Sermon Guide: John 16:16-33 “Sorrow, Joy, & Peace”
Date Preached: March 16, 2025
Listen to the sermon here (https://christchurchtn.com/sermons)
Watch the sermon here (https://www.youtube.com/@Christ_Church_TN/streams)
Key Passages
John 16:16–33, ESV
“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 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. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 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.”
“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 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.”
Sermon Overview
Jesus comforted his disciples by telling them that through their greatest sorrow (his death) will come their greatest joy (his resurrection, and all its implications). If God can produce great joy through great sorrow, then we can trust him with all of our sorrows and pain. He promises that he will work all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
Sermon Structure
1. The Birth of Joy (v. 16–22)
Interpreting the metaphor of childbirth
The foundation of Christian joy is Christ’s suffering
2. The Maturation of Joy (v. 23–28)
Re-framing the privilege of prayer
Direct access to God the Father through Christ’s death
3. The Peace of Eucatastrophe (v. 29–33)
Peace with God, through Christ’s wounds
Definitions & Resources
Eucatastrophe
A word invented by J.R.R. Tolkien, which is a story’s turn to good through tragedy.
Tolkien wrote, “[Eucatastrophe] produces [joy at the turn of a Happy Ending] because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. ... the Resurrection was the greatest 'eucatastrophe' possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love.”
Justificaction
The act of God in bringing sinners into a new covenant relationship with himself through the forgiveness of sins. It is a declarative act of God by which he establishes persons as righteous; that is, in right and true relationship to himself. Your justification was accomplished by Christ at the cross, and applied by the Spirit at your conversion.
Sanctification
The ongoing supernatural work of God to rescue justified sinners from the disease of sin and to conform them to the image of his Son: holy, Christlike, and empowered to do good works.
Mediator
One who stands between two parties for the sake of their reconciliation. The Bible says that there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ. As fully God, Jesus alone can represent God to us; as fully man, Jesus alone — sinless — can represent us to God. Through his work of mediation on the cross, Jesus accomplished our reconciliation to God by dealing with the sin that separated us.
Questions for Discussion & Reflection
1. In what ways do sin and sorrow threaten to drive us away from Jesus? How have you experienced this in your own life?
2. The sermon states that "their sorrow wasn’t replaced by joy—it produced joy." How does this change the way we view trials in our lives?
3. What are the greatest barriers in your life to the joy and peace that Christ offers?
