Monday, May 19, 2014

“Jesus—The Way, the Truth & the Life” John 14.1–14, Easter 5A Sermon May ‘14


1.                   Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this 5th Sunday of Easter is taken from John 14:1-14 and it’s entitled, “Jesus—The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.                  Who does this guy think he is, anyway? If you or I said words like Jesus did, we would either be laughed off the stage or locked up in a padded cell. Where did he get the arrogance to say something like “Trust in God; trust also in me” (v 1)? Where does a no-name carpenter from no-place Nazareth in nowhere Galilee get the gall to make a statement like “I am the way and the truth and the life”? (v 6). Does he really have access to his Father’s house, and can he really take us there?
3.                  In today’s Gospel Jesus makes statements that ought to take your breath away for their boldness, scope, and frankness. Either they are true or Jesus was a liar or lunatic.  For starters, he thinks He’s the Son of His Father, the Son of God. And in the Gospel of John that means God incarnate. Jesus backs up this claim, both here and throughout the Gospel of John, with statements that make a simple point: all that the Father is and does is equally embodied and personified in the Son. 
4.                  In fact, it’s not just in John’s Gospel that Jesus is made equal with God the Father our Creator.  In Matthew 16 the apostle Peter gave what has been called in church history “the great confession.” It happened in Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” They gave Him a report of some of the rumors that were circulating among the people—He was suspected of being John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets. Jesus then asked: “Who do you say that I am?” That caused Peter to say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” When Peter made this confession, Jesus congratulated him: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 16:13–17).
5.                  I mention that account of the great confession to remind us, before we delve into our passage for this chapter from John 14, that the church Christ built and is building must always be a confessing church. When I speak of the church as a confessing church, I’m not simply speaking of the confession of sin that we utter before God, but rather the confession of our faith. Jesus promises redemption to those who not only believe in His resurrection in their hearts but who confess Him with their mouths (Rom. 10:9).
6.                  In John 14:1-14 1[Jesus said:], “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In 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? 3And 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. 4And you know the way to where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9Jesus 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’? 10Do 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. 11Believe 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. 13Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
7.                  It’s crucial that we see that we confess the uniqueness of Christ. Peter said in Matthew 16, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Apostles’ Creed echoes this confession of uniqueness when it proclaims, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.…” From the very beginning of the Christian church, the exclusive character of Christ, the uniqueness of the Son of God, has been at the heart of our confession. I stress that because, in this day, in our culture, and even in many areas of the modern church, there’s nothing more politically incorrect than claims of exclusivity given unto Jesus.
8.                  The well-known Pastor & Seminary Professor R.C. Sproul has told the story about how he once took a college class that was taught by a woman who was openly hostile to the Christian faith. She never missed an opportunity to attack Christianity in her classroom. So Dr. Sproul tried to “stay under the radar” in her classroom to escape the arrows of her wrath. But, one day she called on him in front of the class. She said, “Mr. Sproul, do you believe that Jesus is the only way to God?” R.C. knew how she felt about any exclusive claims to Jesus, so he knew he was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he said what he believed, he would experience a great amount of anger from the instructor. But, if he didn’t say what he believed, he would be guilty of nothing less than treason to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, R.C. mumbled an answer, but she said, “What was that?” So he said: “Yes, ma’am. I do believe that Jesus is the only way to God.” She went into a fit of rage that spilled out on R.C. She said, “That’s the most narrow-minded, arrogant, bigoted thing I’ve ever heard a student say.” The rest of the class glared at R.C. as she heaped her scorn on him.  After the class, as R.C. was walking out the door, she stopped him and said: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so hard on you. But I just can’t understand how anybody could be that narrow-minded.” R.C. said to her: “Well, I hope you can understand my problem. I’ve been persuaded that Christ is the Son of God. I am a Christian. There is nothing more foundational to Christianity than the confession that Jesus is the Son of God. Now if I believed that Jesus was the only way to God because He happened to be my way, and the unspoken premise of my logic was that anything that R. C. Sproul believes must, by logical necessity, be the only true way to think, then I would agree with your assessment that that would be unspeakably arrogant, bigoted, and narrow-minded. But I hope you understand why I believe Jesus is the only way. It is because Jesus said that He was the only way, and if I deny that, I deny Him.”
9.                  Let me say that again what R.C. said, “If you deny that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, you deny Him.” There’s probably no greater point of pressure in our society than that very point. Our friends, community, and even many churches tell us that we must deny the uniqueness of Christ. But to do that, we must deny the church’s confession of faith, and more importantly, we must deny Jesus’ own confession about Himself.  When R.C. explained all this to his college professor, she said: “But how could God be so narrow-minded? I thought God was a God of love.” You see, she believed the widely accepted saying in our culture that it doesn’t really matter what you believe, just as long as you’re sincere. But, if the Ephesians were sincere in their devotion to the goddess Diana, if the followers of Baal were sincere in their worship of Baal, or if the Muslims are sincere in their worship of Allah, that’s all that matters. God doesn’t care whether you worship idols just as long as you worship them sincerely. We remember that Satan appeared to Jesus in the wilderness and said: “All this authority I will give You, and their glory.… If You will worship before me, all will be Yours” (Luke 4:6–7). It was as if Satan was saying to Jesus: “It won’t do any harm for You to bow to me for a moment. God won’t mind. Don’t be narrow-minded. There’s room in the mercy of God for a little Satanism.” But Jesus knew better. He said: “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’ ” (Luke 4:8).
10.              I really can’t think of anything more against biblical Christianity than the idea that it doesn’t matter what you believe, and yet it has been instructed in us from the time we were in kindergarten. I think it is because, here in the United States, all religions are equally tolerated under the law, so we make a leap from equality under the law to equal validity before God. That’s a dangerous place to stand because the Scriptures say there’s a difference between truth and error, between the true Messiah and false messiahs, and between Christ and Antichrist.
11.              So again let’s listen to what Jesus says, in John 14:6 Jesus tells us, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6b).  As I said before, our politically correct world can’t tolerate such a claim, as the illustration of R.C. Sproul and his college professor shows.  They contend that there must be many paths to glory, that truth is found in all religions, and that eternal life can be obtained through any number of belief systems. 
12.              But, Jesus tells us that He is the way, the only way.  These words of Jesus and this confession by the early Christians placed believers in opposition to both the Jews who had rejected Christ and the Gentiles who worshiped many false-gods.  For all those who claim that there are many ways to heaven, all the other so-called ways are ultimately the way of works and self-centered individualism: Do your best.  Live a good life.  Try your hardest.  Follow these principles.  Obey these commandments.  No matter what the religion or belief system is called, if it’s not Christianity, the way to eternity is always focused on what the individual does or doesn’t do.
13.              And that’s why Christ is the only way.  Trying your hardest is never good enough.  Even your good works are tainted by sin.  That’s why adherents of false religions are never certain if they’ve done enough to be saved.  But, you know that what you could never do, Jesus has done for you.  He lived the perfect life.  He walked the way of the cross, and by His death and resurrection has opened the way for you to the Father.
14.              Jesus is the truth.  Some claim every religion has truth.  Others go to the opposite extreme and say there’s no such thing as absolute truth.  There’s truth, and Jesus embodies that truth.  He can be completely trusted, for His words are truth.  When He promises that He’s preparing a place for you in the Father’s house, you can be certain that there’s a place waiting for you there in heaven.  When He promises you the gift of the Holy Spirit, you can be certain that His Spirit dwells in you.
15.              Jesus is the life.  If Christ is the way, He must also be the life.  Not only does He make this claim, He reveals its validity.  Jesus is your life, because He rose again from the dead on the third day.  Death has no power over Him.  And because Jesus lives, you will live also.  Because He lives, you will see the Father.  Because He lives, you will dwell in the place of life and light prepared for you by Christ Himself. Amen.


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