Our Sermons

Bible Passage: John 14:15-21
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  May 17, 2020

I know that I’ve expressed this sentiment before, but English can be pretty confusing sometimes. We have another example of that today with a seemingly easy to understand word, “if.” Jesus begins our section today with  the phrase, “If you love me…” You would think that you really can’t misunderstand those words, but boy would you be wrong. Because of the way English works, “if” normally gives us an option. There’s a condition here. Maybe you love me, maybe you don’t. But that’s not how “if” is used here. That’s not really what’s happening here.  Jesus isn’t giving us a choice. He’s telling us how it is. 

So how is it that we love Jesus? We’ve already confessed today that we are by nature sinful. We know from the Bible that by nature we are God’s enemies. By nature our will is completely opposed to God and we hate God. So how is it that we love Jesus? It’s all God’s doing. God chose to love us even while we were his enemies. God chose to love us by sending his Son Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners, while we were still his enemies. God created faith in our hearts by sending the Spirit through Word and Sacrament. And so the Bible tells us, “We love because he first loved us.” 

Jesus isn’t really saying, “if you love me,” but rather, “because you love me.”  These words are spoken to Jesus’ disciples. This is Maundy Thursday. Jesus was about to demonstrate the full extent of his love. He’d already washed the disciples’ feet. He’d already given them that new command to love one another in the same way that he had loved them. And so he says, “Because you love me, hold on to my commands.” This is the expectation. This is an encouragement to grow in their life of sanctification. This is what love does. This is the natural fruit of living faith. This is how it is.

Before we go too far, however, we should really look at that word love. This is the very familiar agape love. This is the “one way” kind of love. This is the kind of love that isn’t based on the quality or value of the person loved. This is the love of choice and action. Love always comes before obedience. Love shows itself in words and actions. This is the kind of love God showed us by sending Jesus. And now, Jesus says that we can show this kind of love by holding on to his commands.

So what are his commands? Perhaps our minds immediately jump to the 10 commandments. And it’s certainly true that we show love to God and love to our neighbor by keeping those commands. But that’s not all that Jesus commands. Let’s remember the context. Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples on the night before he would die. In mere days and weeks, the disciples would be “graduating” in a sense. Earlier in the evening, Jesus had told the disciples that he would be leaving them. Jesus would no longer physically be with them. The disciples would be on the front lines now in carrying out their ministry. And what was that ministry? To share the good news about Jesus. To preach the gospel. And that certainly seems to fit here, doesn’t it? What better way to show love for Jesus than to share the good news about him. Because he’s loved us, because we love Jesus, we want to tell others about him. And God promises that blessing will come from this. “The 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.” This is how it is! Blessings naturally follow when we love God, when we hold on to his commands. We love because he first loved us, and because we love Jesus and because we share the good news about him, we are blessed.

Sounds easy enough, and yet we know it isn’t. We know how much we struggle to keep even the simplest of God’s commands. We know how challenging it can be to talk to people about Jesus, even to people that we know and trust. And Jesus knows our weaknesses. He knew his disciples’ weaknesses too. Again, remember the context. In just a few hours, every single one of them would abandon him. Every single one. And so it’s interesting that Jesus wants to assure them that he’s not abandoning them. He’s not leaving them alone. He’s going to be with them always, but he’s also sending help. “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He 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.” 

Jesus knows our weaknesses. He doesn’t just simply give us the encouragement to hold on to his commands and then leave us on our own. No, he gives the power to obey. He gives the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit here is called the Counselor. The Greek word that John uses is sometimes transliterated straight into English. It’s the word paraclete. A paraclete is someone who stands alongside someone. This is someone who advocates for you and advises you. This is someone who defends you. This is someone who encourages you. That’s what the Holy Spirit does for us. He’s not Jesus’ replacement, no he leads people to Jesus. Through Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit points us back to Jesus again and again. And he’s been given to us as a gift. Just think about that. We didn’t go out and seek him. We didn’t receive him as a reward for good behavior. No, the Holy Spirit is given to us! He is a free gift of God’s grace. And notice the duration of this gift! “Who will be with you forever.” 

“He 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.” Because of the Holy Spirit, we love Jesus. And because we love Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit. This is what sets believers apart from the rest of the world. Did you notice how the world is described? “The world cannot receive [the Holy Spirit] because it does not see him or know him.” That’s how we were by nature too. By nature we were spiritually blind. We were unable to know the Holy Spirit. Even our natural knowledge of God wouldn’t tell us who the Spirit was, wouldn’t tell us how we could be saved. But God, in his grace, gave us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, through the Word, created faith in our hearts. He came to live in us. Listen again to what Jesus promised. “You know [the Holy Spirit] because he stays in you and will be in you.” Through faith, the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. And the same Word he used to create faith, he uses to strengthen our faith. And because we love Jesus, he uses us to create faith in the hearts of others as we share that Word. 

“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will see me no longer, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” In just mere hours, Jesus would be taken away from the disciples. And they would be severely tempted to think that they had been abandoned. They would experience trials like they had never before, and Jesus wouldn’t physically be there with them. 

Perhaps at a time like this, we feel a little bit like orphans. We’re isolated. We’re alone. We’re facing something we’ve never faced before, perhaps never even imagined would happen. But the same promises that Jesus made to his disciples, he makes to us. He will not leave us. He comes to us. He comes to us through Word and Sacrament. He’s given us his Holy Spirit who dwells in us through faith, who counsels us and aids us. We do see Jesus. We see him through eyes of faith. We see him carrying out God’s plan of salvation on the pages of Scripture. And even though we’ve had to separate, we still have a unity of faith. We have a unity with God. Because we love Jesus we are one with God. We know, as Jesus promised, “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” 

Because we love Jesus, we have been blessed to carry out his commands and share the good news of his gospel. Because we love Jesus, we’ve been blessed to receive his Spirit as our Counselor and Comforter. Because we love Jesus, we are one with God. And there’s one more tremendous blessing that comes because we love Jesus. Jesus tells us, “Because I live, you also will live.” The disciples would have doubts after tonight. They would watch in horror as Jesus suffered and died. But death would not hold him. Jesus would rise again. And because of his resurrection, because he defeated sin and death and the devil, his believers would also live. Because we love Jesus, we too will live! We live a life of faith and obedience know and we will live forever with him in heaven!

Friends it’s not a matter of “if,” this is how it is. When you have breath, you have life. When you have fire, you have heat. When you have love for Jesus, you have obedience to his commands, you are blessed with the Holy Spirit, you are one with God, you will live forever with him. Because we love Jesus, this is how it is. AMEN