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| Rev. Brent Russett |
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, April 23rd, 2017:
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Broadcast Notes:
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Finding the God who is
Good morning. And welcome to good news in the morning. It is the first Sunday of the Easter Season.
My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church. I have been pastoring there for 27 years. One thing that becomes apparent when you have spent that much time in one place is that what you do with Jesus matters. Who you think God is matters.
This morning we are going to look at, seeing the God who is.
This morning’s program sponsor is Bruce Newman. He wants to give a shout out to Jericho Road Christian Ministries. Jericho Road is a local registered charity that exists to serve the poor, the addicted and the mental ill. They do an outstanding service for our community. Thanks Bruce for recognizing them.
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Today I want to take you to the first part of John 14. I want to direct your attention to John 14:8. Jesus is with his disciples at the last supper.
I want to direct your attention to Philip`s request in verse 8
John 14:8 (NLT)
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
What follows from verses 9-21 is Jesus` response to that request.
Philip’s request in some ways articulates the request of all of humanity.
It is the request of the agnostic – show us God and we will believe.
It is the request of the seeker – God, show up, so I can believe.
It is the request of the new believer, God, I need to see you.
It is the request of those who are in pain. God show up, I need to know that you are there.
It is one of the deepest requests of my own heart, and it probably is for many of you as well. Lord, I want to know you. Lord, I want a fresh revelation of who you are. Lord what I need is your presence in my life. Lord what I need is your wisdom in my life. Lord what I need is for you to show yourself to us.
For I know that when God shows up that many of the challenges that are going on in our lives, cease to be challenges. If you look throughout scripture, when God revealed his person and his name, he did so in a way that gave them what they needed.
Here of some of the ways that God revealed himself.
El Shaddai – the Lord Almighty
Adonai – the lord most high
Jehovah – Raah The Lord My Shepherd
Jehovah Rapha – The Lord that heals
Jehovah Shammah The Lord that is there
Jehovah Shalom The Lord is peace
And the list could go on. But what we know is that when God reveals himself – we have all we need.
So I am with Philip. Show us the Father.
John 14:8 (NLT)
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
Part of the grand adventure of walking with Jesus, is that you being to see more and more of who God is, and you start to see his goodness and his grace, the more you will love him.
If you have ever been there, If you have every wanted God to show up, then you need to hear the words of Jesus today.
John 14:9–11 (NLT)
9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.
Jesus says, it is the last night of my life, and you still don’t quite get it. Ok – one more time from the top.
If you have seen me you have seen the father. I am in the father and the father is in me. The words I have spoken are the Fathers words. The works I have done are the father’s works.
The take home point for us is, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. If you want to see who God is look at Jesus. For some of you this is really basic. But for others you need to hear this. Some people don’t like the God of the Old Testament but they like Jesus. Jesus is saying, if you like me, you will like the Father. What you see in me, the kindness the compassion, that is what God is like.
But he also points to a second thing that you are going to need if you are going to have a revelation of who God is. You are going to need faith. He asked Philip, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and Father is in me?”
Then he goes on, if nothing else believe because of the miracles. Here is what you need to know. It is going to take faith for you to see the face God in in the person of Jesus.
I have a lot of commentary sets on the Bible. Many of these are written by people of faith. Some are written by people of academia but without faith. My conclusion is that study without faith tends to lead people into discussions on the level of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.” It may be interesting, but not fruitful. Study with faith can lead to a deeper revelation of who God is.
When you go to the word, go in faith. When you look at the life of Jesus, look in faith. When you do, God will reveal himself to you.
Then Jesus goes on. And as you are reading through this passage and you come upon these verses, it seems like a complete non- sequitur. But it is not. He is still talking about seeing the father. He is still talking about how God reveals himself.
John 14:12–14 (NLT)
12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
It is like if you believe in me, you have seen who God is, and by the way, if you believe in me – you are going to see your prayers answered and you are going to greater works than me.
Let me put in a disclaimer. I don’t understand these verses fully. Some of my hyper faith friends say, “it says we can do greater works than Jesus – so we should see the dead raised and the lame walk and the sick healed.” Some of the traditional friends would say, there are no greater works than what Jesus has done – after all he turned water into wine and it doesn’t get any better than that. – So he must mean that the greater works are people coming to the Lord. A soul saved – that is the greater work.
I am not satisfied with either of those answers. I will tell you this, that the word “you” in these verses are plural. And this answer comes in the context of Philips request to show us the father.
I think he is saying that you church are going to greater works than I have been able to accomplish in my 3 years of ministry here on the earth. You plural are going to see your prayers answered and miracles done. You are going to do the things that I have done and more of them.
When you see those things happen, that will be a revelation of who God. God will be showing himself through those things.
Just an observation: While I hear of miracles happening around us I don’t see enough of them
While I see answers to prayer, I don’t see enough of them. Now when I talk with people from the church in Africa and Asia they report amazing miracles and a lot of them.
In places like that, the spiritual world, of both good and evil, is self-evident. And when they pray they expect the spiritual world to make a difference in our world - and God moves. Here we are so skeptical that I think we prevent God from doing all that he wants to do.
I believe that God wants to do a lot more than he does, but he is hindered by our skeptic’s stance.
But the point of the verses here, is that when you do see God answer prayer – that is part of the way that God reveals himself.
I know people say that you should not develop theology from experience. There is danger in doing that for sure. But it is also dangerous to see God do something and not contemplate what God might be saying.
So God reveals himself in the person of Jesus. God also reveals himself through the supernatural.
MUSIC- Knowing You Jesus – Graham Kendrick 4:38
Hear the words of Jesus
John 14:15–19 (NLT)
5 “If you love me, obey* my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,* who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.* 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.
There are so many things that Jesus is saying here. But sticking to the question of how God reveals himself – Jesus says I am going to leave this earth. But I am going to send the Holy Spirit. I am going to come to you through Him. The world will no longer see me, but you will see me
In other words. We see Jesus through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. In fact
John 14:26 (NLT)
26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
The Holy Spirit is going to remind you of what I have already taught you and he is going to teach you everything you need to know.
How is God going to show himself. He is going to do that by the power of the Holy Spirit. How does that happen.
Lets go back to verse 15.
John 14:15–17 (NLT)
15 “If you love me, obey* my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate,* who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.
He says to his disciples if you love me, do what I have told you to do. The you here, continues to plural. And you church if you love me do what I have told you to do, and the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth.
Part of the out-working of what Jesus is saying here, is the creation of the New Testament. It was written by apostles or their disciples and we believe it was the Holy Spirit leading the church into all truth.
Part of the working out of this is believing that God worked through the church councils as they looked at who Jesus is – so we get the apostles creed and the Nicene creed. Part of what the church councils decided was when the cannon of scripture was closed. We do not believe that there is another book of scripture yet to be written or yet to be found.
But I will say this, it seems that the revelation of the Spirit comes to those who obey the commands of Jesus. If you read church history, you will find that while God has always had his faithful followers, the church was not always faithful. The revelations coming out of the church at those times are often more suspect.
So God reveals himself first and foremost through Jesus, through the supernatural, through the church by His Holy Spirit – especially through the scriptures.
The Holy Spirit is still in the business of revealing God is to his people. He is still leading his church into truth. It will not contradict the truth that he has stated in his word. But we need his revelations more and more.
Jesus goes on and tells his disciples this
John 14:20 (NLT)
20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
I love the picture of this. Jesus has already told us in verse 10 that he is in the father and the father is in him. But now he goes a step further and say you are in me and I am in you.
The idea that Jesus is in us, is not a foreign idea. Again the you here is plural. He is in his church and we are a part of his church. We know from other places in scripture that he is in us as individuals. In fact that is what he is say in verse 18. The Spirit of God has been with you, but now he is going to be in you.
Picture it this way. Jesus is in you. That is not a new revelation. You invite Jesus into your life. He takes up resident in your spirit by his Spirit. But he is also saying you are in him.
Jesus is part of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They are three yet one. They are in constant communication and conversation with each other. This is a mystical union. We don’t really understand how three can be one and one can be three. They are of one essence, yet different.
But Jesus says, He is in us and we are him, and he is in the Trinity. He takes us into the midst of the Godhead. We are not God, but we are located in God, and we have communion with God, and we are friends of God, all because of what Jesus has done by his spirit.
When I meditate on that it just blows my mind and it fills my heart.
But I need to push on.
John 14:21 (NLT)
21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
I have been telling you that the word you, is plural all the way through this passage. But here the word “you” changes to singular.
Jesus gets really personal. If you want to have a fresh revelation of Jesus, then love Jesus and do what he says.
What this verse is not saying is that if you don’t obey God’s commands God doesn’t love you. God loves the whole world. We know from the rest of scripture that God’s love is not dependent on our behaviors.
But this verse does seem to make it clear that there is a correlation between our obedience to Christ and the revelation of Christ.
There does seem to be a correlation between showing our love for God by what we do, and our ability to see who God is.
Philip starts off by saying “Show us the father and we will be satisfied.”
Jesus says, if you get to know me, if you have seen me, you have seen the father. He goes on to say, you are going to see who God is through answered prayers and miracles. Not only that by I am going to send the Holy Spirit and he is going to lead you into all truth.
Not only that I am going to take you into deep fellowship with me. I am going to take you right into the middle of the conversation of the trinity so that you can have fellowship with the God of the universe. You are me and I am in the father. You are going to see who God is because of your fellowship with him.
I am going to do all that with your brothers and sisters in Christ. But if you really want a personal revelation of who I am; If you want me to speak into your deepest needs; If you want to really know me; then love me by obeying what I have told you – and when you do that I am going to reveal myself to you in deeper and deeper ways.
There are a number of you who have a hunger to know God better. You want to see him more clearly. As I have been talking you can see what you need to do next.
For some of you, it has been a while since you spent some time looking into Jesus life. I would encourage you to read the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament again and again, to see who Jesus really is. Read it through eyes of faith and it will make all the difference in your life.
For others of you, I am hoping that God will show up through miracles, so that you can see part of who he is that way.
For those of you who have trusted in Jesus, God has given you his Holy Spirit. Part of the revelation of God, is how God has shown himself to his people throughout history. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to lead you into all truth. Listen to him.
But more than anything I would urge you to have fellowship with God. You are in Christ and Christ is in God and from there, let yourself be enveloped by his presence and his love. Walk into the position you already hold as a child of God, as one who is in Christ.
And lastly, for some of you, you know there are some things in your life that keep God from revealing himself to you the way he wants to. You know what God is calling you to do, but you are not doing it. Obey what he commands and Jesus’ promise is that he will show up.
PRAYER
Lord, I ask this for each and every person, that they would know you, to whom to know right is life eternal.
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And Thank you for listening this morning.
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May you know Jesus Christ personally and profoundly. May the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart . And may the heavenly Father surround you with His constant and abiding and accompanying love
MUSIC – Be Thou My Vision – Selah 3:17
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
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PODCAST LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
