Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

Hebrews 11:8-19 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Good morning, Grace Church. Welcome to the final event of missions week 2024. For those of you who are not sure what that means, let me briefly catch you up to speed. At Grace Church we believe that the Bible is God’s Word. In it, God reveals to us everything He requires of us. One of the things He requires of us (which Mat highlighted in his sermon last week), is to bring the good news to all mankind that all mankind might be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ, our resurrected savior and king. Within that, we see that God’s Word tells us that missions is pleasing to God.

For that reason, every year for the past eleven (?) years, the missions team at Grace Church has put together something we call “Missions Week.” The missions team’s aims for Missions Week are clear and constant—to keep God’s commands to call the entire world to follow Jesus in front of us, to encourage all of us to more fully obey them, and to help us better support those who already are. That’s a fair summary, right, missions team?

Again, you’ve found yourself at the tail end of this year’s missions week this morning. Last week, in the Sunday school hour, we kicked Missions Week off with Krista taking a look back with us at her time in France and then forward at the next leg of her missionary journey in Scotland. During the worship service, Mat preached on the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Then, many of us came together on Wednesday evening to hear a bit of the heart of the missions team, to learn more about the part of the world most in need of missionary work, and to pray for our church’s missionaries. This morning, Mat and Miranda shared about their move to Etheopia in Sunday school and I’m about to preach on the role of faith and obedience in missions from Hebrews 11.

Before I get to the sermon, though, I want to do two things. First, I’d like to publicly and enthusiastically thank the missions team for another Word-driven, God-honoring, faith-encouraging, practically-focused missions week. They don’t typically see the Grace Church missions needle move a great deal for all their effort, but I’m exceedingly grateful that they are helping establish a long-term missions culture here. Well done!

And second, I want to quickly reiterate the biblical-basis and practical emphasis of the missions team. We need to begin with sound doctrine regarding missions. We cannot please God in missions (or anything else) apart from knowledge of what the Bible says about missions. This missions team does an awesome job every year of banging that drum. At the same time, we can never end there. We must act on the sound doctrine we’re given. Along with the team, therefore, I urge you to carefully consider at least one way you can move toward greater obedience in missions. That too is a drum the missions team helpfully and continually bang. Let’s pray.

The theme of Missions Week this year and the title of my sermon this morning, once again, is “The Role of Faith and Obedience in Missions.” And my primary text, the primary passage the missions team gave me to help you see the Bible’s teaching on the role of faith and obedience in missions, is Hebrews 11 (particularly vs.8-19).

The big idea of this sermon is that God commands His people to take part in missions and He has promised to be with us to strengthen and reward us as we do. To help you see that, there are three main sections to the sermon. First, I’d like to help you come to an honest assessment of your missions baseline. Second, I’ll define the key terms—missions, faith, and obedience. And third, we’ll consider the role of faith and obedience in the various saints named in Hebrews 11 and their implications for missions.

The main takeaway from all of this is for every one of us—kids too—to find one specific way to grow in our love for and trust in God so that we can find one specific way to grow in our obedience to God’s missions commands.

As I said, I’d like to begin all of that by helping you establish a missions baseline. And I’d like to do that by asking you to be honest with yourself about a handful of missions-related questions.

First, what comes to your mind as you think about missions? Do you think of missionaries, far off places, hardship, glory, or something else entirely? Do you think you understand what we mean by missions? Do you see it clearly in the Bible? Do you recognize it as a charge from God to all of His people? Do you esteem missions/missionaries as a noble calling for your kids (like you would a doctor or scientist or homemaker)?

Second, how do you feel about missions? Does the idea of missions scare you? Do you feel apathy? Do you feel heart-broken that so many have never heard of Jesus’ offer to forgive their sins or to lead them into fullness of life? Do you feel the loss of those we love who have gone off (or will soon go off) to the mission field? If you had no unbiblical fear of taking the gospel to the nations, how would you live differently?

And third, what has your experience been with missions? Have you been on a trip in which calling people to follow Jesus has been the primary aim? If you have, what was it like? Did it meet your expectations? If you haven’t, why not? Do you consistently support any missionaries in prayer, encouragement, training, or finances? Have you ever seriously considered becoming a long-term missionary?

I hope you’ll spend some time carefully and prayerfully considering these questions in your quiet times this week. I hope that having done so, you’ll talk about whatever you discover in your DG this week. And I hope God will turn that assessment into a burden for greater missions obedience. Apart from an honest look at where you are regarding missions, you cannot get to where God would have you go. If you don’t recognize your missiological holes, you can’t plug them. And likewise, if you don’t recognize the practical areas you need to grow in, in your missionary work or support, you won’t be able to act more faithfully.

So, how would you quantify your missions baseline? On a scale of 1-10, where 1 is entirely missions absent and 10 is fully engaging in missions in every God-honoring way, where are you? With that number in mind, and God’s love for and grace toward you firmly established in your heart, lets continue on to the second part of this sermon.

Before we get into the meat of the text, as I mentioned, I’d like to do one more thing. I’d like to define the key terms of Missions Week: faith, obedience, and missions.

Let’s start with the most obvious term to define: missions. One of the many ways the missions team has served us well is by putting together a missions booklet. The missions booklet lays out our church’s vision for missions, it names the practical ways we will train people to become missionaries and support them when they do, it states our priorities, and it defines our terms. Within the booklet, the team defines missions as “Crossing a significant cultural or language barrier to make disciples because we love God and others.”

The key ideas are (1) crossing a significant cultural barrier, (2) to make disciples, and (3) in love for God and others. In this way, certain key clarifications are made. For instance, under this definition, you cannot be a missionary to your neighbors, service projects (while often good) are not missions, and any motivation other than love falls short of what God intends.

Missions lovingly takes the gospel where it is not, in order that those who would not otherwise have a chance, might hear the good news that they can be reconciled to God in every way through Jesus Christ.

Again, and most simply, we understand missions as doing ministry in a cross-cultural context.

The second term we need to define is faith. The very beginning of our chapter in Hebrews tells us what faith is, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

That’s a bit different than what most people mean by faith. In the second round of this year’s men’s NCAA basketball tournament Michigan State found themselves down 14 points to North Carolina, 83-69, with one minute to go. In ordinary language, I might have been admonished to “keep the faith” or “have faith” that they’d pull off a miracle. In other words, faith is typically understood as having a desire for something that is always highly unlikely and often entirely irrational. Faith is colloquially used to refer to misguided, unfounded hope.

The kind of faith the missions team has in mind and the kind of faith Hebrews 11:1 speaks of is very different, though. Unlike my fake “faith” in the basketball game, genuine faith, Hebrews 11:1 faith, is not wishful thinking. It is trust in that which is certain. It is not a shot in the dark, but perfectly-grounded, deep conviction.

We are right to ask how it is possible to have certainty and perfectly-grounded conviction in invisible, future things. The answer, as we’ll soon see, is the promises of God. Genuine, biblical faith is always, always, always rooted in a specific promise of God. No promise from God, no legitimate faith. God’s promise, certain outcome.

The question before us, then, is what promises has God made concerning missions which would properly ground our faith? We’ll come back to that in a bit.

Finally, and most simply, if we are to consider well the role of faith and obedience in missions, we need to define obedience. What, then, is obedience? More specifically, what do the missions team and God’s Word mean when they talk about obedience?

I’ll give you the new-Dave definition and then follow it up with a few passages to help you see where I got it from. Christian obedience, according to my understanding of God’s word, is grace-fueled, command-specific, joyful-conformity.

It is grace-fueled in that we cannot obey without God’s help. John 15:5 helps us to see this, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

It is command-specific in that it is only genuine obedience when it is in response to a right understanding of a specific command of God. We see this in passages like John 2:3, “We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments.

And it is joyful-conformity in that true and full obedience is always done all the way and with a heart of gladness; happy in the knowledge that whatever the result, you are pleasing the LORD. Of this, in Hebrews 12:2 we read of Jesus’ perfect example, …for the joy that was set before him [Jesus] endured the cross…

As I hope you all know, obedience is never the reason anyone is reconciled to God, but it is always the growing result. It is never the cause of our salvation, but it is inevitably the consequence of it. And the more we grow in our faith, the more we see obedience as a gracious, joyful, conformity, to the perfect will of God.

The question that leaves us with, then, is what commands has God given concerning missions which His people ought to obey?

To answer that and a number of the other questions I left unanswered, let’s turn now to the final section of this sermon and our passage for this morning, Hebrews 11. There we will find the role of faith and obedience in missions.

Hebrews 11 is often called the “Hall of Faith,” for in it, many men (and a woman) of God are commended for their specific expressions of faith in God. That is, many are specifically named as having received commands and promises of God and having faithfully obeyed, even at great cost.

Able was commanded to make an acceptable sacrifice and was promised commendation and righteousness (4).

Enoch was commanded to walk with God and was rewarded by not tasting death, pleasing God, and drawing near to God (5-6).

Noah was commanded to build an ark and was promised salvation for his household and that he would be an heir of righteousness (7).

Sarah was commanded to trust God and promised that she would conceive a child in her own womb, even in her old age (11).

Isaac and Jacob were commanded to be faithful to the covenant promise of their father and grandfather and God promised to bless their sons (20-21).

Joesph was commanded to be faithful to God while in the service of a pagan king and he was promised success and deliverance (22).

Moses was commanded by God to lead His people out of Egypt and was promised a reward far greater than anything he’d give up, including salvation for his kinsmen (24-28).

The Israelites were commanded to trust God and flee Egypt and were promised to be freed from slavery (29-30). They were also commanded to walk around Jericho and were promised victory (30).

Rahab was commanded not to reveal God’s plans to her people and was promised rescue from God’s destruction (31).

In a similar way, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and Samuel were commanded to fear and obey God and were promised kingdoms, justice, salvation, escape from danger, and victory (32-34).

Grace, the great message of Hebrews 11 is that by the gracious power of God, all these men and this woman obeyed God’s commands, and they did so in faith that God would keep His promises. Do you see the role of faith and obedience in the Christian life? It’s modeled over and over in our passage. God gives commands to us and corresponding promises for all who obey. We obey God’s commands in faith that God will keep His promises—which He always does. Missions, as we’ll see in just a bit, is no different.

Before we come to that, though, I want you to see one more thing in Hebrews 11. Perhaps you noticed that I skipped over the biggest section of our passage, which is found right in the middle of the chapter. In vs.8-19, we find Abraham’s story.

The text explicitly tells us that Abraham was commanded by God to “go out to a place…not knowing where he was going…[to] a foreign land…living in tents.” He was commanded by God to leave his homeland and become a perpetual a sojourner, a wanderer.

As we’ve seen, though, God gave Abraham more than just commands to be obeyed. He also gave promises of a reward, far beyond the cost of his obedience. Therefore, Abraham obeyed in faith that God would deliver on His promises of “an inheritance…a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God…and descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

Grace, that’s not all. You may remember that once God delivered the first deposit of His promise, a son of Sarah, Isaac, Abraham was commanded to “offer up Isaac,” to sacrifice (to kill) his only son on an alter to God. Again, Abraham obeyed God in faith that God would keep His promises even if that meant raising “him [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

What’s more, in the middle of the story of Abraham’s faith we’re told that neither he nor his offspring received the full measure of the promises of God during their lifetimes.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Abraham and his offspring understood God’s promises were ultimately of an eternal nature. They knew they would experience partial fulfillment of God’s promises in this life, but only fully in the next. It was that same mindset that led the faithful saints of the rest of Hebrews 11 to remain faithful even though…

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

Again, the nature of the faith of Abraham and the Hebrews 11 saints was such that they obeyed, making

14 … it clear that they [were] seeking a [different kind of] homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

The point of all of this is that Hebrews 11 takes us on a truly remarkable walk through much of the OT, showing over and over God’s pleasure in His people, who obey His commands, through faith in His promises—promises to bless those who obey in ways that are staggeringly, eternally, infinitely beyond whatever cost their obedience demands.

In all of this, I hope you have seen that obedience requires commands and faith requires promises. What, then, is the role of faith and obedience in missions?

God’s people give ourselves to obey all of God’s commands, because God promises everlasting rewards for all who do. Likewise, we give ourselves to missions because God commands us to do so and promises sweet blessings for all who obey in faith.

The chief missions command, as Mat showed us last week, comes from the mouth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20a).

And the chief missions promise follows right on its heels.

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).

There are many more commands and many more promises pertaining to missions, but the heart of the matter is simple. God’s people are commanded to engage in missions and we are promised that Jesus will be with us as we do. We are to obey, therefore, in faith that God will keep His promises that Jesus’, with all authority, will be with us and accomplish through us all of His purposes among the nations.

As we do, it’s possible that we too will be tortured, suffer mocking, flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. We too might be stoned and even sawn in half. We might be killed with the sword. We might need to go about in skins of sheep and goats, and be destitute, afflicted, mistreated. We too might be driven to wander about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

But even if that’s the case, by obeying in faith, we too make it clear that we are seeking a homeland that is not of this earth, a better country; that is, a heavenly one. And by obeying in faith, no matter the earthly cost, we too live in the knowledge that God is not ashamed to be called our God and that He has prepared for us a city to dwell in as His beloved sons and daughters forever and ever and ever.

So, Grace Church, the big idea of this sermon is the answer to the question of the role of faith and obedience in missions. It is that God commands His people to take part in missions and He has promised to be with us to strengthen and reward us as we obey in faith. Therefore, the main takeaway from all of this is to find one specific way to grow in your love for and trust in God’s missions promises so that you can find one specific way to grow in your obedience to God’s missions commands.

Consider obeying God’s missionary charge, in faith, in a greater way today by:

At the end of the day, as we contemplate grace-fueled, command-specific, joyful-conformity to God’s missions commands in light of God’s great missions promises, it’s good to be honest about the fact that everything we do involves a cost-benefit analysis.

Kids, you know this. When you go home tonight, some of you have schoolwork to finish up before class tomorrow. Maybe you have a paper due or a test to study for. At the same time, you’d really like to take a nap after church and come back for G2g. In deciding how to balance all of that, you’re doing a cost-benefit analysis. If you choose the benefit of taking a nap and going to G2g, you’ll have to pay the cost of staying up really late tonight and probably not doing as well on the assignment. On the other hand, if you skip your nap and G2g, you’ll have more time for your work, you won’t have to stay up so late, and you’ll probably get a better grade, but you’ll do so at the cost of rest, fun, time with your friends, and another chance to grow in your faith. You have to decide which option provides the best cost-to-benefit ratio.

Again, that’s what we all do in every decision we make. In the example I just gave, there probably isn’t a clear and obvious answer. The costs and benefits of both are comparable. On the other hand, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the cost far outweighs the benefit or the benefit far outweighs the cost. If you wanted to lose five pounds and you could do so by simply cutting back from five donuts/day to four, no problem. On the contrary, if you needed to run 20 miles/day and eat only kale and tofu to do so, no chance; the cost is just too high for such a minimal benefit.

In conclusion, I’d like to remind you all, once again, that faithful obedience to any of God’s commands, and His missions commands in particular, will almost certainly cost you significantly. At the very least, it will cost you some amount of comfort, time, or money. At most it will cost you your life, or the life of someone you love. We all know that. And so we inevitably do a cost/benefit analysis. We ask ourselves, if it’s worth it.

“You make known to me the path of life [which includes missions and all its costs]; in your presence [I am with you always] there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Matthew 28:19-20 (translation by Mat Adams) Go, therefore, disciple all the nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 20 teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days unto the end of the age”

Before we get to our text this morning. I want to back up and provide some historical context for a shift we have seen in the mission of the church over the past 100 years. Today, the missions industry is driven by a short-term mindset with a goal of rapid multiplication; not the long-term, slow-growing, from-the-ground-up, training-in-theology, and building-institutions-that-last mindset that characterized our theological forefathers.

For example: Missionaries like John Eliot, David Brainerd, William Carey, Adaniram Judson, and David Livingstone; Theologians like Charles Spurgeon, B.B. Warfield, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Augustine; RC Sproul. Recognize those names? These are the heavy hitters and these are just a few among thousands.

In fact, it seems like missionaries and theologians who made the greatest impact in human history not only held optimistic beliefs about God working presently on earth to disciple the nations, but were driven by them, were motivated by them.

Renowned theologians and missionary pioneers from the past two thousand years have believed that Christ is holistically (both spiritually and tangibly) expanding his kingdom reign on earth now through his church. Pre-twentieth-century missions dramatized this optimistic outlook on the world stage. They performed their beliefs for all to see.

Let me give you two examples of my favorite missionaries…

John Eliot (1604–1690) arrived on the scene on the coattails of the greatest revival of Christian doctrine the world has ever seen—the reformation of the 1500s. This Puritan pastor believed, “the Lord’s time is come to advance and spread His Blessed Kingdom, which shall (in his season) fill all the Earth.” [1] So, this pastor and missionary labored his whole life for the salvation of Massachusetts and the Algonquian Indians living around his settlement.

In 1660, he earned the title Apostle of the American Indian. Eliot himself traveled on foot and on horseback, taxing his strength to the utmost, sometimes drenched by rain, facing much sickness, all to bring the gospel to the Indians.

Because the gospel was so successful among the Algonquian, these spirit-filled natives were no longer welcome inside their corrupt and pagan society. They asked Eliot to help them establish new communities entirely founded on Scripture—the culture, arts, music, ways of living, schools, medical facilities, and even their government was founded on the Law of God. Together, they built up entire towns of Christian Indians who prayed together, worshiped together, and centered their entire lives around the glorious kingdom of God. After years of toil, teaching, and evangelism he had trained several Algonquian Indians to aid the work. And by 1675, there were fourteen towns made up of believers, called “praying towns”! (May our towns become praying towns!) These towns were dedicated to “Christian fellowship, learning to read and study the Scriptures, the training of pastors and evangelists, and general human flourishing.”

It’s vital to realize that these towns must not be compared to the Indian Schools that would come about later intended to remove the “indian” from the Indians, and convert them to civilized white folk. John Eliot fought against that notion his whole life.

Among the “praying towns,” he also worked for the general welfare of the Indians. “He brought cases to court to fight for Indian property rights, pleaded for clemency for convicted Indian prisoners, fought the selling of Indians into slavery, fought to secure lands and streams for Indian use, established schools for Indian children and adults, translated the Bible (1663) and twenty other books into Indian languages.” [2]

Sadly, in 1675, King Philip raged a devastating war against the Indians which began an irreversible fate for the villages. Still, Eliot visited and discipled those remaining converts until his death. [3] He wrote, “The design of Christ in these last days is not to [destroy] nations but to gospelize them.” [4] Eliot believed the gospel would engulf the nations because “the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” [5]

John Eliot’s accomplishments are truly astounding. His work should be celebrated and attempted.

William Carey (1761–1834) became a missionary with the explicit intention to disciple the nation of India. He was directly influenced by John Eliot, Jonathan Edwards, and David Brainerd, and became known as the father of the modern Evangelical missions. [6] So much could be said of this man we could take an entire semester to study his life. Of course, we haven’t the time.

Let me give you a brief resume…

Of course, Carey’s road wasn’t easy and most of us do not have the courage to follow in his footsteps. Like most missionaries prior to the 20th century, his journey was marked by unspeakable hardship. He lived through the death of 3 of his children, his first wife never recovered the loss of her babies and ultimately took her life. Carey would remarry only to lose his next wife after 13 years. His third wife remained with him until his death in 1834.

As a result of his commitment to meeting both spiritual and societal needs he became possibly the most influential person in India’s history. [7]

Today, nearly all missionary camps adopt Carey, Eliot, Edwards, and their colleagues as their founding fathers. Their grand exploits—including printing, language development, Bible translation, teaching, preaching, and the transformation of whole societies—inspire missionaries to forsake the world and travel to a foreign land.

However, their theologies, particularly their eschatology, their belief that the nations can and will be discipled rarely inspire missiological hope and praxis. [8] In other words, optimistic hope that nations can be discipled is not the driving force of missions today.

I believe seeing what the Puritans saw in the text of the Great Commission just might bring the course-correction the Church needs today.

So, let us turn now to our text and see what exactly fueled those world-changing missionaries.

Our full text this morning is Matthew 28:18-20. This passage is widely known as the Great Commission. But I want to draw our attention to two verses that I believe hold a major key to understanding Eliot and Carey’s optimism.

18Jesus said to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go, therefore, disciple all the nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 20teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, literal translation mine)

I’ll begin with verse 18. After Jesus tells his disciples to meet him on a mountain in Galilee, he declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

All authority. In heaven and on earth. Why did he say that? Hadn’t they just witnessed him casting out demons and forgiving sins, proving his authority in the spiritual realm? He proved his authority over nature by healing people’s physical bodies, calming storms, and turning water into wine. In fact, these very disciples had even performed similar miracles and exorcisms themselves under his authority. They knew he had this kind of authority before his death and resurrection.

So, Jesus was saying something more here.

I love reading C.S. Lewis. Dave alluded to his series The Chronicle of Narnia a couple weeks ago. In which, Lewis paints a magnificent picture of Satan’s false authority.

Remember the White Witch. She appears as the Queen of Narnia. Slowly we learn, she’s not the real queen of Narnia. The real King has been gone for a long time. And the White Witch has placed the whole land under a deep winter. Peter and his siblings discover her treachery and make it their mission to take back Narnia. But the Narnians are deceived and need to be woken up. As the Narnians awake from their enchantment, they begin to believe that Aslan is the real king, most without ever seeing him. As Narnians awaken to the reality of Aslan, they are enlivened and begin to take back Narnia for their King. The snow literally melts away as the nation is renewed.

This is no fantasy, Lewis was simply re-telling the story of the world.

During the Old Covenant era, demons and principalities ruled the cities and nations. When Jesus comes to earth, he confronts the rulers and principalities (both the spiritual and physical ones). This is why demonic activity is prolific in the NT. Jesus is poking the bear, and during his ministry, the demons are being informed that their reign is over. Jesus is the rightful king and he’s taking back his property.

I love the way Peter Liethart said it. Jesus’ main message was “the kingdom of God is at hand.” God is taking charge of the world, and he’s doing it through Jesus; therefore, everyone, including rulers, had better get ready for a change of regime.” [9]

In Luke 4, when Satan offered all the kingdoms of the earth to Jesus during the temptation in the wilderness, they were in fact Satan’s to give.

Jesus called him the “ruler of this world” in John 14:30.

But through his death and resurrection Jesus overcame sin and death by being sinless and dying. He bound Satan on a chain, so he can no longer blind the nations. As a result, the good news of Christ’s reign and his glorious kingdom is free to go forth to the ends of the earth. God the Father transferred all the authority of earth over to Christ! This is no throw away statement.

Now, in our age, Jesus has all authority on earth. Not Satan, not demons, principalities, or any other powers. Yes, those predators roam around waiting for a weakling to be separated from the herd, but they are living under Christ’s rule and reign now. Not later.

Paul makes this explicit in Ephesians 1:19-23.

and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power [that is, the Father] toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, [this is not saying Jesus is merely head over the church, that he who is the head over all things! Is a gift to the church] 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

And he will continue to reign until all his enemies are under his feet (1 Cor 15:25).

Also, in Colossians 2:15, Paul declares that “[Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them.” This is not figurative language, this is what Christ actually accomplished at the cross. He disarmed and triumphed over the rulers and authorities of the earth and shamed them.

So the only authority that Satan has is a pseudo authority like the White Witch. Because of the fall, we are all born into his dark enchantment and need to be awakened to see the King.

Satan is not ruling an earthly kingdom anymore, people merely give him their allegiance. Believers are not plucked from the kingdom of Satan. Rather Scripture tells us believers are rescued from the authority of darkness (Colossians 1:13, emphasis mine). Satan does indeed attempt to entrap the nations in darkness (1 John 5:19).

Christianity is an offensive movement. We advance the kingdom together, slowly by slowly, simply by bringing light into the darkness.

I imagine a person with a flashlight walking a nighttime wooded trail. The light passes through, but the dark remains. That’s not how missions is supposed to be. It should be that pioneers drive their covered wagon into dark territory, plot out the land, start a bonfire, and wait for the rest of settlers until the whole village arrives and build an entire city of light until the whole land is lit up!

Just as Aslan rules Narnia, so Christ rules earth. Just like the Narnians, Christians have lost the desire to fight for their land and King and have sequestered themselves from the world.

According to our text, Christ has ALL AUTHORITY ON EARTH! And not just our hearts. He is the King of the real world. Christ was exalted and is seated at the right hand of God the Father where he sits ruling over the nations until all of them are reconciled unto him (1 Cor. 15:25, Ps. 2). His authority extends not just over the Church or good Christians, but over all things—including the rebellious nations of the world.

He is the king of the Muslims! Christ the king of Iran! He is reigning over India right now! Over Ethiopia. And he is judge and king over America!

If we think and act like Satan reigns and rules the nations we will hide in fear. Fear makes people passive. And it’s a proven fact of history that Christians have given up the schools, science, food industry, medical industry, higher learning, and of course, the government. Worldwide corruption, blatant idolatry, legal debauchery, and rampant poverty are the result. The brokenness is so great that we don’t even know where to begin anymore. So, most of us never even try. Today, we are not even aware that we should try.

But we must. No matter how daunting the task seems. We look to our glorious King and take orders from him.

So what were his orders?

They are found in the next verse, 19.

“Go therefore and teach (or disciple) all the nations.”

In order to understand what Jesus is saying in our passage, I need to take you to seminary for a moment. Please bear with me. My prayer is that before your eyes glaze over or close entirely, and you fall asleep, that this would be a moment for you to see the Word of God up close, in the original language, and it would transform your understanding of the mission of the church.

Look at verse 19. If you have a bible written after 1862, your text looks something like this…

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations

Before 1862 it looked like this…

Go therefore disciple all the nations

Why?

The original Greek text is simply this.

πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη

Let’s tackle each word.

1) Go. Poreuthentes is a participle. It can be translated either ‘go’ or ‘going’. But it’s really a mute point when you know the grammar of the rest of the text.

2) Therefore. Oun simply means therefore.

3) Disciple. The Greek word here is a verb mathēteusate from the noun matheteuo, which means, a disciple or student of a teacher. Matheteuo is the word used for Jesus’ disciples. That’s why they call him Rabbi, teacher. But here in the Bible, and only here, Jesus has turned this word into a verb. Meaning, teach an object or turn that object into a disciple. Now, there is another word for teach, so Jesus chose this word intentionally. We are to turn something into his disciples. Hence, the typical rendering ‘make disciples’. But the word simply means to teach or to disciple something.

4) All. Panta means all.

5) The Nations. Ta is the article, ‘the’. Ethne is ‘nations’. There has been a lot of work done on the last word, ethne, the plural form of ethnos. This is where our word ‘ethnic’ comes from. It means nations.

All I want to point out here that ‘nations’ is a pluralled plural. Meaning in its singular form it is a group of people. And pluralized, as in our passage, it refers to many groups of people. Same as the words tribes, clans, or families.

Anyone who wants to dive in further about the word ethnos come talk to me after service or turn to chapter 5 in Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper.

Ok, so those are the literal words of the Greek. Now, the grammar.

Subject is built in: you.

Main Verb is ‘disciple’ (matheteusate).

And its object is ‘all the nations’ (panta ta ethne).

This is a fact. This is not an interpretation. What I’m saying is not controversial. The grammar of the Greek is built into the text by its prefixes and suffixes. So, we know matheteusate is the verb and panta ta ethne is the object based on their endings.

I bet you didn’t expect to have to go to English/Greek Grammar school this morning! Sorry, not sorry. Because I believe it’s important for understanding the text.

So, here’s where we run into the problem.

Every one of our Bible translations since 1862 (except the MSG, 2002 and GNT, 1992) has chosen to use the word “make” as the main verb. So the Greek word matheteusate is rendered as “make disciples.” This is significant because it changes the object of the passage to “disciples”. Rather than its proper object “all the nations”. And then in order for it to make sense, translators added a very tiny word ‘of’. Which turns the phrase “all the nations” into a genitive construction, “of all the nations”. Genitives denote description, relationship, or possession. So the sense we get from this grammar is that we are to make disciples from or in relation to “all the nations.”

This is why when people quote the Great Commission they nearly always say that we are to make disciples in, among, or from all the nations. I still catch myself doing this. I only say that to point out that’s just the way we tend to read this text. And that connotation begins to shape our theology.

Now, having said all that, it is possible to understand the English text correctly. As long as your understanding is that Christians are called to make all the nations into Christ’s disciples—to “make disciples of the nations.”

Please don’t hear me wrong. We are absolutely called to evangelize and make disciples in, from, and among all the nations. I’m only saying that Jesus has a bigger end game. And evangelizing and discipling individuals is how we reach that goal and he receives the nations as his inheritance.

My hope is that by looking at the original language this morning, regardless of our eschatology or theology, we will see that “disciple” is the verb and “all the nations” is the object of that verb. This should not be controversial. When people say “disciple the nations,” they are simply quoting the Greek text.

And, according to this specific text, we are called by our King to make the nations his disciples.

Again, we are called by our King to make the nations his disciples.

Just about the time we realize the grammar of verse 19 is “disciple the nations”. We come to the next verse and see that Jesus tells us to baptize and teach them as well. How do we do that? Well, we don’t drown them with a flood. No, we simply treat them like the Bible treats them, as a collective, as a body. This is simply the language of the Bible.

In the Old Testament, nations were anthropomorphized frequently. In other words, the nations were spoken of as “human.”

Nations were referred to as men and women, they performed all kinds of actions that humans do. Nations ran, gave birth, sinned, nations worshiped idols, nations rage against God, nations rebelled, and nations repented.

In the Great Commission, Jesus is picking up that Old Testament language. Nations must be baptized into the kingdom and obey their King as a unified body. Therefore someone must go to them and disciple them.

I’m confident by now you can see there’s a difference between making a disciple and discipling a nation.

One is individualistic and the other is corporate.

One seems fairly easy, the other seems impossible.

Often we try to wiggle our way out of this passage. We tend to make it sound simpler so that it is easier for us to accomplish it. “God only means some people inside of a nation.” So…

“We settle for a few converts in the [Tigray region], when Jesus is commanding us to disciple all of [Ethiopia].” —Wilson

This is nothing new. We see in the Old Testament that God has always had a heart for the nations of earth. Abraham was promised by God that through him all the nations would be blessed, not some people from the nations. Then that corporate covenant was repeated to Isaac and Jacob, and continues today. God’s people were always meant to bless the nations of the earth (Gen 12) not destroy them. Because God desires that all nations worship him alone. In our text, Jesus is taking that job away from the Jews (those who rejected their Messiah) and passing it on to the Church (those who believed in the Messiah).

Even in the first century, the disciples knew their mission didn’t stop after evangelism. In Romans, Paul said his goal was to “bring about the obedience of the nations, by word and deed” (Rom 15:18). So, we move from entering the kingdom spiritually into living out the kingdom life tangibly.

James tells us that if we only use our words to share the gospel, our faith is worthless.

James 2:14-26 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Miranda and I believe the physical poverty of Ethiopia is directly connected to their theological poverty. People remain in poverty when the Church walks by and shares the gospel, and then goes home and eats dinner. When we don’t disciple them how to live in every sphere of life.

If the church only focuses on the spiritual side of the Great Commission and neglects the physical aspects (mainly because they’re not taught the extent of our task) syncretism sets in. The whole community suffers—street kids sniff gasoline and pick pockets; widows roam the streets with a baby on their backs begging for money; fathers neglect and abuse their families.

When families remain broken, the nation remains broken.

When families remain broken, the nation remains broken.

Poverty is generational, but so is God’s covenant. To a thousand generations.

If we can teach families how to obey all that Christ commanded through godly pastors, we can set the nation on a trajectory of thousand generations of blessing.

Discipling the nations is the Church’s mission. That includes America, but extends to the four corners of earth (Rev 7:1).

This passage is not just about push pins and strings on a missionary map in the hallway of the church. It’s about all of us, each one in this room, working together to change the whole world in the power of the gospel. That’s the charge he left us.

We’re all sent! Some are sent here or there. Some go, some stay. We need both. Senders and goers. Of all kinds of life experiences, abilities, and skill sets. So, support a missionary, or be one.

This week is all about foreign missions and how you can be involved in discipling the nations, so take advantage of the opportunities the missions team is placing in front of you. They don’t do this for themselves, they do this to help us, Grace Church, as a body fulfill the Great Commission.

You are God’s voice, his workers on earth.

Pray to the Lord of the Harvest for what role he wants you to play.

So, what is the great missionary hope?

William Carey believed that Jesus’ command to disciple the nations and teach them to obey all of Christ’s commands “implied that the nations could be discipled.”[10] His confidence was not founded in social action, rather it was in the power of the gospel. One author wrote, “Carey became a reformer because he understood the breadth of the theological concept of the ‘kingdom of God.’ He believed that if we disciple nations, we will increasingly see God’s will being done here on earth.”[11]

The Word of God is powerful to transform lives, families, and societies in America and Ethiopia. Transformed lives are the key to lasting transformation in the world. The Word of God is so powerful, the Holy Spirit is so unstoppable, God so loves the nations that he can, he wants to, and he will transform all the dark kingdoms of earth into kingdoms of light.

And in the church age, the authority of King Jesus has paved the way and given us Holy Spirit strength to carry out our mission. So we pray, “Father, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” And then, together, we work in faith to that end.

Let’s pray.

Endnotes

[1] Eliot’s letter to Cromwell in John Eliot, Thomas Mayhew, and Richard Mather, Tears of Repentance, (London, 1653).

[2] John Eliot (1604-1690), Boston University School of Theology, https://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/e-f/eliot-john-1604-1690/.

[3] Brent Meyers, “John Eliot: A Successful Application of Missiological Methodology,” Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History 4, no. 1 (2021): 15.

[4] Adams, The Life of John Eliot, 315.

[5] Adams, 315.

[6] David Kingdon, “William Carey and the Rise of the Modern Missionary Movement,” Reformation Today 14, Summer (1973): 33, https://reformation-today.org/archive-issues-1970-1974/.

[7] Mangalwadi, xiii.

[8] Thomas Schirrmacher, “William Carey’s Postmillennialism and World Missions,” Chalcedon Report, Christianity’s Glorious Future: Optimistic Eschatology, no. 430 (May 2001).

[9] Leithart, Theopolitan Reading, 27.

[10] Vishal Mangalwadi and Ruth Mangalwadi, The Legacy of William Carey: A Model for the Transformation of a Culture, 1st U.S. ed (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 121.

[11] Mangalwadi and Mangalwadi, 121.

John 15:1-11 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

While Christmas gets more cultural hype, and while Easter isn’t possible without Christmas, Easter is the pinnacle of the Church calendar. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (and the fact that we can join Him in it, by grace, through faith) is the good news and great promise and ultimate hope of all mankind. Whatever else Christianity is, it is rooted in the reality that Jesus defeated death by actually, physically rising from the dead.

As always, in considering the best way to go about helping all of us rightly recognize and respond to that, see and celebrate it, in the context of a sermon, I was faced with the question of whether to continue in John’ Gospel (with the third part of a sermon, nonetheless) or do a stand-alone Easter message. The more I thought about it, the easier the decision became. Our passage is essentially a description of resurrection blessings. That is, John 15:1-11 names many of the gracious gifts of God that were purchased by Jesus with His death and resurrection. And those gifts eternally belong to all who believe in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

The big idea of this passage is that the Christian life is about abiding in Jesus in such a way that His mind, heart, and actions flow freely out of us, and all according to the superintending grace and unlimited blessings of God, all of which flow freely out of all that Jesus accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection.

I’m hopeful that on this Easter Sunday, the Holy Spirit would be pleased to help all of us grasp the truth that abiding in Jesus is what all of us were made for. It is God’s command to us and our duty to Him. At the same time, it is the only place of true fulfillment and joy and it is the greatest reward.

Indeed, and I really invite you to consider this, everything everyone does in life (everything you do in life) is done in an attempt to get what abiding in Jesus offers and alone can give. Every good and bad pursuit in your life, whether you know it or not, is aimed at that which nothing but abiding in Jesus can provide. Lots of things in life promise the love, joy, peace, belonging, acceptance, purpose, healing, redemption, significance, victory, and satisfaction you were made for and long for, but only abiding in Jesus can truly deliver those things.

If you are a Christian, it’s because you have come to recognize that abiding in Jesus is what you were made for, but also that it is not what you wanted, definitely not what you deserved, and that it was completely out of your power to achieve. That is, to be a Christian is to recognize that you had rejected Jesus, that you have sinned against Him, that you had chosen to abide in things other than Jesus, and that (as v.6 says) the result was that you were destined to be thrown into the fire and burned.

But Easter is the good news that that’s not the end of the story, that it doesn’t have to be that way. It is the good news that Jesus made a way for us to be rescued from our sin and reconciled to God. Easter is the good news that Jesus willingly gave His life on the cross as a ransom for sin and then rose from the dead in order that we might abide in Him.

It is my earnest prayer that the Holy Spirit would be pleased to use this sermon to cause everyone to either come to, or come to a greater depth of, belief in, amazement at, and whole-life orientation toward the resurrection; and therein receive the limitless blessings that flow from that. Let’s pray that God would make it so; and more still.

Once again, if you’re just joining us, you should know that over the last two weeks, we’ve already considered the first four verses of this passage. In them we saw that God the Father is vinedresser, Jesus is the true vine, and people are the branches. In addition, we considered five of fourteen blessed promises that will come to branches that are connected to the vine.

In simplest terms, regarding the Father as vinedresser, the key idea is that God graciously superintends our spiritual lives from beginning to end in perfect wisdom, power, and goodness, blessing those who believe in Jesus. Regarding Jesus as the true vine, it is through Him, through abiding in Him, that all spiritual life and fruit and blessing comes. And regarding God’s people as branches, we saw that our primary responsibility, perfect hope, and great blessing is to come to and remain in Jesus through faith.

For all who do, for all who remain in the resurrected Jesus in faith, John 15:1-11 tells us that God will poor out blessing upon blessing on us. So far, we’ve seen that He will bless us by protecting us from those who would do us harm, by giving us His Word, by washing us clean of our sin, by pruning away our sinfulness to make us more like Jesus, and by empowering us to abide in Jesus.

As I mentioned a few moments ago, this is what you and I and all mankind were made for. And Easter Sunday is proof that Jesus’ offer and charge in this passage are real and that it is right to trust Him for these things. It is proof that if we do, we will receive all the blessings (and more) that Jesus promises. And it is the reason we can receive God’s grace instead of being burned in the fire.

With all of that, let’s turn our attention to v.5 and back to the nature of and resurrection blessings that come from being united to Jesus. Again, for those of you who are trusting in Jesus, these blessings are yours. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to help you live more fully in light of them. And for those of you who are not hoping in Jesus, know that God is offering these things to you (and much more), right now, if you will turn to Jesus in faith.

And now…

I want to conclude by shifting gears just a bit. I want to invite you to consider three things in closing: 1) What’s at stake in rejecting Jesus as the risen savior and king, 2) The nature of trusting in Him as such, and 3) The ultimate result of doing so.

What’s at stake in rejecting Jesus is that you will remain spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins. Like so many who were with Jesus during His time on earth, you will remain blind to the glory of God in the face of Jesus. You remain unable to bear good fruit. And, ultimately, once again, you will eventually be thrown into the fire of everlasting destruction. That is the certain end for everyone apart from Jesus, but you need not remain apart from Jesus. That’s the good news of Easter.

To understand the nature of trusting in Jesus as the risen savior and king, consider the criminals who were crucified next to Jesus. Can you imagine a worse day than one in which you found yourself hanging on a cross? If you were come up with the absolute worst possible day, it would likely involve being crucified. That’s where the criminals of Luke 23 found themselves.

32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him… 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The first criminal is a picture of us all apart from Jesus. His crucifixion was a fitting end to His sin. The second criminal, however, is a picture of the grace of God. His crucifixion was the greatest thing that ever happened to Him, for it is what allowed Him to hear the words of Jesus, be cleansed and united to Jesus, and to receive the blessings of Jesus. Having tasted the sweet blessings of Jesus, he would choose to be crucified a thousand times rather than remain separated from Jesus for another minute. That’s the nature of trusting in Jesus.

Finally, consider with me ultimate end for those who trust in Jesus as the risen savior and king. Jesus tells us the end at the end of this passage, “11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” To receive Jesus as the risen savior and king is to abide in Him and to abide in Him is to know fullness of joy; fullness in that it is without measure or end.

But what does that mean? It means that at the exact moment in which we come to place our faith in Jesus, we share in His resurrection by having our sin-killed souls, rise from the dead. In that, the Holy Spirit will bear the firstfruits of joy in us at the certain knowledge of our salvation. And ultimately, it means that one day, when Jesus returns, though our bodies lay in the grave, they too will rise from the dead, they will be reunited with our resurrected souls, and we will live with Jesus in resurrection glory and fullness of joy forever and ever. That’s what Easter is really about. That’s the greatest news and highest blessing for all who accept Jesus offer to graciously unite us to His resurrection goodness and life and joy.

He is risen!

John 15:1-11 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Happy Palm Sunday. We read about that back in chapter 12 in John’s Gospel. It is the day in which Jesus rode into Jerusalem in a way that most clearly revealed that He is the Christ. He did so in a way that began as everyone was expecting—riding on a donkey in fulfillment of Zecheriah 9:9, to the praise of the crowds. And yet, while it began in the way everyone was expecting, it didn’t end that way. Instead of rallying a King David-like army to lead the people to a decisive, King David-like military victory, Jesus made it increasingly clear that He had come to die. Thus, the initial enthusiasm that swept through the Passover crowd, faded as quickly as it began. In fact, it completely dried up to the point that those same people will soon be yelling, “Crucify Him!”

Chapters 13-17 in John’s Gospel tell of Jesus final words of preparation for His disciples before His crucifixion. Again, our passage for this morning describes events that are mere moments before Jesus will be betrayed and mere hours before He will be beaten and crucified. I’m thankful for God’s providential timing in bringing us to this point in the Gospel at this point in the Church calendar—on Palm Sunday, a week before Easter.

With that, welcome back to John 15:1-11. This is part two (of what’s now at least a three-part sermon on this passage). If you weren’t here last week, don’t worry, I’ll bring you up to speed in just a bit after I pray.

The big idea of this passage is that the Christian life is about being united to Jesus in such a way that His mind, heart, and actions flow freely out of us, and all according to the superintending grace of God. That was the banner which needed to fly over all they did to carry on Jesus’ message in Jesus’ physical absence.

After a quick review, we’ll get right back to the nature and benefits of abiding in Jesus. And all of that to help us live as Christ intends. That is, the main takeaway is to read God’s Word in order to know what it means to be united to Jesus, and then to strive with the Spirit’s help to fully abide in Him, and all so that we might do good works for the glory of God. All of that was a big part of Jesus’ final message to His closest followers.

Let’s pray for God’s insight, conviction, and transformation.

Last week we looked at the setting, the Father as vinedresser, Jesus as the true vine, and the first two blessings that come from being branches connected to the vine. Basically, we looked at the first two verses.

Regarding the setting, in light of Jesus words at the end of chapter 14, we noted that while the physical location in which Jesus said the things He said in chapters 15-17 isn’t clear, the content, which is what matters most, is clear. Additionally, the setting of the illustration used by Jesus was a vineyard. Vineyards are cared for by vinedressers who train and prune vines, and harvest fruit for nourishment and enjoyment. Jesus makes use of each of those key elements in this passage.

Regarding the Father as vinedresser, the key idea is that God graciously superintends our spiritual lives from beginning to end in perfect wisdom, power, and goodness. He does so, ultimately, in order to be glorified by the uniting us with Jesus and causing us to bear good fruit. This is a great gift for all who will receive it.

Regarding Jesus as the true vine, the two keys are that (1) Israel was God’s vine, but failed to hold fast to God and bear the kind of fruit God planted them to bear (Psalm 80, Isaiah 5), and (2) Jesus replaced Israel as the true vine. It is from Him that the nations will be blessed. It is from Him that the fruit of God will be born. It is from Him that life and nourishment, justice and righteousness, will come.

Finally, regarding God’s people as branches, we saw the first two (of fourteen) benefits that come to those who are united to Jesus. First, Jesus promised that the Father will clear away all branches that are not attached to the vine so as to protect the true branches. And second, Jesus promised that the Father cuts back (prunes) all branches that are in Jesus so as to allow them to bear the most fruit.

With all of that, let’s turn our attention to v.3 and back to the nature and blessings of being in Jesus.

The main thing I hope to have helped you see from these next couple of verses is that to be a Christian is to be united to Jesus. He is the vine and we are the branches. Because we are in Jesus, we have life in Him and that has implications for everything, EVERYTHING! It is who we are and it is the basis of all that we do. We know all of this because He has told it to us. And all of it is true of us when we receive His words in faith. To know and believe in and love and live in light of these things is to abide in Jesus, which is a blessing from God. And from these things flow endless blessings.

Fruitless branches are cut off (2, 6), fruitful branches are pruned for greater fruitfulness (2), all who are in Jesus have received the Word of Jesus (3), all who are in Jesus have been made clean by the Word of Jesus (3), and true followers of Jesus abide in Jesus, and Jesus abides in us (4).

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

John 15:1-11 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

One of my biggest pet peeves in life are those vines that grow up from the ground and wrap themselves around everything—power lines, buildings, trees. From what I can tell, they have no purpose other than to cause the destruction of whatever they touch. We have several hundred+ year old oak trees that have had the life choked out of them by these vines.

As I see this happen around our property, in addition to being annoyed, I’m amazed at the manner in which hundreds of feet of vine can grow out of and be sustained by a relatively small root. At the same time, it’s remarkable how hundreds of feet of vine wrapped around a tree will dry up and fall off by simply cutting it off from its root—which happens to be one of my favorite things to do.

In a lot of ways, that’s what this passage is about. It’s about the need for God’s people to be connected to the vine if we are to grow and bear good fruit. At the same time, conversely, it is also about the certainty of our withering and death if we are not. Jesus is the vine that we (the branches) need to be connected to if we are to have life and bear fruit. And the Father is the vinedresser, the one who tends to the whole.

The big idea of this passage is that the Christian life is about abiding Jesus in such a way that His mind, heart, and actions flow freely out of us, and all according to the superintending grace of God. Jesus’ words help us understand and appreciate these things in compelling ways. In them we find promises and blessings that are sweet beyond what any of us can comprehend. And the main takeaway, therefore, is to seek the Spirit’s help to abide in Jesus and to be shaped in every way by the person and promises of Jesus.

There’s a lot in these few verses. In order to help understand what it means to abide in Jesus, to remain in Jesus, and receive the blessings that come from abiding and remaining in Jesus, we’ll consider the setting of Jesus’ words, the Father as the vinedresser, Jesus as the true vine, and then the beginning of the blessings that come to all who remain in Jesus as fruit-bearing branches (two this week and eleven more next week).

We’ll begin with the setting. There are two keys to understanding the setting of this passage.

The first is the immediate location. We’re not sure what it is, and it probably doesn’t matter much. Chapters 13-14 took place in the upper room of a home in Jerusalem. There, Jesus ate the Passover meal with the twelve and began teaching them about what was to come (His betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection, and return to the Father), what it meant, and how they ought to navigate it in faith. Chapter 14 ends with Jesus saying to the disciples, “Rise, let us go from here.”

From there, He continued to teach through the end of chapter 17, which is the next time we’re given a location. It’s possible that Jesus and His followers remained in the upper room and Jesus’ statement (rise, let us go…) was something akin to a Minnesota goodbye. On the other hand, it’s also possible that Jesus said what He said in 15-17 on the way to the Garden in which He was betrayed (18:1).

Either way, the important points are the content (not the physical location) of Jesus’ teaching and the fact that He shared it with the eleven disciples (Judas had already left to betray Him) who were primarily charged to continue His ministry after He went to be with the Father. He was offering them further help for their critical commission.

The second key to the setting concerns the illustration Jesus used—a vineyard. People in Jesus’ day were very familiar with vineyards. They were everywhere in ancient Israel. Many people worked in them and everyone benefited from them in both their personal and religious life.

I read a bit on this, this week. In simplest terms, working a vineyard entails training, pruning and harvesting. Training the vines involves directing them with ropes, poles, rocks, or trellises to improve their ability to bear the most and healthiest fruit. Pruning involved cutting off dead branches and cutting back live ones, both to direct the best nutrients from the vine to the healthiest parts of the branches; again to maximize health and fruit-bearing potential. And harvesting, of course, involved collecting the fruit at the proper time for nourishment and enjoyment.

The main point is that Jesus drew on each of these aspects of vine-keeping in the things He said to His disciples. With those things in mind, let’s consider now the Father as vinedresser of the vineyard of life and faith.

In the opening words of this passage, Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” As I mentioned in the introduction and as we’ll see in working our way through this passage, the heart of this whole section is the fact that Jesus’ followers must and will remain in Him at all times. As we do, we will become more like Jesus in our mind, heart, and actions. As we do, we’ll live in the love of the Father and Son. And the key to Jesus’ words concerning the Father, is that it is the Father who superintends it all; who oversees, directs, and shapes it. In a way that is like, but infinitely greater than the best vinedresser in a vineyard, the Father is responsible for the training, pruning, and harvesting of all the spiritual fruit of His people. He has chosen to do so exclusively through His Son.

In that way, it is the sovereign, gracious hand of God that unites us with Jesus in the first place, it is what keeps us connected to Jesus, it is what helps us become more like Jesus, it is what empowers us for life and ministry in Jesus (bearing fruit), and it is what allows us to do it all in the love of Jesus.

Likewise, it is the sovereign, gracious hand of the Father that cuts off those who are imposters or would harm His people. That’s the heart of v.2, which we’ll come back to in just a bit.

What’s more, all of these things happen in the Father’s timing, according to the Father’s plan, and, as v.8 tells us, for the Father’s glory, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

There is such significant peace to be found here, Grace Church. How much frustration have you experienced in life because things didn’t go the way you thought they should? How many times have you longed for God to do something specific, only to experience something entirely and upsettingly different? How often have you asked God to cause a sin in you or in someone else’s life to die, only to have it continue painfully on for years? How often have you prayed for God to help you experience His presence only to feel alone through a trial and become resentful for it? How often have you longed for your family member or friend to trust in Jesus only to have them continue on in unbelief, causing you to wonder at God’s intentions? How often have you wished for quick healing for an ailment that lingered and been burdened by the suffering?

That the Father is the vinedresser means that He has always has the good of the whole vineyard, including every single branch in mind and at heart. The fact that He is the vinedresser means that He has a perfect plan and sufficient authority to accomplish it. And the fact that He is the vinedresser means that His ways are better than ours.

Combined, if we will believe Jesus’ words and trust in the Father, we are freed from the kinds of frustrations that are reflected in the questions I just asked you. We are freed from believing that we know how things out to be or even from the pressure of trying to figure it out on our own. We are freed to rest in the Father’s care, trusting that its outcome will be infinitely and eternally better than whatever our own care-plan might have called for.

For all who truly understand what it means that the Father is vinedresser, far from a frustrating violation of our own sovereignty or freedom, it is a source of peace and rest whenever our plans go unfulfilled and an opportunity to praise the glory of God when they come to pass.

I started with the second clause in the first verse (“my Father is the vinedresser”) because it is the banner over all the rest. And yet, the heart of the passage is the final “I am” statement from Jesus.

I am the bread of life (6:35, 48, 51), I am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5), I am the door of the sheep (10:7, 9), I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14), I am the resurrection and the life (11:25), I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6), and I am the true vine.

There are two parts to that title that we need to look closely at: “true” and “vine”.

Had Jesus simply referred to Himself as “the vine,” the rest of what He said would still hold. But He added the qualifier, the descriptor, “true” to the title. He is not simply “the vine”. He is the “true vine.” Almost certainly, Jesus was comparing Himself to the nation of Israel. God had called Israel the vine. She was to give God’s life to and bear God’s fruit among the nations. Two key passages help us see this, Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5:7.

In the Isaiah passage, that Israel is the Lord’s vine/vineyard is made clear.

    For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts
        is the house of Israel,
    and the men of Judah
        are his pleasant planting

Israel and Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel, are the vineyard of the Lord. They were planted well by God when He made a good covenant with Abraham and his offspring. Insofar as Israel kept covenant with God, there would be justice and righteousness for them and the nations through them. However…

    … [The LORD] looked for justice,
        but behold, bloodshed;
    for righteousness,
        but behold, an outcry!

Instead of justice and righteousness, there was bloodshed and outcry. The vine/vineyard was withering and bearing bad fruit as a result.

Psalm 80 expands on this idea.

    8 You [God] brought a vine out of Egypt;
        you drove out the nations and planted it.
    9 You cleared the ground for it;
        it took deep root and filled the land.
    10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
        the mighty cedars with its branches.
    11 It sent out its branches to the sea
        and its shoots to the River.

Again, we see that Israel was a vine planted by God to bear fruit to nourish and bless them and the nations. We also see that God gave the vine everything it needed to thrive in these ways. He cleared the ground, provided sufficient shade, and made sure it was well watered.

And yet, by the time Psalm 80 was written, the vine was once again in trouble, such that that Psalmist wondered…

    12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
        so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
    13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
        and all that move in the field feed on it.

The man who wrote the Psalm, Asaph, then pleaded with the Lord…

    14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
        Look down from heaven, and see;
    have regard for this vine,
        15 the stock that your right hand planted,
        and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
    16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
        may they perish at the rebuke of your face!

Israel was the vine, but Israel failed to remain in God by keeping His covenant commands. Therefore, instead of flourishing, Israel, cut off from the God of Hosts, decayed and produced only rotten fruit. They did not know the Lord’s pleasure or blessing. This was the condition of the vine when Jesus came to earth. They were decaying from the inside to the point that they couldn’t even recognize the Son of God among them.

And that makes the next verse, Psalm 80:17, especially significant…

    17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
        the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!

The plea of the Psalmist was being answered in their midst. The “son of man” was among them. However, having severed themselves from God through disobedience, they could not recognize Him.

By referring to Himself as the “true” vine, then, Jesus was claiming Psalm 80:17 and contrasting Himself with Israel. Were Israel failed, Jesus was victorious. Jesus was what Israel was meant to be. He was the true vine. The one Israel could only point to.

Having ushered in the new covenant, Jesus replaced Israel as the vine. It was from Him that the nations would be blessed. It was from Him that the fruit of God would be born. It was from Him that life and nourishment, justice and righteousness, would come. He had become the Lord’s pleasant planting. He is the deep root and through Him would branches spread throughout the earth. It was for His sake that the Father would turn again, look down from heaven and see, and have regard for the branches. The hand of God was upon Him to make Him strong.

This is why we trust the Bible and worship the godhead. This is what we mean when we say that the whole Bible tells one grand story of redemption. This is the kind of work of God that we look at, marvel at, and give glory to God in the highest for. For centuries Israel served as a shadow vine, so that the true vine could come and be the fulfillment of every promise of the Lord of Hosts.

Finally, then, how do the followers of Jesus fit into all of this? What does it mean to be a branch connected to Jesus? In answering those questions, we find 13 blessings that belong to all who abide/remain in Jesus. As I mentioned earlier, we’ll consider the first two this morning and then the final eleven next week.

All (branches) who are truly in Jesus (the true vine) will bear fruit an increasing measure. This is the necessary and certain result of being in Jesus. Being united to Jesus, remaining in Jesus, and bearing the increasing fruit of Jesus are all gifts from and overseen by God (the vinedresser).

All of this is good news indeed for a people who were once alienated from God, hostile to God, and rightly condemned to death by God. Indeed, to be in Christ is to know awesome and eternal blessings from God.

This means, Grace Church, that there is certainly a way in which we must actively cling to Jesus, to exercise self-control, to work out our salvation, and to strive for the good fruit of God. But as we as we also saw, all of this is according to the superintending grace of God. Therefore, just as our ultimate hope for being attached to the vine in the first place isn’t anything in us, neither is our hope of remaining in Jesus. He will draw us in and He will hold us fast.

John 14:25-31 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

It’s been a little while since I’ve rooted our place in John’s Gospel in the larger context. I feel a particular need to do so regularly both because we cannot rightly understand any passage in John apart from understanding its place in the whole Gospel and because I still remember so vividly what it was like to sit through church services for the first 20 years of my life apart from any sense of context.

If you’re just joining us or in case you forgot, the typical sermon you’ll hear at Grace Church is one in which we work our way through an entire book of the Bible. In the last decade or so, I’ve preached through every verse in Mark’s Gospel (chapters 11-16), 1 John, Titus, 1 Peter, Hosea, Ruth, Genesis, James, and now John. We preach through whole books of the Bible because, as I said, just like your favorite novel or a letter you get from a friend, the different passages within a biblical book only make sense within the whole book. And we keep preaching through all the books of the Bible because together they tell one unified story of God’s redemption of His people. In other words, each passage in a book of the Bible only makes sense in light of the whole book and each book of the Bible only makes sense in light of the whole Bible.

What’s more, the Bible as a whole and each book of the Bible are inspired by God. For that reason, we can rest assured that it is trustworthy and true in all it says. And because it is divine in origin, it is authoritative (our final authority for all of life), clear (the difficulties we have in understanding are because of our ignorance, not any lack in the Bible), necessary (we cannot know the truth about the nature and purpose of God, ourselves, or the world without it), and powerful (it is the means by which God saves and changes us).

At the same time, each book of the Bible was written by a particular, human author, to a particular audience, for a particular purpose. And for that reason, we always need to answer three questions when studying a passage: (1) What was the author’s original intent? That is, what did he intend his original audience to understand? (2) What is the larger context of the passage, both in the book itself and in the Bible as a whole? And (3) What does God intend us to do in light of the passage? How do we apply it in a manner consistent with its meaning and context? For the goal of all biblical truth is our sanctification.

With all of that in mind, the Gospel of John was written by a relatively uneducated fisherman named John. Later in his life, he became one of Jesus’ closest followers (disciples), one whom Jesus loved. He was an eye witness to the things he wrote about in this Gospel.

John wrote his Gospel for a wide audience. More importantly, he wrote down the events in the life and ministry of Jesus for a very specific purpose: to convince his readers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, so that his readers would believe in Jesus, so that his readers might gain eternal life, which comes from trusting in Jesus (20:30). Knowing those things helps us make sense of each passage we encounter.

Again, then, our passage for this morning is written about the events that took place mere hours before Jesus’ crucifixion. They record the words Jesus spoke to His disciples to explain His departure and comfort them in light of it. Jesus would soon leave the disciples by dying, rising from the dead, and then ascending into heaven, but He explained all of this to make it easier for His followers, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to dwell in them and minister to them, He encouraged them to consider the glory and joy that would soon be His, He promised that the devil would not defeat Him, and He reaffirmed that He had and would perfectly obey the Father until the end.

Once again, the big idea of this passage is that Jesus would not only die in the place of His followers in order to bring them eternal life, but also leave them with everything they need to thrive in His physical absence and share in His victory. The main takeaways are to trust in Jesus, reject the devil, and walk in righteousness.

We considered vs.25-27 last week, but I included them in this sermon because they provide the context for 28-31. The pinnacle of all of it is found in v.27, where Jesus promises a new and special kind of peace for His followers. We saw last time that the source of this peace, in the midst of fierce trials, is obedience to Jesus, the imminent, indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, and certain knowledge of eternal life for all who hope in Jesus.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Before we move on to the new content, I’d like to reiterate two things from these three verses. First, Christian, the Spirit is always with you and in you to help you. Much of the time, especially in the past, that sounded like a neat concept, but it was not something I consciously experienced very often. Over the years, however, I’ve come to realize that much of what I considered “normal” was actually the work of the Spirit. What I mean is that it is the grace of God, through the Spirit of God, every time I remember the commands and promises of God, every time I am convicted of sin, every time I walk in righteousness or repent of failing to, every time I preach or minister to someone and they’re genuinely strengthened in their faith, every time I am filled with worship because of God’s creation, every time there is genuine love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in me, every time I trust in Jesus instead of myself, and every time the story of God, rather than my own sense of things, shapes my feelings and actions. In other words, by simply learning to recognize the work the Spirit was already doing in me, I’ve found real comfort and help, along with real communion with the Spirit, whom the Father sent according to the Son’s promise here.

Second, Jesus was not over-promising or being metaphorical when He said He was leaving His peace for and giving it to His followers. There is a peace that comes and transcends all circumstances when our hope is truly in Jesus. It is a gracious gift of the Spirit, but it is a gift offered to all who hope in Jesus.

The thing that often comes to my mind when I consider this is from a biography I read on John Patton. He was a missionary to the New Hebrides islands in the 1800s. The only two known missionaries to the islands before John Patton were killed and eaten by cannibals. Think about that, Grace Church. There probably isn’t much that could cause more peacelessness in us than the idea of being dropped off on an island of cannibals, is there?

Indeed, while still considering whether to go, Patton received lots of advice. One of the elders in His church, a Mr. Dickson, in an attempt to dissuade him from going, understandably beseeched Patton, “The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!”

While the mere thought of going caused Mr. Dickson no small lack of peace, John Patton’s hope was in Jesus’ John 14:27 promise, such that his response was altogether different. He was filled with Jesus’ peace even in the face of being killed and eaten by the people he went to love.

Therefore, he replied, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.”

That’s the peace Jesus was talking about and promising to all who would hope truly in Him.

Of course, Patton had a measure of faith, and with it a kind of peace that is rare. We’re right to wonder where those things come from. How can we have that kind of faith in Jesus and the peace that comes with it? Ultimately, the answer is the grace of God. It is always God’s kindness that allows us to trust in Jesus in the first place, grow in that trust, and experience the transformation of that trust.

At the same time, and let us never forget, the kind of trust that God gives and through which God saves and sanctifies, is always substantive. It is never generic. Our trust is always in the actual person of Jesus, not lies we believe about Jesus, and the actual promises and work of Jesus, not nice thoughts we have about what we wish Jesus offered or did.

In other words, to have the kind of trust that Jesus demands, and John Patton had, the kind that produces peace even when sleeping in a tree to avoid being killed and eaten by the people you’re trying to share Jesus with, that kind of trust is always the result of God’s grace and Spirit working true belief in true things.

In the next several verses (28-31), Jesus named four such things; four truths that all who believe in them by supernatural grace, will find supernatural peace that is able to withstand every trial under the sun.

The first faith-building truth is one that snuck up on me a bit. At the same time, it’s one that we all have a category for; at least everyone who has been to a funeral for a Christian. Have you ever been to a funeral of someone who you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, loved Jesus; who you were so sure of their faith that you were certain that they were in heaven?

If you were close to that person, it was probably really difficult not to feel crushed by losing them. Their passing most certainly left a real and significant wound. And in situations like that, it is often hard not to be consumed by grief. It can feel almost impossible not to be controlled by sadness.

And yet, with even a brief moment’s consideration, it’s easy to see that when a believer dies, there’s a well of joy just below the surface for the grief-stricken. It is the joy of knowing that the person you loved is one million times happier than you are sad. It is the joy of knowing that they have finally come to a place where they are able to glorify and enjoy the Father, Son, and Spirit fully and eternally. It is the joy of knowing that all their suffering is gone and has been replaced by unlimited ecstasy. It is the joy of knowing that they are in perfect and uninterrupted fellowship with God.

Probably my most vivid early memory of this was Howie Holms funeral. He and his wife Marie (you may have noticed Marie in the directory) were pillars in the early years of Grace Church. Howie served on the worship team and even recorded a worship album to bless the church. (We have it. It’s called, “Do Try This at Home”.) He was a faithful man of God who died of cancer way too early (back in 2009).

I had been to many funerals at that point, but none like Howie’s. I was mostly unprepared for a funeral that felt more like a worship service than a time of mourning. He chose the songs we sang and they were filled with hope and gladness. It really did feel more like a Sunday morning than a funeral.

The first truth Jesus gave to the disciples (in these verses) to comfort them by strengthening their faith was that He was returning to His rightful place of glory at the right hand of God.

28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Remember, to love someone is to long for them to have that which is best for them. What was best for Jesus was to obey all the way (the fourth truth) and then return to heaven (this truth). If His disciples really loved Him, they would rejoice that He was about to experience both. Their sorrow would wain and their peace would wax as they turned their eyes off of their loss and onto Jesus’ gain.

In chapter 17 we’ll read Jesus’ words to this effect, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” In coming to earth and taking on flesh, Jesus set aside some measure of His glory and communion with the Father (Which is probably what Jesus’ meant by “the Father is greater than I”). He was about to receive both back forever, and for that, the disciples should have rejoiced.

In your sorrow, Grace, remember where Jesus is, the path of He took to get there (the cross) and the reason for it (your salvation), and rejoice that He’s in the Father’s presence and pleasure. Rejoice also that you will be there with Him one day too. Should the Spirit grant it, there is sweet and abiding peace for every trial in that truth.

The second truth spoken by Jesus to strengthen the faith of His followers on the eve of His departure was a familiar one.

In chapter 13, we read of Jesus telling His disciples of Judas’s betrayal. Jesus explained that He was telling them of this treachery in advance, “… before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.” In other words, Jesus revealed certain things to His disciples ahead of time to help them understand the extent of His power, to help them trust in Him as they should.

Jesus did the same thing here. He had just spoken to them about the coming of the Spirit.

29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

Jesus loved His disciples such that He gave them grace after grace to carry them through their trials if they would simply believe Him. And in this case, His grace took (again) the form of promising something only the omniscient, omnipotent God could promise. It was a sweet promise of more help. And even more, Jesus promised it beforehand so that it would provide a double blessing when it came to pass—the help of the indwelling Spirit and the help of confidence that comes from remembering Jesus’ promise of it.

Grace, this is all of God’s promises to us. Do you want peace in the midst of every trial, John Patton like peace, Jesus’ going-to-the-cross peace? If so, go to the Word of God and find the promises of God for those who believe and believe them with the Spirit’s help. If you do, they, not your circumstances will shape your thoughts, actions, and feelings and bring you peace. And when they come to pass, you will receive another blessing still in their fulfillment.

The third truth Jesus shared with His disciples to strengthen their faith as they believed in it, is a bit less familiar (which is the reason for the title). Jesus had mentioned that the “ruler of this world” will be cast out (12:31). In chapter 13 (vs.2 and 27) we’re told that Satan entered Judas, which Jesus predicted back in chapter 6(:70). And He accused the religious leaders of being sons of the devil (8:44). More subtly, a significant part of the contrast between light and dark in John’s Gospel is tied to the battle between the devil and the people of God. In other words, there have been a few mentions of the devil (Satan, the evil one, the ruler of this world), but in the most explicit and significant statement yet, Jesus told His disciples, “30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming…”.

By “the ruler of this world” Jesus was referring to the devil, the fallen angel, the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden. He is the ruler of this world, not in the sense that He has ultimate authority over it, but in the sense that “the world” (fallen men and women) has chosen to submit to him rather than God.

In one sense, of course, the devil has been in the world since the beginning. There is no indication in God’s Word that he ever left. What Jesus had in mind here (by “the ruler…is coming”), therefore, is the return of Judas who had been overcome by the devil to betray Jesus. Judas, filled with Satan, was about to lead the Jews and Roman authorities to Jesus that they might execute Him.

As tragic as that was, it was far outweighed by the good news of the following clause, “He has no claim on me…”.

Since Adam and Eve, the devil had a claim on every man, woman, and child in the sense that he could rightly accuse them before God of having sinned against God. But Jesus, born of a virgin and perfectly obedient in all his ways (the next, fourth, and final truth), was different. There is nothing the devil could legitimately accuse Jesus of, for He is perfect in every way.

It was such great irony that the devil’s tactics were the devil’s ruin and the world’s salvation. By mistakenly believing that he had a claim on Jesus, the devil felt confident in seeking to put Jesus to death. But because the devil was wrong, Jesus’ death was the very means by which He would rescue mankind from our sin.

Judas was minutes away from acting on his satanic schemes. By itself, that would rob every reasonable person of peace. It would be nothing more than tragedy. But Jesus told the disciples that this news was not by itself, that there is something more. It came with the promise that the ruler of this world would gain nothing more than the appearance of victory, and that only for a few days, before Jesus would come bursting forth in victory, and He offers that victory to all who believe!

I hope it’s easy for you to see, Grace Church, that if anyone truly believes that by the Spirit’s power, there is peace through every trial. There was peace for the disciples who heard Jesus first say these things and there is peace for anyone and everyone since who will receive these things. These are faith-strengthening, peace-giving words of grace. Believe them, Grace. Live in light of them. The devil has no claim on Jesus or any who are in Him by faith.

Finally, and as I’ve noted twice already, all of this is ultimately possible because Jesus obeyed all the way to the end. He did just as and only as the Father commanded Him. And He did so in love—in the love of and in love for the Father and all the Father had given to Him.

31 …but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

I hope you see that Jesus’ love for the Father is of the same essence as the love He called His followers to have for Him and one another. It was a love rooted in and defined by pursuing that which is best for others; which is rooted in and defined by obedience to the commands of God.

I hope you also see that before Jesus’ incarnation, teaching, miracles, obedience, death, and resurrection are for mankind, they are for the Father. His love for the Father is first and, in His perfect wisdom and love, it is simultaneously love for us. What’s best for the Father—Jesus’ perfect obedience, even unto death—is also what’ best for all mankind. How awesome is that?!

Do you believe these things? Do you believe Jesus’ teaching that there is peace in rejoicing in the fact that He is in His proper place and glory with the Father, awaiting us to join Him? Do you believe Jesus’ promises of future grace for all who believe in Him? Do you believe that the devil has no claim on Him, or any who are in Him? And do you believe that Jesus’ perfectly obeyed the Father in love, which is also the greatest act of love for us? If so, if you believe these things by the Spirit’s power, your faith in Jesus will grow and grow. And if your faith continues to grow, so too will your peace through every trial.

John 14:15-27 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Imagine for a moment that someone you love and depend on is about to leave for good. That’s a pretty ominous scenario, isn’t it? I know that some of you have experienced it. The question I have for you is this: Given how much their departure would sting and change your life, is there anything you can imagine that would bring true comfort? Is there anything they could say or do, or anything that could be said or done at all, that would set your mind and heart at ease; that would really bring you to a place of peace?

That’s largely what this passage is about.

Jesus was about to leave His disciples and return to His Father. That is, He was about to die on the cross, rise from the dead, reveal Himself to His followers in His glorified body, and then ascend back to heaven where He would reign (and still is) at the Father’s right hand. As He made this increasingly clear to the disciples on the night before His crucifixion, understandably, they were increasingly confused and concerned. They’d banked everything on Him and He was about to go away. Again, in a number of ways, our passage for this morning is about Jesus comforting the disciples and preparing them for His departure. It is a passage about the path to a peaceful life even when living faithfully to Jesus’ commission causes circumstances that would otherwise be overwhelming.

With that in mind, there are three main themes in this passage; three key features of the path of peace. First, love for Jesus always equals obedience to Jesus. Second, when Jesus returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to help His followers. And third, Jesus’ followers will experience Jesus’ resurrection life. Combined, they give us the big idea of the passage: Jesus’ love for His people led Him to the cross and to provide for them once He was gone. And from that, our main takeaways are to love and obey Jesus, to walk in the Spirit’s power, and to live in light of the fact that it is not death to die. Doing these things, in light of Jesus’ work, promises, and ever-present help, is the path to peace as we give ourselves to Jesus’ commission and await His return.

For all who would believe in Him, Jesus offered blessings beyond measure. And yet, Jesus’ ministry was primarily marked by hostility and unbelieving belief. That is, most of the people who encountered Jesus were either angered by Him (and definitely didn’t believe in Him) or only believed they believed in Him (they appreciated certain aspects of His work, teaching, or promises, but only to a certain extent and on their own terms).

For those reasons, as Jesus’ time on earth wound down, it became increasingly important for Jesus to clarify the nature of genuine belief. That is, if genuine belief is the only path to genuine peace, it’s critical that we know exactly what constitutes genuine belief. What does it mean to believe in Jesus in such a way that gives access to the saving, sanctifying, and everlasting grace of Jesus? What does it mean to believe in Jesus in such a way that brings with it true peace in the midst of every hardship?

Throughout John’s Gospel, we’ve encountered several answers to that question. Just last week we saw that those who truly believe in Jesus will do the works Jesus did and greater still (14:12). This week, our passage opens with another (very similar) answer to this question.

To believe in Jesus is to love Jesus and to love Jesus is to obey Jesus.

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

That is, of course, a significantly counter-cultural statement to make. If you polled 100 engaged couples, asking them what it meant that they loved their fiancé, I doubt that you’d find one person who would give this answer.

Q. Do you love your fiancé?
A. Yes.
Q. What do you mean by that?
A. I love them in the sense that I obey their every command.

That’s just not how it normally works, is it? It’s not how it should work.

To make sure there was no mistaking that this is what Jesus meant, He repeated Himself in v.21.

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And again in v.23

23 …If anyone loves me, he will keep my word…

There are two (familiar) keys to understanding this idea and a giant pile of blessings for those who do.

The first key is something we’ve seen in John’s Gospel already: Love for someone is always tied to that which is best for them. You simply cannot truly love someone apart from caring deeply about their greatest good.

Love for and the love of Jesus are no different. The love of Jesus for His people is inseparably tied to achieving that which is best for them. And love for Jesus is inseparably tied to that which is best as well.

You know this, right, Grace? Imagine your neighbors. What does it look like to love them? Does it mean affirming all of their perspectives, choices, and behaviors (which is what most people want)? Does it mean keeping quiet and letting them borrow your tools and your flour? Does it simply mean not blowing up when their dog leaves a mess in your yard?

What it means to love your neighbor on the most foundational level is knowing what is best for them and giving yourself to getting it for them, no matter the cost. Unless your neighbor loves Jesus (and sometimes even if they do), loving them well is often like taking a kid to the dentist. It means giving what’s best to them even though they don’t agree with it, understand it, want it, or like it.

That leads to the all-important question of what is best for them. And that leads us to the second key.

Jesus’ commands are always what’s best. Jesus only gives commands that perfectly conform to the will of God. Whatever Jesus tells us to do is for our greatest good. Jesus’ commands are the definition of the greatest good. To love someone, then, is to give them everything and only that which Jesus tells us to give them.

It should be clear why engaged couples don’t think of love like this. The reason no fiancé thinks like this about their future spouse is because only Jesus gives perfect commands. To love your spouse is to long for all that Jesus has for them and to give them all that Jesus requires of you toward them.

How do you love your neighbor? You do for them all that Jesus has commanded you in relation to them. You love them as yourself. You look to meet their physical and spiritual needs. You help them understand what it looks like to live as they were designed to do. You help them understand that they haven’t. You explain to them the consequences of their sin against a holy God and show them the way of forgiveness and reconciliation. You live in such a way as to show them that you belong to a kingdom that is not of this world. You love your neighbor by obeying Jesus in front of them and toward them.

I hope it’s clear how obeying Jesus’ commands with regard to your neighbor is the essence of loving your neighbor, but how does that relate to your love for Jesus? How is obeying Jesus’ commands with regard to others at the heart of your love for Jesus?

In simplest terms, believing in Jesus, loving Jesus, and obeying Jesus are connected in an entirely unique and inseparable way. To believe in Jesus means understanding who He really is—Lord and sustainer of all, the one through whom all things were made, the Savior of the world, the Son of God, the bread of life, the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the resurrection and the life, the good shepherd, and the way, the truth, and the life.

What’s more, to understand that Jesus is all of those things (and more!) is to trust that He alone has the power and right to command, perfect wisdom and goodness in all His commands, and the authority to see and judge all obedience. And for these reasons, believing in Jesus means obeying His commands.

But more than merely understanding these things about Jesus and conforming to them, believing in Jesus means trusting and treasuring in them—in Him—and longing for others to do so as well. That is, true belief in Jesus means seeing and sharing the glory of Jesus and orienting our entire lives around Jesus, which is what’s best for Jesus (to be given the obedience, praise, and glory He is due), which is love for Jesus.

This is why we say emphatically that to believe in Jesus is to love Jesus and to love Jesus is to obey Jesus. You can’t remove any of those elements (belief, love, obedience) and find the kind of help and hope and peace that Jesus offers. And that’s why Jesus restated all of this in the negative as well.

24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

As I said, in this passage, there are two keys to understanding the relationship between love for Jesus and obedience to Jesus and a giant pile of blessings for those who do. We’ve considered the keys, let’s not consider the blessings.

To believe in Jesus is to love Jesus and to love Jesus is to obey His commands. At the same time, to believe in Jesus, love Jesus, and obey Jesus is to live entirely and eternally in the grace of Jesus won by the cross and resurrection. It is to be blessed by Jesus beyond measure. While there are many, many more, Jesus names two specific blessings in our passage.

1. Those who love Jesus are also loved by Jesus and the Father.

21 And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him …

23 …If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him…

This is more intuitive for most of us than it was for the disciples (and certainly for the Jews in Jesus’ day) who were still sorting out who Jesus was. We know Him as the second person of the godhead, but for the most part, they did not yet get it. Therefore, the promise that if we love Jesus, we already have the love of all three persons of the Trinity was as shocking for them as it is sweet for us.

Grace, please slow down for a moment and ponder this blessing. I know you’ve heard it, but ask for the Spirit’s help right now to really hear it. If you believe in Jesus, you love Him and if you love Him, the Father, Son, and Spirit love you.

I hope two main aspects of this will really sink in in new ways this morning, for when they do, peace will follow.

First, for those who believe in, love, and obey Jesus, the very God whom you have committed treason against, who, apart from His willingness to offer a substitute sacrifice on your behalf, must punish you with everlasting conscious torment (hell), that same God has set His affection on you. Not only, by His grace alone, do you not get what you deserve for your sin, but you get His delight, His love, instead. There is great peace in recognizing the great contrast between what we deserve and what we get because Jesus “left”.

And second, that God loves you means that all His omnipotence is directed at your good. The same power by which He made and perpetually governs the universe, drew in and cast out the Flood, split the Red Sea to save the Israelites, opens and closes wombs, raises the dead, and performs all kinds of marvelous signs and wonders, is fully being used in loving you. There is peace in recognizing the omnipotence of God being spent on continually having love for you. What a blessing.

2. Those who love Jesus will see Jesus and dwell with God.

21 …I will … manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

The second explicit blessing of Jesus that leads to the peace of Jesus through every trial, is Jesus’ promise that although He is leaving, He will reveal Himself again to His followers.

It’s uncertain whether Jesus (by “manifest myself”) was referring to His post-resurrection appearances to the disciples, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, or Jesus’ second coming at the end of the age. Regardless, we can find rest in the fact that all three are certainly true and glorious.

What’s more, we can find rest in the fact that this was more than a simple promise that they would catch another glimpse of Him. It was a promise that, as we saw at the beginning of the chapter, they would dwell with Him, in His house forever as His beloved sons and daughters.

To believe in, love, and obey Jesus leads, above all and once again, to perfect, unlimited, and eternal fellowship with God no matter what comes at us in this life. What a blessing.

Remember, at the beginning I said that this is mainly a passage of comfort and peace. Jesus shared the things He shared to help the disciples respond to His departure with hope and faith; that they might live lives of peace in the midst of difficulty and persecution as they carried out Jesus’ commission. Jesus’ words concerning the nature of love for Him are just that. His commands are the path they must follow, because they are the path to fullness of life and love. They are the path of God’s blessing and pleasure. They are the path all mankind was made for. They are the way, the truth, and the life. And when we really believe that, we will know peace in the midst of the most challenging trials this world, our flesh, or the devil can throw at us.

As remarkable as that is, Jesus offered even more help and an even greater reason for comfort and peace to His disciples in light of His imminent departure. To love Jesus is to obey Him and to obey Him is to walk the path of blessing, but who among us is sufficient to do that—to love and obey as we ought? Of course, none of us are on our own. But such is the grace of God that He provides for us what He requires of us. And in this case, He provides for us sufficient help to love and obey Jesus through sending the Holy Spirit.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper…

You’ll notice that Jesus promised “another” helper. He was their helper while He was with them, but He was going away. It is good, comforting, peace-giving news indeed that the Father would send another Helper in His absence.

More importantly still, this new Helper was far from the JV team. He was even better in a certain sense. That would be hard to say if Jesus Himself hadn’t said it. When we get to chapter 16 we’ll look more closely at Jesus’ words to this effect, “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

Jesus’ ministry was perfect. And yet, by taking on flesh it was limited in a way the Spirit’s is not. As remarkable as it sounds, Jesus told His followers that it was better for them when the Spirit came. Indeed, in this passage, He names several ways in which the Spirit’s ministry is better.

First, while Jesus would leave the disciples, the Spirit never would.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…

Once the Spirit came upon Jesus’ followers at Pentecost, He would never leave them. Grace Church, once you place your faith in Jesus, the Spirit will never leave you. What peace there is in the midst of every trial in the fact that the Spirit is with us through every second of every one of them. Never will you need to endure any suffering in your own strength. Never do you have to wonder if God has abandoned you. Never, will you be apart from God’s immediately present grace. Never are you really alone.

In your darkest hour, find perfect peace, as you learn to trust this promise of Jesus and experience the perfect presence and fruit of the Sprit who never leaves.

Second, while Jesus lived with His disciples, the Spirit lives in us.

17 …even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

The Spirit’s ministry (which only began after Jesus “left”) is to our advantage He lives in us at all times. That reality brings peace in the midst of the hardest trials.

Those who reject Jesus (those who do not believe in Him) will also reject the Sprit. Those who do not love Jesus cannot see and are not helped by the Helper. Those who disobey Jesus do so because they do not know Him and therefore do not know the Spirit whom He sends.

But again, for those who believe in Jesus, receive Jesus, see Jesus, know Jesus, love Jesus, and obey Jesus, even though Jesus is not physically present with us, we live in the perfect, indwelling, unending ministry of the Spirit to us. And in that is peace that surpasses understanding.

The third advantage of the Spirit’s ministry and means of the peace of the Spirit is in the fact that He helps by teaching “all things” and reminding His followers of “all” that Jesus has said.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

More than likely this was primarily a specific promise to the Apostles, and the means by which they were able to write the New Testament. There is a unique way in which the Spirit taught all things and reminded of all things. It was the reason the disciples only understood and remembered certain teaching of Jesus later (12:16; 13:7).

And yet, while there are differences, there are also important similarities. The Spirit continues to give spiritual insight and remembrance. It is by the Spirit alone that we can “see” and “hear” the things of God. The Spirit convicts us of sin by reminding us of Jesus’ teaching when we go astray.

In a way that Jesus could only do when He was physically present with people, the Spirit does perpetually in all who trust in Jesus. And in that is great peace.

The final step in the path of peace promised by Jesus to all who would believe in, love, and obey Him, is the good news that all who hope in Him will share in His resurrection life.

Jesus would leave by death, but He would do so in such a way as to conquer death for Himself and all who are in Him. It is peace to know that death is not the end for believers in Jesus.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

The greatest words we could possibly hear are these: “Because I live, you also will live.” Because I’m about to die on your behalf, you need not fear death. Death is not the end for Me, and it will not be the end for anyone who believes in me, loves me, and obeys me. I will rise from the dead and so will you. As we move closer to Easter, remember Grace, it is not death to die. What peace there is in believing that, come what may.

As we move to communion, consider Jesus’ final words.

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

As you can see, Jesus’ peace is not the kind that the world gives. The best the world can offer is an attempt to temporarily change your circumstances. But Jesus gives and leaves us with a peace that is above and beyond all circumstances.

Are you feeling heavy, Grace? Are there circumstances in your life that are weighing you down? As you walk the road of faith, do you know suffering and pain? Do you know loneliness?

Forsake every attempt to map your own way out of those things. Instead, in child-like faith, believe in Jesus. Set your love upon Jesus, in the knowledge that He has set His love upon you. Give yourself to obeying Jesus, for His commands are always best. Call on the Holy Spirit who lives in you to convict you of sin and strengthen you for obedience. And remember that you will certainly share in Jesus’ resurrection life. In these things are peace that surpasses understanding.

In belief, love, and obedience, let’s now take the Lord’s Supper in the knowledge that insodoing we are receiving the peace He left for us and now gives us.

John 14:10-14 … The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

You’ll do “greater works” than Jesus and Jesus will do for you “whatever you ask” in His name. That sounds like a remarkably good deal, doesn’t it?! There’s more to it than just that, but Jesus’ words are good news indeed.

The big idea in this passage is that on account of being one with the Father, on account of His sacrificial death being accepted by the Father, and for the Father’s glory, Jesus’ followers will do marvelous works and have our prayers answered. Consequently, the main takeaways are for all of God’s people to courageously obey Jesus and pray expectantly to Jesus.

To help you see all of these things, we’ll look carefully at the two main claims of the passage: (1) You will do my works and greater still (vs.10-12) and (2) You will receive whatever you ask in my name (13-14). Before we do, let’s pray for heavenly insight to understand, faith to believe, and courage to obey.

Again, the two main claims of this passage are that Jesus’ followers will do Jesus’ works and greater still, and that Jesus’ followers will receive from Jesus all that we ask in Jesus’ name. Let’s consider the first claim first.

This sermon is mainly focused on vs.12-14, but for context, I included vs. 10-11 as well. From that whole section we see that the mighty, marvelous, miraculous words and works, spoken and done by Jesus were the words and works of the Father (10). They were said and done according to the Father’s will (10), in the Father’s indwelling strength (10), and for the Father’s glory (13). They were spoken and performed by Jesus in order to demonstrate that He was truly from the Father, in order to elicit belief from all who witnessed them (11).

And rooted in each of those remarkable truths about Jesus and His relationship with the Father is a promise from Jesus to all His followers.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

The heart of this promise is that Jesus’ post resurrection ministry would be more powerful than was His ministry on earth. That’s a big claim. There are five pillars that hold it up. (1) Jesus did marvelous works, (2) Those who believe in Him, (3) Will do those works, and (4) Greater works still, (5) Because Jesus went to the Father. Let’s consider each.

Since the main claim of vs.10-12 is that Jesus did marvelous works and His followers would do the works that Jesus did and greater works still, it seems like a good idea to do a quick review of the works Jesus did.

I found a helpful summary (Kruise, TNTC, 295) of the things John explicitly characterized as “the works” of Jesus.

This expression is used repeatedly in connection with Jesus’ ministry, and denotes (1) evangelizing the Samaritan woman (4:34); (2) healing the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda (5:20; 7:21); (3) healing the man born blind (9:3, 4); (4) Jesus’ miracles generally (7:3; 10:25, 32, 33, 37, 38; 14:11, 12; 15:24); (5) Jesus’ teaching (10); and (6) Jesus’ entire ministry generally (5:36; 17:4).

In other words, in John’s Gospel, the “works” of Jesus are explicitly said to include His works of ministry, healing, teaching, and miracles.

Before we move on, and I probably don’t have to tell you this, but we have to get our heads around this. Jesus didn’t merely teach a life-changing message or two. He didn’t merely perform some particularly impressive acts of service. He didn’t merely show significant courage. He didn’t merely walk in a unique measure of holiness. He did all of those things, but in addition, Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, calmed a storm, fed 5000 men (plus their wives and children) with a few fish and loaves of bread, fulfilled centuries-old prophesies, and lived for 30 years without committing a single sin in affection, intention, thought, word, or action.

Those are the works that form the backdrop for Jesus first promise.

The works-of-Jesus promise that follows is not for everyone though. And Jesus couldn’t have been clearer or more emphatic about who it’s for. We just saw the backdrop of Jesus’ promise, now we’ll consider the recipients.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me…

Verily, verily. Amen, amen. Truly, truly.

Listen carefully, what I’m about to say is critical for you to understand. I’m about to make a promise in relation to the works you’ve seen me perform. It’s an awesome promise. My fulfillment of that promise will be a significant part of the means by which I draw people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Myself (Matthew 5:16) and give glory to my Father who is in heaven.

And the promise is for all who have, do, and will believe in Me. It is for all who believe that I alone am the way to the Father, who believe that to know Me is to know the Father, who believe that to see Me is to see the Father, who believe that I speak not of my own authority but of the Father’s, who believe that my works are the Father’s works, who believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, who believe that by way of the cross, resurrection, and ascension I will bring about the forgiveness of the sins of the world and I will return to the Father.

Do you believe these things? Do you believe in Jesus? If so, He has a promise for you!

What is that promise? Once again, the beginning of that promise is that those who believe in Jesus will do the works of Jesus.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do…

Those who believe in Jesus will give ourselves to doing the works that Jesus did. The grace of God and the nature of genuine belief are such that Christians are never passive. The mature Christian life is not primarily one of meditation and isolation. The mature Christian life is busy at doing the good works of Jesus in the world and among the people that belong to Jesus.

Jesus’ declaration is, at its most basic level, a declaration that Christians spend our lives caring for the poor and vulnerable, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, teaching one another concerning the will of God, bringing and maintaining order to a world steeped in the chaos of sin, bearing one another’s burdens, praising God, holding back evil, etc.—the things Jesus did.

Everyone, everyone, everyone who believes in Jesus will do these things; the things Jesus did. If you don’t, you are not a Christian. You can’t be a Christian, according to this verse, and not do Jesus’ works. The grace of God leads us to believe in Jesus. That’s how we become Christians. And then the grace of God works the works of Christ in us. That’s how we know we are Christians. It can be no other way.

Let me give you an important clarification and then a simple, somewhat silly analogy. The clarification is this: Jesus was not saying that every Christians will do everything He did. As we consider this promise of Jesus in light of the all the works of Jesus, it might sound like Jesus was saying, “Everything I did, everyone who believes in me will do too.” Some have mistakenly claimed that this means all Christians will heal the sick, raise the dead, perform miracles, walk on water, etc. But 1 Corinthians 12 explicitly prohibits this interpretation.

What Jesus is saying instead, is that He walked in perfect righteousness. He showed us the works of one whose hope is in God. He modeled for us the whole spectrum of godliness. And if we believe in Him by the grace of God, by the grace of God we will be increasingly marked by doing those things.

Here’s the simple, silly analogy. If you play golf, you probably know that you can only have 14 clubs in your bag. Those are the only clubs you can use. At the same time, if you play golf, you definitely know that you don’t use every club in your bag every time. In fact, many people never use some of the clubs in their bag. Every shot you take has to be with one of them, but you don’t need to use all of them.

Likewise, the works of Jesus collectively are a perfect example of godliness. Our works must be from among Jesus works, even though no one will do all of them.

There’s one more important word of clarification before we move on. We’ve just seen that v.12 contains a command and promise from Jesus that His followers will do the works Jesus did. V.11 tells us one of the key reasons for Jesus’ works and therein one of the key motivators for us as we follow in His example.

Jesus’ works were done to help others believe in Him. The loving, sacrificial, miraculous works of Jesus make it obvious that His message is true when the grace of God comes upon us. In the same way, God has determined to use our works as a means of helping others believe in Him too. As we give ourselves to doing works that only make sense if Jesus is real and our belief in Him is genuine, by God’s grace, others will see them and believe in Jesus as well.

Is that your heart and your life? Is your heart filled with love for Jesus and those He came to save such that you truly long for others to know that saving grace you’ve received. And is your life ordered in such a way that out of your love and longing, flow the works Jesus did in order to help others believe in Jesus?

Jesus’ command and promise is that these things will be increasingly true in all who truly believe in Him.

If that were all Jesus said, it’d be amazing. But that’s not all that Jesus said. He wasn’t done yet. As big as the first part of Jesus’ promise is, He expanded it even further.

Not only would those who believe in Jesus do the works that Jesus did, but “12 greater works than these will he do…” as well!

Remember the teaching, healing, miracles, prophesies, and sinlessness. What could it possibly mean that believers in Jesus would do the works He did, let alone, greater works still?!

There have been a number of suggestions. I’ll name three. First, is the idea that since Jesus would have millions of disciples, it makes sense to say that they would do “greater” (as in, far more) works than Jesus. That’s true, but not what “greater” means. “Greater” in this sense is not about numbers.

A second possibility put forward is that Jesus was only speaking of His disciples. Indeed, the disciples were able to cast out demons (Matthew 10:1), they did heal the sick (Matthew 10:1), Peter preached in a single language to people from many languages and thousands came to faith in Jesus (Acts 2), both Peter (Acts 9:36-42) and Paul (Acts 20:7-12) raised someone from the dead, and on and on. Those things are impressive, they are the works Jesus worked, but it’s hard to think of them as “greater still” and they are almost certainly not what Jesus meant either since He said, “Whoever believes in me.” Clearly, not every believer in Jesus has done greater works than Jesus did in His earthly ministry.

If not these things, then what did Jesus mean? The answer is in the final clause of v.12.

The grounding clause of all of this was, “because I am going to the Father.”

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Whatever Jesus meant by “greater works,” it was rooted in those words. It was His going to the Father that made possible the “greater works than these” by “whoever believes” in Him.

The shortest and simplest version of what Jesus meant by “greater” (and the third possibility) is that New Covenant ministry is “greater” than Old Covenant ministry. It is greater for three main reasons.

First, the works Jesus did during His ministry on earth only pointed to what was to come. Jesus’ works were great, but they were ultimately the promise of a greater future grace. In spite of every marvelous work Jesus performed on earth, the world would still be lost in sin if that’s where it ended. Jesus’ works on earth were evidence that He was who He said He was and that faith in what He would do was right.

Going to the Father, though, changed everything because it was on the other side of Jesus’ victory! He ascended to the Father’s right hand only after going to the cross to atone for sins and rising from the dead. In other words, Jesus’ followers would do greater works in that their works were done once victory was not only promised, but secured.

Second, the New Covenant works of Jesus’ followers are “greater” than Jesus’ works in that they were done by a believers in whom the Spirit dwelt. Jesus was the first man to experience the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His entire ministry was done in perfect submission to the Father and perfect empowerment by the Spirit. Prior to the New Covenant, the Spirit would come upon certain believers for certain periods of time to accomplish certain things. But on the other side of Jesus going to the Father, the Spirit would dwell in all who believed in Jesus, empowering us to do “greater works than these.”

Jesus will make this connection explicitly in 16:7-9, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Finally, third, Jesus’ followers would do “greater” works in the sense that in an entirely new way the Good News of God’s salvation would go out into the world. Gentiles (non-Jews) would see, delight in, and come to the Light in unprecedented, “greater” ways than ever before in the history of the world.

God’s commission was always that His chosen people would be a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6), but it was only after Jesus went to the Father and the Spirit was sent that this took place in “greater” fullness (Acts 10:9-16).

What an awesome promise! What an awesome reality that we’re now living in, in the time of the New Covenant!

By God’s grace, may we live more fully in light of that, Grace Church. May we do the works of Jesus and greater still as we minister in this New Covenant time, filled with the Spirit, and in the victory of the cross; as evidence of the genuineness of our belief and as a means of belief for others. May we proclaim Christ as Lord and Savior with greater earnestness and courage. May we do so with greater expectation and confidence. May we do so while believing truly in this promise of Jesus that still stands.

All by itself, that last promise is almost overwhelming if we really grasp it. And yet, just as Jesus was not finished by promising that His followers would do the works Jesus did, neither was Jesus done in promising that they would do greater works still. Immediately following, Jesus made another staggering promise to His disciples.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

This promise is still only for those who believe in Jesus and is still made possible by Jesus having gone to the Father. Once again, this needs some explaining. And once again, nothing in the explanation dulls the awesome reality of Jesus words or their implications.

In its simplest and most basic sense, v.13 means that we can pray to Jesus, that He always hears us and cares about us, that Jesus is sovereign over all things, and that Jesus is pleased to work through our requests.

Again, all by itself, that’s almost impossible to fathom for anyone who understands the holiness of God and the sinfulness of their own heart. And yet, there’s more still to Jesus’ promise. Let’s consider, therefore, the four key clauses of it.

The first clause is found at the beginning of both v.13 and 14. It’s worded slightly differently in each, but the essence is the same in both, “Whatever you ask” or “If you ask me anything”.

Understanding what Jesus meant by “whatever” and “anything” is key. All four clauses point to the same answer. While it is good to make our every request known to God (Philippians 4:6-7), that’s not what Jesus intended here. This is one of those verses that it especially important to keep rooted in its context. And its context is the disciples doing the works of Jesus.

In other words, the beginning of Jesus’ promise here is that as His followers set about doing the works that Jesus did (and greater still), as Jesus’ disciples seek to obey Jesus’ commands concerning making disciples of all nations, we ought to turn “whatever” and “anything” that comes our way back to Jesus in prayer.

Simply, the beginning of this promise is the idea that we should hold nothing back in prayer as it pertains to doing the works that Jesus did.

The second clause is also repeated in vs.13 and 14. Jesus’ promise is for those who offer their prayers for the grace of God to work out in them the good works of Jesus, to Jesus, “in Jesus’ name.” As I said, this too points to the fact that the “whatever” and “anything” in Jesus’ promise is not indiscriminate.

To ask for something in Jesus’ name is not to think of “Jesus” as the magic word or secret password to unlock the power. It is not the proverbial rubbing of the lamp to get the genie to come out of the bottle. That’s something to keep in mind whenever we pray.
Instead, to ask for something in Jesus’ name is to ask for His sake. It is to ask as if He were asking for it. It is to ask for the things He wants. It is to ask for His purposes. It is to surrender our own will and desires to His. It is to ask in complete confidence that He alone is mighty to answer.

Again, I wonder how different our ordinary, daily prayers would be “in Jesus’ name” if we were to keep this in mind. We’d most certainly ask for different things, in different ways, and to different ends. And that’s what Jesus was driving at when He spoke these words to His faithful followers.

The main point, in this context, therefore, is that praying in Jesus’ name means asking for Him to accomplish His purposes through His works in you.

The third clause is the great promise. When we do what Jesus commanded (ask for Jesus to meet whatever need arises as we seek to do His works, for His purposes, in His name), He will do it.

For a third time v.14 echoes v.13.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do… 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

According to God’s design and reflected in Jesus’ promise, the means by which we will do greater works than Jesus, under the New Covenant in His blood, that the nations might believe in Jesus, is…prayer.

Our prayers for His works to be done in us, will be answered, since our prayers are a means He has sovereignly determined to accomplish His purposes in the world.

So, let’s consider His works and commands carefully and strive in faith to obey. And as we do, let us ask Jesus to provide the help we need in Jesus’ name. And as we do, let us expect Jesus to be true to His word.

Set your sights on the evangelization of an unbeliever in your life, ask Jesus to grant you love and boldness in heart and clarity and power in words, and share in unwavering expectation. He will do it.

Set your sights on caring for the fatherless and downtrodden, ask Jesus to grant you the selflessness, resources, and friends you need to do this well, ask in Jesus’ name that He would be pleased to comfort, heal, and father them through you, and then sign up to be a foster parent or a TFG host or visit an orphanage or become a social worker, all in order that all who see you doing these things will believe in Jesus and trust that Jesus will be true to His promise.

Set your sights on teaching God’s ways to God’s people. Ask Jesus to grant you love for His people, insight into His will, joyful obedience to His Word, and the favor of those charged to feed the flock. And then do all that you can to make the Bible come alive for God’s people, eagerly expecting Jesus to do what you ask in His name as you give yourself to this work of Jesus.

Read the word of God. Learn the works of Jesus. Pray without ceasing. Obey sacrificially. Trust implicitly.

Finally, the ultimate motivation in all of this—in all that Jesus did, commanded, and promised, as well as in all we ought to do—is the glory of God. When we believe in Jesus and seek His help to obey His commands, He will empower us to do His works and more so that He might glorify the Father.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

O, Grace Church, may we learn to love and live the chief end of man. By God’s grace, may we learn that the glory of God is the greatest treasure. May we learn that there is nothing we might give ourselves to that comes within one million light years of the worth and satisfying power of the glory of God.

I want to close by sharing with you an example of this exact thing. I want to show you what all this looks like in practice. I want you to see a real-life example of what it means to do the works of Jesus and greater still, as a result of asking Jesus to grant it in His name and for the Father’s glory.

Consider with me in closing, Acts 4. The chapter opens with Peter and John (the author of the Gospel of John) proclaiming Jesus on the other side of Jesus’ having gone to the Father. As a result, 5,000 men came to faith in Jesus. 5,000 men (plus an unknown number of women and children) became believing believers.

They did the works of Jesus and greater still in their New Covenant, Spirit-indwelling ministry.

Much like when Jesus was ministering on earth, the religious leaders of the day, the rulers, elders, and scribes interrogated these men. Unwilling to give an inch in the face of this opposition, these men boldly declared “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

They did the works of Jesus, in the name and power of Jesus, that all who heard might believe.

Impressed, but incensed, the Jewish leaders commanded Peter and John to be silent.

Rather than being intimidated, they praised God for what happened, rejoined their friends in Christ, and together prayed the kind of prayer this passage teaches us to pray,

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

    ” ‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
        and the peoples plot in vain?
    26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
        and the rulers were gathered together,
        against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Wow! Do you see it? John, the one who wrote our passage for this morning, recording Jesus’ commands and promises concerning Christians doing the works of Jesus and greater still, empowered by faithful prayers, did just that. He did the works of Jesus and prayed as Jesus commanded and experienced what Jesus promised.

It should be of no surprise, then, that in the last verse of the chapter we read,

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

May it be so, and even more, Grace Church, in Jesus’ name, to the belief of the world, and for the glory of God.

John 14:1-11 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Have you ever gotten a string of bad news? That is, have you ever had a time when one thing after another went wrong; when you just couldn’t seem to catch a break? As you think about that and how you responded to it, think about the disciples’ run in John 13?

Judas left to betray Jesus. Jesus told them that Peter would repeatedly deny Him. Jesus—the One they’d given up everything to follow—kept promising to leave and go to a place they couldn’t follow. And the disciples were getting increasingly confident that by “going away,” Jesus was talking about being killed.

That’s a lot to take in, in a matter of a few hours. For most of us, it puts our problems into a different light. But what it also did was give Jesus a chance to (re)shape the perspective of the disciples. He helped them both by naming the hard things that were to come and by explaining how to properly think about and respond to them.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that, like the disciples, you have very little control over many of the things that happen to you in life. If so, you probably also know that you have two options when it comes to navigating the things you can’t control. The first option is to ride the roller coaster of circumstances, responding to them as they happen and as they seem to you. In that case, hard things will often be crushing and easy things will be welcomed. The only alternative is that something above and beyond the circumstances will guide you. That is, the second option is that your response will not be determined by circumstances themselves, but by something outside of them. In that case, hard and easy things alike will be interpreted and responded to based on some larger principle.

Jesus charged His disciples to take the second option and He gave them the tools to do so.

The heart of this passage—the two big ideas—are (1) A command from Jesus to not let troubles overtake you and (2) An explanation of how belief in God is the means to obey. The main takeaways for us are to (1) Carefully consider what troubles and doesn’t trouble us, (2) Carefully consider how we respond to our troubles, and (3) Fight to believe the things Jesus teaches in this passage when trouble comes.

When hard things happen, our hearts are often troubled. On some level, that’s inevitable, isn’t it? One way to define a hard thing is that it produces in us (at least) a temptation to a troubled heart. What would it mean to call something “hard” if it didn’t trouble us?

Nevertheless, our passage opens with Jesus telling the disciples that although hard things were going to take place, they ought not let them trouble their hearts.

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled.

That’s an interesting charge from Jesus both in light of all the disciples had and would soon go through and the fact that John told us more than once that Jesus Himself had a troubled spirit in response to very similar things. Was Jesus commanding the disciples to “do as I say, not as I do?” Is there a difference between having a troubled heart and a troubled spirit? Is there some other explanation?

There are three keys to Jesus words in light of the disciples’ trouble and His own troubled spirit. First, there’s no indication that Jesus said what He said because the disciples were troubled by wrong things. Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, and Jesus’ suffering and death were all right things to be troubled by.

Second, Jesus didn’t say what He said because true godliness means being unmoved by or indifferent to the evil behind each of those things. The command to not let their hearts be troubled wasn’t a command to not experience pain in tragedy. As was the case with Jesus, those things should trouble any godly person. And again, Jesus modeled that perfectly for them when His spirit was troubled.

Third, and finally, Jesus said what He said because He didn’t want them to live as those who had no hope. It’s OK—even right and good—to have a troubled heart in troubling times, but Jesus was commanding His disciples keep their troubled hearts from dominating them. They were not to be overcome by their troubles. Things were hard and would get harder, but that was not the end of the story—it never is for Christians. And it was the rest of the story that Jesus called them to focus on.

Remember that, Grace Church. If your hope is in Jesus, your troubles in this life are never the end of the story.

Like I said at the beginning, the disciples had to decide whether they were going to be controlled by their circumstances or by something else. Jesus commanded them not to go with the “something else” option. And then He continued on by providing the “something else” for them.

Indeed, Jesus told His disciples (and us through them) how to inoculate themselves from being dominated by a troubled heart and gave them the antidote for whatever overwhelming trouble had already taken root.

In other words, a big part of this passage is Jesus’ explanation of how we can keep ourselves from having troubled hearts and how to deal with them when they come.

Have you ever been tempted to let your troubles overtake you? Is it happening to you now? Do you know someone who struggles with this? Listen carefully to Jesus words.

What, then, was Jesus’ solution? How were the disciples to restrain and repair their troubled hearts?

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

How do you keep your troubles from controlling you or get rid of the control that they already have? Believe in God and Jesus. On the surface, that sounds simple enough. But Jesus was not talking about some kind of generic belief in some generic god. And He certainly was not talking about believing whatever we want about Him. He had something specific in mind.

More often than not, when people claim to believe in God, with even a little digging, it quickly becomes apparent that they believe in a god, largely of their own making. Many, even in the church, believe they believe in the God of the Bible, but often only a small portion of what they believe is tied to God’s self-revelation; the rest they’ve patched together from all kinds of stuff they’ve heard, read, and come up with on their own.

On one hand, we all do that to some degree. None of us believes only right things about God. But there’s a big difference between continually seeking the Spirit’s help to read God’s Word as we ought (on the one hand) and only occasionally consulting God’s word and primarily doing so apart from its context (on the other).

The simple point I’m trying to make is that believing in something we’ve largely made up and called “God,” rather than the actual God of the Bible, is not what Jesus was commanding and it will not prevent our hearts from being overtaken by trouble when it comes. The belief Jesus called His disciples to have was rooted in specific truths about God and specific promises to His people.

Again, then, what specifically did Jesus mean by “Believe in God; believe also in me”?

According to this passage, the vaccine and antidote for a troubled heart has six ingredients in it. Before we get to them, however, let’s remember the ultimate source of the help Jesus promised. The banner over all of what Jesus said was the straight-forward reality that His followers need not be troubled because He had come to take their trouble. It was precisely because of the trouble Jesus willingly took upon Himself that the promises He made in this passage hold true. It is because Jesus was crushed by the iniquity of the world that we don’t need to be.

To be clear, the six aspects of belief in God and Jesus prescribed by Jesus in this passage, the six ingredients to keep and rescue us from being overcome by troubled hearts, only hold fast because Jesus was “overcome” by the troubles of the world on the cross in our place.

1. It is belief that God has a house of blessing for everyone who trusts in Him through His Son (2a).

One of the greatest aspects of the good news Jesus came to secure is that by grace, through faith in Jesus God not only washes our sin-slate clean—that is, He not only forgives our sins—but He also adopts us into His family.

We’ve been collecting coats for some time now for inmates who are released from prison without one. Their sentence has been paid, but they are often left to fend from themselves. The gospel is the good news that in addition to sending His Son to prison in our place, God also welcomes us into His home as His sons and daughters. What an awesome promise.

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms.

In the house of God, there are enough rooms for all His children; for all who trust in Jesus. And in the house of God, the food is abundant, the fellowship limitless, all is illuminated by the glory of God, and the LORD is continually present to love, bless, and satisfy all His sons and daughters.

How do you fight off or fight back a troubled heart that’s threatening to overcome you? You believe in God and Jesus, that whatever troubles may come in this life, a room in the heavenly mansion of God awaits us.

2. It is belief that Jesus is going there to prepare a place for His people (2b).

Not only are all who hope in Jesus promised a room in the house of God, but we are also promised that it will be specially prepared for us by Jesus. When Jesus broke the hard news to His disciples that He was leaving to go to a place they couldn’t immediately follow, there really was a kind of sadness in that proclamation. Chiefly, the disciples would be without their master for a time because Jesus was leaving by way of the cross. Both of those things are rightly troubling. But Jesus charged His followers not to let the trouble dominate them because, once again, there was more to the story. Jesus was leaving them in order to prepare their room in God’s house.

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

I hope it’s clear that Jesus was not talking about an actual house which He was going to construct or arrange. Jesus was talking about the fact that His death would make possible perfect, eternal, fellowship with God as members of the family of God.

How do we repel and repair a heart that is runaway-troubled? We believe that Jesus has gone before us to prepare the way for us to be brought into God’s presence as His beloved sons and daughters. When trouble comes, we remember that great truth and all it means no matter what path our troubles take.

3. It is belief that Jesus will bring us to God’s house (3a).

As if that were not enough, there’s more still. Jesus would soon leave His followers. That’s truly sad. But He was going to get something great ready for them and He would come again to get them and bring them with Him.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself…

One of the most vulnerable feelings I’ve ever had was arriving in Colombia with my wife and three young kids in the middle of the night. We were there to adopt Gabi and in order to do so we needed to live with her there for an uncertain number of weeks. We didn’t speak the language, we didn’t know the area, it was late, it had a reputation for being a dangerous city, and we were trusting in someone we didn’t know, to drive us to a place we’d never been, in a culture we didn’t understand. Oh, how nice it would have been to have someone we knew and trusted meet us at the airport and take us to the apartment.

That’s at the heart of what Jesus promised His disciples. He promised that He was going to get a great place ready for them and that He would safely lead them all the way there. He was almost certainly speaking of His second coming, which is a great comfort to everyone whose hope is in Jesus.

Lots of hard things were coming at them fast. It was OK, even good, for them to experience grief. But Jesus did not want them to despair, to be derailed from their mission, or to fail to trust in Him and His Father. He, therefore, shared with them some of the many blessings that would overshadow all of their trials so that their trials would not overshadow them.

4. It is belief that we will dwell with Father and Son forever (3b).

On another trip, I spent some time in the Middle East, telling people about Jesus and handing out Bibles. There we did have guides; local believers and long-term missionaries. They took us to where we needed to go. They walked with us the whole way (like Jesus promised to do with the disciples to God’s house). That too was an intimidating culture and it was really nice to have them walk with us to our place of ministry. However, once we got there, they left us to ourselves. And, as I’ve told you before, on one of the days we ended up being detained by local law enforcement for over an hour, apart from and unknown to our hosts.

Jesus calmed His disciples’ troubled hearts by telling them that the road right in front of them was treacherous, but it would certainly lead them to their own room in the family and house of God, that Jesus was preparing that room for them, that He would lead them all the way there, and that He would stay there with them forever.

3 … I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

If Jesus’ followers would believe that, they would find vast reservoirs of help for their troubled souls.

5. It is belief that Jesus has told us how to get there (4-6).

Even before all that happened, Jesus reminded His disciples…

4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

Unsure about that, Thomas said, “5 Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” And in what’s probably the second most famous passage in John (14:6), Jesus replied, “6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Belief in God and Jesus means believing that Jesus is the way, the only way, to the Father’s house and the eternal life that belongs to all who dwell there. Troubled hearts are calmed, Jesus said, when they truly believe that. He is the only way, but His is the perfectly sure way. No one who comes by Him will fail to reach His Father’s house.

Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated.

-Thomas Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

Do you get the significance of that promise, Grace. It’s not merely a promise of salivation—it is that and that’s awesome, but this context helps us see that it’s more than that too. It’s a promise that as long as you live your life trusting in the Father’s rescue in Jesus, as long as you follow the path of faith prescribed and modeled by Jesus, no trouble you encounter on the way will keep you from reaching the heavenly home of God. Trials may be plenty, but when you come to believe that they are simply part of the path of Jesus on the way to everlasting joy in God’s house, they will not overtake you.

6. It is belief that Jesus and the Father are One (7).

Finally, Jesus told His disciples, that if they wanted to be freed from a troubled soul, they needed to believe that He and God the Father are one. To know Jesus is to know the Father, to see Jesus is to see the Father, and to believe in Jesus is to believe in the Father, for they are one.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

This was familiar teaching for the disciples, but Jesus understood that this was particularly important for them to grasp in this perilous moment. It would be of particular help for them and their troubled souls if they were to believe as Jesus intended.

Jesus was one with the same God who spoke the world into existence and has sovereignly held it in place and governed it since the beginning. Jesus was one with the same God who covenanted with Abraham and his offspring, delivered His people from slavery in Egypt, gave the Law to Moses, sent the prophets, established the feasts and sacrifices, and gave nations over to them.

If they could trust in that God, they could trust in Jesus, and by doing so, they need not be troubled since He has power over sin and death, light and life, feasts and famines, fruitfulness and barrenness, victory and defeat. If they were on Jesus’ side, they were on the Father’s side. And if they were on the Father’s side, what trial could overrun them? None, of course!

The rest of the passage is largely a further development of the sixth ingredient of trouble-busting belief—Jesus and the Father are one. It was Philip who chimed in this time and gave Jesus the occasion to further unpack this critical truth.

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

In light of what Jesus had just said, that seems like a semi-reasonable request. At the least, Philip’s logic is sound. Jesus said that knowing and seeing Jesus is knowing and seeing the Father. That’s certainly an exciting idea and so Philip asked Jesus to reveal the Father to them.

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Obviously, Philip didn’t quite understand, so Jesus continued.

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

In all of this, two truths ought to be clear: (1) Jesus is one with the Father, but (2) Jesus is not the same as the Father. They are one in essence, but two in person. Again, John expands on this in the coming chapters, but I do not want you to miss the fact that Jesus and the Father are one in essence and two in person and those truths are trouble-freeing truths.

In other words, in all of that is the heart of the nature of God (as Father and Son [and Spirit]), the heart of what it means to believe in God and Jesus, and the heart of the means of not being overcome by troubles. We cannot believe whatever we want about God to find freedom from overwhelming troubles. Jesus gave us awesome truths to hold fast to; including 2/3 of the triune nature of God, the most solid foundation of all.

The triune nature of God, and particularly the oneness of Father and Son, will become increasingly clear in Jesus’ farewell discourse. For now, it seems good for us to end with the first two clauses of the Nicene Creed, for they will help us find purchase when times are tumultuous.

We believe in one God,
    the Father almighty,
    maker of heaven and earth,
    of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
    the only Son of God,
    begotten from the Father before all ages,
        God from God,
        Light from Light,
        true God from true God,
    begotten, not made;
    of the same essence as the Father.
    Through him all things were made.
    For us and for our salvation
        he came down from heaven;
        he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
        and was made human.
        He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
        he suffered and was buried.
        The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
        He ascended to heaven
        and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
        He will come again with glory
        to judge the living and the dead.
        His kingdom will never end.

And Jesus told His followers, it is by believing these things that troubling things will not overtake you. Believe these things, Grace. Fight in the Spirit’s strength to believe them. Help one another believe them. Thank God for the forgiveness that is already yours in Jesus for whatever unbelief remains, and believe these things that your hearts may not be troubled.

John 13:31-38 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

If you knew you only had 24 hours to live, what would you want to say and who would you want to hear it? That is, is there anything you would definitely want to share with anyone right before you die? Last words carry a lot of weight, especially with those whom we’ve shared our lives with.

John 13:31-38 contains the first of the final words Jesus spoke to His disciples (which continues on for four-and-a-half chapters). He chose to share them with the men He was closest to and who were most responsible for continuing His ministry after He was gone. For these reasons, John 13:31-the end of 17 is often referred to as the “Farewell discourse” (or the “Upper room discourse”).

To be clear, Jesus took the final hours of His life to share a number of important things with His disciples. A few of the disciples chime in a few times, but only with brief questions and only to give Jesus the chance to explain His previous words or set up His next. Throughout this final monologue, Jesus teaches, predicts, promises, warns, and prays. And in all of that are some of the most moving and significant words in John’s Gospel. We would do well to listen especially carefully and glean all that we can from them.

Regarding our passage for this morning, there are three main ideas for us to see: (1) The Father and Son would be glorified in awesome ways, (2) Through the Son’s departure, (3) And so Jesus gave them a “new commandment” to guide them through His glorification and departure. Above all, practically, this passage is A call for us to (1) See and savor the glory of the godhead, (2) Grow in a holy longing to follow Jesus in all His ways, and (3) Love others as we’ve been loved by Jesus.

The Father and Son would be glorified in awesome ways, through the Son’s departure, and so Jesus gave the disciples to whom He was speaking a “new commandment” to guide them through His glorification and departure. Each of those truths are awesome beyond imagination. Each has been written on in countless volumes. And each has led men and women to gladly give their lives to tell others about it. And each will get less than 15 minutes this morning. I say that only to remind you of the fact that God’s Word has depths that we will need eternity to plumb. I hope this sermon inspires you press deeper into at least one of these three truths this week.

With that, let’s begin by taking a closer look at the “now” glorification of the Son and the Father.

The first question of the Westminster Confession of Faith is familiar to many of you.

Q. What is the chief and highest end of man?

A. Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.

The question and answer presuppose something really important. Did you catch it? They presuppose that God is glorious in such a way that it is possible to fully enjoy Him forever. Getting your head around how significant of an idea that is, is necessary to really appreciate the opening lines of our text.

Truthfully (especially for everyone for whom smart phones were never not a thing), when is the last time something held your full enjoyment for more than a few minutes, let alone for a whole day, let alone for a full week, let alone for a full year, let alone for a full decade, let alone for FOREVER?!

It takes something truly extraordinary to capture our full enjoyment for any amount of time. The idea of something doing so for eternity is almost unfathomable. No ordinary thing could possibly do that. We always get board of everything eventually, don’t we? But, as Jesus makes clear in the opening lines of our passage, neither He nor His Father are anything ordinary. They are (along with the Spirit) infinitely glorious and, therefore, entirely able to fuel our full joy, forever.

That sounds fine in theory, but what does it really mean? What is the content of that glory? What is it about the Father and Son that makes them glorious to the point that they can sustain complete joy in a person for eternity? And to that end, John wrote,

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

There’s a lot of glory in those two verses (five glories), and within that, there are three main claims: Jesus will be glorified now, God the Father will be glorified in Jesus’ glory, and God the Father will glorify Jesus.

“Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified’…”. In these words, Jesus was echoing His earlier claims that, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). And He was anticipating His words in chapter 17(:1), “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son …”

The first question these claims present is what Jesus meant by “now” and “the hour has come”? When did he have in mind? The answer, as we’ll see more clearly soon, is at the cross (and resurrection and ascension).

In simplest terms, then, Jesus was explaining that the time for Him to be crucified was at hand and in the cross His glory would be put on display in a manner never before seen by the world. O, Grace Church, do not be quick to move past this or to believe you’ve exhausted this. You and I really will spend all eternity growing in our sense of awe and wonder at the glory of Jesus put on display in the cross, so let’s get at it now.

There are lots and lots of ways the cross displays the glory of Jesus. I’d like to highlight four.

More than that, though (as if that were not already an unimaginable amount of glory in the cross), Jesus continued on by promising, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. That’s also in the next clause of the chapter 17 passage we read earlier, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…”. Not only was Jesus glorified in the cross, but the Father was glorified in Jesus’ glory.

There is a way in which every parent can understand this. When our kids do well at something, it is often as much to our great pleasure and glory as it is to theirs. In a way that is similar, yet immeasurably greater, the Father was glorified in the Son’s glory on the cross. Indeed, Jesus declared that the Father’s glory in the cross was His aim all along, “for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name” (12:27-28).

Just as is the case in the cross-glory of Jesus, the cross-glory of the Father shows up in many and particular ways. Again, let’s slow down enough to prayerfully consider a few.

In the cross, Jesus was glorified. In Jesus’ cross-glory, the Father was glorified. And, in the Father’s glory, He glorified the Son.

32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.

The cross is the vortex of the infinite cycle of trinitarian glory. That’s the heart of Philippians 2:8-11.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus was glorified on the cross and so God glorified, highly exalted, Him even more.

It’s also the heart of John 17:3-5.

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Jesus was glorified on the cross, that brought glory to God, and so God turned all that glory back on Jesus.

In all of this, we see that the cross is the place of the supreme convergence of Jesus’ sufficiency, victory, and obedience. It is also the place of supreme convergence of God’s attributes. And in those things, we find a good deal of the content of the glory that will allow everyone who hopes in Jesus to fulfill our chief and highest end.

As I mentioned earlier, the initial claim in our passage is that “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” I also mentioned that by “now,” Jesus was referring to His death on the cross (resurrection, and ascension). We see that explicitly in v.33 and again in vs.36-38.

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

Jesus was about to depart from the earth by way of the cross. The cross, of course, would soon lead to the empty tomb (20:1). And the empty tomb would lead to His ascension back to the Father. When that happened, the disciples and the Jews would seek Jesus (for all kinds of reasons) but would be unable to find Him.

Confused yet again,

36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

There was a sense in which no one could follow Jesus in any of what He was about to do. He alone could die on the cross for the sins of the world. He alone would be raised from the dead in fulfillment of the Scriptures. And He alone would rise to the right hand of the Father to rule and make intercession for all His people. (“Where I am going you cannot follow me now…”.)

And yet there’s another sense in which all who would be saved would follow Him. Grace, we must all take up our cross, laying down our lives in faith in the Son of God. All who do will rise from the dead. Jesus was indeed the first born from among many resurrected brothers and sisters. And all who do will come into the presence of God to reign as coheirs with Jesus. (“…but you will follow afterward”.)

Again, no one could follow Jesus immediately, but the good news of the gospel is that all who would trust in Jesus will do so “afterward.”

Still confused,

37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Peter displayed a familiar zeal mixed with an equally familiar ignorance. Not only could Peter not follow Jesus to the end, but He would not even follow Jesus as far as he could. Instead of following, he would first deny.

Jesus needed to lay His life down for Peter before Peter could lay his life down for Jesus.

The cross was the vortex of trinitarian glory and no one could follow Jesus into that until Jesus went through it so everyone could follow.

The third and final key to this passage answers a question that I hope you are already asking. If they couldn’t follow Jesus now, what were they to do? Jesus answered that question directly in vs.34-35.

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

God had commanded his people to love one another for hundreds of years. The “new” aspect of the command, therefore, was not to love others. The new aspect was to love others “just as I have loved you”. That is, never before had love for others been perfectly modeled as it was in Jesus. The foundation of this new commandment, then, is Jesus’ love.

The “new” command is for you and I to love one another like that. But what, specifically, does that look like? How do we love others “just as” Jesus loved us? Let me close with three quick suggestions.

Jesus commanded His disciples to love each other as He loves them, since they couldn’t immediately follow Him into His glory. At the least this meant loving to the end, apologizing and forgiving quickly, and praying earnestly.

The result of all of this, of course, is that a lot of people will be loved well and God will be glorified in that. That is, if we are to obey Jesus’ “new commandment”, the people of God will know the love of God in remarkable ways and the world will see the power and glory of God. Can you imagine how much the Church, our church, would be build up if we were to truly love each other as Jesus loves us?

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

(1) The Father and Son would be glorified in awesome ways, (2) Through the Son’s departure, (3) And so Jesus gave them a “new commandment” to guide them through His glorification and departure. Above all, practically, this passage is a call for us to (1) See and savor the glory of the godhead, (2) Grow in a holy longing to follow Jesus in all His ways, and (3) Love others as we’ve been loved by Jesus.