Easter 6 - Spiritual Graduations

Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

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⁠Love Languages⁠⁠

⁠Dr. Gary Chapman wrote a book 30 years ago called The Five Love Languages and it has influenced counseling practices for many years. The work now includes love languages for children, teenagers, work relationships, and many others. The concepts are not difficult. We all receive love in different ways. Dr. Chapman put all the ways in five broad categories: Words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, gifts, and acts of service.

Now to get good at these love languages you have to go a little deeper. Let me give you some examples. Our two cats, Carrie and Gizmo love gifts. Gizmo loves food. Carrie loves toys, especially toys with catnip. They are not so keen on physical touch. Carrie wants to be pet once per day, no more, no less. Gizmo doesn't want to ever be touched by us, she wants to be the one doing the touching. She wants to hold your hand all day long. It takes time and effort to learn someone else's love languages, but it helps our relationships grow well when we do it.

Our trouble is that we don't always put in the work, but we expect the results as if we did. So instead of learning their language, we expect them to just receive love the way we like. We try to love our neighbors exactly the way we want them to love us, hoping they get the hint, but they don't understand or reciprocate that love back to us. I have known some dogs that liked having their bellies rubbed. I'm not sure why, but they liked it. If you try to rub our cat Carrie’s belly, you might have to go to the hospital and get your hand reattached afterward, because that is not love to her. It's not just dogs and cats either. Have you ever thrown a surprise party for someone who truly hates surprises? Did you survive?

We have a lot of students in our church and in our community who are graduating and moving from a time of training into a new season of higher expectations, and if we are disciples of Jesus, we too will experience changes in life where Jesus expects us to start doing the things we have learned from Him. Sometimes it will be fun and exciting and it will feel natural to us. Other times, it will feel like work, like we are trying to show love to others in ways that we don't understand or even care about ourselves, but we hope they do understand and care about receiving that love. And we will do it all, because we love Jesus, and if we love Jesus, we will obey His teaching.

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⁠Not just an Interpretation⁠⁠

⁠Why?

Why pay attention to Jesus? Why believe Him? And why obey Him?

Students ask questions about what to believe and do. Graduates put forth arguments to debate what to believe and do. When we argue about what to believe and what to do we use our interpretations of scripture. Most of us have interpretations that have been given to us by teachers, mentors, and others we respect. Some of us have taken ownership of our own beliefs and changed our interpretations of scripture based on what we want to do. For example, if I want to keep my money for myself, I will look for interpretations that tell me that tithing does not apply to Christians or that when Jesus told the rich man to give everything away and follow Him, it was a command for one person, not everyone. Or at least maybe for someone whose love language is giving.

You can use scripture to justify almost anything if you are clever enough. That’s why Jesus gained such a following. He taught not as a clever teacher. He taught as one who knew what the scripture meant for a fact. For Jesus, it was not an interpretation, where things can be confused. It was the truth.

We can unintentionally get confused by interpretations as well. Our government has used a lot of sign language interpreters in the last couple years to help those who could not hear understand what they needed to do. However, if you don’t know sign language and you could not hear what was being said or read subtitles, just watching the signers could potentially confuse you.

People tell us that it would be so much better if we could have just lived in the time of Jesus and get our teaching straight from the source. Because we don’t live in those days, everyone believes they can preach and teach in Jesus‘ name and any opinion could be as valid as any other. Jesus was different, and our distance from him can feel as though we are cut short of the teaching God has for us, leaving us lost, and stuck trying to figure it all out on our own. Or maybe that is what Christian schools are for... to help us figure it all out. If we go down that road of figuring it out for ourselves, we run the risk of leaving Jesus out of our religion, our faith, and our spiritual lives. ⁠⁠

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⁠The Holy Spirit Reminds Us⁠⁠

⁠Unlike every other major religious leader, Jesus is alive. Easter morning changed everything for everyone. We can go straight to the source of spiritual authority in our lives. We celebrate that often in reference to forgiveness, but that is barely the start of our faith journey with Jesus. In Him, we have access to the wisdom of the one who created the world. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:16

1 Corinthians 2:16 NRSV

“For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

And Paul can write it with confidence because of what Jesus did for us. He sent us the Holy Spirit to be our connection with Him and God the Father. The Holy Spirit reminds us of everything Jesus taught and connects us to Him when we need guidance for things that are new as well. The Holy Spirit is better than a Bible dictionary or concordance, better than Google, better than the whole internet itself because the Holy Spirit knows us. The Spirit knows our questions and our situations better than we know them ourselves. And it brings us more than just knowledge and wisdom. It fills us with love from God.

So, if we have access to all the answers we need and more, why do we still have problems? Why haven't we fixed everything yet?

Most often it is simply because we don't want to.

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⁠Not just sharing God's Word, Doing God's Word⁠⁠

⁠Graduates leave their schools, colleges, and universities with access to dozens of teachers and hundreds of other students. They have access to knowledge and wisdom. However, every graduate faces their own challenges in the next part of school and in the workplace. Some will not ask for help and will falter and fall. Others will ask for help but will not do what they are told. They will struggle also. Those who put their training into action, moving from thoughts and beliefs into real deeds, will grow and thrive and learn the true purpose of all they went through in their training.

Our life with Jesus works in much the same way. If we will not put His teaching into action, we won't truly learn what it means to follow Him, let alone love Him. We cannot claim to love Jesus with our words we say and sing but refuse to obey Him in our actions. If you are feeling anxious about how to move from right thoughts to right acts, start with the last thing Jesus asked you to do and work your way to seeking Him from there. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is not to take the place of Jesus, but to get us in touch with Him. The Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son, and Spirit all work together, and we have a relationship with all three.

We have even more, as if God was not enough. We have each other to seek God with. Your relationship with God may be personal but it is not private. It is family, and you have far more brothers and sisters than you know who will help you make the choices and support you in your obedience to Jesus, if you will let them. Obedience is His love language, the best way to show your love to Him.

Jesus is rooting for you along with the Father and Holy Spirit. The Church is here to guide you. What was the last thing Jesus asked you to do? Did you do it? Do you need help crossing that bridge between thinking about Jesus to living with Him and following Him?⁠⁠

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