STAYING IN STEP (Mother's Day 2010)
Text: John 14:23 – 29
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, "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. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 You have heard Me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father, for My Father is greater than I.
29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.
How many of you have ever seriously considered what the Holy Spirit does for us? It is interesting to note that this text falls in line with Mother's Day. Like the Holy Spirit, our mothers have taught us things that we are to remember. Some are currently being taught by their mothers who are raising them with things that they will remember. The Holy Spirit teaches us things and helps us to remember things that we have been taught. How many of you can remember something that your mother has taught you that you remember even to this day? The Holy Spirit is at work in godly mothers who strive to raise their children the way that they are to go so that they will not depart from it. The Holy Spirit’s work continues even after mothers have raised their children to adulthood. The Holy Spirit helps to stay on track at keeping the word of Jesus and staying true to the word of Jesus. If we do not follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, then we will get off track.
STAYING IN STEP
Though our mothers helped us learn how to walk our first physical steps, it is the Holy Spirit who helps us to stay in step spiritually.
1) Enoch was a man who walked closely with God. His walking with God which did not happen by default. Enoch walked closely with God.
2) As someone (?) has said, “Enoch did not win the approval of God accidentally or incidentally, for it was under the most unfavorable circumstances that Enoch walked with God in such a manner as to hear the words of divine approval”. (T. T. Crabtree. ed. The Zondervan 2009 Pastor's Annual. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008, p. 263). What were his “unfavorable circumstances”? He was Cain's oldest son (Genesis 4:17). Cain had killed Abel because he was jealous of how God found favor with Abel's offering (Genesis 4:8).
3) There is a saying that the “apple does not fall far from the tree”. There is no doubt that Enoch was an exception to this rule because he “walked with God” (Genesis 5:24).
4) The Holy Spirit can help us walk with God and stay in step as we walk.
One of the things that godly mothers do is raise their children to know right from wrong.
1) Just recently I read where George Foreman wrote about his mother’s role in his life. George Foreman’s mother was a godly woman who set an example that one day later have an impact on George’s life. (George Foreman. God In My Corner. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007).
2) George Foreman had a nephew who was ill. At that time in his boxing career, George thought that his influence and money could buy his nephew's way back to health. (p. 4). We have to note that this was a time before George Foreman was a Christian.
3) While growing up, George had seen his mother pray. But, he did not put much stock in God or prayer. (p.4). Having gone from rags to riches as a boxer, he had the ability to have anything that money could buy. (p. 3,4). But, he found that money was useless where God's intervention was needed.
4) Suddenly, it seemed as if George found himself backed in a corner without a solution.
5) It is one thing to be a boxer, boxing an opponent you can see eye to eye. It is another thing to face an opponent that you cannot see.
6) If we say that George had been boxing with God, we would have to say that he was finding that his arms were too short to box with God!
7) How many of us been there… having arms too short too box with God?
8) George finally gave up and prayed for his nephew and he was healed! (pp. 17 -18).
Following his conversion, George was seeking forgiveness from anyone whom he had wronged.
1) George's mother raised George from birth to his adulthood.
2) She kept George in line. She was not one to spare the rod and spoil the child. (p. 6).
3) George's mother had planted the seeds of the gospel that others began to water until George eventually became a Christian himself. (p. 29).
4) Being born again and baptized of God's Holy Spirit had changed George inwardly in his heart and outwardly in his behavior. He said that God had taken all that hate and anger away as he became a Christian. (p. 30).
5) It was obvious to those who knew the old George that something was different about him. The old George would flip through the pages of the Bible and tell lie to his mother that he had read the Bible. (p. 7). The new George was quoting scriptures that he had never memorized. (p. 30).
6) George had gone from being someone who wanted to make his own name great to making God's name great!
7) As a new creature in Christ, George had had quit seeking to gratify the nature of the flesh as he began to live by the Spirit!
REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE
The disciples would benefit from having the Holy Spirit to remind them of God's love .
1) Jesus was giving His disciples some much needed words of encouragement as He was preparing them for His departure from them. Would they be able to continue to love Him when He was no longer with them in the flesh? Would the next generation be able to love Him and if so how? (Leander E. Keck. ed. The New Interpreter's Bible. Volume IX. Gail R. O'Day. “The Gospel Of John: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, p. 749).
2) Someone (F. F. Bruce) has said that “love, joy and peace are the first three graces in the fruit of the Spirit”. (F. F Bruce. The Gospel & Epistles Of John. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983, p. 305).
3) Jesus was sharing with them how the legacy of His love continues through their loving one another as His disciples (John 13:34-35).
4) We know from the words of Paul that there is faith, hope and love and that love is the greatest of these (I Corinthians 13:13).
5) It is through love that we keep His commandments (John 14:15). Those who love Jesus and keep His commandments will be loved by our Father in Heaven (John 14:21).
6) We cannot be separated from God's love (Romans 8:35) because as Paul said “Love never ends” (I Corinthians 13:8).
7) It is through God's never ending love that we experience the Lord's indwelling in our lives. The Holy Spirit helps us to remember who we are as God's children!
The Holy Spirit continues to help us and teach us in real time.
1) Jesus gives us life abundantly as the shepherd of our souls, giving us life to the fullest (John 10:10). Just as Jesus gives us the peace that the world cannot give (John 14:27), Jesus gives to us the gift of salvation.
2) Satan [the ruler of this world] will try to rob us of the joy of our salvation.
3) As someone (J. C. Ryle) put it “Our Lord knows the ignorance and forgetfulness of our nature in spiritual things”. (J. C. Ryle. Expository Thoughts On The Gospels. Volume Four. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, reprinted 2007, p. 82). He gives this advice: “Let us pray daily for the teaching of the Spirit.” (p. 82).
4) But, Satan will always fail because he cannot snatch those who are in the hands of Jesus (John 10:29).
5) Another reason Satan will always fail is because he has no power over Jesus Christ (John 14:30) who has conquered sin, death and the fear of death!
6) God's love makes us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) because no form of adversity … death, rulers, things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth shall be able to separate us from love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 8:37-39).
7) We cannot walk and stay in step without the Holy Spirit who not only teaches us, but also reminds of our victory in Jesus Christ!
