Charlie Loften: Hello, and welcome to The Grove Church podcast. I'm Charlie Lofton, the lead pastor there, and we are so glad that you're joining us. Whether you are a member and you're just catching up on a sermon that you missed or you're someone who's brand new, we are really glad that you were joining us. And if you are new in some way, and I know that a lot of people will do that, we'll listen to sermons first before they visit. I want you to know that we would love to meet you at any point.
You can join us live in our services on Sunday, nine and 10:30 or our streaming service at 10:30. Either way, we would love to be able to get to know you. And regardless of why you are here listening to this sermon today, thank you so much for joining us. Hey, good morning. Hey, if you are new, I'm Charlie.
I'm the lead pastor here. And if you were here earlier, you saw me without baby dedication. If you missed that, that's too bad. Those are great. Those are great.
I wish could do it again. I I love our little ones. Anyway, if you are new, I would love to meet you if I haven't already. We have a little thing in the back called First Step where we have a gift that we can give you. You can we would love to get you on our emailing list.
We would love to help support you any way that we can. So after the service, you wouldn't mind coming back there, I would just love to meet you. One of the questions that obviously, I mean, these last eight days in our world have been crazy. And a lot of people, anytime things like this happen, people will come to me and ask me what I think. And so I get this question a lot over and over again.
But I think the best phrasing of it so far was from Spencer, our youth pastor at staff meeting. He just kind of looks at me, he kind of goes, what do you think about all this? Which is just a really good way of phrasing it. It's like, what? And so in these moments, there's this thing where it's like, you feel like pastors feel this way, and probably anybody who has any sort of public facing job feels like, well, I need to say something.
And as I was thinking about this, as this continues to drag on and people just continue to feel all sorts of anxiety and fear, was thinking maybe I should say something. And then as I was thinking about it this week, was like, man, this is a great opportunity, I think, me. Maybe just a little bit to kind of refresh, remind, or for some for the first time, just kind of share kind of the heart and vision of who we are as a church. Because I think that that kind of speaks to why sometimes we just I won't say anything. We don't really kind of get much into political discourse here at our church on Sunday.
And one of the things that really, really matters to me to the leadership of our church is we put you belong on the outside of the building. Not on the inside of the building. It is not a phrase and slogan that we use in our small groups. It is something that we put on the outside of the building. And what we mean by that, what we mean to communicate is is no matter who you are, no matter what you believe in this moment, politically, personally, spiritually, no matter what sins you may be battling, no matter what political beliefs you have, no matter your background, your current struggles, your past struggles, no matter who you are, this is a place where we want you here.
We want to love you, and we want to share the hope of Jesus with you. We do not want from the way that we greet you, from the way that we do kids ministry, from the way that we sing, the way that we greet, the way that we teach. We don't want to communicate anything to you that makes that makes you think this is not the right place for me because I don't blank, but because I currently this, because I think this. That is not what we want. We do not want this to be a place where this is where only where Republicans gather.
This is only where Democrats gather. And you have to have a set set of beliefs before you can even be welcomed or valued here. And honestly, even if I were to say something about this, if I were to start talking on a regular basis about politics, I believe that our capital C Church has oversimplified everything. And not only has our church done that, church has done that, I think the world does this. We think in slogans and little sound bites that somehow you can break down immensely complicated issues with just a couple of quick sentences.
And honestly, can you imagine? Just think for a second. Just think for a second. You come in here on a Sunday, and what you get for thirty two minutes is me trying to glean principles from the reign of David and Solomon, the first, the second, and third kings of Israel, and what we can glean based on the way that they ran their kingdoms, whether or not a country should have a protectionist trade policy or not. What a great day that was.
This is really complicated. Even some of the things that you believe are incredibly simple. Right? How does a sovereign nation enforce its borders? Jesus says we should welcome people.
Yes. Absolutely, he says we should welcome people and and and a 100 other things. Jesus says this about money. He says this about taxes. He says this about the rich.
He says this about the poor. Therefore, the marginal tax rate on people who earn $250,000 or more a year should be what? Where am I gonna go to Proverbs? I mean, it's not that these things don't matter. They deeply matter.
And how we vote and how we live and how we conduct ourselves in this world, it really matters. But in this moment, in this place, what we want to communicate above everything is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. And really, no one really wants depth. Right? When people are saying, Charles, you need to say something.
Really, what they mean, they want me to say one of two things. One, orange man bad. Or two, can you believe all the woke nonsense? That's what people want me to say. Want me to come up, and we we want we want we want we want groupthink and encouragement, but really, what we need, who am I supposed to be in a world that is scary and broken?
And where do I find hope in life in a world that is broken? This is what the scriptures speak to, and this is where we want to spend our time out there. Where is hope? Who am I supposed to be? Because I genuinely believe, and this is what our church believes, that if we can keep our hearts and focus on who Jesus Christ is and become the men and women he has called us to be on the inside when we go out there on the outside, the light that comes from that, the fact that you can create a place where people of diverse backgrounds and diverse political opinions can unite around the person of Jesus Christ and and go out and bring hope to the world?
You don't think that's gonna have an impact? Of course it will. And this is what God has called us to be. This is what we want to be known for. I'm I'm not I'm not all we're we're not on one of their team.
I'm I'm I'm not on a team. I'm not on a team. Of course, I have convictions. Of course, I have man, I have hot takes. I mean, I know people like that's what I want, man.
We just want you to drop some hot takes. I don't I don't I don't I don't no. Because I I have a hot take that I'm going to give you today about something that I genuinely believe matters at its deepest. But when pastors like to fuss at each other, you may not be in on that, you may not get pastors fuss, you probably do. You're on social media too.
You've got to be courageous. You're not being courageous, Charlie. And honestly, mean, here's my simple response to that. If I have to drop a hot take to be courageous, no. The fact that we can stand in a place where the world demands some conformity to one of two very misguided ways of viewing the world, that we stand in the face of that and say, I reject both of this, and I find my hope in life truly in Jesus.
And I will not say the thing that you think I'm supposed to say in order to earn your respect. We are going to love Jesus and love each other well. I believe that is courageous. And this is who God has called us to be, and I believe he has called us to focus on some very singular ideas. And one of them we are in today.
And we are now three weeks into our series. It's gonna lead us all the way up to Easter. We're kind of going working our way through the upper room. What Jesus is kind of doing is he's spending his last moments with his disciples before he's about to die. Started a couple of weeks ago with Jesus washing everyone's feet and that service, and it's like, hey, as you leave out, as I'm leaving and it's going to be you, this is who you need to be.
You need to be people who are serving the world. If I wash your feet, and I'm and and I'm who I am, what do you need to be about? And then he starts dropping some really difficult news on them. Hey, one of you is actually gonna betray me. And then in the passage after that, which we're not looking at today, he he tells Peter, you're going to deny me.
And they are obviously very troubled and undone by this. And Jesus notices this. And what he has to say here in John chapter 14, if I want to if I if we if you ever wanna walk out of here and be like, I can't believe he said that. I can't I can't I want it to be because you hear me repeat the things that Jesus is saying here today. If I'm gonna be controversial, if we're gonna be controversial as a church, I want it to be because we're repeating the things that Jesus is saying to his disciples here in John chapter 14.
So they're a hot mess. Judas is gone now, and they're still uncertain about it, but he said he's going to betray him. Peter is one of the main guys. They're saying, you're going to deny me. They're troubled.
They're upset. Jesus is talking about dying. He's supposed to be this revolutionary political leader that is going to banish the Romans. Now you're talking about dying and leaving? They are unsettled in every possible way.
Their worldview is breaking down. The person they thought Jesus was is breaking down. Who they thought they were and the courage they thought they had is breaking down. And Jesus starts here. John chapter 14 verse one.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I I'm going there to prepare a place for you? 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.
You know the way to the place where I'm going. He sees them. He sees them right now in this moment, and they are anxious, and they are afraid. Their hearts are troubled. He's he he I don't don't don't don't do that.
Don't be troubled. And then he refocuses them. You have a faith in God. Put that level of faith in me. Now the father's house has a lot of rooms, lots of places.
There's lots of space there, And I'm going to prepare a place for you. And then I wouldn't even be telling you this if it weren't if because the fact that I'm telling you this, it it it shows that it's true, and it means that I'm gonna come back for you so that we can be together forever. This is what he's trying to encourage them with. It's like, listen. I see where you are.
I see your trouble, and I don't want that. And he reorients them in this moment to focus on who God is and who he is, and it gives them encouragement about what Jesus is about to do and what their future looks like. And what I love about this, about what Jesus is saying and the encouragement he's choosing to give them, is is I believe what he's what he's showing us this, is that Jesus cares for you in this life and the next. They are anxious right now in this world. In this world, they're troubled.
They've been living as an oppressed people their whole lives. It's all they've ever known. It's all they've ever known. And now the one that they thought was gonna fix it is saying he's leaving. Not just leaving, but he's going to be executed.
We've already lost one guy for reasons I don't really fully understand yet, and now one of our leaders is you're saying he's gonna abandon the project. They're mess. And Jesus sees them in their messiness. He sees them in their fear. He sees their anxiety, and he hurts with them.
He doesn't want them to be this way. He doesn't look at it and shrug. He doesn't say, oh, well, I mean, don't worry about it. I mean, stuff's going to happen, but someday you'll get to go to heaven. It's not how it's not how he approaches this.
Because I believe that one of the big false dichotomies, and that's too fancy a word, false choices that we put out there, like does God want this or does God want this? Are we supposed to do this or are we supposed to do this? These either ors that are not either ors, they're either neither's or both and's. One of the biggest ones that I think that Christians put out there is does what does God care about who you are right now or whether you go to heaven? And it's a false choice.
You know, you get some people say it's like, oh, you're you're you're so we've got lots of little phrases for this. You're so focused on heaven. You're doing no earthly good. Or it's like, you know, this world's too short to worry about. Eternity's forever, and this world is just too short.
And both of them are dismissive of the other moment. Jesus is not dismissive of either one. He sees them in their hurt and in their pain and their suffering and their anxiety right now, and he wants to comfort them right now. He wants to help them have focus and hope and life right now, and so he orients their mind, their hearts, their thinking. You're you're thinking about all of this.
Put your heart here. And also know this. This world that you are desperate to be made right, I know it's not gonna be made right right now in the way that you wish it were, but there is a place. God has a place, and it's big and it's generous, and it has a spot for you. And I'm telling you this so you'll know because I'm going there, and I'm coming back, and I wanna make sure that there's a spot made just for you.
And and so right now, be at peace and know that forever we will be together. And there is a hope there that I think that is incredibly important for us to hold on to. God is not disinterested in your suffering now and offering you heaven later. And God is not just leaving us to whatever this is. The hope that he is offering, he offers it to you now and more fully forever.
And then he ends up, he kinda closes it out with this statement. You know the way to the place where I'm going. Now, don't know what Jesus is really trying to accomplish here because they don't know. They don't know. I don't know if he's trying to manifest in there.
I don't know if he's trying to draw the question out. I mean, we've been at this now as Christians for two thousand years, and that may have been very straightforward to you. Oh, God's house has a lot of rooms, and he's talking about heaven. He's gonna go down. He's gonna die and go to heaven and come back.
But again, they're thinking Jesus as a political revolutionary leader that is gonna vanquish the Romans and kind of establish this new order for them. And now he's telling them, actually, the enemy is going to win. They're going to kill me, actually, from their perspective. Right? And so they're grieving, and they're uncertain.
He's like, no, no, no, but listen, it's going be all right. You just focus on God. Focus on me. It'd be good. Because you know my God's got a house.
God's got a house. It's got lots of rooms. And I'm going to go and make sure your room's set up, and then I'll come back. And you know about all this, right? You know the way.
You know. You know. And then I can't even try to be like, I don't know. No? I don't really know what you're talking about.
But something really cool happens here, which one of the guys actually follows up with a question, this guy named Thomas, who gets a bad rap. I don't know. I mean, all the cool things that he did, I mean, like he pioneered large movements that converted to Christianity. He was like the first person to kind of go to India to talk about Jesus. I mean, he's this well known guy.
But we call him doubting Thomas. Because because, like, but why? Like, you may not know this story, right? Post resurrection, every disciple but him got to see Jesus, and they told Thomas about it. It's like, man, I don't know if I'm going to believe this until I see Jesus.
And like, who are you going to I mean, well, who's going to judge him? The 10 guys already got to see him. Like, you of little faith. Yeah, sure. You already saw him.
Now he gets this. What he does here, he's got a really good question, which I admire him for being willing to ask. Right? Verse five, John chapter 14. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way?
Actually takes a lot of courage. I mean, I've spent most of my, really all of my adult life in positions like this where I'm teaching, and sometimes you get a whole lot of, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can see that. Don't mm-mm. But you don't want to be the one that asks like, don't know what none of us know what you're talking about.
Like, don't want to do that. It's certainly not to Jesus. But I think Jesus is drawing this out. Because he's saying, like, you know the way. Like, man, we don't even know what you're talking about.
We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? It takes a lot of courage to ask that question, but it is it is in this q and a that we're gonna see all throughout this passage where where the best teaching and learning happens, where Jesus is pulling this out of them and their curiosity and their desire to understand. And now Jesus is able to help them even more understand what he's trying to communicate. Lord, we don't know where you're going.
How could we possibly know the way? Jesus answered, verse six, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Again, he's ending it just the way he did before. We'll come back to it. He's ending them like, okay, you and you know all of this already. And they're going to come back and be like, but let's just get back to the thing that he says. So so Thomas asked this really good question.
We don't even know where you're going. How could we possibly know the way? And the way that Jesus chooses to answer this, I think, is one of the most theologically important and significant things in all of the scripture. Because there are any number of ways he could have responded to this that would have had that would have been accurate. But what he chose to say in this moment and the way that he chose to phrase it has a theological rich and depthness depth to it that we need to make sure that we fully grasp because it is powerful and important.
How can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way. I am the way. And so what he's saying here, we'll say it this way. Jesus doesn't show the way.
He is the way. What he could have said is like, what do you mean you don't know the way? I've been teaching you guys for three years, and I've been talking about all the kingdom and what it looks like. And I've used all these parables that have kind of explained and all these different metaphors, and you've seen what I've done. You've heard what I teach.
And if you put all of this together, clearly, I am getting you to go this way. This is what you're supposed to do. This is what you're supposed to believe. This is how you're supposed to live. The way is right here.
How could you possibly say you don't know this? But that isn't what he says. He doesn't talk about the things that he's taught. He doesn't talk about the things that he is wanting them to do, to believe, or to feel. It is not about that.
It's I'm not he's not showing them the way. He is the way. And just a few chapters earlier, he says something very similar. We're talking about kind of on this same topic. And he says, I am the gate.
Again, he's not saying I can show you the gate. I can give you the combination to the gate. I am the gate. I'm not the one that points the way. I am the way.
There's a metaphor out there that people like to use. That it's like God is like, the journey to find God is like going up a mountain, and God is at the top. And if what Jesus was doing was pointing people to the way, then it would make sense that there would be other prophets, other people out there from other religions, really wise philosophers, any number of people who could also point in the same direction. Jesus is like, go this way. And somebody else over here is like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's just it's just it's just right over here. They might be a little bit off, but you get there and you're like, oh, okay. It's this. It's believing these sorts of things. It's acting this sort of way.
It's having this sort of attitude, pointing the way. And there's lots of different people that can point to it, and then ultimately you get to the top. Or you're going to the top of the mountain, and there's lots of different paths to get up there, some easier than others, but they all lead to the same place. And that might would be true if Jesus had said something different than that, but that is not what he said. I'm not showing you something.
I am the thing. I am the gate. I am the path. Lots of different sorts of versions of the same imagery here. It is it is it is me.
I am how you find God. No one can come to the father except through me. You don't you don't you don't find it accidentally by following a different set but similar rules and patterns and belief systems. You find it through me. I am the way, and he keeps going.
And truth, I'm the truth and the life. He's not the one that points to the way. He is not the one that teaches the truth. He is not the one that just that that gives life or tells you how to find life. He is those things, but he is infinitely more than that.
He is those things. He is truth. He is life. He is the way. And so if you want a hot take today, the only way you can find life with God is through Jesus Christ.
And that is why the mission of what God has called us to is so incredibly important. We do not want to allow ourselves to get distracted by other ideas. We want to stay focused on where hope and life and truth are, and they're found in the person of Jesus Christ. And so some of us, we're looking a lot of different places. We've tried a lot of different things.
And Jesus, it's not just simply following his teachings, it's putting your faith and trust into him. And again, with two thousand years of reflection, maybe we can get to the point where we're like, okay, I understand what he's saying. And then he ends it by saying, from now on, you do know. You know the father, and you've seen him. Can you imagine?
You imagine, like, you've spent your whole life believing that the Father, the God of the universe is invisible. No one's ever seen Him. Maybe Moses got a glimpse of kind of the light that shines off of him as he's going away, but, you know, maybe Jacob wrestled with him in the dark but didn't really see him. And all of sudden, just out of nowhere, Jesus says, and now, like, you have seen God the Father and you know him. And you're like, nope.
No. Again, I have no I well, I don't know what you're talking about. And so this time it's Philip. Verse eight. Philip said, Lord, well, just show us the father.
That'll be enough. Okay? Just show okay. Show us the father. You say we've seen the Father, don't know what if you'll just show us then, then we'll know.
Why would we call him doubting Philip? Anyways, Lord, show us the father that will be enough for us. Again, Jesus drew this question out as an opportunity to help explain even further what he's wanting to communicate to them. Jesus answered, don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.
How can you say, show us the father? Don't you believe that I am in the father and that the father is in me? The words I say to you, do not speak on my own authority, rather it is the father living in me who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the father and the father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Okay.
So you hear this, and you may be in one or two places. You may be similar to where the disciples are. It's like, that is a lot of something, but I'm not exactly sure what he's trying to communicate. Or maybe you have the hindsight again of two thousand years of Christian theological reflection on it, and and it seems obvious to you. Either way, I would just like for you to imagine what the disciples are feeling.
They have spent their whole lives with God being very, very separate from them. Interested, loves them, but very separate. And sometimes God gives messages to people, and and they repeat the messages. That's what a prophet is. Somebody may understand the scriptures a little bit better than another.
We we put him, make him a teacher, rabbi. No one has ever talked like this before. God the father dwells in me, and I dwell in the father. He said something similar a few chapters ago, and it almost got him killed a few months early. He says, I and the father are one.
We are of the same stuff. And everybody who heard it was either started worshiping, was really confused, or knew what he was saying was blasphemy. How could you dare put yourself on the same level as the father? And he's doing the same thing here. We have this sort of relationship.
Who he is is who I am. We are in one another. Now, this is not the time for a deep theological sermon about the nature of the trinity or the dual nature of Jesus Christ. We've, again, we've had lots of reflection over the years to kind of make theological sense of the fact how can the father and Jesus be separate separate persons but both be God. And so we we can reflect on that more.
We can study that more. We can read on that more. But at a minimum, make sure we are getting this, the big idea. Jesus is God and our only hope. The only hope we have.
This is not some prophet with a new idea. This is not somebody who's got a new spin on things. This is God come down in the flesh. When you've seen Jesus, you've seen the Father. This is not someone who can tell you about the way.
This is someone who is the way, Who is the encapsulation of truth. Where life is They are desperately trying to squish him into their worldview. God is way up here. We're down here. He sends people to teach us.
When the Messiah comes, he's going to come and and vanquish these people and establish an order of the world here that we want. He's going to make this world what we want it to be. Now, I'm actually going to die. Wait, no, that doesn't make any sense. You're going to betray.
No, that doesn't make sense. You're going to deny me. That doesn't make sense. I'm I'm I'm leaving you but I'm going to come back. I don't understand.
I am the way. The father is in me. They're desperately trying to put him in the box. That doesn't make sense, Jesus, about this box I have you in. And we are still trying to do that.
We are still trying to make Jesus the one who will make this world what I wish it were. He is the enforcer of my particular narrow worldview and anytime Jesus tries to get out of this box, I grab him and I try to put him back in and he will not be contained. He will not be contained by our narrow understanding or or what we wish were true about this world, what we think he's supposed to be doing. It wasn't true for them. It's not true for us.
Every time we try to box him in, we are limiting who Jesus Christ is and who he is is fully god. Who he is is the way to life. He is the life. He is the way. He is the truth.
And that is the only place where we can find hope. There are there are no religions. There are no philosophies. There are no political parties. There are no great leaders out there who have anything else to offer us.
Life and hope is found in Jesus. We are not another election cycle away from hope. Again, this is serious where we're living, and I'm not saying you shouldn't vote. I'm not saying you shouldn't be engaged. I'm not saying you shouldn't care about what the last eight days have been.
I was having this conversation with my wife the other day asking me if I'm worried, and I was like, yes and no. I've lived long enough to we've been on the verge of World War three nine or 10 times. Eventually, one of them is going to lead to it. And so, on the one hand, I'm not worried. On the other hand, of course, And on the other hand, on the greatest hand, that's my my hope is not in these particular leaders being able to figure it out.
My hope is in Jesus and I don't need this world to have it together, to have peace, to have hope, to have life. But even if we weren't on the verge of something terrible or experiencing all of this chaos, you can say it in a small way, your world. You're not one promotion away from hope. You're not one income boost away. You're not one relationship away.
Again, all things that are perfectly fine to pursue your career, pursue relationships. But that's not where hope and life are found either. God has called us to to be hope and light in this world, to make a difference in this world, but that is not the same that this world is where I place my hope. I place my hope and faith and trust in Jesus alone. And so some of you here have never done that.
You've never really experienced the weight and power that comes from putting your hope and trust fully in Jesus' death on the cross for you so that he can be the way for you. If you have not, I I beg you to let let today be that day. And then just let one of us know. We want to love and encourage you. And for the rest of us, we have we have allowed the troubles of this world and the boxing in of Jesus to cause us an anxiety and a fear and an uncertainty that is not necessary because hope and life are found in Jesus.
And let us every day wake up, remember, and keep our heart and focus there. Let me pray. God, I thank you. I thank you for today. I thank you again for those awesome families and those precious babies.
God, I thank you that we get to be carriers of hope for them. And God, I pray for all of us, that God, that we would we would truly believe that that is where that it is in your son, is life, hope, the way, truth, that we would stop looking for something else, that we would be in this world, God, bringing hope and light, but not putting our hope in the world. And God, I pray that that that the peace that comes from your spirit, God, would just overwhelm us. And I pray for those of us who have never really found the hope of your son, Jesus, that God, that we could find him today. And we're so thankful for him and the life that we get through his death and his resurrection, and it's in his name we pray.
Joining us on our sermon podcast, and you can learn more about us at thegrovechurch.org. If you go to thegrovechurch.org/connect, there's a form you could fill out. Just let us know that you've been listening. And if you wanna dig deeper on some of these topics that we cover in our sermon podcast or just another issues of dealing with culture or theology, those kinds of things, you can check out our cultivate podcast. It's on the same feed, however you found this particular podcast.
So again, this is Charlie, the lead pastor at The Grove, and thank you so much for joining us.