Hope for Holy Week

This week is the most significant celebration of the year for believers all around the world. It’s Holy Week, the time for remembering Christ’s journey to the cross, the celebration of the Resurrection, and the gift of new life. The reality is—we have incredibly much to be grateful for.

God desires that we press close to him, so close that we can hear his heartbeat, know his voice, and feel the peace of his presence surrounding us. Yet, it’s often a struggle. Many other things, even good things, can call us away from the most important. We have to be careful that we don’t miss the significance of this week ahead of us, forgetting who and what we are celebrating.

We all know that life can be full of distractions and this coming week is no different. Yet, this is the week when we really think more about the sacrifice of Christ and the depth of His love for each of us.

We are challenged to stand strong in our love for Christ and one another. Ephesians 5:2 tells us to let the love of Christ dwell within us. Without the indwelling presence of Christ, we have nothing.

The little word, “let” is a powerful word. It means that I have to make a decision to allow the fullness of the Lord to be active within my life.

Our Scripture in 1 John today along with Isaiah brings a sweet assurance to the believer’s heart.

We all understand that we need to be loving not just with our words but with our actions.  When we love one another genuinely from a pure heart, people are attracted to that kind of love. That is why so many were attracted to Jesus—his love was pure and it touched people in the depths of their lives. Loving this way is what brings people to an understanding of their need for a Savior. A Redeemer that loves them right where they are at. God never expects anyone to “clean up their life” before they come to Him. It is as we come to Christ, understanding that we cannot live this life without the forgiveness of sin and the comfort that comes from the Holy Spirit, that we understand it is Christ working in us that transforms our lives. That is what Holy Week is all about.

The by-products of genuine love more than compensates us for the type of genuine, sacrificial love we are called to. And those are the things that John is going to speak of in this portion of Scripture today.

For sure, we don’t go by the old adage, “you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.” We don’t love others because we want to get something in return but there is a biblical principle that applies to all that we do, “Give and it shall be given unto you.” It has much to do with motive.

John names three wonderful blessings that will come to a believer who practices this kind of love.

1.     Assurance (v. 19-20) John offers two primary benefits of assurance. The first is confidence before God. A believer’s relationship with others affects his or her relationship with God. If you are not right with your brother or sister in Christ, Scripture says you should settle the matter between you and them before you come to the Lord to offer your sacrifice. Listen to Matthew 5:23-24, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them, then come and offer your gift.”

a.      John talks about a condemning heart. It is one that robs a believer of peace. Another way to describe it would be “an accusing conscience.” Sometimes our own thoughts and doubts creep in to rob us of peace. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart can be deceitful. It can lie to us and the assurance that John is telling us about is that assurance that God knows our hearts. There is a difference between true conviction and condemnation. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

                                                             i.      We have two beautiful illustrations that clear this idea up for us. The first is found in the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy preparing the meal and Mary was listening to Jesus. Martha criticized Mary for what she was doing and Jesus knew the truth of Mary’s heart and defended her.

                                                           ii.      Another illustration is when Peter wept bitterly after denying Jesus and no doubt he was filled with remorse and repentance for his sin. But Jesus knew Peter had repented and after His resurrection the Lord sent a special message to Peter. Listen to Mark 16:4-7…give the message to the disciples and to Peter!

b.     A Christian who practices love grows in his or her understanding of God’s truth and enjoys a heart filled with confidence before God. This is a here and now experience and not just a confidence when Christ returns.

c.      This confidence helps us to come before God boldly and to bring our prayers to Him knowing that he hears us and will help us. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

d.     This brings us to our second assurance, and that is regarding prayer. Verse 22 says, “and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.”

                                                             i.      “Ask” and “receive” are both in the present tense in the Greek, suggesting an ongoing activity and experience of immediate response by God to our prayers. The condition of answered prayer is that we obey his commands and do what pleases him. This obedience and pleasing action (namely loving others) are evidence that our will is in harmony with God. What we need to clearly understand is that this is not saying the believer gets whatever he or she asks for, but God gives when the prayer is asked according to His will. 1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

                                                           ii.      What are those commands—John tells us in verses 23, “And this is him command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

                                                        iii.      A believer’s relationship to others in the family of God cannot be divorced from his or her prayer life. If you are having difficulty in a relationship, as much as is possible work to get it right.

There is a third assurance this morning, and that is of abiding. Verse 24 says, “the one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

The constant assurance of God’s presence with us comes by the Holy Spirit residing within each of us.

Abiding in Christ is a key experience for a believer who wants to have confidence toward God and enjoy answers to prayer. In John 15 Jesus’ entire discourse is on the importance of abiding in Him…stay connected to Jesus! Stay connected to the vine. You receive your nourishment and strength from the vine. The result is fruit that brings glory to God. If you separate a branch from its source, it will wither and die, otherwise it will sprout and bear fruit.

I have a beautiful Redbud in my back yard. I looked at it and noticed that there were a couple branches that have no beautiful flowering buds on them. As a result, I know that I need to trim those out of the tree so the rest of the tree can be healthy.

As we abide, the Lord helps to cut away in our lives those things that do not please him. We abide in Jesus through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Every member of the trinity Godhead is involved in the “love life” of a believer. God the Father commands us to love one another, and God the Son gave his life for us on the cross, which was the supreme example of love. And God the Holy Spirit lives within us to provide the love we need.

Christian love is not something we work up when we need it. Christian love is “shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”  AND THIS IS OUR CONSTANT EXPERIENCE AS WE ABIDE IN CHRIST!

What amazing assurance, what love divine fills our hearts and minds through Christ!

On this day, Palm Sunday, the worshippers lined the roads with their palm branches singing Hosanna, Hosanna, Glory to God in the highest! Why—because they had experienced the love of God through Christ…but as the week goes forward, soon the hearts will turn and they will fully realize their need for a Savior.

Today is a day for us to shout Hosanna to the One who has saved our souls. Hosanna to the one that brings sweet assurance to our hearts that we are loved and cared for deeply by God. Hosanna to the one who answers our prayers and helps us when we doubt and need the assurance of God hearing our cries to him. Hosanna to God in the Highest—Hosanna.

Isaiah reminds us that by the wounds of our precious Savior we are healed. God deals with us as whole people. Yes, we need the salvation of our Lord to ensure eternal life, but we also need the constant, indwelling presence of the Spirit of God to lead us daily through this life, to help us to keep our eyes fixed on the Jesus, and to have the daily strength needed to love one another fervently from pure hearts.

It is so important that you take time during this Holy Week to perhaps giving God more of your “time” than normal. Perhaps reading the Bible more this week, spending some quality time just reflecting on what you are reading, read the parts in the 4 gospels about this week. Reflect on Christ’s sacrifice this week and what His resurrection means to your life. Come to the Good Friday Communion service, then prepare for Easter.

We are a redeemed people. Christ can bring beauty from ashes in our lives. We have a Savior who brings the assurance of His presence and the assurance of His love to us each day. He extends grace to us to remind us that we don’t walk this walk alone.

The love of God we experience, the love of Christ we share with one another, is how the Lord brings beauty out of the brokenness of the cross. It’s how He brings fresh life to us.

And as John has brought to us today the assurance of our hearts being covered by the grace and mercy of God, and our prayers being answered through His love, even so, we can each know that as we lean into the Lord, He carries us.