John 14:15-21
It All Comes Down to Love!
15“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (NIV1984)
Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Today is Mother’s Day. Today is the day that we set aside each and every year to show and to remind our Moms how much we love them. What is the best way to do this? How can we show our Mom how much we love her? The card companies want us to show our love for our Mom by purchasing a card for her. The floral companies want us to show our love for our Mom by buying her a bouquet of flowers. The candy companies want us to give her a box of chocolates. Restaurants want us to take her out for dinner. While any of those suggestions— or any combination of those suggestions— would be appropriate, it almost seems as those suggestions are a little self-serving on the part of the companies who make those suggestions.
I would like to suggest to you that our sermon text for today gives us a far better way to show our Mom just how much we love her. Using these inspired words of John let’s see that how we show our love to our Mom is a reflection of how we show our love to our Savior. With that in mind let’s study this text under the theme: It All Comes Down to Love!
From washing His disciples’ feet to assuring His disciples that He is preparing a “room” for them in His heavenly Father’s Home to reminding His disciples that He is “the way and the truth and the life,” the deep love that Jesus has for His disciples was put on full display there in the Upper Room on that first Maundy Thursday. It is in that context, my friends— a context that is overflowing with Jesus’ love for His disciples— that our Savior speaks these words, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
While this sentence seems simple enough there is a tremendous amount of depth to this sentence! That depth is determined by three words. The first word is the word that is translated here as “love.” It certainly won’t surprise you to hear that this is the verb form of the word, “agape.” Agape love is the love that Jesus has for us. Agape love is unconditional. It is self-sacrificing. It is the kind of love that reveals itself in action. Since the cross on Calvary’s hill proves to us that Jesus loves us with an agape love, our Lord now wants us to have that very same kind of love for Him. Jesus wants us to love Him unconditionally. Jesus wants our love for Him to lead us to willingly make “sacrifices” in our lives so that we don’t allow anyone or anything to harm our relationship with Him. Jesus wants our love for Him to be openly revealed in the actions of our everyday lives. And today, we can easily say that Jesus wants our love for Him to be reflected in our love for our Moms.
A mother’s love for her children is one of the strongest bonds we experience here on this earth. As we look back over the course of our life it is easy to see all the things our Mom has done for us— simply because she loves us. Even when we have done something or said something that disappoints our Mom— she still loves us. Let your Mom’s love for you lead you to think about what you can do to show your Mom how much you love her!
That thought leads us to the second word that gives this simple sentence such tremendous depth. It is the word which is translated as “obey.” Very literally this word means to, “observe, obey, pay attention to, keep under guard.” This is not an “obedience” that is motivated by fear. It is the “obedience” that flows from agape love. It is our agape love for Jesus that motivates us to “obey, pay attention to, keep under guard” Jesus’ “commands.” “Command” is the third word that gives depth to this simple sentence.
What is Jesus referring to with the word “command”? Is He talking about what we all know as the Ten Commandments? The answer to that question is both “Yes!” and “No!” Since Jesus has already kept the Ten Commandments perfectly— in our place!— and since Jesus has already paid the penalty that we deserve for all of the times that we have not kept the Ten Commandments (Pointing to the cross), Jesus does not want us to look at the Ten Commandments as a checklist of what we need to do in order to get into heaven. At the same time, Jesus does want us to see the Ten Commandments as a practical way for us to show agape love for God as well as agape love for our neighbor.
But there is more to consider when we hear Jesus say to us, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Jesus has “commanded” us to remain faithful to His holy inspired Word. (Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18, 19) Jesus has “commanded” us to go out into all the world and make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the Name of the Triune God and by teaching them to obey everything He has revealed to us in His holy Word. (Matthew 28:19, 20) Jesus has “commanded” us to gather together to worship and praise Him and to receive His holy Supper on a regular basis. (Hebrews 10:25; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) Jesus has “commanded” us to willingly and generously use our time, our talents and our treasures to support His Kingdom work here on this earth. (2 Corinthians 9:6, 7; 1 Peter 4:10) Let your agape love for Jesus lead you to “pay attention to,” to “keep under guard,” to “obey” what He has “commanded” you! (Pointing to the cross)
Once again it is not difficult for us to see how well this applies in our relationship with our Mom. When we are young, when our faith in Christ is still growing we sometimes “obey” our Mom because we have to. We have no other choice. But as we grow both physically and spiritually we “obey” our Mom because this is one way for us to reflect to her the agape love that our God showers upon us. And when our Mom is no longer with us here on this earth, when our Mom is already Home in Heaven we can still show our agape love for her by “paying attention to,” by “keeping under guard,” by “obeying” the things she taught us.
As we turn to the next portion of our text we see another way in which Jesus shows His agape love for us as well as another way in which we can reflect His agape love to others. Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
Jesus had already told His disciples that very soon He would be leaving them. Here Jesus comforts His disciples by promising them that He would not leave them as “orphans.” He would send them “another Counselor…the Spirt of truth.” These two descriptions of the gift of the Holy Spirit once again contain a tremendous amount of depth. God the Holy Spirit is our “Counselor” in addition to Jesus! While Jesus continues to serve as our “Counselor” in the sense that He “speaks to the Father in our defense” (1 John 2:1), Jesus Himself sends the Holy Spirit to be “another Counselor” in the sense that the Holy Spirit comforts us and guides us and strengthens us through His holy Word and Sacraments. He also serves as our “Counselor” in the sense that He both creates and strengthens the gift of saving faith in our heart— once again through the power of His holy Word and Sacraments.
Jesus also describes God the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of truth.” He uses the power of His holy Law to tell us the “truth” concerning our sins. He uses the glory of His Gospel message to tell us the “truth” concerning our Savior. (Pointing to the cross) In His holy Word God the Holy Spirit reveals to us the “truth”— the “truth” that has the ability to serve as a “lamp to (our) feet and a light for (our) path” (Psalm 119:105) as we journey through the darkness of this sin-shrouded world.
This portion of our text serves as a very powerful reminder to Moms and to Grandmas of how you can reflect the agape love that Jesus has for you in your relationship with your children and your grandchildren. Not only do we strive to do everything we can to make sure that our children and our grandchildren are baptized in the Name of the Triune God, but we also strive to do everything we can to make sure that the gift of saving faith which the Holy Spirit has created in their heart is continually strengthened and nourished. This would include bringing them to church and to Sunday school so that the “Spirit of truth” can “counsel” them and “guide” them and “direct” them through His holy inspired Word. This would include setting a good example for them to follow and keeping them in our daily prayers.
But, of course, this portion of our text also has a broader application that includes each and every one of us. The fact that God the Holy Spirit is both our “Counselor” as well as the “Spirit of truth” reminds us that we need to be in His Word so that He can “guide” us and “direct” us as we go about our daily life. For example: Did something or someone make you angry— perhaps even as you were getting ready for church this morning? Listen to your ”Counselor” as He whispers in your ear, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26). In your conversations with other people let your love for God be genuine and visible. Listen as your “Counselor” whispers in your ear, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). As you interact with other people in your life do you harbor any bitterness or any anger towards anyone? Let the “Spirit of truth” confront you in your thoughts and melt that bitterness and anger away as He speaks this “truth” to you, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Ephesians 4:31). Has someone sinned against you? Listen as the “Spirit of truth” says to you, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).
It all comes down to love, my friends. The heart of God’s agape love is that He showers it upon those who do not deserve it— people like you and me. Who do you think does not “deserve” your love? Let the “Spirit of truth” remind you of this ”truth”: “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Let your “Counselor” lead you to do something you may have never thought of doing before. Is there someone you find difficult to love? Call them on the phone and say, “I just wanted to say hi and see how you are doing.” Is there someone at work or someone at school that you usually try to avoid? Go out of your way to complement them or to encourage them.
It all comes down to love Today is Mother’s Day. How can we show our Mom how much we love her? My suggestion is to follow the example that Jesus gives to us. Jesus didn’t just say that He loves us— He showed us how much He loves us! (Pointing to the cross) The agape love that Jesus showers upon us each and every day leads us to live our lives in a way that openly reveals how much we treasure both what He has done for us as well as what He has revealed to us. Take that agape love that your God so freely showers upon you and reflect it in your relationship with your Mom. If your Mom is still with you here on this earth you can buy her a card or give her a gift or take her out to dinner. But don’t let it be a one-time expression of your love. Let that agape love be visible each and every day. If our Mom is already living in our heavenly Father’s home, we can not only treasure the memories we have of our Mom, but we can take the love that she had for us, combine it with the love our God has for us and let that love guide and direct and influence our relationships with others— especially our spouse, our children and our grandchildren. It all comes down to love— agape love!
Happy Mother’s Day!
To God the glory!