Manifested Love Pt 15: Understanding
John 14:22-24 22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
Romans 8:31-39 31What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ezekiel 37:26-27 26I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Show yourself to us
The 1st Century Jew was eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Messiah and every mother’s prayer was that she would be favored to be the Messiah’s mother. The Jews longed for the manifestation of Him to the world because it would mean the end to inequality, oppression, and abuse. They thought of him even as a conquering King who would bring an end to the Roman Empire. So, the question, “Why only us?” was perplexing, not critical. But we must remember why God entered into Covenant with Israel in the first place: It was to show the world the love of God through his chosen people. But now it was time to expand beyond the Jewish people to the pagan world through the teachings and ministry of His Son.
Here's the thing though: As a man Jesus was limited in time and place; he couldn’t be everywhere at once. And he wasn’t willing to be forceful and didn’t want his followers to be robots. So Jesus set out to reveal himself to those of his children he knows would listen and respond to his teaching. Jesus referred to the world as those stiff-necked, stubborn people who would refuse to listen. So, while it was time to bring the Good News to his people, it wasn’t yet time to bring it to the world.
Obey my teaching
In western culture these days the word obey is anathema; people think it implies rejection of self, and that seems to be the worst possible thing in our me-first culture. But Jesus is asking, “Do you love me?”, and specifically he is asking, “Will you continue to love me?” He is asking those men in front of him if they were willing to put themselves aside and truly love him. Because that meant putting aside their fears, their pride, and their anxiety and obeying his teaching. Obeying is necessary; Jesus’ teachings are about a radical redirection of one’s life. They imply a unified reorganization of one’s morals, honor, righteousness, and holiness towards God. A person can’t do one without doing it all. So the obedience to Jesus’ teaching is a result of one’s love of him rather than the cause of one’s love of him.
Face to face and side by side
Loving Jesus is difficult, not that Jesus is a hard person to love, but that it is difficult to love him consistently and continuously. We are impacted these days by an aggressively oppositional world filled with people and culture which elevates everything Jesus stands against. We need help, and that help is easily and readily available in the Father and the Son through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Further, as the Romans verse shows, that help is unstoppable. As we go ‘all in’ in our love of Jesus Father and Son manifest themselves in our lives face to face and side by side. It really is as if the Father Himself comes up to our face, shakes our hand, and says, “Don’t worry, we got this!” As we accept Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit manifests himself in our everyday lives in everyday ways. When we mess up, he brings our notice to it and then helps us repent of it. In spite of our struggles with sin and interactions with the world, he reminds us that we are once and fully saved. Through him we feel peace and contentment in seemingly impossible situations. This is what the Words calls ‘peace that passes all understanding’.
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
What about me?
I remember when I first came to Christ those many years ago that I was so excited I could barely contain myself. I talked with people all the time about our experiences and asked question after question after question. That excitement diminished over time as life began to intrude. There is something to consider here. The most important word in these verses is ‘loves’ in v23, not because of love itself, but because the context in Greek indicates a love that starts sincere and stays sincere. In spite of the struggles we go through, or maybe because of them, we must stay focused on our love for Jesus. We Westerners, Americans especially, have a tendency to filter everything through our ‘me-first’ culture. God wants a God-first culture in our lives.
So, as you go forward from here, pay attention to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. You may not hear a distinct voice, but you have probably had the feeling that you shouldn’t have done that thing, or that you hurt that person’s feelings. Equally importantly, the Holy Spirit brings to our minds the things that lept off the page when reading the Word, or things people prayed over us, or direction changes for our lives. That sort of thing is exactly the way the Holy Spirit talks to us. Even though it is subtle, it’s there. Listen and learn, and live.