The seasons of parenting are fascinating to me. You have the baby and toddler years. Then comes grade school. And then middle school. After surviving middle school, the high school years come and those bring quite a bit of change. But when those years end, it brings a transition that might feel more different than any of the other seasons.

Shauna and I are in that season right now, as we’re less than a month away from our last 2 children graduating from high school. By the time September gets here, our 4 children will be living in 4 different states. It’s a bit ironic to me. It feels challenging and yet, it’s been our job for the first 18 years of their lives to prepare them for a life without us being present – at least not in the same we have been.

In our main text for today, Jesus is preparing his disciples for a life without Him – at least not in the way they’ve become accustomed to. You can imagine how much they have come to love daily life with Him. He’s so wonderful. They’ve developed a deep relationship with Him. They’ve had front row seats to seeing His love and His power on display. You can imagine the grief they’re beginning to feel as He tells them the end is near for Him.

John 14:12-24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him or knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

There is so much here. If we get the fullness of what Jesus is teaching and promising, our lives will never be the same. I’m calling this message When God Moves In. But isn’t it interesting to know that at this moment, the disciples might have titled their message – when God moves out. Jesus is telling them that something powerful is going to come into their lives on the other side of His departure. He doubles down on this idea in John 16:7.

John 16:7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

You can imagine how hard it would have been for the disciples to believe what Jesus was telling them – that him leaving would somehow be a good thing for them. I remember when our kids were little and we would be headed out on a date night and they didn’t want us to leave. I would say something like, “This will make me and mommy better parents to you.” I don’t know if that was true, but I needed to comfort them somehow.

Back to our main passage. Jesus starts with this – you are going to do the works I have been doing and even greater works, because I am going to the Father. This is an audacious claim by Jesus. We’re going to do what you’ve been doing AND we’re going to do greater things than you’ve been doing? Um Jesus – You brought a man back from the dead. You healed someone who had been an invalid for 38 years. You walked on water. You gave sight to the blind. Think about what Jesus is saying.

The Spirit that empowered the ministry of Jesus is available to empower our ministry.

Notice the reason Jesus gives for the greater works that will be done. He doesn’t say, “You guys are so gifted and awesome. You’ll go beyond anything I’ve done.” Jesus says the reason you will do greater things is because I am going to the Father. When Jesus ascends to the Father, the Spirit is going to be unleashed. And the greater things can’t mean something beyond what Jesus has done, but simply if the Spirit fills millions of believers, the quantity of things will now go beyond what Jesus could do as a limited human being.

John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever

“The Father is going to give you another advocate.” Another meaning, what Jesus has been to them – this advocate will now be to them. He’s saying, “I will still be with you – just in a different mode.” The word “advocate” is translated from the Greek word paraclete.

paraclete – the one called alongside to help

In Jesus, they have been experiencing divine presence alongside them. They are about to lose this reality when Jesus leaves. But in His leaving, they and now we are going to gain a new reality – another advocate. The divine presence that has been alongside of them is now going to be inside of them, FOREVER.

In verse 17, Jesus says, “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be IN YOU.” If you had asked the Jewish people this question, “Where does God dwell?”, how would they have answered it? Well, after the Jews were freed from their slavery in Egypt, they knew God dwelt in the tabernacle. And later on, they knew that the placed God dwelled was in the temple. And now?

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

What an astonishing realization – that the God who has always resided in the tabernacle and temple is now taking up residence inside human beings. What does this mean? Though Jesus was about to leave these disciples, he goes on to make another grand promise – “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Being an orphan in this moment in history wasn’t primarily about emotional loss. It was about legal standing, protection, and inheritance.

Romans 8:15-16 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Are we up for learning some more Greek today? In the next chapter, John 15, there’s this beautiful teaching from Jesus on how we are to abide or remain in Him. While I prefer the term abide, the actual Greek word is meno. It occurs 11 times in the first 11 verses.

μενω (meno) – remain, stay, abide, dwell, make your home

It’s a verb. Now in John 14:23, pay attention to what Jesus says:

John 14:23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

The Greek word that gets translated home is a noun and it’s the word monen.

μονὴν (monen) – abode, dwelling, residence

This word is only used twice in John’s gospel, both occurring in chapter 14.

John 14:2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

Where you see the English word rooms, that is monen. So here Jesus is saying that God has an eternal dwelling place for you – after this life is over for everyone who has been adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus. But in verse 23, Jesus says that the Father and I will come to those who love me and make our home in them. How will the Father and Son do this? By the Spirit.

He’s no longer just dwelling in the tabernacle. He isn’t only residing in the temple. He’s taken up residence in you. You are not an orphan.

You are not left just to try to survive this life in your own strength. You are not alone. You house the living God and Jesus says you will do the things He has been doing. Jesus did his ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit and that empowering presence now lives in you. I’ll leave you with Acts 1:1

Acts 1:1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

Why didn’t Luke just write “all that Jesus did and taught”? Because He’s still doing it through ordinary humans who are filled with His Spirit.

Responses:

-Receive the Holy Spirit. How God wants to make His home in you. You don’t earn the Spirit. You ask and receive.

-Get to know the person of the Holy Spirit. Listen to the Spirit.

-The purpose of the Holy Spirit is for us to actually experience what we read about in Scripture. Give examples. Let me give you a few specifics on how to take truths from Scripture and experience them with the Spirit.

-God is Abba Father. That’s a truth. But now, let God father you and mother you by His Spirit.

-The Spirit is with us to help us in our weakness. So now, open yourself to the Spirit, tell him you cannot do it without Him, and receive his strength, help and power.

-You’ve heard today that God wants to make His home in you. Invite Him into the deep places and tell him He’s a welcomed resident within you.

-Living with orphan spirit; come live with the Holy Spirit.