Jesus Unfiltered - Week 6 - The CORE - Pastor Mike Novotny
Jesus Unfiltered
Week 6 - The CORE
Pastor Mike Novotny
Welcome back to week 6 of Jesus' Unfiltered, waiting here for me to slip, like right in the middle of the most emotional moment of the sermon, so that would be good for the YouTube views, but maybe not for the sermon or my back. So that's where Michael is going to run rampant, all for me here. Thank you. Very good. Yes.
I know Palm Sunday is one of my wife's favorite times of the year, for church, just that traditional celebration. Maybe you're that way to just love the symbolism of Jesus as a great victor. We're not gonna cover Palm Sunday text in the Gospel of John today, but if you're really itching for that, I just saw a time of Grace, our media Ministry partner, posted on their Facebook page last year's Palm Sunday sermon called “Palms Up” where we had Palms, like filling this church. If you have that itch today, make sure you go to time of Grace on YouTube after church. And are you can have an itch scratched with a lot of Palm Sunday, Jesus. All right. Well, let's jump back into gospel of John and our sermon series here, Jesus Unfiltered.
What do you do when you have problems in one of those five key areas of your life?
I've been alive for 42 and a quarter years, I've been a pastor for almost 16 years and I've realized that what people like me and people like you care about more than anything else in the world are the five key areas, essential areas of our life. And the question I want you to wrestle with today is what do you do? Because we all do something, what you are doing something goes wrong in one or more of those five key areas. What do you think about that question? I should probably clarify what the five key areas are grab a pen, write these down, I've noticed that the five things we care about most in life. All starts with the same letter, the letter f, The first one that I can guarantee that you care about is FAMILY.
All of us deep down as complicated as our family might be, long for a family, that is close. We want to have a tight relationship with our mom, our dad, our brothers, our sisters, if you have children, your son, your daughter. If you're dating or married to someone, your husband or your wife. But I don't have to tell you that family is complicated. Sometimes you want to be close to your mom but I know your mom's butt heads all the time and you love to be like the guy who can call up his dad and get the wisdom from his experience, but your dad's don't know been emotionally distant or physically distant. What do you do when your family is flawed? Or dating someone sent me an Instagram message this week. “Pastor Mike, is Christian dating supposed to be this hard?” Okay, even if you're a Christian. I mean, finding someone, you always know if it's compatible or don't want to be serious about this relationship, or we've been together for a long time but don't feel like it's getting better. Do we want to commit until death do us part? That's incredibly complicated. Oh, so you go online and you try to date, right? But it's super super overwhelming and guys, no offense. But, guys can be really weird and women
I'm not gonna finish that sentence. You can further write everything people are people and I don't know, sometimes we look good on a screen but in real life, it's more complicated than that. So what do you do when your relationship status is messy and complicated or you want a kid but you can't have one or you have a kid but the kid’s like making some really bad decisions sooner or later you're going to have family problems. My question to you is not what are your problems or if you have them? But what do you do when you have? How do you cope? How do you deal? Maybe your problems aren't family problems but their category number to their friend problems.
Just like a good family, all of us ache for close friendships.
But finding a good friend and keeping a good friend might seem simple on paper, but have you noticed in life? It's not like that at all. Whether you're six years old and you're brand new at your school or your 16, trying to survive middle and high school life, or you're a grown-up. Really good guys that talk to you from our church who that they have drinking buddies, and they have old friends that they see on Facebook. But real friends, but you can talk about real life with. That has way more in common than people might guess. So, when you are struggling to find a friend, when you're sitting at the lunch table and things are tense, but it's been a lot when, you know, you need help. But you don't know who you can get help from, what do you do?
Or prime number three. Fitness problems. Print out the way we say it would say physical health and physical sounds like an F stick. Okay. PH just in case you didn't know but you know what I mean right? I was reading your prayer requests just a couple Sundays ago and just this long list of all the physical things that are weighing you down, there's the injury, there's the disability, there's the surgery, there's the recovery, someone praying for cancer of the lungs and other cancer of the liver and of the cancer of the Blood. My dad has dementia, or my sister was intubated. There's an infection. Like your friend group might be great, but when you look in the mirror and you see a body that's breaking down, or you're going to the hospital to visit someone you love, what do you say to yourself in those moments? How do you, how do you get thrown?
Or maybe it's not something physical. Maybe it's something Financial And when you're broke, that's why I saw her. Some of us check our banking app every day just to make sure we got enough money to pay this bill or that one, we have to pick and choose because I don't have enough to cover it. All some of us have lost jobs recently, some of us are struggling in our careers. Some of us don't even want to check the banking at because we know what the answer is going to be. And some of you it looks like you have a lot. But with the big house and the nice car comes, some pretty big bills that burden you and keep you up at night when you feel financial stress. You're not sure if you're going to be able to make ends meet, what do you think about?
Forfeit. Finally, as long as we're in church, some of us have faith problems.
You've been in a group of Christians and just kind of looked around and felt like you were a little bit behind. These people know more about the Bible. Their relationship seemed better. Here, I am struggling. Not to drink, not to get high, not to go back to old ways, not to lose my cool, not to snap or whatever. And you're these people seem like nice Christian families. Maybe one of those things or two of those things are all of those things today. Really, though, I don't want you to make a confession about what your problems are. I won't force you to answer this question. What do you do when you have those problems? Like what's your default reaction when something goes wrong in an area of life that matters so much? I might not know you, but I do know this. You do something. You have some way of dealing with it. For some people, it's escapism, so medication. You know, I just don't think about it. It's not real. If I drink enough, I'll forget at least for tonight, if I'm anxious about it, I'll smoke a joint with my friends. So I'll shop. I'll grab my phone and scroll and get lost in video games, like just ignore it. That's what some of you do.
You on the other hand, you double down and try to fix it. Are you staying up at night thinking? Worrying, fretting, figuring out what you're going to say, what you're going to do, how you're going to handle the situation. You work twice as hard to fix the issue. If I give you a second to think. Could you come up with your default reaction?
Because today, Jesus wants to give you another option. We've been journeying through the Gospel of John, and we're going to get to the point where Jesus tells us exactly what to do, when our hearts are troubled, when we're worried and anxious and Afraid about something that's going totally wrong. And Jesus has every right to speak about this because his friends were freaking out on that Thursday night. You know, the story of what we call Holy Week. Jesus is going to die on a cross on Friday, but the night before on Thursday, he's gathered with his friends. He has this huge, his huge sermon where he's trying to teach them as much as he can. And in that sermon he says some of you are going to abandon me, one of you is going to deny me. One of you is going to betray me. The world is not going to love you. I'm about to leave you and the disciples… their hearts if you could picture them or just swirling, moving 100 miles an hour? They were anxious. They were afraid. They were panicked. Their eyes were this wide? And that's what Jesus told him, exactly what to do. And today, Jesus is going to tell you, too. In John chapter 14, in just six verses, Jesus is going to tell us exactly how to deal with the problems that we face in this life. So let's grab our Rivals and look at what Jesus said, John chapter 14. Let me read just the first one.
He said, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.
That seems like really shallow advice, doesn't it? Don't? Imagine going to counseling if you're struggling with anxiety and the counselor just as well. Stop Thanks, how much should I pay you? All right, let me just says, don't let your heart. I know your hearts are trouble. Don't stop it. No more. Which seems insensitive until Jesus says something that might be easy to read by, but don't He says, do not let your hearts be troubled period, you believe in God.
Obviously, these are very religious Jewish men. Why did Jesus say that? It is so easy when you're face-to-face with something Troublesome to forget, completely. Oh yeah. I'm not an atheist. I believe in God, I believe that God exists. I believe that God knows all things. I believe that God holds the situation in the palm of his hands, I believe that God has compassion for me, I believe that God is using all things from. There's all these things we talk about all the time about God, but when trouble hits it's so easy to forget. Oh, yeah.
I believe in the most powerful, beautiful, compassionate forgiving person who exists in the whole universe.
That's Jesus. Really simple, but powerful answer. Don't be troubled. Remember that? You believe in God? I might picture it this way. Imagine that this is the thing that's stressing you out right now. You can choose it but here it is. And you spend most of your days thinking about this worrying about this and focused on this what what Jesus is saying to his friends is.
You believe in God.
In the original Greek of the New Testament, tt literally says you believe towards God, it's a directional word. Like even focused your direction, your heart, your attention is this the problem. The thing you want to fix the thing that you can't fix Don't forget to believe towards God, right? To turn to his direction. The way the human head is built I can't like look at this. And that at the same time I got to choose one or the other. And Jesus is saying, like, you've been choosing to focus on this. No wonder, you're freaking out. Hey, don't forget, believe in God, towards God, pay attention in his direction. You might be surprised. The kind of things that happen in your heart. Jesus is next. Is one of the most important things to remember about God, when you're facing some problems and freaking out. Let's read on what Jesus first to.
He says my father's house has many rooms.
If that were not. So would I have told you that 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.
What does Jesus want his friends to remember? My father's house. It's a fancy way of saying heaven. You're focused on the problems of Earth, don't forget. That you're the kind of person who believes in heaven.
When's the last time you stopped and thought for at least one minute of how absolutely unbelievably amazing Heaven is going to be.
Was that part of your last week? Which makes me think about heaven for a second. Sometimes people call it a better place. I think that's an insult to heaven. Heaven is so good. The Bible says there's no struggle. There's no pain, there's no suffering. There's no death. No one is stressed in heaven. No one's anxious in heaven. No one's afraid in heaven. No one is down there. No bad days in heaven. No broken bones and mental health struggles In Heaven. There is just like glory and joy. That is so good. That the most eloquent speaker could not find the words. If he saw heaven for 5 seconds,
But what makes you happy on Earth is so unbelievably small compared to heaven, like you've ever fallen in love before. Once you get to heaven, you'll think that falling in love was lame. It's really good. Never seemed like a last-second. Buzzer beater and some final four game. So you have in heaven, the angels are yawning like a boring but that's boring because I get to be with God. You ever seen a video like a bunch of little puppies? There's nothing in heaven. The beauty of Heaven, the power of having the glory of Heaven is so, so great. Jesus is saying, don't forget, don't forget my father's house.
Because you know who lives in that house?
No father. Who lives in your house. You who lives in my house, who lives in the father's house. Say it together the father. Yeah. When you get to heaven, you will be with God the Father, forgive me for being a cranky middle-aged pastor, but I get riled up. When people are like, do you think they will play golf in heaven? I don't care. God is gonna be there, going to see you. God, it's the father's house. It's not free 18 holes in a cart like God is there. Can you even imagine that was a wonderful, beautiful interesting, creative, forgiving, loving, compassionate Father in the world. Jesus says don't let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, the father, he has a house and get this. My father's house has Many room.
There's a lot of room for People Like Us in the father's house.
Imagine if Jesus said in my father's house, there are three open rooms.
Peter, James, and John, Thomas would look at each other always, I'm not as bad as it. I know. Jesus is saying. The vacancy sign is on in heaven. There's room there for a person, like you.
Because if Jesus would say this, I'm going there to prepare a place for you.
If he could promise a room in the father's house, the guys like that, who would deny him and abandon him and sin against him. That is really powerful proof that maybe just maybe there's room for a person like you
Some of you. I have a hunch here today. Think that maybe you're not good enough for heaven.
Maybe you've made some decisions that make you Unworthy of Heaven.
You're aware enough to realize that if God is good and you've done things that are bad, that's a problem with getting to Heaven. I'll tell you this. You're exactly right.
If God, just looked at me, he looked at you and he knew everything and saw everything. Well, then yes, we would not have a space, a room reserved for us. In heaven, it's a holy place, a beautiful place. People that say, I'm beautiful. And ugly things would not fit there but notice, notice the subjects of Jesus’ verbs.
He said, I am going there. I am preparing a place. I will come back. I will take you to be with me. Jesus is hinting at what in the Christian in the Christian faith, we call the gospel. That getting to Heaven is not like “you be a really good person or you fix your mistakes”. Instead, it's all about Jesus. It's about a Jesus who cleanses us, who washes us of sins who forgives and saves us. He doesn't give us a coupon for 20% off of our moral ticket. To get into heaven. He just pays the whole thing, he reserves the room, And when you check in at the gate and you say the name of Jesus, the room is ready. Even for a person, like you
Something you bring may push back at that. You say Pastor, you know what I did? When I was totally disconnected when things got emotional, when we were going through the divorce, the things I said the choices I've made and I would say yeah. It might be bad, but Jesus said that to Peter. A guy who said, I don't even know Jesus. He denied his friendship with him and yet said, Peter, I'm preparing a place for you too.
It's a matter. How big your struggle, how ugly you're saying, you might not deserve it. You haven't earned it, but Jesus isn't going to let that stop him. He's saying before you panic and freak out about this situation on Earth. Remember there is a heaven. There is a God. Who is there? There is room there and I have prepared a place there for you.
So here she's this is advice. Next time, you're anxious about something in life. Tell yourself. I'm not an atheist.
And if I was an atheist, what would I do with this?
I honestly don't know. Hope it gets better before I die.
Some impersonal Universe can't help me. I'm stuck with it. It's not you. Jesus says you believe in God, a God who is so good? He gave you his only son to tell yourself, turn your attention to these really basic truths, I believe in God, my God who has been so good to me.
Makes me think of the pastor who found out that he only had six weeks to live.
While back there was this pastor went to a doctor's visit thought he was fine, but then his doctor after some tests dropped this bomb. Reverend, you probably have about six weeks to live.
In the pastor, despite all of his pastor stuff and his religion and his faith. He got stuck on those two words. Six weeks.
And he went out and he tried to have these last conversations with family and friends. He tried to enjoy the moment but he just couldn't get back. I have six weeks to live. The news was so devastating you can get his heart past it.
And so one day by the grace of God, pastors, reading the Gospel of John, He stumbles across these words that Jesus spoke to his friends or Jesus said, quote, I give my friends eternal life.
And the pastor, Eternal life. If he did, the basic math, I'm freaking out about 6 weeks.
Eternal life.
It's pretty great to have my family and friends to go back to my house. The father's house.
And he said the burden of that fear didn't make dying easy or convenient. But it was a reminder, I believe. In God, I believe also in Jesus have a Jesus who prepared a room for me in the father's house, I don't need to be afraid. I'm a Christian. I'm confident of my eternal hope in future.
And she's just want you to be too.
That's why he clarified the way to the father's house in the last verses from our text for today.
It's pick things up where Jesus said,
Thomas said to him, “Lord we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, except through me.” I love you Apostle Thomas. He was not an almost honest Christian so he didn't get it but he just decided to admit it even smile and Nod. He raised his hand and said, ah, Jesus, I don't get it. I don't know what you're saying, I don't know where you're going. How can I know the way to get there? Which is really good question to ask, how can, you know the directions if you don't know the destination? These are days after I read John 14, I pulled out my phone and I said, hey Siri. Give me the directions. Don't.
Guess what? Seriously, it back. Where are you going right again, I can't tell you the way until I know the where. That's what Thomas is saying. We don't know where you're going. Jesus, how do we know the way to get there? And so Jesus clarifies. He says my father, his house. God is the destination. And I'm the direction to get there. If your hope is to get to heaven, if you want to see the amazing presence of God, if you want to escape the pain of hell then God is the where and his son, Jesus is the way. It doesn't matter how broken or bad you been, or how good you think you are. Jesus says, here I am the way. No one comes to the father, except through me. Now some of you have heard John 14 verse 6 before it. Can I see a show of hands?
Yeah. Love you. If you don't know and you're new to church, this is maybe top five things that Jesus ever said, John 14 verse 61, the most highlighted verses like in the Bible app. But the more you think about the words you realize wow, this is an incredibly offensive and an incredibly amazing thing for Jesus to say to you.
The offense. Makes me think of a woman named Robin.
How about a decade ago? I think it was 2013. I was on a bus in Chicago at the airport about to fly over to Greece and I'm sitting in the seat with my pastor friend, and who's sitting in front of us but the biggest extrovert in the history of extroverts. I quickly find out because she's an extrovert that her name is Robin. She quickly finds out that I'm a pastor, that my buddy’s a pastor, and she's talking to talking to talking, to talking, to talking to talking till she says this one line. She says, oh man, don't you guys think it's great that no matter what a person believes Herbs or what path they follow or what religion, they are that. There's all these different ways to get up to God.
And my buddy, I think he said it really respectful. He said, well actually, the Gospel of John, Jesus said “I am the way.” Not a way, but THE way.”
And I remember what Robin said back, she smiled and said, well I think all three of us know that in the original, Greek of the New Testament. Jesus, not say that he was the way. But he just came to be A way.
To which I thought on the bus. I wish I'd paid attention in Greek class, like I knew the English, I'd memorized it as a kid wasn't positive. What the Greeks? That's what I grabbed my Greek Bible. When I got home and I want to show you what I found. So this is the Greek of John 14 verse 6. That's a Greek. Looks like really small words? A go. I me. Hey, how'd the sky? Hey, Eliza. I Chi a away. I'm just, like, really simple. John was a fisherman when I studied Greek and college is the first class, we took reading the Gospel of John. It's as easy as it gets. Dr. Luke much harder Fisherman John, very easy. Let me show you a simple translation. Let me leave out a keyword. So Jesus was saying, I am blank way and blank truth and blank life and what goes in the blanks? Are those three letters? That kind of looks like a fancy NBC then.
That one letter is also a very, very simple, Greek word. You want to guess what it is?
The.
It's not mysterious. It's a kindergarten grammar. Jesus did not claim. I am always a. I'm just one of many spiritual options. I am V way. In fact, he doubled down on that. When he said, no one categorically, no one gets to. The father gets to the heaven except through me.
And I can understand why Robin would want to filter Jesus.
I'm not sure who, you know, and who you love, but I know and love people who are not followers of Jesus, but are pretty good people. And people that bring me joy, people that I love and not church people. They're not Christian people. They might not care about religion or maybe they follow another religion. You know and love people like that too.
But we can't filter Jesus and say, well, it's fine, maybe he meant something else and this is what he said. So the question we have to wrestle with his, why would Jesus say that?
Why would he make this exclusive claim that unless you believe in me as your God, your Lord, your savior and your king, there's zero chance that even The Best of You Can Get To Heaven.
I'll tell you why.
Because heaven is not just a better place. It's the best place.
Because if anyone who is, you know, kind of sort of, mostly good could get into heaven. What would happen in heaven for those moments when they're not good?
But if Heaven is going to be much better than Earth, The answer isn't just to get rid of the Hitler's. The problem is, what would God do with the ugly parts of me? And you. If you're not always patient or not always kind or not, always selfless and God just let you Waltz through the doors of Heaven. What would happen in heaven?
We'd have to fear the same stuff that we fear here on Earth. We worry about the same family and friends problems that we do right here. If God just had an open door to flawed, people Heaven would be a flawed place. And so Jesus says no, you can't just get into heaven by being good. That's not good enough. So, how is it possible that a person gets into heaven? Well, Jesus has an answer. I am the way. I will prepare a place. In fact, I will prepare you as a person. When Jesus left that upper room and went to the Cross, what he did was not just give us a noble example of selflessness, what he did was die to make us perfect. And if you've heard that but that is what Christians believe Jesus is not just our example, he is our savior, he highlighted everything I've ever done wrong and on the cross, he pushed delete. He took all the moral mistakes you've ever made and he separated them as far from you as the East is from the West. If you're a believer in Jesus, as much as you struggle and as much as you've sinned, God can actually look at you and say, you're actually good enough for this perfect place. I see no flaw in you. I have nothing to blame you for if Jesus died, not for some of it, but for all of its then everyone who has Jesus knows the way. Can get to the father. Can live and die with a hope. That Heaven Is Ours. Hard stop, no doubt, no question. Mark exclamation point through the mighty name of Jesus.
This is what the Son of God taught us when you are worried, when you were afraid. Remember, you believe in God? You believe that there is a place where there is no pain, you believe that you are going there because I have made you good enough. I am the way and you will come to the father through me.
So, grab a pen. Let's write down the big idea for today. What's Jesus solution to our 5p problems? Summarizing this way. Think about GOD. ASAP.
As fast as you can. Get your brain to think about about the thing. What about God? So here's my homework for you. So simple little Christian, exercise the next time You know, here's the problem you're thinking about it, you're stressing, you got your phone, someone said something nasty. Someone told you some bad news at work. I physically want you to do this with your body. I just want you to go.
What's it like to physically trigger your brain to say “If I'm a Christian, this isn't the whole story. In fact, it's like the six-week part of the story. I'm a person who believes in the God of this book. I got a power and love from our God, who saved me from my sin and is going to save me from all of my struggle. If you want to add a cherry on top to say I'm not an atheist. No, no. I'm a child of God. And in my father's house, there is room for me.”
That's what my friend did.
A few blocks from this church. My friend for a few months was sitting in an orange jumpsuit awaiting his trial.
As the date approached. He didn't know if the judge would say you're free. Babysitting right back here in church or if he'd spend maybe the rest of his adult life in prison, Can you imagine? Sitting in that cell marking one day closer to the day where your whole life will be decided he he was worried for a while. But then he wrote me a letter and when I opened it, I didn't just love hearing from him. I loved loved the three words, he put at the bottom of his letter. He told me about the case about the date, what the lawyer said, how he was holding up in jail. And then after he signed his name, he strolled three words in big letters. A statement of his own faith. He wrote. God has got this. God's got this. That's what he said. He's facing 20 years behind bars. But in that moment, He? And said, my God is a God who can use this. My God can save me from this. Even if it turns out bad, I will not be alone because in my father's house, there are many, many rooms. Brothers and sisters, if you are a follower of Jesus, your God has got this too. You will have trouble, but do not let your hearts be troubled, because you and I are people who believe in God.
That's right. I lured man, we love for you to take it away. The stress, the problems, the debt, the cancer you say that we can ask you about anything and so we're asking you and your mercy, take that stuff away, make life a little bit easier today. But God whether you do or don't we pray even more faith. The Fate that turns away from the problem and turns to you as the solution. What kind of faith that knows that Earth is so temporary, but the father's house is eternal. Help us to be distinctly Christian. People have a passionate connection to a big God of glory and power and love. So easy to forget that in the moment. God, so may your spirit, Open the Eyes of our heart, to remember who we are and whose we are probably things because we need your help, and we know that you're going to give it. Because we're asking you today in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen.
