John 14:15-24

Read John 14:15-24 If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will send you the Spirit of truth

In verse 15, Jesus says that if we love him, we will keep his commandments.  What does it mean to keep his commandments?

Why does he connect loving him and keeping his commandments?  What is the connection between love and following or obeying his teachings?

Jesus hopes we will keep his commandments consistently, but he knows we are not perfect.  That’s why he died.  1 John 1:8-10 says that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and make God out to be a liar.  So how can we interpret verse 15 in light of our tendency to sin?  Does the fact that we sin mean we don’t love Jesus, or that we don’t yet love him enough, or what?

The fact that we are not perfect doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.  What is Jesus asking us to do here?  What can we do to get better at responding to what Jesus says here?

The word in verse 16 that is translated Advocate or Comforter or Helper or Counselor is the Greek word Paraklētos.  (Our word Paraclete comes from the Latin translation of the word).  No single English word captures the meaning of this word.  It was used as a legal term for a lawyer or defense attorney, but it literally means one who is called alongside to help – from para meaning “alongside” and kletos meaning “called” – so it can mean an advocate, a counselor, or a comforter.  How is the Holy Spirit an advocate?  A counselor?  A comforter?

How have you experienced the Holy Spirit acting as an advocate, a counselor, or a comforter in your life?

Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as “another” advocate because Jesus is the first advocate, as John indicates in 1 John 2:1.

In verse 16 Jesus says the Holy Spirit will be with you always.  What does that mean to you?

In verse 17, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “spirit of truth.”  Why is truth so important in the Holy Spirit’s role as our Advocate, Counselor, and Comforter?

In Greek, nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter.  The Greek word for “spirit” is neuter, so John uses the neuter pronoun “it” when referring to the Spirit in verse 17.  We often use the pronoun “he” because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7; Phil. 1:19; Gal. 4:6) and because using a personal pronoun underscores that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not a thing.

In verse 17, Jesus says the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit because it neither sees nor knows the Holy Spirit.  Why is this the case?  What is needed in order to see, know, and receive the Holy Spirit?

Jesus adds in verse 17 that the Holy Spirit dwells with you and will be in you.  Ever since he imparted the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his resurrection, the Holy Spirit has been given to all believers, so the Holy Spirit dwells in us.  How do you experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?

For verse 18, the NRSV provides the most literal translation of Jesus’s words: “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.”  This is not referring to his return at the end of time, but rather to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those who believe in Jesus.  Jesus is saying that if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you, then Jesus is with you.  How is that so?

God is a Trinity of Persons, but he is one God.  So if the Holy Spirit is in us, Jesus is in us in spirit, even though not in body.  In John 14:23, Jesus says that if you love Jesus and keep his word, the Father and Jesus will come to you and make their dwelling with you.  Putting it all together, if you are a follower of Jesus, then all 3 Persons of the Trinity dwell in you.  Therefore, you are, very much, not an orphan.

Do you ever have times when you feel like God has abandoned you or like you are an orphan?  If so, how can developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit who lives within you help deal with that feeling?

In verse 20, Jesus indicates that after his death and resurrection, the disciples will come to understand not only that Jesus is in the Father but also that the disciples are in Jesus.  In other words, we share a taste of the relationship between Jesus and the Father as we live in Jesus and he lives in us.  How is our communion with Jesus a limited but real reflection of the communion among the Persons of the Trinity?

In verse 21, Jesus returns to the point he made in verse 15: This relationship we have with God, this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is based on love.  According to verse 21, how do you know if you love Jesus?

This love is not just a one-way street, where we are called to love God.  We are also loved by the Father (verse 21).  How have you experienced the love of God in your life?

Does being loved make you want to love God all the more?

At the end of verse 21, Jesus adds that he will reveal himself to those who love him.  What do you think that means?  How have you experienced Jesus revealing himself to you?

In verse 22, John refers to a Judas who is not the Iscariot.  Jesus had more than one disciple named Judas, and this is not the one who betrayed him.  This Judas is confused.  He is expecting Jesus to do what most Jews of that time thought the Messiah would do: reveal himself in a dramatic, public confrontation with the Roman Empire that would free the Jewish people from domination.  He is shocked that Jesus is saying he will only reveal himself to the disciples.

What does Jesus say in verse 23?

In verse 23, Jesus links together these 3 points: loving Jesus, keeping his commandments, and having God dwell with us?   Why do you think those three points are so deeply connected with each other?

In verse 17, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will dwell within us.  In verse 23, Jesus says that he and the Father will abide with us.  How does it feel to know that all three Persons of the Trinity dwell in you?

We may not be perfect, but what does verse 23 say to us about how to live our lives?  What does it look like when people truly love Jesus, make a concerted effort to keep his word, and allow God to dwell in us?

How does God’s indwelling help us to keep his word?

How can you respond more fully to Jesus’s gift of the Holy Spirit?

Take a step back and consider this:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German minister who stood up against the Nazi dictatorship during World War II as the Third Reich worked to subvert Christianity and force churches to support its evil work.  He ultimately sacrificed his life because of his commitment to his faith.  (See Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Discipleship, Responsibility, Transformation for more about his remarkable life and teachings.)

While he was training pastors to resist the Nazi regime and stay true to the gospel, he wrote a book published in the United States under the title The Cost of Discipleship in which he challenged everyone in God’s Church to embrace “costly grace,” not “cheap grace” (Bonhoeffer, pp. 45ff).

Cheap grace is the belief that, because Jesus died for our sins, it doesn’t matter whether we obey his commandments or not: we can receive God’s grace and the gift of his Spirit, and live with God forever, without having ever lived according to Jesus’s teachings.

Costly grace calls us to die to ourselves and live for Christ: to follow his commandments, live according to his example, and submit to the leadership of the Spirit of God who dwells within us.

In John 14, Jesus is clearly calling us to a life of costly grace, as we follow the One who gave up his life to give us life, and as we embrace his mission.

In what aspects of your life are you tempted to settle for “cheap grace” and not fully follow the commandments and teachings of Jesus?

In what ways does your church or the Christian culture around you settle for a low level of conversion rather than transformed lives lived fully for Jesus?

We can’t be all that God wants us to be on our own strength.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit helps us to be what we are called to be.  The Spirit works to transform us and shape us so that we become people who do Jesus’s will joyfully.

How can you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you and increase your love for Jesus, so that you can become the kind of person who follows all that Jesus taught?