How Can We Love Jesus?

Pentecost 2024| John 14:23-31| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| May 19, 2024 

If you asked people today if they love Jesus, most will say, “yes.” I think that is safe to say. Yet, how do they love Jesus? The truth is, many claim to love Jesus, when their actions show that they do not love Him. Jesus gives us a description of who actually loves Him. He says, “If anyone loves me, He will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) In the Confirmation Rite, we ask our confirmands, “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?” to which they respond, “I do, by the grace of God.” Yet, it is frustrating and disheartening that many, who make that promise do not really intend to hear God’s Word and promptly stop listening to it. So, many in the church try to figure out how we can prevent this, children leaving the church after they promise that they will remain.  

But Jesus tells us the answer. He says, “If you love me, you will keep my word.” If a child loves Jesus, he will keep Jesus’ word. He will continue to listen to it and cherish it in his heart. The only way that a confirmand can keep this promise to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully, is if he loves Jesus. But how can someone love Jesus? The Holy Spirit creates love for Jesus in our hearts through faith through the proclamation of the Gospel. St. Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus, “In [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:13) Again, the Apostle writes to the Thessalonians in chapter 1, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you not only in Word, but also in the power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction… And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Thess. 1:5-6) And again, St. Paul writes to the Romans in chapter 5, “And hope does not put to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (vs. 5) 

The Holy Spirit comes to us through hearing the preaching of the Gospel (Galatians 3:2). Through the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit produces faith in our hearts, so that we truly believe and trust in God through Christ Jesus. This faith in God’s love for us produces love in our hearts toward God, as St. John writes in 1 John 4: 

By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in the world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:13-19) 

You listen and keep Christ’s Word, because you love Him. You love Him, because you have faith in Him and trust that He has taken God’s punishment away from you and that God loves you. You have this faith, because the Holy Spirit has convinced you of the Father’s love through the proclamation of the Gospel. And you continue to listen to the proclamation of the Gospel, because you love Christ. All this is the work of the Holy Spirit through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus suffered and died to take away your sins. God the Father, who sent Jesus to do this, now forgives you for the sake of Christ’s suffering and death. The Holy Spirit proclaims this message of forgiveness and reconciliation with God, and thereby pours faith and love into your heart.  

And so, is fulfilled what Jesus said in one of His parables, “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” (Luke 8:18) The love you have for Christ has been given to you by the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel. So, if you love Christ, then you will continue to hear His Word and the Holy Spirit will give you even more faith and love. Yet, if you stop hearing, even the faith and love that you thought you had will be taken way. This is why Jesus warns, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my word.” To keep Jesus’ Word, you must first hear it.  

Today, we celebrate Pentecost, the day Christ fulfilled His promise to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Pentecost is rightly considered the birthday of the Holy Christian Church, because it is through the Holy Spirit that we are born again and become members of Christ. Pentecost could also rightly be considered the anniversary of Christ and His bride the Church. Christ is the head of His bride the Church. The Church is His body. It is the Holy Spirit, who unites the Church to Christ her head.  

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would teach His disciples all things and bring to their remembrance all that He said to them. And indeed, the Holy Spirit did just that. The Apostles preached Christ’s Word with power on that Pentecost, and continued to preach Christ’s Word as long as they lived. Some of them wrote down Gospels and Epistles by the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, which is how we got our New Testament today. Yet, the Holy Spirit continues to work in the Church. In fact, without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to be a Christian (1 Corinthians 12:3). But we have this promise from Christ, that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will continue to work in the Church through the preaching of the Word and the Sacraments.  

 And what benefits do we receive from the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word of Christ? I’ve already mentioned faith in Christ and love, which draws us ever closer to God, who in turn produces more faith and love in us. Yet, listen to this promise of Jesus, “And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit makes His abode in His Christians. There is no temple in Jerusalem anymore. The temple was where God dwelt with His people. Now God dwells with His people even more closely. I just read from St. John, “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit.” (1 John 4:13) It is the Holy Spirit who gives us certainty that God dwells with us through faith. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 3, “according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith… and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-17, 19) Again, he writes in 1 Corinthians 3, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you! If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Cor. 3:16-17)  

The Holy Spirit has made you God’s temple through faith. This is a wonderful comfort, because God will protect His temple from attacks from the Devil, demons, and any other power on earth. It is another reason to guard your faith in Christ, so that you do not drive the Holy Spirit away from you through wicked sins and unbelief.  

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter or Paraclete, who gives us peace. The peace Jesus gives us through the Holy Spirit is peace, which the world cannot give. It is peace that comes from the forgiveness of Christ and from being declared righteous by God for Christ’s sake (Romans 5:1). The world cannot give you this peace. The peace the world gives is shallow and fleeting. The peace the world gives you is slavery, which tells you not to confess the truth what might offend others. The peace that the world gives you fades away and cannot withstand the test of time. But the peace that Christ gives you through the Holy Spirit endures forever. The world cannot give it to you, but neither can it take it away from you. Rather, this peace and comfort that comes from the Holy Spirit endures even suffering and death. It gives you reason to rejoice, even if you are in prison, alone, or in pain. This is peace, which can comfort you when every medicine fails, when the doctors give up, when your friends have forsaken you, when your sins accuse you, when the world melts away. Because this is peace with God, who stands forever. And this peace with God will grant you confidence to stand even on the day of judgment.  

The Holy Spirit never stops giving, so never stop receiving from Him. Scripture says, “He whom God has sent utters the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without measure.” (John 3:34) When you hear Christ’s Word, you receive the Holy Spirit without measure, who continues to increase your faith and love toward God, to cause God to dwell in you as His temple, to comfort you with the peace which surpasses all understanding and cannot be taken away by poverty, sickness, or death. This Holy Spirit also works in you to put to death your sinful impulses and to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Scripture calls this the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” We live by the Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, so we also walk by the Spirit, crucifying our sinful flesh with its passions and desires and walking in love toward God and one another. This is all made possible through the working of the Holy Spirit, whom you received through hearing the Word of Christ.  

If you love Jesus, you will listen to His Word and He will give you His Holy Spirit, so that you may keep it and walk according to it. When you sin, the Holy Spirit will convict your conscience, so that you repent. When you repent, the Holy Spirit will comfort you with the Gospel that God forgives you for the sake of Jesus’ blood shed for you. When you are tempted, the Holy Spirit will strengthen you to pray. And when you do not know what to pray for as you ought, the Holy Spirit will intercede for you with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26). When you are sick, alone, or afraid, the Holy Spirit will give you courage. This is why those who love Jesus continue to hear His Word and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully. Because they have been granted such faith and love by the Holy Spirit and they want to receive more. And the Holy Spirit is more than willing to give more. Amen.