Showing Your Faith?

Sixth Sunday of Easter

John 14:15-21

Showing your Faith?

15* ¶ "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

16* And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever,

17* even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

18* ¶ "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.

19* Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also.

20* In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

21* He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." RSV

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ. Amen

Our gospel lesson this morning has two themes running through it. One of the themes is keeping the commandments which Jesus gave us. The other theme is John’s take on the coming of the Holy Spirit.

This morning we are going to look at the first theme, keeping the commandment of God and we will talk about the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday.

Verses 15 and 21 are the theme verses for keeping the commandments.

They are 15* ¶ "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 21* He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

First of all, we need to understand what commandments Jesus is talking about. Jesus gave us two commandment in the New Testament, we are to love the Lord our God with all our soul and might and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. From these two commandment Jesus says all the rest will flow.

For example, we are not to kill and that flows from the second commandment which Jesus gave we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. So it follow that if I love my neighbor then I will not kill him/her. You can see how the 10 commandment flow from these 2 commandment which Jesus gave us.

Now the question can be asked, am I fulfilling these two commandments in my life? Do I love God with my whole being and do I love my neighbor as myself?

Do you have the conviction of self to obey Jesus?

Are you like the little boy on the following:

Jesus calls for the kind of conviction that is seen in the following story:

" In England a farmer saw a group of hunters riding around his farm, He did not want them in a certain field because they would damage the crop, so he sent his son to close the gate so they couldn’t enter.

The hunters on their horses wanted in the field in the worse way. They tried bribing the boy, threatened him, but he would not open the gate.

One of the men on horseback said to the boy, "Do you know who I am? "I am the Duke of Wellington and I am not accustomed to be treated in this way "

The boy took off his hat as a sign of respect for the Duke and said, "I am sure the Duke of Wellington would not wish me to disobey orders.I must keep this gate shut,"

The Duke astonished at the conviction of this boy, tipped his hat and said, "I honor you because you can be neither bribed nor threaten nor intimidated by authority into doing wrong. With an army of such soldiers, I could conquer not only the French, but the world. "

The boy could not be bribed or intimidated to open that gate. He had conviction of his soul to obey the words of his father and those word were put into action, keeping that gate closed.

Do you have the kind of conviction in your faith life or are you like the gambler in the following:

"I’m a gambler. Oh, not the kind that frequents places behind doors in some secluded spot. Nor, do I play the ponies, or bet on sporting football games

You see, I gamble with my soul as the stake. I’m betting that I can live a life of indifference, a life of neglect of those thing that are of the Lord and still receive His blessings.

I’m gambling with the souls of my children as the stake. Although I neither live righteously nor influence them toward unrighteousness, I’m betting their souls on the hope that they will have wisdom to guide their own lives unto the Lord.