure to sadness is artificial joy.
But, artificial joy cannot sure sadness.
It only prolongs it and many times deepens it, and confuses it. (foothold)
14 A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?
Not dealing with grief/sorrow/sadness is crushing to the soul.
It drives us into a deep despair.
Healing comes through the process of lamenting.
Many people want to isolate themselves when they experience sorrow.
—> I suppose a short dose of that may be good.
But, it can often be prolonged because they don’t want to fake like they’re okay…
And, maybe the context of their thoughts is that sadness is for the weak.
But, sadness needs to be processed, talked through.
Sadness needs to be expressed.
It’s not sinful to let people know you’re grieving.
It’s actually helpful because it teaches people it’s biblical and proper.
And, I think the church needs to proudly think this way…
The Purposes of Biblical Lamenting are:
When we lament we are processing the sadness.
When we lament we are seeking to look at our grief through the lens of Scripture.
When we lament we are examining the circumstances in the light of the character of God.
When we lament we are weighing the circumstances with the scales of God’s promises for His people.
Which allows us to remember the temporal nature of this life.
Which allows us to remember our redemption in Christ.
Which allows us to remember our future because of our union with Christ.
Which allows us to remember the glorious life that awaits us, that will never end, because of Christ.
Now, Jesus tells them they will lament His death…
20 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.
The Lament of Death
The Lament of Death
They will lament His death.
And they do, as we will see as we progress in the gospel of John.
But there are other laments, that will be turned to joy, as well.
Not only will their sorrow for Christ’s death be exchanged for joy.
But, the sorrow over their confusion will be turned to joy.
The sorrow for their sinfulness will be turned to joy.
Their place in the world will be replaced by an explicit understanding of their place in the Kingdom of Christ.
And, this will cause their hearts to leap with joy.
But, this is a process for them.
—> And, it is a process for us.
And it is a process that we are guided through by the HS of God.
Now, even though Jesus was zeroing in on the lament of His death…
I think there are lots of things that are wrapped up in their lament of His death.
Included in this is the circumstances, known and unknown.
The circumstances of their future.
The circumstances of the RL’s who would certainly come after them.
The absence of the physical presence of Christ leading them.
And, so not only will the eleven Lament Christ’s Death…
But, they will also go through the process of…
Lamenting Circumstances
Lamenting Circumstances
Circumstances that are less than death.
Sometimes circumstances can cause us to lose our expressions of joy.
Sometimes circumstances can cause us to lose our expressions of joy.
We can lose sight of our joy.
We can lose our true and proper perspective of joy.
But, we cannot lose our joy.
Our joy is our salvation.
Our joy is the Lord.
Though we may lose sight of Him because of our ineptness.
—> He does not lose sight of us.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
But, when we allow circumstances to turn our focus away from our true joy…
We lament the circumstances and cry out to God to restore the joy of our salvation/joy.
—> Joyful expression of our joy.
A specific lament of circumstance that we feel in our life, and this has been true of all history for those who rest in God.
We lament our culture.
The culture can cause us to lament the world we find ourselves living in.
The culture can cause us to lament the world we find ourselves living in.
The culture can really twist our understanding of what it means to be human.
Really pervert the natural picture of humanity.
Even more, the biblical picture of manhood and womanhood.
Men, the culture has a way of perverting what it means to be a man, husband, father…a godly one, even more so.
Ladies, the culture has a way of perverting what it means to be a woman, wife, mother…a godly one, even more so.
The culture often hyperbolizes qualities by saying they should be overly emphasized or under emphasized…
—> Even strictly forbidden.
We’ve just lost a generation that taught men that lamenting and weeping was for women.
That is obviously unbiblical because Jesus wept.
Jesus lamented over Jerusalem.
He lamented Lazarus’ death and his family’s grief.
He lamented what sin had done to the world.
The disciples lamented the death of Jesus.
As you read the psalms, you read passage after passage of lamenting the circumstances tehy’re facing.
Lamenting is biblical.
But, lamenting should never be alone.
Lamenting should always be accompanied by pursuing stabilization in the promises of God.
In Christ, all the promises of God are yes, and amen to us.
So, as I’ve stated…we never lose our joy.
—> We can lose sight of it.
But, we focus back in when we think of the promises of God that are yes, and amen to us in Jesus Christ.
The disciples lamented the death of Christ.
But, once they realized the resurrection their hearts were filled to overflowing.
Once they received the HS…
—> Their lament was turned to joy…
When they understood the great sacrifice of Christ and the great benefits to us in Him.
—> Their lament was turned to joy.
The HS helped them, and helps us:
Process the truth of what happened.
Pointed them to the promises of God, fulfilled in JC.
Helped them see that their hope and joy rest in Him and not the circumstances of this world.
Gospel joy, which is joy founded/sourced in union with Christ, not only brings us out of our suffering…
It preserves us and maintains our joy through suffering, as well.
We see more compassion towards the eleven in Jesus using…
An Illustration to Drive this Promise Home
An Illustration to Drive this Promise Home
He wants them to understand their future.
He wants them to understand their security.
He wants them to understand the joy that awaits them.
21 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.
Anyone who has ever experienced the joy of childbirth.
Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, Sibling…whomever.
But, especially the mother, their testimony:
The fear of the unknown.
The fear and anxiousness of the forthcoming pain.
Months of discomfort.
Once that baby comes, and you hold that child…
—> It all fades away into the background.
Jesus makes this strong illustration to make the point that the life that they will experience and inner joy that they will know is founded in Him.
His life, death, and resurrection, and ascension…
His work on their behalf, on behalf of His sheep, will make all their sorrows fade away into the background.
As the Apostle Paul says…
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
So, Jesus says…
22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
As Christians, we have:
the Holy Spirit
the Sword of the Spirit
the Bride of Christ (a gift from Christ to His bride)
These are the means that Christ has given us to process sadness…
And, for our life that has times in which we express sadness…
—> Turn into expressions of joy.
But, at the same time, to have our joy maintained through sadness.
—> Because our joy is Christ.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
