"Jesus Promises an Advocate

Prayer of Preparation (Psalm 107, Colossians 3, Luke 12)

Loving Lord, open our hearts this day, as we proclaim your holy word. As we offer praise and thanksgiving, in response to your abundant acts of love, challenge us to seek the values of heaven over the trappings of this world. May the words we experience this day call us to a rich relationship with you, as we learn to live out the calling of our baptism, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

John 14:15-29 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition The Promise of the Holy Spirit 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate,[e] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe.

Introduction

Pleasing God can be hard. In our own strength, we are doomed to fail to obey His commandments. Pleasing Him can become even harder the longer we await His return. Emotions like doubt, fear, loneliness, and ridicule-things we experience in the world while trying to please Him-only complicate the will and ability to obey. Under the right conditions, we can begin to feel as if God has forgotten us-as if He is not with us. Thankfully, we are not alone in our journey. God has fulfilled the promise to be present with us and in us, so that we can keep His commandments until His return. He has given us indwelling power for us to please heaven.

Message Point 1: The Indwelling Spirit Helps Us Obey in Truth (15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate(“defending attorney,” “intercessor”) to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. John 14:15-17)

As Jesus announces His imminent departure, He reveals to the disciples that keeping the commandments identifies those who love Christ. Yet for those striving to obey the commandments, Jesus does not leave us to our own strength. He asked God the Father-His Father-to give us another Helper or Comforter. Jesus is the first Helper in our obedience; since His departure, the Spirit has been the Helper. Part of His job description is to reveal the truth of the commandments of God so that we can do what the Lord has commanded instead of being mislead by false teaching.

As we keep the commandments, we will seem odd to the world. Who doesn’t have sex before or outside of marriage anymore? Who has a problem with taking more food than allowed as a restaurant worker? Who stands against abortion when it is framed as a choice issue? Who goes to church every week when you could sleep in? Who really gives a tenth or more of their hard-earned income? Yet we should seem odd, because the world does not have the Spirit that is in us to make the truth of the commandments known.

Message Point 1: The Indwelling Spirit Helps Us Obey in Truth

Message Point 2: The Indwelling Christ Helps Us Love in Hope (18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” vv.18-21)

Having walked with Christ for three years, His disciples feel fear at the announcement of His departure(cf.John 14:1,3,27-28). Suddenly they would be facing opposition without the presence of His miracles, parables, and proclamation of the kingdom of God. Jesus takes away all thought of them being orphaned. They will not be left as children without a parental or fatherly presence. He will come to them, and they, unlike the world, will see Him again-afterHis departure. They need to wait patiently and faithfully, and Jesus’ presence will always be with them.

Jesus is speaking of His resurrection. This event will verify to the disciples that Jesus is the very Son of God the Father, sharing in a mysterious, divine union with the Father. It will verify, too, the mysterious union between Christ and the believers-that He dwells in us through the Spirit, and that we are found in Him by His choosing.

Message Point 1: The Indwelling Spirit Helps Us Obey in Truth

Message Point 2: The Indwelling Christ Helps Us Love in Hope

Message Point 3: The Indwelling Trinity Helps You Know the Word ( 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate,[e] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe. vv. 22-29)

Judas, the son of James, understands that Jesus is making distinctions between the hope of the disciples and the hope of the world(or lack thereof), but he has some questions. If the disciples have the promise of Jesus returning presence, along with the Spirit, then why would the world not see the manifestation of Jesus? Judas understanding of Christ, like ours, is still developing and maturing.

The key to the distinct manifestations and the distinct hopes, says Jesus, is love-love for God that is manifested by obedience to the Word of God. The one who follows Scripture as the guide to all things in life is one who will have the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit within him. The entire Godhead is present in the believer because the Spirit, who is the Helper once Jesus the Helper departs, dwells in the believer(14:17). They do not dwell in the one who does not obey the words of Christ, for to reject the words of Christ is to reject the words of the Father.

The words themselves are made known because the Spirit of God brought to the original disciples the words Jesus commanded while on Earth. These words we have recorded in the Gospels and scattered throughout the letters of the Apostles. We are not left without help to hear the words of Christ and obey them.

When I ask my children to clean their rooms, occasionally they do not complete the task up to the standard my wife and I would like. Sometimes, so that they can complete the task without being punished, my wife or I will come behind them and give the room some extra cleaning. Sometimes we will work alongside them, even doing more of the work so that the room can be cleaned thoroughly. In this way, we are helping them with power so they can do what we asked them to do. They cannot do it on their own, so we do it with them and for them.

In the same way, what Jesus asks us to do in obeying His commands is a task into which He, the Spirit, and the Father must step in order for us to be obedient to His commands. They must do the heavy lifting of salvation. They must give power to help us please Them.

In Conclusion, Message Point 1: The Indwelling Spirit Helps Us Obey in Truth

Message Point 2: The Indwelling Christ Helps Us Love in Hope

Message Point 3: The Indwelling Trinity Helps You Know the Word

Therefore, it is important that we look to the Spirit as our guide when we read the Word. He is not just someone there when we need comfort or desire to worship passionately. Daily we need to ask the Spirit to truthfully guide us in the Word so that we can be more obedient to Jesus. Similarly, the power of the indwelling Spirit of God is made manifest through prayer. We should fight to remove every hindrance to quality, so that we can be fully empowered by the Spirit of God to obey Him.

Benediction (Luke 12, Colossians 3) Happy are those who know real treasure and where to find it. Happy are those who receive God’s treasure and share it unselfishly. Invest your life and your heart in Christ, just as God has invested Christ in you. Happy are those whose reward is found in heaven, not on earth. Go now in the name of Christ, God’s ultimate gift of love. Thanks be to God.Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.