LutheranLectionary.org

1 Year Lectionary – Fourth Sunday of Easter – Sunday, May 8, 2022 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:28	the holy gospel according to saint john the 16th chapter
0:41	jesus said a little while and you will see me no longer and again a little while and you will see me
0:47	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
0:53	and again a little while and you will see me and because i’m going to the father so they were saying what does he
0:59	mean by a little while we do not know what he is talking about now jesus knew
1:05	that they wanted to ask him so he said to them is this what you are asking yourselves what i meant by saying a
1:11	little while and you will not see me in again a little while and you will see me truly truly i say to you you will weep
1:18	and lament but the world will rejoice you will be sorrowful but your sorrow
1:24	will turn into joy when a woman is giving birth she has sorrow because her hour has come but when she has delivered
1:31	the baby she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world so also you
1:38	have sorrow now but i will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one
1:44	will take your joy from you this is the gospel of the lord in the name of jesus
1:50	amen all right we’re going to set up our text today our gospel text jesus says you’re going to
1:56	see me for a little while then you’re not going to see me then you’re going to see me and in the it not the part where
2:02	he says you’re not going to see me he says that you’re going to mourn you’re going to lament you’re going to have
2:07	sorrow and then when he returns you’re going to have joy so let me kind of put it this way
2:14	today’s sermon will absolutely rule me out of ever being qualified to be a mega
2:19	church pastor the reason why i say that is because this is not an ear scratching sermon
2:25	this is a tough one that we need to take into consideration think back to when jesus on the night that he’s betrayed
2:32	there he is in that upper room he’s having a passover meal with his disciples and he says
2:38	the scriptures must be fulfilled the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will scatter and you all are going to
2:44	betray me and well deny me and peter says ah lord i’ll never do that right
2:50	and jesus pushes back and basically says no the scriptures must be fulfilled
2:57	so all of that being said take this into consideration if you’ve been told that christianity is all about how you’re the
3:03	head and not the tail how god wants you to be healthy prosperous influential and
3:08	all this kind of other kind of nonsense this is going to just be a rude awakening because christ is telling us
3:16	that it his it is his will that we suffer
3:22	let’s let that sit there for a second it says will that we suffer let me give you a text to kind of help out with this
3:29	in hebrews chapter 12 the author writes my son
3:34	do not regard lightly the discipline of the lord nor be weary when reproved by him for
3:42	the lord let me put this in air quotes discipline’s the one he loves and
3:48	chastises every son whom he receives it is for discipline that you have to
3:53	endure god is treating you as sons now the lord disciplines the one he loves
3:58	let me give you a better translation that is just way too polite the greek here is mastigas the lord
4:06	scourges the one he loves
4:12	say what yeah you remember that passage in the proverbs spare the rod spoil the
4:18	child do you think it not applies to you you said they’re going i’m an adult you
4:24	know i haven’t i haven’t been a kid since you know decades ago right no it really does
4:30	apply to us too it’s not merely talking about how to raise a child it’s talking about how god
4:36	the father treats us and so what i thought i would do today is since this
4:41	is a this is well the best way i can put it this is a tough uh passage to consider and a tough
4:47	concept one that we are just not keen about that being the case i thought i would ease our way into this today so
4:54	here’s what we’re going to do we’re going to start in the types and shadows since it’s mother’s day and we don’t
5:00	have sunday school i thought maybe a little more bible study today in our sermon would be good we’ll start in the
5:05	types and shadows we’ll start in the types and shadows and so exodus chapter 15 the the children of israel they have
5:11	just crossed the red sea on dry land god has opened up the sea and a wall of
5:17	water on the right wall of water on their left as we’ve noted before this is the initial inspiration for aquariums
5:24	right and they pass through the red sea the egyptian army tries this
5:29	they fail because god kills them causes the sea to crash in on them and then they sing that glorious song ah the lord
5:35	is mighty in battle the horse and the rider he is cast into the sea and no sooner does that incident you know end
5:44	now we get this really odd little text i mean just a weird kind of thing you’ve
5:51	probably read it before and thought what do we do with that all right so here’s the text exodus 15 22 moses made israel
5:58	set out from the red sea and they went into the wilderness of shore they went three days into the wilderness and they
6:05	found no water when they came to mara they could not
6:11	drink the water of mara because it was bitter and therefore it was named mara
6:17	in hebrew mara means bitter and so the people grumbled against moses saying what shall we drink
6:24	and he cried to yahweh and yahweh showed him a log a piece of wood he threw it into the water and the water became
6:31	sweet clear as do you guys see it yet
6:36	okay think of it this way in the types and shadows this is not a throwaway detail the church father is extensively
6:42	right about this how they they preach on this text a lot and so what do the church fathers believe about this what
6:48	is god getting at what’s it mean well after we’ve been baptized into christ
6:54	that’s what the red sea crossing was it was a baptism once we are baptized and
6:59	we begin our wilderness waters out wanderings you know as we head towards the real promised land the new heaven
7:05	the new earth well we are made to drink bitter water
7:11	and the church fathers they saw that that piece of wood that moses threw into the water to make it sweet as an
7:17	illusion to the cross itself and so think of the theme you’re gonna you’re not gonna see me for a while
7:24	you’re gonna weep lament have sorrow but then your sorrow will turn to joy i’m coming back that’s the idea
7:31	let me give you another concept here types and shadows first king chapter six
7:36	when solomon is building the temple david is dead now solomon is building
7:42	the temple and we hear this little detail and you just sit there and go well that’s
7:48	odd but here’s the detail when the house was built talking about the temple of
7:53	the lord it was with stones prepared at the quarry so that neither hammer nor ax or any
8:01	tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built okay it’s an odd little thing well
8:09	johann gerhardt the famous lutheran theologian he has an interesting spin on this i like his take he basically puts
8:15	it this way we according to scripture christians we are
8:21	all stones being built into the temple of god the world we live in is the
8:27	quarry all right and so you’ll note have you ever seen big large rocks okay do they look like
8:34	you just grab them and throw them into a building and no they have to be broken and so what do these guys do at the
8:41	quarry they take these pegs and these sledgehammers and they drive them into these huge rocks
8:47	tink tink tink and finally they split crack right well now you’ve only got one
8:53	smooth edge now you got to do it again and then you got to break it again
8:58	and then you got to break it again and again and then you’ve got to get it into the you know this stone needs to be
9:05	a particular size so they pull out chisels
9:10	right and they go to work on these stones what began as a blob of rock
9:15	turns into a perfectly good stone to be built into the temple and here’s what peter says in first peter 2
9:23	as you come to him a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of god chosen and precious
9:29	you yourselves are like living stones you are being built up as a spiritual
9:35	house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to god through jesus christ
9:42	so that since we are living stones you’ll note then christ has to chisel us
9:48	and well the stones are not prepared at the site where the temple is built they’re prepared in the quarry this is
9:55	the quarry and you’ll note that the breaking work of suffering has to be done on each and every one of us me
10:03	included and then if you remember the apostle paul the apostle paul when he was saul
10:08	of tarsus he was on his way to damascus right and the lord appeared to him blinded him sent him into damascus he
10:15	was there for three days he didn’t eat for three days and then the lord appears and has a conversation with a disciple
10:21	by the name of ananias ananias ananias here i am lord and he tells him to go to
10:27	straight street to find saul of tarsus and to preach the gospel
10:32	to him to heal his eyes and and ananias is like well lord
10:38	haven’t you heard about this guy yet it’s like he’s killing us right and and and what does jesus say
10:44	i will show him what he must suffer in my
10:49	name and indeed
10:55	the apostle paul does suffer horrifically now in one particular passage which i find really
11:01	always so interesting in acts chapter 14 uh paul and barnabas they’re on one of
11:06	their missionary journeys and they come to a city a town by the name of lystra and this is a pagan town this there’s
11:13	not a lot of there’s not a lot of jews here it says this at least there was a man sitting
11:20	who could not use his feet he was crippled from birth and he never walked
11:25	he listened to paul speaking and paul looked intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well he said in
11:31	a loud voice stand up on your feet and he sprang up and he began walking and when the crowd saw what paul had done
11:38	they lifted up their voices saying in the laconian language the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men
11:46	well that kind of rules out the bethel concept well you have to perform signs and wonders to get people to believe in
11:51	jesus this sign and wonder seem to have been a distraction right they think that the greco-roman deities have come down
11:57	so barnabas they called zeus paul they called hermes because he was the chief speaker and the priest of zeus whose
12:02	temple was at the entrance of to the city he brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifices
12:09	with the crowds but when the apostles barnabas and paul heard of it they tore their garments they rushed out into the
12:15	crowd crying men why are you doing these things we also are men of like nature
12:20	with you and we bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living god who made the heaven and
12:27	the earth and the sea and all that is in them in past generations god allowed all nations to walk in their own ways yet he
12:33	did not leave them without witness for he did good by giving you reigns from heaven fruitful seasons satisfying your
12:40	hearts with food and gladness even with these words they scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them
12:48	but then the jews came from antioch and iconium and having then persuaded the crowds they stoned paul and dragged him
12:55	out of the city supposing that he was dead no good deed goes unpunished uh paul
13:01	went quickly from being hero to zero you know to offering we want to offer sacrifices to you to i kill you right
13:08	and what’s going on here this is part of the suffering that we christians go through and so they thought he was
13:16	dead they carry his corpse throw him into the trash heap but when the disciples gathered around him he rose up
13:22	and then entered the city and then on the next day he went on with barnabas to derby and when they had preached the
13:28	gospel to that city and had made many disciples they returned to lystra and
13:33	iconium and antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples could you imagine how
13:38	how fun that would have been for paul walking through the city of leester going hey guys good to see you you
13:45	thought i was dead well guess what cat came back the very next day yeah
13:50	right sorry but there he is and it says what’s he going to do here he’s going to
13:56	strengthen the souls of the disciples and he’s going to encourage them to
14:01	continue in the faith and then he says this saying that through
14:07	many tribulations we must enter the kingdom
14:12	of god if you’re looking for a religion that’s going to ease your
14:19	suffering you’re in the wrong place the reason why is that jesus the our
14:25	christ the messiah who suffered he wills that you suffer with him
14:31	and it is through our suffering that god is working things in us that we need
14:37	work and we may not even be cognitive cognitive we may not even be aware there we go i
14:43	want to make sure he’s the right word we may not even be aware of how deep our sin runs in this capacity consider what
14:51	psalm 119 says starting at verse 65 the psalmist writes
14:57	you have dealt well with your servant good thesis statement right oh lord according to
15:02	your word so teach me good judgment and teach me knowledge for i believe in your commandments
15:09	and then verse 67 before i was afflicted
15:14	i went astray but now i keep your word
15:20	let’s be blunt here the suffering that christ is calling us to is not the kind of suffering that
15:26	people write 10 page papers about in college i would like you all to write a 10 page paper
15:34	double spaced make sure to get your footnotes and your endnotes in the mla style thing all worked out and i want
15:40	you to explain to me the concept of suffering according to the bible and
15:45	right okay so we all write our paper and turn it in good job that’s just academic knowledge
15:54	not going to help you and it doesn’t help us and so you’ll note the psalmist says before i was afflicted i went astray
16:01	but now i keep your word you are good and you do good so teach me your statutes the insolent they smear me
16:08	with lies but my whole heart with my whole heart i keep your precepts their heart is unfeeling like fat but i
16:14	delight in your law it is good for me that i was afflicted that i might learn your statutes i’ve
16:22	said it before and i’ll reiterate it this i’m not a fan of pastors who go straight from high
16:28	school to college from college to seminary to seminary to the pulpit these guys can’t even grow a beard properly
16:34	because they’re so young right and these guys are just a little too idealistic in their thinking
16:41	and when people say you know my pastor he’s a young guy and stuff like this and they say what should i do about this i said
16:46	just give it some time he hasn’t suffered enough yet after he suffered that nonsense will be
16:52	knocked right out of him and it’s true and so you’ll note then christ wills for
16:58	us to suffer peter says it in this way in first peter 4 since therefore christ
17:04	suffered in the flesh arm yourselves with this same way of thinking for whoever has suffered in the
17:11	flesh has ceased from sin so as to live for the rest of time of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but
17:18	for the will of god you’ll note that our suffering causes us to think really hard about our life
17:25	think hard about our own sin because so many times you know the reason why you’re suffering is because of you
17:34	i suffer because of me stupid decisions i’ve made the sins that i’ve committed the ways on
17:41	which i’ve hurt other people yeah i’ve been made to suffer dearly
17:46	the the lord scourges all of his sons it is for discipline that he is doing these things
17:53	so the time that is past suffices then for doing what the gentiles want to do living sensuality passions drunkenness
17:59	orgies drinking parties and lawless idolatry with respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in
18:06	the same flood of debauchery and they malign you but they will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the
18:11	living and the dead he then goes on to say in verse 12. so beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial
18:21	when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you
18:26	notice if peter doesn’t say beloved if a fiery trial comes upon you no he says when
18:33	the word of god cannot be broken it cannot you will suffer
18:39	so do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were
18:46	happening to you instead rejoice in so far as you share christ’s
18:52	sufferings so that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed
18:58	if you are insulted for the name of christ you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of god rests upon
19:06	you kind of tongue-in-cheek you know i i don’t know if you guys have noticed but i i get a lot of hate mail on in my
19:12	email account i get some really terse comments directed at me i get slandered publicly from time to time it’s it’s all
19:19	part of being a christian in the in the big marketplace of ideas on the internet and you know i remember one time we one
19:26	fellow had put out a video you know accusing me of all kinds of weird things that i’m just not even close closely
19:33	guilty of at all and josh had informed me about the video and i said well at
19:38	least now i’ve got another lane in my olympic-sized swimming pool in heaven you know because i’m blessed we’re
19:43	blessed when we are made to suffer when people persecute us when they slander us we’re even blessed in the sufferings we
19:49	go through in our bodies so the idea then if you are insulted for the name of christ you’re blessed because the spirit
19:55	of the glory of god rests upon you so let none of you then though suffer as a murderer or a thief if the reason why
20:01	you’re suffering is because you’re in prison because you murdered somebody well it’s because you murdered somebody
20:08	that’s the proper way that discipline happens you think you get the idea here so
20:14	but yet if anyone suffers then as a christian let him not be ashamed let him
20:19	glorify god in that name it is time for judgment to begin in the household of god and if it begins with us
20:26	what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel so if the righteous is scarcely saved peter says
20:32	what will become of the ungodly and of the sinner therefore let those who suffer according to god’s will let them
20:39	entrust their souls to a faithful creator while continuing to do good
20:45	and you’ll note then that the reason why the ear scratchers the the prosperity preachers and those who don’t preach
20:52	about sin and repentance and the crucified lord uh whom we need to suffer in our place so
20:58	that we can be forgiven they don’t preach those messages they just say you do these things and you’re going to have better outcomes in your life are your
21:04	kids misbehave well there’s a reason for that because they’re sinners like you all right
21:10	are you struggling in your finances and toiling at work well there’s a reason for that it’s because of your sin and
21:18	mine this is the consequences of our sin is your body failing and falling apart this
21:24	is also because of sin and you’ll note god then is this
21:29	wonderful father who takes this evil and turns it and works it for good and listen to what
21:36	paul says in romans 5 therefore since we have been justified by faith we have
21:42	peace with god through our lord jesus christ and here we would note christ is the one
21:48	who suffered bled and died in our place took on the wrath of god so that we would not have to suffer the wrath of
21:55	god he took that suffering in our place so that we can be forgiven reconciled and pardoned to god all by grace as a
22:02	gift through faith and you’ll note then when we have peace with god now we are at war
22:09	with the world we have peace with god we’re at war with satan we have peace with god we’re even
22:15	at war with our own sinful flesh in fact this is what paul says that our sinful
22:20	passions war with our souls to make us do the things that we ought not to do
22:26	we’re at war with everything else when we’re at peace with god but when we’re at peace with the world
22:32	we’re at war with god this is how this works you have to pick a side you don’t get to say you’re neutral and you well i love
22:39	god i love the world that’s not how this works but then note this having been forgiven and reconciled through the
22:45	sufferings of christ by grace justified declared righteous and having peace with god through him we have obtained access
22:52	by faith into this grace in which we stand and in which we rejoice in the hope of
22:58	the glory of god but not only that paul says we now rejoice in our
23:05	sufferings huh
23:11	yeah we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that and watch the verb here suffering
23:18	produces it’s going i’m going to finish the sentence for a second suffering
23:24	produces god uses suffering to do something very
23:29	important in our lives and here’s what it is suffering produces endurance
23:35	isn’t it christ who said the one who endures to the end will be saved
23:43	how does one get that endurance through suffering
23:49	you think of you know if if somebody were to say to me like next week say hey you know pastor rose bro um
23:55	in two weeks there’s going to be a marathon here in grand forks you want to do it
24:00	don’t don’t laugh at me don’t just hater’s gonna hate you in the hater aid okay i don’t know what’s going on here
24:07	okay you guys don’t look confident that i could run a marathon and i can’t [Laughter]
24:14	and there’s a reason for this because i haven’t trained for it i don’t have the endurance to run a
24:20	marathon all right i have presently the endurance to walk a 5k
24:26	praise the lord okay and after that i’m done i ain’t running that no way
24:32	but the whole point is is that how does one prepare themselves such for an endurance race like a marathon
24:39	they’ve got to train and have you ever noticed that training is a lot like suffering in fact it is right it is
24:47	and if you haven’t trained you don’t have the endurance necessary and so note here this is why we rejoice in our
24:54	suffering because god uses our suffering to produce in us endurance
24:59	the one who suffers is then able to no longer have confidence in their own
25:04	flesh to realize their own sinfulness recognize the pain they’ve inflicted on others as they’ve had pain inflicted on
25:11	them and cry out to god and god grants them then through suffering the endurance necessary so
25:18	that they can endure to the end you see my goal right now is not to sit there and say oh you guys you have faith in
25:24	jesus way to go you know let me punch your ticket you’re all going to heaven right the one who endures to the end
25:29	will be saved the devil’s trying to knock that faith out of you and so my job as a pastor is to get you
25:35	safely in the grave that sounds a little weird right okay my idea of safety is a little different
25:42	than how the world works right now so yeah and don’t worry i have no plans to do you and we will not be
25:49	serving kool-aid afterwards that’s not what i meant okay
25:54	okay but the idea then is is that through our suffering god is producing in us endurance and endurance then
26:03	produces character character produces hope hope doesn’t put us to shame
26:09	because god’s love now has been poured into the hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us
26:17	suffering is an important thing not only embrace it
26:22	rejoice when it shows and when it does it is not that god hates you he’s treating you like his
26:29	sons a true our true father disciplines us through this so that we would have endurance and so jesus says to his
26:36	disciples a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me so truly truly i say to
26:43	you you will weep you will lament and christ did both he
26:49	weeped and he lamented he we wept over the destruction of his good creation the
26:55	creation that he declared tov very good blown apart by this attack of satan and our
27:02	participation in sin and the death that followed jesus wept to the tomb of lazarus he lamented over
27:10	jerusalem who wouldn’t repent and he also suffered greatly he suffered in his
27:17	body for your sins and mind so that we can be forgiven and he says this to his disciples and you are his disciples
27:24	you will be sorrowful and who of you who’ve lived a little bit of time on
27:31	this earth cannot say yep i know exactly what this is been there done that and have the scars
27:38	to prove it one of the things i found to be one of the most surreal experiences of my entire life was after the death of my
27:45	best friend ken silva it was a surreal experience
27:51	that one hit me hard and i went into deep mourning even practically a depression and what was
27:58	the most surreal part about all of that was i made the mistake of logging into
28:03	social media and reading the facebook feeds of the people who follow me and my friends on facebook
28:09	and everything they were writing about and talking about just seemed so empty
28:14	and stupid so one woman put up a recipe for muffins another person was talking about
28:21	politics another person was talking about how they washed their car and another person put a photograph of the breakfast that they had that morning
28:28	and all of it just seemed so empty and hollow and it was weird i my whole
28:34	life came to a grinding halt and i was in deep mourning and suffering over the death of my friend
28:39	and everyone else was just going along their merry way talking about nothing
28:45	that’s what suffering does it gives you a different perspective altogether and jesus says you will
28:51	be sorrowful but remember the word of god cannot be broken
28:56	just like what christ said to peter and who his disciples the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered
29:04	just like he said that and the word of god cannot be broken christ’s words cannot be broken either because it doesn’t end with the sorrow that we
29:11	experience in this life christ also says but but your sorrow will turn to joy
29:20	when christ returns all of this pain that we go through will give way to joy
29:26	and then he gives this example when a woman is giving birth she has sorrow
29:31	i would even note sorrow fear anxiety pain it’s all there i saw my wife do it three times because her hour has come
29:38	but when she has delivered the baby she no longer remembers the anguish for the joy that a human being has been born
29:44	into the world so also you have sorrow now but i will see you again and your
29:50	hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you you’ll note that christ
29:57	on two occasions uses the metaphor the analogy of a woman giving birth here
30:02	he’s talking about the sufferings that we go through in matthew 24 jesus uses the analogy of a woman in labor to talk
30:10	about the pains of birth that the world and the travail that the world will go through as we get closer and closer to
30:16	the return of christ ultimately this world dying and the new world the new
30:22	heavens and earth being given birth to i think it’s fitting that he uses it this analogy in two different ways for those
30:29	who are persistent sin and unbelief christ’s death and the tribulations that are to come are going to undo them for
30:36	we who are in christ the tribulations the sufferings that we go through these are the birth pains for the hope and the
30:43	joy and the arrival of what has been promised the consummation of time when jesus returns in glory not to judge us
30:51	because we have already been found innocent by the shed blood of christ and
30:56	so on that day when jesus returns we will not be looking for rocks to hide under we will not cower in fear instead
31:04	we will look up and see the sign of his coming and we will rejoice and on that day we will finally see our god face to
31:12	face we’ll see jesus in his splendor his glory and might and we will hear him say
31:18	to each and every one of us well done good and faithful servant but in the meantime
31:24	arm yourselves with this idea christ wills for you now to suffer so suffer we
31:30	must and suffer then rejoicing knowing that at the end of all
31:37	of this pain and agony that we go through christ who is working good in us
31:42	teaching us to follow his commandments teaching us to hate the things of this world that one day this world will pass
31:49	away and we will have joy inexpressible and eternal and it will never be taken from
31:55	us because christ he suffered and he did this for the joy set before him the hope
32:01	of saving and redeeming even you and i in the name of jesus amen

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