Sermon Tone Analysis

Open your Bibles to John 14.

We talk about love around here a lot, don’t we?

We say that our goal is love, we talked last week about how love looks like serving whoever in whatever way we need to, etc.

This morning, we are going to look at love from a different angle than the way most of the world looks at it.

Most of the time, when we think of love, we think of a mutual affection between equals—a boyfriend and a girlfriend who love each other, possibly even two friends who love each other in a platonic way.

With all our emphasis on equality, though, we might miss something critical about the love we are called to show Jesus.

When we say, “I love Jesus,” we are not saying, “I love Jesus like he is my equal.”

No; Jesus is far greater than we are.

When we are called to love someone who is greater than us, love looks different.

You could think of this in terms of the way we love our parents.

Our moms and dads are in a position of authority over us.

One way we show that we love them is by following what they tell us to do.

If they are good parents, they aren’t being mean when they give us commands; instead, they are telling us to do what they believe best for us because they love us, and we show our love by doing what they say.

If that’s true of the love we share with our moms and dads, then wouldn’t that be even more true of our love we share with Jesus?

In John 14, where we will spend time this morning, we find Jesus on multiple occasions saying that if we love him, we will obey him.

We see that in verses 15, 21 and 23.

Look specifically at verse 15...

So we see that doing what Jesus says is one of the key ways we demonstrate our love for him.

That isn’t what saves us—it is his love for us, displayed through his death on the cross that opens the door for us to have a relationship with him.

However, if we really love Jesus, then we are going to do what he says.

Are we clear on that, then?

If I love Jesus, then I am going to show that by the way that I live.

I am going to avoid what he says to avoid and do what he says to do.

As we go through the rest of the verses we will look at this morning, we are going to find at least five benefits you will find in your life as you show your love for him by doing what he says.

If you were with us last month, you may remember that we restarted our study of John by jumping in at John 14:1-6.

Let’s think about what is going on in light of what we saw last week and talked about then.

This conversation takes place during the last meal Jesus will have with his disciples before he is arrested and crucified.

We saw last week that he unsettled the disciples by serving them humbly, telling them to do the same.

We also see in chapter 13 that one of the disciples is going to betray him, all of them will fall away, Peter is going to deny he even knows Jesus, and Jesus is going to die.

The disciples’ heads had to be spinning at this point, so in chapter 14, Jesus seeks to comfort them.

He begins by telling them that he is going to prepare a place for them, and he will be back.

Then, we turn to the passage we are looking at this morning.

Jesus weaves the reminders of our need to do what he says in with threads of incredible promises.

For those of us who strive to do what he says out of hearts that love Jesus, then, we can pull at least five benefits from Jesus’s words to the disciples.

Let’s walk through them together.

First, as we demonstrate love by doing what he says, we gain a...

1) Greater knowledge of God.

Read verses 7-11 with me...

One of the key truths John has been highlighting throughout his book is the unity between Jesus and God the Father.

He has made this clear from the very first verse of the book, and this chapter continues to build on what John has already shown us.

Jesus brings this concept up in verse 7...

Phillip and the other disciples had seen Jesus do great things, but they still didn’t understand all they had seen.

Phillip asks Jesus to let them see God the Father—he wants to see some kind of appearance of God himself.

Jesus’s answer would have been completely shocking: If you have seen Jesus and his works, then you have seen the Father.

By following Jesus, learning from him, watching him work, and walking in obedience with him, the disciples were some of the first to know that Jesus is himself God and is equal with the Father.

That gets us started on one of those aspects of God that makes our heads swim a bit.

Throughout this chapter, we are going to hear Jesus refer to himself, the Father, and the Spirit.

Using passages like this one, we come to acknowledge that God exists as the Trinity, and there is nothing else in all of creation like him.

We struggle to find ways to wrap our minds around it, but I was helped this week by a lesson from theologian Fred Sanders.

He was teaching the children of his church about this important doctrine, and here is some of what he said:

“‘God eternally exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ means that there is only one God, but existing as three persons.... Since there are three persons in God, we call God the Trinity.

God is one being in three persons.

Not three Gods: just one.

Not one person: three persons.

What does that mean, and what is it like?

Well, I’m one being who is one person.

I’m not a Trinity, just a unity.

God is more than I am: he’s one being in three persons...

Here’s a group of three people [pick out three kids].

But they’re not one being.

They’re three people who are three beings.

So God is more 3 than just what I am, and more 1 than what this group is.

God is just more!

Thinking about one person kind of helps us; and thinking about a group kind of helps us; but we always know that God is more, more, more.”[1]

Look for this “three in one” language as we go through the rest of the chapter.

God is more than we could ever begin to imagine on so many different levels, and the Trinity is just one of those.

However, what Jesus taught Phillip that night was that as we walk with him over the years, we get to know God better and better.

Isn’t it a good thing to understand the God of the universe better, especially if we are looking forward to being with him forever?

As I learn what Jesus says I should do, and I obey him, I come to know him in greater ways than I could ever imagine.

I will never fully understand all the nuances of the Trinity, but I will get to know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in greater and greater ways.

As I grow in obedience and knowledge of God, I will also start seeing the second benefit in greater ways...

2) Answered prayer.

Not only do we get to know God better, we also get to join him in doing the same kinds of things Jesus did, which includes seeing God answer prayers!

Look at verses 12-14...

There is some discussion about what Jesus means by “greater works”.

It is hard to imagine doing anything greater than raising people from the dead, driving out demons, and healing diseases, so it is most likely Jesus isn’t talking about the kind of miracle as much as the scope of the work he is going to do through us.

In a matter of months, Peter would preach a sermon where thousands would get saved, which isn’t something we see happening during Jesus’s earthly ministry.

Lots of people followed him, but we don’t see thousands genuinely saved in one day.

As we get to know him, we get to join him in what he is doing.

Now, those last two verses have gotten a lot of people into trouble, so let’s talk about that.

Jesus says that if we ask anything in his name, we will receive it.

So, does that mean that as long as we add, “In Jesus’s name, Amen” onto the end of our prayers, we are guaranteed to get what we have asked?

Let me just clearly say no—that is not what Jesus is saying.

God is not a vending machine, or a cosmic Santa Claus or a genie in a lamp, where as long as you say things just right, he will do whatever you ask.

God is God—the creator, sustainer, and savior of the world.

You cannot force him to do what he does not want to do, and he will not bend his will to yours.

However, we do have the privilege of serving him as ambassadors, so we should seek to pray accordingly.

One commentator said it this way:

This is not a “magic formula” that we automatically attach to our prayer requests, guaranteeing that God will answer.

To ask anything of the Father, in the name of Jesus, means that we ask what Jesus would ask, what would please Him, and what would bring Him glory by furthering His work.

How do we know what would fit in those categories?

By getting to know him better!

Here’s what is incredible, though: As you obey him and get to know him, you start praying prayers that are more in line with his character and nature.

When you do, God actually answers the prayers you prayed!

If you have been a Christian a while, I hope you can look back over your life and see lots of examples where you prayed and God answered.

If you can’t, there could be several reasons, and I would encourage you to ask God which of these might be true of you:

Is there a sin you are committing and you have not repented of?

Are you praying with the wrong motives or for things that don’t honor God?

Are you praying and then not watching for an answer?

Are you praying but unwilling to sacrifice to see God move?