That Must Be Some Serious Housekeeping

Jan. 30

Read: John 14:1-24, focus 15-24

That Must Be Some Serious Housekeeping

God dwells within his people. All of God. God in three persons - the Trinity. Father, Son, and Spirit making their home in us as believers. Each person of the Godhead has a role… God interacting with his people. This truth is made clear many times over in John 14… but for the sake of clarity:

“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.” (v.15-17)

“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.” (v.23)

I think we often forget that all of God dwells in us. For some of us it is easy to imagine “asking Jesus into our heart” and having him near to us. For others we think only in terms of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Very few imagine that God the Father is with us and near. Yet Jesus himself in John 14 tells us that Father, Son, and Spirit make their home with us and in us.

This becomes a significant point when we rewind to Jesus’ words at the beginning of John 14:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (v.1-3)

What happens when we realize that WE - God’s People - are his “house”… his “dwelling place”… the “temple”? (cf. 2 Cor. 6:16, 1 John 2:24) Then we realize that Jesus going to the cross prepared God’s “house” (US) to be ready to receive the Lord in this new “living arrangement”. At the cross, Christ did something that made the house fit for divine dwelling as well as made us fit to dwell there. When Jesus says he “goes to prepare a place for us”… he is not ONLY speaking of a future home but is also speaking about the here and now. Jesus DOES indeed come again to the disciples who are hearing these words… 3 days later! After three days in the grave he comes again to receive them that “where he is they may be also.” (v.3) These verses are not meant to be verses that tell us Jesus is going away for at least 2000 some odd years (and counting) and that we are still left waiting for him! JESUS IS WITH US NOW.

This does not mean that he is with us in the same way he will be in heaven, or on the new earth after the resurrection, but he IS in someway with us now… along with the Father and the Spirit. Dwelling with God, sharing a space with him, being near him is not reserved for some far off time in the future. Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again in three days to prepare a place for us and for the Father, Son, and Spirit so that they may be present with us NOW as well as after death and on the new heavens and new earth.

If we do not realize this… or we neglect this truth we become like the world. Look at what Christ says to his disciples:

“And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (v.4-6)

“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.” (v.17)

Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”. Jesus is the path that leads us to God the Father. To “know Jesus” while ignoring the Father and the Spirit is to overlook the very work that Christ came to accomplish. Part of what Jesus came to do was become “the way” for us. Jesus says flat out: “you know the way to where I am going”. (v.4) The world cannot receive the Spirit of God… point blank… it neither sees him nor knows him. The Spirit of God is not “dwelling with” or “in” the world… but HE IS with us! When we “quench the Spirit” and neglect relationship with the Spirit we are functioning as the world … not as children of God.

As long as we think that God is far away… that Jesus has left us as orphans and has been “preparing a room” for us the last 2000 years and counting… and we are left waiting around for him… we will continue to treat God’s presence with us in a worldly fashion. We run the risk of ignoring the one who dwells with us and in us. We end up being Christians who “neither sees him nor knows him”. We become like Thomas who says “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus is not trying to hide from us! He has told us the way… and the whereabouts of The Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus prepared you for having the Lord dwell within you. Get to know him more today! Do not treat him as the world treats him! The world thinks he is far off, distant, aloof, hiding, not talking or sharing… but we know better! As we seek to “Love one another” and to “keep the commandments of Jesus” we will experience the indwelling presence of the Father, Son, and Spirit more and more each day! (v.15,23) Love you guys! -JDP