John 14:8-14

00:00:00:25 – 00:00:36:21
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us again, continuing here through the Gospel of John in the 14th chapter, kind of a little bit of a section we’ve been taking slowly. We are, just here in the, what are we, the ninth verse, Michael? No, eight, the eighth verse, Jesus has been talking to the disciples, made this wonderful statement, I am the way, the truth and the life, you know the way, etc. and as we continue that conversation, we now hear from a disciple that we generally don’t hear a lot from.

00:00:36:21 – 00:00:58:45
Clint Loveall
But of very interesting conversation. So we jump in here at verse eight, Philip said to Jesus, Lord, show us the father, and we will be satisfied. Jesus said to him, have I been with you all this time, Philip? And you still do not know me. Whoever has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father?

00:00:58:49 – 00:01:19:00
Clint Loveall
Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own. But the father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the father, and the father is in me. But if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

00:01:19:04 – 00:01:39:16
Clint Loveall
I tell you the truth. The one who believes in me will also do the work I do, and in fact will do greater works than these, because I’m going to the father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the father may be glorified in the son. If in my name you ask for anything, I will do it.

00:01:39:21 – 00:02:17:04
Clint Loveall
This this is, I think, two things about this passage. Go on. On one hand, I think this is a wonderful passage with some discipleship overtones and some devotional flavors. On the other hand, I think this is John being John and all the I’m in him and he’s in me, and don’t you know me because I know him and those are John always, has a way of adding those layers which are not unimportant and not unnecessary.

00:02:17:09 – 00:02:21:49
Clint Loveall
But there are times I think they.

00:02:21:54 – 00:02:36:15
Clint Loveall
I will only speak for myself. I think sometimes in those moments when I read those things, when they get repetitive, and we’re about to come into a section of that in the next few chapters, I will confess that sometimes my eyes can gloss over.

00:02:36:19 – 00:03:08:00
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, well, I do think that this is a really example par excellence of a text where John does really go very deep into the spiritualist tradition and, you know, it’s one of the reasons why John does get accused of, you know, even sort of, playing over on the highly Spiritualized side. And, and I think we need to anchor ourselves here and, we need to really find the center of the text.

00:03:08:00 – 00:03:42:05
Michael Gewecke
I think a place to do that is with verse eight. Sorry that the iPad’s not working here today. We’ll get the text back up next. Study. But, you know, Philip says, Lord, show us the father and we will be satisfied. Well, here’s the interesting thing with that. In this case, we have presented the idea. Well, if this is all about you leading us, Jesus to the father, then then just let’s let’s get it done, have the revelation, get it all out there, which is by definition.

00:03:42:05 – 00:04:08:20
Michael Gewecke
And this hooks up with the conversation that we had yesterday that that ultimately the disciples continue to miss it. Right? Because the revelation is there. The revelation is with them. They have it in full. And I think the thing that’s really interesting is that is unsatisfying to them, that ultimately, Jesus, we were ready for you to show us the father now, right?

00:04:08:20 – 00:04:40:48
Michael Gewecke
As if they’ve been following Jesus this whole time thinking, oh, it’s eventually going to get good. Oh, we’re eventually going to push through this layer and into see the next one and what Jesus launches into. Then all these red letters, I think, is fundamentally Jesus blowing open the mind to say no. Ultimately, if you can’t see that the father has been revealed to you in me this entire time, then you’ve missed it from the start.

00:04:40:48 – 00:05:05:04
Michael Gewecke
And I think that that is an unbelievable, important lesson, though I think one that does hit kind of hard, and I think it does feel like we sort of get dragged down with the tide a little bit in it, but Jesus’s response to Philip, which is a question have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me, is an unbelievably challenging question.

00:05:05:04 – 00:05:35:52
Michael Gewecke
And I think ultimately that question lands hard on all of us. How long have you followed Jesus and still not known him? How long have we heard the good news? And that good news has still been contained and limited in our lives? I think this is a very powerful way of sort of blowing open the the revelation of who Jesus is, and making it clear that the disciples, despite all of their willingness to want to follow Jesus on the path, they’re still not there.

00:05:35:52 – 00:05:43:24
Michael Gewecke
They don’t understand yet what we just talked about yesterday. Jesus is enough. He is the path. Be with him and that’s all you need.

00:05:43:37 – 00:06:07:57
Clint Loveall
I do think you have to connect this passage to what we saw yesterday, what we looked at yesterday. Jesus is speaking about I’m the way. I’m the only way to get to the father. I know the path. You know the path. Follow me. And and here is Philip saying, okay, that sounds good. Show us the father. And we’ve said this at multiple times during this study.

00:06:08:02 – 00:06:36:34
Clint Loveall
John loves misdirection. He loves misunderstanding. And so here Philip has, a justifiable misunderstanding. Okay, okay. That sounds great. You’re the way to the father. Then let’s see him. And then we get this response. Do you not know me and Jesus, you know, then unpacks that saying, I am the father and the father’s in me, and we work together.

00:06:36:34 – 00:07:04:40
Clint Loveall
And if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen him, I, I, I think that’s the point, Michael, at which this text gets a very devotional. I suspect anybody who is seriously tried to follow Jesus and call themselves Christian have found themselves in a moment where they said, I just need to see. I just need something of clarity. I just need a moment of affirmation.

00:07:04:40 – 00:07:33:38
Clint Loveall
I just, I I’m ready, I’m willing. I’ll do it. Could you just give me a sign? Could you just infill upwards, show me the father and I think from a preaching or from a just a reading devotional kind of standard, that that’s where this text shines, as Jesus says, you know, don’t you know me? If you see me, you see him.

00:07:33:43 – 00:08:00:07
Clint Loveall
If you follow me, you follow him. If you’re about my work, you’re about his work. And I, I think there’s something deeply human in Philip’s question. Certainly it comes across as Jesus being critical. Do you still not know me? I think that’s a softer. At least I’d like to think that’s a softer statement than it might read in, in our language.

00:08:00:07 – 00:08:26:53
Clint Loveall
And as we read it, you have seen him because you’ve seen me. And then Jesus even goes on to say, believe that I’m the father. And if you’re not there yet, then just look at the works. And again, it’s interesting that Jesus is now saying something to the disciples that is very similar to what we heard him say to the Pharisees, look at what I do.

00:08:26:58 – 00:08:59:52
Clint Loveall
Look at the work that I do. And if you can’t get all the way to belief at this moment, at least consider the evidence of my work, because they combined in total point to Jesus. And I just think this is, it’s it can be a challenging text to study or to read, but I think from a devotional standpoint, there’s some really good if we want to hear this as kind of a sermon ish or a meditation, I think there’s some really good stuff here.

00:09:00:05 – 00:09:21:05
Michael Gewecke
So I actually think that one of the really challenging aspects of this text to interpret comes at the end where Jesus says, agree. Anyone who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater works than these because I’m going to the father. I, I think your point about the accommodation that Jesus preaches here is really important, right?

00:09:21:05 – 00:09:38:37
Michael Gewecke
That Jesus knows that we’re not always living in the pillar of faith, that we’re not always at the mountaintop. And so his point, hey, if you don’t believe that I’m the father, though I’ve made that clear. If you don’t believe it, look at the works. If the works are enough for you, believe in the works, right? Like get on the road.

00:09:38:42 – 00:10:05:24
Michael Gewecke
I think what’s really challenging is John, the gospel is written with full view of the fact that the church exists, right? That Jesus has called into existence this group of disciples who will go on beyond Jesus’s own death, resurrection and ascension, the glory of Jesus Christ that we see at the end of the story is the beginning of a new chapter of Jesus’s work.

00:10:05:29 – 00:10:33:16
Michael Gewecke
But it’s not in Jesus, the incarnate one who is eating with the disciples is Jesus, who is incarnating through the work of the disciples. And that’s a very sophisticated theological point being made here. Jesus, the all knowing one in John, is in red letters, speaking forward to the church that will exist. And Jesus is literally saying here that I will do greater works than these.

00:10:33:16 – 00:10:57:10
Michael Gewecke
That is an astonishing claim made by God incarnate, the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. I think how we interpret that. Then Clint becomes really important, and the church has a long history of taking words like this. Sometimes at our worst, reading it either can’t text and making claims about, well, then we should have supernatural powers, or we should be able to do whatever we want.

00:10:57:10 – 00:11:19:39
Michael Gewecke
And we miss the fact that Jesus is connecting, that the the, the journey of discipleship is following in his way is is being with him. And then when we do that, we might see him through us doing these works. I think it’s important how we orient ourselves to a text like this, so that we can hear how it all fits together.

00:11:19:48 – 00:12:07:37
Clint Loveall
I yeah, 100% agreement, like we said early in this study, and I’ve said it a couple times, John is typically thought to be a later book. One of the later gospels, and so John represents, we think, a time in which the church was formed and in trying to function. And if you keep that in mind, then what ultimately is the message here that the people of Christ are going to continue the work of Christ, that they’re going to move forward doing what Jesus does, and in fact, will be able to do that at scale, because Jesus is going to be working through them rather than just Jesus doing those things.

00:12:07:51 – 00:12:36:39
Clint Loveall
There will now be a body, his body, a group, a growing, a growing body of people who will be devoting themselves to the work of Christ with Christ’s help, I will be with you. I will do what you ask. Now. Yes. That’s not some promise that we’re going to get everything we want. It’s a promise that Jesus is going to be working through his people.

00:12:36:39 – 00:13:06:56
Clint Loveall
And I think it helps to remember that John, of all the Gospels comes at a time in which the gospel is not only trying to tell the story of Jesus, but he’s trying to speak that to a gathered, assembled, growing church, a body of Christ. And I think, I think through that lens, it helps us minimize the chance that we misunderstand and misdirect the words.

00:13:07:01 – 00:13:31:01
Michael Gewecke
It all matters where you put the emphasis. And I think that this last verse that we have for today is, is really the perfect example of that. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. So what’s the emphasis in that text? Is it if you ask me for anything. Right. Like for, for anything?

00:13:31:06 – 00:14:03:21
Michael Gewecke
Or is it if in my name you ask me, I write and I think that the key of reading a text like this is to put it together with all of the things that surround it. And Jesus has been making a compelling case in this section that he is ultimately the one who reveals God the Father. Right? In answer to the question, well, Jesus, why don’t you just pull back the veil and show us the Father and Jesus screaming almost.

00:14:03:21 – 00:14:20:11
Michael Gewecke
You could see in the red letters, I can’t do any more than what I’ve done right. I am the father. And if you don’t see that yet, Philip, I don’t know what I can do for you. Believe the works, right? If you if you can’t see the father, then believe the works. And by the way. Right. It’s not just my works.

00:14:20:11 – 00:14:51:12
Michael Gewecke
When you go out and you are serving in my name, my name is enough for you to actually get to experience miraculous works in your own time and discipleship. That’s the amazing kind of gift to future church that John is recalling here. Is that Jesus is saying, if you miss the the works of Jesus as he walked the earth, you’re not without the ability to see works in action in the world in which we live.

00:14:51:12 – 00:15:17:22
Michael Gewecke
And the Christian with eyes to see can see even in thin places, God’s provision. The the way that God works through Christian community to make things that are broken. Right. And to support people who are in the midst of being unable to support themselves. There are real miraculous turns in life that if we have the eyes to see them, we have the invitation to see the power of Christ at work.

00:15:17:27 – 00:15:42:36
Michael Gewecke
And I’m just saddened by those texts that people get fixated on. And they they make them into a kind of blanket sort of hope or dream, as opposed to the reality of what is being presented that this isn’t about. If you say, in Jesus name, I want to have this thing, that Jesus is going to Fedex it to you.

00:15:42:48 – 00:16:08:22
Michael Gewecke
This is about if you are connected to the creator, Redeemer, sustainer of the world, then you two will get to experience in your life the works of that Redeemer in the real world, that you will get to see Christ, that work and transformation. And it’s not just an idea, but it’s a practical, lived experience. You don’t have to be 2000 years old to get to experience the works of Christ.

00:16:08:29 – 00:16:29:00
Michael Gewecke
His name is big enough, his power is strong enough. And, you know, now, maybe I’m more preaching than Bible study, but I just think, Clint, we need to hear in text like this. It’s the supremacy of Christ. It’s the power of who Christ is and what he he does and wants for the church to be able to see in our own lives.

00:16:29:09 – 00:16:33:33
Michael Gewecke
That’s what this story is about, and not about some of that tangential stuff.

00:16:33:37 – 00:16:55:45
Clint Loveall
And I actually think there’s an anchor right there in the text. If you could get to verse 13, I, I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the son. So if if we’re to ask things that aren’t glorifying for the Father and Son, those are not the things Jesus will give, right?

00:16:55:49 – 00:17:27:51
Clint Loveall
This work has an end, and the end isn’t to lift up the workers. The end is to glorify the father and the son. And so, it’s easy to forget that it’s easy to miss that little, but crucial detail of the text. Yeah, this isn’t a this isn’t some sort of spiritual lottery ticket. This is I’m going to help you do that which glorifies me and through me glorifies God.

00:17:27:55 – 00:17:41:34
Clint Loveall
And that’s the task. That’s Jesus tasked and by extension, that’s the churches and Christian’s task as well. And, when we forget that, it is very much at our peril.

00:17:41:49 – 00:18:09:23
Michael Gewecke
I think, to bring this to conclusion today. Just a note here. I think Jesus’s emphasis in this particular section of John, the the way that he, the son, reveals the father in John, we should not be surprised that Jesus tomorrow is going to move to talking about the spirit. And we’re going to begin to see how that spirit is an essential part of the work of the son, revealing the father.

00:18:09:23 – 00:18:30:39
Michael Gewecke
And and this is really it is deep theology. And I think the church is indebted to John for giving us this very robust site of teachings from Jesus. That being said, for those of us who are seeking to study it, it’s a little bit like that. Just jumping into the deep end of the pool. It feels a little bit like you’re jumping into the ocean half way in the Atlantic.

00:18:30:39 – 00:19:04:55
Michael Gewecke
I mean, there’s there’s so much context here. There’s so much theological meat that Jesus is talking about. Yeah, we could feel lost and drowning. If that’s the way you feel when you’re reading John, I would say hold on to the center. And that center is always Christ. And I think that we can summarize today’s conversation was simply that no matter whether it’s the works or the reality, the revelation of who Jesus is or whether or not it is the way that Jesus lived at work in our own world, and the works that God is doing through and in us.

00:19:05:00 – 00:19:13:54
Michael Gewecke
However you get there, see who Jesus is, because he is the one who reveals the father. And then that’s what John is trying to to relate to us, I think.

00:19:13:58 – 00:19:32:54
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I would agree. And John is allowing us in the next few chapters to listen in to private conversations with Jesus and the disciples and even with Jesus and the father, and ask what we learn from that. So there’ll be lots of opportunities to have those kind of conversations in the next week or two.

00:19:32:56 – 00:19:42:21
Michael Gewecke
Don’t miss those. Subscribe so you can stick with us. Like this video helps others find it. If you found it helpful, that really helps more than you could possibly know and we will see you all tomorrow. Thank.