John 15

Study Guide 115: John 15:18-17:26 JESUS’ LAST WORDS (CONTINUED) Overview These chapters, containing the last words of Jesus to His disciples and a lengthy prayer, are extremely significant, for they focus on the lifestyle of disciples, and on the church. Here we find out more of how we are to live with one another. And here, especially, we begin to see how we are to live as Christ’ s people in an often hostile world. These chapters are so significant that literally hundreds of books have been written about them. I have one book of over 400 pages on John 17:1-26 alone. It has been suggested that every truth which has been developed by the apostles in the New Testament letters is here, in seed, in Jesus’ Last Supper Discourse. BE ONE. John 17:1-26 stresses Christ’ s desire for believers to “ be one as We are One.” This has been taken as a prayer for Christian unity, and an argument for denomination unification. A careful study of the chapter, however, makes it clear that what Jesus prays for is that we might experience our union with Him, even as He had experienced His own union with God the Father throughout His life on earth. Through faith we are united with Jesus, linked to Him in an unbreakable bond. But we must experience that union by living in responsive obedience, for the One to whom we are united is God.

Commentary Believers across the ages have yearned for the new community Jesus described to His disciples in the Upper Room. We long for the loving fellowship, the humility expressed in foot-washing, the deep experience of Jesus’ presence, the sense of remaining in Him. Some have found this ideal impossible to reach in society, and so they have formed separate communities. The monastery of the Middle Ages and the commune of the twentieth century often have been attempts to withdraw from carnal Christians or from the pollution of pagan culture. But in these chapters (John 13-17) we do not hear Jesus advocate withdrawal. He calls us to involvement! The Christian does not experience Christ by removing himself from the world; we experience Christ in the world, though we are distinctly not of the world.

The World John painted reality boldly, with vividly contrasting concepts. He showed us life versus death, grace versus law, light versus dark. Then he contrasted Jesus’ followers (a fellowship of love) with the world (a society of mere men). The Greek word used here for “ world” is kosmos. According to the Arndt and Gingrich Greek/English Lexicon of the New Testament (Bagsters and Son), kosmos has several meanings. It can refer to “ the sum total of everything here and now” (the universe as a whole). Or it can refer to “ all beings above the level of animals.” In this usage it includes both men and angels, or may focus specifically on mankind. In a moral sense, “ the world” refers to “ that which is at enmity with God,” that is, every thought and action, every value and behavior, that is tainted by sin (pp. 202-203). In this moral sense, the New Testament portrays the world as far more than tainted: it is lost in sin, ruined, and depraved. It is hostile to God and godliness. The principles on which the world operates stand in dark contrast to divine righteousness and a godly life. To grasp the difference between the two approaches to life, we must be born again. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds (literally, “ perceptions,” or “ perspective” ) (Romans 12:1-3). Because the “ whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), we are to keep ourselves “ from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). What the world identifies as “ adult,” we recognize as perversion. What the world praises as “ success,” we often must label failure. What the world views as the highest of values — material success, popularity, and so on — we recognize as emptiness. There is a deep and abiding antagonism between the society of unredeemed man and the community of Jesus’ own. Because this antagonism always exists, there are two great dangers the Christian continually faces. The first danger is conformity: “ Don’ t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold” (Romans 12:2, PH). And John added this warning in his first epistle: “ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:15-16). The world’ s basic approach to life is twisted and perverted. We are to love the people of the world but decisively reject (and fear) the attitudes and values of the world. The second danger for the Christian is withdrawal. If we do not recognize the world system for what it is, we may unknowingly adopt its lifestyle. When we do recognize the world system for what it is, we may be so repelled that we seek to escape it. This, of course, is the route taken by early monastics; it is the way of the Essenes in Old Testament times, and the way of the Qumran community. It is also the way of a distorted kind of separatism practiced by believers in many churches today. When Christians attempt to protect themselves from the practices of others, they frequently build a wall that rejects people and refuses relationships with those “ outside.” The New Testament picture of the world challenges us with important questions. How do we relate to the society in which we live? Should we withdraw? Are there any other options? How do we relate to non-Christians who have only seen worldly values? How can we construct the new community within the ruins of man’ s society . . . or are we even supposed to try? LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Before your group meets ask four members to prepare for a short debate, with two on each side of the question. The question: RESOLVED, conformity to the world is a greater danger to modern Christians than unhealthy withdrawal from it. You may want to meet with each team, perhaps for lunch or coffee. Be sure each understands the meaning of “ world,” and talk about the various problems related to conformity and to withdrawal. Before the debate begins, give a brief explanation to the other group members of “ world” in its moral sense.

Love in the World: John 15:18-16:33 The last paragraph we studied (John 15:12-17) restated Jesus’ command to His disciples: “ Love each other.” In the context of loving each other, lasting fruit will be produced, intimate relationship with Jesus will be experienced, prayer will be answered. Together we will experience new life. But how will the world respond to this radical new community that is founded on principles so opposed to its own lifestyle and views? With antagonism (John 15:18-27). Christ immediately warns that as we learn to live out the new community, the world will react with hatred. “ Keep in mind that it hated Me first,” Jesus reminded the disciples. “ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” Antagonism develops because light shows up darkness, and grace morality reveals the perversion of sin. Jesus went on to remind His followers that men had seen Him do “ what no one else did.” They had been forced to recognize their own works as sin and, consequently, “ They have hated both Me and My Father.” This witness of Jesus to the Father continues in and through the Christians in the new community (John 15:26-27). God has taken us out of the world. At one time, we were part of that sinful system, and our lifestyles reflected its values. But in Christ we have been “ chosen out of the world” and have been called to live a new life in the world. Our lives and our relationships with others are to be a visible, continuing testimony to God in our godless, hostile world. Our witness to God will produce hatred and persecution at times. But God the Spirit will shine through our lives, declaring that God is life and love and light. With persecution (John 16:1-15). At times the world’ s antagonism has led to persecution, oppression, and death of those who follow Jesus. This would soon be the experience of the 11. Jesus warned, “ They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.” How are we to understand and to respond to persecution — often in small things, but sometimes the ultimate that Christ described, being killed because we love Jesus? Jesus helped us understand by speaking of the advantage to us of His return to the Father. By going away, Jesus made it possible for the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us. When the Spirit came, He would take the witness of the Christian under persecution and use it to prove the world wrong (or, convince, convict) about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment. The world will see the truth in Christians, and though the world as a whole will not respond with faith, individuals will believe. The Holy Spirit will open our hearts and minds to understand the ways and the truth of God. He will make clear to us what Jesus has said in the written Word. He will give us the wisdom we need to apply that Word on a daily basis and to live in responsive obedience to our Lord. A little earlier I noted two wrong reactions of Christians to the world. We can see more clearly now why they are wrong. If we adopt the values and lifestyle of the world, if we conform to the world system, God is left without a witness to truth and life and grace. But if we withdraw and cut ourselves off from the world’ s people in order to develop separated communities, God is also left without a witness. Only by living in the world — by being involved daily with the men and women around us, by being involved in the issues of our own times and society — can we show the contrast between human ways and God’ s ways. The natural response to persecution, to antagonism, to pressure, is to withdraw or to conform. But you and I, like Jesus, are to live under pressure. We are to open ourselves to hurt. We are to resist protecting ourselves and, instead, to expose ourselves, for God yearns to reveal His glory in our lives. As we learn to love each other, we will have the strength to become involved in the world and to find joy in our suffering, even as Jesus found joy in His. We will begin to love all men, even as Jesus loved us and gave Himself for us. Prayer is a resource (John 16:16-33). It is all too easy in reading Jesus’ warnings to become fearful or depressed and to feel that the Christian life is a burden almost too heavy to bear. Jesus had already pointed to some resources He had given: the Holy Spirit, and Jesus’ own continuing guidance. Then Christ spoke of the resource of prayer. Jesus Himself was soon to leave the 11. At first the events of the Crucifixion would create despair, but soon the disciples would know joy. “ I will see you again,” Jesus promised, “ and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” Life in the world, in spite of hostility and persecution, is a life of secure joy. How is joy possible? It is possible because we are not cut off from Jesus! We are free to bring every need to Him in prayer, and can be confident that He hears us. “ My Father will give you whatever you ask in My name,” Jesus said. “ Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Where can we find joy in times of pressure and uncertainty? First, by acknowledging that each of our ministries and everything we possess is God’ s. Jesus is Lord, and everything I have and do is committed totally into His hands. If Jesus in grace chooses to use it for His glory, I rejoice. And if He chooses not to use it, but to bring all I have planned and worked to achieve to an end, He can use disaster too to glorify Himself — and I rejoice. To know that Jesus lives, that He hears, and that He responds as we speak to Him, brings abiding joy whatever the pressures may be. And so Jesus concluded His words to His disciples. “ The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.” With this assurance, what have we to fear? “ I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus is Lord. And God loves us. No wonder we have peace and joy. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Divide the group in half. Each half is to study John 15:18-16:33. One group is to look specifically for troubles and pressures we may experience as we live Christian lives in the world. The other is to look for resources that help us live joyfully and confidently in the world. Each study should take at least 20 minutes. When completed, ask members of each group to share impressions: “ What is it like to live for Jesus in this world?” Members of the first group may have a negative outlook, while those in the second may display a positive outlook. Talk about any differences that emerge. How important that we focus not on the trials we will face, but on the resources God has provided that guarantee inner peace and joy.

Jesus’ Prayer for Us: John 17:1-26The intimate Upper Room experience concludes with Jesus’ prayer. This is a prayer for us, His people in the world. “ I will remain in the world no longer,” Jesus said, “ but they are still in the world.” Jesus had described the world’ s hostility that we will face. Now what will He ask for us? What is His deepest desire? Glory (John 17:1-5). Jesus first spoke to the Father about Himself, thus giving us a model. “ I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.” This work finished, God would lift Jesus to His presence again and give His Son the glory that “ I had with You before the world began.” We live in the world now, but this world is not the end! The end for us, as for Jesus, is glory in the very presence of the Father. The word “ glory” speaks literally of brightness, splendor, radiance. Expanded to denote the majesty and sublimity of God, it carries a sense of magnificence and splendor. In the verb form it means more than “ to praise or honor” ; it means to “ clothe in splendor.” With Jesus’ work on earth finished, He returned to the Father to be clothed again with the splendor that was His from eternity past. For Jesus, life in this world had a purpose. Christ lived to reveal and to glorify God. But life in this world was only a momentary experience for Christ. How good to know that for us as well, life in this world is only a momentary experience. Like Jesus, we will be lifted by the Father when our work here is accomplished. Then we too will be clothed in a splendor like Jesus’ own. While we are on earth we may never know the glory God intends for us, but one day we will see Jesus, and then, “ we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Our destiny is to be clothed with our Lord in splendor. Manifest Your name (John 17:6-10). What is the work God has for us on earth? To be “ great” ? To be noted evangelists? To be famous teachers? To be known and respected by all? Hardly. God wants a very simple thing, which every believer, no matter how humble, can share in fully. God wants us to manifest (make known) His name. We have received Jesus’ words (John 17:8) and believed in Him. Now we are to live out those words on earth. The quality of our lives is what will make plain to those around us the character of God. Each of us can brighten the world around us by reaching out to others with a grace and love that are like God’ s own. Sanctified (John 17:11-19). Christ then prayed that God will guard us while we live in the world’ s hostile environment. “ My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one.” He asked that we be sanctified by God’ s truth, that is, that we will be set apart to a holy way of life, and then “ sent into the world” (John 17:18). We are to not only witness to, but are to personally experience Christ’ s joy as we become more and more like Him. And we have Jesus’ added promise that He consecrates Himself to aid our growth in godliness. Reproductive (John 17:20-26). Jesus then emphasized the fact that He was not praying just for the 11 disciples, but for “ those who will believe in Me through their message.” You and I, and our local fellowships, along with all believers throughout the centuries are included in this great commitment of Jesus and His Father to all who belong to Them. The society of those who belong to Jesus is a community that grows in love and then multiplies. Jesus is still reaching out, through you and me, to rescue men and women lost in sin. There is, of course, one source and one source only for the strength we need to live a God-glorifying life. This is our union with Jesus Christ. Jesus lived in union with the Father, drawing on Him for strength and power. As we are “ brought to complete unity” with Jesus and the Father, then the world will know that Christ has sent us and that He loves us still. LINK TO LIFE: YOUTH / ADULT Ask each group member to read through Jesus’ prayer, and underline specific requests. Then each is to determine one way that he or she can be an answer to Christ’ s prayer this coming week. Then as a group work through the verses and phrases each person has underlined, to develop a shared understanding of what Christ has prayed for. Finally, go around the group and ask each to share how he or she can personally be an answer to Jesus’ prayer this week.

Teaching Guide Prepare Use Jesus’ prayer as a model as you pray for your group.

Explore

1. Launch class with a debate on the greatest danger to a Christian from the world: is it conformity to the ways and attitudes of the world, or a withdrawl from the world (a separation or isolation), which keeps us from having an influence on people around us and on our society? See “ link-to-life” above for hints on how to set up and conduct the debate.
2. Or make a copy of the italicized sentence in the commentary above. Do your group members agree or disagree with this strong statement of a need for Christians to be involved in the world? What do your members think the author is asking for? (Ask for illustrations of good and bad involvement.) And, how are your group members currently acting out this kind of positive involvement that Jesus called for?

Expand

1. Living in the world is a constant challenge. Divide your group in halves to study John 15:18-16:33. One group will look at the problems, the other at the resources God has provided. See how to guide this activity by looking at “ link-to-life” above.
2. Or study Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. You may want to begin with a minilecture, emphasizing the importance of living in union with Jesus (see overview). But then involve your group in an inductive study of this prayer, as suggested in “ link-to-life” above.

Apply Ask each person to write a prayer for his or her children (present or future) reflecting one important thing learned in this study. Then share the prayers, by offering them to God.