John Talk 4 - Chapter 14:15-31 & 16:5-16

Jesus goes to his father so that we may receive the holy spirit and all his benefits!
Introduction

Did anyone hear see the latest Baz Luhrman epic Australia?
It seems to me the only thing epic about it was the media propaganda leading up to its release, unless you think the level of ambivalence by the movie-going public after its release was even more epic!
Now I didn't see the movie, and maybe when it gets to the one dollar weekly section at the DVD store I'll give it a go!
But what was interesting about the movie, other than the fact to cost $130 million to make, but only $78 million after ATO rebates -- and we wonder why no one has got any money to fix the public transport system! Anyway back to the point, what was interesting about the movie was that when the preview was trialled at pre-release, there was two different endings, one where the heartthrob hero Hugh Jackman lives, and one where he dies.
Guess which ending trialled better?
Those of you who saw the movie you won't have to guess I suppose, but for the rest of you, which won do you think trialled better for today's society?
Of course the one with the hero lives. Not because it makes a better story I am sure, but because it makes us feel better about the story. The hero dying is too much like real life, we go to the movies to escape life.

So our society today almost without exception chooses the feelgood option. But you know what is surprising, Mankind hasn't changed that much over the last 2000 years, because the disciples in their day actually weren't all that much different.

This week as we move into the second half of John's gospel it becomes clear to us all, and increasingly clear to the disciples, that this story is in fact a tragedy, it is a drama where the hero will die. And both the disciples (and ourselves as readers) get a preview of this as Jesus reveals what will happen, but just like today’s audiences the disciples don't want to hear this kind of story either!

The second half of this book is like watching a movie which all of a sudden switches to slow motion. As the final nine or so chapters cover the space of one week leading up to Jesus death. The story slows down to focus our attention on the importance of this event, but also to allow Jesus to explain the significance of this event for his followers, he is explaining to them what true discipleship looks like.

John 12:23-26 23And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Well, as you may remember last week we left Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, back in chapter 11, where he had raised Lazarus from the dead. And it really is this great act of power, generosity and mercy, which will ensure and seal Jesus death warrant with his enemies.

John 11:48-50 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

Jesus knows the events he set in action, he knows the conclusion of these events will be his death, and as we move forward to chapter 14 today it throws into sharp relief the events that will result for his followers from his death, his return to his father.

What is staggering about Jesus at this point, is that he knows the harsh realities of when he will die, and how he will die and yet his chief concern is for the anguish his disciples feel because he will leave them.

Me, I'd be saying, “a little focus here fellas, I am the one dying!”

But unsurprisingly Jesus is not like me in his response, he is instead like a terminal patient putting his affairs in order, to ensure his family's well-being after he is gone. He is ensuring his family's inheritance, an inheritance of the holy spirit and all its benefits for them.

1. In the face of his imminent death, Jesus concern is not for himself but for His disciples.
NIV John 16:5
"Now I am going to him who sent me,
yet none of you asks me,
'Where are you going?'
6 Because I have said these things,
you are filled with grief.

16: 12 "I have much more to say to you,
more than you can now bear.

14: 18 I will not leave you as orphans;
I will come to you.

Jesus will die but his going to the father, will allow the holy spirit to be sent, from the father and the son, to be with his disciples and counsel them. Jesus concern is not for the imminent and terrible death he is about to face, but his concern is for his disciples, for his sheep, and the impact his death will have on them.
No wonder he is the good Shepherd, even his death is all about the sheep and their well being.

In this, the son demonstrates that great characteristic of God, of being “other person centred”. This characteristic that is at the heart of our God who is Trinity, which incidentally means it should be at the heart and centre of all our Christians faith and life.

And Jesus death will have a purpose for his disciples, he tells us in
14: 29 I have told you now before it happens,
so that when it does happen
you will believe.

This will be another sign to them, because he told them the truth about it beforehand. It will be a sign to encourage, strengthened and grow their belief that Jesus really is the Christ, the one sent from God the father, the one full of grace in truth, the one who brings life and light to all mankind who believe!
Christ's demonstration of concern and love, is how God is disposed towards us, in the midst of our hardship, suffering, confusion and sin in this broken world. God through Christ in the spirit is for us, even in the face of imminent, costly and painful death, Christ was for us.

2. Jesus has no fear of his enemies and their plans.

Throughout John's gospel, we have seen consistently in each of his interactions, Jesus is always the most perceptive person. Not only does he see the situation’s rightly, he seems to be able to perceive the people he speaks to, at a depth which they sometimes don't even understand about themselves.
And not only that, he is also the most powerful person in the Gospel, the one who heals to sick, feeds the hungry, walks upon the sea, the one who raises the dead.

Jesus is the incarnate Lord, the word became flesh, and he perceives reality in a sovereign manner that always achieved his goals. And we see this most acutely in John's Gospel in his dealings with his enemies, and particularly the part they will play his death.

14: 28 "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.
29 I have told you now before it happens,
so that when it does happen
you will believe.
30 I will not speak with you much longer,
for the prince of this world is coming.
He has no hold on me,

We see here Jesus perceives the coming of his enemies, this is no surprise to Jesus, he knows this timetable of his death will run to schedule like Swiss public transport!
He then declares that the Prince of this world has no hold over him, in fact he is condemned we read in 16:11.

Which is to say the devil is defeated at the cross, Christ is the victor over the devil, over Sin and death in his very own death and his cry upon the cross, "it is finished!".

Jesus has no fear of his enemies in their plans, because what they have intended for evil, God has purposed for good!

And you know what, in Christ's victory over his enemies, he has defeated our enemies as well. And by the power of his in dwelling holy spirit, we are called up into this personal relationship with Christ, in which all his riches become ours. Christ in his death, has in the same moment defeated our enemies of sin and death, the Devil, fear and judgement -- do you believe?

It seems to me, too often today Christian people live in fear of these things, like they have forgotten how this story ends!
Jesus has won, and because of this so shall we. So we are to live as victors, not like the captive slaves of the defeated.
Christ has brought to us victory and peace in the spirit.
1427 Peace I leave with you;
my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled
and do not be afraid.

The only two commands Jesus gives in this whole passage, is;
- do not let your heart be troubled
- do not be afraid.
Christ is the victor and through the power of the holy spirit, so are we.
Jesus has no fear of his enemies and their plans, so in Christ neither should we.

3. The Holy Spirit will bring glory to the Son, as the Son brought glory to the Father.
John 16: 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes,
he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own;
he will speak only what he hears,
and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14 He will bring glory to me
by taking from what is mine
and making it known to you.
15 All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from
what is mine and make it known to you

The spirit Jesus talks of is the holy spirit, the spirit of God, the spirit who is God, the spirit who is the third person of the Trinity. The trinity of father-son and spirit, who three persons in unity, that are one God.

The spirit comes from the father and the son, and serves the father and the son by doing their will, by speaking what is spoken by them and bringing the son glory in exactly the same way the son has brought glory to the father.
14 V24b These words you hear are not my own;
they belong to the Father who sent me.

So we see from this text, the Trinity has in itself ordered relations, or a hierarchy, between the father son and the holy spirit. Each of the persons have unique contributions to make (ie.the son was crucified, not the father or spirit) but all act to one purpose, which is for the glory of God through the salvation of sinful man!

All three persons are God, and fully God, but have different and complementary role's. However each of the persons of the Trinity exhibit that fundamental building block of God's character, of being “other person centred”.

The holy spirit’s role is to serve and bring glory to the son.
And by participating in the spirit, we also serve the son and bring him glory.

But what does participating in the spirit mean?
-- good question thanks for asking!

4. The holy spirit for us!
The holy spirit is most commonly referred to in this passage as our counsellor (or paraclete)
14 16 And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth.

The holy spirit has the role of being our advocate, to enable us, the one who guides, convicts and strengthens us in line with Christ's Truth.

And this means to clear things for us
I. A deep, personal and intimate relationship with God
II. At the heart of our relationship with God is love, that is expressed in our Obedience.
I. A deep, personal and intimate relationship with God
14:20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father,
and you are in me,
and I am in you.

In this passage we notice that the spirit is with you and in you, it is personal in this sense, it is not an abstract force, nor is it like teen spirit – just some human emotion, but it is personal with us, and in us and yet distinguishable from us.
14 23 Jesus replied,
"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
The holy spirit takes us into a deep relationship with all of God, father-son and spirit. The spirit takes Christ (and all his benefits) and makes him (and them) our personal possession.

Jesus points out a number of times in this passage, that this love from God, this love of God, in the Fellowship of the holy spirit is not an abstract feeling, but has a shape to it, a content to it -- it is founded upon the truth. The truth of who Christ really is and this is brought to ourselves, into the depths of our hearts and minds by the servant holy spirit.
16 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes,
he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own;
he will speak only what he hears,
and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14 He will bring glory to me
by taking from what is mine
and making it known to you.
15 All that belongs to the Father is mine.
That is why I said the Spirit will take from
what is mine and make it known to you.


There is a content and shape to the love of Christ and we are given that content and shape in Christ's words. Christ's words and the holy spirit are unified in their purpose and intent to save the sinner, and to rule Christ's world through bringing Christ glory. The word of God and the spirit of God go together.
16 25 "All this I have spoken while still with you.
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things
and will remind you of everything
I have said to you.

Christ rules his church (his people) even today, through his word and his spirit. The word and spirit go together to testify to the truth of Christ. And our loving response to God - is to obey the word in the power of the spirit.

II. At the heart of our relationship with God is love, that is expressed in our obedience.
14 NIV John 14:15
"If you love me,
you will obey what I command.

14 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them,
he is the one who loves me.
14 23 Jesus replied,
"If anyone loves me,
he will obey my teaching.

plane and simply this passage is telling us, you cannot love Jesus if you do not love his word. And you do not love his word if you do not obey it. And you cannot obey Jesus, unless you receive and are empowered by his holy spirit.

The Christian life is about a relationship with Jesus. You cannot love Jesus if you do not love his word, if you will not listen to him speaking to you -- by which of course we mean listening to the Bible.
And you will not love and obey his word, unless you are empowered by his spirit, and how do we receive his spirit, well unsurprisingly by believing his word.

The apostle Paul tells us that all scripture is God breathed, which means the Bible is the spirit's testimony of the words of Christ, brought to life in our minds and brought to action in our lives, by the same holy spirit that inspired that word in the first place.
The word and the spirit go together, they serve and bring glory to Christ. Our love to Christ is to obey his commands, because Christ rules his church by his word and his spirit.
To love Jesus you must love his word.
1423 Jesus replied,
"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.
24 He who does not love
me will not obey my teaching.
These words you hear are not my own;
they belong to the Father who sent me.

Now a few years ago, I was in a second-hand bookstore in Katoomba, and I found a copy of one volume of John Wesley's collected works. So I decided to purchase it. But as I got to the front counter I realised that I had no cash, and they did not take credit card or EFTPOS. So the guy serving there, hung onto the book at the front counter for me, while I wandered up the street to the bank.


By the time I got back to the counter, the guy was actually having read of Wesley's book. Now anybody who knows anything about Christian history knows that John Wesley was a giant of the Christian faith. He was actively involved in the conversion of myriad of people, but also actively engaged in profound and effective Christian works of social good for all of society.

Now to my knowledge, the guy at the counter was not a Christian, but he said after reading one of Wesley's letters to his friends, "the whole letter was soaked in Scripture allusions, it's almost like he couldn't help but speak it!".

People who love Jesus, love his word, and they express their love through obedience to his word in the power of the holy spirit.

5. The Holy Spirit for the world
The holy spirit does for the world exactly the same thing as Jesus signs and words. It gives sight or it confirms blindness. Which is not surprising because the spirit and Jesus words go together and worked together for the same purpose. The holy spirit is God's legal advocate convicting the world of sin, by leading some to repentance and then confirming the wilful sinfulness of the rest.
16 8 When he comes,
he will convict the world
of guilt in regard to
sin
and righteousness
and judgment:
9 in regard to sin,
because men do not believe in me;
10 in regard to righteousness,
because I am going to the Father,
where you can see me no longer;
11 and in regard to judgment,
because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
in essence this means that the servant holy spirit is the great evangelist of the Christ doesn't it?

It means that no one is innocent before God because they all actively sin and then turn from the holy spirits testimony to their spirit about it. But by the spirits power the testimony of the spirit can lead people to the throne room of Grace, to receive the gift of the Christ who died from them who comes clothed in his words of promise in the Gospel.

This year the Anglican diocese in Sydney is undertaking its connect 09 out reach, and the truth is without the profound outpouring of the holy spirit upon people to hear the truth of Jesus words, so they may turn and be saved, the whole thing will be a miserable failure.

God's call upon all our lives is that we like the spirit would serve Christ (in the spirits power) to convict the world by Jesus words to repentance that they may also find life and glorify Christ.

We are compelled aren’t we to pray for the holy spirit's work in Christ's world.

In fact let's do that now;
our heavenly father,
we give you thanks that you with your son, sent your spirit to enliven our minds, emboldened our hearts and enable our hands to love obey and serve you, in order that you may be merciful upon the lost and bring glory to your self. We ask Lord that you would be merciful upon us so that we may actively participate in the fullness of the holy spirit, his works, gifts, leading and teaching so that we may see the great evangelists work amongst the lost, so that they may hear Christ's words and be saved.
For Jesus Glory alone we pray these things
Amen.


Excurses: the holy spirit and guidance

One of the areas I have wound up doing some thinking about in my Christian life, is the question of how does the holy spirit guide Christian people today?
And you know what the most common answer had been given on this issue is, "do you have a peace about your decision?".

And as a fairly immature Christian, this was pretty much all was offered in the way of instruction. And I suspect the text we looked at today would have been used as some sort of justification for that view, because Jesus seeks to bring us peace doesn't he?

But you know what?
In hindsight, in my life, I have done some things that at the very least were dumb, and if I stop to contemplate them long enough and honestly, they probably were sinful. But at the time I would have said I had a peace about it.

And in contrast, in my life, I have done some things with abject fear, things that I know in hindsight when I contemplate them, were good and godly things.
Try a preaching the gospel to a couple hundred people without fear, most people say they would rather die than do public speaking.
Try doing evangelism in a caravan park full of holiday people including bikers without fear.

Try leaving a “perfectly good” career to become a full-time student again for four years at theological College without being afraid whether you have made the right decision or not.

What I am trying to say is, Peace is not the one emotion to rule more when it comes to the issue of guidance and the holy spirit, in the face of complex and hostile world.

The peace Jesus is talking about, is not an emotion associated with any given decision, but a peace because we know who wins in the end, and we know he is the one who holds our real treasure for us.

We know that God is sovereign, we know that God is good, we know that God is in control of all things, that he knows all things, we know he has numbered the days of our life in the hands on the head, there are no surprises for God in his world, and you only need to look at Jesus in this passage to be assured of that.

God knows what he has planned for the details of our life, but God knows, that because he knows, you don't need to.

God wants relationship with us, where we learn to trust him. God does not treat us like machines where he automates our actions through a rigorous dictation of his will for our life through his spirit to our mind, but neither does he leave us free in this world to do whatever we please because after all “we are a people of grace”.

God through Christ relates to us through his word and his spirit, God desires that our minds may be renewed so we may discern what is good and pleasing in his sight.
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

God is in control but he has not promised to tell you every detail of your life, but has promised that he will be your heavenly father and do you good in the life he has given you.

So how Do I view guidance and God's will for my life?
Well I know that God is Will for my life, is that I would love Jesus and bring him glory by obeying his word and serving him in the power that the holy spirit provides.

Which is good, true, and practically probably not that much use if you are currently struggling with the decision, so plain and simply if you aren't sure what do you do?

1. it is not God's will that you would do something which is plainly spelt out in scripture as sinful. No ifs no buts, even if you do feel at peace about, that is usually because you just plain refuse to listen to a holy spirit conviction.

2. For areas of life that are not directly addressed by scripture, then pray for wisdom in the spirit that it would apply God's word to your mind in this situation.

3. ask the counsel of godly people whom you know. They often see better than you and will tell you the truth you may need to hear – even if you don’t want to.

4. remember that often what seems like a monolith of a decision we're facing, the thing that seems the whole world should stop to contemplate, is often (in terms of God will) not so much an issue of choosing the right out of “option a” or “option b”, as much as it is it is an opportunity for us to express and develop our dependence and trust in God.

God sent his son to die for you, he will also give you all good things you need, in their good time, even if he doesn't tell you what they are beforehand!.