After Dinner Fellowship (Part 1)
The Endless Journey - John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Reading:
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Introduction:
(Growing up dinners may have been a time for families to have their “family meetings”. )
There are a myriad of benefits to eating together, small talk while eating and after a time to talk together.
(Illustrate the after dinner conversations as people recline after sharing a meal together and the importance of how it is impactful to each person)
Jesus’ conversations are different than those we would have around our tables, considering Jesus’ focus is the disciples and preparing them for what comes next.
Connect this conversation to the importance of what Jesus was explaining and highlighting to His disciples. — (Remember: this book is evangelistic in it’s message!)
The truth that we need for helping people understand Jesus so they can believe and live as John 20:31 teaches.
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Jesus meets a troubled heart not with a plan, but with Himself — trust Him, and you have everything you need for what's next.
Between verses 1-14 we can see 3 areas of focus.
To Prepare
To Follow and
To Reflect
Prepare (1-2)
Prepare (1-2)
Since Jesus’ hour has come He prepares His disciples, and in doing so He is preparing us!
Chapter fourteen starts oddly, it reads like the middle of a thought.
The reason is that bible chapters.
They weren’t added until A.D. 1227, Archbishop Stephen Langton of Canterbury who:
Introduced the modern chapter divisions for the Latin Vulgate to make it more referenceable and able to locate the passage.
The first English bible to have the chapters in it was the Wycliff bible printed in 1382.
Since that moment we find ourselves reading different chapters that seem to begin in the middle of the context, like John chapter 14.
Jesus issued a “new commandment” to love one another as He has loved them and prophesied that Peter would deny Him 3x in one night, before the rooster crowed.
Jesus revealed that one among them would betray Him and that He is leaving and they cannot follow.
With the context provided verse 1 makes more sense:
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Jesus is bringing some comfort to the disciples.
He is appealing to their emotions- their hearts.
His appeal to comfort them is by placing their focus on Him!
Not too surprising since Jesus is the comforter.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
We go to Him as our comforter, and when He comforts us we know who to point others to when they are in need of comfort.
He is our “safe place” and wants us to know that He can be our safe place and can handle us no matter the situation.
In verse 1 He offers Himself as the comforting place where they can find joy and peace.
Jesus had told them He was leaving; but they can still find comfort.
Why was Jesus leaving?
John 14 reveals 5 reasons:
To prepare a place for them (for us)
To reveal the Father to them
To grant the privilege of prayer
To send the Holy Spirit
To offer His peace
His leaving was necessary to complete His work for us!
Verse 1 brings something special to our hearts for a way of comfort.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Jesus says for comfort that the disciples should believe in God and in Him, and we can too.
This isn’t the first time Jesus says something like this as an invitation.
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.
There is an invitation to believe in Jesus states that it is the same as believing in God.
(?) what does believe mean?
The word used means: To believe, To trust, To put faith in.
That’s interesting since trust and believe are 2 different words that suggest 2 different things.
Believe is:
To credit upon the authority or testimony of another; to be persuaded of the truth of something upon the declaration of another, or upon evidence furnished by reasons, arguments, and deductions of the mind, or by other circumstances, than personal knowledge. -Noah Webster
Trust is:
To place confidence in; to rely on. We cannot trust those who have deceived us. - Noah Webster
The 2 words go hand in hand.
You cannot believe unless you trust, and you cannot trust unless what you believe is truthful and trustworthy.
If you want a biblical bow to wrap the package in you could call it Faith!
Belief is knowing something is true.
Trust is relying on it.
Faith is the combination of both — knowing and committing to God’s truth in a way that transforms your life.
(?) This sparks a question: Is Jesus worthy of our faith?
Each one of us have the ability and opportunity to figure this out.
We have the resources to test all that is said about Jesus whether good or bad and the truth will reveal His trust worthiness.
What we will find is the same thing that many others have found: He is!
The statement by Jesus brings a new peace to Earth!
That peace comes with comfort and optimism since Jesus is trustworthy, and because God is worthy of your faith, so is Jesus.
(?) Do you want the peace that passes all understanding?
Jesus prepared you for it, just as He prepared the disciples.
Trust Him and Believe on Him, He is worthy of your faith!
He provides comfort for the present and for the future.
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?
Jesus relates the future hope to something familiar for us all.
Finish this phrase:
Home is where...The heart is.
Why does this make sense?
We find in our homes: love, care, protection, a place to be ourselves, an warmth exists there, fellowship and thousands of memories.
Home isn’t just a place for us, it's an “sanctuary”.
So much so that many criminals have been apprehended because they went home.
Illustration:
A friend of mines dad was a police officer in Flint area and he would tell us stories about local criminals.
One in particular was a motorcycle racer.
The first few times they went to apprehend this hooligan on a motorcycle terrorizing the local community with loud noise and speed, they couldn’t catch him.
After a few times chasing him one officer recognized him and instead of calling off the chase they went tho his house and waited for him.
Scott Parker was his name and he was the #1 flat track champion for many years running, possibly one of the best that has ever been.
They knew he would go home because it was his comfort.
The home feeling we all understand especially when we take it in context to how Jesus expressed it.
It is the Fathers house!
A term that offers the love of a father in every way to his children.
Cooler than that: That future home that our Father owns has a room for you and I specifically.
I kind of picture this like that home makeover show a long time ago when they talk to the kids and make their room of all the favorite things and all the things they love.
When we get to Heaven maybe Jesus will yell: “Move that bus” and reveal to us the room crafted just for us!
Jesus tells us that is where He is right now, preparing a place for us.
The comfort He offers for this world and for eternity is sealed with a promise:
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.”
Jesus doesn't just comfort them with a promise — He gives them a Person to follow.
Follow (3-7)
Follow (3-7)
When He is ready, He will come get us and we will know how to get there!
But how?
That is exactly what Thomas asked
Thank you Thomas.
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Thomas wasn’t a man that pretended to have a faith that he didn’t have, so the question is innocent and transparent.
He probably only asked what everyone else was thinking.
Jesus answers: It’s Me!
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Bring your minds to recall where Jesus came from:
He came from Glory to Earth and now He was on His way back to Glory by way of the cross.
He left with scars testifying of the price that was paid, and He knows the trail to guide us back to God!
Illustration:
A pioneer missionary was in southern Africa and wanted to take the gospel to a new tribe far North.
All refused to venture past a certain point but there was one who knew the way.
All scarred up, carrying an large axe, who was from the Northern area would guide him.
The trail was narrowing and getting very difficult and the missionary asked do you really know the way?
He asked him to look at his scars, and his axe that he used to blaze the trail from the North to the South and told him: “I am the way”.
He was the only guide that made a way from one place to another, and Jesus is the Way!
He blazed the trail and paved it with His blood!
Jesus is way to Glory and in His statement He addressed the 3 greatest questions for the heart of man.
How can I be saved: “I Am the way”
There was a boy who entered a maze and found himself in the middle without a directions for how to get out.
A man came and he followed him.
That boy could’ve said I’ll figure it out on my own; but instead he gave up his own effort, admitted he was lost and needed help, so the willing guide he chose to follow.
Connection:
The moment we decide to give up our own efforts to receive the help of the guide is when we find “the way.”
How can I be sure: “I Am the truth”
Jesus resolves in Himself all that is eternal and absolute.
History has revealed the failures of Religion and Philosophy especially when Jesus came to highlight them to everyone.
He didn’t just teach truth, He is the truth!
Everything people try for achieving “heaven” falls short and is wrong.
Jesus’ truth is: “No one comes to the Father, except through Him!”
Connection:
You either come to God through Jesus or you don’t come at all and that statement isn’t arrogant, it’s just the truth!
Truth is always exclusive, always dogmatic, always intolerant of non-truth.
Jesus is that truth and He is worthy of our faith.
The third question it answers:
How can I be satisfied: “I Am the life”
This is an area Solomon answers:
A lament of Solomon can be found in Ecclesiastes.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Solomon pursued a life to satisfy himself and found that all fell short of satisfaction.
In the hearts of men God places a desire for eternity; but will not find it in his own desires.
That satisfaction or fulfillment of our life’s purpose.
Solomon realized that all this world can offer of the pleasures and pursuits cannot satisfy or offer life!
This is reminiscent of the pursuit of our own desires.
Our desires change with each different stage of life.
Illustration:
I used to desire to play soccer and believed that would bring satisfaction and fulfillment.
That was selfish and it would die with me.
God calling me into ministry is a desire offered to be adopted by me from the Lord and pastoring is self-less and lasts into eternity.
It doesn’t die with me, it is something that impacts lives into eternity, some for salvation and others to the building up of their faith and to adopt their God given calling.
Connection:
Don’t fall into the lie that if you give your desires and adopt the Lord’s that your life will be less than satisfying or fulfilling.
We operate from a broken logic, and the God that created us on purpose, with a purpose knows exactly where we fit best and find the most fulfillment and satisfaction in our lives.
We follow Him by believing and trusting:
He is the Way, and we guide others to Him.
He is the Truth, and we can offers assurance of eternity to all.
He is the Life that satisfies more than what our fleeting desires can.
He has prepared the disciples
He showed the way to follow
A disciple is a reflection of the one they follow, and the disciples in the upper room needed to reflect Jesus to all and so do we!
Because Jesus is trustworthy, we now reflect Him to others who need the same comfort.
Reflect (8-14)
Reflect (8-14)
A reflection is a testimony to the truth!
Philip asked for proof of the Father and that would be enough evidence.
Jesus explains that He is an reflection or the expressed image of God in this world.
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.
Jesus is the reflection of the Father here on Earth.
If you want to know God’s personality read Jesus.
If you want to know what is the truth: look to the works that Jesus did, hear what He taught, receive His desire, accept His love!
Jesus reflected God as God in the flesh and as disciples Jesus has taught the disciples to reflect Him to all.
Which is amazing considering the work He called them to.
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.
They have a job to reflect Jesus and that they will do greater works than what they have seen.
How is that possible?
Jesus fixed the physical things; but the disciples: the spiritual things that last into eternity.
Connection:
The disciples did some great miracles in Jesus’ name and so can you.
Let’s clear up a point that has caused confusion surrounding “In Jesus Name” and spread a mis-understanding.
It isn’t phrase of incantation for us to ask anything, then add the “in Jesus name” to the end of it and it will happen.
The point to this passage is to ask things according to His changeless purpose to bring glory to the Father.
Jesus in His prayers left an good example, He offered His life into the Fathers hands for the Fathers will to be done.
We are to reflect that same example to the world.
Offer ourselves over to His will and pray for the things that He would desire that are according to His personality on behalf of the good for others, even when they may not know what that is themselves.
Conclusion:
Every heart in this room is troubled by something.
Jesus doesn't hand you directions — He says, "I am the way," and He carries the scars to prove He walked it first.
You don't need certainty about everything. You just need to trust the One standing in front of you.
If you don't know Him — stop trying to find your own way home.
Let Him carry you there.
If you already do — a room is prepared for you, and He's coming back for you Himself.
So don't just leave here comforted.
Leave here as someone else's way home.
-Pray!
