Moving Day

Pastor Dusty Mackintosh

John • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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John 14:12-17; John 14:23-27; John 15:26-27; John 16:4b-15

Logan – Homework

Years ago, Logan getting absolutely overwhelmed by his homework. Staring at a problem and not knowing how to proceed, how to tackle it, and knowing it was going to take forever.

There were tears and whining and fighting and escalating consequences. But it was if the thought of it was so overwhelming that he couldn’t even get himself to start.

Intimidated by the size of the mission.

Unattainable Goal – Be Greater than Jesus

We have this lofty goal in Christianity. Being a part of Jesus’ Kingdom, being a Missionary of the Gospel, spreading the Good News, taking Next Steps in our Christian Maturity. This is “big vision” stuff.

But that can be intimidating. Looking a huge task and, maybe, having no idea how to tackle it. How to move forward.

Last week Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Transforming life from the procedural (do this, then that, then that) into the personal. It’s all about Jesus.

But there is still a level of abstraction there… and most of the time I can’t see Jesus standing before me as clearly as I can see you. I think this is what is going through the disciples mind when Jesus gives these words of comfort. It’s great that “you are the way, the truth and the life”… but you JUST TOLD us you are leaving and we can’t follow.

Jesus leaves. God leaves.

Who is going to be the way, the truth, the life for us when Jesus is gone?

And then Jesus kind of makes it worse.

The Setup – The Mission

John 14:12-17

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

We have this kind of insane promise. That whoever believes in Jesus will do the works that he did… and even GREATER works! That a promise of hope, but it is also a HUGE expectation. A lot of pressure.

Add to that the following. “Whatever you ask in my name…” Now as a kid I took this as a magic formula. If you tack “In Jesus Name” on the end of your prayer, now God has to do whatever you asked, right? “I want a pet snow leopard: IN JESUS NAME!” And poof.

But it never worked.

“In the Name” of Jesus is not a magic formula, but connects all the way (for those who remember) to what we talked about when using the name of God. “In the name” is more of a location then a magic phrase. The name has this whole sense of identity and purpose and acting in the name assumes that is action in line with the mission and purpose and intent of the person.

A police officer says “stop in the name of the law” and summons all that law represents.

Now the commandment is against using that power in vain, but in this case it is a request to Jesus in the name of Jesus… so Jesus is not confused as to whether you are acting in his name for the reals or not.

Jesus is promising that they will have power and that Jesus will back them as they do incredible things in the “name” of Jesus, or in the continuation of his gospel mission to save the world.

Now that sounds amazing… but it also sounds incredibly intimidating. A mission to save the world, and do greater miracles than Jesus. Ready… go.

I can hear Thomas… but Jesus “what’s the way again?” How do we know how to do this stuff when you are gone, seeing as you are the way, truth and life.

But Jesus isn’t done. In these next few chapters he lays out powerful teachings that will serve as the foundation for what “life in Jesus” will look like when Jesus is no longer with them. There are several threads to this teaching and they are all wound together. So rather than just take the next chunk of text, we are going to pick one thread and follow it all the way through.

And the first thread answers this question. With Jesus gone from sight, how will Jesus’ disciples find the way, know the truth and live the life?

With Jesus gone from sight, how will Jesus’ disciples find the way, know the truth and live the life?

Jesus is still encouraging them, carrying from verse 1: Let not your hearts be troubled…

The Helper

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even 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.

Helper. Advocate. Counselor.

This is such a great word. It means these things but outside of Scripture is almost exclusively a legal Advocate or Counselor.

Another Counselor, even as Jesus has been a Counselor/Advocate, all those things. One who guides through an unknown and difficult situation, especially a legal situation. And this fits well if you imagine yourself as an accused prisoner, up against the whole legal system with rules you don’t understand and motions and precedents and laws and things you have to do in the right way at the right time… and its overwhelming…

But here comes your Counselor. And they know the right things and the right way. And they guide you through the whole process. They counsel you. They help you. Jesus promises another helper, one who would help them in the same way he has been… but dwelling within them.

Jesus is the Way, but the Holy Spirit is another helper who will guide you in the Way.

John 14:23-27

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

How do they do that? By way of the Spirit. We have some Trinity action here, the Father Son and Holy Spirit dwelling within. But because Scripture very rarely speaks of Son or Father “dwelling” within the believer, and very often and explicitly speaks so of the Spirit, we believe that the way the Father and Son dwell within the believer is through the Holy Spirit. And that is certainly the context of this passage.

But however the details of the abstract theology work… the result is the very life of God dwelling within you. So we have way, we have life. Let’s complete the trifecta:

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

The Spirit of truth is going to teach all things. This is our theology of New Testament Scripture right here: that the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance all the things Jesus taught them, and continued to teach them all things.

And again we have this purpose to comfort his disciples, to assure them that great and greater things are coming. That they are walking into their more preferable future even though the night is going to end in betrayal and tomorrow holds crucifixion.

But they have the Spirit with them to guide them in the way, teach them the truth, and be the life of God within.

John 15:26-27

26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Jesus underlines this whole idea, and his ministry continues to the disciples through the Holy Spirit, and his ministry continues through the disciples through the Holy Spirit.

John 16:4b-15

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Now this is mind-blowing. It is to our advantage not to have Jesus here in the flesh. Not only because of what Jesus then went and did… but because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit made possible by Jesus death, resurrection and glorification is more valuable than Jesus continued physical presence.

Just think of the scale factor! If we all had to receive our teaching and guidance from Jesus’ physical lips, can you imagine the line of people waiting to talk to Jesus? The plane tickets to Israel? It wouldn’t work.

Instead Jesus sends his Spirit to dwell within all his disciples, across the world, across centuries, omni-present, omni-available.

And not just in believers, but continuing Jesus’ ministry to the entire world:

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

So the disciples have the Spirit as the Helper, the paraclete, who will come alongside and guide them in the way they should go.

That Spirit of truth will guide them into all truth, witnessing to them concerning Jesus.

That Spirit, living within them, is the life of Father and Son living in the believer.

And having the Spirit within was ABSOLUTELY necessary for navigating, understanding and living in Jesus.

Jesus wasn’t just leaving. God wasn’t leaving. God wasn’t abandoning his people. God was moving in.

God was moving in. In a more present way, a more powerful way, a more permanent way.

God moved in to those disciples, indwelling them with his Holy Spirit.

God continued moving in to all disciples of Jesus, to all who would believe in his name, who follow in his name, God gives another Helper, a Counselor, his Holy Spirit.

If you believe in Jesus as Savior, and follow him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit dwells within you.

Our Helper

What does the Spirit do in you? Just what it did in the disciples.

Life

The presence of the Spirit within you is the very presence of God within you. God the Father and the Son indwelling in you through the Spirit. That is your forever connection to life itself. The Spirit of God that was hovering over the face of void and chaos before creation, that Spirit is within you. You are never alone.

Truth

And that is not a passive connection. That Spirit is still in the business of witnessing Christ to you. In the disciples, this was experienced as a recollection of truth that Jesus had taught them and an unfolding understanding of the mysteries he pointed at. In us, I think it works the same way. We study Scripture and the Holy Spirit unfolds within us understanding of God. And then, when we need it, the Holy Spirit brings to our minds things we have studied to comfort and encourage us in times of need, or to encourage others as they need. They Holy Spirit is still teaching us all truth.

Way

The Spirit is our advocate, our Counselor, our Helper. Guiding us through the murkiness of life. The consequences are huge. The mission is epic. The idea that we could impact our neighborhood, much less, Thornton, much less America, or the world or the twenty-first century.

Logan and the Homework

I recall Logan, intimidated by the length and difficulty of his homework. Unable to even start.

And it wasn’t until I sat down with him that he would even start. It was a huge goal, but I would guide him through (more or less patiently) one step at a time. I didn’t do all the work, I guided him in how to do it. I wasn’t the teacher, but I knew what the teacher would say. I could encourage, I could counsel, I could advocate for him. I lived with him: a built-in Math helper.

You can do it: here’s how. You can do it: here’s how.

God didn’t leave when Jesus ascended. He moved in. And he is saying to you, always: “You can do it: here’s how. Here’s the power. Here’s the way. Here’s the truth. Life in me, with me, for me, through me.”

John 14:25-27

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