JOHN 14:1-14
Lesson # 29
COMFORT IN THE FACE OF LOSS OR DEATH – PART I
I.? Introduction:
Q? How many of you moved and changed schools when you were in grammar school or Jr. High?? Raise you hands.
Q? How did you feel when you left had to leave friends?? Were you anxious?? What caused it?
RQ? Do we face this same anxiety and pain when we lose a close relative or friend to death?
Q? Have some of you had to face that pain already?
Note:? These are pains that we all must face or have faced.? Death comes, it is a part of this experience we call life.? John 14 deals with such things.? Jesus was deeply loved by His disciples.? He knew they had to deal with His going so He anticipates these feelings and through out this chapter will help them face such pain and anxiety. ?????
II.? Teaching On Heaven:? How It Can Help Deal with Loss.? John 14:1-3.
>>>>? Have someone read John 13:37.
Q? What is the first part of Peter’s speech asking?
An = It an answer to why Peter must be separated from Jesus.? Jesus first predicts a significant upcoming traumatic event in Peter’s life (Peter’s denial).? Then in the verses that open chapter 14 Jesus goes on to deal with Peter’s anxiety….
>>>> Have someone read John 14:1
Q? There are three exhortations here, what are they?
An = 1) Do not let your mind be troubled.? 2) Trust or believe in God.? 3) Trust or believe also in Me.
Q? Are the second two exhortations connected with the first, if so in what manner?
An = It seems that not being troubled in our minds (our conscious thinking) (heart usually means mind in the O.T.) is done by trusting in God, trusting in Jesus as well.
Note:? Jesus ties together believing in God and believing in Himself.
>>>> Have someone read John 14:2-3.
Q? Jesus is making two promises, one in each verse, what are they?
An = In verse 2, Jesus is preparing places for them with His Father in heaven.
In verse 3, Jesus will come again, receive them, and they will be where He is.
Q? How can believing in these two promises relieve the pain of separation from Jesus for Peter (and the other disciples as well)?
An = Jesus gives us hope for the future.? Pain will end, the pain of separation will not go on forever.? Blessing is ahead.? Is it not easier to go to camp or on a vacation, knowing you are coming home?? Is it not easier saying goodbye to a friend knowing you will see them at Christmas, or the next semester, etc.?
>>>> Have someone read John 14:4.
Q? What is Jesus saying here?
An = Jesus is saying that they know the way to get where He is going, i.e. they know the way to get to heaven.
Q? Look at verse 3 again, how will they get to heaven?? Do they have to find the path according to this verse?
An = No, Jesus will come and get, greet them as He has already prepared their abode there.? Note:? It is like your friend inviting you to Hawaii, and has already secured your lodging, comes and gets you, prepares for your arrival at the airport.? You would say that your friend has “done it all”.? Remember that as the discussion goes on.
III.? Thomas’ Question:? How to Get There.? John 14:5-7.
>>>> Have someone read John 14:5.
Q? What is Thomas’ question, what troubles him?
An = Thomas does not think he knows the way.? He is too honest to just sweep such problems under the table.? Thomas is like the student who asks the questions in class, others are afraid to ask.? Thomas basically does two things:? he admits ignorance and asks for enlightenment.
Note:? It is OK to admit ignorance with Jesus and ask for help (and His Father, the Psalms are full of such admissions).? It leads to further insight.? “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach….”? James 1:5? Watch how Jesus responds….
>>>> Have someone read John 14:6-7.
Q How does Jesus answer Thomas’ question?
An = He Himself is the way to heaven, He Himself will lead after death.? He is the truth, Jesus is the message.? Christianity is not about doctrine, but about Jesus.? Doctrine does not save, Jesus does.? He is the life, His life being poured out on the cross will be the source of our eternal life.? It is all tied up to His Person.?
Note:? Doctrine will not bring you peace with the loss of a loved One, belief in Jesus will.? If He is not what He claimed and cannot do what He said He would then we are left in our desolation.? The key is that Jesus has told us the truth, can He make us live forever and is He able to take us to heaven.
Note:? They were already told this, but Thomas question gets Jesus to articulate it in another way.
Q? What does the end of verse 6 mean?
An = Jesus is not only the way to heaven, truth and life, but the only way to the Father who is the source of all these three things.? In fact verse 7, is saying knowing Jesus is the same as knowing the Father.? If you have know Me, you know the Father and have seen Him.? It goes back to verse 1:? believe in God, believe in Me.
Note:? People in America are not adverse to Jesus as long as you do speak of the Jesus of the Gospels.? That Jesus offends.? Jesus says He is not “a” way, but “the” way.
Note:? As Thomas seized the last statement Jesus makes in verse 4, so Philip will seize on the last statement Jesus makes in verse 7:? the tantalizing words:? “seen God”!
IV.? Philip’s Question:? How Does One See God.? John 14:8-14.
A.? The Question:? How Does One See God.? John 14:8.
>>>> Have someone read John 14:8
Q? What does Philip want to know, what will Philip be content with?
An = He wants to see God.? A great and admirable desire.
B.? Basic Answer:? Jesus is God, to See Jesus is to See God.? John 14:9-11
>>>> Have someone read John 14:9-11.
QQ How does Jesus answer Philip’s question on “how to see God”.
An = If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.? I often tell people if you want to understand who God is and what God is like, and what God will do to you if you let Him have control in your life, then watch Jesus.? The early church understood this…>>> have someone read to the group Hebrew 1:1-3.
>>>> Have someone re-read John 14:11.
Q The basic exhortation is believe Jesus and God are One, but there is a secondary, optional exhortation at the end of the verse, what is it?
An = If you cannot believe in Me, then believe in the works.? Jesus says look at the effects of His actions.? If we cannot believe Jesus is God, then watch what happens to and around people who do.? I had a friend tell me he could not believe in God, but he wanted to because he liked what he saw in those that did.
Q? Is this how some people you know or even you yourself began belief?
Q? Is this were your faith ended, did it end with the affects of the faith?? Do you have other reasons now for believing?
Note:? Jesus has brought up His marvelous “deeds” and the opening they could be for faith, with His leaving, that would seem to end such an avenue for faith to begin for others.? Jesus now addresses this? question, because, dominating this chapter is how to deal with the loss of Jesus’ going back to heaven….since “deeds” are helpful, what about when Jesus is gone?
C.? Secondary Issue:? How do we replace His deeds once He is gone.? John 14:12-14
>>>> Have someone read John 14:12.
Q What will happen to the “marvelous deeds” Jesus did once He leaves for heaven?
An = We will do them and we will do even greater works.
Q What is the condition for doing such deeds?
An = We have to believe in Him.?
Q If we are not doing such deeds then do we fully believe?
An = This seems to be what Jesus is implying.? However, remember doing “deeds” is not to prove our faith (however important that is to us or our ego in the midst of the church), but the deeds are to help “others believe” (see verse 11).? We are to replace Him, to work in His place.
>>>> Have someone read John 14:13-14.
Q? What is being promised here?
An = We will be powerful in prayer.? What we ask in His Name will come about.
Q? The condition for our prayers being answered is praying in “His Name”, what does that mean?
An = Perhaps add what Barclay (P. 193) says if it helps:? “When we pray, we must always ask:? “Can I honestly pray this in the name of Jesus? or, Am I praying this out of my own personal desires and aims and ambitions?”
So many of us are burdened with “appearing” spiritual, the key is being spiritual, not appearing to be so.? Focusing on being could relieve us of so much unneeded stress.
Q? According to verse 13, what is the purpose or goal for the answered prayer?
An = For the glory of the Father who is brought glory through the Name of the Son.
Note:? When Jesus prayed things happened, so in a way having access to God through prayer is much the same as being able to teach and do the marvelous deeds and miracles the way Jesus did while He was on earth.
Note:? Finally, we may miss a wonderful former pastor or youth director or great christian leader in the church that has passed away or a wonderful christian parent, that is understandable!? However, what if we ourselves “replace them”.? If we now do for others what they did for us, it takes a great deal of the “pain of their passing out of our lives” away.? I think this is part of what Jesus is trying to accomplish in these three verses.? He desires to ease the pain of His leaving by commissioning us to do His work.