John 14:1-11“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. 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? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.7 If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. 11 Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
John 14:1-11 JESUS OFFERS COMFORT
Springford Baptist Church: August 20, 2023.
Yes, we are to live one day at a time, but as any of us would do when driving, we need to anticipate what is on the road ahead.
There is a challenging balance between looking at the present- living for God now and looking beyond. Looking beyond inspires us in living now and it motivates us to consider what is ahead.
Looking beyond gives us courage when we wonder how we will carry on when we face the hard struggles of life. When we consider how Jesus responded to His followers, we can recognize that He was well aware of how they were feeling and would feel when he was no longer physically present with them.
Jesus wanted to reassure them and to offer them comfort for what was to come. When we think about answering the question, “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO”? we can see evidence here that Jesus would offer comfort. Jesus would and did anticipate how troubled the hearts of His friends would be and He offered them comfort by urging them to trust God, to believe in God. (John 14:1)
Jesus, in the words He speaks here in John 14 is giving His disciples a gift for the days ahead.
He knows that they will experience the unspeakable agony of seeming separation from Him.
They will see Him arrested and sentenced to death on the cross. It will appear that all hope is gone. Even when He comes back to life, which they don’t yet understand, Jesus will then return to heaven. They will no longer be able to see, hear, and touch Him.
Only as they look beyond will they recognize hope. Only as they know that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for them in heaven and will return to take them there is the possibility of trusting God available.
When Thomas asks an honest question, vs. 5 “Lord we don’t know where You are going so how can we know the way”?, Jesus has the answer.
What is an honest question that you have asked of God lately? In other words, what is something that has troubled you or seemed unclear to you?
We can bring any and all questions to our loving God Who offers us comfort.
What is something you really have not understood?
It is only when we ask God honest questions, questions that reveal what we are really thinking, that we can receive answers.
This answer that Jesus gives to Thomas is actually an answer to every question that we have or will have.
Jesus responds that He is “the Way the Truth and the Life.”(John 14;6) Jesus is the one we can trust for each step we take in this life here on earth and He is the one who leads us home to heaven to experience eternal life with Him forever.
The Way-the means of getting there and our guide on the journey
The Truth-dependable source of direction, again able to be trusted
The Life-the Giver of life, the Preserver of life and the Source of everlasting life
When we look beyond to what lies ahead as Jesus is describing it here how does it impact the living of our lives each day?
How do we receive comfort and as a result prepare ourselves to offer comfort to others whose hearts are troubled?
How does the promise of heaven influence how we are living now?
How does it make us willing to give up things now in light of eternity?
How does it compel us to live to please God with every fibre of our being?
How does this consideration of what Jesus has gone to prepare for us convince us that each breath of life is significant and an opportunity to live that one day at a time with our eyes on forever?
This is our motivation.
When we watch the Olympics, we can see that those athletes train and live their lives with their eyes on a goal. They want to get to the Olympics and to receive what is for them a prize for their focus and dedication. They give up a great deal. They look beyond getting up every morning and running or swimming or rowing because looking beyond to the Olympics constantly reminds competitors why they are doing what they are doing.
Looking beyond to heaven should constantly remind us why we are doing what we are doing! It should constantly influence how we live when we get up each morning.
But here’s the thing. Sometimes any one of us can become so focused on the destination that we miss what is meant to happen on the trip there.
When we are planning for a trip of course we want to know where we will stay when we get there. Sometimes we stay with friends or family. Sometimes we make a motel reservation.
Then we know that a place to stay is guaranteed. That is all taken care of and we can relax and feel secure about it.
However, once this detail is settled, there is the journey to get there and this is to be lived with such deliberate intentionality. We would miss so much if we disregard here and now and just think about what lies ahead. Certainly we would miss our responsibility to do what Jesus would do by offering comfort as Jesus would offer comfort.
After a conversation with a close friend when we had been talking about this very thing I wrote a poem called,
THE ROAD TO FOREVER
Looking ahead, looking forward to the destiny You created me for-created us for.
Conscious that it is a grace gift that I can even consider this place of perfect intimacy with You.
No limitations, no time constraints-forever with You.
So attractive when my spirit grows weary here.
Yet not wanting to forget or ignore that the time between here and there is a grace gift too.
What do I do with this gift?
We are on the road to FOREVER.
Not something to wait for.
Something to live now with everything in me and around me.
The Road to forever.
I am on the Road to Forever with You Lord!
With You Lord. With You Lord.
WITH YOU LORD!
Those of us who have trusted Jesus to be what He is, the Way, the Truth, and the Life are already on this road to forever.
We are walking this road with Jesus right beside us and He can and will guide us to look beyond to what lies ahead and to choose every word and action with that reality in mind!
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work. (John 14;10)
God the Father was speaking through Jesus and likewise God the Father can speak through us. God can do His work of bringing comfort through us.
Looking beyond does not mean living beyond. It means living now and being available to offer the same comfort that Jesus offers by trusting in Him alone!