John 16:5-11

Today is the last day of school for our district. It has been such a long year, filled with grief and many challenges for our staff. We will be saying goodbye to several beloved teachers/staff who are retiring. And I will be sending off to middle school thirty students, some of whom are not quite ready. It’s an exciting day, but it’s also mixed with sadness at the parting and a bit of regret that I could not do more for some of my students. How I wish I could give them the hope and encouragement that Jesus gives His disciples as He prepares them for His parting from them. We are going to spend some time in these next verses to try to grasp the importance of what Jesus is saying:

“Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief.  But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.  When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:  in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;  in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;  and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” (John 16:5-11)

The bad news? Jesus was leaving them. The really good news? The Holy Spirit would be coming to live inside them! Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit’s job among the world will be to convict men - first of their guilt of the sin of unbelief. Jon Courson reminds us in his commentary that this is really the only sin that the Holy Spirit will work on in an unbeliever. He doesn’t convict them of their smoking, swearing, drinking, or sexual sin. No, the only sin that truly matters for an unbeliever is their unbelief! 

Now, as believers we DO get convicted of other sins in our lives that the Holy Spirit will help us to overcome, because He wants to complete the work begun in us and to transform us more and more into the image of God. However, He does this conviction gently, because His goal is always to draw us to the Father - not drive us away. And that’s the difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the condemnation of Satan. Satan wants to condemn us and make us feel so loaded down with guilt that we cannot lift our heads to look up to God. He wants us to stop praying and to stay out of God’s Word and the fellowship of other believers.

If you are feeling completely unworthy of God’s love or attention, to the point that you can no longer bring yourself to pray, you are NOT feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit. You are being oppressed by the condemnation of Satan. If the joy of your salvation is gone, it is not because God has moved away. You have allowed Satan, the liar, to whisper words of discouragement in your ear. Maybe he’s telling you that you are a mess - too big of a failure to ever change; or maybe he’s encouraging you with the lie that you are a victim of others and you have every right to hold onto your anger and unforgiveness. Those are NOT the whispers of the Holy Spirit.

Who has your ear today? Are you feeling drawn to God or are you wanting to run in the other direction? If you are an unbeliever, and have never committed your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit is going to come after you and will continue to convict you of your sin of unbelief, because He wants to bring you home to the Father. THEN He will begin the sometimes painful work of transforming you. If you are a believer who is feeling oppressed or depressed, sinking in a dark hole, listen to the Holy Spirit. He wants to draw you TO God. He is our hope, our comforter, and our encourager. We’ll look at some of His other roles tomorrow.

In the meantime, I’m praising God for another year of teaching, and I’m committing my 30 students to His care, and praying that He will follow them to middle school and continue His work in their lives!  

John 15:26-27; 16:1-4

Jesus is preparing the disciples for what lies ahead so they won’t be overcome by discouragement when they are persecuted. They have just heard from Him that, rather than be heroes to the world, as followers of the Messiah they will be hated. These men were not educated orators, so they would surely be intimidated about public speaking even if they thought they were going to be well-received. But now they learn that their ministry will be even more daunting. They might have been thinking, “There is no way we can do this!” But Jesus now assures them that He will not be leaving them alone and helpless:

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.  And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. 


“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray.  They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.  They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.  I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. (John 15:26-27; 16:1-4)

The Father would be sending the Holy Spirit to these men , and the Spirit would first testify to them and to the world about Jesus, then these disciples would also give their testimonies. In fact, Jesus says they must testify! And what kind of reception would their testimony receive? They would be cast out of the fellowship of the synagogue and hunted down! This is exactly what Paul did before he met Christ. He thought he was doing God’s work by tracking down and even killing Christians.

I don’t know about you, but being told I might die, would not make me want to sign up for this gig! But Jesus does not come to us with false promises or claims. He spells out the cost of discipleship so that these men (and we) would not be discouraged when the trials come.

One of the things I tell my fifth graders to prepare them for middle school is that they will ALL be going through a rough period during those years. There isn’t one kid, no matter how popular or good looking, who doesn’t have days of feeling awkward and ugly and alone. All students going through those years feel insecure about how they look, and they are sure no one could possibly like them. And the result is that they are sometimes sullen and mean! I don’t want these kids to think they are weird when they feel these emotions; these feelings are normal. I want them to be prepared ahead of time.

On a much larger scale, Jesus wants the disciples prepared for what they will be facing when they go out and testify. Their new “normal” won’t be easy! Proclaiming Christ requires boldness and strength that we just don’t have without the help of the Holy Spirit. Next, He will lay out in more detail just how the Holy Spirit will work through them. Let’s lean in and listen!

John 15:22-25

It’s hard to imagine someone HATING Jesus. Hate is a pretty strong word. Yet, Jesus says this is what those who reject Him do. And when you think about it, what other name causes such discomfort and controversy? If you were at a dinner party and brought up the name of any other religious leader, you would probably find at least curiosity and a willingness to hear about that leader. But when you mention the name of Jesus, most people get very uncomfortable or even offended. Jesus tells the disciples that those who have heard of Him and rejected Him hate Him and the Father both - and those people are found guilty because of it:

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates me hates my Father as well.  If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.  But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ ” (John 15:22-25)

Once someone has been introduced to the gospel, they have no excuse for rejecting Christ. In fact, Paul insists that anyone who sees all of the evidence of God in creation and still rejects God is guilty, regardless of whether or not he has heard of Jesus (this takes care of the argument, “But what about the native in Africa who has never heard about Christ?”):

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:20-23)

But the ones Jesus is talking about here in John’s gospel DID see His miracles. They saw Him feed the five thousand, heal lepers and the lame, and restore sight to the blind. They saw Him raise the dead! Yet they hated Jesus! Jesus wants His disciples to know that when they go out into all the world to preach the good news, many people will not think it’s so “good,” and will hate them and persecute them. He doesn’t want them to be surprised and, therefore, discouraged by rejection. Jesus is telling them to count the cost of following Him. There WILL be rejection and downright hostility.

This doesn’t sound like much of a pep talk! However, tomorrow we will begin the “upside” of this final lesson He’s teaching them on His way to the cross. So, don’t be discouraged if after you have committed your life to Christ that life doesn’t get easier, but even more difficult. When you align yourself with Christ you put yourself in the line of fire. The world, which currently is under the domain of the “prince of this world,” Satan, will hate you, because it hates Christ. The good news? You have the God of the universe on your side, and His Holy Spirit living within you! But that’s tomorrow’s lesson...
  

John 15:18-21

After a wonderful lesson about the need to love one another, Jesus delivers a warning about hate:

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.  They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me." (John 15:18-21)

Jesus is warning the disciples that they can expect the same treatment He receives from the world. Don’t be surprised when the world hates you and persecutes you; they hated and persecuted our LORD, as well. In fact, our identification with Christ assures that many will hate us. The key to this is that it is our relationship to Christ, not our own obnoxious behavior that is the cause of the persecution. Some people believe the conflict they are experiencing with others is due to their stand for righteousness, when in reality they are coming up against persecution just because of their judgmental attitude, their hypocritical behaviors, or their abrasive personalities. So we first need to check our own behaviors.

However, if you have truly asked the LORD to check your heart, and you are still suffering persecution for standing up for Christ, you can take courage from the fact that Jesus promised this would be the case. And that is because our battle is not with the people persecuting us - it is not personal - it is spiritual. There is a struggle going on all around us, as Paul confirmed:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

So when we find ourselves in the midst of it, what should our attitude be? Should we be whining, depressed, defeated? No, Jesus told us we should rejoice, for persecution is a blessing:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
 
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:10-12)

As ambassadors for Christ, we are going to face the hatred of the world. We are not to answer in kind, but repay evil and insults with blessings, seek and pursue peace, and commit ourselves to God and continue to do good. (2 Peter 2:9,11; 2 Peter 4:19) Being persecuted hurts! Our natural response is to feel overwhelmed and to desire retribution. But Jesus has lovingly warned us beforehand that this will happen, and He commands us to act in faith, not react in defensiveness. This requires a supernatural response, which is only possible when we commit ourselves to our faithful Father, who remains in control at all times. He promises to bring good out of it - eternal good and glory to His name. Hallelujah!
  

John 15:13-17

I am a very social creature! I love being around people, and I have always enjoyed having many friends. I have friends from my childhood whom I treasure, even though I rarely see them. I have cherished friends from the child-raising years, with whom I have shared glorious experiences as we have watched our children go from wearing diapers to changing their own children’s diapers. I have friends from my 20 years of teaching who are like family. And I have been blessed to call many of the parents in my classroom friends long after the students have left my classroom.

Among these there is a smaller group of very close friends with whom I will cry and pray. There is an intimacy in these friendships that comes from a common commitment to Jesus Christ. We care about each other, we listen to each other, and we will both rejoice and mourn together. We hold each other accountable. We want the best for each other, and we are very careful how we advise each other. We try to encourage each other through God’s Word. Friends do that for each other. That’s why I marvel that Jesus would call me His friend! The Creator of the universe, the Almighty God, the Holy One calls me friend! Amazing!

In today’s passage, Jesus shows how much He cherishes His relationship with His disciples, but it also applies to us today:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit —fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:13-17)

Jesus is saying that we can be assured of this intimate relationship with Him, because He has shared with us all that He has learned from the Father. This sharing of God’s Word is the basis of our friendship. It is what sets us apart from mere acquaintances. We don’t just have a wave-from-across-the-street relationship with Christ. He sits with us and reveals the heart of the Father as He makes known to us God’s Truth.

And how extraordinary that He is the one who initiates this relationship. He chose us! Why did He choose us? To go and bear eternal fruit! He wants us to multiply what He’s done within our lives by sharing it with others. He wants us to reach out to a world that is dying and give out the same hope that we have found in Him. His intention is that we grow (bearing internal fruit of the Spirit), and that we reproduce that in others.

Doing that is risky! We risk rejection every time we try to share Him with someone. The world doesn’t want to hear the message. Next week we will see that Jesus also guaranteed that rejection would come with the fruit-bearing! Not everyone wants to be His friend.  

John 15:9-13

Having just explained the need for the disciples to remain in Him and in His Word, Jesus now gives them another command :

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John15:9-12)

We know that the Apostle John was greatly influenced by this teaching. His writings are full of the importance of loving one another. His first letter is filled with exhortations to love as God first loved us. Christ impressed on His disciples that to love is an action of obedience, not a feeling. Feelings come and go; they can be influenced by what we’ve eaten, how much sleep we’ve gotten, or by an offhanded remark. We cannot trust our emotions to be the barometer of what we need to do.

This is so very clear in a marriage. That rush of emotion and elation that you feel in the first days of your relationship and marriage (notice I said “days”), is quickly gone when you have your first fight. And in a marriage, over the years, there is so much to fight about: children (whether to have them, how to discipline them, who gets to do the homework with them...); finances; sex; sharing chores; whose family to visit on Christmas day; etc.

In a culture that is obsessed with external looks and material possessions, it is so easy to be lead by our feelings about our spouse. The looks go downhill pretty quickly and resentments build during times of financial stress. So, if we judge the security and rightness of our marriage by how we’re feeling, we’ll be tempted to jump ship over and over. That’s why Jesus makes it clear here that loving is a decision to obey His command, not an emotion. It’s a commitment to trust and obey Him.

And the reality is that when we obey, the feelings often follow. I love what Jon Courson says about how this decision to love will turn around our emotions in a marriage: “Guys, maybe you’ve lost your feelings for your wife. Treat her like a treasure, and your emotions will follow because Jesus taught that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also.” (Courson, P. 566)

Now your issue may not be with your spouse, but with the person sitting next to you at church or the coworker in the next cubby or classroom. Imagine how that relationship might change if we treated that person like a treasure! Jesus promised in these verses we’re looking at this morning that if we obey His command to love, God’s love will remain in us; it will overflow - and, the bonus: our joy will be complete! (vs.11) If we want an abundant, fruitful life, we must love one another as Jesus loved us. (vs.12)

 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (vs. 13)

This is the key to this commandment! Die! Jon Courson, in discussing this verse, refers to John Knox and how he lead revival in Scotland:

“An entire nation was revived when John Knox prayed, ‘Lord, give me Scotland, or I die.’ But what many people do not know is what Knox wrote concerning the answer to that prayer. The Lord responded in his heart, saying, ‘First die, then I’ll give you Scotland.’ ” (Courson, P.566)

If we want to have a good marriage or relationships with others, we MUST DIE to our own needs and desires first! Jesus is commanding us to lay down “self” if we want to experience complete joy! If your relationship with your spouse is going south, one of you needs to take that first step of obedience. Guess who that will need to be?
 

John 15:5-8

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:5-8)

Continuing with the analogy of the vine, Jesus presses home the point that, as disciples of Christ, we should be producing fruit. In fact, we should produce MUCH fruit, because it glorifies God. Jesus makes it clear that unless we are connected to Him, the Vine, and remaining in Him through the study of His Word, we will produce no fruit of eternal value. We all understand that if we cut off a branch from a lemon tree, that branch will quickly shrivel up and die. There will be no lemons growing on that branch. Apart from the lemon tree, it is dead and of no value for growing fruit. So, when we take ourselves away from God’s Word, we remove ourselves from the Vine that nurtures us. We, too, whither and “die” inwardly.

While driving to and from meetings yesterday, I happened to hear Pastor Skip Heitzig on the radio, teaching about the importance of God’s Word to our growth and relationship with Christ. He used an example from 2 Peter 1:16-19 in which Peter makes a defense for the truth of scripture. Peter reminds his audience that he was an eyewitness of Christ’s majesty, specifically at the Transfiguration, when Jesus shone in His glory as He talked with Moses and Elijah.

That had to be the highlight of Peter’s experiences with Jesus while Jesus walked the earth. Talk about a mountaintop experience! Peter saw Jesus shining like the sun, and he heard the Father’s voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 17). Yet, as wonderful as that experience was, Peter is able to proclaim that “We have also [in addition to the testimony of eyewitnesses] a more sure word of prophecy.” In other words, as great as his experience was, experiences fade. However, God’s Word abides forever! Staying connected to Christ, the Vine, through the study of His Word, has more lasting value to us than any of our experiences. What we learn by abiding in His Word remains with us. It accomplishes what God intends for it to accomplish in our lives: fruit is produced.

What exactly is the fruit of God? Well, it’s certainly the harvesting of souls for Christ. But it is also the fruit of our character, as laid out by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Last night we attended the kindergarten graduation of my grandson, Colin. As his teacher presented each child, she honored them for the spiritual traits that they displayed, including these spiritual fruit Paul mentioned. As she “blessed” each child, she emphasized the eternal value of these traits. There wasn’t a dry eye in the sanctuary!

Surely when we read God’s Word, these traits become more and more a part of who we are, as we are transformed by His Word. Don’t we all want more eternal fruit displayed on our branches? There is only one way that will happen: we must abide in or remain in Christ. Keep meeting Him in the morning to feed on His Word. It is God’s will that we produce this fruit, so we know that when we pray for an abundance of fruit, God will surely answer!