"Preparation for Divinity"

Sermon Preached By Kendrick D. Weaver - May 15, 2005

John 14:15-21

You attended Sunday school classes. You have been coming to church Sunday after Sunday. You went to vacation Bible School during summer breaks. You have been baptized and confirmed. You memorized key scriptures and prayers that you can still recite to this day. You brought your kids to Sunday school. You taught them how to say grace for their food and repeat the Lord’s Prayer.

      You have tithed and donated money when asked. You have volunteered your time and expertise when they were needed.

       You have tried to take the sermons you hear each Sunday and incorporate them in your week.

All this time while you were going to church, attending Sunday school, reading your Bible, listening to sermons, teaching your offspring the Christian faith and giving back your talents and resources you were preparing yourself for divinity.  You were making yourself ready to become a divine being.

The disciples had relearned the scriptures from the mouth of Jesus.  They had watched him perform miracle after miracle. They had witnessed how he healed the sick, lame and crippled. They studied how he converted prominent religious leaders and teachers.

          They saw him feed thousands of people at one time and raise the dead.  As their teacher and leader came to the end of his ministry, it was now the disciples turn to do what Jesus had done; it was now their time to be divine.

I.  Jesus is about to depart

Jesus said to his disciples, “I have walked with you, taught you, shaped you, nurture you and kept you in my bosom.  Now in a very short time I will no longer be physically with you and you will be the ones that the people to seek to experience divinity.”

Before you know it, the mother that cared for you, the father that protected you, the teacher that believed in you, the pastor that supported you, the friend that listened to you, the spouse that comforted you and the mentor that advised you will no longer physically be present in your life.  Before you know it, the people who helped lay your moral foundation and were always there for you will no longer be a consistent fixture in your life.  When that time comes, you will have to become to someone else what they were to you.

Jesus told his disciples, “I don’t have much longer with you, I am about to depart this earth, but when I leave I want you to do for others what I have done for you.  I want you to be for others what I have been to you.  I want you to be divine.” 

II. Be Like Jesus

15) If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Jesus uttered to the disciples, ‘If you truly are emotionally connected to me, if you have deep feelings for me you will follow what I have commanded. Love implies obedience to my command.’

What did Jesus command? “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”  (John 15:12)  In other words, ‘if you love me, you will do what I did while on this earth.  If you love me, you will emulate my actions.  If you love me, you will be like me by loving others.’ 

1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is love.”  So by loving others the disciples were actually embodying God.  By loving others the disciples were reflecting divinity just as Jesus did while on earth.  By loving others they were being divine. 

Notice that Jesus’ divinity was defined by what he did, not what he was.  Your divinity is directly connected to your actions of loving your fellow brother and sister.  A Christian means a person who strives to become like Christ.  Christ was a divine being, so when one states that one is a Christian he or she is proclaiming to become like a divine being. 

III. How to be divine

16) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever.  17) The spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you.   

God is saying, ‘I’m not just telling you to be divine.  I am going to give you some assistance in order for you to reach divinity.  I am going to send this advisor, called the Holy Spirit, which is going to help you become divine.  This advisor is not like any advisor.  This advisor simply won’t tell you what to do.’

Too many people have a Dr. Phil conception of the Holy Spirit.  Dr. Phil is a T.V. psychologist and if you have ever watched his show his technique is fairly straightforward—I’m going to tell you what to do and you need to do it.  He wants his guests to listen to him and do what he says simply because he is a psychologist, simply because he is an advisor.  The Holy Spirit does not work that way.  This Spirit will not simply tell you what to do, will not simply give you counsel.  This Spirit will lead you in truth; this Spirit will lead you in a way that can be verified.

Once you begin to sit with God in silence, pray on a consistent basis and read God’s word, the prompting of the Holy Spirit will become more and more apparent.  First, when the Holy Spirit leads you, it will always be in the spirit of unity.  The Holy Spirit never serves as the impetus for division within the body of Christ.  It often times serves as the impetus for disagreement, but not division.  Second, when the Holy Spirit leads you, powerful results and actions will follow.  There will always be some tangible results from the Spirits’ prompting in your life and in the lives of others.  The Holy Spirit will guide you in truth. 

IV. You will realize God

20) On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 

Jesus is telling his disciples that they will not realize some things about him and God until he is gone and returned.  You will not understand the reason and value behind certain circumstances and situations in your life until after they have unfolded and passed away.  Even though you cannot see and understand the value behind what you are currently going through, God is saying to  face your situation with the faith that there is a glorious reason and logic behind it because there is.

God has commissioned and equipped us to become divine while still here on earth.  Your divinity begins now.  Embrace it.

THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Almighty God, empower our reflection on this Pentecost to be complete.  May we remember the descent of the Holy Spirit upon your followers, the unity of comprehension that emerged among diversity and the power of conversion.  May our reflection not become too narrow to forget the times when we depart from this Spirit.  Lord, you have graciously handed us everything we need to live with peace and prosperity, while granting us the freedom to employ or ignore what you have offered.  Lead us to align our thoughts and deeds with the Spirit you sent.  Show us how to use the daily grace we receive in a way that others can encounter your presence.  Amen.