FOR YOUR OWN GOOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to Him who sent me. None of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in Me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.”

John 16:4b-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I remember growing up and being disciplined after doing something I shouldn’t have done. Now that I’m an adult, looking back I know I deserved the correction every time but of course, we’re not so objective when we’re kids. Most of the time I just thought my parents were mean and unfair. And when I expressed my frustration, they would always say something similar to this:

“We know it’s hard to understand now son but one day you’ll realize we did this for your own good.”

Maybe you had parents that said about the same thing.

Well, I did grow up and, as my parents promised, realized the importance of their discipline. It really came around full circle when I ended up having two daughters of my own and gained my own experience while child rearing. I never really liked imposing sanctions on my two girls but I did so because I knew the outcome would be bad for them later in life if I didn’t instill some regard for doing what was right and doing what was expected of them with obedience. Like me when I was growing up, they didn’t understand at the time they were experiencing the consequences for their bad behavior but did later when they became older and wiser. My youngest daughter now has three children of her own, and therefore is gaining her own parental experience.

As we turn to our scriptures, we find Jesus referring to His pending death as actually being a positive for His disciples, a thought that was as counterintuitive as believing that punishment was actually a good thing.

But note what Jesus is telling His followers. If He didn’t go away, then the Holy Spirit, the special Advocate being sent from God to guide and care for them, would not be able to come. In other words, it was an even exchange. God was taking Jesus back home to abide with Him in the heavens and was replacing Him with the Holy Spirit. And so they need not be filled with grief. God would ensure they were taken care of in Jesus’ absence and the Holy Spirit would make that happen.

And so the disciples would benefit directly from having the guidance, provision, and caring of the Holy Spirit. There was no need to be so downcast over Jesus going away. But the Holy Spirit was coming for much more than to provide what the disciples needed in Jesus’ absence. For the Advocate God was sending carried three specific purposes that were meant to impact all people. They included:

1. Proving the world wrong about sin.

Jesus knew people refused to believe in Him when He spoke these words and He knew that this willful choice for people to not believe in Him would continue until the day He would return to judge the earth. This stubborn rejection of Jesus and the associated penalty of eternal damnation revealed that the world (code for those who would not accept Jesus as Savior) was wrong about sin, for the world behaved as if sin was acceptable and that there weren’t everlasting consequences attached to it.

The Holy Spirit would work to convict the hearts of people and expose the flaws in their sin perceptions.

2. Proving the world wrong about righteousness.

In truth, the world’s ways were the ways of sin and wickedness but the people committing the sin and wickedness were blinded to the abject wrongs of their ways. Wrong is right and right is wrong when people live for the world. Transgressions are permissible and since everyone is in harmony when it comes to living in iniquity, then it becomes the norm.

As Jesus ascended to sit at His Father’s right hand, a place where He would be seen no longer, the Holy Spirit would take over leading people in the real right ways, the ways acceptable to God the Father, the ways that would always run counter to the world’s.

3. Proving the world wrong about judgment.

When Jesus was nailed to the cross at Calvary, the sin of all mankind was upon Him. His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the tomb three days later marked the death of sin’s hold on people and therefore Satan’s grip was broken.

The world and its sinful ways would believe that Satan is undefeatable but anyone who understands what Jesus did would see the fallacy in that assertion. This is because Jesus gained victory over Satan and then provided the opportunity for anyone to do the same. All they needed to do is place their hope and trust in Jesus as Savior, a decision that would bring with it the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, Satan, the prince of the world, stood and still stands condemned because of the victorious, redeeming work of Jesus on the cross and the Holy Spirit proves the world wrong about judgment because every person who receives the Spirit through Jesus becomes rescued from the eternal judgment that the world is under, a judgment the world denies will happen. The world’s very willingness to continue living in sin and travel on the same path to defeat that Satan has traveled testifies to their ignorance about judgment.

So yes, Jesus was leaving the disciples and every other Christ follower who would follow, that is until the time He returns. But His leaving was necessary so God, His Father and ours, could send the Holy Spirit to aid and guide anyone who would place their belief in His Son as Savior. In the end, Jesus’ departure was for our own collective good and we have seen this come to fruition through the ages to where we are today.

Thanks be to God for the gifts of His Son and the Holy Spirit, the Advocate who continues to lead and guide us toward the will and way of our Lord.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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