For Our Good

John 16.1-11

You are filled with grief because I have said these things.

It is for your good that I am going away.- Jesus Christ

We think that just the pleasant things in life are for our good. Most people do not see the value in rain. We complain about it- act as if it has no value at all. I lived in a place for 3 years which had little rain. It was as dry as a bone most of the time. We had to soak what little lawn we had every other day to keep it alive. One summer we got a plague of grasshoppers. They were everywhere. They jumped on you when you walked. It was hard to grow anything in that semi arid climate. I am sure people had them but I do not remember many vegetable gardens. That is what would happen here without rain. Tristan, my grandson, and I were in Target on the rainy day we had on Tuesday. I heard the complaints so I countered with a little jingle I made up called "Don't Complain About the Rain". This guy I see there often yelled out to me, "Did you order this weather?" I answered, "No! The LORD sent it! If we didn't have ti we would turn our Island into a desert!" This other guy was walking by and shouted out, "Amen Brother!" We resist change but change can and often does bring good for us. With cell phones I was able to meet a friend in a cemetery on Monday. His brother, my friend, died 38 years ago at the young age of 17 on April 4, 1973. With Facebook and cell phones I was able to meet him at Pinelawn. Take that walk we read about this week in John 15-16 from the Upper Room to the Temple Courts. Jesus continued the conversation after communion about "His going away". The disciples initially saw nothing good in that. They viewed it from a totally negative perception. We often need Christ to correct our wrong thinking. He explained things to them. He said, "It is for your good that I am going away." Good= advantage, to bring together- at the same time (it united them). to carry with others, to collect or contribute in order to help- Gifts to Japan/ Gifts of the Holy Spirit, to be profitable, expedient. The death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ ushered in the Age of Spirit which we are now in. Jesus was confined to a human body while here on earth but today the Spirit is working all over the world! He was with them. Soon He was to be in them. 1. The Things That Appear and Sound Sad and Even Fill Us With Grief Can Be For Our Good. vs.6-7 Wait for the LORD. Psalm 27.14 Don't tell people this - pray for them to discover it. Speaking the truth in love means if you can't do it with compassion and understanding you are better off keeping your mouth shut. Jesus going away seemed like the worst news the disciples could imagine. Like Nathaniel asked about Jesus, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth? he might have been thinking "Can anything good come out of this for us?" We face the trials life brings asking these questions. The LORD tells us to wait. Remember what He said through Moses when they thought Pharaoh would overtake them at the Red Sea? "Don't be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today." Exodus 14.13 Wait. Stand firm. God will act. What gets us to pray more- the blessings or the difficulties? 2. Our Grief, When We Are In Christ, Will Turn To Joy. v.20 * This is the way of repentance- the way of life in Christ. Tear then joy. If not immediately then ultimately. Christ Jesus is the great Shepherd of the Sheep and the Comforter of Human Hearts. *In Jesus even death is swallowed up in victory! The 500 hundred Christians who will give up their lives today for the faith, our brothers and sisters, around the world, like our LORD, those who kill them will think that they put an end to their lives when in reality at the moment after death they will be filled with joy unspeakable and the church on earth will be strengthened. * As we mature in Christ we realize our sorrows here are but a stepping stone to a deepening of our faith. Fruit like patience is born in adversity and developed through difficulty. The most patient people are those who have suffered the most and allowed God to do the work He desires in their hearts. 3. A Word About Heaven - II Corinthians 12.3-4 While we know some things about heaven, there are other things that remain a mystery- not able to even be talked about. It is too wonderful to fully describe! We do know that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (II Corinthians 4.17). We know our troubles, pain, suffering, sorrow, tears, death will be done away with. In heaven we will know fully. We will understand that many things we have grieved over have ended up working for our good. What we presently look at as disadvantaged we will find out actually was not that at all.

We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight.