Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20060430.htm

JOHN: TRUSTING JESUS AS MESSIAH AND GOD
Part XXXIX: Enjoying God's Parenting In An Evil, Perilous World
A. Part I - Possessing Confidence Under God, John 13:33-14:31
2. Obtaining God's Parental Power When We Are So Frail
(John 13:33-38; 14:12-14 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

One of the most challenging trials one can face is the sense of feeling humanly powerless to handle the evil and ruin he faces in life:

(1) Last Tuesday I heard Brad Davis on "The Talk of Connecticut" on radio am 610 out of Torrington, Connecticut interview a man about our state government. This man had learned that though the national average of state workers per the population in the state is 15 workers per 1,000 people, our State hires 30 people per 1,000! Brad was astonished, and asked how it might be possible for the electorate to reduce the number of workers to save on taxes! You could hear the frustration, the sense of helplessness in his voice!

(2) Sometimes the challenge deals with physical needs! This past week we heard of several people in our body or who are associated with it who face either debilitating or dangerous diseases! It reminded me of the night my wife and I visited our daughter Connie in the recovery room after her last brain surgery, and saw her face contort from the sharp pain of the work the doctors had done on her head! I could hardly sleep later as I felt powerless to help her!

(3) An e-mail message came this past week from an associate who had just heard that her church's pastor is connected with the nationally known evangelical leader, Rick Warren and his ministry in California. She related how a good friend had given her troubling news about Warren's views and ministry! I later spoke with her by phone and told how Reverend Warren was cited in the January 8, 2006 issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer as claiming: " . . . Fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be one of the big enemies of the 21st century . . ," and SHE was appalled! She had known before I was born that "fundamentalism" began in the early 20th century under godly Christian men who upheld the five key doctrines of the (a) inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, (b) the deity of Christ, (c) His virgin birth and miracles, (d) His penal death for sin and (e) His bodily resurrection and return [James I. Packer, "Fundamentalism" and the Word of God, p. 28-29]. In stunned response, and with a sense of helplessness, she asked, "Does Warren even understand what he is saying?!"

Well, what do we DO about the sense of human helplessness we experience when facing either evil or ruin in our lives!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "HOW do we handle the SENSE of HELPLESSNESS we have in facing specific needs that erupt BECAUSE of evil or pain?!"
  1. Jesus knew His disciples would be prone to spiritual harm from the world, so He revealed God's parental oversight of them, Jn. 13:33:
    1. Satan entered Judas after Jesus had given him the sop, but the other disciples were then ignorant of this appalling fact, John 13:21-30!
    2. When Jesus later said He would go where His disciples could not follow, Peter expressed dismay at the news, John 13:33, 36-37a.
    3. Jesus then claimed Peter would deny Him (John 13:37-38), and from John 18:1-3, 24-27, we know this sin would be fueled by Peter's fear of those to whom he would then realize Judas had betrayed Jesus!
    4. So, knowing they were vulnerable to spiritual harm in the world in His absence, Jesus spoke of God's parental oversight of the disciples:
      1. Christ called His disciples "little children" in John 13:33, using the word, teknia, "a diminutive expression [of] . . . affection . . . like a father to his little children;" strikingly, this term appears only here in all of the Gospels, Leon Morris, John (NICNT), p. 632, ftn. 67.
      2. Later in that conversation, Jesus said He would not leave His men "as orphans," ['orphanous] (John 14:18; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966 ed., p. 388; Arndt & Ging., Grk.-Engl. Lex. of N. T., 1967, p. 586).
  2. That Divine Parental Oversight is taught in John 13:33-17:26, and we view that PART of this ministry where God HELPS us in view of our SENSE of HELPLESSNESS in facing evil or pain in living:
    1. After Jesus shared the dismaying news that He would leave them for a time, and then predicted Peter would deny Him (John 13:33, 36-38), His disciples would have been tempted to feel humanly powerless to counter the trouble that evil in them and the world would produce!
    2. Thus, Jesus revealed God's MEANS for His men to handle the sense of human helplessness, that MEANS being supplied through Christ's ascension and its ensuing provisions for life on this earth (as follows):
      1. Jesus explained that those who trusted in Him would do greater works than He had because He would go to the Father, 14:12b.
      2. Now, this statement refers to Christ's ascending to heaven to set up a blessed program of power for living in a believer's earthly life :
        1. Since Christ would ascend to the Father, He could send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7) through Whom believers could live rightly (Romans 8:3-4) and effectively serve God (Acts 1:8) as they were spiritually gifted for supernatural service (Ep. 4:7-16).
        2. Since Christ would ascend to the Father, He could intercede to the Father in behalf of the needs and prayers of believers while they lived on the earth, Heb. 2:17-18; 4:14-5:9; 7:25.
    3. Thus, we briefly survey that ministry of empowered living and service in the midst of a humanly overwhelming evil world (as follows):
      1. As every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9b), (a) if he confesses his sins that block God's blessing in his efforts (1 John 1:9) and (b) consciously relies in faith on the Holy Spirit for serving God in His will (Gal. 5:16-17), (c) the believer will live righteously (Gal. 5:22-23) and (d) be equipped for effective service with His spiritual gift for supernatural service for God no matter what human needs he faces, 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (with Eph. 4:7-16).
      2. In addition, God provides a program of intercessory prayer to meet those human needs that are not met by the Spirit's enabling in the believer himself (John 14:13-14): (a) Jesus revealed that if the believer asked anything in prayer in His name, the Father would answer it to glorify Himself in His Son, 14:13-14. (b) Now, other passages qualify this promise: (1) the believer who prays (+) must not harbor sin in his life or God will not hear him, Psalm 66:18; thus, if applicable, (+) the believer must confess his sins as the first step in prayer, 1 John 1:9; (2) then he must petition God in the bounds of God's Biblical will, 1 Jn. 5:14-15; Jn. 15:7b and (3) he must pray as he heeds God's word, John 15:7a, 10; 1 John 3:22.
Application: If sensing a great human inability to handle the evil and ruin we face in life, (1) may we FIRST trust in Christ for salvation from sin to become His spiritual child (John 1:11-13). (2) Then, may we (a) confess any sin that blocks the Holy Spirit's empowering ministry to and through us, (b) may we heed God's Word in our lives and (c) USE His supernatural enabling for effective service. (d) Then, for all other needs, may we PRAY for God's HELP in HIS WILL so HE will ACHIEVE results for us!

Lesson: In view of the great human INABILITY we would have to handle the evil and its ruin we face in life, JESUS ASCENDED to the Father so we who believe in Him would be EMPOWERED ON EARTH to HANDLE such humanly overwhelming issues by (1) the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit and (2) by Christ's intercession in our behalf.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 One of the greatest lessons on what God can do through and for us regardless of our human frailty was supplied to me shortly after I became a Christian.

It happened in 1959 when our family visited relatives in Seattle, Washington, and my Uncle Paul with some of his kin and our family were riding in his station wagon. I was alone in the back seat and my cousin, Matt was playing in the far back "cubby hole" of the car.

Well, Matt became a little too rowdy for his Dad, so he told Matt to sit still. The boy first obeyed, but shortly later resumed his former rowdy behavior in the "cubby hole" of the station wagon!

Frustrated, my Uncle looked in his rear view mirror to see I was the one closest to Matt, so he ordered me: "Don, give Matt a swat!"

I was astonished! Being 11, I'd had always been told it was wrong for ME to hit anybody! Yet, here was an order from an adult whom I respected to "spank" my cousin in front of everybody else!

So, timidly, I half turned, and backhanded a pitiably weak pat onto the appropriate part of Matt's anatomy! As I did so, I felt I had done a terrible job, that no human would have cried with such a "pat"! Yet, Matt's eyes widened, his mouth dropped opened and he gave me a look that said, "I can't believe you did that!" and I looked at him with my own "I-can't-believe-I-did-it,-either" look! Yet, Matt settled down!

I was worried about what my Dad's response would be to my even hitting Matt, for Dad had witnessed the whole event when it happened. Thus, I went up to him when we got out of the car to defend my action by saying, "Dad, Uncle Paul TOLD me to hit him!"

I'll never forget Dad's reply! He said, "That's O.K.; Uncle Paul used you to carry out his discipline, and what you did in THAT case had a better effect than if Matt's Dad had paddled him himself!"

That's how GOD wants us to handle the evil and ruin we face in this life that is HUMANLY overwhelming to US! In HIS authority, in HIS power, as we obey HIM in OUR lives, though our efforts may seem to be so meager, HE MAKES us VERY EFFECTIVE in a world of evil and ruin!

May we trust in Christ to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and then RELY upon His power and the intercessory ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ to accomplish superhuman things for God in a world of overwhelming evil and ruin!