No Fear

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

NO FEAR

John 14:22-27

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He 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. 25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

NIV

Again, this is just a small portion of everything Jesus has been telling his disciples about what is about to happen. All he said was during their time celebrating the Passover meal in the upper room. We pick up this conversation with the question of Judas (not Judas Iscariot). Jesus said he would show himself to those who love him and Judas understood that to mean he would not show himself to those who did not love him. Jesus sort of says it over again that if we love him we will obey his teaching. So we have to ask just what was Jesus teaching. It always comes back to the two greatest commands, to love the Lord our God with all our being and love our neighbor as ourselves. Yet, in the context, as we have already noted, he put the qualifier of sending the Holy Spirit as obeying his command. What command he was referring to was what he has just said about having faith in him and doing greater things than he has done? We have to believe the sending of the Spirit cannot be contingent on our ability to perfectly follow every command, otherwise, none of us believers would have the Spirit. It is by faith we are saved it is by faith we receive the Spirit and it is by faith that we live by the Spirit and stay in step with the Spirit. Again, that does not excuse us from making every effort, with the help of the Spirit, to obey the Lord’s command. Without making and excuse for our flesh, we have to face the reality that we will not attain perfection until we have been resurrected and are with the Lord. So in that sense, we do obey his teaching of believing and trusting in him and thus he and the Father will come to us and make their home with us. If someone does not believe and trust in Jesus they will not make their home with that person. The unbeliever will live without the presence of the Lord in their lives. That is sad. Jesus reminds them that the Father will send the Counselor, the Holy Spirit to them in Jesus’s name. The Holy Spirit will remind them of everything he has ever said to them. Again he makes sure they know the Spirit is coming to them, and we know they were mere men, not perfect either. But they loved Jesus and they believed in him and trusted him. Where else would they go? Who else would they trust? Jesus is the only way, he is the truth and he is the light. He is going to tell them one more thing and then the beginning of the end which brings the beginning of everything new. But for now, we will be content to know that Jesus gives us peace, this is like the Hebrew Shaalowm or Shalom. But it also has the meaning of the tranquil state of our soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content with our lot in life, of whatsoever sort that is. The world cannot give us that type of peace, in fact, the world generates just the opposite, discontentment, jealousy, and envy, always wanting more then we have, always wanting something different, something newer, or something better. What kind of peace is that? Never to be content, happy, satisfied, complete and whole. To be like that has to be a result of a large God-shaped void within them. However, that is not to say we believers are exempt from those feelings as we sometimes allow ourselves to be influenced by the world. Let us remind ourselves whose peace we need and have and learn to live in peace with God and ourselves. Then our hearts will not be troubled and we will have no fear.