Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Can you imagine being offered a million dollars? And not from some random person on the street, which would just be suspicious, but from someone who makes the offer totally realistic and believable? Do you think your heart might start beating a little faster and your head might start spinning? It would with me! Well, hopefully, your response to what Jesus promises in this passage will be similar.
We know that Jesus is about to be arrested and crucified. So He is trying to comfort His disciples by preparing them for life without Him. He began by telling them that He was going to prepare a place for them in heaven, that one day He would return to take them to be with Him, and that the events of the next few days would help them see that He is the Christ, the Son of God. And from v12, He began to describe the new relationship that He and the disciples would enjoy, even though He would be in heaven and they would be on earth. And when we began to look at this passage a couple of weeks ago, we called this new relationship the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name.
- And we saw that what Jesus describes here applies to all those who are followers of Jesus; not just these disciples. We also get to live the wonderful life that Jesus describes here.
- And that word ‘describes’ is also very important. You see, this passage is not a ‘do’ passage; it is a ‘delight’ passage! Or to put it another way, this passage is not a ‘work’ passage; it is a ‘wow’ passage! We should walk out of here with a wow in our hearts! We should be amazed and astonished and astounded that we get to live the wonderful life that Jesus describes in these verses!
So we want to think about the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name as a diamond. If you have ever looked at a diamond, you will know that it sparkles no matter what way you look at it because it has many different facets or sides. Well, there are seven facets of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name. And we looked at the first two, last time, from vv12-14.
- We saw that followers of Jesus do the works that He did. And we saw that the works of Jesus are to obey God and make disciples. And we get to be the instruments that God uses to make disciples. Wow!
- And secondly, we saw that the prayer of those who pray on the basis of Christ’s merit alone, and who want above anything else that the Father would be glorified, will get whatever they ask for. Wow!
Well, today we will consider the other five facets of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name. And they are Obedience, the Spirit, Life, Love, and Peace.
- So the third facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name is obedience. And we see this in vv15, 21, 23, and 24.
- Now, we have already spoken about the important role that obedience plays in the Christian life in the last sermon, so today we will just note two implications of what is said here about obedience. The first implication is that obedience is not optional for followers of Jesus. Look at these verses: v15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” v21, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me,” v23, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,” and negatively put in v24, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my word.” So you cannot be a follower of Jesus and ignore His commandments. You cannot claim to have experienced God’s saving love for you in Christ and say you love Him, and not love His commandments. The letter of 1 John spends a lot of time on this exact point. 1 John 2:4, for example, says, “Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” So the first implication of what is said here about obedience is that of command – we must obey the commandments of Jesus. What is interesting, however, is that the original language of all these verses is not in the imperative or command voice, which is the voice usually used when you are telling a person to do something. The voice used here is indicative, which is the voice of being or what something is. So while we must obey is a definite implication of these verses, they are also verses of promise or comfort: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” and “if anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” Jesus wanted His disciples and us to know that if we love Him, we will love His commandments!And this is a truth that John also explores in 1 John. In 2:3, for example, we read, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” God wants you to be certain that you are His child because you see that you love His commandments! And so, for example, God has called you to worship today. And here you are! I am sure you boys and girls have been told to do or not do many things by your parents today. And you have obeyed them! God says to you all, do not lie, do not steal, do not commit adultery. And you have obeyed Him. Now, have you obeyed Him perfectly? No. Have you at times disobeyed Him? Yes. So then you obey His command to confess your sins and seek His forgiveness in Christ. And then you rise up resolved to obey His commands again. And as you see this in yourself, God wants you to be comforted and assured of your salvation. And this is not to say that you and your efforts are the ground of your assurance. No. This is evidence of the Spirit of Christ at work within you. And that is Jesus’ point here: If you love me, I will be at work in you and you will see it! Do you have this comfort? Isn’t it amazing that the Lord Jesus wants us to be comforted by our weak and feeble obedience?! Wow!
- Well, what we have just said about the evidence of the Spirit at work within us leads nicely into the fourth facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name. And this is the Holy Spirit. In vv16-17, Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 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.”
- And this is the first of the five times in ch’s 14-16 that Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to His followers. And this first promise is very rich in what it reveals about the Holy Spirit.The first thing to note is how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as ‘another Helper.’ The Greek word used here literally translates as ‘one called alongside.’ And while other Bible versions use other words here, I believe that the ESV translators made the best choice in opting for Helper in this context. Jesus is speaking to troubled disciples. We see that in v1. They could not imagine life without Jesus because they totally depended on Him. And Jesus’ main point in this passage is that His work will continue on through these disciples and through all who are His followers. But how can that be when we lack the power and wisdom to do anything in and of ourselves? What they and we need then, more than anything else, is another helper, like Jesus. And that is exactly what Jesus promises here – the Father will send “another helper.” Justas Jesus helped the disciples to serve the Father, so the one the Father sends will help them and us to serve the Father.But unlike Jesus, who was physically with the disciples for just a few years, Jesus says that the Helper will “be with you forever.” And again, unlike Jesus who was only ever next to the disciples, the end of v17 reveals that the Helper “dwells with you and will be in you.” So this Helper will dwell within us, forever! Do you see, then, what a wonderful promise this was? When Jesus said these words, the disciples were deeply troubled. They thought they were about to be alone and helpless. But after Jesus ascended to heaven, He poured out His Spirit upon them. We read about this in Acts 2 where we are told that they were “filled with the Holy Spirit.” And if you look at v26, Jesus said there that the Holy Spirit would “teach them all things and bring to their remembrance all that [He had] said to [them].” And we can be sure that one of the things the Spirit brought to their remembrance was this promise from ch. 14! And if you are a follower of Jesus, then this same Helper dwells within you, forever. You too are filled with the Holy Spirit! Have you ever felt alone in this world? Have you ever felt abandoned by God? It is not unusual for believers to feel like this. The Psalmist felt like this often! But you must remember that you are not alone because the Spirit of Christ dwells within you! He is the helper that Christ has given you and He will never leave you. So the permanent, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is the fourth facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name.
- And the fifth facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name is Life. And we see this in vv18-20.
- Using a very beautiful image,
Jesus said to the disciples, “I will
not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” And Boys and girls, orphans are children whose parents have died. Can you imagine how sad it would be to not have
your parents? Well, the disciples were
soon going to feel like orphans when Jesus died, so Jesus tells them here that
He will come to them again. And what is
in view here is the post-resurrection
appearance of Jesus to the disciples.
- In vv19-20, Jesus continues, “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.” And this is exactly what happened. A few days on from this moment, as far as the world was concerned, Jesus was dead and buried; finished; gone. But Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to the disciples. And He showed them His nail scars and ate some fish, and “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” about His death and resurrection. And then we are told that they went out of the city and Jesus blessed them and was carried up into heaven, and the disciples “worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” You see, now they understood and believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. That’s what Jesus was referring to when He said, “You will see me … [and] you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
- But Jesus also speaks here about the result of believing in Him as the Christ at the end of v19, “Because I live, you also will live.” And the promise of life has been a central topic of John’s Gospel. You see, our chief problem as human beings is that in and of ourselves we are spiritually dead; we are enemies of God who are unable to please Him. And on top of this, we all die eventually. And if we die in this condition, we will be condemned to an eternity in hell on Judgment Day. But what does it say in John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” When you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, you receive eternal life. And that means that you become a spiritually alive child of God in this life and you will be welcomed into heaven in the next life.
- Who here has played Monopoly? One of the spaces on the Monopoly board is the Go To Jail square; if you land on it, you have to go to jail. But in the Chance pile of cards and the Community chest pile of cards there is a Get Out of Jail Free card. And if you have one of those cards, you can avoid going to jail. And it is a nice feeling to have that card and know that you need not fear jail. Well, this does not even come close to the astonishing and comforting knowledge that because you trust in Jesus as your Saviour, you are a child of God now and your eternal destination is not hell but the joy and bliss and wonder and beauty of heaven! Wow! So eternal life is the fifth facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name is life.
- Well, that brings us to the sixth facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name, which is love. In v21, Jesus said, “And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him,” and in v23 He said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
- Isn’t this an astounding
promise? Followers of Jesus will be
loved by the Father and the Son.
Wow! And this is not some vague,
general affection for a class of people but focused love for you, as an
individual.
- Ephesians 1:4-5 talks about how God elected or chose or predestined some to salvation before the foundation of the world. But there are two words in those verses that reveal the heart of God; they are “in love.” Listen to those verses: “[The Father] chose us in [Jesus] before the foundation of the world … In love He predestined us…” Think about that for a moment! Before the foundation of the world, before you even existed as a human being, God loved you – He set His love upon you – He looked at the mass of fallen humanity and when He came to you His heart melted, if I can respectfully use that expression. He looked at you and His heart was filled with love such that He chose to save you in Christ. And I am not trying to give you a technical explanation of election here. I just want you to see that God went no…no…no… Ah, Amy! Matthew! Ann! Mike! SooJin! Graham! Yes, I love you. I choose you in and with my Son, Jesus! God’s love for you is individual and personal.
- Now,
you know that even as God’s chosen children, we are sinful and weak. You hear that from this pulpit often enough
and if you know your own heart you don’t need to have someone tell you this. So perhaps you have wondered, at times, can we
truly please God? Have you ever asked
that question or heard someone else ask it?
Can we truly please God? Well,
notice how vv21-23 are phrased. Jesus
said, “Whoever has my commandments and
keeps them, he it is who loves me.”
So the person who genuinely loves Jesus is the person who obeys His commandments. And this obedient person, Jesus continues, “will be loved by the Father.” Do you see the logic? Do you see the link? Jesus is saying, It is not enough to say that you love me, you must do love; you must show your love with
your obedience. It is doers who truly love me. And it is doers
who the Father loves. And then Jesus
said He would manifest or reveal Himself to the doer. And in answer to Judas’ question about how
Jesus would do this to His followers and not to the world, Jesus relied, “If anyone loves me, He will keep my word,
and my Father will love Him, and we will come to Him and make our home with Him.” So
again, who does the Father love? The one
who demonstrates His love for Jesus by keeping or doing or obeying His
word.
- And the idea here is not that we can earn the love of God. The point is that the Father really cares about the attitude of humans to His Son. Again, if I can respectfully try and illustrate what I mean: Such is the Father’s love for the Son, when He sees you obey His commands out of love for Jesus, His heart bursts with love for you!
- So yes, you can truly please God! He truly loves your Christ-honouring obedience, as feeble and weak as it is!
- And that is why the love of God for you is the sixth facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name.
- And as if there were not enough sparkles on this diamond already, the seventh and final facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name is peace. And we see this in vv27-31, where Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you … let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
- The disciples of Jesus were deeply
troubled. It terrified them to think
that Jesus would leave them. And what
made it worse was that He kept speaking about being arrested and killed. But with all of this swirling around, Jesus
promises them His peace. And that is
when peace is most beautiful and most appreciated, isn’t it. When there is turmoil and trouble all around.
- There was once a competition where artists were invited to paint a picture that represented peace. Some artists painted sunsets and some painted meadows but the painting that won the competition was of a tiny chick, nestled safely under its mothers wing, in a nest, on a tree branch that hung out in front of a massive, cascading waterfall. When you looked at the picture, you could hear the violent, thundering water, but the little chick enjoyed perfect peace.
- When life is tranquil and smooth, anyone can be at peace. But how do you find peace when there is trouble and turmoil and distress?
- Well, Jesus has just promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples. And if you know the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5, you will know that the third fruit of the Spirit is? Peace. We receive peace from the Holy Spirit.
- And this is not a call to be unemotional and unmoved and stoic. This is why we read about Elijah earlier. Elijah was terrified by Jezebel’s threats against him and deeply grieved by what this meant for godliness in Israel. So he journeyed to the mountain of the Lord where he was fed by an angel and given a wonderfully encouraging message from the Lord, not in the storm or the earthquake or the fire but from the low whisper. And so, Elijah was calmed by the gentle word of the Lord. And this is the supernatural peace that only the Holy Spirit can give to a person.
- And as followers of Jesus, we need this peace, don’t we. There are many challenges to faith in this world. Some of them come from within us when we fall into despair and doubt because of our sin and guilt. Some come from without as biblical truth is challenged or we face persecution because of what we believe. But Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. He says in v30, that “the ruler of this world (who is the devil) has no claim on [Him.]” Christ sovereignly rules over the devil. The devil will not triumph in relation to you or this world. And that is whythe seventh and final facet of the diamond that is the wonderful life that is life in Jesus’ name is peace.
Is this diamond sparkling for you? Are you amazed and astonished to know that as a follower of Jesus you are doing the works that Jesus did, and He will answer your prayers in His name, and you do obey Him, and His Spirit lives within you, permanently, and you have eternal life, and God loves you, and you have the peace of Christ?! Wow! The life in Jesus’ name surely is the wonderful life. And all God’s people said? Amen.