Praying with Jesus
John 14:6-14,
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 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’?
10 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. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “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. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
The goal of this sermon is that we would love to pray and not lose heart.
And we’re gonna get there, God willing, in three steps — these are three things I want to show you as we work through the passage:
What Philip Overlooks
What Jesus Emphasizes
What Jesus Introduces
Let’s start with Philip. Step #1 …
1. What Philip Overlooks
We see Philip speak up in verse 8, and before we talk about what he says, there’s something bigger going on here I need to mention: it’s that Philip is the fourth disciple who’s been named in the last two chapters.
And that might not seem like a big deal — because we know Jesus had twelve disciples (and then eleven) — but you may have noticed that for a long stretch in this Gospel, we’ve not heard much about them.
John first tells us about the disciples way back in Chapter 1 — he mentions Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel by name — and they start to follow Jesus. But for several chapters, we don’t hear anything about them.
Apart from a brief mention in Chapter 6, the focus in this Gospel so far has been Jesus’s ministry to the crowds and how he confronts the Jewish leaders.
Now the disciples have been present for all that Jesus is doing, but not prominent — they’re present, not prominent — until we get to Chapter 12. That’s when we see these names reemerge: We hear first about Judas. Then Andrew and Philip say a few things. Then Peter speaks up in Chapter 13. Then Judas again. Then at the end of 13, we see Peter again. At the beginning of 14, we see Thomas. And now, today, we see Philip.
So my question is: Why has John gone so many chapters without mentioning these guys by name, and now, all of a sudden, they come into focus?
And we don’t just hear their names, but we see their foibles. The weaknesses of the disciples are on display.
Why does John tell the story this way?
The true answer is that we’re not exactly sure, but here’s my hunch …
One thing we learn from how John features the disciples in this section is that the only kind of disciple there can be is an imperfect disciple.
Now Judas doesn’t count — because Judas wasn’t a real disciple — but we see that even among the closest friends of Jesus, his truest disciples, they all have flaws. They all have feet of clay. They all have imperfections.
I think that’s meant to be a comfort to us.
Because at least for now, until we’re finally glorified, we’re not yet glorified.
We are not yet perfect.
And so we need to beware the mistake of thinking that faithfulness means ‘getting every single thing right every single time.’
Now, of course, we’d like to do that, and there’s no excuse for sin.
But I’m talking about daily discernment and navigating complexities, especially in troubled-heart situations.
I want you to know that impossible standards will crush us.
Let me just remind you, church, that: we are saved by the blood of Christ, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, heaven is our home, and, we’re just people — each of us is as human as any disciple there has ever been, and Jesus loves us because he loves us. So take a deep breath. We are not going to get every single thing exactly right — and that is okay … as long as we don’t do what Philip does here.
Devastating Miscalculation
Notice what Philip says in verse 8. Jesus says, first, verse 6:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
And if we only had what Philip says in verse 8, it’s easy to see that he’s off.
In light of what we’ve already seen Jesus say in this Gospel, in light of what Jesus has just said in verse 7, Philip is overlooking who Jesus is.
That’s clear if we only had verse 8, but now notice how Jesus responds, in verse 9:
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’?
I think that’s the tone Jesus has here. This is a rebuke from Jesus. And it’s a stronger rebuke than Jesus had for Peter and Thomas. We saw those guys last week. They were off too, but Jesus did not respond to them with the same intensity he does to Philip. Now why?
Well, it’s because Peter and Thomas — in their stubborn resolve and paralyzing uncertainty — they miscalculated themselves, but Philip has miscalculated Jesus.
Peter and Thomas got themselves wrong, but Philip gets Jesus wrong.
And look: if you get Jesus wrong, you end up getting everything wrong (including yourself).
So church, listen up. Do not make Philip’s mistake. Do not overlook Jesus. That’s step #1.
Step #2 …
2. What Jesus Emphasizes
We see this in what Jesus says back to Philip. The questions that Jesus asks are more like statements. He asserts two truths about himself in relation to the Father: we can call them revelation and unity. (Revelation is in verse 9; unity is in verses 10–11.)
Revelation of the Father
First, for revelation, Jesus says (as plainly as you can) that Philip doesn’t need to see God the Father because Philip has seen him.
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
God the Son has revealed God the Father.
And John has been telling us this from the very start. He says in Chapter 1, verse 18 that “No one has ever seen God” — and you can’t see God the Father because he’s immortal and invisible; he dwells in unapproachable light whom no one has ever seen or can see (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16).
“No one has ever seen God” but Jesus “has made him known.”
We saw last week that Jesus is our way to God, that’s because first Jesus is God’s way to us. Jesus is God’s word to us about who he is.
In these last days, Hebrews 1:2, God has spoken to us through his Son.
And his Son is such a perfect word — Jesus is such the perfect, definitive revelation of God — that literally to see the visible Jesus is to see the invisible Father.
That’s verse 9, and there’s no good illustration for this. It’s just facts, Philip! If you see Jesus, you see God. And of course we’re getting into the depths of the Trinity here, which is exactly where Jesus takes us in verse 10.
Unity with the Father
The reason Jesus truly reveals the Father is because Jesus truly shares in the Father’s own life. The Father and Son have this wonderful unity.
Verse 10:
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” [In other words, you should 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 me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Okay, we gotta bend our brains here. Hold on tight! We’re talking Trinity — that we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence.
The Father is not the Son; and the Son is not the Father — but their divinity is one; their uncreated glory is equal; their majesty is coeternal.
We can say it this way: although the Father and Son are distinct persons, the Father and Son have never not been on the same page. One commentator nails it. He writes,
Everything Jesus is, has said, and has done is itself also an expression not only of or about the Father but even by the Father. (Klink, 621).
And Jesus has shown us this! Jesus has not only said this, but he’s lived this way.
Every miracle that Jesus performed — turning the water into wine, healing the official’s son, healing the paralytic, feeding the five thousand, healing the man born blind, raising Lazarus from the dead — every single time that Jesus did something, it was the Father doing it too.
The acts of Jesus are also the acts of the Father.
This is unity! To see Jesus is to see the Father, and to have Jesus is to have the Father!
So there’s no belief in Jesus without also belief in the Father. That’s why Jesus says 14:1 — “Believe in God, believe also in me.” There’s no other way.
If you have Jesus, you have the Father. The only way you can have the Father is if you have Jesus.
Hey, I love the song “All I Have Is Christ.” Great song, and, every time we sing it, there’s a little theologian’s voice in my head that says, “All I have is Christ! And I have the Father! And I have the Spirit!”
Because when you have Christ you have the whole Trinity!
That’s what Jesus emphasizes here!
He wants us to know the wonder of his relationship with the Father. That’s Step #2.
Step #3…
3. What Jesus Introduces
There’s a change that comes in verse 12. Jesus goes from talking about his relationship with the Father to talking about our relationship with him. And we did not see this coming. Look at verse 12. Jesus says:
“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.”
This is the hinge verse in the passage. Verses 13 and 14 will make no sense to us unless we understand verse 12. Notice two things…
1. Believers in Jesus will do the same kind of works that Jesus did.
We should not think of this in narrow terms — Jesus is not saying we are gonna turn water into wine. He’s talking about the broader work of making God known.
Jesus did what he did to reveal God, and we’re gonna do the same.
Jesus already said this in Chapter 13 about our love. He said:
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
As disciples of Jesus, we have a revelatory function. We’re witnesses. We make God known. That’s one. But also…
2. Believers in Jesus will do greater works than what Jesus did in his earthly ministry because Jesus is going to the Father.
This is the introduction part. What Jesus says here is new. What’s he talking about? How do we do greater works than Jesus?
Let me first tell you what Jesus is not saying.
The comparison here is not between the works of Jesus and the works of his disciples. Jesus has just said that we are gonna do his same works. The works is the common denominator. So the comparison here is timing! The comparison is between the work of Jesus in his earthly ministry and the work of Jesus from his heavenly throne. This is really important — track with me …
There’s the work of Jesus before he was lifted up, and there’s the work of Jesus after he was lifted up.
There’s the work of Jesus leading up to his cross, resurrection, and ascension — and then there’s the work after his cross, resurrection and ascension, and that’s what he’s talking about here. It’s the work after he has gone to his Father.
And that work of Jesus from his heavenly throne will be greater work than when Jesus walked this earth. And that throne-work is the work that Jesus does through us.
The “greater works” that believers-in-Jesus do is the work that Jesus does through us from his throne.
We could call it works, or we could call it Acts. Like the Book of Acts.
The Book of Acts is titled the “Acts of the Apostles” — but a more accurate title would be the Acts of the Ascended Jesus by His Spirit Through His People.
And historically, these acts, or this work that Jesus is talking about in verse 12, has rightly been understood as the advance of the gospel in this world.
The greater work that Jesus is doing now, through us, is saving sinners. It’s when men and women and boys and girls are raised from spiritual death to eternal life. It’s when people stop trying to save themselves and start trusting in Jesus. It’s when the despairing find hope, it’s when the dirty are made clean, it’s when the lost sons come home.
That is happening now, and Jesus does that work through us — through us … just people …beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.
Don’t you want to get in on that work! Don’t you want Jesus to work through you like that!
In this passage, Jesus introduces us to a new day of redemptive history, and we’re ready to go. Jesus, give me my assignment! Where do I start?
Praying in Jesus’s Name
Well he tells us in verse 13. And the first assignment is not Go! … it’s Ask!
And everybody’s gotta see this. Chapter 14, verse 13:
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Is this a dream? Did Jesus really say this?
The keyword in these verses is when Jesus says “in my name.”
That’s the big question here: What does it mean to pray in Jesus’s name?
This does not mean merely saying, when you pray, “in Jesus’s name.” This is not an incantation. It’s not hocus-pocus. We don’t pray for our team to win the Super Bowl and add “in Jesus’s name.”
Jesus is talking about something much deeper and glorious than three words. To pray in Jesus’s name means to pray from the inside of Jesus’s relationship with the Father. To pray in Jesus’s name means we join Jesus in the prayers he’s already praying — because he is praying and working right now.
See, within the Trinity, for all eternity there has been a conversation going on between the Father and the Son, by the Spirit. Every work of God that has ever touched this world has come from the Son’s asking and the Father’s giving and the Spirit’s accomplishing.
And when we pray in Jesus’s name, we join that conversation! We participate in that asking!
This is why we have such assurance that Jesus will do what we ask — because we are praying his prayers, with his same goal on his same grounds.
The goal is the glory of the Father in the Son, and the ground is the righteousness of the Son before the Father.
The Son delights to glorify his Father, and the Father delights to give to his Son, and when we pray in Jesus’s name, we are right in the middle of that delight.
That is why we should love to pray and not lose heart — because we get to pray in Jesus’s name.
The wonder of prayer is not that it “works” — it’s that prayer is fellowship.
Praying in Jesus’s name is entering into the life and joy of our triune God, and we become part of his greater works. Wouldn’t you love to do that?
He Saves Now
You know, one day we are going to live in a world where all of Jesus’s prayers have been answered. That place is called heaven. It’s the Father’s house. And Jesus is preparing that place for us now (verse 3).
And that throne-work Jesus is doing now, those greater works he’s doing until that last day, is bringing more and more people to himself. Jesus is still saving sinners like us.
And so if you’re here this morning, and Jesus has not saved you yet, he will save you now — if you just turn from your sin and put your faith him. Just tell him:
Jesus,
I cannot save myself and I’m done trying;
you came to save me and I trust you.
Believe in Jesus this morning.
For those of us who have believed — for those who trust in Jesus, let us love to pray and not lose heart. We get to pray in Jesus’s name.
And that’s what brings us to the Table.
The Table
This Table is a table of fellowship. It’s where the real and living Jesus meets us together, and he reminds us that we have him — and the Father and the Spirit.
We remember that it is only through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we’re saved to share in the life and joy of the triune God.
If you trust Jesus, if you have entered that fellowship, we invite you to eat and drink with us.
