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Love
Teaching Texts: John 14: 15-31
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
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. 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.
“All this I have spoken while still with you. 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. 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 troubledand do not be afraid.
“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. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Joy Complete – God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing the way.
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
What kind of peace does the world offer us?
What shape does it take?
Peace when you win
Peace when you are on top
Peace when you have crushed the other into submission
Peace when your circumstances all take a turn for the better
What about God’s peace?
In first-century Israel, among the Jewish men and women there was a compelling question…
WHAT WILL THE WORLD BE LIKE? when Messiah arrives.
They had expectations:
Rome will be pushed back
We will step into our promise and our place
There will be victory and peace and self-determination
Jesus shows up and begins making these Messiah claims, sometimes quite obscurely, but He keeps asking now that Messiah has arrived – WHAT WILL YOU BE LIKE?
Many are asking what will the world be like when God sends the Messiah (Jesus’ disciples among them - there’s an obsession with this certain groups of American Christianity even now)
God is asking what will you be like now that I’ve sent the Messiah?
We ask what will the world be like when God shows up?
God asks What will you be like when God shows up?
BECAUSE YOU WILL MAKE THE WORLD
God says “I already made the world, what will you make the world?”
One of the ways you bear the image of God is the ability to make worlds - to make spaces what they are, to make times what they are, to fill up voids with creation, where there is nothing, to make something, where there is something to to take that and make something out of it.
Your interior life
Your actual habits
Your apartment
Your family
THERE ARE PLACES YOU HAVE DOMINION IN THE WORLD. WHAT WILL YOU BE LIKE?
AGAIN THE CONTEXT IS JESUS’ LAST EXTENDED HOURS TALKING WITH HIS FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS WHO WILL CARRY THIS MOVEMENT FORWARD
The last time he will teach them before going to the Cross. Often called the farewell discourse.
IF YOU LOVE ME → KEEP MY COMMANDS
How do you feel hearing these words?
How does your heart respond to such a statement?
This is pretty hard for us on first blush.
We do not want to think at first of our love relationships being contingent on keeping commands.
But we cannot flip it around. We know from the whole story He isn’t saying, IF YOU DON’T KEEP MY COMMANDS I WONT LOVE YOU.
We have so many examples of Jesus showing love even to those who had no interest in hearing or doing what He said.
JESUS SAYS IF YOU LOVE ME…
It is not simply feeling nice feelings towards me (though our affections matter)
It is not gathering weekly to sing songs (though worship matters),
It is living the life I have shown you and given you.
JESUS IS SAYING IF YOU LOVE ME, TRUST MY LOVE ENOUGH TO FOLLOW MY WAY OF LIFE
SO THEN ALSO A SUPER IMPORTANT QUESTION IS - What does Jesus command?
The best summary is in Matthew 22:
Love the Lord with all you heart soul mind and strength
Love your neighbor as yourself
HOW?
Live in conversation with me
Live by the Holy Spirit
THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Read John 14
“All this I have spoken while still with you. 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. 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.” – John 14 v 25-27
What does the Spirit do?
How can this encourage you today?
“All the main themes of the gospel so far are now revealed for what they are: truths about the inner life of the father and son, truths which turn to fire and love and invite us to warm ourselves within their inmost circle.” – NT WRIGHT
Judas asked a key question:
“Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” – John 14 v 22
Jesus answers:
“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.” – John 14 v 23-24
This stretches back to the first motivations of creation and the last hopes of redemption
THAT GOD WOULD MAKE HIS HOME WITH US
God’s peace
Peace that can hold up when you have just been betrayed, when you are being denied, when you are falsely accused
Peace that might be able to pass through death and return
Peace that is beyond human understanding
Peace that is like the shalom of being united to the inner life of God and radiant love that is at the center of the Trinity.
