June 7, 2023
Author: Pastor Bernard Ibrahim
June 07, 2023
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
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? 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. And you know the way to where I am going.
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can
we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known
me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him
and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and
it is enough for us.” 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’? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say
to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and
greater works then these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:1-14
My thoughts often turn to this passage especially in times of trial
or confusion in my life or in the lives of others in the church. It is a
good reminder that this is Jesus’ remedy for our troubles in our hearts
and minds and this is not exhaustive. The rest of the discourse in
verses 14, 15 and so on also have many, many instructions and promises
for us.
Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” The first
one is for us to meditate on God, to set our mind on God and to believe
in God, believe also in Christ. You must think at this moment that this
seems almost disconnected. When we say we have troubled hearts, we
would logically think, “I want a solution for that problem; I want a
salve for that pain; I want ointment for that scar. That’s what I want, I
want healing for the issue in my heart and mind.” Jesus says to us,
“Think on God; think on his attributes; think on his promises; think on
who he is, who Christ is, our Savior, our Lord, our Shepherd, our
husband, our defender.” The remedy for us is to begin to dwell on and
increase our faith in, believe in God and Christ.
Isaiah 26:3, 4
comes to mind in the very same issue of the troubled mind and the need
for peace in the heart. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever for
the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” So, like in Isaiah, this same
Jesus is bringing back to his disciples and to us, whenever we have
troubled hearts and minds our first place to go is to go to changing our
thoughts, our focus to God, to Jesus the Son, to what we know and
believe; and in so doing our faith will grow; and in so doing our
comfort will come in times of troubled hearts. This is the remedy for
troubled hearts for the believer.
Look at verses 2, 3. The other
next idea the Lord Jesus wants us to meditate on is that our eternal
home is not here, is not in the present circumstance and is separate
from whatever is troubling our hearts right now. Our eternal home is in
heaven. What is happening to us, what we are experiencing in heart and
mind is temporary. Jesus will take us home, he promises to take us
home, he is preparing our eternal home, and implied in here is Jesus
wants us to be with him; he wants us to be with him in that eternal
home, that place of everlasting rest, that place where there will be no
troubled hearts or minds.
In verses 4, 5, and 6 Jesus reminds us
that we know the way to heaven, to our eternal home, to be with God the
Father and God the Son, who we started off this passage of meditating
on. We know the way to heaven, Jesus reassures us we have an eternal
home to be with God the Father and God the Son and we know the way, it
is through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, for us to believe,
the idea of believing in God, believing in Jesus continues to be
threaded through this passage, you’ll see the pattern.
Verses
7-11, and you may include the next several verses, but I just paused my
thoughts there. His second interaction in the prior verses; Jesus
interacting with Thomas and now interacting with Philip and the reminder
that when we’re meditating upon God, when we’re meditating on the
Father, which will be introduced here in the next set of verses, we’re
meditating on the Son. Believing on them, Jesus is reminding us who it
is that we are meditating or believing in and as Jesus is the son of God
and is God.
This is distinctly for us as followers of Christ. As
true believers in Christ Jesus this must be part of our thinking. This
makes us distinctly disciples of Christ that we believe Jesus is the son
of God and is God and God is in Jesus. We know Jesus through his works;
we know him through his words; we know him through his spirit; we know
him by what he has promised to us and done in our lives; the answers to
our own prayers, not just works that we have recorded for us in his
word.
Then if you look at the next set of verses where he starts,
“Truly, truly,” in verses 12, 13 and 14, Jesus points us to why we’re
still here. Why are we here suffering with heartache, troubled minds,
troubled hearts? Why are we still here? Why didn’t Jesus just take us to
heaven? He prepared a place for us, we know the way, we know the
Father, we know the Son. Jesus has told us that we’re here to do works,
to do the works that he did. He has given us prayer that we might do
works to glorify the Father. You can see it right there, that’s why,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son, v. 13. That’s why we’re
here, that’s why God is still giving us life, breath and existence.
Jesus is in heaven listening to the requests that we make in his name
and he promises to answer those prayers while we’re still here, while
we’re apart. We still know the way, our hearts are still troubled, but
this is the promise that he has given to us and left us with until we
see him again in heaven.
My hope for you, brothers and sisters,
is that you read through this passage and meditate on it. Not only when
times of trouble come into your heart, but to lock in to what it is; the
very simple things when our hearts are in pain, when our minds are
confused, doubting, concerned, overwhelmed, is to look to what does
Jesus want me to think about right now? Really the answer that he comes
back to us is “Believe, believe, believe,” and in so doing our faith
will be strengthened.
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