The Moody Church Sunday Morning Podcast

In this passage we come to what is arguably the pinnacle of John’s Gospel. It’s Jesus’ last night, and in the next hours, He will be betrayed by Judas Iscariot from His inner circle. He will be put on trial, condemned, and crucified the following day. And Jesus, knowing all that awaits Him, has been pouring out His heart to the disciples. He shows them His love by washing their feet. He shares a meal with them at the last supper. He’s intimating to them that His hour has come and that He will return to the Father by way of the cross. And now in chapter 17, Jesus offers a final prayer known as “The High Priestly Prayer”. In this prayer we find what is most important to Jesus. In Jesus’ final prayer, we find four main points: A Final Request: In the face of shame, Jesus asks for the renewal of glory. He is about to face the greatest possible shame in the presence of men on earth, and so He asks for the greatest possible honor in the presence of God: that He would be raised in glory to what is rightfully His. It is the glory of the Father to glorify the Son, and it is the Son’s glory to glorify the Father. A Final Report: The Father sent Jesus into the world on a mission, and here Jesus is submitting His final report. In a sense, Jesus’ mission was for the whole world, but it was also particularly focused on those the Father gave to the Son. It is to these people in particular, the ones given by the Father to the Son, that Jesus has manifested the Father’s name. So in this prayer, Jesus is focused on His disciples, and His heart is focused on those who believe. Their belief in Jesus brings Him glory, for their reception of Jesus means that His mission has been successful. So here at the finish line, Jesus is acknowledging that He has completed the mission. A Final Intercession: In this high priestly prayer, Jesus prays a final three-fold intercession on the disciples' behalf. First, to fortify them by putting the Father’s name on them, which signifies protection, providence, and preciousness. Jesus asks the Father to keep them strong, to keep them resilient, and to keep them faithful. Second, to sanctify them to keep them pure and distinct as sons and daughters of the King. This implies that as the disciples are sanctified in the truth of the Word, they will become holy, righteous, and pure. Because they have a mission ahead of them: to be sent out into the world to bear God’s name and Word into the world. Third, to unify them as one family, under one faith, in one Lord, and one baptism, despite their diverse backgrounds. Our unity is our witness to the world. We must never allow the world to divide what Jesus Christ has unified. We cannot live in the love of the Father and live in disunity with our brothers and sisters. A Final Desire: This is Christ's desire—that we would be with Him and see Him as He really is. To see Jesus in His glory is to come alive forever, to be transformed into the sons and daughters of God that we really are. Here in the end, Jesus’ deepest desire is for perichoresis, the divine dance of eternal loving embrace with the Triune God. Takeaways: Our true, real, good, and beautiful life is found in intimate rapture with divine glory as we are forever enfolded in the perichoretic love of our Triune God. This is what you were made for. This is what your soul aches for. This is what we’re looking for in all the wrong places. This is the deepest meaning of the universe. We forever come alive in the eternal life of God. Do you know this life? Do you live this life?

How do we know that everything will be alright in the end? In many ways, that’s the very question that was haunting the minds of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had told them to prepare for battle, that the persecution that was coming for him would come for them also. They no doubt felt like underdogs. Have you ever felt like an underdog? Maybe you are facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, harsh realities, painful setbacks, and crushing sadness. You’re asking Jesus: "How do I know that it will all be right in the end?" Jesus addresses that honest, deep, and heartfelt question in our passage from John 16:16-33. Because Jesus overcomes, we too will overcome. Jesus is the overcomer in three spheres:Redemptive History: Jesus overcomes sorrow with joy. This is true for Jesus, this is true for the disciples, and it is also true for us. Because redemption is not just something God did one time for Jesus; redemption is the story of history. Our God is a redeeming God. He takes what is broken and makes it whole, what is marred and makes it beautiful, what is sorrowful and turns it to joy. Jesus is in the business of overcoming sorry with joy.

Divine Reconciliation: Jesus overcomes estrangement with reunion. We were made for relationship with God. But our sin separates us from God and we experience estrangement. But God, in His great love for us, sent His Son to do whatever it took to bring us home. On the cross Jesus died in our place and for our sake, bearing all our sin and shame, covering us with his perfect life, so that we might be reconciled to God. Reunited with him. Jesus overcomes our sin, shame, and separation. He becomes our Substitute and Savior so that we might become children of God. We can then cry out “Abba Father.” Jesus is in the business of overcoming estrangement with reunion.

Personal Transformation: What on earth do you do with your own undeniable failure? How will you ever find peace? Jesus overcomes faithlessness with faithfulness. The disciples who fled from Jesus due to their fear, weakness, and faithlessness experienced personal transformation through Jesus. The faithless became faithful because of the faithfulness of Jesus, who did not abandon those who abandoned Him, who did not fail those who failed Him, but who overcame evil with good. We too can overcome fear, weakness, and faithlessness because Jesus overcame those things. Takeaway: whatever we face, since Jesus is with us, will be all right in the end.Jesus is working redemption in all history.

Jesus has reconciled us to the Father.

Jesus is transforming us by his faithfulness. John 16:16-33

In this passage, we are in the early hours before the crucifixion. Betrayal, arrest, whipping, and crucifixion awaits Jesus, and He knows it. But he mustn’t fixate on the tidal wave of agony that is about to break up on Him; instead, he focuses on preparing His disciples for the battle ahead. As American Christians with sizable religious freedoms, we often read past verses like this rather quickly. But you know who doesn’t read past them? The vast majority of our brothers and sisters around the world and throughout history. And who knows? Those of us in America may just need these words sooner than we realize. Perhaps Jesus is preparing us for battle too. Jesus is preparing his disciples for the suffering, persecution, and hostility they will face in this world. Because followers of Jesus are not like the world, the world views us with suspicion. Because we’re different, we’re distinct. We’ll look at three points to prepare us for what’s coming: Distinct Allegiance: Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit and bear Christ’s presence in the world have a polarizing effect of both attraction and repulsion. Jesus’ followers shouldn’t be shocked when they experience the same hatred their Leader did. Why does the world hate us? Because this world is not our true home; Jesus has chosen us out of the world. In other words, we’re citizens of Heaven. We follow the way of Jesus and His Kingdom. Jesus is telling us that we will encounter hostility from the world, because we bear the name of Jesus in the world, not because we’re obnoxious. If we’re encountering hostility because we’re winsomely shining the light of Christ to the world, that’s to be expected. But if we’re encountering hostility because we’re tactless and obnoxious, that is nothing to be proud of.

Distinct Witness: We embody the convicting presence of God. When we go out into the world… we never go alone. We bear the presence of God into the world, and wherever God goes, people are convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It’s not our job to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment; the Holy Spirit does that. Our job is to share the good news that Jesus died for our sin, that He offers us his righteousness, and that He has already won the judgment and his victory can be ours if we will believe in Him.

Distinct Bearing: We suffer in the glorious strength of the Spirit. All that the Father has is Jesus’, and all that is Jesus’ is ours through the Spirit. And here’s what’s amazing: it was Jesus’ Hour of suffering that most convicted the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and it will be our tour of suffering that convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment as well. As we suffer in the glorious strength of the Spirit, we embody the convicting presence of God in the world and proclaim our ultimate allegiance to the way Jesus and his Kingdom. Our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world tell us that a suffering church is an unstoppable church. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Persecution breeds perseverance, hostility unleashes holiness, and crucifixion is the only way to resurrection. What if suffering like Jesus grants us access to the depths of all that God is for us? What if suffering like Jesus is our greatest witness to the world? Takeaway: Stand strong in the Lord. As we suffer in the glorious strength of the Spirit, we embody the convicting presence of God in the world and proclaim our ultimate allegiance to the way Jesus and his Kingdom. John 15:18-16:15 Click here for Sermon Q&A

Our natural default is to try to do things on our own. But when trouble comes, whether it's relationships, temptation, anxiety, or sin, we realize that we aren't strong enough to do it on our own. The spiritual strength we need is found in our Savior. We need His strength for our weakness. Three keys to spiritual strength:Rely on the Holy Spirit: To be empowered by the Spirit means that Christ dwells in our hearts. We must fully rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to renew our inner self. How do we know if we are relying on the Holy Spirit? We should check the desires and motivations of our heart. Are you faithful to God in the small things? Are you consistent in practicing spiritual disciplines? How do you go about making a difficult decision? Are your future goals something you can accomplish on your own or only with God’s help?

Know the Love of Jesus: Love is the foundation of all that we are in Jesus. Great strength is found in the security of Jesus’ love. Do you know how much He loves you? You cannot be a spiritually mature person if you don’t grow in the knowledge of how much you are loved by God.

Recognize God’s Abundant Power: God loves to use ordinary people to show His extraordinary power. Takeaway: God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Where do you need God’s power in your life today? Ephesians 3:14-21

In John 15, Jesus taught His disciples (and through them, us) that the secret to a fruitful life is abiding in Him. At the heart of this discourse is an extended metaphor (vv. 1-8) which Jesus then expounds upon in vv. 9-17. The Vine: “I am the true vine” is the 7th and final “I AM” statement in John. The vine is used as a symbol for God’s covenant people, Israel. And whenever this comparison is made, the emphasis is always on Israel’s failure to produce the fruit that God desired. Now we have Jesus applying this metaphor to Himself. Jesus is saying that He is the “true” vine, and the fruit Israel failed to bear He will bear in Himself when He is crucified. He provides true access to the living, pulsating, abundant life of God. When we try to find life in anything else, it never really satisfies.

The Vinedresser: God the Father is caring and tending for the vine through pruning. If Jesus is the vine, and His disciples are the branches, He’s letting them know that a cutting is coming. They will feel the Vinedresser’s knife. The question is, will they abide and become even more alive and fruitful? Or will they fall away, wither, and die? The Father’s pruning cuts away what’s dead and fruitless and cultivates what’s alive and fruitful.

The Branches: The secret to a fruitful life is abiding in Jesus. Everything hinges on the strength of our connection with Him. That’s what makes us alive! That’s what makes us fruitful! Apart from Him we wither and die; not only is there no fruit, but there is no life either. The abundant, self-giving love of the Father for the Son now overflows from Jesus into us. He invites us to make our home in His love, to settle down and abide in it. So His love for us becomes the most real thing about us. How do we abide in the love of Jesus? To abide is to dependently welcome Christ’s life into ourselves so that His Word, love, obedience, peace, and joy become our very own.

The Fruit: If we abide in Christ, if His life is flowing in and through us, we will bear much fruit. All kinds of people claim to be followers of Jesus, but it is the fruit that will prove them out in the end. Note: Bearing fruit does not cause us to be disciples; bearing fruit characterizes us as disciples. Fruit naturally and necessarily flows from a life-giving connection with the Vine. What fruit does Jesus have in mind here? To love one another as Jesus loved us. Only Jesus’ life in us can produce the abiding Christlike fruit of loving obedience, joyous self-sacrifice, and faithful mission.

The Sap: If the branches draw their life-nutrients from the vine, what carries them along? That’s the role of the sap. If the sap enables the nutrients to flow from the vine into the branches, what is it that enables Christ’s life to flow into ours? Prayer is the sap. In prayer, we open ourselves up to the abundant life of God for us, in us, and through us. Takeaway: Jesus is Life. Do you know His life?

Are you abiding in His life?

Is His life bearing fruit in yours? John 15:1-17 Sermon Q&A click here.

In John's account of Jesus’ last night before the cross, we encounter some of the most tender words in all the Scriptures. In the Upper Room, Jesus poured out His heart to His disciples, teaching them (and through them, us) how to live in the love of God, because living in the love of God is everything. John 14:15-31 is notoriously difficult to outline, because Jesus keeps circling back time and again to the same central theme as He invites us to live deeply in the love of God. Pastor Philip approached the passage from three angles: Our Love of God: What does it mean to really love God? Our love of Jesus naturally and necessarily flows into an obedience to His law. This fundamentally boils down to loving God and loving people. So if you really love Jesus, you’ll grow in love for one another. But that’s not always an easy thing to do. We desperately need direction, wholeness, and courage from Jesus to do that well. We cannot do it on our own, which brings us to the next point.

God’s Love of Us: The only way we’ll ever be able to obey Christ’s law of love is through the enabling work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit enables through us what the Son commands of us so that Father delights in us. You want to know how hard love is? It takes all three persons of the Triune God to form us into people of love.

The Life of Love: There’s an important progression here: Love God -> Obey God -> Love People -> God’s Presence. Here’s the logic: to love Jesus is to obey Jesus; to obey Jesus is to love one another; as we live in loving obedience, Jesus asks the Father to send the Spirit; God’s indwelling Spirit is His presence in us. Perichoresis is the Divine dance of eternal loving embrace, each person of the Triune Godhead lovingly self-giving unto the others, and welcoming and receiving one another into themselves with unrestrained, overflowing intimacy, delight, and everlasting joy! Do you realize what this means? To be united to Jesus by faith is to be “in Christ” and to have “Christ in us.” And if we share a perichoretic relationship with Jesus, and Jesus has a perichoretic relationship with the Father and the Spirit, then to be in Christ means we also have the Spirit and the Father in Him. The Triune God is inviting us to share in the Dance. Takeaway: will you have this Dance? John 14:15-31 Sermon Q&A click here.

In this passage from John 14:1-14, we find the disciples troubled by news that Jesus is leaving. How could they ever go on without Jesus? But as Jesus shows them, his departure means more of the love of God, not less. Jesus offers us four things as He departs: A Loving Home: Our true home is to abide in love with God forever. What makes Heaven, heaven, is not the location but who is there--God. It’s not about where you are, it’s who you’re with.

A Loving Path: In the 6th “I AM” statement in Scripture, Jesus calls Himself “The Way.” If you want to know the way to God the Father, look no further than in the person of Jesus. The way to God seems narrow, but it’s about a love relationship with the Father through the mutual opening of hearts to one another. God has opened wide the door of His heart in Jesus. Jesus is the only way to the Father’s heart.

A Loving God: The Triune God exists as a community of eternally-loving, self-donative, and mutually-indwelling persons too one to be many and too many to be one. What theologians call perichoresis is the ultimate meaning of the universe. This is a dance of eternal loving embrace, each person of the Godhead lovingly self-giving unto the others, and welcoming and receiving one another into themselves with unrestrained, overflowing intimacy, delight, and everlasting joy. The triune, perichoretic love is what everything is all about.

A Loving Power: Because we are united with Christ, He works through us. Jesus is preparing a place for us to dwell deeply in love with the Triune God forever, and in the meantime, He’s inviting us to live in union with him so that His presence and power flow into us, transforming us, and then flow through us into the world around us. Jesus’ love transforms us so He can give us all we want. Jesus’ departure means more of the love of God, not less. He offers us a Loving Home, by means of a Loving Path, into a relationship with a Loving God, with a Loving Power that transforms first us and then the world. Three Takeaway Questions for Self-Reflection: Am I believing in the love of God?

Am I abiding in the love of God?

Am I transforming in the love of God? If your answer to any of those questions worries you, please contact us at the link to discuss it further: www.moodychurch.org/connect. John 14:1-14 Sermon Q&A click here.

In this passage from Acts 1, we find the last recorded words of Jesus before His ascension. These words should be the heartbeat for Christians in fulfilling the task given to the Church. Dr. Greenway challenges us to rethink our mission and missions if we are going to be found faithful in 2021. Why is the Great Commission, from verse 8, reiterated five times throughout the gospels? Jesus knew how easy it is for us to become distracted and diverted from what is a priority for the Christian Church today. Jesus directly challenges the mentality that “missions is for someone else.” If we are to “be the church,” we must realize that we are all called to bring the good news of the gospel to others. Failure to do so is nothing short of sin. Acts 1:1-11

How can we possibly believe in the extravagant claims of Christianity when so much of everyday life appears to tell a different story? How can we speak of victory when truth, beauty, life, and justice seem to be so scare? In this sermon by special guest Dr. Michael Thate, we explore the story of Jesus before Pontius Pilate and the religious leaders. In this scene, we see several examples of how to live victoriously in the face of darkness. We'll find that our daily struggles can be viewed through a new lens because our victory in Christ is secure. John 18:33–19:11

When a film director wants the audience to focus on the magnitude of what’s happening in a scene, they will often bring the shot in close and slow everything down. That’s kind of what John is doing for us in chapters 13-17. Jesus is in the upper room with His disciples just hours before His crucifixion. John wants us to focus on the magnitude of what’s happening, and to see everything. By doing so, we're able to reflect on three astonishing realities: Jesus' Full Awareness: In this account, it's easy to notice just how fully aware and in command Jesus appears. He knew He was going to be betrayed and crucified; He sees the pain that's coming and faces it head-on. This is astonishing courage. Have you ever stopped to think that Jesus really knows how painful and broken this world really is? Jesus' Family Resemblance: At the very heart of this passage is Jesus' commandment to the disciples to love one another. There's nothing new about this command ... but what is new is how Jesus defines it: "just as I have loved you." This models the love we are to have as selfless, sacrificial service. Jesus serves His disciples in love; the disciples are to serve one another in love; and this example cascades down to all people. It is also reflective of Trinitarian love: the Son serves the Father in love, the Father serves the Son in love, and in doing so they glorify one another. This loving service that Jesus commands of His disciples shows the "family resemblance" in how the Father and Son love one another. Loving, selfless service flows from the heart of God through Jesus into His children so that all people everywhere might know that we belong to the Family of God. Even knowing our weakness, Jesus commands us what He then works in us. Jesus is loving us into loveliness. Jesus' Faithful Pursuit: Isn’t it astonishing how Jesus pursues His disciples faithfully in love? Even though many of them flee, deny, and betray Him, there's not a hint of anger or distance on Jesus' part. Instead, He draws close to them, washes their feet, shares a meal, opens His heart. Jesus relentlessly pursues those who betray Him. Even when we fail, Jesus will never give up on us. John 13:14-38 Sermon Q&A click here.