Moments in the life of a Pastor

Walking with God


Leave a comment

25 Thaddeus Jude – “Questioning God” – Part 2

John 14:15-26

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.

Not only do we need spiritual sight to see the Savior but second, we need to:

  1. Surrender self

Verse 23 says “All who love me will do what I say.”We don’t really see the Savior until we surrender self. Most of us want to see Jesus for how it will benefit self, we don’t really want to see Jesus so we can serve. Jesus said that love is clearly connected to action. Loving Jesus means obeying Jesus, doing what He says. Love is action not emotion. There are lot of us that want Jesus to be our Savior, but we balk when it comes to him being our Lord. What Jesus is saying is that those who are willing to hear and obey what He has to say will see Him. It’s like the TV in your living room, the shows are sent out 24 hours every day, but it’s only when you turn your TV on and take time to watch that you can receive the sound and the picture. The Holy Spirit is like having cable television, direct-wired into your home but are you tuned in, are you taking the time to hear? What distractions do you need to tune out, so you can be tuned in? The problem is that when the connection is loose or there is a break in the cable the reception becomes distorted. That’s what sin and disobedience does to our ability to be in communication and fellowship with God. Seeing Jesus is about being steadfast, its more than just seeing Jesus it’s saying yes to Jesus and obeying Him. Obedience allows us to see but it also brings:

  1. Security

Verse 23 goes on to say, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.”Its more than just seeing Jesus but being at home with Him. So often we complain because we don’t see Jesus but what we fail to see is that He sees us and our sin and chooses to want to stay. Jesus is willing to stick with you. Seeing Jesus means we understand we will never be separated. Seeing means settling into a relationship with Him, yet so many in the questioning time tend to stray. Are you straying or settling in? We don’t see the Savior until we see that He is here to stay. He will take those who feel like orphans and give them a family, a home. We will have troubles. The water in life’s boat rises faster than we can bail and we cry out, Jesus “Don’t You care?” Yet when we are at home we have His shelter. We will face temptations and fail so we cry out “Didn’t You promise to help me to resist” yet in the shame and failure He comes and says, “You are still My child come home“. We look back on our lives only to see a string of sins, things we’ve done that we wish we could forget, but things which our consciences won’t let go and we cry to Jesus, “Where is the hope I need?” Jesus comes, hands pierced and says, “My blood purifies you from all sin”. As we look toward the one thing we are sure to face, death. We don’t like it, we don’t want it, we fear what will happen and we cry to Jesus, and the One who has seen the inside of a tomb says, “Because I live, you also will live”. These are the circumstances that produce the questions and stir the doubts. But as the issues come and the questions arise, we do have a Savior who keeps giving an answer, the same answer that He gave to Thaddaeus.  You are not alone, Jesus, the Father, the Holy Spirit, will come … and make our home with You. Jesus seeks us he says you are special I want to stay with you to be at home with you. The difference between a house and a home is who is living there. So, let me ask you how at home with Jesus are you?