Trinity '22: Part 2 – Son of Man

This Sunday, Simon Lace brings us the talk in the latest of our EBC services. We encourage you to reflect on the bible text and join us in the prayer that follows below.
 
The talk will be available via live stream at 9.30am on Sunday 12th June, on our YouTube channel.
 
Once you have listened, here are some questions to consider:
 
Reading:

John chapter 14 verses 1-21 (NIVUK)

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that 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.  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.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.’

 Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’

 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? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.  Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they 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 Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

 ‘If you love me, keep my commands.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you for ever –  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me any more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.’



Prayer & Reflection
 
Loving God, help us to love sacrificially, with a servant heart, and putting the other first. We need Your help Lord to do this and we ask again that You would fill us and empower us with Your Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth. We acknowledge that You alone have all authority, glory and sovereign power as we ask this, and we worship and glorify Your holy name. Amen.

 

Questions to Consider
1) Have you ever wondered about the title ‘Son of Man’ and the title ‘Son of God’? What do you make of them?
2) Our series is all based on our understanding of God as existing in Holy Trinity, this week focusing on the person of Jesus. But have you ever heard of the heresies about Jesus, that either deny His divinity or that He was fully human? Take some time to look up, for examples, Arianism and Adoptionism one the one hand, and Docetism and Modalism on the other. These are ancient heresies that were refuted by the early church, but which still crop up today!
3) What do you understand by Jesus saying “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”?
4) Some people believe that there are many religions and many ways to live in relationship to God and, others believe ultimately that ‘all roads lead to heaven’. This is called ‘universalism’, yet Jesus declares “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  What’s your take on this?There’s a good article on universalism here (and a very large book that sits behind the article, if you want a longer read!)