John 14: Do Not Fear the Future, Jesus Prepares Everything

Introduction

That Sunday, Joshua Reiniger preached one of his last messages at FEG Bern (Free Evangelical Church). His official departure was set for the following week. "Leaving here is really not easy for me," he confessed. He added with humor that some people would take his leaving more easily than he would, since "the preacher who is always going over his time" was finally on his way out.

A farewell often leaves a bit of loneliness and a sense of loss. The text he chose is about a farewell too, but of a very different kind: Jesus saying goodbye to his disciples in John 14:1-14. It shows how human the disciples were, and it also holds words from Jesus that are "full of comfort, full of hope and full of encouragement."

The title of the message is simple: no fear of the future. For the preacher, Jesus offers his disciples here "a little therapy against fear." There are three reasons: Jesus prepares everything, Jesus knows the way, and Jesus does not leave his disciples alone.

Message Outline

1. The Disciples' Shaken Hearts

The context: the disciples have just celebrated the Passover with Jesus, who tells them it is the last time. Chapter 14 gathers the reasons why it is better for them that Jesus goes away.
Not long before, Jesus had entered Jerusalem in triumph, welcomed with cheers on a road covered with palm branches. Then came troubling words: the betrayal by one of the twelve, Peter's denial, and the stumbling of them all.
The disciples feel that everything they believed in is "dissolving into thin air." After all they left behind for him, Jesus seems to be abandoning them.
It is at that moment that Jesus says: "Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me." The original word suggests a shaking, like an earthquake: "Don't let your heart tremble."
Jesus is not speaking from abstract theory. In chapter 13, verse 21, he himself is troubled in spirit as he speaks about Judas. He knows what a shaken heart feels like.

2. Christians Are Not Immune to Fear

"Even born-again Christians are not immune to fear," especially when life takes a completely different direction from the one we imagined. We lose our footing and no longer know where we are going.
There is no shortage of reasons to be afraid: rising crime, a worsening economy, wars close to home (the conflict with Iran, the war between Russia and Ukraine, which could spread), a difficult personal diagnosis, uncertainty at work, deep loneliness.
Jesus repeats the same words at the end of the chapter: "Don’t let your heart be troubled" (John 14:27).
These are not psychological tricks or positive thinking. This is real trust in Christ and in facts. The deeper our relationship with him, and the better we know his attributes (his sovereignty, his almighty power, his omniscience, his omnipresence, his love), the calmer our hearts become.
"The true knowledge of God is the best therapy against the worries, distresses and fears of our lives." The preacher adds that we sometimes tend to imagine what could happen as worse than what actually happens.

3. No Fear, Because Jesus Prepares Everything

"In my Father’s house are many mansions. … I am going to prepare a place for you." And Jesus promises to come back and take his own to be with him.
The preacher invites us to picture a dream home: a villa by the sea, a country house with a view of a lake from the living room, a beautiful fireplace, comfortable couches. The place where Jesus wants to take us will be a place where we will want to stay.
But our hope is not first of all a place, it is a person: deep, intimate communion with our Lord, in his presence. That is what defines the place.
Another image: you have booked the trip of your dreams. You don't know when the plane will take off, but it will, and the ticket is one-way. "We often have far too limited ideas of heaven."
For the believer, the best is still to come. Joshua Reiniger quotes C. S. Lewis: heaven is "the secret signature of each soul," that longing we carried before we met our spouse, our best friends or our job, and that we will still carry on our deathbed. Nothing in this world can fulfill that longing except Christ.

4. No Fear, Because Jesus Is the Way

Thomas replies: "Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?" The preacher finds this encouraging: he is not the only one who is slow to understand.
That question leads to one of the most beautiful sayings in the Gospel: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." It is one of Jesus' "I am" sayings (the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd), which points back to God's revelation to Moses: "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14).
Jesus does not just know the way, he is the way. He does not just teach the truth, he is the truth in person. He is the life that overflows into eternity.
This exclusive claim is not popular today, and it never has been. In the first-century Roman Empire, you could believe in a thousand gods. When Christians honored the emperor without worshiping him, and refused to worship the old gods, for many that meant a death sentence.
Not all religions are equal or teach the same thing. "I have never heard of anyone blowing himself up in the name of Jesus."
In 2018, in Thailand, a team of young soccer players was trapped for more than a week in a flooded cave, in an air pocket. When the first rescuers reached them, not one of them asked: "Why is there only one way out? That's a bit intolerant."
"The problem is not that there is only one way." The problem is that we have not understood our lostness. We cannot climb up to God, and we cannot contribute anything to our salvation.

5. Whoever Sees Jesus Sees the Father

Philip asks: "Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us." Jesus answers: "Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father."
The preacher warns that he is entering "deep theology" and asks us not to be discouraged. The Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father, and yet they are distinct as persons. The Holy Spirit, the third person, is also distinct and just as divine: this is what theology calls the Trinity.
This does not mean that Jesus and the Father are the same person, but that the Son perfectly reveals the Father and shares the same divine nature. "If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus."
Believing is enough, and you do not need to understand everything from the start. But discipleship is a path on which you understand more and more who Jesus is. That understanding is the foundation of your whole life of faith, and it is what will carry you through hard circumstances.
If you belong to Jesus, you no longer have to wonder whether it is enough. The living God is at your side, and he even lives in you.

6. No Fear, Because Jesus Does Not Leave His Own Alone

"Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father."
Raising Lazarus, water turned into wine, walking on water: "I don't know what you do on your vacations, but I can't manage that." The preacher believes God still does miracles today, as in the book of Acts, but we misunderstand Jesus if we focus too much on these phenomena.
First, these miracles are the work of the Holy Spirit, the other Helper whom Jesus announces later in the chapter. That is why it is better that he goes away.
Second, his departure points to his death, his resurrection and his ascension. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Whoever believes in him is saved, because Jesus has already borne his judgment.
In Jesus' time, his work was limited to one place, and few people understood it. Since Pentecost, the message of salvation has spread across the whole world. Thousands of people come to faith, and the spiritually dead come back to life: these are the greater works.
Even though Jesus is no longer here physically, he lives in us through his Holy Spirit. "He is among us."

7. Praying in Jesus' Name

"Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." This is not a magic formula added at the end of a prayer to make it "work."
To pray in Jesus' name is to ask in line with his person, his will and his mission, with the goal that the Father be glorified, as Jesus' whole life was.
Prayer is not "Jesus, finally grant my wish," but "Jesus, work through my prayers for the glory of the Father." The preacher hopes for prayers that are less centered on ourselves: "Lord, how can I honor you?"
The prosperity gospel has twisted these words, but we must never downplay the power Jesus gives us in prayer. Prayers are heard, sometimes not the way we would like, but according to his will. And we can ask him to change our desires.
"Jesus is not stingy, he is not petty." When men and women of God are filled with his Word, they pray magnificent prayers that God answers, so that the Father may be glorified.

Key Takeaways

Jesus knows a troubled heart. Christians are not immune to fear, but knowing God is the best remedy.
Jesus prepares a place for his own and will come back for them. Our hope is not first of all a place, it is a person.
Jesus does not just know the way, he is the way. You have nothing to contribute to your salvation: he has done it all.
Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father. Knowing him better strengthens your faith for the hard days.
Jesus does not leave you alone: he lives in you through his Spirit and invites you to pray in his name, for the glory of the Father.

Personal Application

What fear of the future is shaking your heart right now: your health, your job, your loneliness, the state of the world?
Are your imagined fears heavier than what you are actually living through? What would what you know about God say to those fears?
How is your hope of heaven fed: as a pleasant place, or as the presence of Jesus himself?
What are you still trying to bring in order to be "enough" before God, when Jesus has already done everything?
Do your prayers this week sound like "grant my wish" or like "Lord, how can I honor you?"

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "Don't let your heart be troubled" mean in John 14:1?

According to Joshua Reiniger, the word in the original text suggests a shaken heart, as in an earthquake. Jesus is not speaking in theory: he himself was troubled in spirit (John 13:21). He does not offer positive thinking, but a trust founded on him: "Believe in God. Believe also in me."

Why is Jesus the only way to the Father?

The preacher compares the situation to that of the young soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand in 2018: not one of them complained that there was only one way out. The problem is not that only one way exists, it is that we do not understand our lostness. We can contribute nothing to our salvation, and Jesus has accomplished everything.

What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name according to John 14:13-14?

It is not a magic formula added at the end of a prayer. For Joshua Reiniger, to pray in Jesus' name is to ask in line with his person, his will and his mission, so that the Father may be glorified. Prayer becomes: "Jesus, work through my prayers for the glory of the Father."