John 16:1-11

 John 16:1-11

How often do we develop a fantasy of Messianic bliss? How often do we portray discipleship in terms of “Happy ever after”?  With a misunderstanding and misapplication of ‘abundant life’ we set up those we teach and ourselves for disappointment.  Jesus tells His disciples that as a result of their loyalty to Him they will suffer dramatically.  He tells them not so they can avoid suffering but so that they will not be tripped up by it.  

I fear that “positive mental attitude”, ‘possibility thinking’, ‘prosperity gospel’ and such has infected Christianity to the point we are unaware, unwilling or afraid to address the high cost of being a disciple.  In the absence of presenting the cost of discipleship we set people up for a stumble.  Either when confronted by the cost of following they decided to walk away from Christ, or they modify orthodox Christianity into something less painful and decidedly more heretical.  

The costly discipleship, marked by suffering as it is, has the advantage of the Holy Spirit coming as our helper.  The Holy Spirit comes and He convicts the world.  To help understand this we can use the phrase “expose the world”.  He exposes that THE sin is unbelief in Jesus as God’s Son and Christ.  All the sins (works of darkness or acts of evil) are merely a product of or expression of the rejection of God’s Son.  He exposes the world’s standing in ‘righteousness’ or Divine justice because Jesus is shown by the Spirit to stand in God’s presence where Holy judgment and justice find their origin.  The Holy Spirit exposes the world’s failure in its commitment to the dark lord of this age, because the resurrection proves that Satan is defeated.  

The message that makes the disciple so much a subject of persecution is a message confirmed by the Holy Spirit, a message of Faith in Jesus as God’s Son.  It is the message that Satan and his system is void.  The source of our hardship works out to actually be our advantage. 

“Lord, help me to see hardship from an eternal perspective, the sign of victory it is.  AMEN”

John 15:18-27

 John 15:18-27

At the end of World War II the US began an economic boom unparalleled in history.  The incredible production effort of war became an engine for peacetime prosperity.  The middle class grew dramatically and enjoyed wealth that a generation before was reserved only for the rich.  The contrast of wealth from the second half of the 20th century to the second half of the 19th century is astonishing.    This gave rise to one of the core values of our culture: Personal peace and affluence.  Without ever being written into law this value permeates and colors every aspect of our lives.  Like the air we breathe we don’t think of it unless something threatens it.  Both conscientiously and subconsciously we shape our lives around the ideals that protect our undisturbed life and our stuff.  

The call of Jesus into our lives comes and bursts this cozy cocoon like I pin bursting a balloon.   Jesus is emphatic that the hate of the world for the disciples is to be expected. If the core reality of the kingdom of God is love the core reality of the world is hate. The world's hate is directed at anything that challenges its autonomy. The word of Christ is in direct conflict with the world. The world says, “Have a good time and have a strong self-esteem”. The Lord says, “Weep and mourn because your righteousness is like filthy rags”. The world says, “Accumulate all you can”. The Lord says: “How miserable you rich are”. The world says, “Pursue your greatest goal”. The Lord says, “Unless you repent you will be destroyed”. The world says “We are the apex of evolution and the masters of our own fate”. The Lord says, “You are only dust”. 

When the message of the Lord comes through His disciples to the world the world responds by hate. Persecution is the norm for the disciple. The absence of persecution may be attributed to the culture being thoroughly reshaped by the gospel message. Or it may reflect that the disciple has, in order to protect their own personal peace and affluence, toned down or adjusted their message. 

As disciples, we are not called to go looking for persecution. Rather we will find it coming to us when we offer the message of repentance and the world is offended. May it never be that our own personal peace and affluence perverts us and the fear of losing it causes us to soften or silence our message.

“Lord, grant me courage to be faithful in the face of a world of hate.  AMEN”

John 15:9-17

 John 15:9-17

This passage provides for us a sort of manifesto for life in the community of disciples, the church.  What we see in this passage is the foundation for life together as followers of Christ, both locally and globally.  Three themes are developed for our life together: love, holiness, and joy. First is love. With the same intensity that the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the disciples. This love is agape and it is the all pervasive modus operandi of the Father for the Son and the Son for us. It is far from sentimental and it is deeper than merely an emotional response. It is all-pervasive so that all that comes to us from God is motivated by love. Even the painful moments, which turn us toward God, have behind them the origin of love. God's love is not the only operative force in the universe but even the power of evil is restrained by God's love.

Living in that love draws out of us a motivation to obey. The life of Holiness is more than keeping a set of rules.  It is, in fact, living out of the love of Christ for, in, and through us. Indeed this love is behavioral. No one murders his brother out of love.  But it is more than rule keeping. It is living as a love or thank offering each day. Holiness, this obedience, is proactively loving God and man.

When we are basking, abiding in and living in this love which expresses itself in obedience the result is the joy of Christ is in us and that joy becomes full.  Love and obedience is how we have joy.   Joy is not dependent on our circumstances. Joy is possible even in our suffering and in being hated by the world.   The joy acts as a catalyst to more full awareness of and expression of love and holiness.

As love, holiness and joy grow our relationship with God matures. It moves from one level to another and we become friends of God.  And then we grow more and and we become  even better friends of God.

“Lord, shape me so that I live a life of love, holiness, and joy. AMEN”

John 15:1-8

 John 15:1-8

This passage is often cited as a promise that we can get whatever we want by prayer.  In reality it is a warning about our condemnation and judgment.  Verse 7 sounds like a blank check of answered prayer.  All that is required is that we abide (love) in Jesus and have faith to name and claim ‘whatever you wish’.  But the context is much more serious than our wishes. 

Jesus says that the purpose of our living is to bear fruit.  This is made possible by our connection to Him.  When we are connected and bearing fruit what ever facilitates our bearing fruit will be done when we ask.  What Jesus promises is that we will at our request be given any and everything we need and want to bear fruit.

This brings the question: what does it mean to bear fruit?  Some say it is moral character development that we see described in the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.  Others think this is a reference to the evangelistic effort of the disciples.  Such a distinction is a false dichotomy.  Character reform that is not active in evangelistic efforts is sterile.  Like a castrated horse or a steer it may grow large individually but will never grow a herd.  Evangelistic efforts without character change will result in corrupt deformed disciple and will ultimately leave the local body in ruins.

The solution is the removal of such limited thinking.  In the same way we cannot fathom a disciple whose life is marked by habitual sin and flagrant corruption, we should find the disciple who is not carrying out the great commission equally incomprehensible.  But the holy living disciple engaged in bearing witness to Christ will manifest both.  

“Lord, give me the opportunities and resources to both make disciples and live a holy life. AMEN”

John 14:23-31

 John 14:23-31

There is a pattern in this passage that might escape us if we are not careful. The Holy Spirit sent by the Father comes to us to teach and help us remember. Teaching here is not a new revelation of the faith.  The teaching here is the practical application of the truth, and the Holy Spirit prompts our memory of this practical application when the need for the application comes.

This flows naturally into the peace that Jesus leaves with us. This peace is not the absence of conflict.  If we live and proclaim the gospel we will have trouble in the world. Peace is not silly Pollyannaism where we walk about without the realization of the psychological tensions of life. It is not a warm fuzzy sentimentalism. Peace is the salvation that we have in Christ that is now present, but will be fulfilled when He returns. It exists in the midst of conflict, strain, and pain. It is like hope, joy, life, light, and truth. It is at the core of our being, while all the non-peace realities are at the perimeter or peripheral of our being. We need to remember the connectedness of the Holy Spirit in prompting us and helping us apply Jesus’ teaching for our daily life and His peace at the core of our being.

Note also that in this context Jesus worships and praises the Father. Verse 28 does not deny the co-equality of God the Father and God the Son, but it acknowledges the self-limitations that the Son experienced during the incarnation. There is a depth of peace and intimacy with the Father we can never have apart from living out the holy life that is prompted by the Holy Spirit helping us apply the teaching of Jesus.

“Lord, grant me the peace of holy living.  AMEN”

John 14:15–21

 John 14:15–21

Holiness is too often misunderstood by contemporary disciples and even less often practiced. Jesus says “If you love me you’ll keep my Commandments”. This call to holiness is more than a vague obedience “to love God and love your neighbor”. It is entirely and absolutely not a legalistic kind of man-made righteousness in which we associate holiness with a list of “don’t do this”. Holiness is not the dour, sad, stiff, joyless life that is expressed in harsh mean cranky men and makeupless women and young people working hard not to get caught.

Jesus uses this moment to link holiness with the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to the disciple and the disciple knows or recognizes the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit stays with the disciple. The love for Jesus, the keeping of His commandments, and the life with the Holy Spirit or all deeply interrelated. While this is an overly short definition we might say that holiness is to know and recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing, enjoying Him and doing it with Him. It is much more proactive than a list of “thou shalt not”. It is more engaging than a vague “love God and people”. It doesn’t focus on appearances. If keeping Jesus’ commandment, i.e. holiness, is joining the Holy Spirit and what He is doing we will certainly not engage in sinful conduct, we will love God and man, and we will be actively going about doing good things, the things that please the Father. This quality will be completely absent from the world. Without the Spirit’s direction the world is incapable of holy living because they can’t perceive what the Spirit wills.

“Lord, help me perceive the promptings of the Holy Spirit in my life. AMEN”

John 14:1-14

 John 14:1-14 

There's so much wonderful material in this passage that it is sad that it is not studied more often. Verses 2-4 are exceedingly difficult to understand. The words even when translated most literally have different meanings. And the what, when, and where, are far from exact. Any interpretation of this passage must take into account the pervasive understanding of Passover.

Jesus commands us to stop allowing our hearts to be troubled.  This indicates that troubling things are a possibility. The picture Jesus paints is confidence in the midst of troubles. That confidence is rooted in the truth that in the Father's place there is plenty of room for everyone. An early English translation of this uses the word “Mansions”. The word mansion in old English might mean little more than a shed. The point is not that we will all have a great home in heaven.  Rather the point is that we will be in the company of the Father.

What does it mean “I go to prepare a place for you”? We have often portrayed Jesus since the Ascension as working like a contractor building rooms in Heaven. We have the idea that the preparation of a place is being done between the resurrection in the second coming. But that is not a very good understanding of what Jesus meant.  We can understand this a little better by asking,  “How did Jesus prepare a place for us?” Knowing “how” will go a long way to understand the place. It was by means of the cross that Jesus prepared a place for us. This is easier understood when we see that the point is ‘being with the Father’ and that is made possible by what Jesus did on the cross.

If Jesus would go to the extreme measure of the Cross to secure for us a place with the Father then we can be sure that He will also go to the effort of coming and receiving us to Himself. Like The Exodus we may have a long journey but we are assured that He who brought us out is able to bring us home.

“Lord, thank You for the way Jesus prepared a place for me to be with the Father.  AMEN”