Trusting the God Who Is Present
Notes
Transcript
text: John 14:7-14, but we’ll read the first 14 verses for context.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
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?
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.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 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’?
10 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.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, 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.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Review: v. 1-6
Let not your hearts be troubled, because God is in control.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because God is in control.
Trusting God is the solution to our troubled hearts.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because there is room for you in the Father’s house.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because there is room for you in the Father’s house.
By his death and resurrection, Jesus would prepare room for us in the Father’s house: He died and rose for us so that we could be with him in his presence forever.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because you know the way to the Father.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because you know the way to the Father.
Jesus is the way to the Father
because he reveals the truth of God
because he has the life of God
We get this life by trusting in Jesus
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Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, part 2
Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled, part 2
As we continue our passage, there are two more reasons that we should trust in Jesus instead of letting our hearts be troubled.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because God is with you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because God is with you.
Another reason that we must trust God instead of letting our hearts be troubled, is that Jesus is God and he is the one who reveals God to us. The promise of an eternal dwelling place with God isn’t something that is far off in the future, but a present reality. In other words, you don’t have to wait until you die or until Jesus comes back to experience the personal presence of God. He is with you right now!
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
John already told us in John 1:18 that no one has ever seen God, and yet Jesus says here that his disciples have. I think what John means is that we cannot see the spiritual nature of God. Elsewhere Jesus tells us that God is spirit (4:24). This is why we cannot see God - God is a spiritual being, and we are physical beings. Our physical senses cannot perceive the spiritual reality of God.
And yet, John already gave us a clue back in 1:18, that even though God is invisible and our human eyes cannot see Him, by taking on flesh, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Living Word of God, has made God known to us. He has revealed God to us. He has made God visible.
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
As Paul later puts in in Colossians 1:15
Colossians 1:15 (ESV)
15 He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God.
And the author of Hebrews tells us that
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
3 He [Christ] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
But the apostles had not yet understood the unity of the Father and the Son as becomes clear in Philip’s statement in v. 8.
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
We’ve got to give Philip a little credit here for speaking up. He probably said what all of the disciples were thinking. And this is the same request that Moses made in Exodus:
13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
Moses wanted to see God and experience him in a deeply personal, intimate way. This is a very good desire that Moses expressed and that Philip now expresses in John 14:8. We want to see God. That’s enough for us. That will satisfy our hearts.
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
But it shows just how little the apostles had understood up to this point. They had in fact seen God - the One who is God in the flesh had been living with them for 3 years. John had told us in John 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
But apparently neither John nor the other disciples had understood this reality yet; the glory was still veiled from their eyes until after Jesus’s death and resurrection. So Jesus rebukes Philip in v. 9:
9 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’?
What are you talking about, Philip? Have you been walking around with your eyes closed the last 3 years. Have you not heard anything that I’ve been saying?
But the fact that even Jesus’s closest followers didn’t understand yet who he was reminds us that God must be the one to open our understanding and reveal his truth to us, as Jesus says in Luke 10:22
22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
This requires supernatural revelation, and the disciples had not yet received it.
But Jesus goes on to explain to them and to us the evidences of this truth that God the Father lives in the Son.
The Words of Jesus Demonstrate that He is God
10 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.
He first clarifies that the words he speaks to them do not come from himself, but from the Father. This is Jesus’s consistent testimony throughout John.
What are some of Jesus’s words that demonstrate that He is God?
He claims to be “I AM” - John 8:58; “The Son of Man”; “The Son of God”; Lord
He claims to be the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the one who gives eternal life, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and more.
The kinds of claims that Jesus makes do not allow us to conclude that he is just a man. Either he is who he says he is - He is God himself in the flesh, or else he’s crazy or a liar and should be ignored. I believe, and I hope you do too, that Jesus is who he claims to be.
The Works of Jesus Demonstrate that He is God
10 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. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
This is very similar to what Jesus told the religious leaders in chapter 10: (v. 25) “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me” he says, and he compels them, “believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (v. 38) They didn’t want to believe his words, so Jesus points them to his works instead and says that should be enough evidence to back up his claim from John 10:30
30 I and the Father are one.”
Jesus was claiming to be God. Both then publicly in ch. 10, and now privately to his disciples in ch. 14. Jesus says that the words he says and the things he does clearly show that He is God.
Jesus had
Changed water into wine
Healed a nobleman’s sick son by speaking a word
Healed a man who was lame for 38 years
Fed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish
Walked on water
Given sight to a man born blind
Raised a man from the dead after 4 days in the grave
And these are just the 7 signs John mentions. There are many more mentioned in the other Gospels, and John acknowledges also that Jesus did many, many more miracles.
Jesus says that his words and works demonstrate that the Father dwells in him. The presence of God lives in Jesus - as we talked about last week, Jesus himself is the Father’s house. As Paul also tells us in Colossians,
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
But here in this passage, Jesus isn’t just teaching his disciples a theology lesson, as important as that is. He is giving them this amazing truth to help comfort their hearts and give them peace instead of trouble, as we saw in v. 1.
If the disciples would understand who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh, this would keep their hearts from being troubled. God was with them in the person of his Son, so they didn’t need to fear or be worried.
Even though he was going to leave them for a short time, he promised to return, and that promise is the very word of God since Jesus is God. This truth was meant to encourage the disciples’ hearts with the thought that their Teacher who has spent the last 3 years with them is God himself in the flesh.
But how does this encourage us today?
Is God still with us?
Well, what did Jesus promise his disciples in the Great Commission? “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)
How is God with us now? We don’t get to see God in the flesh like the disciples did. How is he with us?
Well, I don’t want to get too far ahead into next week’s sermon, but here’s a sneak peak:
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.
Those who trusted in Christ would receive the Holy Spirit.
Jesus tells his disciples that they already know Him (the Spirit) because he dwells with the disciples and will live in them later on.
Elsewhere the Scriptures tell us that Christ lives in us by His Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is called both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God. So even though Jesus was leaving the disciples physically, his presence would continue with them in the person of the Holy Spirit, and this is true for us today as well.
And the Holy Spirit’s presence in us as believers is a very encouraging thing, isn’t it?
So let not your hearts be troubled, because God is with you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because there is work for you to do.
Let not your hearts be troubled, because there is work for you to do.
When our hearts are weighed down by worries and cares of life, we often miss out on what we’re supposed to be doing now. There is work for us to do, so we must not let our hearts be troubled, but instead trust God and get busy.
We must be busy at work for God’s glory
12 “Truly, 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.
Whoever believes in me
Who is Jesus talking about in this verse? Is it just his disciples? NO. “Whoever believes in me.” So the things Jesus says here don’t just apply to the 11 apostles there in the upper room with him. It would start with them, but He is speaking about every believer. Everyone who trusts in him. What does Jesus say will be true of every believer?
The works that I do
Believers in Jesus will do the works that Jesus does. What does that mean?
Some have interpreted this to mean that all believers will perform miraculous deeds. But we know that’s not right, because Paul clearly tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
It’s not necessarily clear in English, but in Greek it’s clear that the expected answer to all these questions is no. Not everyone has these gifts. So we know that’s not what Jesus means when he says all believers will do the works that he does.
It’s important to note that the word “works” here is a general term for works or deeds, not the word for “signs” or miraculous deeds that John often uses. That doesn’t mean that miracles are necessarily completely excluded, but that they’re probably not the main point here.
What works did Jesus do? What kinds of deeds did he do?
This is what Peter tells Cornelius about Jesus just a year or so later:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Certainly Jesus performed many miracles, cast out demons, and healed many people. But he also “went about doing good.” He always did what was right. He always treated people with kindness. He demonstrated in everything He did the kindness, love, compassion, and goodness of God.
He took time for children and blessed them
He patiently taught his disciples and others the Word of God
He washed his disciples’ feet
He certainly performed thousands of other good deeds that are not recorded in the Scriptures.
Beyond this, let us consider what the purpose of Jesus’s works was:
Both in his miraculous deeds of power like raising Lazarus from the dead and in his ordinary deeds of love like washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus was displaying the glory of God. He was showing his disciples and us what God is like — that God is powerful beyond what we can imagine, that He is a God who serves us, that He is compassionate and cares for the helpless, that He is perfectly righteous and always does what is right, that He is angry at sin and self-righteous pride, that He is gentle and kind and forgiving, and so much more. This is what the work of God in Christ was all about — displaying the glory of God. Jesus came to reveal God to us. That’s what his works were all about.
How well do our works and deeds display the glory of God? When people observe our lives, do they see God at work in us? Are we the kind of people that demonstrate the character of God in our words and actions?
Greater works
12 “Truly, 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.
Jesus also says that those who believe in him will do greater works. What does that mean?
We know that it doesn’t mean “more spectacular” or “more amazing” works than Jesus did. It’s pretty hard to beat walking on water, raising someone from the dead, and feeding 5000 people with one little boy’s lunch.
Perhaps what Jesus has in mind here is that the work that his disciples and their disciples would do would be greater because the work would spread to more people. Jesus was limited in the effect he had during his 33 years or so of life on this earth. He spent most of his ministry preparing his apostles who would go on to multiply his effect. By preaching the good news of the glory of God in Christ, the apostles would reach thousands (think of Peter at Pentecost), and their influence would multiply. And until Jesus comes back, this is the mission of the Church — to spread the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ all over the world. This would be done by the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, prayer, and the discipleship of believers who would disciple others. Until Jesus comes, this is the great work with which he has tasked us. And he has not left us alone to accomplish it.
Because I am going to the Father
The last phrase of v. 12 is important as well. The reason that the disciples (and we) can do the kinds of works Jesus did and greater ones is that he is going to the Father. Jesus clarifies this later on for his disciples in John 16:7-8.
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
He’s talking about the Holy Spirit, the personal presence of God who will live in every believer and enable us to produce the fruit of the Spirit and glorify God in our lives and point people to Jesus. And that’s the Holy Spirit’s ministry — to point people to Jesus, as Jesus says in John 16:14
14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
But the Holy Spirit had not yet been given, as John tells us in John 7, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
So there is work for us to do. The work of God in Christ is to reveal God and glorify Him by reconciling the world to himself. And this is the work God has assigned us as well, to be his ambassadors. So let’s be busy about his work, but let’s remember also that we need to rely on him and his strength.
And that’s what v. 13-14 is about also.
We must rely on God’s strength for God’s glory
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
The person receiving prayer:
God the Father (v. 13)
Jesus (v. 14) - “me” is missing in KJV but is in the best Greek manuscripts and scholars agree this is the original text. This means it’s proper to pray to God the Father and also to the Son, Jesus Christ.
The promise about prayer:
This I will do (v. 13)
I will do it (v. 14)
This means that Jesus himself is the one acting and accomplishing these things.
The petitions of the prayer
“Whatever you ask” (13)
“If you ask me anything” (14)
This leaves it very open-ended. But is Jesus saying ask me for $1 million and I’ll give it to you? or Ask me for a nice house or car and I’ll give it to you? No. As James tells us in James 4, many of the times we ask for things, we are not doing so with the proper motives, but simply out of our worldly, lustful desires. If we are asking for things for our own benefit, for our own comfort, for our own glory, we’re missing Jesus’s point here, and we’re taking the verse horribly out of context.
The purpose of the prayer
“in my name” - not just saying “in Jesus’s name” at the end of our prayers; the name of Jesus isn’t a magic word that we can use to get what we want from God. “In my name” means for his sake, as his representatives and ambassadors here on earth.
that the Father may be glorified in the Son - the purpose of the prayer is clearly stated - it is for the glory of God in Christ through us. As we are busy at work in God’s mission, we can ask for whatever we need to accomplish His mission and glorify our God and Savior by proclaiming the gospel and making disciples and teaching and preaching his Word, and he promises that He will give us all that we need to accomplish his mission for his glory. But if we are seeking our own glory or pursuing our own interests, we cannot expect his help and answer to prayer. This promise is for believers in Jesus who are busy at work in God’s mission pursuing the glory of God.
William Carey is referred to as the father of modern missions. He spent 41 years without a furlough as a missionary to India. He endured many hardships including the loss of two wives and multiple children. He worked hard to translate the Bible into multiple languages so that people could have access to God’s Word. He suffered many hardships during his 41 years of service but never gave up hope. His best known quote, which is one of my favorite quotes by anyone is
Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.
Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.
That’s what the last part of this passage is about.
We serve a sovereign, powerful God. He is at work doing amazing things beyond our imagination. And he chooses to use us, nobodies, to accomplish his great purposes. We must take seriously the great privilege to work hard for the Lord by giving our best effort in all of our lives to display the glory of God in Christ with our actions and our words, but we must never forget that the power is not our own, but His. We must work hard and trust God. Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God. Trust God to accomplish great things through your effort in working for him.
So don’t let your heart be troubled. Instead trust in God (v. 1)
Find comfort in the fact that God is with you.
Find comfort in the fact that God is with you.
Depend on God’s power while you are busy at work for his glory.
Depend on God’s power while you are busy at work for his glory.
Look to Jesus. See the glory of God in Christ. Come to Him.
Look to Jesus. See the glory of God in Christ. Come to Him.