Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 21, 2017
The True Life
John 14:15-21 “If you love me, hold on to my commands. 16I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. 17He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him. You know him because he stays with you and will be in you. 18“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. 19In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21The one who has my commands and holds on to them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and show myself to him.”
An old man was walking down the street one day when he met a young, blind orphan boy begging for food. Feeling sorry for the boy, the old man took him home. He fed him, cared for him, and provided everything the boy needed. One day the old man checked with a doctor on the cost of surgery for the boy’s eyes. Even though it was going to take all the money he had, the old man spent it.
The operation was a success. At first the boy was grateful. But as time went on, he forgot about all the man had done for him and he left and struck out on his own. He thought, “now that I have my sight I’m going to do my own thing.” The boy didn’t visit the old man. He didn’t call or write. In fact, when he would see him in town, he would avoid him, even making fun of him with his friends.
What type of emotions and feelings does such a story stir in you? How do you think the boy should have responded?
It was just over a month ago that we – in a special way – gathered together with reverent awe and unspeakable joy around our Savior’s cross and empty tomb to marvel at what our Savior did for our salvation. Since then, the Easter season has given us opportunity to reflect on what our Savior’s death and resurrection mean for us: that death has been defeated, doubt removed, hope restored, and fear extinguished.
And what type of emotions and feelings do those truths truth stir in you? How do you suppose we ought to respond? The words of our lesson teach us that we are to live life as God intended. To do that, the Holy Spirit must work in us. This is true life.
It is the Holy Spirit’s Work
Do you see yourself in the boy of our opening illustration? We should! That’s the way it was for us before we came to faith. By nature we are blind to spiritual truth. We can’t see the way to heaven. We are left groping around in the dark looking for something to hold onto. As a result of this blindness, we are willing to hold onto anything that might sound good to our sinful, corrupt reason.
One such thing is the thought that salvation, in some way, must be dependent upon something we do. But such a thought is wrong on every front. It doesn’t provide an answer; it only leaves us orphaned – without a father; without spiritual food; and with absolutely no comfort. Blind and orphaned we were destined to starve spiritually and spend eternity in hell.
But God the Father stepped in. In fact, before we were born, the Father planned to do something about our pitiful condition. He planned to send his very own Son. Even though it would cost him the highest price imaginable, he did it anyway.
So Jesus came, and as he sat in that upper room with his disciples he stood on the threshold of paying that price. You see, God the Father said the only way to save us blind, orphaned sinful human beings was for the perfect and holy blood of God the Son to be shed as payment for our sins. This very night that very thing would be put into motion; and the very next day it would happen on the cross. God the Father would charge our every guilty sin and stain against his perfect Son and make him suffer the hell and punishment we deserved. In so doing, Jesus’ holy and perfect blood would make the ultimate payment to win forgiveness and release from the penalty and guilt of our sins.
But because we are blind by nature, we cannot see that truth. Unless we are given spiritual sight, what Jesus accomplished for us would always remain at arm’s length and never become our own. We might compare it to the complicated life-support machines used in hospitals today. The machine does not keep a person alive just by virtue of the fact that it is in the same hospital or even in the same room of the hospital of that patient who needs its help. The patient must be properly joined to the machine so that its life-giving power benefits the patient. So it is with Jesus. We must be connected to him by faith. That’s why Jesus promises the Holy Spirit: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth.”
Our spiritual sight is given to us through the work of God the Holy Spirit working through the gospel. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us to repentance and faith and unites us to Christ. Jesus was telling his disciples this night that he was going to be leaving them, but he wouldn’t leave them alone. The Spirit would come, not to replace Jesus but to lead them to Jesus and bring the words of Jesus to their minds.
It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into the light of God’s truth. So our Christian life, true life, from its inception to its consummation is not self-wrought. I did not do it. No man could do it. All men together could not do it. All this is brought about through God the Holy Spirit. He gives us spiritual sight to see that because of the Father’s great love for us he sent his Son to be our substitute. He enables us to see and believe that on account of Jesus’ work we are forgiven. Now we are no longer orphans, but instead, members of God’s family in line to inherit all the blessings that come from being part of that family. What do you think our response should be?
It is a Life Lived as God Intended
Actually (and I don’t mean to be rude), it doesn’t matter what YOU think your response should be. Jesus tells us what it should be: “If you love me, hold on to my commands.” And considering all that he has done for us, that isn’t a burden, it’s a joy.
As I stand here speaking to you, I feel safe in saying that I speak to believers who do love Jesus and who love him because he first loved us. Yet sadly, don’t we have to again admit that we find similarities between us and the boy in our introduction. The old man had done everything for him. Even spending all he had to give him sight. And what does the boy do – forgets what the man has done and does his own thing.
How often haven’t we done the same!?! We know what God’s Word says; we know how he wants us to act; but we conveniently ignore or forget it so we can do what we want. We say we love God, we know him, we follow him, we believe in him, but then think we have the right to do as we please. It doesn’t work that way. Just listen: “The one who has my commands and holds on to them is the one who loves me.”
So let us repent. Let us confess the times we have entertained and acted on such thoughts. Let us change our ways. If we don’t, we’ll be like the boy in the illustration who walked away from his family. We will lose the blessings of being in the family of God – the blessings of forgiveness and salvation. Let us repent and turn to our God who wipes those sins away; who promises that in Jesus their penalty has been paid; who assures us that he has hurled those sins into the depths of the sea. Let us repent and listen intently to Jesus’ who says, “Because I live, you also will live.”
With those words Jesus promises more than just a resurrection from the dead for us. In the face of his very own death; fully aware that the next day he would be laid in the grave; he says “because I live.” He didn’t promise that he would come back to life, but that he lives. Jesus is life – that state of blessed holiness and perfect righteousness and communion with God. That is something that we, by nature, didn’t have. It is something that we, by nature, couldn’t find because we were blind. But it is something Jesus came to bring back, and he did just that with his life, death and resurrection. Now, the Holy Spirit has brought that very truth to us and worked in us a faith to believe it was done for us. We are alive – declared righteous and holy and with a right standing before God through Jesus. We are alive – with the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide and instruct us in a life lived as God intended – a life that treasures our Lord, his Word, and obedience to both.
So if we want to know if we love God, let us ask ourselves, “do I care what God tells me to do?” Or do we say, “nobody can tell me what to do!” The will of the Christian says, “Jesus lead us on ‘til our rest is won.” Do we have an attitude that says, “I want to learn more about what Jesus wants me to do,” or “I have better things to read and do and are willing to twist the Word of God to meet our beliefs and actions?” The will of a Christian says, “Lord, I love you enough to listen to you and do whatever you say.”
That’s the true life. Amen.