Jesus Comforts His Followers. (John 13:31 -14:8)

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Study Notes: "Jesus Comforts His Followers" (John 13:31-14:8)

Introduction

• Key Events: Life events can open us up to spiritual truths.  These moments are opportunities for spiritual growth. They allow us to learn and guide others.

Jesus’ Teaching in the Upper Room (John 13:31-14:8)

• Setting: After years of teaching, Jesus and His disciples face the crisis of His impending death. Jesus gathers them in the upper room to prepare them.

Key Points of Jesus' Teaching

• His Future Glorification (John 13:31-32)
  • Jesus announces His glorification: "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him."
  • Meaning: Jesus will be fully revealed as the Son of Man through His death and resurrection.
  • God’s Love: Jesus' crucifixion reveals God’s love for humanity (John 3:16).
• Jesus’ Departure (John 13:33)
  • Jesus tells His disciples He will leave soon and they cannot follow yet.
  • Temporary Separation: Unlike the unrepentant, the disciples’ separation from Jesus will be temporary. He promises to return and take them to be with Him.
• New Commandment (John 13:34-35)
  • Jesus commands: "Love one another as I have loved you."
  • Higher Standard: This love involves self-sacrifice, mirroring Jesus' love for humanity.
  • Recognition: The world will know Jesus' disciples by their love for one another.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial (John 13:36-38)

• Peter’s Question: "Lord, where are you going?"
• Jesus’ Response: Peter cannot follow now but will follow later. Jesus predicts Peter’s denial.

Jesus Comforts His Disciples (John 14:1-4)

• Comforting Words: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." Jesus is going to prepare a place for them and will return to take them with Him.

Thomas' Question (John 14:5-7)

• Thomas Asks: "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus’ Profound Statement: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus is the way to the Father because He embodies the truth and the life.

Summary

• Love Commandment: Jesus emphasizes the command to love one another, a key indicator of true discipleship.
• Peter’s and Thomas’ Questions: While their questions seem off-topic, they lead to deeper revelations about Jesus being the way to the Father.
• Eternal Security: Despite predicting Peter’s denial, Jesus reassures him of His unwavering love and commitment.
• Focus on Love: By focusing on loving one another, many conflicts and trivial issues can be resolved.

Conclusion

• Love One Another: Following Jesus' command to love one another can transform our lives and communities, reflecting God's love to the world.
• Personal Reflection

Transcript

Jesus comforts His Followers. (John 13:31-14:8)

 
Full Transcript

 I believe that certain events in our lives make us more open to spiritual truths. These moments might include leaving home for the first time maybe to go to university. Or getting married, having a first child. For the older amongst us, those children leaving home, or a serious illness, are own or a loved one. The loss of a close friend, job loss, due to redundancy. But there are also positive events like getting a promotion or a new job and also have the same effect.

Over the years I think I have understood this principle more and more

In fact, I believe the main point of these critical moments in life is that they are opportunities for spiritual growth. 

I've now recommended this is how we should approach such things and see them as an opportunity to learn spiritual truths or to help us lead others who are going through similar things.

Sometimes all we have to do to really help someone is to live a godly life before them and when the crisis happens or when they ask for help or advise they may be more receptive then than before.

I believe Jesus Christ used this approach with his disciples. This is evident in the Upper Room Discourse. After years of teaching and living with His disciples, Jesus and His followers faced their biggest crisis: His impending death.

Welcome to TBPDP….

This moment we are looking at today is not only a crisis but also a monumental event for the disciples to adjust to. Because after He dies Jesus tells them they are to take the gospel to the world. But at this point they fell they are not ready to do this

So, Jesus gathers them in the upper room to prepare them. He begins by washing their feet, teaching an important spiritual lesson. He then announces that one of them will betray Him, after which that person leaves. Jesus then continues by teaching them critical spiritual truths, particularly given the gravity of the situation.

In John chapters 13 and 14, Jesus is interrupted four times. Peter, Thomas, Philip, and Judas (not Iscariot) each ask questions, and Jesus answers them. Today, we'll examine the beginning of this teaching and cover the first two of the questions he faced and see how he responded to them.

Let's begin with John 13:31. The Bible tells us...

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial.

31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. 33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another

(john 13: 31-37)

In these verses, which are occurring just after Judas has left, Jesus turns to the disciples and begins to teach them. He touches on three main topics.

1      His future glorification.

Firstly, Jesus speaks of His impending glorification. He says "Now is the Son of Man glorified. He says." The term "glorify" means to manifest, to reveal. Jesus is saying that the time has come for Him to be fully revealed as the Son of Man. 

So far throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus has often said, "My hour has not yet come." But Now, He declares, "My hour has come," referring to His death and crucifixion. 

In the events to come, Jesus will be fully revealed as the Messiah, the Son of Man, and the Son of God.

Additionally, Jesus states, "God is glorified in Him." Not only is Jesus revealed through the cross, but God is also revealed to humanity through Him. 

But how is God revealed in Jesus' death? The answer lies in God's love. John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." It is the crucifixion that will show the extent of God's love for humanity. 

Jesus' death was God's way of dealing with the fundamental human problem of separation from God due to sin. 

2.             Jesus’ Departure.

The second topic Jesus addresses is His departure. In verse 33, He says, "He will be with them for a little but where he is going they cannot come,' So Jesus tells the disciples that He is about to leave. 

This glorification of Jesus will continue after His ascension, restoring Him to the glory He had before the incarnation, and it’s going to happen soon.

This news deeply affects them, as they are not prepared for this. Jesus is preparing them for what is about to happen. He says He will be with them for a little while longer, and then He will go where they cannot follow. 

Unlike the unresponsive, who Jesus said would die in their sins, the disciples will not face such a fate.

Unlike His permanent separation from the unrepentant, Jesus’ separation from His disciples would be temporary, he says. He promises, "I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." So, despite announcing His departure, Jesus emphasizes the temporary nature of this separation as a way to offer comfort the disciples.

3.             Introduction of a New Commandment

The third critical point Jesus makes when He says: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." This commandment is a cornerstone of His teaching and reveals what Jesus most wants to impart to the disciples at this crucial moment.

Jesus’ focus on love has been evident throughout this passage. 

Earlier in chapter 13, by the foot-washing scene, Jesus demonstrated His love by serving the disciples, emphasizing that He loved them "to the end" – fully and completely. This act highlighted the lesson He wanted them to grasp, in that after His departure, they must love one another.

Jesus’ commandment to love one another is not new but He introduces a higher standard of love here. While Moses in the commandments taught, "Love your neighbour as yourself," Jesus raises the bar: to "Love one another as I have loved you." This love, modelled by Jesus, will now involve self-sacrifice, going beyond mere affection or duty.

Jesus’ love for humanity included His ultimate sacrifice of giving His life. Therefore, His commandment to love others means we must be willing to sacrifice for each others sake also. Biblical love, as Jesus commands, entails doing what’s best for others, even at a personal cost, particularly for our fellow believers. 

There is a sense that within our local Christian communities and churches we should have a loving sense of stewardship for one another

The record from the diary of Ernest Shackleton’s and his exploration of the South Poles tells us how during their time of being trapped on the ice for months and months they faced starvation. One night, Shackleton saw the leader of the expedition going through a younger weaker man’s sack and interfering with his food. Shackleton initially feared the worst, thinking the older man was stealing food, but then he noticed he was placing his own food ration in the younger man’s pack. Instead he soon realised that what he witnessed was an act of selfless love.

This story embodies for me the essence of Jesus’ commandment: to sacrifice our resources, even our very last, for the benefit of others. 

This is the ideal Jesus sets for us, to love as He loved – selflessly and sacrificially.

Frankly, I don't think we usually need to go to such extreme lengths to fulfil Jesus' command, because we are not often called to face such dramatic circumstances. 

However, what Jesus might be asking us to do is to sacrifice our pride, to speak to someone we might think is beneath us, or whose life choices challenges us and to set aside our self-interest to meet someone else's needs. 

This might mean sacrificing something we want in order to provide for someone else. It may not be the last morsel of food you give, but it could be something as simple as giving your time to encourage someone or visiting someone who is lonely or in need. 

Jesus tells us to love one another as He loved us, which means loving each other sacrificially.

Now, notice He says: "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." Jesus Christ says that if we manifest this kind of love, people will know that we are His followers because we are demonstrating the love He has for us, to other people.

Over the years, I learned that sometimes Christians take pride in being known for something. I’ve been with groups that had a distinctive doctrine they were proud of. They felt like they are the last ones to hold to a particular doctrine, and they want to be known for it. 

But Jesus did not say we would be known by our doctrine, even though correct doctrine is important.; He said we ought to be known by our love, because that is the thing that those who are not Christian believers will most notice about us.

Some other Christians love to glory in the supernatural. They want to be known for the manifestation of spiritual gifts within their lives. But as I read the Bible, it seems to me that God is more concerned about manifesting the fruit of the Spirit than the gifts of the Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit bestows gifts sovereignly as He wills, and not every believer has the same gift. Not every assembly has the same set of gifts, but every single believer can have the fruit of the Spirit, every single believer can express the gift of the Spirit that is love.

In my estimation it ought to be the fruit of the Spirit which the manifestation of the gifts brings about that takes centre stage. The first among these fruits is love. 

When people look at a church community, they should say, That is a lovely group of people, they love each other, they minister to each other, and care about each other." That should be what characterizes us as a church community.

I’ve been in hundreds, of churches over the years. It absolutely amazes me how some petty things can spark a civil war within a church. People can pick at minor things and want to fight about them endlessly

But Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." If we loved one another, if we sacrificed for one another, others would know that we are truly following Jesus Christ. 

I understand that godly people can differ on how things ought to be done. I understand that. But I have a hard time with how upset we become over even trivial matters. 

What God wants us to do is love one another. That's also what He wants us to show to the world also.

Most church congregations are made up of a diverse a group of people. We should leave it to the world if they want to clash over race culture, or identity politics. Anytime any group of people with different cultures and backgrounds come together, differences are inevitable. But I know the one and only thing that will ever hold every congregation together is our love for one another, and our love of God.

The church today on earth is called to reveal the end time view of heaven as described in the book of Revelation.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb.”

(Revelation 7: 9-10)

Love builds us up. And we must commit to loving one another. It is through this love that people will know us.

Jesus Christ emphasized this most critical point during a crisis time to teach His disciples the most important spiritual truth: we are to love one another as He loved us.

However, look at what happens starting in verse 36 and continuing through chapter 14, verse 4. Peter speaks up. 

” 36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”  37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!

(John 13: 36-38)

Simon  Peter now asks a question and says to Jesus, 

"Lord, where are you going?" This is absolutely crazy timing. Jesus had just finished saying that they should love one another, and Peter immediately changes the subject, asking where Jesus is going.

It’s like when I used to try and tell my kids something when they were 5 or 6. I would say something important to them, and they would immediately change the subject by asking an irrelevant question.

Peter’s question here is similarly off-topic. "Lord, where are you going?" But I believe there’s an implied question: "Lord, can I go with you?" It’s like when my children were small and saw me getting ready to leave. They would ask, "Daddy, where are you going?" They didn’t care about the destination; they wanted to know if it was somewhere exciting or interesting and they wanted to know in case the wanted to come with me.

Jesus responds to Peter, saying, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later." Peter insists, "Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus then replies, "Will you really lay down your life for me? Adding, “I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."

Peter's determination to follow Jesus will contrast sharply with his upcoming denial. Jesus is emphasizing love and preparing to leave, and Peter is fixated on following Him right away, entirely missing the point. 

The Lord makes it clear: He is leaving, and they are to stay and love one another. But Peter’s request to follow him misses the crucial lesson Jesus is trying to teach him.

The chapter break here isn’t very helpful. The conversation continues seamlessly. Jesus tells Peter he will deny Him, and then immediately Jesus offers words of comfort.

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

(John 14: 1-8)

H replies to Peter saying, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." This for me is an indication of eternal security in the Bible. Jesus didn’t say, "Peter, you will deny me, and you will lose your salvation." Instead, He reassured Peter, indicating His unwavering love and commitment to him even if the face of that denial.

He reassures him and the others of His ongoing support and presence even after he has departed. 

So, he then says to Peter, 'I'm going to prepare a place for you. In my father’s house, there are many resting places there and I will come back and take you to be with me, even in light of the fact that you are going to deny me.' 

What is the Lord is trying to do here is get them to understand the importance of loving one another. 

Then, Thomas brings up a second question in verse 5. He says, 'Lord, we don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know the way?' 

This question seems even more straightforward than Peter’s. Jesus had just said, 'You know the way to where I am going.' Thomas responds, 'We don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know the way?' 

Peter's and Thomas' questions, while seemingly a little stupid, are not entirely bad because asking questions is how you learn. So Jesus uses Thomas’ question to make one of the most profound statements in the Gospel of John. In verse 6, He says, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.' 

Jesus is not merely revealing the way; He is declaring that He Himself is the way. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus Christ is revealing the way to heaven. He also adds that He is the truth and the life. 

These terms explain the way to us: He is the way to the Father because He is the truth and the life and as the truth, He reveals God, and as the life, He communicates God to us.

Knowing Him is equivalent to knowing the Father. When you come to Christ, you come to God and the Father, having His very life and truth placed within you.

Let me summarize what we have covered today.

In John 13:31-35, Christ makes an announcement that He is leaving and commands them to love one another.

In John 13:36-14:4, Peter asks a question about where Jesus is going. 

Then, in John 14:5-7, Thomas asks a question about knowing the way. 

Putting all of this together, it boils down to a simple message: Love one another as Jesus has loved us and understand that Jesus Himself is the way to the Father. 

Through Him, we get to know God intimately and personally.

So, before He departed, Jesus stressed that His followers were to love one another. However, they were more interested in other things, and this is evident during that critical time. 

Instead of focusing on this command, they were more concerned with their own selfish interests and asked ill judged questions.

Peter's main concern was not about loving others as Jesus commanded, but rather about his own selfish interest: "Can I go with you?" 

Similarly, Thomas, who was supposed to already know the way, asked a question that amounted to, "How can we know the way?"

Instead of following the Lord's command to love one another, we get sidetracked by selfish interests and trivial questions.

If we made up our minds to truly love one another, many of these other petty issues and minor questions would vanish, allowing us to live together in the love of God. 

This story reminds us that if we focus on loving one another, the way Jesus shows us here then many of our conflicts and issues would disappear amongst us and with other.

What a great way to live our lives, and what a great way to live out the life that God wants us to live.