Loving Jesus

Intro/Welcome

We are picking it back up on John 13-17 today, a series which we’ve called “Friendship with God”

Today we come to a text that is just saturaed with the reality of the Trinity

God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

What Jesus teaches in these verses changes history

He gives us insight into our new realtionship with God under the new covenant in his blood.

He offers us a rich picture of what Paul calls the ‘new creation’

What we will see today has the potential to change every relationship

My relationships (marriage, freindships)

Parenting

Work / Vocation

How I live

The Last Teaching

But this last teachings of Jesus — meant to cause us to rise above our current circumstances and see the glorious truth of our primary relationship — that of God, the one that informs and empowers every other relationship.

If your relationship with God is good, the world can be crumbling and you are ok — the Biblical Testimony bears witness to this.

But if your relatinship with God is poor or non-existant, everything could be going well but you are still discontent, disatisfied and perhaps disillusioned.

Remember, the context of John 13-17 is hours before his arrest and less than a day from his execution.

In fact as Jesus is teaching his disciples he is being betrayed by Judas.

They are about to go through great difficulty

and as you read through the book of acts it doesn’t get much better. Persecution breaks out.

So let’s look at what Jesus is teaching his disciples.

Bible: John 14:18-26

Context

Last time we talked about what it means to pray in the name of Jesus

One of the things we said was that it mean praying by virtue of our union with Christ.

Jesus begins to unpack what that means to be united to him.

Text

Leaving and Coming (John 14:18)

John 14:18 (ESV)

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Jesus again re-iterated that he is leaving, but he gives the promise again.

I will not leave you as orphans

I will come to you.

He goes on to explain

Resurrection Life (John 14:19)

John 14:19 (ESV)

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.

a little while the world will not see me —

death and resurrection

But you will see me

What does that mean?

Then B/C I live you will also live.

What does that mean?

Resurrection

I think he’s talking about His resurrection here, but more than that resurrection life for his followers.

B/C I live you will Live

What a great promise!

Don’t you want to live —

Jesus says in John 10 that he came to give life, and to give it abundantly!

That’s his promise.

There’s our hope — b/c Jesus was resurrected we to can live resurrection lives — even before we die!

Your deepest longings are to feel this kind of ‘living’

it is being spirtiually alive and it bears the fruit of the spirit

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control;

(Gal 5:22-23)

We become spiritually alive when we place our trust/faith in Jesus death for our sins and resurrection to make us a new creation.

that’s the gospel

The theological term is regeneration — we are born again, born from above, born of God

Romans 6:4 (ESV)

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:5 (ESV)

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

This is what Jesus is talking about.

We get to live a resurrected life b/c Jesus was resurrected from the dead and we are united to him by faith.

It is the glorious truth of the gospel.

he goes on to unpack what this means and makes one of the most astounding claims in the Bible.

Union w/ Christ (John 14:20)

John 14:20 (ESV)

20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Let’s pause on this.

“in what day” — in the day you live b/c I live

that’s resurrection life.

This is one of the clearest texts that teach that Christ is living inside of us.

We are included in to the Trinity

It means we belong

we are in the inner circle with the most powerful and loving being in all the universe.

Implications

Think about the implications of that.

We are tethered to the Creator of the Universe

the one who has all power

all knowledge

and who loves us

and wants a relationship with us.

Why we don’t experience that?

If that is true — then why don’t we experience God’s presence?

Why don’t we hear directly from Him?

What doesnt’ this experience ring true for many of us?

We don’t feel like we are living resurrected lives

We struggle with Joy in our life, love, peace…etc — we struggle to be ‘spiritually alive’

Good question, Jesus answers that in the next verse.

Union unpacked (John 14:21)

Jesus is just making a statemet of fact here.

If you want more of God’s presence in your life, and trust me you do, here is what that looks like.

John 14:21 (ESV)

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest/reveal myself to him.”

“Having” = not just knowing what they are, but understanding them

“commandments” = all that Jesus taught in the gospels summarized by “love one another”

“Keeps them” = follows them, obeys them, treasures them, guards them

That preson — the one doing that —

it is he who loves me.

John 14:15 (ESV)

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

“the father’s love” = the one loving me will be loved by God the Father

“Christ’s love” and I will love Him

“reveal” and I will manifest or reveal myself to him.

That’s a real interesting word — meaning to appear — or to be percieved.

“The world” will not percieve Jesus

but those who love him will

Jesus will be made manifest to them

Jesus will reveal himself to them.

explain revealing?

What? (John 14:22)

maybe you are like Judas, not iscariot and you say what? What does that mean?

I love how the disciples just ask their questions.

John 14:22 (ESV)

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

He says how does that work?

Why us?

Jesus first stated a fact in John 14:21, but now states it in the form of a conditinal statement

Loving Jesus (John 14:23-24)

John 14:23–24 (ESV)

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.

24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

If ‘anyone’ notice no qualifiers here — it is open to anyone

If anyone loves me — he will keep my word

“my word’ as opposed to command, Jesus changes the word — it’s a more intimate word

Again he says “the father will love him”

and “we will come to him and make our home with him”

He is saying the same thing just in different language.

First ‘Jesus in the father, you in me, and I in you’

Now he sayd the ‘father and son’ will dwell with you

monay — like abode vs. dwell “meno”

but he goes on.

The Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26)

John 14:25–26 (ESV)

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.

So he’s said “I, Jesus” will dwell in you (John 14:20)

Then he said “The Father and I will dwell in you” (John 14:24)

Then he comes back to the Holy Spirit whom he said would dwell in us in John 14:17)

This holy spirit will be sent in the name of Jesus — connected to praying in the name of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will

teach us all things

bring to rememberance all that Jesus has said.

This is what it means to be spiritually alive — united to Christ

this is the answer to how Jesus will be revealed to us. (How will you manifest to us but not the world?

He says similar things in John 14:16-17

John 14:16–17 (ESV)

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.

To have God himself dwelling in you.

Implications of that?

How to experience more of God

God has promised to dwell within us and that has incredible implications

like powerful prayer

doing the works of Jesus

reaching the world with Christ.

It means we are new creations

we can love with a supernatural love

the love of Christ in us.

Application

so how do we live in to that?

how do we expeirence more of God in our lives?

If you want to experience God’s presence in yoru life — the path is to love Jesus

and loving Jesus means doing what he says

Loving Jesus

So how do we love Jesus more?

how do you love anything more?

you spend time on in

thinking on it

enjoying it

dwelling on it

experiencing it.

It’s the same with Jesus.

barriers?

disctratcion? busyiness…etc.

get time ot pray, read the word

dwell on Christ.

1 John 4

John, the same author of this gospel wrote 1 John and says this.

1 John 4:7–21 (ESV)

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

We love Jesus more by what he has done for us

It means spending time with Him

in his Word, marveling at who he is

It’s not just what he has done for us

but what he is currently doing, or wants to do in us and through us

this is freindship with God

The Call

If you want to expierence more of God?

If you want to experience what Jesus promises here

If you want to know a resrurrected life

A new creation

start the adventure

It’s really simple:

Slow down and sit with Jesus

spend time with Him

marvel at him

worship him

join other brothers and sister.

In the West

I’m convinced God wants more for us than we want for ourselves.

We settle for such lesser things

Jesus wants to take us on an adventure.

He wants to reveal himself to us

He wants to grow our love and trust of Him.

Often he makes us uncomfortable b/c he wants to do something more.

Give him everything, everyday and watch him begin to work.

There isn’t a new truth here, it is the same truth

the question is are we going to follow it

Closing

We love God becuase he loved us.

Loving Jesus looks like doing what he said, by the power that he provides in the Holy Spirit.

Our union with Christ.

How is your love for Jesus?

Are you doing what he says?

The answer is not to do more, but to grow in our love for Him by spending time with him

Closing Pray