‘After this I do not call YOU servants—because a servant is not aware of what his master is doing—but… friends, because everything I have heard alongside [Gr. para] my Father I have made known to YOU. ·YOU have not chosen me but I have chosen YOU and… placed [Gr. e-theeka] YOU: so that YOU may go…and bear fruit…that will remain, so that whatever YOU request of the Father in my name he may give YOU…·If the world rebuffs YOU, YOU know that it rebuffed me before YOU. ·…Because YOU do not belong to the world—through my having chosen YOU out of the world—the world rebuffs YOU. ·Remember the word I spoke to YOU: A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute YOU; if they kept my word, they will keep YOURS as well. ·But they will do all these things to YOU on account of my name, because they do not recognize the One who sent me. ·If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin. Now they have no excuse…·The one who rebuffs me also rebuffs my Father. If I had not done among them the works no one else has ever done, they would have had no sin; but they have observed, yet they have rebuffed both me and my Father. (John 15:15-16,18-24 GH[i])

When the Advocate [Gr. parakleetos] comes—the Spirit of truth from alongside [para] the Father, whom I, from alongside [para] the Father will send to YOU—he will testify concerning me. ·And YOU too will testify because YOU have been with me from the beginning. ·I have told YOU these things so that YOU may not be tripped up. ·They will expel YOU from synagogues. …The one who kills YOU will presume he is offering divine service to God. ·They will do these things because they do not know either the Father or me. ·I have told YOU of these things, so that when the hour for them comes YOU may be reminded…because I told YOU. I did not tell YOU these things from the beginning because I was with YOU. ·Now, however, I am going away to the One who sent me, and… ·because I have said these things to YOU, sorrow has filled YOUR heart. ·But I tell YOU the truth, it is advantageous for YOU that I leave, because if I do not leave the Advocate will not come to YOU. Yet if I make this journey, I will send him to YOU. ·On coming, that One will convict the world about sin, righteous relationship and judgment:

I still have many things to say to YOU, but YOU cannot bear them at the moment. ·Yet when that One comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide YOU in the complete truth; for he will not be speaking as from himself. Rather, he will speak whatever he might hear; and the things that are coming he will announce to YOU. ·He will glorify me; for he will receive and announce to YOU from what is mine. ·All things that the Father has are mine. It is for this reason I said: he will receive and announce to YOU from what is mine… ·As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending YOU. (16:12-15; 20:21)

As Jesus anticipated his return to the Father, he told his disciples that his departure would be to their ‘advantage’. In heaven, he would continue to be their Advocate (Med.#52). But with the coming of the Holy as their ongoing Advocate here on earth Spirit after Jesus' ascension, the disciples would be able to experience a new level of closeness to the Father in a direct relationship with him. Instead of a ‘servant-to-master’ relationship with God, their relationship with him as their Father would be characterized by ‘friendship’. Not only would Jesus call them ‘friends’ [Gr. philous], but the Father's love for them would be characterized by a similar ‘fondness’ [Gr. phileo] (Med.#51). This relationship with the Father—described by Jesus in terms of family and friendship—refers to an adult son/daughter relationship with him. And our Father demonstrates his fondness for us, as disciples of Jesus: by entrusting us with responsibility, by revealing to us what we need to know of the family business, and by giving us the resources needed to carry out our responsibility. If you didn't have an earthly father who treated you in these ways, you now have a heavenly Father who does.

When we give our lives to Jesus, we are responding to his call—to his choice, which sets us apart from the world. Through his call and our response we are reconciled to our eternal family. But we are also ‘sent’ back into the world just as the Father sent Jesus—to carry out the Father's work of ‘reconciling the world to himself’ (Med.#32). So first, to help us understand the nature of the responsibility our Father has given us, Jesus likens us to fruit-bearing plants. Our work produces lasting results to our Father’s glory, if we—as multiple branches —abide in Jesus (Med.#22). All his disciples are members of his Body; and none of us carries out such work alone. Further, each of us has been given complementary gifts of the Spirit for carrying out our respective ministry responsibilities as co-workers in the family kingdom (Med.#50).

Yet the Father doesn't just give us the Holy Spirit to empower our witness (Med.#49). The Spirit is also ‘One called alongside [Gr. parakleetos] us as a partner in witness to the world with complementary witnessing roles of his own. Like Jesus, we have been commissioned as the Father's witnesses to go to people where they are—not only in our own ethnic groups, but also to disciple and teach all nations (Med.#87). Yet in our witness and our teaching, it is not our responsibility to try to convict people of their sin. That is for the Holy Spirit, our partner in witness, to do. It is also his responsibility to convince people how Jesus, as their Kinsman-Redeemer (Eldest Brother), can become their ‘righteous relationship’ with the Father too. And it is the Holy Spirit's job to move people toward faith and repentance, and to convince them of the consequences of not believing in Jesus.

One other responsibility we have been given, though, involves learning to do the same kind of powerful and compassionate works that Jesus did. And works that reveal the character and authority of the Father include: welcoming children, outcasts, the handicapped and the poor, as well as ministering healing, deliverance or reconciliation. Yet it is the job of the Holy Spirit, working alongside us, to convince people of the meaning of these works: that Satan, the ‘principal leader’ of this world's enslaving and destructive powers, has already been judged (Med.#36); and that through the cross, all religious and political rulers and oppressive family powers have been disarmed (Med.#31). We can teach and demonstrate this through our actions and our works, but only the Holy Spirit can convince people to put their faith in Jesus and in his victory over all these powers.

Secondly, we learn from the above passage of the Father's intention to reveal to us everything he has ‘given’ to Jesus concerning the family business. When Jesus was here on earth, he passed on to his disciples ‘everything’ he had learned from the Father. The Holy Spirit who comes from the Father is ‘the Spirit of truth’ (Med.#51), who reveals previously hidden things (Med.#3 & Med.#6): by guiding us into all truth and by giving us a ‘heads up’ about things that are coming. But we must remember that such revelation comes from the Father, because we have a Father who wants us to understand what he is doing as we work together with him.

Thirdly, our Father has also promised to give us the resources we need to work with him (Med.#51). Yet he expects us to take our responsibility and ask him for what we need, in Jesus' name. If we lack understanding—or anything else—it’s probably because we haven't asked our Father, or because we only asked him for things to satisfy our own pleasures and desires (Med.#86). And if he doesn't answer us immediately, we must demonstrate our faith in him by ‘keeping on asking’ for the good gifts we need in the Spirit (Med.#13).

Finally, how does the Father react when our attempts to be his witnesses seem to fail—when people in the world misunderstand us, reject us, or even abuse and threaten to kill us. Instead of blaming us for a faulty witness, our Father identifies with us. Just like Jesus identifies with us when we are being hated or rejected for his sake, so our Father also stands in our corner, saying: ‘if you rebuff my son or my daughter, then you rebuff me’. This does not mean that Jesus and the Father approve of all forms of witness. Some forms of witness are self-serving and may cause problems for the Gospel (Med.#56). Our Father will try to correct us when our witness does not reflect his character, but he will never distance himself from us. And like Jesus and Paul, we too may need to lovingly correct a brother or sister whose attitude or attempts at witness are flawed.

Father, give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that I may know you better. May your name, Father, be holy in my life and witness today; may your kingdom come, and your will be done. Show me how to glorify you as a witness to the following people: _________ and  _________ (Eph.1:17; Matt.6:9-10; Jn.15:8).

Holy Spirit, please reveal Jesus to them as the Father's righteous Son; convict them of sin and convince them that the Evil One they are facing has already been condemned. (Jn.16:8-11).

Father, I ask you again, in Jesus' name, for the understanding and the gifts I need today to work with you, that my witness, and that of others, like ___________, may be fruitful for your glory. (Jn.16:26-27; 15:16; Jas.1:5,17).

[i] The whole Scripture passage is taken from J.K. Mellis, The Good News of the Messiah by the Four Witnesses, pp.241-243 & 282.