Josh Benner

Tag: John 14

  • Costly grace vs cheap grace

    Costly grace vs cheap grace

    In John 14:16-17, Jesus is foretelling his death. He promises another helper in referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:18-21, Jesus promises that he himself will also return. 

    John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

    When Jesus says I will not leave you as orphans, that seems to have a double meaning. The disciples will not be orphans both because they will be given the Spirit of truth who will be the helper with them forever. And they will not be orphans because Christ himself will return. And at the end of the verse, he says: I will come to you. 

    Scholars have interpreted that last part of the verse in different ways. But the best evidence is that Jesus is talking about the resurrection. That on the night before he was to go to the cross, Jesus was promising his disciples that he would come back. 

    Given what will follow, I believe that is what makes the most sense because Jesus will start talking to the disciples about what is revealed and what the world is blind to, both in light of the resurrection. 

    There is an immediacy to Christ’s coming back which I think fits better with the resurrection appearances. 

    John 14:19: Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 

    Here, Jesus is clearly talking about the circumstances of his death and resurrection. When he says the world will see me no more, it’s referring to the sinful and fallen humanity. Those who are not of God and who are not his disciples. And on the eve of his death on the cross, it is true that the world will not see him again. 

    His resurrection appearances will be exclusively to those who are his disciples or to those who will become his disciples, such as when he appears to Saul. And while the world will not see him again, the disciples will see the risen Lord. This will be covered in chapters 20 and 21 of this gospel. 

    And not only will the disciples see Jesus, they will have life because of Jesus. 

    Because I live, you also will live. 

    Life in Christ has been talked about all throughout this gospel. 

    In John 11, when Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died, Jesus had proclaimed:

    “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 

    The Gospel 

    Again, the world loves to create its own gospel. It loves to undermine the truth. It loves to tell you there are other ways. It loves to tell you that you can make your own way. 

    But the Gospel of John is continually confronting us with the fact that it is Christ and Christ alone who is the way to life and who is the giver of true life. That there is one gospel and this is it. That Jesus would go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. 

    John 14:20: In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

    In the day that Jesus is raised from the dead. On the first Easter, you will know. When you encounter Jesus, you will know. And we too are invited to know the risen Lord. To know that he died, and rose, and lives forever and that life is found in him. We are invited to know him and live in the truth of who he is and what he has done through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

    John 14:21: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

    It’s noteworthy that Jesus is mentioning obedience to his commands for the second time. When he says whoever has my commandments and keeps them, the point is that it’s not just knowing his commands. It’s also about following….Him. 

    Grace and Law 

    There is this complicated balance within churches of grace and law. Too many churches go too far to one extreme or the other. 

    If you go too far to the extreme of law, you have a church that’s very legalistic and self-righteous. The danger of that is that you can start to withdraw your faith from Jesus and ultimately start to put your faith in yourself. Your goodness, your righteousness. 

    And when you do that, you’ve missed the whole point. 

    You can follow a bunch of rules and not even believe in the gospel at all. Following all the rules is worthless without faith because you’ll never be good enough. 

    But on the other side of the coin, you have churches that go too far to the grace where we lose sight of the commands of Christ and accountability, and repentance 

    The danger of this is that we can start treating grace like it’s a license to sin. 

    God is loving. So it doesn’t ultimately matter what you do because he’s a loving God who loves to love people. 

    This devolves into what Dietrich Bonhoffer called “cheap grace.” 

    And what that means is that it cheapens the gospel, it cheapens what Christ has actually called us to. 

    Quoting from the Cost of Discipleship. I’ve read this before but it’s a classic. 

    Cheap grace 

    “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

    Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

    Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

    Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.” 

    What we need is balance between the two. Now it’s interesting in our passage. 

    And I think the key to balancing all of that is right in our passage. Let’s look again. 

    Jesus says: you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 

    Jesus speaks of his unity with the Father. He’s said similar things elsewhere in this gospel. 

    But what’s unique to this passage is that Jesus also adds and you in me, and I in you. 

    That we will be in Christ. That when we have faith in the gospel, we are united with Christ. That’s not to say that we are Christ, or are somehow deified. 

    But we are forgiven in Christ. We are loved in Christ.We have union in Christ.  

    Jesus and the Father have perfect unity with each other. And we have a share of that when we are in Christ. Now we are still human and still sinful so it is not yet the perfected union that it will be. But we are in Christ and Christ is in us through the Spirit. 

    And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 

    That to love Jesus is to be loved by God. Because Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the one whom God sent. Jesus is the one who goes to God on our behalf. Jesus is the one who sits at the right hand of God. 

    Again, John’s Gospel does not give wiggle room. Jesus is not just a great teacher. 

    He is the way, the truth, and the life, and he is the one who gives us the privilege of being loved by God. 

    And Jesus says he will love us and manifest himself to us. 

    That we will have a greater and greater sense of the truth and love that are in Christ, as a result of having the Spirit, as we live for Christ and walk with Christ. 

    And that is why our lives matter and what we do matter. 

    Because our lives are not our own. When we truly know Jesus, when we truly love Jesus, that Jesus changes us from the inside out. True faith creates a new person who can never again be the same. 

    And the world does not understand that message. 

    The world thinks Christianity is just a guy telling people to be good, and mocking that idea because anyone should be able to figure that out on their own. 

    Christianity is living a new Spiritual life in Christ to the glory of God. 

    And because we’re still finite people living in a fallen world, we will do that imperfectly, and the good news is that there is grace and forgiveness when we fail. 

    But the costly grace of the gospel is that Jesus calls us to live for he who paid the ultimate price for our forgiveness. 

    And that’s either beautiful to you or detestable. 

    It’s either the wisdom of God or it’s an absurdity. 

    But what is it to you? Is it the bedrock on which to build your life? And is it shaping who you are?

  • Another Helper. John 14:15-16

    Another Helper. John 14:15-16

    In 2019, Merrill Lynch and Age Wave did a survey on Americans over the age of 55 on the subject of end of life planning. 45% of those over the age of 55 did not have a living will. 

    And when it came to having a living will, an advanced directive in terms of end of life decisions, and a power attorney, that applied to just 18% of those surveyed over the age of 55. You might think “well maybe those legal affairs aren’t equally relevant for everyone.” 

    That may be. But in the same survey, nearly half of respondents – 43 percent – expressed worry that they lacked an advocate to look out for their interests at the end of their life. Planning for death is not an enjoyable task. 

    On the night before he was to go to the cross, Jesus was telling the disciples of the provision he was going to make for them when he was gone. He knew the agony and torture that awaited him. But here he is thinking about his disciples. 

    He was going away to the Father, but Jesus told the disciples that he would not leave them as orphans. In John 14:15-21, Jesus talks about two provisions which he made for the disciples. 

    The promise of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of his return. 

    1. The Promise of the Holy Spirit 

    Jesus tells his disciples: If you love me, you will keep my commands. 

    D.A. Carson points out that this is actually the first time in the Gospel of John where Jesus has called the disciples to love him. Jesus has talked of his love for the Father, and the Father’s love for him. Jesus has talked of his love for the disciples, and he’s called the disciples to love each other. 

    He’s talked about the importance of loving the Father. He’s talked about eternal life. But here he talks of the importance of loving him. 

    And love results in keeping his commands. Truly knowing Jesus, truly getting it with the gospel results in a life that is changed by the gospel. And so as a result of verse 15, Jesus continues speaking.

    John 14:16-17: 

    16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

    Studying the word “paraclete” 

    In verse 16, Jesus says that he will give another Helper. 

    That’s the word the ESV uses. It comes from the Greek word “paraclete.” And the way that word is translated varies quite a bit in English Bibles. 

    NASB, and New King James Version also translate the term as “helper.” The King James says “comforter.” NIV and NLT say “advocate.”  The Christian Standard Bible says “counselor.” The Message says “friend.”

    It’s such a rich and multi-faceted term that I think English translations struggle to capture the full meaning of the word.In a sense, all of those translations are right because they all capture different aspects of the meaning. The Spirit is all of those things. He is our helper, comforter, advocate, counselor, and friend. 

    Instead of talking about which one of those words is best, I think it’s helpful to take a moment and get a sense of how the word is used in the Bible and to allow that to paint the picture of what the paraclete, the helper, does. 

    Also, it’s worth nothing that Jesus says “another helper,” and he says that because he too is a paraclete. Jesus is the first helper. It is the Spirit who is the second helper who will come after Jesus has gone. 

    The Greek word paraclete is used four times in John’s Gospel and once in 1 John 2:1. And that is the extent of the usage of that term in the New Testament. 

    Atchafalaya river 

    In the book Creature of the Word, the authors give an illustration about a river in Louisiana called the Atchafalaya. It’s an important river for industrial and commercial activities. But it is totally dependent upon the Mississippi River. 

    It’s a distributary that breaks off of the Mississippi, but otherwise has no other water source. So if the water on the Mississippi is high, the Atchafalaya will be high. If the Mississippi is low, the Atchafalaya will be low. But ultimately, the Atchafalaya owes all that it has to something outside of itself. 

    The river achieves what it achieves because of its source. So it is with the Holy Spirit. End of verse 16. Jesus has talked of how he will provide this helper, this paraclete. To be with you forever. 

    Jesus had an earthly ministry that lasted for a finite amount of time. It was short. About three years. But he gives the Holy Spirit which we will have forever. 

    When Jesus was saying these words, that had not yet been realized. The disciples had not yet been indwelled by the Spirit. 

    Theology – Holy Spirit 

    In the New Covenant, the people of God, who have faith in the gospel will have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And so when Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commands, that is ultimately true due to the work of the Spirit. 

    Love for Christ, obedience to Christ, and the Holy Spirit will all work together in New Covenant. Because it will be the Holy Spirit who enables people to obey Christ. 

    The world so often misunderstands the heart of the gospel, and of the Christian life. 

    And sadly still, too many Christians misunderstand this. And what we misunderstand is the Spiritual aspect of faith. The Bible is not teaching us “just be good and God will love you.” That’s what the world often thinks Christianity is. And again, too many Christians think that way too. Strive to be good enough. 

    That is exactly what the gospel is not. 

    We are saved by grace. 

    But. 

    For a person who truly has faith, they have the Spirit and the Spirit works in them. And it is that which results in a life that is changed by the gospel. 

    Christianity is not YOU be good enough so God will accept you. 

    It’s that you’re not good enough. But on the merit of Christ, God will accept you. And for the person who truly has faith in Christ, they have the Spirit, and it is the Spirit who works goodness through them. So we are not saved because of our own goodness. But to have a life that is unaffected by the gospel shows that someone doesn’t truly have the gospel. 

    That is why Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 

    Because in the New Covenant, the time we’re in now, true love for Jesus is in the Spirit. 

    The Holy Spirit has a ministry which carries on the work of Christ. 

    Without its source, the river dries up. 

    -It is by the Holy Spirit that we are born again when we have faith in Christ. 

    -The Holy Spirit teaches us and points us to truth and to righteousness. 

    -The Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives which enables true believers to live according to the virtues which were valued and exemplified by Christ. 

    -The Spirit equips us with Spiritual gifts to use in order to serve God and build up his kingdom. 

    -The Spirit does convict us of sin while also working to sanctify and transform us to greater love for God.

  • Miracles and belief. John 14:11

    Miracles and belief. John 14:11

    In John 14:8, the Apostle Phillip says: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

    For many of us, that’s a relatable request. I think we all have times where God can seem distant or hard to find. 

    One of the ways God is made known is through miracles.

    As Jesus continues to respond to Philip, he says in John 14:11: Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 

    For this post, I want to focus on the second part of that verse. Where Jesus tells Philip to believe on the account of his works. Now under the umbrella of works, it could certainly be the righteous life Jesus lived and the teaching that he gave. 

    But within John, I think the works more specifically refers to his miraculous signs. That those are what authenticate a heaven-sent ministry in the world. 

    The first sign that Jesus does in John’s Gospel is when he turns water into wine at the Wedding Feast at Cana. And in response, John’s Gospel gives the post-script: 

    John 2:11:  This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. 

    Jesus did not turn water into wine simply to help out at a wedding feast but it was a display of his glory. And all throughout the first half of John, we see these signs that Jesus does. Healing the sick, feeding multitudes, walking on water. And before going to the cross, his greatest sign is when he raises Lazarus from the dead in John 11.  

    All of them done for specific reasons in pointing to Jesus, who he is, and the heavenly ministry he was advancing in the world. They show his power and dominion. They show fulfillment of Old Testament  prophecies of the things which would happen in a Messianic age. 

    They confirm and authenticate who Jesus is. And so in Jesus’ response to Philip, what he is telling Philip is that those miraculous signs are a legitimate reasons to believe in Jesus. 

    And certainly the greatest miracle of Jesus, his resurrection from the dead was still to come. Miracles are a reason why we too can believe in the  Lord. The resurrection is the basis for our faith and what we believe. It is the heart of the gospel and the purpose of the gospel. It’s the greatest authenticator on Jesus, who he was, who he said he was, and the fulfillment of his promises to the world. And it because of his resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins. 

    Just as Jesus told the apostle Philip to look at his works, that we too can look at his works and his greatest work as a reason to believe as an example of God revealing himself to the world. 

     “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 

    God is still at work in our world. Miracles still happen today. 

    Miracles 

    I’ll define a miracle as an extraordinary event with supernatural intervention intended for divine purposes. Miracles defy explanation along scientific or rational grounds. They’re transcendent. 

    A 2010 Pew research study found that 80 percent of Americans believe in miracles. A 2004 survey by Louis Finkelstein for the Institute for Religious and Social Studies of the Jewish Theological Seminary surveyed 1,100 doctors and found that three-fourths of them believed in miracles and more than half thought that they had witnessed a miracle. 

    Doctors. Who are the most highly educated people in our society and who are also those who are those who are treating those battling sicknesses and diseases. In another survey, 38 percent of Americans claim to have personally experienced a miracle. 

    That’s tens of millions of people. Are all of those legitimate miracles? Probably not. But there are mysterious and undocumented healings and situations that defy medical explanation. 

    I’m not talking about some prosperity gospel preaching faith healer charlton who’s enriching himself or herself to a crowded auditorium in doing a glorified magic show that they call faith healings. 

    But what about the people who are under medical supervision and they experience healings that defy medical explanation and which run contrary to how human bodies respond to treatment? 

    Miracles should be an encouragement to us. They should give us hope that God is working and active in the world. When we’re tempted to mirror the words of Philip and say: show us the Father, and it is enough for us

    We have the miraculous signs during the ministry of Jesus and the ways in which the Lord intervenes in the world today. And so I’d like to share two miraculous stories. 

    A pastor healed in real time

    Duane Miller was a pastor in Texas who came down with a case of the flu in 1990. 

    Preaching on Sunday, his throat was bothering him and his voice sounded hoarse and scratchy. He eventually recovered from the flu but his voice remained scratchy and strained. And it stayed that way. 

    The flu virus had damaged his vocal cords. And just to be heard, with his damaged vocal cords, Miller had to scream at the top of his lungs. He saw specialist after specialist. The issue still didn’t improve. The following year, Miller resigned his position as pastor. 

    Being able to talk…Is pretty important for being a preacher. Over nearly three years, he visited 63 specialists. An international consortium of throats specialists who reviews records from particularly difficult cases told him that his voice would never improve. 

    By 1993, Miller and his family had moved to Houston and were attending a large Baptist church. He was asked to teach an adult Sunday school class. He resisted, but people in the class promised to suffer through his raspy voice. 

    Being a large church, the Sunday school class was very big and so they recorded the audio of the Sunday school class. In the lesson, Miller was talking about the subject of healing and saying that God does not always bring healing in this life while teaching from Psalm 103: 

    2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 

    I share a video that was taken from the Sunday school where the pastor’s voice was restored. You’ll notice how raspy his voice is. And the clip shows the audio of what he is saying, but pay attention when he says “I have had, and you have had in times past pit experiences.” 

    In mid-sentence, Miller’s voice was restored. He says “I don’t understand this right now” as emotion starts to overcome his voice and you start to hear people who had witnessed this being to clap and cheer. 

    Upon later medical evaluation, doctors said that Miller’s voice had fully recovered. Even the scar tissue disappeared. Miller later returned to ministry and nearly 30 years later, his voice remains normal.

    Hospice patient restored

    In the Case for Miracles, Lee Strobell interviews New Testament scholar Craig Keener who’s a professor Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. 

    I consider Keener to be one of the best New Testament scholars in the world. A former atheist who found faith, Keener wrote a 2,000 page two volume book on miracles which gives numerous case studies from around the world. 

    In Case for Miracles, Keener talks about the well documented story of a Chicago area woman named Barbara Cummisky Snyder who was diagnosed by the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s leading hospitals, with progressive multiple sclerosis. 

    Keener has interviewed Barbara and two physicians who treated her. 

    In the book, a board certified physician who treated Barbara and who had performed over 20,000 operations called ed her “one of the most hopelessly ill patients I ever saw.” 

    Numerous doctors had agreed with the diagnosis. She was high school aged when originally diagnosed. Barbara battled these health issues for 16 years. She spent months in hospitals. 

    She loss the function in one of her lungs. Her other lung operated at less than 50 percent capacity. 

    She had lost control of her bowels and had to have catheters and colostomy bags attached to remove bodily waste. 

    Legally blind. She was on a feeding tube. Eventually she need continuous oxygen. She had a tracheotomy. By 1981, she hadn’t walked in seven years and was bed-ridden. Her hands and feet had strained into deformed positions. She went on hospice in 1981 and was given less than six months to live. 

    One day, someone called Moody Radio Station and asked people to pray for Barbara. More than 400 people wrote letters to Barbara’s church saying they were praying for her. On Pentecost Sunday 1981, Barbara’s aunt came to her home to read some of the letters to her. 

    Barbara would later say that she heard a man’s voice tell her to get up – though there were no men in the room. “Get up and walk.” 

    Barbara stood up, removed her oxygen and began to walk on legs that hadn’t supported her body weight in years. Breathing fine, her vision was restored. 

    That night, Barbara attended church with her family at Wheaton Wesleyan Church. 

    During the service, when the pastor asked if anyone had any announcements, Barbara walked to the center aisle and walked toward the front of the sanctuary. 

    Upon further medical evaluation, Barbara’s lung function had been fully restored. 

    At the time of writing the Case for Miracles, 35 years had passed since Barbara’s recovery without a recurrence of her illness. 

    Her case so defied explanation that two doctors who treated Barbara each wrote books about her case. 

    God is working.  

    Conclusion 

    There are times in his goodness that God supernaturally intervenes. 

    Why not always? A skeptical person might ask. Because the world is fallen and sinful. We don’t deserve any of his grace. So instead of asking why he doesn’t eternally do what we think he should do, we should be thankful for the glimpses we get of God’s power and to remember the goodness of a God who loves us and who is active in the world. 

    Furthermore, God never says that he will always bring every miraculous intervention that we might want in this life. 

    It is in heaven that: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

    Also, if God always did what we wanted him to do, he wouldn’t be God. We would be. But he is greater than us. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. 

    In John 11, when Jesus learns that his friend Lazarus is ill, he does not immediately go to him. 

    He says: 

    This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).

    Jesus knew that Lazarus would die and he knew he was going to raise him. 

    On a much smaller scale, I think of Pastor Duane Miller who we talked about earlier. Losing his ministry and spending three years with those voice issues. Not the worst thing that’s ever happened to someone. 

    But undoubtedly a grueling experience. 

    He went through some difficult seasons in those three years. 

    But God had a plan to use him for a tremendous purpose in impacting people’s lives all over the world with his testimony. 

    God is good. 

    And he is working.

    We don’t always get the miracle we’re hoping for. 

    But God is no less good. He is no less at work in the world. He is no less sovereign. 

    All things really do work for good for those that love the Lord (Romans 8:28). 

    And we must remember the Lord’s goodness. 

    Philip pleaded: 

    Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

    But that’s often not so simple. 

    People are fickle. We’re sinful. 

    A person can see something that they think if miraculous yet not really appreciate the source. 

    A person can hear about something miraculous but not really have their life transformed by it. 

    Because it’s not just about seeing something impressive, or unexpected. 

    At the end of the day, we’re called to faith and belief in this great God. 

    Remembering God. His goodness, his gospel, and his faithfulness. Everyday. 

    The miracles of life can stir and encourage our faith. But we must also pursue a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

    Living lives where we remember what God has done. Not just the big, spectacular moments, but how he has sustained us and our families throughout our lives. 

    And appreciating what God is doing today. 

    Throughout the Old Testament, it’s constantly pointing back to the Exodus. The Passover meal was to be celebrated annually. Really with all of the Old Testament holidays, they were meant to remember. To remember various ways in which the Lord had blessed his people. 

    And what does Jesus say at the Last Supper? When he breaks the bread? 

    “Do this in remembrance of me.” 

    For as long as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we remember his death until he comes. 

    We’re called to remember the greatest miracle of the New Testament, Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead. 

  • The way to God. John 14:1-7

    The way to God. John 14:1-7

    Our society does not handle death well. I believe that at least part of the reason is that most of us don’t really deal with seeing death. A century ago, most people died at home. 

    Now, according to a Stanford study, only about 20 percent of Americans die at home and most people die in hospitals or nursing homes. 

    A century ago, it was much more common for a funeral to be at a person’s home. The family would clean and dress the deceased. Sometimes you’d have several days with a dead person in their former home. 

    You saw death. 

    People lived shorter lives. 

    In today’s America, funerals are becoming less common. With modern day practices, when there’s even a funeral at all, the focus is on making a person look lifelike. Funerals are not generally handled by families. It’s been outsourced to funeral homes who handle the process. Funerary practices are an essentially universal human custom. 

    But it’s becoming increasingly popular for some Americans to opt for nothing. No funeral, no memorial, no visitation, no celebration of life. 

    We don’t handle death well. For many, it’s an uncomfortable and taboo subject. But for Christians we should not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). 

    In John 14, while Jesus is looking ahead to the cross that awaits him, he is bringing comfort to the disciples in talking about the promise and hope of heaven which is found in Christ. 

    It’s the Last Supper. In the preceding passage, Jesus has told the disciples of his impending departure. Peter has questioned this and said that he wants to go with Jesus. 

    Jesus says that Peter cannot go with him and predicts Peter’s denial. It’s important to remember that because chapter 14 is the continuation of what precedes it. It’s the same stream of thoughts as we saw at the end of chapter 13. 

    The main idea of this passage is that Jesus is the way to life in a dying world. 

    Jesus presents the reason for our hope

    John 14:1: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

    Jesus begins by giving a command. Let not your hearts be troubled.

    Because the human heart is often troubled. For the disciples, Jesus knew that they had a harrowing experience on the horizon of seeing their Lord go to the cross and taken away from them. 

    We have many troubling experiences in our own lives. We can have anxieties over our health or the health of our family members. We can be stressed about the state of affairs in our world. We can be troubled by the things we fear. 

    And as for the disciples, Jesus has the same message for us: Let not your hearts be troubled. 

    Easier said than done. 

    Stop it! 

    There’s a comedy sketch that I really like with Bob Newhart. He’s playing a psychiatrist and a woman comes to him seeking help. 

    She tells Newhart that she has this fear of being buried alive in a box and how crippling this fear is and how it’s interfering with her quality of life. 

    Newhart reassures her and says that he has two words for her that she can use to deal with her fears. 

    The woman in the skit takes out a pen and paper and Newhart growls at her “stop it!”

    She’s bewildered.

    Newhart explains that she doesn’t want to go around being afraid of being buried in a box. 

    So stop it. 

    As the sketch progresses, she talks about other fears she has, and Newhart continues to give the same advice “stop it.” I think the humor of the skit is that that’s how we can sometimes treat the problems of others. 

    Stop feeling that way, stop thinking that way. 

    That’s easier said than done. 

    At the last supper, in a very trying situation, Jesus commands his disciples “Let not your hearts be troubled.” 

    I think we can have that “stop it” attitude sometimes in the church. To hide. To say things are fine when they’re not. To say we’re ok, when we’re not. To feel this pressure to always seem to have it together. 

    Let not your hearts be troubled. 

    Jesus said it. He commands it. We don’t want to be disobedient do we? But how do we follow that command? I think we can make the mistake of acting like the Bible calls for us to be stoic. Not showing emotions. 

    But that’s not what Jesus is calling us to. 

    In fact, in the gospels, we see that there were times when Jesus himself was troubled. 

    A troubled savior 

    In the preceding chapter, right before Jesus predicts his betrayal, John writes in 13:21: 

    After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit

    Again in John 12:27, when Jesus is looking forward to the time of his death, he’s praying to God and says: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.”

    Jesus was troubled sometimes. Life is troubling sometimes. Jesus isn’t calling us to just muster up the strength to act as if we’re fine on the outside.Because Jesus isn’t calling us to appearances. He’s calling us to reality. 

    To not have troubled hearts and then Jesus gives the commands: Believe in God; believe also in me.

    I take both of those to be imperative commands. We are to believe in God and to also believe in Jesus Christ. We need both. To believe in God without believing in Jesus as the Son of God and savior of the world is to not believe in the greater revelation of the truth of God to the world. 

    Believing in Jesus without believing in God is to disbelieve in the one who sent him and the God whom Jesus reveals. And as the chapter further unfolds, Jesus will give his richest teaching of the Holy Spirit so far in this gospel. 

    And so the antidote to the troubled heart is the truth of God. Not just some vague ascent “Yeah, I believe in God.” But having the Lord be your rock, be your strength, be your hope, and your joy. 

    Going to the Lord in our struggles. Gong to him in prayer. Filling our minds with the truth and knowledge of who God is. Going to him in faith. 

    In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul says: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

    The Lord is who is meant to be our comfort in times of trouble. 

    Jesus prepares a place for his people 

    Verse 2: 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?

    Verse 2 is one of those Bible verses that’s really beautiful in its simplicity. It’s a wonderful idea and even the words have a nice ring to them. 

    In my Father’s house are many rooms. 

    Now I think we can get too caught up in the house metaphor. What’s the house like? What does it look like? How big is the house? Does it have a finished basement? 

    That’s beside the point. The point is more that heaven is the abode of the Lord and that it’s a place where there is sufficient space for the people of God to reside. Heaven is heaven because that’s where God is. 

     Jesus talks of preparing a place for his people. Once again, what does that mean? 

    Is he the foreman on a construction project? He was a carpenter. Is he building a place? 

    I agree with D.A. Carson’s interpretation that the preparation for a heavenly abode has more to do with Christ’s redemptive work of going to the cross, his death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is those which signs our heavenly mortgages. 

    But that is another reason why our hearts should not be troubled. 

    Because we have a savior who has given us an eternally glorious inheritance. 

    Life is not for the faint of heart. There’s so much junk that we have to deal with. There is so much we see that can bring us down. There is so much sin and moral decay that can make us cynical. There is so much that is wrong in the world. And there are so many horrible things that we can suffer through.

    But Jesus promises his people a future in the house of the Lord. 

    I think too many of us do not spend enough time thinking about heaven. That is our hope. That is what we were made for. And Jesus went to the cross so that we can have eternal life in heaven. 

    The Bible says that heaven is a place where God makes all things new. 

    Revelation 21:1-2: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

    The Bible says that heaven is the place where all the pains of this world are taken away. 

    Revelation 21:4: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 

    I hear politicians talk. A lot of them put out these utopian ideas of what society can be. There can never be a perfect society because the world is fallen and imperfect. 

    But when we are glorified in the presence of the Lord, there will be no sin, or pain, or death. Jesus is the way to life in a dying world because he prepares a heavenly place for us. 

    Jesus promises a return to his people

    Verse 3: 

    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.

    There’s a logic to verse 3. If I go and prepare a place for you 

    The second part of the statement is I will come again and will take you to myself

    Jesus did go to prepare a place for us. It was necessary for him to go and prepare a place for us. And because he has gone to prepare a place for us, we can have assurance that he will come again and take us to be with himself. 

    That there will be union with Christ. In theology, the doctrine of the last things is called eschatology. It’s the study of the last things, coming from the Greek word “escatos.” 

    And John 14:3 is the clearest statement that Jesus makes in the gospels of his return. Now there are a lot of different eschatological views in churches and among theologians. But one thing that’s not disputed in the church is the reality of Christ’s literal, bodily return. 

    And this idea is really an essential element of our faith. That as sure as Jesus came into the world at the incarnation, Jesus will come again. As sure as Jesus is risen from the dead we have the promise that Jesus will come again. 

    The second coming is a necessary event in bringing all of the promises of Christ to their ultimate fulfillment. Without that, we have no reason to hope in Christ. And without that, Jesus is a liar. 

    Jesus says that he will come again to bring us to himself so that where I am you may be also.

    Jesus prepares a place for us. And Jesus will come again for the purpose of uniting his people to himself so that they can have access to the heavenly place that he has prepared for us. 

    Jesus provides the way to heaven

    Jesus has just talked of the heavenly place he is preparing for his people and his return. 

    Verse 4, Jesus says: And you know the way to where I am going.”

    Now it’s true that they know the way literally. As Jesus will say in a couple of verses, HE is the way. 

    And they know Jesus. And so they know the way, literally, to where he is going. 

    He has also told them the way that he is going to get to heaven and his glorious return. It is by way of the cross, his death, and his resurrection. 

    But that’s not so obvious to the disciples. 

    The Apostle Thomas speaks up in verse 5: Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

    Is there a more important question that a person can ask? 

    Verse 6:  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

    Jesus is the way. This is the sixth of the seven I am statements that Jesus gives in John’s Gospel. Jesus is THE way. He’s not a way. He’s not the best way. Jesus is the way to God, the way to heaven, the way to forgiveness. It’s an absolute claim that Jesus makes. 

    The blind men and the elephant 

    Now that is an idea that is not popular in our postmodern world. The exclusivity of Christ. But that’s what Jesus says. That he is the one way to God. There are many who say that there are lots of ways to God.

    Many like to believe that getting into heaven is about how good a person is. 

    There are people who treat religions like they’re all basically teaching the same things and that none is truly better or worse than another. 

    It reminds me of the parable of the blind men and the elephant. 

    In the parable, three men who are blind come up to an elephant. Each of them comes to a different part of the elephant and has a different experience of the elephant. 

    One man feels the trunk. It’s swings around and he feels the power in the trunk. Another man comes to the side of the elephant. It’s massive, like a wall. Another man is at the rear of the elephant. Kind of unpleasant and smelly. They all have experiences that are true but none of them has the full picture. 

    That’s how some treat religions. Like they all have a piece of the truth but none of them fully has the truth. 

    The problem with that parable is that it’s assuming that you yourself see the full elephant and have the knowledge that they don’t have the full truth. 

    I think the idea that all roads lead to God appeals to our modern western sensibilities. I hear people say statements like those often. That no religion is any more true than any other. You know who disagrees with that? 

    Other religions! 

    So for people who want to say that all roads lead to God impose an absolute upon all the religions of the world that they almost universally don’t teach in order to avoid saying someone is wrong. 

    It’s saying that you have a greater understanding of absolute reality than all the world’s religions. 

    I think that’s actually pretty arrogant. 

    It’s one thing to say what one religion teaches on a particular topic. It’s another thing to speak for all religions. Especially when it’s something that they do not teach. It’s certainly not what the Bible teaches. It’s not what the Lord Jesus teaches. 

    He doesn’t teach that you can go any way. Jesus is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. No one comes to the father except through him. The fact that Jesus is the truth and the life flows from Jesus being the way. Jesus is the truth. He is the ultimate revelation of God in the world. 

    His word is truth. Jesus is the life. He is eternal. 


    John 1:1-2 says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

    Jesus has life in himself. 

    John 5:26 says that Jesus has life in himself. In John 11:25, Jesus said that he is the resurrection and the life. And Jesus is the one who gives eternal life. 

    Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

    Because Jesus is the way to the Father. He’s the one who fulfills the father’s will and atones for the sins of the world. Jesus has said “I and the father are one” (John 10:30). John 1:18 says that while no one has ever seen God, Jesus makes God known. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the one to whom the Old Testament points. 

    A lot of these same ideas are summed up at the end of our passage 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.” 

    There’s no middle ground with Jesus. He didn’t intend for there to be.Either you believe he is the savior of the world who reconciles us to God or you don’t. 

    But you cannot believe that Jesus is the way and believe there are other ways. Because when there are other ways, Jesus’ way makes no sense. 

    When there are other ways, Jesus’ life and ministry makes no sense. The cross makes no sense when there are other ways. Jesus died for humanity to show us that there is no other way. Jesus is the way to God, the revealed truth of God who gives us life with God. And the response to him is to follow his way. 

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