Home (6): Our Final Dwelling Place John 14:1-14,23

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1 Home (6): Our Final Dwelling Place John 14:1-14,23 We come to the final talk in our series on Home. In our journey over these past weeks we have seen that God calls us home. God has placed eternity in the hearts of every single one of us. We so often think we know better than God and we wander off like the lost son but as we come to our senses and as we return home we find God is running towards us with his arms open wide to embrace us. As we return to the family we are welcomed around God s table this is all of grace. We do not deserve it but we are given the rights of sons and daughters of the king. We eat at the King s Table symbolised by the communion table. Then we find that as we have received love so we offer it; as we have received hospitality so church and indeed our homes are to be places of hospitality and love and friendship (couch). Fourth we then saw that home is a place of rest and refreshment the Sabbath principle is built into our lives and we ignore it at our peril. We need to build in that needed physical and spiritual refreshment that we need as God s creatures (garden furniture). Fifthly we saw that we have an identity in Christ, we are adopted into God s family and given all the full rights of children we are co-heirs with Christ and we find our fullest identity as a child of God. We are at home we are accepted for who we are (wardrobe). Finally then we come full circle in a sense as we explore the idea that home is our final dwelling place. Sometimes we call it heaven. We are on a journey and a journey has a destination and today we speak of the final destination. When our children were younger they grew a bit tired of long car journeys they would often ask Dad how long before we get there. Sometimes they would ask how many miles and how many minutes. In our lives most of us do not know how many miles and how many minutes we have to go before we get to our final destination maybe it s better that we do not know. Only God knows. Human beings have often pre-occupied themselves with philosophical questions about why we are here and if there is anything after death. The Christian church of course provides an answer to that. In my time I have met very few pure atheists, often people who live as practical atheists will still admit on their death bed that they believe in an after-life. We believe, to go back to our first sermon in the series, that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men and women. Our sense, our feeling that there is more to life than this comes from what God has placed within us just like our conscience, just like our needs for love and security and significance. These are God things in us and come from being made in his image. We try and suppress them sometimes but they are there and are deep rooted within us. 1

2 This need and longing for home, a final home is there. The Psalmist often felt the need to be in the Temple it spoke of God s home and he longed to dwell there and envied the sparrow who could make a home in the temple. Ps.84 How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord of hosts to me. We have often touched upon the idea of church being home church of course is mainly people but as people we are very spatial and physical beings. We often identify church with the place where we meet and actually there is nothing wrong with that. As long as we do not worship the church building that is ok; if it helps us to worship God aright that is fine. I would rather worship him in a place like this, or a cathedral than a warehouse personally. I think aesthetics are important. We are holistic creatures and the physical, the emotional and the spiritual and the aesthetic can all contribute and impact each other. Just as in our physical homes we grow attached to them and they help with the sense of home and its security and comfort so the church building can add to that. So as we have thought about home I hope that you have been able to hold together these different images and metaphors the feeling of home in our hearts, the physical home we live in, the spiritual home of the fellowship here but also the physical entity of the building. All contributes to this rich idea of home and that is good. But what of our eternal home, what of our final home? What will that be like? How do we prepare ourselves for our final dwelling place? These are the questions I wish to address using John 14 v.1-3 as our springboard and three words. TRUST Verse 1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. Jesus spoke to his disciples at a time of great anxiety. They were in Jerusalem, Jesus trial and death were imminent and in the rising fear and tension Jesus wanted to give some reassurance to his disciples. He was about to suffer great physical and emotional agony yet he thinks of his disciples. He is the one who will be nailed to wood in a matter of hours and yet he seeks to bring comfort to his confused disciples. In life many things come at us we have many things to fear but one of the exhortations which we read repeatedly in the Bible from God to his people is do not fear, do not fear. Here again in 14:1 Jesus says Do not let your hearts be troubled Today we need to hear this again don t we do not fear, do not let your hearts be troubled all is in His hands. He calls us to trust in God, his Father, and to trust in him. You will notice in the chapter the very strong identification of Jesus with his Father -he speaks as if it is the Father speaking. He says in v.9 He who has seen me has seen the Father.I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If any ordinary human being was to speak in these terms we would consider them mad we cannot underestimate the power and force of what he is saying here. No other religious leader claimed to be one with God many claimed to be sent from God or a prophet of God 2

3 but none as the Son of God. Who of us would say when you have seen me you have seen God it is either true or blasphemous. Jesus calls the disciples to trust in him and this trust is going to be stretched to breaking point in what was about to come. There are many in this church and your trust in God has been stretched to breaking point it may have been a painful trial, it may have been the loss of a loved one, it may have been being overlooked for a job promotion, it may be living with a debilitating illness. There are times when we have wondered can we trust God, can we trust Jesus? This is what the disciples were going to go through and as each hour passed they would have thought about these words as their own death seemed imminent they would have thought on this. Jesus looking at them and saying trust me, trust me. This is what we do as Christians we say we trust Jesus more than anyone else and even more than ourselves. That is the call we make when we step across the line and say I believe in Jesus. It s a trust issue and I believe that he can be trusted. PREPARED Verse 2 must be one of the loveliest promises in all of the Bible. In my Father s house are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told. I am going there to prepare a place for you. Jesus goes to prepare a place for us. In this time of anxiety and uncertainty for the disciples he reassures them that he is going ahead of them to prepare a place for them. He brings to them this picture of a large home my Father s house. With the thief dying on the cross he brought an image of paradise a walled garden. Here he brings to his disciples and to us the image of a home. It is a home with many rooms (lit. dwelling places) because there will be many people there. The church of Jesus Christ is diverse. One of the great buzz words of the culture today is diversity we are to celebrate diversity. In the church of Jesus Christ there will be the greatest diversity because there will be men and women boys and girls of all races and tribes and nations. Paul emphasises this in Galatians There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal.3:28) Jesus is building his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, hard as satan tries. Jesus is preparing dwelling places for us. Those dwelling places are bespoke they are made for us, they have our names on it as it were. The preparation of our heavenly dwelling began when Jesus came into the world, he furthered it when he died on the cross and he continues to prepare it as he leaves His Spirit to dwell within us. He is preparing us here on earth through his Spirit so in a sense there is preparation at both ends. In the heavenlies Jesus is preparing for us, and here on earth through the gifts of His Holy Spirit he is preparing us. In John 14 v.15 onwards Jesus speaks to his disciples about leaving them his Holy Spirit. He is leaving but he will send the Spirit. In v.18 he says I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. So as we trust in Jesus His Spirit comes into us and makes his home in us and he changes us and gets us ready to meet Jesus. We see this emphasis again in v.23 If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. 3

4 Now this is very important. There are two emphases at work here. Jesus goes ahead of us to prepare a place for us; but he leaves his Spirit who comes into us and starts the work of preparing in our hearts so that we, as Paul puts it in 2 Cor.3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. I think it was JC Ryle who said Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. You see sometimes people view the Christian faith a bit like an insurance policy and they make their policy payments weekly or monthly but don t do much else. This way of thinking says make your decision for Christ, sit tight, attend church a bit and when you die you will get a rich welcome into heaven. But there is nothing about being transformed into Christ s likeness or being busy in serving in the kingdom and being a witness. Paul speaks about us being transformed into his likeness on earth prior to our passing into heaven. For too many people the Christian faith is a bit like my aunt s chairlift. You just sit comfortably and enjoy the ride as you gradually ascend the stairway to heaven. This is not Biblical Christianity Jesus calls us to be disciples not passengers on a great lift to heaven. In John 14:23 Jesus says If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching he who does not love me will not obey my teaching. Jesus calls us into discipleship, into obedience, into sacrifice sometimes which we do because we love him. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. RELATIONSHIP In v.3 he says 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. The emphasis here is not so much on the place as the person of Jesus. We will be with Him, and that is the most important thing, that is the most important truth. There will be an eternal relationship and surely perfect relationship is what makes home perfect. In all of this Jesus directs our hearts and minds to our relationship with him. People often wonder what heaven will be like. There is very little detail in the Bible about heaven except to say as we have it in 1 Cor.2:9 No eye has seen no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. My understanding from what the Bible teaches is that when we die there is a separation of souls and our bodies. Our bodies decay, our souls live on and, if we die in Christ, go to be with him in what Jesus described as paradise or here as a home. At the end of time Jesus will return and there will be a final judgment and the earth and heavens will be renewed and the souls of believers will be given resurrection bodies and heaven will come down to earth (Rev.21:1-3) note it says and the dwelling of God will be with mankind and he will live with them. We will be with Jesus, we will see Jesus, we will fellowship and serve Jesus on a perfected earth. Heaven comes down and here we are at home. Earth, which for many Christians does not seem like home because of all that is happening and the persecution many receive, will 4

5 become home. Here, as Peter says in 1 Peter 1, we are exiles and strangers orthodox, Bible believing Christianity is being marginalised in our society incidentally a society which was built upon Christian principles. We need to get used to this for this earth at present is not our home but one day it will be. Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth. We will bide our time. But the most important truth is that Jesus will be there and we want to see him more than anything or anyone and when we see Jesus we will see the Father. Jesus says to us today if you have seen me you have seen the Father. Have you seen Jesus, do you know Jesus? He says trust in me, I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except though me. He says I am going to prepare a placed for you. And when we see Him on that final day the Father will say to us welcome home. 5