What is it that troubles your heart?
What is it that weighs heavily on your heart?
All of us, to some degree, carry burdens that trouble our heart.
Maybe it’s a health diagnosis, grieving the loss of a loved one. Maybe it’s your job or finances; relational strife, broken trust. Perhaps it’s the pain of watching someone you love make poor choices; maybe it’s the sorrow of a miscarriage, or the pain of infertility. Maybe it’s the earnest desire you have for the lost to know and follow Jesus.
Our passage this morning is one in which Jesus gives comforting counsel for troubled hearts. I’ve titled this sermon “Comforting Counsel for Troubled Hearts.”
My prayer is that God’s Spirit-inspired Word would provide comforting counsel for any troubled heart here this morning. May that also be your prayer as we look at God’s Word together.
If you have a Bible, open it up to John 14:1–11.
These verses occur in a larger section known as Jesus’ farewell discourse (John 13–17). We’re going to look at the beginning section of this final discourse that Jesus has with his disciples on the night that he was betrayed.
Some important context before we pick up our passage. Jesus is with his disciples in the upper room where they just shared the last supper together. Jesus informed them that one of them was going to betray him. Judas has just left with the moneybag to go to betray him to the authorities who will deliver him over to be crucified. Jesus tells his disciples that he is leaving them; he is going away and where he is going, they cannot follow him. When Peter objects to this, Jesus tells Peter that he would deny him three times before the night is over.
The disciples have troubled hearts. That is the context. They are confused, distressed, and saddened.
It’s precisely here where Jesus gives comforting counsel to troubled hearts. Listen as I read 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.
Here’s the main idea of our passage: True comfort is grounded in the person and work of Christ.
True comfort is grounded in who Jesus is and what he has done.
Here’s the logic of the passage. How can the disciples have comfort in light of Jesus’ departure? By trusting in who Jesus is and his mighty works.
I have two points organized around Christ’s person and work.
- Find Comfort in Christ’s Work (vv. 1–4)
When your heart is troubled, believe.
Look at verse 1: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”
This is a command; an imperative. Do not fear but believe.
Jesus is not offering a platitude. He is not offering an empty promise (“It’s going to be okay”) as if he doesn’t have the authority to guarantee the word of comfort. Jesus is not giving them false assurance so that they feel better about the situation, but he can’t really guarantee the outcome.
No. His disciples have real reason not to give in to despair. Why? Because the comfort that Jesus gives is grounded in the reality of who he is and what he is about to do for them, namely, his cross and resurrection. Christ’s work is the guarantee of his comfort!
They can have certainty through faith. Importantly, the certainty of their faith is not grounded in their own exercise of faith. No––the certainty of their faith rests in Christ. He is the object of their faith. That’s why their faith is certain.
The certainty of your faith does not depend on your ability to articulate it or defend it. The Puritan Thomas Watson says, “A weak faith may lay hold on a strong Christ.”
Small faith is faith. Weak faith is faith. The point is, we are not trusting in our own exercise of faith––we are trusting in Christ. It doesn’t matter if your faith feels strong. What makes your faith strong is not you, it’s Christ!
Certainly, our faith can be nourished and strengthened through knowledge and understanding. Those things are to be encouraged. But those things are the fruit of faith, not the root.
Faith rests in Christ and his work. He is the object of our faith, the one in whom we trust.
Jesus is instructing his disciples––he is instructing us––to place our wholehearted trust in him and his work.
If you’re here and you’re not a believer in Jesus, know that faith in him is not about mustering up a certain amount of knowledge before you believe. Faith is about wholehearted trust and surrender to him.
If you have questions, it doesn’t mean those questions are unimportant. But the most important question is, will you trust him? Will you follow him? Trust him today by repenting of your sins and believing in Jesus.
In verse 2, Jesus provides comfort by calling us to trust in our future with him. For those in Christ, our future is secure.
Vs 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?”
Here, Jesus is referring to our future heavenly dwelling with God. That’s what “my Father’s house” refers to. It’s a way of speaking about where God dwells.
In God’s house, there are many rooms. Now—the King James Version here translates this as “many mansions,” which brings all sorts of unfortunate and unhelpful connotations that has dominated the cultural imagination about heaven.
There are not a bunch of McMansions under construction in heaven right now. Sorry to disappoint.
I think the point of emphasis about there being many rooms in heaven is that there is room for you! There is room for people of every tribe, tongue, and nation in our Father’s house.
Importantly, Jesus teaches us something about the nature of heaven itself. What will heaven be like? Ultimately, heaven is God’s presence. To be in the Lord’s presence is to be in heaven.
God dwelling with his people is a major theme of the entire Bible.
One of the central questions that emerges after sin’s entrance into the world is, how can a holy God dwell among a sinful people?
The answer is, only through an atoning sacrifice.
When Jesus says that he goes to prepare a place for you, he is referring to his death, resurrection, and ascension.
That is the nature of Jesus’ going to preparing a place. It is because of his atoning death on the cross and his resurrection that he is able to bring us into fellowship with God.
The Bible teaches that because of our sin, we are condemned––separated from experiencing blessed fellowship with the one true and living God (Rom 3:23; Eph 2:1–3).
The good news of Jesus is that he became incarnate (became man), lived a perfect life and bore our sins in his body on the tree. By rising from the dead, he defeated the power of sin and death, so that all who repent of their sins and believe in him are forgiven, reconciled, and can enjoy dwelling in his presence forever (Isa 53:5–6; John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:24).
This is why Jesus must go to prepare a place. This is why Jesus’ absence provides comfort. He must go. It is his going makes enjoying his permanent presence possible. His going is the means that secures the enjoyment of eternal life with him.
In verse 3, Jesus promises that he will return. “And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Jesus is going to the Father—that refers to his death, resurrection, and ascension. And now, Jesus promises that he will return and bring us into his own presence.
The church throughout the ages has confessed that Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We believe in a personal, bodily, and glorious return of our Lord Jesus. We don’t know the day or the hour of his return, but we are to live our lives with expectant hope in his return.
This should motivate us to live lives of holiness and godliness. This should motivate us to engage in evangelism and missions.
One of my favorite hymns is “Where Shall I Be?” The refrain says:
Oh, where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds?
Oh, where shall I be when it sounds so loud,
When it sounds so loud as to wake up the dead?
Oh, where shall I be when it sounds?
Why do I like that hymn so much? Because it trains me to set my mind on things above (Col 3:2). Jesus is coming soon, and when he returns, we will be with him where he is.
Now, we’re still with point #1. Find comfort in Christ’s work.
What I’m arguing is that verses 2–4 (Jesus’ work) provide the guarantee behind the word of comfort in verse 1.
Jesus says, don’t be troubled, believe in me. How is that supposed to comfort them? How do we know it’s not just an empty promise? He’s about to demonstrate his trustworthiness in his death and resurrection. Christ’s work is the foundation of our certainty.
True comfort is grounded in who Jesus is and what he has done. We can have real comfort because of what Christ has done for us.
This truth is beautifully captured in the Heidelberg Catechism (1563).
| 1. | Q. | What is your only comfort in life and death? |
| A. | That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him. |
Don’t think that I’m up here waxing poetic on theology. This is as real as it gets. This is the comfort that sustains you through whatever it is that troubles your heart.
When your health fails you and you’re lying in a hospital bed: you belong with body and soul to your faithful Savior. He has fully paid for your sins.
In the midst of being furloughed or losing a job, God preserves you in such a way that apart from the will of your heavenly Father, not a single hair can fall from your head. You can trust him. He will provide for you. You are of more value than sparrows (Matt 10:31).
Point #1, with verses 1–4, comfort is grounded in Christ’s work. Now, in verses 5–11, the focus shifts to comfort grounded in Christ’s person.
- Find Comfort in Christ’s Person (vv. 5–11)
In verse 4, Jesus told his disciples that they know the way to where he is going. Thomas objects and says in verse 5, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
As is often the case with the disciples, they fail to understand what Jesus meant. Thomas doesn’t understand that Jesus’ going away refers to the cross. He’s still thinking in terms of a geographic place.
Jesus’ answer (vs 6) is one of the most well-known passages in Scripture, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus responds to Thomas by revealing that the way is not a what but a who.[1] Jesus is the way.
The focus is on his person. The only way to the Father is through the Son. Jesus is our access to the Father. The person of Jesus is how we have access to God’s presence.
Without a doubt, this passage teaches the exclusivity of Jesus. Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. In our pluralistic age, it is often claimed that there are many paths to God.
All religions are essentially the same, they are just different paths to the same end.
Clearly, Jesus is not teaching that. He is the path. He is the way.
With that said, it’s important to emphasize the context. Jesus here is not dropping a random comment here about other world religions. There’s nothing wrong with bringing this verse into those discussions. But it is important to ask—how does Jesus’ claim here function within the larger context of comfort?
The disciples are afraid/distressed because Jesus is going away and they don’t know where he is going. And Jesus’ response essentially is to say that you know the way because you know me. It’s deeply personal.
If you know Jesus, then you have access to the Father.
What are we to make of the threefold “the way, the truth, and the life?”
There’s going to be a lot of diversity of opinion here, but I’ll tell you what I think. I think “the way” focuses on his person. Jesus is the way (he is our access to the Father). And then, I think truth and life are further descriptors or explanations of who Jesus is.
I get that from the Prologue of John’s Gospel (John 1:1–18), where it says that “In him was life” (vs 4) and that the Son was “full of grace and truth” (vs 14).
Jesus, the Son, is the way and he is the source of life and truth.
In verses 7–11, the focus is on the Father’s glory revealed in Jesus.
To know Jesus is to know the Father.
Philip asks Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
If we could just see the Father, we would be satisfied!
Now, the use of this word “enough” is intentional and ironic. It only occurs twice in the Gospel of John, both times from the lips of Philip.
The first instance is in John 6:7. The scene is the feeding of the five thousand. Seeing the large crowd, Jesus tested Philip by saying to him, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”
6:7: Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
Philip misjudged the situation. He looks at the money, he looks at the bread and says… it’s not enough.
The second time the word “enough” is used is right here in chapter 14. “Show us the Father, and that would be enough for us.”
The irony is that both times, Philip is looking at the present situation and not truly seeing the glory and power of the Lord who is right there with him!
Jesus rebukes Philip by responding in vs 9, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Obviously, Philip missed it. Despite being with Jesus from the beginning, he fails to see the fullness of who Christ is.
Now, if we are honest, Philip is a mirror for us.
Philip was one of Jesus’ first disciples. He was with Jesus for years, he saw his works, and yet he missed the sufficiency of Jesus. I’m not saying Philip wasn’t a believer. But he failed to see that Jesus was enough.
It’s possible to orient your life around Jesus and still miss him. It’s possible to organize your entire life around Jesus––go to church on Sunday morning, go to youth group Sunday night, go to small group on Wednesday morning, go to Christian Challenge on Thursday nights, keep up with the daily Bible reading plan, go on short-term overseas missions trips––It’s possible to organize your entire life around Jesus yet functionally live as if he is not enough.
And if that strikes a chord with you, now you might be thinking—oh great, well what do I do?!
The answer is not do more. That’s works.
The proper response is to cease striving and rest in Christ’s person and finished all-sufficient work. That’s gospel.
I don’t think Jesus’ rebuke was designed to simply embarrass Philip. If you’re hearing this and thinking “I’m a lot like Philip.” I’m not trying to embarrass you. Our focus should be on Jesus’ answer, which reveals the fullness of who Jesus is. He is true God from true God.
If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. Jesus shares the glory of the Father. He’s truly God.
Vs 10, Jesus asks, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
Jesus reveals the glorious truth about his person. Here we get a glimpse of the eternal Father-Son relationship. We get a glimpse of the reality of the Trinity.
Later this afternoon, if you want to bless your socks off, go read John 14–17. It is amazingly rich in how it develops trinitarian relations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God reveals himself as triune. Each person is distinct, but they each share the one undivided divine nature. This means each person is eternally distinct, yet each person is equally and fully God.
Look at verse 10–11 again as Jesus speaks of the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son.
“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. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”
To summarize, Jesus’ words and works reveal who he is.[2] When Jesus speaks and acts, he is acting in union with the Father. And so Jesus words and works reveal the truth about who he is.
Jesus alone reveals the glory of the Father.
This is what’s so amazing about the Gospel of John. It’s clear enough for a child to understand, and deep enough that even the greatest theologian is unable to mine the depths of its theological riches.
But the important point for us to remember is this. Jesus reveals the glorious truth of who he is to provide us with comfort.
Did you notice how verse 11 ends? Believe!
14:1 we have a double believe. Believe in God, believe also in me.
14:11 we have a double believe. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
This connects us back to the main idea of the passage. The main idea is that we find comfort through belief, through faith!
Do you see it? Jesus doesn’t reveal the doctrine of the Trinity to confuse us! He reveals the truth of who he is to draw us to himself in faith!
It’s about wonder! It’s about worship! It’s about seeing God for who he truly is; and when you see him in all of his glory, then the proper response is worship and faith.
This is how Jesus provided comforting counsel for troubled disciples. He wanted to encourage faith in his person and work. He wanted them to see him for who he truly is and all that he would do to secure our salvation.
Whatever it is that troubles your heart today, look to Christ and find comfort, knowing that he is enough.
[1] Edward W. Klink III, John, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2016), 617.
[2] Klink, John, 621.