The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 15 March 2016 - “When the Companion comes…he will testify about me”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.
Daily Scripture: John 15:
18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world — on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world — therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours too. 21 But they will do all this to you on my account, because they don’t know the One who sent me.
22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t be guilty of sin; but now, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done in their presence works which no one else ever did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now, they have seen them and have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this has happened in order to fulfill the words in their Torah which read, ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’[John 15:25 Psalms 35:19; 69:5(4)]
26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send you from the Father — the Spirit of Truth, who keeps going out from the Father — he will testify on my behalf. 27 And you testify too, because you have been with me from the outset.
16:1 “I have told you these things so that you won’t be caught by surprise. 2 They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when anyone who kills you will think he is serving God! 3 They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor me.
Reflection Questions:
Jesus never sugar-coated things for his disciples. Here he plainly said “the world” (those who rejected Jesus) would hate them. When John wrote, we believe that many synagogues were expelling any members who accepted Jesus as the Messiah. This cut people off from family connections and all the support structures and patterns they had depended on. But Jesus also said that, even in the face of hatred, the Companion, the Holy Spirit, would keep his followers anchored in the reality of belonging to heaven’s family.- When Jesus warned his disciples about the hardships to come because they followed him, he urged them not to give up their faith (John 16:1). As Jesus’ followers, we have the Holy Spirit’s presence to strengthen us in our life of faith. What are the times that most test your faith? How do you remind yourself of Jesus’ living presence through the Holy Spirit during those times?
- Herod executed John’s brother James (cf. Acts 12:1-3), and the religious leaders were pleased. Jesus' prediction had come true in John’s personal life: “The time is coming when those who kill you will think that they are doing a service to God.” Have you ever faced unfair, hurtful treatment from people who think “they are doing a service to God”? How can you stand for God’s truth without becoming a person who does harm in God’s name?
Lord Jesus, in the shadow of the cross, you promised that you would always be with me in the Holy Spirit. Help me to live my life, not consumed by fear, but energized by your promise! Amen.
---------------------Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
Today’s passage (John 15:18 – 16:3) strikes an interesting chord with me. I grew up in a much more fundamentalist environment than the church I attend now, and the first part of this passage was an oft-quoted one: “That is why the world hates you.” There were many people I encountered who believed that people hating us was synonymous with us doing our jobs as Christians–and if people didn’t hate us, we must not be doing our jobs right. These people wore enmity and scorn as a badge and actively sought it out through adversarial discussions and relationships.
This always rubbed me the wrong way, but I couldn’t put a finger on exactly what it was. After all, they were quoting scripture. It was hard to argue with that.
That’s why I’m glad today’s passage includes a bit from the next chapter: “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”
The people Jesus was warning his disciples about, much like the people that eventually had Jesus killed, weren’t the outsiders–they were the self-proclaimed insiders. They were the religious establishment, the people who claimed to know God best. But, as Jesus says at the end of this passage: “They will do such things because they have not known the father or me.”
The sad truth is that there are a lot of people who claim to be religious for their own personal benefit. This was just as true in Jesus’ time as it is today–it is not a new phenomenon. These people make a big deal about the gap between the haves and the have-nots–in fact, they seem to take great pleasure in that gap, and go to great lengths to make it bigger. And when these people are reminded that God’s love is for everyone–that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is only as big as our own personal choices–they feel threatened.
That’s not to say that hardship can’t come from outsiders or that we aren’t set apart by belonging to God. But if we start believing that we’re more deserving of God’s love than other people, whoever those other people may be, we’re guilty of this too. If we become so zealous in our quest for religious purity that we intentionally create a gap between ourselves and those who don’t truly know God, we’re missing the heart of our heavenly father, who loves all of his children and wants all of them to experience his love.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Monday,
Insights from Donna Karlen
Today’s passage (John 15:18 – 16:3) strikes an interesting chord with me. I grew up in a much more fundamentalist environment than the church I attend now, and the first part of this passage was an oft-quoted one: “That is why the world hates you.” There were many people I encountered who believed that people hating us was synonymous with us doing our jobs as Christians–and if people didn’t hate us, we must not be doing our jobs right. These people wore enmity and scorn as a badge and actively sought it out through adversarial discussions and relationships.
This always rubbed me the wrong way, but I couldn’t put a finger on exactly what it was. After all, they were quoting scripture. It was hard to argue with that.
That’s why I’m glad today’s passage includes a bit from the next chapter: “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”
The people Jesus was warning his disciples about, much like the people that eventually had Jesus killed, weren’t the outsiders–they were the self-proclaimed insiders. They were the religious establishment, the people who claimed to know God best. But, as Jesus says at the end of this passage: “They will do such things because they have not known the father or me.”
The sad truth is that there are a lot of people who claim to be religious for their own personal benefit. This was just as true in Jesus’ time as it is today–it is not a new phenomenon. These people make a big deal about the gap between the haves and the have-nots–in fact, they seem to take great pleasure in that gap, and go to great lengths to make it bigger. And when these people are reminded that God’s love is for everyone–that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is only as big as our own personal choices–they feel threatened.
That’s not to say that hardship can’t come from outsiders or that we aren’t set apart by belonging to God. But if we start believing that we’re more deserving of God’s love than other people, whoever those other people may be, we’re guilty of this too. If we become so zealous in our quest for religious purity that we intentionally create a gap between ourselves and those who don’t truly know God, we’re missing the heart of our heavenly father, who loves all of his children and wants all of them to experience his love.
---------------------The Daily Guide-The Daily Devotional grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection of Leawood, Kansas, United States for Monday,
14 March 2016 - “I am the vine; you are the branches”
To support the goal of reading the whole gospel of John during Lent, some of the daily readings are longer than typical for the GPS. We encourage you: have an extra cup of coffee, use your lunch break—find a way to hang in there and read the entire gospel.
Daily Scripture: John 15:1
“I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit, he cuts off; and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. 3 Right now, because of the word which I have spoken to you, you are pruned. 4 Stay united with me, as I will with you — for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear fruit apart from me.
5 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. 6 Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.
7 “If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you. 8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim.
9 “Just as my Father has loved me, I too have loved you; so stay in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love — just as I have kept my Father’s commands and stay in his love. 11 I have said this to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.
12 “This is my command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is about; but I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father in my name he may give you. 17 This is what I command you: keep loving each other!
Reflection Questions:
Historically, Israelites often saw themselves as part of a vineyard God tended (cf. Psalm 80:8-18, Isaiah 5:1-7). Jesus adapted that image. When his followers stayed united to him like branches to a vine, Jesus said, their lives would bear the fruit of love. Pastor Hamilton wrote, “The measure of spiritual maturity is love….Whenever you’re trying to decide the right thing to do, you will never go wrong by asking, ‘What is the most loving thing I can do?’”1
- You don’t have to be a great gardener to understand that any branch from a vine or tree that decided to “go it alone” would soon dry out and wither up. One key question Jesus' image triggers is: what does it look like in practical, day-to-day terms for you to “remain” in Jesus? In what ways do your fellow believers help keep you “in Jesus”? How does your private devotional life deepen your links with Jesus?
- Jesus described the highest form of love: “No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends” (verse 13). That was exactly what he did the next day on the cross. But what does it mean, again in practical, day-to-day terms, for you to love others as sacrificially as Jesus loved us? How can healthy self-care be a key part of equipping yourself to love sacrificially?
Today’s Prayer:
Lord Jesus, keep me connected to you today. Let me be a branch through which your divine love can flow freely to bless the lives of other people around me. Amen.
1 Adam Hamilton, John: The Gospel of Light and Life. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015, pp. 103-104.)
---------------------Insights from Donna Karlen
Donna Karlen serves in Communications at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.Please forgive my rambling in this Insight – but there is sooo much richness in these passages, I can’t bear to leave any of it out!
Imagine how content the disciples must have been to “remain” in Jesus up to the point of today’s scripture. They were going around healing people, witnessing miracles, feeding thousands – probably feeling like the world was their oyster. “Heck yeah, we’ll remain in you!”
But Jesus knew their contentment was about to get interrupted. In the next few hours and days, one of them would betray him, one would deny him, one would doubt him… And here is where the whole vine and branches thing doesn’t completely hold up for me. I mean I love that imagery: God/Gardener plants Jesus/Vine in our midst so we could fully know him, and We/Branches spring forth and bear fruit. And even as we grow out from that vine, we get to hold on to Jesus – actually, we must hold on to him if we are to know God’s grace and be fruitful. But for a plant, if a branch falls off, that branch is going to wither and die. But for us, because God is the God of second chances, we can be “grafted back” into our Jesus/Vine! There is pain in the pruning, but we get to try again to remain in him and bear much fruit. Fruit that comes from keeping his commandment to love as he loves.
___
I memorized John 15:1-8 several years ago when I hit a rough patch in the garden of my life. The part that attracted me was verse 7. I prayed frequently for what I was hoping for, and then finished with “I pray I remain in you and your words remain in me, so I can ask this in your name.” Of course I was implying that God would give me what I asked for as I was earnestly attempting to follow Jesus’ teaching here. William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible series points out, “When we pray we must first realize that we never know better than God. The essence of prayer is not that we say to God: ‘Thy will be changed,’ but that we say to him: ‘Thy will be done.’ So often real prayer must be, not that God would send us the things we wish, but that he would make us able to accept the things he wills.” Hmmm – I’m afraid I need more pruning in this area…
___
Last, but so not least: verse 16 says that Jesus chose us! And he didn’t just choose us to bear fruit for him by sharing the Gospel and loving and serving others. He chose us to be his friends! He gives his joy to us so that our joy may be complete! I simply can’t use enough exclamation points in this paragraph!
Jesus appoints us to bear fruit that will last, and I haven’t produced nearly the fruit I could (and hope to). But I get another chance… and another… and another… And my Jesus/Vine/Friend remains in me: growing me, pruning me, choosing me.
Imagine how content the disciples must have been to “remain” in Jesus up to the point of today’s scripture. They were going around healing people, witnessing miracles, feeding thousands – probably feeling like the world was their oyster. “Heck yeah, we’ll remain in you!”
But Jesus knew their contentment was about to get interrupted. In the next few hours and days, one of them would betray him, one would deny him, one would doubt him… And here is where the whole vine and branches thing doesn’t completely hold up for me. I mean I love that imagery: God/Gardener plants Jesus/Vine in our midst so we could fully know him, and We/Branches spring forth and bear fruit. And even as we grow out from that vine, we get to hold on to Jesus – actually, we must hold on to him if we are to know God’s grace and be fruitful. But for a plant, if a branch falls off, that branch is going to wither and die. But for us, because God is the God of second chances, we can be “grafted back” into our Jesus/Vine! There is pain in the pruning, but we get to try again to remain in him and bear much fruit. Fruit that comes from keeping his commandment to love as he loves.
___
I memorized John 15:1-8 several years ago when I hit a rough patch in the garden of my life. The part that attracted me was verse 7. I prayed frequently for what I was hoping for, and then finished with “I pray I remain in you and your words remain in me, so I can ask this in your name.” Of course I was implying that God would give me what I asked for as I was earnestly attempting to follow Jesus’ teaching here. William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible series points out, “When we pray we must first realize that we never know better than God. The essence of prayer is not that we say to God: ‘Thy will be changed,’ but that we say to him: ‘Thy will be done.’ So often real prayer must be, not that God would send us the things we wish, but that he would make us able to accept the things he wills.” Hmmm – I’m afraid I need more pruning in this area…
___
Last, but so not least: verse 16 says that Jesus chose us! And he didn’t just choose us to bear fruit for him by sharing the Gospel and loving and serving others. He chose us to be his friends! He gives his joy to us so that our joy may be complete! I simply can’t use enough exclamation points in this paragraph!
Jesus appoints us to bear fruit that will last, and I haven’t produced nearly the fruit I could (and hope to). But I get another chance… and another… and another… And my Jesus/Vine/Friend remains in me: growing me, pruning me, choosing me.
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13720 Roe Avenue
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