taking it whole

Have it your way, someone said. And you can. Take albums, for instance. No longer do we have to suffer the weaker tracks, the songs that bore us and leave us drifting. No need to lift the stylus and replace it gingerly, hoping not to scratch the precious vinyl. No need to press ff and guess where the next track starts. No need to press 'skip' on the CD remote. Just don't bother downloading the track in the first place. Don't rip it; don't burn it. Just ditch it.

But those tracks are part of the treasure because they give the context for the songs you love more than anything else. They help to tell the story, the whole story, even if you aren't listening to a concept album from the heady days of the 70's. We need the fullness. That struck me again whilst listening to Ohio by Over The Rhine. It's a sprawling double-album that is studded with songs that are more than fine; there are also weaker pieces that I often skip over. But taking it whole I realised that mixing and matching was robbing me of the larger canvas of ideas and the need and opportunity to respond to lesser material, even while being drawn more tightly into the finer moments.

Of course I'll still listen to isolated tracks and maybe even play them shuffled. But maybe I need to make time, too, to listen to the whole artistic expression because the artist has something to say. And I won't get it by ipodding them into a parody of Norman Collier.

And listening to the whole might do other things, too. Teach me patience and tolerance. Allow time to uncover gems that only surface on repeated listenings. Gems of rare quality that instant karma cannot yield. To learn the rhythms of life where moments of joy are couched within the lesser. Diamonds in the dark and in the gloom and in the partial light of days undawned.

credit where it's due?

I think that I can safely say that the Judeo-Christian Bible is a self-help book that has probably enabled more people to make more extensive and intensive personality and behavioral changes than all professional therapists combined.

So said 'strident atheist' and pioneer-psychotherapist Albert Ellis in 1993.

Source: Mark McMinn, Psychology, Theology and Spirituality in Christian Counselling, Tyndale 1996.

Two

years passed
since your
passing;
since the moment
your life
ceased
with a final
lunge;
since the loosed
departure
into a void
not seen
and your presence
lost.

Two years of days
and hours
and minutes
and seconds
and breaths
and beats
that never belonged
to you.

Too long
years.


(for Dad)

writing about grace

I have spent a good deal of my adult life trying to understand grace. Most of this has been through the routines of life - marriage, studying, prayer, parenting, worship, reading, and friendship. Many years ago I devoted some of my routine to writing a book about grace. No one has seen or heard of the book since, and though I have quite a knack for authoring books that no one ever hears of, there is a good explanation in this case. The book was never published. I sent my two-hundred-fifty-page manuscript to several different publishers, and each of them responded with a permutation of the standard "thanks, but no thanks" letter.

Fifteen years later, I am grateful that book was never published. It was a book produced by an overachieving young assistant professor who was committed to routine but had not yet had enough moments of insight to write about grace. It was a book written before I began to grasp the depth of brokenness and sin in our world and in my own heart. Understanding grace cannot be done without understanding sin. Sometimes I ponder what that unpublished book, with its anemic view of grace, would have been titled if it had been published. Perhaps, Grace Lite or Grace: Because I'm Worth It or Grace: I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me.

In the intervening fifteen years I have continued to experience occasional punctuating moments - windows of insight - that have brought fresh glimpses of grace. They are not altogether pleasant moments because they are always accompanied with a weighty, breath-stealing awareness of my sin and my desperate need for forgiveness. But they are motivating. It is the second of two such punctuating moments that finally gave me the courage to write this book.

(Why Sin Matters by Mark McMinn, pp.2,3; Tyndale 2004)

When the big boys come calling....

Mike Rohde, we salute ya.

The Last Of The Peasantry

What does he know? moving through the fields
And the wood's echoing cloisters
With a beast's gait, hunger in his eyes
Only for what the flat earth supplies;
His wisdom dwindled to a small gift
For handling stock, planting a few seeds
To ripen slowly in the warm breath
Of an old God to whom he never prays.

Moving through the fields, or still at home,
Dwarfed by his shadow on the bright wall,
His face is lit always from without,
The sun by day, the red fire at night;
Within is dark and bare, the grey ash
Is cold now, blow on it as you will.

(R. S. Thomas)

praying for missionaries

We all need help in praying for others. The prayers in the Bible are a great help and so are the requests for prayer we find there. In Romans 15:30-32, Paul asks for prayer, as he often did. He urges the Roman believers, “by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit” to join him in his struggle by praying to God for him. To pray for others honours the Lordship of Jesus and is an act of love prompted by the Holy Spirit. To pray for others is also to struggle with and for them, as Paul knows. It is a partnership in hard work!

What exactly is the nature of the struggle in Paul’s situation? He says it is twofold. Going to Jerusalem, he needs to be “rescued from the unbelievers in Judea”. Gospel ministry always involves this struggle. It is a frequent, urgent prayer request of many missionaries. The world has not changed in 2000 years and neither has the nature of the struggle. It is not a battle against flesh and blood but it is often manifested through flesh and blood. We must pray for protection and safety.

Paul is also concerned that his “service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there”. Here is a less obvious yet no less real and urgent need for prayer. It is a request that still carries weight for missionaries today.

Paul was taking much needed financial help to the suffering church in Jerusalem, a gift from the Gentile churches. What could possibly be difficult about such a ministry? Why does he fear that his service might prove to be unacceptable? At least two features of the situation may give rise to his concern.

First, there is the history of Paul’s persecution of the church before his conversion and the suspicion of him that followed. He had caused much suffering and the memory of it may still be sharp in many hearts.

We know that we are to forgive as the Lord forgave us, but knowing it is one thing, doing it is another thing entirely. Maybe Paul is simply being realistic in terms of the struggle many of us have with forgiving and forgetting. And it may be that missionaries today encounter suspicion among those they seek to serve because of past failures. Perhaps mistakes made in the early days of ministry are still remembered and poison present fellowship. We need to pray that God will grant healing in such situations.

But it may be that what Paul is most conscious of is that for many Jewish believers something of the old Jew-Gentile divide still exists. Receiving a gift from the Gentile churches may be hard to swallow, because it will mean swallowing their pride. Paul’s approach will need to combine a sensitivity that doesn’t pander to the pride of others with a boldness that doesn’t brutalise their sensibilities. No wonder he is asking for prayer!

Our friends need such prayer too. They need grace to serve national churches with wisdom and humility, without any of the negative overtones of paternalism. They need grace to deal with situations that witness more to old divisions than to the unity of the Spirit. We need to pray that their service may be “acceptable to the saints”.

They also serve...

It’s a moving story. The great poet John Milton finally lost his sight and then was bereaved of his wife. In the trauma of that first loss, he penned the sonnet ‘On His Blindness’ in which he reflects on the parable of the talents in the light of his own circumstances. He expresses in the poem his sense of frustration and perplexity over how the Lord could allow this enforced idleness, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

Many will be able to sympathise with his feelings. In Psalm 42, the writer expresses great heaviness of heart and cries out, “Why are you downcast, oh my soul?”. Life had taken a turn for the worse and part of the anxiety and pain were the memories he had of serving God: “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God.” (v.4). Those times now seemed so long ago and so far away.

As we go through similar times, it’s good to recall that ultimately we are not defined by what we do. Of course, how we serve the Lord is important. Our gifts allow us to express who we are in relationship with him and our gratitude for his grace. But they don’t define us. We are not in the first instance called to serve but “called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:6). That clearly involves service but it is not limited to it. Significantly, Adam and Eve’s first full day in Eden was a Sabbath on which they rested in the Lord who had made them. They were created to belong to him and that holds true in the new creation too.

Part of our struggle over this may be because we view service too narrowly. John Milton wrestled with his difficulties and resolved them, declaring “They also serve who only stand and wait”. We too quickly limit what serving God means. We define it in terms of activity but Milton had grasped the profound truth that it depends not on action for its vitality but on the attitude of the heart. Serving God is fundamentally concerned with a response to his grace that recognises and rejoices in the Lordship of Christ over the whole of life.

Yes, Jesus is Lord, even over all our infirmities. The Lord who is sovereign can use us just as he will. His purposes are not thwarted when our gifts are limited through age or infirmity, nor are his purposes overtaken by events beyond our control. Paul had grasped this as he languished in a Roman prison. Despite the curtailing of his ‘active service’ he was still rejoicing in the Lord’s ability to use his circumstances and even the wrong motives of others to further the cause of Christ (Phil. 1:12-18). We may feel chained by age or circumstances but “God’s Word is not chained” (2 Tim. 2:9) and by his Spirit he can still use us to herald the name of Jesus, in our sufferings, through our prayers.

The God we serve called light out of darkness and made all things from nothing. Out of the ‘nothing’ of our limitations and frailties, he can fashion something lasting and good to glorify his Son. It’s interesting that Milton’s greatest piece of work, Paradise Lost, was written after his blindness. And the greatest work in all history was declared ‘Finished!’ when all had seemed lost and the Suffering Servant forsaken by God. His ways are much higher than ours.

quoting the quoted

In order to be able to assume the responsibility for other people’s growth, leaders must themselves have grown to true maturity and inner freedom. They must not be locked up in a prison of illusion or selfishness, and they must have allowed others to guide them...

We can only command if we know how to obey. We can only be a leader if we know how to be a servant. We can only be a mother—or a father—figure if we are conscious of ourselves as a daughter or a son. Jesus is the Lamb before the He is the Shepherd. His authority comes from the Father; He is the beloved Son of the Father.

Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, 1989 - quoted on Out of Ur.

poetry, questions and answers

Yann Martel has been sending books to the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (see here). Along with the books, he writes letters and in one letter he makes this observation about poems:

The marvel of poetry is that it can be as short as a question yet as powerful as an answer.

How well said, Mr Martel. And happy reading, Mr Harper.

vulnerability: haiku #1

To admit you're vulnerable
is strong and not weak;
it shivers the backs of men.

Two gems from Harold

From the back of the car came these thoughts...

When I grow up I'm going to join the army as a morale booster.

I'm going to join the army to learn self-discipline and then quit.

who can forgive sins?

In Matthew 9, when Jesus tells the paralysed man, Your sins are forgiven (v.2), the Pharisees respond by accusing him of blasphemy (v.3); in Mark's account their ire is made more explicit: they ask, Who can forgive sins but God alone? (Mark 2:7). It's a good question - and also a moot point.

The crowd who see the miracle respond with awe and praise because, as they see it, "God...had given such authority to men." Authority to do what? To heal? Yes. To forgive? That would seem to be part of the package they have in mind.

The Pharisees are angered because, as they see it, God alone can forgive sins; and the crowd are amazed because, as they see it, God has conferred authority on men (not just the man) to forgive sins.

Who's right? It's often said (by preachers - I know, because I've said it) that the Pharisees were at least right on this point; where they went wrong was in not recognising that God was among them in the person of his Son. So they were right and the crowd was wrong.

I'm not so sure now. Is it true that only God can forgive sins? Yes, but it is also true that he devolves the authority to do so to people - Jesus tells us that explicitly in Matthew 18:15ff, esp. v.18.

So the Pharisees were only partly right; the crowd, however deficient in their understanding of the true identity of Jesus, had got it spot on.

a heap from ash

A small overview on the book of Job that is big on pastorally-helpful material, grounded in serious exegesis and wise biblical-theology. It also helps that Ash can write well; very well.

Young At Heart

Been listening to Neil Young's latest release - Live At Massey Hall 1971 - stunning vocal performance, great acoustic guitar, appreciative audience, gentle humour and, of course, lyrics that plumb depths of emotional intensity both real and raw, whilst remaining humane and sane. A welcome companion on a miserably-wet morning.

Song for Hefina

Recently came across this piece, written after an 18-week miscarriage in 1995. The little girl was due to be born in June 1996, hence the name we chose for her ('June' in Welsh is Mehefin). Posting it here fwiw.



Song for Hefina

Out of time,
yet your time hadn't come;
Out of the darkness,
into eternal light.

Joy we never tasted
and shared at your dawn,
Is multiplied to you
in heaven's glory song.

And lullabies soft whispered
never soothed a troubled cry;
Yet music wholly other
holds and charms you now.

Our arms never held
and cradled you in love;
His are everlasting,
how can we long for return?

Tested and examined,
consigned to history.
Our hearts will never forget you
nor will our tears dry
until the day faith turns to sight
and God, who is rich in mercy,
unfurls the banner
of love's final triumph.

On the cusp

of a study-week, to be spent in our Dandy, sans famile (as Alain Dah-vey might say). Here are the books I plan to take and (maybe) to read:

John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology Vol 2 - Israel's Faith
Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine
Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book
Eugene Peterson, The Jesus Way
Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge
Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory
Larry Crabb, Soul Talk
Chris Wright, The Mission of God

I guess that's enough. I've never had a study week before so I figured that it's best to take too many books rather than take only a few and then find they aren't what's most needed. I also decided to take a variety of styles and subjects. And some are small and some are big.

Of course, a Bible or three will also be needed. And a mobile phone, a set of headphones and directions to the nearest public house showing the Champions' League final on Wednesday. The essentials, so to speak.

The Dandy? This is it:

the words that saved my life

I know, LORD, that your laws are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

May your unfailing love be my comfort,
according to your promise to your servant.

(Psalm 119:75,76)

Tagged!

Msr Alain Dah-vey has apparently tagged me (it hasn't happened since I was at Junior School in Pwllheli) so I ought to try to reply (this is where he did so).

Three characters I wish were real, so I could meet them:
i) Reginald Perrin
ii) Esther Greenwood (from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath)
iii) Querry (from A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene)

Three characters I would like to be:
i) Reginald Perrin
ii) Richard Hannay
iii) Alf Tupper (from The Victor comic for boys)

Three characters who scare me:
i) Dr Mary Malone (from Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials)
ii) Maxwell Edison (from Maxwell's Silver Hammer by The Beatles)
iii) The Cook (in Yann Martel's Life of Pi)

I need to tag 3 people. I only know one who qualifies: The Masked Badger. You're tagged, sonny.

Prescience

Americans are not particularly good at sensing the real elements of another people's culture. It helps them to approach foreigners with carefree warmth and an animated lack of misgiving. It also makes them, on the whole, poor administrators on foreign soil. They find it almost impossible to believe that poorer peoples, far from the Statue of Liberty, should not want in their hearts to become Americans. If it should happen that America, in its new period of world power, comes to do what every other world power has done: if Americans should have to govern large numbers of foreigners, you must expect that Americans will be well hated before they are admired for themselves.

Alistair Cooke, The Immigrant Strain, 6th May 1946.

Why bother to read the Bible? Why bother to preach?

Christians feed on Scripture. Holy Scripture nurtures the holy community as food nurtures the human body. Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolised into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus' name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.

Eugene Peterson, Eat This Book, p.18

faithful servant; faithful son

In Numbers 12 we're told that Moses "was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (v.3). The context for that comment is the jealousy of Aaron and Miriam; part of the Lord's response is to declare that Moses "is faithful in all my house" (v.7) and, unlike other prophets who receive the Lord's word in dreams and visions, Moses has face-to-face dealings with the LORD and sees his form (v.8). There could be no clearer nor more powerful affirmation and exaltation of Moses as the LORD's servant.

The writer of Hebrews also makes use of this incident (or at least of the LORD's commendation of Moses) but in a quite unexpected way. Yes, "Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house" (Heb. 3:5); the commendation is repeated almost word for word, but the writer has in view one who is even greater than this Moses: "But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house" (3:6).

Moses was outstanding in his generation, commended by the LORD and deeply privileged. But there is one even more worthy of commendation, outstanding in all time and whose privilege derives from his being "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Heb. 1:3). As the house-builder, he has greater honour than the house itself (Heb. 3:3) and as the son over that house is worthy of the deepest devotion and the highest praise.

of nails & masts

5 points from Tom Wright, mediated by Peter Leithart.

hallowing the name

Hallowed be your name - the adoration that springs from the appreciation of God as our Father in heaven. The question I had was this: who does the hallowing and how? My assumption was that it is we (in concert with all humanity) who are to do the former by living hallowed lives, in every context and in every possible way.

But enter Ezekiel 36.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes. (vv.22,23)

It is the LORD who will show his name to be holy, who will hallow his name. And he will do so through the return from exile and the gift of his Spirit:

For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. (vv.24-28)

That is to say, God will hallow his name in and through his Son and his great achievements, through the great events of the gospel. And through those achievements being visible in the lives of the people he brings back from the exile (of sin) and into whom he gifts his Spirit.

Maybe it's startlingly obvious to all & sundry but it was a fresh discovery to me. And a welcome, humbling one.

Chris Wright on Noah & Mission

Although we live on a cursed earth, we also live on a covenanted earth.

This is God's earth, and God is covenantally committed to its survival, just as later revelation will show us that God is also covenantally committed to its ultimate redemption.

Our mission takes place within the framework of God's universal promise to the created order.

The rainbow promise spans whatever horizon we can ever see.

Christopher J H Wright, The Mission of God, IVP 2006, pp.326,7

Blessing, not cursing

In commenting on Genesis 3, John Goldingay (Old Testament Theology p.139) notices that "God actively blesses; God does not actively curse, but declares that the snake and ground are cursed." While acknowledging that "at one level the distinction is purely syntactical" he goes on to (fairly, imo) comment that "To describe God as blessing but not directly cursing suggests that blessing is Yhwh's natural activity, while cursing is less so...In Yhwh's nature blessing has priority over cursing, love over anger, mercy over retribution."

An interesting example that seems to confirm Goldingay's observation is found in Exodus 20:5 where the Lord delcares that he will punish the children for the sin of their parents to the fourth generation but will show love to a thousand generations of those who love him. Because his priority is blessing, not cursing.

The Best Paragraph Ever Written

I believe this to be one of the finest paragraphs ever written. It makes you want to continue reading, its use of english is faultless and its pace and tone are exemplary (I'm sure the venerable Mr Zinsser would agree). The author is Eugene Peterson and he is writing about the pastoral ministry.

Here it is:

The adjective apocalyptic is not commonly found in company with the noun pastor. I can't remember ever hearing them in the same sentence. They grew up on different sides of the tracks. I'd like to play Cupid between the two words and see if I can instigate a courtship.

(from a piece entitled The Apocalyptic Pastor, found in various places including here)

I read the paragraph to my wife (whose name is a palindrome) and told her that I would give my life-savings to be able to write like that. She half-laughed, safe in the knowledge that were my intent true it wouldn't change our lives much. When I told her that I would sell this house to be able to write like that, she stood aghast and said "Surely you wouldn't!" I don't recall my response but it probably masked, for her sake, how real that desire was. Because it's the finest paragraph I have ever read.

sermons on john 13-17

for what it's worth, my sermon notes on john 13-17, preached in swinton a couple of years ago, are available here (and also via the sermons link in the sidebar).

sermon on john 17:24-26

As GoogleEarth pans out, it sets your house, town and country into its global context. The prayer of Jesus draws to a close in these verses and as it does we see our Lord’s vision panning out and taking into account the final picture. It’s a thrilling and humbling sight.

1. To be with me
Having prayed for those who would believe in him through the apostles’ witness, Jesus now prays for every believer, for all those that the Father has given to him. And what he prays for is that all his people might be with him, where he is.

We’re used to tales of superheroes saving the world and then riding off into the distance but that isn’t what Jesus is about – that isn’t why God made the world, it isn’t why he sent his Son to rescue this fallen world. The Lord’s purpose, in creation and salvation, was to save a people for himself, people who would be in relationship with him and who would ultimately live with him.

This is what thrilled and encouraged Paul so much as he languished in a Roman prison and penned his letter to the Philippians – to “be with Christ which is better by far.” The Christian hope is not simply that one day we will live in the renewed heavens and earth where sin can no longer spoil and where death cannot rob and grieve. The centre of our hope is the Lord himself.

Have you ever wondered what that bit in Revelation is about, when it says that there will be no temple in the new heavens and earth? Why is that? Because “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22). The temple served as the place where God’s presence was localised in this world and the same is true, in essence, of the church as the temple. But the great hope held out before us is for the full presence of God to flood the whole of creation.

We shall be with him. And look at what Jesus prays here: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me”. This is what God wants, this is the passionate desire of Jesus, to have his people with him and for him to be with them.

One writer has said that “’With me’ is the language of love. The beloved longs for the lover’s presence. So Jesus…gazes across the rolling aeons of the future and anticipates the embrace of his beloved bride in the glory that is to be” (Milne).

For now, Jesus has prayed that we not be taken out of this world but rather protected whilst in it. But that’s only while time lasts. His ultimate desire is for his own to be with him. He wants us there and so prays for us to be there. And we shall be. No prospect can be so thrilling or sustaining amid the challenges and disappointments of life in this world. He wants you, wants us, to be with him.

2. To see my glory
But that isn’t all. The reason Jesus wants us to be with him is so that we might see his glory, the glory that he had with the Father because the Father loved him before the creation of the world.

We have already seen something of the glory of God in the face of our Lord Jesus. It is a sight of exquisite beauty and grace; when we see something of the wonder of God’s grace and love radiating from his Son, it takes our breath away. But there is yet more to see, so much more. Jesus wants us to see the glory he had with the Father ‘in the beginning’, before the days of time.

Here is a glory that is beyond words to begin to describe – the full relation of Father and Son, in the Spirit; the glory of the eternal God. And Jesus says that the Father gave him this glory because he loved him before the creation of the world – this is a glory that is not simply about salvation but takes up the full reality of the eternal God, who he is in himself, who he is in the relationship of the members of the Trinity.

The sight we have now is true but it is only partial; what Jesus is praying for here is the fullness. It will be a sight that is not clouded by sin, nor limited by our mortality. John tells us that when we see Jesus, we will be made like him for we shall see him as he is. It is that sight Jesus is praying about here.

When we fall asleep in Jesus we go to be with him in that moment but even then there is something more to come, the full revelation of his glory at his coming when he will be marvelled at among us.

Have you ever had the hairs on your neck stand up at the sight of a beautiful sunset? Or maybe just gazed admiring the clouds in the sky and adored the one whose canvas displays such amazing artistry? Have you had times when the reality of God’s love to you in Jesus has reduced you to grateful tears?

All those experiences are glimpses of the glory of God but they will be far surpassed. Jesus is asking here for us to be allowed to have, not a glimpse, but a full and unending grasp of the amazing reality that is God himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

3. Your love in them; I myself in them
With his last petition, Jesus returns to the interim. Having set up the prospect of the final consummation of all things, he states that the though the world does not know the Father, he does and his disciples know that the Father has sent him.

He is the one who has made the Father known to the disciples. All knowledge of the Father comes only through the Son, the one who is the express image of his person. But coming to know the Father through the Son is not a one-off event that is then done for ever. Jesus affirms his intention here to go on making the Father known to his people.

Whilst ever we remain in this life, Jesus will go on making the Father known to us. Our life as disciples is not to be static but an upward path as he opens to us through his Word, by his Spirit, the riches that are God himself. This is the desire and stated aim of Jesus, to reveal the Father to us as his people. That commitment by our Lord should lead us to say with Paul, “I want to know him…” and to pray with him, that the Lord would give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we might know him better (Eph. 1:17).

But why is Jesus committing himself to making the Father known to us? “That the love you have for me may be in them…that I myself may be in them” (v.26).

There’s a couple of things to notice about this.

i) Jesus wants us to know personally the same love that the Father has for him. To know and share in that is the very pinnacle of salvation. But Jesus is not speaking of our individual experience here; he has in view the love that exists and is shared within the Trinity also existing and being shared by the members of his family, the church.

Jesus makes the Father known to us so that we might share in their love, delighting personally in it and collectively demonstrating that love. Discovering more about God is not a merely intellectual exercise; it is for the purpose of showing love to each other and so declaring to the world the reality of who Jesus is and why he came.

ii) Jesus makes the Father known to us so that their love might be in us and so that he himself might be in us. And that is where we come to the highest goal of all in the purposes of God – that he might be all in all and that we might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

You see, at the end of the day, it isn’t just about being forgiven and made new, it isn’t just about renewing the moral order of the world; it is, rather, all about God making his dwelling with humanity. And not just among us but in us.

Many centuries ago, a man called Athanasius said this: “the Word took bodily form so that we might receive the Holy Spirit: God became the bearer of a body so that men might be bearers of the Spirit.” That is how our Lord Jesus will be in us, each one and as a body collectively.

That is what Jesus is praying about here with his cross in full view. The only way that God will be able to dwell among and within people is by Jesus going the way of the Cross, bearing away all our sin and shame, enduring untold agony so that we might know inexpressible joy as we are filled with his love and indwelt by the Lord of glory.

This is what we hold out to this world as we preach the gospel. No-one else is worthy of our love and devotion.

sermon on john 17:20-23

Having prayed for his disciples, Jesus turns in these verses to pray for those who would believe in him through their message. Before we look at the burden of Jesus’ prayer for us, two points are worth noting here.

Firstly, Jesus expects the mission of his disciples to achieve success – that is, he expects there to be others who will believe in him as a consequence of his sending out of these men into the world.

Secondly, unless Jesus only has in view those directly evangelised by the disciples, he is speaking of their message as the foundation upon which all other mission is based. And, indeed, that is how Paul then speaks of the ministry of the Apostles, as the foundation in the new temple being constructed by the Lord.

But what of Jesus’ prayer? What is its great burden? The answer clearly is the unity of his people. It’s a big issue in the world and it always has been. Go right back to the society before Abraham and you find people working together in unity to make a name for themselves, defying the Lord and deifying man. It was an issue of real concern before and during the first century – Alexander the Great tried to unify the inhabited world and the Roman Empire tried something similar. And in our own day there have been many attempts to achieve some notion of unity, whether that is at the economic level or between nation states.

No-one would deny that the unity of the human race is something to be desired. To overcome all the fractures of human society would be a wonderful achievement. The great question, however, has always been ‘How?’.

Jesus here prays for the unity of his people and shows us how full and genuine unity between very disparate people can be achieved. We also see what unity looks like and how the unity of his people works to effect a great purpose.

1. Unity through participation in the divine pattern
True unity comes through a participation in the very life of God. Jesus speaks of his people being one “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” and of them being “in us”. The phrase ‘just as’ gives the idea of pattern (which we will return to) but it also gives the ‘how’ of unity, the cause of it.

Unity among people in this world, true unity, can only come about as people are found to be joined to the Father and his Son, as they are ‘in’ the Son. The people of Israel were told that “the LORD our God, the LORD is one” - he is the original and true unity and all true union comes from him. It does not and can not be achieved through any other means; the genuine healing of the human race can only be experienced through participation in the life God.

In that context, it’s very important to see that Jesus is praying here about the unity of those who believe in him through the witness of the apostles. He is not praying about a unity between members of different religions and none. Nor is this about unity between merely nominal Christians. Jesus is praying about a unity that can only, by its very definition, exist between genuine believers since it derives from a true participation in the life of God through faith in him.

It is for this reason that ventures such as the World Council of Churches and, more recently and locally, Churches Together are flawed. Where you can have as full partners in the process such groups as the RC church and the Quakers, then you are not beginning from a position of agreed Biblical truth.

But it is precisely at that point Jesus does begin. He doesn’t insist on unity on secondary issues but he does insist that unity is only possible among those who are genuinely sharing in his life, which means those whose faith is squarely in Jesus, whose faith is biblical.

Now, it is not possible for an organisation to possess faith so the unity Jesus has in mind is not organisational. However, where organisations exist, it follows that they can only work towards the expression of unity where they are in agreement on matters of foundational truth, on the witness of the apostles to the Lord Jesus Christ and to salvation in him.

But what shape does that unity take? The unity of God’s people flows from, and is fashioned according to, the unity that exists within God himself. As you read the gospels, if you keep an eye out for this theme, especially in John, you’ll see Father and Son united in the deepest possible way, being one in purpose, in love and in action.

And that is the pattern that is set for the church, for us. Paul’s words to the Philippians in Phil. 1:27ff mirror this kind of unity. It can only exist where there is common faith in our Lord Jesus and it can only proceed because of the prayers of Jesus. There is the challenge for us and the encouragement we so badly need to pursue unity.

2. Unity in principle and in practice
But is Jesus praying about unity in principle or in practice? Does he have in mind the fact that in him his people are united or is he praying for that working-out in detail and in experience of that unity?

Looking back to v.11 it would seem that Jesus has the latter more in mind. And that is certainly so when we come to v.20 where Jesus speaks of his people being brought to “complete unity”. When we come into God’s family we share in the unity of the Spirit as a fact but Jesus is praying about the maturing expression of that unity. The whole impetus of his prayer and its profound energy is directed toward the detailed outworking in daily life of the unity of his family.

But it would be a big mistake to think that in order to achieve this unity we have to subsume our personal distinctness. That is not so in the Godhead and it is not to be so in the church. Father and Son are in perfect unity though they are distinct persons. And when you consider the vast diversity that exists within creation, it would be so contrary to find that God wants to work sameness within his family.

Here is part of the glory of the gospel message: it works unity in the midst of real diversity. Without doubt, that diversity makes working out our unity more challenging again but this is what Jesus prays for and this is what his Spirit strives for within the church.

Is there a key to maintaining and maturing the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? Paul’s words in Phil. 2:1ff would seem to be extremely important.

Having urged these believers to be of one mind and one spirit, he puts them in mind of the great example of Jesus in his humility and condescension. Others come first; always. Humility is the order of the day and self-giving love is the church’s hallmark.

What greater example could we have and what greater incentive to follow it?

3. Unity: the great purpose
But why is Jesus so passionate about praying for the unity of his people? “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (v.21); “may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (v.23).

The great passion here is Jesus’ mission in the world. He is praying for the world to see the unity of his people so that the world might know that he was truly sent by the Father and that those whose faith is in him are caught up into the love that exists within God himself. And he wants them to see and know that because they, too, are called to submit to him as Lord and they, too, are invited to know the blessings of God’s saving love in him.

All of which makes it imperative that our lives are not in conflict with the clearly-expressed prayers of Jesus. We must seek to be brought to complete unity, to be one in purpose, in love and in action. Primarily the focus of that has got to be within the local church since this is what most people will see most often. Inter-church relations are not unimportant but the unity Jesus is praying for is not organisational but organic, one that is about the life of God’s people.

We cannot say with any sense of truthfulness that we are mission-minded unless we are also fellowship-minded. People who seem to have a passion for evangelism yet have no observable concern for growing unity with their brothers and sisters have failed to grasp the heart of Jesus and the burden of his prayers.

Unity has such powerful evangelistic impact because this broken world desperately needs to be reconciled and healed, restored from its fractured state. It can only happen in and through our Lord Jesus.

It is our privileged calling to so live a life of loving unity before a watching world that the words we speak about Jesus carry with them the authentic aroma of divine love and reconciliation.

May Jesus’ prayers be answered both in and through us. Amen.

sermon on john 17:1-5

To have John 17 is a great blessing and a deep privilege because here we get to the very heart of the relationship between the Father and his Son and, in doing so, we reach the heart and climax of Jesus’ life and ministry.

That latter point is signalled to us when Jesus says that “the time has come”, the hour to which his whole life has been steadily and unerringly moving towards. If we want to know just what Jesus was about in his life in this world, this paragraph brings it to us.

Nothing can be more important for us as Christians in understanding Jesus than comprehending his relationship with the Father and the reason for his coming into the world. And in just a few words we have it all.

1. The mutual glory of Father and Son
Jesus asks the father, with the hour in view when he will lay down his life on the cross, to glorify the Son that his Son might glorify him. In v.4 he speaks of having brought glory to the Father by finishing the work he had been given and in v.5 Jesus speaks of the glory he had with the Father before his coming into the world and his wish to return to that glory now.

In these words, Jesus shows us that there isn’t a whisker between Father and Son in their desire for each other’s glory and in the harmony that exists between them. All along they have been acting in complete agreement and with a real and mutual concern for their glory and honour.

All this is clear from the words of Jesus; it is striking and wonderful to behold. But some might ask what relevance this has to our daily lives as believers. It might be ok for books on theology but what has it got to do with us ‘on the ground’, so to speak?

In some ways, that question is rather too self-aware; any teaching about the person of God ought to be of deep interest to us, simply because of its subject. But having said that, that it has got something to do with us should be obvious from the fact that Jesus chooses to pray within the hearing of his disciples. So what should we draw from this?

A clearer understanding of the person of God, of the relationship between the members of the godhead, can only be helpful in alerting us to the nature of the Christian life. God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the ultimate reality and we can only rightly understand ourselves and the world if we understand him.

The Father and Son call us into the fellowship they enjoy together with the Spirit. To see their unity and joy in each other is a great delight to us. It is also our inheritance, about which we’ll say more later. To see Father and Son in such close fellowship is to savour just what we ourselves are called to know with God.

It’s also clear that Jesus aimed in all things at the glory of the Father and saw that as the gateway to himself being glorified. That stands as both call and invitation to us also, to follow the Son in glorifying the Father, in the expectation of our being glorified in him.

But the relationships within the Trinity also stand as the example and model for our relationships with each other. So this becomes very practical teaching: we ought to honour each other above ourselves, we ought to seek the best for each other, there ought to be real harmony of thought and action between us.

2. How the glory is seen
But we can and must go further in thinking about the glory of God. Jesus shows us here that the glory of both the Father and the Son is most plainly revealed in the cross and all that flows from that.

Of course the glory of God was seen in the whole life of Jesus – he was seen to be full of grace and truth – but it is in the cross that the grace of God is most clearly seen in all its wonderful contours. And it is there that the truthfulness, the faithfulness, of God is seen.

When Jesus speaks of the Father glorifying the Son, some take it to mean he is speaking of his resurrection and ascension into glory, that his death is followed by his glorification, in virtue of his having died. But what Jesus says here seems to show that he is glorified in the cross too – in v.1 he speaks of the Father glorifying him in order that he might glorify the Father. The order seems to be important.

At the cross, Jesus is glorified with the glory of self-giving love for the sake of others, a love that will heal a divided world and rescue lost sinners. There we see the heart of God & the heart of his purposes.

You might remember that Paul makes a very similar point – in Eph. 3:10,11 he speaks of God’s manifold wisdom being made known through the church to the rulers and authorities. In other words, it was to be through the reconciliation of Jew and Gentile by the cross, through the healing and reconciling love of God demonstrated at Calvary, that God’s glorious wisdom would be made known.

Our calling, too, is to glorify God. How will we do that? In what way can we most effectively point others to Jesus? By making much of the cross, of the death and resurrection of Jesus; by making much of the good news that Jesus is Lord.

But being cross-centred is not only about what we say; it is also about how we live. We cannot live sin-bearing lives but we can live under the shadow of the cross so that we bring glory to God. That means we live for the sake of others, we live for the sake of the mission of God and his desire to see all nations blessed in him.

Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive – we certainly are blessed in what we receive from God but that blessing is truly worked out and enjoyed to the most when we live most clearly in the shadow of the cross and follow the example of our Saviour.

3. Jesus given authority to give relationship
Jesus makes even more explicit in vv.2,3 what the display of the glory of God in his life and, supremely, in his death means for the world: he has been given authority over all flesh in order to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given to him.

The world is a broken place; all its peoples are desperately needy. We need healing; we need mercy; we need life. And Jesus has been given authority as Messiah to give that life. By virtue of his death, resurrection and ascension, he is able to freely give to all his people what we all stand in greatest need of: life in all its fullness, the life of the coming age, eternal life.

The term Jesus used speaks not only of quantity (unending life) but a whole new quality of life – life that is appropriate to God’s new world.

There are many ways in which we might conceive of that life – the absence of all that causes pain and loss; the absence of sin and the presence of the most unalloyed joy. But, for Jesus, eternal life quite simply is this: “to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (v.3).

Eternal life is knowing God. This is why Jesus came; this is the reason his life all-along moved to this hour; this is why the cross was endured and sin overcome: that we might know God. Not simply know of him or about him but to know him, truly and deeply.

This is, as we said, our inheritance – to be caught up into the very life of God, to share in the joy of the Trinity, to drink deeply of their mutual love. This is what we have been given and this is what we have to share with the world – not a system of religion, not a grand philosophy of human effort or intellectual brilliance, but the grace and truth of life lived in fellowship with God.

And that knowledge only comes through knowing Jesus as Messiah (this is why Jesus adds “and Jesus Messiah whom you have sent”). We have no way into life with God without Jesus; we are simply flesh and flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But Jesus has authority over all flesh and can give eternal life to all whom the Father has given him.

What we have, we received as a gift, which means there is no place for pride and no need for insecurity. You are loved because of Jesus and invited to share in the life of God simply by his free mercy.

We sometimes speak of believers who have died as going to glory, and it’s a very apt description. But that glory is already begun here on earth as we come to know God in his Son. When our faith is in Jesus, our lives are suffused with the radiance of God’s glory – not perhaps in ways visible to us but nevertheless real and often visible to others, as they see that, though we are earthen vessels, we yet carry a treasure within us – the knowledge of God in Jesus Christ.

sermon on john 17:6-19

1. Why Jesus prays for these men (vv.6-10)
We can readily understand why Jesus prays for himself but why would he pray for these men also? We might answer that by saying that he is praying for them because they are his disciples. But how did they come to be in that relationship with him?

The question is not asked to elicit a ‘duh!’ from you. It’s a question that the text is concerned to answer; it’s a point that Jesus bases his prayer for the disciples on – and so it must be an issue of real importance for us to grasp. You see, what gives Jesus’ prayer for these men its reality is the relationship he bears to them.

There are 3 aspects to consider, that Jesus makes plain here.

i) The possession of the Father – These men have been given to Jesus by his Father. “They were yours”, says Jesus. They belong to the Father but in a way far different from the simple affirmation that all creation belongs to God. No, this relationship is different. You see, they are given to Jesus “out of the world”. That phrase highlights the Father’s choice, free and deliberate.

That is how these men had come to belong to the Father; he chose them out of the world. And that small phrase, “out of the world” also suggests that, like us, they had previously belonged to the world and were enmeshed in its sin and rebellion against God. There was nothing inherently special about these men that drove the Father to choose them; it was simply the free and mysterious grace of God.

ii) The Father’s gift to his Son – And the Father who chose them and whose they are has given them to his Son (vv.6,9) and so the Father and Son share in all things together (v.10).

The Father will accomplish redemption for this world through his Son and will remake all things in and through him, so anyone who is to have a share in that future must be joined to the Son – and that is what has happened to these men, by the sovereign will of God. They are a gift to his Son, in order to bring glory to the Son through their sharing in all that the Son is and has achieved.

iii) The response of faith – But how do the disciples experience this for themselves? How is it made true in their own lives? In this way: Jesus made the Father known to them and they obeyed the Father’s word to believe in his Son (v.6). They accepted what Jesus said and knew with certainty that he had come from the Father and believed that he had been sent by the Father (v.8).

In these words of Jesus we see the work of God being actualised in the experience of the disciples – he chose them and, as Jesus revealed him to them, they received and believed his words.

In all this we see why Jesus is praying for them. He makes it quite plain that he isn’t praying for the world per se but for those given to him by the Father. This prayer is specific to their calling as disciples, as those who both know God and are called to make him known.

One big thing this tells us is that the divine mission is not in danger, never has been and never will be. Everything is in the hands of the Father and his Son. What comfort that gives to us in terms of our own security and what hope in terms of the progress of the gospel!

2. Praying for protection (vv.11-16)
Having established the basis of his relationship with these men, Jesus then specifically prays for them. His prayer is very revealing; in essence he prays in vv.11-16 for their protection.

Why do they need to be protected and who from? Jesus stresses that his disciples are no longer belong to this world. And because of that, trouble will come to them – but notice where he locates the trouble here: we need protection not from the world in general but from “the evil one” (v.15). He is the one who stands opposed to God and his mission of mercy in the world and he is the one who stirs up enmity against the Lord and his people.

So how does Jesus intend that we be protected from the evil one?

Well, not by being removed from the scene of the strife. Jesus says, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world” (v.15). There you have it, straight and to the point. That, of course, means that all our attempts to evade the world and to run from any engagement with it are contrary to the praying of Jesus.

We often think safety is only gained by removal (“Lord, get me out of here!”) but that isn’t necessarily the case. Jesus is not praying that we be removed from the heat of the kitchen; rather, he is praying that we be protected whilst still in the world. How can that be?

“Protect them”, Jesus prays, “by the power of your name” (v.11). He isn’t saying that there are magical properties in the mere name of God; he is speaking here of the full character and person of God. And notice his own connection to that: “the name you gave me”.

Whilst in the world, Jesus protected his own – kept the powers of evil at bay, corrected and rebuked his disciples and so on. As he prepares to leave, he is asking his Father to continue that same work of protection (and it’s likely that his words imply this will be done through the coming Holy Spirit).

We’ve seen protection from what and how but what is the protection for? “That they may be one as we are one” (v.11). The purpose of God in Jesus is to bring unity into a divided world, to unite all things under one head, even Christ (Eph. 1:10). The devil’s strategy is to divide God’s people and so ruin that great plan; Jesus prays for his people’s protection that they (and we) might embody the reality of his saving and healing work.

3. Prayer for sanctification: set apart for mission (vv.17-19)
Jesus prays for his disciples to be protected because they are in the world but no longer of it and as such they will face much hostility and the rage of the evil one. But, in the face of that truth, Jesus doesn’t simply pray for protection, he prays too for sanctification. What he means by that is that his disciples would be visibly set apart for God and God alone, that the Father would mark them out as his and demonstrate that ownership of which Jesus spoke in vv.6-10.

That sanctification will occur because Jesus set himself apart for them (v.19); their being set apart for God will be the fruit of the setting apart of Jesus and the fulfilment of his mission in the world.

The way their sanctification, their being set apart for God, will be accomplished is through the truth, through the word of God.

God’s will, declared in his word, has the power to set people apart for God, to call them out of the world in order to belong to him. Jesus here prays that this will be accomplished in the lives of his disciples.

And, again, as Jesus prayed for his own so too we can and must pray for ourselves. We must pray that the Lord’s Word would do its sanctifying work in our lives, that we would visibly be the fruit of Jesus having set himself apart as the servant of the Lord. It isn’t enough simply to sit under God’s Word or to read it privately; we must couple those activities with earnest prayer that we would benefit from that same word.

But please notice here what we have seen many times before: the setting apart of the disciples (both then and now) as those known by and owned by the Lord is not simply for our own sakes. In v.18 Jesus again speaks of having been sent into the world by the Father and of his sending his disciples into the world too. He sanctified himself for their sakes and the clear implication is that his people are to be sanctified, set apart for God’s use, for the sake of others too.

In fact, this sits very closely to the reason why Jesus prays for the protection of his disciples in v.11. The verses that follow (vv.20-26) will take up and amplify that prayer for unity and we will come to those next time; we simply note the connection here.

Does all this lay a great burden on us too heavy to lift? Jesus is not like the Pharisees. Yes, to live on a battlefield and to seek to win over the enemy is a great burden – but Jesus has prayed and does pray for us! And so these words are intended to breed not gloom but joy within our hearts (v.13).

No calling was heavier and more onerous than that of Jesus yet he was a man of joy. He wants us to share in that joy – not by running from the battle, nor by isolating ourselves far from the spot where mission hits the road, but through knowing his protection and his deep work of sanctification in us. As we embrace our calling and commission, the words of Jesus breathe an abiding joy into our hearts.

And who would have it any other way?

sermon on john 17:1

Having concluded his extended discussion with the disciples in which he has tried to prepare them for his departure, Jesus now turns to prayer. The prayer which makes up this chapter is very much ‘holy ground’ as we listen in to Jesus addressing his Father. Some feel it wouldn’t be right to preach on the prayer, suggesting rather that we simply read it and reflect upon it.

Whilst there is something attractive about that, I think MLJ had it right when he made the point that, if that was the Lord’s intention, he would not have prayed audibly and caused it to be recorded for us.

Even so, this still feels like a very special piece of scripture. It is profound and profoundly moving – may God bless it to us! As we begin our study of this chapter, I want to begin simply by focussing on v.1 and taking time to ponder what Jesus is doing here and how he does it.

1. Jesus & the act of prayer
The fact that Jesus prays is worth noting, for many reasons. Some would see him praying in front of his disciples and others simply in terms of example – that Jesus himself did not need to pray, that his whole life was one of communion with God that did not need any expression.

As an example they might point to 11:41f where Jesus has clearly been asking God to raise Lazarus even before he speaks openly – “Father, I thank you that you have heard me”. That sounds good but is it true?

I don’t think so and for this reason: Jesus also prayed privately, and often. Of course he prayed as he went along and was ‘in touch’ with his Father at all times but Jesus also devoted time and energy to deliberate and prolonged verbal praying and not just in the hearing of his disciples and others by way of example.

One way of assessing that would be to suggest that it was because he was incarnate and experienced the limitations of the flesh. But there is a difficulty with that view.

Jesus did not sacrifice the reality of his relationship with the Father when he took human flesh to himself; rather, he had the Spirit without measure. What we’re seeing, when we see Jesus praying, and when we get to listen in to those prayers, is not being done simply to teach us lessons in prayer; they are genuine expressions of the reality of the Son’s relationship with his Father.

Jesus’ praying was, then, not an act of accommodation to the limitations of his disciples, nor to the limitations of his incarnation, but was the expression and actualisation of his relationship with the Father.

And on that point we should notice that Jesus did not simply teach the truth here to his disciples, he also prayed the truth. Many of the themes of his discussion with the disciples in ch.13-16 are here taken up in prayer. Why? To make sure the disciples have got the point, kind-of like a second sermon? Not at all! Jesus has taught the truth and now is praying for the truth to be done, for God’s will to be worked out in the lives of his people.

We often pray at the close of the sermon and it is for the same reason, to ask God to help us to apply what we’ve heard, asking him to work out his salvation in and through us. If it was an important ministry of Jesus here then it’s an important part of what we do together also – not just collectively but privately as well.

The disciples didn’t just need Jesus’ instruction, they needed his intercession – and so do we. One of the great encouragements of scripture is that we are expressly told that Jesus does pray for us, that he ever lives to make intercession for us.

2. Jesus & the art of prayer
So, after he had finished speaking to his disciples, Jesus prayed. What John tells us is that “he looked towards heaven and prayed”. I think those words are worth pondering a while.

Jesus looked towards heaven – we can perhaps picture the scene but why did he do so? Why look up? Doesn't he know God doesn't really live in the sky? Wow, how primitive can you get.

But this is the Son of God. His grasp of the reality of God so far exceeds our miniature glimpses it isn't even worthy of a comparison. So what's really going on here?

Perhaps what we're seeing here is the significance of posture as symbol. Posture in prayer is clearly not everything but perhaps we can say that it is not insignificant – Jesus himself seems to teach that in his example here. After all, we are not simply spiritual beings; we were created as physical creatures and need to express ourselves in an integrated way – heart and hands, so to speak.

By looking towards heaven, Jesus is both expressing and teaching by way of symbol. And I think 3 things are evident here.

i) By his posture, Jesus is symbolising, in his upward look, the reality that God is transcendent and reigns supreme. The truth to which the symbol points is found in the prayer he taught his disciples: “Our Father, in heaven”. Prayer to God is prayer that is offered to the great Lord of all, to the one who sees all and knows all, to the one who is in the place of utter and absolute power.

How essential that is at this point when Jesus contemplates his own departure by way of the cross and the experiences of the disciples once he has gone.

ii) It is also a look of unfeigned trust. In Ps. 123 the psalmist likens the upward look to that of a maid looking to the hand of her mistress and the eyes of a servant to the hand of their master. It is a look of expectation and trust. So, too, the look of Jesus – he has come to do his Father’s will, he is committing everything into his Father’s hands – and he is doing so in complete trust and with settled expectation.

Our own praying can and must exhibit the same sense of hope and confidence symbolically expressed by Jesus here.

iii) Jesus raises his eyes – something the tax collector in the temple would not do, because of his felt sense of shame. Only Jesus can by rights look upward into the face of God without any hint of shame, without a shred of arrogance.

Here he models the reality for all who are right with God in him – there is no longer any need to hide our faces but, knowing the mercy of God, we can look upward into the face of our Creator and call him ‘Father’, we can look upward and seek his glory.

3. Jesus and the essence of prayer
As we close, I want to focus for a few moments on the first word and first clause of this great prayer. Here we approach the very heart of prayer – intimate relationship with God: “Father” – and a profound concern for the glory of God: “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”

We will, of course, have much more to say about this next time as we take up these next few verses which are dominated by this theme but, for now, we must simply grasp just how important the theme is, how it grounds true prayer, how it provides its basic framework.

Prayer is not a technique for us to wring out of God the necessities of life or help in difficult times. It is much more about our being lifted into the life of God, sharing his deepest concerns and being eager for his glory. Jesus displays that in an exemplary way in his life and ministry and here in this great prayer.

We start and finish with the glory of God. Nothing is more important that that; nothing is as satisfying as that.

But does that relegate our needs and concerns to the periphery? No; listen to what Jesus said earlier: “if God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself” (13:32). That holds true not only for Jesus but by extension to us too: as we seek God’s glory, we will share in the blessings of that. And remember, too, the whole structure of the Lord’s Prayer and how it encompasses all our needs.

No, we aren’t left out of the picture but are being invited to it in its truest colours and in sharpest focus – and, more, to find our own home and place within that picture. May God grant us grace to do so. Amen.

sermon on john 16:16-33

This passage brings to an end Jesus’ discussions with his disciples in the upper room; what follows in ch.17 is his prayer. And so in v.16 here we see Jesus once more telling the disciples that “in a little while” they will see him no more and, then, “after a little while” they will see him.

Those words aren’t cryptic but neither are they entirely clear – at least it wasn’t plain to the disciples what Jesus was saying. But instead of directly asking him about it, they keep asking one another what he meant – pooling their ignorance and finding no answers.

Jesus can see what’s going on and so he addresses their confusion, not by directly explaining his words but by dealing with the impact the reality he is speaking of will have on them.

1. Your grief will turn to joy
The first thing to say in respect of that is that the disciples would experience the most profound grief, whilst the world rejoiced, but their grief would then be transformed into the most glorious joy.

While some have suggested that Jesus has his return in glory in view here, the most obvious and natural way to understand his words is as referring to his death and resurrection. In a very short time, they would plumb the very depths of grief in the hideous loss of their Master but that grief would only last a short while: the Lord’s resurrection would take away that grief forever.

As we know, the disciples didn’t factor the resurrection into their thinking about the Messiah, just as they hadn’t factored in the cross. But as events unfolded, they struggled to cope with the latter and then were surprised by the joy of the former. Jesus is trying to prepare them for both – and is stressing the short wait involved (“a little while” occurs 7 times in 4 verses).

Jesus wasn’t exaggerating – in a very short while their grief was indeed turned into the most delirious joy. It would be wrong to think that they only got joyful once Pentecost had happened; it’s there at the resurrection.

And that note of joy is kept up throughout the NT – the Christian life, for all it is attended by many griefs and trials, is to be experienced as a life of joy (see 1 Peter 1:8,9).

We can, of course, understand why the disciples would be overjoyed to see their Lord again – for anyone to come back from such a brutal and obvious death would be a source of great joy and amazement. But Jesus here uses a very interesting image to describe the coming events – it will be like a woman giving birth, going through the pain and out into the joy. Is he just casting around for a helpful illustration or is something more going on?

I think it’s the latter and it relates to how the OT uses similar imagery – it is often used in passages that speak of God’s climactic work in the world, of the time of judgement/salvation when Messiah is revealed. And it is a truly appropriate image because, at that time, a whole new world will be born, a whole new creation will begin to be unveiled. In 20:1ff, John will describe the events of Easter Sunday in terms that recall the original creation, to show us that this is the start of the new creation.

All of which should alert us to the fact that the resurrection is vitally important to our lives as Christians. It gives us the certain hope of the new creation, it vindicates Jesus as Messiah and assures us of our status in him; it energises our new life in him. How much damage we do to ourselves when we minimise the reality and impact of the resurrection – it isn’t just a proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus but the bringing to birth of a whole new creation.

It’s wonderful, a source of unending joy, a joy that is to be ours, even in the midst of perplexing and grievous situations.

2. Asking the Father
Having spoken of the grief and the joy that will so shortly follow, Jesus then goes on to explain further what the effect of his departure will have on the disciples.

In vv.23-28 he speaks of an intensified relationship with the Father, such that his disciples will be able to directly ask the Father in his name and receive answers to their prayers with great joy (v.24).

Here is a further consequence of his departure. Because of his death and resurrection and the promised sending of his Spirit, Jesus will usher his disciples into the same kind of relationship he has lived out with the Father, in which they will work together with God.

But they will only do so ‘in Jesus’ name’, on the basis of who he is and what he has done. And because they have loved him and believed that he came from God, they will experience God’s love – not that they will in that way earn it but this is the road to travel in order to experience the fullness of the Father’s love.

None of that could take place unless Jesus went away, went the way of the cross. These are hard things for the disciples to grasp but Jesus is not selling them short and leaving too soon – he is giving his all in order that they might have it all.

This blessed relationship with the Father is ours, too, in Jesus. And so is the calling to be fellow-workers with him, to be asking for things in Jesus’ name, those things that promote the glory of God and further his purposes in and for the world.

3. Now we know…
In v.29 the disciples say to Jesus, “Now you are speaking clearly …now we can see…this makes us believe”. Things are starting to add up to them, they’re beginning to grasp what Jesus is saying – he doesn’t need anyone to ask him questions. And so they affirm, “This makes us believe that you came from God.” (v.30)

Jesus’ reply is very important. There’s a translation issue involved but it isn’t determinative. Either Jesus replies, as in the NIV, “You believe at last!” or, as in the TNIV, “Do you know believe?”. The latter is probably the better option but what Jesus is doing in any case is raising the stakes somewhat – yes, they believe but it is one thing to believe now; a time is coming when they will all be scattered and will leave him on his own.

The shadow of the cross is steadily creeping across their lives and experience. It is one thing for them to believe in advance of the cross; it will be another to go on believing in the face of such brutal violence and outright rejection.

They think they now know, that they have grasped what Jesus has been speaking about – but he has always had the cross in view and, in the face of the cross, they will all fail, they will all be scattered.

Don Carson very perceptively points out that “No misunderstanding is more pathetic than that which thinks it no longer exists.” The basis for their new-expressed faith in Jesus is very shallow indeed (their own grasp of what he is saying).

How much better it would be for all of us to say with Paul, “I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it”. The cross-shaped nature of the Christian life, in which we’re called to share in the sufferings of Jesus, demands a certain humility and a readiness not to be shaken by the unexpected twists and turns of life.

Our faith needs to be deeply-rooted in the trustworthiness of God and the rock-solid reality of his grace, and not in our feeble grasp of truth.

Why does Jesus tell them all this? Why is there this whole prolonged discussion? “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.” Jesus’ purpose is not to shame or humiliate; it is to lead us into his peace even while we’re in the teeth of the storm.

The reality is that “in this world you will have trouble”. No two ways about it – every disciple will prove this in their experience, one way or another; and every church will know it too. But in that knowing we are to also know this: Jesus has overcome the world. By his cross and resurrection, Jesus has conquered the world in its violent defiance and stubborn resistance to God.

Knowing that, we are to take heart from it and not give in to despair. Yes, we do fail the Lord, just like these disciples were so soon to do. But such failures are not absolute; they are real and grievous but the reality is that Jesus has conquered, has overcome the world.

And that counts for everything.

sermon on john 16:5-15

1. What’s so good about grief?
Jesus again reiterates his imminent departure to the Father in v.5 and implicitly criticises the disciples for not asking him where he is going. In fact, Peter seems to have asked that very question back in 13:36, so what does Jesus mean here? Some suggest that the emphasis is on ‘now’ – they had asked but aren’t asking now. That’s possible but it seems likelier that Jesus is pointing to the fact that, although those words might have been spoken, they aren’t really focussed on where he is going; they are much more concerned about and wrapped-up in their own grief (v.6).

We can, of course, understand the pain and confusion the disciples were experiencing and that would not have been lost on Jesus. But he is rightly, and helpfully, trying to refocus their thinking. They are down in the depths; because of that, they’re not asking the questions that would bring hope and help to them – if they asked about Jesus’ departure, if they listened to what he is saying, their grief would be tempered: it is for their good that Jesus is going away.

We’ll return shortly to why his departure can be spoken of as being for their good but, first, let’s acknowledge that we, too, can be as guilty as these disciples were of becoming too self-focussed in the pain and confusion that we experience in the Christian life. It is all too easy to allow ourselves to become preoccupied by our own feelings and our own concerns, such that Jesus is effectively, though unintentionally, relegated to the sidelines.

Perhaps a helpful test would be to ask ourselves how much time we spend thinking about and praying for our own needs and feelings as Christians and how much we focus on God and his glory. Those two are related but you probably get my drift – the disciples were not mercenary in their commitment to Jesus; of course they had a concern for his glory, but at this time they were suffering unduly through a too-intense and exclusive focus on their own feelings. And we can do that too.

What’s the solution? Ask the right questions; focus on the answers that scripture gives; lift your eyes to the Lord and to his purposes and glory. In this immediate context, the answer to their grief lies in what Jesus goes on to tell them in vv.7,8 – it is actually good for them that he goes away because unless he does he cannot send the Counsellor to them.

The verses that follow will expand on the benefits of the coming of the Spirit but, more generally, we can see that Jesus is making the point that they would miss out completely if he didn’t go away because that would bring the saving plans of God to a halt. Their vision needs to be larger and often ours does too – we need to learn the lesson that Paul put into these words: “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

But in what specific sense is the coming of the Spirit shown here to be beneficial?

2. Convicting the world
In vv.9-11, Jesus speaks of the work of the Spirit in the world. Quite what he means is contested by commentators but as we work through his words, we need to bear in mind what Jesus has just told the disciples. He has warned them of the hostility of the world towards him and so to them also. The world is not a neutral place; it stands implacably opposed to God and his Son and it will quickly turn its fire on those who follow the Son.

Into that situation, Jesus is going to send his Spirit and “when he comes, he will convict the world of guilt”. That would seem straightforward but there is debate about the meaning of Jesus’ words and what they refer to. The term translated here as ‘convict…of guilt’ could equally be translated as ‘prove wrong’ or ‘expose’. And who will be convinced about the guilt of the world – the world itself or the disciples?

When we come to the words that follow, there is also debate: sin, righteousness and judgement are often assumed to refer to the world’s sin, Jesus’ righteousness and God’s judgement – but those distinctions aren’t in the text. So in what sense does the Spirit convict about these things?

Without going any further into the details of those debates, let me outline what seems to me the most likely solution here. The term ‘convict…of guilt’ is also used in 3:20 and would seem to have in mind the exposure of a person’s guilt with the aim of bringing them to repentance (which it might or might not achieve).

And the Spirit will face the world with its guilt in relation to its sin, its righteousness and its judgement. The great problem of sin is unbelief – “of sin because men do not believe in me”. Here is the nub of the issue, the heart of sin: unbelief, the denial of Jesus. And when the Spirit comes he will face the world with its guilt in not believing in the Son of God.

He will also expose the guilt of the world with respect to its righteousness, because Jesus has gone to the Father. The term ‘righteousness’ here probably has more of the idea of justice about it (it is always in the picture) and the justice of the world is going to be shown to be filthy rags – the world’s justice rejected Jesus and handed him over to be crucified; it labelled him a criminal but he was innocent. And he has been vindicated in his resurrection and return to the Father.

Then the Spirit will expose the guilt of the world with respect to judgement because the prince of this world now stands condemned. The world does not know how to exercise true judgement, it can only judge by human appearances (7:24; 8:15). In doing so, it takes the side of the devil – but he now stands condemned, shown up for what he is – a liar and a murderer. And the Spirit makes that plain.

Please notice: these are not neutral matters. The world is guilty of sin, of false and wretched justice and of making the most blatant and foolish wrong judgement regarding the Son of God. And the Spirit has come to expose that guilt, to face all people with the reality of their choice. Is he facing you with that today? What you do about Jesus is not a casual matter, it is urgent and ultimate.

Back to the disciples. Tasked with taking the gospel into the world, yet knowing the world’s hostility to Jesus and the vice-like grip of sin upon it, they could so easily conclude the mission to be useless, with no hope at all of seeing the world won for Jesus.

But not so! When he comes he will expose the guilt of the world in the hope of leading people to repentance and faith. What we cannot do, God can – break the hardest hearts, open the most tightly-shut minds and bring to genuine faith in Jesus.

The mission is not doomed to failure; sin will not have the last word. God will prevail and he will do so through his Spirit applying in power the achievements of his Son.

3. Teaching the disciples
But the usual pattern for the work of the Spirit is that it will be through the life and witness of the disciples, of the church. And so in vv.12-15 Jesus deals with the further equipping of the disciples for the task.

He has so much more to say to them but recognises that they cannot yet bear it – they’re too distressed to take on board what he needs to tell them. But when the Spirit comes, he will lead them in all the truth about Jesus. In fact, as v.15 shows, it will be a ministry of the Trinity in complete harmony – all that belongs to the Father is Jesus’ and the Spirit will take from what is his and make it known to the disciples.

Such is the intimate agreement within the Godhead that the Spirit will not speak on his own; he will only speak what he hears (v.13), just as Jesus only spoke what he heard from his Father (8:28). The Spirit will not disclose new truths to the disciples, things in addition to Jesus, but rather he will lead them into all the truth concerning Jesus – he will take from what belongs to Jesus and reveal it to them and so bring glory to Jesus.

And the reality is that the Spirit did come and did lead the disciples into the truth. And we have the fruit of the Spirit’s ministry in the material of the NT – here is the truth into which he led the disciples, the accounts about Jesus and the reflection upon the significance of his life and ministry and how it brings to a climax God’s saving purposes.

The definitive explanation was given to the disciples and under the inspiration of the Spirit they recorded for us all we need to know.

But we need to acknowledge that we, too, need the same ministry of the Spirit to illuminate our understanding, to help us to grasp more fully what he caused to be revealed in scripture.

We need it because we are slow to learn, because our minds are dark and need to be progressively illuminated. We need his ministry because the world is hostile to God and needs to be confronted with its guilt concerning sin, righteousness and judgement so that it might genuinely repent and turn to Jesus the only Saviour and Lord of all.

sermon on john 15:18 - 16:4

I want to say 4 things from this passage.

1. Jesus anticipates persecution
Firstly, Jesus anticipates the persecution of his disciples and, in doing so, forewarns and helps them. When he says ‘if’ in v.18 he isn’t introducing an element of doubt into their minds; his words are equivalent to ‘when you are hated’. This is as certain as it gets - the church will face hatred from the world. That isn't to say that every individual believer will at all times be conscious of persecution but it is to say that this is the pattern for the church, this is the fundamental reality of life in this world.

To speak of being hated raises the stakes considerably because that is a very strong word and stands in very stark contrast to the love that Jesus has for his own (v.9). But Jesus goes even further: he says that some of his disciples will be put out of the synagogue and some will even be killed and those who kill them will think they’re doing God a favour. The stakes are about as high as they can get.

The stark warning of Jesus to his disciples is evidence, as one commentator says, that “Following Jesus is not a game”. This is a very serious business – for some, as Jesus warns here, it is a deadly business. Being a disciple is not about quiet therapy for troubled souls; it is a costly calling into the most bitter conflict. Jesus will not have his disciples believe otherwise, then or now.

By anticipating persecution, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the harsh reality that awaits them. That is a service of love on the part of the Saviour. It would be so easy for this hatred to knock us off course and to cause us to give up on our faith. Jesus says, "All this I have told you so that you will not go astray" (16:1). To be forewarned is to be forearmed. And we have been warned.

2. Jesus explains persecution
But why is it the case that followers of Jesus will be hated? Why such hostility? In these verses, Jesus not only anticipates persecution but explains it and, in doing so, provides solid encouragement to us as his people. Let’s notice 3 things here.
i) Because we do not belong to the world – We will find that the world hates us because of who we are – we will face opposition and difficulties because we no longer belong to the world but instead are joined by faith to Jesus and are his servants.

Jesus tells us that if we belonged to the world, it would love us as its own but we don’t belong to it any longer because he has chosen us out of the world (v.19). We are now united to Jesus and have our identity in him – and so, just as he was persecuted, so will we be (“No servant is greater than his master” v.20).

This explains why we suffer in this world but, as it explains it, it gives us cause for real encouragement. We suffer because we belong to Jesus; we are persecuted by the darkness because we belong to the light. Whilst none of us want to face hardship, knowing that it comes because we are loved by God is a real help.

Now, of course, Jesus is not saying here that all those who are badly treated by the world are his followers. Nor is he saying that we can safely assume that whenever we are treated badly it is because we belong to Jesus – the sad truth is that we can bring down trouble on our heads through our own foolishness and sin. Yet perhaps we can say that even then the situation will often be worse than it might have been because we bear Jesus’ name.

ii) Because the world does not know God – The world does not know God and, in its blind and wilful rebellion against the Lord, strikes out at those who do belong to him. Jesus speaks here of the ‘world’ meaning “the created moral order in active rebellion against God” (Carson).

The problem is not a few isolated individuals who can’t stand Christians – it is far more fundamental. Jesus is speaking about a clash of systems – between the Lord and his kingdom and the world as governed by the evil one and trapped in sin.

If individuals try to discourage and cause us difficulties because of our faith in Jesus, we need to see their opposition in this light. They are part of a world system that hates God and stirs up trouble for God’s people.

The issue is far bigger than a husband or wife or sibling who is a trial to us – it is the world in its violent opposition to God.

It is this explanation of the nature of persecution that leads one writer very helpfully to say that: “these verses demand decision, because the issues are of ultimate importance. Following Jesus costs something and may cost life itself. Yet not following Jesus means one is siding with a lost and hateful world.” (Carson)

If you’re not a Christian, it may not feel as though you’re siding with a hateful world but Jesus will not let the issue be fudged: anyone who is not for him is against him. The issues are stark and so, too, is the choice: to follow Jesus and live or to side with the world and be lost. What are you going to make of that choice?

iii) Because of the church’s mission to the world – Jesus adds a very significant dimension to his explanation of persecution in vv.26,27 when he speaks of the Spirit and the church testifying about him. The opposition of the world, in its hatred of God, is stirred when the church engages in mission.

In this whole section, from ch.13, Jesus has been emphasising that he is sending the disciples out to continue his mission. Jesus was persecuted and rejected as he fulfilled his Father’s calling and the same reality will face the church.

To expect to face opposition as we engage in mission is, of course, no reason to cease reaching out. To be faithful as a church to the commission of Jesus is to lay ourselves open to the hatred of the world – but the glory of God and the desperate need of the world demands that we grit our teeth and go on.

3. Jesus condemns persecution
The third thing to notice about this persecution is that Jesus says it is culpable – those who engage in it stand guilty in their sin.

In v.22 Jesus says that those who persecuted him had no excuse since he had come and had spoken to them. They deliberately fought against the light, choosing to reject the Lord of glory and looking to do away with him.

If he had not spoken to them, nor done miracles among them, they would not have been guilty – by which Jesus is not saying they would have been sinless but that their rejection of him would not have attracted the same condemnation. But they did hear, they did see and still they rejected him. That was deliberate and worthy of condemnation.

How does this sit with what we experience today? If someone treats us badly, not knowing we’re Christians, they’re guilty of sin but not of persecution as Jesus speaks of it here. But if someone hates us because of who and what we are in Christ, they are without excuse. They have no reason to react in that way – it is entirely unreasonable for the Lord’s people to be abused since, like Jesus, we are going to the world with a message of hope and mercy – to reject that is madness and invites judgement.

4. Jesus equips for persecution
The overall impact of Jesus’ teaching in these verses, as he anticipates, explains and condemns the persecution of his people is to equip them for it. We are not to be caught off-guard; the world will hate us because it hated him. It hates us because we belong to him; it is a product of the fundamental clash of systems – the world in its opposition to God. But such persecution will not have the last word; it stands condemned for what it is: implacable hatred of God, the opposition of evil to the goodness of the Creator.

We need to know that and so be equipped for the fight. But Jesus does something else – he speaks of the promised Holy Spirit, calling him the ‘paraclete’, the Comforter. He will testify of Jesus and will be the one who impels the church into its witness too.

The days may be hard; tears may, at times, flow freely because we are real people with a real capacity for grief and sorrow. But, in the midst of it all, the same Spirit who leads us into costly service remains with us as the Comforter, reminding us of our status with God and filling our hearts with the realisation of God’s great love for us. That is worth more than words can say – so don’t grow weary in well-doing but rather press on, for Jesus’ sake, knowing that our labour in the Lord is not in vain.