Jesus Brings Change

Tom Shrader walks through John 16 and surrounding chapters, explaining that Jesus warned His disciples of coming persecution—expulsion from the synagogue and even death—so they would not be caught off guard. He emphasizes that changed lives are the foundation of the church's witness, and that opposition from family and friends is a natural response to the transformation Christ brings. Shrader closes with a practical call to spiritual disciplines—prayer, Scripture reading, memorization, fasting, worship, and service—as the means by which believers stay strong in a difficult world.

“Changed lives change lives. There should be a steady flow of people in your life that are saying to you, there is something different about you.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: New City Church

Recorded: Oct 15, 2017

Duration: 35 min

Themes: persecution, spiritual disciplines, changed life, opposition, prayer, suffering, transformation, courage, facing family rejection, new believer, struggling with doubt, feeling isolated, young adult, navigating conflict, experiencing opposition at work, seeking spiritual growth

Scripture: John 16:1-5, John 14:16, John 14:18, John 14:27, James 1:1, Acts 17, 1 Peter 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:12, Philippians 2:13, Mark 3:13, 1 Corinthians 15, Ezekiel 3:4

Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, ecclesiology, witness, spiritual formation, discipleship, eschatology, the great commission

Full Transcript

Jesus Prepares His Disciples

Open your Bibles to the Gospel of John. We are in a section that is so powerful and so significant. If you look at John chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17, in the old red-lettered Bibles — Bibles where the words of Jesus are in red — these chapters are all red. This is Jesus preparing His disciples for something radical that is about to take place. He is going to the cross. These guys are heavily invested in Jesus. By and large, they have given three years of their lives, followed Him, and set aside everything that was normal. Now He is beginning to unfold for them what is about to happen.

Look at chapter 16, verse 1: "These things I have spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts of the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think he is offering sacrifice to God. These things they will do because they don't know my Father or me. But these things I have spoken to you so that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you."

Without any background other than that, this sounds serious. There is something in me — and I have never been able to identify if it is a strength or a weakness, or if I am just a mess — but I love the directness of this. I love that Jesus is preparing these guys. He is saying: I know what is coming, I am warning you, and I want you to expect this.

We know that this early church was essentially all Jewish. What Jesus is saying is: as I go to the cross and rise again, here is what is going to happen. The wrath of the Jewish religious establishment is going to come upon you in two ways. First, they are going to put you out of the synagogue. Second, they are going to kill you, and they are going to think they are doing God a favor.

The Need for Fellowship

In James chapter 1, James tells us he is writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. Most people believe they were scattered for one of three reasons: persecution, being ostracized by the Jews and losing all business, commerce, family, and friendships, or obedience to the command to go and make disciples of all nations. But in the middle of this, one commentator noted that these disciples were simple folks and they needed fellowship.

Let me hit the pause button — and so do you. I read a sentence about a month ago that I have been thinking about ever since. That does not mean I have it figured out; it just means I have thought about it a great deal. The author suggested that individualism is a purely secular virtue. In a sense — and I know this sounds simple — this Christian life is the ultimate team sport. To fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission demands that I have people around me. Jesus is saying it is going to be tough: they are going to put you out, and some are going to kill you, thinking they are doing God a favor in the process.

The Opposition the Church Faces

You know who I think of? I think of the Apostle Paul. We are told in the book of Acts that he was going from house to house, and the word used in the Greek is "ravaging" the church. In secular Greek literature, that same word describes a wild animal tearing apart its prey. That was the opposition to the early church.

One author offers this insight: perhaps the strangest puzzle to a new Christian is the sudden and always surprising hostility he meets when he first tells his family or friends about his new life in Christ. Now, what we see here in John 16 is unique to that moment in history, but the question is whether there are principles and similarities that carry forward. Have some of you experienced that? The chances are, if you became a Christian later in life, you experienced some of that pushback and hostility from family and friends.

God saved me on March 6th, 1980. I was 31 years old, and it was a radical transformation. But that is not unique — every conversion is a radical conversion. So I became convinced that I needed to tell my family about it. I have three brothers and my parents, with one brother in Kansas City and two brothers in Davenport, Iowa. I called my first brother nervously, and he said, "Good for you." Then I called the brother I expected to push back.

I told him I had been saved, delivered, my sin forgiven. He just started to laugh. He said, "This is Tom, right?" I said, "Yeah, that's Tom." He said, "Do you remember the night you had been drinking all night and passed out down on Third Street, and the pizza delivery guy picked you up and brought you home? Do you remember that?" I said, "Well, I vaguely remember waking up smelling like pepperoni. I don't remember all the details." He said, "Yeah — so that's now your Christian Tom."

Changed Lives Are the Foundation

Now, that is nothing compared to what those early disciples faced, but it illustrates the natural process. The world around us is going to push back. And Jesus says here: it is not personal. They do not know. Perhaps you have sat and talked with friends, faced some antagonism, and felt frustrated. You cannot blame them — they do not know. That is what you used to be. You are something different now.

Here is what Jesus is telling us: the church is going to be built on changed lives.

When Life Changes, Expect Pushback

If your life is not radically changed, then you have no reason to believe you are a Christian at all. Your life begins to change, and people begin to see it. They begin to come at you and make jokes at your expense.

Here is something important to understand: do not think it is because they do not like you. They like you. They like to hang out with you, go to the game with you, go to the gym with you, shop with you, go to the beach with you. But all of a sudden you represent Jesus to them. Your life is different, and as the Holy Spirit begins to work through your life, they feel condemned by it. There is a deep-rooted hatred of the things that are good.

Jesus makes clear that this is simply the way it is going to be. You are going to face sharp, difficult challenges. If you think that the moment you come to Christ in repentance and faith everything is going to be great, it is not. I remember thinking, "God, you had all those years to deal with me — I don't know why you didn't then, but now I'm on your team." And He says, here is what is going to happen: you are going to have suffering, hardship, persecution, difficulties, all the wear and tear of life, plus suffering for your faith along the way.

We sang the hymn "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus," and that is exactly what He is saying here. I have been humming another old one to myself: "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey." Jesus is shooting straight with His disciples. Life is not going to be easy and smooth — but He is not leaving them without help.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Look at John 16, verse 5. Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away." I remember the first time I read that and thought, that blows my mind. If someone asked what the ultimate experience would be, you would say sitting with Jesus in a small group study — and He says, no, you are actually better off with Me gone. I am going to send you a Helper, the Holy Spirit.

Someone asked me once whether, if I could teach all over again, there is something I would emphasize more than I did over the last thirty years. The answer came out immediately: I would talk more about the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying, listen, you have this asset, this strength — another Helper, a guide. You have the Holy Spirit.

Turn back to John 14, verse 16. Jesus said, "I'll ask the Father and He'll give you another." That word *another* does not mean just any other — it means a replica. This is God in the Holy Spirit, a Helper who will be with you forever. Verse 18 is worth underlining, because you are going to need it: "I won't leave you as an orphan. I'm not going to leave you all alone." Verse 27, still in John 14: "My peace I leave you, my peace I give you, not as the world gives. Don't let your heart be troubled. Don't be fearful."

Jesus is not saying it is not a scary world. It is a scary world, full of dangerous and frightening things. But He is saying, do not worry, because you have Me. I am with you. I indwell you. I fill you. The Spirit is coming.

Here is what Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12: "Don't be surprised at fiery ordeals which are trying to you." And here is a promise from 2 Timothy 3:12: "Those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." That is life. That is the promise.

Sorrow Turned to Joy

In chapter 16, verse 16, the topic shifts to what my Bible headings call "Jesus' Death and Resurrection Foretold." The answer given there is that our sorrow will be turned to joy — joy permanently — to be with Him forever in a new relationship with Him.

We have a man at our Gilbert campus. He is an ordinary man who attends Gilbert, involved in facilities and children's ministries. He became ill and entered hospice. When a team went to visit him, he was lying there wearing his children's ministry lanyard. When you go to hospice, you are there to die — and he was lying there with that lanyard on. There is something about that which seems so right.

A couple of days later, around 4:30 in the afternoon, I received this email: "His son just called from hospice to let us know that Alan is non-responsive and struggling with breathing. The family and friends are there and have been told he will be with Jesus within the hour." Four hours later came this message: "Alan is now in the presence of his Savior. He passed away this evening. Please continue to pray for his family and their grief."

That is real. That is the hope. Jesus says that in this world we are chronically looking for hope. Almost every presidential election is framed around hope. The idea of making America great again carries a hope within it.

Hope and Inward Transformation

John Calvin says our hearts are idol factories, meaning we are constantly cranking out idols to meet our needs. We think we are going to find our hope in a scholarship, a job, a relationship, some form of relief. It just goes on and on. But here is Jesus. Here is the hope. Here is the relief. Here is the end. It is not an ASU win or a new job or a promotion. It is Jesus.

Everything is going to start, Jesus says, with an inward transformation in you. You are going to change. And I ask a hard question: Are you changed? Do the people around you see it? That is God's whole plan for spreading this thing. Changed lives change lives.

There should be — and I say this not to dump guilt on you, but as a point of reference — a steady flow of people in your life saying to you, "There is something different about you." Not odd. Different. You handle things differently. Why? That is the hope of glory. That is what Jesus is communicating in all of this.

Sin, Brokenness, and Restoration

There is going to be hurt, and there is going to be pain, and the world is not going to get it. But the Holy Spirit will come and convict the world — and this is a big deal — not of sins, plural, but of sin. That is what is wrong with the world. Sin. This place is broken, and you and I are part of putting it back together again.

If you have been through the framework of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, you understand that you and I are part of what God is doing to put this world right side up. As early as Acts chapter 17, Paul and Silas are coming to town and the people persecuting them are saying they have turned the world upside down. We do not turn the world upside down. We turn the world right side up, where good is good and bad is bad.

Spiritual Growth While Waiting

In this waiting process, what do you do? You focus on your spiritual growth. There is something we call spiritual disciplines, and I want to walk through three passages of Scripture that show what we should be all about.

The first is this: "This is eternal life, that they might know You, the one true God." You are supposed to know Him in an intimate way — not know about Him, but know Him. The spiritual disciplines are how you come to know Him.

The second passage is Philippians chapter 2, verse 13, where Paul says you are to work out your salvation in fear and trembling. Paul is not saying work for salvation, but do the work that results from salvation. We believe we are saved by grace through faith. In this world you have two groups of people: biblical Christians and everybody else. Everybody else is religion — some story of how a sinful man tries to reach up to a holy God. But biblical Christianity is the story of a holy God reaching down to a sinful man. God saved me, and I love that He saved me in spite of me, not because of me. What Paul is saying in Philippians 2 is that we are to work out our salvation. The Amplified puts it this way: do the things that result from being saved. You are changed. You are different.

The third passage is Mark 3:13, where Jesus called the disciples first to be with Him, and then He sent them out. That is the pattern: first be with Him, then go.

The Spiritual Disciplines

How do you get ready to live a life that honors God? There are five spiritual disciplines I want to highlight. These are things that have been practiced in the church since the very beginning. They are habits. They should be a daily part of our lives. Now, I feel a degree of hypocrisy standing here telling you about them, because I do not practice them in as systematic a way as I should. But these habits of the heart should be present in your life on a regular basis. It is training. Just as you discipline the body, you discipline the soul and the spirit.

The first is prayer — talking to God, collaborating with Him. This is what I want to do. This is what I want You to do with me. God, straighten me up. That is the discipline of prayer.

The second is time in the Word. This right here is the owner's manual to your life and mine, written by the manufacturer to tell you how to get maximum efficiency out of this product, out of your life. Life is an open book test, and we need to study this Word. I have discovered something: God has spoken to me through the Scriptures, but never through a scripture I had not read. He has never woken me up and said, "Ezekiel 3:4." We are to be in this Word on a regular basis, studying it and memorizing it.

I got saved in 1980, and at least a third of the guys I hung out with had in their back pocket a little vinyl folder with Bible verses in it. We memorized Bible verses all day long. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." That is the discipline of the Word.

The third is fasting. I used to practice an operative fast every Wednesday...

Spiritual Disciplines That Sustain You

The whole idea of fasting is not to deny yourself food, but rather that as the hunger comes, you turn to God and say, "I want that cheeseburger really, really bad, but I want You even more." That hunger becomes an act of worship, service, and love. In this world you will have tribulation, and what is going to get you strong are these simple disciplines.

I was talking with my son-in-law Tyler the other day and we were talking about this very thing. He had no idea I was going to mention it this morning. He had just been reading some things and working through all of this, and all of a sudden he put his finger on something key. He said, "It's so simple, but you have to do it."

I believe I can change your life for a dollar and a quarter. If you go to Walgreens today and buy a pack of three-by-five cards — and I didn't even know they still made them, but they do — and sit down tonight for five minutes, that is enough to start. Don't say, "I'm going to pray tomorrow." When? Don't say, "I'm going to study for an hour," because you are not going to study for an hour. Say instead, "I'm going to study for ten minutes. I'm going to memorize a verse." Then at the end of the day, check it off and start again the next day. That is how God is going to keep you strong and sustain you in community.

The Promise That Sustains Us

Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. There is opposition out there, but God indwells you. That is the promise you have. That is the promise I have. You have the Helper.

The Cross and the Resurrection

Jesus finalizes all of this on the cross. He died. I have delivered 26 Easter Sunday morning messages, and every one of them is essentially the same — Jesus rose from the dead, and that is a big deal. We can say it now with confidence: go and Google the facts of the resurrection. Not right now, but sometime today. You are going to find that if you approach those facts with an open and reasonable mind, they are essentially indisputable. Jesus rose from the dead.

What Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 is that He rose from the dead, and that is our hope in the midst of this world. God is transforming, reforming, redeeming, and restoring the world, and you and I are part of it. Do not think it is going to be easy, smooth, or free of hardship.

Communion: The Epicenter of History

One of the great things I love is walking into this room and seeing the communion stands set up. Every Sunday we stop and return to what is really the epicenter of human history — the crucifixion and the resurrection. We never separate those two. Christ died and rose again. That is what our faith is all about. That is where our redemption is found.

---

Father, thank You for this awesome truth. Thank You that You have saved us, and that one day, like Alan, we will be in Your presence. We praise You and worship You here this morning. We do that in Jesus's name. Amen.