05-08-2022 John 14:15-31
John 14:15 “If you love Me, obey My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all
truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and
doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and
later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will
come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see Me, but you
will see Me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know
that I am in my Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept My commandments and obey them
are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them.
And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them.”
22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other
disciple with that name) said to Him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal Yourself
only to us and not to the world at large?”
23 Jesus replied, “All who love Me will do what I
say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make Our home with each of
them. 24 Anyone who doesn’t love Me will not obey Me.
And remember, My words are not My Own. What I am telling you is from the Father
who sent Me. 25 I am telling you these things now while I am
still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as My
representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—He will teach you everything and will
remind you of everything I have told you.
27 “I am leaving you with a Gift—Peace of Mind
and Heart. And the Peace I give is a Gift the world cannot give. So don’t be
troubled or afraid. 28 Remember what I told you: I am going away, but
I will come back to you again. If you really loved Me, you would be happy that
I am going to the Father, Who is greater than I am. 29 I have told you these things before they
happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.
30 “I don’t have much more time to talk to you,
because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over Me, 31 but I will do what the Father requires of Me,
so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
Greetings on this Mother’s Day.
Someone Has Made a List Of 9 Things That Mom’s Would Never Say.
As Cheryl Shares These,
See If You Can Hear Your Mom
Saying Any of These Words:
Raise Your Hand IF Your Mom Ever Said:
1.
“How on Earth
Can You See The TV
By Sitting So Far
Back?”
Anybody?
2.
“Yeah, I Used to Skip School a Lot Too.”
3.
“That’s Right!
Just Leave All of
the Lights On . . .
It Makes the House
Look More Cheery.”
4.
“Let Me Smell That Shirt –
Yeah, It’s Good For At
least Another Week.”
5.
“Go Ahead and Keep That Stray Dog, Honey.
And I’ll Be Glad to
Feed
And Walk Him Every
Day.”
6.
“Well, If Timmy’s Mom Says It’s OK,
That’s Good Enough for
Me.”
7.
“The Curfew Is Just a General Time to Shoot For. It’s Not Like I’m Running
a Prison Around Here.”
8.
“I Don’t Have a Tissue with Me . . .
So, it’s OK. Just
Use Your Sleeve.”
9.
“Don’t Bother Wearing a Jacket Today.
The Weather Is Bound
to Improve.”
But You Know,
·
Someone Has to Make
Sure
o
That We All Survive
Our Childhood.
And Usually That
Task Falls Upon Mom.
We Can’t Imagine of a Better Lesson
·
To Have on Mother’s Day –
o Then One Which Begins with These Words:
“IF Anyone Loves Me, he Will Obey . . .”
THAT IS EXACTLY What Christ Says to Us
Within Our Text for Today.
Jesus Said to His Disciples:
“IF Anyone Loves Me, he Will Obey My Teaching.
My Father Will Love him,
And We Will Come to him
And Make Our Home With him . . .”
It Is Plain and
Simple:
Obedience Is Important!
And OBEDIENCE Is Also,
·
So Important to Have
o Within Our Spiritual Lives as Well.
There Was a professor Who Was Giving a Lecture
o On Company Slogans
And He Asked His Students
§ If Any of These Were Familiar with Them.
And I am Going to Follow Suit by Asking You
To Speak Up – And Tell Us
IF You Recognize Any of These:
Which Company Has the Slogan,
“FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES?”
United Airlines
OK - Can You Tell Me Which Company Has the
Slogan,
“DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT?”
American Express
AND - Can You Tell Me Which Company
Bears The Slogan,
“JUST DO IT?”
Nike's
But within this Teacher’s Lecture Class,
For that last One,
There was a Student Who Cried Out:
“HEY - That’s My
Mom!”
Now – Can You Just Visualize –
A Group of People – Sitting Around a Table
Brain Storming on Ideas,
For The ‘NEW’ Nike’s Slogan Campaign?
And then – With an Intent as a Joke,
One Blurts Out:
My Mom’s Slogan is
“Just Do It!”
“Why?”
“BECAUSE I SAID SO!”
But Jesus Said to His Disciples:
“IF Anyone Loves Me,
he Will Obey My Teaching.
My Father Will Love him,
And We Will Come to him
And Make Our Home with him . . .”
TRULY – No One Can
Not Deny It!
There Is a Connecting Link
Between Love and Obedience.
It Is True
·
You Can Threaten
a Child into Obedience!
·
You Can Punish
an Act of Willful Defiance.
But The Only Way That Our Children
Will Ever Internalize – Adopt & Take Upon
·
Themselves The Values Which We Desire
§ For Them to Have
§ IS IF THEY
Connect With Us – Thru - a Bond
of Love!
And Within Them Doing This -
·
Creating This Type of Bond -
o That Type of Bond WHICH
§ Can Never Be Broken!
It Is ONLY Thru LOVE!
And the SAME – Is TRUE
Within Our Relationship with GOD!
It Is That Important –
IF - You Love God,
THEN - You Must Obey God’s Commands.
But – Let Us Begin There:
OBEYING - GOD’S - Commands.
I Agree - That Does Sound Pretty Basic.
But – In ALL Truth –
It Has Become
A Lost
Teaching Within Our Day.
Recently - We Have Become
·
A Permissive,
o And A Tolerant - Type of Society.
With Us Being Part of Our Society –
We have Grown and Learn to Say:
“It Is OK To Do Your
Own Thing!
IF That Is What
Makes You Happy –
Then It Is OK with
Me!”
YOU SEE -
The Lines Between
·
RIGHT And WRONG
Have Become So Blurred,
Within
Everyone
Doing What
They Want to Do!
And That Is
Regardless
OF WHAT It Is.
Within Our Today,
It Just Seems That
We Make Our
Own MORALITY as We Go.
We No Longer Follow ANYONE NOR ANY RULES!
NOW – Of Course - That Is Not ALL of Us
BUT SADDLY – That Is MANY of Us!
TRUE - Many of Us ARE Saying
“That We Believe in GOD’S Commandments”
BUT – In - ALL REALITY,
·
Many Seem to Have
o
An Increasing Difficulty in Applying Any
§ Of GOD’S Standards
·
WITHIN Their OWN – Daily - Lives.
NOW –
Unless – We Have Been
Living Within A VACUUM from the Early 60’s,
I Do Not Believe It Comes to Anyone’s Surprise,
That - SOME PEOPLE – TRULY - Have a
VERY DIFFICULT Time
With Living Within “Obedience.”
“Submitting To Authority,”
·
For Many of Us, (SIMPLY PUT)
WE – JUST - DO - NOT - LIKE - IT!
But – Isn’t that How LIFE Works?
Do We Not – Submit to Our Parents?
Do We Not - Submit to Our Teacher?
What About - Submit to Authority?
How About Us – Submitting to Our
Employer?
And it is VERY TRUE –
We Must Submit to God!
However – For Many Of Us,
·
Are OFFENDED
o By Even The
Notion of
Submission & Obedience.
OH – HOW - We JUST WANT to Be
the Captain
Of Our Own Ship!
But OBEDIENCE & SUBMISSION,
·
THEY Are SO Important
Traits
o
FOR A Successful Life
Particularly Within ‘A LIFE In GOD!’
YES -
GOD Is a God of Abundant Grace!
And This Is True!
BUT - This by No Means Says
·
That God Does Not Have
o
‘Living Expectations’
FROM and OF
Each and Every – One – Of - US.
The
Scriptures Are Stacked Full -
·
Not Only of God’s Promises,
o
But also, of God’s INSTRUCTIONS
§
For HOW We Are to Live Our Lives.
Our OBEDIENCE
To These Instructions,
That is Vitally Important!!!
NOW - Imagine A Company
·
Where the President Decides to Travel Abroad.
AND - He Is Going to Be Away
·
For An Extended Period of Time.
So, Before He Leaves
·
He extends His Expectations
·
To His Trusted Employees:
“Look, I’m Going Away.
And While I’m Away,
I Want You to Pay Close Attention
to The Business.
You Will Need to Manage Things
While I’m Away.
I Will NOT Leave You on Your Own,
Because I Will be Writing to You Regularly.
And When I Do, I will Tell You What
You Should Do Until I Return.”
And Everyone Agrees.
So, the President Leaves for A Couple of Years.
But as He Had Told Them,
·
He Writes to Them Often with His Instructions
o For How His Business Should Be Conducted.
Then - Finally, One Day - He Returns.
As He Approaches the Front Door of The Company
·
Immediately, He Notices the Flower Beds
o They Are Just Full of Dead - Tall - Weeds!
The Windows Across the Front of The Building
·
Are ALL Shattered and Broken!
And As He Walks in the Front Doors
·
Of His Business, It Even Get Worse!
He Finds His Front Desk Receptionist
§ Sitting at Her Desk, Sound Asleep.
Then When the Returning President Reviews
·
The Company’s Bottom Line,
o That Is When He Discovers That Things Are
§ Nothing Short of Complete DISASTER!!!
The Business Has Suffered Huge Losses!!!
The Boss Cries Out:
“What In the World - Is Going On?”
“The Top Supervisor Comes Over and Asks:
What Do You Mean?”
“Well, JUST LOOK at This Place!
Didn’t You Get Any of My Letters?”
“Letters, Oh, Yeah Sure, We Got Them.”
“As A Matter of Fact,
Since You Have Left
And You Will Be So
Pleased to Hear About this,
We Have Had a Letter
Study Class
Every Friday Night”
“We Have Even Divided
All the Personnel
Into Small Groups
And We Have Had Meetings to Discuss
Many Of the Things You Wrote.”
“And Some of Those Things
Which You Had Written About,
They Were Really Very Interesting.”
“And I Believe You Will Be
Very Pleased to Know
That A Few Of Us
Have Actually - Committed to Memory
Some Of Your Sentences and Paragraphs!”
“And there Are Even a Few of Us
Who Have Actually Memorized
An Entire Letter or Two!”
“Those – Those Letters –
There Is Some Great Stuff in Them!”
“Okay, Okay, Okay!!!
You Got My Letters,”
Says The Exasperated President.
“You Studied
Them!”
“And Meditated
on Them!”
“You Have Even
Discussed Them!”
And SOME Have Even Memorized Them!”
“BUT WHAT
HAVE YOU
DONE
ABOUT THEM?!!”
“Do?” Asks The Employee.
“Uh ‑ We Didn’t Do Anything About Them.”
Christ Left His Followers Here on Earth.
AND - He Gave Out Certain Expectations
To Each of THEM,
Things Which HE Wants
Us ALL to DO!
The Lord Said These Words to Us:
“IF Anyone Loves Me,
he Will Obey My Teaching . . .”
In The Same Way That a Family
·
Cannot Function Without
o Having Some Measure of
§ Order!
§ And Discipline!
§ And Expectations!
We Also Cannot Serve Christ
·
Unless We Exercise Discipline!
o
Over And Within
§ Our Own Spiritual Lives.
Just As JESUS Obeyed
HIS FATHER,
·
We Too Are to Obey CHRIST’S COMMANDS.
Just As Jesus Loves
Us,
·
We Are to Love Our Neighbor.
Just As Jesus Kept
to the Commandments,
·
We Too Are to Keep the Ten Commandments.
Just As Jesus Helped
the Unseen,
·
We Are to Also Help the Poor.
Just As Jesus
Welcomed the Outsiders,
·
We Are to Also Welcome the Strangers.
Just As Jesus
Forgave the Believers,
·
We Are to Forgive Those Who Wrong Us.
Just As Jesus Prayed
For those who
Insulted Him,
We Too Are Asked to Pray for
The Bullies Who Insult Us.
Just
Because
·
We Are Saved by Grace
o That Does Not Mean That
§ That There Are No Instructions
·
For How We Are Too Live Our Lives.
FOR WE ARE TO OBEY GOD.
For Those of Us Who Have Been Married,
Tell Me - When Was Your Love -
For Your Spouse the Strongest?
The Day When You Got Engaged
Or Right Now – TODAY?
YOU SEE - Our Obedience Grows
·
Out Of Our Love for God.
“IF Anyone Loves Me, he Will Obey My Teaching .
. .”
This Is Not a
Blind-Obedience
·
To A – Heartless-Law!
Neither Is It a Set Of
·
Meaningless Rituals,
o Or Traditions
That We Are Told to Adhere To.
Christ Did Not Tell Us
·
To Park Our Brains at The Door!
We Are Not Robots!
Nor Are We to Be Clueless Children!
We Are Not Children
·
Who Live Within A BLIND OBEDIENCE
o Without Exercising Our Brains.
Neither Are We to Be Obedient
·
Out Of Fear
o of Divine Punishment
§ Yet to Come!
NO!
We Seek - To LIVE
·
According To Christ’s Teachings
o Simply Because - We Love Him.
He Is Our Savior!
He Is Our Master!
He Is Our Lord!
We Obey Him - Because We Love Him!
But There Is Still Another Truth Which Is Even Greater Then This.
Christ’s Teachings
·
Are Given to Us
o Out Of - God’s Love for Us.
“IF Anyone Loves Me, he Will Obey My Teaching,”
But listen to Christ Words Which Follow.
This Is So Profound!
“My Father Will LOVE him,
And We Will COME TO him
And MAKE OUR HOME - WITH him . . .”
Is It Not Appropriate,
·
On This So – Very – Special - Day,
o That We Compare God’s Love
§ To That of a Mom
·
Who Loves Her Child?
Now – For A Moment
Allow Me to Speak to
Our Youth.
·
You Know,
o When Your Mother
§ Gives You a Rule
to Follow,
Even Ones Which Are as Boring As:
“Don’t Sit Too Close to The TV”
Or
“Be Sure to Put a
Jacket On”
Or
“Be In By 9:30”
You Know - Down in Your Heart, She’s Doing It This Out of Her Love for You.
You - Are at The VERY CENTER
·
OF HER WORLD
o And She Wants You to Be Safe!
You KNOW:
She Wants You to Be Happy.
She Knows That It Is a Dangerous World.
She Knows That There Are
·
Just Some Things Out There,
o YES – They May Bring You
§ A Few Moments of Happiness!
BUT - In the Long Run
·
They TRULY Spell Nothing But
o D I S T A S T E R – For Your Life!
·
She’s Not Really Being Mean!
·
Overly Protective, Perhaps Sometimes!
·
But She Is Never Mean!
·
And YES! - Moms Are Human!
·
And YES! - They May Make Mistakes!
But 99% Of the Time,
Moms Make Those Mistakes in Love.
MOMs – Really – TRULY –
Want ONLY What Is Best For YOU!
BUT - The Only True Difference
·
Between GOD and A Loving Mom
o Is That GOD Doesn’t Make Mistakes!
o And GOD’S LOVE Is Limitless!
God Desires For Every One of His Children
·
Is that They - All - Live a Healthy,
o
And Fulfilling Lives.
YOU SEE - God Gives Us
·
Instructions On How We Are to Live Our Lives.
And Throughout Time,
·
These Same Instructions Lead
o US To Life Abundant.
God Does Not Make Mistakes And God’s Love Is Infinite.
It Just Never Ends.
If We Are in God, He Is in Us!
AND - When We Falter – Within Our Efforts to Follow Those Instructions,
o We Need to Remember
o That These Commands,
§ They Grow Out
Of
§
God’s Unlimited Love for
Us.
Author, Speaker, and Sports Enthusiast Pat Williams, In His Book A Lifetime of Success,
He Gives One of The Best Examples
That I Know of a Mother’s Love.
He Tells of Attending a Very Special Atlanta Braves’
Baseball Home Opener on April 8, 1974.
It Was a Night-Game Against the Dodgers.
And It Was a Complete Sellout.
Up At the Plate Comes the Famous Henry Aaron.
And What was Up to Be Beaten Was
Babe Ruth’s Record Of 714 Career Home Runs.
Aaron Had Tied the
Record Last Year
And Tonight, He Was Aiming to Break It.
Now We Need to Realize
That This Game Happened Nearly 50
Years Ago.
THAT NIGHT - An African‑American Player
Was About to Topple
The Great Babe Ruth’s Record
And A Lot of People in The Country Didn’t Like It.
Aaron Got a Lot of Mail That Year.
Over 930,000 Letters in All,
Far More Than Any Other Person in The Country.
Most Were Fan Letters
But About 100,000 Of Them
Were Hate Letters,
Some Even Containing Death Threats.
Williams Says He Was on The Edge of His Seat
When Dodgers Pitcher Al
Downing
Hurled The Ball Toward the Plate.
Aaron Swung and He Connected.
And the Crack of His Bat –
Just Echoed Through-out The Stands.
And That Ball Was Gone.
Home Run!
Babe Ruth’s Record
Was Shattered.
And The Ballpark
Went TOTALLY NUTS!
BUT – HERE IS THE THING -
As Aaron Rounded Second Base,
A Couple of Teenagers
(Both of them Being White)
They Jumped Over the Retaining Wall
And Ran onto The Field, Chasing Aaron.
But – There - For A Moment,
No One Knew What They Had in Mind!
But Soon - It Became Clear:
They Were Just SIMPLY Celebrating
And Cheering Aaron On!!!
And As Aaron Crossed the
Home-Plate,
The Dugout Emptied
And All Of The Braves –
They Streamed Out
onto The Field
And They All Surround Him,
CHEERING And WHOOPING IT UP.
But – That Isn’t the End of This Story.
YOU SEE - Amidst All of Those Ballplayers
Who Were Kicking Their Heals Up Around Aaron
There Was Also
A Short, 68‑Year‑Old Black Woman.
She Had Jumped Upon Aaron’s Back
And She Held on Tight
And She Wouldn’t Let Him Go!
“Henry Aaron Turned and Said to Her,
‘Mom! What Are You Doing Here?’
With Her Mind Upon
All Of Those Death Threats,
His Mother Said:
“‘Baby, If They’re Gonna Get You,
They’ve Gotta Get Me First!’”
That Is the Kind of LOVE
Only a Mother Could Have for Her Child.
“If They’re Gonna Get You,
They’ve Gotta Get Me First!”
INDEED - How B E A Utiful That is,
B-U-T - It Comes as Only a Pale Reflection
Of The Kind of Love GOD Has for Each of Us.
Allow Cheryl and Me to Ask:
Do You Really Think
·
That GOD Would Give Us
o Any Command
§ That Was Not
·
For Our Own Best Good?
“IF Anyone Loves Me,
He Will Obey My Teaching.
My Father Will Love him,
And We Will Come to him
And Make Our Home with him . . .”
