The Comforting Christ
Introduction: It is amazing how Christ will rush down from his throne to wrap his loving arms around us during our darkest times. God's love for us is truly amazing. We sometimes believe that if we do more for God, he will love us more. If we witness more, or if we give more, or if we go to church more, then he will love us more.
We think this way because we are prone to love others based on conditions. It often seems that we love those who love us, we love those who are kind to us, we love those who agree with us, view things as we do, etc. And how often have we worked for the love of others. That is conditional love. The Love of God is unconditional. There simply is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make him love you less. 1 John 4:8 says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
This is good medicine for our souls, because sometimes we think that God has forgotten us. We think that he cares about everyone else's pain, everyone else's situation, but for some reason you believe that he has forgotten about you. You may think that being perfect will make God love you. It may surprise you to know that the apostles were not perfect men either. At one point, Paul approved of the murder of Christians, Peter denied knowing Jesus, Thomas doubted Jesus' resurrection. And the old testament servants didn't fare any better. Moses murdered a fellow Hebrew, King David lusted after his friends wife and committed adultery with her and then essentially had him murdered to have his wife for himself, Noah was found drunk and passed out on the floor naked by his sons. If you were to accuse any of these men of God for these specific things, you would not be wrong. It should give us some comfort to know that even the most devoted disciples, were no more worthy of God's love than you or me. God is Love.
Transition: This morning we will be preaching on three comforts that Jesus gave his disciples when they were discouraged.
[John 14:1-4]
I. Jesus comforts them with a Command
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me." -Jn 14:1
Just prior to Jesus saying these words he dropped three big bombshells on his disciples. He says that he will be going away and they could not come. He told them one of them was a traitor. He told Disciple Peter he would deny him three times. That is a lot to take in and you can imagine how the disciples were disheartened.
But what is amazing is that even as Jesus was haunted by the foreknowledge of the coming ridicule, the humiliation of the crown of thorns, the thoughts of the foreboding 39 lashes from the cat of nine tails (an instrument meant to slash and grab the flesh and pull it away) and as the dreaded cross loomed before him like the darkest shadow - knowing that he would have to carry it, in total exhaustion up a shameful hill called "the skull." His only reprieve from its weight would be when it was finally placed into the rocky ground where he would then be nailed to it. And yet as he alluded to this dismal appointment with his disciples, he puts all of his own dread for it behind him so that he can comfort his disciples with this command: "Do not let YOUR hearts be troubled. ..."
Jesus knows when we are sad. He knows when we are confused. He knows when we are mad. He knows when we are depressed and in despair. And of course, Jesus knows when we are troubled!
In Matthew 6:34 we read - "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Our Lord is omniscient, he sees tomorrow as easily as he sees today. He saw Nathanael under the fig tree even though Jesus himself wasn't there. He told Judas it would have been better if he had never been born. He gave a general warning for anyone who would cause any little child to stumble that it would be better if they had a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the sea. He told Peter that the devil had asked to sift them all as wheat. Our Lord sees what we do not. Even when our current circumstances causes our hearts to sink and anxiety grips our souls, there the Lord is at our side, like a loving father whispering "Dear child, Do not let your heart be troubled."
I heard a story of an older couple that had a rebellious son who would often stumble in from a night of revelry and drunkeness and pass out on his bed late at night. The father noticed that the mother would always get up shortly after their son came home. Inquisitively he gets up one night to see what she is doing. He finds her in their sons bedroom kneeling by his side and caressing her son and stroking his face gently and kissing his hand and covering him up with a blanket, the father asked "what are you doing?" She then answered "I must love him when he is asleep. Because he will not let me love him when he is awake." God loves us even when we refuse to love him.
What he says next is instructive: He says "Trust in God. Trust also in me." He comforts us with a command not to be troubled. Because there is no reason to be troubled when we trust in God and when we trust also in Jesus.
Jesus teaches us the absurdity of thinking he doesn't care about you in Matthew 5:25-27
". . . . Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns - and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?" -Matthew 5:25-27
When Jesus said that he was going to a place where they could not go, they must've felt somewhat abandoned. In our hardest trials we think God has abandoned us, when in reality if anyone has abandoned anyone - it is we who who abandon him. Jesus promised "I will never leave you nor forsake you" and yet when hard times come our way that is exactly what we so often believe.
Transition: In the next two verses. Jesus then comforts them with a commitment.
II. Jesus comforts them with a Commitment
"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. " -Jn 14:2, 3
Jesus must leave them so he could prepare a place for them and the disciples must go out to prepare a people to meet him there. As Jesus was preparing a kingdom - the disciples were to go out and prepare a people for that kingdom.
D.L. Moody once said “we talk about heaven being so far away. It is within speaking distance to those who belong there. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.”
Oh what great comfort we have in the Christ's commitment to come back and take us to be where he is. That wonderful place that words can not describe. Paul said "However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him--"
There will be many children that died too soon, (at least too soon for us) that will greet their mothers at the gates of Heaven, never to be separated again. The aching heart that cries out for their late mother. or father will be mended in an instant, as that precious person reappears in heavenly glory! The child lost at birth will pick a rose from the ground, and hand it to their mother, (a token of eternal life - because nothing ever dies in heaven.) Angels by the thousands are singing "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the promised land . . . where no one ever dies, no one ever cries, no one ever ages, no one ever hurts, where the golden streets never lose their luster, your treasures never corrode, and where the roses never fade.”
Bryan Jeffery Leech helps us grasp the meaning of divine security in his poem 'The Hiding Place'
In a time of trouble in a time of forlorn,
there is a hiding place where hope is born.
There is a hiding place, a strong protective space.
Where God provides the grace to persevere
For nothing can remove us from the Father's love,
Tho' all may change, yet nothing changes here.
In a time of sorrow, in a time of grief,
there is a hiding place to give relief.
In a time of danger, when our faith is proved,
There is a hiding place, where we are loved.
There is a hiding place, a strong protective space,
Where God provides the grace to persevere;
For nothing can remove us from the Father's love
Tho' all may change, yet nothing changes here.
In a time of weakness, in a time of fear.
There is a hiding place where God is near.
-Bryan Jeffery Leech (The Hiding Place)
You will be caught in utter amazement, to see the thoughtful preparation that God has put into your heavenly home. You marvel how Jesus knew exactly what you would, and more importantly you will marvel at Jesus himself. You will see just how he loved you and how he thought of you – and prepared the perfect place for you. Who knows the creation better than the creator? God created us – he knows us infinitely better than we know ourselves. He not only knows what will give us happiness but He knows what will give us the most happiness.
The LORD not only saves you a seat at his table but He goes away to prepare a place for you to dwell in. And if He goes to prepare a place for us – it will not be second rate it will be impossible to be excelled – God is taking his time to prepare a place for you. You will have the best of the best and lots of it and an eternity to enjoy it.
As the five crowns that are as divinely unique as they are beautiful sit upon the bema platform awaiting the Lord to put upon the heads of his saints; humble tears flow down the cheeks of those who have faithfully served him. As great as the crowns are, the greatest treause must be the oracle of his words "well done good and faithful servant" A final commendation from our Lord is a verbal affirmation that we have fulfilled our purpose in life.
Transition: The old saying is 'the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.' They knew that they were going to be with Jesus again and they knew that he was preparing a place for them while he was gone, but the big question was "what were they suppose to do in the meantime?"
III. Jesus comforts them with a Course
"you know the way to the place where I am going" -Jn 14:4
As soon as he heard this, the pessimistic Thomas said "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Then one of the most known scripture verses is put to us in John 14:6 - Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father but by me."
It is very scary not knowing where to go or what to do when your shepherd goes away, that is when Jesus reassures them that in spite of all of the bad things ahead they shouldn't let these things discourage them, He lets them know here that they did indeed know the way, even if they realized it at the moment or not.
Jesus taught them in Matthew 7:14 "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
As a hunter I look for deer runs in the woods, runs are those very narrow trails that deer make going through the woods. A trail is made by traveling. A way means a road. We miss the meaning of this 'narrow way' analogy sometimes because of how roads are created today. Today, big bulldozers, road graders, dump trucks, steam rollers, etc. make us a nice smooth road to travel safely and quickly on. So if I want to go to Branson, Mo from Muskogee, Ok, I just type it all into my GPS and get directions. The roads are already there, they have already been made for me. I just need to figure out which ones to take to get me to my destination.
But in biblical times you created roads yourselves. I don't mean people went out with shovels and pics and so forth, but remember how a trail or a way is made. Trails are made by travelers. the easier the trail the more it was traveled. The harder the trail the less it was traveled.
Our nature is to take the most convenient way to anything. The way to hell is easy and convenient, just follow your nature and you will have a lot of company. The way is not narrow because God desires few people to travel to heaven, the way is narrow because few people desire to travel to God! It isn't the majority who decide they will crucify the flesh and pick up their cross and follow Jesus. It is only the few. There were not thousands of apostles there were only 12 and one was a traitor.
Conclusion:
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. (That's the amazing part!) For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, (which we deserve) but to save the world through him.” (Jn 3:16,17) This is Grace defined. We earned death because of our sins and yet God made a “way” for us not only to be saved, but to have eternal paradise. It requires us choosing the road less traveled. It requires traveling a road of trouble. (Jn. 16:33) It requires us to take a step of faith. But if there are only a few that find it, then you must make sure that you are one of the few!
Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life no man comes to the but by me.” The only way to the Father is through the Son. The only road to Heaven is the road to Calvary. The only gate to paradise is the gate of Jesus Christ! There is much to be comforted with - especially when we know the world is mostly against us but we take heart for Christ has overcome the world. He comforts us with commands, his promises and his word that shows us the way.
