JOHN 15 v 18-27

 

The Collect for the service this coming Sunday asks Jesus to give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship in spirit and in truth. Let us turn therefore to the gospel of John in Chapter 15, verses  18-27.

It is John’s way to see things as black or white; there is the Church and the world, and there is no fellowship between.  There is no half-way or compromise solution. For John it is a man of the world, or a man of Christ.

At this time, the Church was under persecution. Christians were individually persecuted and Christianity was illegal.  In the Law Courts the Magistrate would ask whether the man was a Christian or not.  No matter what the charge was, a Christian would be liable to a severe punishment or even death.  A Christian could not pretend he did not know or had not been warned.   John reported this as it was.

Jesus told His people they could be beaten in the Synagogue, and be taken before the rulers for a testimony against them.  Within families, brother would be against brother, and even between parents and children, they were ready to betray each other. When John wrote about such hatred, it had already begun and was frightening.

The Roman government hated Christians, because they deemed them as disloyal citizens.  The Empire of Rome stretched across Europe and North Africa, and the unifying force was Caesar, who was called Lord, but the Christinas insisted on only  Jesus being called Lord.

The Eastern and Western Churches of Christendom were divided about their meaning, and in some ways still are.

Jesus did two things. First, He exposed sin. He told of things which grieved God, and told them the way God wanted them to walk.  Secondly, He provided the remedy for sin, and did so in a double sense.  He opened the way to forgiveness for past sin, and gave them the power  which enabled a person to overcome sin and do the proper way. Those were the privileges and knowledge which he brought forward.

Suppose a man was ill and would call a doctor who diagnosed the cause, and offered a cure. If the man disregarded the diagnosis and refused to take the cure, he had no one else to blame. If he survived in a condition in which his life is ruined, he is at fault.  As John saw things, they  should have done what told they told to do.  The Psalmist said in Psalm 19, they hated me without cause.

It is still possible to do the same. There are not many hostile to Christ, but there are still those who live their lives as if Jesus had never come, and simply disregard Him.

The world dislikes people whose lives are a condemnation of it, in fact, it can be dangerous to be good.  The world likes a pattern; it likes to be able, to take a person, clarify him and put in a pigeon -hole.

The basic demand on the Christian, is the demand that the Christian should have the courage to be different; this can be dangerous, but no one can be a Christian unless accepting the risk, for there will always be a difference between a man of the world and a Christian man.

In verse 22, Jesus has returned to a thought recorded in John’s gospel. It is the conviction that knowledge and privilege bring responsibility.  Until Jesus came, people never had the opportunity really and fully to know God.  He tells His Apostles if he had not spoken and done among the Jews, which no one had done before, they would not have had sin. By this he means they would not have been as sinful as they were then, but were entirely without excuse They had seen the works of Christ and heard His teaching, yet remained believing He could not have done anything more.  They wilfully sinned against the cleanest light, and of all people were most guilty.  No one can know life in this world, or in the world to come if they disregard the Lord of all good life.

John uses two ideas which are close to his heart, and which are entwined in his thoughts. The first is the witness of the Holy Spirit.  When the story of Jesus is told, we recognize Him as the Son of God and we see divine wisdom. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit within us, who moves us to respond to Jesus Christ.

The Bible refers to the Holy Spirit as a person, and with God the father, and God the Son, is the third person in the Trinity.

Jesus said to His Apostles, you will be witness about me.  There three elements about Christian witness

.(1) Chrisian witness comes from long fellowship and intimacy with Jesus.  The Apostles are the witnesses for Christ, having been with Him from the beginning.  A witness is someone who can say this is true, and I know it to be so.  There cannot be witness without the experience, we can only be a witness when we know Christ.

(2) Christian witness comes from inner conviction.  The accent of personal inner conviction, is one of the most unmistakeable accents in the world. A person hardly begins to speak, before we know whether it is really believed  what is being said.  There cannot be witness without inner conviction, which comes from deep commitment with Jesus.

(3) A Christian witness issues in outward testimony. A witness is on who knows Christ, and is prepared to say that they know it is true. And wants others to know Him too

This is our privilege  and our task, to be witnesses in the world for Christ, and we need inner conviction and outward testimony, and a knowledge of Christ.