Breaking Down Walls

Ephesians 2:11-22

Robert Frost wrote a poem entitled “Mending Walls.” The poem is about a spring ritual of mending stone fences in New England. He describes how two neighboring farmers meet to pick up the stones that have fallen off the walls during the winter and put them back in place. The walls were nothing more than boundary lines, but it was a tradition to keep those boundary lines from crumbling.

On one side of the wall were pine trees. On the other side of the wall were apple trees. What they are doing every spring is to fight against another force that wants to break down walls. Here is part of the poem:

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,

That wants it down.

Something has knocked the stones off the wall. There is something that wants the wall down. This is the first force.

But there is another attitude which opposes it.

“My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines,” I tell him.

He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

I never have quite understood that saying, but I know that we must believe it. We have spent a great deal of energy building and repairing fences.

The non-Christian public talks a lot about the exclusivity of the Christian faith – that only through Jesus can your sins be forgiven and you can get to Heaven, as though Heaven were high on the list of priorities for non-Christians. People resent that for two reasons, I think. One is the preposterous notion that good people need to be forgiven for anything, and the other is that Heaven is only for certain groups of people.

If you analyze the psychology of this thinking, you will realize that those who accuse Christians of being exclusive are really themselves the exclusive people. They are people who are proud of their goodness, as though goodness is the object of their existence. They are proud of their religiosity or even the lack thereof. They are proud of their accomplishments and their standing within the community. In fact, most of us raise our children to be proud of being good. There is nothing wrong with that, provided we teach them that any goodness we have is a gift from God or a reflection of His image.

The Christian, on the other hand, has at least some sense of the need to be forgiven perhaps even from his or her pride of goodness. The best way, then, for the exclusivist to reinforce belief in himself is to point out the Christian’s inconsistency – his arrogance or self-righteousness or even sinful behavior. The tragedy is that many times the exclusivist is right. Most sincere Christians would agree with that assessment, I suspect.

This goodness to which exclusivists seem to be called, however, doesn’t work very well, does it? Not only history but current events indicate that this world is filled with hostility of one person toward another, one group toward another and one nation toward another. Here in America, we seem to have gotten down and dirty with our neighbor. We are suing each other, spreading gossip against each other, knocking each other off on our career ladders, grabbing the spotlight – it is quite a mess of demanding our rights and destroying anyone who stands in the way.

In fact, I was reading the other day in an article that the US has the highest incarceration rate of any developed nation on earth – some 721 inmates per 100,000 people. What that may tell us is that crimes against others are at an all-time high in our country. All these blessings that God has bestowed on America are leading to greed, pride, hostility, anger, self-righteousness and more exclusivity. This has crept into the church so that we are now treated to the specter of two professing Christians running for President and tearing each other apart. Exclusivity in the highest levels of power!

Walls are standing strong and high. We have become adept at building walls of prejudice, hostility and exclusivity between ourselves and those whom we consider not to be like the more-savvy us. Wherever and whenever there is the “us” and “them” distinction, we see walls going up.

Out text this morning deals with the hostility between Jew and Greek, the most prevalent example of the pitfalls of exclusivity perhaps in human history.

To the Jews of Jesus’ time, there were only two classes of people – Jews and Gentiles. To be a Jew was to be one of God’s chosen people. To be a Gentile was to be a heathen dog – worth nothing. Jews looked with disdain and contempt on Gentiles; Gentiles did not have warm feelings for Jews, either. Both hated the other.

The Apostle Paul turns exclusivity on its head here in the 2^nd chapter of Ephesians. When he is finished, Christians become the multi-culturalists. Paul talks about a wall – a barrier – in v. 14 & 15:

For he himself (Christ) is our peace, who has made the two (Jew and Gentile) one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

There are several interesting points to be made here. First, this wall of hostility was very evident in the wall surrounding Jerusalem. Furthermore, within the Temple there was a separating wall between the area where a Jew was allowed and the area designated for Gentiles. There were inscriptions along the wall that warned the Gentiles to go no further upon penalty of death. While Robert Frost, an ancestor of mine through my paternal grandmother, said in his poem, “…Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” he should have substituted “Someone” for “something” – “…Someone there is that doesn’t love a wall.”

The second interesting point of this Scripture is that Paul defines that new “peace” that Jesus came to give. You will recall that Jesus said in farewell to His disciples in John 14:27, “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.”

The peace that the world gives is the spreading of exclusivity – the idea that the world is divided into good and evil people and that we must strive to resolve conflict. There is nothing wrong with resolving conflict. It works for everyone. Its track record, however, is not very impressive. We are told that there were more people killed in the 20^th Century than in all other wars combined in human history. Maybe so; I don’t really know who keeps those kinds of statistics.

This is not the kind of peace that Christ came to give, however. His peace is about destroying the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and non-Jew within the context of the Church of Jesus Christ. It is about inclusiveness among those who profess Jesus Christ as Lord that breeds an assurance that no matter what happens in this world or to our bodies, we are safe. Christ’s peace is an invitation that reaches across race, gender, class and circumstances and makes us one man in Christ.

To put this into the context of our interest in the Middle East, I have been very careful to avoid appearing as a peacenick, as though I have some special gift for solving human conflict. I don’t. I may have a gift for avoiding conflict, but that may be more of a weakness than strength – “He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.”

My interest in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has to do with the role that the Christian Right has been playing in exacerbating that conflict by funding settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem and teaching American Christians to stand behind Israel unconditionally. I am in search of those in Palestine who are one with us in Christ and to reinforce Paul’s teaching that the purpose of Christ’s coming was to “…create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace.” I wish to come to my Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ as one with them and to display this example to believers here in the US.

The things that separate us as believers in Jesus Christ have not been placed there by God. Contrary to popular belief, it is not eschatology that is driving Palestinian Christians out of their homes. The wall that I call the Concrete Curtain does not make good neighbors. The peace that Jesus came to give is inclusive of all but exclusive to the Kingdom of God. I’ll repeat that. The peace that Jesus came to give is inclusive of all but exclusive to the Kingdom of God.

Frost adds another couple of lines to his poem:

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know

What I was walling in or walling out.

The Middle East conflict is not about a wall planned by God to favor Israel over Arabs. Paul is making it very clear here that the barrier between Jews and non-Jews has been destroyed. Under those circumstances, we cannot as Christians cling to a campaign to prepare Israel for the return of Christ lest we be accused of destroying the very peace in Jesus Christ that we share with brothers and sisters all over the world. In other words, we can become so committed to peace at any price that we can destroy the peace that Christ came to give.

Paul is very direct in addressing Christian Zionists in America. In v. 15, he makes it clear that Jesus has abolished in His flesh “…the law with its commandments and regulations.” Because we are saved by grace alone and because we are saved for good works, our attitudes toward other Christians ought to change. Our place is not within the political conflicts of this world. Our place is standing with those who have renounced their sin and for whom the Lordship of Jesus Christ is their common peace.

Jesus has made the two peoples one by bringing outsiders into the same covenant relationship with God that had been exclusive to the Jews. He has done this by “…destroying the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” The wall of hostility was the law that separated us Gentiles from Israel. The law defined who was on which side of the barrier – who had the promises and who belonged to the people of God.

What Paul is saying here is that Jesus has abolished the Old Covenant with its exclusivity. What, then, are Christian Zionists doing in promoting that Old Covenant? What are they doing in preserving a special grace for Jews when Jesus destroyed that special standing with His death on Calvary?

Paul goes further by offering to you and me and Christians worldwide citizenship in the Kingdom.

He came and preached peace to you who were far away (Gentiles) and peace to those who were near (Jews). For through Him you have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone (vs. 17-20).

As Christians, then, our primary point of reference is Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone of a common building – a holy temple – in which God has been invited to reside.

Paul was a Jew. He knew his OT well. He lived in the hope of that book and, indeed, as Saul of Tarsus, he was a zealot in preserving the exclusivity of Judaism by breathing out fire and damnation on people of the Way. Paul knew of the promises to Israel: “You are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 14:2).

Israel is God’s people in a very special and unique way. The current way to solve this conflict between Christianity and Judaism is to do what John Hagee is now doing and insist that God has two plans to bless people. One is the Jewish covenant, and the other is the Christian covenant. Both can get to God their own way – with Jesus (for Christians) or without Jesus (for Jews). That is political correctness in the extreme.

Ephesians 2 knocks such theories into a cocked hat, so to speak. The mystery of Christ is that the Gentiles are now fellow-heirs with the Jews and fellow-members of the body and fellow-partakers of the promise of God in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Once we were separated from Christ, but now Christ has drawn us in. Once we were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel; now we are fellow citizens in Israel. Once we were strangers to the covenants of promise; now we are fellow partakers of the promise. Once we were without hope; now we are fellow heirs of all God has to give. Once we were without God in the world; now we are members of God’s household.

The point Paul is making here is not that we move Gentiles into these blessings on a separate two-track system apart from Israel but that Gentiles and Jews move into them together on one track. The true Israel becomes the church of Jesus Christ, and the church of Jesus Christ emerges as the true Israel. We are no longer separate and apart. What unites this new people is Jesus.

The New Covenant is not a replacement theology for Judaism. It is an extension of the restricted tent of God’s blessing on His human creation. The tent has been enlarged to include the Gentiles. The fullness of God’s glory and the promises to the Jews have been fulfilled in the Church of Jesus Christ. True Israel, then, has become the church, and the church has emerged as the true Israel.

It is clear to me that on the Day of Pentecost, an avalanche of Jews began to enter this new Israel. 3,000 became converts that first day, and that was just a beginning. With the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 and the scattering of the Jewish people throughout Western Europe, millions of Jews have assimilated into this new Kingdom of God that has extended to the nations God’s blessings to Israel.

Those who were far away – the Gentiles, and those who were near – the Jews, suffered from the same problem. They were both enemies of God in their desire to be exclusive. Christ reconciled them both in one body through the cross. After centuries of animal sacrifices, Jews needed to be reconciled to God and Gentiles needed to be reconciled to God. This was not about enmity between Jews and Gentiles but was about enmity between Jews and God and Gentiles and God that needed to be overcome by the peace-making work of Jesus.

Today, we have both American Christians and Jews insisting that the good news of Christ’s reconciling work is anti-Semitism. That is a creation of the exclusive – the politically correct. Christians are not an independent body over against Israel. We have been grafted into the true Israel.

The problem is that we have confused the nation-state of Israel with the new Israel. We have carried on the Nazi mantra that anyone with an ounce of Jewish blood is a Jew. This Jesus who, through His own body, has abolished the law and the commandments, has made peace by abolishing the distinction between Jew and Gentile through the creation of “one new man.”

In Christ, the distinction between Jew and Gentile has been abolished. The Christian, then, who insists on meddling in the Middle East either to create a division or to bring a worldly peace is acting contrary to his citizenship. We can build walls between people, but we cannot build walls within the Kingdom of God. Christ, in His flesh, has torn them down.

"Finding Pasture"

Numbers 27:12-22

John 10:1-10

I had occasion, last Sunday, to attend Plymouth Congregational Church in Fort Wayne, IN. Pastor John Gardner preached on the 10^th chapter of John in a way that got my attention. It is the story of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. We have feminized this story so much, I think, that it has been reduced to Warner Sallman’s picture of Jesus with a lamb in His arms, surrounded by sheep. The sun is shining; the grass is green; everything is very peaceful looking.

That is all well and good, but Jesus’ description of Himself as the Good Shepherd is a very tough, masculine image – so much so that it fails to square with our neat little efforts to reduce the Gospel to a simple, unilateral prescription for Eternal Life. In looking John 10 over, we find thieves, robbers, fear, killing, destruction, sacrifice, wolves and demons. This is a far cry from Sallmon’s painting and probably a far cry from our image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

I suspect that if anyone were to capture John 10 on canvass, it would be a horror picture with predators climbing over the walls of the sheep pen, while God’s people are going in and out of the pen, sometimes being attacked and sometimes going in and out peacefully. What is critical to understand is that this sheep pen is not a place of escape from the outside world. People don’t just go in there and never come out. An accurate picture would perhaps have Jesus lying dead at the entrance, while His spirit is the covering over God’s people. I will get back to that later, but I think you understand that this is not a pretty picture.

And yet it is a very comforting picture. It is a picture of God’s people coming in and going out of a safe place with impunity.

I want to take a minute to consider the latter part of v. 9, where Jesus describes His sheep as coming in and going out and finding pasture. It somehow raises the specter of danger but yet with assurance. In fact, I believe it may well be the setting for the abundant life that He promises in v. 10.

What does it mean to come in and go out of the sheep pen? Once you are inside and safe, wouldn’t it be reasonable to expect that you would never have to go back out into that uncertain and dangerous world? Some churches believe that and become ghettos of safety for their members. In the Catholic tradition, we call these cloisters. In the fundamentalist tradition, we sometimes call them cults.

There is something very insidious about pulling inside the safety of a Christian community for anything other than getting rested and your batteries charged. We know what happens to cloistered communities at times – Jim Jones and David Karesh, for example; lately, the Reformed Latter Day Saints Church. Jesus is not offering a safe haven for cowards. He is offering the freedom to continue living in the world in the full knowledge that this world is not our home – that our home is the present and yet absent Kingdom of God. In that sense, we have a freedom that those who do not know the Good Shepherd cannot experience.

Many want in, perhaps, but they are limited to the strategies of the world in getting in. Those strategies include wars and guns and lying and cheating – all those strategies that our government uses to force other nations to comply with its wishes. Jesus would describe such folks, not as Christians, but as thieves and robbers.

Moses employs the metaphor of “coming in and going out” of God’s people as he prepares to leave God’s people.

He is praying to the Lord that, in his absence, God will raise up a man to “bring them in” and “lead them out.” Otherwise, they will be as sheep without a shepherd. They will wander about aimlessly, not knowing where they are going and perhaps not caring.

The Lord answers Moses’ prayer. Joshua will be that man. However, he must stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and be commissioned in their presence. He will be granted authority over the people. It is Eleazar, however, who will obtain decisions for Joshua by inquiring of the Lord. Joshua will lead them, but God will direct them so that at Joshua’s command, “…he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”

We see in the Bible a picture of a people led by a shepherd who provides safety, liberty and satisfaction of their needs. Notice that the shepherd must be responsible for their safety both within the fold and outside the fold. There is an assurance here of a special grace that heightens the vitality of life itself.

We are told in 1 Samuel 18:16 that “…all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them;” in contrast, King Saul was afraid of him. We are told 2 verses previously that “…the Lord was with him.” They loved David because David walked in the assurance of the hand of God on his life.

In the 23^rd Psalm, David wrote of the safety and assurance that comes from walking with the Shepherd of his soul: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he restoreth my soul.” There is in this poem the acknowledgement by David that even in his coming in and going out, there may be danger. He says this about the danger:

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou are with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou annointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over” (life abundant).

David then defines the abundant life that Jesus offers in John 10: “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

David has found refuge in the Kingdom of God – the house of the Lord. He will dwell in that Kingdom, not sometime in the future, but forever beginning right now. In his going out, even into the valley of the shadow of death, no evil will befall him, though he may indeed be killed in the process. That, my friends, is abundant life! It is experienced by entering through the gate of safety, leaving through the gate of liberty and passing through the gate of satisfaction in Jesus Christ. Because David walks in the presence of the Lord both within and outside the camp, the people of Israel love him.

This is life in its fullness, is it not? Pastor John Gardner suggests that it is a life that is informed, a life that is involved and a life that is invincible. Jesus frees us, he suggests, from a life driven to distraction by compulsive behavior and motivated by a fear of loss or scarcity.

Last Thursday, I was listening to the inmates in Yokefellows. One inmate suggested that the options available within that evil place – the prison – were much clearer than on the outside. “In here,” he said, “I have nothing left but Jesus.” Christians in such a place can come in and go out with Christ as their shepherd. The non-believer is driven by the moment, giving in to compulsive behavior motivated by a fear of loss or scarcity. There’s is a life of anxiety, fear and compulsive reaction, while Christ leads God’s people to a life of green pasture, even within a prison. Isn’t it wonderful that you can have abundant life even in a prison – maybe especially in a prison?

This passage of Scripture is rich with metaphor. Pastor Gardner points us to metaphor as the essence of understanding life.

He quotes writer and poet Kathleen Norris who, as a Protestant in the early 90’s, had an encounter with the Benedictine monks. She became so intrigued by their mysticism that she eventually became a Benedictine oblate and spent two 9-month terms in monastic residence at St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota.

Norris wrote a book within which she included a chapter entitled “The War on Metaphor.” She had this to say:

The Protestant worship service just seemed like a word bombardment. They were all these heavy-duty words, lots of baggage, lots of meaning, but I had lost touch with them.

If you are looking for a belief in the power of words to change things, to come alive and make a path for you to walk on, you are better off with poets these days than with Christians…Poets believe in metaphor, and that alone sets them apart.

The metaphor to which Gardner points us begins in v. 7: “I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them…I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will go in and out and find pasture.”

Jesus takes two bites of this apple. First, He tells us in v. 2, that the man who enters the sheepfold by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. All others are crooks. Then, He tells us that He is not only the shepherd; He is the gate itself. How do we reconcile that?

There is a story about a scholar who was doing research in the Middle East and ran across an Arab shepherd. This shepherd was showing off his flock from inside the pen and claiming proudly that they were perfectly safe. The scholar noticed that the pen did not have a gate on it. Yet, the sheep were sound asleep.

“I noticed that your sheep sleep soundly in that pen, but there is no gate on it.” “Yes, that’s right,” the shepherd said. “I am the gate. After my sheep are in the pen, I lay my body across the opening. No sheep will step over me and no wolf can get in without getting past me first. I am the gate.”

Jesus is the shepherd whom the sheep follow into safety. Yet, He is also the gate itself that gets opened and shut – perhaps nothing short of His crucified body. At the risk of stretching the metaphor too far, Jesus may be speaking both of His leading God’s people to safety – His body, and also His blood through which we pass to enter that safety.

Nevertheless, it is the “going out” of the pen that captures our imagination. Jesus becomes not a one-way pass to safety but a two-way gate. He not only locks up behind us to keep us safe, He also unlocks and swings open so that we can enter into a life dripping with more fullness that we could possibly know. This abundant life describes a life in a Christ who is not only the gate to the sheep but is the gate for the sheep.

The contrast between the sheep and those who try to climb in by another way, such as by their works instead of repentance, is riveting. “All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers,” He says in v. 8. He is speaking there of the religious leaders who offer strict rules and regulations to enter righteousness – the Sadducees, Pharisees and scribes and perhaps any number of religious evangelists in our day.

Like thieves, they were more interested in personal gain than in the well-being of the sheep under their spiritual care. The thief invades and intrudes in the lives of the sheep.

Like robbers, they were fleecing the sheep instead of caring for them. Robbers lie in wait and attack.

We don’t like that sheep metaphor, do we? It suggests a mindless following. That is a poor description, however. In order for the sheep to know the voice of the shepherd, it takes a great deal of studying, preparation and work. It takes a great deal of discernment. We have to work in order to know the shepherd.

We have seen in our time many pastors and churches that we might call the “Church of the Open Palm.” Those are the mindless people without discernment. Their leaders are always holding out their hands for money. “Send me $10M,” Oral Roberts said, “or God will take me home.” Jimmy Bakker was convicted of outright fraud. The sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd because they will follow Him who comes in love rather than for personal gain.

Becoming the sheep of God’s fold, then, is a delicate process. We have to be weaned from our attraction to glitch and glamour. We have to learn how to listen for the Master’s voice and to reject all others. In a later epistle, 1 Jn 4:1, we have to test the spirits to see if they are from God and not man. That is no easy task. On point is the number of people who are looking to the three presidential candidates as Messiahs. Even the Church of the Open Palm looks to the presidential outcome as its hope. That demonstrates a pathetic display of an inability to hear the shepherd.

God’s sheep come in and out and find pasture because they know the shepherd. All others wander around looking and listening for a direction. They are not interested in the Good Shepherd but are looking vainly for another voice. Even in the church there are thieves and robbers who care more about their pocket, their place, their politics and their power than they do about the Gate to abundant life (Gardner).

Finally, we need to take a look at this abundant life that Jesus promises: “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”

The life that John is describing here is not the opposite of death. It is not some kind of salvation after death. It describes a special quality of relationship that Jesus establishes between God and His people now.

We know that these Christians to whom John is writing were plunged into persecution and uncertainty every day of their lives. Victory over poverty was not the issue at stake here. Instead, there is a confidence expressed here in the midst of uncertainty. What is suggested has nothing to do with a quantity of physical blessings but is about something that cannot be measured. Otherwise, abundant life would be an impossible attainment for 90% of the people on the planet. Instead, abundant life contradicts the uncertainty of life – the scarcity of life. It overcomes the vulnerability of life.

Using John Gardner’s thoughts, abundant life is an informed life that discerns between the Good Shepherd and all that other random noise out there. Abundant life is an involved life – so involved that we want it not only for ourselves but for others. The abundant life is an invincible life. It has nothing to do with prosperity and comfort. It is a life that proves invincible when faced with adversity, sorrow, heartache and tragedy. It is expressed in that new commandment that we have talked about in recent weeks – “Love one another as I have loved you.”

The love that wants for our neighbor the best of what we want for ourselves is ours to proclaim and practice. It is never depleted and is always renewable. The love that fuels and fires our passion for mercy and justice is inexhaustible. It never runs out.

We have a good illustration in the story of Jesus’ miracle of the loaves and fishes. He performs this miracle and then explains the next day the significance of what He has done. He gives a very long speech on the bread that comes down from heaven, the bread of life. In that illustration, Jesus is the living bread come down from heaven; the multiplying of the loaves signifies the abundance of life that God offers to those whose existence is dominated by poverty and loss. It was not about well-filled stomachs. If it were, Jesus would not have rebuked the crowd the next day by saying, “…you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”

Well, I have, I suspect, just destroyed your nice image of the Good Shepherd. That having been done, I would encourage you freely to go in and come out and find pasture.

"Greater Than These"

John 14:11-21

To put John 14 into context, we have to go back to the 12^th chapter of John, where Jesus begins to say “goodbye” to His disciples. There is no way to dislodge them from the notion that this Messiah will be installed in Jerusalem as a king victorious over Rome and in their lifetime. There has to be a dramatic change in the way they look at things before they can understand.

By way of example, we find Peter, in John 13:37, asking, “Lord why can’t I follow you now?” We find Thomas and Philip, not understanding where He is going and how they could possibly know the way.

Jesus goes to “prepare a place” for them (John 14:2). It is critical that He go in order that His ministry be kicked into high gear. Jesus is preparing them for a new dimension in their relationship with God. He has to go away in order for this new relationship to be initiated.

It is not just about a relationship, however. In John 13:34, Jesus defines that new relationship as a “new command.” As we discussed several weeks ago, that new command had the same words as the old command except that in Jesus it takes on new meaning. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

In order for this new definition of an old command to have meaning, the disciples need to experience how Jesus has loved them. Then, they must experience the reality of the presence of Jesus in an infinitely more powerful and global a way than they had experienced with Him as their teacher. They cannot know the extent of this new epoch in God’s redemptive plan unless and until they are given the power to love others as God in Christ Jesus has loved them.

Jesus not only is preparing them for His departure, He has to leave in order for them to experience the power that will become theirs through the HS. This new power will enable them to move from the “me” to “we;” from the exclusive law to inclusiveness grace. He must leave them to get things ready – prepare a place for them. He has work to do on the other side that will unleash the greatest spiritual power the world has ever seen before or since.

This is the defining moment in redemptive history.

On Resurrection morning, Mary Magdalene recognizes Jesus and runs toward Him to embrace Him. Jesus says to her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.” “Do not insist that I stay, Mary, for I have not finished my work.” Instead, “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

“Go tell my brothers…” What the death and Resurrection of Jesus had accomplished at that point was a new relationship – from Teacher and Lord in John 13:13, to “brother.” They have moved from servants to brothers. The last step of Ascension must be taken so that His Father might truly become their Father and His God might truly become their God. Jesus must return to the glory and majesty and power that He had laid aside for us.

Listen to the last few verses of John 14:

You have heard me say, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.” If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what the Father has commanded me.”

Jesus is telling them that they ought to be glad for two reasons. First, if they love Him, they ought to be glad for Him that He will be in the presence of the Father who is greater than He. Secondly, they ought to be glad because in the presence of the Father, Jesus will have new power for the task to which He has appointed them – telling the world of His love for the Father and for us.

The context, then, is to launch Jesus’ followers into a new life of service to God and others. Jesus cries for them in the Garden of Gethsemane in John 17 – that God will keep them from drifting away. He prays for us that not one of us will be lost.

Within that context we read the most troubling of Scriptures – that His disciples will do greater works than those they had seen Him do, and that He would give them whatever they should ask of Him.

I have talked often about this business of seeking the whole counsel of God as opposed to a cafeteria faith that picks and chooses Scripture verses to build our own theology. Seeking the whole counsel of God requires that we rise above the words of God to study the Word of God. In order to do that, we have to do a certain amount of critical thinking – connecting the dots in a reasonably intelligent fashion. That is very difficult for many people.

You cannot build a theology around a couple of verses. It you do that, you are in danger not only of deceiving yourself but of deceiving others. There is in America something called the Word-of-Faith movement. They believe that through faith, we can obtain anything we want – health, wealth, success, whatever. Closer to an area of our interest, John Hagee of Christians United for Israel is a Word-of-Faith preacher. At the root of WOF is that we can produce whatever our hearts desire simply by demanding what we want by faith. We can manipulate the universe and perhaps even God. In Hagee’s case, he operates on an extra-biblical revelatory knowledge that intends to force the issue of the Great Tribulation.

People like Hagee love John 14:14 – “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” In fact, he takes in millions of dollars a year by insisting that if you want to be rich, give all that you have to the Lord (through him, as the case may be).

A boyhood friend of mine once as an adult wrote 2 checks for $2,000 each to a ministry that needed the funds to purchase a major piece of equipment. He prayed that God would provide the money to cover the checks, and the checks bounced.

The people who were in that ministry were deeply hurt because they made the purchase after depositing the checks and found later that they didn’t have the funds to cover the purchase. I imagine that to my friend’s way of thinking, John 14:14 didn’t work for him, and he probably condemned himself for not having enough faith. In the meantime, I am sure that those who received the checks were praising God that their needs had been met.

In order to understand a Scripture like this, we might want to make a list of exceptions. What kind of things could you ask for in Christ’s name and not receive them no matter how much faith you have? You might ask for eternal youth – stop aging. You might ask to become a man instead of a woman, or vice versa. You might ask to be better looking. You might ask for a different set of parents. You might ask for more hair. I can dig that! If you have been sentenced to prison for a crime, God is probably not going to let you out.

You might ask to be taller, or more buxom or to be white if you are black. You might ask for a Mercedes Benz or a villa on the ocean. Chances are pretty good that none of these things is going to happen, no matter how many times you chant Jesus’ name. Does it appear, then, that this is a lie – that you in fact cannot ask for “anything” and it will be given to you?

The first thing that strikes me is that loving Jesus is trusting that He will give you what you need or what is best for you. If you are asking for all these American Dream comforts, chances are that you don’t know Jesus, even though you may ask for them in His name. If you don’t know Him, then you don’t love Him. If you don’t love Him, you will not do what He commands (v.15). What does He command? “That you love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12). His definition of the new command of love is that we lose our lives in order to find them.

(John 15:15) I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love one another.

All these things, then, that people think they ought to get if they ask for them in Jesus’ name are anything but “fruit that will last.” The condition for getting is going and bearing fruit. It we love one another, the last thing we will be thinking about is some new toy for ourselves that will cause us to lord it over others. Be aware, then, that if we are asking for those kinds of things, chances are that we are not His disciples, even if we are asking in His name.

I’ll get back to my proof for that in a minute.

First, though, I have to ask why Christians insist on taking Scripture out of its historical context. Where do we get the idea that Jesus is talking to us moderns in this passage of Scripture? He is saying “goodbye” to His disciples. They are crushed, and He is crushed with grief. He is trying to give them some hope and is preparing them for things that their wildest imagination could not have predicted. He has appointed them to be the forerunners of the great Christian faith that we in our day has spread throughout the world.

If Jesus is talking to modern Christians, we have to be careful about who we consider to be entitled to this promise that anything we pray for in His name will be given. We also have to read the rest of the verse –“so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” The purpose of giving you anything you ask for, then, is that it brings glory to God. That is the condition – glory to the Father. Glory to the Father is not something we determine. It is something that God determines.

There is another piece to this passage that is critical to our understanding of it. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to my Father.”

Jesus is speaking here to His faithful ambassadors. He does not need to ascend to the Father in order for His followers to perform miracles of healing. He had proved that earlier when He sent His disciples out into the cities to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead. The Apostles did all that in grand style. Those things, however, are incidental to the big picture. In fact, there is no indication that any of the healings that Jesus did amounted to that much. They were simply proofs of His divinity and the fulfillment of prophecy.

This passage, however, is directed to those who would be doing “greater things.” Can you think of anything greater than the healings that Jesus did? I can. 3,000 converts on the Day of Pentecost is one. Spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles is another. Building the Kingdom of God from the ground up is another. When we add to that hospitals and jobs and our comforts in this life and technology and education, we can trace all that back to the impact of the Kingdom of God on the nations. How much greater does it get than that?

Jesus was not insinuating that we would be performing greater parlor tricks and would be given the tools with which to do that if we ask in His name. I think He had something else in mind. His miracles tended to focus on the outward circumstances. I think He was saying, “So, you think these miracles are cool? Wait till you see what is coming! Today I have fixed a problem on the outside. In the future, we are going to work together to heal people’s hearts and lives. People can live without an eye; they can’t live with a broken life.” On top of that, He has promised to give us the tools with which to make that happen so that the Father might be glorified.

I don’t know of a single Christian in the last 20 centuries who could hold a candle to Jesus in terms of signs and wonders. But I wonder if Jesus might have counted feeding millions of hungry kids around the world as greater than feeding 5,000. Maybe Jesus’ plan to change the world doesn’t involve superheroes of faith who move mountains and put the legions of darkness to flight. Maybe He is thinking about just a bunch of unremarkable people who do what they can to help the needy in body and spirit.

Maybe it is not the great speakers and healers and the leaders of successful ministries that we should look to for spiritual guidance. Maybe it’s the ones who are serving soup to the homeless and hanging out in nursing homes and volunteering in prisons who best understand the heart of God and make their prayers coincide with His glory.

We have to be careful there as well, however, lest we be substituting the social gospel for the redemptive work of Christ. In that regard, I direct your attention to a couple of seemingly conflicting Scripture passages:

In Matthew 25, Jesus is separating the “sheep” from the “goats” at the judgment. Whether we go to heaven or hell seems to depend on how we have treated “the least of these, my brothers.”

In Matthew 7, however, we read what seems to be the opposite:

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive our demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

Doing great works of charity or praying in the name of Jesus will not work unless what you are doing is the will of the Father. The will of the Father is to believe on and love the Son whom the Father sent. Social justice, while in conformity with Scripture, is meaningless unless done out of love of the Son of God. To do acts of kindness simply because of the Scriptures is to live under the Law that condemns rather than saves.

1 Corinthians 13 begins with these words:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Though I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Though I give all that I possess to the poor and surrender my body to be burned and have not love, I gain nothing.

In the Gospels, Jesus is disgusted with many of whom you and I would be in awe. These are prophets, miracle-workers and exorcists, and Jesus calls them evil doers and opposers of God’s will.

It is clear to me that the bottom line that distinguishes between works that are considered faithful and the same works that are considered evil is the new command – the new interpretation of love that leads to the death of self by taking up our crosses daily and following Him.

The first prayer from the heart of God’s elect, therefore, ought to be, “Lord, help me to love as Jesus has loved me, in Jesus name, Amen.” After doing that, I challenge you to try and pray for a new snowmobile in Jesus’ name!