Sundays Coming – Part 1
This newest series of messages on Internet Pastor is called “Sundays Coming”.
In just a couple of weeks we’re going to be celebrating Easter together here at the Vineyard. We have some fun events planned and we are looking forward to having a lot of visitors that will be impacted by the presence of the Lord.
Last week, we finished up the Follow Me series by looking at what was happening during the last supper. Today I want to talk about some of the verses that are leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
John 13:1 (NIV) (scripture reading)
1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
Jesus is coming to the end of His 33 years here in the flesh, the last three of which have been all about his public ministry. He has been traveling all over ancient Israel with the twelve disciples. While his ministry has been filled with miracles, He had been largely rejected by the Jewish religious leaders. He was embraced primarily by the fringe elements of society. The people the religious leaders had no concern for, the prostitutes, drunks, the crippled, the blind, the tax collectors, the most needy. Even His disciples have issues, they are thin skinned, thick headed, slow to believe, and quick to forget.
And now Jesus is telling these twelve guys that he is leaving. They were used to Him being there, telling them where to go and what to do. And now, this group of broken people are going to have to try and figure out what is going to happen when Jesus leaves and they can’t go. And even though they are being left, they are not alone.
Maybe some of you can relate to what their anxiety must of have been as they face a future that seems unclear and filled with worries.
The good news, though, is that before he leaves, Jesus lays out His plan for the disciples, and it is the same plan that He gives us so that we can know and trust that we are not alone.
In the final hours before He would go to the cross, Jesus makes several promises to them and to us about the future.
1. He promises them a future
John 14:2-3 (NIV)
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And f I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Jesus promises them that he is going to make a place for them, but He will come back and they will be with him forever.
If you take the time to read through John chapters 13 through 16 (we are studying them right now on Wednesday nights) you would see that Jesus tells His disciples is that it will not always be easy to be a follower of Christ. In fact, there will be some difficulty ahead and there will be some times when life just gets hard. So before He leaves one of the promises He gives them is “Don’t ever forget, I’m coming back for you. And we’re going to be reunited.”
I think every now and then in the midst of all the chaos of our world it’s healthy for us to just step back and be reminded this world is not our home and God has made a promise, the promise of heaven. A real promise about a real place.
1 Peter 1:4 (NIV)
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you,
It’s a real place where real followers of a real Jesus spend a real long time in eternity. It’s not an imaginary realm. It’s not a state of mind. It’s not some children’s fairy tale. It is the promise of all mighty God to you that someday He’s coming back and you’ll be reunited and He is even now preparing a place. And to His twelve friends He says, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Trust Me. I am leaving but I’m coming back and there is a future that we’re going to share together.”
2. He makes the promise of a friend.
That friend is a person that we know of as the Holy Spirit.
John 14:16-17 (NIV)
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
A couple of interesting things to note about this verse. Circle “another.” The reason this word is so important is because this specific word means another of the exact same kind. So He is saying in essence and in character, and in personality this friend, the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, will be just like Me. As a Christian and a follower of Christ the Bible says the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in you. And having the Holy Spirit in your life is just exactly like having Jesus live inside me.
One of the things the Bible says happens to you at the very moment of your conversion is that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life. You may not have physically felt that but if you have embraced Christ as Savior that has happened to you.
Romans 8:9 (NIV)
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
To be a Christian means to have the person of the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
Jesus did not promise the Holy Spirit just to the super spiritual or just to the mature. In fact, He says that the Holy Spirit of God is promised to every single believer who receives Christ.
He also says as a result of the Holy Spirit two other things are going to happen.
John 14:27 (NIV)
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.
John 15:11 (NIV)
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
We will be able to experience God’s peace and God’s joy in the midst of living in a fallen world on a broken planet.
3. It’s the promise of a family.
A family that we go to for support. And as we have discussed over the last few weeks, that family is the church.
John 15:12 (NIV)
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Apparently Jesus thinks this is a pretty important command because in the space of five verses Jesus repeats word for word this command twice. John 15:12 and John 15:17.
John 15:17 (NIV)
17 This is my command: Love each other.
Here’s what I think He’s getting at. He is saying to these guys, “Gentlemen, when I’m gone it will be more important than ever that you learn to lean on each other. As I’m leaving it’s going to be more important than ever that you realize that you are family and you’re going to need each other. When life gets hard, when life gets difficult it’s one thing to know that you’ve got a promise of a future in heaven. It’s one thing to know that you’ve got the Holy Spirit living in you but occasionally you just need some people around you who can hold you, who can look you in the eye and cry with you. Some people who can take you by the hand and some people whose voice is comforting to you. You need some relationships.
You need a family. That’s why God gave us each other.
A future, a friend, and a family. Three great promises for us to remember as Sunday is coming!
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