Balancing Out Fear - In Christ We Conquer the World

‘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.’ John 16:33 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.16.33.NIVUK Sporting victories can be enormous fun. I remember watching my country, Scotland, qualifying for a major tournament when I was a student. I remember the stadium erupting with happiness. I remember the train bouncing its way back to Glasgow Central station because of all the fans jumping for joy. And I remember one inebriated fan yelling behind me, "We'll probably get put out in the first round, but who cares?" He had obviously seen Scotland play football before. And before you ask, yes, we were eliminated in the first round. I was in Romania when they eliminated England from the European Championships with a last-minute penalty. I'll never forget the outpouring of joy in Vasile Milea Square in Pitesti, or the crazy celebrations, or the car horns sounding well into the morning, or the fact that the game finished at midnight and I got home at 3 AM. Or the pastor the next Sunday, who would often preach against football, but called me into his office to say, with a huge grin from ear to ear, "Do you see, Paul? We are somebody." Victory does that. It makes you feel taller, stronger, faster, better. You feel really, really good. You feel important. You feel alive. Look carefully at the tense of these words: But take heart! I have overcome the world. Jesus has already won. Long before you were born. Before your parents were born. But more than that, He had already defeated the world before the cross. How? There are many verses which give us a clue. Romans 1:18-3, James 4:1-4 and 1 John 2:15-17 are all good examples. In essence, the world is driven by 'me first'. It looks out for number one. It doesn't care who gets hurt along the way, provided I get what I want. Then Jesus comes along. Even from His temptation, when the devil hit Him right at the start of His ministry and tried to get Him to divert from His calling and look after Himself, Jesus was not driven that way (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13). There is evidence in the Gospels of people around Him not understanding and urging Him to do things which would be counter to His calling, but He resisted (John 6:15; 7:1-13). Jesus was not drawn by these things. The joy set before Him was not His own good, but our salvation. And that is why He conquered the world. He could not be persuaded because He was laser-focused on achieving His goal (Luke 13:31-33). Another key trait is that He was fearless. Not in a warrior kind of way. Jesus did not fear those who stood against Him because He knew who He was (John 18:36-37). He knew all along He would have the ultimate victory (Mark 9:31, 10: 32-34; Luke 18:31-33). And that made Him unafraid. What Jesus says here is absolutely true. He has conquered the world. He has broken its values. He has smashed through its barriers. And He did so to show is that it can be done. If we are in Christ, if we are following Him, then we share His victory. Our greatest enemy - death itself - has been conquered at the cross. We should therefore be unafraid, no matter what we face, because nothing in life can defeat us. My mother made an interesting comment recently on the phone. She said, "What use is our faith if it isn't for times like these?". And that is so true. If our faith in the Jesus who died and rose again from the dead is not our weapon to prevent this world from intimidating us into its image, then what good is it? So often we are like a sports person who was playing a team sport, but has been injured and is in hospital, not realising that their team has won. And that's just it: we have won. In Christ we have won! Let that truth sink deep into your heart and mind. Let it sink deep into your soul. And the next time you hear those defeatist voices in your head trying to get you to give in, drown them out with the applause of victory because if you are in Christ, my friend, then this world is a defeated foe and you are victorious.