Setting Expectations: Jesus' Last Will and Testament - Part 4

Intro:

Have you ever had a teacher or professor that made you moan over the amount of work in the syllabus? Danielle and I did in high school. One of our favorite teachers and coaches was our Bible teacher. Over the course of this one year, we were expected to memorize four chapters of the Bible - Psalm 139, Matthew 5, Philippians 2, and James 1. A total of 129 verses. In addition to that, we read and discussed J.I. Packer’s Knowing God. We also had various content tests and assignments. It felt like an overwhelming amount of work.

But our initial woes were unfounded as we pressed through and got it all accomplished.

I wish I still had those chapters in my active memory .

I bring that up because of where we are in our study of the book of John. On the heels of again commanding his disciples to love one another, Jesus continues His Farewell Discourse or Last Will and Testament by setting some expectations. Just as a syllabus that outlines all of the subjects to be covered and the assignments to be delivered, these expectations help Jesus’ followers to have a framework by which they can understand what’s happening and why.

Jesus begins with one of the most challenging expectations. He says that we should...

Expect hatred because of Jesus (John 15:18-24)

In the politically charged environment in which we live, there are lots of people who are harping on hatred and fear mongering in order to increase the divide between groups. Pundits often use inflammatory remarks in order to evoke fear or anger about issues. So many of those comments deal with loss of rights, conspiracy theories, and taxation. The language increases the division in our nation politically.

But Jesus states that the hatred we will receive from the world will not be because of our political views or moral convictions, He is referring to hatred that happens because of Him.

John 15:18 ESV

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

This is the first of six “if…then” statements that Jesus uses to help the disciples understand the hatred, rejection, and ultimately persecution they will receive from the world.

We will be hated because:

they hated him. John 1:11 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

they persecuted him - or would fully in a matter of hours.

We’ve been called out of the world: John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

While I don’t think anyone likes to be hated, there is a measure of comfort and confidence that we can have knowing that the hatred we receive is not based on political party, personality, or power - but because we are aligned with Jesus. As in all things, it’s not about me, it’s all about him.

Ultimately, this hatred comes from the fact that those who hate us don’t truly know God.

John 15:21 ESV

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Part of the reason for this hatred is that when Jesus came into the world, He spoke in such a way and performed works that revealed the fallenness of humanity - our own sinfulness. Jesus said...

John 15:22–24 ESV

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.

The beauty of Jesus words and His works stand in such contrast to the nature of the world that all humanity then stands condemned in our sin. We are helpless.

Some of that hatred from the world stems from the fact that no one likes to be needy. No one likes to have shortcomings. No one likes to be called sinful or dirty - and yet we all are. This is a reality that we all must face if we are to appropriately understand the holiness of God and the vastness of His love for us.

John 3:18–19 ESV

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

In His sovereignty, God has called us out of our sinful place, out of the muck and mire of the world and into a glorious relationship with him.

Friend, if you are defensive about your sinful condition or angry that Jesus would point out that you have a sin problem, then lay aside your hatred and anger and take a good look at the holiness of God and at yourself. Repent of your sin and believe. Come out of the world - be born again, born from above, born as a child of God.

John 1:12–13 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Beloved - I hope that if we experience hatred from the world that it’s not seen as a badge of honor or a reason for retaliation, but a means of sorrow about the condition of the world. May we we with the Psalmist cry out...

Psalm 119:136 ESV

My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.

Jesus called us to turn the other cheek when assaulted, not to fight back. He called us to show love to our enemies, and not to retaliate with equal hatred.

So Jesus tells us to expect hatred - on account of Him. He goes on to communicate that we can also...

Expect help from the Holy Spirit (John 15:26-27)

This is now the third time that Jesus discusses the Holy Spirit in this Farewell Discourse - but here, He helps us see that the help we receive provides witness testimony - along with us.

John 15:26–27 ESV

“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. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

The ESV translates the Greek word paraklete as “helper” here - it could be advocate or counselor - as in a court of law - legal counsel.

Notice a couple of things about the Spirit.

He is sent by Jesus

He is sent from the father - I think the idea here is that of presence - He is sent from the presence of the Father.

He is the Spirit of Truth - He speaks and reveals truth - not just any truth, but God’s truth.

He proceeds from the Father - to me this implíes from within the Father - He is conveying what the Father wants to convey. The word that is translated “spirit” is also translated as breath - so he is the very breath of God.

But notice that the Spirit testifies - he bears witness about Jesus in the world. We’ve seen this before that it is God who initiates our salvation.

John the Baptist told his followers:

John 3:27 (ESV)

“A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.

The Spirit’s witness precedes our witness to the world.

Just as an attorney might make arguments in court on behalf of a client before the client does, so too the Spirit. His work of testifying goes before ours.

Bruce Milne notes the importance, supremacy and even the priority of the testimony of the Spirit:

This leadership of the Spirit needs to be underlined "the Spirit is not the church’s auxiliary. The promise made here is not to a church, which is powerful, and "successful" in a worldly sense. It is made to a church which shares the tribulation and humiliation of Jesus, the tribulation, which arises from faithfulness to the truth, in a world, which is dominated by the lie. The promise is that, exactly in this tribulation and humiliation, the mighty spirit of God will bear his own witness to the crucified Jesus as Lord and Giver of Life." (Quoting L. Newbigin)

So, as we testify about the work of Jesus, the salvation He provided, we can do so in confidence knowing that the Spirit of Truth has already born witness about Jesus.

So, we get to expect hatred, but are reassured that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, is a witness.

Third, Jesus helps us see that we should...

Expect hazards - the risk of falling away (John 16:1-3)

As with almost anything worth doing, there are hazards or pitfalls - there are risks. For Jesus’ disciples, the true risk of persecution is not the hatred or what we receive like imprisonment or pain, but rather is “falling away.”

John 16:1 ESV

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

Like a teacher or professor who clues us into a big project at the end of the term, Jesus prepares us for the the big test and qualifies what failure entails.

Jesus goes on to say that...

John 16:2–3 ESV

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.

Facing persecution and hatred is not failure.

Death is not failure.

Apostasy is failure - falling away - giving up - stumbling.

It’s as though we feel like we can’t stand up under the pressure of it all and simply give up.

It’s one thing to be tested. It’s another thing to turn away as a result.

Jesus tells his followers this in advance in order to strengthen their resolve and prepare them.

In his book, Evangelism as Exiles, Elliot Clark shares this story that his family experienced on the mission field:

One afternoon, as my wife was working in the kitchen, I heard a sudden and sharp gasp. Then, without hesitation, she cried out for me to come. I am immediately hurried to her side, assuming she was hurt. But there, from our kitchen window, I found her staring to the opposite hill between our home in the Village. I followed her site line to the silhouette of our 11-year-old son, standing on a mound of dirt, more than 100 yards away. Across from him was a group of boys, a village troupe we both easily recognized, a gang known by the kids in our neighborhood as "the rough uncles."

As we squinted into the distance, our eyes locked on to the boy closest to our son. From his body language, we could sense this was a confrontation. And in the village boy's hand was a large rock about the size of a football. We both watched, in stunned silence, as he cocked his arm and raised the stone and anger over our son. I froze.

…

But before we could muster any semblance of a response, the situation was somehow diffused. The boy lowered the rock, and our son came hurrying back to the house, his face mixed with concern, shame, and uncertainty. As soon as he walked in the door, we embraced him and asked him what had happened.

He told us the rough uncles had come upon him without warning. The group knew he was a foreigner, and thus presumed he was a Christian. They asked if he believed Jesus is God son, who died on the cross. When our son answered in the affirmative, the boys were incensed and threatened him with stoning.

My wife, who, by this time was almost beside herself, then asked, "so what did you do?" To which he responded, "I told him I wasn't afraid of them. I told them they could kill me, but that it wouldn't matter because I would just end up in heaven." (p. 27-29)

Oh may we stand firm, just as this boy did. Expect the hazard that comes with persecution - and prepare yourself.

There is one final expectation that Jesus gives us here. We should...

Expect Heaven’s plan to prevail (John 15:25; 16:4)

All of this potential hatred and persecution is not unnoticed by the God. In fact, it was anticipated long before Jesus walked on earth.

Jesus quotes from Psalm 69:4 when he says

John 15:25 ESV

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

It was written hundreds of years ahead of time that hatred would be there.

In addition to reaching back in order to anticipate the present, Jesus in the present projects into the future the very same things.

John 16:4 (ESV)

But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you...

Nothing that will happen to Jesus’ followers in the future is outside of the plan of God. No amount of persecution, hatred, or death can thwart the plan of God.

God anticipates it.

God accounts for it.

God is glorified through it.

God’s plan will prevail in spite of it.

The Apostle Paul helps us understand this another way:

Romans 8:28–30 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Closing Thoughts:

Jesus tells us that we should expect hatred, help, hazards, and the success of Heaven’s plan.

But, if you’re like me, maybe you’re thinking - why? This seems like a lot of pain to endure. Is it worth it?

When faced with persecution, some folks in the early church had this response:

Acts 5:41 ESV

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

The hatred we may receive is truly because people don’t know or understand God. His ways are foreign to them. His precepts are foolish to them. His salvation is unnecessary to them.

However, when we face the challenges before us, others will see our conviction and some will glorify God as a result. Some will come to know Him as their Savior.

A few weeks ago, Armal and I were at a conference in North Carolina. One of the speakers shared a story about a pastor in a muslim controlled part of Africa encountered.

This pastor was arrested and bound. His family was marched before him and killed in front of him unless he would repent - They took the family in order of importance according to their cultural standards

Oldest boy,

baby boy - just months old,

daughter,

wife - she urged him - don’t give in, don’t fall away. To which he replied - I’ll see you in a few minutes.

Finally, they came to him and said, we have taken everyone you love. Why remain firm? He said, everyone I love is where I want to be. I’ve nothing to live for here, no reason to recant. I will not fall away.

They took his life.

Beloved, we may not ever have to face the kind of persecution that this brother and his family faced, but we must be willing to. Jesus told us to expect it. We also get to expect the joyful response of our savior when we remain steadfast to the end as he says:

Matthew 25:21 ESV

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

The syllabus may seem daunting, but the eternal outcome will be worth it.

Let’s pray.

Benediction

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 ESV

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Sources:

Burge, Gary M. The NIV Application Commentary: John. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000.

Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991.

Clark, Elliot. Evangelism as Exiles. Denmark: The Gospel Coalition, 2019.

Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.

Gangel, Kenneth O. John. Vol. 4. Holman New Testament Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000.

Milne, Bruce. The Message of John (The Bible Speaks Today). Downers Grove, IL. Inter-Varsity Press, 1993