May 16, 2004 John 14:23-29
If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. . . You heard me say, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
Do You Love Jesus?
Last Sunday was Mother’s Day. To be honest with you, I really don’t look forward to these days. They remind me of going on a first date with someone – you have to try and do that little something extra - put on some more cologne and be a little more pleasant and talkative. Just because someone (probably the florists) call a day Mother’s Day, then on this one day children and husbands are pressured to do something beyond just saying “thanks.” They’re supposed to buy some flowers, take them out to eat, or make them a card. I don’t like it when someone says I have to show someone love on a certain day. I’d rather do it when and how I want – not when someone tells me to. I also wonder how often these days just end up getting people more angry at one another because they don’t get treated the way they feel they deserve. Instead of promoting love, I think they more often than not end up in disappointment.
Do you love Jesus? If you do, how do you show it? You can’t buy him flowers. You can’t take him out to eat. You can’t give him a Happy Jesus’ Day card. But there are some other things you can do. In today’s text Jesus mentions two things you can do if you love him. Now, I want you to understand that this isn’t like the Mother’s Day celebration. Jesus isn’t drawing a line in the church and saying, “if you really love me, then do this.” He’s more stating a fact of what those who love Him will do. A better translation of this would be – “whenever anyone loves me – he will.” So I don’t want you to look at what Jesus tells us to do as something we have to do – but something we just naturally will do our of love for Jesus. Ever since our baptisms – this is just a natural thing. It’s like telling a kid to watch TV or play video games – it’s just something God makes us to do by His grace.
What does Jesus say we will do as loving Christians? Jesus literally says, “whenever anyone loves me, he will keep my Word.” The word for “keep” – threo - has a couple different meanings – “to hold, guard, obey.” When someone gives you something to hold onto, or to guard, or to keep, it depends on what it is. About five years ago my father gave me a Bible that was his father’s – it’s over one hundred years old. I now keep it on the shelf of my office – displayed in a prominent place. But we don’t do the same thing with all of our gifts. My son has a bicycle that he’s owned for about three years now. The front wheel is all bent, he’s needed the seat to be replaced. The back tire is completely worn down. But that’s ok with me. I wasn’t too happy when his old seat was broken, and I don’t like it when he just leaves it laying in the front yard. But I wanted him to use the bike. I didn’t want him just to put it in the garage. A part of keeping it means using it. It depends on what we get – how useful or expensive or fragile it is as to how we use it.
Jesus gave us His Word – and told us to keep it. In the Third Commandment we say how we “keep it” - by regarding it as holy and gladly hearing and learning it. This explanation is taken from God’s Word – which tells us what it means to keep His Word. Isaiah 66:2 says, “this is the one whom I esteem – he who trembles at my Word.” Think about what the Bible actually is. It is God’s Word. God chose to tear down the barriers – come down from the heavens – and communicate with us. We now have an inspired Bible – written by direction of the Holy Spirit. Think about how prized a possession an original Rembrandt or Da Vinci drawing or painting is. Think about how much more precious this Word is. If God appeared to you tonight in a vision and had some things to say to you – and wrote them down for you – how would you treat that book? You would keep it – be very careful in how you treated that book – and you would also read it very carefully. But keeping His Word regards more than just reading it and having it touch our brains. James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Jesus wants us to really dig into his Word and start applying it to our lives. He wants you to read all about what He did for you. He wants you to have a firm confidence in the way to salvation by His grace. He wants you to know how to live your life – how to love your spouse – how to treat your children. In other words – keeping His Word is more than putting it on a shelf. It means putting it in your brain and your heart, on your tongue and your fingers, on your face and on your whole life.
Whenever my son brings artwork home from school, he wants me to look at it. But that’s not enough. He then wants me to hang onto it – put it on the refrigerator – or display it in some prominent place. After school had been going for several weeks however, we started getting more and more and more sheets from school, and we didn’t have anyplace to go with it all. Finally, I decided to make an executive decision and toss some of it. Unfortunately, I did this right when he was in the kitchen with me. When he saw me do that, he looked at me as if I had just ripped his heart out and hung it out to dry. He was really hurt that I didn’t treat his artwork as the most precious possessions on earth. There’s another story about a man who bought his wife a very special glass ball – you know the kind that has a little scenery in it that snows. Inside of it, he then placed the date of their marriage and a note that he wanted her to open after twenty five years of marriage. However, after about twelve years of marriage the wife was caught in an affair on the husband. The reason he knew this was because he went to the man’s house and found the gift on his shelf. Not only had she disregarded his gift, but she gave it to her lover – not realizing that his love note was ever inside. The husband was crushed. He gave her the note and the ball as a memento – and she gave it away and never even read it. What an unloving thing to do!
Do you ever wonder how Jesus feels when we leave the greatest love story ever told, God’s personal love letter to us – on the shelf? Do you wonder how he reacts when you leave your Bible behind to read a murder mystery or another sleazy romance? When anyone loves me he keeps my Word, Jesus said. Do you keep His Word? Or are you embarrassed to say that you haven’t opened up your Bible in some time? Have you tried to apply His Word to your life? Or would you be embarrassed to think about the way you’ve treated your children or spouse? I think most of us would have to hang our heads in shame at what we’ve done with this prized possession. Even though we profess to love Him, we still haven’t read His love letters. We’ve taken His love for granted. It’s embarrassing.
The sad thing about it is that we treat this “command” of Jesus – this proof of love – like a burden. Going back to the Mother’s Day illustration – I’m not really proud of my attitude towards it. It’s not like it’s hard to get someone flowers. It’s not impossible to show some special appreciation one day a year. Yet I grumble about it and act like it’s the most difficult thing in the world. My mom went through nine months of pregnancy for me. She clothed me. She bathed me. She fed me. She cleaned me. My wife bore our children – went through 36 months of pregnancy for four of our children. The least I could do – the LEAST – would be to show some appreciation. Yet I complain. It’s sad. It’s sad that we take this statement of Jesus – to keep his Word – as something that’s so painful. Like going to Bible study is just a tremendous chore. Worship is just so hard to get up for. It shouldn’t feel that way – or be that way – but we often act like it is.
Jesus didn’t want it to be that way. But Jesus, in His mercy, provides us with some extra incentive for keeping his word today. What does Jesus say? “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Over Easter my wife and I invited all kinds of family over to our house. When all was said and done we ended up planning on about twenty five people coming over. That’s quite a bit. She did quite a bit of cooking, cleaning and planning to bring the whole tribe over. It all ended up going off without too much of a hitch. But it sure was a lot of work. Whenever you invite someone over to your house – you naturally think about how much work it’s going to be – and how long they’re going to stay. It’s nice to have company – but sometimes it’s nicer to have them leave. The incentive that Jesus used for keeping his word was that “my Father and I will make our home with him.” The word for “make our home” is rarely used in the New Testament. It’s the same word that’s translated as the “mansion” or “room” that Jesus is going to prepare for us. In other words, God doesn’t just say He’s going to move in for a day or two. When you keep his word, He’s going to move into your house permanently. That’s a long time.
But when Jesus and the Father move in, there’s an upswing. Some friends of mine recently had his grandmother move in with them. She pays for the total house payment. She helps watch the kids. She helps to clean. That doesn’t sound too bad, now, does it? Think about what a joy it was for Mary and Joseph to have Jesus as a son in the household. He never would have complained about the chores. He always would have been respectful. He always would do what they asked. They had a gold mine in that child! We’ve got a gold mine in Jesus’ proposal. When the Holy Spirit moved into us at our baptism, God said that our sins were washed away. Now, as the Father and the Son remain there through faith – we have the ultimate cleaning machine. Jesus is offering to keep our houses completely holy and perfect and clean for all of our lives. The Holy Spirit will give us knowledge and strength to know right from wrong and live healthier lives. The Father gives us confidence to know that He is guarding and protecting us. Instead of giving us more work, God gives us the energy to do all we do. He brings a loving and kind spirit into our household that we never would have had without Him. Even though we’re supposed to be the ones doing the cooking and the cleaning, He does all the work! What a wonderful thing this is! This is a wonderful deal Jesus is offering us. We get all of these gifts just through keeping His Word!
As Jesus was giving this lucrative offer to the disciples, He was trying to prepare them for his departure. Jesus was about to die on the cross. If they would have heard WHY He was going, they would have rejoiced! He was going to die for their sins. But they were sad! So Jesus was telling the disciples, “I’m coming back! I’ll rise from the dead! I’ll send the Holy Spirit! I’ll remind you of my words. I’ll do better than walking by your side – I’ll dwell in your hearts! So don’t let your hearts be troubled! Don’t be afraid!” Just keep my Word. Remember it. Learn it. Speak it. Live it. When you keep it, you won’t be so uptight and worried about life. You’ll enjoy it more!
In the same way, Jesus says to you, “don’t be afraid or worried about keeping me in your home. I won’t nit pick at you for how clean you keep it. I won’t bug you to cook and clean for me. I’ll be by your side! I’ll be a joy to live with. I’ll volunteer to clean your house and strengthen your marriage! I’ll bring energy into your household – protection – all that you need! Don’t be afraid of the fact that you can’t see me. I’ll be here through the word.” The wonderful thing is that even though we complain about listening to His Word, and even though we whine about the way He cleans our homes and schedules our lives, and even though we don’t spend as much time talking and listening to him as we should – Jesus doesn’t storm out in a huff. He doesn’t divorce us, even though we deserve it. He patiently keeps on cleaning, keeps on remodeling, keeps on forgiving, keeps on talking with us and keeps on living with us. He already died for us and bought us to be His own, and He doesn’t want to leave. He does whatever possible to stay. That’s the gracious God we have.
When my grandmother died about fifteen years ago she didn’t have a lot of real expensive items. Most of her furniture was old and worn out. Her house had to be at least 70 years old or so. She didn’t own a car or a million dollar life insurance policy. However, there were several things that were of interest to me. She had an old glass of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck that said, “sufferin succotash.” It reminded me of all the times I had eaten in her house. Unfortunately, by the time I thought about it, it was already disposed of. However, later on I found out that she had something much more precious. In her possession were about ten books of old sermons in German and English that my grandfather had written. I was able to borrow two of those from my uncle to use for a time. They may not be worth a lot in the world, but to me, they are priceless. They have a ton of good insights into God’s Word that I never would have thought of on my own. They are also just precious to me because of the history behind them. The last thing I would want was for these books to be ruined or lost.
If I were to ask you, “what is your most prized possession in the world?”, what would you say? You might say your spouse, because he or she gives you companionship. You might say your children, because they give you joy. You might say your health, because without it you couldn’t do much. Or you might say your home, because without it you wouldn’t have anywhere to live. If you ever lost a child, a spouse, or a home was taken away from you – it would be devastating. But the most devastating thing you could lose is the Word. God’s Word – the message of Christ – gives you peace, joy, companionship, a place to live – everything that you need for your bodies and souls – through the righteousness of Christ. It’s more important than anything else – through it God comes to live with us and assure us of His love. So it comes down to you – the Christian. What is your most prized possession? Is it work? Is it family? Is it fun? Or is it the Word? You proved your answer this morning. The most important thing to you – your most prized possession – is Jesus Christ as revealed in God’s Word. Keep His Word, and enjoy living with Him eternally. Amen.
