Sermons

Expository Sermon on John 13 – 14
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 8/24/2024
©2024 by Maylan Schurch

(To watch this entire worship service, click the link just below.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpKx2yDAvrQ&t=5542s

Please open your Bibles to John chapter 13.

I’m going to take a quick food survey here.

How many of you have heard of “glorified rice”? Raise your hands. It is an actual dish. How many of you think you have eaten glorified rice at some time?

Back when I was a kid growing up on the South Dakota prairies, I would always take a big helping of glorified rice when it was on the potluck line. Glorified rice is made from white rice, crushed pineapple, and whipped cream. In fact, the only way I remember getting rice back then was in sweetened form – either glorified rice or a breakfast preparation where you took white rice and added raisins, and sugar and cinnamon and milk. I suppose the reason they called it glorified rice was that it was ordinary rice which was fancied up.

Today’s sermon is called “The Glorify Imperative.” By the way, just a reminder of what I’m doing with the sermons this summer. Each Sabbath we’re having one of our precious kids read the Scripture passage, and I’m forming the sermon around that particular passage. I’d like to thank Asher for reading the familiar John 14 verses this morning.

It’s always interesting to look at the context of well-known verses like this. When you do this, you often learn a whole lot more about what God and His Son think about us and have in mind for us. And that’s what I found when I studied the verses around the “I go to prepare a place for you” passage.

The scene is the Last Supper. On the surface, the disciples probably think of this as just another familiar, thoughtful Passover meal. But Jesus shatters their calm.

John 13:21 NKJV: When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”

John, who modestly calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” asks Jesus who the betrayer is. Jesus signals that it’s the one He’ll give a piece of bread to. He gave it to Judas.

Verse 30: Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.

And now let’s watch something very interesting happen. This always used to confuse me when I read this in the Bible as a young person. Out the door hurries Judas the betrayer. But listen to what Jesus says.

Verses 31 – 32: So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.

When I would read this when I was younger, it always puzzled me as to why Jesus said these words. I mean, there were so many other things He could have said. He could have commented on Judas’ departure. He could’ve given the disciples a lecture on the dangers of faithlessness. Or He could have sketched out the plot of the next 12 hours.

But instead, He says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.”

That always struck me as a bit unusual. It almost sounded as though He were bragging a little bit. Jesus walked through His entire ministry giving glory to God, but now He claims that He Himself is glorified. He says it like it’s a good thing. It’s what seems to be topmost on His mind as He stares into the next few hours.

The word “glorify” or “glory” is used a lot in the Bible. When you glorify somebody, you give honor to them, and you signal that this person is significant.

It’s like at a political convention. One of the purposes of a political convention is to demonstrate that a candidate has what it takes to fulfill a high responsibility. In other words, you are “glorifying” that candidate, in a way that you hope helps people make a decision about whether to vote for that person and support them. You are saying, “This person is not just an ordinary person. This person is eminently well-suited to be successful in the role they are campaigning for, and here are some reasons why.”

And what’s so interesting is that this isn’t the only time Jesus mentions glorification. In John chapters 12 through 17, He mentions glory and glorifying more than 15 times. In His famous prayer in John 17, for the disciples and for future people who would become disciples, just in that one prayer Jesus mentions glorifying five times.

Because Jesus knows that glorifying God means to rescue God’s reputation — spreading the truth about who God is and what He is like. The character of God, of course, is what the “great controversy” has always been about.

And again and again, Jesus insists that you and I need to have a role in revealing God’s wonderful character, which has been so badly damaged.

How do we do this? Fortunately, Jesus goes immediately to work and tells us how.

Verses 31 – 35: So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If you like to take down sermon points, here comes what you could call Sermon Point One:

What’s the first advice Jesus gives us about how to glorify God – how to enhance His reputation?

Love each other.

Did you notice how this will glorify God? Jesus says that if you love each other, people will be able to tell that you are Jesus’ disciples. And this reflects well on God – this glorifies God.

It just struck me, this week, as I was working on the sermon, that loving each other does not only benefit the other person. It benefits me as well.

How does it do that? One of the powerful ways we can put this “loving each other” into practice is to seek comfort in the company of those who believe in Jesus. Jesus taught this to His disciples by example. He gathered with people. He ate with people. When people gathered around Him, He didn’t shy away like an introvert. Jesus needed fellowship as much as other people? Remember how He desperately longed for fellowship in Gethsemane?

One of Jesus’ first “ministry acts” was to gather around Himself a group of people He could spend time with. And as you know, these people weren’t just men – many women devoted their time and their resources to this fellowship. And the more they gathered together, the more encouraged they all became.

I really appreciate everything our own congregation does to make people feel welcome. We have alert and friendly greeters. We have people giving rides for other people who don’t have transportation. We have picnics, we have potlucks, we have Sabbath school classes, we have other gatherings. These all promote the idea that God is generous, and that God loves to spend time with us.

One of my favorite stories about our early years in this congregation is about a lady who was our head deaconess. This lady was someone you’d think of as a traditionalist, someone who might feel as though things should generally continue the way they had in the past.

This was why I was tremendously surprised when this lady came up to me after church one Sabbath. You see, back then, at the end of each church service, our deacons would dismiss the congregation by rows, from the front.

It turns out that this very prim and proper lady had her eye on a beautiful young family that she wanted to greet after church. The problem was that this family was sitting four or five rows ahead of her, and as soon as the deacons dismissed their row, they were out in the parking lot, and in their car, and gone.

So after church that Sabbath this head deaconess came to me and said, “We need to stop dismissing people by rows, and just let them leave how they want.” And then she told me the story of the little family.

Well, I knew that this would be a major change in the Sabbath morning worship service, so we took it to a church business session, and everybody agreed that we needed to follow the head deaconess’ advice. And that’s what we did, and we’ve never gone back. We decided to make it as easy as possible to “love each other,” meet each other, and show each other that we are children of a kindly God.

What’s another way we can glorify God? Let’s listen as Jesus tells us. Let’s start with verse 36. Remember, Jesus has been talking about His departure.

John 13:36 – 38: Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

I still remember the first time that I discovered that this was the context of the “Let not your hearts be troubled” verses which Asher repeated for us this morning. We know that Peter’s heart must have been wildly troubled at what Jesus had told him. And whoever of the other disciples was listening must have been stricken with terror. If Peter — big, bold Peter who didn’t seem to be afraid of anybody – if Peter could come to the place where he would pretend not to know Jesus over and over, were any of the rest of them safe from this kind of temptation?

But let’s listen again to Jesus speak these familiar words, which you have heard preached on many times, which you have heard spoken in many evangelistic series, and which you might even have underlined in your Bible. And as we read these words, we’ll hear Jesus tell us another way to glorify God.

John 14:1 – 3: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Did you catch Jesus’ second way to glorify God? The way I look at it, it’s right at the start, in Verse one.

Verse 1: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

Here comes Sermon Point Two.

What’s another piece of advice Jesus gives us about how to glorify God – how to enhance His reputation?

Jesus first tells us, “Love each other.” Then He says, “Trust us.”

And of course the “us” He’s talking about is His Father and Himself. “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” The Greek word pisteuo is used here, and it means faith, trust, and belief.

So how can trusting God the Father and God the Son help us glorify God? In the political world, it can be a very powerful thing if a powerful and influential person endorses a candidate. By endorsing the candidate, the endorser is saying, “I trust this person. I can place confidence in this person. And because I can do this, I insist that you should be able to as well.”

Think back to all those Bible stories that have been acted out with those colorful felt cutouts on the flannel boards in millions of Sabbath schools and Sunday schools. Many of those dramas starred Bible people who were utterly faithful to God, who utterly trusted God. Daniel and the lion’s den, David fighting Goliath, Gideon and his army of 300 armed with torches and trumpets, Moses raising his hands and watching God part the Red Sea, and on and on.

These people and many others trusted God, and those flannel board stories have spread the news to millions and millions of kids that they can trust their Creator too.

One afternoon this week Shelley and I were on our usual walk, and something happened that has made me break into laughter ever since. A couple of our neighbors have a dog named Winston. Winston is a golden retriever, and a thoughtful one. But this week we saw this couple walking again, and they had with them not only Winston, but another golden retriever named Louie. They were babysitting Louie for awhile.

But while Winston was still his thoughtful self, Louie was rambunctious. Louie leaped around a lot. I patted Louie on his head, and he took this as a sign of such close friendship that he lunged at me, and a second later he would have playfully bitten my fingers, but he was pulled back by the woman, who had hold of his leash.

And now we come to what Louie did that makes me laugh out loud. I even laughed out loud right there. Louie suddenly clamped his jaws on the leash, close to the woman’s hand that was holding it, and he jerked the leash-loop out of her hand. I thought for a second that he was going to take advantage of his freedom and dash away, but instead Louie gave her leash-loop to me!

Now, Louie and I had never met before. He had not had the chance to file my aroma away in the “safe strangers” folder in his mental filing cabinet. But suddenly I had his leash loop in my hand.

We were all laughing, and I asked the woman, “Now what does he want me to do? Does he want me to lead him away somewhere on new adventures?” She said that was probably true.

Jesus tells us, “Trust us.” You believe in God, believe also in Me. You can trust us.

You know what I’m going to do? And what I think we all should do? I think we all need to give our leash to Jesus. Put my life’s guidance and control in His hands.

Because Jesus is not simply a philosopher or teacher who lived, and taught, and died and disappeared. No, Jesus is the one who has gone to prepare a place for us, and He will come again, and receive us to Himself, that where He is, we may be always.

So, how do you give your leash to Jesus? How do you place your life in His control? You ask Him about it. And you study and claim His amazing promise starting down in verse 15.

Verses 15 – 18: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

The Holy Spirit will gladly receive the leash of our lives if we insist that He have it. I have a feeling that most of the people in this room, maybe all of us, would not be here today if it hadn’t been for the leading of the Holy Spirit. Maybe He led a grandparent or great-grandparent into this Bible-believing church. Or maybe you are the first and only Seventh-day Adventist in your family.

However you got here, whether you’re a first-time visitor or whether you’ve been in this church for decades, remember that your decision to follow the Lord to the extent of coming to church on the day He asked you to, this decision to make this a habit was almost certainly not of your own doing.

So let’s keep asking the Lord for His Holy Helper, whom Jesus has promised.

And it’s the Holy Spirit who uses our trust to help us fulfill a third way Jesus tells us we can glorify God.

Verse 12 – 14: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Now, those are some staggering promises. Jesus does not water them down. Jesus is not hedge them around with “if’s” or “but’s” or other conditions. He just makes these promises.
When I was younger, I would read these verses and ask myself, “When Jesus promises that I can do greater works than He did, that mean I will be able to work miracles? But what could possibly be greater than what He did — raising someone from the dead, or bringing sight to someone who has been blind?”

I don’t think Jesus might be primarily talking about miracles here. Or at least the kind of miracles where the dead are raised, the lame are healed, and so on.

I think we should remember Jesus’ main purpose for us, as we do our best to glorify God. You see, with God’s power, it was perfectly easy for Jesus to work the physical miracles He did.

But it was not easy at all to perform the soul-miracle of drawing people into a close relationship with Him. Because God and His Son have given us free choice, and we are therefore free to turn our backs on heaven. And many, many listeners to Jesus finally turned away from him. For three and a half years, Jesus preached His heart out to thousands and thousands of people. But after he died, He had probably only as many disciples as there are people in this room this morning.

But once the Holy Spirit had come to aid these 120 disciples, they went out and became powerful influencers for Jesus. And on the day of Pentecost, 3000 people were baptized, and thousands more later.

What’s is Jesus’ third way to glorify God?

Here comes Sermon Point Three.

Jesus first tells us, “Love each other.” Then He says, “Trust us.” (Speaking of His Father and Him.) Finally, He tells us, “Prepare to use My power.”

You know what this does for me? It gives me more courage than I had before I studied these chapters.

And I have a deeper-than-ever resolve to actively love those in my life, and more fervently trust in Jesus and His Father, and – in whatever way He wants to do this – be prepared to be used by Him however He wishes.

What about you? Is that your desire as well?

Our closing song is one you may have heard the Kings Heralds sing from time to time. It is taken from John 14:1-3, and since it was probably written as an evangelistic song, its chorus asks for a decision. But the last couple of lines in the chorus can be a bit intimidating: “Would your heart be right if He came tonight?”

When you come to that part, “would your heart be right?” Think about how Jesus said “Let not your heart be troubled.” Because if you are willing to love each other, and if you’re willing to trust Jesus and His Father, and if you are willing to let Him prepare you to use His power in whatever way He wants, then your heart will be right with him.
Let’s stand and sing this song together.