Not Orphans

We're back in John, back to Jesus' conversation with His faithful few before the day of His death. In this section of that conversation Jesus talks about the Spirit and some of what He will do in the lives of disciples. Listen to what Jesus said.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." (John 14. 15-24)

Jesus begins by making a promise to those who love Him. He will ask the Father to send the Spirit. Jesus also explains what will result from the coming of the Spirit. He will be with Jesus' disciples. That's something that we can understand. But it's when Jesus expands on that that there are questions.

          I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

It's this short statement that we are going to focus on this morning.

So, what does Jesus mean when He tells His friends, 'I will come to you'? To make it a little more intriguing I'm going to throw in something else that Jesus said.

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Now, it's not just Jesus who will come to believers but also the Father. So, the Father and the Son will make their home with believers. What is Jesus talking about?

It's helpful to note that John's word for 'home' is closely related to that word 'dwell'. '… for he [the Spirit] dwells with you and will be in you.' Jesus is telling us that both He and the Father live with Christians and that they do that by the Spirit. When the Spirit comes to a person, the Father and the Son also come. When you are a Trinity you can do that sort of thing. So, Christians have the presence of God - Father, Son and Spirit - with them wherever they go. So, right now, later today, in the middle of the week, all the time, you have the Spirit with you, along with the Father and the Son. And, once again, we're back to Immanuel.

The question to ask at this point is, 'So, what?' Will that make any difference? That's where the first part of Jesus' short statement comes in.

I will not leave you as orphans.

What's an orphan? We could give a good dictionary definition here, but why bother? The point is the emotional content of that word. What is an orphan? An orphan is someone who feels abandoned. He feels alone. And he feels that way because he is abandoned and alone. An orphan faces the world all by himself - and he knows it. He needs to take care of himself because no one else will.

But there's this problem. No one can take care of himself, not really. There are too many problems - actual and possible - to deal with. It's like the little boy who saw the leak in the dam. He plugs it with his finger. But all the while he's thinking, 'What if there's another leak?' And there will, of course, be another leak. And when that happens he plugs that with another finger. Then the question changes. 'What will I do when I run out of fingers?' Trying to 'take care of yourself' in the way that an orphan has to can only lead to stress and anxiety. And for the brief time that it looks like you're doing an okay job, it leads to pride.

But really, who can insure that he will be able to take care of any issue that may pop up? But that is what we are told that we must do. It is just a simple fact that most of the people you know have this sense that they are alone, that they face the world all by themselves. Our culture is a culture of orphans. So, it's up to them - and only them - to take care of themselves. After all, no one else will. Do you know what the experts say about how much money you need to retire? After all, who's going to take care of you if something goes wrong? That's the life of an orphan. 

So, Jesus is making an important point with this word. And He's making a promise. He will not let His disciples feel alone and abandoned. It just isn't going to happen. And to keep His promise He will send the Spirit. Something theological happens when the Spirit comes to someone. But something emotional also happens. You need never feel alone. That is Jesus' promise. And the reason? Because you will never be alone. You have the presence of God with you at all times. God - Father, Son and Spirit - has set up His home in you.

Let's develop this a bit by connecting Jesus' comments about being an orphan with some other concepts in the Scriptures. So, first, there's this.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

The Spirit who has come to you is 'the Spirit of adoption'. What's adoption? It's when someone is included into a family that he was not born into. That's what has happened to you. You were orphans, but you have been adopted by the Father. You were included into a family that you were not born into, His family.

On top of that, you have been adopted as sons, sons of God. You are not just 'not orphans'. You are sons. In this age of egalitarianism, telling women that they are sons is not always appreciated. But you need to remember that when those words, 'adoption as sons', were written it was not 21^st century America. It was first century Rome, a place that was very un-egalitarian. To be adopted as a son was a big deal. It meant that you not only were included in the family but that you were to receive an inheritance from the father, something that daughters did not receive. To be adopted as a son meant that great wealth is yours. And Paul took that familiar legal notion of his day and applied it to the saints. 'You have been adopted as sons.' And he applied it to both the men and the women of the Church, a radical thought for first century Rome. The Spirit has come, and He has made you sons, but not sons of some Roman father. He has made you sons of God, the Father. The inheritance is yours.

So, do you see what Jesus is saying to these men – and to us? 'Orphans? You, orphans? Not on your life! I will make sure that that will never happen to you. No, you will be sons of the most high God. And you will have a share in the inheritance promised to Me.' And all of this is yours with the coming of the Spirit.

Obviously, there are many facets to this. But let me pick just one. Listen again to how the Scriptures fill in what the coming of the Spirit is about.

… God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

When the Spirit comes He brings God's love. It's part of that inheritance. But please note how the gift of God's love is described. It isn't a little trickle. God does not dole out His love in little drips, just a few at a time. That love has been 'poured into our hearts'. When it comes to our enjoyment of God's love we can all say, 'my cup runneth over'. It's like a flood. We are overwhelmed by it all. And take a moment to consider what this love is. It is the decision of God's heart to see you flourish. Isn't that what any decent parent wants for his or her kids? How much more must that be true of our heavenly Father? So, it makes sense that Paul wrote,

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

That's the love of God for you, His children. It's part of what it means that you have been adopted as sons. It's part of what it means that the Spirit has come to you.

It's here that a question arises. 'So, why is it that I don't always feel loved?' There are lots of possible answers to that question. But let's limit ourselves to this one. We don't feel loved at times because those are the times that we are acting like orphans. And what is the basic theme of an orphan's life? 'I have to be sure to take care of myself. After all, no one else will.' And the orphan sets out to do just that, to take care of himself. And we're back to stress and anxiety. When the plan seems to working out okay the stress is quite low. After all, the plan is working. But when the plan is being challenged, when there is a question about whether the plan is going to work, that's when the stress goes up. And the plan can be about your money, how your children turn out, your health or something else. And, of course, even when the plan seems to be working there is always the question lurking in some corner, 'But what if something goes wrong?' There is always this note of anxiety. Sometimes it's pushed to the side, but sometimes it forces itself to center stage. 'What if something goes wrong?'

And what do you do when something does go wrong? I'm not talking about just a little wrong but blazingly wrong. The plan about your money, children, health, whatever didn't just hit a little bump in the road. It has been shattered and lies in pieces at your feet. You tried and you failed. Now what do you do? What resources does an orphan have in a situation like that? What do you tell yourself then? That's when life gets really hard. But you don't have to go down that road, even though so many you know are doing exactly that. You are not orphans. Jesus said so.

So, what is the solution? How can we live as sons and not as orphans? You know this. Believe the Gospel. And the particular part of the Gospel that we're looking at today is simply this. Jesus has come so that you don't have to live as orphans. You are all adopted into God's family. As a result, God's love has been poured out to you, poured out to overflowing. This is all yours because of Jesus who asked the Father to send the Spirit. Now, you enjoy that part of the Gospel to the extent that you believe it. You enjoy that part of the Gospel by living as the sons that you are and not as orphans. So, believe the Gospel.

Pray that you would be able to believe it more. As you do that the Spirit will to point out those particular situations where you're not believing it as much as you can. So, pray and then expect that, from time to time, you're going to get a tap on the shoulder followed by the Spirit's gentle whisper, 'You're acting like an orphan again. You don't have to, you know.' When He does that repent of your unbelief, come to Jesus for forgiveness and ask to be changed so that you can act like a loved son. You are sons of God who go about this life with the powerful presence of the Spirit living with you. This is Jesus' gift to you. Don't live like an orphan. Live like the son that you are.