May 14, 2025
A Little While - Part 3
John 16:20
05/14/2025
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and
lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be
sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.''
(ESV)
The words Jesus spoke to the disciples the night He was
betrayed are also given to the Church.
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament,
but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but
your sorrow will turn into joy.''
Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after Easter. The
Church no longer physically sees Him and longs for His return.
While we wait, the Church is at odds with the world. When the
world and the Church agree, the Church as taken its eyes off of
Jesus, turning to the secular god of popularity and acceptance.
Only as the Church confronts the world, accuses the world of
the selfishness of sin, does the Church truly prepare the world
for hearing the Gospel. Only as we know that we are sinful, only
as we weep and lament that our own wisdom and strength cannot
reconcile us to God, are we prepared to hear the good news of
Jesus Christ.
The good news is this. Jesus died on the cross to pay the
price of your sin and mine. Jesus rose on the third day, proving
that His sacrifice is acceptable in the Father's sight. The
forgiveness of sins earned by Jesus as He died and rose is given
to you as a gift, unearned and undeserved. As you believe this,
you have the assurance of eternal life. The faith, the trust,
which allows you to believe that Jesus died and rose again for
you is also a gift from God, not your own work.
May our Lord turn our lament over our sin into the joy of
His salvation. Amen.