Sermon Tone Analysis
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I. Reading of Scripture
This is God’s Word, Amen!
Pray
John 16:16-24 | “Your Joy May Be Full”
II.
Introduction
A. Introduction to Theme
The topic or theme of this third Sunday of Advent is Joy.
What is joy?
Joy very simply, is gladness (BDAG).
A great happiness (LN).
It is a cause for celebration!
Joy is closely related to peace, in that joy is defined in God’s presence.
Where God is, God’s joy is too.
David wrote of the king in Psalm 21:6 —
Joy is intrinsic to who God is, so that even what God speaks causes joy.
Jeremiah the prophet found joy in God’s Word, saying —
Joy is a good gift and fruit of God’s Holy Spirit.
The good news of the gospel message is that God is not only just and a God of judgment.
God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is also a God of joy!
This season we celebrate that Jesus came to give us joy, and that Jesus Himself IS our joy!
The Christmas story in Luke 2 says it this way:
As we think about the birth of Jesus — his first advent, and how that event brought great joy to the world, we are invited today, to consider what it means to have and live with this joy that Jesus gives.
B. Introduction to Text
Our Scripture focus on this Joy Sunday is John 16:16-24.
This text presents a conversation between Jesus and his disciples, and that word “joy” is a repeated theme.
Jesus speaks with his disciples about a context for joy, a certainty of joy, and a completeness of joy.
This text culminates in an invitation that represents Jesus’ desire for his disciples, and Jesus’ desire for all of us —
“Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
(Jn 16:24)
“That your joy may be complete.”
We have learned this Advent season that in Jesus, we have a hope that is guaranteed, and a peace that is perfect.
Today, we learn that we also have in Jesus, a joy that is complete.
A joy that is complete is full.
Think of a glass filled with water.
There comes a point where that glass is full and no more water can be added without the glass overflowing.
In the same way, for Jesus to be our joy means that there is no room left for anything else, or anyone else, to add any more joy to our life!
We’re full!
Church — God wants us to be a joyful people, so full of the joy of the Lord that we don’t have need for other things to give us joy.
Other things can make us happy, but they cannot make us joyful because we have all the joy that we ever need in Jesus.
We are not re-defining joy, we are re-sourcing joy.
The source of our joy, is God Himself: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Perhaps Jesus’ disciples had a simple understanding of this, because they find themselves in a bit of a panic when Jesus makes this puzzling statement:
III.
Exposition
There is a tension in Jesus’ words both in timing and in what is seen.
A tension of timing is reflected in two periods of time that are coming.
Jesus doesn’t give details of when or how long.
He only says “a little while.”
That is not a joyful statement.
My children ask “When is it time for a snack?”
I say “a little while.”
They are not happy.
My children ask: “Are we there yet?”
I say, in “a little while”.
They are not happy.
Many of us find joy in information.
Knowing what will take place, when it will take place, how it will take place, and being able to prepare and anticipate and control what is to come.
Complete joy is not found in information.
We will always be lacking information.
Jesus’ words not only create a tension of timing, but also a tension with what is seen.
The word “see” is used twice in verse 16 in our Bibles, but in the Greek it is two different words for “see.”
The first “A little while, and you will see me no longer.”
(16a)
That is the word θεωρέω.
This has the sense of observing with continuity and attention (LN).
Jesus is about to die.
The cross is at hand.
The way in which his disciples have seen Jesus, in the flesh, observing his devotion, his prayer, his miracles, his way of life, day after day — that is about to go away.
He will be taken from their sight.
His body will be buried in a tomb and sealed with a stone, unseen.
If we’ve ever driven to an unfamiliar destination, and followed someone else’s vehicle to get there, we know the sinking feeling when we get caught by a red light or miss a turn, and our guide vehicle disappears from sight.
Jesus, their leader and guide, will no longer be seen in the usual way after “a little while.”
But then Jesus goes on to say:
“And again, a little while, and you will see me.” (16b).
This word for “see” is a different word, ὁράω, a more commonly used word in the New Testament that simply means “the capability of being seen” (BDAG).
It is the word for sight.
Visibility.
Jesus will be visible again after a little while.
This speaks of the resurrection to come, when his disciples will see Jesus again, raised to life again.
But they will not see him in the same way.
Many of us find joy in consistency.
In tradition.
In familiarity.
In routine.
Again, knowing what will take place, when it will take place, how it will take place, day after day, year after year, finding joy in the way it’s always been done.
“That’s just the way it is.”
“That’s how we’ve always done it.”
Complete joy is not found in tradition.
Traditions at one time were birthed as something new.
Even traditions, habits and routines change!
Has this not been the lesson of 2020?
All who found joy in information and tradition, were confronted with unknowns and uncertainties, and found themselves robbed of joy.
We all must ask ourselves as we reflect upon this past year and the coming of the next — have we maintained our joy in 2020?
Are we as joyful now a we were last December?
This has been a difficult and challenging year, but If this has been a joy-less year for you, then you were drawing joy from the wrong well!
The joy of Jesus is satisfying, plentiful and compete.
There is no need to supplement with other sources.
The disciples lack knowledge.
They don’t understand.
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