Trinitarian Love
John 13:1,
John 14:1,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
John 13 and 14 – 17 is the longest discourse of our Lord Jesus. Here is what J.C. Ryle has said about this portion of Scripture,
“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”
John 14:1,
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
John 13 and 14 – 17 is the longest discourse of our Lord Jesus. Here is what J.C. Ryle has said about this portion of Scripture,
"Nowhere in the Bible do we see so much of the heart of Christ. His patience, his humility, his love, his tender care for his people."
It’s in the Upper Room where he washes the feet of his disciples and puts the incarnation on display by that feet washing visual or parable. But Jesus does something else in that Upper Room and continues to do it for his disciples every day, he seeks to calm their troubled hearts.
Look again at verse 1 of chapter 14, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” You could even say that Jesus knew what it was to have a troubled heart. That very word is used in John 13 in regard to Jesus as he talks about his betrayal. So he is a sympathetic high priest, he knows what it is to have a troubled heart. The reason why these disciples are troubled is because he has told them he is going away and they don’t quite know what to make of it. All kinds of questions you can be sure were troubling their minds. Where is he going? How can he leave us now? Wasn’t he going to establish a kingdom? How can we survive without him? There is so much that he knew but they know they need to know more. If the master is gone, who is going to teach us? We are kind of doomed if he leaves us. But if you read through the five chapters of the Upper Room discourse, Jesus lets us know that we all face troubles. It's interesting if you go on through those chapters. For instance he talks about the world that will hate us. He talks about that in chapters 15 and 16. So if that's true, then expect trouble, you're going to experience trouble. He also talks about the devil in chapter 17. If that's true, expect trouble.
But notice what Jesus does here in these five chapters to bring calmness or peace, or you could say comfort to their troubled hearts. He says many things, but the biggest thing, probably the most dominant thing that shapes these five chapters is that he seeks to stabilize them and give them an anchor as they face the storms of life. This might surprise you, he teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. In the Upper Room, he gives the most explicit richly nuanced doctrine of the Trinity. You won't find it anywhere else like here. He refers to the Holy Spirit several times, at least four times. He mentions He's the Helper, (the Greek word is paraklētos,) the Comforter, the Counselor; it's a rich word, it has a lot of different meanings or nuances. So you don't always get an English translation that always uses the same word. And again, here's John 14:16, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper”, that's the word, Counselor, Comforter, to be with you forever. So he talks about the Spirit and then he talks about the Father. He mentions the Father fifty times. He refers to himself by way of personal pronouns in the Upper Room, I, me, my, mine, a hundred times. He comes back again and again to the three persons of the Trinity, the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Now, the doctrine of the Trinity is probably the most difficult doctrine for us to understand, and because it is, we tend to shy away from it. But it perhaps is one of the best doctrines to help comfort troubled hearts, if you follow the footsteps of Jesus.
And when you think of the Trinity, something else Jesus puts into focus here. It's a dominant theme in these five chapters. It's God's love or love, love. Arguably the greatest chapters on love are these five chapters. I think 30-plus times that word agape love is mentioned. He tells about the Father's love for him, he talks about his love for the Father, he talks about the Father's love for us, he talks about his love for us. Remember, he says, “Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends.” He talks about our love for one another. And what he emphasizes here in the Upper Room discourse is the two greatest love gifts that he gives to his people. What are they? The love gift of Jesus and his sacrifice, and the love gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells with us forever. Spurgeon spoke of the love of the Triune God and Spurgeon believed if you lose the Trinity, you lose the Gospel. Here's what he said, “The Father's love is a fountain of salvation. It was he who chose us, it was he who gave us His Son.” And then he talks about the love of Jesus Christ, “The love of Jesus Christ is not just the past event at the cross, it is a present, living affection.” Then he talks about the love of the Holy Spirit, “The love of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The Holy Spirit loves us with an infinite affection.”
So it's good, again, when we think of praying, to pray to our three-person God. One God, but three persons and the God who loves us, who will love us right until the end, that's how the Upper Room starts off. Jesus loved his own right to the end, and we need to remind ourselves again of the love of God, the love of Christ, and the love of the Holy Spirit.
Look again at verse 1 of chapter 14, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” You could even say that Jesus knew what it was to have a troubled heart. That very word is used in John 13 in regard to Jesus as he talks about his betrayal. So he is a sympathetic high priest, he knows what it is to have a troubled heart. The reason why these disciples are troubled is because he has told them he is going away and they don’t quite know what to make of it. All kinds of questions you can be sure were troubling their minds. Where is he going? How can he leave us now? Wasn’t he going to establish a kingdom? How can we survive without him? There is so much that he knew but they know they need to know more. If the master is gone, who is going to teach us? We are kind of doomed if he leaves us. But if you read through the five chapters of the Upper Room discourse, Jesus lets us know that we all face troubles. It's interesting if you go on through those chapters. For instance he talks about the world that will hate us. He talks about that in chapters 15 and 16. So if that's true, then expect trouble, you're going to experience trouble. He also talks about the devil in chapter 17. If that's true, expect trouble.
But notice what Jesus does here in these five chapters to bring calmness or peace, or you could say comfort to their troubled hearts. He says many things, but the biggest thing, probably the most dominant thing that shapes these five chapters is that he seeks to stabilize them and give them an anchor as they face the storms of life. This might surprise you, he teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. In the Upper Room, he gives the most explicit richly nuanced doctrine of the Trinity. You won't find it anywhere else like here. He refers to the Holy Spirit several times, at least four times. He mentions He's the Helper, (the Greek word is paraklētos,) the Comforter, the Counselor; it's a rich word, it has a lot of different meanings or nuances. So you don't always get an English translation that always uses the same word. And again, here's John 14:16, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper”, that's the word, Counselor, Comforter, to be with you forever. So he talks about the Spirit and then he talks about the Father. He mentions the Father fifty times. He refers to himself by way of personal pronouns in the Upper Room, I, me, my, mine, a hundred times. He comes back again and again to the three persons of the Trinity, the Son, the Father and the Holy Spirit. Now, the doctrine of the Trinity is probably the most difficult doctrine for us to understand, and because it is, we tend to shy away from it. But it perhaps is one of the best doctrines to help comfort troubled hearts, if you follow the footsteps of Jesus.
And when you think of the Trinity, something else Jesus puts into focus here. It's a dominant theme in these five chapters. It's God's love or love, love. Arguably the greatest chapters on love are these five chapters. I think 30-plus times that word agape love is mentioned. He tells about the Father's love for him, he talks about his love for the Father, he talks about the Father's love for us, he talks about his love for us. Remember, he says, “Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends.” He talks about our love for one another. And what he emphasizes here in the Upper Room discourse is the two greatest love gifts that he gives to his people. What are they? The love gift of Jesus and his sacrifice, and the love gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells with us forever. Spurgeon spoke of the love of the Triune God and Spurgeon believed if you lose the Trinity, you lose the Gospel. Here's what he said, “The Father's love is a fountain of salvation. It was he who chose us, it was he who gave us His Son.” And then he talks about the love of Jesus Christ, “The love of Jesus Christ is not just the past event at the cross, it is a present, living affection.” Then he talks about the love of the Holy Spirit, “The love of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. The Holy Spirit loves us with an infinite affection.”
So it's good, again, when we think of praying, to pray to our three-person God. One God, but three persons and the God who loves us, who will love us right until the end, that's how the Upper Room starts off. Jesus loved his own right to the end, and we need to remind ourselves again of the love of God, the love of Christ, and the love of the Holy Spirit.
Posted in Pastor Devotional