"I Made Known to Them Your Name" -- John 17:20-26

The Fifty-Fourth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

When Jesus prays for his disciples, there is one very important point of emphasis–that all of those whom Jesus will redeem, might be one.  As Jesus prays, he asks that as he and the Father are one, so too may his people be one, so as to witness the glory of the Father and the Son, and to bear witnesses to the watching world that Jesus has been sent by the Father.  If, in the one time in which we learn the contents of Jesus’ prayer for his people, and the thing for which Jesus prays is that we might be one, then we should get some sense of how important it is that we indeed strive to be one, just as Jesus and the Father are one.  And yet, we must be careful not to disconnect the goal (unity) from the means by which the goal is attained, sanctification by the truth.  This, then, is our focus as we consider the final section of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.

In this sermon we wrap up our time discussing the Upper Room Discourse as we conclude the 17th chapter of John’s gospel.  The scene is well familiar to us–Jesus wraps-up the teaching portion of the discourse, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples.  Knowing that his hour has come and that Jesus must now leave for Gethsemane–where he will be arrested, before standing trial, culminating in his crucifixion and burial the next day–Jesus stops to pray.  His prayer makes up the entirety of John 17.  Known as the “High Priestly Prayer” (the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the New Testament), Jesus prays first for himself (vv. 1-5), then for his disciples (vv. 6-19), and then finally for us (in vv. 20-26)–all those who will come to faith in Jesus through the word preached by the disciples, and which is now inscriptured in the pages of our New Testament.

As we saw last time, when we covered verses 6-19 and considered Jesus’ prayer for the disciples, Jesus states in verse 9, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”  According to Jesus’ prayer, he will give eternal life and faith to all those (but only those) whom the Father has given to him.  In this petition, Jesus is referring to those specific individuals chosen by the Father for eternal life in eternity past (in the so-called covenant of redemption), and who are then given to Son, who, in turn, will secure for them the blessings of salvation through his suffering and dying upon the cross.  That Jesus came to save those specific individuals given him by the Father is the foundation of the Reformed distinctive often identified as “particular redemption.”

In the final section of our Lord’s “High Priestly Prayer” (vv. 20-26) Jesus prays for those yet to come to faith at the time of his prayer–his is praying for all those Christians from the apostolic age until our own.  Jesus’ focus upon those yet to come to faith grows directly out of his prayer for the disciples (in vv. 6-19).  In verse 15, Jesus petitioned his Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”  Jesus’ disciples will not live lives free from suffering and persecution–far from it.  All but one (John) will die as a martyr.  Jesus does not ask that his disciples be spared from the troubles about to befall them just hours away (and of which, they are blissfully ignorant).  Instead, Jesus asks that the Father protect the disciples from the evil one (Satan), who seduces one of their own number (Judas) to commit the despicable act of treason leading to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.

To read the rest of this sermon:   Click Here

"Sanctify Them in the Truth" -- John 17:6-19

The Fifty-Third in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

As you read through Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” prayer in John 17, one thing virtually jumps out of the text.  In this prayer we immediately see the deep and abiding relationship Jesus has with his Heavenly Father.  Although the gospels tell us that Jesus often spent time in prayer with the Father, little is revealed about the content of his prayers.  But in John 17 we are given insight into Jesus’ prayer life when we see his fervent desire to obey the Father’s will, and bring glory to himself and to his Father.  We also see Jesus’ concern for his disciples–from whom he is about to depart.  Jesus knows that because his disciples have received and believed his word, the world will hate them, just as it hates all those who value God’s word over human opinion.  Another thing we will notice in this prayer is that Jesus’ redemptive work is focused upon saving those specific individuals whom the Father has given to the Son.  It is far too commonplace for professing Christians to sneer at Reformed Christians for supposedly “limiting the grace of God.”  Yet, this focus upon salvation being accomplished for the elect arises not from the cold Calvinist heart, but directly from the passionate prayer of Jesus in John 17, who prays “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”
                
For a number of weeks, we have been considering the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17), as Jesus prepares his disciples for his imminent departure from them–which, as they are discovering (but are having trouble accepting), includes our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension.  We have completed the teaching portion of the Upper Room Discourse, and we are now working through Jesus’ final moments with his disciples, when Jesus stops to pray, before departing for Gethsemane and his fateful encounter with Caiaphas (the high priest) and members of the Sanhedrin, who will arrest him.  The content of the so-called “High Priestly Prayer”–which is the longest prayer of Jesus recorded in the Bible–is given in John 17.  In this prayer, Jesus prays first for himself (vv.1-5), then for his disciples (vv. 6-19), and then, finally for all those who will come to faith (that’s us) through the word of the disciples (vv. 20-26).  We are considering the second section of the High Priestly Prayer in which Jesus prays for his disciples.

In our last sermon on John 17 (vv.1-5), we covered the first portion of the “High Priestly Prayer” in which Jesus prays for himself.  Knowing that is about to be arrested and will then suffer and die, Jesus lifts his eyes toward heaven and prays to his Father that he (Jesus) would be glorified with that same which glory he possessed throughout eternity in the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit.  We observed last time, that before returning to the Father, Jesus must complete his messianic mission by securing eternal life for all those given him by the Father.  This, Jesus says, he has done–and is about to finalize–through his impending death and resurrection.  Those who, as Jesus puts it, “know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” are the ones for whom Jesus is praying (in the balance of the prayer), and these are the ones for whom Jesus has completed his messianic mission.  In accomplishing his messianic mission, Jesus will bring glory to the Father and, in turn, bring glory to himself through his death, resurrection, and ascension.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"The Hour Has Come" -- John 17:1-5

The Fifty-Second in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Their evening together is now over.  The hour has come.  Jesus must leave the Upper Room, cross the Kidron Valley, and go to an olive grove on the Mount of Olives, where he will be arrested by members of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling council).  But in the moments before Jesus departs to accomplish his work of redemption, Jesus stops just long enough to pray:  for himself, for his disciples, and for all those who will believe in him throughout the centuries yet to come after his ascension into heaven.  Known as the “High-Priestly Prayer,” in the seventeenth chapter of his gospel, John reveals to us the heart of Jesus in the form of a prayer which Jesus offers to the Father in his final private moments with his disciples before together, they head out to Gethsemane.  In this prayer (which is as much a “farewell” prayer as anything else) Jesus reveals much about the nature of his messianic mission, as well as the Father’s intention to save all those whom he has chosen, and whom he has given to the Son to redeem.  This is the longest prayer of Jesus revealed anywhere in Scripture, and it comes at that critical moment between the end of his messianic mission, and the beginning of his Passion.  In this prayer, we see that Jesus seeks nothing more than to bring glory to his Father, and in turn, to realize that glory he has known with the Father from all eternity.

One of the difficulties a preacher faces when preaching through John is that this Gospel contains lengthy discourses from Jesus which ideally should be covered in a single sermon to understand the overall flow of thought–so as not to miss the forest for the trees.  Unfortunately, we do not have time to cover passages like John 17 in a single sermon without skipping over the Old Testament background, which is extensive, and which is necessary to fully understand what Jesus is saying and why.  Furthermore, this passage is loaded with doctrinal significance and is just too rich in content and too important theologically to simply skim in a single sermon.

So, we will break up Jesus’ high priestly prayer into three sermons, each of which dealing with the particular focus of that section of the prayer.  In John 17:1-5, Jesus prays to the Father that he (Jesus) will be glorified through his suffering and death which he is about to undergo, so as to bring the Father glory through his own obedience to the Fathers’ will.  Then, we will devote a sermon to Jesus’ prayer for the disciples (vv. 6-19), before we conclude with that section of the prayer (vv. 20-26) in which Jesus prays for us–as Jesus puts it in verse 20, “those who will believe in me through . . . [the disciples’] word.”  Once we complete the high priestly prayer, we will have completed the Upper Room Discourse, and we will then move into the final section of John’s Gospel (chapters 18-21) dealing with Jesus’ Passion.

John 17 is a truly remarkable passage because in it we witness the eternal word and Son of God pray to his Father on behalf of those for whom he is about suffer and die.  There is much to learn about Jesus’ person and work as covenant mediator from studying the content of his prayers–especially this one.  Jesus’ prayers are really one of the few hints we have of Jesus’ direct interaction with the Father, in the presence of whom and the Holy Spirit, Jesus has enjoyed an eternal bliss and fellowship.  In the so-called “High Priestly Prayer” of John 17, Jesus seeks to bring glory to the Father and to himself, and he also prays that his disciples will be protected from the evil we will inevitably face in the world.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"Take Heart" -- John 16:25-33

The Fifty-First in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

The Passover celebration is over, and the time has come for Jesus to depart from the upper room.  Throughout his last moments with his disciples, Jesus has been preparing for them what he knows is sure to come–his crucifixion, death, and burial.  In the famous words of John 3:16, John describes Jesus’ messianic mission as the chief sign of God’s love for a lost and fallen world.  God will save all those who trust in Jesus.  Several verses later John declares that Jesus brings the light of God (the truth) into the world.  Sadly, however, the world rejects this light (Jesus) because people prefer to remain in darkness (unbelief) rather than have their sinful deeds exposed.  In fact, Jesus warns his disciples that the world (which in John’s Gospel refers to the way non-Christians think and act) will hate them, because the world hated Jesus first.  And so before Jesus departs, he reminds the disciples that even though the world will hate them, and that in the world they will experience many difficult trials and tribulations, nevertheless, Jesus has overcome the world, and that he will indeed cast out its ruler (who is Satan).  Jesus will overcome the world not through the manifestation of raw supernatural power.  Jesus will overcome the world and cast out its ruler by dying upon a cross and then being raised from the dead on Easter Sunday.  

We are continuing our series on the Gospel of John, and we now come to the end of that section of the Upper Room Discourse (chapters 13-16) in which Jesus gives his final instructions to his disciples. Jesus’ time with the disciples is nearly up, as Jesus’ three-year long messianic mission now draws to a close.  Because his disciples are struggling with the news of Jesus’ imminent departure, as well as questions raised by the new information given them by Jesus, Jesus has delayed his fateful walk across the Kidron Valley to an olive grove known as Gethsemane as long as he can.  Jesus knows that after he arrives in Gethsemane, he will be confronted by Caiaphas (the Jewish high priest), who will be led to Jesus’ location by Judas, one of the twelve who will betray him.  Jesus will be arrested, and then he will face trial before the Sanhedrin, then before Pilate (the Roman governor), before being put to death the next afternoon as the Passover draws to a close with the slaughter of the Passover lambs.

Throughout the Upper Room Discourse so far, Jesus has alluded to the events soon to come using the language of an Old Testament prophet–his words are packed with echoes from Israel’s prophets (especially from Isaiah).  In the closing section of chapter sixteen (vv. 25-33), we find Jesus’ final words of exhortation to the disciples, this time centering in his promise to overcome the world which hates him enough to put him to death, and which will hate all those who follow him (those who trust in Jesus).  Jesus encourages his discouraged disciples by informing them that he “has overcome the world.”  Accepting this truth will require great require faith on the part of the disciples. Before Jesus overcomes the world, it looks very much like the world has overcome him.

Having given them all the information they can process, the time has come for Jesus to do the single most important thing he can do for his struggling disciples–offer what is known as the high priestly prayer on behalf of the disciples, and all those who will come to faith in him.  Our Lord’s high priestly prayer (found in John 17) is truly remarkable, and much like the prologue to the Gospel (vv. 1-18), Jesus’ prayer very effectively summarizes the major themes of entire gospel.  Lord willing, we will spend several sermons working our way through John 17 and the details of our Lord’s prayer on our behalf.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"Ask and You Shall Receive" -- John 16:16-24

The Fiftieth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel

The disciples are about to participate in a series of events which will change the course of human history in ways they cannot yet comprehend.  Jesus has gathered his disciples together in an upper room in Jerusalem to celebrate their final Passover together.  After redefining the meaning of the Jewish Passover (he is the true Passover Lamb to which the Passover pointed), Jesus must now prepare his disciples for the great turning point in redemptive history (his death and resurrection).  Jesus has but a few remaining moments to teach his disciples about his imminent death and resurrection; events which will usher in a whole new era in redemptive history, in addition to changing the lives of his disciples forever.  Little do they know that they are about to become witnesses, to and proclaimers of, the saving work of Jesus Christ (the gospel), first in Jerusalem, and then on to the ends of the earth.  Soon, he says, they will not see him, and then soon they will see him again.  What does Jesus mean by this?  Jesus will explain to them that he is about to die, and then will be raised from the dead, and then ascend into heaven.  

As we continue our series on the Gospel of John, we are working our way through the Upper Room Discourse (which extends from John chapters 13-17), given during Jesus’ last Passover celebration with his disciples.  Jesus has given them the difficult news that he was departing from them, and then going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house (heaven) where (for the time being) they cannot come.  Jesus has also told them that it is good for him to depart because he will send them the Helper (the Holy Spirit) from the Father who, as the third person of the Holy Trinity, will ensure that the disciples are not left on their own despite our Lord’s return to the presence of the Father.

As the Upper Room Discourse unfolds, Jesus tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit will do a number of things for them after his departure (his ascension into heaven).  First, The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment, because the world does not believe in Jesus.  Second, the Holy Spirit will bear witness to the truth of all of the things Jesus has said and done in their presence.  Third, the Spirit will enable the disciples to bear witness to the things that Jesus has told them–we see this play out in the Book of Acts when the disciples began preaching the Gospel to Israel on the Day of Pentecost.  Fourth, when the Helper comes, he will bring to remembrance all of the things which Jesus taught the disciples–especially the words of Jesus, words which the Holy Spirit ensures are written down through the process of the inspiration of Scripture.

As we have seen, the disciples are struggling to understand all of the things Jesus is telling them.  There is a great deal of new information being given them–much of it troubling to them (the news of Jesus’ imminent departure, for one thing).  From a theological perspective, the things Jesus was telling them were very difficult to fully understand.  For one thing, they were having a hard time understanding how three divine persons were the one true God.  They were also struggling with their expectations about the messianic kingdom–Jesus was clearly teaching something very different about the future of Israel than they anticipated.  And then, the disciples were deeply saddened by the fact that their Messiah, Lord, and close friend, was leaving them.  Given the way Jesus is speaking throughout the course of the evening, the disciples are beginning to realize that they would never see him again.  As Jesus has told them, his hour has come.  Everything is about to change.  Jesus must prepare them for what is now to come. 

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"He Will Convict the World" -- John 16:4b-15

The Forty-Ninth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Jesus is leaving his disciples.  He is going to a place that they cannot come.  After his death and resurrection, Jesus will ascend into heaven to prepare a place for them (and for us), and he will send them the Holy Spirit (the Helper) from the Father.  Although Jesus will be physically separated from his disciples by a distance we cannot fully comprehend (the distance between heaven and earth), through the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus will be closer to all of his disciples than ever before.  This is why it is good (indeed better) that Jesus leave them.  When Jesus leaves, the Helper will come, and through the Spirit’s person and work, Jesus will be ever present with his people until the end of the age.  And when the Spirit comes, “he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”   

As we continue our series on the Gospel of John, we are now in chapter 16, which includes the second half of the Upper Room Discourse, which was given by Jesus on his last together evening with the disciples.  This is shortly before our Lord’s arrest, trial, and crucifixion, which occur later the same evening, and throughout course of the next morning and afternoon (Friday).  There is so much yet to come for which Jesus must prepare them.  Jesus has told the disciples that he is leaving them, and where he is going they cannot come–disturbing news indeed.  Jesus has told them that one of their own, Judas, will betray him, and that Peter (their leader) will abandon Jesus when Jesus needs him most.  The disciples are having a hard time making sense of this information, and they still have no idea of the suffering Jesus is about to endure.  They are saddened by this news, as we will see, but their sadness must not interfere with the urgency of the situation.  They must understand what Jesus is telling them.  
 
As I mentioned back in John 13, when we first began to work our way through this lengthy passage, the Upper Room Discourse is a hard text to preach, because it is quite long, although punctuated by several important questions from the disciples.  There is a brief interval at the end of chapter 14, when the Passover celebrations ends, and Jesus gets up to leave to go to Gethsemane, where he will be arrested.  But the disciples still have so many questions about what Jesus has been telling them, that the conversation continues on until the end of chapter seventeen–even though it is time to break it off.  Ideally, we should cover the Upper Room Discourse in one sermon, but time does not permit, and there is so much here of importance to us that I have broken the discourse down into a number of smaller sections so that we can carefully consider the material here.   Unfortunately, we lose something when we do this.  We certainly risk losing the sense of urgency–Jesus’ hour has come and he still has much to teach his disciples.  

As we saw last time, when we wrapped up chapter 15, as the new and greater Moses, Jesus instituted a new commandment–that his disciples love one another.  This has been a major theme of their final evening together.  Jesus goes on to tell them that the love his disciples are to have for each other, will stand in stark contrast to the hatred they will soon receive the from world–which does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, or that Jesus even matters.  There is a deep and fundamental divide (an antithesis) between the way Christians and non-Christians think about the human condition and the need for God’s grace.  The disciples must understand this and be prepared to deal with it before Jesus departs.  

Jesus tells them that the hatred from the world will be so great that the disciples will face death at the hands of the false shepherds of Israel.  In the first few verses of chapter 16, Jesus tells the disciples bluntly, “they will put you out of the synagogues.  Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.  And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.”  According to Jesus, to reject him, is to reject YHWH who sent him.  To hate Jesus, is to hate God.  The reason why the leaders of Israel hate Jesus so much, is they do not know the Father, despite their claim to be the defenders of Israelite religion and that their outward “righteousness” is genuine.  The irony is intentional as well as tragic.  These men are self-righteous hypocrites who are blind to the fact that their own Messiah has come to save his people from their sins.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"You Are Not of the World' -- John 15:18-16:4a

The Forty-Eighth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Why do non-Christians dislike Christianity and Christians so much?  No doubt, we ask for and deserve much of the world’s scorn because some Christians do stupid things, and then feel good that the world “hates” them.  Then, there are many Christians who profess one thing, but do another.  Hypocrisy is ugly.  Granted, there are bad examples of Christians and Christianity continually upon display–the media loves to point these out, and probably should.  But I’m talking about the fundamental divide between how Christians view the world, the human condition, human nature, and the important things in life, with those who reject Jesus, his word (scripture) and his claims (to be the way, the truth, and the life).  With but a few moments remaining to instruct his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus answers this latter question.  Because the world hates him, the world will hate his followers.  The disciples will soon discover what Jesus means in the hours ahead, and his warning is given to prepare them for what will surely be the worst three days they will ever experience.  They have given up everything to follow Jesus, and soon he will be dead and they will be hated.  Jesus’ hour has come, and everything is about to change.  The disciples must be prepared to face the tumultuous days which lay ahead.

We now resume our series on the Gospel of John.  When we left off before Advent (with Jesus’ discourse on the vine and its branches in John 15:1-17), Jesus and his disciples were celebrating the Passover in a rented upper room in Jerusalem.  This was Jesus’ last night with his disciples, and he used their remaining moments together to give his final instructions to his closest followers.  When the Passover meal was finished, Jesus told them his hour has come–meaning that his messianic mission has come to its conclusion.  At this point, the disciples understood this statement to mean that Jesus’ final showdown with the religious leadership of Israel is at hand.  In the days after Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, things have come to a head, but the disciples still had no idea as to the turn of events which would take place later that evening, and for which Jesus is preparing them.  

Jesus has just delivered the shocking news that one of their own (Judas) would betray him, and that their leader (Peter) would soon desert Jesus in his hour of trial.  Jesus also told his disciples that it was good that he depart from them because the Father would send them another “Helper,” the blessed Holy Spirit.  The disciples, of course, want to know where Jesus was going so that they might follow him.  Jesus has told them that where he is going, they cannot yet come.  Jesus will have much more to say about the “Helper” as the discourse draws to a close, as we will see in the weeks to come.

As recounted in the synoptic gospels, throughout the final phases of his messianic mission, Jesus spoke openly of his death and resurrection.  According to John’s account, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead just days before Palm Sunday.  Jesus also spoke candidly about how the disciples would soon find themselves is a new and unexpected situation.  But Jesus’ words about these things only exposed the disciples’ collective misunderstanding of what he was telling them, and they still had many questions to ask of Jesus even though the time had come for the Lord to depart for the Garden of Gethsemane.  It was there that Jesus would have his fateful encounter with the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas (the high priest), as these foes were led to Jesus by the traitor Judas in exchange for a mere thirty pieces of silver.  

As we saw at the end of chapter 14, when Jesus got up to leave the Upper Room and go to Gethsemane, the disciples did not want their time together to end.  The discussion continued on for some time including the discourse of the vine and its branches in John 15, and including the material to the end of chapter 17.  The disciples are beginning to understand that their time with Jesus is coming to an end, and there are many loose ends to tie up before Jesus departs.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"I Am the True Vine" -- John 15:1-17

The Forty-Seventh in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Their time together is apparently over.  Jesus has ended the Passover celebration, he has revealed to his disciples that he is leaving them, and he has told them that he will send the “Helper” to be with them after he departs.  Then he pronounced his word of “peace” upon the disciples.  But the disciples are still confused.  They have so many questions.  And so when Jesus gets up to leave, the conversation continues on.  To help the disciples understand what is about to happen both to him and to them, and to prepare them for what is soon to come, Jesus takes the familiar metaphor of a vine and its branches (one, which he has used several times earlier in his messianic ministry), and now uses it to describe his relationship to his people after his departure.  To bear fruit (to believe the promises Jesus is making and then strive to obey his commandments) one must abide in Jesus, the true vine, who gives fruit-bearing life to those who abide in him.  In using a familiar metaphor in a decidedly different way than he has previously, Jesus is revealing to the disciples that redemptive history has come to a major turning point, and that through abiding in him (the true Israel), the disciples will bear fruit.  In fact, Jesus has chosen them to do this very thing.

As we continue with our series on the Gospel of John, we come to John 15 and yet another of the extended discourses given by Jesus found through this Gospel.  This particular discourse–Jesus’ use of the vine and the branches metaphor to explain his relationship to his people–is itself found within a larger discourse (the Upper Room Discourse of John 13-17).  As we saw last time, in the first half of chapter 14 of John, Jesus introduced the person of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, when he tells them of another Helper who will come and indwell them, after Jesus departs to go to his Father to prepare a place for them.  In John 14:16-17, Jesus told them “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 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.”  

The disciples readily accepted that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah–he had performed countless miracles, and it was clear to them that Jesus was the coming one promised throughout the Old Testament.  But the disciples were struggling to understand how both YHWH and Jesus could be the one true God.  And now, in their few remaining moments together, Jesus reveals to them that there are three divine persons who are the one true God, each of them sharing the divine nature.  The Trinity is a difficult doctrine in many ways, but one well-known to Christians across the ages.  Yet to the disciples, this is all new information which they must now immediately process.  It is precisely because Jesus has so little time left, and the disciples need to know in advance what Jesus is about to do for them, that Jesus reveals to them the person of the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete or “Helper”) who is the third person of the Holy Trinity, and who will be with them after Jesus departs.

The Father has revealed to Jesus that his hour has come.  This means that the Passover celebration, as well as Jesus’ time with the disciples, has come to an end.  With the hour getting late, in John 14:27, the disciple tells us that Jesus pronounces his word of “peace” (his “shalom”) upon those from whom he is about to depart.  “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.”  This is goodbye.  At the end of verse 31, Jesus tells the group, “Rise, let us go from here.” 

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"He Will Give You Another Helper" -- John 14:15-31

The Forty-Sixth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

Every Jew confessed the famous words of the Shema–“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”  Yet when Jesus began his messianic mission he identified himself as a divine figure (the Son of Man), and in John 8:58 declared himself to be one with YHWH–“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  Although the disciples believed that Jesus was Israel’s Messiah, they had a much harder time understanding how both Jesus and YHWH were the one true God.  Jesus even uses the “I am” formula when celebrating the Passover with his disciples, when he tells them “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  He even goes on to tell them, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  Now Jesus will speak of a third divine person, the Helper, who will come to the disciples after Jesus ascends into heaven and returns to the Father’s dwelling, where Jesus is preparing a place for them.  It is this “Helper” (the Holy Spirit) who will remain with them after Jesus departs, and it is through his person and work that Jesus will be present with his disciples.

We are in the midst of a series on the Gospel of John, and we are considering the “Upper Room Discourse” in John 13-17, which was given by Jesus immediately before his betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion.  Last time we considered the first fourteen verses of John 14, while in this sermon we will consider the balance of the chapter (vv. 15-31), in which Jesus begins to reveal to his disciples the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity.

As the Passover celebration begins, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, and make predictions about Judas (who will betray him) and Peter (who will deny him).  Jesus also gives the disciples a new commandment that they love one another.  As chapter 14 begins, it is clear that the disciples are troubled by these developments.  For one thing, Jesus is obviously burdened by the weight of the ordeal ahead.  He has told the disciples that he is about to depart from them, and undergo such great suffering that the disciples can hardly imagine it.  To prepare them for their new ministry (founding the church) after his ascension into heaven, Jesus has much to teach the disciples during this their last evening together.  But the disciples are having a hard time understanding the things which Jesus is telling them.  Their own treasurer (Judas) will betray Jesus?  Peter will deny him?  Jesus implying that he was about to die, and yet he would see the disciples again?  There is much for the disciples to take in, and they are having trouble doing so.

In the first part of chapter 14 (vv. 1-14), Jesus tells the disciples not to be troubled–they must believe in him–that is, trust that Jesus will see them through the ordeal ahead.  The reason why they should not be troubled is that even though Jesus is going away, he will prepare a place for them where his Father dwells (in heaven).  Jesus will ensure that there is room there for all who believe him–in his Father’s dwelling place are many rooms.  When Thomas asks Jesus “Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?” Jesus answers him, declaring that “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  With unmistakable clarity, Jesus declares himself to be the only way to heaven–he is the true temple of God.  At the moment of his death upon the cross, God will tear open the veil in the temple separating the holy place from the most holy place.  Jesus is now the way to heaven, and who, through his death and resurrection, will remove the barrier between God and his people (human sin) symbolized by the temple veil which separated God from his people.

The talk of “seeing God” prompts Philip to ask Jesus the same question Moses asked YHWH in Exodus 33.  “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  Philip’s curiosity has gotten the better of him.  God protected Moses from his glory by hiding Moses in the cleft of a rock, but Philip assumes that since the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the Father, Jesus can show Philip what YHWH would not show Moses.  Jesus’ answer reveals his divine identity, which has been veiled by human flesh.  “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here

"I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" -- John 14:1-14

The Forty-Fifth in a Series of Sermons on the Gospel of John

As the Upper Room discourse continues to unfold in John 14, Jesus tells his disciples that he is going away, and that he will prepare a place for them.  The disciples are confused by Jesus’ words, and several of them have questions for Jesus.  Thomas wants to know the way to the place which Jesus is preparing for them in his Father’s house, while Philip wants Jesus to show the remaining disciples the glory of the Father.  In answering Thomas’ and Philip’s questions, Jesus utters some of the best known and most profound statements in all the New Testament.  For nearly three years, the disciples have traveled with Jesus, witnessed countless miracles, and heard Jesus say things which nice Jewish boys do not say, unless he is God incarnate.  In their last evening together, Jesus reveals much new information about the nature of his messianic mission (which is about to end), but he also speaks about the disciples’ future ministry (which is about to begin).

When we left off last time (the closing verses of chapter 13), Jesus is with his disciples in a rented upper room in Jerusalem celebrating the Passover.  It is early Thursday evening–the Passover began at sundown.  With the joy of Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday quickly fading because of the gravity of the Passover celebration, the disciples surely sensed that this Passover was going to be different from anything they had ever experienced with Jesus before.  Jesus is troubled, and is speaking like a man about to die.  

The reason for the somber nature of the evening is that Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure–he will suffer and die upon a Roman cross the next afternoon, and after being raised from the dead, Jesus will ascend into heaven and return to his Father.  Because his long anticipated hour has come, Jesus must now explain to his disciples that he is about to leave them, as well as explain to them why.  The disciples stand at the brink of a new age in redemptive history, and in order to understand what is soon to come later that evening and next afternoon, Jesus must teach them about the nature of his messianic mission, explain why it has come to an end, why he must now leave them, and why his departure will be better for them.  To do this, Jesus will explain to them the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Understandably, his disciples are struggling to understand the significance of Jesus’ words, and it is only in hindsight that the things Jesus tells them during this discourse will finally make sense to them.

Although Jesus is their teacher and Lord, soon after sundown Jesus opened the Passover celebration by washing the feet of his disciples–something never done for servants in the ancient world by someone of Jesus’ authority, since it is the disciples who ordinarily would be washing Jesus’ feet.  Jesus told them how this washing with water pointed ahead to a spiritual washing–a washing with the blood he was about to shed for his people upon the cross as Israel’s true and spotless Passover lamb.  

But there were other difficult revelations to be made as well.  Jesus announced to the twelve that one of them (Judas) would betray him, and that another of them (the leader of the group, and the most exuberant of them all, Peter) would deny evening knowing Jesus.  In fact, Peter would do so three times before the rooster crowed (i.e., at first light the next morning).  Peter was brave and loyal and could not begin to understand how he would come to do such a thing.  The news of a satanically-inspired defection by the group’s treasurer (Judas) was also difficult to understand, so much so that even when Jesus identified Judas as his betrayer when he handed him a piece of bread dipped in sop, the disciples could not get their minds around such an act until Judas showed up with an armed mob later that evening bent upon arresting Jesus so that he might be put to death.  Judas had been with them from the beginning, and although they figured out later on that Judas was a thief and a liar, on this night the eleven remaining disciples simply could not understand how one of their own could so such a thing.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click Here