John 14:12-14

I’ve been preparing a slide show for Open House, which is tomorrow night. As I’ve been editing the slideshow and adding sentimental music, I’ve been tearing up looking at the cute faces of my students! Open House signals the end of the year! I love this night! It’s a time to celebrate the time we’ve had together in our classroom and to reflect on all they’ve accomplished. Yet, it’s a sad time, too, because these 30 students have truly worked their way into my heart this year (nine of them I’ve had for two years). It’s hard to say goodbye.

I can identify with the urgency Jesus had in wanting to impart last minute teaching to his disciples. When my students leave me, they are headed to middle school, with so many pitfalls and dangers awaiting them! I want them to be prepared - not just academically, but also emotionally, socially, and morally. They will be faced with so many important choices in middle school - many that will determine who they eventually will become. So I want them to be ready. I’m thinking about what more I must teach them before they leave me. This is how Jesus was feeling as He continued to prepare them.

So far, He has comforted them with the assurance of their place in Heaven with Him. And yesterday we read that He promised them that they can know the Father if they know Him. In today’s passage He talks with them about the privilege of prayer:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He 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 Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-14) 

Jesus, our one and only Mediator (1 Tim 2:5), lives to intercede on our behalf with the Father. Because He is at the Father’s right hand, we can be assured that whatever we pray in His name, He will do. Now, the key is the phrase, “in my name.” This doesn’t mean that if we just tag, “in Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers that we have our wishes granted! Praying in Jesus’ name means that we acknowledge Who He is and all that His identity encompasses.

So, if you are praying for a new Lexus “in Jesus’ name,” are you praying in line with His teachings on priorities (“Seek first the kingdom of Heaven...” )? If you are praying that the LORD will take vengeance on your nasty neighbor, is your prayer full of mercy, grace, and forgiveness?? :) You get the idea! The better we know Jesus and His nature, the more our prayers will be in line with His will, and we can trust that He hears us and answers our prayers. Jesus’ presence before the Father guarantees that we will receive mercy and grace when we go before the throne. Therefore we can approach the throne boldly (Hebrews 4:16).

It’s not about taking a shopping list to God for all the goodies we need - it’s about praying for His Kingdom to come and for His will to be done. It’s praying for others to come to Christ. It’s praying that they may grow in Him and be protected from the evil one. It’s praying for healing - both physical and spiritual. It’s praying that the 30 students in my class will know His perfect will for their lives. Those are prayers that WILL be answered! Jesus guarantees it!  

John 14:7-11

Jesus had made the amazing claim to be the only way to the Father, and He continues preparing His disciples with extremely bold statements about Himself:

“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7)

This confuses Philip:

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” (vs. 8)

I’m not sure if Philip literally wanted Jesus to give them a peek into Heaven, or what, but Jesus seems to give Philip a gentle rebuke:

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 are not just my own. 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 miracles themselves. (vs.9-11)

Philip, like the others, had been with Jesus for three years, seeing Him do a multitude of amazing miracles, including raising Lazarus just a week before this. Maybe Jesus wanted to thump Philip on the head at this point and say,”What aren’t you getting???” But He patiently and boldly explains to these beloved men exactly who He is: One with the Father. What He has said were the very words of the Father. What He has done He has done through the Father living in Him. The miracles He performed were confirmation of this.

When unbelievers state that Jesus never claimed to be God, they have not read His own word It was talk like this that put the price on His head. It enraged the Jewish leaders, to whom it was blasphemy! These are radical statements and crazy talk if they were not true!

Jon Courson makes an excellent point in his commentary on this passage (Courson, P. 556). He writes of how people in our times are so anxious to lay blame at their parents’ feet for all of their problems. They often say things like, “I can’t relate to the Father because my earthly father ignored me, abused me, or abandoned me.” Courson’s point is that we are not to look at our earthly parents to understand our Heavenly Father. Rather, we are to look to Christ. Learn about Jesus if you want to understand the Father. Courson says the character of your earthly father is “irrelevant.” Amen!

This is why reading and rereading the gospels is so important. These are accounts of men who walked with Jesus or with His original disciples. They give eyewitness testimony to the character and work of Jesus Christ. They include His very words. And if we want to understand the Father, we must know the Son. Thanks for meeting here each morning that we might all get to know Him better!  

John 14:4-6 Map to Heaven

Jesus had just assured the disciples that, even though He was going away, He would return and take them to their heavenly home. Now He tells them that they need not worry about how to get to heaven, because they already knew the way.

“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?”

Don’t you love that Thomas is not embarrassed to bring forth his questions? I’m sure the other ten were thinking, “What’s He talking about? I’ll just pretend I get it...” But Thomas rescues them all with his question. I always encourage my students to ask clarifying questions, because, as I tell them, “If you don’t understand it, there are at least five others with the same question, so we all gain from your questions.” And I’m so thankful that Thomas asked so that we could hear Jesus’ answer! Because Jesus gives the most emphatic declaration about Himself - one that causes nonbelievers to protest, “You Christians are too narrow and exclusive!”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:4-6)

It doesn’t get more narrow than that! I heard Billy Graham once asked, “Why are you Christians so narrow?” His answer was, “I’m stuck with what Jesus said: ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No ones comes to the Father except through me.’ Either He was telling the truth or He was lying.”

Peter said, in his first public sermon, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."

Is it exclusive of God to provide just one way? Yes! It’s also SIMPLE! Too simple for some. There’s a story in the Old Testament (2 Kings 5) of an army commander of the king of Aram, Naaman, who is described as a “great man,” “highly regarded,” and as a “valiant soldier.” One problem: he had leprosy. He ends up going to Elisha, the prophet, to be cured. Elisha tells him to bathe in the Jordan River seven times and he will be healed. This angers Naaman, because it seems silly and the Jordan River was not a particularly clean river. In fact, he goes away in a rage! But his servants go to him and plead with him to obey Elisha’s simple command:

“My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”  So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. (2 Kings 5:13-14)

How like us! Give us something really hard to do! The idea of a difficult task or quest in order to prove ourselves worthy appeals to our pride. But, remember, when Jesus was asked what men should do to do the works of God, he answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29) God kept salvation simple for our simple brains! It is NOT exclusive! It’s available to ANYONE who believes. You don’t need the PhD in theology. You don’t have to spend your lifetime searching for God on some long spiritual journey. Even the uneducated woman in the field in Africa can believe!

Simple for us - but it cost Christ everything! Amazing!  

John 14:1-3 Again!

I love Jon Courson’s reminder that while the 88% of us claim to believe in heaven, we are certainly not acting like we believe it! He writes, “Believers are sometimes accused of being so heavenly-minded that they’re no earthly good. The Bible, however, teaches just the opposite – that we won’t be any earthly good until we are heavenly-minded…” (Courson, P.559)

In the first three verses of chapter 14, we see Jesus trying to refocus the discouraged disciples with an eternal perspective:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. 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.

All of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ are headed home! Some will get there sooner than others, but in the light of eternity, it’s all a short blip of time before we will see Him face to face. That is our hope – it’s also our assurance. Jesus says that this hope should calm troubled hearts.

Now, if your image of heaven was formed by cartoons or Hollywood, and you have a picture of sitting on clouds playing a harp, you will probably NOT get jump-up-and-down excited about heaven. So what do we know about heaven? Well, God is there!! (See Deut 26:15, 1 Kings 8:30, 2 Chron 6, etc.) A topical search of “heaven” will bring up hundreds of references to God being on His throne in heaven. So, just to be where He is will be beyond what we can imagine!

John describes the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, and while we are not sure of what it will be like exactly (John was limited in his ability to completely describe it), we know it will be more beautiful and glorious than anything our puny minds can conceive. God’s presence will fill the city with light, since He IS Light, and with His glory. There will be no more tears, death, mourning, or pain (Rev 21:4) It will be a place for only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 21:27). So, there will be no sin or evil present. And, we will have glorified bodies like Christ’s (see 1 Cor 15)! No need for plastic surgery. Our bodies will be perfect!

But what I cannot get over is that Jesus is preparing a special place there just for me! It will be the perfect fit for who I am. No wonder Christians have comforted each other with these verses in John 14 for centuries! Our death will be a closing of the door on this crummy world, with an opening into our perfect place in His presence! Death, where is your sting??

How do we get there? Jesus makes that crystal clear in the next verses, which will look at tomorrow.  

John 14:1-3

Jesus knew that His disciples were in turmoil about what He had just told them - He was going away and they would all abandon Him! So He refocuses them by giving them the most amazing words of comfort. These verses are so special, we are going to park here for a while!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. 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. (John 14:1-3)

Jesus first gives them the key to peace for a troubled heart: trust in God! I love to quote Psalm 37:3a as my “mental health” verse: Trust in the LORD and do good. It says to me that if we just trust or believe in God and in His Word, then get outside of ourselves to help others, we will be able to overcome internal turmoil. Jesus tells the disciples here that they need to refocus their thoughts on believing in God and in Jesus. If we just believe and trust in and rely on what the Word of God tells us, we will have the peace that passes all understanding.

So Jesus tells them that they need to believe that there IS a place for us in heaven. He promises them that if it weren’t true He would have told them. He was not making this stuff up! The Bible mentions heaven more than 550 times. It is a real place. Believe it! If we truly focus on our eternal destination, nothing will shake us.

Jon Courson writes that an article in the Washington Post in April, 2000, said that 88% of Americans believe in a literal place called heaven. Then he describes what life on earth would be like if people DIDN’T believe in heaven:

     A society that didn’t believe in heaven would be obsessed with youth. It would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to look, stay, and feel young through plastic surgery, diets, and exercise programs. A society that didn’t believe in heaven would spend billions of dollars on life support systems to delay facing an unknown future. In a society that didn’t believe in heaven, crime would soar without fear of eternal judgment. The theology of a society that didn’t believe in heaven would be based upon the here and now - on health and prosperity. 
     Wait a minute. We are that culture, because although our generation gives lip service to the idea of heaven, we do no live out the reality of heaven. (Jon Courson’s Application Commentary: New Testament, P. 558)

There IS a heaven, and the really good news is that Jesus promises He is preparing a place there just for YOU! It is going to be specifically designed with you in mind, to fulfill your desires and potential. It will perfectly match your DNA! Imagine! We will look at this more tomorrow. Just want to briefly mention that third verse in this passage. Jesus promises that He will come back and take us to be with Him. I believe that will happen in one of two ways: either He will come personally at the hour of our deaths and usher us into heaven with Him, or we will meet Him in the air with His return. Wow! Lots more to say on these subjects!! This is good stuff!  

John 13:36-38

We come to the end of Jesus’ last meal with His disciples before His death. As we began this chapter we noted that Jesus loved His disciples “unto the end.” He demonstrated it for them by humbling Himself and washing their feet, knowing that one had betrayed Him, one would deny Him that very night, and all would fall away. We’re going to first look at the different versions of the synoptic gospels recounting of this scene, beginning with Matthew’s:

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: 
“‘I will strike the shepherd,

    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 
But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” (Matthew 26:31-32)

Somehow all of them miss that last statement about His resurrection! :)

Luke tells us that Jesus warns Peter while attempting to encourage him at the same time. Again, Peter doesn’t hear the last part:

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32)

I think Mark records the boldness of Peter the best:

Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I will not.” 


“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.” 


But Peter insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the others said the same. (Mark 14:29-31)

The love Jesus shows His disciples here is amazing! They will let him down - and, in the case of Judas, actually betray Him, leading to His crucifixion, yet He loves them to the end! His grace is so beyond what we can fathom. His love is so deep that Paul tells us NOTHING - not even our biggest failures or our vilest sins - will separate us from the love He has for us. (Romans 8:38-39)

Do you have trouble believing that? Are you convinced down deep that you are not worthy and that surely, if Jesus really knew about you, there is no way He could love you? Well, the fact is that you are NOT worthy - none of us is! He DOES know ALL about you - more than you know about yourself. He knows all about the darkest crud in the deepest parts of your heart. Yet, He died for YOU to bring YOU into a righteous relationship with God! Talk about amazing grace!

I so relate with impulsive Peter here! He had all of the enthusiasm and intention to follow Christ to the very end. Yet that would not be enough to keep him from falling. Don’t you LOVE that Jesus tells Peter that He is praying for him? Guess what! He’s interceding for you, too! We will fail Christ so many times on a daily basis! Yet He loves us to the end! What a Savior!

Tomorrow we will begin one of the most exciting chapters as we see Jesus encourage the disciples, who are dejected after hearing that Jesus is about to leave them.  

John 13:31-35

Immediately after Judas left, Jesus honed in on his main message to the eleven:

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.  If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 


“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 


“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:31-35)

When Jesus affirmed here that the hour for which he was born had finally come, I wonder if He was not also steeling Himself with the reminder of His purpose: to glorify the Father. His gaze was upward. He was completely focused on giving His Father glory. This needs to be our focus, as well, no matter what trials we face. Jesus knew that, even though He was facing extreme suffering on the Cross, He was also going to be glorified in the end and many would be saved - that was the “joy set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2). We are promised that when we see Him, we will be like Him. We, too, will receive glorified bodies. We know that God’s promises of heaven ahead of us are true, and if we will just keep our eyes on that prize, we will be able to endure whatever comes our way.

So in His final discourse in the Upper Room, what is it that Jesus wants His disciples to learn? What is the most important lesson that He can impart to them? That they must love one another! This was what would change the world: their love for one another would prove that they were His disciples. It was what would set them apart form all others. Jon Courson points out that in the Old Testament God had already commanded that we love our neighbor as ourself, and Jesus had reiterated the importance of that commandment, yet Jesus says this was a NEW commandment. How so? Well, he added that we are to love “as I have loved you.”

The love we are commanded to give is sacrificial. It requires that we die to ourselves. In order for there to be true reconciliation throughout the Old Testament, something had to die. A lamb or dove was sacrificed on the altar. So, just as Jesus was sacrificed for us to reconcile us to God, so we must sacrifice our own needs and pride to be reconciled to others. How does this work for us? If you have a strained relationship with someone (mother-in-law, co-worker, spouse, son...), the ONLY way that relationship will be healed is if someone dies! And it needs to be YOU! You will have to let go of the anger, resentment, hurt, or your need to be right in order to restore the relationship. God requires it of us! It is what will set you apart as one of His children!

When Jesus said, “all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” He was saying that this was going to be the single most important witness. Not how much tithe we pay, not how many good works we do, not the healings of the sick or other miraculous signs and wonders, not our church attendance, not our memorizing of scripture. It would be the way we demonstrated our love for each other that would be the evidence of our discipleship. This is a lesson the Church still needs to learn.

This morning, be asking God to show you how you can better demonstrate His love to those unlovable people in your life. Then pray for the courage to SHOW it - not feel it. Remember that the feelings always follow obedience! Ask God what you can do to show love to your spouse in a tangible way this week. What can you do or say to your mother-in-law that would be loving? How can you show love to that co-worker who bugs you the most?? Pray about it - then do it! Let us know what happens!