Sermon - June 28/29/30, 2014

Sermon June 28/29/30,2014, Pentecost 3
Retirement sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert

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        There is a reason I chose June 30 as the date for fully retiring.  It is
because it was on June 30 in 1957 that I was first installed as a pastor
and given the wonderful privilege of serving in the public ministry of
Jesus, my and your Savior and Lord.  Thinking of that beginning date, I
thought it would be meaningful, at least to me, to choose June 30, the
beginning date, as also the ending date to leave the called public
ministry - but certainly not to leave my daily Christian life.  By choosing
and announcing June 30 as the retirement date, I now knew and you
were informed as to exactly when, God willing, that would happen. 
        But there is another day that is coming, an unknown date, about
which Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away ---”, but then also
said “No one knows about that day or hour ---.”
        What about that final day, or our own individual final day?  What is
important with regard to that and applies to all of us?  What is important
is that  IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!   It’s all about God’s Son who in
our text assures all of His followers that they have a wonderful
retirement home waiting for them. 
IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!
I   HE IS THE WAY.  (1-2,6)
    1. There is something that is coming.  (1a)
“Do  not let your hearts be troubled.” 
        a) There is something that is troubling, namely death.  Jesus had
             been talking about that with His disciples when He had instituted
            the Lord’s Supper and had referred to His coming death when
            His body would be given and His blood would be shed.  But not
            only His death was coming.  He said that His disciples also
            would be at risk.  Violent deaths were coming for just about all
            of them too.
        b) But it doesn’t take a violent death, does it, to make death
            troubling.  Death and trouble came because of Adam and Eve’s
            sin.  It’s not what God intended with His creation.  Death is
            troubling.  Yet Jesus told them here not to be troubled.
    2. Trust what Jesus says.  (1-2a)
“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.” 
        a) Jesus knew who He was and why He had come, as Scripture says
            elsewhere about Him: “[He] made himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being
found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
        b) But in our text Jesus also spoke about after His death, about
            being in heaven again, in His Father’s house, and said that we
            would be there too in our own dwelling places.  For that our text
            uses the word “rooms”, but that might make us think of small
            one room apartments.  More accurately translated it should be
            not rooms but dwelling places, where we will dwell in heaven.
    3.  Thank God for Jesus’ preparations!  (2)
“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.”
        a) The word “there” is not in the original Greek here.  That makes it
            sound as though Jesus was going to prepare our dwelling places
            there in heaven, like maybe cleaning up before we get there.  I’m
            sure that won’t be necessary.
        b) Jesus wasn’t going there to heaven to prepare.  His preparing was
            the work He was doing right here on earth.  That preparing took
            Him from the table where He had instituted the Lord’s Supper to
            the Garden of Gethsemane where He prayed in agony, asking if
            there was another way to save us, but ending His prayer with
            “Your will be done.”  That preparing brought Him before the
            church leaders who rejected Him as the promised Christ, to
            Pontius Pilate who recognized His innocence but sentenced Him
            to death, to the cross where He cried out in agony, “My God,
            My God, why have You forsaken Me?”, and then - His
            preparing work for our salvation being completed - victoriously
            shouted out “It is finished!”, and three days later proved His
            preparations completed with His resurrection from the dead.
    4. Thank God that Jesus is the way.    (2,6)
        a) Remember that we have been promised a heavenly home.  (2)
“In my Father’s house are many rooms (dwelling places); if it were
not so, I would have told you.  I am  going [there] to  prepare a
place for you.”
        b) We don’t and can’t get there  by any of our efforts or money  or
             anything else.  Jesus did all the preparing necessary. 
        c) Thank God  Jesus is the Way - IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!  (6)
 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one
comes to the Father except through me.”
II   HE IS THE TRUTH  (2-6)
    1. We can be like Thomas.  (4-5)
“You know the way to the place where I am going.”  Thomas said to
him, “Lord, we don’t know where  you are going, so how can we
know the way?”
        a) Jesus had instructed His disciples for three years, spoken clearly
            even as to the exact day, the third day after His death, that He
            would arise from the dead.  Yet Thomas doubted also that
            fulfilled truth for a whole week after Jesus’ resurrection.    
        b) What about us?  The best medical science can’t stop death, let
            alone promise us something after death.  Can we too doubt?
    2. How can we be sure?  (5)
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where  you are going, so
how can we know the way?”
        a) Jesus fulfilled everything Scripture had foretold about Him.  The
             disciples had those Old Testament prophecies.  They personally
            saw Jesus fulfill every promise that had been made about Him.
        b) We have the same Scripture, the Old Testament promises and the
            New Testament fulfillment.  Hear that Word.  Continue in that
            Word.  God does keep His promises.
    3. Yes, Jesus always spoke the truth.
        a) Before Pontius Pilate Jesus had said, “Everyone on the side of
truth listens to me.” and Pilate responded, “What is truth?”
        b) Don’t be like Pontius Pilate or like doubting Thomas.  There is
            such a thing as God’s truth about which we can be sure.
    4. Thank God that Jesus is the truth.  (6)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one
comes to the Father except through me.”
        a) Jesus said (Mt. 24:35b), “My words will never pass away.”
        b) Yes, IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!  Jesus has proved His truth.
        c) And we’ll be a part of that proof in our own resurrections to life.  
III   HE IS THE LIFE.  (1,3,6)
    1. Let trust fill our lives.  (1)
“Do  not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in
me.”
        a) After a funeral we see only death and not life and perfection.
        b) But we know Jesus is alive, a fact witnessed by hundreds of
            people, and we have Jesus’ promise: “I am the resurrection
and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.”
    2. Firmly trust Jesus’ promises.  (3)
“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.”
        a) Our death or the last day will usher those who believe in Jesus
            into His presence to be where He is.  What will that be like?
        b) Listen to the picture description the book of Revelation gives us
            about that: “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God ---.  And I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he
will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be
with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their
eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away.’”
    3. So let us clearly confess “IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!”  (6b)
“No one comes to the Father except through me.”
        a) Only Jesus, God’s Son, paid for the wages of our sins.
        b) Clearly confess that.  And be sure to share that with others as
            God gives us openings to speak, and as we use our offerings
            to enable others to proclaim Jesus where we cannot.
    4. And always rejoice in what He has promised.  (6)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one
comes to the Father except through me.”
        a) Jesus is the way, the only way - He has saved us from our sins.
        b) Jesus is the truth - don’t doubt, but believe and rejoice.
        c) Jesus is the life - because of Him whoever believes and is
            baptized will not perish but have everlasting life in glory.

        Heaven in all of its perfection!  What a wonderful retirement for all
of us to look forward to.  And IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS!