The Gospel of John. A Promise of a Calling John 14:1-11

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1 The Gospel of John A Promise of a Calling John 14:1-11 I UNINTENTIONALLY TOUCHED ON VERSE 13 last week and the misunderstanding of what it means to ask in Christ s name. And as I noted, this is often a greatly abused promise. there are some who claim to know and love the Lord who routinely approach Him with that kind of presumptuousness, and brazenly defend it with Scripture specifically, John 14:14, If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it (other verses are similarly abused, including Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24, and 1 John 5:15). That verse is a particular favorite within the Word Faith movement a subset of the charismatic church that s home to most of the flamboyant prosperity preachers you ve seen on TBN, along with all other proponents of charismatic health and wealth theology. In his book Charismatic Chaos, John MacArthur defines the movement this way: As the name Word Faith implies, this movement teaches that faith is a matter of what we say more than whom we trust or what truths we embrace and affirm in our hearts. A favorite term in the Word Faith movement is positive confession. It refers to the Word Faith teaching that words have creative power. What you say, Word Faith teachers claim, determines everything that happens to you. Your confessions, that is, the things you say especially the favors you demand of God must all be stated positively and without wavering. Then God is required to answer. While there are only microscopic differences between that theology and man-centered psycho-babble like the power of positive thinking, the Word Faith movement legitimizes its lies with a lot of biblicalsounding doublespeak, and the occasional proof text wrenched from its context and twisted beyond recognition. Here s an example noted in Charismatic Chaos: Positive confession teaches people that their words are determinative. God is no longer the object of faith; Word Faith devotees learn to put their faith in their own words or as [Kenneth] Hagin bluntly puts it, faith in [their] own faith. Try to follow his logic as he attempts to substantiate that concept: Did you ever stop to think about having faith in your own faith? Evidently God had faith in His faith, because He spoke the words of faith and they came to pass. Evidently Jesus had faith in His faith, because He spoke to the fig tree, and what He said came to pass. In other words, having faith in your words is having faith in your faith. That s what you ve got to learn to do to get things from God: Have faith in your faith.... Word Faith believers view their positive confessions as an incantation by which they can conjure up anything they desire. Believe it in your heart; say it with your mouth. That is the principle of faith. You can have what you say, Kenneth Hagin claims. Quoting John 14:14 ( If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it ), ignoring the plain implications of the phrase in My name, they take that verse to be an unqualified promise they can use in extorting from God whatever kind of cargo they fancy. 1 VIII The Upper Room Discourse Chapters Johnson, Jeremiah, In Jesus Name, Grace to You,

2 C. A Message of Comfort Chapter Comfort Of A Home Verses Comfort Of A Calling Verses a. A Promise Through Prayer Verses b. A Promise of Presence Verses Comfort From Christ Verses Comfort From A Truth Verses Introduction: Jesus, during the Upper Room Discourse, had been providing words of comfort for the disciples, intended to comfort them through the coming days. He reassured them that their security was in Him and the Father. And included with that security came the promise of an abode in eternity. Thomas and Phillip were, I m sure along with the rest of the disciples, confused by what Jesus had been saying. But they were willing to ask for clarification. And Jesus reminded them that even if they couldn t wrap their heads around the spiritual truths He was offering, they had the evidence of His miracles. But guys 2. Comfort Of A Calling: a. A Promise Through Prayer: you really need to listen to what I say next! Truly, Truly. Now keeping in mind that Jesus said they had His miracles as a way of reinforcing their trust in Him, He next says they will actually be able to do what He had been doing and by the way, more because He won t be around to carry on His Father s work here on earth. However, He will have that task in heaven. Clearly, by works Jesus means miracles - or does He? And this opens some very interesting questions. Did He mean only the disciples would do these things? Was this eventually to be a promise to the church at large? Is this promise still for today? What is the greatest miracle you can think of? Certainly for the disciples/apostles the works that they were to do initially did include miracles. But as we ve previously noted, there seems to be a significant decrease in signs and wonders as the focus of the early church moves from the Jew to the Gentile. And when they seem to occur in significant numbers again, it is in Revelation when God is again working with the Jew. As for the disciples, consider Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will (Acts 5:12 16; Hebrews 2:3 4 ESV). ) 344 (

3 But, what is much more important than these miracles, which finally where just validations of the Apostles credentials? What was most important was/is people being saved and coming to Christ. The disciples and early believers certainly did more than Jesus because He was one man and they were many. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand (Acts 2:41, 4:4 ESV). And of course when the persecution really began in Jerusalem Jesus followers scattered throughout the empire leading to people being saved, the church growing and disciples being made. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word (Acts 8:1, 4 ESV) Once again it is vital to carry out the command to go and make disciples to remember that all of the signs and wonders are nowhere near as significant as the miracle of a condemned soul being raised to eternal life. So for those who focus on this verse and the next as a call to continue to perform miracles they are missing the boat. Verses 13-14: If we understand this truth and then look at verse 13 and 14 in context we will have no problem in understanding them. Understanding of these verses hangs on the phrase Ask in my name. For those who misuse the verses, asking in Jesus name is the magic formula that forces God to give you want you want. This is the same kind of thinking that allows these types to take Isaiah 53:5 - with his stripes we are healed and misuse it to teach God must heal. But the obvious meaning of asking in Jesus name is asking in a way that is consistent with His will. If we ask Him for what He wants to give us we will get a yes. Now we can always do this is we are willing to ask that our heart s desire is in line with His will rather than getting what we are asking for. Paul gave a perfect example of this in 2 nd Corinthians. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:8 10 ESV). And Jesus is so obvious in His meaning it can t be missed. He will answer prayers yes because His actions will glorify the Father. In other words Our greatest desire in praying should for the Father s glory rather than our own needs. The Orthodox Study Bible notes To pray in Christ s name does not simply mean to attach the phrase in Jesus name we pray to the end of prayers. Rather, to pray in His name means to pray according to His will. Just as an emissary ) 345 (

4 of a king can only be said to be speaking in the king s name if he says what the king would want him to say, so also we can only be said to be praying in the name of Christ when we pray according to what He wants. The purpose here is not to get God to do our will, but for us to learn to pray properly, according to God s will 2 Remember, contextually Jesus was giving the disciples comfort. He was telling them things were going to get rough. But their security was in Him. And they would be able to carry out whatever the Father called them to do because He would provide them His Spirit. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us (Ephesians 3:20 ESV). b. A Promise of Presence: I think there d be a lot less confusion over promises if they were read in context. For example in Isaiah 53 it is evident that the healing God is promising through the crucifixion is tied to spiritual restoration rather than physical healing. If you look at the entire Verses 5 and 6 you get a very different picture than the one the positive confession types try to palm off on the biblically ignorant. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5 6 ESV). Consequently the receiving of whatever we ask is contingent upon asking in the right spirit. And where does that start? With keeping Christ s commands. And keeping them is a demonstration of our love of Him. Unlike the Jew who more often than not kept the Law out of fear of consequences we keep His commandments because of a desire to please Him. We do so out of love for His love towards us. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 4:19-21, 5:2 3 ESV). What are the commands? Love God in response to His love of us. And equally, because of that love we are called to love others, even our brethren and sistren. Jesus, recognizing the second is sometimes even harder to keep than the first, gives another word of comfort. He was sending the resource we need, if we are willing to accept it, to be able to obey Him. And that resource is the Holy Spirit. The Amplified Bible translates the verse And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever (John 14:16 AMP). 2 Maximos, Metropolitan et al., eds., Orthodox Study Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 2008 ) 346 (

5 Now I know I ve said this before. What Jesus is saying here should not be understood as saying this is the first time the Spirit has interacted with mankind. As a member of the Triunity He has been present since before the beginning. He was involved with creation. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2 ESV). We find His presence throughout the Old Testament. Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. (Judges 11:29 ESV) And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit (Joel 2:28 29 ESV). But the Spirit s Role in the church is different than in other periods. Because the Spirit would come upon the disciples. And note what Jesus says here. The Spirit will be with the believers forever. The indwelling of the Spirit isn t new to the Church. But the permanent indwelling is. We can never say with David Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me (Psalms 51:11 ESV). nor experience with Samson he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had left him (Judges 16:20 ESV). Jesus also points out what to us is self-evident. The Spirit s relationship to believers is unique. He, because He is called the Spirit of Truth, is totally unknown to the world, a world that functions under its father, Satan. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44 ESV). One cannot follow the father of lies and at the same time hear the Spirit of Truth. But one of the tasks of the Spirit is to convict of sin and draw the child of death to life in Christ. And it is this task that He was to carry out through the disciples and then believers throughout the ages. More on this when we get to Chapter 16 I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ) 347 (

6 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:7 11 ESV). Conclusion: We are blessed in so many ways. We understand our salvation because we can look backward on its provision rather than those who had to look forward on it without a clear understanding on how it would be provided. We, unlike the great leaders of Scripture, not only have the Holy Spirit indwelling, but we know that He will never withdraw from us. It is His power that fills us for God s service. And yes, we can lose that infilling when we grieve the Spirit, sinning and not taking care of that sin immediately. do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30 ESV). Let me summarize what we ve seen. Jesus, through the disciples, has provided comfort for us. He reminds us that life can be extremely difficult. There is no promise of protection from the trials of life. What is promised is first, our security is in our relationship to the Father through Him. Nothing can break that relationship. Second, Jesus reinforces that truth by telling us that He is already making provision for us in His Father s house and that one day He will come for us. And we know from what we already seen than if we die before He comes we will immediately go to be with Him. Third, but for the immediate present Jesus promises to provide what we need to serve Him, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, answers to pray that are asked in obedience and consistent with His will. Finally, and with obedience and provision we can accomplish great things, greater than even those He accomplished. His church has been used to reach the world with the Gospel and has seen huge numbers of individuals join us as citizens of His kingdom. What greater blessing could we possibly ask. And all this is the provision and work of God s love, God s love to us and through us. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:4 8, 13 ESV). For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. (Psalms 103:11 13 ESV). ) 348 (

7 The Gospel of John A Promise of a Calling John 14:1-11 VIII The Upper Room Discourse Chapters C. A Message of Comfort Chapter Comfort Of A Home Verses Comfort Of A Calling Verses a. A Promise Through Prayer Verses b. A Promise of Presence Verses Comfort From Christ Verses Comfort From A Truth Verses Introduction: 2. Comfort Of A Calling: a. A Promise Through Prayer: (Acts 5:12 16; Hebrews 2:3 4; Acts 2:41, 4:4, 8:1, 4) Verses 13-14: (2 Corinthians 12:8 10; Ephesians 3:20)

8 b. A Promise of Presence: (Isaiah 53:5 6; 1 John 4:19-21, 5:2 3; John 14:16; Genesis 1:2; Judges 11:29; Joel 2:28 29; Psalms 51:11; Judges 16:20; John 8:44, 16:7 11 Conclusion: (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Corinthians 13:4 8, 13; Psalms 103:11 13) Personal Application: As we have considered Christ s promises to comfort and equip how can you apply this to the circumstances of your own life? Prayer for the Week: Lord thank You for Your loving mercy. May Your Spirit help me to live in a way that brings You glory. In Christ s name, amen.