John 14:21
He who has My
commandments and keeps them,
it is he who
loves Me,
and He who
loves Me will be loved by My Father,
I will
love him and manifest Myself to him.
That’s what our text for today promises us.
This verse is important
because it assures us that if we love Jesus and live the way He has instructed
us to live, then He will make Himself known to us!
Experiencing the presence of God is something very special, and it’s not always the same. When you experience the presence of God, you are fully conscious of what is happening and want it to be sustained. You don’t want it to end.
Some of those moments are described for us in scripture:
- Adam and Eve had the privilege of taking a walk with God every evening during the cool of the day!
- Jacob experienced the presence of God when he dreamed and saw a stairway into heaven. It was such a special time for him that he built an altar and gave the place a special name.
- Moses talked with God on the mountaintop and in the tabernacle and on one occasion was allowed to look on the back of the very presence of God while he was tucked safely into the crevice of a great rock.
- Elijah experienced the presence of God when he was in a cave in the wilderness. God was not present in the fire, or the storm or the earthquake; rather, God made Himself known through a still, small voice!
- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego experienced the presence of God when they were thrown into the fiery furnace! He walked with them there as He assured them of their coming deliverance.
- John the Baptist experienced the presence of God as he baptized Jesus and saw the Spirit descend like a dove. Then, he heard God speak from the heavens: "This is My Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
- Peter, James and John experienced the presence of God on a mountaintop when Jesus was glorified in their presence. They got to see Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah; and they also heard God speak from the heavens: “This is My Son; Listen to Him!”
- A Roman soldier experienced the presence of God during an earthquake that occurred while Jesus hung on His cross. He exclaimed: “Surely, this was the Son of God!”
- Eleven apostles experienced the presence of God when the resurrected Jesus suddenly appeared in their locked room. He breathed on them and said: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.”
- 120 people experienced the presence of God after ten days of praying together in an upper room in Jerusalem fifty days after His resurrection! They were filled with the Holy Spirit and broke into the streets miraculously sharing the Good News in many different languages!
- A Catholic priest named Martin Luther experienced the presence of God as he studied. God opened the meaning of Romans 1:17 to him and showed him that the righteous are saved by faith and faith alone!
- On May 24th, 1738 an Anglican priest named John Wesley opened his Bible at about five in the morning and came across these words, "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature." That evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate. Someone read from Luther's Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m. "while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
Let’s review Jesus’ promise again:
He who has My
commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me, and He who loves Me will be
loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.
In John 14:15, Jesus was spending His last evening with His followers when He said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
This makes it perfectly clear that our love for Christ must be necessarily backed up by obedience to His teachings! Here’s the simplicity of this teaching:
1.
Love Jesus by
2.
Keeping His
commands.
3.
As a result, God
will love you, and
4.
Jesus will love
you, and
5.
Jesus will manifest
Himself to you through His Holy Spirit!
What does ‘manifest’ mean?
CEV - “I will show Myself to them.”
The VOICE - “I will love you and reveal My heart, will
and nature to you.”
LB - “I will reveal Myself to him.”
Amplified - “I will let Myself be clearly seen by him
and make Myself real to him.”
I think we’re on safe ground to say that if we love Jesus and keep His commands, we will experience His presence in similar ways to those we listed above!
Having been born and raised in a Christian home, I have experienced the presence of God in many ways over the years. It often occurred during worship times. I’ve written about many of these times on my blog. It has happened when I’ve been alone, when I’ve been in small groups, and when I’ve been with large crowds – such as 50,000 men at a Promise Keepers rally!
When Jesus makes Himself known to us, it certainly
makes a memorable moment.
I wish it happened more often, don’t you? I’m not in control of these occurrences – He is!
When they occur, I’m like
Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration when he said:
Peter didn’t want the experience to end! Can you blame him?
Actually, I think this story reveals one of the reasons that Jesus manifests Himself to us. He is giving us a glimpse – however short – of what it will be like for us when we get to Heaven!
Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn-writer, wrote about this:
Revelation 22:3-5 (NIV)
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God
and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will
see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more
night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the
Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
I have come to believe and am laying out evidence to convince you to believe that these moments when we experience the presence of God are intended as encouragements for us to continue to walk with Him and to be obedient to His Word, so that someday, we will be with those who inherit the New Heaven and the New Earth that has just been described. Then, and only then, we will know His presence and His love fully and with unending enjoyment!
_______________________________
I would suggest that there are many people in our world today who have NEVER experienced the presence of God! As churched people, we may be familiar with holy moments when God visits and blesses. But there are many who have not been raised in an environment of worship.
For six years, I served as the Lead Associate Pastor at a very unusual
church in Akron, OH. At the time, it was
a Free Methodist Church that had formerly been led by Charles Young. When he
was elected superintendent of the Ohio conference, his wife – Brenda Young –
was appointed as the Lead Pastor.
Now Charlie had grown the church to over two hundred and had guided them to buy property and build a modern worship, fellowship and educational facility. While doing this he had also planted a new church in Dalton, Ohio and helped rescue another conference church that had experienced a traumatic disruption in its ministry!
However, under Brenda’s leadership, Cornerstone Church grew to four hundred in two years time. That’s when Debbie and I and our family arrived in Akron and started to attend the church. Over the next six years the church would grow to over seven-hundred with a Saturday downtown outreach to the homeless that included anywhere from 100 – 300 people with hot food, clothing distribution and live worship on the streets of Akron!
I know of no other church like Cornerstone! 75% of its people were [at the time] ‘first-time-believers’! We largely reached two or three specific groups: those with addiction problems and those struggling with marriage problems and/or divorce issues. Brenda and I were both counselors. We also operated a low-cost counseling center out of the church!
By the time I left Cornerstone, we were packing three Sunday morning services while also running an active children’s and youth ministry and classes for adults!
New attenders at Cornerstone often came to either me or Brenda asking:
“Why do I weep so much when I attend church here?” Over and over we had to
explain to them that they were experiencing the presence of God!
- They sensed His presence during the vibrant worship!
- They sensed God’s presence when people gathered for prayer around the altar – sometimes four or five people deep!
- They sensed God’s presence when people responded to the altar call at the end of the service!
People were overwhelmed with the realization that God was actually
present in the worship of this church!
Lost people don’t care about liturgy!
They don’t even care about
the beauty of the sanctuary.
They’re not drawn by great
teachers or preachers – although they can have considerable influence!
But lost people will be deeply moved and drawn to a church where the presence of God is regularly experienced!
This is our challenge!
It is reasonable to believe that God will take anything that we offer Him and multiply it for His purposes – IF WE’RE SINCERE!
Thank You for loving us! And Jesus, thank You for loving us!
Holy Spirit, help us – as You live and work within us
– to obey Jesus’ commands!
We need help to do this!
We acknowledge that we are prone to wander; prone to leave the God we love.
We can’t do this on our own! We need Your holy help to live lives of
obedience!
Triune God, we thank You that You occasionally reveal
Yourself to us!
We love those transcendent moments when we sense Your
holy presence!
We long for them to occur more frequently and for them
to last longer!
Being in Your presence is so comfortable and freeing
and it affects our whole being!
And we realize better now that these moments are Your
way of keeping us on track so that someday we can come to be with You for all
eternity!
On that day, we will not only be reunited with loved
ones and friends who have preceded us,
but more important, we will begin to experience Your
holy presence in a perfect, sin-free environment forever! We can hardly imagine it, but we
wholeheartedly look forward to it!
In the meantime, we have work to do to extend Your
love to those
·
who surround
our church and
·
live in our
communities!
So many are confused and lost!
Many have become disillusioned!
The chaos and rage in our culture has caused many to
give up hope!
Help us to hold Your light up for others to see!
Make our churches an entry point for many to come to
know You – or be renewed with You!
Enable us to be a safe place for people to come with
their:
doubts,
pain,
anger,
questions,
and bitterness!
Help us to be Your welcoming arms to a life of faith
and growth!
Do something remarkable in our presence!
Transform us!
Release us!
Compel us to serve the lost!
And give us great rewards as we trust You for a
fruitful future!
For Your Kingdom’s sake.
No comments:
Post a Comment