Persecution and Joy

Okay, thanks Amy, and great to see you this morning.

Please do keep that passage open in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

My name is Graham, I'm the pastor here at the church, and it's lovely to welcome you today.

Particularly if this is your first Sunday with us, know that you are so welcome,

and we would love to serve you in any way that we can, so please do hang around, we'd love to get to know you.

And John chapter 15, the second half, into our WhatsApp messages, what WhatsApp messages kind of week that it's been, let the reader understand.

John 15 · chapter mention

Here's what Jesus wants us to know about him today.

He wants us to know that he's a king who's hiding absolutely nothing from us.

There are no hidden terms and conditions.

There's no small print that he really hopes that we don't see.

He's full disclosure.

And he's full disclosure, particularly when it comes to the reality of what life is going to be like if we decide to follow him.

Now, it was Chris Martin from Coldplay who sang this,

As of my childhood,

Dude, nobody said it was going to be easy,

but no one said it was going to be this hard.

Do you know the feeling in life?

There's all sorts of things, aren't there, that leave us thinking,

if only we'd known.

Right?

If only someone had warned me that this was going to be that difficult

before I got so far down the track

and I figured it out for myself.

How many of us have got DIY projects sitting at home where we said just that?

And yet Jesus, I want you to know, dear friends, isn't one of those people.

He wants us to know exactly what it's going to be like if we choose to follow him.

He's full disclosure today.

Full disclosure.

And so in John 15, if we take in the two halves of it,

we get so clearly, probably more than anywhere else in the whole Bible,

we get the paradox.

That word, just two things that we don't think go together, but they do.

We get the paradox that's right at the heart of the Christian life.

If you follow Jesus, these two things are true.

That Jesus is the place where true and lasting joy are to be found in this life.

That there is no greater thing to live for and know

as we live our lives in this world than him.

And yet following him puts us on a direct collision course with the world

who will hate you for what you believe and what you stand for.

So Jesus isn't like the captain in the cockpit saying,

on this flight, we may experience some turbulence,

but for the majority of it, it's going to be nice.

So why don't you sit back and relax and enjoy the flight?

Jesus is much more like the army general who's speaking to his troops

seconds before they are about to go over the trenches.

And here are the final words.

And he says to them, this is going to hurt.

And with that, can I just say I'm reminded of two reasons why I find in Jesus,

or I find Jesus rather, the most endearing of leaders.

And I'm reminded of the brilliance of him that has attracted billions throughout the world today

and down the generations, convinced them that he is worth following.

Firstly, because he tells me it's straight.

Follow me and the world will hate you.

Got it?

Loud and clear.

And second, reason for his brilliance is that he's not calling his followers to go anywhere

that he's not first gone himself.

He is the pioneer of the world-forsaken, heaven-traveling, cross-taking life.

And those two reasons come together to show us that he is totally trustworthy today.

He is worthy of everything that you have in your life because he's this kind of king.

And so hear Jesus say that if joy and persecution

are the dominant flavors of your life today as a disciple,

then that is normal Christianity.

And of course, this only makes sense when we understand

what it is to be a Christian.

What takes this passage and makes it more than you need to up your game and be brave

and makes it into something that is life-alteringly good

is if we understand what Jesus has done for us.

And it's always the wonderful truth in the Christian life

that it always comes back to who we are as disciples of Jesus.

You know, there's a famous hymn that the church have sung down through the ages called

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.

But I was hearing this week about a church in the States

who have changed the lyrics to this.

I never wanted to follow Jesus.

I never wanted to follow Jesus.

I never wanted to follow Jesus.

But he rescued me.

He rescued me.

So no turning back.

No turning back.

And as they sing it, they're reminding themselves

that yes, there is no glory like knowing Jesus in this world.

It is worth forsaking everything for.

And we're declaring as we sing this song that we are choosing

to follow him with everything that we've got in this life.

But that is not the prerequisite for,

but the response to the fact that he chose,

loved and pursued enemies of God like us.

And he did it not second.

He did it first.

Or if I could put it like this,

Jesus was interested in us way before we were interested in him.

You read Galatians 1.

Paul talks about how he was set aside before he was born.

Because I'll tell you what, before I became a Christian,

I used to think just like the world does,

that religion, Christianity is a big game of hide and seek,

except that I'm the seeker and God's the hider.

And yet you step into the Jesus story.

You hear him talk.

You come to realize that it's completely the opposite way around.

That we were lost.

We had no interest in him.

And yet he came to find us.

Jesus is the great seeker.

He is the great saver.

He is the great restorer.

He is the great renewer of human hearts.

And I think this is why it is so important that we let Jesus' words,

not our logic of how we think it works,

shape the way that we understand ourselves,

the world and these heavenly realities that he's speaking about here.

Now, I'm a simple guy.

Maybe you can imagine it like the claw in Toy Story.

As you take in what Jesus says to his original disciples there at verse 19.

It's on the screen.

Follow along if you've got the Bible there.

He says that I chose you out of the world.

In other words, Jesus reached down into their pit.

He did more than that.

He joined them in their pit.

And he rescued them from the sin and the resulting eternal punishment

that was theirs and ours before our holy creator.

And he did it through his blood shed on the cross.

And he lifted them.

He scooped them up.

And he lifted them out of the world.

And he took them and he placed them,

not to run free, my pretties,

but he took them and he placed them in him.

And that means the most defining feature of the Christian's life

is that it is lived in Christ.

To be a Christian is to be a completely new

and a completely different kind of person.

And because of Jesus, friends,

you and I are now swimming in a completely new and different direction

to the one which we were previously swimming in

and the world currently swims in.

We have got different values.

We live our lives to different priorities.

We've got different beliefs.

Which is why, isn't it, that as a parent,

that though we love the school,

we want to be a blessing to our school.

We love the people there.

That when they send around what they're planning

and teaching our kids about sex and sexuality,

I see that differently.

Hear Jesus say that when you feel different to the world,

it is only because he has taken you out of the world.

You know, our calling as disciples is not to be sweet.

It is most definitely not to be sour.

The calling that Jesus makes on our lives is to be salty.

And remember the context here.

This is hours before Jesus' death.

This is where we are in the farewell discourse of this gospel.

The final say, the final push that Jesus makes.

And Jesus amazingly thinks that the best use of his time

in his final hours is not to use it to tick off the bucket list.

It is to use it to prepare his disciples

for what life will be like for them

in the gap between his going and his returning.

It's where they will soon find themselves.

And of course, it's where we find ourselves today.

Last week, we thought about this.

And really, this is the most wonderful description

of the Christian life.

We saw him call his disciples to that deeply rooted life.

And if you weren't here, I thought Ian did a fantastic job

at just bringing out the comfort, the challenge,

and the sweetness of knowing Jesus.

Particularly a line that challenged me.

I think I quote you right on this, Ian.

You talked about the job of our,

our job is not just to be impressive looking branches.

It is to produce Jesus like fruit in our lives,

both individually and corporately.

Jesus is called to allow his words to nourish us,

to work their way through our system.

Life's where the spirit living in us

is going to take those words and work them through us

and produce in us delicious and joyous

Jesus-shaped fruit in our lives.

And just in case you thought that the world will love you for that,

know that the darkness is never a fan of the light.

Maybe you can think of it like this.

I remember when I was young,

my mum used to wake me up,

my brothers up,

every single day for school.

And you'd have that moment when you were,

you were still semi-asleep

and you would hear her footsteps coming up the stairs

and getting louder and louder and louder.

She approached your door

and then bam,

the door would open

and she would go full light switch.

Full light switch.

My instinctive reaction in that moment

was never thank you, mum.

Because I was just sitting here thinking

that I could really do with some bright light

in my life right about now to wake me up.

The three words in my mind every single morning were,

turn it off.

And that's exactly what Jesus is saying here.

That as the Spirit increasingly,

just to stick with the metaphor,

turns up the light dimmer switch

in the lives of his disciples,

the darkness in turn will increasingly raise its voice

to say,

turn it off.

The world provides no cheerleaders

on the path of godliness.

It will hate you

because you are not from here,

says Jesus.

Now why does he talk like this?

I take it as more than just being forewarned,

as being forearmed.

This is,

see when you experience it.

And I take it,

we'll come back to this in a little bit,

that some of us are right now.

Maybe you are in a really scary place.

You're feeling the heat.

You know exactly what he's talking about.

Others of us,

it will come.

He is saying,

when it happens,

don't let it alarm you.

This is Jesus getting out in front of his disciples

and saying,

I'm telling you what life is going to be like.

And real quick,

can I just pull out three things

that I hope strengthen us today

from what Jesus says here?

Do you notice the Father,

the Son,

and the Spirit

all in this section?

Of course,

it's the Christian doctrine

of the Trinity.

It's just two words,

I take it,

that have been mashed together

of the threeness,

the tri,

and the unity.

Trinity.

It's the Father,

Son,

and the Spirit

who are all involved here

in the work of the disciple.

Here's three quick things for you.

Jesus takes responsibility for us.

Jesus is the one

who's standing behind all of this.

Jesus is the one saying

to his disciples,

verse 18,

when the world opposes you,

know that it opposed me first.

He is the one saying,

verse 21,

that when they do these things to you,

they will do them on account of my name.

So when the world opposes you,

however sharp or little that might be,

know that what is really going on here

is that the world is opposing me.

Jesus is the one

who's standing behind this all.

And he is the one

who's standing above it all.

You know,

one of the first Christian martyrs

that you get chronologically

just after this,

I guess,

in the book of Acts

is a man called Stephen

whose only crime

is that he talks about Jesus

and the people's need of him

and they don't want to hear it

and they kill him for it.

But what you get in that scene in Acts

is not just the play out on earth.

What you get there

is the view from heaven.

Jesus is at the right hand of God

and he's not sitting.

He's standing.

He's standing.

He's standing as if to say

the suffering of my people,

it doesn't just get my attention.

The suffering of my people

draws out my heart.

Jesus is,

this is more than just

he sees what's going on.

No, he stands with his people

in this moment.

Jesus takes responsibility here

for the life of his disciples.

He's got us.

He's got us.

And secondly,

do you see how the Father

has visibility of us?

At verse 24,

Jesus isn't saying

that before he entered the world,

people were without fault.

He's saying that the signs,

which I take it is just code for

his whole life in ministry,

it brings out of people,

it draws to the surface

the rejection of God

that was already there.

And he wants the disciples

to know that as people

rejected him,

what they were in fact doing

was rejecting the Father

who sent him.

And so there's a little

domino effect

that's playing out here,

that as the people

reject us,

they are in turn

rejecting the Son,

and they are in turn

rejecting the Father

who sent him.

What does Jesus want us

to know about the Father?

Do you see how at verse 25 there,

he quotes Jesus

likely from the Psalms,

the book of the Bible

we get in the Old Testament,

likely from Psalm 35,

a little bit of it on the screen.

Go home and read it

in your own time.

This Psalm of David,

as he pours out his soul

before the Lord,

he's feeling unjustly treated

as he tries to walk in godliness.

People are trying to trip him up

at every opportunity.

People are bringing

unfounded accusations

against him.

And he says,

Lord, listen,

they repay me evil

for my good.

One of the dominant themes

you get in that Psalm

is, Lord, you have seen it all.

Lord, you are the all-knowing one,

and also you are the all-seeing one.

And Lord, I keep going

because I know

that none of what's playing out here

has escaped your notice.

And I keep going

because, Lord,

one day I know

that you will vindicate me.

If you watch that ITV drama,

Mr. Bates in the post office,

was that not the big thing

that was coming up?

It was not a scene in that

where he says

it's not just about the compensation,

it's about the truth winning.

It's about being vindicated,

being right.

That's something we all long for,

isn't it?

For the truth to prevail.

And this is saying

that God sees it all.

All the suffering of his people,

every nasty words,

every mocking laugh,

every evil intention,

every blow to the chest,

the Father has visibility

of it all.

And thirdly,

the Spirit brings credibility.

You see, I think that's the helper

that Jesus is talking about

there at verse 26.

The Spirit whose job it is

to convince people

about the truth of

and their need of

Jesus as their Savior.

Now, I take it that

there's an internal angle here

to the Spirit's work

because in Psalm 35,

again, right up top,

you get this,

David praying to God

and he says,

would you say to my soul

that you are my salvation?

In other words,

would you massage this truth

deep down into my life

because right now

I'm struggling to believe

that it's true.

And I take it

that the Spirit

for the believer

brings that sense

of assurance

to our hearts

as we suffer for Jesus

in the words of Romans 8.

And of course,

there,

the context in Romans 8

is all about the groaning

that we feel

for God to come

and make this right.

The Spirit will help us cry,

Abba, Father.

Father, help me know.

Help me know this truth.

Help me to keep going.

And I take it

there's an external angle

in the Spirit's work as well.

The primary mission

of the Spirit

and His people

is to show the world

that Jesus is more glorious

than anything

or anyone else

that the world

could possibly offer.

As you live your life

faithfully for Jesus,

it may look like

foolishness to you.

It may look like

we are wasting our time.

But can I encourage us

to see,

because of what Jesus

says here,

not to think for a second

that the Spirit of God

isn't at work

in ways that are

so far above

our ability

to comprehend.

Because speaking about

and witnessing for Jesus,

it really will be

like the proverbial

Marmite taste.

For some,

as they watch you

and taste your life,

it will be the smell

and the taste of death.

And they will be repelled

by it.

However,

others will taste

the same thing.

And to them,

it will be the smell

and taste of life.

And they will be drawn to it.

And that is how

the Spirit of God

is at work

in our everyday

faithfulness.

Now just on that note,

our time is gone.

Just as we close,

let me tell you

about a friend of mine

at school called Stephen.

Stephen.

Because this is exactly

how it worked out

for me.

Stephen was a Christian

in our year at school.

Everyone knew

that Stephen was a Christian.

But there was one day

in particular

that all of us

found out

that he was actually

serious about

this whole God stuff.

It was a few days

before our school

rugby team

played in the

Scottish schools

finals

due to be played

on the pitches

at Murrayfield.

Now you're a sporty

14-year-old boy.

That stuff

is the stuff

of dreams.

And in the days before,

the coach gathers us

together as a squad

and he tells us

the tournament

is going to be

on a Sunday.

And he says,

boys,

is there any reason

before I name

the squad

that anyone thinks

they're not going

to be able to play?

And Stephen's hand

goes up

and he says

in front of the

whole room,

he says,

sir,

I won't make it

because I'll be

at church.

And the rest of us

look at each other

utterly baffled

because in our minds

he has got the choice

between Murrayfield

and the monastery

and he's got it

for one Sunday

and he's picked

the monastery.

And all of us

were thinking,

why on earth

would you choose

to do that?

Now we got obliterated

in the first round

so perhaps Stephen

had most definitely

got the last laugh.

But there I was

growing up

going to church

but let me tell you

very, very happy

to be non-committal

about it

as one who loved

the fence.

I owned the fence

growing up

going to church,

going to school

and I'm watching

Stephen here

unashamedly nail

his colours

to the mast

and I hear

the nicknames

that people give

him outside

the group

and I hear

the jokes

that people make

about him

behind his back

and he was fully

aware of what's

going on

but while for

everyone else

in the room

it just confirmed

the ridiculous

nature of the

Christian faith

for me

for some reason

which I never

understood at the

time but this

passage tells me

Stephen's life

drew me to

Christianity

Christianity

and I saw

in him

someone who

fully embraced

the paradox

that's right at

the heart of

the Christian

life.

He had joy

and he was

willing to

embrace

persecution

and in the

world's eyes

you have joy

when things

are going

well

and when

things are

going badly

you don't

have joy

and yet this

tells us

doesn't it

and I saw

in him

that those

two things

run right

together

and I remember

thinking to

myself in

that moment

whatever he's

got

whatever the

secret sauce

is in his

life

I want it

and I need

it

and so here's

two words

just to

that I'll

leave you

with

as we

respond to

this passage

today

two places

where I think

this is going

to land

for us

here's the

first word

is courage

do some

of us

need to

embrace

the call

to stand

up and be

different for

Jesus

and associate

with him

publicly

when the

question comes

at you

tomorrow

what did

you do

with your

weekend

what are

you going

to say

for some

of us

this will

be

about

courage

let me

just say

if you've

never done

this publicly

before

we have a

baptism

class

that Kate

will mention

later on

tomorrow

night on

Zoom

from 7.15

till just

before 8 o'clock

before the

prayer meeting

if you want

to publicly

associate

yourself with

Jesus

that's what

baptism is

you are saying

I'm following

him

come to that

class and find

out about what

baptism is

but maybe

let me just

say the start

of the year

is always the

best time to

nail your

colors to

the mast

some of us

this will come

as a challenge

for courage

and others

I take it

that we are

here

and it's

not courage

we need

comfort

you know

the pain

of what

Jesus is

talking about

here

and you

feel it

in your

life

acutely

and it

may be

playing out

in all

sorts of

different

places

in your

university

in your

family

in your

workplace

with your

neighbors

however this

is playing

out for you

just now

I want you

to know

that everything

that we've

done here

in this

passage

is true

and I

want you

to

we will

be praying

tonight

at the

prayer

meeting

we will

be praying

tomorrow

night

on zoom

as well

we will

try to

establish

this

prayer

weekend

every

month

that we

do

we want

everybody

to join

in the

prayer

life

of the

church

if this

is you

here's what

I want

you to

do

and I

don't

know

if the

slide

but I

want you

just to

email

questions

at

Brunsfield

that's

our

general

email

address

where all

the

general

inquiries

go

just tell

us your

name

and tell

us how

we can

be praying

for you

what the

arena

is

right now

where you're

feeling the

punch

and we

will make

sure that

all of us

pray for

those things

together

because this

is about

corporately

what we

do

we stand

as a

body

individuals

yes but

as a

body

we uphold

each other

when the

going gets

tough

and that's

what we're

called to

do

we will

make sure

that we

pray for

you

again

speak to

somebody

that you've

come with

grab one of

us you've

seen up

here

we would

love just

to pray

for you

right now

as well

and I'm

going to

do that

in a

minute

but let

me just

leave you

with this

finished a

great book

just now

called

future

proof

how Jesus

has

future

proofed

the church

great read

if you

want it

this is

what the

author

Australian

Stephen

McAlpine

says

he says

yes western

culture may

never have

been more

hostile

but it has

never been

more open

either

and both

hostility

and openness

are only set

to increase

our challenge

and our

opportunity

lies in the

paradox

let me pray

Lord Jesus

we just

thank you

for who

you are

today

we thank

you for

the theological

truth and

heart of

this passage

that we

feel this

in our

lives

because you

are the

one who's

chosen us

out of

the world

we thank

you for

grace

we praise

you for

your mercy

and Lord

I pray

particularly

for those

two words

we thought

about at

the end

Lord

however

this is

playing out

in our

lives

right now

I trust

that your

spirit will

be at

work

bringing

that

sense

of

courage

help us

to be

bold for

you

Lord

Jesus

help us

Lord

as we

think about

the arenas

that we're

currently in

just now

and how

we can

witness

for you

there

Lord

I also

pray for

those who

need

comfort

Lord

who really

are feeling

the sharp

end of

standing

for you

and the

cost

of doing

so

Lord

would you

draw alongside

as one

who knows

as one

who cares

as one

who sees

and as one

who has

got us

in the palm

of your

hands

Father

help us

to be

those who

are not

just living

for today

but are

those who

are

incentivized

because of

the gospel

to live

for tomorrow

and for

your return

so Father

be with us

now as we

close our

time together

we pray

in Jesus

precious name

we ask

Amen

out

law