John 14:15-21

Good morning, IPC. Let us pray.

Lord, you are the living God. Speak to us today.

! Let us hear what only you have to say.

! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Jesus says,

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Love and obey.

These are a pair of words that we often associate with what we ought to do.

We ought to love one another.

We ought to love God.

And we ought to obey.

We ought to obey or keep God's commandments.

We ought to obey authorities and parents and so on.

But there is no commandment in this passage,

in the passage that we read in John 14.

There are no commandments.

Jesus is describing the disciples' action.

This is what he tells them.

He says,

The disciples are going to know the Spirit and live with him.

The disciples will see Christ even though the world does not.

They will live because Christ lives.

They will comprehend the unity of God and his people.

But there are no commandments.

And I think the focus of this passage is on love more than on commandments.

It's on our love for God and God's love for us.

If you love me, that's the possibility.

So what exactly then is required of a Christian when Christ says this?

If you love me.

Christian morality is really comprised of two parts.

Think of it as a floor and a ceiling.

On the floor of Christian morality, on the sort of foundational level,

we have things like a lot of the Ten Commandments,

which we read in here often.

Don't steal.

Don't murder.

Don't commit adultery.

And so on.

Yes, we will break these commandments sometimes in some ways.

But these are a foundational level of what we ought to do as Christians.

But these also have a ceiling.

What do I mean by a ceiling?

Well, don't commit adultery.

That's the floor.

Love your wife as Christ loved the church.

That's the ceiling.

Don't murder.

That's the floor.

But as we know, Jesus says,

I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be judged.

Do not steal.

Versus, blessed is he who is generous to the poor.

The rich young ruler comes to Jesus.

And what does he say?

What must I do?

To obtain eternal life.

Jesus says, well, you need to keep the commandments.

And he says, I've kept all the commandments from my youth.

There's one thing I require.

Give up all you have and follow me.

That is a ceiling.

And the same is true for loving God.

We must love God with all our heart, all our mind, and all of our strength.

As he who called you is holy, says Peter, you also be holy in all of your conduct.

Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy.

In short, be as holy as God.

Love him with everything you are.

That's not minimal Christian morality.

Do you remember what happens at the end of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

Gene Wilder is sitting there with that usual kind of crazed look in his eye.

And he's sitting across from the boy, Charlie Bucket.

And they're in a sort of rocket ship or elevator sort of capsule thing.

And then it starts to go up and up and up and up until it eventually breaks through the glass ceiling.

And they somehow fly around looking at the town.

That's a wonderful picture of what we don't do as Christians.

We don't blast through the ceiling of God's demands.

Does anyone for more than maybe ten minutes have an intense affection for the Lord?

Is anyone ready to give up everything and follow him?

Ready to put your life on the line for Christ?

Maybe you are ready.

But most of us, most of the time, need to increase our love for God.

We need more affection for Christ.

We need courage to give up our own interests for the sake of his name.

This takes us back to Willy Wonka one more time.

We're a little more like the fizzy lifting drink.

Right?

Charlie Bucket and his grandpa drink the fizzy lifting drink.

And they start to float up to the top of the tunnel.

And they start to burp the fizzy drink.

And they start to slowly float back down.

Until finally they come to rest on the floor.

Popping up once in a while, mainly floating down to the ground.

We're just kind of content on the floor.

But we do love Christ.

That's not what I'm saying.

We do love Christ.

And it's possible, maybe in some way, that the rich young ruler did keep the commandments from his youth.

And it is true.

Christians love Jesus.

You are not indifferent about Christ.

But Jesus wants more of our love.

He wants us to increase our love for him.

He wants us to love him with all of our heart and mind and strength.

We're in John 14.

If your Bibles aren't open, go ahead and find John 14.

This occurs in what's called the Upper Room Discourse.

It's John chapters 13 to 17.

John 13 · chapter mention

The Upper Room Discourse or the Farewell Discourse.

Now before this, Jesus has been going along on his ministry.

And that portion concludes with him arriving into Jerusalem.

And then he meets with his disciples.

And they have this final lengthy meeting together.

And then after this section in chapter 18, it's basically Jesus' passion.

His death and then his resurrection and reappearance to his followers.

Our section, not chapter 14, but chapter 13, our section begins like this.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father,

having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

What is about to occur is in itself an expression of Christ's love.

An expression of Christ's love for his disciples.

And you know this story.

He cleanses them physically.

This is when he washes their feet.

But he also cleanses them symbolically.

After he washes their feet, they're sitting around the table.

And for some light dinner table conversation, he says, one of you will betray me.

And Judas is exposed and Judas departs.

The disciples are cleansed in this symbolic way.

And then comes the news from Jesus himself.

I too must depart.

I am leaving and where I am going, you cannot come, he says.

What do these men need now?

Reassurance?

Comfort?

Comfort?

Instruction about how this is all going to work without Jesus?

Jesus goes on to tell them,

Believe in me.

Remember that my words are authoritative.

Ask anything in my name and it will be given.

This is chapter 14.

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

And then, in verse 15,

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

This is us.

It sounds like obedience will just happen.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Obedience will just happen so long as we love God.

And I think we actually understand this connection pretty well.

And the connection is this.

Love has great implications for how we behave.

Love has great implications for how we behave.

Take a mundane example.

If you love a sports team,

West Ham United, for example,

what do you do?

I know very little about football,

so I love just picking a random team.

I know for some of you,

we'll make or break this.

But West Ham United, for example,

if you love them,

what will you do?

Well, you might say,

I love West Ham,

but I never watch a match.

I never talk about them.

I'm not getting a jersey,

nothing with a logo.

I don't read up on the latest news about the players.

No.

No, you don't do that.

If you love West Ham,

you make sure that match night is free.

You talk about the team the next morning at work.

You might wear something with the logo,

and you surely read the news about them.

If you love West Ham,

you will do these things.

Now, I often hear people say

that we use the word love casually.

Right?

I love pizza.

I love my children.

I love God.

How can we use the same word

for all of those things?

There's a difference here,

which I'll talk about,

but there's also an important commonality.

Love has great implications

for how we behave.

Love has great implications

for how we behave.

It's a natural connection, actually,

to love and to obey.

What is supernatural

is to love God.

The question is,

how do we love him?

How do we love him?

And that's what our passage is about.

It's about love,

and it tells us three things about it.

How we love God,

when we love God,

and the implications of this love.

How we love God,

when we love God,

and the implications of this love.

First, how do we love God?

We love God

by the power of the Holy Spirit,

given by the Father,

thanks to the Son.

Look at verse 15.

If you love me,

you will keep my commandments,

and I will ask the Father,

and he will give you another helper

to be with you forever.

The word here for helper

probably means something

just like that,

someone who helps,

a comforter,

someone who comes alongside

and supports.

In general,

it's an associate.

Now,

it can mean something

very particular.

It can mean a sort of

judicial advocate,

in that kind of sense,

and maybe there's an interesting

illusion there,

that the Spirit would advocate

on our behalf,

as in a court setting.

But more immediately,

the Spirit helps

with something else.

What does the Spirit

help with?

We're on verse 17 now.

Jesus calls this helper

the Spirit of Truth,

whom the world cannot receive

because it neither sees him

nor knows him.

You know him,

for he dwells with you

and will be in you.

All of this talk about

believing in Jesus,

about being reassured

when he departs,

about having an incredible

connection with God.

Jesus says,

I will be in my Father,

you will be in me.

We will be one.

All this talk about

asking for things

in Jesus' name

and receiving them,

all of this is thanks

to the Spirit of Truth.

That is how we love God,

by the power of the Spirit

given by the Father,

thanks to the Son.

The New Testament says

that everything about you

as a Christian

is new.

You have a new heart

to feel.

You have new eyes

to see.

New minds

to think.

In 1 Corinthians,

Paul says,

we have the mind

of Christ.

This is new life.

And this makes

the church the church.

The world does not

call God Father

or pray in Christ's name

or read the Bible

expecting to see

God himself

or know that this book

is the way that God

has spoken to me

and to us.

That's the Spirit's gift

of what we call

illumination.

That's how we know

the Bible is God's word.

It's a supernatural word

and a supernatural act

to recognize it.

for the same reason

the world does not

love God

because they have not

received His Spirit.

However,

if anyone is going

to love God

and anyone can

say that again,

if anyone is going

to love God

and anyone

can

love God,

then it's going

to be for the same

reason.

if you love God,

you have been given

the help

of the Holy Spirit.

God has regenerated

your heart

and given you

new life.

How's that

for help?

How do we love God?

By the power

of the Spirit

given by the Father

thanks to the Son.

When will we love God?

This is the second question.

When will we love God?

It's a bit of a strange

question.

It may sound strange,

but Jesus does make

a point of it.

We will love God

and particularly

increase our love

for God

when we see

the resurrected

Christ.

Verse 19,

Yet a little while

and the world

will see me

no more,

but you will see me.

Because I live,

you also will live.

In that day,

you will know

that I am in my Father

and you in me

and I in you.

In these lines,

I think Jesus is referring

about his resurrection

appearance.

I think he's referring

to his resurrection

appearance.

In that day,

I think that's

the particular day

for the disciples

that they're expecting

when they will know

that he is in my Father.

The general point

is that we love God

when we see Christ,

especially the Christ

of glory.

That's the general point.

When we see the Christ

of glory,

we will love God

and love him more.

It had a more

immediate meaning

for the disciples,

of course.

Jesus was physically

going to go away.

You will not see me.

You'll open your eyes.

I will not be around.

You'll come into my room.

I will not be there.

But then you will see me.

But for them

and for us,

a single principle holds.

And that single principle

is it is Christ first.

It is Christ first.

In the same way

that we love God

when we have the Holy Spirit,

so looking upon Christ

increases that love

for him.

I hope you're starting

to see that

everything about

if you love me,

you will keep my commandments

begins with God.

It begins with his love

for himself

within the persons

of the Trinity

and it begins

with his love

for us.

We love God

by the power

of the Holy Spirit.

We will love God

when we see

the glorified Christ.

We will love him more

when we look upon him.

Third,

what happens

with this love?

What are the implications

of this love?

Now,

we've got to look

around the chapter

a little bit

for this.

Verse 13.

When we love God,

God is glorified.

Whatever you ask

in my name,

this I will do

in order that

the Father may be glorified

in the Son.

When we ask for things

in Christ's name

for his sake,

because we love him

by the power

of the Holy Spirit,

then God gets glory.

hallowed be thy name

is what we pray.

That is what we pray for

and that is what we love for,

that God will be glorified.

Second,

verse 31.

When we love God,

the world will know more

about God's love.

Jesus says,

I do as the Father

has commanded me

so that the world

might know

that I love the Father.

Jesus' self-sacrifice

displays

in the greatest way

possible

that he loves the Father.

And that fact

cannot leave people

unaffected.

The presentation

of Christ's self-sacrifice

moves with power

into the world.

And our love for God

in the same way

adds fuel

to this fire.

Our response

to the crucified

and resurrected Christ

as fuel

to the fire

of God's love

so that the world

might know

about God's love.

Lastly,

verse 21.

He who loves me

will be loved

by my Father

and I will love him

and manifest myself

to him.

More love for God

means more love

from God.

And more love

from God

means more love

for God.

Now you may be

getting a little nervous,

right?

More love from God

as if we love God

more and he loves us,

he loves us more.

I don't think that's

exactly what's going on.

Perhaps it's something

about the manifestation

of God's love

appears more clearly

to us

when we love God.

But in either case,

the relationship

is reciprocal.

it's very clear

that God loves us

first.

But we increase

our love for God

and we know more

of God's love

through that same

process.

God is glorified

when we love him.

The world

will know more

about God's love

as we love him.

And our understanding

of God's love itself

will be increased

as we love him.

The greatest type

of love

is the love

that will die

for the beloved.

It says,

I will give up

my life

so that you

might have life.

This is where

the different types

of love

become important,

right?

Love for pizza,

for a football team,

for children,

and for God.

I was at a dinner

on Thursday night

with some teenage boys

and the boy

sitting across from me

was 17 years old.

We were talking

about how we get

teenage boys

to, you know,

attend little events,

get-togethers.

Let's have a movie night.

Why is no one

coming to the movie night?

Well, you need

some food there,

right?

And this is exactly

what this guy said.

I kid you not,

these are his exact words.

I'd do anything

for three hours

if there was pizza there.

I'd do anything

for three hours

if there was pizza there.

But we don't

die for pizza.

He might do anything

for three hours,

but we don't die

for pizza.

We don't die for dominoes

because we love pizza.

We don't give up

our own life

for the sake

of a football team.

But we would die

for the people

that we love.

And Jesus

dies for us

because the Father

loves us.

and told Jesus

this is what

we're going to do

for the world.

For God so loved

the world

that he gave

his only begotten son

that whosoever

believes in him

might have

everlasting life.

you might think

I can't love God.

Of course you can't.

But you tell God

you want to love him

and you ask him

for the help

of the Holy Spirit

since that's the only way

you can love him.

Let's pray.