Help to Keep His Commandments (John 14:15-21)

Transcription

1 Help to Keep His Commandments (John 14:15-21) This Easter season we ve studied a variety of proofs of Jesus deity, looking at appearances after His resurrection and some of His claims about being the Messiah. Today we re going to look at His promise of sending the Holy Spirit, something that we ll celebrate in just a few weeks on the Day of Pentecost. Today we re studying some of Jesus teaching as He prepared the disciples for ministry during the Last Supper. He wasn t sending them out to the wolves of the world, asking them to do their best; in our reading today He promises to provide for them as they went about the work He had for them. As we consider this passage in John 14 it s important to remember Jesus audience, He s speaking to men who had already chosen to follow Him and had walked with Him for three years. Context is important; if we take things out of context we can misinterpret what Jesus is telling these men, potentially creating spoken or unspoken doctrine that s inconsistent with what He intended. Forgetting that Jesus is talking to His followers we could easily misinterpret the first verse we read in this passage. In verse 15 Jesus says, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. He s not saying His love is dependent upon obedience to Him. Unfortunately, some still believe it s contingent upon our behavior. I spent a lot of my Christian walk thinking God the Father and Jesus were disappointed in my behavior, and me, and consequently loved me less. Many times, knowing I hadn t followed Jesus commandments well, I chose not to take communion, feeling I wasn t worthy to be part of the body that day. This is in direct contrast to the grace of God, demonstrated by Jesus death on the cross for the sins of the whole world, even those I felt were disappointing God and separating me from the body. We re all sinners, incapable of keeping all of Jesus commandments, but He doesn t withhold His love for us because of it. 25 May 14 1

2 Jesus is speaking about choosing to follow His commandments because we Love Him, even if we fail occasionally, or often. Because He first loved us enough to willingly go to the cross to pay our sin debt, He s asking us to demonstrate our reciprocal love for Him by following His teachings. It s not always easy or enjoyable, but He s asking us to choose to love Him, and show others we do through our actions. It s kind of like loving your spouse in spite of what s going on; sometimes we re called to show our love for our wife or husband even when it s difficult or we don t feel like it. Love truly is a choice, and at times like those we experience that fact to its fullest. Jesus is asking us to follow His commandments, even when it s difficult, uncomfortable, or unpopular. Jesus knew the disciples were incapable of following His commandments in their own power. Left to his devices man will most often choose the easier way, especially when asked to do something difficult or uncomfortable. Even if he does choose the more difficult course, he s bound to fall short of perfectly following the guidelines of that path. So, in verse 16 He tells the disciples, And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever. Jesus had represented the Father and His will while He was with them and now He promises them another Helper to do the same. It s through this Helper that they could successfully follow His commandments, as a loving response to all Jesus had already done and would do for them when He died on the cross the next day. Left to their devices the disciples either would have lost steam in following His commandments or have strayed from His teachings over time, either derailing or diluting the message that would be carried down through the ages, if it even survived. By sending the Helper, the Holy Spirit, God was providing the very strength they lacked to follow His commands and carry the Gospel forward. Acts 1:4-8 tell us the disciples had to wait over 50 days for this Helper to come, until the Day of Pentecost. In John 14:17 Jesus describes the Helper as, 25 May 14 2

3 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. Jesus had represented the truth to them throughout His ministry, and like He says about the Spirit of truth, the world would not receive Him. The disciples knew Jesus and consequently knew the Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit would represent God the Father just as Jesus had. Jesus told them the Spirit was with them and in time, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come to dwell within them. Like the disciples, the Holy Spirit is working in our lives even before we place our faith in Jesus, and comes to dwell in our heart the moment we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. It s the Holy Spirit who convicts our hearts of our need for Jesus, bringing us to the point of salvation, and it s through His power and guidance that we re able to keep Jesus commandments in response to the love of Jesus. Left to our own free will each of us will eventually turn from Jesus teaching, either completely or we ll dilute them to make them more tolerable for others and us. In either case we re not actually following Jesus teaching. Jesus has promised to send the Holy Spirit to be with them, just as He was, and help them to follow His commandments, bringing His teachings to mind and giving them strength to follow them. Throughout this last meal Jesus talked about leaving and going to the Father, something that grieved the disciples. In verse 18 He says, I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Jesus has been their leader and He promises not to leave them like orphan children. His promise to come to them was fulfilled with His resurrection and numerous appearances, in His Spirit being with them when they received the Holy Spirit, and it will ultimately be fulfilled when He returns to earth at His second coming. In verse 19 He speaks of this first fulfillment of His promise saying, Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. After His resurrection Jesus didn t appear to the world, 25 May 14 3

4 He met with His disciples; the world had dismissed Him at His crucifixion. He showed Himself to the disciples and groups of believers for 40 days after His resurrection, comforting and continuing to teach them. His promise of sending another helper would come shortly after He ascended to Heaven. Of course, we re still waiting for the rapture when the body of Christ will be taken up to Heaven to be with Him during the seven year tribulation and for His second coming when He ll establish His millennial kingdom on earth. I imagine the second half of verse 19 was confusing for the disciples when Jesus said, Because I live, you also will live. Although He d predicted His death and resurrection many times, I don t believe they understood what was about to happen. Jesus was speaking of things beyond their capacity to comprehend. He was speaking of His resurrected body and the eternal life they would share in. I Corinthians 15:20 says, But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. All who die will be raised from the dead, either to eternal life with Jesus in a resurrected body or to face the judgment seat of God at the last day and eternal separation from God. Speaking of seeing Him after the resurrection, Jesus says that they ll know their connection with God the Father when they see Him; That Jesus is in the Father, they are part of Jesus, and Jesus is part of them. Because of their close relationship with Jesus and His connection with the Father, they too are in close relation with God the Father. In verse 21 Jesus says, Whoever 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. If we love Jesus, it will be shown in a genuine love for His word - and not a love that just admires His word, but obeys it, keeping His teachings. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus and follow His commands we ll experience the love of the Father to a greater degree. That doesn t mean His love 25 May 14 4

5 will be greater, but that we re able to experience it more fully. And the more we follow Jesus commandments, the more He ll be manifest in us, making us more Christ-like to those around us. So the question is, what does this mean to us in Edwards, CO? As followers of Jesus we re called to keep His commandments. That means we need to study the Word of God on a regular basis, personally and in groups, to better understand His teachings and commandments. This is a life long process; we ll never have it done perfectly. However, God knows we can t do this in our own power. That s why Jesus promised that God the Father would send another helper, the Holy Spirit, to be with us forever. As believers the Holy Spirit lives within us, giving us the guidance and power to follow Jesus commandments. Without the Holy Spirit s help none of us could hope to successfully follow Jesus teachings. Because of our sin nature we re not going to perfectly follow Jesus commandments. Romans 3:23 says we will fall short of the glory of God, but God the Father and Jesus love for us is not reduced when we fall short. Our sins, past, present, and future, have all been forgiven when we placed our faith in Jesus. The real question is how much do you want to feel the love of God in your life? If we eliminate those willful sins that make us feel separated from God, we ll experience His love more fully. The more time we spend in prayer and studying God s Word the closer we grow to Jesus, wanting to follow His commandments as an expression of our love for Him, and the more we ll experience His love for us. 25 May 14 5