The Advocate
John
14: 23-29
May 13, 2007
23 - 29
Jesus
answered him, “Those who love me will keep my
word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our
home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the
word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
“I have said these things to you
while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of
all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am
going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice
that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And
now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you
may believe.
In this passage, we discover words of power and strength.
Jesus is sharing with His disciples one more
time. He is taking time out to offer them words of comfort and to teach
them about the gift that God was going to
give to them.
Jesus had just revealed to those who were
loyal to him and to His mission and ministry that He would not be with
them much longer. Now, Jesus had been trying
to explain to His disciples throughout their ministry together that He
would not be with them forever. They dismissed the notion or they did
their best to try to ignore the possibility that there would be a day when
they would be without the physical human being called
Jesus. At this point, he let them know that
they only had a short time together.
Of course the disciples were shocked. Of course they were scared. They had
heard the words of joy when they had walked into different communities
with Jesus. They had also heard the words of
anger thrust at them and at Jesus for the
Word that Jesus proclaimed to the people.
They knew that some of the religious leaders were out to remove him from
their society. Now, they are hearing some news that they had put on the
back burner. They were hearing something that they had just soon not hear.
Jesus had told them that he was going to be
with them for just a short time.
“Wait a minute Jesus! How can you go off and
leave us? What will we do?” Statements or questions like those probably
ran through their minds and souls. They also probably thought, “Who will
take care of us?” The news had them frightened and to a certain extent
petrified of the future.
At that point, Jesus used that moment of hurt
and fear to start teaching the disciples a valuable lesson. He immediately
taught them that if they continued to love and keep his word that they
would never be alone. Words of assurance were spoken to those early
believers on that day. Jesus was telling them
to “keep to the faith!” He was teaching them to stay the course and that
by staying the course God’s awesome power
through His love would be with them as they discovered their calling and
journey for the ministry of grace and salvation. He was letting those
early believers know that God’s love would
help them face any opportunity or obstacle that they might encounter along
the journey. He was teaching them that they would never be alone in their
life journey. God through
Christ would be making their very being His
home. They would be together as they ventured out into the world to
proclaim the good news.
One of the disciples asked Jesus a question
and he replied: “Those who love me will keep my
word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our
home with them.”
What a positive response to a question filled with fear. They feared being
left alone. Yes, they were a group of persons who had answered the call to
follow Jesus. Yes, they had truly become a
family that was held together in their eyes by the physical presence of
Jesus. They were now seeing the family
falling apart as Jesus shared with them that
he would be leaving them within a short time. Jesus
understood those fears and he taught them with words of assurance. He
assured them that God the Father would always
be with them because they had loved Jesus and
had kept his word. They had committed their lives to
Jesus and Jesus was now teaching them
that God was committing himself to them.
Jesus assured those early believers as well
as the believers today that if one surrenders his or her life to
Christ and becomes an obedient child of
God that God and
Christ will indeed make their home in that
person’s very being. What a great lesson! One will never have to walk down
any pathway alone. One will always have God
the Father and Jesus the redeemer with him or
her.
Jesus did not stop with those words of
assurance. He next told those early disciples and he is now telling us
that God will send an advocate to the
believers to sustain the believer everyday. Listen one more time to what
he said to them: “I have said these things to you
while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of
all that I have said to you.”
Open up and receive the spirit of God. Let us
open up our hearts, souls and minds to that fresh wind that is blowing
from God. It is a wind that will lift one up
and carry one across the wide and deep valleys of life. It is a wind that
will help one scale the highest mountain upon one’s pathway. It is a kind
and gentle Spirit that will wrap God’s love
and power around a person.
Oswald Chambers wrote: “The biggest blessing in your life was when you
came to the end of trying to be a Christian, the end of reliance on
natural devotion, and were willing to come as a pauper and receive the
Holy Spirit. “
Jesus understood that the disciples had tried
to accomplish some of their mission and ministry by their own power. He
understands that the church today – that is you and me – do the same
thing. We see goals and opportunities for ministry or mission and we try
to accomplish them ourselves. It becomes my mission or our mission. It
somehow does not belong to God because we are
so into it. Jesus was assuring the early
disciples that the first thing one needs to do is to remove self from the
picture and open up to the complete indwelling of God’s
blessed Holy Spirit. It is not a partial opening! It is a full opening of
one entire being.
On Lake Gaston is a dam that the power company uses to generate
electricity. Water flows over and through that dam most of the time. It is
a slow flow but never the less, it is moving through that structure. It
causes a mild ripple effect on the water below which is called the Roanoke
Rapids Lake. When there is a need to generate a lot of electricity, a
warning siren goes off to let all below the dam know that the gates are
about to be thrown wide open. The gates are opened and the water comes
rushing through that dam into the lake. The water level rises quickly as
it receives the new water. Electricity is generated to help heat or cool
homes and to run business in the area.
When one truly opens up his or being to the indwelling
of God’s Holy Spirit, one is filled
completely with God’s presence and love. The
spirit moves through one to generate God’s
power and strength in one’s life.
John Wesley was a good man. He was a man who truly
loved God. He heard God
calling his name. He wanted to serve God to
the best of his abilities. That was why he was up at 4 a.m. reading and
studying the scriptures. That is why he went on the mission adventure to
Georgia. He was trying to do good for God.
Yet, he struggled in all that he was doing until he opened up his life to
the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. On that
night, he was filled completely by God’s
awesome power and love. At that point, he found strength and peace to
answer God’s call to God’s
mission and ministry.
Jesus was teaching those
early believers and He is teaching you and me today to open up and allow
the Holy Spirit to dwell within our very being. He is teaching us to
become Christ centered and not world
centered. He is teaching how to become true obedient servants of
God the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.
He continued to teach those early believers with these
words. “Peace I leave
with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
He assured them that if they opened up their very being
to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that they would know the peace of
God that surpasses all of our human
understanding. It is a peace that allows us to face many different
pathways in life and know without a shadow of doubt that all is well with
our souls.
Thomas Kelly said: "We feel honestly the pull of many
obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy,
strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow.... We have hints
that there is a way of life vastly richer and deeper than all this hurried
existence, a life of unhurried serenity and peace and power. If only we
could slip over into that Center!... We have seen and known some people
who have found this deep Center of living, where the fretful calls of life
are integrated, where No as well as Yes can be said with confidence."
Slipping over into the center means that we are called
to be Christ centered. How does that happen?
It happens when we open up to the indwelling of God’s
Holy Spirit. It happens when we stop talking the talk and truly set aside
self and self’s desires and allow God’s
Spirit complete control over our lives. It happens when we become one with
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and we invite the blessed trinity into our
lives to establish a home with us.
Jesus taught a powerful
lesson to his early disciples that day. His words ring true for His
followers today. It is now time for all of us to receive that lesson and
allow God to work God’s
wonders in our lives by receiving God’s Holy
Spirit into the center of our beings.
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
