Here is a link to last week’s series, Upside down.
John 14 is one of those chapters in the Bible that helps you to easily picture Jesus in your mind’s eye.
Can’t you just see the Savior just talking in reassuring tones to his disciples in a peaceful setting as if there is no trouble on the horizon.
Jesus wasn’t deceiving his friends. He wasn’t trying to cajole them or ease them into the coming horror. He was preparing them with the certainty of His bond—His absolute eternal promise that He had already overcome the dark hour.
This is such a defining passage for committed believers because we know there was trouble on the horizon.
Jesus was mere days and steps from the cross in Jerusalem. The disciples faced doubts and fears before taking on the world. With courage and faith empowered by God, they persevered and served Jesus—all but Judas.
This section of scripture would be ideally suited for a dad, a papa, or an uncle to sit and read and discuss with pre-teens or teens in their world.
Really anyone could benefit. But kids are on my heart lately as their world grows so dark and morally threatening.
Kids who are grappling with the decision of wholeheartedly following Christ or choosing to take the bait of their world, their friends, and the lures of their ambitions in another direction. Not necessarily sinful directions, mind you. But any direction away from Jesus is other than God’s plan.
So, this week, Seed Basket issues a challenge to parents, teachers, pastors and other adult believers. Sit with the children in your world. Introduce them to the better way. No preaching, high-strung emotion or bribery. None of that works and Jesus doesn’t do that. He gives choices. (Romans 2:4)
Read this beautiful passage. Do it as a group. Togetherness is a strength all its own. Talk about how Jesus helped Thomas, Thaddeus and Philip.
Then model bold belief for the children in front of you. This world is being very intrusive and pushy. Give your kids the wisdom from God’s Word to make the better choice that leads to life.
“Don’t let your heart 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.”
“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.
“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
“If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth. The world is unable to receive him because it doesn’t see him or know him. But you do know him, because he remains with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it you’re going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
Jesus’s Gift of Peace
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful. You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me.
“Get up; let’s leave this place.
John 14:1-31 (CSB)
By the way, the word believe appears seven times in the scripture this week, bringing our total in 14 weeks to eighty-eight uses of the word, Believe.
John 14:1 (X’s 2), 10, 11 (x’s2), 12, 29
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
Getting the Seed out of the basket and into hungry hearts. Matthew 13 