Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
September 17, 2023
INTRO
It's good to be back. Last week I was at a sister church in Faribault filling in for the last week of their pastor’s sabbatical, and yesterday I had the privilege of teaching a seminar at the free church in Northfield that was about how the church should understand discipleship in our late-modern post-Christian culture.
One of the things I talked about yesterday was the fact that the Christian faith makes exclusive truth claims. And yet we live in a time and a culture that is radically subjective, where meaning supposedly comes from within, where identity is self-defined, and where truth is relative. The goal of our society, it is often said, is to allow everyone to find their own truth and then to be tolerant and accepting of each other.
And yet the reality that so many of us face and is more and more common today is what Apologist Os Guinness calls an “ABC” society: Anything But Christianity. All viewpoints are valid, except the ones that have to do with Jesus.
ILLUST — This is the false dichotomy that missionary Lesslie Newbigin called “facts” and “beliefs”. Facts are supposedly public truth, whereas beliefs are private truth. In our culture, we ALL are supposed to follow the facts. But beliefs are something you don’t share and you certainly don’t impose them on others.
But Lesslie Newbigin says that the problem is when your “belief” happens to be an exclusive truth claim with cosmic implications, such as the truth that Jesus is Lord! This is no mere private truth! The rule and reign of Jesus, his exclusive saving work on the cross, the call to repentance and faith, and the reality of the coming kingdom of heaven are truths that must be reckoned with by every single person on this planet.
That’s what we are going to see in our text today. Our passage this morning is the most straightforward and powerful proclamation of the exclusivity of Christ. On the one hand it brings profound clarity about who Jesus is in the face of other claims to truth, and yet on the other hand is a deep source of comfort and assurance for us as we live in a world that isn’t our home.
Open with me to John 14:1-14. We are in the middle of the last supper where Jesus gives his Farewell Discourse to prepare his disciples for his impending death. Jesus had just told his disciples he would be leaving and they could not follow him. He is referring to his ascension into heaven after his death and resurrection. This is where we pick up the conversation between Jesus and his disciples. READ John 14:1-14.
ORG SENT — Here’s how we are going to tackle this passage: I want to show you through a series of statements that Jesus makes the uniqueness and exclusivity of Jesus. I’m using these two words deliberately because they are tied together: because of who Jesus uniquely is, he is therefore the exclusive way to salvation.
MAIN 1 — Uniqueness of Jesus. (SLIDE 2a)
Let’s go to verse 1 and see how this passage presents the uniqueness of Jesus. Remember where we are in the account: Jesus is about to go to the cross. We already know from John 12:27 and 13:21 that Jesus is “deeply troubled” by his impending death, yet he is the one giving comfort to his disciples who are also “troubled” (14:1). (SLIDE 2b) This is the same verb, but the reason each are troubled is completely different.
Jesus is troubled because he is going to the cross to bear the sins of his people. Jesus knows exactly what is going to happen next. Jesus is in complete control here, and yet he feels the weight of what it will mean to bear the wrath of God.
The disciples are troubled because they are confused and afraid because they don’t understand why Jesus would leave them. They don’t know at all what is going to happen next. So, because the disciples are profoundly upset, Jesus unpacks the implications of his impending departure.
This is what he says to calm their hearts in the midst of distress: (SLIDE 2c) “You believe in God; believe also in me.”
Imagine the scene: Jesus looks at these men who eagerly desire to trust in God at this moment of intense confusion. Yet Jesus can see the doubt in their eyes. He essentially says, “Yes, dear brothers, I can see that you desire to trust God. Here’s how you do that: TRUST IN ME.”
How could Jesus say this? (SLIDE 2d) He is taking the unique response that we should reserve only for God—belief, trust, full devotion and surrender—and he is applying it to himself! If he were not God the Son, this would be blasphemy.
In the context of this conversation with his disciples who still don’t understand who Jesus is and what he is doing, these words are a claim to a unique divine nature, a unique demand for full trust, a unique reality that Jesus is worthy of worship.
And yet the disciples still don’t quite get this unique divine union of God the Father and God the Son. We see this in the response of Philip. Jesus had just said in verse 7, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Then Philip gives a very pious Israelite reply in verse 8: “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
This is reminiscent of Exodus 33 when the Lord told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And Moses replied, “Now show me your glory.” And the Lord passed by Moses as the Lord covered Moses’ eyes with his hand so that Moses could only see God’s back after he passed because no one who sees the face of God can live.
And here is Philip exclaiming with the same sincerity and desire as Moses, “We want to see the glory of God.”
Jesus’ response is tender and compassionate, yet firm and to the point. He says, “Don’t you see Philip, you’re seeing the glory of God right now. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”
I just imagine the disciples sitting there in stupefied awe. This is the most shocking thing about the incarnation, the most radical claim, the most incredible truth: Jesus is God in the flesh and he has fulfilled in the ultimate sense the promise to Moses that God’s presence will be with us, Immanuel, and we will have rest in Jesus because through his blood shed on the cross we can enter into the Holy of Holies and gaze upon the face of the Holy God!
ILLUST — C.S. Lewis put it this way in his book Mere Christianity, (SLIDE 3) “Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if he was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says he has always existed. He says he is coming to judge the world at the end of time…When you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.”
And yet, how could the glory of God be contained in this man Jesus?
In 1 Kings 8:27, Solomon offers his prayer of dedication of the Temple and wonders at this earthly building could contain the God of heaven: (SLIDE 4) “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”
ILLUST — Jonathan Edwards reflected on this verse in a handwritten note in the margin of his Bible: (SLIDE 5) “If it was a thing so very wonderful in Solomon’s eyes, such a marvelous instance of condescension for God to dwell on earth in the manner he did in the tabernacle and temple, how much a greater and more wonderful thing was it for him to dwell with us as our Immanuel in the manner that he did in the human nature of Christ.”
The most shocking truth is that the eternal Son of God emptied himself by taking on human flesh: emptying by addition as Philippians 2 says! (SLIDE 6a) He took on a full human nature, and remained in full unity with the mutual indwelling of Father in the Son and Son in the Father. And as we go into the rest of chapter 14 next week, we will see the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are co-equal and co-eternal, one being in three persons!
And as Jesus says in verse 11, if you’re having trouble believing that, at least look at the proof of Jesus’ miracles from earlier in John’s gospel:
Jesus changed water into wine — cleansing for sin comes now through his blood.
Jesus cleared the temple courts — he is now the temple, the presence of God with us.
Jesus fed over 5000 people — he is the Bread of Life.
Jesus walked on water — he has power over creation.
Jesus healed the royal official’s son, the paralytic, the blind man, and raised Lazarus from the dead — he is the Resurrection and the Life.
And Jesus is about to died and rise from the grave to defeat sin and death and evil forever, precisely because he is the only eligible substitute and sacrifice for us, being fully human to die in our place, and fully God to conquer death.
ILLUST — As theologian Andrew Wilson puts it, (SLIDE 6b) “To mediate properly between God and man, you would actually have to be both God and man.”
This is the uniqueness of Jesus. He is one with the Father and makes the glory of God known to us through his incarnation, sinless life, substitutionary death, victorious resurrection, and his heavenly session.
In light of this, we need to talk now about the exclusivity of Christ.
MAIN 2 — Exclusivity of Jesus. (SLIDE 7a)
Go back to verse 5. I just love Thomas’ comments in the gospels. He was a logical thinker, a very practical person, he often struggled to understand metaphors and symbolic language, and I get the sense that he could foresee problems before most people.
(SLIDE 7b) He gets very practical here after Jesus uses this metaphor about going to prepare a place in heaven: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Thomas essentially says, “I don’t get it. Could you just give us the GPS coordinates or text us the Google Map pin. If we know the destination, then we will know the way to get there!”
But they already know the place. You can see it in Philip’s words later: These disciples crave the presence and glory of God. They want to be satisfied by the restfulness and assurance that they have a home in God’s household, a security as a child of God, a sense of purpose and direction as those who received God’s grace and mercy and now walk in his ways. In short, they know they need God. (SLIDE 7c)
And so, Jesus makes the boldest and most exclusive of claims in verse 6: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(SLIDE 7d) This is the 6th “I Am” statement of Jesus in the gospel of John.
Background — (SLIDE 7e) In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
This is where we get the name “LORD” (tetragrammaton). It is closely associated with the Hebrew verb “to be.” Thus, God’s name in Hebrew is something like this: The I Am!
KEY: God is. He just is. He has existed eternally and has sovereign power over everything. For Jesus to make 7 “I AM” statements is purposeful to show that he is perfectly manifesting the very being of God in human flesh. Jesus is. He has eternally existed and has sovereign power over everything.
So Jesus unfolds the exclusivity of who he is:
(SLIDE 8a) The way — Jesus is the path to be with God
(SLIDE 8b) The truth — Jesus is the revealer of truth from God
(SLIDE 8c) The life — Jesus is the life-giver
KEY: (SLIDE 8d) Jesus doesn’t say that he knows the way or that he has found the way. He says that he is the way! Jesus is not merely blazing a trail for us to follow, as though he is the one who found the right path to God. He IS the way!
ILLUST — Thomas à Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ (c. 1418), (SLIDE 9 and 10) “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.”
IMPORTANT: Now that Jesus has come as the culminating revelation of the Father, it is totally inadequate to claim that one knows God while disowning Christ. In other words, (SLIDE 11a) the test of whether or not someone knows God lies in their response to the supreme revelation of God, Jesus Christ himself.
This is why the final expression of exclusivity in this passage has to do with how we now relate to God the Father through God the Son. Look at verse 13-14.
These verses on prayer connect back to the theology of verses 6-7. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. (SLIDE 11b) No one comes to the Father except through him. Therefore, prayer is now through Jesus. Notice some important nuances here:
FIRST — Jesus reveals his ministry as the resurrected King, ascended to his throne, reigning now over his Kingdom of which we are the firstfruits. This ministry is called Christ’s heavenly session. (SLIDE 11c) He is mediator for us as the right hand of the Father.
SECOND — We pray “in Jesus’ name.” (SLIDE 11d)
Access to God — He is the only way.
Power from God — His name is power.
ILLUST — In the ancient world a royal name invoked power and authority. It is not a magical incantation or a button you push like a vending machine to get what you want. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that you are praying under the authority of the King!
THIRD — The purpose of prayer: (SLIDE 11e) “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son”
FOURTH — “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (SLIDE 11f)
Who do we pray to? The Father? The Son? The Holy Spirit?
In the scriptures, we primarily see prayer addressed to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Yet in this passage, it is clear that praying to Jesus is not wrong. He is fully God, he is the reigning King, his is our Mediator and High Priest, and in his heavenly session he is seated in a place of authority and power.
He says we can ask for anything — Can we really ask for anything?
Jesus is not a vending machine.
We pray in accord with God’s will and with an understanding that we want to see God’s good plan and his good purposes come to fruition, even if it is not our preferred way or our preferred timing.
(SLIDE 12, blank) APPLY: What Jesus invites us to in this passage is full surrender to him, the way and the truth and the life, and then to live daily in a posture of prayerfulness, knowing that because of the uniqueness of who he is and the exclusivity of coming to him in order to know God, we can be fully dependent on him and bring our requests to him like the classic song I Love You Lord.
I love You Lord, and I lift my voice
To worship You!
O my soul, rejoice!
Take joy, my King
In what You hear
May it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ears