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Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled
John 14:1-6

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Fifth Sunday of Easter—May 18, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

In recent years there has been an explosion of concern about heart trouble.  It seems everyone is watching their diet, checking their cholesterol, and trying to get exercise.  Jesus’ disciples were young and vigorous; they traveled everywhere by foot, so they got plenty of exercise; and most of them being fishermen by trade, they probably had a diet even a doctor would love.  Nevertheless, the great Physician diagnoses the disciples’ problem as heart trouble.  Not physical heart trouble, but spiritual heart trouble.

Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. . .  I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  The great Physician diagnoses the disciples’ problem as heart trouble, and he also prescribes the cure: “Trust in God; trust also in me.”

What was the cause of the disciples’ heart trouble?  Jesus spoke these words to them at the Last Supper, the Passover meal on Maundy Thursday.  It should have been a joyous, happy occasion for Jesus and his disciples.  But in the verses just before these words, Jesus casts a cloud over the festivities when he tells the disciples three terrible things.  One of the disciples is going to turn against Jesus: “Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”  Very soon Jesus is going to depart: “My children, I will be with you only a little longer.”  And that very night the head disciple, Peter, is going to deny Jesus: “I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times!”  To the disciples, it must have seemed that their whole world was falling apart.  That was the cause of the disciples’ heart trouble.

What about you?  What is the cause of your heart trouble?  What terrible things are happening or have happened in your life that make you feel like your whole world is falling apart?  The great Physician has a prescription for your heart trouble:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

Jesus tells us why trusting in him will cure your heart trouble: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”  The Greek language has no word for what we call “family,” so the word “house” also has the meaning of “family.”  When Jesus says that he is preparing a place for you in his Father’s house, he means that because of his life, death and resurrection, you have a place in the family of God.  Paul says in Galatians, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”  The problems in your life are not a punishment from God.  Your heavenly Father loves and forgives you and he is working all things together for your good.  John says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”  Do not let your hearts be troubled—Jesus has earned a place for you in God’s family, God loves you as his own child.

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.”  You are not alone; Jesus is with you every day to help you with the troubles and struggles of this life.  “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”  And when this life is ended, you will leave your troubles and struggles behind and Jesus will take you to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Paul says in Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  Do not let your hearts be troubled—Jesus will take you to be with him in heaven.

“You know the way to the place where I am going. . .  I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  How can you be sure?  How can you be sure God loves you, God forgives you, God is not punishing you?  Do not let your hearts be troubled—Jesus has shown you the way, the true way to forgiveness, the true way to heaven, the way to eternal life, through faith in him.

When things happen in your life that give you spiritual heart trouble, take the cure the great Physician prescribes: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

Trust in Jesus—he has earned a place for you in God’s family.  “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

Trust in Jesus—will take you to be with him in heaven.  “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.”

Trust in Jesus—he has shown you the way, the true way to forgiveness, the true way to heaven, the way to eternal life, through faith in him.  “You know the way to the place where I am going. . .  I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Trust in Jesus—that is the cure for spiritual heart trouble.

Amen.

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