Troubled Hearts
Troubled Hearts
The words troubled (John 14:1, 27) and grieve (16:6, 20–22) indicate that the atmosphere in the upper room was serious and sober. While the disciples didn’t fully understand all that was transpiring that night, they knew enough to be concerned; and they were troubled for several reasons. To begin with, they were grieved because their Master was going to leave them and they didn’t feel adequate for the work that lay ahead. Even more, Jesus had announced that a traitor sat at their table, and they wondered who he was. But they were all shocked when Jesus said Peter would deny Him three times! They saw Peter as their leader, and if a bold and important man like Peter failed his Lord, what might the rest of them do?
We have these same sources of sorrow in our lives today. At times we may feel our Lord has deserted us or perhaps given us work to do that is beyond our abilities. Or maybe a friend or an associate has betrayed us, or somebody we admire has fallen and failed. These experiences hurt, and they hurt us the most when we are the ones who have failed.
Our Lord assured the hearts of His disciples by speaking to them about the Father. Jesus had told them that He had come to glorify the Father (John 8:49), and that night He told them that the Holy Spirit would glorify the Son as they served Him (16:14). Children know that father and mother are there to encourage and assist them, and they call for their parents whenever trouble arises. In a similar way, our heavenly Father cares for us. When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, the Lord replied, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).
This helps us better understand the familiar statement in John 14:6. Jesus is the way and takes believers to the Father’s house. Jesus is the truth and reveals the Father’s heart. Jesus is the life and brings the Father to us so we can have His help. We begin the pilgrimage to the Father’s house by trusting Jesus because He is the way. We continue on our journey by learning more truth about Jesus and the Father (2 Pet. 3:18). We enjoy both the way and the truth because we share the life of Jesus and obey His will. “Anyone who loves me,” said Jesus, “will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). British preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “Little faith will bring your soul to heaven; great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”
Jesus is the way—the only way—to heaven, and heaven is our final home. No matter what circumstances we may experience, knowing that we are destined for the Father’s house is enough to encourage us to keep going. Whenever in our itinerant ministry my wife and I left a church or conference after the final meeting, we always experienced a quiet joy, knowing that we were going home. Our plane might be delayed, or the weather might threaten safe driving, but it made no difference because we were going home. James M. Gray, a former president of Moody Bible Institute, wrote a song with this key theme: “Who can mind the journey when the road leads home?” In the early church, the truth about life in Jesus was often called “the way” (Acts 16:17; 18:25–26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22; 2 Pet. 2:21).
Heaven was real to Jesus, and John emphasizes this fact in his gospel. The Father sent Jesus from heaven, a statement made thirty-eight times in John’s gospel. Seven times in John 6, Jesus said that He “came down from heaven.” To Him, heaven was a real place and not a state of mind, as some people want us to believe. He called heaven “my Father’s house” (14:2; see also Ps. 23:6), which means it is a loving home for the family of God.
It’s sad that many of God’s people think of heaven only when somebody dies. Our assurance of heaven ought to be a powerful motivation each day of our lives. Abraham and the other patriarchs turned their backs on the cities of earth and focused on the heavenly city, and this helped keep them going (Heb. 11:8–10, 13–16). King David was encouraged, knowing he would meet the Lord in heaven (Ps. 17:15; 23:6), and the joy that was set before Jesus helped Him endure the cross (Heb. 12:1–2; see also Jude 24). The allurement of temptation and the burdens of pain and sorrow are diminished and often removed when we let the expectation of heaven take over in our minds and hearts, knowing that Jesus is the way.
If we choose the wrong way, we will not get closer to the Father, and this means losing the blessings He wants to give us. “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Ps. 1:1–2). If we want the full blessing of God, we must not separate the way from the Word. To “walk in step with the wicked” means defeat, but “to keep in step with the Spirit” means victory and blessing.
Jesus is the truth, and His Word is truth (John 17:17), and we can find Him in the pages of Scripture and receive comfort and strength for the journey. The maturing believer spends time daily reading the Word and meditating on its truths, and in this way draws near to the Father’s heart and is strengthened. I can recall many times in my own ministry when I felt like somebody had painted a target on my back and people were shooting at me; but then I opened my Bible and asked the Spirit to give me the truth I needed, and He never failed to meet the need. Mary A. Lathbury’s words in the hymn “Break Thou the Bread of Life” describe my experience exactly: “Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord / My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word.”
When you read Paul’s letters and sermons in Acts, you find him frequently alluding to Scripture and quoting Scripture, because he was a man saturated with the Word of God. I believe this was one of the secrets of his endurance in those many times of stress and danger he experienced. To the believers in Rome he wrote, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). The Word believed and received provides teaching that brings encouragement, endurance, and hope.
The writer of Psalm 119 knew the blessing of getting encouragement from the Scriptures: “My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word. My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, ‘When will you comfort me?’ Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget your decrees” (vv. 81–83). How do you feel when you are a “wineskin in the smoke”? Old wineskins were hung in the rafters of spare rooms, and the fire and smoke made them cracked, dry, and dirty. The people ignored them and probably wouldn’t use them again. So, the psalmist felt neglected, useless, ugly, and cheap. Who cares? Who wants me? I’m worthless!
It was a wonderful day in my life when I learned that I could meet Jesus in the Old Testament as well as in the New. As I traced the cross-references from the New Testament books to the Old Testament, and vice versa, I met my Savior on page after page, and what a blessing that was! He fellowshipped with Abraham and gave him counsel (Gen. 18). He met Joshua before the battle of Jericho (Josh. 5:13–15). He shows His love for us as we read about the love of Boaz for Ruth, and He shows His care for us by His presence in the furnace with the three friends of Daniel (Dan. 3). Isaiah saw Him on His glorious throne (Isa. 6) as well as on the cross (ch. 53), and David honored Him as the exalted Son (Ps. 2) and the loving Shepherd (ch. 23).
Jesus is the way to the Father’s house and the truth about the Father’s heart; but He is also the one who brings us the Father’s help as we abide in Him and share His life. The will of God never leads us where the grace and power of God cannot help us and see us through. Truth and life go together, for the truth was given to us to help us experience life and power in the Spirit. “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).
How much this verse teaches us about the Bible! God’s Word is a gift we have received from God, and we must accept it and thank Him for it. Christians who are not thankful for the Bible will not spend much time with the Bible. We must remember that it is God’s Word, which means it is alive and powerful (Heb. 4:12). As we believe the Word and obey it, God’s power works in us and through us and accomplishes God’s purposes. God didn’t give us His Word so we could explain it to others but that we might experience it ourselves and live it out for others to see the Lord. The Word must become flesh in our own lives (John 1:14) as we receive the Word and serve the Lord. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22).
Christianity is not a creed, an organization, or a religious system. It is the life of God in humans, making us more like Jesus Christ. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11–12). The key truth is incarnation—“Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). God’s Son, God’s Word, God’s grace, and God’s Spirit don’t simply encourage us; they enable us! “But by the grace of God I am what I am,” wrote Paul, “and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).
Some people call this “the deeper life,” others “the higher life,” “the victorious Christian life,” or “the exchanged life.” Whatever name you give it, it is simply the life of God at work in and through us as we follow Jesus the way, believe in Jesus the truth, and surrender to Jesus the life. It’s to believe that Ephesians 3:20–21 means what it says and act upon it: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!”
Let’s all join Paul in saying, “Amen!” So be it in our lives!