Homebound

Introduction

Someone told me a story this week of a person shopping in HEB with a 6ft tape measure keeping people out of his circle.

Our new adventure. The 6 foot dance. Mask and glove wearing.

Social Distancing.

Shelter in place. Work from home. Home schooling. Working from home while our kids are homeschooling. That one might be the hardest.

We are all homebound.

But our passage this morning reminds us that while we might be living homebound, stuck in our homes, but Jesus is already in our real home preparing it for us and we need to live like we are homebound for our true home.

John 14:1-6

John 14:1–6 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.

Do not let your hearts be TROUBLED.

Don’t worry. The disciples are petrified.

A little context. The disciples were wrapping up the last supper. He had begun the night washing their feet and telling them they needed to learn how to be served. Then he told them they needed to humble themselves and serve others the way he did. Jesus then said one of them was going to betray him. Then Jesus told them he was leaving and they could not go with him for now. The verse immediately before this, Jesus had just told Peter that he was going to deny Jesus three times.

There was a lot of heavy stuff going on here. The disciples were confused. Scared. Angry. Unsure. TROUBLED. I like that word. TROUBLED. It says a lot more than worried or scared. It kind of covers them all doesn’t it? Of course they were troubled! They did not know what the future holds, and they had forgotten who holds the future. So, Jesus reminds them.

John 14:1 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Believe in God, Believe in me (Jesus)

Jesus is getting their focus back. One of the things we should be doing during this time at home is getting our focus back. Spending more time believing in God.

What does it mean to believe? Pisteuo. To believe in, to put one’s trust in. Put our faith in. It means we know God has this and every other problem we will face. It does not mean it will be easy. It does not mean we won’t have some fears or doubts. It means when those fears in doubts come up, we can refocus and put our faith and trust, our Belief that God has our back.

By the way this belief is not a request. It is a command.

I get the picture when Jesus said this he wasn’t being bossy like. Do this or don’t do this. He was being serious because he loves us and wants to save us.

The best picture for me would be:

Ropes commands or lifeguard commands.

Stop, focus, listen to me. Quit looking around and fighting. Relax. Here is the way out.

That is the command Jesus is giving the disciples here. Stop thinking about all the what ifs? Stop being afraid! Believe God, Believe me. We see the path. We will rescue you.

Interesting point here. Jesus again puts himself at the level of God here. He says believe in God; believe in me. Jesus is saying you can trust me. This is big stuff for two reasons. First Jesus is saying he is as trustworthy as God. That seems pretty audacious doesn’t it, but He can say that because he is God. We will look more at this next week, but check this verse out.

: 9

John 14:9–10 ESV

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.

When you see Jesus, you see God. Tune in next week and we will talk more about this, but that is a bold statement. So, we can trust in Jesus because he has it.

Second, Believe also in me, is for our comfort, and was particularly for the disciples comfort. Since Jesus, is God come to earth in human form, everything the disciples had seen Jesus do, they knew God did and would continue to do.

Let’s think about that for a second. What did the disciples see Jesus do? Heal the sick, walk on water, give sight to the blind, calm the storm, have authority, serve, protect, Heck they even saw Jesus raise a man named Lazarus from the dead! So, when Jesus says believe also in me, it is not a blind faith. Not for the disciples, and not for us. We can look back at what Jesus has done and know what Jesus can do.

So, Jesus, continues to expand on what the disciples, you and I, can believe he is going to do. He is going to prepare for us our new home. Our true home, and that he will come back to take us home.

John 14:2-

John 14:2 NIV

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

John 14:2-

John 14:2–3 ESV

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.

Our true home is God’s house.

Jesus briefly describes God’s house to us. He is not doing a full theological exposition on heaven here, he is putting it simply so we can understand. His house is GIANT. It has tons of rooms. Enough for all of us. The skeptics will say, sure that would have to be billions of rooms. And they are right. But can’t the God who created the stars in the sky or the sand on a beach make a home as large as he would like? Have you ever tried to count either the stars in the sky or the sand on the beach?

But the main point here is not how many rooms God has in his home. The main point Jesus is making is: Our true home is God’s house. Not here. We also know that we should believe him, because that is how this passage started wasn’t it. BELIEVE in God BELIEVE also in me.

God cannot lie, therefore, Jesus cannot lie. If he says he is going to something, then we can take it to the bank.

God’s house is not just big its personalized. Jesus has gone home to prepare a place for each of us.

My kids used to share a room. But as they have grown up they each took their own room. Why? because they are each individuals. Not everything they like or enjoy is exactly the same. They have different tastes. They are different.

This passage has always spoken to me in that way. Jesus is going to prepare my room the way I like it. I don’t know if that means, my middle school poster of Michael Jordan will be up, or if it will be filled like my childhood home with my trophies, but I am confident it will be prepared just for me because my relationship with Jesus is unique.

Now there are some similarities in all of our relationships with Jesus. Some big ones. He loves us and paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross. He has forgiven us of our sins. He was raised up on the third day in victory over death and he has saved all who believe in him. And that is why we are all in our father’s house together, but our relationship with Jesus also has unique parts, Doesn’t it? The way he walked with me through my life. The way he encountered you in your time of need. So, how cool is it that Jesus is preparing YOUR room in the father’s house.

But there is still more. He promises us in verse 3, that if he is going to prepare a place for us then he is for sure coming back to bring us home with him.

THAT IS SO COOL!

Jesus is coming back. It is not a matter of opinion. It is a FACT jack. We do not know when that will be, but we do know it is going to happen.

I like what my 4th grade Sunday School teacher said about when Jesus would come back. He said the moment all that God is holding him back until everyone that is going to trust him, trusts him. The book of Revelation, parts of Daniel and other parts of scripture give us clues to what the world will look like when he is about to come, but even Jesus does not know the day or the hour. So, that is why I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it. The main point is Jesus said he is coming back, so he is coming back.

But there is more to the promise than he is just coming back. He is coming back to take God’s children home with him so they can be with him forever dwelling in his house. We will not ever feel alone again. We will not be separated from God again. Check out . Way too much to read right now, but check it out this week. Beautiful stuff, powerful stuff but most of ALL TRUE STUFF.

We can have a home with Jesus forever in God’s house, but we have to know the way.

John 14:4-

John 14:4–6 ESV

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.

Jesus is the way home.

Jesus finishes his statement by telling us you know the way to where I am going. 2000 years later most of us have heard this next part. Most of us whether we believe it or not have heard that Jesus claims to be the way to the Father. The way home.

However, no matter how many times Jesus had told them, they still did not understand that Jesus was the road to the father. That is why Thomas made his statement.

John 14:

John 14:5 NIV

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus just told him where he was going, but Thomas was lost. He was confused. He was not getting it. He wasn’t the only one as we will look closer at some others next week. Jesus said he was going to the father’s house and would come back to get them.

So, Jesus makes it very clear. Quite possibly the most clear statement of how to have a right relationship with God in the Bible. How to be restored to God. How to know you are on the way home.

John 14:6 NIV

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So simple, but so true. A verse we all need to memorize if we have not.

He is the way

He is the Truth

He is the life.

He is the only way to the right relationship with the father, God.

He is the only truth. We can trust and believe his word and what he did in his life.

He is the only thing that can bring us true life.

Life is and eternal relationship with God. There is no other way except through Jesus.

That may seem to some of you as pretty dumb. What about all the other religions? What about all the other ways? Don’t they all lead to the same path?

Jesus is answering that question with a resounding NO!

Think about it. Every other path, every other religion, every other belief system is about what you do to reach God. Most come down to if your good acts outweigh your bad acts you win. Or if we focus enough on our selves and become so enlightened we will see clearly the path before us. But that is not what Jesus is saying at all. It is also what each one of know deep down inside. We cannot be good enough to be 100% confident that we have earned our relationship with God.

But Jesus said we don’t have to earn it. He earned if for us. He has done all the work. He has prepared our room in God’s house we just need to follow him. To believe in him and we can truly be HOME BOUND!

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

So, while we are homebound, let’s prepare to be HOME BOUND!

John 14:1 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

Prayer Time

Personal Message me, hit the link on the website or send an email to [e-mail]. Make sure you include a way to reach out to you. Someone from our church will reach out to you.

Homework:

Spend time talking about what it means to be HOME BOUND.

Read Revelation Chapters 21-22