"FACING LIFE’S MOST DIFFICULT PRESSURES"
John 16:31-33
Main Idea: Life’s most difficult pressures can be faced with confidence in the overwhelming power of Jesus.
Introduction: The pressures in the natural world of God’s creation that result from the law of gravity are astounding. The pressure in our atmosphere is normally about 14.7 pounds per square inch. That means if you took a block that was an inch in all its sides and put it on the floor of the CAC, the air pressure bearing down on that block would be about fifteen pounds or half the weight of a teenager’s back pack. However, if you took that same inch square block and placed it at the deepest point of the ocean, the weight bearing down on that block is seven tons or about seven heavy-duty pickups. That pressure easily crushes a nuclear submarine.
We normally are not concerned with atmospheric pressure or the pressure in the ocean. However, we do live with a very important pressure that will continually needs our attention—our blood pressure. Our blood pressure is the force of the flowing blood against the walls of the arteries. Our blood pressure is measured by the pressure of how the heart contracts and pumps the blood through the body and by the pressure between the pumps, when the heart is resting. Fifty million Americans have high blood pressure, which means that your heart is working harder than normal, putting both your heart and your arteries under a greater strain.
What causes high blood pressure is unknown about 90% of the time. What we do know is that stress and pressure externally affect our blood pressure internally. If we don’t manage the response to the external pressure then the internal pressure that results can kill us.
Today I want to spend our time talking about how to face more effectively our most difficult pressures, both external and internal. The pressures that I am concerned with are not the lesser issues that are the normal maladies of living life—a flat tire, a grumpy boss or employee, a bad grade on a test, losing a game. You know the 14.7 lbs. per square inch stuff that we all deal with. No, I’m talking about the 7 ton per square inch stuff, that pressure that just bears down on every part of you and has the ability to crush you. Things like discovering you have cancer and the diagnosis is dark. Or your spouse walks in and says they’re leaving and you really had no idea things were bad. Maybe your employer chooses not just to pass you by for a promotion but lies about you and fires you. Perhaps your job, life, health—all of it is just too much for you – it all piles up. It’s just daily stuff but it’s gotten so big that it feels more like several tons than a few pounds. I think you get the picture. That’s the kind of pressure I’m talking about.
That’s the kind of pressure Jesus is addressing in the verses we explore today. I want to explain carefully the background to the verses that were read earlier. They are the climax to a series of statements that have been made between Jesus and the disciples. Remember that the verses we’ve been studying are the last words of Jesus before his arrest. They occur in the upper room in Jerusalem.
In John 16:16-30 the conversation between Jesus and the disciples is somewhat confusing (John 16:16-18). The disciples don’t understand what Jesus means when He says that in a little while they will not see him and then in a little while they will. He explains carefully to them that what he means is that when He dies on the cross they will be very sad. Yet when He is resurrected they will be filled with joy. He also gives to them the benefits that will be theirs because of His resurrection. He concludes by saying in verse 28, "I came from the Father, and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again, and going to the Father."
Now the disciples’ response is of positive affirmation and acceptance (v. 29-30). What they essentially says is, "Oh, now we get it! Now we understand! Now we believe." I’m sure they were feeling very self-assured now. Jesus’ response, though, shatters this attitude. "Do you now believe? You haven’t seen trials like the ones that are coming. You who are so together now are going to be scattered like dry leaves. Hiding in your homes and you will abandon me. Yet even when you run out on me I’m not alone, the Father’s with me." Then comes the final word: "All that I have said to you has one purpose. When you are faced with the darkness of the hours to come know that in ME you can have peace. As long as you live in this world you are going to face the most crushing pressure. But take courage, stand tall, I have overcome—once, finally, absolutely, completely—everything that this world would use to crush you!"
Today these words can strengthen you as you face the most difficult pressures of life. How do we fact life’s most difficult pressures? Life’s most difficult pressures are faced with confidence in the overwhelming power of Jesus.
Jesus told the disciples, "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace." The "things" he’s referring to is all that He has told them that evening. His words were for a purpose and that purpose was that in the stress about to come on them they would know that in Him was peace. The word peace meant a condition of rest and comfort because of their relationship with Him. It’s like that feeling you get when you feel everything is just as it ought to be.
It’s hard to remember the source of continuing peace when the pressure is building around us. We need something within to counter the pressure without. How can we quiet the pressure build up? The answer is something like the new technology being developed to quiet noise in the workplace. Several companies now market headphones that emit what is called antinoise. "The principle behind all antinoise devices is the same," writes Philip Elmer-Dewitt in Time. "Noise is basically a pressure wave traveling through the air. Antinoise is the mirror image of that wave, and equal and opposite vibration exactly 180 degrees out of phrase with the noise to be blocked. When noise and antinoise collide, they interact with what is called destructive interference, canceling each other out." Airport baggage handlers can now wear headphones equipped with a tiny microphone that "samples sound waves at the wearer’s ear, processes them through special circuitry, and broadcasts countertones that cancel the offending sounds in midair. Result: silence, or something close to it."
In the same way we counter the pressure with the anti-pressure of the person of Jesus Christ and the result is peace. Your relationship with Him and the words He has spoken is a source, continually, of peace under pressure. We can face life’s most difficult pressures with the overwhelming peace of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation." He is simply admitting a reality: life, now, is filled with a lot of real, hard pain. The word Jesus uses is a word that means extreme pressure. It’s the idea of something squashing or crushing something else. This is not a mild irritation but a stabbing, searing, backbreaking, heartbreaking problem. The way Jesus says it is that it is something that is continual, always present. It’s here and always will be.
How do you respond to pressure? One way we try to respond is to escape the pressure. Some use alcohol and/or drugs (either prescribed or illegal) to try to relieve the pressure. Some try to escape by developing some other type of addiction, like pornography or bingeing on food or credit cards. Some go to extremes in exercise or other areas. Some get involved in sexual immorality of all types. The problem with escape is you have to come back to reality.
Another way is to allow it to paralyze you in fear. That only makes you a target for the pressure to cave in on you.
The best thing to do is to admit the reality that "tribulation" or pressure is a constant threat. You can’t run from it, let it paralyze you or cripple you emotionally. Once you get through one there’s going to be another one. You can control your response to the pressure but you won’t by yourself be able to cut it off at its source. There comes that place where we simply decide to "play the hand" life has dealt us. It doesn’t man we give up or quit; it means we quit resisting, trying to chance reality. We can face life’s most difficult pressures by accepting and admitting that pressure will always be a constant threat.
Jesus said, "but take courage." This statement is in the form of a command. "I command you to take courage." The word courage is the word for "dare" or "to come out against someone or something boldly." Our attitude, these disciples’ attitude, in the face of the pressure is to be one of daring boldness.
Last week I told you about the British explorer Sir Ernest Shackelton, who explored Antarctica in the early 1900’s. When he was preparing to be the first person to the South Pole he placed an advertisement in the London newspapers for those wishing to join the expedition. Shackleton said that, "it seemed as though all the men in Great Britain were determined to accompany me, the response was so overwhelming." Here’s the ad: MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. – Ernest Shackleton
There are times we need to face life’s most difficult pressures with equal boldness and daring. Rather than wring our hands in fear and retreat, step up to the pressure. Meet the pressure with a tenacious risk of bold courage.
Jesus said, "I have overcome the world." The word "overcome" means to conquer or be victorious. It’s in what we call the "perfect tense." That means it has been done in the past, stands accomplished in the present and is going to stand forever. It’s perfectly complete. How did He "overcome" the world? By His life, death and resurrection. By the gospel. His death has taken away the penalty for sin. His resurrection has removed the pain of death. These have been done once and for all. Therefore, whatever these disciples would face they would know that Jesus Christ rules over anything that would be against them. No one could separate them from God’s love and no one could stop them from living eternally with God. The point: Whatever pressure you face Jesus is greater than that pressure! However, the only way you experience this is by identifying with it by faith!
Presbyterian pastor Stephen Brown tells a story in his book When Your Rope Breaks of an incident involving the death of a fellow pastor, David Watson. He writes: "In March of 1984 one of the great men of God in our time, David Watson, died. Thousands of Christians (myself included) who had been blessed by his preaching and writing were devastated. Watson was only in his forties, and it seemed that he died too soon. Some would say that Watson’s life was wasted. He had been pastor of a church in York and later became an evangelist, who was especially effective with young people. Why in the world would God allow someone with his gifts to die?
"One of the things David Watson was known for was the way he would sometimes ask the congregations before whom he preached to stand and shout, ‘Our God Reigns!’ I am told that the experience of shouting that truth moved many to a closer understanding of God’s world and their part in it.
"The week after Watson died, John Collins, an Anglican priest, was serving Holy Communion in his church. Collins was an older man, with a long life of service in the name of Christ; however, of his greatest acts of service was to introduce David Watson to Christ. I don’t know, but I suspect that as Collins went through the ancient liturgy of Communion, he must have had questions mixed with hurt over Watson’s death. With much sadness he spoke of his friend David, and how he would miss him. Yet in spite of his sadness, he said he expected to see Watson again at the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
"And then Collins did something strange for an Anglican priest. He asked the congregation (some two thousand people) to stand to shout three times, ‘Our God Reigns!’ Those who were there said it was one of the most moving experiences of their lives: this great throng of people shouting in unison, ‘Our God Reigns! Our God Reigns! Our God Reigns!’ The crowd then broke out in spontaneous applause that lasted so long that John Collins had to finally stop it. When he did, people all over the church were weeping. God’s Spirit had come and God’s people understood, perhaps not cognitively but with their hearts, what life is all about.
"Life is about the King. It is not about His servants, or His lands, or His subjects. It is only about the King. In the midst of breaking ropes, our God reigns.
"If you understand that—I mean, really understand that—and you belong to Him, you can face almost anything."
You may recall Leonardo DiCapracio, who played the character Jack in the movie "Titanic," standing at the bow of the Titanic and shouting, "I’m king of the world." What that character didn’t know was that he was standing on a doomed vessel. With all the pressures facing us we do not put our foot on a sinking ship but on a promise that does not fail, "I have overcome the world."
You can face the most difficult pressures of life with faith in the overwhelming power of Jesus Christ!
Sunday, February 21, 1999
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas