Month: March 2021

John 17.6

In John 17 we have the privilege of overhearing a private prayer between Jesus and God the Father. It has been called the “High Priestly Prayer.” Jesus is concerned at this point for the glory of God the Father, the welfare of his disciples and obedience to the word of God.

Jesus himself has been obedient to the Father in revealing his name to the disciples who God had already identified to be called out of the world into the kingdom of God. Revealing or making manifest God’s name is much more than a simple name. His name includes God’s identity, character, works and words. Earlier in John 1.18 John says of Jesus, ‘No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.’ Part of Jesus’ role is to make the whole nature of God known to mankind. When we see Jesus, we see God. This is a major reason for the modern Christian to regularly return to the gospels where his portrayal takes a narrative form. We can find out how he reacts to various people and circumstances. We can learn how he organises his life. We have the great honour of listening in to prayer. We witness obedience to God’s word in action as we discover the minutia of Jesus’ life. All of this had formed part of the disciples’ education into who God is.

They learnt the closeness of Jesus’ relationship with the Father. They must have been amazed at the power of God over creation seen in the quietening of the storm. How lives are transformed when faith enters people’s lives when the resurrection power of God was revealed through Jesus raising Jairus’ daughter from her death bed. How God has compassion on ordinary people who seek after him in the feeding of the five thousand. They learnt that God did not tolerate false religion that pampered to human pride. They witnessed the rejected in society experiencing mercy and inclusion into the kingdom of God whether that was a Roman tax collector, a leper or an alien woman with a dubious moral history. When anyone recognised Jesus for who he was and turned away from their sin and toward him they were welcomed with open arms.

The ones God had revealed himself to through Jesus were indeed a mixed bag but Jesus was able to say of them, ‘Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.’ ^v6 How much does that reflect our own experience and what we know of the modern church. How has God revealed himself to you through Jesus?

The challenge then passes on to the modern church and each individual Christian, to reveal to the world this Jesus and in doing so Jesus manifests the whole Trinitarian Godhead. How can this be done? The first clue lies in the end of verse 6, ‘and they kept your word.’ To be able to do that we must first of all know the word of God. Then we need to live under the authority of the word.

What a beautiful name – Hillsong Worship

John 17.1-5

Pre-lockdown I used to go along to a monthly meal for retired people at a rather nice hotel. Now don’t get me wrong these are not geriatrics who have lost an interest in life. They are a group of intelligent, quick witted people who were all engaged in active retirement. Even so conversation could quickly turn to ailments, waiting lists and hospital appointments. With life becoming increasingly painful and potentially limiting why would anyone contemplate eternal life as a good thing?

However, what one does become increasingly aware of in conversation over lunch beside the excellence of the roast potatoes is the importance of relationships. When the drivers of career and scaling the money tree have diminished what is desired above all are loving relationships. I try to avoid offspring poker. It goes something like this, “Well my daughter is a doctor and is doing frightfully well.”

“Oh is she, that’s lovely. Of course, my grandson is a specialist in orthopedics and he gives up three months of his year to work in refugee camps.  He says it’s very fulfilling.”

“Strange you should say that. Jeremy, my grandson used to work in war zones but he says that so often it feels like a lost cause. He now dedicates himself to reconstructive surgery for orphans in remote areas that you can only reach on foot or by small aircraft where the runway has been hacked out of the jungle.”

I exaggerate naturally, but it illustrates the importance of loving relationships that we can be immensely proud of. Today’s passage is all about wonderfully loving relationships. The relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son but also God’s love for those who believe in Jesus and Jesus’ love for his disciples.

Firstly, Jesus speaks to the Father in his hour of greatest need, he does not shut him out. In his own suffering his desire is to bring glory or praise to the Father. ‘Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.’ ^v2 He shares the love the Father has for those who have trusted in him and this love has existed since before creation. Eternal life is in the gift of Jesus because the Father has granted it to him. Because it is a gift it cannot be earned or bought, it can only be received.

Eternal life is defined in terms of relationship. It is described as knowing, ‘the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.’ ^v3 However much we love and are proud of our closest loved ones what makes eternal life wondrous is the personal knowledge of God the Father and Jesus the Son. It is being in the presence of divine love. It is not sensual delights, possessions or achievement it is being in relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. What is wonderful is that this is not a one way street of admiring from afar. The Godhead desires to be in relationship with those who trust in Jesus and so Jesus is going to do all that is necessary for that to be achieved. He is going to take the judgment we deserve and grant us his righteousness because compared to his ours is like filthy rags.

Who is this one who desires to be in relationship with us. It is, “the Author of all Creation, the infinite One, the almighty One, the eternal One.” (Josh Moody, John 13 to 21 for you.) Jesus, whose works achieve our salvation brings glory to God the Father. Jesus persisted to the end, even though the end was the cross. Therefore, the cross is the glory of Christ that he had with God the Father before the world began. ^v5 It is a glory that is found in weakness, in sacrifice, in service and in death that brings about life.

Have we started our relationship with Jesus through faith in him?

Do we give the glory to Jesus for his love towards us expressed on the cross?

To God be the glory

John 16.25— 17.1

We come now to the concluding section of the long discourse between Jesus and his disciples the evening before his death. It started in the upper room following the last supper. At some point it would appear they had left the room and were walking to the Gethsemane garden as at the conclusion of the discourse Jesus moved into prayer. His last words in the discourse were, ‘In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.’ ^v33 The disciples were to face tribulation with immediate effect, they were only minutes from Jesus arrest and Jesus words that, ‘they will scatter, each to their own home and leave him alone,’ ^v32  were sadly fulfilled. They had still not yet grasped how Jesus was to overcome the world but they had understood he had come from God. ^v30 Jesus’ questioning of their belief ^v31 was an indication of how incomplete their understanding and faith in him still was. His crucifixion was going to shake them to the core.

Jesus had just spoken plainly that he was about to leave the world and go to the Father having come from the Father. ^V28 There was no confusion about what he meant by the Father, he was referring to God. ^v27 His promise to them was one of a loving intimacy with God the Father which was radically different from the rules and fear governed religion being propounded by the religious leaders seeking to kill him. Their relationship with Jesus had opened up to them a direct communication with God the Father. ‘In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, for the Father loves you, because you have loved me and have believed I have come from God.’ ^v26-27

Jesus also makes a break in his own style of teaching. Up to now he had extensively used parables and metaphors to speak about himself (e.g. the I am statements) but now their teaching was to be more explicit and direct. ^v25 He was referring to the period following his resurrection and then to the Holy Spirit’s work leading them into all truth following Pentecost. We see this greater direct instructional style in the epistles in the use of extended sequential exposition addressing both doctrine and real life issues. All of this was intended so that believers in Jesus could share in his victory over the world and have peace whatever their tribulation. ^v33

The important point to grasp is, it his victory not ours. He has already achieved it. By the world he means all those forces ranged against him, evil spiritual forces, the sinful hearts of his enemies and our own sinful desires. His enemies were going to kill him but God was going to raise him from the dead. He would then lead those who believe in him into an eternal relationship with him and victory over sin and death. We are not able to do that for ourselves, only Jesus can do it for us.

When speaking of Jesus’ victory over sin and death Paul says, ‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ ^{1 Corinthians 15.57} We then should go on and live victorious lives. As Paul describes it, ‘Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord you labour is not in vain.’ ^{1 Corinthians 15.58}

Are you confused about a part of the Bible or Christian teaching? What could you do to gain clarity?

In what ways does Jesus’ resurrection victory give you confidence, joy and peace?

To You O Lord I lift up my soul (Psalm 25) Graham Kendrick

John 16.16-24

My wife and I were sat in the parish church at her Father’s funeral which he had attended for decades and been church warden for many years. The presiding minister had just given the lovely depiction of people standing on the shore waving goodbye with great sadness as a ship crossed the horizon whilst on the other side of the sea there were people cheering and waving their greeting as the ship hove into view. It was the image of the grief of loss and the joy of reception into heaven. When the service ended the young grandchildren were playing in the church and Heather leaned over to me and whispered those are the most important people here. Two images of loss, joy and hope coming together.

Jesus’ words, ‘A little while, and you will see me no longer, and again a little while, and you will see me,’ ^v16 were not immediately understood by the disciples. They did what so many do when confused and talk amongst themselves without directly asking Jesus for clarification. Jesus, however, realized their confusion made clear to them the process they would go through. Importantly he made clear that this would be in direct contrast to the “world.” By the world here Jesus was mainly speaking of his enemies. They would rejoice at his death and following his resurrection be angered and refuse to accept the truth. ^v20

The disciples were about to be struck by grief, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament.’ ^v20  The grief though will be like the pain and suffering of giving birth, painful and intense but followed by the joy of new birth. Jesus was using the birth process as a simile of his death and resurrection and it is not meant to apply to all births including those that have tragic outcomes. Whilst Jesus words were directed at the immediate circumstances for his disciples they also convey a wider meaning for all who trust in him.

When believers experience grief, hardship and suffering however extreme, it will pass. There will be resurrection and there will be eternal joy in his presence. Jesus never sugar coated the cost of discipleship but at the same time he went through suffering for us because of his love for us to overcome the world on our behalf. His words to the disciples regarding his appearing to them following his resurrection also apply to his disciples now as we look forward to his return or meeting him in heaven. ‘I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.’ ^v22

Up to this point the disciples were not in the practice of praying to the Father in the name of Jesus. This great privilege was now being opened up to them. ^v23 Because of what Jesus did on the cross the disciples can now approach the Father in Jesus’ name. We should be encouraged to pray in the name of Jesus, that is in his will. We are to pray as Jesus taught and how Jesus himself prayed, that God’s will be done. ^{Matt 26.39} As we read the bible and increase our understanding of his will, it aids us in submitting to his will in prayer.

Do we give thanks that Jesus has provided a path for us by his death and resurrection through suffering and death to share in his eternal glory?

Do we ask the Spirit to enable us to understand his will and gladly submit to it?

God Will Make A Way – Don Moen Religious Song

John 14.16-17 & 16.13

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper^, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” … “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

Whilst Jesus continues to speak to his disciples on the evening of his arrest he repeatedly returns to the topic of the Holy Spirit. As we saw yesterday he was specifically preparing his immediate disciples, however, his teaching also contains relevance and application beyond that time and audience. His statement, ‘He dwells with you and will be in you,’ does not mean the Spirit of God has not been active in believers lives prior to this but in the future he will be ‘in you’ in a new and more powerful way.  As believers our sense of intimacy will be greater. This experience will make clearer to believers that they now belong to the kingdom of God and not to this world.

As a consequence, ‘the Spirit of truth’ ^v 16.13 will lead us into understanding of the bible but he will also guide us in his ways. The Holy Spirit is holy and so his ways are holy. Followers of Jesus are not immune from what Paul calls the desires of the flesh, in other words the behaviours and desires of our pre-Christian life. Paul illustrates these but does not give an exhaustive list in Galatians 5.19-21, all of which are as applicable today as they were then. He contrasts this with the instruction to ‘walk by the Spirit,’ ^{Gal 5.16} this is not about slavish obedience to a written law but is a relational response to Christ Jesus. ‘Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.’ ^{v Gal 5.24} Sin is serious and it deeply grieves the Spirit who lives with and in us. Walking by the Spirit brings joy to our relationship with him. The Spirit empowers us but does not force us to keep in step with him. ^{v Gal 5.25}

The Spirit also confirms to us our identity in Christ as children of God. Therefore, we need have no fear of God. We are able to look forward with confidence that we will share in the heritage of Christ even if we face hardship as children of God.  ^‘For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.’ ^{Romans 8.14-17}

How conscious are you of the Holy Spirit guiding and prompting you?

Are there things the Spirit has challenged you over that you have avoided addressing?

Spirit Lead Me  ~ Michael Ketterer & Influence Music