- May 25
- 5 min read
[John 16:23-33] “…I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
On Earth, Heaven Is My Home
Remedies help, but sometimes only to a degree. And we’d rather not have the trouble to begin with. The light of the moon remedies the night’s darkness, but it’s still no sunlight.
The sun gives light, and burns. Sunscreen and aloe are the remedy for its rays. Medicine is the remedy for sickness. Tylenol dulls the headache. And chemotherapy and radiation might even completely eradicate the cancer. But what about life without sickness? That would be better.
Friends and good company are a partial remedy for grief, but death still stings. We might try many things to remedy guilt, but not even time stops it from rearing its head. Forgiveness is the remedy for sin. But what about a life in which I’m not a sinner? That would be better.
We don’t get to live in a world other than the one that exists. And we don’t get to choose to be born in a body other than the one we have. Nor can we decide not to have a sin-fallen nature. There’s no alternate universe available devoid of wrongs. This world and body are what we have.
So, it does little good to beat your head against the wall about how the world should be – or to be paralyzed in regret about what you should be or should’ve been.
But you can rejoice that God has provided, in Jesus, a solution which is more than a partial remedy – and live by faith in what you will be because of Him.
Jesus came into this world as it is. The holy Son of God, God with God the Father, became man. He lived the same life you live – in a world of wrongs – in this world of sicknesses – and at a time when there were fewer ways of lessening the reality of it all.
And Jesus, though He had no sin, lived in this world of sinners. He had only sinners as friends – only sinners as family members – only sinners as neighbors – and only sinners as disciples.
Yet Jesus, with His Father, so loved the world that He gave Himself for it. Jesus, who had no sin, took all sin – and all sickness and sadness – and all guilt and agony of soul – and all grief and sorrow – and death and condemnation – that of all the world – upon Himself on the cross.
Jesus suffered this world and overcame it. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” [John 16:33]. Easter. Jesus rose from the dead.
When Jesus rose from the dead, He brought out of the grave – in Himself – the beginning of a new heaven and a new earth. And the fullness of a new, renewed humanity – a new, renewed human nature – for you, as yours.
Just as Jesus shared, in Himself on that cross, all that belongs to this fallen world, so also, in His resurrection, He shares all that belongs to Him – His holiness, purity, perfect health, and eternal life – with you.
He took what is yours to conquer it and to give you what is His – making for you a new home and new you.
The new home made for you is the new holy city, the Jerusalem from above, depicted in today’s second Scripture reading: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God…
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb… and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there… nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” [Revelation 21:10, 21–27]
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore…” [Revelation 21:4]. A new home.
And the new you and me will be you and me who are no longer sick and no longer sinners. There will be nothing unclean nor detestable in us. And no wrongdoers to harm us.
In that day, partial remedies and helps will cease. We will be completely new. And the former things will be forgotten [Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:4].
And, brothers and sisters, all this that the Son of God has done for you is so sure and certain – since it is sealed in His blood – that even what is still to come is already considered true of you by God right now: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” [2 Corinthians 5:17]
What will be true of you in that day because of what Jesus has done for you is truer and surer already right now than all we can see in the mirror, or in the world. Surer than the present is the future that you have with Him.
So, what about the present? Does it matter? Yes, the present matters. But it matters as the passing events and stops and breakdowns and repairs on the car ride along the way.
The good and bad things of the present are not ultimate but passing. Knowing this puts them into proper perspective. We are traveling through this life, but heaven is our home.
Because the car ride is often rough, let’s be thankful – thankful to God for the partial remedies and temporary relief we do often receive. Let’s give thanks to God for the joys that we do have. Let’s take seriously the duties and vocations He has given us, and the accomplishments we can pursue.
But let’s not bank our ultimate happiness on any of these. Like the griefs and sorrows, these good things will also pass.
What doesn’t pass – what doesn’t end – is the truth that Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, praise the Lord. Because of Him, even in this life, heaven is already your home. Amen.
- May 18
- 5 min read
[Read John 16:12-22]
A Long “Little While”
Waiting is the hardest part. Waiting to understand. Waiting to know what’s next. Waiting for the end of grief. We think if we knew when our waiting would end, and what that end would be, it would be easier. But Jesus has called us to patient faith.
On this fifth Sunday of Easter, our Gospel reading [John 16:12-22] jumps backward, like last Sunday, to before the Easter events. This time to a conversation between Jesus and His disciples on Maundy Thursday night, just before the events of Good Friday and Easter happen.
We know that on this evening in John chapter sixteen Jesus is about to be betrayed, arrested in the garden, tried, crucified – and then raised. The disciples, though they were told it, did not understand it. And, in fact, there was much that they were not ready for.
“I still have many things to say to you,” Jesus said, “but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” [John 16:12-13]
Jesus then warns them of what they don’t yet understand: “A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me” [John 16:16]. What is Jesus talking about, they are wondering. What is a little while? And what does He mean that they won’t see Him, and then they will see Him? [John 16:17-18].
Jesus then gives them assurance, but without a direct answer. Without exact details of the answer. “You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy…”
It’s like a women giving birth, Jesus says. She has sorrow during the pain – like it’s never going to end – but then it’s so quickly replaced by joy when the baby is placed in her arms. “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.” [John 16:20-22]
Assurance, but what’s the answer? What did He mean, “A little while?” What’s going to happen?
Well, over the next three days, what’s going to happen does happen. Jesus is crucified and dies – He is taken from them. They are full of sorrow. They do not understand. They expect a full grave. But after that “little while”, on Sunday morning, they find an empty grave – and, on Sunday evening, their risen, living Savior. And they are joyful.
During the little while, they didn’t know. But then, at the end, they see and rejoice.
Your life with the Lord is a life of “little whiles”. Which seem like long-whiles. A long time. Waiting for understanding, for what’s next, and for the end of griefs – among other things.
At every stage in our life, we may have many questions about the faith – about what the Bible says, about who we are, about who God is, why He does what He does or says what He says. Why we teach certain things, or what we teach. Why we don’t teach or do what another church teaches or does, and so on.
The answer I get today might leave me even more perplexed, or put off. But a few years from know, the answer makes sense. I even become dedicated to it. But that little while, for some of us, can feel very long. For some, not knowing right now really bothers them.
Nevertheless, it’s by the ongoing experience of life’s circumstances, together with the ongoing hearing of God’s Word, that the Holy Spirit – that Spirit of Truth – shapes and forms us. Question after question might have its own long time; but every long time does finally become a little while at its end.
For the disciples, on Easter evening, a terribly long half of a week of not knowing what was happening, finally ended in joy that could not be taken away. They then began to know why the Lord died and rose.
Fifty days later – another little while – they received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, on Pentecost, in full measure. They then began even to proclaim, not only that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God, crucified and risen, but even the purpose of Him being crucified and risen: the forgiveness of your sins. They proclaimed the forgiveness of sins to Israel for all who believed.
Nevertheless, even these more mature, Spirit filled disciples still did not know it all. We saw that Peter, who proclaimed faith in Jesus to Israel, did not yet understand that this salvation through Jesus was in fact for every nation, people, and tongue – for all who would believe [Acts 11:1-18].
That early church really struggled to believe that salvation in Jesus was for other nations, not just Israel. Yet, now, we believe it very naturally.
That early time-period of the church’s life was the little while in which the New Testament scriptures were written, the New Testament of the Bible. The Spirit of Truth, as Jesus promised, guided those disciples into all the truth.
“He will take what is Mine and declare it to you,” Jesus said. And in the long-while ever since, we have learned from those Scriptures the testimony about Jesus – all He did and all He taught and commanded.
The Spirit of Truth that Jesus promised and sent declares to you everything about Him – “He will take what is Mine and declare it to you” – in the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the vehicle of the Holy Spirit for you today. “All Scripture is breathed out (just as Jesus breathed out the Spirit on Easter evening) by God” – the Scriptures were written when “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” [2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21]
One simple word of encouragement for you today is therefore this: Let the long-while of your questions, sorrows, grief, and of waiting for ‘what-happens-next’, be accompanied by the Spirit of Truth by keeping your ears and your nose in the Holy Scriptures, where the Holy Spirit comes to you.
When the every-Sunday hearing of the Word of God, and the daily reading of the Scriptures, accompanies you, then the Holy Spirit and all He has to say about Jesus your Savior accompanies you too.
Increasingly, the death and resurrection of Jesus – and the forgiveness of your sins through faith in Him – will be revealed and known more greatly in your heart as the answer to each grief, sorrow, question of the faith, and time of waiting.
Who He is and what He has done for you is the answer found at the end of each “little while”, and in ways that dig deeper each time. This deepening of the knowledge of Christ’s love for you is the treasure waiting at the end of faith with patience.
And, as life goes on, what the Spirit of Truth has declared about “the things that are to come” [John 16:13] – also recorded in Scripture – these increasingly become our comfort. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away… Behold, I am making all things new.” [Revelation 21:4-5]
The “little while” the disciples faced, when the Lord was taken away and given back again, was without a doubt a long time during the waiting. And our wait for the Lord is a long time during the waiting.
But you have the Lord’s promise today that every time of waiting – and this whole life – will prove to be only a “little while”, and then, “Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” [John 16:22]. Thanks be to God. Amen
- May 11
- 5 min read
Updated: May 13
[John 10:11-30] “…14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep… 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
The Lord Is Your Shepherd
A New York Times article I read recently says the number of people in the United States turning to religion is increasing – for the first time in a while. To summarize the article, people are seeking answers for three B’s in life: Belief, Belonging, and Behavior.
What should I believe? What standard of truth is there, beyond my own opinions?
Where can I find belonging? A real, physical community to be part of and identify with? Something not online? Where do adults find new friendships?
And, behavior: What will transform me for the better? What has the power to do that? (And what is better? What is right or wrong?) And what about for my kids?
Adults are feeling a little lost. And I suspect current trends might not all be setting well in everyone’s conscious. The basics of God’s Law are etched in our hearts, and the conscience recognizes that some things are not right.
So, it appears, people are increasingly looking for something a little more real – more concrete – from outside their own selves. Even turning to church and religion, reversing the trend. And I think people have been turning to many things, for quite while, to satisfy the need for those three B’s in life.
Popular health fads give people a belief to cling to, a community to belong in, and a behavior to follow. Polarized political camps provide the same. I get to be an “us” who is against a “them”. And religion, church, and spirituality can also mean many things.
But what will last? What will satisfy the need, so I don’t need to keep looking to the next thing? What isn’t just an affirming of my own opinions or a cultural stamp?
And, importantly, what is true? If there are a hundred voices, there are a hundred different answers, but what voice is true? Will I recognize that voice?
“My sheep here My voice,” Jesus said, “and they follow Me.”
“I am the Good Shepherd… I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep… 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand…” [John 10:11-29]
There is a sure and certain voice. It won’t be proven scientifically. But Jesus said His own know Him when they hear it – “My sheep hear My voice” – and, “a stranger they will not follow” [John 10:5]. Like a child who knows the voice of their mom or dad.
That voice of Jesus is the voice of God – “I and the Father are one” [John 10:30] – and is therefore the voice of Scripture which is “breathed out by God” [2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21]. It’s this voice of Jesus that creates one flock, “…they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one Shepherd.” [John 10:16]
A belief to believe, a place to belong, and a power that changes my behavior. From the Man-and-God who is “the same yesterday and today and forever” [Hebrews 13:8] – whose voice speaks in the word of Scripture which has not changed.
We have a pretty thorough historical record of what has changed in the Church over time. For example, there’s a pretty good record of the Church’s liturgy over the centuries – of how it has changed and evolved.
We have a vastly more thorough record of the Scriptures over time – of how they have not changed. A much more thorough record than other ancient writings.
Everything in the church’s life – its liturgies, its garb, its institutions – have changed over time. The Scriptures are the one thing that have remained the same. Jesus’ voice has remained unchanged.
Jesus’ flock, where redeemed sinners belong, is not defined by an institutional structure – nor by obedience to any other word – but, instead, His flock still gathers around His voice in Scripture, everywhere it’s heard —
— “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them” [Matthew 18:20]. Where two or three, or thirty, are gathered to hear the Shepherd’s voice, there is the flock and the place to belong and believe. And behave.
In whatever involves man – even in religion and Church – there will always be sin. For example, in our first Scripture reading today [Acts 20:17-35], the Apostle Paul, speaking to the “elders”, the “overseers” (bishops) from Ephesus – biblical words for “pastors” – warns them of what trouble will arise even from among them after his death and departure:
“I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.” [Acts 20:29-30]
But the voice of the Good Shepherd will always prevail, and He never flees [John 10:12] but will always be able to protect His flock from the wolves – (our) sin, death, deception, and the devil.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life, on the cross, for the sheep and thereby became “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” [John 1:29] because He gave His life “as a ransom for many” [Matthew 20:28].
In Jesus, you have both the belief to believe and the One to believe in. You have a flock to belong in. And you have a Shepherd who loves you enough to shepherd you, by His commandments, away from what is wrong and to what is right.
Being in attendance in His flock, you will have Him as your Shepherd. You will not lack any good thing. You will be well fed and watered by His Word and Spirit. He will restore your soul. He will lead you in paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake.
Even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He will be with you. The two beams of His cross, they will comfort you. He prepares you this table – and prepares you for it – in the midst of this troubled world.
You are anointed with His Spirit. Your cup overflows. And, surely, His goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever [Psalm 23] – “A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages…” [Revelation 7:9]
The belief, belonging, and transformation of behavior that your neighbor feels the need for – is even considering religion for – comes by having the Lord as their Shepherd, in the place where His flock is gathered, where His voice is heard. So be here, believe, and belong – and be encouraged to invite others. Amen.
