031 - Peek-a-Boo!

You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?

Is there something here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.

Welcome to More Than Ink. Hey, you know that game you do with little babies called peek-a-boo? Oh yeah, and they laugh every single time.

Always laugh. Well, today in the end of John 16, Jesus is going to play peek-a-boo. What? With the apostles. Oh, you mean where he says, you won't see me and then you will see me in a little while?

Exactly. And nobody will take your joy away. Join us today, peek-a-boo on More Than Ink. Well, a wonderful welcome this morning. I'm Jim.

And I'm Dorothy. And we're glad that you are joining us as we sit down and just explore our way and wonder our way through the Scriptures. We're in the second half of John 16 and Jesus is having his wonderful intimate discussion with his apostles. We think he's actually on foot at this point. We think probably they were still walking at this point. Yeah, that they left the upper room and now they're on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane because we know that in chapter 18 it says that's when they enter the Garden. So they're kind of walking across town. But Jesus is saying some of the most remarkable things while he's on foot with them in these last moments he has before he gets arrested.

Last chance. This is the end in terms of the discussions. So Jesus is doing that. And today, this last half of 16, he's really wrapping up a lot of what he's been trying to warn them about, about what's going to happen once he gets arrested and he's going away.

And they're freaked out because where are you going and all that kind of stuff. But then we are reserving for next week this wonderful prayer. The last thing we hear him talking to them about is this wonderful prayer that he prays for. And that's in 17. But we've got to wait for that.

So today we wrap up the logistics about all this kind of stuff. And Jesus is telling them, I'm telling you this stuff right now so this won't really mess up your head when you see this happen because what's going to happen is... We should be listening for that actually through this whole discourse when he says, I'm telling you this because... Because. I'm telling you this because. Because it's going to show up about three times in just the second half of chapter 16. But he has said it all evening, I'm telling you this now so that...

Right. And I love the fact since John's the one who's writing this, he's probably telling us, yeah, this did help. Well, we see a lot of these things suddenly come out in John's epistles. Oh, really, for sure. And you could just hear the words of Jesus coming out through his own writings. For sure, yeah. So Jesus drops another little bomb on them as we start off this morning.

A little confusing bomb. Let's just clear that up really quick. Well, he'd already told them, I'm going away.

That's right. But starting in verse 16 he says, you know, from right now, a little while and you'll see me no longer. And again, a little while and you will see me. What? So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us, a little while and you'll not see me.

And again, a little while and you will see me because I'm going to the Father. So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We don't know what he's talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. I know, it's funny.

Isn't that fun? They didn't ask him. They're just talking amongst themselves.

No, there's 12 of them. They're, you know, hanging back, whispering to one another, elbowing each other and saying, what is he talking about? So verse 19, Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. So he said to them, is this what you're 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. Truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.

You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. Do you want to stop there? Let's just stop right there. Yeah. Because he's warning him, I'm here, I'm gone, you'll see me again though. And it'll be a short time, not a long time.

A little while. Right. Not like the end of the age and all that kind of stuff. And we know it was only going to be three days. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

So this should be the most pragmatic, practical advice to them. You're not going to see me, but you will see me. But interestingly enough, he tells them, it's not a matter of just you not seeing me. It's a matter of the fact that when you won't see me, it's going to be a bummer. You are going to weep and lament. It's deep. You're going to go into a deep thing. You'll be sorrowful. But, ta-da, your sorrow will be turned into joy. And you've been talking to them all evening about the differences between them and the world.

Yeah, right. The world is going to mistreat you. The world is going to hate you because it hated me. The world is going to rejoice when you die. The world is going to do everything it can to make you forget what I've said. And of course, his death, his visible death is going to deeply shake up. It's only hours away.

Yeah. I mean, it's really going to mess with their heads. So, he's just reassuring them, but this will eventually turn into joy. Well, and he says, we'll read it in a minute, three times he makes reference to joy here in this, just almost in a breath. He says, your sorrow will be turned into joy. Let's go on, verse 21.

Illustration. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But, when she's delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Right. 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. In that day, you'll 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. Until now, you've asked for nothing in my name.

Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be made full. And what a wonderful illustration. Wow. About the birth process. Well, any woman who's ever given birth can identify with that. Halfway through, you're like, I changed my mind. I don't want to do this anymore.

I don't care if there's a baby coming. I don't want to do this anymore. Yeah. So the anguish is real, and it's deep, and it's hard, and stuff like that. But when the joy comes.

And yet, it's something everybody knows about, everybody can identify with. And the joy actually grows out of the sorrow. Yeah, exactly. The sorrow is turned into joy.

Yeah. And you realize, and they may not get it at the time, but you realize that that sorrow is a necessary part to getting to the joy. I mean, the process isn't just a process that has no purpose to it. It does have purpose. And so the joy is a real thing. And it's not just a, come on, you need to buck up and be happy, and everything's okay.

Yeah, actually, indeed. Hebrews 12, the beginning says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He endured the cross. The sorrow, the endurance was a necessary part of arriving at the joy. Right. And we say many times that this word joy, again, isn't just hilarious laughter. It's not just happiness. But it is a real profound sense that things are right. You know, things are in order, and there's elements of rest in it, but it's really like, hey, you know, everything is going according to plan. It is a deep sense of well-being in the soul.

Right. And so, you know, for sure, when they see Jesus die, and he's dead, and he's in the tomb and stuff like that, they're going to think everything's over. So what changes that? Well, when you see him, you realize he's alive.

So that changes everything. And actually, it says later in John that when he showed them the wounds, they rejoiced. They rejoiced. It's like in that moment, they were beside themselves with joy.

This is the real, this is really him. Yeah, so what they thought was the plan coming to an abrupt and horrible end is actually not the case at all. It's a new beginning in a way. But it's the necessary passage. Right. And it was necessary to have happen.

It wasn't just an accident. This ought to help our thinking when we encounter sorrow, when we are in Christ, when we encounter sorrowful experiences. But show me how this sorrow is a necessary passage to understanding and experiencing the joy of your salvation. And God may never really reveal all of the aspects of the investment of sorrow and all that stuff. But I always come back to this many times because even though God's not going to explain himself to me, I mean what he has intended in terms of the ultimate joy. He's not required to, that's for sure.

He's not required to and he's not going to throttle himself before he tells you what's going to go on. But I can always come back to this and say, you know, yeah, I remember when the apostles saw him, everything changed. Wait a second.

Right. Everything must be going according to plan. And that's the deep sense of joy that no, things are still on track and God's still in control. All these things that are about the sovereignty of God and nothing is beyond him and everything is going according to plan.

So when you come up against these crises in life, you can stop yourself and say, well, you know, things are going according to plan. God's in charge and he hasn't stopped being in charge. See, and really, just a few weeks ago we talked about Lazarus, right, dying. And Jesus looks Mary and Mary and Mary, no, the two sisters, right in the eyeball and says, do you believe that I'm the resurrection and the life? And if a man dies, he'll live again. And if he lives and dies, he'll live again and he'll have eternal life.

Do you believe me? Right. Right. That's the question he's asking here. Right. He's giving him the words here.

In fact, do you believe what I'm saying right here? I really love the fact that he says no one can take your joy from you because that's exactly how they will have felt when Jesus died. Right. The joy of walking with Jesus suddenly came to an end and they took my joy from me when they killed Jesus. And when Jesus reappears, they'll say, and at that point, no one can take your joy away. He says, the joy that I'm going to obtain for you and give you cannot be robbed by circumstance.

Right. If death itself isn't thwarting the plan, then joy will never be thwarted from that. But I think that's a wonderful thing because we often think that circumstances are robbing us of our best joy. And it is sorrowful and it can be really tough.

In fact, it often is really tough. But the point is, is where you're going is a joy that can't be changed. And we actually, many of us through 2020 and on into 2021, we have been in a season of deep sorrow and loss.

And loss. Many of us have lost people, but our joy has not been robbed. Right.

Because we know that fundamentally we are well in Christ as God's plan unfolds. But that doesn't stop us from weeping. No. It doesn't stop us from grieving.

The loss is real. Yeah. But it is a necessary passage to understanding that Jesus has broken the gates of death. Right.

Death has no power. Right. And for those who don't have Christ, they don't have a reason to hope. Right.

They live with those that do not have hope. And so we do have hope because Jesus has promised and that joy is there that's all in control. Right. He says, I'll see you again. I'll see you again.

I'll see you again. Right. Right.

And although you feel like your joy has been robbed, at that point you realize it hasn't been robbed. What do you make of this thing in 23 in that day? You ask nothing of me. And why does he put it right here? And why does he put it right here? Yeah. Yeah. Well, he said it a whole bunch of times throughout the evening.

Yeah, and even right here. Because he brings up the my name thing over and over. Every you ask the Father in my name, he'll give it to you. Right. Well, that ability was going to come about because he was going to the cross. Because he was going to accomplish the cleansing for our sin to give us access to the Father. Direct access. Direct access.

I think that's the clue right here. Because up until this point, they haven't had to ask the Father in his name. Because why? Because he was right there. Because he could just ask Jesus and Jesus could ask the Father.

Right. But when he physically is out of the way, now you can pray directly to the Father. You can talk to the Father and say, you know, I'm praying as though I was Jesus in his feet right here.

I'm praying in his name. And so it really clues you into the fact that he's physically not going to be there. I mean, he's there in the Spirit, but the deal is you never had to ask him my name because you could just ask me straight to my face.

Right, right. Now you can drop my name. Well, because the Father and I are going to come and make our abode in you. And the Holy Spirit will come and lead you into all truth.

See, this being in his name, asking in his name kind of connects the dots for all those things. That if we are indwelt by this Holy Spirit of God who guides us into all truth and glorifies Jesus, then the core desire of our hearts will also be truth and the glory of Jesus. Right, right. And so when we pray, the Father's going to say, absolutely, you get it.

I delight to give it to you. And Jesus says, you're going to receive that your joy may be full. Yeah, yeah.

Filled up, complete. Yeah. Yeah, so you'll realize that you're right in the center of God's plan and God is moving forward with you.

Nothing has changed. Yeah, so it's a wonderful introduction to this little next section coming up where he's basically trying to get them the idea that in his physical going, they have now a new relationship directly with the Father. And he's been saying this in different ways, but now it's going to be kind of the closing comments here before he gets to his prayer in the next chapter. You have now an access to God that you don't realize you ever had before. You saw me as your intermediary and there's nothing wrong with that, but now directly, directly you can relate to God and you can ask and your joy will be full as a result of that. I mean, this is a remarkable thing.

This is something that is really usually only reserved in Jewish culture to priests who have access in the temple to God. But now he's saying, you have that access. This is what's been opened for you.

It's a great new thing. So that's what brings me to 25. Let me start reading 25. Okay. So I've said these things to you in figures of speech, but the hour's coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

Wait. Who will tell us plainly about the Father? Jesus says he'll tell us plainly about the Father, but he just said it's the Holy Spirit who will declare. Well, then look, there's the Bible is inconsistent again. No, it's yes and yes.

It's the same. He's speaking as an identity right there. Yeah.

I think that's fascinating. In fact, one thing I've always pointed out to people, the very last breath of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says, I'll be with you always to the end of the age, and so you say, great, I'm going to turn to Acts. I'm going to see where Jesus shows up. Well, he goes away.

Yeah, he goes away. I mean, the Holy Spirit's there. Well, you know, he shows up with Paul on the Damascus road, and Stephen sees him when he's martyred. But beyond that, you don't physically see him in Acts.

But never again quite like he was in the limited physical body. Right. So you could claim that he's overstating in the end of Matthew when he says, I'll be with you until the end of the age. Well, the Holy Spirit is clearly what he's talking about through the rest of Acts. So is he wrong about it being himself?

Well, no, because, you know, that's God. Anyway, we detour. Sorry.

I interrupted you. Go ahead. So in 26, we're back to this asking my name. In that day, you will ask in my name and do not say to you that I will, and I do not say to 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, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father. So there's that wonderful reiteration again about you have direct access to God.

Do you guys realize this is one of those advantages he was talking about before? Because I came. Yeah, because I came. Ask in my name. Ask like, hello, you know, I'm part of the body of Christ. I'm asking on behalf of Jesus who was physically here. Now I'm physically here asking my name, and you can go directly to the Father.

Wow. Because the Father himself loves you. So that is not our typical New Testament word, agape, that we think of in love.

That's the word phileo. That is a fellowship, common interest, good friends, brotherly love kind of word. He is on your side, man. God is your friend, and you are God's friend now because you're in my name.

What a remarkable transformation. Wow. What a remarkable – you have direct access to God because you're his friend, because he loves you.

Wow. Ask anything in my name, and I don't say to you that I will ask the Father. The Father loves you.

You ask the Father. Yeah. Remarkable access.

You want to move on to 29? Sure. And his disciples said, ah, now you're speaking plainly and not using figurative speech. Finally. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you. This is why we believe that you came from God.

Jesus answered them, do you now believe? Oh, you want to stop there? Yeah. Let's stop there.

It's an interesting come back from the disciples, ah, now you're speaking plainly. Now we get it. You were up there. You came down here.

Now you're going back up there. Okay, thanks. Right. And because earlier in the evening they'd been walking through the vineyards. He's talking about vines and grapes and fruit, and they're like, okay, let's talk about something real. Yeah, exactly. So that was really quite plain, and they liked that, and they affirmed him for that, or that plain speech.

It's like, read my lips. I came. I did my thing.

I'm going. Yeah, exactly. However, I will add, when he says that there's going to be a clarity and you're not going to be using figures of speech anymore, he's still actually speaking past just the now. I mean, he's speaking even into the future when the Holy Spirit will bring them insight and stuff like that. It'll be utterly clear. That's what the Holy Spirit will do.

He will declare. He will make clear to us what God means. It will not be ambiguous anymore. For instance, Jesus used to talk in parables a lot, and that tailored who listened to him and who would grab it and who wouldn't grab it, it would give you more insight with something you understand.

But no longer you don't need that. Through the Holy Spirit, you'll get direct understanding. This is such a great promise of clarity that we have through the Holy Spirit. So from, you know what, we don't need to question you anymore to see if you know what you're talking about. You are clearly from God.

Well, so then in 31. Jesus answered them, do you now believe? Do you believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you'll be scattered each to his own home and will leave me alone, yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I've overcome the world. It's a nice rhetorical comeback from Jesus in 31. So do you now believe? In a way he's saying to them, you don't really understand quite what you don't believe yet. Because in just a couple of minutes, I mean literally measured in minutes or hours, you are all going to be scattering. Now would you do that if you fully understood what I've been talking to you as you've been walking across town here? I mean would you really? So you still have a ways to go. But I'll go away, you'll scatter and I'll come back and then you'll get it and your joy will be full.

But do you really? You're going to scatter. Don't feel sorry for me that I've been abandoned by you guys because I'm not abandoned, the Father's with me. So there's fellowship even there, even if it was the ones who loved him and followed him scatter in that last panicked moment. It's a wonderfully reassuring word before they do it. Yeah, and the Father is with me when the soldiers come to arrest him, when he goes through that unjust trumped up trial, the Father is with me, the Father is with me.

They probably didn't remember that but it jumps out at me now. So I think it's really great because as they were cowering in their homes, as Jesus is dead and they're in their homes and stuff like that and Jesus is buried, they're probably thinking, man we abandoned him and we loved him. We all of us let him go through this entire thing alone and these words would come back to them where Jesus was basically saying well okay, let's not talk about what you did wrong but I wasn't really alone. I was with the Father and that is sufficient fellowship to go through what he went through. Which is why it brings a great emphasis when Jesus on the cross says why have you forsaken me because Jesus is saying right here, his fellowship with the Father is getting him through this but then there's that moment on the cross where that goes away. Well when he feels profoundly forsaken.

Yeah exactly, so that's poignant. So let's focus on these last couple of sentences as we finish off here. I've said these things to you so that in me you may have peace. So that in me you may have peace because what's going to happen pretty soon is not going to bring them peace. It's going to bring them turmoil and horrible. And fear and trouble. Just sorrow, oh yeah, just so much. But I've said these things to you so you can have peace and remember that peace is that sense of well-being and wholeness that comes around. Things are going, it's very closely connected to the word joy in many respects. So I'm saying these things so that in the face of the stuff that's going to go down you'll have peace. And it's bigger than just what's going to happen over the next three days. In the world you will have tribulation. He doesn't sound like he gives him any acceptance. You will.

That's just the way it works. It's coming. But take heart because, check out the tent again, I have overcome the world. So when it looks like the world is more powerful than you or even more powerful than the word you're supposed to speak on my behalf, hey, no, I've overcome the world. I've already won this battle.

I've already won this battle even though it threatens you in so many ways and will for the rest of your lives and cause the deaths of many of you, eh, I've overcome the world. And this is, you know, when John in his epistle later, the first letter says, greater is he who's in you than he who's in the world. Oh yeah. Right?

Yeah. Let me just read these couple of verses from 1 John 5. Actually, that part comes later, but John says, for whatever is born of God has overcome the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, right?

Our understanding, our ability to see the reality of what God is accomplishing. And who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God. So that's what Jesus was making sure, now, do you really now believe that I am the son of God?

Because watch what's going to happen now. God may shake your belief that the son of God would die. If the son of God can die, then it seems like he's not the son of God. That's the clear logic of it. But not God's logic. That's right.

But that's what it'll threaten. So it will look like on the surface, it will look like the world has overcome the Messiah. Right. But what he's saying is, nope, it may look like that, but I have overcome the world. That's the way it's working.

I have already done, completed past tense. He hadn't yet gone to the cross. Yeah. And so when we talk about Jesus being the King of Kings, well, how much is he the King of Kings? Is he the Lord of Lords? Is he really all that? I mean, why it is that we take circumstances and think that somehow those circumstances have overtaken him and overtaken his ability to love us.

Is his loving kindness everlasting or not? I mean, so it really calls into question so many things about what we believe and embrace about who God is and who God is reflected in Jesus, too. I mean, it really calls into all that. Do you really believe he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords?

Well, then, why are you acting the way you are in your circumstances right now? I mean, really. And you just simply believe what he told you, right? So that's a study skill you can apply here if you go back through, not just through chapter 16, but 15 and 14, and look at all the times he says, now, I'm telling you this now so that or so that you will, so that you'll know, so that you'll be able to do or act or believe something. I'm preparing you. Yeah.

So go back through those three or four chapters and list those things and then just isolate them and look at them. Yeah. Jesus told us this so we could have peace.

Yeah. Jesus told us this to keep us from stumbling. He told us this so that we would know the reality. He told us this so we'd remember when it happens. He told us this about the world. Yeah.

So that just even running through those things, that just stabilizes me. Yeah. Jesus said it was going to be this way.

Yeah. If you're in the depth of a crisis right now, this is not a bad section of scripture to go to. Remind yourself that as they were getting ready to go into probably the most gigantic crisis of their lives, Jesus, I'm telling these things to you so that you'll have peace, so that you'll understand what's going on.

Well, listen, we've got about a minute left. Why don't you intrigue us about what's coming in chapter 17? Oh, you know, I love John 17 and actually I love it so much. I wrote a Bible study, a six-week Bible study for use with women, and so we could certainly make that available to you. I've already sent it to several people and I've tested it with women here. We could put it on the website. We could.

Morethaninc.org. And so we'll talk about that, but as we see Jesus move so smoothly from this conversation, just suddenly he turns his eyes to heaven and begins to talk to the Father in the presence of the disciples about them and about their relationship to the world and about his love for the world and his purposes for them. And, Father, I want them to be with me where I am. It's a magnificent prayer. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. Yeah. So we are going to slow down and take our time working our way through that. Who knows how many weeks it'll take us to get to John 17. And yet, you know, it is not this gigantic, mysterious prayer. It's so much more accessible than perhaps you've been led to believe if we really take the time to walk with Jesus through it. Yeah. So read it for yourself before next week, like we always say, but boy, you really need to do it this time because this is a crown jewel in the New Testament. And do it with these earlier chapters in mind because everything Jesus talked about all evening, he's going to pull together in that prayer.

Right. So hold onto your hats next week, John 17. So I'm Jim.

And I'm Dorothy. And I'm glad you're with us here on More Than Ink. More Than Ink is a production of Main Street Church of Brigham City and is solely responsible for its content.

To contact us with your questions or comments, just go to our website, morethanink.org. Not bad. That's pretty close. It might be close.