In Conclusion
Sermon preached at Gospel Light Christian Church, Singapore
by Pastor Dr Paul Choo
on 09 Apr 2006
“In Conclusion….” (9/4/06)
Introduction: Next Friday, we celebrate Good Friday and on Sunday, we celebrate Resurrection Sunday. Most non-Christians, through movies like “The Passion of the Christ,” are familiar with what happened at the Cross, but most, including Christians, are not familiar with what Jesus taught in the Upper Room the night before the Lord offered Himself on the Cross for us.
At this Last Supper gathering with His disciples, the Lord summarized what He had taught them for the previous three years. The Master Teacher finished His “three year discipleship course” with this masterly concluding sermon recorded in John chapters 13 (John 13:1) to 17 (John 18:1). In the Old Testament, the Jews were taught 10 “Thou shalt nots,” but in this sermon, the Lord teaches us Christians 7 “You must knows.” In the past few decades, with the availability of Christian books and education, Christians have got more academic and scholarly and many have “got lost” in the thousands of wonderful truths that are taught in the Bible. It is therefore useful for us to step back and get a good overview of our faith, through our Lord’s last words, or we may fall into Satan’s trap of “majoring on the minors.”
1. Our Activity (John 13:1-7): The Master Teacher began His sermon by washing His disciples’ feet. This act of washing feet stunned the disciples and left them a lesson they never forgot, namely, that true Christianity is not a mere academic subject learned in a classroom but a lifestyle of helping others – the result of learning how the Lord Himself served us and died for us. We cannot enjoy the true blessings of Christianity when we merely learn a scriptural truth but when we do that truth (John 13:17). Many Christians go to church as if they are attending a lecture, namely, just to learn something. Only about 10 to 15% of Christians serve in church. Furthermore, the vast majority thinks that serving God is limited to preaching or teaching and fails to see what the Lord was trying to teach – that service is not limited to these “spiritual” activities. Because of this, few Christians serve in welcoming newcomers, ushering, helping in the nursery, driving old folks to church, preparing food for the poor, etc.
We willingly do these menial tasks when we know who we are, namely, heirs of God (John 13:3, Romans 8:17). Unless we know this truth, we will struggle to “move up the social ladder” and be unwilling to do menial tasks. It is more common for successful, rich people to find great joy serving the poor than for poor people who are struggling to move upwards in society.
2. Our Affection (John 13:34,35; 15:12,17): We know that “God is love” (1John 4:8). Therefore, since God lives in us, we should love freely – especially our own brethren. If we don’t love our brethren, then how can we love strangers or our enemies (Matthew 5:44)? Yet today, it is very common for Christians to hate each other – just because others believe or behave differently from them. It is true that we should warn our brethren who sin and hate their sins but we must not hate them. Furthermore, we have to be careful that we do not expect all Christians to have the same understanding and conviction of truth that we have. And we should be even more careful that we do not expect to have the same “taste” as we have in matters such as music. In other words, we must be careful not to be contentious – and attack every one, on every matter. It is important that we realize that all born-again believers are first and foremost brethren – and that as brethren we have much more in common than we have in differences. While we must not overlook the errors in others’ lives, we must also not overlook the good in their lives. And even when we have to warn against error, we must do it lovingly because God is love.
3. Our Abode (John 14:1-3): As long as Christians are busy building their dream-homes, they will be too busy to enjoy their relationship with God (or often, even with their families). In fact, many people are so busy building their dream-homes that they have no time to enjoy the homes that they build! The Lord reminds His disciples that He will build their dream-homes for them, so that they can concentrate on glorifying Him on earth. After all, why bother to build a dream-home that you have to leave behind? Too few Christians realize that the Lord is building something awesome for them (1Corinthians 2:9).
4. Our Armory (John 14:12-14, 16:23-24, 15:7): The Lord reminds us that we have the greatest weapon ever given to men – prayer. Nothing is more powerful. Nothing else moves the Arms of the Almighty. No one but God invites us to ask so freely. And no one but God is able to answer so fully and wisely. Few Christians realize what prayer is. If they did, they would pray and pray and pray (1Thessalonians 5:17)! Others think that prayer is asking anything that they like, rather than asking in God’s will (John 15:7)
5. Our Ally (John 14:16-18, 16:7): Prayer is wonderful but our Partnership with the Holy Spirit is even more wonderful. We are expected only to do our best and trust that our Partner will do the rest. With this strategic partnership we can successfully handle every challenge in life (John 16:33). Many Christians are worn out because they forget their Partner and try to take on too much themselves (Matthew 11:28-30). It is so easy to forget our Partner, therefore, we need to “abide” in Him (John 15:4,5).
6. Our Attitude (John 14:27): The result of knowing and experiencing the above truths is true peace. The entire world seeks for peace but few realize that true peace can only be found in the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6, Luke 2:13,14).
7. Our Adversaries (John 15:18-20, 17:14-16): Since we are born-again and can “see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) we have a totally different perspective of life from others. Therefore, they think that we are weird. Furthermore, Satan is real and stirs up opposition in their minds against us and against all that we do. This spiritual opposition is the reason why we struggle to pray, read the Bible, evangelize, etc. We must realize that we are living in enemy territory and are in a spiritual battle. When we realize that we are in battle, we will be prepared and win.