Jesus Brings Us Peace!

John 14:1-11

14 “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.

 

Jesus’ Words and Actions Bring Us Peace

We have talked about the importance of Jesus’ coming here in the advent season. We have highlighted four impacts of Jesus’ coming in our lives:

Two that look forward:

Hope: I am the way

Faith: I am the truth

And two that look at today:

Joy: I am the life

Peace:

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.

The connection between Jesus and God the Father gives us the peace that we need in life. We see in Jesus the resolution of practically everything that would make us anxious about God! And that is saying a lot!!!!

  1. What makes you anxious about God?

The Garden and the New Garden.

What is appealing about these pictures?

Genesis 2:

  1. Meaningful work without frustration
  2. No conflict with creation. Animals in harmony.                 Plants in harmony. Weather in harmony.
  3. Family purposes are clear.
  4. Love is uncomplicated by selfishness.
  5. Life is provided for in quality and quantity.
  6. Close fellowship with God

Genesis 3 sin creates trouble in each of these areas:

Pain and toil attached to work.

Conflict with creation, weather, death etc.

Marriage competition diminishes helpfulness

Family relationships more painful.

Love becomes clouded by self interest

Fellowship with God is severed. We lose sight of God.

We are banished from the Garden and struggle with    responsibilities for life.

Revelation 21&22:

  1. No more sea: The chaotic elements of creation are                 no more!
  2. God dwells with man!
  3. No more pain and suffering and death.
  4. All of life is new in quality and quantity.
  5. There is no taint of sin. Everything is simply good.
  6. Never ending light. No more confusion.
  7. Never ending food and water and life
  8. We clearly belong to God and see Him face to face.

 

  1. I can’t see God

        We understand from Genesis 2-3 and Revelation 21-22 that we are meant to see God and that the desire that we have is natural and just. How does Jesus resolve this issue of anxiety? Look at our passage!

 John 14:7 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’?

John 14:6 the exclusive nature of this claim is offensive to people. Surely they must not have read further! Jesus says that those who have seen Him and been with Him have seen God the Father! That’s a wow!!

There are many things that I can let go in Scripture. There are many conflicts between the culture that we live in and the culture of the Bible. I can let a lot of cultural things go. This is what we need to resolve. When Jesus says that we have seen the INVISIBLE GOD when we SEE HIM, is this true? I believe that it is. So, I’m headed there for truth. Jesus vs. Science. I have lots of questions, but mainly because I think asking some of them is like asking what Jesus thought about the Pythagorean Theorem. He does not address it.

What is the Bible about? Look at the ten commandments: It’s about how we are to relate to God and about how we are to relate to others. Love God with all of our personality: will, mind and emotion and do it with a commitment of energy. Love your neighbor: 1. As yourself, 2. As God loves them. (We are created in the image of God.) 3. As Jesus loves you! Get to work on these things and we are addressing the issues of the Bible.

  1. I don’t know what God is like

        John 1:

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God is full of Grace. Hesed. Look it up! His covenant love. It is what causes Him to never give up on Israel. He loves them and has committed Himself to them having a relationship with Himself. And yet most of them don’t get it! Whenever God emphasizes that He is being patient and merciful it is because of His hesed. He loves them and has made a covenant with them. Why did God make a covenant with Abraham? It was God’s choice. Why did God reveal to you the truth about His character and truth? He is full of grace!

Isaiah 43:

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.

 

God is full of Truth. You can’t hide from what He says about you, about Him and about life. But John mentions Grace first! God is fundamentally merciful. Hence the sinful world. And so in verse 16, from Jesus we receive grace upon grace.

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

And finally John reiterates:

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus is the prophet like Moses! Moses is the author of the Law. He is the lens through which we approach God in relationship in the Old Testament. He wrote to the COI, slaves in Egypt. Moses is a big deal.

Jesus is the Biggest deal. Nowhere does God say of Moses, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased Listen to Him!” The rest of the experience is just like Moses! Jesus is the lens through which we now understand Moses. He is the lens through which we understand God! He changes everything, or rather, He is foundational for everything!

 

  1. How does God want me to live

        This is a question of darkness and light. That is the typical Biblical metaphor. From our passage:

Verse 10: 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.

John 8: 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

“I haven’t come to abolish the law and the prophets.”

Matt 5-7

  1. I can’t tell if God is pleased with me

        What would call this into question? My bad behavior.

Isaiah 43: 25 “I, I am he  who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.

Romans 7: 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 8: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

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.

How is Jesus acting toward them right now?

He just washed their feet.

He is preparing to die for them.

What are they doing? Judas is betraying Him. Did He wash Judas’ feet?

Peter is about to deny that he even knows WHO JESUS IS! I Cor 15 Jesus appears to Peter. Jesus resolves these issues. And God and Jesus are in complete accord, they are not arguing with one another. God the Father is JUST LIKE JESUS!

Or to put it another way, who are the perfect OT characters? Adam? Noah? Abraham? Moses? David? Not really.

 

  1. I don’t know how to get to God

I prepare a place for you in My Father’s House

“I came, I go to prepare a place. I will come again to take you to be with me. You believe in God, believe also in me!”

I am the way. What do you do with a “way”? You follow it.

 

  1. Even when I believe I still struggle

        Refer back to 5. Refer back to 3. And then realize that Jesus is your opportunity for life!

Ephesians 2:

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Lamentations 3: 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“therefore I will hope in him.”