WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
John 14:1-12 - May 9, 2004
EASTER 5
JOHN 14:1-12
1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In 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. 3And 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. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."
5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
9Jesus 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’? 10Don’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. 11Believe 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. 12I 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.
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
Dear Christian Friends:
Where are you going? Maybe someone has asked you that question when you have been in a rush to get somewhere. Maybe you will ask other people that question this month. May is the month known for graduations. This month you may be invited to a graduation or two. The graduates will get to hear, "Where are you going? What are you doing?" The same question comes before us this morning is "Where are you going?" Sometimes we might not have much direction in our life, and we may be in no big rush to get anywhere. But all of us have to be going somewhere at one time or another.
Our Lord talks about the path we can take in this life. As believers we know there are two paths--the path that walks in the way of the Lord and the path that doesn’t. In Matthew Jesus uses these words: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (MATTHEW 7:13,14). Thus our Lord says to us as He spoke to His disciples;
Where are you going?
Our answer is -- I. Lord, show us your way – after the Lord has shown us his way then we are reminded -- II. Lord, You are our Way
I. Lord, show us your way
Once again the setting of our text is very important. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples on the night He was betrayed. It was Maundy Thursday, and the disciples were going to face great difficulty and heartache. Therefore Jesus encourages His disciples as our text begins: 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. Jesus said this to them, because He had just told them one of them would betray Him. This betrayal was not something they should be troubled about. Instead, they should trust in God. As they would trust in God, they would also trust in Jesus. They were to prepare for Jesus’ departure. Jesus reminds his disciples about his departure: 2In 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. Of course, Jesus is talking about heaven. He is going there to prepare a place for His disciples. A room! How comforting it is to have your own room.
Jesus’ assurances for the disciples are in these words: 3And 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. Jesus is not only saying that He is only going ahead to prepare a place but going ahead to prepare a place and to also return and take them with Him.
What happens? We know that first of all Jesus is going to be crucified. Jesus first is going to prepare heaven for them by paying for their sins. After Jesus is crucified and rises again, He ascends into heaven and going there to His Father to make final preparations for every believer. Jesus tells His disciples, 4You know the way to the place where I am going." Yet, what was their reaction? 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" He says, "Where are you going, Lord? Where are you going?" Thomas says, "Lord show us the way." Another disciple, 8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus was pointing out that He and the Father were one. Philip says, "Lord show us the way. Show us your way. Where are you going?"
Today, it is no different; except sadly in our society people look in all directions to find a way. The world offers, or so it seems, satisfaction and contentment in the way of wealth. It holds out the way of prosperity as the best direction to take in life. The world offers all kinds of attractions that become distractions from God’s true way. So we have to remind our sinful nature, "Where are we going? Lord, show us the way." The Lord tells us in Lamentations: "The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD" (LAMENTATIONS 3:25,26). We say, "Lord, show us Your way." But then, we have to listen to what God has to say to us. Not easy in our society. There are all sorts of distractions--the noise of the TV, the din of the computers, stereos that blast. Yet what does Lamentations say? "The Lord is good to those who hope in Him. It is good to wait quietly to listen to His response."
But, we know how life goes. We don’t take the opportunity sometimes to hear the Lord. After all, we spend more time in this world and listening to it than we sit in a pew on Sunday or reading our Bibles or attending Bible Study. We spend a lot more hours in each day doing things that are appealing to our flesh rather than our soul. That just is the way life distracts us. It can distract us. It can give us a wrong direction. Listen to what the Lord says to us: "This is what the LORD says: ’Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD’" (JEREMIAH 17:5). We know from time to time we make great plans. We plan to do this and that on such and such a day. We are going to accomplish what we think are great things. Our heart turns away from the Lord, because we trust in ourselves.
So we have to bring ourselves back and say, "Where are we going?" There is only one direction to go. We turn to the Lord and say, "Lord, show us your way." And He does! It is absolutely necessary and positively vital that we listen to what the Lord says to us. Believers are reminded to seek first His kingdom and righteousness. Isaiah declared: "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ’This is the way; walk in it’" (ISAIAH 30:21). The Lord shows us the path. It is not broad and wide. That is the path of destruction. God’s way is narrow, but it leads to life. Our loving Lord calls us from darkness into His light that we would live with Him. Lord, show us the way.
We may ask, "Where are we going?" We can ask the Lord, "Show us the way." As the Lord shows us the way, we are reminded II. Lord, You are our way."
II. Lord, You are our Way
Here was the comforting point and stunning conclusion that Jesus gave the disciples concerning those questions--"How can we know the way?" Or as Philip said, "Show us the Father. Show us the way." 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus wanted the disciples to see Him as the Savior of the world. He wanted them to see with their eyes of faith that He was the very Son of God. So He says, "No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." This was a hard point for the disciples. They looked at Jesus as their teacher. They looked at Jesus as one from Nazareth. He had the same characteristics as they had. Jesus walked with them, talked the same, dressed the same, and looked the same as his disciples.
Yet, Philip says, "How do we know the Father?" 9Jesus 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’? He says, 10Don’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. Jesus says, "I am telling you the truth. Listen to Me." Yet, we know how hard it was for them. In the same way when Jesus said, "I must go to Jerusalem and be put to death," it was hard for the disciples to believe that Jesus and the Father were one. Jesus continues, 11Believe 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. Jesus said, "Look at all of the things I did--the feeding of the five thousand, the walking on the water, the healing of the lame and the blind and the sick. All of those things are miracles that ordinary mortals cannot do, miracles that only God Himself can do. I and the Father are one." If my words are too hard to believe than consider all these miracles the Father worked through me and believe them.
Listen to this: 12I 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. Jesus says, "I am returning to the Father. You are going to stay here on earth. You are going to have more time to preach that message of salvation. By doing this, you will be doing even greater things than I." Jesus’ public ministry was only about three years, these disciples would proclaim God’s gospel much longer than three years.
Where are we going? Lord, show us your way. Remind us Lord, that you are the way. Jesus is our life. Jesus lived and died that we would die to sin and live for Him. Still today, some are blind. Today many are like the disciples and look at Jesus as a miracle worker, a good teacher, one who spoke lots of truth, but God’s Son--No! Many deny that. Why does this happen? Scripture testifies time and time again that this Lord Jesus of Nazareth is God’s own Son. Paul writes in Timothy: "This grace...has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 TIMOTHY 1:10). This is the way to eternity. Christ Jesus has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
God Himself testified when Jesus was on the mountain with His disciples at His Transfiguration: "Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: ’This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’" (MARK 9:7). Jesus is God’s Son, the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sins of mankind! We hear and believe this truth from the testimony of the Apostles and the testimony of God Himself. Lord, you are the way. Help us to walk in that way.
Sometimes we go around in circles in this life trying to accomplish what we want done for ourselves. Instead we are reminded what the Lord says, "Look to Me. Walk in My way. Listen to My voice and walk in it." You and I as believers have an awesome responsibility and obligation--to walk in the way of the Lord. We have the awesome responsibility to travel down that narrow path that leads to eternal life so that others might see God in us and through us. Micah 6 tells us: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (MICAH 6:8). Of course, we realize the philosophy of the world says that you can’t get anywhere if you walk humbly. You cannot get ahead in this world if you act justly and love mercy—at least, according to the philosophy of the world. Yet every believers knows how far we get in this world by doing those very things. Believers accomplish great and wondrous things by looking at Jesus as the way, the truth and the life and realizing He is our way, our truth and our life. Now we walk humbly with God and are blessed by God himself.
Where are you going? Lord, you can pray, show us the way. Then. Lord, you want to pray, remind me that you are the way. Oh, at times we might stall out and go around in circles, but the Lord says, "Look beyond that. Look to the Light of eternal life. The Lord is our way. Just as we are told in Scripture: "This is what the LORD says: ’Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls’" (JEREMIAH 6:16). Where are you going? We are going to heaven, because the Lord has shown us the way; and the Lord is our way, our truth and our life. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
