As they huddled together in the upper room, Christ's disciples were anxious about the future.
And that was understandable. There were a lot of scary things on the horizon.
But Jesus didn't want fear to rule over them.
And so, in today's reading from John 14, He reminded them that everything was going to be alright.
And that a great future was just around the corner.
Is your heart troubled? If so this morning, then you are in the right place. It's been said that
this text, especially the first six verses of chapter 14, are one of the most popular passages
in the entirety of the Bible. And the reason why is because many people come to the Bible with a
problem in their life and they're looking for answers. And they go through concordances and
Google and all these different things. Many times they arrive at this text because this text
promises hope that we all need. We might need it at different intervals and different quantities,
but in this room today, surely there is someone here, if not many someones, who desperately need
hope. And we see it in this text. However, we see it in the context of a dark and scary night.
As we said before, today's text occurs during the night of the Last Supper. And the fact that we
call it the last supper is somewhat foreboding in of itself. This was the meal that Christ shared
with his disciples in the upper room, to which John gives five chapters in discussing. And as
he talks to the disciples, there is a specter in the room, so to speak, a specter of death and
betrayal and denial that will come up many times, including the very text we're looking at this
morning. So in today's text, Christ's disciples, on the one hand, they're encouraged by the presence
and breaking bread with their Lord and Savior
and their Rabbi and their Christ and their Messiah.
That's a great night for anyone.
On the other hand, they had a sense
that something was about to happen.
And indeed it would, because someone at their very table
would be betraying Jesus that very night.
And the rest of them, like sheep to the four winds,
would be scattered eminently.
But it's with that knowledge of what's about to go down
and it's looking scared people in the eyeballs
that in today's text we're going to see
that Jesus is going to gather them close and he's going to say, hey guys, guys, guys, guys,
let not your heart be troubled. You have a lot of reason for it to be troubled as you might this
very day here in Gulfport, Mississippi, have a lot of reason for your heart to be troubled. You might
have anxiety and illnesses and diagnosis and financial problems, relationship problems, what
have you. You might have any number of that. You might have all of that. I don't know. But the same
words that apply to the disciples who are about to face the scariest set of circumstances they'd
ever faced up until that point in their entire life. The same words that Jesus applied to them,
said to them, encouraged them with, apply to you and I. And God willing, he'll use this time to not
only teach us what happened 2,000 some odd years ago, but how it helps us and encourages us with
what we're facing this very week. All right, let's return now to John 13. And as we usually do,
we're going to go through it kind of bite-sized until we get to the end of this passage. Let's
look at the first three verses. Let's look at verses 33 through 35. Again, this occurs during
the context of the Last Supper itself, as his disciples are beginning to get increasingly
anxious. He says this, verse 33, little children, I shall be with you a little longer. You will seek
me, and as I said to the Jews, where I'm going, you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you would also
love one another. And by this, everyone will know that you're my disciples, if you have love for
one another. All right, let's stop there. If you're a small child, and at one point we all were,
but if you're a small child, one of the harder things that you might hear is if your father
came to you, a father that you love, someone that is close, someone that is dear, someone that's
kind, someone that looks after you, someone that watches over you, someone that teaches you and
trains you and says, it's time for me to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to depart. And where I'm
going, you can't come too. That would be hard to hear. Well, in this context, it's possibly even
more hard to hear. With that said, a few verses after he says this hard thing, he's going to say,
but, but, but I'm not going away forever. In fact, where I'm going, it's good that I go because I'm
going to be with the father. And while I'm there, I'm going to be doing something that's just
wonderful. I am going to be preparing a place for you to join me, that where I am, there you may be
also. And we'll see that text here in just a few moments. But before he gets to that good news,
that reunions around the corner, that soon enough they'll all be together again, before he gets to
that hope of a reunion, he lays down a new law. He calls it a law. It's really an old law. It's
one of the oldest laws that we love one another. But it has a new emphasis in the context of the
last supper. Love one another as I have loved you. That's how you are to be known. Remember his
disciples had just argued about which one of them was going to be the greatest in heaven. Literally
at the very table, they had been arguing about which one of us is the greatest, right? Jesus
says, knock it off, guys. Knock it off. Mary did the foot washing to demonstrate servanthood and
how this is supposed to work. Well, now he looks at them and he looks at betrayers and deniers and
he looks at doubting Thomases and the like and he says, all right, I'm going to go, but, but I'm
to come back for you. And in the meantime, let's work on this together. Let's work on this. Let's
work on this commandment that you would love one another. And as you love one another, as you in
this room love one another in the midst of what's about to go down, as you love one another, then
the people outside this room, they will know that you are Christians. You will know that you are
disciples of the Christ. They will know that you are mine. If you love them, you love one another
as I have loved you. Now, here's the thing. There is no law that sounds easier at face value to keep
than that. Love one another. All right. Check. Got it. How many of us just heard that and we
didn't for a moment have any problem with that? And we think, yep, yep. Love, love. Sounds good.
I'm all for love. Loving one another sounds fun. It's the easiest law in the world to nod your head
to, to accept at face value. And it is the hardest law to keep. It's the easiest law to accept in the
abstract. Love one another. And it is the hardest law to apply when someone is being so unlovable
in your world. When a co-worker, a neighbor, a friend, someone in church, what have you, is just
being unlovable, that's the hardest person to love. Again, in the abstract, love one another, we'll all
nod our heads to, but then if we say, how about that guy, that lady, that person, that neighbor, that
co-worker, that whoever, then our brains explode. It's much more difficult. However, however, Christ
emphasized the importance of this. He says, this is critical, guys. He says, I've been teaching you, and
you've been accepting propositional truth. Remember he asked Peter, you know, who do people say I am?
And Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus says, amen, Peter, you got it.
Your theology is squared away. Good job, Peter. In the abstract, understanding and accepting
propositional truth is not the hard part. In just a few verses, Peter, he would say, I will follow
you to the end, I'll follow you to the end, I'll follow you to the end. And we would all say that
in the abstract, the difficulty is in the particular. With that said, this idea of loving
one another. We are to love one another even when it's difficult, even when it's hard. And when we
do so, more than almost anything else that we can do, that demonstrates Christ in us. That
demonstrates that we are Christians when we forgive one another, when we love one another,
when we care for one another, when we extend our arms to one another, even when we're given 10,
20, 50 reasons not to, which happens all the time. But that said, this is what Jesus is imparting to
Remember, he's only got yea much time left.
In hospice scenarios where someone is about to pass in a short amount of time, what do they do?
They concentrate their words on that which is most critical.
If you only had the next five minutes to tell your spouse, your child, your children, what have you,
the most important things to you, that which is most near and dear to your own hearts,
what would you say to them?
Well, this is what Jesus says to those who are near and dear to him with the remaining time that he had left.
He said, guys, no matter what comes, no matter what happens, love one another.
And as you do so in this midst, in the nucleus of the church, in the upper room,
and in the church 2,000 years later in Gulfport, Mississippi,
as you do this, as you demonstrate love for one another in this way,
that's how we convey the reality, the truth, the strength of Christendom
and the very faith that we profess.
Love one another.
All right, let's look at verses 36 through 38.
Now Simon Peter said to him,
where are you going? And Jesus answered him, where I'm going you cannot follow me now, but you shall
follow me afterward. And Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my
life for your sake. Remember in the abstract it's easy. I will lay down my life for your sake. And
Jesus answered him, will you? Will you lay down your life for my sake? Most assuredly, Peter, take
to the bank. Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me
three times. You're not going to stumble 10 years from now. You're going to stumble tonight.
The very things that you say in the abstract, like you can uphold this in the abstract,
you're going to fail in the specifics in just hours from now. Three times you're going to do
this. Not even once or twice, which would be bad enough. You're going to do this three times.
All right. Now, the interesting thing here is in the previous verses, verses 33 through 35,
Jesus had just given the disciples this new commandment, this new point of emphasis, right?
Love one another as I have loved you, and by this all men will know that you are Christians. They'll
know you're Christians by the love you have. With that said, what does Peter do? Does Peter linger
on that for a moment? Does Peter go, huh, let's talk about love here, Jesus. Tell us more about
love. No. It's almost like it went in one ear and out the other, because he doesn't even talk about
it, refer to it, think about it. It's like he waits for Jesus to get done with what he's saying, to get
back to a different point that he's stuck on. And what he's stuck on is when Jesus said earlier in
verse 33 that I'm going, and you can't follow. Nothing about this new commandment and love and
all that really resonated, or at least it didn't come up in the next words out of Peter's mouth.
Instead, he says, what's going on? Where are you going? And if you go anywhere, Jesus, you can rest
assured I'm going with you. I'm your man, right? You know, I'm Peter. I'm the rock, the rock. Even
amongst his fellow disciples, he had to be known as the brave one, the rock. He does a lot of brave
things. I mean, there's no doubt he has strength and courage and character and resilience in the
life. And so he looks at himself and he sees himself as one. He's not going to let Jesus go
anyplace that he can't go. He's going to be his right hand man. So he says, I will lay down my
life for your sake, not realizing that the gospel is about the exact opposite. The gospel is about
Jesus laying down his life for Peter's sake. So Peter tries to inadvertently supplant or reverse
exactly what's about to go down. Now, again, that sort of courage and faithfulness is good.
We want to think that we would do the same thing. I mean, if you were there at the upper room,
you'd like to think that you would stand tall right to the end, that if anyone's going to take
Jesus, they're going to have to do it over your dead body, that you would be that sort of man
or woman. Well, I don't know how we would be, what we would do, but we know this much,
that Peter felt convicted, assured that he would act in a certain way. But when the moment came,
that's not what happened. When his courage was tested, his courage would prove insufficient,
weak. And Peter would deny his Savior three times. You see this, if you look in Luke chapter 22,
you'll see the denials, denials three times. You know, after which, what's fascinating,
the third time that Peter denies Jesus, you know what happens that very moment?
well two things really one is that jesus looks right at him jesus looked right and that look
had to resonate in peter's heart to the rest of his days he probably never forgot that look
the second thing is that the rooster crowed so with that said that's what was about to go down
and let me just i guess add another point as we said a few months ago you know in the abstract
faithfulness always seems so easy you ever hear the song the hymn we sing it sometimes you know
I surrender all.
I tell you I'm never going to sing and then I do it.
What am I doing?
I surrender all.
Look at the earlier song that we sang this morning.
Look at the words that you sang to glorify your God
that said, I give you not a mite would I withhold.
I give you everything, right?
Do you?
You see what I mean?
I surrender all.
I give you everything.
I withhold nothing.
We sing and confess and profess and say,
and at a certain level we believe that we are this thing,
this image of ourselves, that we're these pious, devout, and holy saints,
and when push comes to shove, we're going to do the right thing.
Well, maybe, maybe, maybe not.
Be careful that the self-image you have of yourself
and how you would respond and the faith that you have,
be careful that you only analyze it in the abstract
in which it's never tested or tried.
And be very diligent when it is tested and tried to say,
how did I do?
When this situation came up in my family life, in my marriage,
when this situation came up with my children, when this situation came up in church,
how did I do? Did I demonstrate the love of the commandment that Jesus gave to love one another
as he loved me? Did I do that in this context? It's important to analyze the specifics in order
to see whether you are truly applying the faith that you will nod your head to in the abstract.
All right, so with that said here, the moment in time that we're coming to in verses 33 through 36,
and everything that was going to follow, as we said earlier this morning, this is the scariest
time in the disciples' lives up to that point. And they'd had scares. They had had all sorts of
bumps in the road across the three years of Christ's ministry, and I'm sure earlier in their
lives too. But nothing matched up with this. Nothing matched up. And part of the reason
nothing matched up with this is because their leader, their El Capitan, their main guide, Jesus,
had just said he was going to depart. And not just he was going to depart, but he had told
them in other intervals that this departure involved death. He was going to die. He had told
them this. And at some level, you had to say, if I'm a disciple of the guy who's about to die, am I
going to die too? And that was very possible. Why? Because the enemies were all around. Remember,
Peter was so worried that he might die too, that what did he do when people said, hey, aren't you
with that guy? Nope, not me, not me. He had anxiety and fear that he would be killed. If they went
after Jesus, nothing was going to stop them from taking him out. And the same was true of the other
disciples. They were fearful for their lives at this point. Beyond that, Jesus was going someplace
that they wouldn't be able to come to. And there was anxiety with that because as disciples of the
rabbi, they had gone wherever he'd gone for the period of three years. Literally wherever he went,
they went. And this is a moment of separation. And they say, oh, that doesn't sound so great.
Furthermore, Jesus had just explained to them
that I've got to go somewhere, and where I'm going, you can't go too.
And oh, by the way, there's a betrayer in our midst.
One of you is not who he says or thinks that he is.
A betrayer is in the midst, and oddly enough,
one of them had just been sent out by Jesus to go and do,
and whatever he'd do, do quickly.
Jesus told the betrayer that we know as Judas Iscariot.
And in a couple weeks, on Wednesday night,
we're going to give a whole class just on Judas.
So the Pharisees, the Romans are coming.
The betrayer is in their midst.
Jesus is predicted, prophesied, not only betrayal and his death,
but that they would fall apart and deny him even that very evening.
If there was reason to be anxious in their entire life, this was the moment.
This was the cause for that.
But as Jesus looks at that, he delivers this news.
And he can see just on their faces, you know, all the colors drained down.
I mean, he said some difficult things.
Earlier in the meal, there'd been the washing of feet.
You know, there's the new covenant, and my blood was shed for you, the Lord's Supper, and all that great stuff.
There was a lot of wonderful, tender, kind, gentle, blessed moments at the Last Supper.
But at this point, Jesus said, it's about to go down.
And so they were anxious, and Jesus looked at them.
He saw that they were anxious.
And again, Scripture doesn't say this, but I fully anticipate it would have been the case.
I would have expected at that moment he'd bring them close.
They're already reclining at table, which is not the same thing as sitting at the table.
Reclining at table, it's as if Jesus brings them even closer in this context.
He looks in the eyeballs, and he says this,
Let's look at these verses, our remaining verses, verses 1 through 6,
to see the promise he gave to them and the promise he gives to us if we are troubled this very morning.
Verse 1,
Let not your heart be troubled.
You've been given a lot of reason to be troubled,
but let it not be so.
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God.
Believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again.
I will receive you to myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. Verse 5,
Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? And Jesus
said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
All right, and my Father's house are many mansions. Different translations will render that slightly
differently, but no matter what translation you use, it sounds pretty grand. But it's still hard
to understand, if we just linger for a moment, let's talk about heaven just for a moment before
we circle back to the rest of it. When you think about heaven, what do you picture? What do you
picture? Well, whatever you picture, whatever you might imagine is far insufficient or far less than
the reality. If you remember the thief on the cross, the thief on the cross, the one who came
to faith, not the other guy, the one who came to faith and looks at Jesus and says, Lord, Lord,
remember me when you come into your kingdom. What does Jesus say to them? Truly this day you will
be with me in in paradise in paradise now the reality is whether you're talking about paradise
whether you're talking about mansions whether you're talking about streets of gold to come up
in revelation the reality is that these are word pictures to express something that you cannot
understand in a way that you might understand you can picture of mansions and streets of gold and
the like but these are terms these are terms that christ uses to express something far greater than
itself. I've said before that streets of gold, when we get to heaven, will there be a street of gold
somewhere? Probably. But, but the real picture of streets of gold is not so much that there's
literally asphalt that's made of gold everywhere in heaven. It's not so much that as it is to
express to you and I that that which is most mundane, when you go out in the parking lot,
you will not give a second thought to the parking lot. I mean, you might now that I'm bringing it up,
but otherwise you wouldn't have given a second thought to the very stuff you're trotting upon.
not a second thought as you left the church and went out on the road. Even as you're driving on
it for the next 5, 10, 15, 30, 40 minutes, depending on where you're coming from, you will
not think once about the pavement. Why? Because it is mundane. Well, in heaven, that is which most
valuable here, gold, is that which is most mundane there. So when you hear about, you know, hell being
hot, the reality is far worse. When you hear about streets of gold, the reality is far better.
Paradise, mansions, it's the same thing.
These are words you can sort of understand to express something far beyond your ability to understand.
So that's what we see there in those first few verses, this talk of mansions.
Whatever that looks like, it's going to be good.
With that said, verses 1 and 2 talk about the destination, where we're going, what's going to happen.
However, verses 3 through 6 talk about the way we get there.
You see, it's one thing for me to open up a travel guide to some wonderful Tahiti or someplace grand
and say, hey, it doesn't look so grand.
You'd say, yeah, it looks great.
But in the back of your mind, you're going, but I'll never get there.
I'm glad such a place exists, but I'll probably never get to Tahiti.
Well, here in these verses, Jesus is saying, not only does such a place exist,
and my Father's house are many mansions.
It's great. It's paradise. It's grand. Streets of gold.
And my Father's house is this.
He's not only giving you the travel guide and saying, this is what reality holds,
but he's saying, this is what reality holds for you.
And the way to get here, you know.
Of course, Thomas says, sir, we don't know where you're going,
and how do we know the way?
And again, verse 6, Jesus says, Thomas, I am the way.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but through me.
Although Jesus was about to depart and leave his disciples,
and although that had to freak them out,
although that had to trouble their hearts in a sense,
Jesus says, look, reunion is right around the corner.
I am going to go for a bit.
And later on in chapter 14, they'll say,
if you knew where I was going and that I'm going to my father,
you'd know this is wonderful what's about to happen.
But I see you don't see it with those eyes,
so let me just express it in a way that, again, you can relate to
and know this much, that when I go and where I go,
I'm going to be busy preparing a place for you,
that where I am, you may be also.
Have you lost a loved one?
Have you lost a loved one that's in the arms of Christ?
imagine this, that when that loved one was ushered in to those pearly gates, when the loved one was
ushered in to whatever that heavenly courtyard looks like, know this much, that Jesus ahead of
time had prepared a place for that one, and he has prepared a place for you. What does that mean?
What does that look like? I don't know, but this is the promise that Jesus gave to his disciples.
I'm going to prepare a place for you.
And if he did it for them, he's done it for our loved ones,
and he will do it for us in his time.
You ever know the picture?
I don't know if we still do it in this day and age.
It was something that was more done by a few generations past.
You know that picture where after a wedding,
going back to the new house or home,
that the husband, the groom, will take the wife in his arms
and cross the threshold?
Has anyone ever done that?
I'm not seeing enough hands.
Any hands?
Oh, all right. There's one. We got one. Pastor Fish, well done. All right. So with that said,
what's that a picture of? Well, it's a picture of a whole lot of stuff. It's a picture of a whole
lot of stuff. But at the least, it's a way of saying, you're mine. I care for you. I give you
everything. And we cross into the threshold of this new life together. That's a picture of what
Jesus is saying here. I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come, and I will receive you to
myself. And we will cross the threshold together. That's the promise that the bridegroom gives to
the bride, to the church. We will cross the threshold together. I make a covenant, I promise
you that I will never break, and it will culminate on that great day, and it's coming. It's coming,
even as you're troubled, even as you're anxious, even as you're fearful, even as you're scared,
that day is on your horizon, and it's never been closer than it is right now. There's a lot of
reasons to be encouraged in this text. With that said, when a lot of us think about mortality,
we tend to process it more like Thomas in verse 5. We go, I know I've heard some of this before
in church. I know, Jesus, you've said this sort of stuff, but I'm not sure. I don't know the way,
the path. When I was younger, we lived in California for a few years. My grandparents
lived down in Southern California, and we would visit them a lot, but especially around Thanksgiving
and the holidays and such. But I remember there was a convenience store. It was probably only
maybe 90 yards away from my grandparents' house, but it was sort of around the corner.
It wasn't far at all, really, not far.
And I remember, I don't remember the age, I was maybe 10, something like that.
My dad says, hey, would you run over and get such and such from the little convenience store and bring it back?
And I remember nodding, yes sir, happily, I'll do it, I'm your man.
I remember thinking, yeah, I've got this, cool as a cucumber, yeah dad, I'm on it.
But I remember just being petrified because I knew where the thing was, but I couldn't see it from where I was standing.
And I knew sort of had to get there, but there was still all sorts of anxiety about the path
and what's going to happen.
Is everyone going to come and grab me?
What's going on?
It was a safe neighborhood.
He didn't send me out to the wolves or anything.
But nevertheless, I remember being anxious about it, even though I had really no reason
to be.
I remember being anxious because it was something I hadn't done before.
Well, in a sense, that's what Thomas is saying.
Jesus, this dynamic of what is about to happen with you and what you say it's about to happen
to us is not something we've ever experienced.
Remind us about this way, this path, what have you.
And Jesus stops and says, I'm the way.
I've always been the way.
I'm the way, the truth, and life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.
This morning in closing, this morning, whether he's speaking to Thomas,
whether he's speaking to Peter,
whether he's speaking to you and I through his text,
the message is the same.
Jesus says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life,
and I'm with you every step of the way.
Even though I depart, I'm going to send you a helper,
And even though I go, I will come back.
This is akin to a father going on a business trip
and saying, I'm gone, but I'm not really gone.
And a reunion is coming.
Come here, son.
I'm holding you close.
This morning, if you have anxiety
about the next step for you,
going around the bend on something
that might seem kind of scary,
know this, you're not doing it alone.
That is the great promise of the shepherd's psalm,
that yea, that we walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil.
Why?
Because thou art with me.
Our confidence is that the one who went up comes back
and that while he is there at the right hand of the Father,
he has sent us the helper so we're not truly alone.
There's no step you will take on this earth,
no matter how dark, no matter how scary next week,
next month, next year might be,
there's no step you will take apart from the shepherd
and overseer of your souls being right there,
lockstep with you.
And that's an encouragement,
whether you're disciples in the upper room
or you and I in Gulfport 2,000 years later.
Let's pray.