The Jesus Way Series

How many of you have trouble with driving around Pittsburgh? I have been here for eight years and I have not quite figured out the way to get around Pittsburgh. It is very tough. I remember I was here a few months and we were trying to find a mall and I got lost. Being a man, we don’t like to ask for directions so I finally decided I needed to ask directions. I went into a gas station or something. I said I am trying to get to this place over here. He said you can’t get there from here. I thought that he was just teasing me because I was driving Debbie’s car at the time and she had Ohio license plates on and a Brown’s sticker in the window. But it really is true. I guess there are some places you just can’t get to in Pittsburgh from where you are located. I find that to be a reality. One night I was going down to night court of all places in Pittsburgh. It is the jailhouse basically and it was late at night. I am driving down and I could see the building. I had never been there, but I could see it. I knew I was in the vicinity of it, but I couldn’t get to it because it was a one-way street. I wanted to go south and the one-way street went north. So it was over there and I could only go this way. I was thinking I can deal with that. I will just go up to the next street and then I will be able to make a left. No, it is the same direction. I did what any normal Pittsburgher would do. I broke the law and went ahead down the one-way street and made it there.

Even though it is difficult to drive in Pittsburgh, as we see today if you open up the book of John 14 there is only one way to heaven. Of course it is the Jesus way. The even better news is, unlike Pittsburgh, you can get there from here. If you have your Bibles, please open up to John 14:1. We have obviously been in the book of John for quite some time. Where we are is Jesus’ last week of ministry. Really, we are at the point where Jesus is having these heavy discussions with his disciples, giving them last-minute instructions before he leaves earth. We started this a few weeks ago in John 13. We started at the Last Supper. Really this discussion goes on almost four chapters. This discussion with the disciples. Back in chapter 13 you may recall it started out pretty nice and very informal. Jesus is having a dinner with his disciples. Then out of the blue he decides to take a towel and wash basin and begin to wash the disciples feet, which is an act of humble service but really it was a picture of the complete washing that would take place on the cross that was to come. It started off nice but things got a little dark pretty quickly. Jesus, out of the blue, says that one of the disciples was going to betray him. The disciple John says which one is it? Jesus says the one that takes the bread after I dip it in the broth and I give it to him. The one who takes the bread is the person who is going to betray me. What Jesus did was dip that bread in the broth and gives it to Judas. The second that Judas took that bread it says that Satan entered his heart and he went out the door and then it says it was night. So things were getting dark around that dinner table. Just when we think it couldn’t get any worse, we find out something about Peter. Jesus starts to talk about how he is going to go away and Peter being the loyal one says where are you going? I am going to follow you. I would follow you anywhere. I would follow you to the death. Jesus says really is that so? Would you really follow me to the death? He says I’ll tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will deny not once, not twice, but three times. So we have a very somber mood there. Jesus is probably sensing that the disciples are feeling a little bit troubled about the situation. That is where we pick it up in John 14:1-14 where Jesus says (scripture read here).

There is a lot of passage here and we can’t really focus on the last part, but we will save that for next week when we start looking at the coming of the Holy Spirit. Today, we just want to look at the first seven chapters. Again the setting here is the Last Supper. The situation is where things are getting kind of tense. The mood is getting dark in the room. You have a group of disciples that are starting to be suspicious of each other, starting to be fearful of each other, and starting to be a little confused, and starting to be afraid. And then we see Jesus mouthing these words when he says “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust in me also.” As a side note, the word heart here is a Greek word cardio. It is where we get the word cardiac which obviously has to do with the heart. He is not talking about the physical heart there. He is really talking about in this case the affections or desires or motivating factor in your life. Really he is talking about your will. What is it that is driving you forward? In this case it is the faith. It should be by now. It should be the faith of the disciples that is keeping them pressing on. What Jesus is saying is don’t let your faith be affected. Don’t be wavering in your faith. Don’t allow this current situation, as bad as it looks, don’t allow it to get you off track. Get a grip on yourself and keep looking forward. Trust in God and trust in me also. Really what he is saying is that it is not even just the word trust. Some of you have the translation where it actually says believe in me, believe in God also. In other words, don’t let your belief be affected by this situation. Then for some reason he decides to go back and begin talking about where he is going to. He said he was going away before all this stuff with Peter happened. He said he was going away and Peter said he would follow him. Now he starts to talk about where he is going. He paints this picture very nice and very tranquil. It is actually a picture of a mansion up on a hill where he says “In my father’s house are many rooms. If that were not so, I would have told you.” Then he goes on to say that I am going there to prepare a place for you. The disciples would have had this image of a mansion up on a hill. They would have had maybe a picture of King Herod or somebody’s palace in Jerusalem with many rooms; a palatial image. Then Jesus says I am going to go there and I am going to get the place ready for you. I am going to change the linens. I am going to take care of some things. I am going to repair what needs to be repaired. That sort of imagery. We don’t know obviously what Jesus was doing when he was going to go away and prepare a place, but it might not have been too much like it is here. The bottom line is what is going on here is Jesus is saying no matter how bad things get on this earth, you have a heavenly home. You have a big house out there with plenty of rooms. You always have this place of safety and refuge that you can go to. That is what he is saying. There is a song from 1993. Does anybody remember the song Big House? In the first hour we sang it. That is a very tranquil image and comforting image that Jesus is trying to paint. Isn’t the idea of home really comforting? I know some of you don’t come from the best home situations but for those who do when you have been away for a while, maybe away for college or maybe away in the military or maybe just away and you are struggling and having some challenges going on, and you say I just want to go home. You call mom and dad and say I am going to come home. Mom and dad get the laundry ready. They change the sheets. They get a lot of food. They make sure they have the DVD player working. They are creating a nice, little tranquil image. That is what Jesus is doing here. Jesus is saying I am going to go away and I am going to get this house ready for you. This nice, palatial house with many rooms and a big yard and all that kind of stuff. I am going to get that ready for you. Then I am going to come back and get you so you better have your bags packed and ready to go. Then he is saying by the way, you already know how to get there. You already know how to get to this place.