Unshakable

Frank Lloyd Wright is among the most innovative architects this country ever produced. But his fame wasn't limited to the United States.

Many years ago, Japan asked Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake. When the architect visited Japan to see where the Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find only about eight feet of earth on the site.

Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. A lesser man probably would have given up right there. But not Frank Lloyd Wright.

Since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. Instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage.

Supports were sunk into the soft mud, and sections of the foundation were cantilevered from the supports. The rooms were built in sections like a train and hinged together.

Water pipes and electric lines, usually the first to shear off in an earthquake, were hung in vertical shafts where they could sway freely if necessary.

Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines are apt to be broken in the ground and there is no way to put the fire out. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of his hotel, "just in case." 

On September 1, 1923, Tokyo had the greatest earthquake in its history. There were fires all over the city, and 140,000 people died. Back in the U.S., news reports were slow coming in.

One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter called Frank Lloyd Wright, he said that they could print the story if they wished, but they would only have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse. 

Shortly afterward, Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged. Not only that -- it had provided a home for hundreds of people.

And when fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel's pool.

Source: Bits & Pieces, January 7, 1993, pp. 11-14.

Today, let us consider how we can build a life - live a life - that is unshakable, a life that will stand like the Imperial Hotel even if the world around it is shaking.

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Over the past few weeks, we broke away from our study in John to look briefly at Jesus’ walk to the Cross, and then away from the Tomb. Today, we are going back to John 14.

Our scripture details some of the last moments Jesus had with his disciples. In our text, Jesus was preparing his disciples for his crucifixion and resurrection and truly, the rest of their lives.

In this scripture we then find teaching that we need to guide us throughout our lives as we trust in Jesus, walking by faith and not by sight.

Would you read the scripture with me?

John 14:1–14 ESV

“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?” 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 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.” 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 will he 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.

At the conclusion of this last supper with his disciples, Jesus told them that he would be betrayed … by one of them!

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If that was not enough, Jesus further stated he was going somewhere the disciples could not go.

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When Peter protested, Jesus doubled down, saying that Peter would deny him three times!

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Can you imagine the shocked faces of the disciples? Peter was one of Jesus’ closest disciples! If Peter would not remain true to their Master, would any of them stay loyal? How could they?

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What was going to happen? What would be so outrageous, so shocking, so petrifying, so terrifying that no one would remain true to their Lord?

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Could anything like this truly happen?

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It was hard to fathom!

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Jesus then began to teach his disciples, preparing them for especially the next few days as he would be arrested, crucified, but then rise on the third day. He started by telling them that as they believed in God, they should believe in him.

You may have noticed that while some Bibles, such as the ESV, indicate a paragraph break at verse 14, Jesus’ conversation continued to the end of John 14.

At that point, it appears that Jesus and his disciples left the Upper Room and began walking to the Mount of Olives, as he continued to teach and then pray for them in John 15-17.

We will plan to study the last half of John 14 at another time. But as we study John 14:1-14 today, we find this key thought:

Big Idea: Our faith in Jesus offers us unshakable confidence.

John 14:1–2 ESV

“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?

As we begin our study of the text today, before we study the text as a whole, there are three issues of interpretation that we should clear up.

The first issue is that some English versions render Jesus’ words in John 14:1 as more of a question: “Do you believe in God? Believe also in me” as opposed to “You believe in God; believe also in me.”

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Either rendering is probably okay, but the essence of the thought here is that Jesus was telling his disciples: “That faith you have always had in Yahweh. It is time to put that faith in me.” Throughout our passage, Jesus would then explain why.

A second issue of interpretation is the rendering of verse 2. The KJV says, John 14:2

John 14:2 KJV

In my Father’s house are many mansions…

But most modern versions render the Greek as “rooms”. The Greek word is mone and means a “dwelling place” or a “room”. It only makes logical sense that in our Father’s house there are many rooms, as mansions are houses.

But what we see here is a conflict of cultural thinking. We tend to think of buying our own house - our mansion on a hilltop - and living the good life.

But in Jewish culture, the parents would build a house - the original structure on a complex. Then, as their sons grew older and got ready to marry, each boy would build a room - rooms - (house) attached to the parent’s house where this son would bring his bride.

These rooms attached to the original structure would encircle a courtyard - a common living space where the extended family would do life together.

The point Jesus was making here was less about us having our own house or mansion to living on our own 40 acres or something and MORE about the idea that in God’s house … there will be plenty of room for all of God’s people to live and dwell and fellowship together!

A third interpretive issue, and maybe the most important, is in verse one where Jesus says, “Believe in God, believe also in me.” The preposition rendered “in” here is the Greek word eis, which really carries the meaning of “into”.

The faith that Jesus calls for us to have in him is not a faith about him, but a trust in him. Jesus is calling for us to abandon any other hope and to rely solely on him for eternal life.

We can believe all sorts of things about Jesus and God the Father. We can gain all sorts of knowledge. We can hope that he is Lord and Savior.

But only when we radically abandon our own efforts to please God and to figure out what direction we should take in life… and put our faith, our trust, in Jesus will we truly possess an unshakeable confidence.

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With all this understood, let us then consider this question…

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How does our faith in Jesus give us an unshakable confidence?

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First we have an unshakable confidence because…

1. Jesus Reveals the Route to the Father, v. 6.

In John 14:1-3 Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them, and that they knew the way to where he was going.

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Do you see Thomas sitting over there to one side, shaking his head?

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“Hold up, Jesus!” he must have been thinking. “You’re several steps ahead of us right now!”

John 14:5–6 ESV

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

In verse 6 we find Jesus’ exclusive claim to eternal life and the Father. He is THE way. He is THE truth. He is THE life.

The popular theology of our world today is one of universalism - the idea that regardless of what one believes or does, everyone will go to Heaven when they die.

Oh, yes! Of course, maybe those truly wicked people will not make it to heaven, but seriously, how can anyone lovingly say that some people will go to Hell, and only some will go to Heaven?

It is hard to find a funeral today of a sinner. Everybody goes to heaven; at least, that’s what it seems like when you listen to those speaking in memory of the dead.

Jesus makes it very plain. He ALONE is the way the Heaven. If we do not come through him, we will NOT go to heaven; we will go to Hell.

This truth is uncomfortable for some. For others, it is enraging - it is exclusive. But this is the truth of God’s Word. Therefore, as those who are accountable to God - myself as a preacher of the Gospel and all of us as servants of Jesus, let us plainly state God’s Truth:

All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We are all guilty before God. Our sin condemns us as worthy of death in Hell for eternity. There is no way we can cover over or make up for our sin.

Only through the blood of Jesus shed on the Cross may we gain forgiveness of sin and be bought back. We only have hope of salvation through Jesus Christ!

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But Jesus also stated that He is the Truth. Today, the philosophical understanding that is widely held by our world is called post-modernism. Postmodernism rejects the idea that there is one absolute truth.

Rather, postmodernism says that truth is what I and those with me believe it to be at any certain time or setting. Indeed, I can hold one truth and you may hold another truth. Our truths may be incompatible and even contradictory, yet they are MY truth and YOUR truth.

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Technology seemingly aids this construct of reality. For example, social media uses algorithms that, for example, if you tend to consume videos, articles, etc. leaning one way politically, these algorithms feed you more and more items that lean that direction.

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Another person browsing social media ingests media that leans the other way politically, and both of you end up in a silo of information and may not have a true understanding of reality!

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Truly, this philosophical understanding of our world is unsustainable, as there tends to be a limit for people who hold conflicting truths to be willing to tolerate others.

But here’s the real point: Jesus is THE Truth. While we may want to construct our own truths, there is one REAL truth - and that Truth is the Living Word of God, whom we learn about through the written Word of God.

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Notice also that Jesus said he is the Life. Only in Jesus do we find abundant, eternal life. Indeed, Ephesians 2 says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. While we may still be physically alive, sin has killed us spiritually. It is only matter of time till our bodies die - and we then face an eternity of death.

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But in Jesus, we find, abundant, eternal life - freedom from sin, freedom from guilt, purpose, hope, joy, love. Jesus is the joy of living!

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How does our faith in Jesus give us an unshakable confidence?, Second, we have an unshakable confidence because…

2. Jesus Reflects the Reality of the Father, v. 9.

In verse 7, Jesus told his disciples that if they knew him, they knew the Father. In fact, Jesus said, John 14:7 “From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

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This assertion made Philip pause.

John 14:8–9 ESV

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’?

What Jesus was telling his disciples is plain to us, but they kept missing it. They were looking to Jesus as Messiah as someone not truly or fully God. Jesus was more like a superhero.

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Jesus endeavored to explain: he is God! The Father and the Son are one!

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If you know the Son, you know the Father. If you know the Father, then you definitely know the Son.

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In the latter part of this chapter, Jesus would teach the disciples about the Third Person of the Trinity. But even here, Jesus emphasized that He and the Father were one. The three Persons of the Trinity are distinct personalities, yet they are inseparably one and unified and in unity together.

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For all their lives, the disciples had prayed to God. Because they could not see God, at times they must have struggled with questions about who God is.

But now they had just spent about three years following Jesus, listening to him teach, sing?, and watching him do mighty miracles. They had been watching … God! God was in their midst!

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While Jesus returned to his Father in heaven, even we today gain confidence and assurance in the fact that Jesus reflects the reality of the Father.

While much about God’s character and nature were revealed in the Old Testament, Jesus revealed much more to us about who God is, what God desires, and what expects of us by becoming flesh and living among us.

Jesus lived a perfect life, holy and blameless, as he was empowered by the Spirit. So our great desire should be to follow Jesus’ example as best we can through the Spirit’s enabling.

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How does our faith in Jesus give us an unshakable confidence?, Third, we have an unshakable confidence because…

3. Jesus Releases the Resources of the Father, v. 13.

In verses 10-11 Jesus continued to address Philip’s desire to see the Father, explaining that Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus challenged his disciples to believe that he and the Father are one, or at least to believe on account of the works Jesus had done.

John 14:11 ESV

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Then, in verses 12-14 Jesus gave his disciples (and us today) some amazing promises:

John 14:12–14 ESV

“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. 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.

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Some have gotten a big stuck on the idea that we might do greater works than Jesus has done. Jesus was not saying that we could become greater than He is, or any such thing like that.

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Rather, Jesus was saying that through His power, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we might be able to even greater things.

J. Vernon McGee explains these verses, saying:

What is the greater thing which they shall do?

Simon Peter, who had denied Him on the night He was arrested, preached a sermon on the Day of Pentecost and 3000 people became believers! I think of the men over the years who have invested their lives in winning men to Christ. I think of missionaries, such as George L. Mackey who went to Uganda. What a missionary he was! Preaching a crucified, risen, glorified, returning Savior so that a hearer may accept Christ and be born again is a greater miracle than healing the sick. Am I right? Which is better: to heal the soul or to heal the body? When Jesus Christ was on earth, He performed the miracle of raising the physical bodies of men, but we have the privilege of preaching Jesus Christ so that men, body and soul, may live eternally.

McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (John 11-21) (electronic ed., Vol. 39, p. 82). Thomas Nelson.

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Of course, the next two verses (13-14) also contain promises that some struggle with: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do” and “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

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Can we ask God for anything and really expect him to give it to us?

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The key to interpreting and applying this scripture faithfully is first not to trying to make a theology out of one or two verses of the whole Bible. When we consider all that scripture teaches on the topic of prayer, we realize that

The only prayer God promises to answer of the unbeliever is the prayer of repentance,

God never promises to give us just anything and everything we might desire,

God’s desire is to bring himself glory and to create good for those who love him.

But we should also note that with both utterances of this prayer, Jesus clarified his promise, saying that we must pray “in his name.”

Some have taken this to mean that we should use Jesus’ name like an incantation; that as long as we say, “In Jesus’ name”, we can expect our prayer to be answered.

Again, this is a misinterpretation of what Jesus intended. Praying in Jesus’ name means that we submit our lives, our will, our desires, our prayers to His will. To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray for God’s glory in our lives.

Thus, we cannot pray for something that is contrary to the clear teaching of God’s Word… and in pray in Jesus’ name. Furthermore, to pray in Jesus’ name means we have surrendered our will and desires to God’s will.

So, if God’s will is not what we might ask but something better, that God would answer “no” is not a failure of God’s faithfulness.

Rather, if God says “no” or “wait awhile”, we accept that as a sign of God’s goodness because we are praying for God’s will, not merely ours.

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We pray asking God to accomplish certain things … all the while understanding God may have a better plan. We have surrendered our lives to His plan. So, as God responds to our prayers, we give him glory.

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With this clarification, however, we must not underestimate the lavishness of God’s goodness. Nor should we “tone down” our prayers. Rather, we should boldly present our petitions and requests in Jesus’ name, and trust God to hear and answer accordingly.

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And God is good! He will hear and answer our prayers!

Big Idea: Our faith in Jesus offers us unshakable confidence.

As we have seen in our text, Jesus reveals the route to the Father - He is the Way! Jesus reflects the reality of the Father, as well - He and the Father are one! Jesus further releases the resources of the Father: if we pray in Jesus’ name, He will answer us!

There is much in our world today that is uncertain.

Over the past several weeks, we have seen the stock market wildly fluctuating - going up and down. There are many things - on the world stage or even in our personal lives - that may make us pause. Sometimes, it might feel like the floor underneath us is shaking.

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When we place our faith - our trust - in Jesus, however, we gain an unshakable confidence for life. We know THE way to God. We enjoy the presence of God even here on earth. And we have been promised the resources of God for those challenges of life that await us.

There’s a poem that says:

Faith rises,

above our fears

calms our nerves

dries our tears.

Faith overcomes,

every obstacle

makes all things

truly possible.

Faith conquers,

all our doubts

with triumph cheers

and joyous shouts.

Faith defeats.

our worst enemy

fights off the devil

trounces his army.

Faith rises,

above our concerns

calms our worries . . .

till Jesus returns!

Source: Deborah Ann Belka, https://www.christart.com/poetry/poem4298.htm

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Are you living with such unshakable confidence?

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You can, if you will place your faith in Jesus!