Plymothian

 “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ² They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴ But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵ But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement: ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰ concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; ¹¹ concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” ¹⁷ So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” ¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. ²¹ When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ²² So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³ In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴ Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

²⁵ “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! ³⁰ Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

John 14 Mk II

The themes in this chapter are very similar to the themes in John 14.  The disciples will experience persecution.  Jesus is sending the Holy Spirit.  Jesus and the Father are one.  Jesus is going away, but he will come back.

Repetition in the Bible is emphasis.  These themes are important and Jesus comes back to them repeatedly.  It would be good to read John 14 and John 16 and see how the themes repeat.  It would be good then to meditate and to think, “Why is all of this so important?”

However, Jesus concludes with words of encouragement that echo through the ages, “But take heart.  I have overcome the world.”

Prayer

I am grateful that the end of the story was written before the actors entered the stage.  Help me to take heart.

Questions

1. How are John 14 and John 16 similar?
2. How are they different?
3. Why does Jesus repeat himself?
4. How do you remind yourself of these themes?
5. What does this have to say to those who don’t read God’s Word regularly?

 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,^[c] but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Hate Crimes Against Minority

Recently I was reading a book about privilege.  The book outlined many factors that would show privilege.  One of them was ‘Christian’.  I agreed but disagreed all at the same time.  The majority culture is loosely Christian.  The country took biblical truths and applied them to the nation.  The biblical values of Jews and Christians pervade the culture.  If we compare the values of majority culture in China with that of the West, we can see the remnants of Christian influence, even as it fades back into the morass of competing worldviews.  However, in a very real sense the West is not Christian.  There are some Christian values, but the people are hedonistic, self-serving and capitalist/consumerist.  This doesn’t look as insidious in practice as the terms would suggest.  We make decisions for the maximum pleasure.  If possible we just want everyone to be happy and in so doing we make ourselves happy.  We listen to other people spill their guts out, but we feel happy hearing them and they praise us for being patient and virtuous.  We want the freedom to indulge ourselves and spoil ourselves with all the latest gadgets and goods.

However, those who follow Jesus realise something that the majority culture is not comfortable with.  He calls us to die.  We need to die to seeking pleasure, serving self, and collecting possessions.  We are called to put everything, even family, second to knowing Jesus and living with and for him.  We read the Bible and seek to be changed by it rather than reading it and seeking to make it conform to our own agendas.  As we move away from our selfish desires we find we become good, but to be good is not to be nice.  It might be nice for a doctor to tell a patient that they will live forever, but the painful truth of their condition is the foundation for good treatment.  We all have to realise that we are loved unconditionally, in ways that Jesus has just outlined in the opening of this chapter, then we step out and deal with our own condition and reach out to people with remedies and cures.  However, today’s Christians themselves want to be accepted and so their voices are muted.  Those who do speak up and love the world enough to speak its condition are hated for their hate speech.  They are silenced and shamed in the West.  They are killed elsewhere.

May God grant us the courage to go beyond being nice to being good.  May we find courage to address the evil in our own flesh and then see clearly how others can be rescued with us.  Let us accept the humiliation and alienation with the confidence of knowing that we are eternally loved and accepted by Jesus.

Prayer

Jesus, we have been warned that authentic Christian living will lead to opposition.  Our lives and our words will be a challenge to those around us.  Help us to turn to you and to wrap our arms around you in times of alienation and pain.

Questions

1. What has Jesus just talked about before this passage?
2. What is soon to follow?
3. What pain will come for the disciples?
4. How are people alienated and ridiculed for their faith in the west?
5. How can the church better serve Jesus in persecution?

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants,  for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Questioning the Vine

Jesus is the Vine.  I get that.  The Father is the Vine Dresser.  So far so good.  After that this passage raises a lot of questions for me.  When do we see clearly if the fruit that we develop is from God?  All gifts, talents and abilities come from God.  Usain Bolt is very fast.  His speed is a gift from God.  However, Jesus must be talking about something exceptional, here, by which his own disciples will be recognized.  He has just been talking to his disciples about the Holy Spirit and how he will empower and illuminate the disciples.  This fruit could be related to the list that Paul gives in Galatians 5:

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The passage these verses are nestled in talk about the works of the flesh which are produced by satisfying our flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.  It seems in the passage above there is an abiding in Christ that is synonymous with walking in the Spirit.  We abide in Christ through the Spirit.  So how do I know if the fruit is present?  I see my love for others increase, and more importantly my love for God.  If I ask myself whether my love for God has increased, I can say,”Yes.”  However, it is a weak yes and not a bold one.  I have found God’s love and grace to have led me into wellness and strength.  I am grateful, but my love in this regard seems selfish.  It is therapeutic.  I feel more of my love for God when I see him do something favourable to me.  What I must see more clearly is that The Father, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit must be worshiped and adored for who they are.  I praise God easily enough.  He is big.  He is powerful.  However, how can I be sure that I am ascribing worth to him with a devoted heart?

This exercise in reading John has been a counter to the therapeutic love that is a self-serving parasite in the branches which hang limply on the vine.  To be in the vine means to be embedded in it and flourishing.  The Christians of today are not known for the exceptional nature of their love, joy, peace …  In fact we are known more in the West as homophobic, anti-intellectual, and intolerant.  Why don’t people see in us the fruit of the Spirit?  We could say, as many fundamentalists do, that the darkened world can not see our light.  They hate us because of our impurity.  However, might they just hate us because of self-serving fruit that rots on the vine?

How has the Father loved the Son?  How has the Son loved his disciples?  What does it mean to abide in this love?  How do I accept that I am accepted unconditionally?  How does love address unconditionally accepting people but sincerely desiring good changes for them?

I sign off now with an image of being embraced in community.  The community reflects Christ and accepts me unconditionally and I learn to accept myself without condition.  Within such joyful freedom, I then can address the impurity in my life without fear and I can go to the Vine Dresser more easily to shape me as he wishes.  Joy erupts as I see us all change.  Freedom is finally found when I am free from self-concerns, but I use God’s gifting in the Holy Spirit, through me, to think only of him and of others.

Prayer

Oh God, to love and be loved!  What a journey.  We immerse ourselves in you and your life grows in us.  We bring fruit to a starving world when we bind ourselves to you.  Let is abide in you and let your fruit develop.

Questions

1. How does Jesus identify himself?
2. What does that mean?
3. How are his disciples to maintain their joy?
4. How does today’s church assess whether they have fruit?
5. What can you do to increase the flourishing of fruit in your life?

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, ³¹ but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

The Helper Will Come

A troubled or afraid heart.  Somehow we just let it happen.  We wake up one day and we have depression or anxiety.  What are symptoms of depression?  When you have a period of time with a lack of enthusiasm or energy, it can be depression.  I used to explain my depression as ‘base-line sad’.  I could be happy for moments, but once I was alone or settled, I could feel that I was just sad and deflated.  When we lose enthusiasm for things which usually excite us, it can be a sign of depression.  When we just want to sleep a lot of the time, this too can be a sign of depression.  Depression often looks at life and feels powerless.

Anxiety and fear are different from depression.  Fear can actually manifest itself in anger, too.  Anxiety is the feeling that something is about to happen which will bring bad consequences.  It is often accompanied by the thought that I am not okay.  It looks to the future rather than the past.  What are you afraid of?  Complete the sentence, “When I look at my family, I am afraid …. ‘  Then do the same for your job or your church.

The disciples were troubled and anxious because their rabbi was leaving.  He claimed that he was going to leave them peace, but how could this be when their whole lives were wrapped up in their teacher?  Jesus knows our need to connect.  He knows our need for a counselor.  We all need therapy.  However, the great therapist is God himself.  Empty your heart to the Holy Spirit and he will lead you along the path you must follow.  Follow that path all the way to peace.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, I am nervous about my ability.  I feel like an imposter a lot of the time.  I worry about how I parent my children and I am not confident about my role as a spouse.  The more I know as a teacher, the more I am aware of what I don’t know.  The more I move forward as a follower of Jesus, the more I realise I have to learn.  Thank you for your grace and your comfort.  May I find your peace.  May you bring a seamless harmony between the life I live and the life I was designed to live.

Questions

1. How will the disciples be helped through Jesus’ absence?
2. How are disciples not to be troubled or afraid?
3. What changes must occur in the disciples perspective?
4. How are the heart and the mind related in peaceful living?
5. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in therapeutic counseling?

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper,^[f] to be with you for ever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, ³¹ but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Love First, Commandment Second

In some of the church contexts that I have moved in, the order Jesus gives above is reversed.  In the passage above Jesus says that love results in the actions that he is looking for.  The opposite is not necessarily true.  In other words, we do not carry out the commandments and find love.  In fact, the Bible is clear that starting with the law is good, but ultimately it kills us.

How do we stay in Jesus’ love.  First of all we are forever in Christ’s love if we ask him to take us on.  Secondly the Christian walks in the Spirit.  the Spirit is not a program or a machine which processes us in the right direction.  He is a person who walks with us.  Focusing on him helps us to lose track of time and self.  We naturally die to self.

Prayer

When we are weary, help us to remember that you are near.

Questions

1. What will those who love Jesus do?
2. How is this theme taken up again in 1 John?
3. Why does Jesus talk about the Holy Spirit in this context?
4. Which comes first for you, behavior or relationship?
5. How do people learn to feel accepted only if they behave well first?

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.

Greater Works

What does Jesus mean by ‘Greater Works?’  Some think that we are empowered by God to do greater things than Jesus did in quality.  I don’t think that this can be the case.  How can someone do more than raise another person from the dead like Jesus did with Lazarus?  How can one do more than come back from the grave and save humanity from the effect of their sin?  I believe we are left with the idea that we will do greater works in quantity than Jesus did during his three years of ministry.  There were those with Jesus at the time who did greater things.

Tomorrow I will be talking on Galatians 5 with the Sunday School at the McHenry campus of The Chapel.  Our focus will be on the fruit of the Spirit.  I believe that the fruit of the Spirit is more to be desired than the gifts of the Spirit. In fact the gifts should be seen as flowing from a life that is producing fruit.  The works that we do in abundance should be marked by love, gentleness, humility, kindness and self-control.  We may do miracles and move mountains, but if we do so without love we have lost the heart of Jesus’ teaching.

Prayer

May I seek you and then thank you when I live a productive and fruitful life for your glory and the support and flourishing of others.

Questions

1. What have those who have seen Jesus see?
2. What are the qualities reflected in a true disciple?
3. What does Jesus say true disciples will accomplish?
4. What quality of works is Jesus looking for today?
5. What quantity of works might we expect to produce as Christians?

 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

I Am the Way … to the Father

Jesus says that he is the way to the place that he prepares for us.  We often take the verse out of context, but we still assume that he is taking us to Heaven.  In context, that would appear to be the case.  Jesus takes us to the place that he has prepared, so it must be quite a place.  This is where our consumerism really tends to kick in for those of us raised in the West.  We can imagine big-screen T.V.’s, large yards, and maybe a limo or a Porsche in the driveway.  Of course it’s immaculate and well manicured, like a house belonging to a celebrity living in Los Angeles or San Francisco.  Look at the lyrics of Big House by Audio Adrenaline:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”

Something to Meditate Upon

I found myself struck afresh by this verse, especially give the context in which it is found.  Read it to yourself a few times.  Take it through the day.  Sleep on it.  Then let me know what you think.

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterwards.” ³⁷ Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” ³⁸ Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow till you have denied me three times.

We Don’t Know Ourselves

Over promising comes from a delusion of self.  Either we think that we can do it all or we think that we are better at the core than we are.  We desperately want to show that we are worthy of the affections of those whom we love.  We desperately want to show ourselves worthy of the acceptance that we receive.

Peter is accepted by Jesus, but Peter does not truly know his own weakness and failing.  He does not know that, although he desires to follow Jesus wherever Jesus will go, he lacks the consistency in his spirit.  Maybe Peter would protest to Jesus, “But that’s not me.  I’ll show you!”  However, his actions proved that Jesus’ assessment of him was true.

Many of us defend ourselves.  We say, “You don’t know me!” or “I will show you!”  However, maybe if we first asked, “What insights do people have into my character that I do not?”  The Johari window is a simple picture of how we have at least four areas concerning self-knowledge.

In one area of our lives are the things we know that are known to others.  They are open.  In another area we keep knowledge about ourselves hidden.  Some people know things about us that we do not know.  These are our blind-spots.  Then there are the things unknown to both ourselves and others.  People who resist growth and resist input from others do not know their blind spots.  Peter had a blind spot that Jesus knew and he failed because he was unwilling to listen.

The ‘examen’ prayer causes us to ask God to reveal our blind and hidden spots.  There are in each of us areas that God wishes to touch.  We can resist or ask God to examine our hearts and then use others to show us areas in which we must still grow.

Prayer

Examine my heart and show me where I must grow.  Let me be trusting of others and open to their wisdom if they are sent by you to reveal in me the condition of my heart.  I don’t want to do this because I am afraid of the pain.  Others in the past have abused my trust and attacked me because of their own poverty of spirit.  Please be gentle with me, but do not let me stay the way I am.

Questions

1. Why does Peter ask where Jesus is going?
2. Why does Jesus tell Peter he will deny him?
3. Why did the early church need to be reminded of Peter’s empty promise?
4. In what ways have people questioned your character or commitment?
5. How have you responded?

³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. ³³ Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Love and Glory

Jesus tells the disciples that as he is going to be glorified, they need to love one another.  What is happening in this paragraph?  The unity of God (the Father) and Jesus has been emphasized leading up to this paragraph.  God’s plan for glory is fulfilled in the obedience of His Son.  However, the plan for glorification will leave the disciples alone.  They will be isolated and they will look around for Jesus, but they will not find him.  However, their response is to be bonded with each other with a love that substitutes for the absence of Jesus because it mirrors the quality of Jesus’ love.

What does it mean to be glorified?  In John 3 we saw that the Son of Man would be lifted up just like the Bronze Snake in the time of Moses.  To be lifted up and exalted is to be glorified.  God through Jesus will raise up understanding in others of his holiness and compassion.  He will show himself to be worthy of praise.  He will be worshiped.  I see all this in ‘glorified’.

Jesus loves God the Father first, but he secondarily loves his neighbour as himself.  He has shown his love by teaching, healing, and using his power for the good of others.  Through his glorification Jesus shows the ultimate love that one person can have for another.  He shows them, quite literally, the path of self-sacrificial love.  Many people love others when what they give is not truly sacrificial.  People fall away when love demands all the resources we have, even our lives.  Jesus commands that just as he sacrifices his life for the glory of God and the love of mankind, so they must sacrifice themselves for the glory of God and the love of their neighbour.

Prayer

I do not look to sacrifice too much.  I could love other people more.  Let your love consume me and return to you and flow to others.  When great cost must be paid, let me know how to pay it.

Questions

1. When is Jesus glorified?  How can this be?
2. How does Jesus prepare his disciples for his going away?
3. What is the measure of a Christian’s love?
4. How is Jesus glorified in you?
5. How would others describe your love in contrast with that of a person of another faith or an atheist?