Resurrection Joy: Temporary or Transcendent? (John 16:20-22)
SERMON TRANSCRIPT:
We're just going to look at three verses today before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. and talk a little bit about something that I think all of us really want in our lives. There's a lot of things we could talk about on the resurrection of Christ and what are the benefits of that. He gives us meaning and purpose in life. He gives us peace that passes all understanding. And one of the blessings is this thing called joy. And we all share a lot of common things in this room this morning. Most of you look like you cleaned up to come today, which is good. We all share that in common. All of you got here probably by some kind of a vehicle. Maybe a few of you walked here. We're all here, all right? We're present. There's a lot of things we share in common, but one of the things I know we share in common, there's gotta be, is that we don't like pain and sorrow and grief in our lives. We don't like those miserable things. But one thing we all do love is we love joy, we love happiness, we love pleasure, we love fulfillment. Those are characteristics we really love. And one of the blessings of the resurrection is that God gives us a unique supernatural joy that's different from the other temporary joy that seems to fluctuate up and down by the day.
I was doing a little research this week and I was looking up the top contributors to the misery in our life and then the top contributors to our joy and happiness in our life. And listen to this, it's very interesting. And these are in order according to Gallup and a number of other national polls. The top 10 contributors to stress and misery in people's lives. Number one on the list is financial stress and economic pressures. Repeatedly, number one, whether it be debt or inflation or job loss fears. Number two on the list was poor mental health. Life seems to be full of anxiety and depression. In fact, the research found that 40% of people report significant anxiety or depression exposure. Number three on the list is loneliness and social isolation, which is becoming epidemic, especially, the researchers said, among young adults. Interesting. Number four on the list is relationship conflict, whether that be in marriage or family or maybe friends. Number five on the misery index is work stress and job dissatisfaction like burnout and overwork and maybe a toxic environment or a lack of meaning in your job. Number six is health problems and healthcare costs, whether that be chronic illness or pain or maybe even fear of illness and disease or rising medical costs. Number seven on the list is chronic stress and overload from busyness or from time pressures. Number eight on the list is a lack of purpose or meaning where you're just feeling like there's this directionless in my life. I have a lack of significance. Number nine on the list is political division and cultural tension, distrust, polarization. And then number 10 on the misery index was societal pressure and comparison. And they delve into social media and pressure to succeed and achieve and look a certain way and keep up with the Joneses. And all of those things lead to anxiety and depression and sleep problems and family tensions and frustrations and hopelessness and pessimism and inadequacy and envy and the list goes on. All those things we do not like. We don't want. We share that in common.
However, when you flip the coin and you look at the top 10 contributors to experiencing joy, number one on the list is this, close relationships. Whether in marriage or family bonds or friendships or neighbors. Number two is physical and mental health, whether that be emotional well-being or freedom from anxiety and that depression. Number three is meaning and purpose, which comes through work or service or faith. It's the feeling that my life really matters. Number five on the list is faith and spiritual life. Number six on the list is freedom and autonomy, the ability to make my own decisions about my own life, whether career or lifestyle or beliefs, just feeling control of your life. Number seven is meaningful work or activity, enjoying your job and the daily responsibilities, feeling productive, feeling valued. Number eight on that list, the joy list, is leisure and enjoyable experiences like hobbies or rest or vacations or recreation. Number nine on the list is gratitude and positive mindset, just living with thankfulness in your lives. And shockingly, number 10 on the list is Mariner's World Series win. Well, that didn't really make the list, but that would be on my joy list. Really, it was community and belonging. Being part of a group. Maybe a club or a volunteer organization or a church. But one of the things we find out about joy is that it was created and it was provided and it's motivated by God himself. He's the God of joy. He's the creator of everything.
Solomon, one of the richest men who ever lived, said this. He experienced the ups and downs of life. And here's what he said in Ecclesiastes chapter 3. There is nothing better... than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Wow. And he had climbed the ladder in every way you could possibly, if you read Ecclesiastes, it's really about the cynicism that Solomon was feeling about climbing every single ladder of life because of his wisdom and his wealth and his ability and power. And everything came up this, vanity of vanities, everything's vanity except fearing God and loving and obeying his commandments. But God tells us through Paul, listen to this, that God has richly supplied us with all things to enjoy in this life. Obviously, except for the sinful things. He wants us to enjoy the blessings that he's given us.
So here's the question I want to ask this morning for you to consider as we look at John 16, is how is your joy department doing in your life? How's it going? How's it going? Jesus, among others, talked a lot about joy in the gospel accounts. We find it at least 21 times, the word joy or rejoicing in his ministry. In fact, the day before he went to the cross, he said these words in the upper room to his disciples in John 15, verse 11. He says, Wow. Wow. It's hard to jump past that full life, that full joy that Jesus provides. And this is what he was sharing before he went to the cross, before he was raised from the dead, because he knew exactly what God's plan was, and he knew that joy, he's the God-man, and he had that joy, and he went to his disciples and said, listen, you can have that joy.
There's a couple of different kinds of joy that we see in Scripture. You see sometimes that temporary joy that we all experience every single day. You can go to work tomorrow and they say, hey, we're going to give you a promotion and a raise and be so excited. And you come home and all the kids are acting up and then you're mad. I mean, you went from joy to mad just like that. It happens all the time in so many different circumstances and situations in our life. That's the temporary joy that we experience most every single day in different ways. But today we're going to be talking about the resurrection joy that is permanent. It's not situational. It's not circumstantial. It's a full joy that God gives us. And listen, by the way, full joy, it means he doesn't want you to have a quarter full of joy or a half full of joy or three quarters full of joy. No, our Lord wants us to experience the fullness of that resurrection transcendent joy that he provides.
And we find that joy all over Scripture. Paul says something very interesting when he's writing to the Philippians. He said this, rejoice in the Lord. And then he says this hyped up hyperbolic statement, always. And you're like, Paul, are you just kind of feeling really good for the day? And you're saying, hey, we're supposed to rejoice always? Well, that's exactly what he meant. By the way, he was writing that letter while he was being chained to the Roman Imperial Guard 24-7 at his own rented quarters. And he was saying, hey, listen, rejoice in the Lord always. It wasn't something that was just hyped up. It wasn't because he had been given some kind of unique, positive personality. In fact, he says it again in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16. He says the same thing. Rejoice always. We see it in the Psalms, in Psalm 16, 11. You will make known to me the path of life, and in your presence there is fullness of joy. It's found in the Lord who provides it, who sustains it.
Therefore, you could say this, it is the duty of every person who claims to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to be living a joy-filled life, even when you have trials and tribulations. In fact, I would say this, according to Scripture, that a gloomy believer is a walking contradiction and will not attract anybody to the giver of joy when you're just walking around looking miserable all the time. Listen, there will be sorrow. There will be grief. In fact, in our text today, we're going to see that the Lord says this. He says, truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and you will lament, but it's really going to change when I die and I'm raised from the dead and I'm going to give you that resurrection joy that's permanent. They didn't understand that. They didn't fully aware of that. They didn't think he should die. He's the king. He should be bringing down the Roman Empire.
But you see, Jesus wept at the Lazarus tomb. Jesus wept over Jerusalem in their unbelief. Paul wrote, we should rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. He told the Thessalonians that, listen, when you have people who are dying in the Lord, we do not grieve as others who have no hope. We grieve, but we grieve in a different way because we have hope. We know there's a joy in the future when we get to be with the Lord and even see our loved ones who know the Lord in heaven. Paul tells us something very interesting. It seems like an oxymoron. He says this in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 10. He says that I'm sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Now, how can you do that, Paul? How can you be sorrowful and at the same time be always rejoicing? It doesn't seem to make sense that those things could be simultaneous. But when you understand the difference between the momentary joy, that temporary joy, and the transcendent joy, you can see how those can be next to one another.
It's really interesting to me that in Psalms, there are 150 Psalms in the Old Testament. It's the songbook of the Hebrews. And 60 to 70 of them are written into the description of the tears and the suffering and the deep anguish that were experienced by the Psalmists over their physical deal or emotional or relational or spiritual life. And Paul says, listen, that sorrow doesn't dissolve our joy because we can always be rejoicing. Always. So let me give you the premise of this message that we're going to take from John 16, and it's simply this. Transcendent joy that is permanent and it's sustainable is far better. It's far greater than that temporary joy that's momentary and situational and circumstantial. Here's why. Because it reflects a hard attitude that knows the unfolding of your life and the end of your story that's grounded in a relationship, here it is, with the risen Lord who's the giver of joy. He's the motivator of joy. He's the sustainer of joy.
So I want to show you by comparing and contrasting what Jesus does between the two, the temporary kind, the circumstantial, and the transcendent kind, which is permanent. And you can be experiencing both of them at the same time. So listen, number one, let's recognize this. Recognize the temporary joy of the world is perishable. It's perishable. Jesus predicts the disciples are going to weep and mourn and grieve. While, listen to this, the world rejoices that he died. How in the world can that be true? The most loving person who ever walked the face of the earth had to be Jesus Christ, right? And they loved him. They loved his healings. I mean, he was healing multitudes like no one had ever seen. And he was teaching. And everywhere you see when he was teaching, it said the crowds were flabbergasted. They were in awe of the authority. And they were amazed by his teaching. And yet, the week before the cross... At the end of the week, all of a sudden, somehow they change, and they say, crucify him, crucify him, the religious leaders and the people of that day. How in the world can that be?
Well, the answer is found in Scripture. It's found in John chapter 3. It says, this is the judgment that the light has come to the world, come into the world, and the men loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. You love relationships and you love people and you're good friends until one day sometimes they sit you down and they say, hey, listen, I gotta tell you the truth about your life and how you're messing up. And you don't like them. They're exposing you at that moment. The warm embrace you had, you don't really wanna hang out with them for that moment right now because they just told the truth and they're exposing you. They're shining the light. It's like picking up a rock and watching all the little bugs run because they're being exposed.
Here's what Jesus said in John chapter 7. He said the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify of it that its deeds are evil. So people who enjoy their sins are happy to get rid of someone who's going to expose those sins and make them feel guilty. Any pleasure that comes from sin is is temporary at best because God says those sins and that gratification is a passing pleasure in Hebrews chapter 11. It's passing. We all understand that. We know what gratification does. It gives you that high, gives you that great feeling for the moment, and then all of a sudden the circumstance changes and we feel a different feeling. Any joy that comes from faith, though, through Jesus Christ is going to last forever. It's transcendent.
Explicitly Mentioned or Read:
Matthew 28 - The angel's announcement of the resurrection
John 16:16-22 - Main text about sorrow turning to joy
1 Peter 1 - Born again to a living hope through the resurrection
Ecclesiastes 3 - Nothing better than to rejoice and do good
1 Timothy 6:17 - God richly supplies us with all things to enjoy (implied)
John 15:11 - "These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full"
Philippians 4:4 - "Rejoice in the Lord always"
1 Thessalonians 5:16 - "Rejoice always"
Psalm 16:11 - "In your presence is fullness of joy"
2 Corinthians 6:10 - "Sorrowful yet always rejoicing"
John 3 - Men loved darkness rather than light
John 7 - The world hates Jesus because he testifies their deeds are evil
Hebrews 11 - Passing pleasures of sin (implied reference)
Hebrews 12:2 - "Fixing our eyes on Jesus...who for the joy set before him endured the cross"
Psalm 22 - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Romans 3:23 - "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
Romans 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death"
Luke 24 - Jesus explaining it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise
Acts 5:41 - Apostles rejoicing they were counted worthy to suffer
Romans 5 - Rejoicing in hope of the glory of God (implied)
James 1:2 - "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials"
Galatians 5:22-23 - Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.)
Jeremiah 15:16 - "Your words were found and I ate them...a joy and delight"
Romans 10:9 - "If you confess with your mouth...and believe in your heart"
Romans 10:13 - "All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved"
Additional References Alluded To:
Acts 2 - Peter's sermon and 3,000 conversions
Titus 1:2 - God cannot lie
Book of Acts (general) - Disciples' boldness after resurrection
Ecclesiastes (general) - Solomon's reflections on vanity
Suggested Verses Aligned with Main Themes:
Nehemiah 8:10 - "The joy of the LORD is your strength"
Psalm 30:5 - "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning"
Isaiah 53 - The suffering servant
John 19-20 - Crucifixion and resurrection accounts
1 Corinthians 15 - Resurrection chapter
2 Corinthians 7:10 - Godly sorrow leads to repentance