John 14: 25 - 15:17

Four words caught my attention in today’s passage.

Fruit. Jesus expects His disciples to produce much fruit for Him. Jesus’ mission is to make disciples for the transformation of the world. Therefore the fruit he is expecting me to produce, as I remain in Him, is lasting fruit that helps people know and love Him and lasting fruit that builds for Jesus’ Kingdom here on earth. This word fruit gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that my focus, my priorities are aimed at producing fruit for Jesus’ Kingdom.

Friend. Jesus’ words in 15:15 inspired the praise song, Friend of God with its simple, yet profound, chorus: “I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God, he calls me friend.” This word friend gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that I have more than knowledge about Jesus. Do I actually live my life in the reality of a relationship with Jesus? If so, is that relationship more like boss and employee or servant; or do I hear Him call me friend?

Joy. Six times in his Farewell Discourse Jesus speaks of joy. Just as King David said in Psalm 23 his cup overflowed with the goodness of God, Jesus says he wants me to be filled with His joy. “Yes, your joy will overflow” Jesus said. This word joy gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that Jesus’ joy overflows in my life.

Love. Fourteen times in today’s passage Jesus speaks of love. Over and over again he affirms His love for me. Over and over he affirms his command for me to love others in the very same way He loves me. I believe it is His love that makes it possible for me to produce fruit; it is His love that raises me up in friendship; it is His love that fills my life with joy.  This word love gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that I actually live my life in the truth of Jesus’ love for me.

What word or phrase in these verses

attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

Reading for 1-Apr-12         John 15:18-16:11

John 14: 1-24

30-Mar-12 

As we continue to read the Farewell Discourse of Jesus it will be very helpful to keep in the forefront of our mind the foundation Jesus laid for this discourse. In Jesus, the Glory of God has been revealed. In Jesus, we see the heart of God the Father. Jesus, as the revealed Glory of God washed the feet of his disciples, he loved his disciples, and he was the Passover Lamb that took away the sins of the world. This Jesus is the revealed Glory of God. This Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. This Jesus shows us the way home to paradise, the way home to God our Father.

Jesus promises us the gift of His very presence in our lives. His presence, the Holy Spirit, our Helper and our Comforter, will teach us to dwell in God’s greatest Glory, the deepest theological truth of God of all:

Jesus and God are in each other;

we are in Jesus;

and Jesus is in us.

It will be through this revelation knowledge of God’s Glory that we can grasp the meaning and power of praying in Jesus’ name. We don’t pray in Jesus’ name by tagging ‘in the name of Jesus’ at the end of our prayer. We pray in Jesus’ name when the substance of our prayer expresses the Glory of God in Christ, when our prayer exemplifies the very life of Jesus. When our heart aches for the things Jesus’ heart aches, when our hearts desires the things Jesus desires, when our heart loves the way Jesus loves, we pray in Jesus’ name.

Now all glory to God,

who is able to keep you from falling away

and will bring you with great joy

into his glorious presence

without a single fault.

All glory to him who alone is God,

our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All glory, majesty, power, and authority

are his before all time,

and in the present,

and beyond all time!

Amen.

Jude 1:24-25

What word or phrase in these verses

attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

Reading for 31-Mar-12      John 14:25-15:17

This BLOG, Seeking the Life in Christ, is now available for subscription from Amazon Kindle. At the Amazon Kindle store type Seeking the Life in Christ in the search field. 

John 13: 21-38

Reading for 29-Mar-12      John 13:21-38

Jesus begins his Farewell Discourse by reflecting on the exchange of glory between Father and Son. The very essence of God is goodness, mercy, holiness and love. The Glory of God is the revelation of God’s essence. This glory is revealed through the presence of God. God as a burning bush to Moses, as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for the Israelites during the exodus are examples of God’s Glory. The ultimate expression of God’s Glory is in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord, Christ Jesus.

The Glory of God is meant to be an unbroken circle. God’s glory is shown or revealed to His people and in return His people give glory to God. This responsive glory is expressed in adoration, honor, praise and obedience. The giving of glory to God in a worship service is called doxology. Expressions of doxology are throughout the Psalms and the New Testament and these scriptural expressions inspired two forms of doxology used most often in worship:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below;     Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

The Latin translation of commandment is also the root of the word mandate. In French the word for mandate is mandé and over time its use within the church was changed into Maundy. The Maundy Thursday service during Holy Week is in remembrance of John 13:34, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

Jesus had already affirmed the greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. The new commandment is “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

There is no greater doxology than giving ourselves to fulfill this new commandment to love each other as Jesus loves us. May John’s affirmation of Jesus in 13:1 be our inspiration for life:

“He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth,

and now he loved them to the very end.”

The very end refers to the time from Jesus’ Passover meal with the disciples to his death on the cross. What are ways we can love leach other to the very end?

 

What word or phrase in these verses

attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

Reading for 30-Mar-12      John 14:1-24

John 13: 1-20

Reading for 28-Mar-12      John 13:1-20

John’s Gospel is reaching its climax and John sets the stage beautifully in the very first verse. We learn the Passover had come. This is the third Passover in John’s Gospel and he has been continually pointing to the fulfillment of Jesus’ mission as the sacrificial offering of Passover. In the opening verse John states, “Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father.”

This would be a good time to meditate on just what leaving this world entailed for Jesus. Betrayal by one of his twelve disciples; denial by the leader of his disciples; excruciating pain; and public humiliation are just some of the markers along the final path on his journey.

John shows us the Word has become flesh as Jesus “took the humble position of a slave” and washed the feet of the disciples. That act of humility alone is sufficient to inspire the great hymn of the early church recorded by St. Paul in Philippians 2:5-11. Jesus wrapped his humility in love: “He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.” The Gospel of John uses the word agape, love, more than the other three Gospel’s combined.

This is another good time for meditation. When you think of your identity as a Christian, or perhaps a leader in your church, is your minded flooded with memories of Jesus loving his disciples to the end, to the uttermost? Do you remember the Messiah washing the feet of his disciples?

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God,

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;

he took the humble position of a slave

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,

he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor

and gave him the name above all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:5-11

What word or phrase in these verses

attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

Reading for 29-Mar-12      John 13:21-38

John 12: 37-50

When churches offer Easter cantatas there are always some in the congregation with bored expressions of their faces, or perhaps taking a nap. The pageantry, the music that thrills the hearts of the faithful seems lost on them. We wonder how people can be so unmoved by the experience. Similar happenings occur at Easter Sunday worship services. The congregation sings ‘Christ the Lord has risen today’ and the faithful feel tears rolling down their cheeks. Others mumble the words. While many open their hearts to drink in the majesty and mystery of the celebration, still others respond with ‘ho hum.’

Such is human nature. In today’s passage John is remembering the six signs pointing to Jesus as the Messiah; water to wine; the official’s child; the man by the pool; food in the desert; the man born blind; and Lazarus rose from the dead. Many believed. Many did not. Some believed, but wanted to keep it a secret. How do you explain the differences? John suggests that some people had help to not believe. Could it be that God closed their hearts and minds so they could not believe? I don’t think that’s what John is saying. His reference to God closing hearts and minds is figurative, not literal. He used this expression to emphasize how remarkable were Jesus’ miracles and how much more remarkable it was that some still did not believe.

Jesus’ remarks in this passage help us understand the connection between faith, that is our believing, and Jesus’ signs. Last night when I went to bed, I did so believing the sun would rise this morning. It did. But, not because I believed it would, but because that is the nature of the sun. It rises and sets each day. My believing opens the possibility for me benefiting from the warmth and light the sun will bring.

The Prophet Jeremiah writes, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23) My believing this passage does not make it real. God’s mercies are new every morning whether I believe it, or not. My believing opens the opportunities for me to experience God’s mercy, anew every day.

Many people did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and that he was birthing God’s New Creation. Nevertheless, Jesus was the Messiah and he continued with His mission to bring God’s New Creation. Those that choose to believe benefited greatly. They still do.

What word or phrase in these verses

attracts your attention?

Reflect on that word or phrase.

What insights come to you?

How does this passage touch your life today?

Reading for 28-Mar-12      John 13:1-20