The Father and Me
Notes
Transcript
Recap from last week:
38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
Jesus just tells Peter that he was going to deny Him
Then He tells him
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
Jesus says: do not be greatly distressed, believe in God and believe in Him!
How often do we feel like we let God down?
But, maybe there is a note here for us that Jesus knows when we are going to turn away from Him
and He tells us exactly what to do when that happens
To turn to Him! To believe in Him - believe in His words…turn to Him
He continues to comfort them by saying
2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
In their culture, the son would build onto the Father’s house and then marry his wife and then they would move into the father’s house together
Maybe Jesus is referring to this when He says that He is going to prepare a place for the disciples
That they would son be apart of the Father’s family and reside with Him for eternity?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
So, as a bride, we are waiting the return of our groom!
And finally, Jesus says
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He is the one and only way, the absolute truth, and the only life!
Today, Jesus continues
7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Jesus is making this connection that when we know Him, we know the Father as well!
This could point to the idea of how close Him and the Father are
Jesus is setting up the idea of how important He is here
They would have desired to know God, the Father, and Jesus is showing that it is just as important to know Him as well!
In fact, in order to know the Father well, they must know Jesus
After all, He had just said that He is the way to the Father!
Side note here: it is super important that when people talk about God, they talk about Jesus and who He is…
God is somewhat of a subject term…
People can mean anything from having a belief in “something” higher to a false God, to the only true living God!
How many of you have heard something like “ I have my beliefs?”
Here is the problem, if we believe in any higher God other than Jesus, then we are simply wrong.
In order to know the one living and active God, we must know Jesus!
Jesus continues:
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Philip has such an interesting statement here!
It’s almost as if he just missed what Jesus has just said…
Jesus said that if they know Him, then they will know the Father…
I guess it’s possible that Philip either wanted to see God face-to-face or He wanted more evidence in the Father…
Nonetheless, he misses the point of what Jesus is getting at here
So, Jesus makes it a little bit clearer…
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus makes it pretty much clear as day here!
If you have seen Him, you have seen the Father?
Could this be because Jesus is God Himself?
When we see what Jesus does and says, we are seeing and hearing God Himself!
As we think deeply about the relationship between God the Father and God the Son this morning, I wonder how many of us miss the forrest through the trees?
How many of us are constantly looking for a sign that God exists when it is so evidently among us?
When we consider all that God has created and done, how can we possibly miss Him?
Philip walked with Jesus for 3 years, heard the teaching, watched the miracles, and yet still wanted to see more?
Maybe the problem for us is that we don’t take the time to slow down and actually acknowledge what God is doing in and among us?
A pastor by the name of Ray shares this story:
“After services one Sunday morning, Brian, a member of our congregation, asked me a hypothetical question. He said, "Pastor Ray, if you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one book, any book in the world, which book would it be, and why?"
As a minister, I thought the answer to his inquiry was very apparent. I said, "Brian, if I could only have one book I would want the Bible because it would help give me spiritual strength in getting through the challenge of being stranded on a desert island." I believed that my answer had a great deal of merit. Especially since it was Sunday morning and we had just completed church services.
Expecting him to reinforce my answer, I asked Brian the same question; "If you were stranded on that island, which book would you want?"
With a smile on his face his answer was immediate. He said, "If it were me, I would want a book titled, 'How to Build a Boat.'"
Sometimes we miss the more obvious things will looking for the deeper meaning to things…
It is possible that we can see God working among us constantly, but we miss it while searching for the major miracles.
Paul talks about seeing God in all things in his letter to the church in Rome:
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
God is not in the business of hiding Himself from us, it is quite the opposite! He wants to reveal Himself to us!
Just as God was with Philip in the flesh for three years, he was still looking for more!
If we take the time to slow down and observe, we can see God in many different ways and places!
Jesus further explains:
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
He mentions something similar in John 12
49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.
Here we see that Jesus only says what the Father tells Him to say!
Jesus shows that He has such an intimate relationship with the Father that He will only say what the Father has Him say!
I wonder if it were possible for us to do the same thing?
Is is possible for us to say that we only say what the Holy Spirit gives us to say?
It is interesting to note that later we will discuss how:
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
So, Jesus only spoke what he heard from the Father, and the HS will only speak what He hears as well!
Maybe we should take a note….
Maybe the HS wants to speak more to us than what we are willing to hear?
I digress: Jesus is showing how the Father is at work in Him
BTW, as Jesus had the Father living in Him doing His work, we too have God living in us doing His work by the HS!
Jesus then points to what He has done
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
So, Philip, and Peter, and James and John, and Caleb, and Josh, and Michael….
If you can’t see God in the smaller things, then look at what God is doing in the bigger things!
Look at the evidence of what Jesus did!
The lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the sick were healed, the lost were found, the dead were made alive, the prisoners to sin have been set free!
If you are struggling to see God move, I have a couple things that may be helpful:
1. Pray More!
1. Pray More!
Spend time talking with God! and then watch what He does, journal those things
2. Share Jesus with Someone!
2. Share Jesus with Someone!
When you see Jesus save someone, it is a super boost to your faith!
3. Talk with Other Believers!
3. Talk with Other Believers!
Hear the testimonies of other!
4. Share You Testimony with Others!
4. Share You Testimony with Others!
And, then we move into two super important verses:
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Notice here that Jesus speaks of “whoever believes”
He didn't just say “you disciples,” no, He says that whoever believes in Him will do the works that He did!
Sometimes, people get hung up on the latter part of that verse, how is it possible that believers could do greater works that what Jesus did…
well, don’t get hung up there…just focus on the first part!
Do the works that Jesus did! Then we can talk about the greater things….
How many of us see the things that Jesus saw?
If not, how many of us do the things that Jesus did?
12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
And, Jesus tells us:
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
So, if we aren’t seeing the things that Jesus did, maybe we aren’t doing the things Jesus did…
It is super important to note here:
This is not a checklist of what to do to see the things that Jesus did. We will see the things that Jesus did out of a reality of a relationship with Him!
The reason Jesus did what He did is because, He knew He needed to be one with His Father!
Jesus later prays
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Jesus invites us into this relationship that He has with the Father!
And, when we are in this relationship with Him and the Father, we will do the things that Jesus did!
And then, we will see the things that Jesus saw!
Finally, Jesus says one of the most pulled out of context statements
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Listen, I believe these two verses with all of my heart!
But, context is sooo important here!
This isn’t about getting a fancy car or coming into a bunch of money….this isn’t about carnal things!
This is about doing the things that Jesus did, because we are in relationship with Him!
When we truly desire Him, when we truly want to know Him,
when we know what He wants, when we ask what He asked,
when we pray like He prayed, when we walk as He walked,
when we hear as He heard, when we speak as He spoke…. and we believe as He believed!
Whatever we ask, in His name…
Whatever we ask as a representative of Him, and He will do it!
If we want to see God in this world….let’s get to know Him!
Let’s let Him lead, and we will follow, and we will do the things that Jesus did!
And the kingdom of heaven will come earth!