John 16:1-7
Some Necessary News
INTRODUCTION
The following account was recorded in a book of modern martyrs titled Jesus Freaks:
"It was the 1960s in Romania. The Communist torturers came towards Pastor Florescu again, this time with red-hot iron pokers. "Who else believes as you do? Give us their names." Florescu would not speak. They had already cut him again and again with knives and beaten him very badly. When he refused to cooperate, he was returned to his cell.
Starving rats were then driven into his cell through a large pipe. He could not sleep, having to defend himself at all times. If he rested a moment, the rats would attack him. He was forced to stand for two weeks, day and night. The Communists kept asking him to betray his brethren, but he resisted steadfastly.
In the end, they brought his fourteen-year-old son and began to whip the boy in front of his father, saying that they would continue to beat him until the pastor told them what they wanted to know. The poor man was half crazy. He bore it as long as he could. But when he could stand it no more, he cried to his son, "Alexander, I must say what they want! I can’t bear your beatings anymore!"
The son answered, "Father, don’t do me the injustice of having a traitor as a parent. Withstand! If they kill me, I will die with the words, ’Jesus and my fatherland.’"
This enraged the Communists. They grabbed the young man and beat him to death in front of his father, spilling his blood in the very cell in which he had to live. He died praising God."
No doubt, most of us won’t ever endure anything like what I’ve just related to you, but many have and still do. It is obvious that in America today it is easy to be a Christian. You can call yourself a Christian in these days and believe just about anything you want to believe. People who call themselves Christians are seldom different from those who have never set foot in a church, read a Bible or prayed to the Lord. These are truly the days of easy-believism. But it hasn’t always been so.
As you read your Bibles, you ought to quickly notice that nowhere in the gospel accounts or in the various other New Testament writings do you ever find such a feel-good gospel preached. Peter wrote in his first letter,
"Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad – because these trials will make you partners with Christ in his suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing his glory when it is displayed to all the world." (1 Peter 4:12,13 NLT)
Writer Neal Postman got it right when he said, "I believe I’m not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing it is another kind of religion altogether."2 I think that he is right. Following Jesus is a serious matter. It is demanding, it will cost you something, and lest you begin to think that this subject is off the wall, let’s read our text in John 16.
"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
Jesus didn’t try to hide the truth. He didn’t try to make following Him sound rosy and easy. He told His disciples that if they were going to follow Him, there would be a great price to pay. Listen, Jesus is still calling on you and me to give our lives to Him, and if we do that the way He really intended, not in some watered down feel good religion kind of way, then there’s going to be a price to pay. It’s going to cost you something, but so often believers don’t think about the cost – they just rush headlong into God’s business, and when it doesn’t start working out quite like they planned, then you can’t find them anymore.
Peter was guilty of this kind of thinking. In John 13, the Lord told Peter that He was going away to a place to which Peter wasn’t going to be able to follow right away. He said, "Peter, you can’t come right now, but you’ll come later on." Peter was ready to die for the Lord. He said, "Why can’t I follow you right now. I’m ready to go! and not only will I go, I’ll go if it kills me!"
Had Peter really thought about what he was saying? Certainly he had the best of intentions, like so many today who make foolish claims about how dedicated they are or how committed they are. "Why brother, you can count on me! I’m your man. When you need someone to depend on you call me. I love this church and I’d do anything for it!" Well all of that is good talk, but where are they when times get lean and things get hard? They’re gone! Jesus told Peter, "You say you’ll die for me, but I assure you that before this night is over you’ll deny me three times." Of course Peter didn’t believe it. He was so faithful and all, but he still wasn’t ready for what was about to happen.
Jesus knew this though, and He went to work trying to ease their worries. Let’s consider briefly the contents of Jesus’ statements and see what we can learn from them that will help us to hang in there and endure the hardships of a life of discipleship and service too.
These Things Have I Spoken…
Every time Jesus says something, you’d better believe it’s important. When He repeats Himself, it seems to carry even more weight, but in these 7 short verses, Jesus makes this statement with little variation 6 times. I have said these things to you… What had He told them?
· Jesus told them of His looming death at the Passover.
· He taught them about humility and service while He their Lord and Master was washing their feet.
· He told them that one of them was about to betray Him.
· He said that He was going away and they would not be able to follow Him there yet.
· He said that He was the only way for them to find life.
· He said that if they really loved Him then they would do what He commanded.
· As they walked to Gethsemane Jesus told the disciples that they must stay connected to Him.
· He said they would bear no fruit, their lives would be meaningless without Him.
· He told them to love one another.
· He told them the only way to have real joy was to stay hooked up to Him, and that He wanted them to have joy.
· He told them that if they would do all these things, love Him and one another, love those to whom they preached, that the world would hate them with an intense hatred.
Think about it! Jesus comes along and hand picks these men. He invites them to follow Him, to join Him in this new venture. He’s going to revolutionize the world. They join up, quit their jobs, leave their homes behind to follow this man who they really believe is going to overthrow the Roman government, who is going to deliver them from the strict domination of the religious leaders, and establish the new kingdom right there in Israel. They have given it all for this man, and now He says He’s going away, but He expects them to keep on going? Notice their response – there wasn’t any hurrahing or jumping up and down with joy over this news – their hopes and dreams and rising aspirations have been dashed to pieces!
Was Jesus some kind of cruel trickster? Was He just out to ruin men’s lives? Of course not – far be it from that at all. While many in our own culture would think about such demands of Jesus and accuse Him of being harsh and unloving, we find just the opposite. Jesus proved His love for His followers, for them then and us today by His words of warning.
THE RISKS
Notice what Jesus said. He’s already told them in chapter 15 that they would be hated, but now He moves beyond that.
"They shall put you out of the synagogues…"
This wasn’t any light matter for the Jews. It may seem like a little thing to us today with our modern sinful thinking about the Lord’s churches. It doesn’t matter to us much one way or the other about our church membership. We seem to think that if there’s a falling out at this church then there are plenty more in town who’ll be dying to get a fine member like me. Well it wasn’t that way then. To be cast out of the synagogue was to virtually have your life destroyed. They automatically became religious outcasts, social outcasts, they suffered financial ruin and so forth. It really meant something.
The Lord told His people in the Old Testament that this would happen one day. He said in Isaiah 66:5,
"Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed."
How bad was it for a believer to be cast out of the temple? If it was viewed from strictly a worldly point of view, it was devastating, but not so in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said,
"Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap for you: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." Luke 6:22-23
Remember the man in John 9 who had been blind since birth? Jesus healed this man, after which he was questioned by the religious leaders of his day. After they berated the man and refused to let him alone, he testified to what Jesus had done and that anyone who could see would know that He was of God. This angered the men a great deal. Here was a man who had been physically blind but now had both physical and spiritual sight, speaking to men who suffered a blindness far worse than his, for they couldn’t see past their own hatred and animosity to even consider the claims and miracles of Christ, so they put this man out of the synagogue. The man’s own parents wouldn’t stand up for him for fear that they too would be put out. Jesus has a funny way of bringing these kinds of responses out of people.
If being put out of the synagogues wasn’t bad enough, Jesus added something else in verse 2. He went on to say,
"yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."
I can just picture the disciples. "First you say we’ll not be the most popular people in town. Folk will hate us. Then you say we’ll be thrown out of the synagogues, cut off from our people. Now on top of all that you say that they’re going to kill us?"
History records that most of the disciples were in fact killed because of Christ. Most of our information about the deaths of the apostles is derived from early church traditions. These traditions hold that Matthew was killed in Ethiopia by a sword wound. Peter was crucified upside down on a cross, reportedly because he told his tormenters that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Christ had died. James was thrown over a hundred feet down from atop the temple. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat him to death with a club. James, the son of Zebedee, was beheaded at Jerusalem. Bartholomew was whipped to death, Andrew was crucified, and Thomas was stabbed.
Other men in the Bible suffered similar fates. John the Baptist was beheaded for his preaching. Stephen, the faithful preaching deacon was stoned to death, and what of those who we don’t know about? If Paul wasn’t murdered, he certainly didn’t live a life of ease for the gospel. The apostle John was supposedly dipped in hot oil and lived through it, only to be banished to the isle of Patmos where he died an old man. Did it end in Bible times?
All through the centuries from then till today, men and women have given their lives for the name of Jesus. Just a few years ago, a 10 year-old Filipino girl was beaten to death by her father after she professed Christ. In another case a missionary family in the Middle East was forced to watch as the father was brutally murdered in front of them; the young daughter was kidnapped, the mother was raped, beaten and left severely mutilated so that her baby would starve to death. Just this month three pastors were murdered in Columbia. In August two entire predominantly Christian villages were burned to the ground in another country. Also in August a pastor was murdered in Ethiopia, and another was murdered in the same country in July.
No, here in America it is not so bad. In our country you can believe anything you want to believe so long as you don’t try to stand up for Jesus. A third grader in Illinois was told he couldn’t sing "God Bless the USA" during the school talent show because the superintendent said it was illegal to do so. A first grader in North Carolina was told that on a particular day that if they brought their favorite book to school the teacher would read it to the class, but was refused when she took her book entitled, "I Love Jesus." A man in West Virginia was put on probation at a fast food restaurant because he like to talk about Jesus. A secretary in Georgia was told that she couldn’t study her Bible on her breaks. A pastor in California was told by the police that he couldn’t pass out tracts downtown. A theme park worker in Florida was told it was against federal law by her company to mention the name of Jesus in the park.
Sound ludicrous? Maybe so. Can’t happen in Texas you say? Perhaps you are right, and probably so as long as nobody but Christians know you’re a Christian and the most offensive thing you do is put a fish on the back of your car. Jesus said that if we’re following Him and doing what He says we ought to be doing, the world is going to hate us. Now I’m not promoting going out and offending people with the gospel just for the sake of being hated, but I do think you need to seriously question whether there is anything in your life right now that even suggests that you’re taking seriously what the Bible teaches about discipleship and following the Savior. If you are, then there’s going to be trouble.
THE REASONS
If I were to ask you why Christians are persecuted and hated, there might be a number of responses, but for time’s sake we’ll only deal with two that Jesus gave us in the text, and you’ll note as we do that even though Jesus appears to list two things, there is really only one.
First He said that men who would think that they were doing God a service would kill the disciples. The apostle Paul spoke of his own ignorance on several occasions about this. He said that before He accepted Christ, he went about the cities persecuting believers, arresting them and murdering them out of his own zeal for God. He thought that by killing Christians he was going God a favor. The Pharisees and those before them were guilty of doing the same thing. Rather than hearing the Words of God and responding favorably, they just silenced the messenger out of so-called service to God.
But then Jesus said in verse three that the real cause of the hatred, the murders and exclusions was not knowing God or Christ. He said, "they’ll do these things to you because they don’t know the Father or me." If they really knew God and really sought Him, then they would know Jesus and rather than persecuting the believers would be counted among them.
If you’ll think about the persecution that goes on all around the world, you’ll discover that the reason is always that the persecutors don’t know God or Jesus. They may claim to know God and serve Him, but the god they serve is not God. Even right here in our own culture, we ought to be able to see that persecution, whether it be political, economic, social or even religious is dished out by the hands of the lost. Should that make us want to quit? Certainly not! It ought to help us see to an even greater degree just how desperately these people need what we have.
Even in our own religious community we find that much of the persecution we as children of God comes from other believers. How can this be? How is it that one believer is persecuted by another because of a particular conviction or a willingness to take a stand in public? They don’t know God or Jesus. Oh, they may be saved, but they don’t really know God the way He intends for them to. So, you ought to be able to see the real reasons for persecution, but what about…
THE RESPONSE
I love this part! Jesus is so wise in what He says here. Remember that one of these men is going to cut a man’s ear off in just a few hours. Jesus doesn’t say to gather up arms and fight back. He doesn’t say circle the wagons and let’s get it on. After He warns them about their coming persecution and murders, He says three things to them.
1. Don’t stumble
The word offended in verse 1 comes from the Greek word from which we get "stumbling block." Jesus said, "I told you all this so you wouldn’t stumble." Jesus wasn’t trying to keep any secrets about what was going to happen to these guys. He wasn’t trying to lead them along blindly. He put it out there right up front so they would know and be able to make their decisions before they got into trouble.
2. Don’t be surprised
Verse 4 says that when the time came, the disciples would remember what He had said; they wouldn’t be surprised. When things would begin to get rough, they’d never be able to sit around and complain about what Jesus had gotten them into. He made it very clear for them.
3. Don’t be sorrowed
Jesus’ instruction to them in verse 6 concerning their sorrow had more to do with what they thought they were loosing than with what was about to befall the disciples. They had put all their faith in Jesus establishing a physical, earthly kingdom right then during their lives, but they had missed the point. So Jesus told them not to sorrow.
Jesus was working to get the right response out of His men. They weren’t to sorrow, to be surprised, or to stumble. Instead, Jesus wanted them to think things over and count the cost of following Him. Think about what He said in Luke 14,
"And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he hath sufficient to build it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish."
When a man or a woman begins to consider giving his or her life to Christ, particularly beyond salvation, His desire is that he or she really think it over. What a shame it is that there are so many believers today who have fallen away because they didn’t really think things through and count the cost of discipleship. They are the laughing stock of Christianity. They are the lost man’s excuse. They have no idea how their turning away effects so many lives.
When you come to Jesus, He wants to know that you know He’s not looking for part time duty, He’s asking for your whole life. In Luke 9, some people came to Jesus, and it goes like this:
"It came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow you withersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto Him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go and bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
CONCLUSION
Those are pretty stern words from a man that most people today would say just wants you to be happy and go to church and live a good life. However, they say things like that because they fail to recognize, just as the disciples did, that Jesus had a purpose in mind that they didn’t understand. Jesus didn’t come to earth and do what He did just to enjoy a good relationship with these twelve men – He came to redeem a lost world through world missions, and according to verse 7, the only way for world missions to be accomplished was for Him to step out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to come and administrate His churches locally on a global scale. Had Jesus remained present with the disciples, then there would have been one church at one location trying to bring the whole world to Jerusalem. Jesus had a better plan though, and for the sake of His plan of redemption, the disciples would have to be willing to suffer.
Well to bring it home then, you ought to realize that you’re not here today just to enjoy a great church home where you can be comfortable and feel good. Jesus is still concerned about global missions, about reaching people in this town and every town and city and state and nation from here to the other side of the world, and if you’re going to be a part of that then you’ll have to be willing to pay the price. Are you? Have you been settling for a feel good watered down kind of faith that requires little? Have you been hiding and hoping that God doesn’t want service from you? If so, then you’ve been selling out on the Lord and there needs to be a change. Won’t you make that change today?
