A Calling for the Table-Flippers

John 16:1-15

History tells that Scotland was dominated by false doctrines imposed by the Roman

Catholic church in alliance with the kingdom, more precisely the Queen Mary. Such doctrines

that would exposed the Queen as the supreme authority, to the pope as the head of the church

and to the Roman Catholic clerical as being the body of the Church. Resulting then in the cen-

tralization of power on the kingdom and the catholic church’s hands.

It is important to highlight that such errors were not only taught, but were enforced by the

church. The idea of The Queen and the Papist as being supreme divine authorities would then

brain wash peoples resulting on plenty of power over the population. But God was not blind to it,

he had an ex-priest about to prosecute these people with their sin.

On 1546, only 6 years after his ordinance as priest, a former priest was exposed to the re-

formed ideas previously defended by apostle Paul and then by Martin Luther, that were drawing

people back to the gospel of our salvation. In fact, historians say that the 17th chapter of John,

the Hight Priest Prayer, was extremely important to seal this reality into his heart. The reality of

God as being the real sovereign, not the Queen, of Jesus being the head of the church, not the

pope, and the idea that God’s people have total access to God through Jesus that is our mediator

Himself, rather then the church. It is also important to highlight that in this age people did not

need to say much to easily face horrible deaths due to the instigation of confrontations either

against the kingdom or the religious system. However, for the “Thundering Scot,” his nickname,

death was not a problem because he had a vivid belief on Paul’s words “For me to live is Christ

and to die is gain.” Some commentators even would add that he feared God so much that he

feared no man.

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 He preached exposing the problem, denounced then the Queen and the whole system

about the corrupted religion they created. However, it is interesting that instead of being pun-

ished by the Queen, he was feared. The powerful Queen Mary, who attended most of John

Knox’s sermons, feared him as anyone else. We can find the reason for that in Queen Mary’s

writings when she says, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of

Europe.” The most powerful authority of Scotland could face any number of men but not a man

with God.

This is just a little sum up of the battle that the Preacher and Reformer John Knox faced

at Scotland. A man that feared God so much that feared no man. And thus for fearing God alone,

John Knox’s grave is today located in the City of Edinburgh, more precisely at the 23rd Parking

lot spot in the back of the cathedral. The great preacher of Scotland, the founder of the Presbyte-

rian Church deserves nothing less than that. And in fact he does not, and the reason is simple,

and the 16th chapter of John can be helpful to understand the why. The chapter does not start

giving us a picture of what could happen, but it starts with Jesus with a vivid picture of what will

happen. Persecution will occur Jesus says, “Since while I was there they persecuted me, in my

absence the same persecuting will be turned to you.” But why is Jesus saying such things?

Well, we find ourselves in the last day of the life of our Lord. Jesus had already washed

the feet of the 12, He had the last supper, Jesus exposed to John about Judas as the betrayer, Je-

sus also foretells Peter denial, all of that in chapter 13. In chapter 14 he exposes Himself as being

the way, the truth and life, He also gives some glimpses of the Holy Spirit as the Helper. And in

chapter 15 He starts by exposing Himself as the True Vine, which His followers including us,

could only be profitable to bear fruits if abiding in Him, and the heavenly consequences of these

fruits which the internal consequence is that, “His joy will be in us and our joy will be fulfilled,”

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and the external is gonna be the love for one another. But by the end of chapter 15, right after

verse 17, the tone of the conversation changes a quite bit. At verse 18 to chapter 16, the focus is

no longer at the heavenly guarantees and the heavenly consequences of abiding in Him, but on

the earthly consequences of abiding in Him, through the keeping His word.

The contrast is drastic in one hand at verses 14-5 Jesus calls us His personal friends, but

no further than that at verses 18-20 He talks about the world’s hatred towards us for His sake.

Adding at verse 20 that a servant is not grater than his master, basically meaning that if He was

hated and was persecuted, the same will happened to his followers. However, such discouraging

news are accompanied by some, kind of, comfort named the Paraclete. which more accu-

rately means, to empower (which will be taught later). And then, here we are at chapter 16.

In the verse 16, after talking a little bit about the Paraclete, that was going to literally em-

power the apostles, in the Word, to face such persecution giving them the ability to bear as wit-

nesses of Christ, Jesus gives them an even more vivid grasp of the suffering they were going to

face. It was like he was talking about suffering, gave them a little break with some water and

then came back with a more terrifying picture of what they were about to live. The second verse

of chapter 16 He says that they will be putted out of the synagogues. Now, we have to under-

stand one thing here. For us to be put out of the church would be a bad thing, since the church is

where we are spiritually fed and is where we are with our beloved friends and where we find

comfort and, the most important, it is a place where we learn and share the Word of our Lord.

However to be put out of the synagogue in a Jew civilization has a way more intense and pro-

found meaning.

To be put out of the synagogue in a Jew understanding would literally mean, to loose the

citizenship status. Jesus was saying that they would not even be considered citizens, their whole

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proud of being Jew, the chosen nation, would not exist any longer, they would not even exist fol-

lowing the Jewish tradition. If we contextualize to ourselves that would basically be understood

as Jesus saying to us “You will no longer be consider a Canadian by the Canadians,” or even

deeper “You will no longer be consider a person.” Thus the consequences of not being a sup-

porter of feminism, homosexuals, abortion, the idea that every religion is true (contextualizing

again) will be your exclusion of the society. To be included, to accepted we must to accept what

the society impose. At their time it was Judaism at the legalistic idea of salvation, however in our

case is humanism and the liberalistic idea that all deserve salvation and somehow will attain it.

In addition to that an even worst reality is added, Jesus says that they will be also killed

and it will not only be considered right, but it will be considered godly. Therefore, translating for

our time, it means that we will be persecuted if we do not lean towards a take part with feminist,

homosexuals, abortion, pagan religions. Thus because of the Jesus words we will be persecuted,

we will be accused of intolerant, we will be accused as ungodly and we then, if we keep on going

we will be finally killed. Those were the costs for being apostles, those are the costs of following

Christ nowadays. In fact that around three years from Christ’s crucifixion Stephen became to be

known as the first martyr of the Church, giving to the church a vivid example of what means to

be a faithful disciple.

This is as bad as it can possibly get. Jesus is saying that in His absence they suffer the

very same things he suffered, they are to be persecuted in the very same way He was, and that

they are to be killed because He was killed. With that in mind I would like to focus on the verses

8 to 10, because in my opinion this verses are not really understood and they are extremely im-

portant for our christian war. As we just saw, Jesus gave to the apostle the full picture of what

will be like when he has depart from them. These are the costs, nothing less than that. Well, we

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have to admit that it does not sound very tempting. Even though Jesus also adds about the com-

ing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus uses the word Paraklētos with the idea of empowering to sustain

them in truth and not to give them a good feeling over their suffering. In addition He says that,

“When he [the Paraklētos] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness

and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me.

While facing this portion of verses, people tend to associate it directly to their under-

standing of the internal act of the Holy Spirit. I agree that apart from the work of the Holy Spirit

there would be no believing person existing. It was John Calvin that said, “The grace of God has

no charms of men till the Holy Spirit gives them a taste for it.” I totally believe on it. However

this is not the only work of the Holy Spirit and it is not what Jesus is talking about on this situa-

tion. I want to expose that in this case Jesus is talking about the external work of the Holy Spirit

in the believer’s mind and not on the unbeliever. The key for the understanding it is in the origi-

nal meaning of the word “to convict.”

The word “To convict” in Greek is “elenchō” and it has a big difference in the original

language. The world can be translated as “to put to shame; to accuse, to bring to test, to refute.

For the theologian Craig Keener the word has even more intense meaning, for him the word

means to convict but in a judicial sense. For him it means to prosecute. Keener, in his commen-

tary, explains that the world “to convict” if taken in a judicial sense, has a huge difference than

the understanding we normally would have of it. We have been using such word as a synonym of

feeling bad, we have the understanding that to feel convicted it the same of feeling bad for a

prior act. However in greek it means that the person was convicted. It means that the person it

was in court, the evidences were exposed and this person was convicted guilty. There is nothing

else that can be done, the process is done, the defendant was declared guilty. I follow such idea,

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because for example if we go to John the Baptist and analyze when he convicted Herod the

tetrarch of his sin. For we understand that he did not make him to feel bad but he prosecuted him

and brought the evidences exposing his guiltiness.

Therefore that is what I mean by the external work of the Holy Spirit in the believer. He

empower us in His word to prosecute and convict the world about their sins. We are called to ex-

pose their condemnation. Some would ask, “But why don’t we talk about the good news instead

of bringing up sin and condemnation? That seems too rough. My answer would be that there is

no sense of exposing the good news if the bad news are not understood. Pay attention to this, the

good news without the bad news does not make any sense. There is only Good news because the

prior news were bad. And our calling is to prosecute the world. To be like Peter in his first ser-

mon preached right after the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Some would ask, “But what kind of sin should I talk first? Would it be the sin of taking

the name of the Lord in vain, the third commandment? I have some friends that keep doing it all

the time.” The answer is no. The reason is that you, yourself take the name of the Lord in vain

every time you act against His nature, because the name of God is not limited to the word God

but to who he is and at the same time call yourself His follower, that is to take His name in vain.

So what is that? Would it be the sin of covet, the tenth commandment? You have to see my boss

she is so jealous of what I have, seriously.” The answer is no, again. All the 10 commandments

are based on the moral of the follower, not of the unbeliever. As we know morals people always

have the excuse that they are good enough, and somehow they will end up heaven. Jonathan Ed-

wards, in his most memorable sermon called “Sinners in the hands of an angry God,” says that:

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 “Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he

depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in

what he is now doing, or what he intends to do; every one lays out matters in his own

mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for him-

self, and that his schemes won’t fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and

that the bigger part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one

imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done.”

Therefore what is the sin that Jesus is talking about, what is the sin that the apostles had

to convict people and expose their guiltiness? The answer is simple and it is exposed by Jesus

himself at verse 9 “concerning sin, because they did not believe in me.” Listen to this, the only

sin that sends people directly to hell is to believe NOT in Jesus Christ as the son of God and the

author of salvation. That is what they preached to the world and that is what we have to preach to

the world. The condemnation is at hand for those that do not believe that Jesus Christ is was the

only perfect being that fulfilled that whole requirements of the Law and lived the only perfect

life that impacted on our behalf for our salvation.

We will prosecute the world’s sin. We are the table flippers. Right now we have an great

understanding of way the apostles were going to face persecution. They were not going to face

persecution because they were going to preach about peace. They were going to face persecution

because, in the same way as Jesus, they were going to prosecute and expose people as con-

demned. Jesus the original table flipper it was going to give this responsibility to His own. Re-

member that He said that they would be persecuted, since he was persecuted.

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 We live in a society that is extremely sinful and liberal. As said before, our society is ba-

sically leaded by humanistic views and where is the Church? Our society has changed the bibli-

cal meaning of marriage with homosexual’s rights, our society has changed the meaning of fam-

ily with feminism movements (abortion), our society has even stipulate that there are more ways

to find God. “It does not really need to be through Christ. Come on guys we have to include ev-

eryone.” The question is where is the Church? In most cases the Church does not agree with the

subject but the Church does not have any effect because the believers do want to be liked.

Where are the table flippers? Jesus said, “If you keep my words you will also be perse-

cuted.” Therefore if we are not being persecuted there is something wrong. Or we are not playing

our role or Jesus was wrong. I stand with the first option, which option do you stand with? I am

not saying that we have to look for persecution, I am saying that by preaching salvation the

world will automatically persecute us by following Christ-likeness the world will persecute us. It

is not probably or most likely, “it will.” The world love us, the world loves the church because

the church is not being different from the world. We are being too polite in our approaches, there

is no more Pauls, no more John the Baptists, no more Jesus-likeness. All the people that an-

nounced the Gospel were flip the tables, but why our tables smell like new?

John Knox not only convicted Queen Mary, but also all Scotland. John Knox it was a le-

git table Flipper, a follower of Christ who feared God so much that feared no man. Where is our

fear at? Galatians 1:10 Paul says that “while he is preaching the Gospel he does want to please

God. In fact that if he would be trying to please man he would not be a servant of Christ.” Who

are we serving? “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, the WILL perse-

cute you.” This is not a possibility this is a reality. Jesus, the most important man that ever ex-

isted, the man that only spoke the truth, the man that is our example, the man that prosecute sin-

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ners. He was born in a barn and when was killed did not had his own grave to be buried, but He

was buried at Joseph of Arimathea’s grave, one of his secret follower. John Knox, one of his ser-

vant, followed His steps and ended up in the parking lot of a cathedral. “A servant is not greater

than his master.” What kind of grave do you want for yourself? Do you want one that worths for

man or one that worths for God?