Faith

Yesterday we talked about the why of Jesus telling the disciples all that he did, today we delve in John 16:5-15. Today we see the Holy Spirit is promised to us.

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Jesus needed to tell the disciples all that he did because he won’t be with them any longer.  He’s going away, back to him who sent me, back to God the Father. He wants them to remember all that he has told them.    But he notes something: none of the disciples asks him where he is going.  None the less, sorrow fills their hearts. 

I can’t really blame them eh?   They’ve spent most of the past three years with Jesus, and now they know he’s leaving.  It’s not surprising that they are sad about that. There sorrow doesn’t stop Jesus though.  In fact, he tells the disciples this truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Helper Promised

Oh… if Jesus goes away, the Helper will come.  Do you know who the helper is?  I just had a sermon on this!   The helper is the Holy Spirit!  So the deal is this.  Jesus stays here, the helper doesn’t come.  Jesus goes back to God the Father and he will send the Holy Spirit to us.  The Holy Spirit is first off… a helper.   That’s what Jesus calls him.   But not only that he will convict the world in regards to sin, righteousness and judgement. 

• Sin – they don’t believe in Jesus
• Righteousness – he goes to the Father and they won’t see him any more
• Judgement – The ruler of the world is judged. 

Jesus has a lot of things yet he wants to tell the disciples, but overload happens eh?   So when the Spirit comes HE will guide them into  all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Oh, I read those words and it sounds just like what Jesus did.  Jesus didn’t speak on his own authority either.  He speaks only what he hears…what he KNOWS he should speak.   Just like Jesus who only spoke what God told him to. Oh.. just another way of showing the interconnectedness of everything eh?  Anyways, the Holy Spirit.. the helper, the Spirit of truth will declare to the disciples the things that are to come.

The Job:

The job of the Holy Spirit?  Glorify the Son.  Because he takes what is Jesus’ and declares it to the disciples.  Just like Jesus took what was God’s and made known what he could to them.  Triangles in triangles eh?  God – Jesus – Holy Spirit. One leads to another which leads to the next.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Oh.. I am so glad I am taking my time with these sections.  It’s helping it all come together better for me. Is it doing the same for you?   See how one flows to the next and everything.  

God loves the Son, the Son loves us, he gifts us the Holy Spirit who helps and guides and teaches what he’s given from Jesus, who gives what he’s been given from God.  We show our love to God through our obedience, just as the Son does to the Father God and love circles back in God’s care for his people. It’s neat!  🙂

Last time we were together we learned how we shouldn’t be surprised at the world’s hatred of us, today we study the first four verses of John 16.

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3 And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

Why has Jesus told the disciples all these things… about the need to love, about who he is, about the world’s hatred, about how we show our love in obedience?  Why, in his final days, are these things so important to impart to the disciples?

Jesus says these things for this reason: to you to keep you from falling away.  Do you see how he wants to strength their faith by reminding them of the important things. His connection to God, his connection to them, how we are connected to him and show our love in obedience, and oh…. the importance of love.  These things strengthen us in hard days. 

A Warning

He then warns the disciples of what will happen. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. In the Jewish faith, the synagogue is an important part of life.  Imagine how hard it would be to be removed from something pivotal to your life?   And then, because of your faith in God, in the moving forward in faith you are kicked out of it.  Not only that, to know that death might well await you. Those killing you thinking they are doing duty to God.  Think on that.   There are times I think about ISIA and jihadists and how they believe they kill Christians out of service to Allah, to god.  To know you are dying because they are wrong in their faith.  Not an easy thing that.

Stop and think about it though… they don’t really know God, they aren’t connected to him.   Neither are they connected to Christ the son. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.

Jesus wants his people to know this though… for when the hour comes….he wants them to remember all that he has told them.  He wants them strengthen in their faith and ready for the day when it comes.   But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

Persecution Needed?

When I was in college I wrote a paper once about how Christians in North America need to remember that we belong to the Lord.  It too easy for us to take our faith to granted and postulated that we need some type of difficulty thrown at us.  My professor asked if I thought we needed some persecution?   I told him, maybe.  Hard times help us to remember the important things you know?   They draw us back into remember God’s care and concern for us. Through our remembrance, to take our faith more seriously.    I still kinda wonder if we need more of that HERE in our lives now.   Something to shake the church up a bit, recalling us back to the need to love and not get caught up in the petty concerns of life.  To remember that inter-connectedness of God, His Son, the Holy Spirit AND US. 

At the same time… I don’t want my lad to die for his faith.  I don’t particularly want to be killed, thrown in prison or whatever over my faith.  Yet at the same time, God calls me to remember, to know that even though I DIE…. he will be glorified in my obedience. How important it is that I stay true to the faith.  So which should be my greater prayer?  To suffer persecution as a way to strengthen the church?   I don’t know, I honestly don’t.

What do you think?

Yesterday we saw Jesus as the vine, and God as the vine dresser.  Today the closing verses of John 15 show us the world’s hatred. 

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.²¹ But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also.²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Remember our connection to Jesus?  His love for us, and how our love shown in our obedience to him and his commands.  Following Jesus will have it’s costs and so Jesus reminds his people that that if the world hates them… it’s only because the world hated him first. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 

Not of the world, therefore hated

And in fact if we were of the world, we wouldn’t be hated.  It’s our dissonance from the world that causes that hatred to be there.  Otherwise it would love us (makes sense right?) but I think too often we forget that.  We get hatred in our face and we take it personally when we really shouldn’t.   We should be remembering that the hatred we get stems from the world’s hatred of Christ. Ergo it’s not personal to us even if it feels that way.  Does that make sense?   It’s a change in perspective.

Jesus helps us with that when he reminds us ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.   We shouldn’t expect to have something given us that wasn’t given to our Lord and Saviour.  We have to understand that hatred and persecution comes our way because the world doesn’t understand God.  It has no clue.  They don’t understand God and therefore hate him. If you hate the one, you hate the other.  If they hate God, they will hate those who follow after him.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also.²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

Not a surprise

But understand this…this hatred isn’t a surprise.  God (and the rest of the trinity) knew this would happen.  He knew he would be hated without cause.  ²⁵ But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’  We shouldn’t be surprised when it happens to us. 

But hear this!  The helper is coming… and this helper will actually BE A HELP to us. So we can be bearing witness to us of God the Father and God the Son.   And therefore he tells the disciples… you will bear witness.  You’ve been with me from the beginning and you will bear witness.   ²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

We will too eh?   Bear witness.  Having the Holy Spirit as part of us.  Bearing witness to us, we can bear witness to others of just who God is.   Isn’t that just cool?  🙂

I have been so busy lately I haven’t had a proper time to do my devotions.  I hope you all will forgive me for taking so long to get back to the book of John.   Do you remember last time we met we talked about how pivotal love was?  Today we make our way in John 15, the first seventeen verses. 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you.¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Jesus is talking with his disciples, he had just reminded them of how pivotal love was.  How our love is shown in our obedience and the connection that makes between God and the Son.   Jesus paints a picture for them.

Jesus is the Vine

Jesus is the vine, God is the vinedresser. If you have a vine with unproductive parts you remove them.  It’s makes the whole plant stronger to remove those unproductive parts and it keeps the plant healthy. I know this from my work in my garden… if I have a plant with spindly bits…you remove those.  If a part of a plant is non-productive you cut it away.  But… and I find this such a curious thing with my tomato plants… if I have a branch that is productive…I trim it just a bit and this surprising thing happens… it bears healthier, bigger fruit!  Go figure.  God’s word tells me this truth though.  “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit”.

Anyways, you get the point, Jesus is the vine that fruit comes off of. God is the one that keeps the vine (and therefore it’s productivity) healthy and productive.  The disciples are clean because of the words spoken to them, so Jesus reminds them.. Abide in me, and I in you. 

To make sure the disciples really understand he reminds them that a branch can’t bear fruit in isolation and neither can we.  We need to abide with Christ.  To abide means (for those curious) to live with, to accept, to remain with, to continue with and to act in accordance with.  We need to do this if we are to bear fruit.  This abiding that we do leads to us bearing much fruit… to have something result in the course of our being.  What that fruit is for each of us will differ as we are called to different tasks but we won’t have it if we don’t live in accordance to God’s will.  If we don’t bear fruit (which is the result of not remaining with Jesus), we become useless and useless things get thrown in the fire.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 

Benefits!

Not only do we have the benefit of being productive if we actively live with Jesus, we also have this benefit.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.   Isn’t that just cool?   To know that Jesus is so on our side, the God is the great overseer that if we need something and ask for it…. we get it.   Easy peasey eh?   

By doing this God (the Father) is glorified. The more fruit we provide, the more we show we are his disciples. The more we show forth God’s love, Jesus’ love for us to others.  Awesome sauce eh?

Jesus ties it all together for us doesn’t her?  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.  Our obedience is a joy to the Lord God.  Our obedience shows our love and it shows that we are living within Jesus’ love for us.

A Commandment:

Furthering this thought Jesus goes on to tell the disciples: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

This action… to love one another as Christ has loved us. Can you imagine what would happen if we actually all did that?   Loved each others as much as Christ loved us.  That’s a love that lays down a life to save another.   Can you say you love me like that?  Can I say I love you like that?   Oh, that’s a hard one isn’t it?

But listen, Jesus calls us his friends if we do what he commands.  Can you imagine that!   Being called a friend of Jesus.  Moses was a friend of God.  Paul a friend of Jesus.  That’s a good couple of people to join yes?  Friends, not servants.  There’s a difference you know?   Friends, serving, obeying out of love.  Not out of payment or duty, but out of love. 

These last lines… oh.. they are lines of comfort eh?  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.  Oh do you see the comfort in these lines.  GOD chose me.  Not me him, he chose me.  He, the one who is unchanging, unfailable, omnipotent, GOD.  HE chose me.  And then he appointed me to be a bearer of fruit.  He chose YOU to be a bearer of fruit. This choice was made, so don’t be afraid to ask for you needs.  The one who chose you will supply them.  Therefore love each other as you have been commanded. The one who chose you, who chose me, the one who loves us deeply and dearly has commanded it of us.