Barry Metz 4/5/15

Let Not Your Heart Be TroubledJohn 14:1-14

As we come to John 14 this morning, Jesus begins with the line, Let not your hearts be troubled. That’s a great line for a congregation gathered on Easter Sunday, 2015. (And quite frankly it’s probably a great line for any congregation gathered any time).

We live in troubling times don’t we? And there can be many reasons for our hearts to be troubled as we walk through this world. Perhaps we face financial struggles, or health troubles, or family troubles…. Perhaps we have loved ones whose health is failing…Or they’ve lost their way with respect to their faith. I heard a line the other day…. “Little children are a handful… Big children are a heart-full” Julia and I can relate to that line. For all of us, there can be a host of issues that trouble our hearts. And Jesus speaks to us, as he did the disciples 2000 years ago, “Let not your hearts be troubled”

Now we should ask a question at this point—Why did Jesus feel the need to comfort his disciples at the start of John chapter 14?

Let me remind you of the three bombshells that Jesus dropped in chapter 13: 1. “I’ll be leaving” (and you can’t come with me); 2. “Judas’ll be betraying” (but really the disciples don’t know the betrayer’s name at this point); and 3) “Peter’ll be denying”

“I’ll be leaving…Judas’ll be betraying…. Peter’ll be denying”….. That’s enough to cause the disciples’ world to come unhinged, don’t you think? You see just in the space of John chapter 13 there were ample reasons for their hearts to become troubled.

If you have your bibles follow with me as I read John 14:1-3….(And may Jesus’ words of comfort mean as much to us today as they meant to the disciples some 2000 years ago)

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.

This word ‘troubled’ in verse 1 is becoming quite a celebrity to us. On three different occasions in the book of John prior to this, the word described Jesus’ deeply troubled feelings. Jesus was troubled when he faced Lazarus’ tomb (11:33), He was troubled when he contemplated the cross (12:27) and he was troubled when he reflected on the betrayal of Judas

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(13:21)1. So in our minds eye this would be the perfect time for Jesus’ disciples to be there for him. But no he is still the one who gives the care on this special night2

Let not your hearts be troubled. “Stop being troubled,”3 Jesus basically says. “Stop letting your hearts be in turmoil.”

Yes, the world may appear to have gone mad4… Yes, your lives may appear to have come unhinged…Yes, you’re probably terrified that I’m leaving and you can’t go with me…

…but “Keep on believing in God, keep on believing in Me”5….that’s the gist of those “believe commands” in verse 1. Keep on trusting God. Keep on holding fast to God and keep on trusting me…

Don’t miss the fact that Jesus is encouraging the disciples to make Him the object of their faith. In other words He’s right up there on the marquee with God the Father. You and I are used to the phrase “I’m trusting Jesus.” We’re used to it because we believe Jesus is God. (“If Jesus speaks the words of God and performs the acts of God, should he not be trusted like God?”6)

Look at verse 2 and 3… 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.

In these verses Jesus comforts the disciples with the certainty of heaven. Stop letting your hearts be troubled….Keep on believing in God…and there’s an implied because He’s reserved a place in heaven for you…. That’s the logic of Jesus’ encouragement and comfort. Now how often do you and I let ourselves be encouraged by the certainty and reality of heaven? Think about your life. Have you gone there lately? “This is so hard Jesus but thank you for the hope and assurance of heaven” I don’t know about you but I have to be honest I don’t often go there.

1 Burge, page 3902 Carson, page 4873 Kostenberger, page 425, “The Greek present imperative implies that the disciples were anxious already”4 Beasley-Murray, G. R. (2002). John (Vol. 36, p. 249). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.5 Kent Hughes sermon on John 14:1-66 Carson, page 488

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…..and the words ‘pie in the sky’ mean it’s … highly unlikely. I traced the origin of the phrase ‘pie in the sky’. It was coined by an itinerant laborer named Joe Hill in 1911 in a song that made fun of the ministry of the Salvation Army. The words to his song at least the first verse and chorus went like this:

Long-haired preachers come out every night,Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;But when asked “how 'bout something to eat?”They will answer with voices so sweet:Chorus:You will eat, bye and bye,In that glorious land above the sky;Work and pray, live on hay,You'll get pie in the sky when you die.7

Heaven is not pie in the sky when you die. Again think about what’s going on in our passage. Jesus’ disciples are troubled. Their world is coming unhinged. How cruel it would have been for Jesus to comfort his disciples with some false reality…pie in the sky. No Jesus says, “There is a place….My Father’s House….it’s more real than anything you can see around you…. It’s not pie in the sky… you can bank on it…Stop letting your hearts be troubled!”

The truth is this passage has always been a great comfort to believers. More tears have fallen on John 14 than any other bible passage.8 A scholar by the name of Gaebelein said that in his family there was an ancient German bible that had been in the family for many generations. “You could open that bible to some pages”, he said, “and it looked like it came right off the press. But if you opened to John 14 it was spotted and soiled.”9 These verses have been a great comfort to believers throughout the centuries because heaven is not just pie in the sky.

7 http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/282700.html8 Kent Hughes sermon on John 14:1-69 Kent Hughes sermon on John 14:1-6

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Well let’s look at verses 2-3 in a little detail. Jesus describes heaven as the ‘Father’s House’. We could say it’s a metaphor, a figure of speech for the place where God lives. It seems pretty clear to me that the Father’s House is the New Heavens and New Earth, the New Jerusalem described at the end of our bible, Revelation 21 and 22. Hebrews 11:10, speaking of Abraham’s life refers to a “city with foundations”. Hebrews 11:16 refers to a “better country, a heavenly (country)…a city” Hebrews 12:22 refers to a “heavenly Jerusalem”.

Well verse 2 tells us that in the Father’s House there are many rooms, many dwelling places—one author called them “apartments or flats”10. The KJV says ‘many mansions’. We’ll talk more about that in a minute.

The word used there11 in verse 2 and translated rooms or dwelling places or mansions in our different translations is related to the word ‘abide’12which heavily populates the next chapter, John 15 right? So these places where we will live in heaven are essentially abiding places….dwelling places.

If you know what happens in John 15 and the emphasis on ‘abiding in Jesus’ then this is what the future looks like. We abide in Jesus while we live on earth—listen to John 15:4…Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine… ), so we’re doing all this abiding in Jesus while we live on earth and then we go to heaven where we find our abiding places where we will abide, dwell with who? Jesus. Death, we are assured, will not interrupt our intimacy with Jesus.13

“In Jesus’ day many dwelling units were combined to form an extended household. It was customary for sons to add to their “Father’s House” once married so that the large estate grew into a large compound centered around a communal courtyard.”14 This may be the picture that Jesus intends to paint.

Now the only other place in the New Testament where this word—the word in verse 2 that our bibles translate ‘room’, ‘dwelling places’ or ‘mansions’ —occurs is later on in this chapter, verse 23….John 14:23

Let me put John 14:2 and John 14:23 on the screen:

10 Borchert11 the noun mone, μονή12 the verb meno13 Burge, G. M. (2000). John (p. 391). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.14Kostenberger, page 426

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Notice verse 2 goes from earth to heaven, from below upwards. The dwelling places in the ‘Father’s House’ are real physical places where believers will live with God in heaven. Well look at verse 23…the direction is from heaven to earth, from above downwards. The believer, indwelt by the Spirit, becomes the dwelling place and hence the home of the Triune God. Again there’s that same idea that what goes on with us and Jesus on earth will continue to go on in heaven. To be in heaven is to be with Jesus.

Now I emphasize that because of the well know (and popular) use of the word ‘mansions’ in the King James Version. …2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Indeed the KJV of verse 2 is very popular.

John Watson, the great preacher said that when some in his flock were going through deep waters, approaching death, he would get down there next to them and whisper in their ear….In my father’s house are many mansions and ‘he said ¾ of the way through the river they would almost turn around and come back…and he would hear them repeating almost inaudibly…fathers house…many mansions.’15

Someone shared John 14:2 with a preacher named Henry Vinns while he was dying, ‘and the prospect (of heaven) made him so jubilant and high spirited that his joy at dying kept him alive a further fortnight.’16

My concern with the word ‘mansion’ is that it seems to hijack our whole concept of heaven and drive it toward materialism.

15 From a Gospel Coalition sermon by Kent Hughes, John 14:1-616 From a Gospel Coalition sermon by Kent Hughes, John 14:1-6

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Go to YouTube and type in Mansions in Heaven and you’ll learn all kinds of things….that just aren’t true.

Where did the term ‘mansions’ come from?17

Therein lies the problem. A ‘mansion’ is no longer a modest dwelling. You see the problem with the word mansions is that all of a sudden heaven is the American Dream, Part 2. (There’s a lady on YouTube who’s made several trips to heaven since 1995 and she describes the mansions in detail. I watched one of her clips and she said, “If you’re having trouble following what I mean think back to the Jetsons”) Does that grieve you? It should. Heaven’s supposed to be about being with Jesus. It’s not the American dream all over again. Heaven is not about having our own mansions; it’s about living forever with our Savior.

“What we call heaven, Jesus calls ‘where I am’ (there in verse 3…that where I am you may be also) …Clearly, then ‘heaven’ in John’s gospel is, most simply, the real presence of Jesus Christ himself with his people. This is the next life’s most simple, compact, intimate and adequate definition.”18

What is heaven? It’s Jesus Christ with his people.

John Piper takes it a bit further, “If you could enjoy heaven without Christ being there, you won’t be there. The only people who will be in heaven are those who have bowed the knee to Jesus and who own Him as Lord and Savior and see in him the most valuable thing in all creation.”19

17 Kostenburger, page 426, “The rendering mansions (rather than rooms) which crept into English translations through William Tyndale (1526) via the Latin Vulgate, mistakenly suggests luxurious accommodations in modern parlance (the Latin word mansion referred to a stopover place, which was still the meaning of ‘mansion’ in Tyndale’s day.)” Burge, page 391 ‘The KJV ‘mansions’ was a 17th century expression for modest dwellings” See also Carson, page 48918 Bruner, page 81119 Gary Enrig Sermon, The Father’s House on the Gospelcoaltion.org

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And Martin Luther said, “If Jesus were not in heaven, I would be rather be in hell with Jesus than in heaven without him.”20

Well look at verse 3… 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.

The disciples don’t need to be troubled because Jesus’ leaving is purposeful. He goes to lovingly prepare a place for us. With this idea of Jesus preparing a place for us, Barbara Nicks sent me something she had written.

“I am the vacation planner in our family. I spend weeks planning where we'll go, where we'll stay, what we'll do along the way, places to go to eat, activities to do once we get there.

My family's all-time favorite vacation was the year when we went to Wisconsin. I grew up there and was looking forward to showing Jerry and the boys some of the places that had been so dear to me back home.

On this trip, my family knew a little bit about what was coming. They knew the name of the towns, but I had walked their streets. They had seen pictures of Wisconsin, but I knew the sounds they would hear, the smells they would smell and even the new tastes that they would experience (like cheese curds and pasties [pronounced "past ees"]). They knew what we would do, but I had grown up going to the places we'd go and doing most of the activities. Yes, I had put a lot of planning into this trip and I was so excited when I thought about my family being able to experience everything that I had planned. I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces and watch their excitement and to share in the "Wisconsin" experience together.

After weeks of planning, booking hotels, buying tickets to attractions, and reserving activities, you can be sure that when it was time to go, I wanted EVERYONE in the car and didn't want to leave anyone behind. I had sacrificed my time and money for this opportunity. All the family had to do was get in the right car and we'd be off.

When I read through John 14 the other day, the familiar passage took on a different meaning for me. I thought about how Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for me. He's planned my life-the things I'll do along the way until I get to Heaven. He knows the beauty of Heaven. This is His home and he can't wait to show it to me. I know a little bit about it, but He's been there and can't wait to see the excitement on my face when we're there together. You can be sure that when it's time to go, Jesus wants EVERYONE to go. He's sacrificed his life. All we have to do is "get in the right car" and we're off!21

20 Gary Enrig Sermon21 Personal email from Barbara Nicks

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That’s beautiful isn’t it? Heaven is Jesus’s home and I’m sure he does look forward to sharing it with us.

What does it mean that Jesus went away to prepare a place for the disciples (and us)? The concept of preparing a place has clear parallels in the New Testament, Mt. 25:34; Mark 10:40; 1 Cor. 2:9; Heb. 11:16; 1 Pet. 1:4.22 And maybe it does mean that he fusses over the drapes, puts flowers on the kitchen table, and hangs a sign on the door, “Welcome home!” He does love us that much you know. But it also meant here in John 14 that he was going ahead through the cross, resurrection and ascension to make a place for us in heaven. I go away through the cross and ascension to make a place for you! (where the emphasis is on Jesus’ cross work).23

Well there’s one more idea that we need to address before we move on to verse 4. Jesus says in verse 3, he will come again to take the disciples back with him. When will this coming occur? On Easter Sunday after the resurrection? Or Jesus’ coming to them by the Spirit at Pentecost? Or Jesus’s coming to them at the end of the age? We’ll find next week that as chapter 14 develops, Jesus will point to other returns, other comings (John 14:18, John 14:23) but it’s pretty certain that here in verse 3, Jesus has in mind either the rapture24 or his second coming25 at the end of the age.

Let’s step back a moment and ponder what Jesus has done in these three verses. Jesus’ disciples were troubled at all that was coming their way. How did Jesus deal with that? How did Jesus minister to their troubled hearts? He reminded his disciples to keep on believing in God, to keep on believing in Him. And then he reminded them that their true home was now in heaven.

John and Betty Stam, missionaries in China back in the 1930s, were arrested and forced to walk twelve miles to another city. Given the situation they were in, it was certain they would be martyred. They entered a post office on the way, a post office they had been to before—the post master recognized them-- and he asked where they were going. “We do not know where they are going, John answered, but we are going to heaven,"26 The Stams were martyred that day.

22 Ridderbos, page 49023 Borchart, “It is the going itself, via the cross and resurrection’ that is the act of preparation24 Burge, page 409, “Older conservative writers with an interest in dispensational eschatology have suggested that John 14:1-3 may refer to the rapture, the dramatic end-time removal of the church described by Paul (1 Thess. 4:12-18; 2 Thess. 2:1; 1 Cor. 15:2325 Carson, page 48826 www.Christianity.com “The next morning their captors led the Stams toward Miaosheo, twelve miles distant. John carried little Helen, but Betty, who was not physically strong, owing to a youthful bout with inflammatory rheumatitis was allowed to ride a horse part of the way. Terror reigned in the streets of Miaosheo. Under guard, the foreign family was hustled into the postmaster's shop."Where are you going?" asked the postmaster, who recognized them from their previous visits to his town. "We do not know where they are going, but we are going to heaven," answered John.”

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Listen to this line…. “Their life (the disciples’ life) on earth finds its direction, goal, and power in their belonging to Jesus in heaven. From now on that will mark the secret and the ambivalence of their existence on earth.”27

Think about Paul and all that he suffered and went through. Could we imagine him—while floating all night in the sea from a shipwreck, or while receiving 39 lashes from (a whip) in the grip of his Jewish countrymen, or going hungry for the sake of the gospel—could we imagine him thinking to himself, “I belong to Jesus in heaven… my true home” Why do I even bring that up? I’ve often wondered what was behind Paul’s ability to just keep persevering in the midst of tribulation. He just kept going…. 5 times..39 lashes….I’m afraid that if I got 39 lashes I’d just give up. Well hadn’t he been given a picture of heaven like the disciples were given a lesson on heaven here in John 14:2-3? Hadn’t Paul been caught up into paradise once? 2 Corinthians 12 tells us that yes Paul was caught up to paradise where he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.28 There’s something about being captured by a picture of heaven that can suck the trouble out of a troubled heart.

Think about Paul’s line …For to me to live is Christ….what’s the rest?... and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21). Why was Paul ambivalent about staying on earth? He’d been captured by the certainty of heaven.

Let me read the line I just read two paragraphs back and put Paul’s name in there-- Paul’s life on earth found its direction, goal, and power in his belonging to Jesus in heaven. And that marked the secret and the ambivalence of his existence on earth.

Put your name in there… Barry’s life on earth found its direction, goal, and power in his belonging to Jesus in heaven. And that marked the secret and the ambivalence of his existence on earth.

Well let’s continue in verse 4 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.

27 Ridderbos, page 48928 2 Corinthians 12:4

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Thomas wants clarity and for that we’re grateful. (In fact it’s the disciples’ questions in these chapters that move the dialogue along.) Thomas seems to be saying, “Jesus we’re still a little foggy on where you’re going….and if that’s the case, if we’re still a little foggy on the final destination, how could we know the way to get to the destination?”

And out comes the gospel—I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

“What is made available to us through Jesus…..is not a sketch of what lies behind the curtain but a firmly marked way through the curtain….I am the way”29 “You might wonder about the ‘where’ but I am the way and that’s a whole lot more important at this point in your spiritual journey” I am the way. This is the gospel. “Jesus doesn’t show us the way to the Father; rather Jesus is the way to the Father”30.

Almost everybody that you read on this verse points out that ‘the way’ should get a little more emphasis than ‘the truth’ and ‘the life’ although both “the truth” and “the life” play strong supporting roles.31 Jesus is the way to God precisely because He is the truth of God and the life of God.32 Let’s elaborate on that just briefly. Jesus is the truth of God. Jesus is the truth of God because He himself makes God known (John 1:18), He himself says and does exclusively what the Father gives him to say and do (John 5:19 ff; John 8:29), and He himself is God’s gracious self-disclosure (John 1:14).33 Jesus is the truth of God. And Jesus is the life of God. He has life in Himself (John 5:26) so that he can impart life to others. And He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Because he is the truth and life he is the only way to God.

This is not a popular message in our world today. There is only one way to God—Jesus is the way! “Jesus doesn’t merely point the way, he is the Way. Jesus doesn’t merely teach us the truth, He is the Truth. And Jesus doesn’t represent one avenue to life, He is the Life.”34

C. S. Lewis expresses this truth in his story, The Silver Chair. In Lewis’s story, a girl named Jill has entered a strange and magical country at the top of a very high mountain. After wandering for some time in search of water to drink, Jill encounters a Lion, who is lying between her and a deliciously babbling stream. Jill is terrified of the Lion but she is also dreadfully thirsty.

29 Bruner, page 82230 Burge, page 40731 Carson page 491; Kostenberger, page 429; Keener, page 94332 Carson, page 49133 Carson, page 49134 Burge, page 407

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The Lion asks her if she is thirsty and she replies that she is dying of thirst. “Then drink” the Lion tells her. She is very afraid of the lion and asks if he would mind leaving while she drinks. She quickly realizes the presumption of her request: “She might have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience.” Meanwhile the sounds of the running water are making her more thirsty.

Jill asks the Lion if he will promise not to do anything to her if she comes to the stream and drinks, but the Lion responds that he makes no promises. Driven nearly frantic with thirst, Jill comes a step nearer without noticing it. She then asks the Lion if he ever eats girls. The Lion responds matter-of-factly, “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms.”

When Jill tells the Lion that she does not dare not to come and drink, the Lion replies that she will die of thirst . Jim comes another step nearer and says, “I suppose I must go and look for another stream, then.” The lion replies, “There is no other stream”35

There is no other stream. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

These are profound words given that they were spoken on the eve of the crucifixion: “I am the way’ said by one who would shortly hang (powerless) on a cross. “I am the truth” when the lies of evil people were about to enjoy a spectacular triumph. And “I am the life” when within a matter of hours Jesus’ corpse would be placed in a tomb”36

A meditation of Thomas a Kempis is often quoted:

“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”37

Continuing in verse 7…7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Jesus seems to be saying to his disciples that if they have come to know him (and they have), they would have a starting knowledge of the Heavenly Father. From now on they really know him and they have even seen the Father. 35 Bruner, page 81336 Leon Morris as quoted by Kostenberger, page 43037 Thomas a Kempis as quoted in Carson, page 492

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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’?

“As highly as the disciples think of Jesus, they (don’t) yet grasp (the fact) that in Jesus God has made himself known.”38 They’re still foggy about that idea, and to the extent that they’re foggy about that idea, they don’t know Jesus very well.

So Philip asks to see the Father, verse 8,—‘Lord, Show us the Father’ And I’m quoting Carson here: “He thus joins the queue of human beings through the ages who have rightly understood that there can be no higher experience, no greater good, than seeing God as he is, in unimaginable splendor and transcendent glory. We have been made in his image, and however much we have defaced that image we still yearn for the vision of God ”39

Jesus replies with sadness in verse 9…. Do you hear the sadness in Jesus’ voice in verse 9? Have I been with you (and the ‘you’ is plural….Jesus is speaking to the eleven disciples in the room)…have I been with you all this three years and you still don’t know me? …have I been with you all, all this time and You still don’t know why I came? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

Look at that word in….

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. The things I say are the Father’s words; the works I do are the Father’s 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.

38 Carson, page 49439 Carson, page 494

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12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me (the circle is widened beyond those in the room with Jesus---whoever---that includes you and me) will also do the works that I do (now that’s an electrifying thought isn’t it?); and greater works than these will he do (that’s even a more electrifying thought isn’t it?...that’s a stunning thought!…Jesus is no longer comforting troubled disciples is he? He’s moved to challenge them that the future is bright. And why is the future bright? because (He) is going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Let’s try to understand these words together. When we introduced the book of Acts we made an interesting observation in the very first verse. Listen to Acts 1:1, In the first book, O Theophilus,…and what would be the first book he has in mind? The book of Luke…. In the first book, O Theophilus I have dealt with all that Jesus began (make a mental note of that word—began) to do and teach, until the day he was taken up… So the book of Luke is about the things Jesus began to do… What does that mean about the book of Acts? It would seem to say that the book of Acts is about the things that the risen and ascended Jesus continued to do through his church. And how would Jesus work through his church? Through their prayers.

Here’s the point. Today, the ascended Jesus continues to work through believers and verse 12 tells us that we will do the works that Jesus did (no we won’t be turning water into wine and raising someone like Lazarus from the dead but we will be seeing tremendous answers to prayer—and notice the promise of verse 12 does not simply point to miracles. “What Jesus has been doing includes deeds of humility, service and love as well as miraculous signs”40).

So we’ll be doing the works of Jesus and we’ll even do greater works than Jesus did. How could that be? Through the Spirit of God working in believers. At Jesus’s death he had about 120 followers. On the day of Pentecost Peter preached and 3000 put their trust in Christ. In Jesus’ day, the good news of the kingdom had spread throughout Israel and a little bit further but in the book of Acts the good news of the kingdom had been spread the expanding church around the Mediterranean.

Whatever you ask in my name this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name I will do it.

“Come on” Jesus says, “Ask me for things, and don’t think them too incidental! If they are prayed in my name (i.e. ‘in my cause’) and if they are prayed ‘so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ (ie for the service of the gospel), then I want to do your ‘whatevers’ even more than you do!”41

40 Burge, page 394 makes this point41 Bruner, page 818

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_______________

C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain” writes this about ‘heaven:’

“There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether in our heart of hearts we have ever desired anything else. It’s the secret signature of each soul—the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made our friends or chose our work and which we shall desire on our death beds when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work.”42

Dear friends, Jesus assures us that our home in heaven is not pie in the sky.

Listen again to John 14:1–3 in the New Living Translation

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.* If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?* 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

Would you pray with me?

42 As quoted in a Kent Hughes sermon from C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Chapter 10

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