John 14:1-6 English Standard Version
I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;[a] 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?[b] 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. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”[c] 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.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
At this moment in his earthly ministry, Jesus is preparing to leave the earth and return to heaven.
He is going back to heaven to prepare a place for his disciples (including us).
When the time is right and everything is ready, Jesus promises that he will return to take his disciples, including us, to their heavenly home.
The greatest blessing, however, is not just getting to go to heaven; it’s getting to go to be with the Lord forever!
Jesus is more than the direction and goal of our hope; he is also the basis for it!
Because of Jesus, we’re going home to be with God!
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
These eloquent words from the American poet Robert Frost express something of the deep human desire for a place to belong that God weaved into each of us.
Whether it’s out of obligation or—even better—because of others’ love for us, we long for a place where we are welcomed, known, cared for, and embraced.
Does such a place, such a community, really exist somewhere, somehow??
Can such a place, such a community for everyone exist somewhere, somehow?
Can a prayer for such a gathering place become a part of someone’s plea today?
In this world, every couch in every home, every place of gathering we make for ourselves, no matter how sweet, welcoming it may feel, will always fall short.
Sin and death bring an end to our earthly comfort, and even the best places in this life offer only a glimpse or a foretaste of full life with God in his presence.
In that room, Jesus has promised something remarkable to all who trust in him.
Even as he faced his own death for our sin, Jesus offered the hope of eternal life with God to all who will follow him.
He promised the hope of a home where people could come and gather in safety and impartiality, he has promised a fully furnished room where God is revealed.
He promised a place where community comes, to guide believers to the Father and to prepare a place for redeemed sinners longing to be at home with God.
Our Savior doesn’t merely taunt, tantalize us with the offer of a perfect home; He assures us that where ever we do gather in community, his light is revealed.
Believe his promise and trust in his grace to prepare you for the place where your Father will certainly take you in – and then we create the place for others.
Walk This Way: Walk this Way in Love
John 14:8-12 English Standard Version
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’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? 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. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Walk This Way
Learning to walk is a universal experience.
Indeed, learning to walk is one of the first lessons our parents give us.
Our parents teach us how to walk in at least two ways.
They teach us by motivation, and they teach us by prohibition.
“Walk this way! Yes, that’s right. Come on, then. You can do it. Walk to daddy!”
The father motivates his child with love.
The excited, smiling face of the father is an unseen but genuine force creating the child’s will to walk.
But there is another instruction.
“Do not walk over there!”
“Over there” could be a step-down in the living room, a sure danger zone for tumbles and tears.
By guiding the child to “walk this way, but not that way,” the loving parents erect a verbal “danger sign.”
Likewise, as the Lord calls us to walk towards each other, the Lord calls us to walk toward the Lord Jesus Christ, away from those sins threatening our souls.
The Lord God calls believers to never give up coming together, “walk the walk” “talk the talk” of truth, hope, obedience in Christ faithfully and yet cautiously.
How, then, shall we walk?
Walk in Love
Ephesians 5:1-2 English Standard Version
Walk in Love
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Verse one calls believers to be “imitators” of the Lord.
There are “incommunicable” attributes of the Triune God.
He is eternal.
We were created.
He is omniscient.
We see through a rose colored glass darkly.
Yet, there are “communicable” attributes, one of which is love.
God demonstrated His love to us in that He sent his only begotten Son to save us from sin and its consequences.
His perfect life, his walk through life and sacrificial death on the cross provide us with the righteousness and atonement each and every single one if us needs.
Our lives might then show obedience that flows from grace and gratitude, the wellspring of love.
Paul says that such offerings of love-prompted obedience are pleasing to God.
So, We Are To Gather and To Walk This Way
Ephesians 5:3-10 English Standard Version
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
So, we are to walk this way: follow the Lord Jesus in the love of God that produces undefiled worship.
While we walk in love with Jesus and, thus, each other, we must walk cautiously away from the world.
The love of God is contrasted with the uncleanness of this world, specifically, the uncleanness of sexual impurities and of filthy language.
The uptick in the use of foul language in, for example, film and popular music is not unexpected though it is deplorable.
Filthy language is a sign of a heart unhinged from the love of God and subject to the foul winds of evil.
While our secular age is saturated with course language and the dehumanizing use of sexuality, we must be on guard.
Such sins are corrosive to your mind and your body.
Stay clear of the danger zone.
Walk this way.
The Last Walk
No walk matches the pathos and power of that footpath from Pilate’s kangaroo court to Golgotha.
The Via Delarosa—the way of the cross—is the ultimate walk of love.
This is the love we are to imitate: dying to self to live for God, and in doing so, knowing the fullness of joy in Christ.
This is the penultimate love that motivates us as the Church to “walk this way.”
Intersecting Faith and Life:
John 14:12-14 English Standard Version
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am 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[a] anything in my name, I will do it.
To walk like Jesus is to cultivate a life of love.
But how do we encourage such love in our lives, in our relationship with God and others?
“As for reputation, though it be a glorious instrument of advancing our Master’s service, yet there is a better than that: a clean heart, a single eye, and a soul full of God. A fair exchange if, by the loss of reputation, we can purchase the lowest degree of purity of heart.” – John Wesley
“When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!” John Wesley
I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field. John Wesley
Through Scripture, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines, God has given us the necessary resources we need to labor and do greater works and to walk in love.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Loving Father and holy God, thank you for knowing my needs, my weaknesses, my dreams, and my future. I trust you completely with my future. I look forward to the day Jesus returns to bring me home to you. Thank you for the assurance that I will get to be with you forever, also with all those I love who belong to you, ergo, prepare me;
“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”
Lord Jesus, help us to trust in you. We believe in God; may we also believe in you and in the power of your finished work for us. Prepare our hearts for our home with the Father and with you. Prepare our churches for their work to prepare the Way to You. Amen.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 