Knowing What Jesus Knew-John 13
by G.S. Augustine
Knowing the Moves
When grandmaster Eric Rosen plays chess, he never stresses over his opponents play. He immediately identifies his opponents opening as a London, a Queens Gambit, a Sicilian, a Caro-Kann or dozens of other patterns, and he already knows the best move to avoid the traps his opponent is setting up. And he makes that best move at the right time to anticipate what might be coming. The right move one move too late allows his opponent to control the game. Slow play can be as big a problem as bad play.
When I play chess, I have a strategy in mind but because I don’t know the possible traps, I often find myself scrambling to limit the damage about to occur. My confidence takes a hit and I tend to make further mistakes. Sometimes I recover. Often I don’t. Having the right knowledge at the right time determines whether the next move is a winning one.
When Foot Washing Is Knowledge
In looking at the upper room discourse in John 13-17, it is tempting to place less importance on John 13. The discourse seems to come into full swing in chapter 14. But this is a mistake. Right from the start, John 13 is critical to understanding the message of the discourse. And it hinges first on what Jesus “knows,” second on what the disciples don’t know just yet and need to learn and third on what the world must learn.
Jesus makes all his moves in the present chapter based on what he knows to be reality and what he knows of Satan.
It was just before the passover feast, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father.
John 13:1
Everything Jesus says in these four chapters will connect to what Jesus knows throughout the discourse:
The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God …
John 13:2-3
For he knew who was going to betray him and that was why he said not every one was clean.
John 13:11
I am not referring to all of you; I know whom I have chosen.
John 13:18
Not Knowing Needs To Be Remedied
Conversely, the disciples lack knowledge they need to process what it about to happen to Jesus. This first shows up in the foot washing scene when Peter reacts to Jesus attempt wash his feet. Jesus responds:
(Lit.) What I do you do not know presently; you will know however after these things.
John 13:7
And later in the chapter, Jesus will speak about what the world will know. Jesus gives his disciples a new command: to love one another as he loved them. This is exemplified in Jesus washing their feet, but it’s not the full content. John tells us in 13:1 that Jesus loved them all along but the foot washing was to demonstrate “the full extent of his love.” But the command for us to love each other was so that the world will know we are his disciples.
Right Knowledge Produces Kingdom Life
What Jesus knows and what the disciples and world must learn continues to be the motivation the discourse. And the stage is set for this at every point in John 13. Peter doesn’t know why Jesus must wash his feet: “Unless I wash you you have no part with me.” He doesn’t know that Jesus has already cleansed him and only needs upkeep. “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet.”
The disciples as a whole don’t know the function of leadership in the kingdom of Christ but must learn it:
Do you know what I have done for you? You call me “teacher” and “Lord” and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your teacher have washed feet, you also should wash each other’s feet … No servant is great than his master, nor is a messenger greater that the one who sent him.
John 13:12-16
Additionally, after Jesus identifies Judas as the one who will betray him, Jesus speaks about his death—obliquely as first and then more plainly in chapter 14. But more importantly, Jesus knows this death is not defeat but the basis of glory. Something quite opposite of what any of the disciples would have imagined.
Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once.
John 13:31-32
Not Knowing True Definition of Success is Defeat
The disciples do not understand this concept, as Peter himself demonstrates. They think they are willing to die for Jesus, but they do not see death as glory. And in fact, they do not really know themselves on this matter. Whatever romantic ideas they have of dying with Jesus, the reality is something different for them. They don’t know what Jesus knows. They don’t know about coming from God and returning to God. They see only a frightfully dark tunnel and when faced with it, they will recoil.
Peter said, “Why can’t I come with you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down you life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
John 13:37-38
But this is a hard and necessary point for the disciples to learn. Because, “Where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later” (13:36). For the disciples in their time and for believers throughout history (and in a real sense, all believers in all times and all places), hatred from the world, persecution and death are part of it. And what we know about God’s ordained reality (or don’t know!) will determine our next move when it comes.
Laying-Down-Life-Love Power Vs. Force
At this point, it is important not to confuse the world’s animosity with some kind of medieval trial that purgates and purifies. Though trials can have this effect, this is not the point of the discourse. Jesus is simply explaining the reality his disciples face in a world that hates God. And they will need a new vision of Christ’s kingdom reality if they are going to navigate it well. Judas failed to comprehend any of it and became a traitor—though that may not have been his intention. He might have only tried to force Jesus to become the warrior Messiah he thought God intended. Laying down life out of love for enemies was nonsense to him just as it is nonsense to the world.
But even if Judas’ intention was to help Jesus fulfill a perceived destiny rather than betray him, his idea of that destiny is exactly what the devil influences the world to believe. To a rebellious world, effective rule requires force and deception. So it is right that it says the devil entered Judas. He did not realize that what he thought he knew came from the wrong picture of reality. The rest of the disciples at some point down the line could fall into the same trap. In fact, the church did fall into this trap when powerful popes inaugurated crusades and built armies.
The Middle of the Discourse: John 14
It is here where we come to chapter 14 and what seems like the beginning of the discourse. But in fact, I believe it’s the beginning of the middle of the discourse. The first statement: “Do not let your hearts be troubled” is obviously a response to something. The coming death of Jesus and the subsequent death of the disciples is hanging in the air. Jesus addresses the elephant in the room. The disciples need to know something designed to change their view of the elephant.
They are to trust God (in the face of this death) and also trust him. The reality is much different than they imagine. They will need to see this reality clearly to withstand the barometric lows before them. What is beyond this physical life is not Hades’ Elysian Fields, but their Father’s house filled with enough rooms for everyone.
Jesus As Pre-Arrival Agent
Jesus informs them he will be their pre-arrival agent who prepares a place for them. He not only goes ahead of them but will also return to bring them to this home. Death will not be a journey they make alone.
This does allude to Christ’s return to earth on the last day, but the disciples would not experience that before death. It also alludes to the resurrection appearances, but they won’t arrive at the Fathers house at that time either. That will take place for these disciples at least initially at their death. However, Jesus’ promise to them is just as sure. He will be there to guide them when the time comes. And because they know him, they know the way to where he is going.
Human Rulership under Divine Authority
Thomas’ question about not knowing where Jesus is going and therefore how is it possible to know the way is a logical one at this point. They haven’t caught Jesus’ drift. They know they way precisely because they know him. He is the center of reality not the world or Moses or even death. But more—they know the Father as well and even have seen him. Here again, it is in the realm of knowing something that determines the right moves in the contest ahead.
It is no accident that the discussion with Philip about the oneness of Jesus with the Father leads to Jesus telling the disciples they will do the works he does (14:12). Knowing that Jesus words are the Father’s words and that it is the Father doing his work through Jesus (14:10) is foundational to the fact that it will be the Father doing his work through them.
When we consider that from the beginning that God created us to “rule” creation under his authority, what Jesus is saying isn’t surprising. But the first couple decided that they would dispense with God’s authority and operate solely out of their own. Jesus is merely reestablishing the proper arrangement.
Jesus: The New Head of the Human Race
Up to this point, the disciples have seen that Jesus can heal and perform miracles, and even experienced it themselves on missions in Jesus name. What they need to know is that as the Father did his work in Jesus, he will do his work in them as well. And why is this so? Again Jesus knows something that the disciples don’t: The Father put all things under his power and authority (John 13:3). No matter what it looks like in the power struggles of the world in the short run, ultimately Jesus wins.
Again this will be critical knowledge for them when the High Priest is about to move his knight to F2 threatening their queen and trapping the rook. If they have the confidence that even with Jesus gone, the powerful works of God will continue in them, they will be able to face a menacing opponent with a strategy that is as wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove.
Until Jesus, all people everywhere operated in the “name” of the first Adam who was in effect the head of the human race. Paul fleshes this theology in Romans 5, but here Jesus introduces it. Adam usurped authority he didn’t possess leading to disease and death and history’s tragic choices. But Jesus, as the new or second Adam, restores the created order bringing healing and peace.
Living Powerfully As God Originally Intended
And all this comes simply by living under the authority of and asking in the name of Jesus. The context of this blank check of a prayer (ask anything!) is the commitment to live as Jesus lived, which if we think back to chapter 13 is “to love one another as I have loved you.” Not as simple to do as one might hope, but simple enough to understand. But this love includes loving Jesus also, and he defines that love: obey what I command (14:15).
Though it is right to include everything that Jesus commands and teaches here (14:21 implies just that) but it is a good idea to keep a close eye on the present context—“to love one another as I have loved you”— and even emphasize it. The structure of John 14:15-21 is noteworthy. Verse 15 and 21 form an inclusio to the paragraph emphasizing that loving Jesus involves obeying him. And those who love Jesus, the Father and the Son both love as well, but Jesus adds something. He will show himself to that person.
The Holy Spirit: Partnership Restored
Additionally, within the paragraph itself Jesus promises to those who “love” him by keeping his commandments, he will send a counselor, the Spirit of Truth. This counselor will continue to provide that which they need to know to finish the course. But there is another factor. Not only is the future something Jesus is preparing and will guide them to, but in the mean time, he is not leaving them alone. God the Holy Spirit will be with them and will be in them. They will not be orphans. Indeed they will never even have to face any of the contest alone. Jesus by his Spirit will be right there with them.
This is significantly better that then the present situation. When Jesus was on the earth, the disciples could only have his help when he was physically with them. When he was away praying, they had to search for him. When he fell asleep in the boat during a storm, they panicked. When he was up on the mountain with Peter, James and John, the other disciples failed to heal a demon possessed boy. But now, the reality will be that Jesus is right there, standing at the door at all times. No matter the situation now, he’s available to help. They must keep this knowledge in front of them as they face the days ahead.
Correcting Our Distorted View of Reality
The question the other Judas asks at this point is an interesting one. Why will Jesus show himself to them but not the world. Judas still possesses the distorted imagery of the warrior messiah. Isn’t the messiah a conquering king to establish God’s rule on earth? How is Jesus going to do that if he doesn’t show himself to the world? Again, the disciples do not yet know reality as it is. The kingdom of God comes through voluntary allegiance to Christ (“obey my teaching”) and love. This will cause the Father and the Son to “make their home” with such a one. God’s kingdom rule does not come by armed conquest. Without obedience through love, the world will never see it, let alone be a part of it.
At best, the disciples see this only in a mirror darkly. So Jesus again reassures them that he will send the Holy Spirit who will guide their understanding. Here Jesus is foreshadowing the need for the disciples to abide in him and his word in the next chapter. The guidance they will receive from the Holy Spirit will depend on that abiding. And they will need that continued guidance to know what Jesus knows because as he will say in John 16, he has much to say to them but they can’t bear it presently. However, in these words of Jesus, he is providing for them a lasting peace. If they take them to heart, believe them and operate on their reality, they will be able to quell their troubled hearts (John 14:25-27).
The Cross A Cause For Joy?
It is as this point that Jesus begins to discuss what the world needs to learn and how it is that the disciples will be able to be the source of that learning—how they will be able to be fruitful in that quest. Jesus speaks of his death once again in terms of going to the Father. This, Jesus said, should bring them joy because of the greatness of the Father— a bit enigmatic. At first, it seems difficult to catch what Jesus is referring to here. Why is the fact that the Father is greater than Jesus cause for gladness?
I think the best way to understand this statement is in light of soteriology itself. The cross is a place where the sins of the humankind are rectified. Over the centuries, the most popular theory that describes what Jesus accomplished at the cross is Anselm’s satisfaction theory which he presents in a work called Cur Deus Homo in a.d. 1097. It states that Jesus satisfied the wrath of God by accepting the punishment for sins that all of us deserved. In other words, “he took my place.” Jesus did indeed represent the human race at the cross, and the cross is the basis for the forgiveness of sins, but I believe this passage helps us see something else.
Faithfulness Even In Losing Everything
In John 14:28-31, Jesus refers to the cross as “going to the Father who is greater than me.” In this going, “the prince of this world is coming, but he has no hold on me.” A very interesting statement. If we compare the first Adam and Eve, we see that the prince of the world came to them as well. And it appears that he had some “hold” on them. The woman wondered why God was holding out on them and the man was possibly afraid he would lose the woman so he went along with her. Something in our limited nature and lack of knowledge made it possible for the prince of this world to use doubts against us.
But here, Jesus faced with an excruciating death as well as utter degradation in the eyes of the world and possibly his own followers—indeed, the loss of everything human beings hold dear—none of that would cause him to distrust and disobey his Father. Here’s what the world needs to learn and at this point they don’t know: “…the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”
Why Jesus Faithfulness To Death Defeats Death
The reason that Jesus death on the cross atones for us is that Jesus does what Adam and indeed what we have never done: trust the Father no matter what. Peter tells us, “ … he kept on entrusting himself to him who judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). This means that Jesus was not subject to death because from his very birth he was never separated from God the Father, the source of all life.
And coming to the human race with the message of the Kingdom of God meant that the world would hate him and kill him. In this, however, Jesus had to “lay down his life.” No one and nothing could take it from him (John 10:18). But because he does not break his connection with the Father even when faced with death, death could not hold him (Acts 2:24). Again it was Peter who understood this later.
Jesus rose from the dead because he remained faithful to the Father in the face of the loss of everything a human being could lose. In doing this, he became the human representative, the second Adam (Romans 5:21-21), for all of us who would put our faith in him.
Faith in Jesus As Dying
This, however, would still come at a significant cost to us as well: namely our lives.
Don’t you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him in his death we shall certainly be united with him in his resurrection.
Romans 6:3-5
The world needs to learn that only through entrusting ourselves to the Father’s love and goodness by obeying him no matter what is life possible at all. And how we as his people are fruitful in all this is where John 15 begins.
The Obligation of All Creation
Fruitfulness is not just the obligation of those who follow Christ. It is the obligation of all creation. Everything God created had the potential and requirement to bear fruit. When Jesus condemned the fig tree in Matthew 21 because he found no fruit on it, it was symbolic of Israel’s fruitless religion, yes, but it was also a statement about the nature of things. That which doesn’t bear fruit withers and dies and in the end will be burned (John 15:6, Hebrews 6:7).
This is the real reason homosexuality is a problem from the Biblical point of view. It is not the case that it is evil or gross but that it has no potential for bearing children. It is unfruitful. Not every seed from a plant or tree reproduces, but every seed has the potential for it. And since the “fruit of the womb” carries the stamp of the “image of God,” this lack of fruit is even more problematic.
When it comes to being fruitful in the ways Jesus has been talking about in John 13-14, it will take more than just keeping certain things in mind. We all have a natural (or actually, sinful) tendency to take care of ourselves at the expense of others. Just hearing the words that like Jesus, we came from God and will return to God, though that is necessary knowledge, it is still not enough to die to the comforts of this life out of obedience to the Father.
The Vulcan Mind-Meld is Unavailable
In the original TV series Star Trek, one episode included a superior species that could take earthly historical scenes and reproduce them. The crew of the Enterprise found themselves set back to 1881 at the shootout at the OK Coral. James Kirk was Ike Clanton in the drama, and the rest of the crew were the Cowboys who would lose that fight and die.
Along the way, the crew discovers that although what they were experiencing wasn’t real, if they believed it was real, they would actually die in the shootout. But if they without a doubt knew that it was just an illusion, they would survive. But even the slightest doubt would kill them. Only Spock with his unemotional logical brain could do it. So in order to save the crew, Spock performed his “mind-meld” procedure so that no doubt could enter the minds of the crew.
Abiding as the Alternative
Jesus isn’t Spock and there is no “mind-meld.” But John 15 does teach the need to “stay connected” to the source of our faith. In order for us to face a hostile world with the absolute trust in God the Father no matter what, we must “abide” in Jesus just as a vine branch abides in a vine. Sap runs along the vine to the branch in various amounts at various times in order to cause the branch to bud, burst to leaf, flower and develop grapes. These grapes take all season to ripen and are harvested when they reach the right percentage of sugar.
The picture is easy to understand in concept, but how this works out in relation to faith is a bit fuzzy. It may be wise to remove the notion of religious practice from the equation and set the concept back into creation. The most natural thing for a branch to do is to stay connected to the vine and fruitfulness is the natural result. But branches have twigs that dry up and need pruning to allow the rest of the branch to efficiently use the sap. However, when the whole branch is unfruitful, the gardener must cut it off for the sake of the whole vine.
It’s Not Really My Life
So far so good. From the beginning, the human race was contingent upon God for life. Humans have no life “in themselves.” Life is “derived” from the Father. To cut oneself off from the Father is to cut oneself off from the source of life. In other words, it dies. But there is an illusion that this is not so. Skeptics say many atheists live quite a long time, thank you very much.
But this illusion is created by momentum. When an operator of a machine such as a vacuum cleaner plugs it in and turns it on, the motor pulls air through it powerfully. But if he accidentally unplugs it in the process, the motor loses the electrical power to run, but previous momentum keeps the motor going for a while. There is still “some” pull of air, but it loses the power to do so effectively.
Loving As Jesus Loved Needs Jesus Help
When attempting to love each other as Jesus loves and obey his commandments, especially when facing a hostile world, we experience something similar. We have some momentum from the fact we are made in God’s image, but the slightest doubt about our security in that will cause us to hesitate or recoil. Effective power to love Jesus as he loved his Father comes from continuous connection to Jesus. Below we will offer a few suggestions on how to understand abiding, but we must first look at what abiding will accomplish.
A Mixed Metaphor
Jesus uses a mixed metaphor in 15:3 that refers back to the foot washing in chapter 13: “You are already clean because the of the word I have spoken to you.” Part of the confusion comes from the fact that the Greek word for “prune” in verse 2 is the same Greek word in verse 3 which our English version translates as “clean.” Branches that bear fruit are “cleaned” (i.e. “pruned”) so they may bear more fruit. Like when Peter suggested that Jesus wash his head and hands—not just his feet—Jesus responded that one who had bathed only needs to wash his feet. Jesus expands and extends this idea in a new way here in John 15.
The metaphor of the vine and branches is for those who have already given their allegiance to King Jesus. But it cannot end there. Now they must “stay connected” to Jesus if fruitfulness is going to take place. Fruitfulness is the name of the game, and fruitfulness comes by obeying Jesus: “Now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (13:17). But doing them on our own steam isn’t possible: “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (15:5).
Unfruitful Branches Burned?
Failure to stay connected to Jesus (“abide,” “remain”) makes fruitfulness as Jesus has in mind impossible. Unfruitful branches are cut off, wither and are eventually burned. This is quite a shocking statement from Jesus. If we follow the logic, only believers are branches in the vine: “You are already ‘clean’ because of the word I have spoken to you.” Yet Jesus says a branch that does not abide in the vine and doesn’t produce fruit won’t continue to survive.
A possible example of this is Judas Iscariot, and it is quite possible that Jesus had him in mind during this part of the discourse. In that case, Jesus does say Judas is not clean at all which would argue against this, but Judas was part of the twelve and would serve as a warning. If so, this forms another important link with chapter 13.
But the reverse is even more shocking: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.” This sounds pretty much like a blank check until we look at what follows. “This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” The point of “abiding” is fruit bearing. The point of prayer in relationship to abiding is also fruit bearing.
What is Fruit?
This brings up another question: How is Jesus using the term “bearing fruit” here in the discourse? John does not give us a clear definition. This can suggest many things: the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5; winning people to the kingdom through our testimony is high on the list; the Old Testament includes having children as fruitfulness as well. Some passages even suggest wealth creation is fruitful (see Deuteronomy 8:18). With a little massaging, prophets like Isaiah and Amos suggest even a certain kind of social fruitfulnes (e.g. Isaiah 58). And there are others.
But I think Jesus wants to emphasize the close context of the discourse. And clearly in sight is the command to love one another as Jesus loved them. After stating that fruitfulness is what proves one is his disciple, Jesus returns to the command from John 13—now adding the Father into it. “As the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Now remain in my love.”
Love, Obedience and Joy: Something to Learn
Jesus immediately connects this to obeying his commands in the same way Jesus obeys his Father’s commands. Given the context, Jesus is obeying the Father by going to the cross! And then Jesus goes on the tell them if they will obey him in the same way, they will have full joy!
The disciples will not see this at first. As Jesus goes to the cross, they scatter and hide, and Peter denies he even knows Jesus. But the writer of the letter to the Hebrews puts it this way: “For the joy set before him, he (Jesus) endured the cross, despising its shame (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus again knows something the disciples don’t that allows him to have a different reaction to the cross than they will have.
Fruitfulness Out Of Lay-Down-Life Love
But it is how he reemphasizes the command to love each other at this point that is so striking. He announces it solemnly: “This is my command,” and qualified the same way “Love each other as I have loved you.” But this time he further describes how he is loving them: by laying down his life for them as friends. And they are friends “if you do what I command.”
Then Jesus adds a new benefit: he lets them in on the business the Father is conducting. But this friendship comes with the responsibility to bear lasting fruit which was the reason Jesus chose them in the first place. Again Jesus stresses that his Father is behind this and will answer whatever prayers they offer. But laying-down-life loving each other is foundational to it all.
Jesus Prays For Little Else
However we define bearing fruit, the means by which we bear that fruit involves laying down life type of love. In fact it is so important that when Jesus prays for them in chapter 17, he will pray that they love each other so deeply that they become one just as he and the Father are one.
Part of the reason for this is what comes next in Jesus words in John 15. The world will hate them simply because the world hated him. And since their responsibility is to testify to what Jesus has done (15:25-27), the world will hate and persecute them just as they did with Jesus. They will even do so with a righteous indignation thinking that by killing Jesus’ disciples they are serving God. It’s one thing to be hated for serving God; it’s quite another to be executed as a villain for doing it.
Going Astray: A Real Possibility
The disciples need to know this so they won’t go astray (see 16:1-2). The world needs to know that Jesus loves the Father and does everything the Father commands. And how will the world know this? They will see his disciples doing the same thing. In both the disciples’ obedience and the world seeing that obedience is what produces fruit the way Bible defines it.
Jesus is preparing his disciples to face trouble in the world, and there are many things in this discourse Jesus wants them to know in order to face it. He lays out the strong points but the disciples can’t bear everything just yet. Some of those things will have to wait for the Holy Spirit who will guide them into all truth. Jesus does however summarize it for them: “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The Problem With “Abiding”
Now we come to the question: How does one “abide” in Jesus? In my earliest days as a Christ follower, this was at the heart of the teaching I received. One teacher emphasized having a quiet time, where reading and applying scripture passages and praying each morning was in focus. The applications were to be specific things you would do in light of what the text called for. I experienced great benefit from this habit.
However, it tended to continually add “things to do” to my schedule that overloaded it. And a lot of what I was doing seemed disconnected from my day to day duties. Additionally, requirements that just living imposed on me, though not necessarily in conflict with “abiding” in Jesus, didn’t seem to promote it either.
For a while, I attempted to “practice the presence of God” as Brother Lawrence suggested. This also held great benefits, but again, I found it hard to concentrate on certain tasks at hand while keeping a mental picture of the presence of Christ. I often found that that the “weeds” of a fallen world had me swearing at the inconvenience. Still, there is a solid track here to follow as well. Both of these ideas help, but I don’t think this is entirely what the text aims at.
Corporate Vs. Individual Thinking
Part of the problem, I feel, is we don’t understand the corporate thinking that a first century Jew would have had. Being a Jew was not just an individual concept the way western Christians tend to live the Christian life. Jews see themselves first and foremost as part of God’s chosen people.
A Jew couldn’t think of God dealing with him entirely apart from the nation of Israel as Christians often think of God dealing with them apart from the Body of Christ. Pharisees like Paul imposed their ideas of piety on the people because they believed that the Messiah wouldn’t come to them until the whole nation obeyed the law. Those who were in serious violation of God’s law had to be “purged” by either imprisonment or death. That they were in error about what constituted obeying God and what the purpose of the Messiah was doesn’t negate the corporate nature of God’s kingdom.
Jesus Came to Build a Church
Christ wasn’t just saving individuals to live blissfully in paradise. He was creating a people of God, a single “body of Christ. Jesus said to Peter when he confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, “On this rock, I will build my church, my ecclesia, my assembly.”
To understand the problem, we need to go back to Genesis 1. As one of my professors use to say, “It all begins in Genesis.” When God created the first couple, it says he created them in his image, male and female he created them. Then God says, “let them rule” over all creation.
Now he wasn’t abdicating his own rule in creation, but rather allowing them to rule under his authority. They were to be “co-rulers” with him. And as John Locke rightly pointed out in his first treatise on government, this wasn’t an indication that God installed Adam as a human monarch who would pass divine right privileges to a designated heir. This rulership was shared by all humanity.
The One and The Many
In a fallen world, the great political question concerns the subject of The One and The Many. That is, which set of interests is more important—the One (i.e. the community, the state, the nation) or the Many (i.e. the individuals that make up the community, the state, the nation)? The Marxist-Socialist would say the One or the State is most important. Individuals are to derive their welfare from the State. Therefore State’s interest’s trumps any individual. Any individual interest that deviates from the interest of the State is dangerous. And the State must eliminate that danger.
The Free-market Capitalist would say the “Many” or individual citizens’ interest is primary. The only purpose of the State is to foster the freedom of the individual. In their mind, whatever produces the most freedom is the purpose of the State since anarchy limits freedom. But if left unchecked, the State will always become a totalitarian nightmare. The State must only intervene to prevent threats to individual freedoms.
God Didn’t Intend Either
In a fallen world, I agree with C.S. Lewis who said, “I’m not a democrat because I have confidence in the goodness of people. I’m a democrat because I don’t believe any individual (or group of individuals) can be trusted with much power.” Here he used the term “democrat” not as a name for a political party but as a reference to a democratic form of government.
I personally tend to agree with Adam Smith and Milton Freedman when it comes to free markets. But this isn’t what God intended from the beginning, nor will it save humanity, despite Francis Fukuyama’s assertion that it is the final evolution of political history. The disadvantage to this Western Civilization way of thinking is that as in poker, the players with the biggest stack of chips control the game.
The Political Benefit in Loving As Jesus Loves
God intended that humanity would love each other as God loved us and would operate in a oneness that reflected the oneness of the Trinity. It would work out this way: the One or the State would not look out for it’s own interests first and foremost. It would look out for the interest of the “Many” as its charter. And the “Many” wouldn’t look out for their interests first and foremost, but would serve the interests of the One, the community as a whole deriving their own benefit from the result.
This of course won’t happen in a fallen world because no one will trust that this will benefit them in the long run well enough. Only in a kingdom under the authority of an All Powerful, All Loving God is this possible. The One or the State would have to trust that even if the Many Individuals fail to look after the community as a whole, an Infinite God will. And the Many would have to trust that even if the One or the State failed to protect their interests, a Just God will. These twin “trusts” would allow the “oneness” Jesus talks about in John 17 to develop and produce the “peace on earth” we all long for.
The Focal Point of Abiding
Jesus summarizes the Law of Moses to love God with a whole heart and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus final prayer in John 17 restates this idea in the very similar terms with the end goal that those who believe in Jesus would first of all be one just as he and the Father are one. The world in turn would then see this and know that God sent Jesus as the Messiah or “king” of humanity. Abiding in Jesus will mean things like having his words “abide” in me. It will mean staying connected to the presence God in all our days, but Jesus focuses this “abiding” in John 15 as “abiding in my love by obeying his commandments and most particularly loving each other as he loved us. That means “laying down life” for each other which will require knowing God enough to trust him in that “laying down.”
How the Book of Acts Portrays This
So what might this look like in our fallen world where Jesus has constituted his church as a beachhead in it? I suppose it would take a whole monograph to list the myriad of ways. But the book of Acts gives us a picture in brief. We see in Acts 1 that 120 people gather together in constant prayer. I’m sure people came and went from that prayer meeting as it is likely that many had obligations to take care of in the course of life: children and animals to feed, water to draw from wells, enterprises to maintain. But the emphasis on “corporate prayer” cannot be understated.
After Pentecost, Luke tells us the people continued in prayer together (see Acts 2:12). There was a sense of “living life together.” They “devoted” themselves to God’s word (the Apostles teaching), to fellowship and breaking bread (eating together). There is also a sense of looking out for each other. The community “looked out” for each other. They made sure what they possessed was available to care for those who had needs (Acts 2:45, 4:32-35). And why did the people do this? They were confident that the God they worshipped would take care of them.
A Special Note About Marxism
I need to add special note here. This is not Marxist-Socialist behavior. No governing authority forced anyone to sell anything to care for others. They did it purely on a voluntary basis out of individual concern for the community. We see this in the story of Ananais and Saphira (Acts 5:4-5). Ananias was under no obligation to sell his property or to give the whole amount or even any amount to the church. He was judged for “lying” to the Holy Spirit ostensibly to gain a certain kind of public favor.
Ananias and Saphira’s sin threated to damage the community as a whole. Therefore God judged it severely. When we use resources to accumulate power within the community in deceptive ways, we undermine the very structure God intends for human role in ruling creation. Lack of faith that employs manipulation to insure welfare replaces loving one another as Christ loved us. World communities in rebellion to God must work this way at every moment or they don’t last long. Even using this tactic, their empires eventually fall, but it is not how God created humans beings to function and it is not to be so in the body of Christ.
Partnering With God’s Rule
Human community functions best and longest when it manages itself in harmony with God’s ultimate rule. I was walking down a beautiful neighborhood street this morning in West Michigan. The homes were artistically pleasing; the lawns were all lush and green; large fully filled out oaks and maples surrounded the homes and street creating an exquisite multi-shaded skyline against a sharply blue sky lit up in morning sunshine. A light cool breeze pleasantly took the edge off the warm summer day. I said to myself the people who live on this street must really enjoy where they live and I thanked God for the opportunity I had to enjoy it.
But what makes it so beautiful is not the well built houses or the perfectly paved driveways or the smooth unblemished blacktopped road. Without the green of the lawns and the flowering shrubs and the different sizes and shapes of the trees, the street would be just a dead looking new residential construction.
Yet the imprint of people couldn’t be discounted either. Nature by itself can be unruly and become impossible to enjoy easily. The fact that the community of this street all tacitly or otherwise agreed together to subdue nature and order it by mowing and fertilizing lawns, planting flowers, maintaining buildings and hardscape and road completed the beauty. God creates; human beings shape and subdue.
Amish Examples
In some ways, the Amish have come closest to the community that I think the Bible has in mind. They have “come out from among them” and taken seriously “touch not the unclean thing.” Their lives function around managing farms and businesses in light of the gospel. They invest in the success of the neighbors and over ninety percent of their children choose to live Amish. They’re not perfect and don’t have enough contact with a fallen world. But still, outsiders often appreciate the simple and supportive way their community operates.
A Holistic Approach
Abiding in Christ seems to require a holistic definition. Yes, we need to read, study and apply the Bible. We need to regularly connect with the Father in prayer. We must “assemble ourselves together” as the writer of Hebrews admonishes “spurring one another on to love and good deeds.” And we need to be those who testify about what Jesus has done for us to a lost world. But if we segregate Christian duties and daily realities, much of life turns into practical atheism.
Soon after I came to faith, I started helping out in a church high school ministry. I played guitar and ended up leading some worship songs at the Sunday school class. Later I helped to plan evangelistic events and facilitated small group discussions at the weekly Bible study. I did have a quiet time most mornings studying the Bible and praying, but it didn’t feel compartmentalized. I worked for a data processing company where sharing my faith seemed as natural as breathing. I met regularly with other members of the high school ministry to plan but more importantly to pray together.
A captain in the LA fire department mentored me and never failed to pray with me on our get togethers. He also did practical things to help me. He made sure my car was running well and connected me to some house mates. He even bought me tickets to a few Christian conferences as well. And there were other members of the church that invested in me during that time.
When Christian Community Flattens Out
I went to a Bible School a year and a half later and something changed. Involvement in the community of faith seemed to take on a mechanical nature. The school required us to spend at least three hours per week in a “Christian Service.” They provided a service list we picked from and reported on it each week. We also reported on quiet times and church attendence.
Back home, church life had an organic quality. We did what we did because it seemed the right thing to do. I don’t recall thinking about “how much time” I spent on it. I was also in the Army National Guard at the time. That took me away from church once per month but put me in a place I shared my faith. But somehow at Bible School, this was a demerit. It had the subtle effect of compartmentalizing Christian life into Christian duties defined by the list. The idea that training in the desert could be a manifestation of the Christian life seemed out of step.
The Christian Life is Firstly “Life”
It’s not that these kinds of accountability requirements can’t be helpful. It’s just that we must not to fall into what Eugene Peterson once said about his congregation: “They knew everything about the Christian life except that it was life.” It seems to be helpful to go back to John 13. Jesus looked at life differently than his disciples at the time. He knew something they didn’t. He knew life was not limited by the brief events that take place in the pages of human history. We have come from God and are returning to God. He is the source of all life.
Life With Each Other Requires Forgiving Faults
And the key to that life is “laying down your life” love: loving God and loving each other. To love God means to obey him. To love each other means to serve them even in washing their feet—that is in helping clean up the failures they pick up in daily living, even if those failures have harmed you. The reason for this is that In a fallen world, loving God will also come with the need to have our feet washed by Jesus regularly. The Father’s pruning is part of the life.
So abiding also must include turning back. “Even if your brother sins against you seven times a day and seven times comes back and says ‘I repent,’ forgive him” (Luke 17:4). Christ commands his disciples to do this because this is what his Father does. The reason the Father does it is because the nature of our relationship with him includes it.
But this will also be true of our relationship with each other. Love will always need to cover a multitude of sins. And there will likely be something of this even in the future kingdom of God. Although we can say there won’t be hostility and sin, the making of mistakes will most likely continue.
Mistakes Are Part of Limited Knowledge
We make mistakes when the task at hand bumps up against the limit of our knowledge. Since we will never be omniscient, we will always lack knowledge. In managing creation with God and each other, we will likely make mistakes that will cost someone something. Love will need to cover those mistakes.
Some might argue that in the kingdom we won’t act beyond our knowledge. We will be humble enough to ask for help. This is likely to be true much of the time. But it is equally true that we may not realize that our knowledge on a matter is lacking. As my wife often says, “We don’t know what we don’t know.” Or what the vaudevillian comedian Josh Billings once said, “It not what we don’t know that gets us into trouble. It’s what we know that ain’t so.”
Seeing Life Outside the Box of Life
Abiding in Christ helps us realize life is greater than the birth-to-death span we experience in the present. Though different for us than for Jesus, the fact remains, we came from God and one day we will return to God. When we keep this in mind, we live out our lives in the context of it.
That is the purpose of Jesus word abiding in us. Doing the things that Jesus commands, say in the sermon on the mount for instance, is a part of it, but ultimately reorienting our thinking toward kingdom of Christ world view is the real goal. Trying to obey while adopting values of a rebellious world creates a conflict that will eventually undermine obedience.
The Need to Say “I Was Wrong”
There is another aspect of abiding however. Unlike Jesus, the first Adam tainted and corrupted us. Though faith has initially cleansed us, we are regularly in need of Jesus washing our feet. As Jesus put it: “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.” Regularly coming to Jesus with our failures is critical to abiding. It is our failures that will more likely cause us keep our distance from Christ. We don’t like being reminded of those things. However, it is our refusal to acknowledge our failures that makes us ungracious about the failures of others. We are then in danger of failing to love as Jesus loved and the oneness that Jesus prays for in John 17 dissolves.
The Danger Of Forgetting Community Influence
Paul tells us to “maintain the unity of the Spirit” in Ephesians 4. The suggestion is that there is something we need to do in order to maintain it. Failure, it seems, to do that will cause disunity. To understanding this, it’s helpful to look at those under Moses that rebelled at Kadesh Barnea in Numbers 14. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews in chapter 3 quotes Psalm 95 in this regard.
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” (Hebrews 3:7-11)
When considering this passage, it is important to understand that not all the Israelites rebelled. Certainly we can count Moses, Joshua, and Caleb among those who had faith. We might even be able to count Aaron and Miriam in as well. And it is quite possible that throughout the congregation there were people who would have obeyed. What did happen though, was that the congregation as a whole rejected God’s plans. Those who may have been willing to follow whole-heartedly however experienced the same consequences as those who actually rebelled.
The Single Family of God
The Bible does clearly state that each individual will be judged according to his own work. But we must not forget that God has in mind a single people of God. This isn’t just true of the church, the body of Christ. This was true all the way back to Abraham. After scattering the world at Babel, God promises through Abraham “all the families of the earth would be blessed” i.e. that they would come together again into a single family under God. He always intended the human race to be co-rulers of creation with him.
So the writer of Hebrews admonishes us to make it a point to encourage and strengthen each other. What’s at stake here is none other than God’s final rest:
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
Hebrews 3:12-14
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25
We Go, You Go
Even though only one or two may fall, it can have a dire effect on congregations. It’s like pulling a single thread on a knitted sweater. Sin’s deceitfulness obscures knowledge of the truth about reality and God’s character. Having accurate knowledge of these things as a body of believers determines what direction the corporate body goes, what decisions it make and what it will teach to future generations. It is not just having the right script for how one becomes a Christian. What makes for abundant life is the same both in the present and after death. This is good news since dying is just around the corner for all of us.
Our knowledge of the Christian life must be more than just about getting the most out of eating and drinking, good marriages and successful children, productive work, pleasure and restorative rest. If we don’t have as clear a view that we came from God and will return to God, our Christian life will be a sanitized version of those who know little or nothing of Christ. Our allegiance to Christ can easily dissolve when the world or violence threatens our “good things.”
Keeping Our Destiny Clearly In View
In the upper room discourse, Jesus attempts to clarify the position the apostles are in. Jesus will die, but he wants them to know that death will not lead to inactivity or oblivion. He will be preparing a place for them. He will then come back for them and bring them to his Father’s house in which there are “many rooms.” So they will not have to fear death. In fact it will open their lives to a “wider light” as Lucy Shaw once put it in a poem. The writer of Hebrews concurs:
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15
So Earthly Minded, No Heavenly Good
The point of this knowledge is so that “they won’t fall away” (John 16:1). The benefits will exceed their present circumstance. Persecution (John 15:20) and trouble do not have the last word (John 16:33). Many people criticize this position saying that too much heavenly mindedness makes for no earthly good.” But as C.S. Lewis took a different view: “Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
So how does one actually aim at heaven? First we need to be a weaning off earth. It normally takes a lifetime to realize that nations rise and fall with regularity, the most successful people die, food and drink lose their surprise, and yesterday’s awards are today’s dust collectors. Even a beautiful sunset lasts only a moment.
In short, it takes a lifetime to come to the same conclusions the writer of Ecclesiastes came to. Life as we often live it here and now is chasing after wind. The truly valuable things we see in this life lack the permanence we crave. That permanence is found only in the creator of those things. He is the author of the enjoyment we find in food and drink, sex and beauty, popularity and friendship.
No Full Stop
Next, we very much need to reject the notion that death is any kind of full stop. At the end of his life, D.L Moody wrote in an article: “Some time soon, you will hear that D.L. Moody has died. Don’t you believe it. At that moment, I will be more alive than I’ve ever been.” I believe this was the point Jesus was getting at in the upper room. It is not that Jesus thought death was nothing. He cried at Lazarus’ tomb. He sweat drops of blood in contemplating the cross on the Mount of Olives. Death is truly a tragedy and the Bible acknowledges that at every turn.
Death: The Gift of God
However, death is also a great gift of God. Without it, we would be stuck in a fallen corruptible state forever. This is why God assigns an angel to guard the tree of life at the end of Genesis 3. It is exactly this forever corruptible state that makes up the composition of hell. Jesus resurrection did not just end physical death for those who believe, but for all human beings:
“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
John 5:28-29
The reason why hell is permanent is because death becomes impossible. (Although, it will be a living death, “for the wages of sin is death). For unbelievers, physical death will be abolished, but corruption remains. But because of Jesus faithfulness, those who give their allegiance to him die with him. Thus the curse of sin is fulfilled in our faith. But we will also rise with him in his faithfulness unto death (Roman’s 6:4). Thus renewed humanity becomes in us a new creation.
The End of Corruption
The rising for believers is a rising to a life apart from the corruption of sin. Revelation describes this condition with the metaphor: “Fine linen white and clean was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” This suggests he saints receive something from their birth-to-death experience that the condemned don’t. Our present life and our resurrected life coalesce. If we see these as separate, we tend to live with a separated set of values and goals.
Not that Christians don’t already understand something of this. They understand serious sinfulness in this life demonstrates the likelihood resurrected life will be an unhappy one. But beyond agreeing to a certain morality, we tend to calculate what profits only between birth and death.
The Much Longer View
And yet, the saints of the Old Testament had a much longer view and a much different definition of profit:
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promise; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted they were aliens and strangers onearth … they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.
Hebrews 11:13, 16
And again, the writer emphasizes this point:
These all were commended by their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Hebrews 11:39-40
Jesus’ unblurred vision of this reality made it possible to face terrible death. The writer of Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus saw this reality as cause for joy. In fact, joy so intense that he endured the cross. But the writer does not stop there. He tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus and through him begin to see what he saw. In fact the whole of Hebrews 11 helps us build a picture of the unseen reality.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2)
Jesus Constantly Pointed To Another Reality
The upper room discourse is the last opportunity for Jesus to teach his disciples. All along Jesus has been pointing his disciples to this other reality. At the feeding of the five thousand, he blessed the food by “looking up into heaven” and giving thanks to the father (Mark 6:41). In the healing of a deaf mute (Mark 7:34), it says “He looked up into heaven with a deep sigh and said, Ephphratha.”
When the disciples misunderstood Jesus’ warning to beware of the leaven of the pharisees, he reminded them of the baskets of “left over bread” from the feedings the five thousand and four thousand. He constantly tried to shake their understanding of reality as limited to this birth to death experience.
There is another more important and solid reality to focus on and construct our values out of. One that didn’t begin with our birth and doesn’t end with our death. C.S. Lewis described this present world as “The Shadowlands” in a way not unlike Plato’s cave imagery.
However, unlike Plato, this image is not a disconnect but rather a continuity between the present and God’s kingdom. This overarching reality governs our present life experience moment by moment. The choices we make determines whether we benefit from that reality or not.
The Danger of Good Things
Building a successful business, enjoying all that creation has to offer, becoming a forceful influence in the world, creating beautiful art, having a large and loving family are all worthwhile pursuits as long as they operate within the kingdom of God reality and in harmony with the goals of that kingdom.
But it is also true that at some point, we might have to sacrifice any or all of these things. The danger is that the pursuit of the above good things begins to morph into a definition of ultimate value. Only by keeping the reality of the kingdom of God as Jesus taught will we avoid this blunder.
The Perfect Sense of the Kingdom
Unwavering knowledge that Jesus is preparing a place for us comes through abiding in him and his word. That allows us to bear fruit for the reality that is the kingdom of God. There is some truth that abiding can entail a spiritual communion not unlike meditative practices of other religions. But Jesus associates abiding most closely with obeying his commands. He says “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:17). And we “do these things” when we understand they are as natural as gravity. We obey it because it makes perfect sense to.
The Safeguard Against Birth-to-Death Limitation
And the command most emphasized is to love each other as Jesus loved us. It is both a picture of kingdom reality and a safeguard against allowing the birth-to-death experience dictate our values. For loving as Jesus loved requires making choices that may not produce immediate birth-to-death profits. In many cases it even inhibits it.
Forgiving as we have been forgiven requires us to stay in touch with that reality in which we have been forgiven. We can cover the sins of others by realizing what we lose, God can and will most surely replace. For an infinite God has infinite resources. The sins of the human race cannot exhaust those resources, nor can they diminish them by even a little.
Conclusion
In short, when I fully realize that I came from God and will return to God (of course in a very different sense from Jesus but still a scriptural reality), and that everything else in this journey of birth-to-death experience relates to and serves that reality, it has the power to hold my allegiance to Christ, bear much fruit proving myself a disciple of Christ, and most importantly, keep my heart from anxiety caused by the trouble of this world. I will live with the confidence that Jesus is preparing a place for me and will come again to bring me to the place where he is—where every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father—and nothing will be able to move me from that confidence.
Abiding in Jesus aims at obeying his commands and loving each other so that ultimately we become unwaveringly convinced of this reality.
Note: I have an an addendum to this post that explores another important thread of the discourse often missed called Love’s Austere Offices-John 13 Addendum. That is the emphasis on the presence of the Triune God as the resource for lay-down-life love. Click either here or on the title to read it.
