John 18

In this chapter Jesus is rejected by just about everyone around him. First, he is betrayed by Judas, who brings the Jewish police to arrest Jesus. Then, Jesus is rejected by the Jewish religious leaders, who strike him in the face and look for an excuse to execute him. Then, worst of all, Peter denies that he even knows Jesus. Finally, when Pilate asks the crowd which prisoner they want released to them they request that a murderer named Barabbas be set free and Jesus crucified. Jesus is abandoned by everyone around him, the priests, his apostles, and the crowd of Jews he came to die for. Ironically enough, the only one who seems the least bit sensitive to Jesus is a non-Jew, a pagan named Pilate. The most unlikely person to get it at all was the only one who seemed to get it, at least to some extent.

I have found that sometimes those closest to religion, can “miss the boat” the easiest. My sermon this coming weekend is all about how religion can become an obstacle in our relationship with God. It really was the religious expectations of the Jewish people, including the apostles, which caused them to abandon and reject Jesus on his dying day. And, if we’re honest, we have to admit that we often do the same thing. When Jesus does not meet our religious expectations, we tend to abandon and reject him and his will. We do this by allowing what we want to become more important than his will. This is a slippery slope that leads further and further from God.

When Jesus disappoints my religious expectations, I will still submit to him. I will faithfully wait things out and see what happens. If the apostles would have simply trusted Jesus and maintained their faith, they would have seen that Jesus was intending to go well beyond their expectations. They were expecting a political-warrior Messiah who would conquer Rome. Instead, God went one better and gave the world a Messiah who would defeat the greatest enemy of all- death and sin! Thank God for not always meeting, but exceeding our expectations.

John 17

One of the things I like most about our church, the Stroudsburg Wesleyan Church, is our increasing diversity and pervasive unity. In the past couple of years God has brought to us a wonderful, beautiful cross-section of His human creation. Our church is made up of African Americans, Latinos, Koreans, Caribbeans, Caucasians, young, old, middle-aged, long-time Christians, new believers, and seekers. Although diversity of people often means a diversity of preferences, traditions, and convictions, we are becoming one big, happy, and united family under the most important characteristic that defines us- our common love for Christ!

This is so important because our Christian unity, according to Jesus’ prayer in John 17:20-23, is the most influential tool we have to communicate the unity between the Father and the Son, the divinity of Christ. We can hand out all the tracts in the world. We could go door to door all day and everyday telling people how much God loves them. But if we at SWC cannot love each other, despite our differences, nothing we tell people about Christ’s love is going to make that much difference. The good news is we are becoming, more and more, a family who loves each other and seeks to share that love with those who have yet to come into the family to experience the Father’s love.

Jesus’ prayer reveals his deep desire for our unity in the church. But let me ask a couple of questions which I hope you will respond to:
· How is unity developed in the life of a local church?
· What is the difference between unity and conformity?
· Why is unity in the church so closely related to our witness in the world?

John 16

Jesus promises the disciples that he will not abandon them. He will not be with them in the flesh but he will send the Holy Spirit (vv.5-7). In other words, Jesus will not leave them as orphans. He will also not abandon them to grief and pain (vv.20,33). Jesus is preparing his closest companions for his physical departure from earth. He is pledging that even though it may appear he has left them, if they hang in there they will experience the joy, power and victory of the presence of Christ through the Holy spirit now and the Second coming of Christ at the end of the age. On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit comes and Jesus makes good on his promise. He hasn’t abandoned them afterall!

This is very comforting, but there is something heartbreaking going on in this chapter. While Jesus promises to be with us even in the midst of our grief, he predicts that those closest to him will actually abandon him when he needs them most (v.32). The Christ who kept his promise not to abandon us is abandoned by us when he needed our companionship the most. This is heart-breaking.

How many times have I abandoned Christ when he needed my committed companionship the most? How often have I received the gift of his love for me when I needed it but withheld my loving obedience to him when he required it? Why are we humans so quick to abandon the one who gave his life because he refused to abandon us? The abandonment he experienced on the cross was the price he paid for not abandoning us. What a friend we have in Jesus! If only we could reciprocate every now and then!

John 15

I am challenged by v. 5. In this in passage Jesus describes himself as the vine and us as the branches. He then says that those who keep connected to him, the vine, will live fruitful lives and that without him we can do nothing fruitful. Many of us who seek to follow Christ want to live fruitful lives. But the only way for us to do this is not merely to rely on our gifts and strength, but upon the power of Christ. If our service is simply flowing out of our own power and not out of our connection to Christ the vine, nothing we do will matter because nothing we do without him will be all that fruitful. A life live disconnected from Christ won’t be real fruitful; a life lived in tandem with Christ will be fruitful.

It’s so easy for me, and I think us, to attempt to serve Christ without being all that connected to him. Today, I will focus on abiding in him so that fruit abounds. As a branch, as long as I’m connected to Christ I don’t even have to try to bear fruit, it will just come naturally. All I have to do is prioritize my intimacy with him. While reading Scripture, praying, and worshiping are all great ways to abide in Christ the vine, the best way to abide in him is to lovingly obey him even and especially when the temptation to disobey him arises. This will inevitably lead to fruitful living.

How do you abide in Christ?

John 13 & 14

John 13
In the beginning of this chapter we get a model for Christian service and leadership. Jesus demonstrates that the greatest in the kingdom of God are not the ones who are served, as was the case in that culture and ours, but the ones who do the serving. Because Jesus knew his identity in light of the Father’s love (v.3), he was able to serve others. John points out that it was Jesus’ confidence in the Father’s love for Him that enabled Him to serve others so humbly. You see, when a person is secure in his relationship with God he can serve others wholeheartedly and humbly without concern of rejection, humiliation or a lack of appreciation.

I have learned in my own ministry that I can serve most humbly and sacrificially when I’m finding my deepest satisfaction in my relationship with God. It’s only when I put God on the back-burner and forget that my ultimate identity is in Him and not in what I do for Him, that my ego rises up within me. When everything in my life becomes a force focused on love for God and for others, it doesn’t matter what people think of me because I am secure in Him. Today, I will be secure enough in my identity as God’s son that I will serve others humbly and unconditionally.

John 14
Jesus promises that he will one day send the Holy Spirit who will guide us in all truth by reminding us what Jesus said and did. Jesus says that if we love him we will obey him when the Holy Spirit prompts us. This is so basic to Christian faith that we often overlook it. Faith in Christ is not merely about believing the right thing or espousing the correct doctrines. These are important for obvious reasons, but even more basic to Christian faith is obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit when he leads us to live how Jesus lived. It seems so obvious to me that mature faith is not evidenced by what a person knows about God but by whether or not a person obeys God when prompted by the Holy Spirit to do so. The level of our love for Christ is determined by the frequency with which we obey him.

Sometimes I will disobey God and apologize with something like, “Lord, I’ so sorry, but you know that I really do love you.” While Jesus forgives me, I can almost picture him thinking, “okay, Len, but if you really do love me won’t you then obey me.” If your spouse asks you 1000 times to please help with the household chores and you refuse to lift a finger to help at all, what is the logical conclusion your spouse will come to? You don’t care, right? Eventually, your spouse will begin to wonder whether or not you’re really making any effort to love. Jesus feels the same. If we live with a low level of obedience and make little to no improvements in areas the Holy Spirit is prompting us to change, then Jesus can’t help but conclude that our love for Him is minimal because it is word-based, not obedience-based.

John 12

All humans learn how to be selfish from birth and, if we don’t do anything intentional about it, it persists and even worsens until the day we die. This is why the words of Jesus in vv.23-26 challenge us to the core. Jesus uses his pending physical death on the cross to talk about another kind of death. As far as I can tell, Jesus says that if someone is going to follow him as a disciple we must be willing to die. This is why he says, “whoever serves me must follow me” (v.26). Jesus is not suggesting that we are to follow him by doing on the cross physically but by picking up our cross daily. He is calling us to a death he died way before he went to the cross. Jesus, before the cross even came, was already dead to self-centered, egotistical, narcissistic living. He laid down his life by living a life of totally abandoned love for God and for people. His decisions were not centered around what he wanted or needed, but glorifying the Father and serving people. We may be tempted to say, “well that was good for Jesus but I’m not him.” True, but he says “follow me,” which means walk as I walk, live as I live.

Many of us realize that Jesus’ words are quite true when he says “if you love your life you’ll lose it but if you lose your life you’ll find it.” My most fulfilling moments in life have come when I was sacrificially and wholeheartedly loving and serving God and people. However, I am constantly tempted toward self-centered living. Even our relationship with God and service in his name can easily become more about us than it is about him. Lord, save us!

Here’s a question for you to consider and, hopefully, post a response to: How has God helped you die to self-centered living? What people, what Scripture, what prayer patterns, etc. have helped you follow Jesus to the cross where ego and selfishness is crucified?

John 11

Have you ever been disappointed by God’s slowness in responding to your needs, your crisis, your desires? In verses 21 and 32 Martha and Mary both vent their disappointment that Jesus was not on the scene soon enough to save their brother Lazarus from death. “Lord, if you were here,” they said, “our brother would not have died.” Of course, these are not only words of disappointment but words of belief, since they assumed that Jesus could do something to heal their brother and spare him from death. What they didn’t figure is that Jesus could still do the miracle they had hoped for even though it didn’t fit into their time table or expectations. In other words, God’s timetable operates outside the bounds of our timetables. Don’t forget that upon hearing the news that Lazarus was severely ill, Jesus waited a few days before even going to him. He did this because he was looking to do a greater miracle than Mary and Martha had anticipated. They hoped Jesus would cure a sick man but he went one better by raising a dead man!

Perhaps Christ is wanting to do an even greater miracle than we anticipate. And sometimes the greater miracle seems longer in coming than the smaller miracle we hope for. We may want the miracle of getting a lucrative job that will help us maintain our lifestyle but maybe God is doing the even greater miracle of helping us downscale and be content with less. We may want to meet the guy or girl of our dreams but maybe God is wanting to do an even greater miracle by giving us peace and contentment with him alone. We may want our sickness to go away but maybe the greater miracle comes when he gives us joy and a profound sense of his presence even in the midst of the storm of sickness. Today, I am willing to wait for the miracle God wants to do in my life- in his time, in his way!