John 14:15 – 21 (NRSV) 15 “If you love me, you will keep[a] my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,[b] to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in[c] you. 18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
THE NEW COMMISSION
Text: John 14:15 – 23
Chuck Swindoll shares the story about Mark Twain encountering a ruthless businessman from Boston during his travels who boasted that nobody ever got in his way once he determined to do something. He said, “Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I’m going to climb Mt. Sinai. And when I’m up there I’m gonna read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top of my voice!” Unimpressed. Twain responded, “I’ve got a better idea. Stay in Boston and keep ’em.” (Chuck Swindoll. Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998, p. 413). The businessman in this story is talking about what we would call a bucket list item. This story hinges on the ideal of obedience.
In today’s text Jesus is talking to His disciples about what will happen in the future. In fact, John 14 -17 is what some refer to as the “Farewell Discourse”. Jesus is talking to them about the connection to obedience and love and how that will be important in their work as disciples.
In John 13, Jesus gave His disciples a new commandment which was that they love one another as Jesus had shown love to them because others would know that we are Jesus’s disciples because of the ways that we love. In John 14:15 -23 Jesus is giving His disciples a new commission.
We have to remember that today’s text is before the crucifixion. What Jesus is talking about will happen after the resurrection. So today on Pentecost Sunday, we can look at this text through the lens of resurrection of Jesus Christ. The disciples did not have that option.
Jesus is talking to them about three things, Obedience, Objections, and Obligations.
OBEDIENCE
What does obedience mean to you?
1) Selective Obedience: Remember the story at the beginning about the businessman that Mark Twain encountered? Mark Twain seems to have been pointing out to that man that he might be suffering from selective obedience.
2) Doers: Consider what it says in James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (ESV). The late Doctor Charles Stanley of Atlanta, Georgia has said in his teaching that obedience to God is defined as Doing …
?What He says
?When He says
?How He says
?All He says
Anything less that this is not obedience, but disobedience (Practical Illustrations. Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2001, p 85). What could happen if you did not obey a stop sign?
Does the kind of love that Jesus talked about leave room for loopholes?
1) New Commandment: Jesus gave them a new commandment in John 13:34- 35. That new commandment was to love one another as Jesus had loved them. Jesus then said that everyone would know that we are Jesus’ disciples by our love. That means that love must be unconditional and not selective. That is easier said than done. Or else, in the words of a Bon Jovi song “We give love a bad name” theologically speaking.
2) Love in context: There are three Greek words for love and two of those Greek words are used in the New Testament. There is the Greek word for unconditional love which is agape [Greek, agapa]. The other Greek word used in the New Testament is phileo [Greek phileo] which means brotherly love. “Whether one looks at agape or phileo, love is linked inextricably to the Lord. It is He who models it in the Trinity. [God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit]. He also engender love in our lives. When we display it , He is glorified”. (Wayne A. Detzler. New Testament Words in Today’s Language. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1986, pp. 268 – 269). Does the way we love others always reflect God’s love?
3) God’ love: John 1:29 the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ . John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have ever lasting life. John 15:13 tells us that Jesus laid down his life for His friends. Romans 5: 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. All of these things tell us that Jesus died on the cross for the whole world which includes friends and enemies.
4) What conditional love looks like: We can do a comparison in two parts,. First Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 and secondly the curiosity of a rich man’ abut his bride.
Exhibit A:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds
4Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no, it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
8Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
12But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/read/116/
In many ways Shakespeare echoes the Paul’s thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians.
Exhibit B:
“A wealthy old man had just recently married a lovely young lady and was beginning to wonder whether she might have married him just for his money. He asked her, “If I lost all my money , would you still love me?” She said reassuringly, “Oh honey, don’t be silly. Of course I would still love you. And I would miss you terribly.” (Steve May. The Story File. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishing, 2000, p. 201). Even though the Beatles were a secular band, they got it right when they sang “Money can’t by me love”! Unfortunately, the rich gentleman thought that he married someone with a heart of gold only to find out that he married a “Gold-digger” ! Aren’t you glad God’s love isn’t selective?
OBJECTIONS
Why is the world blind and deaf?
1) Blind eyes: The world is blind to the Holy Spirit because of Satan who blinds the eyes of wayfaring sinners to the light of the Gospel (II Corinthians 4:4).
2) Itchy ears: Consider II Timothy 4:3: “The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will tell them what they are itching to hear” (GNB).
3)Distortion: Consider also Isaiah 5:18 -20: “Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, (19) who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!” (20) Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! We do not have to question who is behind all of these things because Jesus called him what he is Stan the father of lies (John 8:44).
Who can we count on to tell us the truth?
There are six areas that work against within is the itching ears and without is any indoctrination ideals with hidden agendas that tickle itchy ears. It is only Jesus who tells us the truth.
1) The world: The world is the arena that the enemy uses to oppose God. John Chrysostom writes, "All are included. It is not possible to say that anyone is exempted" from the presence of sin and the enemies of the world, the flesh, and the Devil (ACCN T 8, p. 122). But in Christ we have the power and desire to resist these foes, so let us do so today by the power of the Spirit. https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/world-flesh-and-devil For us to operate without the help of the Holy Spirit, would be as successful as a glove to try to operate without a hand!
2)The flesh: If the flesh could operate successfully without God’s help, then why did God intervene through Jesus to give us the victory over sin, death and the fear of death? Why did Jesus give us the Holy Spirit to indwell in us to lead us to the truth and help us succeed?
3) The devil: The war in Heaven described in Revelation 12 depicts how the devil attacks. Jesus destroyed the works of the devil on the cross. So when Satan reminds us of our failures in the past to disrupt our journey as Christ’s ambassadors, we can point to what Jesus did on the cross, shedding His own blood as the one and only pure and spotless and sacrificial lamb of God to set us free.
4) Itching ears: William Barclay once wrote “Men in the days of Timothy were beset by false teachers hawking round sham knowledge. Their deliberate policy was to find arguments whereby a man could justify himself for doing what he wanted to do. Any teacher, to this day, whose teaching tends to make men think less of sin is a menace to Christianity and to mankind”. (William Barclay. The Daily Bible Study: The Letters of Timothy, Titus, and Philemon .(Revised Edition). Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975, p. 207).
5) Indoctrination: We live in a world where there are many who would rather indoctrinate people rather than educate them. They would rather tell you what to believe than to tell you to think and teach you how to find the truth. Why else would people prefer to be blind to the truth of the Gospel that would set them free? If there is an indoctrination, then there is also an hidden agenda.
6)The “Precursor”: Jesus was the Precursor to the Helper that the disciples had encountered. They never fully knew what Jesus was getting at in this pre-crucifixion moment. They would not really know what Jesus meant until after the Day of Pentecost. Only then, would the disciples begin to understand what Jesus meant by another Helper and the Spirit of truth. Jesus was using those two terms to refer to the help of the Holy Spirit. Earlier in John 14:6, Jesus told His disciples that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. John 14:17 tells us “He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you” (GNB).
OBLIGATION
How would Jesus’s disciples be able to carry on His ministry if He was not physically with them anymore?
1) Not orphaned: Jesus had come to seek and save, the last, the least and the lost. Jesus had come to save all sinners as He willingly became the sacrificial lamb (John 1:29) of God who died on the cross to take away the sins of the world. Jesus mentioned that unless He went away that He could not send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7) --- the Comforter (KJV), Advocate (NRSV), Companion (CBE), Helper (ESV).
2) The planned Paracletus: The Holy Spirit helps us both inwardly and outwardly. In John 16:7 Jesus said that it was to the advantage of the disciples that He go away, or the Advocate, (Helper, Comforter, Spirit of Truth) could not come. Now why is that so important? The Holy Spirit will indwell in us (John 14:15), guide us to the truth and teach us (John 14:26), and Advocate---intercede for us (Romans 8:26). The Latin Vulgate version of the Bible uses the word “Paracletus”. The Greek Word for Holy Spirit (Paraclete) is very similar.
“…. Paraclete, that `was an ancient warrior’s term. ‘Greek soldiers went into battle in pairs…so when the enemy attacked they could draw together back to back, covering each other’s blind side. One’s battle partner was the Paraclete.” Our Lord does not send us to fight the good fight alone. The Holy Spirit is our battle partner who covers our blind side and fights for our well being.’’ (Edward K. Rowell ed. Fresh Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching. Grand Rapids: Baker House, 1997, p. 110). Have you ever thought of how the Holy Spirit has your back?
Was this urgency to be obedient an obligation---a new commission? Jesus seems to speak about the necessity of obedience as an obligation. Our effectiveness as disciples depends on how well we obey.
1) Knowledge is not enough: Vance Havner once said, “You have not really learned a commandment until you have obeyed it.… The church suffers today from Christians who know volumes more than they practice”. Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson’s complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic version), When Jesus said that we are to love one another (John 13:34 - 35) so that others will know that we are His disciples He was talking about putting love into action.
2) Love in action: Remember what we we mentioned about love earlier as it relates to God’s glory? “Whether one looks at agape or phileo, love is linked inextricably to the Lord. It is He who models it in the Trinity. [God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit]. He also engenders love in our lives. When we display it , He is glorified”. (Wayne A. Detzler. New Testament Words in Today’s Language. Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1986, pp. 268 – 269). Obeying Jesus’s command to be loving means that we will take risks!
Does our love take risks?
1) Unseen enemies: a) Right now, in real time we face an unseen enemies all inspired by our archenemy: rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness and spiritual power of evil in the heavens (Ephesians 6:12 CEB). b) The Apostle Paul tells us that us we get shot at every day with by and unseen enemy known as Satan who aims at us with his fiery darts (Ephesians 6:16) while hoping to discourage, dismantle and destroy our faith, unity and morale. c) Suzanne Nicholson, a Methodist professor of Biblical Studies at Malone University paraphrases Paul in Ephesians 6:12 saying, “…Paul …clarifies that the battle believers face is not merely against human beings, but against the spiritual powers that stand behind fallen human forces and sinful societal structures.” (Kenneth Collins and Robert Wall. eds. Suzanne Nicholson. “Ephesians”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2020, p. 793). Every generation of Christians face these same kinds of enemies.
Unrequited love: The cross illustrates God’s love through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son for the forgiveness of sins. John 3:16 says it all!
2) Love goes the distance: ILLUSTRATION: “Though” and “through” differ only by one small letter—the letter “r.” In American Sign Language, “r” is made by crossing the middle finger over the index finger. But crossed fingers have a history as sign language that far predates ASL. In the first centuries of the Church, when Christianity was wholly illegal and Christians were vigorously persecuted, believers found ways to communicate their faith in subtle ways. Accompanying a greeting or FAREWELL, crossed fingers were a code sign, identifying Christians to one another as “people of the cross.” The crossed fingers were a mute symbol for the cross of Christ and the redemption Christ’s death on that cross brought to all people. >>>>>>>>>>
Today, crossed fingers mean something very different. When placed behind one’s back, they mean that one doesn’t mean what one is saying. When held in one’s lap, they mean one is hoping something will or will not come to pass. https://illustrationexchange.com/illustrations?search=farewell How will people ever know about redemption and what is means if we do not share God’s love?
3) Resist the Spirit?: If the Spirit lives in believers and guides them, and He does, then we can do God’s will if we stay in step with the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25 ESV). We can also grieve the Holy Spirit, when we are disobedient (Ephesians 4:30). That is why Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us in how we are to live.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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