Month: March 2021

John 14.25-31

The passage is still in the discourse after the last supper. Central to this section are Jesus’ words, ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.’ ^v27 In one sentence Jesus is announcing his departure and giving them a departing gift. This is not a casual departure or gift such as someone changing jobs and leaving a set of coffee mugs for the “mugs” stopping behind. Jesus is leaving to do his Father’s will and leaving a gift that will see them through the serious challenges ahead. This section is a continuation of the theme of the opening verse of the chapter, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’ ^v1

The peace Jesus is speaking about is not something gained by the disciples’ own endeavours, it is to be received. It is the peace Jesus has and it is his to give. What do we know about Jesus’ peace? It comes along with the spiritual presence of God himself in the form of the Holy Spirit. ^v26 We know from our life experiences that certain people’s presence can bring us peace of mind. Jesus himself experienced the peace that came from the constant infilling of the Holy Spirit marked by the Spirit descending on him at his baptism by John the Baptist. ^{John 1.32} Now Jesus is promising the same Holy Spirit to them which they themselves were to be baptized with at Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus made this promise. One of the things the Holy Spirit was going to do for the disciples was to bring to them the remembrance of Jesus’ teaching. The secure understanding of the perspective of scripture provides one with a fundamentally different outlook on life. It is then that our world view becomes aligned to God’s revelation.

Jesus’ peace comes from living in and abiding by the Father’s will. ^v31 It also comes from sharing in Jesus’ joy of being in the Father’s presence. ‘If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am.’ ^v28 The disciples at first did not understand these words and were grief stricken and fearful when Jesus died the next day. However, following his resurrection and then witnessing his ascension, they were transformed. At first they devoted themselves to worship and prayer. ^{Acts 2.14} Once they had been baptized with the Holy Spirit they joyfully and publicly worshiped God with their whole lives. ‘Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people.’ ^{Acts 2.46} Finally their peace was to come from knowing that Jesus’ death and resurrection had all taken place as he had told them, to fulfill the will of God the Father on their behalf. ‘Now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.’ ^v29

A great deal of time has passed since Jesus made those promises to his disciples. How do they bear upon us now? The same gift of peace is there for his disciples now. The same Holy Spirit is given to those who believe in him. We rejoice in the knowledge that Jesus is now with his Father in heaven having accomplished all we need for salvation. We have the same teaching as the first disciples because the Holy Spirit reminded those first disciples and they have preserved it in the New Testament gospels.

A Christian’s peace does not come from the circumstances of our life it comes from the person of God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

How does Jesus’ gift of peace differ from the “worlds”?

Be still my soul – Kari Jobe

John 14.18-24

Lee Strobel in “The Case for Grace” tells the story of a Korean girl who was abandoned by her family as she was the child of a US soldier during the Korean war. Having a child outside of marriage from an American father would have been a cause of disgrace for the mother and the family within the culture at that time. From about the age of three she scavenged a feral existence until about the age of 11 she was discovered by an American missionary who thought initially she was dead. The missionary worked in an orphanage who took her in and brought her back to health. A little while later another missionary couple came to the orphanage looking to adopt a baby but in a remarkable way God intervened and instead of selecting what had been their heart’s desire, a new born baby, they fell in love with this feral child and adopted her. The girl had no memory of parents, family life or love. She presumed she had been taken as a servant and could not understand why she was being given a room, clothes, food and sent to school and not forced to work all day at the home. Then at school she spoke of this to another child who said to her. Don’t you understand, you are their child. At that moment she was overwhelmed with the realization that she was loved and her new parents’ child. She rushed out of school, ran all the way home, threw herself at her mother and cried repeatedly, “You love me and I am your child.” You can imagine the emotional impact on the parents as well as the child.

Hours before his death, although the disciples as yet were still unaware of the imminence of coming events, Jesus seeks to comfort the disciples regarding their impending grief. He says, ‘I will not leave you as orphans.’ ^v18 When Jesus dies they may feel cut off, alone, disorientated, afraid, as if the last three years were a waste of time, defeated; but Jesus is saying to them it is not going to be like that. The world may think he is dead and gone but they will be reunited with him. ^v19 The bond between the Father, Jesus and his disciples is strong, entwined and based on love, the love of the Father. When Jesus reveals himself to them again they will understand that they also will overcome death because of him. ‘Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.’ ^vv19b,20

Obedience to Jesus’ commands is not the slavish obedience to an overbearing master. A way of earning love. That was the thinking of the little girl who had not yet realized she was her parents’  child and belonged as part of the family. Obedience to Jesus’ commands is a love response. Loving Jesus is accompanied by the Father’s love back to the disciple. ^v21 When Jesus says, ‘I will … manifest myself to him.’ ^V21b He is referring to meeting with his disciples after his resurrection but he is also probably meaning his revelation of himself through the giving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and beyond to the present day. This experience of Christ in disciples’ lives is limited to his followers and is not experienced by the wider world until they become disciples.

The evidence of becoming a disciple and an adopted child of God is in changed and changing lives. These changes will not always be acceptable to the wider world as they do not conform to aspects of the world’s culture. ‘Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.’ ^v24 This will mean that life for the disciple will not always be comfortable, just as Jesus experienced opposition as well as appreciation. However, the disciple’s calling is to live as Jesus lived, loving the Father, listening to the Father and in close relationship with the Father. ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’ ^V23

What is our choice, to live as the world lives or to live as an adopted child of God the Father?

If we know we can be a child of God, why wouldn’t we share that knowledge?

I am a child of God – Bethel music

John 14.15-17

There is a story that in Mississippi USA a young lawyer was prosecuting his first case. His first witness was an elderly lady and to put her at her ease he thought he would ask a simple question. He said, “Mrs Jones do you know me?” “Yes,” she said. “I have known you since you were a boy and frankly you are a big disappointment. You lie, you cheat, you manipulate people and you cheat on your wife. You are nothing more than a 2 bit paper pusher.” Trying to recover the lawyer asked, “Do you know my colleague for the defense?”  “Yes,” Mrs Jones replied. “He is a lazy bigot who has a drinking problem. He cannot sustain any normal relationships and has the worst law practice in the State. He has cheated on his wife three times and the last one was your wife.” At that point the judged quietly summoned both lawyers to the bench and whispered, “If either of you ask her if she knows me I will send you both to the electric chair! The truth can at times be very uncomfortable.

Most of us would say we want to know the truth but when we say that we often have an internal desire for that truth to confirm to what we already believe to be true. We want an affirmation of our current understanding. When what we hear differs from our presumptions it can become difficult even unacceptable. We cannot help it, our existing world view shapes our understanding of the truth.

Jesus had embarked on a long sequence of teaching to his most intimate disciples, immediately prior to his arrest, recorded by John in chapters 14 to 17. A close relationship between the disciples and Jesus had already been formed and now he knew he was about to be taken from them. He was drawing on their existing relationship when he said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’ ^v15 Jesus was not making his love conditional on blind obedience or legalistic conformity. Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, to love him is to recognize him for who he is and therefore willingly obey him out of love. As we grow in our love for Jesus so we will increase in obedience and it will be a matter of joy and not a hardship.

However, the disciples were used to having Jesus consistently with them, reinforcing their love and trust by his presence, the sound of his voice and witnessing the many miracles he performed. How were they going to cope when Jesus left? Scripture is full of occasions when God’s people were obedient when all was going miraculously well but the heart had often proved fickle. Remember how the Israelites repeatedly grumbled in the desert and built themselves a golden calf to worship. The Israelites at that point had blocked the truth they had experienced of walking through the Red Sea as the Lord parted it and created their own false truth that a man-made statue was now their God.

To prevent a similar falling away the Trinity of God was going to take action. Jesus was going to ask God the Father to send God the Holy Spirit to be with them and in them. ^v17 The Spirit was described by Jesus as their helper or advocate. He was going to be their constant companion. ^v16 The Greek for helper is parakletos commonly used in terms of an advocate in a law court. The Holy Spirit was to be their representative to God the Father. We read elsewhere that Jesus intercedes for his disciples, (Romans 8.34)together they make for powerful representation on our behalf.

What sort of helper is the Holy Spirit to be? In the context of this passage Jesus means the Spirit is the one who will teach his disciples the truth. For those at the time it would have been reminding them of Jesus’ teaching and opening the Old Testament scriptures to them so they understood how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. In a similar way Jesus explained the scriptures to the two disciples on the Emmaus road. The Holy Spirit also inspired the authors of the New Testament. For disciples now it is the Holy Spirit who brings a spiritual understanding and conviction as we read the New Testament as well as the Old Testament.

It is the spiritual understanding the Holy Spirit brings that separates the disciple of Jesus from the wider world. It is so important then that we pray for those who are wanting to know more of Jesus and are seeking after God, asking that the Spirit of truth will bring not only an intellectual grasp of the truth but also a spiritual conviction leading to repentance and new birth. The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth makes clear to us our standing before God, who Jesus is and what he achieved through his crucifixion and resurrection. He enables us to love God and keep his commandments.

What impact has the Spirit of truth had on your life?

Who are you praying for that the Spirit of truth will reveal who Jesus is?

Spirit of the Living God – Vertical Worship

John 14.12-14

‘Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.’

We get used to people saying hyperbole but not literally believing it. The speaker usually doesn’t believe it, or mean it, but uses it as a means of emphasis. Mother’s say to children, “I’ve told you a million times.” A compere might introduce a run of the mill comedian with, “Ladies and Gentlemen give a big hand for one of the funniest comedians of all time.” Is that the sort of thing Jesus was doing when he said, ‘whoever believes in me will also do the works I do.’ ^v12 He didn’t stop there, he went on to say believers would do even greater works than him.

Let us consider the sort of works he did. He walked on water, he calmed a storm with a word, he caused the blind to see, he raised the dead, he healed those with leprosy. The Acts of the Apostles does record some similar events in terms of healing and Peter raised Tabitha from the dead. ^{Acts 9.40} There are not the same type of miracles demonstrating power over natural forces like a storm. Although there are many miracles recorded in Acts there are not same volume of healings. Records of many miracles have continued since biblical times into the modern day. Clearly disciples are enabled to pray and miracles occur as signs to the truth of the gospel. Is it fair to say they are greater than those Jesus performed?

In one sense certainly not. No disciple has the power to raise themselves from the dead eternally. Neither can a disciple ascend to heaven by their own will. No disciple can atone for their own sins or the sins of others. No disciple can bring into being the universe. ^{John 1.3}

What then could these greater things be? To understand that we need to look to the commission Jesus gave his disciples prior to his ascension. The fulfilment of this were to be the greater things. ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.’ ^{Acts 1.8} Jesus left behind about 120 disciples who gathered together to pray when the Holy Spirit descended on them at Pentecost and in one day around 3000 more disciples were added to their number.

The greater things were the spread of the gospel and growth of the church. Numbers though are far from the whole story, it is about changed lives as the Spirit of God transforms people. It is about people with no certainty of their future grasping the hope of eternal life with Jesus. It is how the gospel has radically impacted society over history. The miraculous in terms of dramatic supernatural events still occur as God responds to prayer but they are not the ultimate objective, simply steps on the way to complete the great commission.

The promise Jesus made to do whatever is asked in his name so the Father will be glorified, ought to have a handle with care label. Prayer in the name of Jesus is not simply an incantation. It is prayer in the same terms as an ambassador represents the will of the government. They are only authorized to speak according to the government’s policy and will. So it is with praying in the name of Jesus. We then as disciples need to spend time aligning our heart and mind with his, crucially by becoming biblically informed and having our own character sanctified by him.

How might you be involved in evangelism, discipleship or the ministry of the local church?

Welcome Holy Spirit

John 14.6-11

When the children of my eldest son were very small you could see them looking at a photograph of me hanging in the hall with a puzzled expression. They knew it was not picture of their father and yet they were still not sure because my likeness was so similar to my son’s. When people rang the home phone number and Paul answered they could not tell the difference between our voices and equally the same thing happened if I answered his phone. The likeness between parent and child can be very close. Personality can also be very similar although in that case it is difficult to know how much is genetic and how much environmental. Is it that sort of thing that Jesus meant when he said, ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me’?

Well the answer is no, he was not speaking about genetics as both are eternal. They are part of the mystery that is the Trinity. Their closeness is of a different order to a biological genetic connection. So much so that Jesus perfectly reveals the Father but, in a way, more comprehendible to us. To emphasize the point Jesus repeats four times, although he says it in different ways, within four verses, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ ^v9

It was time for Jesus to fully open the eyes of his disciples as to who he was. Firstly, in response to Thomas’ questioning as to where Jesus was going and how they were to get there, Jesus answers he was going to the Father meaning God (Yahweh) and the way to God was through him. ^vv5-6 This is an exclusive route, there is no other way, says Jesus. At this point the narrative does not answer the question what about those who have never heard of Jesus? We have to look elsewhere in the bible for responses to that question. Here, however, Jesus is speaking to disciples of his own, in a country that had the benefit of the Old Testament scriptures that speak of him, and to people who had met him, watched him and heard him. They clearly have no excuse as to whether or not they positively respond to him. For ourselves, Jesus words make it imperative to explain who Jesus is. If people are genuinely seeking God then we know we need to introduce them to Jesus.

Jesus could not have made it plainer when he said, ‘If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen me.’ ^v7 Philip did not take in the meaning immediately but demonstrated the heart of a seeker by saying, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ ^v8 There appears to be a mix of exasperation and patience in Jesus’ reply to Philip. He says again that to see him is to see the Father. He clearly does not mean physical sight. He means that Jesus expresses God’s love, power, wisdom, truth and character. He can only do that as the two are intimately combined and he expresses that with the question, ‘Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?’ What Jesus says comes from the Father, what he does comes from the Father and his power comes from the Father.

For Jesus it is better if the disciples believe in him because they know him. However, Jesus goes on to say in effect, if knowing me is not enough for you to believe: believe because of the miracles you have witnessed. ^v11 This statement by Jesus places miracles in the appropriate perspective. The main purpose of miracles is to enable faith, which leads people on to the Father. They have a gospel value. The miracle’s primary purpose is not the miracle itself.

How much time do we take to know Jesus?

What have we learnt about God the Father through the life of Jesus?

How do we try to make Jesus known?

Knowing You, Jesus – Graham Kendrick