This is a revised edition of a sermon I gave in 2012 on the same passage (and at the same church). I didn't make any wildly different theological statements or interpret the passage itself much differently, but five years is a long time, and other things had changed, so I felt it needed a bit of a jazz up (also the wording of the original sermon was far more lecturesque).
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As you know, Penny and I will be
heading to Namibia soon. When we get there, one of the important
things we'll need to do is learn the Namibian way of life. To do
this, we will watch and learn what the customs are, how things are
done differently, what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. We
are assured it will be quite different to Australia! And to begin
with, no doubt we will look at these differences as outsiders,
wondering at how strange they are. To give one simple example –
apparently, in Namibia it is not appropriate to serve a visitor to
your house water in a plastic cup, even if you're having a barbecue.
Why? Because to serve only water and not something better is to
devalue your visitor; and only children drink out of plastic cups, so
it is rudely suggesting that your guest is a child. Just last week
we were helping a couple in our church move house, and they gave us
water in a plastic cup. We didn't even think twice about it.
There will be so many things like that
which we will seek to observe, and to learn. We're not just learning
these things because we're curious, or because we want to write a
book on Namibian behaviour. We want to learn them because Namibia is
the place we are going to call home for many years, and we want to
live like Namibians live. We want to put these things into practice
because we want to become part of the Namibian community. We've
started this process by talking with Namibians we've met here, and
with Australians who have lived in Namibia. And when we get to
Namibia, there will be Namibians who will be examples for us: who
will help us to fit in, help us to live the right way, and help us to
feel welcome. They will seek to make us part of the community.
Today we are looking at the latter half
of John 14, which puts us partway through Jesus saying farewell to
his disciples before he is betrayed, crucified, and buried. There is
a lot Jesus wants to tell his closest followers, things he wants them
to know, things he wants them to remember before he leaves them. And
in this section, what Jesus wants his disciples to learn is the
nature of God as a God of community, and what that means for them.
God by his very nature builds
relationships. And as we look at this passage, it is my hope that we
will be able to deepen our understanding of God and his relationships
in the same way as Penny and I will deepen our understanding of
Namibians and their community. We will start in these verses as
observers, looking from the outside at the nature of God in
relationship with himself. But then we will see how God's community
with himself interacts with us; what the different persons of God do
in their roles in the trinity for us. Finally, we will see that
God's relationship in the trinity is not shut off, but in fact it is
open to us to join in relationship with him in his three persons.
God's community is open for us to join, and he welcomes us into it as
people who love and obey him.
What does that Father and Son
relationship look like between God and Jesus here in John 14? It is
mentioned several times in this passage. Firstly we see that God the
Father is the provider. In verse 16, Jesus requests from the Father,
and the Father gives (this is repeated in verse 26). In verse 20,
Jesus tells us he is in the Father. In verse 24, Jesus makes it
clear that his words have authority because they belong to the
Father. Jesus states plainly in verse 28 that the Father is greater
than himself (the Father is greater than the Son because his position
is worth more glory – the person sending the message is higher than
the messenger - but that does not make one more god, or one less
god). Finally, in verse 31 it is clear that Jesus loves the Father,
and does whatever he commands. The Father gives commands, the Son is
obedient to them.
Where does the Spirit fit into this
family relationship? Well, the Holy Spirit is only mentioned twice
in this passage, and both times in terms of being sent by the Father.
We can't extrapolate too much from those small mentions, but it is
clear both that the Spirit is sent by the Father, and is requested by
the Son. He is another advocate sent by God.
It's great that Jesus describes his
relationship with God in family terms, because when we look at our
own families, we see similar relationships where different people
come together to form one family. We have a position like husband or
wife, father or mother, son or daughter. But there is much more to a
family than those simple positions. People in families each have
roles depending on who they are. In all our years of marriage, I
have not done the laundry once. But I always take care of the car
registration and insurance and servicing. That's not because I'm the
husband and Penny's the wife, and it's not because I'm incapable of
doing laundry. It's because of who we are, and it's part of how we
relate to each other. These things are all just part of being a
family. The positions (husband and wife) and the roles (laundry and
car maintenance) together make up our family. Penny and I are a
family because we are husband and wife, but also because we relate to
one another and do these things that make us a family and not, say,
business partners or something else.
And that is what Jesus shows us: the
ways that the Father, Son and Spirit interact in these verses shows
us that God loves community. He exists in a relationship with
himself. This is integral to who God is. God doesn't need us. He
didn't make humans because he was lonely. He doesn't need our
worship or our belief to make himself stronger. God didn't invent
the idea of relationship so that he could relate to us. Relationship
and community are an intrinsic part of who God is.
But Jesus here in John 14 isn't just
painting a picture of how we can intellectually know more about God;
he is showing us how we can become part of God's family: the family
of God himself, starting with the trinity, extends to include us. He
doesn't just describe how God relates with himself in trinity; he
describes how God relates to us in trinity.
God the Father is the authority, the
commander and sender. Who did God send Jesus to? The Father sent
Jesus to us. Jesus asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us.
God has a message he wishes to share with us, with all humanity.
How does he choose to share it?
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 tells us clearly, “In the past God spoke
to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various
ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” And
this is what we see here in John 14. Jesus is the Son, sent from God
with God's message and as God's message. He teaches us God's
commands, and expects those who love God to obey them. Jesus is the
revealer. His role, as he makes clear, is to reveal the true nature
of God to people, to us. Jesus shows us God in his own life and
teaching, in ways that can only be done through his life and his
death and his resurrection. When I talk about revealing, I mean as
in revealing the nature of a mystery. We learn things about God by
looking at Jesus that we cannot learn any other way.
Even when Jesus speaks of his death, he
shows that it is an act done to reveal God to us, because God wants
us to know that Jesus loves the Father and does exactly what his
Father has commanded him (that's in verse 31). This tells us that
this is not an act merely that Jesus seeks to do, but he is going to
his death for us because God the Father has commanded it. Our
salvation by Christ's sacrifice on the cross is a command of God, to
which Jesus submits. Those people who think that Jesus is loving,
but God is vengeful and angry, need to read this verse. God
commanded Jesus to take away our sin.
The Holy Spirit's role is also revealed
by Jesus. The Son is not to remain on earth forever, and his
ministry of revealing God's mysteries to us is therefore finite.
However, while those revealed truths may not change, the world does
change, humanity changes, culture changes, and from generation to
generation there are always going to be questions that need an answer
about those revelations. So it is that the Spirit of Truth, as it is
named in verse 17, is sent to us, to live in us and to teach us about
and remind us of the truths Jesus has revealed, as we learn in verse
26. The Holy Spirit is not primarily a revealer of truth, as Jesus
is. Revelations such as those Jesus made really only need to be made
once – we do not need to crucify Christ every time we wish to
explain God's love for us. But we do need to be reminded, we do need
to have spiritual truths explained to us. And who better to do this
than God? This is the role of the Holy Spirit.
In outlining all of these roles, we can
begin to capture an appreciation for the lengths to which God has
gone to reach out to us. God the Father has given a command, and
sent his Son. The Son has come to reveal God's mysteries to us, in
obedience to the Father, even to the point of death on a cross to
reveal God's desire to save us and bring us to him. The Son has then
petitioned the Father to give to us the Holy Spirit, who explains
those revelations to us, and reminds us of them. God doesn't need
us; but the fact that relationship and community are integral to who
God is means that his desire to share that relationship with us is
very real and very powerful, and is expressed in all parts of his
nature.
So why is Jesus telling his disciples
all this, and what is it that we should be learning from it? Jesus
really does want us to know more about what God is like, but he has a
purpose in doing so. I think there are two things we should focus
on. Firstly, I think Jesus is telling his disciples about how
relationship and community is such an important part of who God is
because he's going to be leaving them soon, and separation and change
can put a strain on community. When a child grows up and moves out
of the house on their own, they don't stop being part of the family,
but things do change, don't they? When Penny and I leave for
Namibia, we won't stop being a part of our church or our family here,
but the relationship will change. Jesus is going to die, and even
though he will be raised again, he will not be with the disciples in
the same way. They won't have God walking among them in human form
as they once did. Jesus understands: he knows there is every chance
that this will cause their hearts to be troubled and afraid.
Perhaps sometimes we can feel the same
way – we can think it would be so much easier if Jesus were here
now, walking around so we could talk to him, walk with him, point
others to him. But Jesus assures us that even though he is not here
with us in body, God – Father, Son and Spirit – are with us, they
do live with us.
The power of that truth can sometimes
pass us by. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, resides in us.
Jesus, the obedient Son of God, is also in us, and we are also in
him. The Father himself - the creator, sustainer, commander of the
whole universe, the Lord almighty - comes to live with us!
There is no relationship more accepting
than having someone come and live with you in your house. Penny and
I are currently living with a friend from church while we prepare to
leave for Namibia. That is a intimate and invasive relationship.
She has had to give us keys to her home. We sleep in her bed – she
sleeps in her spare room! We could ruin her carpet. We could eat
all her food. We could steal everything she has. She cannot escape
us. And that is how closely accepted into God's family we become.
Yes, when the time comes we will live with God forever in his house:
earlier in this chapter in verses 2 and 3 Jesus talks about how his
Father's house has many rooms, and he is going away to prepare a
place for us. But we live with the relational God right now; every
part of the trinity of God lives with us. That should be real to us.
It should be a comfort to us, to know that God is not far from us.
I think the other thing Jesus wants his
disciples to understand in this passage is that in becoming members
of God's family, they too have a role to play. And this speaks to us
as loudly as it did to them. What is that role? To love God and
obey his commands as set out to us by Jesus. That is how we are
welcomed into a close, personal relationship with God. In verse 20
Jesus says, “You will realise that I am in my Father, and you are
in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is
the one who loves me. Anyone who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
We have to make sure we're hearing what
Jesus says here, because it's really easy to hear, “It is those who
obey his commands that are accepted.” But in fact, what Jesus says
is that anyone who loves him will obey his commands. The
relationship is not one of simple obedience like a dog to a master.
It is loving obedience, far more like that between a son and father.
We do what God wishes because it is right, but also because we love
him, and we want to serve him willingly. Obedience to God is a
constant struggle – but Jesus has taken care of that for us. We
are not going to be kicked out of God's family if we fail to obey his
commands. John himself wrote in his letter 1 John 2:1, “My dear
children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if
anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ,
the Righteous One.”
So if you are struggling with sin, if
you feel like you are distant from God because of things in your life
that are holding you back, turn your eyes to the cross, and realise
that your sin has been done away with, and that because of Jesus
there is nothing keeping you from God, from being embraced by the
trinity, from having the Holy Spirit and Christ and God dwell within
you.
That
is the message God sent Jesus to embody; the message that lives in
us. We need to make that message known to all people in the world.
God is not calling them to a simple blind obedience either. Jesus
knows that anyone who loves him will obey his teaching, and that
anyone who does not love him will not obey his teaching (verse 24).
Jesus knew that was the case. We need to realise the same thing.
Our concern, as those who have been welcomed into God's family,
should be to express that same love God has expressed for us, so that
others can love God for who he is, and from that love come to obey
his teaching.
Christians,
as members of God's family, are where God resides in this world. If
people cannot experience the love of God when they are with
Christians, if people cannot love the place where God lives, then how
will they know God and love him? As a church, and as individuals,
you are supporting Penny and I to go to Namibia to help the church
there grow in their knowledge of God's word. That's an amazing
expression of God's love to the people of Namibia! We don't wait for
their churches to have good theology before we love them and help
them. We act out of love for them in the knowledge that their love
for God will lead to obedience.
That
is the same heart we must have for all people. The truth of modern
day Australia is that most people do not obey God, because most
people do not love him. We have to make sure we're doing everything
we can to ensure that those who don't love God can see his love shown
to them through what we do. And that can be hard when people are so
against God and what he asks of them. Take, for example, the same
sex marriage debate. I think the church has certainly made known the
commands of God in this area. But has it made the love of God known
to these people? Are we communicating as people who accept what
Jesus says, that those who love God will obey his teaching, and those
who do not love God will not obey it? I think sometimes we get our
wires crossed, and put it the wrong way around.
And
that's a mistake, because if there's one thing that Jesus teaches us
in this passage, one powerful truth that we must accept, it's this:
God the Father is the one who will work; God is the one we must rely
on. Jesus himself did not stand in front of his disciples and say,
“Here is my message, here is the Holy Spirit.” No, he said, “I
have the Father's message. I will ask the Father, and the Father
will send the Spirit.” Like Jesus, we must rely on the Father to
provide open hearts. We must rely on the Father to give people the
Spirit of Truth. When we feel like we can't do anything to break
past the hate for God, we can pray. And God, who lives with us, will
hear us.
Let's
pray now.
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