John 14:15-21.            Call for obedience & his promise of a helper  29/5/11

(15)  "If you love me, you will obey what I command. {16} And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever-- {17} the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. {18} I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. {19} Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. {20} On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. {21} Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

As we face life in our world today we are confronted with all kinds of difficulties and tragic situations. Just as Jesus was here, telling his disciples of the difficulties and struggles that they would face, so also we are reminded of the harshness of life in our world. As we look around us there are suicides, paedophilia, divorce, broken homes, sexual violence, drugs, serious accidents, white collar crime, and the list goes on and on. Many of these things are occurring on a massive scale and are ripping the heart out of our nation today.

That is just in the everyday life of our society; but to add to that we also face great difficulties and hardships within the church and religious sphere of life as well. We have those who say that they are Christians and yet there is no attempt to take him and what he says seriously. We have people twisting and changing Scripture and worship to suit themselves; and are setting up sects and groups all over the place. We have condemnation for those who seek to hold to the truth, but wholehearted encouragement for those who want to try all kinds of weird and wonderful variations.

To all of this, what is the reaction of our society and church? Very little sadly. Yes we talk about some of these things; but so often it is here that we simply seek to deal with the symptoms and side issues, without getting down to the real cause of the problem. We are it seems afraid to ask the big questions of why and what is the base cause of these issues. Yes, we do not want to know, because it goes against what we truly want and accept as to what life is really all about. We truly want ourselves to be the centre of life. Yet it is this very thing which is the cause of many, if not all, of these problems.

For me it hurts to know that our society is in such a mess in this regard, and that it does not want to even discuss this very point. Through our education system and media this selfish egotism is portrayed as to be what will make life for us. So it really hurts when we can begin to see that this is the problem, but nobody wants to know or discuss it. With this as our attitude things will get even worse.

The Big question then for us is what can be done about all of this. It is here in this reading that our Lord again has a very important message for us in this regard. His call here for us is "If you love me, you will obey what I command.” For us who claim to be Christians, it means that God is the one who is all important in our lives; not ourselves. It means that we are committed to him as the centre and core of life. In fact he is what life is all about. It is only as we take this seriously that we have any hope of our society changing.

That then being the case, we will obey what He has commanded. His Word then, is what will be central to our living and thinking. We will obey what he has to say, rather than seek to twist and turn it all to suit ourselves. We will hold to the teachings that have been passed down to us through the ages that are in accord with the Scriptures. Instead of pandering to the latest trend and whim of the humanist element within the church, we will hold to that which shifts our focus away from ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done for us through his death on the cross.

That in turn will shift our focus away from ourselves and get us to look beyond ourselves to the people around about us. We will love our neighbour; wanting was is best for them, rather than using them for our own benefit.

All the while we will know that we can give of ourselves and focus away from ourselves, because of Jesus. His death on the cross has assured us of the forgiveness of sins, and the guarantee of eternal life in heaven with our Lord. We don’t have to work and fight to maintain our status and privilege, in order to be looked up to and accepted. We already have all that is important, so we can look upward, and outward to the people around us.

It is here that Jesus goes on to say: and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. So here in this regard we are not on our own. With the parting of Jesus physically from his people he sends another helper who can be with us all wherever we are. God’s Holy Spirit will guide and counsel us in his desire to help us to look beyond ourselves to that which is truly good and helpful for us in our world and for our relationship with God Almighty himself.

Here we need to remember that this Spirit is the Spirit of truth, as Jesus says. That is, he is the Spirit who is connected intimately with the truth of God’s very own Word. He never operates outside of the confines of God’s very own Word. Everything he says and does is in accord with what we have in the Bible. This is important for us to remember at a time when we have so many running around saying that they have a new word from the Spirit; which of course will inevitably be able to make us more super-christian; make us in some way greater people. Watch out!

However, as we spend time reading and listening to God’s Word, being regular in our worship, God’s Spirit comes to us and helps us to look beyond ourselves to the Lord Jesus and all that he has done for us. He constantly reminds us of our baptism, where God himself comes and washes us clean from our sin and joins us to himself. He comes to us at the Lord’s Table and reassures us that as we receive the bread and wine of Communion, we are also receiving Jesus very body and blood which he shed on the cross, so that we can be absolutely sure that we have the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of salvation and life. Through that, he is then able to empower us to go out and serve the people around about us; seeking their welfare and benefit, rather than our own.

It is here that we are then told, that we have one thing that the rest of society does not have. We have the Spirit which most in our communities do not have and do not want to have: nor do they give him a chance to help and guide them. They are too full of themselves, and do not want to hear what God has to say to them. They do not want to look beyond themselves as the centre of life itself. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Yes, we one the other hand now know, that because Jesus lives, we also will live. On that day we will realize that Jesus is in the Father, and we are in him, and He is in us. What an amazing assurance that is for us as we go forward in life in the midst of a very difficult world. Now there is absolutely no need for us to get caught up in this selfish, egotistical approach to life that is so destructive. We can look up to the Almighty God and acknowledge that he truly is Lord of all, and in turn we then can follow the lead of Jesus and give of ourselves for the benefit of others.

Yes, we can now step out in response to God’s love for us in Jesus Christ and be obedient to all that he is calling on us to be and do. We can commit ourselves to the situations that lie before us knowing that God’s helper has been given to us. The same power that raised Jesus to life that first Easter morn; and which gave us new life at our baptism; now goes with us as we step out to live and be the people that God wants us to be.

Now we can keep in mind what Jesus says here, “whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

Sure the problems and tasks; the temptations and difficulties, before us are enormous. It might seem as though there is not much that we can do that will help put our society back on track. In fact so often it looks as though we are fighting a losing battle. But now because our Lord is the One who is all important and because we now are able to love those around us, we can step out to do those things which the Spirit is guiding us to do and allow God himself to work through us. We can seek to help others see how important Jesus and his death on the cross is for us all.

So let us go from here and allow the Spirit to guide and counsel us to obey all that our Lord has commanded us to heed as of utmost importance. May he through it all bring glory and honour, not to us, but to him who is truly the centre of it all; God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To him alone belongs all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish