Let not your Hearts be Troubled--Jesus Reveals Surprising Things about the Father

Let not your Hearts be Troubled—Jesus Reveals Surprising Things about the Father

—John 14:1–14 (Part 19)

Andrew Fountain – Mar 1, 2020

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John 14 – Let not your Hearts be Troubled

Goal:

To take in the care and empathy of Jesus
To feel empowered by the relationship we have with the Father

Plan for today

Let not your heart be troubled
Actually getting a glimpse of God himself
Another (exciting) reason not to be troubled
What Jesus is saying to us

Structure of John

1–12 ”Book of Signs”	13–21 ”Book of Glory”

John 13–21 “Book of Glory”

13 A meal with the disciples

14–17 New Teaching
from Jesus
to the disciples

18–20 Arrest
Crucifixion
Resurrection

21 A meal with the disciples

Summary of
”the Book of Glory”

Just before the Passover Feast
Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world,
to the end he loved them.

John 13–21 “Book of Glory”

13 A meal with the disciples

14–17 New Teaching
from Jesus
to the disciples

18–20 Arrest
Crucifixion
Resurrection

21 A meal with the disciples

John 14–17

Let not your heart be troubled
If you show me love (follow my teaching), then I promise you the Spirit
You only have strength to do this if you are joined to the vine
You are connected to the vine by loving one another as I loved you
Hate, the opposite of love
The Spirit of truth is coming and will guide you into all truth
In a little while (This hurt will hurt no more) Sorrow→Joy

Jesus commits the diciples to the Father in prayer

Three other times “troubled’ is used

11:33. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was troubled in spirit and greatly distressed.
12:27. “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? Father, deliver me from this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour.
13:21. After saying these things, Jesus was greatly and visibly troubled in spirit, and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”

The heart of God

God values unselfishness because he is unselfish
God puts the needs of those he loves before his own needs

Thomas à Kempis 1380–1471

“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”

We all want a glimpse of God
—10. The incredible revelation of what God is like!!
- We all have an “inner critic” that tells us we are not good enough, we are lazy, careless, fail to live up to expectations.
- This is not the voice of God!
Be settled and comforted by thinking about the evidence
Second benefit from his going away that brings comfort

Greater works? (not more numerous)
- Than raising the dead?
- Resulted in a huge harvest because the Spirit was poured out
- E.g. Peter & John healing a lame man, and huge numbers were saved

Asking in Jesus’ name
- Not a power formula
- Not closing tag
- I’m his representative, about his business, praying on his behalf
- He is going to expand on this shortly, but the key idea is that He’s going so we get to carry on his mission!
- Every prayer? —not in our experience!
  - This theme will be expanded on in the next couple of chapters
  - The bottom line is that Jesus’ prayers were always answered because he always hear the voice of the Father perfectly
  - As we become attunded to the will of the Father, our prayers become more like the prayers of Jesus in the way they are answered.

Plan for today

Let not your heart be troubled
Actually getting a glimpse of God himself
Another (exciting) reason not to be troubled
What Jesus is saying to us

Goal:

To take in the care and empathy of Jesus
To feel empowered by the relationship we have with the Father

Troubled Heart?

Your name is already on the door, right next to Jesus
The Father is like Jesus: gentle, compassionate and unselfish.
Determined to root out hate and injustice
He is not a critical parent!
You have a mission! Greater works that Jesus.
God is with you as you do this.