Pastor Pat Edwards 2/19/2006
Grace Baptist Church in Bountiful, Utah

In this part of his final talk with the disciples before his crucifixion Jesus gives three commands his disciples are to obey. And we obey because; 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. 15If you love me, you will obey what I command... 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. 23If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.

Four times Jesus tells us obedience, doing what he does, shows faith and love and these are the twin rails that carry us to intimacy with the Lord. If we want to live life with Jesus on a consistent, moment-by-moment basis we must do the same things he’s doing. I can’t be close to my best friend if I choose to go surfing in Hawaii while he’s snow-boarding in Utah. We can’t build a relationship if I’m partying at the sports bar while he’s attending a Christian concert. It ain’t gonna happen if I’m working sixty hours a week to advance my career while he spends the weekend enjoying his wife and kids. There has to be shared interest and activity for a relationship to grow. That’s why Jesus tells us that as we going out into the world we are to be "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." That’s what builds unity and makes the body of Christ powerful enough to rescue people. So the issue of how we live each day always comes back to: do I love Jesus - do I have faith in him?

In chapter 13 Jesus commanded us to love one another as he loves us. The three commands we hear today are probably much harder to obey: "Do not let your hearts be troubled; Trust in God; trust also in me; do not be afraid." They are so hard because they involve our emotions and our emotions react more strongly to earthly events than to heavenly truth. Even if I don’t feel like it I can love another like Jesus loves me. I can be angry with my neighbor about his barking dog but still decide to shovel his driveway. But a lot of the time it’s not as easy for us to trust in Jesus, to not let our hearts be troubled, to not be afraid. So we ask, "How? How do we do that?" And the answers are many. Some of the answer is experience, some of it is knowledge, some of it is obedience, some of it is the fruit of an obedient life. All of these things can help me grow in trust and overcome a troubled heart and fear. From the human perspective I became interested in following Jesus because of what I saw in the lives of believers. Those believing Christians showed me what life with Jesus was like; they provided an experience and knowledge. In the words of the apostle Paul, ...how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"Rom 10.14-15 Those messengers of the gospel were indeed beautiful to me as I came to understand the gospel. From them I gained knowledge of God and his love and began to experience what the Christian life is all about. I responded with those first tentative steps of faith and love. I saw small steps of obedience rewarded and began to delight in the fruits of the Spirit. But as always happens in this fallen world pain and trouble and doubts began to intrude on those honeymoon days. The disciples gathered around Jesus are going through troubling times as well so Jesus encourages them with the words, 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. And then he gives them a number of reasons why which should be helpful to us as well. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going." 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus tells them they have a future, a permanent place with him so they should have hope despite what’s going on all around them. But his focus is not on a room but on being with him. The big difference between a home and a house is that a house is just a place where people live but a home usually implies people living in a loving relationship. That’s their future. I don’t know about you but that sounds awfully good to me. After the hard work of this life is done, as the sun is setting, I head up the path toward the golden light shining out from the windows of my eternal home where a loving family waits for me.

Next, 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Disciples have the way, the truth and the life and all three of those things are Jesus. Ultimately it’s not important how we go or where we end up but who we’re with. Recently I’ve come across several stories of people who seem to have lost everything. One was a documentary about women from eastern Europe who are kidnaped and sold as sex slaves in Turkey, sold from brothel to brothel never to return home. Another is the news accounts of women and children taken captive from southern Sudan to the north where they also enter into lifelong slavery never to see family or friends or home. I find it difficult to imagine the despair of those situations. But even as I wrote this the images of people who have unlimited freedom came to mind and many of them seem just as enslaved and alone. I pictured a number of Hollywood celebrities who have gone through multiple partners. How lonely their lives must be as they move from partner to partner looking for something they’ll probably never find until they find "the way, the truth and the life." All they’ve found are the hollow imitations the world offers of the path to truth and life.

7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." 8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." 9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. Jesus teaches us we have seen the Father through him so we truly know the heart of God. Jesus is not a new revelation of God but a fuller revelation of God. Too many people draw an artificial distinction between a Father they see as wrathful and punishing and a Son who is loving and forgiving but that distinction just doesn’t exist as Jesus points out. In fact Jesus is only doing what the Father living in him wants done. At the same time the Father is not superior to the Son in power or majesty - we don’t get closer to God by getting closer to the Father as Philip seems to imply. But nevertheless when we have the Son we have the Father.

12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it... 19Because I live, you also will live...23"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Since we have Jesus we have power, life and intimacy - we will do what Jesus does and even greater things. I’m not sure what all that means but because Jesus is now present with the Father he imparts his power and ministry to his disciples. So George Whitfield, John Wesley and Billy Graham have led millions more to faith in the Lord than Jesus himself did. But we acknowledge it and all the other miracles of the last two-thousand years have been done "in his name" to the glory of the Father. To pray "in his name" means of course to pray as Jesus would pray. But his name is also the calling card that gives us access to the Father so we must be careful to respect his trust in us and not abuse it by using that access lightly or foolishly.

Another reason we trust rather than being troubled or fearful is the presence of the Holy Spirit. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you...26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. We have the Holy Spirit as a Counselor, the Spirit of truth, who permanently lives in us, and so we have knowledge and remembrance. We’re not on our own and we’re not alone - the person and power that created the universe lives in us.

And lastly Jesus promises, 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me." We have peace, not the peace of this world that’s based on what’s happening at the moment, but divine peace that is based on our eternal relationship with Jesus. Yes, Jesus has gone away for a few days but he assures us he’s coming back and in the meantime we have nothing to fear from the enemy who has no power over him and therefore no power over us either.

So lets summarize how we can obey the commands of Jesus to trust in him, to not let our hearts be troubled and to not be afraid. First we have a guaranteed future that nothing in this life can change. We know the way to that future and the truth and life that come to us in Jesus. We have the fullness of God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit and God himself lives with us and in us. Because of that we power and we have peace that overshadows anything the world may do to us. But to know the reality of all this we need to practice it constantly. We need to continually remind ourselves of the Lord’s faithfulness, of the Lord’s promises, of answered prayer. We need to practice the power of God by obeying his commands and doing what we know to be right and true even when our emotions would betray us, would cause doubts and fears. Only through consistent obedience are we able to learn trust and set aside the troubled heart and unreasonable fears.

And love for one another helps because it tears down walls that keep us from knowing how faithful the Lord is. When I share with you about the problems I’m having with rebellious kids, aging parents, chronic health or financial issues the frequent response I hear is how the Lord has brought you through those very same troubled waters. I’m encouraged by knowing I’m not alone and Jesus has helped you overcome problems like mine. No matter how bad life may seem I usually discover there are others worse off whom I can help. I’m drawn outside myself to bless others. And finally Jesus doesn’t command where he doesn’t give the ability to obey. He wants each and every one of us close to him and he makes it possible for that to happen through his saving and sanctifying grace. Open yourself up to that grace and take those first steps of obedience as you trust in him and set aside your troubles and fears. He loves you and longs to bless you.