Advent Invitation Service

Introduction

The song that has been on many English lips since last weekend has been the chorus of a well known African-American spiritual which goes like this (don't worry - I'm not going to sing it!) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home. And in the case of the England Rugby Team the sweet chariot carrying them home was BA flight 16, which was actually named 'sweet chariot' for that journey! But we don't often hear the rest of the words to that spiritual song. They go like this:

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see?A band of angels coming after me,Coming for to carry me home.If you get there before I do,Tell all my friends I'm coming, too.Coming for to carry me home.I'm sometimes up and sometimes down,But still my soul feels heavenly bound,Coming for to carry me home.The brightest day that I can say,When Jesus washed my sins away,Coming for to carry me home.

It's really a song of faith and hope in the midst of trouble; of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save sinners - to rescue you and me by dying in our place on the cross and rising from the dead, and of the sure and certain hope of heaven for those who believe and trust in him. As we remember at Advent, Jesus is coming again as Judge. Matthew's Gospel records Jesus' plain words on this in chapter 25:31 onwards:

When the Son of Man [Jesus] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world…Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous [those who are right with God through faith in Jesus] to eternal life.

At this time of year when I'm at a supermarket checkout the assistants always ask me, "Are you ready for Christmas?" and I reply with ease - "No!" But are we ready to meet Jesus? Tony Blair recently said that he is ready to meet his Maker and give an account for the war in Iraq. Are we ready? Why not get ready on this Advent Sunday by putting your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. Look at John 14:1-7. Jesus says,

Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house [heaven] are many rooms…I will come back and take you to be with me…I am the way the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Which way are we going to go? Through Jesus, who is the only way to the Father, to heaven and eternal life or our own way which leads to hell and eternal punishment?

Which song are we singing? Which song is on our hearts? A song of faith and hope in the England Rugby team who will fade over the years or in Jesus Christ through whom we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, in heaven (1 Peter 1:4)?

Now some of you may be thinking, hang on this all sounds a bit far removed from the Advent I know - the Blue Peter Advent candles, Delia's Advent recipes and the making of the Christmas cake and pud. Is Jesus coming again? Is there a heaven and a hell? Is Jesus the only way? I'm a pretty good person - why do I need Jesus? And what about the troubles and fears I'm facing now and in the future? Is God interested in those? Well that brings us to my first heading and to John 14:1-7:

THE PROBLEM OF A TROUBLED HEART

This morning our hearts may be troubled. We may have what is commonly known as spiritual heart disease. We may be lonely or fearful of being left alone. We may fear death. Many people fear death. The French philosopher Rousseau once said that 'he who pretends to face death without fear is a liar'. We may be very ill. We may have just received some disturbing news. We may fear the future. Or we may be troubled in our faith and doubting the reality of heaven.

In chapters 13 & 14 of John's Gospel Jesus' disciples were troubled. They were troubled about their future after hearing disturbing news from Jesus that he was going to die, be raised from the dead and leave them (13:33&36). They were worried about being left on their own, without the person they had left everything to follow, and about the fact that Jesus said that for now they could not go where he was going but only later. The disciple Peter was also troubled because Jesus had just told him that he was going to deny him, not just once but three times.

So how does Jesus comfort them? What did he say to them and what does he say to us today? Well that brings me to my second heading:

THE PERSON WHO COMFORTS US

Look at Jesus' words in v1. He says:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

In the new British movie 'Love Actually' the ultimate answer to a troubled heart is romantic love. But actually the ultimate answer is God's love. Jesus addresses these troubled hearts by urging them to have faith, faith in God, faith also in him. Perhaps you're already a committed Christian but your heart is troubled and full of fear and you lack assurance - Jesus says trust in God, trust also in me.

Then in v27 of John 14 Jesus says:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Jesus' peace is real and present for those who trust in him.

It may be that you're broken hearted. You've lost someone close. Psalm 34:18 says: 'God is close to the broken hearted.' You may have hurt someone or been hurt and you are struggling to forgive or feeling guilty. Well the psalmist continues, 'God saves those who are crushed in spirit.' If we look to him when troubles crush us, and realising our sinfulness, plead for mercy, then there is forgiveness and peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

You see the answer, antidote or remedy to a troubled heart is trust - trust in God, and trust in Jesus. Have faith in God, have faith in Jesus, Jesus says. Jesus says he is God. He presents himself here unambiguously as the object of faith. For John there is only one faith and that is in Jesus and God at the same time. Will you believe and trust in Jesus Christ - God the Son - who is the only way to God the Father and to his Father's house - heaven? The Son of God who became man - fully God and fully man - who obeyed his Father and who was even willing to die on a cross to take the punishment we deserved for our sin. You see we should be punished because we have all rebelled against God. The word sin simply means 'I' in the middle, me first not God. But Jesus took our punishment on the cross so that if we believe and trust in him we can be forgiven, have peace with God, eternal life, the power of the Holy Spirit and a peace and a strength, which deals with our troubled hearts. Jesus here gives us the promise of present 'comfort' and future hope through faith in him.

Recently the Jehovah's Witnesses called at my home - you may have had them too. They were also offering a message of hope to troubled hearts - but please do not be deceived - their message of hope is false. They do not believe that Jesus is God and their bible called the New World Translation is a subtly different translation to the true Christian Bible. To them Jesus is not the only way to the Father and to heaven because they believe that salvation is by works, ie whether you get to heaven or not depends on whether you've been good enough. But we can never be good enough. As the Apostle Paul put it, we all fall short of the glory of God. Salvation cannot be earned. It's a gift. Jesus tells us in this very passage that (v6):

No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Thirdly…

THE PLACE HE IS PREPARING FOR BELIEVERS

Jesus Christ, as we've been seeing, is the only hope. He is the only sure hope in the face of death. There is no hope from non-Christian philosophies and religions and although other religions say something about the future after death they offer no assurance. But Jesus offers real and certain hope to those who trust in him. He is the Resurrection and the life says John 11. And here he tells us that he has gone on through his own death to prepare a place for those who trust in him.

Look at v2&3 of John 14. Jesus says:

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. 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.

Heaven is my Father's house says Jesus. Elsewhere Jesus says, 'I go to my Father and your Father.' Therefore heaven is the home of Christ and of true Christians. It is a helpful and comforting picture. Home is the place where you are (or should be) loved for your own sake and not for your gifts, material possessions or achievements; the place where you are (or again should be) loved to the end, never forgotten, and always welcome. In this world believers are in a strange land but one day we will be back home.

And at home in our Father's house are many rooms or eternal dwellings; or as the Authorised Version translated it 'many mansions'.

That reminds me of the story about the minister who read this verse to his morning congregation using a modern translation. His version read: 'In my Father's house are many dwelling places'. Immediately an older lady stood up and said sternly: "Young man, I want you to read that Scripture again - from my Bible. I've lived in an old run down house all my life and I'm looking forward to that mansion!"

Whatever the size of the room what is clear here is that there will be room for all believers - for the strongest believer and for the weakest believer. Only unrepentant and defiant unbelievers will be shut out.

So if any of us are thinking does heaven really exist or my faith is too weak to get there then be encouraged by Jesus' words here. 'In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.'

Trust in him.

But perhaps some of you are thinking - but I don't believe heaven exists, it's all 'pie in the sky', it's just escapism. C.S. Lewis wrote this in his book 'The Problem of Pain':

'We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about 'pie in the sky', and of being told that we are trying to escape from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere. But either there is 'pie in the sky' or there is not. If there is not then Christianity is false for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric. If there is then this truth, like any other, must be faced.'

A Russian cosmonaut came back from a mission in space and famously remarked, 'Some say God lives out there. I looked around, and I didn't see any God out there.' But as someone replied - he looked in the wrong place. If he'd stepped outside the space ship without his space suit, he would have seen God very quickly!'

Jesus then says:

I am going there to prepare a place for you.

You see heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people: a place which Christ Himself has made ready for true Christians. He has prepared it, not by cleaning and dusting the room, but by procuring a right for every sinner who believes to enter in. No-one can stop those who trust him and say we have no business there. He has prepared it by going before us as our Head and Representative, and taking possession of it for all the members of his body. He has prepared it by carrying the names of his followers with him as our High Priest into the holy of holies, and making angels ready to receive them. They that enter heaven will find they are neither unknown nor unexpected.

Yes those who trust in Jesus have a true friend in him while in this world and a true home when they die.

Also heaven is where Christ is. As he says in v3:

I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

Jesus is coming again to take those who belong to him to be with him in heaven forever. If we die in the faith before Jesus returns we go to be with Christ as Paul states in Philippians 1:23. When Jesus returns those who have died in Christ will be raised and given new spiritual bodies and will be with the Lord forever as Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

Will you trust Jesus with your death?

Fourthly and finally,

THE PERSON WHO IS THE ONLY WAY

How do we get to the place where Jesus is? You may still not be clear about the way there. The disciples weren't.

Look at v4-6. Jesus says to the disciples:

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?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Let me tell you a little parable.

The traveller stood by the signpost, weary & perplexed. Around him in all directions were innumerable paths heading off in every direction. The mist was thick & the sign itself weather beaten & illegible. The traveller asked himself; which way should I go to get to the CITY OF GOD. There are so many alternatives, which one is right?

As he pondered the situation 3 other travellers came up behind him having travelled by the same road. "Excuse me" the traveller, said to the 1st "I want to go to the CITY OF GOD do you know the way?" "Huh", said the fellow traveller, "You don't still believe in that rubbish do you? These roads all lead nowhere. All this talk about there being a CITY OF GOD is all so much mythological claptrap. If you take my advice stay here & set your tent by this sign & make the best of what you've got."
The traveller's face fell but it brightened a little as the 2nd traveller arrived.

"Excuse me do you know the way to the CITY OF GOD?" The 2nd traveller shrugged his shoulders uncertainly, "Who can say? I'm agnostic myself; may be this road, maybe that? No one can really know which is the right one, all you can do is to be open minded & tolerant, you make your own mind up as you want, I wouldn't dream of influencing you."

The traveller thanked him but privately he had hoped for more specific guidance.

As the 3rd man approached the traveller he asked again "Do you know the road to the CITY OF GOD? The 3rd man smiled back benignly - "An unnecessary question my friend- all roads lead to CITY OF GOD they only appear to go in different directions. I promise you, back there in the mist they all circle back on themselves & all converge on your desired destination. So follow any as you wish & it will get you there in the end."

The traveller frowned. Was it really likely that roads which start off in such radically different directions should end up in same place? Surely it would be possible to go the wrong way, as well as the right way. But which is the right? He sighed in frustration & bewilderment.

Suddenly out of the mist a 4th man appeared. Unlike the others he did not come up the road the traveller himself had come by. Instead he had come down one of the other paths - a steep & little trodden one at that.

"Excuse me" said traveller one more time- "Do you know the way to the CITY OF GOD? One person has told no such place exists, another told me to be open minded on the question & a 3rd assured me that all roads lead there. Can you tell me right way?"

"Indeed I can." Replied the stranger. "I'm afraid the others you spoke to were only guessing. You see they have never been to the CITY OF GOD & so can only speculate about the route. I, on the other hand, live there - the CITY OF GOD is my home. So, come, follow me, I am the way."

Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father and to heaven. There is no other way. Will you follow him?

But someone might still be asking why should I accept what Jesus says and trust in him? The answer is in v6. Jesus is the only way to acceptance with God and heaven because he is the only one who really knows and can really show you the truth about God; and then he is the only one who can give you new life because he is the life. Why? Look at v7,9&10 of John 14. Jesus says:

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…I am in the Father and the Father is in me…The Father, living in me, is doing his work.

Jesus is again saying that he is God. He is God incarnate - God come in human form. And he fully God and fully man came to die on the cross to pay the price of our rebellion against God and then rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life. That is why he is the way, the truth and the life. None of the other founders of religions rose from the dead. Mohammed did not do that and Buddha did not do that.

Earlier in John's Gospel we read these amazing words: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him, whatever you've done, might not perish but have eternal life. Billy Graham, the well known American preacher, said in an interview on Australian television: "I know I'm going to heaven, not because of what I've done but because of what Christ has done for me."

The agnostic interviewer was so stunned by this statement that he then trusted in Christ!

Will you put your trust in Jesus as the only way to God, as the one who is the way, the truth and the life? Someone once put it like this: "Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going. Without the truth there is no knowing. Without the life there is no living."

He is the life. He came to bring life in all its fullness. Yet many people today still think of the Christian life as a sort of living death with God as a cosmic spoilsport. Yes, Jesus never said that following him would be easy but he promised to be with us as we follow him and bring abundant life. Hugh Grant, one of the stars of the movie 'Love Actually', said this in an interview about the film: 'It's not fashionable to say so but people today are looking for life, in fact they're quite thirsty for it.' Jesus says:

I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.

Will you trust him and know his love and life and have your thirst quenched? It may be that you're ready to put your trust in him for the first time, to trust Jesus as the only way and receive his peace, ready to change your mind and trust in him. If so you could pray this prayer:

Dear God, I know that I am not worthy to be accepted by you. I don't deserve your gift of eternal life. I am guilty of rebelling against you and ignoring you. I need forgiveness. Thank you for sending you Son to die for me that I may be forgiven. Thank you that he rose from the dead to give me new life. Please forgive me and change me, that I may live with Jesus as my ruler. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer then you can truly sing, even in the midst of trouble:

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot…The brightest day that I can say,When Jesus washed my sins away,Coming for to carry me home.