John 16: The Magic Genie

Why do Christians suffer?  What should we ask God to do for us in this regard?  Is he available like the famous story of Aladdin and his lamp to respond to our wishes?  We’ll explore this in part from John 16.  Let’s begin with some context.

Chapter 16 is awkwardly placed into John’s gospel.  It’s not the text that is awkward, but breaking the context is unnecessary.  Here, Jesus has been telling the disciples how they would suffer for him.  He is encouraging them to not abandon their faith and says he has been warning them so they would be ready when the time came…to be prepared to suffer.

In a very real sense, Jesus had been their shepherd/protector.  He says:

⁴ I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, ⁵but now I am going to him who sent me.  John 16:4

While Jesus was alive, he took the brunt of the abuse from the Jews.  He was attacked.  He was hunted.  He was nearly stoned and thrown off a cliff.  He was scorned and accused of sin.  The disciples had suffered these things to a far lesser degree because Jesus was the main target, but he knew after he departed, his disciples would be the target of this abuse.

The reference to throwing them out of the synagogue needs to be understood in its historical context.  This was not the equivalent to kicking somebody out of a Sunday morning worship service at a local church.  The synagogue was the center of the Jewish life and culture.  To be thrown out of the synagogue was to be outcast from the entire community – rejected by the church, the city, the  nation.  Because of the severity of what they would suffer, a helper, an “Advocate” would be sent to them…the Holy Spirit.

Jesus makes this promise with the assurance that it was a necessity, stating it was a good thing that he would leave so the Holy Spirit could come and be with them.  It’s not that the Spirit was absent from the world before now (there are many references to the Spirit in the OT), but admittedly, the Spirit’s work took on a new weight or emphasis with the establishment of the church.  The Spirit’s presence would be the seal of redemption (Ephesians 1) and would give the apostles power to stand, to speak, and to work wonders among men.

²¹ A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.  ²² So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:21-22

Jesus uses this imagery of childbirth to describe how their momentary grief at his departure would be turned to joy with his resurrection and (in context) with the coming of the Advocate.  Indeed, Paul used the same imagery in Romans 1 to describe how all of creation had been ” in labor” awaiting what was about to unfold.

An practical lesson for all believers from this passage is the reality of Christian suffering and the necessity of it.  Too often our prayers center on God taking away every hurt, every illness, every problem, and every persecution or trial.  We easily fall into the cycle of treating God like a “magic genie”.  In other words, we just rub the lamp of prayer and God comes out to grant our wishes.  This can consume our prayer life.

While God cares about our lives, and while praying for healing and peace is biblically sound, the Christian must learn that suffering is not only allowed by God for his people – it is promised.  James says trials are to be counted a “joy” because of the patience they produce.  In chapter 4 of his epistle, James also says we often pray selfishly…for our own pleasure.  If our purpose in praying to God to relieve our suffering is simply for the sake of relieving our suffering, we have missed a valuable point.  Let us not forget to pray that God use the trials we (or others) are facing to accomplish a great work in us for the gospel and for his kingdom.  Pray we might see his discipline in our sufferings.  Pray we might see his justice or his grace played out to better understand his will.

   ³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I recently heard someone I know (who is a personal fitness trainer by trade) use the expression, “Pain is just temporary”.  I suppose that is a good way to motivate someone in intense physical training.  I wouldn’t know, since in no way am I a product of intense physical fitness training.  However, this expression is true in a larger sense.  In the end, God has won the greatest victory of all.  Our trials, pains, and needs will melt away as nothing when we see the awesome nature of what Christ has done in redeeming us and making eternal life with him a reality!

– Based on a lesson by John Summers

Failing Tests

I took a test a few days ago for a degree I’m pursuing through my employer.  I knew this test was coming for a while, but I put off studying until the last week.  I  gave it my best shot, but I failed.  I mean I crashed and burned.  I’ll have to try again in the near future with a lot more preparation next time. Fortunately, I still have my job.  It’s secure regardless of how I performed on this test – even though they asked me to take it.  You see, my employer simply wants me to continue to grow in my role as an employee so I can best represent and advance the company’s good name.

As simple as it may seem, that’s picture of our Christian walk.  To be sure, our call as Christians is to holy living. Jesus taught this, and so did Paul, Peter, and the other New Testament writers.  Here are a few examples of this instruction from Paul, Peter and John:

¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”  1 Pet. 1:16

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them.  1 John 2:15

¹ As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you should learn to control your own body^[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵ not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; ⁶ and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.^[b] The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. ⁷ For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. ⁸ Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.  1 Ths. 4:1-8

We are called to be holy, and it isn’t an easy road.  The wonderful thing about our relationship with God through Christ is that while each day throws a new challenge our way, we know (like I knew about my recent test) that our failures to pass daily tests don’t ultimately destroy our relationship with our God.  The good news of Jesus Christ is victory in spite of our failures – not victory because we pass every test with flying colors.  James chapter 1 says our frequent trials produce endurance.  Each trial leaves us better prepared for the next whether we “pass or fail” the test, which serves to draw us closer to the image of Jesus. Will we fail again in the future?  There is no doubt we will, but that is no excuse to resign ourselves to live a life of failure and depravity.  To do so would be to reject the one who died to give us life and would “trample under foot” (Heb. 10:29) the grace that has been shown to us in him.

It bothers me that I failed my test.  I know it was my own fault.  So, I’ll pick myself back up and try again, but I’ll also report to work each day in the confidence that I am still an employee of my company.  I made a commitment to them a long time ago, and I have no plans to change that.

Analogies always break down at some point, so just bear with me in this.  I know I could do one stupid thing at work and get fired forever, but that won’t happen with God.  I know my employer could theoretically force me to take a single test upon which my job depends, but God doesn’t do that to us.  He won’t say, “You will be tempted to lie today.  If you fail this test, you’re out!”  With God there is always forgiveness unless we reveal an out-and-out rejection of him by our spirit and actions.  Such a rejection of God tends to manifest itself over a period of time.  The same goes for my job.  For example, if I fail every test my employer asks me to take because I just don’t care, or if I purposely put down the wrong answers in a spirit of rebellion because I resent the tests, or I don’t even show up to take the tests, my employer will eventually get the message that I’m really not committed to being a part of this enterprise.   They will recognize that I want the benefits and rewards of being an employee, but I don’t really have any loyalty to the company.  Back to our relationship with God, this is why James emphasizes that the faith that saves us must be a faith that works and endures.  If it doesn’t, then it is no faith at all.

As Christians, we can take courage knowing we are secure in Christ.  God is not vindictive or capricious.  He is not looking for any excuse to throw us out of the family, but he does want our sanctification.   Tests come.  Sometimes we pass.  Sometimes we fail.  Have you failed a spiritual test recently?  Don’t despair. Get up and keep going – not because you need to “come back” to God’s family,  but because you’re still part of God’s family.

Thank God he is gracious and merciful and has already given us the victory we need, and let that move us to endure in a working faith to the end!