Series: Conversations with Jesus
John 14:15-31
SPIRIT STUFF!
INTRO
I review for us the other two previous emphases of Jesus in this passage to his disciples as he prepares to leave the earth. They tie to today’s lesson:
• Jesus is leaving to secure our future, we now live “in the in between”
• Jesus is leaving to secure for us our calling as God calls us and then give us gifts by His Spirit for service.
Now, today’s emphasis is that Jesus is leaving to secure our power. He tells them what exactly happens when the Spirit of God comes to them, John 14:16-26:
• He will indwell us, vs. 16-17, to begin to restore the image of God in us.
• He will teach us, vs. 26, illumining the Word of God so that we can learn and grow
• He will use us, vs. 26, to woo others and testify of Jesus
Bargain?
A guy was driving around Aberdeen when he saw a sign in front of a house, ‘Talking Dog for Sale.’
He rang the bell and the owner told him the dog was in the backyard. The guy went into the backyard and saw a Labrador sitting there.
‘You talk?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ the Lab replied.
‘So, what’s the story?’
The Lab looked up and said, ‘Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the Garda about my gift, and in no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running.’
‘But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a load of puppies, and now I’m just retired.’
The guy was amazed. He goes back in and asked the owner what he wanted for the dog.
‘Ten quid.’ the man said.
‘Ten quid? This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?’
‘Because he’s a liar. He never did any of those things.’
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright was fond of an incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life. The winter he was 9, he went walking across a snow-covered field with his reserved, no- nonsense uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field. "Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle said. "And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how the experience had contributed to his philosophy in life. "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss the things in life, that my uncle had missed." The objective in life is not the goal but the journey on the way to the goal
Orville and Wilbur Wright secured their place in history by executing the first powered flight
-but it all began years earlier, when their dad came home one day with a small toy made
of cork and bamboo
-that flew for a few moments in the living room
-and it ignited a vision in these two brothers
-set them on a trajectory to eventually build and fly the first plane
The Upper Room seems to be largely about Jesus igniting a vision as well
-only a much greater vision—TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD
-but in order for it to get off the ground
-He would have to leave
1. HE IS LEAVING TO SECURE OUR FUTURE 1st reason! COURAGE
-so He told them—I am going to prepare a home and an inheritance-14:2
-a hope they would need—we will need—in order to live courageously in this world
-where we live as citizens of two kingdoms
-we live between the times--in this already and not yet tension
-no longer bound to this earth
-no longer defined and dominated by the seen—but the unseen
-but planted here to bring something of God’s future into the present
-so that people will have a taste of God’s kingdom
2. HE IS LEAVING TO SECURE OUR CALLING 2nd reason, COMMUNITY
-our calling—to personally and corporately transform this world and live for Him
-to live missionally, take Jesus to all we meet, because we have a longing, an aching for him and it shows in all we do and say.
-everything in this upper room declares that God wants a community that, like Jesus, gets caught up in the transformation of the world, Band of Brothers
-so Jesus left so that it could happen
-left so that His work in heaven would enable us to live large on the stage we find ourselves on
-to live radical, supernatural lives of power and purpose
-serving a cause greater than ourselves
Coping with Pressure
Countless icebergs float in the frigid waters around Greenland. Some are tiny; others tower skyward. At times the small ones move in one direction while their gigantic counterparts go in another. Why is this? The small ones are pushed around by the winds blowing on the surface of the water, but the huge ice masses are carried along by deep ocean currents.
What does this mean?
-it means something absolutely staggering—
A. Doing the same works He did (14:12)
-entering into the world outside of our own world and loving lost people
-going where Christ did—to the poor, the marginalized
-and following Jesus’ radical lifestyle of self-giving and sacrifice
-confronting the darkness, embodying godliness
B. It means something even more astounding-performing even greater things
-that can only occur because of the Cross and the resurrection, and Jesus’
present work in heaven
-of ruling and reigning
-which all leads third reason He is leaving--
3. HE IS LEAVING TO SECURE OUR POWER 3rd Reason, COMFORTER
One day the translators came across a group of porters going off into the bush carrying bundles on their heads. They noticed that in the line of porters there was always one who didn't carry anything, and they assumed he was the boss, there to make sure that the others did their work. However, they discovered he wasn't the boss; he had a special job. He was there should anyone fall over with exhaustion; he would come and pick up the man's load and carry it for him. This porter was known in the Karre language as "the one who falls down beside us."
The translators had their word for paraclete.
-we have power, we need not be chickens, or care what people may think of us, we work in this for world for an audience of one,, we are to live in the power he has given us.
-for supernatural lives—as well as a supernatural mission--require supernatural power—it cannot be secured out of our own resources
-and so Jesus gave this third reason for his departure to his disciples—
-that He might send the Spirit (read 14:16-18)
-in fact—His departure was the condition-16:7-“unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you”
-this was not some secondary substitute—but the third member of the Godhead
-the coming of the Spirit is the coming of God
-and so--when the Spirit came—at Pentecost
-it signaled that this small band of believers—as well as you and me—are now equipped to do the even greater things
-and they did!—this is the story of Acts
-and it should be our story
-the power of God’s kingdom has not gone into recession (though sometimes it appears
that way)
-we’re just not taking advantage of the Spirit’s work—what is that?
A. HE WILL INDWELL US
-take up residence within (17b)
-a “transient visitor” who sporadically came upon the likes of Samson, Gideon,
Saul, David, etc to empower
-is now coming to dwell within
-with Jesus’ departure—the Spirit came to live “within”
-His work shifted from the occasional drive by to the permanent indweller, the eternal inhabitant
-and through Him, the Father and Son come to live within us
-which is both assuring and scary
1. Assuring—because He comes to REASSURE
2. Scary-because he comes to RENOVATE
-we suddenly realize the Spirit does not enter the outer perimeters—but into the most inward of our interior
-coming alongside other things that live within our hearts
-striving with them—our springs of thought, our will, our motives and self deceptions—
working until we are finally conformed to His will
Illustration – sophie food, so stubborn, we can be the same
Orthodox Church officials in Russia discovered in 2008 that one of their church buildings had disappeared. Poof—gone! The 200-year-old building northeast of Moscow had gone unused for a decade, but the Orthodox Church, which was experiencing growth, was considering reopening the church building, and that's when they discovered their building wasn't there.
They had to get to the bottom of this. After investigating the matter, the church officials did not blame aliens from outer space for the missing structure. Rather, they said the perpetrators were villagers from a nearby town, whom they said had taken and sold bricks from the building to a businessman. For each brick, the thieves received one ruble (about 4 cents).
This two-story church facility did not go from being a building to not being a building in one bulldozing stroke. Rather, the bricks were apparently chiseled out one by one by lots of people. In the same way, some churches—built not of bricks but of "living stones," that is of Christians—are not reduced in one fatal stroke but rather by Christians one by one choosing not to be involved. Stay home and watch a TV preacher. Read the Bible and pray, but don't mess with the organized church. Do your own spiritual thing. Each decision means one less living stone. In the end, the church, intended by God to be the display of Christ's glory, is chiseled away. Conversely, each person who gets involved helps to build a holy temple in the Lord made up of living bricks, where Christ is glorified.
Crabb--the reality is—His power is released most fully when we most completely come to an end of ourselves
-and nothing matters more than releasing Christ’s energy when we act or speak with people we love, to have a longing, an aching, to seek God, and his kingdom
While visiting Grand Coulee Dam, my family and I were surprised to see that the visitors' center was dark. It was a sunny day, so we thought the center might have tinted windows, but as we got closer we realized there were no lights on. We went in and saw that none of the displays were working. Suddenly it became clear: there was no power to the center. Due to a technical difficulty of some kind, the visitors' center that sat only hundreds of feet from a hydroelectric dam had no power.
How could something be so close to the power source, yet not be "plugged in"?
- you see we have got it too easy, we have everything we need, we think everyone else does too, so we don’t bother, we need to fight against this and through this!
CONCLUSION
Corrie ten Boom and her family secretly housed Jews in their home during WWII. Their "illegal" activity was discovered, and Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to the German death camp Ravensbruck. There Corrie would watch many, including her sister, die.
After the war she returned to Germany to declare the grace of Christ:
It was 1947, and I'd come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. It was the truth that they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander's mind, I liked to think that that's where forgiven sins were thrown.
"When we confess our sins," I said, "God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believe God then places a sign out there that says, 'NO FISHING ALLOWED.' "
The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a cap with skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush--the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! That place was Ravensbruck, and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard--one of the most cruel guards.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!" And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course--how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I remembered him. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard there." No, he did not remember me. "But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein,"--again the hand came out--"will you forgive me?"
And I stood there--I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven--and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place. Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could have been many seconds that he stood there--hand held out--but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it--I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart.
But forgiveness is not an emotion--I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling." And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust out my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely, as I did then. But even then, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.
All of this demands—
-we get in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5)
-we be filled—controlled by the Spirit
So let me ask three questions—
1. Does the Spirit have possession of you—all of you?
2. Are you allowing Him to teach you?
3. Are you seeing Him use you
Offering
The priest said to the poor farmer, "If you had a horse, would you give it to the Lord?" "Yes." "And if you had a cow?" "Absolutely." "And a goat?" "Sure." "A pig?" "Now, that's not fair!" protested the farmer. "You know I have a pig!"
Corrie ten Boom and her family secretly housed Jews in their home during WWII. Their "illegal" activity was discovered, and Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to the German death camp Ravensbruck. There Corrie would watch many, including her sister, die.
After the war she returned to Germany to declare the grace of Christ:
It was 1947, and I'd come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives. It was the truth that they needed most to hear in that bitter, bombed-out land, and I gave them my favorite mental picture. Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander's mind, I liked to think that that's where forgiven sins were thrown.
"When we confess our sins," I said, "God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believe God then places a sign out there that says, 'NO FISHING ALLOWED.' "
The solemn faces stared back at me, not quite daring to believe. And that's when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a cap with skull and crossbones. It came back with a rush--the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin. Betsie, how thin you were! That place was Ravensbruck, and the man who was making his way forward had been a guard--one of the most cruel guards.
Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, Fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!" And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course--how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I remembered him. I was face-to-face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.
"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard there." No, he did not remember me. "But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein,"--again the hand came out--"will you forgive me?"
And I stood there--I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven--and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place. Could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? It could have been many seconds that he stood there--hand held out--but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it--I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart.
But forgiveness is not an emotion--I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling." And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust out my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!" For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely, as I did then. But even then, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.
• He will indwell us, vs. 16-17, to begin to restore the image of God in us.
• He will teach us, vs. 26, illumining the Word of God so that we can learn and grow
• He will use us, vs. 26, to woo others and testify of Jesus
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