Sermon
Text: John 14:1-14
Title: It’s All about Jesus
I. When it’s not about Jesus everything is
wrong!
II. When it’s all about Jesus everything is
right!
JESUS – THROUGH HIS
CROSS – IS THE WAY TO HEAVEN – THE TRUTH OF SALVATION AND THE HOPE OF LIFE.
In
the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Grace,
mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our LORD and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.
The
text for the homily this Sunday, is taken from the Gospel lesson just read. St.
John writes…
“Let not your hearts
be troubled. Believe in God; 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? 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.” 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. 7 If you
had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him
and have seen him.”
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. 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 anything in my name, I will do it.
Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I.
We
all have our allegiances. Some of you may be Colts, Bengals or Bears fans. You
may be UK, IU or Purdue fans. You may have voted for Obama or Romney. You may
drive Chevy or Ford. And you may be creamy or chunky peanut butter fans. Me? I’m
a Bears, Boilers, Chevy, creamy…no I will not tell you who I voted for – but if
you’ve paid attention over the past 7 months then you know!
We
love Mom, baseball and apple pie – or at least some derivative thereof. We love
our brands don’t we? I eat Jif, I drink Diet Coke, I go to Burger King, and wear
Ray Bans.
But
– if there is only Skippy to eat, and only Diet Pepsi to drink, and only
McDonald’s on this exit, and there are only generic sunglasses to wear – by golly
I will eat, drink, stop and wear what’s handy, or cheap or available.
I
am loyal – many of my family and friends would tell you that you couldn’t find
a more loyal person. It’s what makes leaving St. Paul so hard. I am a lot of
bad or not so nice things – but I am loyal.
And
yet – given the opportunity – I will jump ship when it comes to the things we’ve
already talked about. And if you’re honest with yourself you will admit you do
too.
But
there is one thing we must be rock solid on – our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.
We
cannot be wishy-washy when it comes to our allegiance to GOD – Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. No – there we must be rock solid. Jesus says in Revelation [3:16] that
we can either be hot or cold when it comes to Him, but don’t be lukewarm. What happens
if you are lukewarm water in the mouth of Christ? He will spit you out! Now I
don’t know about you – but I’m thinking anything involving me and Jesus and Him
spitting me out doesn’t sound good.
But
aren’t we just that? One minute we are on fire for the LORD and the next we are
as cold to the LORD as death. One minute we shine brightly the Light of Christ and
the next we are as dim and dull as a coal that has lost its spark.
Truthfully?
One minute we show our allegiance to the Good Shepherd, and the next we are off
gallivanting after another shepherd – a shepherd of lies. No, I am not talking
about the devil – I’m talking about you. For your greatest allegiance is given
to yourself.
Christ
says believe and you doubt. Christ says abide in me and I will abide in you,
and you choose to abide in yourself. Christ says love one another, and you love
yourself. I can go on and on down this list – but it’s unnecessary isn’t it?
Jesus
says that He is the Truth – and you know the truth about yourself – don’t you? The
truth is we love Me. We worship me.
When
Jesus is not everything to us – He is nothing to us.
Jesus
said He is the Way, but if He is nothing to us – then we have lost our Way. Jesus
said He is the Truth, but if He is nothing to us – then there is no Truth.
Jesus said that He is the Life – but if He is nothing to us – there is only
death.
II.
However,
there is hope. Jesus didn’t die on His Cross for the big sins only – but for
all sins. And the sins we commit daily are the sins of self-absorption,
self-importance, self-righteousness and self-centeredness.
That’s
right – we are rescued not only from that unholy trinity of sin death and the
devil – but also from ourselves! We can blame our lives and situations and
shortcomings on a lot of things – and there is even a song or two that tells us
we can blame it on the rain! But the truth of the matter is we have only to
look in the mirror and see the culprit responsible for our predicament.
Jesus
is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is our way into heaven. He is the truth
that sets us free. He is life and in Him we have it abundantly.
Jesus
tells His disciples in our text today that He is GOD. He does so when He tells
them that He and the Father are one. He says He is in the Father and the Father
is in Him. He is shouting from the mountain tops that He is GOD! Not to brag –
but to assure the disciples that He is the Chosen One – the Savior – the One
Who forgives sin. They need to see in Him that He truly is the Way, the Truth
and the Life. They need to believe this not only for themselves, but for the
world that they will go into so that they can teach and preach and baptize!
These
disciples will be the ones sent out to proclaim the news that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of GOD Who is in the world to save it from itself. And because
we have faith – the gift of the Holy Spirit – then we have the Way to heaven,
we have the Truth of salvation and we have hope of Life. Thanks be to GOD for
the great love He has shown us in His Son Jesus Christ – our Savior from sin!
Amen.
The
Peace of the LORD – which surpasses all understanding – will guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus the Light of the world. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +
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