Show Us The Father

17^th July 2010

Immediately after Jesus's statement that "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no-one comes to the father except through me", He said:

John 14:7
"If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Hearing these words, Philip said that what he really wanted was to see God.

John 14v8
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

That is the cry of so many people who come to church but are not yet Christians. They come to church to find God. But at first they don't find God, they just find the church.

John 14v9-10
Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

Jesus is God. It takes time to understand this but Jesus said in John 10v30, "I and the Father are one". To find God, you have to find Jesus. He said "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no-one comes to the father except through me". And when you find Jesus, you find God. He said "If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well" but Philip didn't understand this first time. Not many of us do. The church's job is to help people to find Jesus.

Jesus then said:

John 14:11a
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;

And here's the question we all have to answer: Do we believe that Jesus is God?

Jesus said "Believe me". Can we put our faith in Jesus? The disciples had spent three years with him. They knew what he was like. They knew he was good and honest. He wasn't mistaken about his own identity and he wasn't a liar. So when He said he was God, He was telling the truth.

Then Jesus said:

John 14:11b
or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Jesus knew that they trusted Him, but He also knew that for them to understand that He was both man and God was difficult for them. So He reminded them of the amazing things they'd seen.

And for the church to help people to find Jesus and to believe in Him, the church must seek God for miracles today. Every healing, every miracle, every answered prayer, every word of knowledge, increases our own faith and helps new people to understand that Jesus is God.

Jesus then said:

John 14:12-14
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus asks us to believe what He tells us. Do we believe these words? We have no reason to doubt them.