We live in a culture that says, “Live your truth,” but deep down, we know this isn’t how life, or spiritual truth, works. We all live based on certain objective truths. When it comes to questions about religion, we all need to ask two questions: (1) Is this true? and (2) Is this truth worthy of my life? In this message from John 14:1–6 from David Platt, we’re invited to respond to Jesus, who claimed to be the truth—and he rose from the dead to prove it. Our eternity hinges on our response. How will you respond?
Observation: What do these passages say?
- Read John 14:1–6 and John 20:24–28 aloud as a group. Let group members share observations. Try not to move into interpretation of the passage or application of what you read quite yet. Simply share what you observe.
- What bold claim(s) do you hear Jesus make in John 14:1–6?
- How would you characterize Thomas’s questions in John 20:24–25?
- What shatters Thomas’s questions in John 20:26–28?
- How would you summarize John 14:1–6 and John 20:24–28?
Interpretation: What does the passage mean?
1) Read John 14:1–4, 6
- What does Jesus promise us in John 14:1–3?
- What is the “way” that Jesus says we know in John 14:4?
- How is Jesus “the way, the truth, and the life” that He claims to be in John 14:6 – is that three separate things, or just one thing?
2) Read John 14:5
- Where would Jesus go?
- Why is Thomas uncertain of where Jesus would go?
3) Read John 20:24–25
- Why wasn’t Thomas with the other disciples when Jesus first appeared to them?
- Why is Thomas unwilling to believe, despite being with Jesus for about three years?
- What is the root of Thomas’s unbelief?
4) Read John 20:26–28
- How would you characterize the way that Jesus appears to His disciples in John 20:26?
- What do you make of Jesus’ interaction with Thomas in John 20:27?
- What action is underneath Thomas’s words in John 20:28?
Application: How can we apply this passage to our lives?
1) Jesus is love that is absolutely true.
- How do you see, feel, or hear Jesus’ love in your life?
- How do you know that Jesus’ love for you is absolutely true?
- What evidence can you show that Jesus’ love for you is absolutely true?
- How can your Church Group pray for your acceptance or strengthening of Jesus’ love for you?
2) Jesus is truth that will absolutely love you.
- What is truth to you?
- How is Jesus the truth who eliminates your doubts?
- What is the truth of the cross to you personally?
- How can your Church Group encourage your pursuit of truth in your walk with Jesus?
3) Jesus alone is truth and love that is worthy of all my life.
- How is Jesus unique for you – beyond anyone else, anytime, anywhere?
- Why is Jesus worthy of all your life? How would someone watching you know that?
- How do you rely upon and submit to Jesus as your life-source for truth and love?
- How can your Church Group get the message of Jesus to others outside of your Church Group, who may or may not know the truth and love of Jesus?
John 14:1-6 ESV
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 20:24-28 ESV
24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
Sermon Recap
Every one of us wants truth and love that’s worthy of our life. You are invited to come to God for the first time, to come back to God, and if you haven’t been baptized, to be baptized, of your own volition, as a follower of God.
Problem
- Our truths can’t love us.
- Our loves aren’t perfectly true.
Solution
- Jesus is love that is absolutely true.
- Jesus is truth that will absolutely love you.
- Jesus alone is truth and love that is worthy of all my life.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
