Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled

Introduction

Jesus says “Let not your hearts be troubled”. That is how this chapter begins. But the disciples had every reason to be troubled, anxious, and worried. They followed Jesus thinking that He was their Messiah, that He was going to come and change everything and save them from the Romans and all their oppressors. But now Jesus was saying that He is leaving - read John 13:36 “36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”” When Jesus called these disciples, they had left everything to follow Him - remember for one of the disciples, he even gave up burying his dead father to follow Jesus immediately. These disciples invested everything they had, and their future to Jesus. But now Jesus says he’s leaving. What a slap in the face! Of course they are worried, confused and anxious. The person they put all their hopes in is now saying he is going away. But Jesus says ‘let not your hearts be troubled.’

And isn’t a troubled heart something we can all relate to? Such little things in our lives can make us anxious and troubled. Even though Jesus says ‘let not your hearts be troubled’, with Jesus now having ascended into heaven, he feels far away and out of our reach, and all the promises he made and all his comforting words in the Bible don’t feel real to us, because he is not physically here next to us.

But what does Jesus say in response? He says the solution to our troubled hearts, our anxiety, our sadness, is believing in Him - Read John 14:1 “Believe in God; believe also in me.” To both the disciples and to all of us, Jesus says the antidote to troubled, anxious and sorrowful hearts, is believing in God. And he doesn’t just make us blindly believe and trust in Him - he spends the rest of this chapter explaining why believing in Him, will solve our heart problem.

And what Jesus explains to us, and tells us to believe in, is that fact that it is better if he goes away. He goes onto explain why it is good for us, that he doesn’t stay with us. And those reasons are, that if Jesus goes away, he:

(1) Secures our eternal future

[(2) He gives us knowledge of God] -> skip this. Too long for kid’s sermon.

(3) He gives us His Holy Spirit

God’s Many Rooms

So firstly, the reason why it is better for us that Jesus goes away is that Jesus secures our eternal hope and future. Read John 14:2–3 “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.”

Now when Jesus talks about his Father’s house, He is talking about God’s home in the heavens. Our final destination after this life. And what Jesus is saying is that as he goes away, through the cross and resurrections and ascends into heaven, He secures and guarantees our place in heaven in the house of our heavenly Father God. And if you read verse 3, he says one day he will come back and he will bring us there himself, to a glorious place, to a perfect life, right there with our God.

And this is not just a myth, or a fairy tale. This is reality, a future reality. And the more we think and capture in our minds, this wonderful glorious reality that we have guaranteed in our future, the more we think about this life right now from heavenly eternal perspective. We always need to look at this life with heavenly perspective. So often, heaven seems so far away and just a story in our minds, that our vision of life becomes so narrowed to what see, feel, and experience now. And if in your life there are things going wrong, and you don’t have that bigger picture and heavenly perspective, then all you will see are those negative things in front of you, and you will be anxious and troubled, because there is no future hope, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Do you remember the powerball a few weeks ago? It was a $100 million dollars, and a lady in Brisbane won it all by herself. Now imagine you are someone who is suffering from poverty, you’re homeless, and you can’t even afford a meal today. How miserable and anxious would that person be. But imagine, you’re that same person, but now let’s say you are guaranteed to win that powerball in 1 weeks time. Would you still be anxious and worried? No. You would still be hungry, homeless, and you physically suffer, but because you are guaranteed a $100 million dollars in 7 days time, no matter how hard life gets today, you would endure through it, you would have a bright hope to look forward to, and nothing could take away that anticipation, excitement and joy in your life that looks forward and is so excited to taste that $100 million dollars in a few days time.

But heaven is even better than the powerball. And unlike the powerball, which is definitely a myth for most of us, heaven is a guaranteed reality for believers of Jesus Christ. It’s actually heaven that’s more of a reality than the powerball! And this is because Jesus goes away, secures our place in heaven, and will one day return and take us there himself. And the more we think about life in this way, and see everything from this heavenly eternal perspective, knowing that we have the greatest joy and treasure waiting for us in the future, the smaller our issues and worries become.

And if we read John 14:6, Jesus says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is saying it’s only him exclusively, that gives us the way to this heavenly reality, only through Him can we know the truth of the Father, and only Jesus can give us eternal life.

So if we put our hope and faith in Jesus, there is nothing too big or bad in this life, because when Jesus goes away, he secures and guarantees an even bigger and wonderful heavenly reality for us, in the Father’s house. This is why it is better that Jesus goes away, and why Jesus tells us ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

And the other reason why Jesus tells our hearts not to be troubled, and why it is better for Him to go away, is because as Jesus goes away, He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Read 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.”

And what are the benefits of the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit equips us to carry out the mission Christ gave to all Christians before he went up to heaven. Remember, before Jesus ascends into heaven, he gave us the great mission of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. But he doesn’t leave us alone in that mission - read John 14:12–14 “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.”

Jesus promises that He will give us the Holy Spirit so that we are not alone in carrying out our mission as Christians. And if you read verse 14, it says Jesus Himself will do it - Christ himself will personally work through our lives, so we don’t need to be anxious about living this Christian life alone.

Another benefit of the Holy Spirit is that we become united to God. Although Jesus physically leaves us, this means that he can be with us in a way that is even greater than his physical presence next to us. Read John 14:18–20 “18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 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. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” And also read John 14:23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

Even though Jesus is no longer physically with us, through the Holy Spirit, that great transcendent heavenly God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, actually now dwells in us - it is so much greater than Jesus physically being with us. And you know we spoke about how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are perfectly united in the Trinity, and they enjoy a perfect loving relationship? Well, now, because Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit, we become united and caught up into that perfect loving relationship. And because of that unity, just as Jesus is raised from the dead and now lives, we are united to him and enjoy that perfect eternal life.

And lastly, as Jesus leaves and gives us the Holy Spirit, he gives us his own peace - read John 14:27 “27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” And when the Bible talks about peace, it is not just talking about the absence of conflict - peace, or shalom, in the Bible, is talking about all the blessings that Jesus imparts onto us through the Holy Spirit. And it is ‘not as the world gives’, meaning it is a unique and supernatural, above-worldly, heavenly reality that we can already enjoy today. It is not that Jesus will take away and remove us from the worries and concerns that we face in our lives, but it is a supernatural wonderful peace that we can experience despite what we may be facing in life, through a living personal relationship with Christ that we have in the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

So no wonder Jesus says ‘Let not your hearts be troubled’. There are so many wonderful blessings given to us because Jesus goes away to the Father in heaven. He secures our heavenly future, which is a great light and hope at the end of the tunnel that we can look to no matter what happens in life. He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, who empowers us, brings us into an even closer relationship with God than Jesus’ physical presence, and gives us a wonderful supernatural peace. So no matter what we face in life today, what is there to be anxious about? What is there to be worried about? Jesus says ‘Let not your hearts be troubled.’ And he also says ‘Believe in God, believe also in me.’ When we believe in God, we also believe in all the promises He made to us: all the benefits of Him going away and his gift of the Holy Spirit. And through these things, Christ gives us the strength, hope, and joy to overcome any trial or difficulty that we may face in this life, that can help us overcome our anxieties, worries, and troubled hearts.

Ending song: Ancient of Days

Reflection questions: None -> sports day.