Josh Benner

Tag: john

  • A savior who provides. John 14:22-31

    A savior who provides. John 14:22-31

    Last will and testament 

    John 14 is like the last will and testament of Jesus. 

    A Last Will and Testament is a legal document where a person specifies their final wishes regarding their assets and specifies how they wish to provide for family members, friends, pets, and other organizations. 

    Most standard in a will is what a person gives to their spouse and children. Millionaires have left vast fortunes to families, endowed scholarships at universities and donated to various philanthropic endeavors. People have given money to churches, charities, and communities. 

    People have used wills to give to loved ones or to take a final jab at people with whom they had strained relationships. 

    When the hotel heiress Leona Helmsley died in 2007, she entirely cut two of her grandchildren out of her will. For the other grandchildren, their inheritance was contingent upon them making regular visits to their father’s grave. And she left $12 million dollars to her dog, a Maltese named Trouble. 

    When the comedian Jack Benny died in 1974, he had made a provision in his will that his widow was to receive a single long-stem red rose everyday for the rest of her life. She outlived him by nine years and received more than 3,000 roses. 

    In John 14, we see the caring provision that Jesus made for his disciples and ultimately for the church. 

    Jesus will highlight three provisions he’s made for his disciples, and ultimately for his church in John 14:22-31. 

    1. The Holy Spirit 

    In John 14:21, Jesus says: 

    Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

    This prompts an apostle named Judas (but not the same Judas who betrayed Jesus to ask in verse 22: Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 

    In verse 23, Jesus says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 

    Jesus talks about obedience to him and keeping his word. And in answering, he says that Jesus and his Father will love the person who keeps his word and make their home with them. There’s some nuance here. 

    In 14:16, Jesus has talked of giving a helper, advocate, counselor to his disciples. That is the Spirit. 

    But in verse 23, Jesus is saying that it is he and his father who will make a home with the person. Think of it like progressing a thought. Jesus is giving further elaboration on the Spiritual dimension of how he is to provide for his disciples. 

    In verse 26, Jesus will specify that the helper he’s referring to here is the Holy Spirit. 

    So he is giving the helper – the Spirit – but the Father and Son will make a home with the person who loves Jesus and keeps his word. This passage emphasizes the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working together. 

    And it is because we have the Triune Godhead that the Spirit who indwells a Christian can be mentioned in conversation with God and the Son making a home in a person. It is the Spirit who indwells. It is the Spirit who is in us. 

    And that is why it is necessary that the Spirit share in all of the divine attributes. Anything less would be inadequate. Anything else could not sanctify. The Spirit brings the presence and the experience of the Father and Son into our lives. It is by the Spirit, that Christ is manifested to us, is revealed to us. 

    1. The Word

    Jesus is speaking in 14:25-26. He will point again to his departure.  

    25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 

    Jesus is saying these things while there’s still time. But he knows where he’s going. He knows what lies ahead. As we said a few moments ago, Jesus talks of the Holy Spirit that he will give to his followers. 

    It’s only the second time in this gospel where we’ve seen the term Holy Spirit. 

    The Spirit is holy. Again, the Spirit has all of the attributes of God. The Spirit is not a force. It’s a person. The Spirit is not created, he’s eternal. And in this passage, Jesus is saying that the Spirit will teach those things that Christ has said. 

    he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 

    What does that mean? 

    When Jesus says to his disciples that the Spirit will teach all things and bring to remembrance all that he has said, he’s referring to the witness of the disciples in the writing of the New Testament. 

    All throughout the gospels, the disciples are not this really sharp, buttoned up group. We see their ignorance. At times, we see their vanity. They often miss the point. But these are the people who wrote the New Testament and were the first ones sent out to spread the good news of the gospel? 

    For these disciples who lived with Jesus, heard Jesus, saw Jesus, and beheld the risen Jesus, the Spirit would endow them with the ability to recount the word of God. 

    Like Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament who were entrusted to communicate the very words of God, the disciples too would communicate the greatest revelation of God to the world: the Word, the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

    The gospels are not just four eyewitness accounts. The secular world likes to treat the gospels like that. Just four accounts of a teacher. But they’re more than that. It is the Spirit breathed and perfect word of God to the world. It is because of that work that we have our gospels and our New Testament. 

    And it is because of the Spirit that we can trust the New Testament and the gospels. That these are not just opinions of men. It is the word of God. 

    For the disciples, it meant that the Spirit would point the disciples to the truths about the gospel and the ministry of Christ which were necessary to be communicated.

    And this is also the reason why the scripture must trump everything. Because there is no new revelation about Jesus today.

    Jesus gives us the Spirit, he gives us the Word. 

    1. Peace

    Jesus gives us peace. Verse 27: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

    One thing that’s interesting to consider is the idea of peace in Ancient Rome. For the Romans, “peace” was kept through power. And I think it’s fair to say that that’s true in America too. And I’m not really trying to make a political statement. But there’s peace by force. 

    But that’s not what Jesus is talking about with the peace that he gives. 

    As Jesus says, he brings peace Not as the world gives do I give it to you. 

    That’s because the world cannot give us ultimate peace. There are all sorts of things we can look to in order to have a sense of security. Money, our favored politician, to name a couple. They can’t give true peace. 

    A person can have all the money in the world. I’ve been going through a biography of John D. Rockefeller. Adjusted by inflation, his net worth when he died would be worth upwards of $400 billion today. 

    He still died. Money can give a person many things. But it can’t give you eternal life and it can’t give eternal peace. Jesus gives a heavenly peace. Jesus gives peace between people who were once hostile to God and God, yes, that’s part of it.

    But here, the idea of peace has more to do with an inward peace in spite of the turmoil of the world and what’s around us. 

    In Psalm 4, in the midst of chaos, David looks at being able to get a good night’s sleep as a sign of the true peace he has with God. 

    Psalm 4:8:In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. 

    In Galatians, Paul will call peace a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). In Philippians 4, Paul will talk about peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7). Peace is a sign in the Old Testament of the Messianic Age. 

    Jesus offers a peace that the world cannot give. Do we always feel perfect peace? I highly doubt anyone who’s honest would say so. Some of the greatest Christian thinkers who have ever lived have written about their own struggles and faith challenges. 

    But know that we have a savior who is the way, the truth, and the life. He came to give peace. In a world where there’s so much turmoil, he is meant to be our true hope and our true peace. 

    Perhaps part of the reason why we so often lack peace is that we too often get too caught up in a worldly perspective what peace ought to look like. 

    Bruce Barton is helpful in the Life Application Study Bible Commentary on this. I’m paraphrasing his ideas. The world’s peace is meant to give us a sense of security in ourselves, in this life. Jesus is meant to give us peace in him and knowing his gospel and who he is and walking with him. 

    The world likes to say that peace should bring ease. The Bible points us to having peace that God will provide, but gives no such promise that things will always be easy. But through the difficulty, we have God. 

    The world likes to say that peace is the absence of conflict. Ultimately, that is the future hope we have in a perfected state. It is the hope we have today in that we have peace with God. But with a world that is sinful and opposes God, in spite of the conflict, Jesus invites us to remember that we are his. 

    The world wants us to look to a certain set of circumstances for our security. Jesus invites us to be secure in him.

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  • Another Helper. John 14:15-16

    Another Helper. John 14:15-16

    In 2019, Merrill Lynch and Age Wave did a survey on Americans over the age of 55 on the subject of end of life planning. 45% of those over the age of 55 did not have a living will. 

    And when it came to having a living will, an advanced directive in terms of end of life decisions, and a power attorney, that applied to just 18% of those surveyed over the age of 55. You might think “well maybe those legal affairs aren’t equally relevant for everyone.” 

    That may be. But in the same survey, nearly half of respondents – 43 percent – expressed worry that they lacked an advocate to look out for their interests at the end of their life. Planning for death is not an enjoyable task. 

    On the night before he was to go to the cross, Jesus was telling the disciples of the provision he was going to make for them when he was gone. He knew the agony and torture that awaited him. But here he is thinking about his disciples. 

    He was going away to the Father, but Jesus told the disciples that he would not leave them as orphans. In John 14:15-21, Jesus talks about two provisions which he made for the disciples. 

    The promise of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of his return. 

    1. The Promise of the Holy Spirit 

    Jesus tells his disciples: If you love me, you will keep my commands. 

    D.A. Carson points out that this is actually the first time in the Gospel of John where Jesus has called the disciples to love him. Jesus has talked of his love for the Father, and the Father’s love for him. Jesus has talked of his love for the disciples, and he’s called the disciples to love each other. 

    He’s talked about the importance of loving the Father. He’s talked about eternal life. But here he talks of the importance of loving him. 

    And love results in keeping his commands. Truly knowing Jesus, truly getting it with the gospel results in a life that is changed by the gospel. And so as a result of verse 15, Jesus continues speaking.

    John 14:16-17: 

    16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

    Studying the word “paraclete” 

    In verse 16, Jesus says that he will give another Helper. 

    That’s the word the ESV uses. It comes from the Greek word “paraclete.” And the way that word is translated varies quite a bit in English Bibles. 

    NASB, and New King James Version also translate the term as “helper.” The King James says “comforter.” NIV and NLT say “advocate.”  The Christian Standard Bible says “counselor.” The Message says “friend.”

    It’s such a rich and multi-faceted term that I think English translations struggle to capture the full meaning of the word.In a sense, all of those translations are right because they all capture different aspects of the meaning. The Spirit is all of those things. He is our helper, comforter, advocate, counselor, and friend. 

    Instead of talking about which one of those words is best, I think it’s helpful to take a moment and get a sense of how the word is used in the Bible and to allow that to paint the picture of what the paraclete, the helper, does. 

    Also, it’s worth nothing that Jesus says “another helper,” and he says that because he too is a paraclete. Jesus is the first helper. It is the Spirit who is the second helper who will come after Jesus has gone. 

    The Greek word paraclete is used four times in John’s Gospel and once in 1 John 2:1. And that is the extent of the usage of that term in the New Testament. 

    Atchafalaya river 

    In the book Creature of the Word, the authors give an illustration about a river in Louisiana called the Atchafalaya. It’s an important river for industrial and commercial activities. But it is totally dependent upon the Mississippi River. 

    It’s a distributary that breaks off of the Mississippi, but otherwise has no other water source. So if the water on the Mississippi is high, the Atchafalaya will be high. If the Mississippi is low, the Atchafalaya will be low. But ultimately, the Atchafalaya owes all that it has to something outside of itself. 

    The river achieves what it achieves because of its source. So it is with the Holy Spirit. End of verse 16. Jesus has talked of how he will provide this helper, this paraclete. To be with you forever. 

    Jesus had an earthly ministry that lasted for a finite amount of time. It was short. About three years. But he gives the Holy Spirit which we will have forever. 

    When Jesus was saying these words, that had not yet been realized. The disciples had not yet been indwelled by the Spirit. 

    Theology – Holy Spirit 

    In the New Covenant, the people of God, who have faith in the gospel will have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And so when Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commands, that is ultimately true due to the work of the Spirit. 

    Love for Christ, obedience to Christ, and the Holy Spirit will all work together in New Covenant. Because it will be the Holy Spirit who enables people to obey Christ. 

    The world so often misunderstands the heart of the gospel, and of the Christian life. 

    And sadly still, too many Christians misunderstand this. And what we misunderstand is the Spiritual aspect of faith. The Bible is not teaching us “just be good and God will love you.” That’s what the world often thinks Christianity is. And again, too many Christians think that way too. Strive to be good enough. 

    That is exactly what the gospel is not. 

    We are saved by grace. 

    But. 

    For a person who truly has faith, they have the Spirit and the Spirit works in them. And it is that which results in a life that is changed by the gospel. 

    Christianity is not YOU be good enough so God will accept you. 

    It’s that you’re not good enough. But on the merit of Christ, God will accept you. And for the person who truly has faith in Christ, they have the Spirit, and it is the Spirit who works goodness through them. So we are not saved because of our own goodness. But to have a life that is unaffected by the gospel shows that someone doesn’t truly have the gospel. 

    That is why Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 

    Because in the New Covenant, the time we’re in now, true love for Jesus is in the Spirit. 

    The Holy Spirit has a ministry which carries on the work of Christ. 

    Without its source, the river dries up. 

    -It is by the Holy Spirit that we are born again when we have faith in Christ. 

    -The Holy Spirit teaches us and points us to truth and to righteousness. 

    -The Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives which enables true believers to live according to the virtues which were valued and exemplified by Christ. 

    -The Spirit equips us with Spiritual gifts to use in order to serve God and build up his kingdom. 

    -The Spirit does convict us of sin while also working to sanctify and transform us to greater love for God.

  • Jesus and A new commandment. John 13:31-38

    Jesus and A new commandment. John 13:31-38

    Passing the point of no return. No turning back. Taking the plunge. There are a number of phrases to communicate the idea of an irreversible deed. Burning bridges, which is often used to refer to employment but originates with military imagery of eliminating all options but moving forward and not looking back. 

    Burning boats, similar meaning, such as when Cortez burned his ships when he brought men into Mexico. You can’t unring a bell. 

    Fait accompli is a French phrase for “already accomplished.” 

    And then there’s my personal favorite: “Crossing the Rubicon.” That refers to Julius Caesar taking an army across Rome’s Rubicon River in 49 B.C. as an act of insurrection through which Caesar became emperor of the Roman Empire. 

    When Judas left the last supper, a point of no return had been crossed. And on the night before Jesus died, the wheels were in motion for him to be betrayed, sold out to the Sanhedrin, and brought before the Romans on trumped up charges. 

    And with all of that happening, and Jesus knowing what was about to happen, as he sat with – then – eleven disciples, he was instructing them to love each other. 

    The main idea of our passage is: Jesus taught a world who killed him how to love. 

    That is the beauty of the gospel.That the world was sinful, so sinful that it killed its own savior, but it is through the death or our savior, that he died so that we could have life. 

    This passage divides nicely into three parts: a glorified savior, our call to love each other, and Christ’s greater love for us than our love for him. 

    A glorified savior

    John 13:31 begins: When he had gone out, 

    This is the departure of Judas. 

    He has left Jesus and the disciples and it is immediately after Judas has left that verse 31 continues: Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 

    So John ties together Judas moving forward in his plot against Jesus with the glorification of Jesus which would happen at the cross. 

    Throughout this gospel, Jesus has pointed forward to the cross, pointed forward to his hour, pointed forward to glory. 

    Now it’s happening. 

    With Judas’ departure and Jesus’ statement “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” that seems to be the official beginning of Christ’s passion in John’s Gospel. Jesus speaks about what is going to happen as if it has already happened. 

    No turning back. 

    Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. Son of Man originates in Daniel 7 when depicting a vision of a heavenly figure in the clouds. And so as the glorification of Christ begins, he states that he is the apocalyptic Son of Man figure foretold in the Old Testament. 

    Jesus is glorified in the cross, but in this passage, Jesus also points to God being glorified in Christ.

    Jesus continues to speak of that mutual glorification in verse 32: If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

    God is glorified and he also glorifies Christ at the cross. 

    Glory of the world 

    It’s interesting to think of the things that the world glorifies. The world glorifies the beautiful, the famous, the rich. 

    We have accomplishments that we glorify. Great innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs. We glorify political figures and influential leaders. 

    We glorify moments like when a team wins a championship or a singer leads thousands of people in singing a great rock anthem at a packed arena or stadium. 

    Those are the glorious moments that our world has to offer. 

    Jesus looks to him giving up his life as the moment when he would be glorified. 

    There are several aspects to Christ’s glorification at the cross. Christ is glorified at the cross by living a life where he perfectly revealed God to the world. 


    Hebrews 1:3: He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

    Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God.

    In John 17:4, when Jesus is praying he will again talk of his fidelity to God.

    I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 

    Jesus is glorified by God in being obedient to the divine plan in going to cross. 

    The cross is the culmination of that perfect life. 

    Philippians 2:8-11: being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    Jesus is glorified at the cross by undoing the curse of sin upon humanity. 

    Romans 5:18 says:  Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

    Jesus is glorified at the cross by dying so that people can have forgiveness in him.

    Hebrews 2:9 says: Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

    Jesus displays glory at the cross by showing God’s love to the world. 

    John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

    If God can take humanity’s great act of wickedness and rebellion in killing its own savior, surely God really can take the worst things that happen in our lives and work those for good as well. For his ultimate glory, God works all things for good. 

    On the night before Christ died, the thought that the cross could be the thing which God would use for the ultimate good and blessing of humanity would have seemed impossible. 

    At the cross, Jesus takes the ultimate example of humiliation, and it is worked for his exaltation. 

    At the cross, Jesus takes an act of great sin and works it for an act of greater grace. At the cross, Jesus takes hatred and shows love. 

    A call to love one another 

    Verse 33: Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

    He addresses the disciples here as “little children,” undoubtedly a term of endearment for these men. 

    This is a very endearing moment. Jesus is talking to a group of men with whom he had traveled for three years. 

    They had spent three years with the Lord of love. They had seen his glorious signs. They had seen him face opposition and turmoil. They had seen him live his life absolutely righteously and sinlessly. 

    He had been their friend. Their teacher. He had taught them how to truly live. 

    And here he is telling them that he must go and that they cannot come with him. 

    Twice in this gospel, once in John 7, once in John 8, Jesus is facing opposition from Jewish groups and he tells them that they will seek him but not find him. 

    He picks that language up again in this verse, but here, the tone is more optimistic. 

    In the first two instances, it serves more as a warning to come to him before it’s too late. 

    But the meaning is different here with his disciples. He must leave. First, in going to the cross, but even after the resurrection, his time with them will still be short and then he will have to leave to be with the Father.

    It’s also interesting that Jesus says: as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you

    The disciples are Jewish. But in pointing to the command that he is about to give to them, they have a newer and greater identity. 

    Verse 34: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

    The disciples are a new community united in Christ. 

    And before Jesus departs, he says a new commandment I give to you.

    Now, the command to love is not new. 

    We see it in the Old Testament. Leviticus 19:18 says: you shall love your neighbor as yourself

    That command gets picked up elsewhere in the gospels, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. 

    So how is that given as a new commandment? 

    It’s a new commandment in the sense that the grounding for the command is new. Yes, there was a command to love your neighbor in the Old Testament law and as part of the Old Covenant. 

    But Jesus is reconstituting that commandment for his new covenant community. It’s a new command in the reason why we are to love one another. 

    Leviticus 19:18 says love your neighbor as yourself. 

    But Jesus says: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

    So in the Old Testament, the golden rule is to love your neighbor as yourself, to treat others as you would like to be treated. 

    But Jesus calls the disciples to an even higher form of love. They’re to love each other as Christ has loved them. And the glorification on the cross shows just how high a standard that love is. That we are to have gospel love for one another. 

    Jesus doesn’t say “a new suggestion I give to you,” “a new virtue I give to you,” “a new idea that I give to you,” but “a new commandment I give to you.” 

    You cannot love God without loving his people. And a sincere love for God is meant to flow into our love for people. 

    The Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John wrote three other letters, and 1 John largely revolves around love within the Christian community. 

    1 John 4:19, John says: We love because he first loved us.

    That is our command as believers in the gospel and as a church. To love one another well. It’s a high standard. 

    But it is meant to be a distinguishing mark of a Christian community. 

    Jesus told the disciples. 

     By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).”

    If you want to show people that you love Christ, you need to love his people. 

    1 John 4:20, John says:  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. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 

    Again, that is a high standard. Because not all people are equally loveable. And there can be disagreements. And there can be wounds. 

    So what does love for one another look like? 

    In the times when it’s difficult, may we remember that we have a savior who gave his life for us so we could have life in him. 

    Love is a complicated idea in our society. 

    C.S. Lewis and the 4 loves the four loves 

    There’s a well known book by C.S. Lewis called “the four loves” where he looks at the four Greek words for love and explores their meanings. 

    In some ways, I feel like that’s part of our problem in English. That we don’t have enough vocabulary to describe love. 

    We use the same word “love” to describe how we feel about our God, our spouses and our children that we use to talk about how we feel about our favorite restaurant, favorite team, and chocolate. 

    We use love to describe things we love and we use love to describe things that we enjoy. What is love? 

    I think we look to the love that Christ had and displayed throughout his ministry. 

    This list is by no means exhaustive but here are a few thoughts. 

    Love accepts. 

    Love doesn’t affirm sin. Jesus never affirms sin in the gospels. He never downplays sin and says “that’s ok, I love you.” But he always accepts. He’s always gracious. 

    Love sacrifices. 

    Jesus will say in John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

    Jesus sacrificed his life. It is very rare in our society that such a love is required of us. But there are still ways we can make sacrifices. Our time, our talent and skills, our treasure. 

    Love is active.

    Love is an action. Jesus is constantly serving people, ministering to people. 

    Love is forgiving. 

    Jesus displayed the ultimate forgiveness in going to the cross. We are called to forgive each other. To be gracious.  

    Ephesians 4:32 says: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 

    If anyone here has a history with someone with whom they have bad blood, my point isn’t that the sins of another are insignificant. But we still must work to forgive. Forgiveness comes as a cost. We see that on the cross. And when we personally forgive, that costs us something too. 

    Christ’s greater love for us than our love for him

    So Jesus has just given this incredibly important command for the disciples to love one another and how that communicates to the world that they are his disciples. 

    And Peter speaks up. As we so often see in the gospels, Peter is the one who speaks up first.

     13:36: Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”

    Peter may or may not have even heard Jesus give them the command to love. All he’s focused on is when Jesus had preceded the command by saying he was going to be leaving them. 

    Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

    Peter cannot follow Jesus because Jesus is going to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world and that is not a mission through which anyone else can join him.

    But Jesus responds to Peter in giving a prophetic statement that Peter almost surely didn’t realize at the time. 

    Jesus said that Peter cannot follow him…now.

    But you will follow afterward. 

    Jesus is foretelling that Peter will one day follow Jesus in martyrdom. Obviously Peter’s death was not an atoning sacrifice the way that Christ’s was. But Peter, along with most of the disciples, would give his life for the gospel. 

    After Jesus died and rose, he commissioned Peter to be a leader in the early Church but he also tells Peter in John 21:18: Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.

    But it’s not yet the time for Peter to give his life for Jesus. Indeed, Peter is not yet ready for that. But Peter doesn’t want to hear it. 

    Verse 37: Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 

    Peter says he will lay down his life for Jesus. It’s easy to say the things we’ll die for when we’re not in a life and death situation. Jesus has said that it’s true that one day, Peter will. 

    But Jesus knows Peter better than Peter knows himself and he knows that Peter will fail him. 

    Verse 38: Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. 

    I listened to a sermon recently and I forget who the preacher was but someone pointed out that after Jesus says this, in John’s gospel, Peter gets real quiet. 

    In chapters 14-17, Jesus will give a lot of teaching to his disciples and we hear nothing from Peter. Almost like that quiets him for a few minutes. I think that Peter’s problem here is that he’s pledging his loyalty to Jesus but he’s doing that in his own strength and capacity. 

    In John 18, Jesus is arrested, and we see Peter quickly there to intervene. He takes out his sword and cuts a man named Malchus. Jesus rebukes Peter for this. But after Jesus is arrested, he’s spotted and a girl questions him as being one of Jesus’ disciples. And three times, he denies being with Jesus. 

    But in John 13, those events were still a few hours away and it’s just Jesus and his 11 disciples. 

    It’s ironic. 

    Jesus has commanded the disciples to love each other as he loved them, knowing that he’s about to lay down his life for them. 

    Peter speaks up about being loyal to Christ to the point of death when he will ultimately deny Christ when under duress. 

    Jesus has called the disciples to love each other as he loves them while exposing the imperfections of their love for Christ.

    It’s a high standard. Because we fail. 

    We don’t love people as Christ loved us because Christ loves us with a perfect love. And we don’t love Jesus as much as he loves us. 

    There’s obviously no way for us to know what was in the heart of Peter when he stood up and made this pledge. But I believe that Peter really believed what he was saying there. In that moment, he was sincere. 

    But it was also a moment or pride.

    We have a savior who knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows who we truly are. He knows our sins. He knows the darkness of our own hearts and lives. He knows our pride. But he loves us anyway. 

    And so instead of beating our chest, and talking about how great we are at loving each other, how great we are at loving Christ, we should look to Christ’s example and learn from him. 

    And we should know that we were not made to have this love in our own strength. 

    In Galatians 5, Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. It’s the work that the Holy Spirit produces in the life of a genuine believer. 

    The first of those fruits: love. 

    We don’t love him perfectly, but he loves us perfectly. The good news of the gospel is that we are not saved by the intensity of our love for Christ, but based on the loving savior who loves and forgives us. 

    Christ’s grace is stronger than our love. But we are called to love the savior who gives us life and who forgives us of our sins. 

    Loving one another as Christ loved us. 

    Like Peter at the Last Supper standing up and proclaiming that he would die for Jesus.

    With love, it can be very easy to talk about love, but actually showing love, being loving, loving people who are hard to love, can be very difficult. 

    And while there is grace when we struggle, let us never have a nonchalant attitude about love. Love is not a Spiritual gift. It’s a Christian command. And more than anything else, it’s what shows the world that we love the Lord. 

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  • Grace vs Legalism. Studying John 5:10-14

    Grace vs Legalism. Studying John 5:10-14

    A conflict between grace and legalism  

    In John chapter 5, Jesus heals a man who had never walked. It’s a miraculous sign which points to the power of Jesus. But we see him confronted by the Pharisees, who were experts in the Law of the Old Testament involving the fact that he had healed the man on the Sabbath. 

    The religious figures will disapproved of the timing of this miracle. As soon as this healed man picks up his bed, religious figures are ready to swoop in and bring judgment on him for violating the Sabbath. 

    John 5:10:

    10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 

    Legalism without grace 

    The Pharisees are more concerned for their man made laws and judging this man for breaking the Sabbath. 

    In his commentary on John, Richard Phillips argues that an inevitable result of legalistic religion is that it treats people without compassion. 

    They’re not rejoicing in this miracle, they’re not glorifying God for this man who can now walk. 

    All they care about is that he has broken the law, in their eyes. 

    Legalism vs License  

    The Law of the Old Testament is good. 

    But men adding laws onto God’s law is not good. And it’s worse when we expect people to live based on extra-Biblical rules. 

    I’m not undermining things that the Bible commands. For someone who’s a professing Christian, expecting, encouraging, and exhorting them to live based on Biblical principles and values is not legalism. 

    But whether or not carrying a mattress on the Sabbath counted as work is another matter entirely. 

    In trying so hard to defend the Bible, they had taken themselves away from the Bible. In trying so hard to compel obedience to the Law, they had lost sight of the Spirit of the Law. 

    During his earthly ministry, Jesus is involved with several controversies regarding his various healings and activities on the Sabbath. In Mark 2:27, Jesus says: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 

    And the point was that God had given us the Sabbath as a blessing and a way to have one day in seven that was totally devoted to him and that was set apart and scared.

    It’s easy to make rules. It’s easy to give people lists of things to do and not do. And you can follow all of the extra rules to the Sabbath and yet have no love for God. 

    During the ministry of Jesus, he will confront the Pharisees, the people who were experts in the Law but yet missed the true heart and purpose of the scriptures concerning what they’re truly about and what they point to, namely, Jesus. 

    In the prophets, Israel’s failure to keep the Sabbath was a source of divine judgment. They responded by going too far the other way in thinking that their justification was in observance to that and to their obedience to the rest of the law. 

    But to again remind us of the passage in Isaiah 1:13, God does not desire vain offerings. Just because you’re following the rules outwardly, but you’re cold and distant to God inwardly means nothing. 

    That is the great mistake of legalism. 

    And they lost sight of the greater commands of the Bible, loving God and loving people, and when the Lord healed this man, they could not appreciate that. 

    So you have the Pharisees and the man who has just been healed. 

    Verse 11, the man responds. 

     11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’ ” 

    He simply refers to Jesus as “the man who healed me.” 

    He also deflects attention from himself to Jesus. This can be interpreted as if this man is actually blaming Jesus for a supposed violation of the Sabbath since it was Jesus who told him to pick up his bed. 

    Either way, the Pharisees are quick to take their attention off of this man. They’re blind to the miraculousness of what Jesus has just done. 

    Verses 12-13: 

    12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”  

    13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.

    Jesus has already disappeared into the crowd. 

    Verse 14 again moves the story forward:

    14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

    Verse 14 is very interesting. 

    Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you? 

    Is it saying that this man’s previous handicap was the result of his sin? It’s possible, but not necessarily what the text is saying. 

    In John 9, it’s the story of Jesus healing a man who had been born blind – one thing we learn from that passage is that not all of our suffering is directly related to a sin that we specifically committed.

    That sometimes happens. We see that in the Book of Acts where Ananias and Sapphira are judged and struck dead. 

    And certainly we are all sinful and live in a fallen and sinful world. 

    But in establishing a theology of suffering, we mustn’t think that all human suffering is directly a punitive response to a sin that a person committed and that had a person not committed that sin, they would therefor never have suffered. 

    Suffering is part of life for all people. So what does Jesus mean then? 

    Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you?

    Is he saying if the man commits one more sin, something worse will happen? 

    I don’t believe so. 

    Consider for a moment a few other verses from this gospel. 

    John 3:18: 

    18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God

    John 8:23-24, Jesus is again talking to Pharisees: 

    “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

    unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins

    Jesus is talking about people having faith in who he is and the eternal consequences for rejecting him. 

    So I return again to our passage. 

    Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

    What’s the worst sin we can commit? 

    Not believing and trusting in Jesus as the Son of God. 

    And where he talks of sinning no more so that nothing worse may happen, he’s talking about something far worse than being paraylyzed for 38 years. He’s talking about spending all of eternity facing the wrath and judgment of God for not believing. 

    This passage tells us about superstitions. People going to the pool in Jerusalem in the hopes that the waters would heal them. Superstitious practices are not our hope. 

    This passage tells us about legalism. The pharisees added rules on top of rules. Following rules is not our hope. 

    Our hope is in following Jesus who calls us to sin no more. Yes, Jesus wants us to live lives of holiness and devotion to him. But more than anything else, we are called to trust God and live by faith and live as a result of that faith. 

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  • Peace be with you – John 2o:19-23

    Jesus appears to the disciples on the first Easter evening. In this passage, we see that Jesus is the one who brings peace because he is the one who was wounded for our forgiveness. And because of the gospel, for those who believe in Jesus, there is a new mission in the world as we go into the world as his people, enabled by the Spirit to spread the good news of the gospel of forgiveness to the world.

    Sermon manuscript