Q4, S03 The Spirit

Quarter 4, Session 3: The Spirit

WILL YOU REMAIN THROUGH MY SPIRIT?

Passage

John 14

John 15:26–27

John 16

Concept

This session falls under Jesus’ tenth question: Will you remain? As Jesus continues to prepare his disciples for his coming absence, he tells them that it’s actually better for them that he leaves, because when he leaves, he will send them the Holy Spirit. This is a huge statement, and one that many find difficult to affirm. Jesus’ explanation helps us see the vital role the Spirit plays in keeping us connected to Jesus and to life.

Key Question

How are you finding life and connection to Jesus through the Holy Spirit?

The Plant Tool

Do you see our Plant tool being played out in John 14, 15:26–27, and 16? With whom? How so?

The Spirit

Think back to a watershed moment in your life, a time when you’ve had to make a choice that will take your life in a certain direction. Maybe that moment was graduating high school or college. You had to make a crucial choice about where and what you would study, or about what career you wanted to enter. Those kinds of decisions are difficult because you’re stepping out onto a path that will occupy a huge portion of your time. In these moments, it can feel almost like your future is a blank slate, and the steps you take will begin to determine what the future will look like.

The disciples were in a situation like this as Jesus talked to them in the upper room. As he gathered them together for a final meal, he washed their feet and then gave them final instructions for what they were about to experience. They were entering a watershed moment, a time when everything would be different. They didn’t know what was coming next, but Jesus was preparing them to take the next steps.

As we listen to Jesus’ teaching on the Holy Spirit in John 14–16, we find important instructions that will help us understand what it looks like to follow Jesus now.

1.     Read John 14–16. Right off the bat, what strikes you about this passage? What do you find interesting or challenging or confusing?

Don’t Walk Away

After telling his disciples to remain connected to him (John 15), Jesus warns his disciples that things are going to get rough, they’re going to get disillusioned, and they’re going to want to walk away. In other words, from this moment on, they’re going to encounter situations in which it will seem perfectly logical to leave Jesus and pursue other things. Think back to our vector tool (Question 2: Do You Desire Me?). Jesus is explaining that as following him becomes more difficult, the direction and/or magnitude of the arrow is going to shift. Everything he says to them in this passage is meant to keep the vector steadily pointing toward Jesus and increasing in magnitude.

This is familiar territory for us. Most of us feel the pull to walk away from Jesus. Most of us get disillusioned when life drags us down. As we saw when we discussed the vector, it’s difficult to keep our desires focused on Jesus. So Jesus’ call to remain with him is important for us still. He said these words for a time like our own, when he would not be standing physically beside us, but when we need our connection with him more than ever.

2.     In this passage, Jesus warns about the pull to walk away. When and how do you feel that pull in your own life?

3.     Do you find it comforting or discouraging that Jesus needed to warn the original disciples about the tendency to drift away? Why?

Better Without Jesus

One of the most startling statements Jesus makes in the Gospels is this: “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” (John 16:7). That’s a huge statement! It’s difficult to imagine that anything could be better than having Jesus standing physically in front of us. But Jesus says that having the Spirit will be better for us. We have to decide whether we believe him or not.

Throughout John 14–16, Jesus explains the role and power of the Holy Spirit. These statements substantiate his claim that it’s better for us to have the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, Jesus says, will be with us. He will empower the message that we’ve been given. And he’ll be our constant connection to Jesus and to what he’s calling us to do. There is an inherently mysterious aspect to the Holy Spirit. He’s difficult for us to wrap our minds around. But we should expect that when we’re talking and thinking about God.

The miracle of the incarnation is that God himself took on human flesh and stood right next to us in Jesus (John is in awe of this reality in 1:14). The miracle of God’s Spirit is that God himself remained a spirit and came to live within us! How could we not be excited about that? It’s the very life of God living within and empowering us. Any hesitation on our part to see that as better reveals we do not know the Spirit as we ought to.

4.     What did Jesus mean when he said it’s better for us to have him leave and the Spirit come? How could this be?

5.     Based on your own experiences with the Spirit of God, how can you affirm Jesus’ statement?

The Spirit Gives Life

When you think of the Spirit, think life. Think back to our tree tool for this section. As you think of how a tree functions, think of the Spirit of God as the agent of photosynthesis. As you may remember from science class, photosynthesis is the miraculous process by which a plant captures sunlight and air and turns it into energy and growth. Also think of the Spirit as the process by which a plant pulls water into the roots, through the stem or trunk, and into the fruit it produces. Both of these processes make a plant what it is, and you don’t have to understand exactly how they work in order to appreciate the power of a plant growing from a tiny seed into a giant, fruit producing tree. This is how the Spirit functions in our lives. When you think of the Spirit, think life. He connects us to Jesus, the source of life (remember the vine and branches connections from the previous session). He causes life to flow into us and out through us.

Along these same lines, when you think of the Spirit, think of the impossible, the supernatural. The Spirit’s role is to empower us to do the impossible. Think of the tasks that seem too big to accomplish. Think of the times when you’re so weary, you don’t think you can go on another day. Think of your personal struggles that seem unbeatable. Think of the people who could never respond well to your message about Jesus. The Spirit of God first prompts us toward the impossible, then he empowers us to see fruit supernaturally appear.

6.     How are you finding life through the Spirit?

7.     What impossible, life-giving things has he done through you?

8.     What impossible, life-giving things is he calling you to do now?

Living in the Tension

Towards the end of John 16, Jesus talks about the tension between the pain of giving birth and the joy of holding your newborn child. This is how it should feel to have Jesus gone from us. There is an incredible joy we will feel when Jesus returns. But there’s pain now as we wait for him. The Spirit is the one who keeps us connected to Jesus as we wait. He is the one who maintains life and joy in us as we experience the tension. He has not left us as orphans. He has sent us his Spirit. And the Spirit is exactly what we need in order to continue to follow Jesus today.

9.     Spend some time in prayer. Ask God to show you the benefits and power of the Spirit. Pray that the Spirit would lead and empower you into life and action.

Key Question

How are you finding life and connection to Jesus through the Holy Spirit?