Easter 6 (2)
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23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
Have you ever kept a diary or a journal? Perhaps you have saved old love letters. If so, maybe you have taken a walk down memory lane and reread some of those things that you wrote years ago. Or you took videos of your children when they were young and in a nostalgic mood watched them after 20 or 30 years. I have done this from time to time and was shocked to realize that there was a discrepancy between what I remembered and what was actually recorded. Why is this? Because our memory isn’t always reliable. Another factor in writing things down is that we tend to slant the truth (or our version of it) in order to present what we believe to be true. This is also normal.
Because of this, many scholars approach the teachings of Jesus (which belong to God the Father) with more than a little skepticism. They argue that since the Gospels were written decades later with a bias, that we cannot know for certain exactly who Jesus is or what he taught. (Remember that Jesus did not write down his teachings or an autobiography.) They use this same approach for all of the Bible while at the same time teaching that extra biblical sources will always trump what is recorded in the Bible. (examples)
I have been watching a video series called “Mysteries of the Bible.” I like it because it puts the well known stories of Cain and Abel, Abraham, Jacob, The Ark of the Covenant, etc. into historical context.” What I don’t like about it is the constant questioning of the veracity of the biblical narrative. It questions whether these historical figures ever existed and if the events really happened because there are not extrabiblical evidence to support it. But if there is an extrabiblical source, they often claim that we should trust that if there is a conflict.
Such an approach makes it hard for the modern day Christian to do what Jesus says in our first verse.
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
He speaks about us. He says, “Anyone who loves me.” I believe that is true for us. We love Jesus! (expand)
Jesus speaks about us. He says, “Anyone who loves me.” I believe that is true for us. We love Jesus! (expand)
ἀγαπάω, I love (never of love between the sexes, but nearly always of the love of (the) God or (the) Christ to us, and of our love to Him and to our fellow creatures, as inspired by His love for us).
“We love because God first loved us.” We have come to experience his love by what we read about him in the Bible, by how he saved us from our sins, and by how he created, preserves, and protects us. We respond by praising him:
1 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. 2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!” 5 The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 6 The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.
There is a name I love to hear
I love to sing its worth
It sounds like music in my ear
The sweetest name on earth
Oh, how I love Jesus
Oh, how I love Jesus
Oh, how I love Jesus
Because He first loved me
Our love for him should have a natural outcome . . . “will obey my teaching”. In order to do this we must consider two factors.
What exactly did Jesus teach? (presentation on the inspiration of Holy Scriptures and the role of the Holy Spirit)
Jesus did not teach his own material. He tells us that he was not some philosopher or wise man who contemplated the mysteries of the universe or the transcendence of God or the careful study of human relationships. He was not a Plato, Socrates, Freud, or Steven Hawkins with superior intelligence who could fathom and present deep truths derived from his own mental acuity. At first it may seem as though he was like the well researched teacher who knows his subject from careful study and investigation and is able to present it to others.
24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” 16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.
But there is more to Jesus’ teaching than that of the prophets who received messages from God and spoke them to God’s people. Because of the intimate relationship between Jesus (the Son of God) and his Father (God), he is teaching more than just repeating what he has heard. His teaching is so much more profound and personal because of this. There is no difference; therefore, between Jesus’ teaching and God the Father’s teaching. And since he knows all things and his word is truth, we can trust what he teaches.
Jesus asserts that those who heard his teaching first hand could trust that this was divine instruction.
But what about us today? In light of what we heard earlier in the sermon, how can we trust that what Jesus taught was recorded correctly? Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit gives us such confidence.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
In two weeks is the festival of Pentecost in which we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here is one prophecy of this event. One thing the Holy Spirit would do is to teach and remind. He would guide them in the decades to come as they witnessed about Jesus.
16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
I believe that this promise would also apply to what they would write so that we can trust what St. Paul later wrote to Timothy: (NIV)
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
What it means to obey?
What it means to obey? (expand)
Jesus teaches that those who love him (which we do) have been taught by him (which we trust) and that our response will be to obey him.
Years later St. John would expand on this. (NIV)
3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Conclusion: Appeal to obey Jesus out of love for him who first loved us.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
Not out of fear of punishment or hope for reward. Illustration: What you do for those you really care about without being commanded. Spontaneous
Not out of fear of punishment or hope for reward. Illustration: What you do for those you really care about without being commanded. Spontaneous