How Do We Know The Way?

 

“And you know the way where I am going.”       

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:4 – 6.

 

Here we have more steps in the dance of Jesus going and coming, of us following Him, of us knowing how to follow and where to follow, and of us not knowing where to follow and how to follow. As we’ve noted, this is a theme, a point and counterpoint, throughout the Upper Room of John chapters 13 – 17.

 

Is this not a motif of our lives? Do we not know moments of where to go and other moments of mystery? Do we not see Jesus clearly at times, then at other times does He not hide Himself? Why O Lord do we see You clearly, and then not so clearly?

 

Jesus has just said (13:33, 36), “Where I am going you cannot come.” Now Jesus speaks of the disciples knowing the way where He is going. When Thomas responds that they don’t know where He is going nor do they know the way, Jesus tells him that He is the Way. Jesus is leaving and Jesus is coming (John 14:3, 18, 23, 28).

 

We tend to think of Jesus has having left and that He will come back at some point in the future, but Jesus is always with us (Mt. 28:20; Jn. 14:23), calling us into intimacy with Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit…and with one another (1 Jn. 1:3). Yet, we do have this dance of seeing Him and then not seeing Him, of understanding Him and not understanding Him. We also have the exciting assurance that when He seemingly leaves us that we can look forward to another of His glorious appearings.

 

Has not Thomas been listening to Jesus? Why does he say, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going?” Hasn’t Jesus been speaking of His Father's House? In a few minutes Jesus will say, “I go to the Father and you no longer see Me” (Jn. 16:10). And yet they will see Him. Jesus will refer to this as “figurative language” (16:25) in a few more minutes – and confusing it may see at first. This is one reason why we must read and ponder the Upper Room as a unity, a whole – we must stand back and view the painting in its completeness, again and again and again. We can draw closer to it, then we can sit here or there and stand over there for perspective, but to approach John chapters 13 – 17 piecemeal, to see it as a verse here and there, a chapter here and then a chapter there, is to ensure that it will never be our home in Christ. (Indeed, this can be said for the entire Bible and for the books of the Bible – they must be lived in, not visited.)

 

Thomas asks, “How do we know the way?”

 

Don’t we often ask the same thing? What is the will of God? How do we know the way? What shall we do? What does God want of us?

 

Jesus says, “I am the Way.” Jesus also says, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (17:3). Can we hear Jesus saying, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”? (6:29).

 

When our thinking about the “way” becomes our realization that Jesus is indeed the “Way” our lives move from black and white into Technicolor; they are transformed from flat and linear into multidimensional with texture and height and depth and breath and length (Eph. 3:18). Jesus is the food we eat that the world knows nothing about; He is the food we have that much of the professing church knows nothing about – so caught up are we in our earthly religion of man’s knowledge and efforts and righteousness, our own version of scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” (Jn. 6:53 – 55). And may I say, the person who confines this passage to the Eucharist misses the holistic sacramental glory of Christ, and our Way of Life in Him; and the person who excludes the Eucharist does the same thing – partaking of Jesus Christ the Bread of Life is seamless…and in fact it includes partaking of one another in Him! (1 Cor. 10:16 – 17; 12:12 Eph. 4:16; 1 Jn. 1:3).

 

Is the Person of Jesus Christ our Way of Life?

 

I am not speaking of a distant knowledge, I am not writing of an ideal, I am not talking about adherence to a confession or a creed (as vital as I consider the Creed to be) or a set of doctrinal statements; I am talking about loving Jesus Christ and worshipping Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. I am speaking of a Bride being excited about her Bridegroom, about her waking up every morning to be with Him, about every day being a Day of enjoying His Presence, delighting in Him, and being faithful to Him and to Him alone.

 

If we are loving Jesus then we do not need artificial inducements to assemble together – we do not require entertainment (but we are called to freedom in the Holy Spirit!); are we not joined to Him (and to one another) in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in good times and bad times, in seasons of great light and those of deep darkness? Are we married to Jesus Christ or do we have a relationship of convenience?

 

How many lovers does the professing church have? Money? Country? Fame? Success? Religious pride? Politics? Morality (which is in the eye of the beholder)? Sports? Entertainment? Possessions? Therapy?

 

Do others know that we are married to Jesus, or do we hide our wedding rings?

 

Are our congregations married to Jesus – or to doctrinal distinctives, traditions, and denominations (or to being non-denominational)?

 

Is Jesus our Way of Life?

 

When we know Jesus, we know the Way…for He is our Way.

 

Ponder that little word “w-a-y.”

 

Who, or what, is your way of life?

 

Many Dwelling Places – In Him

 

 

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:2 – 3.

 

There is a sense in which all that follows in John chapters 14 – 17 is the unfolding of these words of Jesus about His going and coming, our Father’s house, the Trinity living in us and us living in the Trinity; Jesus receiving us to Himself so that we may be always with Him. Jesus wants us to be with Him today and tomorrow and forever – do we realize this?

 

Jesus’ final words in Matthew’s Gospel are, “I am with you, always, even to the end of the age.” In John 17:24 Jesus prays, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am…”

 

The heartbeat of Jesus Christ is that He may be with us and that we may be with Him. In John 15:4 Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you.”

 

In the very first chapter of John, when two disciples ask Jesus, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus replies, “Come and you will see.”

 

O dear friends, everyday Jesus says to us, “Come and you will see.” Everyday Jesus comes to us, everyday Jesus calls us to Himself, everyday Jesus presents new opportunities for us to come and see Him. These opportunities are often not what we expect, they are often not what we immediately see and discern and understand – anymore than Jesus’ impending betrayal and torture and crucifixion and resurrection were things the apostles expected and “saw” and understood.

 

In Hebrews 3:6 we read that we are the House of Christ, and in Ephesians 2:19 – 22 we see that we are God’s “household” and that in Christ “the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

 

Peter writes that we are “living stones” and that we “are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:5).

 

We are the Father’s House and the Trinity is our House.

 

If we never move beyond our cleansing in John Chapter 13, if we cannot see and live in the reality of justification, if we do not embrace the glory of 2 Cor. 5:21, we will never accept and see and live in the intimacy of John chapters 14 – 17.

 

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Do we believe this? Do we see that this is imputed and imparted in Christ? Do we see our union with God in Christ, our blessed koinonia in the Trinity? A koinonia so sure and seamless that John says in effect, “If you have koinonia with us then you will have koinonia with the Father and the Son” (1 John 1:3).  

 

It is a scandal, or at least it ought to be, that we are not permitted to wear the white robes of righteousness with which Jesus Christ has clothed us. It is a tragedy that many who use the term “grace” refuse to live in the righteousness and holiness which the grace of Christ Jesus has imputed and imparted to us – and that they insist that others live in soiled garments. We may employ New Covenant terms but we function in the sin consciousness of the Old Covenant, a covenant of condemnation and sin and death! (2 Cor. Chapter 2; Hebrews chapters 7 – 10; Romans 3:21 – 8:39). It seems that every Sunday morning we sew up the veil (Hebrews 10:19 – 25), not permitting God’s People to enter into intimacy with Him.

 

Such thinking and teaching blinds us to the glories of John chapters 13 – 17; indeed, they blind us from the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is like touring a stately mansion in which most of the building is roped off – you must stay on the walkway, you must not go beyond the ropes, you must not sit on the furniture and enjoy it! You may look but you may not touch!

 

Is it not absurd for the children of God not to be relaxed and joyful in the House of their Father, the House which their Lord Jesus Christ has brought them into? And then we wonder why we have such conflict in the professing church. Then we wonder why people leave congregations. Then we wonder why professing Christians fall into sin and apostasy. If we cannot sit on the furniture, if we cannot eat at our Father’s Table – then why are we here?

 

Is this not Babylonian captivity? Have we not been stripped of our inheritance in Jesus Christ? Are our harps not on the willow trees?

 

Jesus wants you to be with Him every hour and every moment of every day – every day He has places prepared for you.

 

Shall we go and see what Jesus has for us today? How shall He come to us today? How will He draw us to Himself? Where shall we discover Him?

"Do Not Let Your Heart Be Troubled"

 

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” John 14:1 – 4 (NASB).

 

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27.

 

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.” John 16:33a.

 

Jesus will shortly be betrayed, arrested, mocked and tortured, and then crucified. Yet, His desire is that His followers know His peace. He follows His words to Peter about Peter’s impending denial of Him with the words, “Do not let your heart be troubled…”

 

Much of what Jesus is saying in the Upper Room is shrouded in mystery for His immediate hearers, the unthinkable and the unknowable and the unbearable and the unbelievable is about to descend upon them, envelope them, disorient them – until they are overwhelmed with ever greater unfolding mystery and glory on Easter, Pentecost, and beyond. What Jesus says in John chapters 13 – 17, in the Upper Room, is dense – its depth and height and breath are ever expanding – what we may think is simple is not so simple, and what we may consider mysterious and complex is yet something we can experience in Christ as we are drawn into the koinonia of the Trinity. When Paul writes of “the peace of God that passes all understanding” (Phil. 4:7) he means exactly that, we cannot comprehend the peace of God, we can experience it but we cannot understand it – it simply doesn’t make sense.

 

We must look foolish to the angels with our substitutes for the peace of God, our therapies, our diversions, our self-centered preaching and teaching – when Jesus desires for us to receive His peace, when His peace is offered to us again and again, and yet we think it too simple to receive – we refuse to acknowledge our dependence on our Lord and Savior, we must find a more reasonable way to have peace, a way that has the approbation of mankind, that humanity approves of, that makes sense to the world – that we can take some credit for devising or participating in, or at least paying for. Why would we rather be dependent upon humanity than upon Jesus Christ? How foolish we are in our supposed wisdom.

 

“If it were not so, I would have told you.” Does not life come down to this, the Word of Jesus? Can we trust the Word of Jesus? Can we trust Jesus Christ?

 

Did the disciples remember this statement through the tragic events they were about to live through? Did they hear Jesus’ voice saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you”?

 

Jesus has a place for us with Him and in Him. Jesus is preparing that place, He has prepared that place; it is a place of discovery and peace and rest and joy and wonder – a place beyond human words. If it were not so, He would have told us – do we believe this? Do we look into the eyes of Jesus and believe Him? Do our hearts beat with trust in Him?

 

This is not about amassing the evidence of others that tells us that Jesus can be trusted, though we may indeed rejoice in the testimony of others. This is about me and you encountering Jesus Christ, one to one – however He may graciously bring this about – and saying, “I trust you Lord Jesus with all that I have and all that I am. I give myself to You and I receive You into my heart and mind and soul, into the depths of my life.”

 

When we are disoriented, in confusion, in hurt, in despair – when our earthly certainties turn into nightmares, this is about hearing Jesus saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you.”

 

When the suffering and confusion and hatred of this world bombard us, are we hearing Jesus say, “If it were not so I would have told you.”

 

Jesus has prepared a place for us, a place deep within the holy Trinity – He invites us to that Place today. Jesus says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

 

Jesus is saying, “If it were not so, I would have told you.”

 

Can Jesus be trusted, and do I trust Him?

 

Can Jesus be trusted, and do you trust Him?

 

End Times

 Good morning dear friends,

Below is a link to a sermon my friend  Dr. David Palmer (Ph.D. Hebrew Union) preached last Sunday at his church, Kenwood Baptist in Cincinnati.

David says that this may be the most important message he has ever preached. 

What do you think? 

The sermon begins around 30 minutes into the service, so you can fast forward to there depending on where the link takes you. 

I hope you will share this with others.

Love in Christ,

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ8yH7dmmmc&t=1819s&pp=ygUWa2Vud29vZCBiYXB0aXN0IGNodXJjaA%3D%3D

How Much Do We Really Know?

  

“Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered, ‘Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.’ Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times.’” John 13:36 – 38.

 

I think it was Oswald Chambers who talked about “the graciousness of uncertainty.” While I don’t recall the context of the phrase, it is a reminder that our Lord Jesus reveals Himself in uncertainty – an uncertainty often manifested in the midst of certainty. That is, when we are so certain that we know the truth of ourselves and our situations, God often leads us into whitewater and upsets our equilibrium.

 

We can receive God’s graciousness in uncertainty when we realize that we don’t know as much as we think we know, whether our purported knowledge is about ourselves, about our situations, or about others (especially others!). Is it not the mercy of our Lord Jesus that He upsets our self-centered knowledge rather than allowing us to continue in our misconceptions and delusions? Is it not His graciousness that brings us to the end of ourselves, again and again and again – driving us back to His Cross?

 

Peter wants to know where Jesus is going; he will find out soon enough. This will not be the last time that Peter has the experience of following Jesus into unlikely places, of seeing Him and then not seeing Him and then seeing Him again.

 

Peter will later write, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” (1 Peter 2:21; 4:12 – 13).

 

From the home of Simon the Tanner, Peter will follow Jesus to the house of Cornelius – a place where Peter would not have expected to go (Acts 10). In Antioch (Galatians 2:11 – 21), Peter will receive Paul’s rebuke, again, a place Peter would not likely have chosen to be.

 

In the Upper Room Peter did not understand the situation he was in, he did not understand his surroundings, he did not understand what Jesus was saying and doing (recall John 13:6 – 9). This reminds us of Peter’s confession and denial in Matthew 17:13 – 23; one moment Peter is receiving the revelation of the Father, the next moment Peter is playing the role of Satan.

 

O dear friends, it is good and proper that we be sure of Jesus Christ and His faithfulness and trustworthiness; it is not very smart to get caught up in ourselves for we just don’t know as much as we think we know – not about ourselves, not about our situations, and most certainly not about others.

 

Jesus says, “Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.”

 

This is, dear friends, a motif of discipleship, of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus must do a work in our souls, in our hearts and minds, for us to follow Him. Jesus brings us onward and upward, He leads us through valleys and up mountains, into places of bright light and shadows of death – into times of rejoicing and seasons of sorrow. Our Good Shepherd leads us thusly that we may know Him and be blessings to others. Jesus teaches us the Cross, then He teaches us the Cross again, and then again and then again. We experience Easter one morning, and then another morning, and then another morning. We are transformed into His image from “glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Rom. 8:29).

 

Peter’s denial of Jesus will cause him to “weep bitterly” (Luke 22:62). Yet, Jesus has not only told Peter, “I have prayed for you,” (Luke 22:32), but Jesus has told all of the disciples, just as He has told all of us, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me” (Jn. 14:1).

 

Let us remember that chapter breaks were not in the original New Testament manuscripts, therefore let us not stop after reading John 13:38 but rather continue reading to listen to Jesus. What do you hear?

 

“Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times. Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” (Jn. 13:38 – 14:2).

 

In our uncertainties, in our confusion, and even in our times of denial, Jesus says, “Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me.” Jesus has prayed for us (Jn. 17:20), Jesus is going away for us, Jesus is coming to us again, Jesus is taking us with Him so that where He is, we may be also. We have His assurance that He wants us to be with Him (see also Jn. 17:24).

 

Jesus Christ wants to be with us! He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Jesus Christ is the Guarantor of our faith, the One who guarantees that He will be with us and that we will be with Him – for without Him we can do nothing, and “nothing” means just that, “nothing” (Jn. 15:5).

 

When we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” we were “made alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:1 – 10). We are “His workmanship” – we are not our own. We were marked out in Christ “before the foundation of world” that we would be “holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:3 – 12).

 

O dear friends, in one sense we don’t know as much as we think we know, not about ourselves, our situations, or about others. However, in another sense, if we know Jesus Christ then we know all that we really do need to know – for we will find Him coming to us again and again and again, never leaving us, never forsaking us – in our uncertainties, our denials, our arrogance, our fears, our selfishness – Jesus is always with us, coming and going, convicting and healing, wounding and making us whole; bringing us onward and upward in Him, guiding us into the depths of the Trinity and life with one another.

 

Life in Christ in the Upper Room means that Jesus uses even our denials to bring us to the Cross and Resurrection. Jesus says, “Do not let your heart be troubled…”

 

Jesus brings us to the end of ourselves so that we may know Him as our All in all.

Is this worth knowing?