To Joy (part 5) 

The Father’s great plan is a loving, joy filled family. And the means by which he goes about it is through his Son who played his part to perfection in his human lifetime and now continues his perfect work through his disciples. 

His disciples, then, become the means by which the world gets to see what the loving, joy filled family of the Father looks like. And it’s based on one very simple point, summarized by Jesus in John 15:17, “This is my command: Love each other.”

And when his disciples do that they will “bear fruit,” as Jesus promised in verse 16. Bear fruit, that is, in other people’s lives. Because what people see is the key to God’s kingdom, that it’s all based on love. 

Which all sounds very nice and logical, but Jesus also based everything he did on love and he was hated, so he knew his disciples would be hated too (verses 18-19). They could set a magnificent example of love and joy in the hope of people responding, but people would deliberately steel their minds against responding, just as they did with Jesus. 

At our favourite coffee shop there’s a girl serving out the coffee and goodies who’s like that. We’ve tried to be nice to her, ask how busy she’s been and all the usual banter to warm up the relationship and get the girl to at least smile and respond, but she won’t respond at all. She races silently through what we ask for, and makes it very clear she isn’t interested in any kind of connection with us. I wondered why that is.  

To me, Jesus answers that in these verses, because in essence he’s saying (in my words) – “I’ve deliberately chosen you to love and work with difficult people, because if you become gracious, loving, patient, thoughtful and kind with them, you then have the absolute right to ask the Father for the needs of these people and he will begin to move in their lives as well. That’s how it works, my friends.” 

And that’s how we bear fruit that will last: we love and keep on loving, because the Father loves answering the prayers for those who do…(continues Friday) 

To Joy (part 4) 

According to Jesus, the key to joy is being able to love as God loves. And the reason he had disciples was for them to learn and live that love, and not just for the joy it would bring them, but also to bring joy to others. 

He made this clear to them in John 15:16, when he told them, “You did not choose me, I chose you to go and bear fruit.” To begin with, then, it was never the disciples’ initiative to follow him; it was his. And the reason he’d chosen them – or appointed them – was to enable them “to go and bear fruit that will last.” So the reason Jesus spent all night praying for who his disciples would be (Luke 6:12-16), was to have a group of people who would continue and expand his work of permanently impacting people’s lives in a wonderful way.  

And he’d appointed them to do that. This was now their life’s work, appointed by Jesus himself, to have a surefire – guaranteed to succeed – impact in other people’s lives. 

But through the likes of them? How? They weren’t anything special, they were just ordinary folk living very ordinary lives having little to no noticeable or permanent impact of any value on other people’s lives. But in verse 16 Jesus offered the solution to that, because “the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

You mean, the Father God himself will provide whatever we need to have a wonderful lasting impact on other people’s lives? Well, yes, if it’s asked for in Jesus’ name. And in Jesus’ name was easy for his disciples to understand, because it was Jesus who’d appointed them, so it was in his name, or following his orders, that was their reason for seeking the Father’s help. And if that was their reason, to follow what Jesus had appointed them for, it was absolutely guaranteed the Father would answer. Whatever help they needed to impact people’s lives like Jesus did, was theirs for the asking. 

What a switch, then, from being ordinary folk just doing what ordinary folk do, to a new life in such close contact with God that he would personally give them whatever love and joy they needed to bring love and joy into other people’s lives too…(continued on Wednesday)  

To Joy (part 3) 

With Jesus’ death The Switch had begun, from humans being stuck in the ways of this world influenced so heavily by evil, to the world of love and joy the Father was setting up through his Son. But how on earth was Jesus going to make such a world real to his disciples? 

It was by a switch in their relationship. He’d just told them in John 15:13 that “the greatest love of all was giving up one’s life for one’s friends.” He then immediately goes on to say in verse 14, “You are my friends.” 

Well that was different, he’d never called them that before. He also goes on to say in verse 15, “I no longer call you servants.” And what Jesus meant by “servant” – as he goes on to explain – was someone who “doesn’t know his master’s business.” And if anyone knows what that’s like, it’s millions of people in this world today who work for a large company without ever meeting the boss or knowing what his thoughts and plans are, and if you met him in the elevator you’d be invisible to him. 

And for many people that’s becoming a horrible, joyless way to live, because in reality you’re just a cog in a machine, and when your profitable use to the company is over you’re put out to pasture like an old horse that can’t pull a cart anymore. 

And how many millions of people endure such an existence? And especially in countries where they have no choice, the work conditions are awful, and the rewards are few. You wonder what the point of such a life is – including the lives of Jesus’ own disciples too, who’d slogged their lives away as fishermen, paying exorbitant fees to the Romans for their fish just to prop up an empire they had no connection with.

But Jesus tells his disciples he’s not like that. Yes, he’d called them to follow him, go where he sent them, listen to his instructions like any good student of a Jewish rabbi should, but his purpose for all of it was to open up his Father’s world to them, “for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you,” verse 15.  

As his friends, Jesus wanted his disciples totally connected with his Father and his world of love and joy, a tremendous switch from just being cogs in a machine…(continued on Monday) 

To Joy (part 2) 

When Jesus told his disciples in John 15:11, “I told you this so that my joy may be in you,” in the very next verse he said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”    

Is loving each other the clue, then, as to how his joy is created in us? Well, why not, when in this life – even without belief in Jesus – good friends and a loving family are a great source of joy. So is Jesus talking about something similar – but – expanded to an even higher level in our experience? 

It would seem so, because the love he’s talking about is on a much higher level too. It’s based on how “I have loved you.” And what kind of love was that? Well, he’d just told his disciples back in verse 9, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you,” so he loved them with the same love his Father had for him. This was an extraordinary love, then.  

So how amazing is it when Jesus tells his disciples, “You can love each other with that same love too”? Jesus is saying we can experience being able to love at the same level God loves. And when we can, and do, that’s how we experience his joy.   

Is it any surprise, then, that since God’s love is what paves the way to his joy, that Jesus goes on to explain in verse 13 what lies at the very heart of God’s love? And it’s this, that “There’s no greater love than laying down your life for your friends.” And if anyone knew the truth of that, Jesus did, because that’s exactly what he was about to do for his disciples whom he called his “friends” in verse 14. 

But how could there be joy in an agonizing death on a cross? Well, according to Hebrews 12:2, it was “for the joy set before him that he endured the cross.” Jesus knew what the ultimate expression of love, giving up your life for your friends, would create. It would create joy. Because this was how his Father had set things up, that his ultimate goal was a joy-filled family forever, the key to which was so obvious, that we humans love each other with the same love he has for us. 

Jesus did that and it brought him joy – and especially the joy of knowing his death would open up the door to us being able to love as he loves, and the joy for us too that would come with it…(continued on Friday)

To Joy (part 1) 

I grew up believing that the focus of obeying Scripture was to cement our place in God’s future kingdom forever.  

It gave off strong whiffs of “You’d better obey, or else,” making obedience a condition to be met to have any hope of a future. But didn’t Jesus himself say in John 15:10, that “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love”? There’s a big “IF” in there, which could easily be taken to mean: “I’ll love you – but only IF you obey me.”  

And if Jesus had stopped at that point and said no more, it would be understandable if his disciples thought his love for them was conditioned on their obedience to him. And also understandable if I (and it seems many other Christians too) took it to mean we had to win God’s favour by our obedience to earn us a place in eternity.  

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to say in verse 11, “I have told you this” – “this” referring back to “if you obey my commands you’ll remain in my love” –  I have told you this, “so that my JOY may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus’ focus for us sticking like glue to his teachings, therefore, was for the joy it would give us. Well, that’s a switch, isn’t it? 

And a really big switch for anyone wondering how on earth obedience and joy can go together, when obedience has such a negative tone to it in this world. But Jesus wasn’t talking about this world, he was talking about his world, where definitions and meanings have totally different connotations. Obedience wasn’t a threat, for instance, like it is in this world, where you’d better obey the laws, chum, or else. 

But in Jesus’ world obedience brings joy. It can be tough obeying him, yes, because many of his commands put the bar way above our ability to obey them, but that just proves he’s opening the windows to a totally different world, in which ‘impossible to obey’ commands are meant to bring joy. And there’s no explanation in this world for that, because joy in this world is based on human emotion, which is terribly short-lived when circumstances are tough.

But Jesus isn’t offering the world’s version of joy. He’s offering a switch to his joy in us. So how does it happen exactly, and how do we know we’re experiencing it too?…(continued on Wednesday)

Of the Spirit (part 23) 

Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that they could enter God’s world of love by cottoning on to what the Father’s love had provided for them in him. Because in him his disciples had everything they needed to flourish and bear fruit. 

So “remain in me” Jesus told them, stick to him like glue, because he’d still be with them after his death, but this time his Father would give them the Holy Spirit to bring to life all that he’d taught them (John 14:26), because in Jesus’ teachings coming to life in them the Father would love them and open up his world to them (verse 23).  

And how would he open up his world to them? Jesus comes out with the most amazing answer to that in John 15:7, that “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” 

Imagine being a disciple of Jesus, then, knowing that you’re deeply loved by the Father for sticking to what Jesus taught, which now meant you could ask the Father for whatever you wished, and in his deep love for you he would grant your wish. 

So what would your wish to the Father be? Well, as Jesus points out in verse 8, what the Father really glories in is seeing his Son’s disciples and best friends “bearing much fruit” in living his teachings – so we are recognizably his disciples because of the “much fruit” difference his teachings make in us. 

And since his teachings are the heart and core of life in God’s world, then it’s because of Jesus’ disciples living his teachings that the door cracks open to what God’s world looks like. The means by which the Father is opening up his world, then, is by Jesus’ disciples living it. 

It was of crucial importance, then, that Jesus’ disciples keep cracking that door open by obeying what Jesus taught, just as Jesus cracked it open by obeying what his Father taught him (verse 10). So isn’t that what we’d ask the Father for, the ability to live what Jesus taught so people see the difference and they get a glimpse of God’s world of love too?…(new series beginning Monday) 

Of the Spirit (part 22) 

Through the Holy Spirit the Father and Jesus are opening up the world of love they live in. It’s in the works, then, John 14:31, that “the world may know that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” Because that’s the key to understanding God’s world; it’s based on love, pictured by Jesus’ saying and doing exactly what his Father wanted said and done.   

The Father demonstrated his love too, by providing a group of friends his Son could love and share his life and learning with (15:15), who love him in return and show it too, by wanting to obey everything he teaches them (14:23). The Father also expresses his deep love for his Son by honouring and answering any request made in his Son’s name (15:16).  

I imagine all this must have seemed unreal to the disciples, as their minds and imagination were being lifted into this very different world. So Jesus uses an analogy at their level of understanding when he tells them in John 15:1, “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.” It gets the point across that Father and Son are totally in this together, the Father as Master Gardener doing the planning and overseeing, but giving the challenge and joy to his Son to bring all those plans to life.  

It shows what the Father’s plan was too, because he “cuts off every branch that bears no fruit,” verse 2. He’s after a garden for his Son that flourishes at its fruitful best. And how he’d do that was give his Son the very words to teach to his disciples that would enable them to flourish at their fruitful best (verse 3).   

With that in mind, then, Jesus says, “Remain in me,” verse 4, “and I will remain in you.” To remain in him meant sticking to what he’d taught them, verse 10, because that’s how they’d flourish as the Father intended – just as Jesus stuck to what his Father taught him and he flourished too (verse 10).  

And what the disciples would discover from this simple process of obeying what Jesus had taught them, was “remaining in Jesus’ love” (verse 10). Because in his love for them he would continue to teach and guide them so they would “bear much good fruit,” verse 16. Because that’s what the Father as Master Gardener loved setting up this whole process for…(more on this tomorrow)   

Of the Spirit (part 21) 

Jesus asked his Father to give his disciples the Holy Spirit because the Spirit would provide them with constant evidence that he was alive and still with them. 

And “Because I live,” Jesus told them – or because I’ll be alive and still with you – “you also will live,” John 14:19. But what exactly did Jesus mean by that? Did he mean that they’d continue to live physically, or that because Jesus was now living in a different dimension in which he’d never die, that they would never have to die either? 

Jesus explains himself in verse 20, that “On that day (when they receive the Spirit) you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” So this is what “you also will live” means; it means this is what they will now begin to experience.  

Fortunately, Jesus goes on to explain in verse 21 what being “in” someone means. He gives three clues, the first one being love: “Whoever obeys my commands loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him.” So the Spirit opens up this new world of love to us. “You also will live,” then, means “you will live to experience this love too.”

Secondly, being “in” someone means – as Jesus put it in verse 21 – “showing myself to him.” The Greek word for “show” in that verse is emphanisō (em-faneezo) meaning “to reveal, make known, cause to appear clearly, communicate plainly, to inform,” all suggesting that, through the Holy Spirit in and with us, Jesus will constantly reveal to us, communicate with us, and inform us as to who he is, what he’s up to, and how much he loves us. He’s alive and “in” us to that depth of intimacy, vastly expanding our understanding of him and his part in his Father’s plan. That too, then, was what “you also will live” was about.  

Thirdly, being “in” someone means, as Jesus put it in verse 23, “making one’s home with…” – and how much more “in” someone could you be than wanting to make your home forever with them? But that’s exactly what the Father and Jesus want to do with us – forever. 

“You also will live,” therefore, includes this constant picture the Spirit unfolds for us of God’s world of love, because that is now the world we are living in too…(more on this tomorrow)   

Of the Spirit (part 20) 

Jesus laid the groundwork in John 14:15 for the most important decision a disciple of his can make: “If you love me,” he said, “you will obey what I command.”  

And why was that so important? Because, verse 23, “My Father will love you.” Jesus knew the process. His Father had sent him to train up a group of disciples in the ways of his world, because through them he would kickstart the spreading of his kingdom on this planet. So if those disciples cottoned on to the process too, that by obeying whatever Jesus taught that’s how the kingdom would spread, they had the Father’s undying love. He would deeply love them for it. 

And that must have been extremely comforting to Jesus, because he knew the next step, that he would return to his former glory beside his Father and from there direct the spreading of their kingdom worldwide over the centuries to come. But that would leave his disciples without him present with them. And he knew how devastating that would be for them, because they’d become very attached to him. Their lives had totally revolved around him, so they’d feel terribly lost without him. And because Jesus deeply loved them (John 13:1), it concerned him greatly. 

So he told his disciples in verse 16, “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” They’d have the support they needed, a Spirit sponsor always there for them, a backer, benefactor and patron, as well as mentor, coach and teacher. But best of all this Spirit help would fulfill Jesus’ wish in verse 18, that “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The Spirit, then, had a clear job to do, to be to the disciples what Jesus had been to them. It would feel like Jesus was still with them, therefore, the same love, same nurturing, same understanding of them, same acceptance, same well-timed teaching, same reminding – so in reality the Holy Spirit was the “Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9). 

But with one very special addition, that the disciples hadn’t experienced in their time with Jesus, because the Spirit would not only live “with” them, verse 17, but “in” them too. But what difference would that make?…(more on this tomorrow) 

Of the Spirit (part 19) 

I imagine the disciples’ minds were reeling a bit when Jesus came out with statements like: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” John 14:11, and “One day you’ll realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you,” verse 20. 

Jesus was talking on a level they’d never experienced before. But it clued them in as to where their lives were going next. They were being introduced to a new world that would draw them into the inner workings of the God family, where they’d come to see it was all based on love and being “in” each other. 

But it was this kingdom of God, this world of God, that Jesus had been assigned by his Father to set up on this planet, starting with this little group of Jesus’ disciples who, at this point in their lives, didn’t have a clue what they were in for. One thing they thought they knew though, was that they’d do anything for Jesus because they loved him. That part at least they were sure of. 

But Jesus soon brought them down to earth on that point too, because in verse 15 he said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” It was another concept the disciples would come to learn, that love in the kingdom of God wasn’t just enjoying each other’s company or even being respectful and accepting of each other’s roles. Love in God’s world was all about tuning into the deepest, most heartfelt wishes of the one you love. The Father, for instance, set up this entire creation for his Son (Colossians 1:16), because he knew his Son’s heart and what would fill it. Jesus, meanwhile, wanted only to “bring glory to his Father” (John 14:13), because he knew his Father’s heart and what would fill it too.  

And what was the Father’s deepest wish? It was Jesus’ disciples doing what he’d taught them, John 14:23, because in doing that – as Jesus told them – “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” 

This was how the disciples would be drawn into the God world of love, so they’d know what it means to be “in” each other, fulfilling the heartfelt wishes of those who love you. It was a new world they were being introduced to – but in their present state of mind how on earth could they become part of it?…(more on this tomorrow)