You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Our passion is to experience and express grace.
Join us.
We're continuing with our encounter with Jesus in the Gospel of John this morning.
Jesus is in the upper room with his disciples the night before his death on the cross.
And they are starting to process some pretty sobering realities.
So much so that Jesus addresses their angst in this passage today by starting with saying to them,
let not your hearts be troubled.
Why were they troubled?
Well, they've just learned that Jesus, the leader they love, won't be with them much longer.
That he's about to die.
He's just informed them that one of them will betray him.
And then he's told them that another of them, a leader among his followers, will fail him as well.
How are they going to go on?
What's next?
Is there any hope at all left for them?
That's the context into which Jesus speaks, John 14, some of his most famous words.
They are not just quotes to hang on your wall.
They're not just for the sake of his Wikipedia page.
They are words targeted for our hearts.
I love that about Jesus.
How Jesus saves some of his most glorious truths for some of our most desperate moments.
Before I read them, I want to reflect with you briefly about how the hearts of the disciples in this room this morning
may be similarly troubled to those this night we're about to read about.
Y'all, there have been many different reasons just in this church family for us to feel troubled lately.
Some of us have stood recently face to face with death at the bedside of a loved one.
Others have reeled back with hearing difficult, life-altering health news.
I've talked this week with parents.
At their wits end, heavy hearts feeling like there's just no good path forward with this child they love.
Someone else shared with me this week, he's just not sure there's value in what he's been pouring his life into for years.
And what's it for?
This job he spent so much time on just doesn't seem worth it to him.
Many of us, day in and day out, find just the pace of daily life in this world overwhelming and beyond our control.
Some of us, young and old, feel like we're missing out on life.
We're alone.
Everybody else is enjoying it.
We're not.
We're troubled about our uncertain relationship with God,
even though we've been in church, around Jesus for a long time.
We're troubled because the best among us seem to be failing Jesus.
We're troubled because the group of people that we've followed Jesus with is not what we thought or hoped.
Troubled by what's happening to myself, to my church, to my Jesus in the world.
If you're troubled, if you're not troubled right now,
I suspect your heart will sometime soon feel that unsettled, insecure, disrupted feeling.
And Jesus has some of his most hopeful words for some of our most hopeless moments.
Hear Jesus' words this morning as I read them.
Listen closely right now because they will bring more comfort than any words I will say this morning.
John 14, verse 1.
Let not your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God.
Believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many rooms.
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also.
And you know the way to where I am going.
Thomas said to him,
Lord, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way?
And Jesus said to him,
I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you had known me, you would have known the Father also.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.
Philip said to him,
Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us.
Jesus said to him,
Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, show us the Father?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority,
but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
Or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Truly, truly, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do.
And greater works than these he will do,
because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name,
this I will do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son,
if you ask me anything in my name.
I will do it.
Let's pray together.
Jesus, in your name,
we ask you to comfort our troubled hearts
with your hope,
by the power of your Spirit,
for the glory of your name.
But please, Jesus, now,
would you speak to us?
Amen.
Many of us can remember a time
when we walked into a locker room at halftime
with our heads down,
beaten down.
We're way behind.
We messed up early in the game.
Our star player is out for the rest of the game.
There's really no hope for the second half.
And the coach has to step up
to send us back out for the second half.
And he says something like this.
All right, you guys, you got this.
You can do it.
Keep fighting.
Don't give up.
Dig deep.
Believe in yourselves.
That's the message, right?
You've heard it in a number of different ways.
I'm not against a good pep talk, by the way,
to encourage or motivate a team.
But notice the contrast with Jesus' words
to his troubled disciples.
He's sending them back out.
Where will they find comfort and hope?
Is it in digging deep inside themselves?
Believing in themselves?
Believe in God.
Believe also in me.
This is so important.
The hope Jesus offers his troubled disciples
throughout this conversation
comes from outside ourselves.
It's actually so hopeful, so encouraging.
We need to place our faith in someone else.
And he tells us to trust him.
Jesus offers himself as our hope
whenever we are troubled.
Christian, hear that message clearly this morning.
Lest you go back out into the world
that he sends you to in your own strength.
It's not how he sends you.
And if you have never believed in Jesus,
never trusted yourself to him,
never decided that he is the source
of the life that you are longing for,
I'm so glad that you are here this morning.
I would invite you to listen to what Jesus offers
to those who do believe in him.
Whether you're convinced right now
that he can come through on what he offers or not,
consider the comfort,
the hope that Jesus promises to provide
differently from anyone else.
Trust me, Jesus says.
And now the comfort that he offers begins.
It is all in him.
Verse two,
in my father's house are many rooms.
If it were not so,
would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you.
Jesus is about to go away from them, right?
But he is going to prepare a place for them.
It's a dwelling, a home,
with the idea of these words
focusing not so much on the size
as on the security,
the certainty of the home.
There's a place for you,
a place where you belong,
a home.
When the storms of life
have you confused and overwhelmed,
there's no place like home.
There's no place like home
where you're accepted, right?
Where you're at rest.
Where's home for us?
Paul will later say
our citizenship is in heaven.
That's home.
With God in his house,
a city, a heavenly home
that he's made for us
and made us for.
Are you troubled by life
not working out
the way that you'd hoped?
Feeling unfulfilled
here in this world?
Troubled perhaps
by the end of your time here
or someone else's time
here in this world
coming quickly?
Jesus sets our hope,
not here,
but on a true home
that is beyond this world.
C.S. Lewis says
this is why God
gives us here
only glimpses
of true happiness,
never enough
to fully satisfy us.
It's because he made us
for another world,
for another home
where we'll more deeply
feel that.
Lewis writes
in The Problem of Pain,
the security that we crave
would teach us
to rest our hearts
in this world
and so it would pose
an obstacle
to our return to God.
But a few moments
of happy love,
a landscape,
a symphony,
a merry meeting
with friends,
a bath
or a football match
have no such tendency.
Our Father refreshes us
on the journey
with some pleasant ends
but will not encourage us
to mistake them
for home.
Let not your heart
be troubled.
Jesus is preparing
a home for you.
And then he clarifies
the most important thing
about our true home.
It's one thing.
It's that that home
is with Jesus.
Verse 3,
if I go and prepare
a place for you,
I will come again
and will take you
to myself
that where I am
you may be also.
I will take you where?
To myself.
That where I am
you may be also.
This, beloved,
is heaven
to be
with
Jesus.
How does the Apostle Paul
encourage us with hope
in the end times?
He says,
and so
we will be
always
with
the Lord.
Home,
friends,
is where
Jesus is.
In fact,
1 John 3
tells us
we'll be
like Jesus
because we will
finally see him
as he is
face to face
completely remade
in his image.
Jesus doesn't
get into a lot
of details
about heaven here,
does he?
How gold
are the streets,
Jesus?
I mean,
how big
is my house
after all?
What will I spend
all of my time
doing?
Listen,
he doesn't get into it
because none of that
comforts
like the fact
that you will be
in the Father's house
with Jesus,
his Son.
You know this.
You know that's
the most important thing.
What is by far
the most important
thing about a honeymoon?
Is it the particular
details of the place
that you stay?
Is it the excellence
of the food?
Is it the quality
of the service?
No way!
It is the presence
of your beloved,
right?
That's what makes
it a honeymoon.
Jesus says,
I've got a home
for you.
Not just a week,
but an eternity.
And I'll be there
with you.
So you can rest
today
instead of
trying to make
life in this world
a perfect
and satisfying home
that gives you
everything you've ever
longed for.
In fact,
even those of you
who fail me here
miserably,
you're coming home
with me.
Look,
this is
amazing grace
beyond what you
might be realizing
if you're just
thinking about heaven
and the home
right now.
Stop and listen
to Jesus here.
Jesus is preparing
a place for you,
right?
He's doing all
of that work
and then he's not
waiting for you
to find your way
to get there
to this wonderful
place.
He's actually
coming back
to get you.
What comfort!
Don't miss that
because Thomas
is about to miss
that, okay?
Let not your
heart be troubled.
Your true home
is with
Jesus.
Thomas is too
practical here,
too down to earth,
although I'm so
thankful he is.
Gets us a really
beautiful interaction.
And I find the
same thing in me.
When my heart
is troubled,
I often find that
I grasp for
something secure,
some very
practical security,
something I can
hold on to
even if I know
it won't really
last.
Look at verse 4.
Jesus says,
you know the way
to where I'm going.
And Thomas said
to him,
Lord, we don't
know where you're
going.
How can we know
the way?
Do you hear him?
Can you feel
the anxiety
in his voice?
Cut the fluff,
Jesus.
You're leaving us.
How are we going
to be okay on our
own?
You've got to give
us something more.
how can they
know the way
to be with him?
Jesus said to him,
I am the way
and the truth
and the life.
No one comes
to the Father
except through me.
There's an exclusive
claim here in this
verse and that might
be hanging some of us
up.
We're going to come
back to that in just
a second, okay?
But what's Jesus
primarily saying here
when he makes the
statement about who
he is?
He is comforting
his disciples by
telling them that he
is all they need,
that he is the
sufficient way to
the Father to get
home.
They need only to
know him, to trust
him, to live in
relationship with
him.
Not some complex
set of directions,
this is not like the
Mission Impossible
movie where if
you're going to
find the treasure
you have to get
through a retina
scan and then
crawl through the
air vents and
dodge security
cameras and jump
through laser beams
and balance on one
tiptoe and crack the
safe all the same
time just to get to
the treasure.
That's not what
Jesus is saying.
He says, no, you
trust me.
I do the work.
I come back to
rescue you.
I bring you all the
way home.
Y'all, that's grace.
That's Jesus.
That's how he works.
I am, he says.
Yet again in John, a
pointer to his true
divine identity.
Remember the bread of
life, the light of the
world, the door, the
good shepherd, the
resurrection and the
life and now I am the
way, the truth and the
life.
We just need to know
him because he's not
merely the way to the
father but the truth
and life himself.
Just as we said, not
merely the way home, the
way to that place but he
is the destination, the
rest, the highlight of
the home himself.
Thomas Akempis famously
paraphrased Jesus here in
the 15th century.
Without the way, there is
no going.
Without the truth, there
is no knowing.
Without the life, there is
no living.
I am the way which you
must follow, the truth
which you must believe, the
life for which you must
hope.
I am the inviolable way, the
infallible truth, the
unending life.
I am the way that is
straight, the supreme
truth, the life that is
true, the blessed, the
uncreated life.
That's the main thing Jesus
is communicating.
That he is the sufficient
way.
But it's true, and I want
to slow down here because
this throws most people
these days.
He is the only way.
That's quite clear in the
Greek.
The way, the truth, the
life.
In fact, Jesus clarifies
that no one comes to the
Father except through him.
Despite what you hear these
days, even in many
churches, this is consistent
with Jesus' claims elsewhere
in John, the teaching of
Scripture as a whole.
salvation is found in no
one else, for there is no
other name under heaven
given to men by which we
must be saved.
Acts 4.12.
Now, there are books and
blogs all over the place
about this and what it
means and how it impacts
us.
Let me just say two things
this morning.
The first one, primarily for
those of you here
investigating Jesus,
when something is personal,
it's always exclusive.
In other words, when it's
about relationship, there's
only one way.
There's only one me and one
you.
You can't pick someone else
and spend time with him,
getting to know him, and
then claim through that to
have a relationship with me.
It's not the nature of
relationship.
And Christianity teaches
that what we need, in fact,
what we long for, because
it's what we were made for,
is relationship with God
himself.
And so, Jesus, as we'll see
more here, is connecting us
to that uniquely.
Christianity is not like many
religions, an experience,
or primarily a philosophy,
or an achievement,
something you do.
The God of the Bible
is a unique person
in relationship with whom
we actually get to know him,
and we experience true love.
We trust his justice.
We rejoice in his presence.
So to say that there's a
person who exclusively
is the way to God
is wonderfully personal
and completely normal.
Especially wonderful
if he's bringing God
to us, right?
What we should be concerned
about when we talk about
being exclusive,
this is the second thing
I especially want those
who trust Jesus already
to be listening to,
who is excluded
by Jesus' exclusivity?
We rightly should be careful.
Typically, when we think
of people being excluded,
it is those who don't
measure up,
who can't reach the bar,
who don't offer
what's needed.
Exclusivity almost always
means that those
who are good enough
are in,
and those who are too bad
are out, right?
The good news of Jesus
is the most inclusive
exclusivity ever.
Listen, this grace
we've been talking about
here this morning,
Jesus prepares the place,
he pays the penalty,
he comes and brings us
home to himself.
What does that mean?
It means the weak,
the poor,
the bad,
the humble
are in.
They're in
with Jesus.
The ones excluded
are those who proudly
insist on their own way,
who reject a God
who's greater than they are,
who refuse the path
of grace.
Friends, that probably means
there is way more grace
than we can comprehend
for mistakes
and misunderstandings
and missed opportunities.
So we Christians
should be the last people
who are looking down
on anyone else
who disagrees with us.
It should be
that we're looking out
for them.
We are the bad,
the left out,
the weak,
and Jesus has brought us in.
Amen?
It's the only way
you get there.
He is the way,
not you being good enough.
Jesus is the way
and he loves
bringing people home.
you struggling
with your performance
these days?
Are you hurt
by your church's
failures?
Are you thinking
you've lost your way
in life?
Let not your heart
be troubled.
Jesus
is all you need
to get home.
Two more bits
of comfort
more briefly.
Jesus continues
in verse 7.
If you had known me
you would have known
my father also.
From now on
you do know him
and have seen him.
Philip said to him,
Lord show us the father
and it is enough
for us.
And Jesus then
asks a really
sobering question.
Especially if you've
been in a church
a long time
but you don't feel
close to Jesus.
Jesus said to him,
Have I been with you
so long
and you still
do not
know me?
Have I been with you
so long
and you still
don't
know
me?
See,
whoever has seen me
has seen the father.
How can you say
show us the father?
Do you not believe
that I'm in the father
and the father
is in me?
The words that I say
to you,
I don't speak them
on my own authority.
You know this,
Philip.
The father who dwells
in me does his works.
Believe me
that I am in the father
and the father
is in me.
Have you gotten
the message yet?
Or else believe
on account
of the works
themselves.
Remember that
personal knowing
that I said
Christianity
is all about?
That's what Jesus
is saying here.
It's not
information about.
Information about
someone is not
exclusive.
You can read
about someone.
You can know
a lot of information.
Jesus wants you
personally
to know
God,
your father.
Jesus is telling
his friends
that when they
know him,
they know
the father.
Wow!
See,
in this culture
that would have
been unthinkable.
God was
the unknowable.
Yahweh
was high
and exalted
and above them
and so Philip
is understandably
still worried
that Jesus
is about to leave
and God
is still out
there unknown.
Perhaps he's
out to get them.
Likely at this point
he's disappointed
in them, right?
And Jesus
was this messianic
figure that
they hoped
would lead them
to God
and so Jesus
says don't be
confused.
Don't be
troubled by this.
I am
who God
really is.
Jesus
came
to reveal
the father
perfectly
and personally
to us.
You want to know
what God's like?
He stoops
to wash
the feet
of those
beneath him.
He weeps
in the face
of death
at the tomb
of a loved one.
He feeds
5,000 plus people
like that
with no effort.
He heals
the sick,
raises the dead,
challenges
the proud.
In fact,
he chases
religious
profiteers
out of his
house,
drives them
away.
It disgusts
him when
people use
his name
and his
church
to hurt
others
and to
point them
away from
him.
Just wait
till you see
if that's
what he's
like towards
religious
people.
What do
you think
he's going
to do
when he
finds a
sinful
woman
at the
well?
Well,
he patiently
and lovingly
and against
all expectations
engages with
her.
He in
fact brings
hope to
her life
and through
her to
her whole
community.
Will God
really be
that way
with me?
Will it be
like that for
me?
even though
I've known
about him
for so
long?
Will he
still be
that way
with me?
Is there
justice for
my suffering?
Is there
grace for
my sin?
Yes.
Most
assuredly,
yes,
there is.
Let not
your heart
be troubled.
God is
really like
what you've
seen in
Jesus.
Such
good news.
We're
going to
see more
of these
next hopeful
words next
week.
But they're
words of
comfort and
hope too.
How will
we accomplish
anything with
you gone,
Jesus?
You know
they're asking
that.
You're the
miracle worker.
You're the
wise teacher.
You're the
winner of
followers.
Verse 12,
truly,
I say to
you,
whoever
believes in
me will
also do
the works
that I
do.
And
greater
works than
these will
he do
because I
am going
to the
Father.
In fact,
whatever you
ask in
my name,
this I
will do,
that the
Father may
be glorified
in the
Son.
If you
ask me
anything in
my name,
I will
do it.
Believe in
me.
Right?
Right where we
started.
Jesus offers
himself as
our hope.
He's leaving,
but he's
not leaving
us alone.
He's going
to keep
working in
us to
live like
him,
to do
even
greater
things in
the sense
of the
timing of
Jesus'
kingdom.
After his
death and
resurrection,
the full
gospel will
be proclaimed
clearly and
personally.
More people
will be brought
into his
kingdom.
God's glory
will come
and be seen
in fresh
ways.
And when
you start
asking,
by the
power of
Jesus,
not your
own,
for the
glory of
Jesus,
not your
own,
he will
delight to
hear and
answer your
prayers.
You can talk
with him like
he's still
right there
with you.
Now these
last verses
can be abused
in both
directions.
I'm aware
of that.
No, he's
not saying
name it and
claim it,
whatever car
you want,
just it'll
show up in
your driveway
this afternoon.
But I
want to warn
us Presbyterians
more on the
other side,
okay?
Don't
underestimate
the power
of prayer
because it
connects to
the power
of Jesus
who is
alive like
he's right
here with
you.
You long
to see
Jesus glorified
in the life
of your
child,
your neighbor,
yourself,
in an area
that seems
to you
impossible.
How could
the light
of Jesus
shine there?
Ask him.
Keep asking.
He's telling
you that he
may not be
here performing
miracles bodily
anymore,
but the miraculous
things beyond
what any of us
asks or imagines,
they haven't
stopped and
they won't
stop.
And I don't
know if you're
starting to feel
uncomfortable because
I am just a little
bit, but I'm
preaching the text
and this is
what Jesus
says will
happen.
So he's
talking to
Peter, listen
Peter, you're
the one who
saw my glory
and my
transfiguration.
You're the
one who
watched Lazarus
walk out of
a grave.
You, Peter,
have seen the
Samaritan woman
come to faith
and the Jewish
Messiah and I'm
telling you that
even though all
those things have
happened, your
best days with
me are still to
come.
Greater things
yet will happen,
Jesus says.
Just ask.
You know why?
Because you're
not on your
own.
There are
greater things
with Jesus.
Holy Spirit
next week, so
good.
Jesus will never
leave you and
in his economy
the best things
are always yet
to come.
Let not your
heart be
troubled.
Your best days
with Jesus are
still ahead.
So much comfort
for us in one
passage.
right where we
most need it.
Right?
He speaks words
like this.
I'm not supposed
to but I have to
show you one last
thing.
When Jesus says
let not your
hearts be
troubled,
he's not
saying shut
up and quit
whining.
Your troubles
are no big
deal.
He knows there
are real reasons
in this world
to get
troubled,
to be
unsettled,
even upset.
I know that
because we're
told that during
this very
conversation,
just a few
verses earlier,
Jesus himself
is troubled,
same word,
in his
spirit.
As he
contemplates
his betrayal
and his
approaching
death.
So what does
Jesus do
when his
heart is
troubled?
Hey, take
your own
advice, man.
Let not
your heart
be troubled.
What does
Jesus do?
Jesus
stays
troubled
so that
we don't
have to.
Jesus
troubles
himself
for our
comfort.
Jesus
goes to
an agonizing
death
willingly
as the
way to
prepare a
home for
us,
to bring
us to
that home
with him,
to love
you like
God so
that you
always have
hope of
brighter days
with Jesus.
He faces
the trouble
head on
to spare
us from
it so
that our
troubled hearts
today don't
have to
stay troubled.
There's
comfort for
us today
only
because there
was no
comfort for
him on
the cross.
He died
to give
us these
glorious
promises of
life.
Do you see
his love
for you?
That's the
message of
the Lord's
Supper.
It was
this very
night where
he's saying
these things
where he
would be
betrayed.
That the
Lord Jesus
took bread
and he
broke it
and he
gave it
to his
disciples
as I'm
ministering
in his
name.
Give this
bread to
you.
And he
said,
take,
eat.
This is
my body
broken for
you.
Do this
in remembrance
of me.
And in the
same way
after supper
he took
the cup
and said,
this cup
is the new
covenant in
my blood
shed for
many for
the forgiveness
of sins.
Drink from
it all
of you.
For as
often as
you eat
this bread
and drink
this cup
you proclaim
the Lord's
death
until he
comes.
This is
Jesus'
table.
It's not
the table
of Southwood
or the
Presbyterian
church.
So child
of God
let not
your heart
be troubled.
His body
given
for you.
His blood
shed
for you.
Your home
purchased
and prepared
for you
to be with
him today.
Come and
taste it.
To be with
him forever.
Long for that.
Look forward
to that.
Come
and eat.
If you
don't
know Jesus
like that,
if you
have not
personally
embraced
him as
the way
into
relationship
with God,
the truth
and the
life that
you long
for,
then don't
come take
these elements
today.
But I
would plead
with you
instead,
take
Jesus
today as
he offers
himself
to you.
Believe
in him
as the
hope
for your
troubled
heart.
It's
trouble
that can't
be fully
handled,
fully
satisfied.
any
other
way.
And
Jesus
offers
himself
to
you
now
and
forever.
Come
let us
pray with
you during
the Lord's
Supper.
We'd
love to
talk with
you more
after.
But come
to Jesus.
Let's pray
and we'll
celebrate
together.
Jesus,
every one
of us
desperately
needs you
to come
to us.
By your
Holy Spirit
meet with
us now
so that
very normal
bread and
wine
minister to
our hearts
in a very
holy
and powerful
way
that you
would do
work here
today that
we couldn't
make happen
on our
own
because you're
present
and you're
giving us
your grace
again.
Do your
work
for your
glory and
our good.
We ask
in your
name.
Amen.
For more
information,
visit us
online at
southwood.org.