Category: Jesus in the Upper Room

No Longer a Follower

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 37

One of the upshots of understanding “Christ in you” is that I no longer consider myself a Christ-follower.  The word follower implies that there is some kind of distance between me and Jesus.  Jesus is up ahead and I am following at a distance.  Seeing ourselves as followers feeds the erroneous message we have been taught that my behavior determines my closeness to Jesus.  When I am doing well, I am moving closer to Jesus like a good follower would.  And when I am doing poorly, I am falling behind with an increasing distance between me and my Savior.  But does this line of thinking make any sense when Christ has promised a bond so close that He is literally living inside us forever?

Now I know most folks use the term “Christ-follower” to identify as a believer and I am not all bent out of shape if people keep using this term.  I just want you to think about the subtle implication that the word “follower” supports; the idea that there can be some degree of separation between you and God.  I know I am repeating myself, from several of my previous posts, but it cannot be said too often.  There is no separation between you and Jesus.  Your bond is unbreakable.  Your bond is unshakeable.

You know, I find it interesting that in all of the apostles’ sermons in the book of Acts and in their subsequent letters, there is no call to “follow Jesus”.  After the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came to live in God’s children forever, we are not instructed to “follow Jesus”.  Paul, in all of his writings, never commands believers to “follow Jesus”.  I think this is significant because there is no more following when Christ lives in us.

We are instructed to “imitate Christ”.  But I see this as a completely different focus than “follow”.  There is no distance implied in “imitate”.  Imitate is simply an encouragement to look like Christ, in your attitude and actions.  It is living into our new identity as His beloved child.

So if Christ is not up ahead of us, as a teacher to be followed, where is He?  “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I IN YOU” (John 14:20).  “God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

If we keep thinking of Jesus as outside of us, then we will think we have to do something to get to Him, to stay with Him, and to follow Him. But if we think of Him as He is, happily at home inside us, then we will look for Him there. And the sheer beauty is that when we look for Him there, we will find Him. We will find Him in us full of life and love and joy; a life, love, and joy that we have the pleasure of expressing as He lives His life through us.

I like how our friend Ralph Harris summarizes this thought, “Christ is the one who came to us and who stays with us.  There is no following at a distance, no matter how small.”

Christ in You

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 36

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.  In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:18-20).

The Holy Spirit has often been referred to as the person of the Trinity that indwells believers.  In fact, several of our recent posts have been on this very topic, “And [the Helper] will be IN you” (John 14:17).  But now Jesus extends our thinking to more than just the Holy Spirit inside with words like, “I will come to you … I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”  Does “Christ in you” sound familiar?  As in …

  • “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
  • “And since Christ is in you” (Romans 8:10).
  • “But Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
  • “I [Jesus] in them and You [Father] in Me” (John 17:23).

The bottom line is that God is in you in whatever fashion He chooses.  I think sometimes we put too much separation between the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and their roles.  God is in you in all forms of Himself, living His life through you.  I like to focus on Christ in me because Galatians 2:20 makes such a clear case of the old me having been crucified with Christ and the resurrected Jesus living His life through the new me.

And the greatest beauty of “Christ in us” to me is that it will never end.  Jesus promised in our verses above, “I will not leave you as orphans.”  He will never leave us.  Christ will always be in us.  How can we be so sure?

Because the “always” does not depend on us.  Do you see the sheer beauty of this?  Christ is in us because He came to live inside forever.  He is the one who accomplished this indwelling.  It was 100% His doing.  Because He is the one who brought it to pass, we are powerless to undo it.  His presence will never depend on my actions, my feelings, my failures, my love growing cold.  It will always depend on His promise.  He will never leave us as orphans.

In the setting of the upper room, Christ could tell the disciples that the world would soon behold Him no longer.  Why?  Because, following His death and resurrection, Christ was going to the Father.  But the disciples would behold Him, both in His post resurrection appearances and in their forever.  Because Christ now lives, we will live also.

And in our living, Christ will live in us on this earth and with us in our forever.  “Because Christ lives, we will live also” (John 14:19).

Rhonda’s Holy Spirit Story

I have seen “the Holy Spirit will guide you” at work in a person very close to me; my wife, Rhonda.  Rhonda believed the gospel as a high school student in Markle Indiana.  While attending a revival meeting at the Markle United Methodist Church, she heard the clear call of God’s invitation.  She believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Rhonda was born again.

But Rhonda had no one to share this journey with her.  She had no one to explain what came next.  She was on her own in finding her spiritual bearings.  And her first introduction to serious study of the Bible was not much help.  Looking back, Rhonda says, “The Bible is where my trouble began.”  Why would someone say that?

One of Rhonda’s first classes in her freshman year at a Christian college was an overview of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.  These books are a fine introduction to the Bible, but an awful introduction to living the Christian life.  Which of these complicated commands were required to be followed?  Studying these books, and the Bible in general, as a new believer was very confusing to Rhonda.  And the joy of her conversion began to fade.  But the one thing she remained sure of was that God was with her and in her.

Again, no one was there to explain the difference between the old and new covenants.  No one was there to tell Rhonda that not all of the Bible was written for her to follow as a new covenant believer.  No one was there to exalt the supremacy of Christ and His magnificent promise to live His life through her by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Spiritual maturity seemed to come down to following a particular set of spiritual disciplines with an uncertain promise of success.

Years of attending Bible churches only added to the guilt and confusion of what Rhonda was missing.  Rhonda is a doer.  Rhonda is a servant.  Rhonda is a lover.  But we in the Bible church movement have elevated Bible study, and outlining, and parsing, and compartmentalizing, and memorizing as the highest goal of the Christian life.  If that doesn’t fit your personality, or giftedness, or learning style, you are looked down upon as less than; something is wrong with you.  You are not trying hard enough.

Rhonda will tell you that she has learned many things through Bible study, but study is not the primary driver of her life of love and service to others.  The Spirit is the one who was and is leading Rhonda.  The Spirit is sending folks into Rhonda’s path to love and serve.  And the Spirit is the one who empowers Rhonda’s sacrificial love.  I have seen it so powerfully up close as her partner in service and as the biggest beneficiary of the Spirit’s force in her life.

Rhonda is very fast at knowing the right thing to do as situations arise.  But she still felt under-prepared biblically and would say to me, “I don’t know where in the Bible to find this, but I know it is the right thing to do.”  I would reassure her, “Finding support in the Bible doesn’t matter.  You are DOING the will of God.  The Spirit inside you is coming out in beautiful ways, and we all are blessed by that.”

When Rhonda was fully captured by the grace message, the guilt and pressure of “it’s all about Bible study and understanding” came off.  And in a beautiful twist, she actually found a new joy in the overarching message of the Bible.  Understanding the place of the old and new covenants, seeing our total forgiveness, embracing our complete acceptance, and believing our “no separation” from the Father made the Bible less confusing and a fascinating picture of God’s unending love for us began to fall into place.

Rhonda now shares her story to encourage you.  Listen to the Spirit inside.  Love one another.  Serve one another.  Encourage one another.  You have what it takes to make a difference in the person’s life that God brings into your path today.

Your Guide to the Truth

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 35

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you” (John 16:12-15).

In Jesus’ sermon in the upper room, we learn that after nearly three years, Christ’s direct speaking and revelation to His disciples is coming to an end.  Enter the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit that Christ is sending, here described as the “Spirit of truth”, will continue Jesus’ ministry of revelation.  The Spirit will guide the disciples, and us, “into all the truth”.

Jesus is the embodiment of truth.  It is part of His three-fold identity; the way, the truth, and the life.  The Spirit’s guidance “into all the truth” will be a further unfolding of all the truth that is found in Jesus.  We learned in John 14:26 that the Spirit will illuminate all that Jesus taught.

Jesus insisted more than once that he did not speak or act on His own initiative.  His words were those that the Father gave Him (John 5:19, 30; 8:28; 12:49).  So when the Spirit of truth comes, “He will not speak on His own initiative.”  He will follow the pattern of Jesus, disclosing what He has heard from the Father.

The message the Spirit discloses never changes.  But by virtue of the Spirit being in us and speaking through us, the message is being proclaimed by the Spirit in the exact way that the Father prescribes for each generation.  The Spirit and His message are moving in time and space upon the earth, illuminating the hearts and minds of Christ’s faithful.

The Spirit will glorify the Son by taking all that the Son has, which in itself has come from the Father, and will disclose it to us.  The Trinity, God in three persons, is clearly on display in this passage.  The Son has appeared and lived into all that the Father had for Him.  The Spirit will carry on the work.

The Spirit glorifies the Son by unfolding clearly the meaning of Jesus’ person and work.  Hear the Spirit.  As you read, worship, and contemplate all that God is revealing to you, you are listening to the Spirit’s voice.

One of the misconceptions sometimes heard in our Bible churches is that God only speaks to us through the Bible.  I don’t believe that that is the only way He “guides us to the truth”.  The direct revelation of the Spirit also reveals the truth to us.  I have seen how this works in someone very close to me.  I will share her Holy Spirit story next time.

“To Your Advantage”?

Understanding the Red Letters   Part 34

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).

“To their advantage” is an awfully bold statement.  There is something better than the physical presence of Jesus?  Something better than Jesus in the flesh?  In my sacred imagination, I am not sure if that is even possible.  But I believe it because Jesus said it, and He emphasized that He is telling the truth.  “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away” (John 16:7).

How can Jesus going away be “to their advantage”?  How is this to our advantage?  The short answer is that the Holy Spirit can only come to us if Jesus goes away.  They are trading places as it were.  But it is not an even trade.  Jesus makes quite clear that the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is more advantageous to us than Jesus’ physical presence next to us.

Can we extend the thought and say it this way?  The power of the Spirit in us is better for us than the power of the physical Jesus standing next to us.  This can be a difficult concept to grasp and believe.  The power of the Spirit in us sounds almost mystical, kind of an ethereal force that we really don’t know how to capture.

I think one reason we feel this way is that we have been conditioned to receive ALL of our advice and instruction from the person standing next to us; a mentor, a pastor, a parent, a teacher, a coach.  And these are all great people to learn from, no question about it.  But let us never underestimate the active power of the Holy Spirit in us to lead, comfort, empower, guide, encourage, love, and reassure in a way that is different than any person standing beside us can give.

Please understand, this is not to disparage the wonderful influencers that God has given us.  This is not to diminish in any way the community of believers that we grow alongside with.  The body of Christ serving, loving, and instructing each other is a beautiful thing.  But the power behind our growing together comes from the Spirit inside each of us.

Jesus began the sermon in the upper room with an impossible command; to love one another in the same way that Jesus loves us.  But with the power of the Spirit inside, the impossible becomes possible and even desirable.  We want to love each other.  I see this every day in my fellow believers.  The person beside us can teach, give advice, and even explain to us what Jesus said.  But it is the Spirit inside us that gives us the power to go out and do it!