John 14:1-7 Joy for Our Journeys 10
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
September 8, 2019
Our Journey from Earth to Heaven Dear Friends in Christ, He sat in his wheelchair—which he needs because of bad knees—looking up at a wooden carving of Jesus that is placed above his TV. He talked about how God has been so good to him and how he prays to Jesus for help and to thank him for blessing him. He’s 99 years old and just a couple months from his 100th birthday. A typical visit with Bernie involves some repetition of things, answering his questions about my church work, both of us joking around and laughing, and of course talking about our Savior, a devotion, and the Lord’s Supper. On Tuesday afternoon, we talked about heaven too, about being with our Lord and how there will be no more pain or sorrow. I told him that I would be preaching about our journey to heaven this Sunday. As he thought about all this, he said in the most calm and thoughtful way, “We have something to look forward to.” And then he repeated it, “We have something to look forward to.” Over the summer, we’ve considered many journeys of the past. Journeys taken by God’s people and several taken by Jesus. Today we finish our summer worship series by looking ahead to the journey that is promised to us: Our Journey from Earth to Heaven. Bernie said, “We have something to look forward to.” But don’t just take his word for it, trust the words of Jesus himself today as he tells you about your upcoming Journey from Earth to Heaven. This is: 1. A journey that will happen because Jesus has taken care of everything 2. A journey that will happen because we know Jesus and trust in him.
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A journey that will happen because Jesus has taken care of everything Many of us are familiar with these words of Jesus in John chapter 14. They have brought us comfort as we heard them read at the memorial service for a Christian friend or family member. We’ve been curious about Bible translations and whether it is “rooms” or “mansions.” We’ve wondered how Thomas could be so dense! So, again, to many of us they are familiar words. To really understand what Jesus said, however, we must know when Jesus spoke them and some other things he said at that time. This was the night Jesus was betrayed. He was in the Upper Room with his disciples and preparing them for what was to come. And what was coming, they didn’t want to hear. They had walked alongside Jesus and listened to him teach and preach and saw him do miracles to help people and show his divine power. They had witnessed a life lived perfectly according to everything they knew God said. They loved their friend and their Savior.
But now he was telling them that one of them would betray him and that he was going away. He told Peter, in front of them all, that he would disown his Savior three times. He had previously told them that he would suffer and die. Those thoughts must have been running through their heads as they reclined around that table celebrating the Passover. And then he spoke the words before us today. He was leaving them and returning to his Father in heaven. Once he had given up his life on the cross and rose from death, he would be leaving them. Though they couldn’t have known the details then, Jesus was talking about his Ascension, his journey from earth to heaven. As he talked with them, he also gave them the promise of their own Journey from Earth to Heaven. You notice that Jesus began by telling them Do not let your heart be troubled. They were troubled! The things that Jesus was telling them were troubling. Betrayal and disowning and Jesus leaving them…these were not things they wanted to hear. But Jesus had good reason to give them these gentle commands to be at peace, to believe in God, and to believe in him. Their hearts could be calm and they could find peace and joy, if they understood what Jesus was doing and why he was leaving. If they could focus on what Jesus was accomplishing for them, they could find peace. You think we see tragedy as multiple media formats bring hurricanes and shootings and disease into our homes and onto our phones, the disciples would see the worst tragedy the world has ever witnessed! The perfectly innocent Son of God would suffer outrageous abuse, injustice in multiple courts, and a form of torturous death you probably don’t even want to know all the details of. But even behind that, was something only certain people could even begin to understand: God was rejecting his Son instead of rejecting the whole of humanity. Jesus didn’t want the disciples’ pity; he came here to do all of that because of a love we can’t comprehend. It was his mission and his purpose. He had told them this. He wanted them to recall it and find comfort and peace. Jesus was taking care of everything so that they and all people could have the gift of eternal life. There was something else he was going to be taking care of—and it was necessary for him to go away to do it. He spoke to them about his Father’s house. Heaven was something they already knew about. Jesus explained his Father’s house has many mansions, or rooms and that he was going to prepare those eternal places for them. He would take care of that too. And later he would come back to take them to be with him there! So it wasn’t just Jesus, God’s Son, returning to his Father. All the children of God will also go there! This was a promise intended to calm their troubled hearts. They truly had no reason to be troubled because Jesus was taking care of absolutely everything for their salvation.
A journey that will happen because we know Jesus and trust in him. “You know where I am going, and you know the way.” “Lord, we don’t know where you are going,” Thomas replied, “so how can we know the way?” The response of Thomas to Jesus really jumps off the page at us, doesn’t it?! Thomas acted as the spokesman for the disciples and contradicted Jesus’ beautiful picture and promises, saying that they didn’t know where Jesus was going and they did not know the way. Now, this was not a declaration of unbelief by Thomas, but words spoken because of sadness and disappointment and confusion. You can wish Thomas never said such a thing, but then you would not have received the gentle and clear answer from Jesus: “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. The mistake was not Jesus thinking his followers knew too much; it was the disciples thinking they knew too little! They knew this about Jesus! He had told them; they had heard it and confessed it even! But because of sin-affected minds and hearts caught up in the emotion of that Upper Room, they needed to hear it again. We’re like that too, aren’t we? Don’t we forget? Don’t we get confused? Don’t we say things that aren’t right? Don’t our emotions get in the way of seeing things the way God does? It’s true; we’re just as sinful as Thomas. We need the same forgiveness Jesus displayed to him and the others as he gently kept teaching him what is true and what they needed to know about salvation. We need to hear Jesus say that he is the only Way to heaven, that he is the means by which we go to the Father. We might get tripped up and think that Jesus shows us the way to the heaven. But he doesn’t merely show people the way; he IS the Way! It is his life and his death and his resurrection and his grace as he sends the Spirit to grant us faith. He IS the Way to heaven. In a similar way, we might say that Jesus taught the truth, but that’s not enough, is it? He embodies all truth, including the truth of God’s grace that could come from nowhere else. Jesus did not simply share the truth; he IS the Truth. And Jesus is The Life. He is the source of physical life and spiritual life. He is the one who gives us true life with God now and eternal life in heaven. Those can only be experienced through faith in Jesus. I think it’s kind of interesting, in the last verse, Jesus says, If you know me, you would also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him. The word for “know” is different than the one Jesus used before when he said, You know where I am going. That word meant that they had learned and understood where Jesus was going. But here he uses a word that means to know from experience: If you know me. This is faith! This is intelligent belief that is based on what was revealed to them about Jesus. This is no blind faith! This is not taking a chance that Jesus was the One! This is more than simply knowing Jesus as a person. This was believing in him, knowing that he is indeed the Son of God and the world’s Savior.
From now on—from the time of Christ’s gruesome cross and grave and resurrection and ascension—they would truly know the Father because Jesus, his Son, would show the extent of his love and the completion of their salvation. And on the basis of knowing God and his saving love shown through Jesus, they would have a journey to look forward to, a Journey from Earth to Heaven. You and I are Jesus’ disciples today and find ourselves in the same situation as those disciples huddled together in a private room with their Lord and Savior. We need the forgiveness they received from Jesus. We need to have the things of faith and eternal life in heaven explained to us—more than once! We need to have our sometimesagitated hearts calmed down with the promises of our Savior. The one who is the Truth tells us that there is plenty of room in heaven for us and that he is there preparing a place for us to spend eternity with him. The One who is the Way urges us to come to the Father through faith in him. The One who is Life promises us life with God when are days here are over. You and I have a journey ahead of us. Whether it happens when we are nine or fiftynine or ninety-nine or one-hundred and nine, there is a journey for us to look forward to. It is the Journey from Earth to Heaven. It is a journey that will happen because Jesus has taken care of everything and a journey that will happen because we know Jesus and trust in him. When we take that journey, we will be with our glorious Lord and with the other children of God who are filling those mansions, and there will be no more pain or sorrow or crying or death. We will rest from this world’s struggles and enjoy the peace and glory of eternal life with God. My friend Bernie is right you know—we have something to look forward to! But don’t just trust him; trust Jesus who gives you these promises. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
“Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. 4 You know where I am going, and you know the way.” 5 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going,” Thomas replied, “so 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 know me, you would also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”