See, going into December and advent in any place I’ve ever been, it always picks up. And it was just, it’s still not like, there was a church I served at when the boys were really little, where I would often work 50-60 hours a week, sometimes 70, and if I worked like 45, I felt like I was cheating. Because there was so much to do.
I never felt like I did enough. Like whatever I would pour in, there would still be more to do. However much I would pour into the staff, there was still something left on the table, and somebody needed something else, and they were pulling me from every direction.
I should have known going in there, because there was a pastor before, where one of the leaders of the church got mad at the pastor, saying she should have been there eight to five, five days a week, and then deal with all the ministry stuff outside of that. And so, that wasn’t the mindset of everyone, and they didn’t mean to, but I’m telling you, Hollywood asked me to go pick the boys up from either preschool or school. That’s how long ago it was, and I would, I would be like, I don’t know if I can do that, because sometimes I might have to bring them to the church, and it was so hard to focus, and I didn’t realize till we were appointed to a different church, the amount of stress that I had just on me at all times, always feeling like no matter what I did, it wasn’t going to be enough, because we could do more, and I could have put more time, I’m telling you, if I wasn’t married, I would have been married to the church, and that is, that’s, that’s something my, my wife doesn’t ever let me do, and I know, you’re, you’re looking at me going, wait a minute, weren’t you an accountant when you prepared tax returns? Didn’t you put in the time? And, and yeah, I mean, there were times at, where I might have put in a hundred hours or more in a week, but you always knew it was seasonal.
There was something, there was a, there was a hard deadline, at least a hard deadline to file an extension for everybody who wasn’t done, but those last couple of weeks, the hours would ramp up, and it was always known to be temporary. Jesus, even though he’s Jesus, he knows what it’s like for people to think he’s not enough. As we continue this series on disciple, or in the Greek, which I love the Greek word, so it’s a part of the title, methetes, means to follow, to be like Jesus.
Now, Jesus would pour in, and he would pour in till he was physically exhausted, and he would do amazing things, and the disciples saw so much that the world might never see, with miracles and wonders, and teaching that opened up God’s Word to them, and then at the very end, he was having a great discourse with all the disciples, and they were sitting around talking at the Last Supper, and he was teaching them a powerful teaching, and you’ll see it in John 14 through 17, and how Jesus was there, and they were just having some Q&A sessions. Today we’re going to look at Philip the Apostle part two, and we can learn what Philip learned, and we can follow Jesus a little more closely today. Next week, the next couple of weeks, we’re going to look at Philip the Evangelist, but now let us turn to John 14.
We’re going to look at 8 through 14, and if you back up with the context of this, in John 14, you know, you’ve surely heard these words, whether it’s in funeral or wherever, where Jesus says, let not your hearts be troubled. Can you just hear Jesus saying those words to you? Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God.
Believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms, for not so I would not have told you. I go there to prepare a place for you, and you know the place where I am going, and this is where Thomas steps in.
Now we could do a whole series on Thomas, couldn’t we? Thomas says, Lord, how are we going to find you? We don’t know where you’re going. We don’t know the way there, and Jesus says the famous words, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me.
But that is John 14 6, which we know so well, but if we look at 7, he says these words that are going to pour right into what we’re talking about today. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.
To know Jesus is to know the Father. Will you stand as you are able? Let’s pick up at 8. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe in me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, this is what I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. The Word of God, our God God, for the people of God, thanks be to God.
Amen. You may be seated. First thing we have to see here with Philip that we need to know as disciples is it’s okay to ask questions, even if the questions may reveal something you don’t want it to reveal.
Philip’s question revealed that he didn’t know Jesus as well as he thought he did. He had been with him day in and day out for three years, and yet he didn’t know everything there was to know about Jesus. Jesus had already said to Thomas, if you have seen the Father, then you have seen me.
And then Philip says, it will be enough if we can see the Father. As in, it’s not quite enough, Jesus. We need more.
We need something else. We want to see, hear the voice of God himself, whether it’s through a burning bush, whether it’s in the wilderness, whether it’s in a bolt of lightning, show us the Father, and we will believe. Even today, we clock in with our religious time, but don’t really don’t know Jesus.
Consequently, if we ask questions, if Jesus is enough, we question, is Jesus enough? And ask, isn’t there more? Have you ever been in that place in your faith where you think, isn’t there more? Jesus was telling Philip, you can do greater things than I do, because I am going to the Father, I am sending the Holy Spirit, and when the Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit falls on you, and the Holy Spirit is within you, then I am within you. When you hear my words, you hear the words of the Father, that we are one Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are one God. It’s not Jesus and God, it’s one God, and they are all connected.
Jesus is God, Jesus is alive, Jesus is real. I know you’ve heard all those words before, but it’s like knowing so much about someone, someone you admire, someone who is famous, whether it’s a politician, or a football player, whatever it is, you study them, you know about them, but until you talk with them, you have a little Q&A, you become friends with someone, you don’t really know them until you’re friends. I’m gonna say something crazy, it’s not even the end of the sermon, so don’t let me lose you.
I’m not sure church is even worth it without Jesus. I’m not sure it’s worth it to do, to put in so much time, and to pour into it, without Jesus. What I want from you more than money, than time, than your expertise, is I want you to experience personally, in your heart and in your life, the power and the love of Jesus.
I want you to know without a doubt that you’re walking with Jesus, and that Jesus is in you, and that because you know Jesus, it is enough. That because he spread his arms out and said it is finished, that there wasn’t anything else to do, that Jesus did everything for us that we need, and all that we need, the answer is Jesus. And I want him to be more than someone you read about.
Disciples know that Jesus isn’t just a Marvel comic hero. He’s so much more. He isn’t just someone who makes who makes SportsCenter.
He’s so much more, and he’s real, and he’s in this room, and he’s inviting you deeper and deeper into relationship with him. Tim Keller told the story about how many years ago, when he was a pastor, he met with a teenage girl in the congregation, and she was about 16 at the time, and she was discouraged, borderline depressed. He tried to encourage her, but there was a revelatory moment when she said, yes, pastor, yes, I know Jesus loves me.
I know he saved me, and he’s going to take me to heaven, but what good is it when no boy in school will even talk to me? She said she knew all this stuff, all these truths about being a Christian, but they were of no comfort to her. They weren’t here in the present. They didn’t impact her in her life, and the attention or lack of it of a cute boy was more consoling, more energizing, and more foundational to her joy and self-worth in the love of Christ, and he says this was a perfectly normal response for a teenager.
Needless, nevertheless, it was revealing of our own hearts. Jonathan Edwards, he said, would say that she had the opinion that Jesus loved her, but she didn’t really know it. Christ’s love was an abstract concept, while the love of others was real to her heart.
I got to tell you, there’s something on my journey where it was, it’s easy to love another person. It’s easy to love your family members, most of the time. It’s easy to love someone who is there and tangible, but you have to know Jesus is real in order to love him.
You have to experience that, and I so want everyone to experience it. Philip said, show us the Father, and that is enough for us. Jesus said, have I been with you so long so you still not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen the Father, how can you say, whoever has seen me has seen the Father? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
Those words that Jesus says, that Jesus is enough. In Jesus, we are revealed, the Father, the Holy Spirit, the whole Godhead, to understand who God is and follow him. Discipleship is not just about had knowledge and learning.
It’s about knowing and following the one who gave everything for us. Mark Buchanan tells the story about Arthur Burns, who was a Jewish economist, but he had great influence in Washington during the tenure of several presidents, and he had gone to enough of their meetings, and finally they asked him to pray at a gathering of evangelical politicians. Does that sound like an old? No, it’s true.
It’s possible, but it was a gathering of evangelicals, and they asked a Jewish man to pray who had been coming to their meetings, and no one wanted him to pray, and finally someone just boldly asked him to pray, and he stunned his hosts with this prayer. Lord, I pray that Jews would come to know Jesus Christ, and I pray that Buddhists would come to know Jesus Christ, and I pray that Muslims would come to know Jesus Christ, and then the most stunning of all, he said, and I pray that Christians would come to know Jesus Christ. Philip asked Jesus to reveal the Father.
Jesus said that if anyone knows him, they know the Father. Disciples have learned what Philip learned. Jesus is alive, he’s real, and he’s enough.
He is all we need to know to know the Father. He is all we need to know, on a slight tangent. So how do you get to know him? You open your heart to him.
You read the words of Scripture, and when you’re especially close, you can hear Jesus speaking to you directly, not just speaking to Philip, not just speaking to Thomas, but you as a disciple of Jesus. In John 15, I have on the slide 16, but it’s John 15, Jesus goes on in the next chapter. He says, you are my friends if you do what I command you.
How do we get to know Jesus? We do what he says to do. We trust in him. We step out in faith.
I mean, most of us in this day and age don’t want to be commanded by anyone, but you’re not gonna know Jesus if you don’t obey God, if you don’t listen to God’s Word, if you don’t trust the words of the Bible. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer will I call you servants, for a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.
Jesus doesn’t look at us like a servant, like we’re a minion, like we’re just there to get his stuff done for him. The one who spoke creation into existence, the one who gave up his throne to come down here and walk with us and teach and give his very life for us, the one who was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven and all authority in heaven and earth was given to him says, I call you friend. We are friends of God.
We are friends of Jesus. That name is so blessed in our lives that we’re actually disciples and friends when we follow him. He says, you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
When we do what Jesus asks, we bear fruit. Not always on our own timing, but when we do what he commands us, we bear fruit. Fruit for the kingdom of heaven.
Philip learned a valuable lesson that day. Philip learned how amazing Jesus is, that he’s enough, that we don’t need more, that we can even see the Father through Jesus Christ. We can even experience God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit when we see Jesus into our hearts.
As a disciple, discover who Jesus is. Know that he is God. Seek him in everything throughout each day.
Let’s pray. Almighty God, give us the strength to ask questions. May we learn to ask questions like Philip did, that questions aren’t off the table.
In fact, if we’re humble enough to ask a question, it may reveal our heart. We pray as disciples of Jesus Christ that we would listen to you, that we would know you, that we would trust in you, and we would learn that the more we step out in faith, the more that we do what you ask of us, the better we can know you and that you will call us friend. Help us to remember that your name is above every name, that your name is so blessed that when we call upon it, Jesus says that when we pray and we ask anything in Jesus name, that the Father will give it to us.
Thank you, God, for Jesus Christ. Thank you that he is enough. Thank you for the blessing that it is to know the name of Jesus, and to know the man Jesus, and to know the God who is Jesus.
Thank you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thank you for the revelation of you through Jesus Christ. Jesus is enough.
Amen.