We Desire to Encourage Growth and Nurture Obedient Service (John 14:15-27)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to John 14:15-27.

We’re in our final week for our Core Values series and we’re wrapping everything up with our value to encourage growth and nurture obedient service. We’re not going to spend a significant amount of time discussing the idea of encouraging growth because it ties in with the core value that we discussed two weeks ago, to be discipleship focused, but we do need to spend time talking about this idea of nurturing obedient service and the reason why is actually pretty simple—true obedient service is what indicates whether you actually believe Jesus or not, but we’ll get back to that issues a little bit later.

The reality is (and hopefully, you’ve noticed this) that every core value that we have is really meant to influence all of your life:

So, yes, we’re going to do our best to be completely Bible-based here, but don’t you think you ought to be Bible-based at home and at work or as you live your every day life?

So yes, we’re going to do our best to equip believers and to be discipleship-focused here, but don’t you think you ought to equip believers at home and at work or as you live your every day life? Don’t you think you ought to be discipleship-focused at home and at work and as you live your every day life?

So yes, we’re going to do our best to worship authentically here, but don’t you think you ought to worship Jesus authentically everywhere?

It’s really no different with this statement of encouraging growth and nurturing obedient service—yes, it’s a core value to us as a church, but obedience to Jesus Christ, serving Jesus doesn’t stop when you walk out the door here. Does it?

That idea of nurturing obedient service to Jesus Christ really stems from passages like John 14:15-27, which is why we’re looking at it in-depth today.

Let’s read the text after which I’ll explain how this sermon is structured.

John 14:15–27 ESV

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. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 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. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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 myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 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. 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.

As we work through this passage this morning, we’re going to break this sermon into three parts: (1) Jesus’ Thesis—Obey His Commands (15), (2) His Promise to Help (16-27), and (3) What does it mean to Nurture Obedient Service? Jesus is blunt in this passage of Scripture in that if you actually love Him, it will respond in obedience to Him, but He also recognizes that obeying Him is something that isn’t possible for a person in their natural state to do—we desperately need help when it comes to obeying Him despite His enabling of us to do so. The beauty is that Jesus doesn’t expect us to obey His commands without His help, and so He provides a means of help.

Ultimately, the goal for us today is to see that if you genuinely believe and you actually love Jesus, you will want to serve Him because that’s what it means to obey Him and thus, we ought to be a church that encourages everyone who claims to know Him to obey Him.

Prayer for Illumination

Jesus’ Thesis—Obey His Commands (15)

Since we’re parachuting into John 14, let me give you a brief bit of context so that you know where exactly we are in the book.

John 14 is shortly after the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which puts us pretty close to His death—this particular even occurs during the Jesus’ last supper immediately preceding His death. And there are some notable details that stick out as you read the text up to this point:

Jesus has repeatedly mentioned that His death was imminent—He had prophesied His impending death multiple times throughout His ministry—most recently in John 12:27-36 though no one really understood what He meant in just about every instance of His prophecy.

John really points out the fact that Jesus came to save His people because that is precisely what He was sent by His Father to do.

So much so, that Jesus reminds His very own disciples during the last supper that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” with the intent of reminding them that access to the Father is only through Him.

Those are the ideas that are leading up to what Jesus says in our text for this morning.

Knowing that Jesus is on the precipice of the moment that He came to earth the first time for, it adds weightiness to what He’s about to say.

And as He says it, He really doesn’t leave room for any error in understanding it—He’s blunt, simple, and to-the-point,

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Let’s break down that sentence:

First concerning this idea of love because it’s often misunderstood in our current culture—i.e., the idea of love itself.

Often when society around us thinks of the term love it’s misconstrued either as just an emotional feeling or it’s explained as affirmation or acceptance of someone. Both are inadequate when we consider the Bible itself and what it teaches about love. The Bible actually has multiple Greek terms that are translated into our English love and depending on what Greek word is used gives its meaning.

In this case, the Greek word is αγαπαω, which is sometimes referred to as God’s love, but I’m not the biggest fan of defining αγαπε that way because it makes it seem as if it’s something completely unachievable for human beings to do—and that doesn’t quite make sense because Jesus in John 14:15 is literally telling us that if we αγαπε Him, we will obey His commands.

Thus, there has to be some element of αγαπε that is attainable to the Christian and what you find as you dig into it’s meaning is that it is attainable to the average Christian because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross for us.

BDAG, which is essentially a massive, somewhat complicated Greek dictionary makes the statement that αγαπε in this specific verse means “to have a warm regard for and interest in another, [to] cherish, [to] have affection for, [to] love by human beings . . . to transcendent recipients of special devotion” (i.e., to Jesus) or to have “affection for the Creator.” (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (2000), s.v. “ἀγαπάω.”)

Or, in other words, what Jesus is stating here is that if you have any warm regard towards Him, any interest in Him; if you cherish Him or have affection for Him; if you love Him at all, you will keep or observe or even obey His commands.

So, first off, from the get go, Jesus makes it simple—if you have any sort of affection for Him, you will obey His commands.

Second let’s talk about this issue of commandments because if you believe that all of God’s Word is breathed out by Him and you believe that Jesus is God, which we do, then you probably recognize that there are several hundred commandments given throughout the Old and New Testaments.

With that in mind, you might hear this idea that you would keep all His commands and think, “there’s no possible way for me to do this” and you’re absolutely right—you can’t keep all of God’s commands throughout Scripture, that’s why we needed Jesus to keep the Law perfectly.

If you read through the context of John—starting all the way back in ch. 8, you’ll realize what exactly Jesus is talking about. John 8:31–37 “31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.”

Do you catch His meaning? Through abiding in God’s Word, you become His disciple and you will learn the truth from God’s Word and the truth will set you free.

Free from what exactly In particular, it’s freedom from sin and it’s consequences, “truly, truly, I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin . . . [however] if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Only those who believe and receive the truth of who Jesus is are set free and thus “hold to His teachings” or keep His commands.

Obeying Jesus’ commands starts with repentance and belief, which then sets you free to continue obeying what His Word has stated.

It’s a tall order, it really is—to obey what God has commanded—again, starting with repentance, but then allowing the Word of God to dwell richly within you to transform you and change you as you seek to obey Jesus—all of that is hard.

And if you rely on your own effort to do it, you will never do it. First off, you can’t save yourself—John writes that we only love Him because He first loved us and Paul reiterates time and time again that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Second, you really can’t change yourself either—some try with outright willpower, which is why the self-help industry is booming, but the reality is that apart from God’s working within you, you won’t make much lasting change.

And Jesus realizes that—it’s a tall order to obey all that He has said, and thus, He continues in John 14 with a promise. Look back at v. 16.

His Promise to Help (16-27)

John 14:16–27 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. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 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. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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 myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 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. 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.

What you see as we continue in the text is a promise from Jesus. vv. 16-17 and vv. 25-27 sort of bookend this promise with the first two verses giving the promise initially and the last three verses sort of wrapping it all together.

And if you look at all five verses, you see that what Jesus is really talking about is the Holy Spirit—the Helper, the Spirit of truth and you might wonder why exactly he’s speaking of them receiving the Holy Spirit in the future tense.

That has to do with timing, this is before the day of Pentecost; before the Holy Spirit permanently indwells every believer—their experience with the indwelling nature of the Holy Spirit hasn’t happened yet.

And so, Jesus’ encouragement for them is that even though He is leaving them in the flesh, He won’t leave them alone, He’ll send them the Holy Spirit, which if you’re thinking in terms of the Trinity, is an absolutely beautiful idea because Jesus is God, which means Jesus is the Holy Spirit while also not being the Holy Spirit.

Essentially, what Jesus is telling His disciples is that even though they have a tall order to obey all that He has commanded them, there’s hope in doing these things for those who He has set free from sin and their consequences because He is still with them through His Spirit.

There are some other details worth noting in these bookends, for instance:

For those who receive the Helper, according to v. 16, you will never lose that Helper, He will “be with you forever.” — This speaks a lot of the concept of the perseverance of the saints because the very next verse says that the world (meaning those who reject Jesus Christ) can’t receive the Holy Spirit because they don’t know Him.

Or, in other words, if you genuinely believe, then you will receive the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who indwells you forever.

That’s why Jesus can end this section by speaking of peace, “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.”

Why can Jesus say these things? Because despite the fact that those that love Him are to keep His commandments and our inability to do it all alone, the reality is that we’re not alone.

We have the Spirit, and the Spirit brings about true peace that the world cannot offer. The Spirit gives us what is needed for our hearts not to be troubled and for us not to be afraid; and you might ask “what exactly does the Spirit give us that alleviates these ailments?”

It’s Himself. God alleviates these ailments when you love Him and obey His commandments.

Now, the rest of these verses—18-20 and 21-24 then build on the idea of the Holy Spirit coming.

So, vv. 18-20 speak about the relationship that God has with His people, that He treats them as His children even when we physically don’t see Him.

He doesn’t leave His people as if they’re orphans, but rather through HIs Spirit, He is with them.

You notice in these verses that Trinitarian ideology again—you see the Spirit, Jesus, and God who are all one being working in you and for you and with you.

That even though they won’t see Jesus face-to-face anymore, they won’t be left without God—it’s really a beautiful idea that most Christians take for granted today.

vv. 21-24 then reiterates the idea that if you genuinely love God, you will keep His commands. v. 21 says “whoever has my commandments and keep them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love and manifest myself to him.”

Now, here is a statement by Jesus that is almost counter-intuitive because He just said that He was leaving them; and yet, He states that if they keep His commandments, they love, He loves them, and He will manifest Himself to Him.

Manifesting is the idea of appearing to them, but before you get any ideas about visions or dreams, that’s not what He means.

Judas (not Iscariot) asks “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” And Jesus’ response is “If anyone loves [Him], he will keep [His] word, and [His] Father will love him, and [they] will come to him and make our home with [them].”

Or, in other words, through the obedience of commands, which is the result of our love for Him, we better see Him.

Because as we obey Him because of our love for Him, He shows Himself to us more and more.

That’s why our church seeks to nurture obedient service in and of our members. To serve Jesus means to obey Jesus and to obey Jesus because we love Him results in us seeing Him better. Now, let’s answer a simple, but important question, “what does it mean to nurture obedient service?”

What does it Mean to Nurture Obedient Service?

For individuals, it means making sure that you actually do obey Jesus—it means knowing what Jesus actually commands, making the cognizant decision to obey, and repenting every instance when you find yourself disobeying. Let’s talk about those ideas:

First, it means knowing what Jesus actually commands—as in, knowing what Scripture actually teaches as God’s commands.

This is where biblical hermeneutics really comes into play—the study of how to interpret Scripture. When you make the effort to study Scripture the a historical-grammatical method with a Christological focus, you learn what commands are applicable and what commands have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Through proper biblical interpretation, you learn that the moral Law is still applicable, the ceremonial Law is fulfilled in Jesus, and the civil Law was for the ethnic nation of Israel.

Through proper biblical interpretation, you learn what commands are required and which ones are cultural.

Through proper biblical interpretation, you learn that what you were taught growing up, what you learned in church, what your opinions are, aren’t necessarily commands from Jesus.

But, if you don’t bother to learn how to interpret Scripture, you won’t figure out what it means to obey Jesus’ commands.

Second, it means making the cognizant decision to obey those commands while recognizing that it’s only through the Spirit that you can obey those commands.

It’s clear throughout Scripture that the ability to keep Jesus’ commands is something that can only happen through the Holy Spirit’s working within us.

Trying to obey Jesus without the Holy Spirit isn’t just impractical, it is literally impossible. And there is a sense in which Jesus obeyed for us, but that doesn’t negate statements in Scripture like be holy because Jesus is holy.

So no, you can’t do it on your own—and Jesus obeyed, which paid for your salvation; but, you still ought to live like a Christian and that can only be done as the Spirit empowers you to.

It also can only be done when you actually make the decision to live like a Christian ought to live.

That is, actively choosing to obey what Jesus commanded—it really shouldn’t need to be said, but since Jesus has set you free from your sin, you have no business jumping back into your sin.

Since Jesus empowers you to obey His commands, you ought to seek to obey His commands.

There shouldn’t be a time in your life as a Christian in which you know the truth and decide that you would rather do what you want anyways—i.e., if you know something is sinful, you shouldn’t do it anyways.

Third, it means repenting every instance as quickly as possible that you find yourself disobeying the commands of Jesus Christ.

The reality is that on this side of eternity, you will struggle with sin.

The right response, is to repent and to keep repenting and to keep following Jesus.

To do otherwise, reveals that you either don’t understand what Jesus has saved you from, you don’t know how bad your sin really is, or you don’t care—and if you don’t care, you might not actually be a believer.

That’s what it means to be about obedient service to God—what it means to nurture that behavior is simple. You encourage one another, build up one another, lovingly call out one another, and support each other as a church.

This brings us this morning to our application and it’s fairly simple.

Application

Individually

The Bible says, if you love Him, you will keep the commandments that He has given—how are you doing with this?

Negative Commands—don’t sin, etc. how are you doing?

Positive Commands—Great Commission, etc. How are you doing?

How are you doing with these things?

Of course, we’re all going to struggle with obeying the commands of Jesus, it’s part of our sin-cursed world; and yet, Jesus still says that if you love Him, you will keep His commands.

And, the beauty of it is that He fully intends for you to keep His commandments, but not by yourself or your own will-power.

He has given us a helper for this specific purpose.

Ecclesiastically

If we as a church love Jesus, we also need to keep His commands.

Holding each other accountable.

Encouraging one another to obey

Developing a culture within our church in which people can be open when they struggle to find encouragement

How are we doing with this?

We desire to encourage growth and nurture obedient service because our love for Jesus is revealed in our obedience to Him.

How are you doing individually? And how are we doing corporately?

Pastoral Prayer