Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction -
This time of year I get kinda nostalgic.
I remember loving November and December!
Jumping into leave piles, eventually building snow forts and all of that kind of stuff.
But I really remember enjoying when all the family got together for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
My parents always put on a huge meal for both occasions and we would fill the house with family, extended family and friends.
It was a grand celebration and as a kid, I just loved it!
Other than the joy of the festivities and the great food I think that time around the table with family and friends gave me a sense of comfort and security.
And it’s this time of year, now that life has changed so much, that I look back and miss those days at Mom and Dad’s home.
Today we look at a passage of Scripture that might be familiar to some here.
If not, that’s okay because you will know it well after we leave.
It is a passage that deals with what is to come for those who believe.
Future nostalgia?
Looking forward to the day when we will enjoy everlasting comfort, peace and security.
That day when the family of God will sit around the table, together, unified and full of joy!
What a glorious day that will be!
But there is only one way to this dinner.
There is only one way to the Father’s home and this is what we will focus on this morning...
Main Idea - There’s Only One Way to the Father’s Home
Transition - There are three questions that need to be addressed from this passage.
Where is the Path?
Who is the Father?
What is the Plan?
1.
Where is the Path?
(vs.
1-6)
For the believer, these words are some of the most comforting words in the entire Scriptures.
For those of us who have walked with the Lord for a while have often turned to the promises here for solace and hope when faced with the extraordinary challenges that life can bring.
But I want you to think of hearing these words for the very first time.
Hearing them when the realization that your teacher whom you have given your life to follow, has been betrayed by one of your own and will be leaving you soon!
They were discouraged and dismayed!
What was happening?
They had gone from celebration to the somber reality of great change...
Verse 1 - He is so gentle and empathetic when He encourages them to direct their hearts away from being “troubled” (Stirred, agitated).
Again, John uses this same word when he described Jesus’ attitude standing outside of Lazurus’ tomb, and when Judas was about to betray him.
Do you notice the remedy for a troubled heart according to Jesus?
It is a believing heart!
A believing heart is one that truly trusts in God - The Triune God of the Bible!
Jesus once again clearly and unequivocally claims to be God!
And their belief leads to hope...
Verse 2 - The way one truly trusts God is to trust the promises of God.
Jesus tell His disciples what “the other side” looks like.
He informs them of the reality of Heaven.
And while He doesn’t pull back the entire curtain and show them every nuance and aspect of the Heavenly realm, He does give them a glorious glimpse!
“In my Father’s house are many rooms.”
What a tease of information.
I’m sure their disciples minds were running rampant with ideas what what this must be like!
Even the translators of the King James bible translates this verse with great grandure and opulence in mind...
John
Rooms, mansions, whatever the case, Jesus is purposely vague in part because to describe what God has prepared for those who are in Christ Jesus to finite and clouded minds is virtually impossible.
In other words what God has for believers is absolutely mind blowingly, indescribable!
The apostle Paul had the privilege of going to Heaven and seeing it in all of its glory...
Paul, quoting Isaiah says in,
1 co
Look at verses 2-3 again...
The disciples are given a measure of clarity on the next life.
The Father had rooms!
Rooms signify shelter, comfort, peace and safety!
And in the Father’s house there are many rooms and those rooms were promised for them.
His disciples!
Follow Jesus’ logic here - My Father has a house with many rooms.
If this wasn’t true, why would I bother telling you about it?
Not only does He have these rooms, I am going to leave you and I am going to get these rooms ready for you.
And because I am doing this, I will come back and get you so you can be with Me!
What a comfort this must have been to the ears of the disciples!
Jesus, the truth teller just told them, just promised them what they had to look forward to!
A guaranteed place in the Father’s Kingdom.
What an amazing promise from the Lord...
“Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven.
We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii.
What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven.
Nothing less can satisfy us.”
― Randy Alcorn, Heaven
But look in the text how Jesus throws them an interesting “by the way”.
Fellas, you do know what I am talking about, right?
You do know where I am going?
You have to admire Thomas’ candor.
“Um, Jesus?
Yeah, we’re really not sure about this.
Where are you going?”
Just when you think they are starting to understand, someone opens their mouth and demonstrates their ignorance!
Now, I’m not sure if Jesus did a face-palm to his head or if He simply took Thomas’ words in stride, but seemingly without missing a beat, Jesus gives, what has become one of the most quoted verses in the Scriptures...
These words of Jesus pack a punch and there has been much ink spilt regarding this verse.
But there is one thing the disciples could not miss and we dare not miss either.
Whether you like it or not Jesus makes it abundantly clear regarding the exclusive nature of faith in Christ.
In other words, Christ is our ONLY hope to get to those rooms He promised.
The heaven you are looking forward to has only one path.
And that path is Jesus.
Jesus is the door!
Jesus is the path!
I can picture Him looking in the eyes of Thomas and saying, “You want me to show you the way?
You already know the way, Thomas!
I am the way!”
I am the path to the Father’s home!
I am the exclusive way to eternal life.
I am the true path.
There is only one true path to my Father’s house that leads to life!”
This exclusive claim is off-putting to people outside the faith.
Dr. Bruce Ware, in his artical titled - Only One Way?
The Exclusivity of Jesus Christ and the Gospel Discusses two questions and three positions...
Well, that preaches nice and it feels good and it all but promises that no matter what you believe, as long as it incorporates some aspects of morality, well then you are on your way to the middle of the wheel!
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