Let’s pray.

Father, you give us the opportunity to be a part of what you are doing. Particularly in this instance, you give us an opportunity to help plant gospel roots in Midtown Detroit. Thank you for allowing us to have the resources and abilities to become partners in the gospel. Lord, yesterday, today, forever, you’re the same. That is who you are—our loving and generous father. We thank you for being perfect. For being loving. For being sovereign in all that you do and all that you are. You are worthy.

We’ve been praying that you will be glorified today. Not only here in our worship services where we sing of your goodness, your mercy, and your faithfulness, but also in this message that our hearts, minds, and bodies be moved toward intentionally glorifying you because you deserve all glory, all honor, all praise from your creation. Let your name be praised. Be glorified in us and through us.

I ask that your will be done so magnificently that the world would not be able to deny that a new world order in your perfect love is already being formed in our lives. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

John 14:1-14.

¹ “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.

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. ¹³Whatever 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. (John 14:1-14 ESV)

Big Idea: Believe in Jesus

Because:

1. Believing in Jesus will bring us to the Father. (vv. 1-6)
2. Believing in Jesus will show us the Father. (vv. 7-11)
3. Believing in Jesus will glorify the Father through us. (vv. 12-14)

Some of us know of Jesus, but we don’t believe in Jesus. Likewise, some of us know of God but don’t believe in Him. This is going to get some of you real mad: for some of us, know of the gospel but you don’t believe in it. It’s not real in your life.

I know it’s not real in your life because even though you’ve been calling yourself a Christian, nothing about your life reflects that you actually believe in Jesus.

In fact, you can be sure of this yourself because if you really believe in who the Father is and believe in what Jesus does for you, then you wouldn’t be living the way you’re living now, you wouldn’t have the same priorities you have, you wouldn’t have the same irritations, you wouldn’t have the same selfishness.

Your way of life would be different because what and who you believe in would alter the way you act. I’ll go a little further, the reason you’re conflicted in life and with your decisions sometimes is because there is a disconnect between what you know and what you believe and do.  

Let me give you some examples:

1. You know God is loving, but flipping the bird is your go-to love language
2. You know Jesus is redeemer, but your Lord is alcohol
3. You know God is with us, but you love the thing you did in secret

Listen, there’s enough trouble in our lives. The world is a hot mess. No doubt about it. There is no reason for us to pretend to believe in Jesus when you just want to know of him.

I know that’s a little harsh.

The reality actually may be that you believe in Jesus, but you’re at your wits end because even though you believe in Jesus to take you and show you his Father so his glory can be manifested in you, it feels like Jesus doesn’t believe in you.

I know the first question we all ask is always, where’s God? I trusted in Jesus but why am I suffering like this.

Jesus tells us, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” That’s verse 1.

Family, today, even if it’s hard, even if everything about life says otherwise, we need to believe in Jesus.  Believing in Jesus is about experiencing his grace and his forgiveness of sins. The only way we can believe in Jesus is if we have a relationship with him, when he becomes real to you and not just somebody you know of.

When you have a relationship with Jesus and believe in him

• his way of life,
• his way of seeing,
• his way of loving

they all become tangibly manifested in our everyday lives.

Knowing the Way

Let’s pick this up in verse 2.

² In my Father’s house are many rooms.

In the Greek, that word “rooms,” is actually “mon’ay” and what Jesus is describing to his disciples is not simply what amounts to a tiny bedroom. You see, when you have Mon’ay, you can actually get a house and not just a bedroom. Haha. You see what I did there.

But really, the Greek word, “mon’ay” is used to describe something like an entire house. So, we need to be reading this sentence as, “In my Father’s house there are many houses. I am parked here for one reason: Where God is, it’s tangible in nature. In fact, it’s so real and tangible that Jesus can describe the living situation he is inviting the disciples into. Let’s continue.

If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Not only is heaven a real place. It is being prepared for you and me—those called by Jesus to be his disciples. As Jesus starts his journey to a certain death on the cross, he is teaching his disciples about a real place.  

Believing in Jesus is to live like heaven is a real place being prepared for us. Verse 3.

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.”  

Not only is Jesus preparing heaven for us, he is going to come and get us, to take us there. A few weeks ago I shared with you all the idea behind sanctification, that when we believe in Jesus, he makes us more like him. But just in case you get lost, Jesus says “you know the way.” Verse 5.

⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

I love what Thomas says, it’s so real. It describes most of my Christian journey—lost. How many people feel like Thomas? Lost? You’re lost because

• You don’t know where Jesus is going.
• There are no directions on becoming more like him. I mean there’s the Bible, but you have to read it and then understand it. I barely understand a map when a British lady is telling me where to go.
• Life just seems to be forks in the road, a series of good or bad circumstances and situations or decisions and the biggest problem is that none of the forks seem to lead to the way of Jesus.
• So how can I know the way of Jesus?

That’s how Thomas is feeling. To his credit, he did ask Jesus, “how can I know the way?” Some of us, we need to start asking Jesus how we need to follow him on the way of going where he is. This is something that can’t be outsourced to somebody else. Nobody else can ask Jesus for you. You need to ask Jesus. Verse 6.

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:2-6 ESV)

There is nothing harder in this passage today than this verse right here. It’s hard because what he’s saying is a paradox.

• His way is the way of the cross.
• His truth is to love those who accuse and kill him.
• His life is to be laid down for those who have no life.

Let’s get this straight, notice that Jesus didn’t say

• he was going to show us the way,
• that he was going to tell us the truth,
• nor that he was going to tell us about life.

He said:

• He IS the way.
• He is the Truth.
• He is the Life.

To make sense of Jesus’ statement, we need to make sense of this in light of first century Jewish person. So, I’m going to assume Jesus’ disciples had a working knowledge of the Torah because they went to Temple school to learn something. Now, the Torah is the first five books of our Bible.

Traditionally, we translate the “Torah” as the “law”, but really I think a better translation may be the “instruction” or “directions.”

The difference between law and instruction is simple: laws are do’s and don’ts that have punishments and rewards while instructions serve more as a guide to get to a particular end goal. Now if we see the first five books of the Bible as instructions as opposed to as law, the purpose of the first five books of the Bible becomes different in our application.

It’s like recipes for cooking. Not baking. I recently learned when it comes to baking, the recipes are the law. But when you’re cooking the recipe give you direction and instructions but there are no punishments or rewards per se, but if you follow recipe, you’ll generally get what you want—a dinner meal that tastes good.

Here’s the second reason I’m saying that the Torah should be seen as a set of instructions as opposed to as a set of laws: there is a random, non-linear logic where consecutive verses are not related to one another. Like if you open up Leviticus, you’ll find guidance on dealing with baldness next to guidance on life after childbirth, next to guidance on dealing with roadkill, next to guidance on worshipping at the tabernacle. Laws are not written this way.

All that to say that the Torah’s purpose is to help guide God’s chosen in the way of God, the truths of God, and the life of God as they are brought by God from where they were, through where they are traversing, to the promised land where God is preparing a place for them. That’s the purpose.

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Torah. Jesus came to fulfill the way of God, to be the truth of God, to be the life God wants to give to his people. And when we say Jesus lived a perfect life. We are saying that his entire being was perfectly oriented toward the way, truth, and life of God. His being was sinless as a result. He is the way to God. He is the truth of God. He is the Life of God.

Do you want to come to God, our Father in heaven? Then we need to have a real relationship with Jesus that believes in him as our way, as our truth and our life. It cannot be just knowledge of him because knowledge cannot believe in Jesus. It has to be a relationship. Without a relationship with Jesus all people are excluded from getting to where God is because the way to God is through Jesus Christ. All roads don’t lead to heaven. Eternal life with God is through faith in Jesus Christ alone because he is the way.

Since that’s the case, it’s so important that we are sharing the gospel with others. They are condemned to an eternity away from their creator if we falsely believe they can be rescued some other way.  

Who do you love with a God-centered love? Who are you meeting at their level, so that you can bring them to God? Jesus is the only way! Share him with those you love.

This is for you parents: if you’re not intentionally teaching, proclaiming, and practicing Jesus’ way with your kids, don’t expect them to somehow follow Jesus, they won’t because you’re not.

I know some of you outsource your role in teaching, proclaiming, and following Jesus to the church. Especially when servants like Luke and Taylor show up in the life of a child, your kids lives are forever changed. And there are a handful of servants like that here at our church. You need to thank them for loving on your kids, sharing Jesus’ way, Jesus’ truth, and Jesus’ life. But as a parent, you should not be outsourcing you’re instructions for your kids to others. Be ashamed, repent, and love your kids by sharing the way, the truth, the life of Jesus with them. It’ll change their lives. I promise.

Now, some of you, you need an outlet for loving others. A great place to start is in our next generation ministries, kids and students. So many opportunities to affect change for the future of our world in simple ways. If you want to challenge yourself and love others scan that QR code in the seatback in front of you and check off kids or students.

When I received Jesus as my savior and Lord of my life as a teenager, I had nothing to show for all my years in life. I should have faded away into the shadows of anonymity and poverty in as dirt in some gutter somewhere. But God, in his great favor, sent somebody who loved me to share the way, the truth, and the life with me.

You have everything you need to love somebody who desperately needs God. Go love somebody enough to show them the way, truth and the life. No other religion, no other god comes to meet people on our level, to bring them to himself. Only our God. Only our savior. Only our King.

Knowing the Father

Verse 7.

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.

This is a confusing piece of dialogue. So what Jesus is alluding to here in this passage requires an understanding of the theological concept known as the Trinity. The trinity, is that our God, is one God in three persons. The three persons being: God, the Father, God, the son, and God, the Holy Spirit. The three persons of God, are equal to one another, the Father who begets, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who brings about in an inseparable unity of who God is. So, the three persons define who God is, while the one essence defines what God is.

As a result, the whole work of creation and grace is a single common operation of all three divine persons. Each person of the trinity manifests what is proper to it in the Trinity, so that all things are “from the Father,” “through the Son,” and “in the Holy Spirit” for the glory of God. It’s a bit confusing, so let me give you two reasons this is important:

First, Jesus is a Jew. His disciples are Jewish. There is no way Jesus can be the Son of God if he himself was not God. Let me show you. Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear o Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

God is how many? He is one!

Then Deuteronomy continues to say, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might…” I’m going to skip to verse 13. “It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are around you….”

Now if Jesus was not God, the second person of the trinity, our faith would be a farce considering what is written in the old testament about who God is and his nature.

That brings us back to the implications of what Jesus tells Philip about showing us the Father. Jesus, is God and therefore the essence of God can be seen in Jesus. Jesus, in unity with his father, act in unity to bring about the will of God. The things Jesus does are the result of being one with God, the father.  

Second reason this is important, at end of the Bible, if you read Revelation 21-22, it ends with God, the Father, crowning his beloved Son in His Spirit as the ruler of the eternal kingdom where the people he loves dwell with him. The people who he loves are sealed by the Spirit of God to receive this eternal inheritance.

The story of God ends with God getting the glory! We’re all here today because we know at least in principle that the end result of our lives will be God getting the glory in and through us. The question isn’t whether this is going to happen or not. It will happen. God said it, it’s in the Bible.

The question really is HOW does God get this done? Let’s skip to John 17 for one minute. This is Jesus’ high priestly prayer. Verse 24.

²⁴ Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:24-26 ESV)

Here’s the conclusion: God is glorified because the Father loves the son through the Spirit and that love from Father to Son extends down to us because the Son loves us. The spirit of God comes to fill us with that same love the Father has for the Son because we are selected by him.

As a result, if you have seen Jesus because you’re in relationship with him as your Lord and savior, then you have seen the Father because the glory of the Father is upon the son through the love that overflows from the Son into this world through His Spirit.

God gets the glory and we benefit from the love of the triune God, having an eternal dwelling place Jesus is preparing for us at his father’s house because of the love the Father has for his son and to the people his son loves.

• Do our lives reflect the glory of God that comes from his love?
• Does your life right now reflect that you are in the Father and the Father is in you?
• Can people who don’t know you believe in God on account of the works you do?

Verse 12.

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.

Jesus’s love for us was public in the miracles he performed, but most visible and memorable by his death on the cross. The love of his father was made visible when Jesus was resurrected from the dead. As Jesus ascends to

If you believe in Jesus. If you call yourself his follower, then the work that you do is clear: love others. Love is the visible manifestation of your faith. I’ve been saying this for a few weeks now. Here is the scriptural affirmation that this is our work—when we believe in Jesus, and are loved by him, that love needs to overflow out of us.

Our lives must be oriented to the way of Jesus so that the love of the Father overflowing from us can be experienced by the people around us.  

Verse 13.

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

We pray for God to be glorified in our love

When we do the work of Jesus by loving others, our prayers become petitions for God to be glorified. We pray that God glorifies himself because we loved by Jesus. He becomes our way, our truth, our life because of his love for us and in our love for others, we pray that God glorifies himself in their lives. It’s a spiritual discipline to love people enough to ask God to glorify himself in their lives in our prayers.

This is your challenge this week:

Are there people in your life that you love enough to ask God to glorify himself in their lives? That was a rhetorical question, the answer is yes, none of us live in a windowless hole. If we are a disciple of Jesus, being sanctified toward being like him through the love of the Father, the bare minimum is to love people enough to petition God to glorify himself in their lives. Then go pray God will be glorified through us.

When we do this, it shows the world who we believe in and what we believe about him.

Verse 14: ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Our faith, is not just head knowledge. We don’t sit in a bunch of Bible Studies, Life Group meetings, Huddles, and collect information about the nature of God, about his love for us. We apply what we believe in our lives. There is a sanctification that happens in our lives when we start orienting our actions toward asking God to do things to glorify him.

Jesus didn’t just know that God loved him. He believes it and lives it. God is glorified as a result.

God glorifies himself through us when we live as we believe in Jesus.  

When we ask in the name of Jesus, and live it, he will glorify himself.

Believe in Jesus. Make him your way, your truth, your life.

Orient your love toward others, asking God glorifying himself through you in them.

Pray that with me.

Father in heaven, we want to live attuned to the works you are doing to redeem the world. You are on a conquest to glorify your son into eternity and we want worship you to that end. We want our lives to be a part of that because you redeemed us for that purpose to be loved and to be in love with you forever and ever.

God, let that play out in our lives in a very tangible way. We don’t want to sit with knowledge and information, but we want to take action on these things so that we can exert our influence toward the things that are eternal. We know that it’s not special works or talents that you drawing us toward, but an everyday practice of making Jesus our way. Making him our truth. Making your son, our life.

Let our existence be gathered and directed toward you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.