Lent 2: Jesus- the One we cling to and why we can trust in the promises of God during hard times
'"Now I am going to him who sent me."
Last week I started a series on the season of Lent. To refresh your memory, or catch you up to speed, Lent is a time where we pause, reflect, and prepare. A time to ask ourselves how are we doing with Jesus and a time to start fresh.
Lent is time to reflect on how great God’s love truly is!
Reading in John 16, Jesus starts off with a very powerful statement –
“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.”
“I have told you these things so you will not be ashamed of Me and leave Me.”
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.”
“These things I have spoken to you so that you will not be led into sin.”
John 16:1 NASB
“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away.”
John 16:1 NIV
I enjoy reading different translations to compare to gain a deeper understanding of the text is trying to convey.
It's interesting reading the different wording, it sheds more light on this very serious warning Jesus is giving to His disciples.
- “keep you from falling away.”
- “so you will not be ashamed of Me and leave Me.”
- “you should not be made to stumble.”
- “so that you will not be led into sin.”
- “so that you will not fall away.”
When you read these different translations, do any of them impact you differently?
When I read, I also like to ask myself questions to help me meditate on what I am reading.
- What does falling away mean to me?
- Have I ever felt ashamed of following Jesus and thought about leaving or at least hiding it?
- What does Jesus mean to stumble?
- Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that you won’t be led into sin." What is it that will cause us to sin against Him?
Jesus has only a few more hours before his arrest. He just shared His last meal with them, and now is the time for His final words of warning of what is to come and how they need to be ready, because they have no idea what is headed their way.
Just as we do not. Because God knows that we are human and that our faith can fade quickly, He knows we need solumn warnings because He does not want His followers to be blindsided.
He knows that hard times and persecution can cause any of us to wobble in our faith. The Greek word “stumble” in the verse means to falter in faith. Falter – fade, fall, & leave – which is the warning – which all of these is what leads to our sinning against Him.
But thank goodness, that’s not where Jesus leaves His disciples, He ends His warning with hopefilled, helpful, encouraging, and powerful words to remind us - while things look dark and hopeless, Jesus is One we cling to and trust in during hard times.
The Cross proves this.
Here are four things to reflect on this Lent season and for you to hold onto when you face hard times:
1. The Coming of the Helper John 16:7-14: Jesus explains that His leaving (death/resurrection/ascension) is necessary so that the "Helper,” who is the Holy Spirit, can come. He will be our guide/counselor, our comforter, He will strengthen us during hard times to not fall away, reveal sin, and continue to point and lead all to Jesus.
2. Joy & Grief: John 16:16-22: Jesus tells his disciples, "A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me,"
Jesus is explaining that hard days are coming but that their grief will turn into joy that no one can take from them. Likewise with us when we are in the midst of hardship, God is the midst of it and can and will give us peace in our suffering and can and will bring joy from it.
Romans 8:18, Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.”
3. Victory Over the World: John 16:33: "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".
Jesus knows that His disciples need to hear – just as He knows we need to hear this when we go through hard seasons of life. We need to know there is victory over suffering and death! That Jesus conquered sin and that it is not all pointless and wasted!
4. Access to the Father: John 16:23-28: Jesus promises that we have full access to the Father and that we can come boldly to God with our brokenness, our doubts and frustrations, and our greatest needs and talk directly to God and pray in Jesus name for what we are needing – and that He will answer – in His time and His way.
Hebrews 4:16, "Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need."