When Jesus Feels Far Away
Introduction
Two years ago, when my wife and I were sitting through the state-required adoption classes, it was impressed upon us that as special and joyous as adoption can be, it always signals tragedy, too—both redemption and brokenness, gain and loss. Without the corruption, brokenness, and sorrow of sin, little boys and girls would never lack a mother or a father or need to be welcomed into a new family.
Do you often consider that adoption is—or can be—part of your story, too?
We all are born into the world as spiritual orphans. And apart from being adopted into God's family, we remain destitute, hopeless, lost, and alienated from the life, love, and family of God.
"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!'" – Romans 8:15.
Like orphans adopted into the family of a rich and benevolent King, we believers in Jesus Christ will spend the rest of our lives discovering all the spiritual blessings that now belong to us as children of God. But I do wonder how many of us who call Jesus our Savior and God our Father still live like orphans begging outside our own Father's home? Do you ever find yourself wandering through life feeling quite alone, anxious, despairing, and feeling distant from God? More like an orphan than a beloved child of the king?
Why do I belabor this point? In God's providence, this is the first sermon I've preached since we adopted our son Calvin a few weeks ago, and right in our text, in John 14:18, Jesus tells the apostles,
"I will not leave you as orphans."
This passage means more to me today than it did only a month ago.
Context
The context of John 14:15–24 explains why Jesus is saying this. To catch us up on what's happening, when we come to this passage in John's gospel, Jesus and his 11 apostles are reclining in the upper room, having the famous Lord's Supper together. Judas has just left them to go to the chief priests to betray Jesus in exchange for the cost of a common slave. It's the evening before Jesus will be murdered by gruesome crucifixion. Jesus is only a few short hours away from being taken from his closest friends on earth by temple guards. And once the guards lead him away, he will never again live with them. Even after his resurrection three days later and multiple appearances to the apostles, he will come and go but no longer remain with them in the same way he had done for the last several years of his public ministry. Things are about to change.
For this reason, in his final words (chapters 13–18) to his companions before going to the cross, Jesus promises, assures, and reassures them that he is not abandoning them and will not leave them as orphans to wander the earth forgotten and forsaken. Jesus knows that at his arrest and death, they will feel abandoned. Jesus knows that even after his resurrection and ascension into glory to the Father on high, they will feel weak and inadequate to carry on his mission. Jesus knows that you and I will feel the same way. So, he is going to give us promises in our text to assure us of his presence and give us a rock to stand on when he feels far away.
Three Promises: The Presence, Revelation, and Fellowship of God
Promise 1: The Indwelling Presence of the Spirit
"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."
In verses 15–18, Jesus promises the indwelling presence of God through the Holy Spirit. He assures us that if we love him and keep his commandments, he will ask the Father to give us the Helper, the Spirit of truth, to be with us forever. The word Helper is Paráklētos, or one who comes alongside another to aid and assist. The word is used of the Holy Spirit four times in John's gospel (John 14:16, John 14:26, John 15:26, and John 16:7).
Notice that Jesus says the world "cannot receive" the Spirit. In context, the world is defined as those who neither love nor obey Jesus' commands. This promise of the Spirit's presence belongs only to those who love and obey Jesus. The imagery of orphans versus sons and daughters is striking. Those who love and obey Jesus are indwelt, assisted, and empowered. Those who do not are not made orphans but rather remain orphans who do not have the capacity or desire for the Spirit of Christ. What a comfort it is to trust Jesus' promise: that after he left us to go to the Father, his presence in the person of the Holy Spirit is sent to abide with us wherever we go.
Promise 2: The Illuminating Revelation of God
"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." – John 14:19–21
In verses 19–21, Jesus promises the illuminating revelation of God. He tells us that soon the world will no longer see him, but we will see him because he lives. Verse 21 is the crux of this promise: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." This is not the basic knowledge of God supplied to every believer alike. Jesus speaks of a special manifestation to those walking in intimate step with him through the Spirit in love and obedience.
Baptist theologian of the 17th century, John Gill, commented on this verse this way:
By "manifest myself to him," Jesus speaks of "a spiritual manner, as when he makes himself known to his people in ordinances, and favors them with communion with him, and they see his beauty, his fullness, his grace and righteousness, his power, and his glory." – John Gill
There are seasons when our love for Jesus is strong, when we taste and see Jesus as good, as altogether lovely, as sufficient for all we need, as amazing, supremely awe-inspiring, and utterly desirable. In these seasons, our times in God's Word are savory food and satisfying drink to our famished souls. We see the foolishness and emptiness of pursuing sin. And we see Jesus as more to be desired than overtime pay, pats on the back, success, or anything else this passing world may afford us.
Yet… there are also seasons when our love for Jesus grows cold and we're distracted by many things of much less value. At such times, our experience of Christ grows stale. In such a condition, we lose a sense of the light of his countenance upon us, until we "humble [our]selves, beg pardon, and renew [our] faith and repentance" (LBCF 1689, 11.5). Doesn't this promise of an illuminating revelation of Christ himself to your soul stir you even now to cling to Christ until he fulfills it for you?
Promise 3: The Intimate Fellowship of God
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 14:22–24
In verses 22–24, Jesus gives the third promise: the promise of the intimate fellowship of God. When asked by the apostle Jude (also called Judas not Iscariot, Thaddaeus, and Lebbaeus—we might call him the apostle of many names!) why Jesus will manifest himself to us and not to the world, Jesus restates the basis for anyone experiencing this fullness of life: only those who draw near to Christ in love and obedience can experience this intimate fellowship.
Notice again verse 23: "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." The Greek word translated "home" here is used only twice in the entire New Testament, both times in John 14. John 14:2 says, "In my Father's house are many rooms [moné: an abiding, an abode]." We know that the promise of John 14:2 is fulfilled in the new creation, in heaven, where Jesus has prepared a place for us and where we will dwell with God in intimate fellowship. So, if we put the two references to moné together, we understand that this latter promise in verse 23 is a promise of a foretaste of heaven on earth: The Father and Son through the Spirit will "come to us and make their home [moné: an abiding, an abode] with us." Doesn't this promise, likewise, invigorate you to seek the Lord, knowing that there is a foretaste of heaven on earth to be enjoyed here and now in an intimate fellowship with God himself?
Not all believers enjoy God's presence alike.
As great and precious as these three promises are, they are not experienced by the world of unbelievers, and they are not enjoyed in equal measure by all believers because all believers do not equally love and obey Jesus. What does this mean? It means that these promises of greater power, revelation, and fellowship with God are, in some measure, conditional—they don't happen the same for all of us but are experienced to the degree requisite conditions are met by us.
If we are unaware that these promises hinge upon the level of our love and obedience to Christ, we will be tempted to think that as long as we're saved by Jesus and our sins are forgiven, then we're really not forfeiting anything significant by keeping Jesus on the periphery of our lives. Sure, I love Jesus, but I don't love him. Sure, I follow Jesus, but I don't make it my life ambition to obey Jesus fully in every area of life. As long as we're staying busy in Christian activities, service, and even ministry, we can be deceived into thinking that it's OK that our hearts are enthralled by the world around us and rather bored with and distant from God. But nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is here promising an abundant life that hinges upon how closely we personally walk with the Lord.
Two Conditions: We must Love and Obey Jesus
The theme of love and obedience is woven throughout the entire passage:
Verse 15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Verse 21: "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me."
Verse 23: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my words."
Verse 24: "Whoever does not love me does not keep my words."
It's obvious that our experience of these three promises is dependent on how much we meet these two conditions.
Condition 1: Love for Jesus
Too often, we think of our faith as being mental assent to truth claims made by and about Jesus. Something we can do intellectually, without actually loving the Jesus at the center of those truth claims. For example, Jesus is God the Son incarnate. True. Jesus lived a perfect life, established the kingdom of God, died for our sins, rose from the dead, sent his Spirit, intercedes for us in heaven, and will return again to bring about a renewed creation. True. Such truths are too often reduced to a list of doctrines to which we can mentally subscribe like items on a voting ballot: "Color in the bubble next to the candidate of your choosing." Scribble, scribble. Done.
But love is another matter. To some degree, yes, all of God's children will truly love God. And if you don't delight in Jesus at all—I say with empathy and compassion—you're not yet saved or born again. But what does it mean to love Christ as he means it here? John Piper describes love for Christ so well:
"Love for Jesus is pleasurable. It's desiring him because he is infinitely desirable. It's admiring him because he is infinitely admirable. It's treasuring him because he is infinitely valuable. It's enjoying him because he is infinitely enjoyable. It's being satisfied with all that he is because he is infinitely satisfying. It's the reflex of the awakened and new-born human soul to all that is true and good and beautiful, embodied in Jesus." – John Piper
Can you think of the last time you were stunned, amazed, gripped by, and excited about Jesus Christ himself? Theology and church and Christian community can be sweet and pleasurable in their own right… all without loving Jesus. Love is distinct from mere intellectual assent or the enjoyment of learning new ideas about Jesus, or even loving to talk or argue with people about Jesus. In fact, the longer we are Christians and the deeper we intertwine our lives with the Christian faith, the more in danger we are of loving the trappings of our religion… without loving Jesus himself.
What might this look like? Personally, I find that I am most drawn to love Jesus himself when reading the gospels. A few weeks ago, I was captivated by Jesus' intimate knowledge of the future. In his final hours, Jesus told Peter: "You're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows tonight." That's quite a detailed prediction. And even despite Peter's protests that he would die for Jesus before he would deny him even once, later that same night, as foretold, while Jesus was being tried before the high priest in an illegal night trial. Peter warmed himself by a fire and denied Jesus exactly three times. And here's what got me: while Peter began denying Jesus for the third time—cursing and swearing that he didn't even know Jesus, Luke's gospel records, the rooster crowed, and Jesus "turned and looked across the courtyard at Peter." What kind of power and knowledge would it take to pull that one off? "As Peter denied him the third time, the rooster crowed." Are you kidding me? My amazement only grew as I remembered how the entire gospel of John ends with Jesus patiently and tenderly restoring Peter to himself by asking Peter not once, not twice, but three times: "Peter, do you love me?"
And so, I ask you: "Do you love Jesus?" Love is something we can claim; love is something we can fake, but God knows if we love and delight in Jesus as our supreme treasure.
Condition 2: Obedience to Jesus
There is a clear cause-effect relationship between loving and obeying Jesus. Verse 21: "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me." Verse 23: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word." In fact, despite our professions of love, only obedience proves our love. Why do we struggle with sin? Because in a given moment a part of us loves our sin more than we love Jesus. Sin is most fundamentally idolatry. It's adoring and obeying a different king than Jesus. We desire something or someone more than Jesus, and when it comes down to it, when forced to choose, we choose sin over intimate fellowship with Jesus. That's how sin works, until we come to love Jesus more.
Think about it this way:
Unless we are loving Jesus, public worship is either boring to us… or something we like to do because we like the sounds, the beat, the environment.
Unless we are loving Jesus, reading Scripture is an arduous task… or something we enjoy because Bible knowledge makes us more powerful, influential, righteous, and admired.
Unless we are loving Jesus, our private prayer life will be nonexistent… or something we do zealously but as a mere formality to be a 'good Christian.'
Unless we are loving Jesus, ministry and volunteering will either be a burden and we burnout… or something we dive into eagerly because we love promotions, socializing, or the praise of people.
Unless we are loving Jesus, "sharing the gospel" will be an awkward conversation we avoid like the plague with people whose opinions matter 100 times more to us than Jesus' opinion of us… or something we like to do because we like correcting or showing someone else how much we know.
God sees through the sham of our often mixed motives and will not receive such 'good works' as true obedience and will not honor us with the pleasure of his intimate revelation and fellowship. In other words, we may be very busy for the kingdom and still be outside of the kingdom—busy for the King yet not knowing or enjoying the presence of the King.
In light of Jesus' three promises and two conditions, we are left with one pursuit to which we must give ourselves: the pursuit of the fullness of the Presence, Revelation, and Fellowship of Christ through the Holy Spirit.
One Pursuit: The Abundant Life Walking in the Spirit
I'm thrilled to remind us that there is so much more to life than financial security, a great career, good health, education, an easy marriage, and raising kids that make us proud. As Jesus taught, “Life is more” (Luke 12:23).
The Spiritual Doldrums
Because of our lack of holy ambition to experience and know the presence and power of God firsthand, we often stagnate in the spiritual doldrums. Ancient sailors dreaded the doldrums. The term “doldrums” refers to a region of the ocean near the equator characterized by calm and unpredictable winds. For ancient mariners who relied on wind power, encountering the doldrums was perilous. Due to a lack of wind, ships could become stranded for days or weeks with little to no wind to propel them forward. This stagnation created dire situations where supplies of food and water ran dangerously low, leading to desperation and suffering among the crew. Isn’t this true, at times, of your Christian walk? It is of mine!
In God’s mercy, however, we don’t have to simply wait and hope passively for a spiritual breakthrough in our walks with the Lord. I want to close with two practical ways we can actively pursue the abundant life in the Spirit Jesus offers those who love and obey him.
First, we must pursue God by asking for abundant life in the Spirit.
The psalmist David demonstrates for us what this pursuit can look like. Psalm 27:4, 8:
“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple… You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’”
We must pursue God by asking earnestly for him to bless us with his presence, revelation, and fellowship. If this message is hitting home to you, I urge you to prayerfully read through Psalm 27 before the end of the day. If we do not consistently turn our faces to seek God, we should not be surprised when he seems far away. Reading and praying through the Psalms is a wonderful way to seek the Lord’s face.
Second, we must pursue God by actions that stir our love.
In his provocative book, Desiring the Kingdom, James Smith argues that not only is what we love shaped by what we think but even more so by what we do.
“Liturgies make us certain kinds of people, and what defines us is what we love. They do this because we are the sorts of beings whose orientation to the world is shaped from the body up more than from the head down. Liturgies aim our love to different ends precisely by training our hearts through our bodies.” – James Smith.
This means not only do our loves shape our actions but our chosen actions shape our loves. When we talk about liturgies we mean habits and rhythms that shape us over time. We often think only of positive liturgies (means of grace):
Scripture Reading and Meditation
Prayer
Private and public worship
The Lord’s Supper (Communion)
Baptism
Fellowship
Preaching and Teaching
Service and Good Works
Confession and Repentance
Spiritual Disciplines
Reading Christian Literature
But we don’t as often think of negative liturgies as shaping—or deforming—our loves just as much:
Staying up late watching TV, then sleeping in and not reading God's word.
Rushing through reading without applying or meditating on it.
Automatically scrolling social media in quiet moments instead of talking to God.
Attending church but chatting in the lobby for half of the sermon.
Isolating ourselves instead of engaging in vulnerable fellowship.
Prioritizing self-interest instead of serving others.
Hiding instead of confessing our sins.
Endlessly devouring Pinterest, looking for what you’re missing instead of daily expressing gratitude for what you have.
Our loves are shaped for better or worse by what we do.
In Revelation 2, Jesus himself issued a dire warning to the church of Ephesus. He commended the church for being doctrinally sound. But then came the words that should drive us to our knees:
“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” – Revelation 2:4–5
May we heed the words of Jesus today and turn to God in confession and repentance before we leave this place and take steps towards the fullness of life Jesus promises us when we draw near to him in desperate faith. ❖
