Troubled Hearts
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· 13 viewsThe disciples find themselves in troubled times with the impending death of Jesus and his warning of hardship. In the upper room Jesus comforts them with critical promises that will carry them through the experience of the first holy week and beyond. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life bears weight on our current context as we face unprecedented times.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Where ever you are today or watching later on this week. Welcome. Prayer team praying for you even now.
Series introduction.
Scripture
Scripture
John 14:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 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? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Pray.
What an important text and one that was chosen specifically for Palm Sunday as we enter into the Holy Week. This is the day of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. They shouted for him, waved palm branches, anticipated him to be king.
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They celebrated him in this moment because they believed he was coming to be their king in a worldly and political small vision compared to what God was about to do. The same people cheering would abandon or worse convict him days later.
“When Jesus is my way then we celebrate him. When his way contradicts my way then we ignore him or denounce him.”
Loving Jesus only when he fits on your way, truth, life…that is worship of yourself. Following Jesus even when his way contradicts your own way, that is discipleship.
This response from Jesus, we are going to talk about the text a little but I just want to say something right here at the front. I have just noticed with preachers and social media that there are all these sayings, these one-liners, heck we preach with them so that people will remember critical parts. But this sayings like the building is closed but church is not cancelled. I know we find comfort in some of these and that’s fine, but what we are talking about here in this series are not just statements of comfort they are salvific and life altering.
These I am statements,
Jesus saying “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Is one that we spend the rest of our lives learning to understand fully.
The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: John Jesus Declares Himself to Be the Way to the Father (14:5–7)
As a fourteenth-century writer put it, “He Himself is the way, and in addition He is the lodging on the way and its destination” (Cabasilas 1974:48).
I purposely will not try to resolve the “meaning” of this statement today, only to launch you into this search yourself.
I purposely will not try to resolve the “meaning” of this statement today, only to launch you into this search yourself.
If this statement makes you uncomfortable or is offensive to you. If the exclusivity of this statement is just too strong, don’t try to soften its edges, you will water down Jesus into something he isnt and join the crowds on that palm sunday.
Now the passage is in incredibly relatable context for us today. Let’s talk about it.
Doubting Thomas and the Troubled Hearts
Doubting Thomas and the Troubled Hearts
Let’s talk about doubting Thomas and the troubled hearts. Sounds like a bad band name.
First, context…they are troubled....
Second, Jesus’ response with I am the Way, the truth, and the life is directly in response to Thomas:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 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? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 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? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
John
Poor Thomas gets this bad reputation in John’s gospel as being this dude with little faith. A lot of that reputation comes from two places.... here and then again after the resurrection. He is not present when Jesus comes to the disciples. Here hears about it and wants to see it....”unless I touch and see the scars.” So he gets this reputation as a spineless follower.
In , he tells the disciples to get up and follow Jesus even if they might die.
, he is one of the few that get to be with Jesus on the beach.
John does seem to work through Thomas questions and doubts rhetorically, but Jesus allows Thomas to touch his very scars. and here in our passage gives this beautiful run of promises.
Two things here:
We are not defined by our low moments.
Thomas’ questions bring profound answers.
Feeling Troubled?
Feeling Troubled?
Are you worried about the future? Are you pressed with anxious moments? Is the thought of tomorrow a little too much right now, much less May 3 or whatever the latest date is before you.
Your emotions are not unlike these disciples as they begin to absorb what Jesus is saying about leaving. Maybe his answers will speak again today....
Jesus departure will bring three promises
Secure their future destiny
Completes the revelation of the Father
Equip them for living for him
Secure their future destiny
First it will secure their future destiny....
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? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
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? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
In the middle of this temporary loss, this feeling of abandonment. Acknowledging that in the next couple of days they might feel like Jesus has left them, he says....I am securing your life. No feeling of being alone will stop you from being in the Father’s house.
The first way he comforts them is by bringing perspective to their present sufferings.
This is not just heavenly comfort for down the road. It is the promise that nothing you ever face can stop you from being in the family of God.
2. Jesus’ departure completes the revelation of the Father
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
In , Jesus says, I only do what I see the Father doing....
Jesus is the full revelation of God in the flesh. The Way, the truth, and the life.
T. F. Torrence: “There is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus.”
T. F. Torrence: “There is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus.”
Meaning Jesus is the way to God. He is God coming to us so that we might go to Him.
T. F. Torrence: “There is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus.”
And God is not going to stop short of his redemptive mission in the world. Jesus tells the disciples…I have to do this because it is the way that you will know the entirety of what God is doing and will do.
Jesus comforts his disciples by reminding them of the whole work of salvation.
The Message of John (i) ‘Let Not Your Hearts Be Troubled’—Discourse A (13:31–14:31)
Here Jesus touches another great cause of ‘troubled hearts’, not merely among these first disciples, but among his followers over the ages. Life at times does not appear to make discernible sense; the vastness of the universe oppresses us, the seemingly impersonal cycle of nature evidences no master plan, and the story of humanity rolls on generation after generation with little apparent meaning at the heart of it all. In our personal lives unexpected happenings break in unbidden, sometimes cruelly, and we find ourselves lisping the verdict of Macbeth, ‘Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ In such moods we cry out from our ‘troubled hearts’ for some word from beyond to reassure us that there is a meaning; that a heart of love still beats behind the cold indifference and arbitrariness of things.
That word is spoken here. In Jesus, and his coming, in his death and his rising God speaks the word of peace. There is meaning. In this man, and his life of lowly service unto death, God is made known, a God in whom we can truly believe and find peace. The answer to the anxiety of troubled hearts is assured knowledge from Jesus.
3. Jesus departure brings about their equipping for living in the world
Do not be troubled…in my leaving you will not be alone. He comforts them by promising that they will continue, empowered.
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Hohn 14:12-14
later on, in 25-27
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
I love the way Paul envisions this in Ephesians....
In , he is the one that ascends to the throne so that he might be the head and equip the body for the work.
It is on this way that we get to bring others on board....
Closing:
Friends, whatever is around you right now...
The way is before you, on this way you will learn about who you are but more importantly the God who loves you. You will face trouble and difficulty but the path is sure. Even as the scenery grows difficult or things change around you....this path is sure. You are not alone. This is a communal message to the believes and to you as well. Even more, the Holy Spirit is with you.
Pray.
Kingwood:
So hard to leave you....
still remember my first sermon here
today is our 6th anniversary. every wedding anniversary here.
we have laughed and cried a lot. babies born, funerals, weddings, some I have had the privilege of seeing you encounter Christ for the first time and so many of you find deep promise and blessing in who he is.
We have seen God do amazing things. Still time.
Thomas a Kempis:
Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated.