I will not leave you Orphan
John 14:15-21
Here’s something for you on this morning: A poll taken by the Center for the Governance of Change in the United Kingdom revealed that 25% of European citizens believe that robots and artificial intelligence algorithms would do a better job of making policy decisions than politicians would.
In Germany and the Netherlands, the figures are even higher. According to this poll, citizens throughout Europe are so disillusioned by their political leaders that they believe robots and computers would do a better job of governing their countries than humans would. (https://www.ie.edu/cgc/research/tech-opinion-poll-2019/)
Artificial intelligence may be able to evolve, but it will never know the power of the Holy Spirit guiding it. It may be able to update itself, but it will never have the Spirit of truth living inside of it. And a spiritual leader who never faces his or her own death can’t offer us an example of wisdom, grace or courage when we wrestle with the meaning of life. How do you live fully and faithfully in the limited time you have on this earth? Can a software program relate to the internal struggles of facing your own mortality?
In our Bible passage today, Jesus knows that he is heading towards his death. He needs to know if his disciples trust his leadership. What will they remember of his message and his mission after he is gone? What is the one thing his disciples will need to carry out his work and transform the world?
John 14:18-19 “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see me no more but will see me. Because I live, you shall live also.”
According to UNICEF (the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund), there are roughly 153 million orphans worldwide. Every day, an estimated 5,700 more children become orphans. What sad news! How wonderful God has blessed and protect us without us becoming orphans.
The Person who made the Promise: He is true and faithful God
Through the COVID-19 pandemic situation of this world, the Lord kept us safe and He says to us “I will not leave you orphans.” The person who made this promise is our true God. The person who made this promise is a God of faithfulness. At times, people have lost their parents or brothers, or sisters and you may think that now you are orphan but, this promise will comfort you directly “I will not leave you as orphans. In this sense, Jesus’ command is a gift. How many of us know people who are never satisfied, who are always chasing after some accomplishment or milestone that will give them a sense of purpose? It’s exhausting and frustrating to build your life around titles or accomplishments or image.
I will not leave you as orphan: The felling of absence is nothing but the absence of God. When God is absence you realize you feel lonely. Without Jesus Christ, you feel like an orphan.
John 16:32 “Indeed, the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
John 14:27b “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
“I think loneliness is an innate signal that a need is not being met, similar to hunger or thirst,” says Dr Michelle Lim. (Chair of the Australian Coalition to End Loneliness.) Who feels lonelier in this world? women or men? 47% of women feel lonely in this world and 36% of men feel lonely. 44 million people feel lonely or one in 3 U.S. adults 45 and older are lonely, according to AARP statistic survey. It is the contrast. Our God is the God of widows, and God of orphans. When Jesus commanded us to love one another as he loved us, he was removing our own agenda and priorities and replacing them with his own. The moment you accept Jesus as your Lord, your life purpose becomes loving others like Jesus did. No title or accomplishment can provide the joy and satisfaction of putting love into action on behalf of others.
Psalm 146:9 “The Lord watches over the strangers; he relieves the fatherless and widow.”
The People of the Promise:
John 16:32 “You will also leave me alone, but I will not leave you alone. Unfaithful disciples.”
When you’re in leadership, it’s difficult to know whom to trust.
He needed to know which of his disciples would follow him, and which ones would give up and walk away. Which ones would fall at the sword for him.
And that’s a question we have to answer in the church today
The very first command Jesus made in the book of John 1: 43 when he told Philip, “Follow me.” his last command in John 21: 22, when he told Peter, “You must follow me.”
Are you following him. Jesus wants us to follow him. He wants us to fulfill the promise that you made with him. The disciples scattered everywhere when he was crucified on the cross.
The Provision for the Promise:
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” - another comforter – called along side
You may live in a Place but without Jesus you are alone/orphan.
I will give you another Comforter
Greek word - parakletos = para – side by side call alongside - allos parakletos
The same spirit I leave with you. He is not no less than me. He will be as known as me, as powerful as me, as strong as me, as Holy as me.
The White house is the loneliest place in the world. – William Howard Taft - Woodrow Wilson confirmed it.
Princes Diana had a lonely miserable life inside the palace. - Diana by Andrew Morton
Psalm 12:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Isaiah 43 “1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Let me tell you about a Christian woman by the name of Maria Dyer. Maria was born in 1837 on the mission field in China. Her parents died when Maria was young, and she was sent to live with relatives in England. But Maria caught her parents’ missionary spirit even though they were no longer with her physically. At age sixteen, she returned to China to serve as a missionary herself.
A few years later, Maria married a missionary named Hudson Taylor, a name that many of you will recognize. The two of them worked with Chinese people and took care for many destitute Chinese children. Their ministry together was powerful, but tragically short. Maria died of cholera at the age of forty-three. But her tombstone bore these words: “For her to live was Christ, and to die was gain.”
Maria Dyer Taylor understood the sacrifices God was calling her to make. Her parents had died on the mission field. Four of her children died on the mission field. Other Christian organizations often criticized Taylor’s ministry. But, none of these heartbreaks or frustrations affected her commitment. She always knew that she would give up her life to spread the message of Jesus to the Chinese people.
We are never alone. We are not orphans. Jesus’ mission and message lives on in his work.
