October 22, 2017

John 14:1-11: Making Much of Christ

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: The Gospel of John: That You May Believe Scripture: John 14:1–11

John 14:1-11: Making Much of Christ

Please take your Bibles and turn to John 14. If you’re using the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 746. We’re going to continue our series of sermons going through the Gospel of John passage by passage. And the passage we come to today fits very nicely with our focus today on looking anew and afresh at the vision we have for Redeeming Grace Church. We want that vision to continue to drive everything we do at Redeeming Grace. And we see it here in John 14:1-11. John 14:1-11: 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. 

One of the things I love the most about Jesus is that you can never quite grasp the full extent of his glory. There’s always more of him to know, more of him to discover, more of him to enjoy. I’ve been reading C. S. Lewis’s famous fiction series The Chronicles of Narnia over the past month or two. And one of the characters in those books is a majestic Lion, named Aslan, who rules over the land of Narnia. And it becomes very obvious as you read that Aslan represents Jesus. He shows up in various places throughout the books interacting with different characters the way Jesus might interact with us. And on one of those occasions, he reveals himself to a little girl named Lucy. Now this wasn’t the first time Lucy had seen Aslan, but it had been a number of years since Aslan had last appeared to her. So she says to him, “Aslan, you look bigger.” And the lion responds to her, “That’s because you’re older, little one.” So she asks, “Not because you are?” After all, that’s what we would typically expect. If someone looks bigger, it’s probably because they’re older and they’ve grown. But Aslan says, “I am not [older]. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” So Aslan didn’t seem bigger because he had actually grown or changed. It was because Lucy had grown, and she was able to see more of Aslan’s majesty and glory than she had seen when she was younger. 

And that’s the way it should be for us. The more we grow as Christians, the more glorious and beautiful and desirable we should find Jesus to be. And every time we read the Bible, it should have that effect on us. It should help us see more of his glory than we saw before. Even if the passage doesn’t actually give us new information or tell us something we’ve never heard before, it should still enlarge our view of Christ. So that’s my prayer for this morning. And this passage in John 14 is an especially good passage for us to be looking at, because I believe the main idea of this passage is related to the glory of Jesus. It shows us that Jesus is unrivaled in his glory. That’s the main idea: Jesus is unrivaled in his glory. And there are two ways in which the glory of Jesus is revealed in this text. Number one, Jesus is glorious as Savior. And number two, Jesus is glorious as God. He’s glorious as Savior, and he’s glorious as God.

Jesus Is Glorious as Savior

So first, let’s look at how Jesus is glorious as Savior. In verses 1-4, Jesus is offering comfort to his disciples. He’s just told them in the previous chapter that he’s going to a place where they will not be able to come. And looking back, we know that he was talking about dying on the cross, which was about to happen in just a few short hours. So before Jesus leaves his disciples, he offers them words of comfort in verses 1-4. He says, 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.”

Then after Jesus says that, a disciple named Thomas asks him a very natural question. Look at verse 5; “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’” In other words, “We’ve never been to this place you’re talking about before, so how in the world are we supposed to know how to get there? How can we know the way?” And then we see Jesus’ memorable response that captures so much of what he wanted people to know about himself. Verse 6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” So Thomas was looking for the way, but Jesus says, “The way you’re looking for us right under your nose. It’s me. I am the way. And more specifically, I’m the only way. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Last week, our family took a trip over to Trax farms, where, as many of you know, they have all kinds of fun things for kids to do in the fall. They have farm animals for the kids to pet and a corn maze and different outdoor games. And of course, they have a pumpkin patch, where you can go and get your own pumpkin. And the way you get to all of these attractions is by paying for a ticket and going on a hayride. The tractor pulls you on the hayride up to the top of a very large hill, you get off and do all the fun activities, and then you get back on and return to the base. And as we were on this hayride being pulled up the hill, I noticed that there were some houses close to the top of the hill. And I thought to myself, “Wow, that would be cool to live right near the pumpkin farm here. I wonder if the people who live in those houses ever just walk on over the activities.” But then I saw something that made me very doubtful anybody ever did that. I saw a fence. And not just any fence but an electric fence that would zap you if you touched it. And in case you couldn’t read the word “electric,” the fence posts even had a little picture of a man touching the fence and getting zapped. I mean, the voltage was so strong that this poor stick figure was literally being lifted off of the ground as the electricity was running through his body. Needless to say, that picture alone was more than enough to deter me from ever trying to sneak in. And of course, that’s why it’s there. The owners of Trax farms put that fence there because they don’t want anybody sneaking over to all the activities without paying the $10 to get a hayride ticket. They want to be sure that there’s only one way to get to the top of that hill, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that their efforts are being largely successful. 

And according to Jesus here in verse 6 of our text, it works the same way with him. There’s only one way to heaven, and Jesus says it’s him. That may not be a very popular thing to say in our pluralistic, postmodern society, but that’s exactly what Jesus says about himself. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” You see, all of us are alienated from God because of our sin. God is holy, we’ve committed sin, and therefore we’re alienated from this holy God. We can’t be in his presence, and we’ve even brought upon ourselves his wrath. That’s what we deserve. But this God of holiness and justice and wrath is also a God of love and kindness and mercy. In fact, God loved us so much that he decided to rescue us, and that’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus came to this earth as a human being so that he could die on the cross and thereby take upon himself the wrath we deserved. He paid for our sin so that we wouldn’t have to pay for our sin. And he then resurrected from the dead so that he would be able to rescue everyone who looks to him for that rescue—and not just look to him as one way but look to him as the only way. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” So if you want to be rescued from your sins, that’s what you have to do. You have to look to Jesus as the “one mediator between God and men” and put your trust in him alone to save you. Recognize his glory as the Savior. 

Jesus Is Glorious as God

But as we see back in John 14, the glory of Jesus runs even deeper than what he’s done—his ministry as Savior. His glory goes right down to who he is. Simply stated, he’s God. And that’s our second point. Not only do we see that Jesus is glorious as Savior, we also see that he’s glorious as God. Look at verses 7-11: 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. 

So Jesus basically tells Philip, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. Seeing me is the same thing as seeing the Father.” And that’s a pretty bold claim to make. In fact, I don’t know of any claim someone could make that could possibly be bolder than that one. But of course, it’s true. In verse 11, Jesus points to all of the “works” or miracles he’s done that prove his claim to be true. And if you’re a Christian—if God has changed your heart and brought you to faith in Christ—you know it’s true not just because of the miracles but because Jesus himself has revealed to you the glory of his deity. He’s opened your eyes to see that he’s not just an ordinary person. He’s not even just an exceptional person. He’s God.

That means he’s the one who existed before time began. He’s the one who created everything that exists and called you and me to life. He’s the one who sovereignly rules over every human ruler and presides over every human council. He’s the one who sustains this world so that everything works in an orderly fashion according to the laws of nature—the very laws he designed. He’s the one who owns every square inch of this universe and can point to anything anywhere and rightfully say, “That’s mine.” He’s the one who gives breath to every living creature—even to his enemies, so that the only reason his enemies could oppose him while he walked on this earth was because he gave them their breath and strength. All glory belongs to him, all power belongs to him, and all allegiance belongs to him. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

Conclusion

So if we have one vision for Redeeming Grace Church, here’s what it is: we want to make much of Christ. We want to behold his glory as Savior, we want to behold his glory as God, and we want to make much of him. That was our vision one year ago when we formed this church on October 23, 2016, and that’s our vision today as we celebrate our one year anniversary. We want to exalt Christ, we want to bring him the glory he deserves, and we want to view every aspect of our lives in light of him—in light of both who he is and in light of what he’s done on the cross. And that’s really what it means to be gospel-centered. Being gospel-centered, essentially, is being Jesus-centered. Jesus is the core of the gospel. It’s all about him. 

Think about the way a political campaign is set up. There’s no doubt about the purpose or the focus of the campaign. That campaign is all about getting a specific politician elected to office. That politician’s name is on all of their signs, the campaign website is dedicated to that politician and their views and their agenda, the campaign’s social media accounts feature that person’s name and have different posts that will make him or her look like a good candidate, the rallies they put on are designed to advance that person’s popularity and increase their support. All of the campaign’s machinery is devoted to making that politician look good and getting votes for him or her. That’s the goal that guides every strategy they form and every decision they make and every word they speak. It’s all about their candidate.

And it should be the same way with the church in that the church should be all about Jesus. Now thankfully, we’re not promoting some politician who, in reality, is all too flawed and needs us to put a positive spin on things to hide those flaws and make him or her look good. Unlike politicians, Jesus is infinitely good and infinitely wonderful already. But we should have the same kind of a laser-beam focus that a political campaign has. We should be just as focused on Jesus as a political campaign is focused on their candidate. And specifically, we want to be focused on Christ in three main ways. 

Jesus is the one who delights us 

First, we want Jesus to be the one who delights us. We don’t just want him to be kind of a side-show in our lives where we have a number of good things going on and he’s just one of those things. We want him to be everything to us. We want him to be everything so that our joy is rooted in him, our contentment is rooted in him, our happiness, our delight—it’s all in him. Back in our main passage, John 14, Jesus says that he’s the way, the truth, and the life. He’s the life, not just in the sense that he saves us from death but also in the sense that he gives us a kind of joy and fullness that isn’t available anywhere else. 

Jesus is the one who unites us 

Also, not only do we want Jesus to be the one who delights us, we also want him to be the one who unites us. We want our church to be filled with all kinds of different people—people of different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different cultures, different personalities, different economic circumstances, different ages, and different life experiences. But no matter how diverse we are, there’s one element that brings us together: Jesus. Through Jesus, we have a common identity, as believers. Through Jesus, we share a common salvation. And through Jesus, we’ve all been adopted into one spiritual family. Jesus is the one who unites us. We may be different in a variety of ways, but if Jesus is the defining element of your life and if he’s also the defining element of my life, we have everything in common that we need to have in common.

Jesus is the one we can’t stop talking about

Then thirdly, not only is Jesus the one who delights us and not only is he the one who unites us, but he’s also the one we can’t stop talking about. That’s the third way our church is all about Jesus. We can’t stop talking about him, nor do we want to. In fact, as we think about the lost world around us, our greatest passion is that they would come to know Jesus the way we know Jesus. We want them to delight in Christ the way we delight in Christ. And we have a burden to see that happen.

You know, when Becky and I moved to Pittsburgh three years ago, that’s why we came. We didn’t come because we had family in Pittsburgh. We have no biological family here. We didn’t come because a church in Pittsburgh was offering me a comfortable job with a comfortable salary. There was no church we were coming here for. And we didn’t come because we had a group of friends who were up here waiting for us and who wanted to help us start a church. We had no friends in Pittsburgh. We didn’t even know a single person’s name here except the name of the real estate agent who helped us find our house. So why did we come? We came because we wanted to see Jesus exalted all over the city. We came because we wanted to see more and more people embrace Jesus and look to Jesus as their life and their light and their everything. That was our passion. 

So with that in mind, we moved up here to Pittsburgh, started a Bible study in our living room with three people in it (two of them being my wife and I), and we prayed that God would open doors for the gospel and ultimately bring people together to form a church. Sometimes we thought we were crazy, and sometimes people looked at us like were crazy. But we knew that this is what God had called us to do. He called us to spread the glory and fame of Jesus all around Pittsburgh. And to this day, that calling has never changed. And we believe that that calling isn’t just a calling for Becky and I; it’s a calling for every single person who’s a part of Redeeming Grace Church. We’re all in this together. We all share that calling. I believe God wants us to be a church of missionaries—a church that’s burdened for the lost and passionate about seeing Jesus exalted in every home in Pittsburgh. 

So that’s our vision here at Redeeming Grace. We’re all about Jesus. Jesus is the one who delights us, Jesus is the one who unites us, and Jesus is the one we can’t stop talking about. How fresh is the vision in your heart? To what degree is your life all about Jesus and about seeming him exalted and about making him famous? Let’s commit ourselves anew and afresh to that vision today.

other sermons in this series