Scripture: Matthew 28:16-20
What is the purpose of the gathering of the church? This question is asked often as cultures shift and one era of history emerges into another. This is the question that many today are asking as well. Today several different expressions of the church are gaining more ground and followings. There is the missional church, which focuses on ministry outside of the church walls providing service to the community where you are and putting little emphasis on the meeting house. Then there is the emergent church that is seen as a blending of various spiritual and theological practices both ancient and contemporary. This emergent church is one that focuses mainly on providing spiritual experiences that will urge people into a deeper devotion to Christ. Then the last exciting concept emerging in the contemporary church is the new monasticism, communities are being built and orders are being formed that focus on continual and constant prayer.
What each of these movements show is that something has happened within the culture around us where what was once seen as being the primary method of ministry seems to be ineffective. The people of the world are closing themselves off from the gospel and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to reach out to those struggling in life with the hope we have in Jesus. Our culture has shifted from attending worship services weekly to something much deeper. Those outside the church no longer see value in attending church because the church seems to have become comfortable with itself and its place in society, no longer is it a force of hope and change but is often seen as an instrument of oppression and exclusion. Each of the contemporary movements have similarities, they notice that the church needs to address certain traditions that have become commonplace and revitalise them. The missional movement revitalizes the evangelistic mission of goo g to all the nations, which must first begin at home before we can become effective in the world. The emergent movement addresses worship practices and theologies and attempts to bring light back into the meeting for worship. And the new monastic movements encourage prayer, not just in the intercessory manner but deep contemplative and relational prayer. This is one of the most exciting times of the church because church and being a Christian is becoming something much different these movements require each person to become more active, no longer can one just be a spectator bit your faith must become a lifestyle.
I know that none of this is new. This is what church has always been but at times the meetings get lukewarm. Throughout history the church has gone through periods like these, and a new movement emerges to revitalize the church. But it goes deeper into history than just the 2000 odd years of our current era. The Jewish history also has cycles great devotion, complacency, and a reemergence. We can read about this throughout the old testament and in the oracles of the prophets. It is in one of these cycles where Christ comes and the church is built. The church as we know it has its roots going back to the beginning of time, yet in each age it has had to recalibrate to encourage each generation into a deeper relationship with God.
This is where we find the disciples in today’s passage. The church is in its infancy and is nearly getting its feet under them to begin to move without the assistance of a physical lord before them. This setting is just prior to the ascension, they meet together on a mountain which Jesus called them to, and they are in a state of awe and doubt. Jesus meets them when they see Him they begin to worship Him. They worshiped him, they provided Jesus with an honor only allowed to be performed in the temple, yet here they gave it to Jesus. In the midst of this honor, Jesus tells them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
All authority, do we understand what this implies? To most of us it means that Jesus, has been given authority to rule,, jurisdiction, and power, but it can also mean freedom to act. All freedom to act in heaven and on earth. That is an interesting concept, not only does he have the power and ability to rule but he has all freedom to act upon what is necessary. Jesus demonstrated this authority in many ways as he lived and ministered in Galilee and Judea. What is important is that by Jesus say the words, “Go therefore,” Jesus is transferring the authority he has to his followers, sending them out in His name. When someone with that type of authority sends someone out in their name they have the exact authority as the one that sends them.
So Jesus sends them out under his authority and says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” First off we need to look at what is meant by the term nations. A nation is a people or a large group based on various cultural, physical or geographic ties. It can also refer to heathens, pagan, or Gentiles. Jesus is sending them out to all people, including all the heathens, pagans, Gentiles, and Jews. All the nations that is pretty hard to imagine. The apostles were given this task with authority passed down to them by Jesus himself, and that authority and mission has been passed down to each one of us because all the nations have yet to be reached. This is a task that will last through ages and ages to come. With each new birth of a child it extends the mission of Jesus Christ. With each new cultural shift and change we as agents of Jesus are given the freedom to go therefore and minister among them. We often get caught in the trap of thinking that the mission is over and that the culture is in decay leaving us to just wait around until the day that Christ is to return, but that is not what we are called to do, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”
We are called to go to all the nations and among that call we are to make disciples. A disciple is a student of a master. It goes beyond just believing that something is true, like I was saying a couple of weeks ago there are different levels of belief. The first is knowledge, the second is trust and the third is to entrust. Disciples are people that have moved along that path past the knowledge stage and are in the process of moving from trust to entrust. I say this because to be a disciple you must walk along the path of the master, one cannot walk that path until they have moved into some form of trust. The term disciple is a committed student. In the first century a disciple of a particular rabbi would leave everything and begin to walk where their teacher walked, eat what their teacher ate, they would imitate everything their teacher did until they themselves were equal to their teacher and could lead their own students. To be a disciple requires one to leave their current direction in life and to become totally committed living for and with their master or teacher. Often we try to soften the cost of discipleship make it easier in some way so that there can be greater growth among the followers. At other times we make even more rules so that only the very best can enter into the ranks. These are the very things that have prompted every reform of faith within the people of God, this swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other. At one point there is a focus on strict adherence to the law at other times it is free grace for all. Both of these are not telling the whole truth these reforms are only looking at the outward expression but discipleship holistic. Discipleship deals with the mind, body, and spirit. The goal of discipleship is to change the entire person and form them into something better.
Jesus sends his closest friends out saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” leaving us with a logical question, how? This is where the various denominations make their splits. Most real differences are about how we train and encourage people along the path of faith. We use different tools, examples, and experiences to encourage a person to take the steps through the process of true belief. Jesus tells us how to make disciples when he continues to speak, “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” Makes total sense right? When we read these words every one of us had something go through our mind as to what this means. For many when the word baptize is mentioned we immediately begin to imagine a religious ceremony of either a baby having their head rinsed by a priest, or a repentant person being plunged beneath the water’s surface. We each have a theological stance on which if any are correct, but in those many years of tradition the meaning has somewhat lost the power. We can pull parallels from the ancient hebrew practices of ritualistic cleansings and show how those traditions are passed on to the church by Jesus, and we can even look back in to the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry and see John the Baptist performing this ritual in the Jordan, but often we fail to recognize that these rituals were just a shadow or illustration to what Jesus and John for that matter were trying to express. The term Baptize is to immerse or saturate and it was not used in a religious context until John the Baptist used it, prior to that and even well beyond it was a term used for the dyeing for fabrics.
To baptize someone is to dye them so that they no longer look the same but have a permanent and beautiful stain. One that dyes must totally immerse the fabric into the solution and let it sit for a portion of time and then remove the fabric and rinse it. It is a time consuming process in conditions that are not exactly ideal, the dyes smell funny and at times can even cause harm to the ones doing the work, but the end product is a beautiful fabric with uniform color throughout. The fabric is transformed into something of greater value. When John the Baptist cried out in the wilderness to repent and be baptized he was not just saying be washed but be transformed, even he said that what he was doing was not complete but the one that was to come after him would come with the true baptism. This true baptism is to take on the color or essence of Christ, so that every aspect of our being is touched and shaded in the hues of Jesus. To be baptised is to be immersed in the very life of Jesus, letting it saturate and color every aspect of our being until we are totally reflecting that that is Jesus. Consider that for a moment. We are dyed with Christ. Washed in the blood of Jesus takes on a totally different meaning. Saturated and colored by the very blood shed for us.
Blood is a connective tissue that flows through every part of our bodies. It connects and nourishes every system and function we need to survive. Blood is a great illustration for what it means to be baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, because blood saturates and connects everything that makes us live. This is what discipleship is, it is allowing the spirit of God to saturate every facet of our being. If blood does not get to a certain part of our body that area almost immediately begins to die, the coloring of the tissue begins to change and then the systems around them begin to shut down. The result is numbness or pain, or even sever cases the loss of an organ or life. To be a disciple to be baptized is to have every aspect of our being totally saturated with the God.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” We baptize by the act or the participation in the teaching of Jesus. Jesus taught with more than mere words, and the light he showed us was for more than just the afterlife. Jesus’ teaching was a lifestyle. It was a rhythm of living. It a balance of worship, prayer, and service to others. It involved discussions and the passing on of knowledge, but most of what he taught was in action. He would often use the service he provided to others as a means to express a deeper meaning or understanding of life with God. But it was the life of Jesus that is important in disciple making. He lived among us. He ate among us, He worshiped with those around Him and he showed us how to deepen and maintain a relationship with God. He saturated every aspect of humanity with His divine presence. He demonstrated how to work and honor God in it. He showed us how to honor God in our celebrations, feasting, and interaction with other. He taught and he demonstrated with his life. That is what Jesus is calling us to do. To go to all nations, all people, races, genders, heathens, pagans, people that don’t believe and people that believe differently and live a life saturated by God among those people, teaching them in our words and deeds. Walking with them as we go and helping when we can. Jesus has given us the freedom to act with his authority in these areas.
This is why the contemporary emerging movements of the church are so important. They are challenging us all to reconsider various aspects of our lives and our activities to see if we are actually making disciples or if we are just trying to fill the meeting houses. The Missional movement is challenging us by asking us if we are actually Going. The emergent network is asking us if we are actually following his teachings by questioning and experimenting with different techniques. The new monastics are challenging us to actually look at our lives and see if we are devoted completely. We could sit back and complain that maybe they do not have sound theology or that they attempt ministries without being prepared. We may even consider them lazy, and wish they got real jobs. But they are attempting to advance the church, they are attempting to make disciples of people many would like to over look. They are challenging us to become the church again.
God is working among us, he is calling us into ministries that may be uncomfortable at this time, but how will we respond? Will we saturate those God brings us to with the essence of Christ, will they be able to see that we ourselves have been saturated in Him? Will we be willing to walk and do what Jesus calls us to do here in our community?
I want to revisit the illustration of dyed fabric. Not all fabric is suitable for all things. People are different as well. We are not called to make copies of ourselves in all nations, but disciples of Jesus. We do not control what the final outcome will be for anyone, some will be called to preaching, others to teaching, some to giving and others to hospitality, some to heal and others to organize. These things are called Gifts of the spirit, meaning God gives them these Gifts not us. God has sent us out to make disciples and to baptize or to saturate and dye the people in the name of the triune God, but God is still in control of what they become in Him. Today is Father’s day and I want to acknowledge those men that have been instrumental in discipleship of my life. Often our parents are the first and most important influences of our lives that will set us on the course to God, but our parents do not control our destiny. My father, both of my fathers, taught me through words and actions. I saw them pray and worship, I saw them help others in need, I learned from my father the importance of giving to God first. My grandfather would often encourage me to look at things from a different perspective. My great Uncle taught me to never judge before you hear the whole story. These men in my life were saturated in the love of God, they lived it in every aspect of their lives, and they encouraged me to do the same. Fathers are to train their children in the way they should go, or point them down the right path. These men did that, but I doubt any would have expected what God would fully do with the fabric of my life.
Our jobs are to make disciples not play God, our challenge is how do we direct people down the right path without crossing a line where we play god? This is where the rhythm of life that Jesus taught us is so important. This is where spiritual disciplines are key. It is through this disciplined life where we develop and build our relationship with God and where His spirit will lead and guide us in our words and deeds. It is in worship, prayer, and service that we see ourselves in the true light, and in that light we will be able to see others the way God see them.
We are in a pivotal point in history. In many cases the western church is in decline, but that only means God is beginning a new work in those of us who are already His disciples. Again we are called to Go Make and baptize nations here and to the ends of the earth. As we enter into this time of open worship and communion as Friends, consider discipleship, and baptism and if in your understanding you are where you need to be. Then take a different look at those things and consider where you and our church should be in God.
Scripture: John 17:1-11
Have you ever really taken the time to think about why we have churches? I ask this in honesty because we live in a time and place where we could get spiritual guidance just about anywhere. We can cruise around town listening to nonstop sermons if we wanted to, or we can turn on the TV and watch uplifting programming at any time of the day. We can log onto our computers read or stream the latest spiritual encouragement from our favorite authors or speakers from the comfort of our home. Yet still we have churches. We live in an era where the Gospel can be spread quickly through various electronic devices yet still we have churches. Would it be more economical to simply shut down all these buildings and just give simple encouragement to those around us?
This is a very serious question, and one that we really must consider because the answer to this question could affect the very future of what we know as church. It may very well change what we perceive as being holy. But before you begin to think that I am saying something I am not, I want us to consider what church means. There is a difference between church and ministry even though they are very much connected. What is church?
The short answer is that the church is an assembly. It is a gathering of people for various purposes, more specifically the church is an assembly of people gathered together to promote and encourage one another into a deeper relationship with God. The church is a gathering but the activity of the church is ministry. When a church closes the reason is because they no longer provide ministry. They no longer promote and encourage people into a deeper relationship with God. That is a very sad and serious thing. But it is something to consider. This meetinghouse is not the church, our financial standing is not the effectiveness of the church; these are only tools that the church can use to promote various ministries to encourage people to deepen their relationships with God. But is the gathering of people important?
Today we celebrate the Ascension of Christ. This is a very important event because without this singular event what we know as church never would have happened. Our Friend Michael Jay wrote recently on his blog, “Reading Acts, I realize that Christ’s physical presence was in a real way a block to the followers of Christ. As long as there was a physical Lord who could be a physical King of the Jews, and physically raise up an army to remove the Romans from Judea, they were not going to understand anything about the kingdom that was not of this world.” The ascension of Jesus is important because it forces those that became disciples to either live the reality out or move on to something else. Michael Jay goes as far as saying that the Ascension is the birth of the church not Pentecost.
I agree with Michael. As long as there is a physical form to direct the attention those disciples of Jesus do not have to take up the ministry themselves and the church would not have ministry. So this time between the ascension which was celebrated on Thursday and Pentecost, which is next Sunday is somewhat a time of unknown, a time when we are left in shock and have yet to find our voice. It is a critical time, a time that we either thrive or are still born. It is like the moments just after a baby is born and when you hear the first cry, we are sitting in nervous anticipation until that moment.
In today’s passage, though it is not directly related to the actual ascension of Jesus but is instead part of the prayer that Jesus gave just prior to his crucifixion, we hear Jesus speak words that are preparing us for this time of uncertainty. In this prayer he also give us some indication as to what the role of the church actually is. This is one of the few times in the Gospels we actually hear words that Jesus spoke when he withdrew to those isolated and desolate places to pray. He begins, “Father, the hour has come…” This phrase is intriguing because it is pregnant with meaning. It is filled with the anticipation of the beginning of something totally different then before. He continues, “Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you…” To glorify is to attribute a high status or rank or to speak the praises of something. What Jesus is implying is that the time has come for the climatic event for him to occur so that something different can emerge.
There is a sense of progression in this passage, as if a mantle or a relay baton is being passed from one to the other. Jesus came to the world for a specific reason for a specific purpose and that is nearly complete. “I glorified you…” Jesus says, “on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.” What exactly is this work that Jesus had come to earth to do?
Many of us have been trained to believe that the work of Jesus was to die, but that is an oversimplification of the work that Jesus came to do. If all Jesus had to do were die then why would he have spent so many years on earth? The work that Jesus came to do was the work of restoration. Jesus said, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world.” By speaking this statement Jesus is saying that a portion of his work was to inform mankind of the character of God, or to restore the reputation of God that had been distorted over the years. When reading scripture at times we can consider God to be a vengeful wrathful being out to destroy those that oppose him. The righteous then sought to rid the world of all sinfulness so that they could appease this violent deity. Jesus presented a different message. Instead of a God of violence Jesus presents a God of mercy, instead of wrath we see grace. Jesus came to restore the reputation of God, to being the God that would walk with Adam and Eve in the cool evenings in the Garden, the God that even though our first parents turned from Him provided them with clothing. The other portion of Jesus’ work was to bring eternal life. “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Eternal life. That is the main focus of so many in the church. We believe that our mission is to save the lost so that they can live forever with God, and if they reject Him they will spend eternity apart from God. The term eternal is much deeper though; it is an unlimited duration from the beginning of all time and beyond. We often miss the proceeding era of time when we consider eternal and focus mainly on the future. Eternal life is life not only without end but life connected to the very creation of time. It is connection our lives with that that is everlasting, connecting us to all of creation and all of time. Yes, it is connecting us to the environment as well as progress, and knowing that does nothing for us because we do not have any way of fully understanding that connection, it is beyond our finite minds that are bound in the dimension of time that only travels in on direction. But Jesus tells us that eternal life is knowing God.
Knowing God is not just having knowledge of God, it is having intimacy with God. Again this form of knowledge is not just wisdom but relational knowledge of deep intimacy. Intimacy is being fully exposed, totally vulnerable, and unashamed. Our culture does not do very well with intimacy, because we do not like being vulnerable and we like to wield shame like broadsword. Shame or disappointment is a sign of a lack of intimacy; it is a reaction we get when we fail to have empathy. We are ashamed when we bring disappointment to another but when we shame others we are putting ourselves above someone else and using them to meet our selfish desires. Intimacy or being unashamed means that there is total equality and mutual effort in satisfying the needs of others. This is the work of Jesus. Jesus came to earth so that we could have intimacy with God. This brings us to sin, which is anything that would hamper intimacy with God, or something that would alter the equal and mutual effort in bringing satisfaction to the relationship.
For eternal life to be established Jesus must first provide a means to bring balance back to the relationship, and for balance to be restored there must be a dual effort, because being fully exposed, totally vulnerable and unashamed means that truth must be established. That is why Jesus’ full life is so important, not just His death. He came to restore God’s reputation through his teaching and ministry, and also to restore intimacy through his selfless sacrifice. He brought God to mankind and lifts up mankind to God; Jesus is the greatest matchmaker of the universe.
So Jesus is praying just before the moment of his glorification and he says, “I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.” The word Finish is also very important. Finish in this translation could also mean: make perfect, make genuine, complete or accomplish, succeed fully, or even initiate, make happen or attain. So in many ways Jesus not only finished the work but he initiates it, giving the sense that this work of restoring intimacy with God, was set in motion by Jesus. That through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension the path, process, or course was set but there is more yet to do. This is why the church is still and will always be important. This is why the gathering of the disciples is necessary. Because we are not just waiting for time to end but we are to be active participant in eternal life. Jesus set the course and then He prays to the Father, “…protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”
So that they may be one… What is the church? What is the future of the church? We are the ones that are to continue down the path that Jesus has set before us, we are the ones to continue the process and to encourage each other along that course that Jesus initiated. Jesus brought God down to mankind and set the course for us to be lifted up to God. He made it possible for a restoration of intimacy with God, but intimacy is a two way street. We each are unique individuals with different preferences and desires; we all have different ideas and passions. Our culture recognizes that and questions this concept of one way to intimacy with God through Jesus because of this. They question this one way because often we like the ancient religious leaders throughout history have made interpretations about God that may or may not be true. We have tried to systematically understand and confine God so that we can easily control the relationship, only to find out that at times we in the attempt of righteousness, close doors of intimacy with God to others, as we demand conformity instead of intimacy. So that they may be one, does not mean we must all be the same, but that we exist and belong to the whole. We live connected to the eternal now and ever more. The church is involved in this process not to bring in shame, which is the opposite of intimacy, but to encourage deeper intimacy. We are called to walk along side others like Jesus walked with his disciples, accepting people where they are at that moment and then encouraging them to take a step closer to God. One step at a time, so that they like us can belong and find a place with God. This does not always look the same for all people. Some have different preferences in their expression of intimacy than others, some require music while others do not, some prefer the deepness of hymns while others like the passion of praise choruses, some desire art while others need simplicity in the worship space. As a church we should recognize that there are differences in the expressions and preferences of intimacy with God and celebrate those differences, letting our desires known while yielding also to the desires of others. But in all things honoring each other as being loved by God and encouraging each other do deepen that relationship.
Jesus finished the work the Father had for him. He was with the father before the world existed and has returned. He came to restore the reputation and intimacy between God and mankind. He brings God to us and set up and initiated the means for mankind to restore their relationship with God. This is through the Church, which was birthed the day that Jesus ascended into heaven. The church will always be needed, there will always be a need for the interpersonal connection between unique personalities because through that interaction we develop the intimacy of eternal life, which includes all creatures for all times. How those gathering happen and how they look is a totally different story because it changes with cultures and times. Some gatherings will rise and some will close according to the willingness they have in participating in this ongoing ministry that Jesus began. The ministry of Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the Love of Christ with others, through worship, prayer and service.
As we move into this time of open worship or centering prayer together let us meditate on this prayer of Jesus. Let us reflect on the work that He finished and initiated, let us consider the totality of eternal life, and let us be one as Jesus and the Father are one.
Scripture: John 14:15-21
It seem that today we live in a culture of consumption. I say this not to be critical of the world but as an observation. We want and we strive to obtain what we want. The problem comes when we do not know what we want. That is where consumption comes in. It is when we seek to fill a need with something but what we seek to find fulfillment leaves us not only still seeking to fill the need, but needing more of it. The ancient Persians observed this sort of thing when they first diagnosed diabetes, saying that there was an increased appetite but a collapse of function. That seems to describe our cultural condition, we have an increased appetite but the results of our appetites seem to go nowhere. This consumptive disease affects all aspects of our lives. It affects our minds when we fill it with things of little or no lasting value. How often do we stay glued to the 24-hour news cycle where there is a constant repeat and rehashing of the same story continuously for days or weeks, or we spend hours online reading articles that seem interesting but have little evidence to back them up? We fill our minds up we consume vast quantities of information yet have learned very little. This consumptive disease affects our bodies in ways that I do not really need to describe because we have all seen these effects. It saps our strength; because we spend hours working in front of monitors sitting in chairs to the point that walking up the stairs becomes a chore. But what we least see is how this consumptive disease has damaged our spirits. It may surprise you that our culture is spiritual consumers, but often people will get a dose of the spiritual fell good for a while and go back for more. The problem is that they seek quick fixes and when reality sets in they leave and try something else, using excuses like, “I’m just not being fed.” Which then leads them to something different that may or may not fill the need, and all too often the spirit is left hungry because we have an increased appetite but a collapse of function because we filled our hunger with nothing of lasting value.
This consumption based culture will often look at passages like John 14 and focus on verse 12, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…” and believe that the miraculous should be happening all around them if they believe hard enough. Then they will read verse 14, “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it…” and then will allow that to justify their consumption based lifestyles. The danger is that often things do not work how we want, and we pray and ask for things in Jesus’ name and they do not happen how we desire. We strive to do great works and maybe our efforts do not have the results that we wanted so we begin to question our spirituality and question God. We then turn to other ideas and consume other brands of the spiritual. This is one reason why I felt it was necessary to focus on the term believe last week. Because without belief, without the movement from knowledge, to trust, to entrust we run the risk of consuming spirituality without getting nourishment.
Which leads us to today’s passage. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” These verses that follow directly after the verse that says you can have anything you ask of me, seem to turn that verse upside down. Because the asking of verse 14 would be tempered by the pleasure we seek in Jesus whom we love. If we love Jesus, we are entrusting to Him our desires and the fulfillment of our desires. So when we ask for things in His name they are not our desires but His. And the thing that Jesus gives, the desire we long for and ask for in His name is another Advocate that will be with us forever.
Jesus is telling this to His closest friends, He is looking at them and can see that in each of their minds the greatest desire that they have is that He would stay with them forever, establish the kingdom and throw off the chains of their overlords. Jesus is telling them that they will not be without. They want Him to stay but the Father will give them another Advocate. The key word there is another. We often jump over that word and read Advocate. The term Advocate is one that is often illustrated in the legal usage of the word, which is similar to a lawyer or one that represents an individual. This word is also translated as helper, comforter, and consoler each of those terms lend a different type of image. And even the legal terminology seems to fall short, because the term refers to a special kind of lawyer, one that is more of an advisor as well as a representative. This type of lawyer is a close friend that helps you discern a path into the future. So I do not want to diminish the importance of the Advocate but want us to focus in on the word another because Jesus is already an Advocate. The disciples were looking at him thinking we already have you why would we need another?
This other advocate that Jesus speaks of is the Holy Spirit that abides, remains, and continues forever. Jesus tell them that they already know this other advocate, that they have already had intimate experiences with it but that this knowledge will deepen even more. Early Friends often spoke of the Spirit as that of Christ that dwells in all people. Some theologians would say that not all people have the Spirit and that the Spirit only dwells in those that believe, but I want us to just consider for a bit why our culture is so consumed then? Why is it that people continuously sought out the spiritual or why do they seek to deny the spiritual? How could God harden the heart of Pharaoh if the Spirit of God was not active in any way in the hearts of all people? But then you may say that Jesus just said that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth. This is where deepening our belief becomes important, deepening our knowledge and trust as we move to entrust our lives deeper into our relationship with God. Receive is not just an acquisition but also a benefit. You can read verse 17, as the world cannot benefit from the Spirit, why because they neither see nor know Him. The concept of see extends not only to the visual aspect of the word, means to look at, understand or experience. And the word know refers to an intimate understanding or relationship. So the world cannot benefit from the Spirit of truth because they have not experienced the intimacy of the relationship, they have not understood, examined, or acknowledged that relationship. But you have it.
Let us take a step back again to Advocate. If the advocate is not only a legal representative, but an advisor, helper and counselor then it is the teacher and encourager as well. Jesus is telling us that this Spirit of Truth, who abides forever with us, is our ever-present teacher and guide. This concept is what started the Friends movement. This idea that God will teach us directly is what inspired George Fox and others to begin ministering to their countrymen. George Fox also spoke of knowing things experimentally, which is to say that he had an understanding both through study and intimate experience. Jesus and Fox both are speaking of the same concept here. If you love God, if you believe in God there will be an intimacy that will move you from knowledge, to trust, to a relationship where you will entrust every aspect of your life into the hands of God. And that as this relationship grows you will experience or become familiar with this everlasting advocate, the Spirit of truth. And as that experience deepens you will become less focused on yourself and become more focused on the things that God would have you do in the world around you.
Jesus begins this passage by saying, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” What commandments are we to keep? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and Spirit and your neighbor as yourself. All the books of the law and the oracles of the Prophets are summed up in those two commandments. Which leads us to another question how do we keep these commandment?
This goes back to the Advocate. If Jesus is the first Advocate, the first advisor, intercessor, helper, and all then we look first to him. Jesus in his humanity showed us a lifestyle, or spirituality that would deepen an intimacy with God. And in His divinity he provided the means for that intimacy to happen. He showed us a rhythm of life that would open our eyes so that we could see and experience life with God. The rhythm of worship, prayer, and service which could be called loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living the love of Christ with others. This same rhythm of life was embraced by nearly every religious movement and order within the history of the church, this rhythm where intimacy with God through prayer and worship led them to serve and minister to those within the community that were often marginalized by the world. It was through the rhythm of worship, prayer, and a willingness to serve others that they were inspired to become the embodiment of Christ to the world that was left blind to the intimacy of God. How will the world ever receive the Spirit of Truth if the people that believe do not entrust their lives to God? How will the world ever experience the truth if those that claim to love Christ do not extend that love to them where they currently are?
We live in a culture of consumption. We have an increase in appetite but a collapse of functionality. We have a desire for spirituality but often we feed that appetite with things that do not reveal the truth. We strive for the abundant life in Christ, but instead of seeking Christ to fulfill that desire we instead look for the quick fix. But there are short cuts to intimacy. Much of the trending and popular things of spirituality are nothing more than pornography for the soul, giving us a taste to quench a desire but leaving us still hungry to the point of collapse. This is why Friends turned from many of the traditional expressions of faith, because all too often the deep meaning behind the symbolism was left behind and they were then presented as quick spiritual nuggets. All you need to enter heaven is to eat this bread and drink this wine, and Jesus is in you. All you need to do to gain the kingdom of God is to be washed in the water and your sins are forgiven. All you need is to say a few words and you are born again. None of those things in themselves are wrong, in fact they are beautiful ceremonies that can be used to deepen faith but all to often they are presented as a quick simple solutions to a spiritual life that has collapsed and is failing to function. They can become a distraction to the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that says that the Kingdom of God is at hand; the kingdom is all around us and abides in and with us. They are quick fixes to a broken life that only true repentance can mend; a life where we turn from ourselves and entrust all our hopes and dreams in God, through Christ in the Spirit.
I realize that I may have stepped on toes and may have upset some people, but the truth is that if we want to see great and mighty things happen in our community we must first believe, if we want Jesus to do anything that we ask in his name, we must first be wedded to his name. If we want to see or to know deeply the intimacy of God we must experience him through that rhythm of life that was shown to us by our first advocate Jesus and continuously revealed to us by another advocate, the Spirit of Truth. There are no short cuts or quick fixes only a progression of belief beginning in knowledge, advancing to trust, and engulfed or saturated in the entrusting of our being to God.
Where is it that we stand? Do you have an increase of appetite but a collapse of function? Do you have a yearning for something deeper but do not see where to go? There is one, even Christ Jesus that can speak to your condition. Let us now seek that intimacy with God as we enter into this time of holy expectancy and open worship. Let the Spirit of Truth intercede and counsel you in the ways of Christ and let us experience the love of God so that we can then become the living testimony of his commandments.