Sermon nuggets Thus Oct 23
Theme: Praying for the Disciples
Verses- John 17:13-16 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
Pleasure
In the middle of praying for the disciples and their protection by the power of the name of the Lord, Jesus prays for the full measure of His joy to be within them. He is praying for their benefit so they can not only record His prayer for us, but remember the promise when hard times and persecution come upon them. God has not forgotten. There will be a pleasure and joy that the world will not understand. It does not come from a religion, but from a relationship. Rather than fear what might happen to them by Satan, this message is passed on to give them the full measure of the joy of Jesus. It is for their pleasure.
They need joy, not sorrow. They need peace, not panic. They need pleasure of His relationship and power instead of unsettledness when persecution arises.
Recently I received the Voice of the Martyrs magazine. My faith is continually challenged by reading of the courage of these simple saints of God who faithfully commit themselves to Christ in hostile homelands filled with persecution and suffering. Yet they exhibit a joy for suffering for Christ. They remind me of the joy Stephen had in Acts 7, looking into the face of Jesus. That was something that stuck in the subconscious mind of young Saul (later to be named Paul) while observing the execution. Paul later experienced this unusual joy while imprisoned in Philippi. He and Silas were beaten and put in stocks and bonds but singing praises to the Lord at Midnight. An Earthquake gave them a miraculous opportunity to witness to the rest of the prisoners and the jailer who took them to his home and he and his household were saved and baptized.
Later Paul’s letter to the church of Phillipi was full of joy while he was in prison once again in Rome. What was the power of the protection? What it that they never experience hardships? That is obviously not true. It was they might be faithful and victorious in keeping a vital and growing relationship with Jesus and not have their faith shipwrecked. It was the power to protect their souls. It was protection to keep them from falling away. It is the confidence and joy that they not only need to hang on by their fingertips of faith but move boldly in the power fo the victory that is theirs in Christ.
Jesus provides spiritual resources needed to overcome the world. One of those resources is the pleasure of His strength and fullness of His joy. It is the joy in knowing the Father cares for us.
The world operates with threats. It is selfish, greedy, wanting fame and uses any means to achieve those. That is the problem behind our economic mess. When Christians are called to be different and they will be disliked. People who are living against God’s laws are uncomfortable around those who seek to live for God’s glory. They want to do away with those who represent a threat to sin and guilt of their heart.
The hatred of athiest, Richard Dawkins, against Christains is prompting him to raising thousands of dollars in order to put placards on public buses in London which state, “There is probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Ironically, the message of pleasure is said to come from ignoring God. That is the lie of the world. The message from the world is that God is a killjoy. The message of Jesus is just the opposite. To have a vital relationship with God the Father fulfills our longings, our wants, our needs, and our loneliness. It is joy in Jesus that motivates the believers to withstand temporary set backs caused by the hatred of the world.
Our joy isn’t in illicit sex or gambling our money, or winning the lottery, or getting advancements in our business. It is knowing our sins are forgiven. It is the promise of life eternal and a relationship with God now and forever.
Jesus knows what it means to be under attack. He prays for us that we may see and experience the joy He has in His Father.
Pastor Dale
