For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit.
To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two
postings preceding this one.
"I
no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you," (John 15:15).
The
first that is very clear in this passage is that Jesus must have called them
servants before because He said that He no longer call them servants. Who is
Jesus talking to here? If we go back a few chapters we note that He is talking
to the twelve disciples and is therefore talking to us as well, since we read
in John 17:9: "I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for
those you have given me, for they are yours." John 17:20 :"My
prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me
through their message." You may want to read this prayer in John 17. I
would call the twelve disciples the prototype of what we would go through and
be.
So
they seemed to have been servants first. Let us see what we can discover about
this. We read in John 12:26: "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where
I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves
me." And in John 13:16: "I tell you the truth, no servant is greater
than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him."
Following a short parable Jesus said to the disciples in Luke 17:10: "So
you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We
are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" Then we see Him
speaking to Pilate in John 18:36: "Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this
world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.
But now my kingdom is from another place.'" This indicates that He talks
about His followers as servants. Luke 16:13: "No servant can serve two
masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
Considering
our verse under discussion we must realise that the Kingdom is all about servant
hood. Jesus put a lot of emphasis on that aspect. We must serve one another,
everybody that the Lord loves, and above all the Lord himself. From the above
verses and many more in the Bible we gather that we cannot be anything else,
because Jesus was a servant himself and said in John 13:16: "I tell you
the truth, no servant is greater than his master." So what does our verse
actually say? I think the emphasis is on the second part; "for everything
that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Like Jesus said
himself, a servant does not know his master's business. Although a servant
attitude in the Lord's Kingdom is essential to make it function properly, those
who are obedient are treated as friends of the King of kings and He confides in
them with regard to Kingdom issues.
I
have something for you to chew on: If we look at the four Gospels, which one is
completely different from the others in terms of depth of teaching and
approach? I would say it is the Gospel of John. The other three has the same
basic 'formula' - a narration of the history of Jesus inclusive of His
teachings and parables, whereas John did not even record Jesus' birth, but rather
went into much deeper truths with regard to Jesus' existence. And this is the
tendency of the whole Gospel of John - a focus on the deeper truth about Jesus
and the truth taught by Him. If we read the Epistles of John we experience the
same depth and quality, something that make them stand out above the rest of
the New Testament, or at least that is how I perceived it. We also know that it
was John who had the privilege to experience and write down the Revelation of
God.
What
am I trying to say? Jesus said "everything that I learned from my Father I
have made known to you." He also said in John 14:21: "Whoever has my
commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be
loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
We read in John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7 and 21:20 about the disciple whom
Jesus loved and we know it is John. The more we love Jesus, the more important
He is to us and the more He will reveal Himself (show Himself) and His secrets
to us. John loved Jesus passionately and therefore he desired to know more
about Him. He wanted to know more than just the surface. He wanted to be
trusted with Jesus’ deepest secrets and that is exactly what he received and
wrote down, which is why His writings had so much depth.
Lord,
I need to be in a place where I can receive your revelations.
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth,
via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will
accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
Father let me be Your Servant!
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