Unity

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A John 14:1-14

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Bible into a history of how things happened, how things came to be, because it's there that we'll be able then to understand what Jesus is actually talking and meaning to give to his disciples. There's two things that I want you to remember. The first is the Garden of Eden. I'm sure all of us can remember this. It's on the early pages of Scripture. God created the heavens and the earth, and he created a garden where his presence was to be with his creatures. This garden is a glorious and beautiful thing, and it is something that we are all moving towards even now. But something happened inside this garden. As Adam and Eve, who felt and were with in the presence of God, they sinned. And because sin prohibits any presence of God, they were kicked out. God sent Adam and Eve packing out of the garden, out of his presence. They were separated, their relationship broken because of their sin. I know all of us might be very familiar with this concept because it seems like every gospel tract that I've read in the bathrooms or on the streets that I've found anywhere talk about the separation between God and man because of sin. So separation from God is because of our sin. And God sends them packing out of his presence, out of his home, where he's supposed to be dwelling with them, because he is a holy and consuming fire. Sin cannot continue in the presence of God, it will be extinguished. And so he sent them out to be merciful and gracious, to not consume them. But he sent them out, and he sent them out with a promise. He says, Don't worry, I will remedy the separation, and I will remedy the sin that has caused this separation. And then you flip a few chapters. And here's the second history lesson that we need to remind ourselves of if we're going to fully understand Jesus' words in John 14 to his disciples. It's the Tower of Babel. And if you begin to look at the story of the Tower of Babel, you find something very intriguing, something very useful. The people had one language. They had one the same words they were using. All of them at one time decided to make a name for themselves. And they were going to take up this remedy in their own actions to get themselves to the place where God is in the heavens. And so what do they do? They together plan to make a name for themselves and build a tower that will bring them to the presence of God in heaven. God looks down on him and he judges, he observes what they're doing. And he says something very interesting that I need you to hang on to. One, he says they are all unified, they all have a common purpose. They are all acting in one accord. And nothing will be impossible for them to achieve. The problem is, what they're seeking to achieve is sin. They cannot just find their own way into the presence of God. And so what does he do? Again, according to his mercy and his grace, he divides them and he gives them different languages so that they cannot even communicate to each other to accomplish the sin that they set out to do. And this is very telling for us. It's very telling because that is what they sought to do is not the remedy that God had in store. And it also teaches us about when people are truly unified behind something, it's not nothing is impossible for them to achieve. But that warns us that if you're unified to something that's sinful, it will not be impossible for you to achieve that sin that you seek out. And we need God to break us apart if what we're moving towards in our unity is sinful. So a couple things here. Remember that they were trying to make a name for themselves, to bless themselves, to achieve things that they had dreamed up. They also were in their unity directed towards sin in order to get to the place where God was. This is important because now as we move into John chapter 14 and we sit down at the table and we watch Jesus talk to his disciples, Jesus begins with something very interesting that pulls all of this into the conversation. He first begins by telling his disciples to not be troubled in their heart, because what is going to happen this very night is that the world is going to break open and it's going to seem like darkness is set in. Plus, my presence that has been constant with you for the last three years is no longer going to be felt because I'm going to go to my father, and there's going to be this absence between me and you. But it's intentional absence. I'm not going away just to leave you high and dry. I am going to the place where my father is so I can prepare a place for you to come and join us. That's Jesus saying that's what's happening even now in our present day. The reason why you don't see Jesus manifest physically here is because he is currently with his dad, making and preparing a place for you to come and join him. Let me pause. Here's a lesson for you, and all of us. We often pray, inviting Jesus' presence into our life. And this is right and good. When we go home in our prayer closets and our devotional life, we're always asking Jesus to come where we are. We're always asking Jesus and invoking his name to say, Jesus, be with me. Come where I am. Have you ever considered and paused for a moment that the scriptures actually direct you towards a different direction? Jesus wants you not to be where you are, Jesus wants you to be where he is, in the presence of him and his dad, Abba Father. That is the presence that everything that Jesus accomplished is meant for you to experience. It is good that Jesus says, invite me into your life, but it's better to go and be where Jesus is. This is what you experience on Sunday. This is where you come to Jesus' house. This is where we come and we sing and have Jesus and execute Jesus' manners in his house. We come to a table and eat Jesus' food. And we do it all together. We're out there for the majority of our lives, and on Sunday we have the unique privilege to gather together into whose house? Into whose presence? Jesus, we call to worship where? In Jesus' house. So maybe we can begin to think of that direction in our own personal lives. That it is good that Jesus is invited into our lives, but it's also that we need to go where Jesus is. Where he is, was his presence is always promised. And since his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus has always promised to be gathered with his people who gather on the Lord's day. It's his day. It's not your day, it's Jesus' day, the Lord's day. We gather and we come into his presence. Not the other way around. So just a little side there. But Jesus continues. And he says, and you know the way that will get you to where, to the place of where I'm preparing for you. And Thomas is like, No, we don't know the way, Jesus. And Jesus says, Yes, you do. It's me. I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. While I am going to prepare a place for you, I want you to begin the journey of heading there by following my way, by listening to my truth, by living the life I lived. And as you journey down that road, and as I prepare a place for you, when I'm done, I will meet you on that road and I will lead you on. That's what Jesus says. But then Jesus turns the conversation and begins to talk about this relationship that he has with his father. He tells the disciples something that might be really hard for us to grasp. He says, if you know me, you know the Father. Matter of fact, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. The Son and the Father, Jesus and His Dad, are so united, are so one that one's actions and one's words are the exact actions and the words of the other. Jesus came to accomplish not his own words, not his own actions, but the very words and actions of his father. They are completely one. It is the Father that sent the Son down on earth. Jesus descended from his father's presence inside, carrying his father's presence in him, lived among us. Jesus descended and then now is going back to the Father, and he's bringing us with him. And Jesus explains this. And the disciple says, Well, just show us the Father, that's enough. And he's like, dude, you've seen the Father. I am. And the Father are one. Our unity is the characteristic of us together. The good news is, if you believe in me, you will be tethered to that oneness of the Father and the Son. Then all of a sudden, it begins to make sense that what they sought to do in Babel, to make a name for themselves and to build themselves a path and a road, a tower to meet in the presence of God, was done in sin and was destroyed. What they sought to do is now realized in Jesus. That the name, if you pray in Jesus' name, you are given a name in Jesus. That if you invoke that name and ask for the will of God to be accomplished, it will be in the name of Jesus. There is a name given to all those who believe. It is the name of Jesus above which there is no other name. Jesus gives us a name. But he also gives us an entrance, an access to the very presence of God the right way. And it comes through union and oneness with Christ. Nobody can get to the Father but by and through Jesus. I should tell you what your life is meant to be. It's to be with the Father. You ever think about that? No one can come to the Father. That's the goal of life. To be with the Father. Everything is supposed to be with the Father. The Father created it, it's his. It's been ruined, it's been separated, and now God the Father is remedying it so that he can have what is his again. You are the Father's by faith in Jesus. So everything about your life is to get you back with the Father. And Jesus says, and now I have done it. I have done it for you. And I'm going to prepare that place where you can dwell in our presence. Here's another thing that we might be very familiar with. Jesus is excited to be preparing this place. When I was little, I liked to have a new routine every once in a while. I had to rearrange my room like once a month. But this was like a very fun task for me. I would think about how I want my room laid out so that it was maximized for effective playtime. All my toys could be here, there, and it just worked for me. And I was so excited to prepare my room. I would run down and ask my mom, Mom, you have to come see my room. I rearranged it. She's like, again? Can you just leave it alone for a little bit? I was like, ah, I like new things. But man, I rearranged it. I want you to come look at it. Bo even did it this week. I got Bo a new Bible. And for some reason, that communicated that he had to have an office in his bedroom. And so he grabbed his towels or his blankets and his pillows and his little stool and he set it up and he put his Bible on this little desk that wasn't a desk and all this other stuff. He rearranged it. You know what he did? Melissa's working in her office and he goes and annoys her. Mom, you gotta come see my office. I'm downstairs, I'm studying for this sermon, and he's like, Dad, dad, dad. I'm like, dude, I'm studying for my sermon. He's like, no, no, no. I rearrange, I have an office in my room. You have to come look. And it's how children act that reveal what faith is. And Jesus, being the Son of the Father, says, I am going to prepare a place for you, and then I'm gonna come get you, and I'm gonna bring you where I am. The excitement of Jesus and what this means for us as Christians. But then he says one of the most shocking things that we have to just take a brief moment and pause and just inhale. He says this in John 14, 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do. And greater works than these will he do. Because I go to the Father. Let me say it a different way. Because I go to the Father, Jesus says, those who believe in me are going to do greater works than I've ever done. What does that mean, Jesus? What is the big deal with you being with your dad that allows us to do greater works than you did on earth? What does that mean? Do you remember when God came down in Babel and He looked at them and he saw their unity? And he says, nothing will be impossible for them. But their unity is directed to the wrong place. If only I could send my son and redirect them and my son unify them for the good, righteous intentions, nothing will be impossible for them. They'll do greater things than they'd even seen my son do. That's the power the church has. The church is those who believe in Christ. The things that we set out to do, the will of God, are not impossible to achieve. They're very possible. The works we do can be greater works. There will be nothing impossible for us to do as long as we're tethered, united as one to who? Christ, which gives us access to the Father, which gives us a name that we can call upon and say, help us as we venture to do your will. Make nothing impossible for us. Help us to change this horrible world that seeks to make all kinds of sinful decisions where it seems like all things are unfettered and evil is everywhere. Help us to overcome evil with good and don't make it impossible for us. And Jesus says, You believe in me. In my name, ask for that. Go and do, and me and the Father will be with you and will empower you. This sets the stage for what in just a couple weeks we're going to celebrate. Pentecost. Pentecost is the day where Christ, after he ascends to the right hand of the Father, the Father and the Son send their love and presence into the very people that believe. Not just an external presence, but a presence that embodies us and empowers us to live in the way and the truth and the life that leads us to the place where Jesus is. So unity for us is very important. And that's what your lectionary lesson is for this morning. To think about what true unity looks like. It's to accomplish the will of God, it's to listen to his word, it's to be united as one. The more we embody unity, the more deeper we go into the presence of God. This is why Paul and all the apostles will tell you be of one mind, be of one tongue, be of one action. That though you're sent out and scattered, you can still have the same mission and ministry together. Be united in your efforts. When you come to the table, come as one. Which this table, just so you know, while we do communion, one of its benefits is that it is a memorial that we are one in Christ. And Christ says, there's a way I want us, I want you to remember your union with me and my and mine with you, in my union with the Father. That for you to have access to the Father, you have to come through me, and you come to a meal, and you have access to the Father. Feast on me. Join me in a meal, and that's how you know you're in my presence. That's how you know you're united together with other believers. This isn't some kind of formal ritual we do. It's a meaning one. One that we should be united around. It becomes very important to us that we do all together because it grants us access into the presence of where Jesus is, as he promises. We have to be a unified church. And there's also a lesson here in the other direction. That oftentimes we might think we're unified when we're actually not. We present ourselves with, well, I this group of people, see, we all seem to be united on a common front, but in the wrong direction, towards a sinful means. What we're able to glean is to be able to discern in our lives what godly unity looks like, which is an attribute of God Himself and God's people. How do you know that God is in something when there is unity that leads to peace and love? How do you know you're in a unity that is leading away from God and is not something that God desires? There is no peace. There's turmoil, there's confusion like that babel. And it ends with division. It separates. That is the attribute of how to be able to discern if you're heading in the right direction or not when it comes to unity. So let that be our lesson for us. May we have access to the presence of God through Jesus Christ, our union with Him through faith, so that we can be where He is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.