Come and See: The Upper Room

I want to turn to John 15.

John 15.

Last week we began our journey to the empty tomb

by being encouraged to pray about inviting others to come and see

because Christ has a lot to offer.

And if you have Christ in your life,

you lose nothing by sharing him with others.

Actually, it is our gain to do that

because we're blessed by it.

We become stronger in our faith by it.

And so we ought to be busy about it.

All of the gospels build up to the last week of Christ.

And that week starts with a triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Jesus rides in on a donkey.

The reason he does that is to fulfill prophecy.

Zechariah 9 verse 9 says,

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion.

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem.

Behold, your king is coming to you.

Righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on donkey.

On a colt, the fall of a donkey.

His way was paved by laying down garments.

That speaks of royalty.

That's what you did for kings.

It was also marked by people laying down palm branches,

which speak of peace.

What it paints the picture of is a humble king coming in peace

and claiming his place.

As he came, they cried out, Hosanna, which means save us,

which is the proclamation of the Messiah.

They said, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

That was originally spoken about those who were approaching the temple for worship.

Here it is to announce the Christ as Messiah,

the one that actually fulfills everything that the temple amounted to.

Shortly after he entered,

he makes his way to the upper room

to share a last supper with the disciples

before he would go to the garden and be arrested.

He washed their feet there.

Peter was in the room.

Peter didn't feel comfortable with him washing his feet.

He knew that was the lowest of the servants to do that.

He didn't feel comfortable with that.

And so Peter,

he's that dude that always thinks and says it,

you know,

or says it before he thinks it

or something like that, you know.

If you've got a big mouth,

you sympathize with Peter, okay?

And so he says,

Look, you're not lowering yourself to wash my feet.

I'd never let you do that.

Jesus responds and says,

If I don't wash you,

you have nothing to do with me.

And Peter says,

Well, then wash all of me, you know.

I mean, he really didn't get it.

He really didn't.

And Jesus said,

I've washed your feet.

Now wash others.

In other words,

what he was telling us is,

I've served you at the lowest level.

Because the foot washer

was the lowest servant in the house

washing the dirt and the grime

off of the feet

as a greeting to folks.

Almost like taking your coat.

Instead, they'd wash your feet.

And it's Christ's way of saying,

Do whatever you need to do

to serve other people.

He begins the meal like that.

During the meal,

he confronts Judas,

the traitor in the bunch.

And Judas goes on to make a decision

that will ruin him quickly.

Peter speaks up again and says,

I'll never deny you.

And Jesus says,

Sit down.

You'll deny me three times

before the sun comes up, basically.

That's when the rooster crows, by the way.

He continues to speak to the disciples

in the longest teaching and training time

that we have anywhere in Scripture of Jesus.

There are 156 verses of his teaching

dedicated to the upper room.

And everything that he said

and everything that he prayed,

the Sermon on the Mount

is only 110 verses.

That's significant.

The timing of the event is significant.

It's the last thing he says to them

before he goes to the garden to be arrested.

The teaching that he gives them

is primarily for them

after he would no longer be physically present with them.

We are a people that live today

in Christ

when he's not physically present with us.

So it's a word for us.

And then the training that he gives them is amazing.

He begins by talking about

how he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And he gives us an assurance

for salvation in the here and the now.

And he gives us assurances

that he'll always be there for us.

That there's more to eternal life

in Christ

than what this world has to offer.

This ain't all there is, folks.

And he's very clear about that

in the upper room.

And when he has died and been buried

and rose again and ascended,

he assures us that we will not be left alone.

We will not be comfortless.

The Holy Spirit will come.

The Holy Spirit will empower us.

He'll guide us.

And he'll use us.

And then he closes his time

in the upper room in John 17.

It's often called the high priestly prayer

because Jesus closes out his time

in the upper room

praying for his disciples.

As he progresses through the prayer,

he prays for those

that the disciples will reach.

As he continues to progress,

he prays for those

that will be reached

by those that are reached

by the disciples.

Do you know who that is?

That's us.

He's praying for us.

And do you know what he prays for us?

He prays for us to be unified

for his cause

so that all the world can see him

for who he is.

Now you're going to be glad to hear

what I'm about to say

because I will tell you

that John chapter 13 through 17

John 13 · chapter mention

is too much teaching for one time.

Okay?

I could literally spend

a year of Sundays

teaching John 13 through 17

and I'm not going to do,

I'm not going to try to squeeze

five chapters out of you this morning.

To attempt to scan that this morning hastily

I believe would be unjust

and I will not do it.

I just want us to,

I encourage you to read it this week,

but I just want us to dip our toe

in a key portion of this passage

that reminds us of how we are to do

what we are to do for the Lord.

I just want to take a few moments,

you're going to love this,

to look at one verse.

One key verse.

It was key for them that day.

It is key for us today.

He goes on to define what this verse means

and the Apostle Paul spends a lot of time

defining what it means.

It's John chapter 15 verse 5.

John 15:5

And Jesus said,

I am the vine,

you are the branches,

whoever abides in me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit

for apart from me,

you can do nothing.

We are to bear fruit.

How do you bear fruit

when you abide in Christ?

Well, Scripture shows us that

and it's a lot more broad in scope

than you probably thought

because when we are saved,

when we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus,

we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit.

And when our lives are hooked into the vine,

getting a full run of the sap from the Lord,

our lives produce fruit.

Just like a healthy branch of a fruit tree

produces fruit.

So what kind of fruit are we to produce?

Our fruit ought to be characterized by character.

We ought to produce a fruit of character.

There are obvious traits in the lives of folks

that are right with the Lord.

Paul put it this way.

In Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 and 23,

Galatians 5:22

he says this,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things, there is no law.

Now I will tell you that the fruit of the Spirit

is not for you to pick and choose what fruit that you want.

Instead, we're responsible for all of them

to live it out.

And listen, he's not talking about being fake here either.

As disappointing as it would be

if you saw a big, beautiful basket of fruit

and said,

Man, I want one of those apples right off the top

and went and grabbed that

and it was one of those plastic things, you know,

that looked so good,

but in reality it's not.

Sometimes Christians can be just as fake as that.

They can be just as bad as that.

Real love is not smiling

or even telling people that you love them.

Real love, 1 Corinthians 13, 7 says,

always protects, always trusts,

always hopes, and always perseveres.

Now, I will tell you to be clear,

because I don't want you to misunderstand me,

when you love somebody,

you ought to tell them.

Men, I'm particularly speaking to you this morning

because it's not manly sometimes to,

we think it's not manly to tell somebody

that you love them,

but the reality is it's not manly to not tell them.

Those that God has entrusted to you,

that you love them.

Reva McIntyre sang a song years ago

called The Greatest Man I Never Knew,

and one of those lines says,

he never said he loved me,

guess he thought I knew,

and she's talking about her daddy.

Your family, your loved ones need to know it

by how you live it and how you tell them.

And if you're dropping off a teenager at school,

you roll the window down or let the window down

and you yell it out to them.

They love that.

You tell them how much you love them,

right in front of all their friends.

It's great.

It's great.

They deserve it.

Instead of fussing and fighting,

have joy.

Instead of factions and feuds,

promote peace.

Instead of bringing discord,

be patient.

Instead of being selfish,

be kind.

Instead of living without restraint,

embrace genuine goodness.

Instead of envying everyone,

be faithful.

Be trustworthy.

Be dependable.

Instead of being jealous and resentful and revengeful,

be gentle toward other folks.

Instead of being filled with rage,

exhibit self-control.

It will stand out in the society that we live in today.

Produce a real basket of fruit.

Not that plastic Sunday morning fake stuff.

But the real stuff.

We're to be people bearing the fruit of good character.

We also are to be people who are bearing the fruit of compassion.

And that's what he talks about in this context.

Because he says in John 15 verse 12,

John 15:12

this is my commandment,

that you love one another as I have loved you.

Now if you really want to know what a verse is talking about,

read the verses around it.

And the verses around it point exactly to that.

Now if you love God,

you obey him.

And he's telling us to reflect that kind of love that he has for us.

He goes on in verse 13 to say this.

Greater love has no one than this,

that someone lay down his life for his friends.

You're my friends if you do what I command you.

We live in a day when there's a lot of lashing out.

There's a lot of pointing fingers at somebody else.

And many things are done and said in a hateful attitude.

And I will tell you it is so easy for us to jump right in that fray.

To be just a part of that.

If that's where the world's going to be,

we'll set them straight.

We'll do just like they do.

That don't set anything straight.

That just joins the fray.

Let me be clear about something.

Just because you think it

does not mean you need to say it.

It does not mean that you need to type it.

It is best not to show all your inner feelings on social media.

You're to love people

that you don't agree with.

You're to love people

that you're not very happy with.

He goes as far

as telling us to love folks

that we'd rather not even tend to.

We're to love folks

like the Lord has loved us.

And man, I'm telling you,

the Lord has looked past a lot in our lives,

hasn't He?

He's loved us enough

to forgive us of those things.

He's loved us enough

to die for those things.

And in return,

we share that same kind of love for each other.

If you've asked Him to forgive you,

He's forgiven you.

And He loves you so much

that even in our mess,

He died for us.

And now He just tells us

to respond by loving others.

There's a fruit of compassion there.

There's also a fruit of our conduct.

How we are to act.

Romans 6, verse 22 says this,

Romans 6:22

But now that you've been set free from sin

and have become slaves of God,

the fruit you get leads to sanctification

and its end eternal life.

Now when Scripture speaks of sanctification,

it's speaking of becoming more like Christ

throughout our lives.

It means that we are made holy.

That means we're set apart

by and for God.

Does not mean we're perfect.

We're not.

It does mean that we're set apart for Him.

And our salvation will be consummated in eternity

when we are made more like Him.

That's our glorification.

But in the meantime,

we are to grow more like Him.

I like old Swindoll's book,

the title,

never read the book,

but I love the title.

Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back.

You know?

That's how we live our lives.

We make some progress

and then we mess up.

But you know what?

If you take three steps forward and two steps back,

you've made a step of progress.

And the key to the Christian life

is making progress toward being more like Christ.

1 Peter makes it very clear.

He says in 1 Peter 1, verse 14,

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children,

do not conform to the passions

of your former ignorance.

But as He who called you is holy,

you also be holy in your conduct.

Since it's written,

you shall be holy for I am holy.

In order for us to do

and to be what God has set out for us to be,

we have to pursue holiness.

Between the 6 a.m. crowd

and the 9 a.m. crowd

is about 40 men

reading through

The Pursuit of Holiness

by Jerry Bridges.

It is a challenge

to each one of us.

And we are challenged by that

and we encourage each other through that.

And Jerry in that work says this.

He says,

But God has not called us

to be like those around us.

He's called us to be like Himself.

Holiness is nothing less

than conformity

to the character of God.

Not about being a little bit better

than the guy next to you.

It's about being like the Lord.

So to pursue holiness

involves at least two things.

One, it involves our diligence

and our effort.

And that is required

to be pursuing holiness.

And we are to be pursuing it.

And I will tell you too,

it's a lifelong task.

You will never finish it.

You will spend the rest of your life,

Christian,

serving the Lord.

Becoming more like Him.

It's not a crash course.

It's a long haul.

We will spend our lives

being more like Him.

That's the kind of evidence

that the fruit

that Jesus told us to bear

because He's the vine

and we're the branches.

That's the kind of fruit

that we're to bear

in His last teaching

before He went to the cross.

He also said

we ought to have

the fruit of our conversation.

The Lord's name

and His praise

ought to be quick on your tongue.

Hebrews chapter 13,

Hebrews 13:15

verse 15 says this,

through Him,

speaking of Christ,

then let us continually

offer up a sacrifice

of praise to God.

That is the fruit of lips

that acknowledge His name.

In other words,

we need to be speaking

of the Lord

every chance we get.

It needs to be a part

of our talk.

James chapter 4,

James 4 · chapter mention

13 through 15,

tells us to acknowledge

our dependence upon Him

in the plans that we make.

He says,

come now,

you who say today

or tomorrow

will go into such

and such a town

and spend a year there

and trade

and make a profit.

Yet you don't know

what tomorrow will bring.

What is your life?

For you are a mist

that appears for a little time

and then vanishes.

Instead,

you ought to say,

if the Lord wills,

we'll live and do this

or that.

Friend,

be careful.

Don't assume

other people know.

Talk of your love.

Talk of your praise.

Talk of your dependence

upon the Lord.

The fruit of our conversations.

Lastly,

we ought to bear

the fruit of harvest.

If we live our lives

of character,

if we live our lives

of Christian compassion,

if we conduct ourselves

with gospel conversations

that are real

and that are evident

through our lives,

God will use us

and lead us

to reach other folks.

In Romans 1,

Romans 1:13

verse 13,

Paul spoke of his hunger

to come to them

so that he could,

quote,

reap some harvest.

Paul was hungry

to reach people

for Christ.

And your hunger

to see people saved

is a sure sign

of your faithfulness

to live for the Lord.

It's a sure sign

of your faithfulness

to pray for the lost.

Lift them up.

Ask God to move

in their lives.

Ask God to move

in your life.

Ask God to somehow

allow you to be a part

of that process

to see them come

to know the Lord personally.

Proverbs 11,

Proverbs 11:30

verse 30 says,

the fruit of the righteous

is a tree of life.

And I love the way

King James put it.

It says,

and he that winneth souls

is wise.

I believe the greatest

investment

of your time

can be made

sharing Jesus

with somebody else.

there's an ancient fable

that tells the story

of three merchants

crossing the Arabian desert.

They were traveling

on a starless night

in order to avoid

the heat

and they passed

over a dry creek bed.

In the midst of that,

they heard a voice

from the night,

not knowing where it came from,

commanding them

to stop.

They were ordered

to stoop down

and to pick up

the pebbles

from that dry creek bed

and to put them

in their pocket

and then to leave

and to camp

nowhere near

that location.

The voice then told them

that in the morning

they would be both happy

and sad.

They did what

they were told.

They picked up

the pebbles,

they put them

in their pockets,

they went on their way

and the next morning

when they woke up

far away

from that dry creek bed

they reached

in their pocket

and anxiously looked

and rather than

finding pebbles

in their pocket

they found

precious jewels.

And just like

that voice

had told them

they were both

happy

and sad.

they were happy

that they had jewels.

They were sad

that they left

a lot of others

behind.

My friend

if you ever

lead anybody

to the Lord Jesus

you'll find

it's the most

satisfying thing

in your life

that you'll ever do.

When somebody

genuinely

surrenders

their life

to the Lord

and God

allows you

to be a part

of that closing

process

it's a blessing.

I don't believe

the half

has been told

though

because I believe

that if you

will pray

for folks

to come

to know the Lord

that you'll be

a part of that process.

I believe

that if you'll

share

and you'll

invite

and you'll

be

anxious

ready

to share

your love

for the Lord

Jesus

with somebody

else

God will

allow you

to be part

of that process.

God has

a way

of

capturing

somebody

through

several

different

means

of contact

along the way

and if you

happen to be

at the end

of that

when they

give their

heart and life

to the Lord

Jesus

he just

blesses you

that much

more

because you

happen to be

a part of that

but you

didn't do

that

God did

that

and he

did it

through a lot

of other

people

working and

moving all

the time

in their

life

the jewels

of heaven

has to be

the souls

that we

touch

and how

some of

them are

we see

change

in their

life

and I

am convinced

when we

get to

eternity

we'll see

folks that

we didn't

know

they ever

came to

the Lord

but if we

had a

testimony

for the

Lord

and we

lived it

out before

them and

we shared

with them

we know

that somewhere

along the

way we

played a part

in that

process

but we

didn't know

the end

result till

we saw

them face

to face

it'll make

you both

happy and

sad

happy for

all those

that's been

reached and

sad for

those that

you didn't

share with

if it

meant enough

to Christ

in the

upper room

to be the

focal

passage

I mean

we're

talking

John 13

through 17

and right

smack in

the middle

at John

15 5

he says

I'm the

vine

and you're

the branches

without me

you can do

nothing

but in me

you'll bear

fruit

they got

up from

there just

minutes

later

and went

to the

garden where

he'd be

arrested

he knew

what was

coming

he knew

what to

share

it was

important to

him then

it's important

to us now

let's make

sure that our

branches are

healthy enough

with our

character

healthy enough

with our

compassion

healthy enough

with our

conduct

with our

conversation

with our

contentment

to bear

fruit

fruit that

is fit

to reach

others

for Christ

because if

that's the

burden of

Christ in

the upper

room

in his

last sit

down with

his disciples

before he

went to

the cross

if that's

such a

priority to

him

it ought to

be to

us

and just

quite honestly

there is

never a

better time

than as we

approach

Easter

what an

open door

of opportunity

to welcome

to invite

to begin

a conversation

with somebody

about the

difference that

Jesus has made

in your life

may God

help us

to be

fruit bearing

Christians

may he bless

that path

with every

head bowed

and every

eye closed

it's a

challenge

folks

it's a

challenge

and I

asked you

last week

to pray

that God

would give

you names

and lay

them upon

your heart

and I

asked you

this week

to spend

time praying

for those

names

asking God

to work

in their

lives

asking God

to work

in your

life

asking God

to work

out

just a

way

for you

to invite

we'll make

that process

just as easy

as possible

for you

with invitation

cards that

tell all

the details

if you're

shy and

don't say

much

hand them

a card

man I'd

love for you

to come

to this

but you

know there's

folks around

you that

desperately

need Jesus

and if you

prayed for

those folks

God's laid

folks on

your heart

some of you

have been

like me

your card's

too full

it ain't big

enough

as God

lays burdens

upon your

heart

let's be

diligent

let's go

and see

what God

has in

store for

us

and then

come and

see

what he

does in

our midst

if you're

here this

morning and

you've never

accepted the

Lord Jesus

Christ I

want you to

know

that if you

feel him

drawing you

this morning

if you feel

a burden

to ask

God to

forgive you

of your

sins

and to

come into

your life

and to

change you

I promise

you today

he'll save

you

today's

day of

salvation

he'll work

and move

in your

life as

only he

can

you don't

need to

clean up

to come

to him

he'll

clean you

up

he'll

make you

right

you surrender

your life

to him

give it

over to

him

maybe you're

here this

morning and

you've done

that but

you've never

acknowledged that

publicly and

you need to

do that

it's not a

private decision

everything Christ

ever did

said it

was public

he'd just

look at folks

and say come

follow me

and they'd

come on

or they'd

decide not

to come on

so I

encourage you

to make a

decision to

follow him

today

maybe God's

drawing you

to be a

part of this

fellowship

you know that

God's leading

you to be a

part of this

church

join us along

the journey

help us do

what God

has called

us to do

or maybe you

just need to

get your heart

right today

to just come to

this altar

or have a

pastor pray for

you to ask

God to do

a work in

your life

I don't know

what God's

telling you to

do but I

know you'll

never be

satisfied unless

you follow him

so let's be

obedient today

heavenly father

lead and work

in our midst

right now oh

God I pray

have your will

and your way

in our hearts

in Jesus precious

name amen