Why is it that holiness has become an unpopular word among Christians? Is it because holiness has become associated with being 'so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good'?
The Holy Spirit
In verse 25, chapter 13 of John's Gospel, the Spirit of Truth is called the Holy Spirit. In other words he is concerned about holiness. It is certainly true of much modern Christianity that there is not the same concern for holiness as there was.
Some imagine holiness as being similar to a stained glass window where the saint hovers a few feet above the ground and looks beautiful and saintly but does not have any contact with reality! Could it be that holiness is associated, even subconsciously, in some evangelical minds who think they have long since abandoned that type of thinking, with that kind of removal from the world? But the requirement of the Lord for his people to be holy as he is holy has not changed. This major concern of the Lord for his people ought to be our concern.
We have all known people who have confused 'uprightness' with 'uptightness', the kind of behaviour that can give holiness a bad name. But holiness, in its biblical sense, means being 'set apart' for the Lord to belong to him. It includes serving and worshipping him out of thankfulness for all that he has given us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Redeemed by his love, we, his children, are set apart to be distinct and different in his world. But we are not to be awkward and angular. We are not to be 'weird' different, but to be 'special' different from a world in rebellion against its Maker.
The Holy Spirit's concern, in producing holiness in us, is to encourage us to be real in the service of our Lord, even if it results in us being members of an unpopular minority. What does that mean in practice? It means that the Holy Spirit will put his finger on every area of our lives that needs dealing with.
Cold house
When I was an unmarried curate in Cheadle, I first lived in a very cold house that was much too big for my needs. It was a lovely house and when it was finally renovated and had central heating and double glazing installed it was super. But initially it was freezing and I used to go to bed at night with eight blankets just to keep warm, and I would get up in the morning totally exhausted by the weight of them! I never even opened certain parts of the house. One Spring, my mum was coming on a visit. My mum was the kind of lady who (so went the family joke) would go round with a duster in her hand waiting for the dust to fall! I knew I was going to be in big trouble if the house wasn't up to scratch. I ventured into the spare bedroom which I had left for the winter with the curtains closed. When I pulled back the curtains, to my horror I saw just how bad the room had become! There were cobwebs, there was dust, it needed a thorough spring-clean.
Sometimes new Christians say to me: 'Do you know, I feel worse than before I became a Christian! Why is it, Wallace, that I feel worse?' My response always is: 'You feel worse because God has pulled back the curtains of your dirty room, and he has let the light of his presence shine into it. When you begin to see some of the things that you never noticed before about yourself, thank God that he has pulled back the curtains. Thank him that he is beginning to do a spring-cleaning work in your life which will one day be completed when he brings you to glory. Praise him! It is for your good he has pulled back the curtains.'
There is always at least one area of our lives in which each of us is not keen to let the Lord have his way. Maybe it is our finance, maybe how we are as a parent or a partner, maybe it is our business interests or leisure activities. The Holy Spirit, in one way or another, will constantly be showing us areas of our lives that we need to put right - even when we don't want him to. For the Holy Spirit is concerned about our holiness.
The heavenly Teacher
In 14.26 Jesus said that 'the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.' I don't know how many teachers will read this book! What is clear is that there is no Christian learning apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. He wants us to learn and his aim is to teach.
We don't often hear the Holy Spirit described as the Teacher, and yet that is the fourth of the great descriptions of the Holy Spirit on the lips of the Lord Jesus here as he is teaching the disciples about the work of the Spirit. A friend said to me on one occasion: 'There are no graduates in the school of Christ! We don't graduate until we get to glory.' On this side of glory the Holy Spirit as our teacher will encourage us as God's children to become mature. All our lives we will remain disciples in the school of Christ, and disciples are meant to be good learners.
Primarily, v. 26 is a promise made to the apostles. As we go through John 14-17, we need to recognise that there are some promises made to every Christian, but there are other promises made specifically to the apostles. For example, v. 12 is a promise to all believers: 'I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.' Admittedly, the verse has been greatly misused and misunderstood. But it is a general promise to anyone who has faith. But verse 26 is a particular promise to those in the Upper Room.
However, the statement of v. 26 does raise some very important questions. How did the apostles record reliably all that Jesus said throughout those three years? Can we trust the New Testament as reliable? Can we believe it is the Word of Truth and the Word of God, a total and completely reliable witness to the revelation of God in Christ? The answer to such questions is that the Spirit would be given to the apostles, to remind them what to write down for our learning.
Jesus was sometimes called 'Rabbi'. His disciples learned by the rabbinic method of instruction: hearing repeatedly the same things, although sometimes in different circumstances and with different illustrations. They would have been expected to remember and repeat what they had learned. So in a human sense the circumstances were the right setting to remember and write down accurately what Jesus had said to them.
But it was not just a human situation. The Holy Spirit would be given to them to enable them to remember what Jesus had said to them. So verse 26 is a particular promise to the apostles in the Upper Room, for which you and I ought to be amazingly grateful.
Please notice two very important guidelines that Jesus gave concerning the teaching ministry of the Spirit.
First, Jesus clearly said that the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit would be a reminding one. There is a lot of emphasis today on 'new' things that the Spirit is saying. Indeed, the claim is often made that the Holy Spirit puts new thoughts directly into people's minds. But the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit is a reminding one. In other words, the Holy Spirit, who loves to magnify Jesus, would bring the apostles, and indeed all his disciples, back to the teaching of Jesus, back to what Jesus said and did.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit teaches by drawing out the significance of what Jesus said and did. Look at John 16.14: 'He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.' After the cross, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and following his own coming at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would remind the apostles of what Jesus had taught them, and help them see the significance of what Jesus had said and done.
Judas asked a very interesting question in verse 22 - a question whose significance is often missed. He saw the point of what Jesus was saying. He realised that the coming of the Messiah would result in a new world order. Therefore, he was stunned by the exclusiveness of what Jesus was teaching. Jesus had been explaining how he is the only way for believers to know the Father. The point was not lost on Judas who asked: 'Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?' (v. 22). Jesus answered: 'If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him' (v. 23). Isn't that terrific? Not only is there the Father's house in heaven for those who open themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, but the Father and the Son, by the presence of the Spirit, are making their home now in the lives of obedient believers. That's the bottom line. It is only to those who obey Jesus' teaching that the persons of the Trinity make themselves known.
The Spirit's aim
This interesting but essential aspect of Christ's teaching is highlighted in vs. 22 and 23. In v. 23 Jesus says that: 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching'. In v. 24, Jesus teaches that any 'who does not love me will not obey my teaching.' We can safely conclude that the aim of the Holy Spirit is to instruct disciples how to obey the teaching of Jesus (v. 26).
It is important to stress that the Holy Spirit teaches by reminding of what has been revealed. My wife and I were at a conference recently. One morning we listened to a superb exposition of Isaiah 53 that moved us to tears as we thought of the wonder of the love of Christ for us. Yet afterwards someone got up and said: 'I wonder what the 'now word from the Lord is for us today.' We had just had the 'now word' of the Lord for the previous 45 minutes!
It is the constant delight of the Holy Spirit, who loves to magnify Jesus, to bring all believers back to the apostolic testimony to the Lord Jesus, and then to draw out the significance of what Jesus said and did, so that he might apply it to their hearts. The Holy Spirit speaks by taking us back to what has been spoken.
I wonder how seriously we are taking the Holy Spirit's work as the heavenly Teacher. We need to be reminded continually of biblical truths. How do we hear God speak infallibly today? By the Spirit bringing us back to Scripture. This will involve listening to sermons, going to Bible studies with other believers, and applying personally what we read in the Scriptures.
But those who are called to teach the Word of God also need to be dependent, as they teach the Word of God, on the one who is the Teacher. Believers should pray that those who teach the Scriptures will depend on the Spirit to enable them to teach afresh the living Word of God - for that is what it is.
Extract from The Last Word, an exposition of John 13-17 by Wallace Benn, published by Christian Focus. Used with permission.
