The Way | John 14:6

Intro

Hey y’all, how is it going? How was break? anyone do anything cool? cool.

Everyone good? Good.

So tonight, we are going to switch to something different.

I want to pause Hebrews, and shift to something else. We were getting to a part in hebrews where we needed some serious background on the Old Testament, and based on some of the things we heard this weekend, we need to be exact on what we believe and how we order our lives around what and why we believe what we believe.

So Question for you

who has seen a sequel movie before seeing the original? Probably doesn’t make sense. you might pick up the plot, but you’ll still not get everything.

Imagine watching Shrek 2 without seeing Shrek, like you kinda get it but, it doesn’t make a ton of sense. Lot of unanswered questions come up.

That’s where we were getting to in hebrews, we need to know where our beliefs come from, what is the the way in which we should order our lives, how do we make these words on a page come to life in our lives.

There is a good quote by a french author that says,

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

I want to shift and instead of assign tasks and collect wood, I want us to instill a longing. That what we talk about in here, is not just an academic search but that it translates in to worship. That it is transformative in our lives.

So to do that we need to shift, to understand the whole story of scripture and to see how what we say we believe should impact how we think, how we order our lives, how we exist in this world.

Context

So Tonight we are only in one verse of the bible, John 14:6. so if you have a bible go ahead and flip over there to john 14, who need a bible? anyone? Charley will bring you one, who needs one? Throw a hand up

Okay cool, so John 14:6, let me set the stage for what is going on here.

These are the words of Jesus, and he is answering a question. that Thomas had just asked him. and before that Jesus is telling the disciples to not let their hearts be troubled. He says, Believe in God; Believe also in Me, he tells them He is preparing a place for them.

He is speaking about Heaven, about where He is going, and the Disciples are like, that’s awesome how do we get there, we don’t know the way.

And that brings us to our scripture we are going to look at.

Pray with me for our time in the word tonight.

pray

Okay, so John 14:6 y’all read this with me. Just this one verse.

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Who has heard this verse before? Most of us have heard this verse, it’s a super famous verse. Super good verse. Simple to the point. right?

Some asks you how to get to heaven, you say Jesus. boom, John 14:6, thats the verse. It’s the simplifed version of John 3:16.

But Jesus says a ton of stuff in this short simple verse, and it has some serious implications on our lives.

Look at the statement. Let’s look at the sentence structure a little bit.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. no one comes to the father except through me.

who know what an article is? In the parts of speech, what is an article?

So quick grammar lesson, we don’t think about it cause we natively speak english, but ‘the’ is a definite article, that means it is defining something, it is a known thing. Not up for debate, not up for interpretation.

there are other articles, “an & an” are also articles, but they are indefinite articles, speaks in generalities, not a known thing, up for interpretation.

Think with me, is LeBron the goat or A goat? which one is it?

those little words change the meaning right? The reason why is, words matter. no matter what the world says, words matter, and we need to know how to be exact with our words.

So when Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life, he is not saying I am a way, a truth and a life. because those are different things.

Tracking? Cool.

So let’s examine what it means for Jesus to be The way, The Truth, The Life.

One Way

So first part, Jesus is the way. What does it mean for Jesus to be the way?

Well, if Jesus is the way then Jesus is saying he is the only way. Jesus is saying “I am the one way”

So what does that mean?

He was just asked about a way to get to the father, Thomas is like, but how do we get there? I really think Thomas is asking for a physical way to get to the father.

So Jesus says, I’m the way, I’m how you get there, the father and I are one. I’m the way. No other way but mine.

And so what Jesus is saying here is that the way to heaven, the way to the Father is through him.

And why can’t we get there on our own? anyone want to take a shot at that? Because of sin. We have a sin problem.

Christ is saying I am the way. I am the only way your sin problem can be dealt with. Through me, sin is taken care of.

Y’all know how Steve Jobs is right? Founder of Apple, invented the iPhone, basically revolutionized the world we live in. Super smart guy.

Do you know how he died? Cancer. He had super rare form of pancreatic cancer that wasn’t as aggressive as normal pancreatic cancer. Usually pancreatic cancer is very fatal, very fast. but this was a treatable form of the cancer. Basically they were going to cut out the tumor, they had caught it early, cut it out, and boom, done with it, he might have had to do a couple chemo sessions but on the whole, he should have lived to keep pumping out iPhones, but he died. You wanna know why? he delayed treatment and sought alternative methods of cancer treatment. basically he looked at the doctor and said, nah, I think if I eat enough fruits i can kill it. Essential oils might do the trick. So he refused treatment, and like in a couple years, he died. gone.

That is what Christ is saying.

You have a sin problem, I’m the only thing that can fix this. All other ways to try and fix your sin problem are going to lead to death.

So what does this mean for us? One, this is an exclusionary thing. If there is only one way, then, that means there aren’t multiple ways.

we live in a world where people believe there are many different ways to heaven, it is all the same mountain, with many ways up. but no one knows the way to get to the top, the world has spent searching for a way up, and has missed it. Christ is the only way.

Two, that there is a sin problem stopping us from getting there on our own. Sin has to be dealt with, and Christ is the way that happens.

So for us, this is a very offensive thing for the world we live in. and that’s okay. The Gospel says that we have a sin problem, and there is only one way to fix it.

That flies in the face of the prevailing thought about us in the world. Basically, the world we live in says, everyone is basically good and salvation comes through living your truest self. And that is not what the gospel says, The gospel says we are sinful and are in need of a savior outside of ourselves.

we are going to offend people with the gospel. But that is okay, the Gospel is worth offense. You don’t set out to offend, but by nature of the gospel you will offend. Because Jesus is the only way. Let’s keep going.

One Truth

Let’s look at the next claim of Jesus, he says I am the truth. So what does that mean?

What does it mean for Jesus to be the truth?

This is a pretty philosophical statement by Jesus, he says, I am the truth. This is a reality defining statement.

anyone know what I mean by reality defining?

answer me this, what is 2+2? 4, right. no matter what you think, 2+2 is always going to equal 4. It defines how our reality works. Imagine if 2+2=5, wouldn’t our world be different? If 2+2=5 is real then math if different, imagine if math was different. everything would be different.

Gravity is another reality defining thing. If gravity didn’t exist everything is different. Gravity is constant in all situations. It is working right now.

Christ is saying there is truth, and I am the ultimate truth. I am the one who defines truth. Truth has an objective standard.

Who has heard the phrase, live your truth, what is true for you might not be true for me. does that make real sense? Can that work practically?

Christ is saying reality exists in a certain order, which means there are ways reality cannot exist, no matter how much we might want them to, 2+2 is always going to equal 4.

So what does this have to do with us?

Because the way we think matters. Christ is saying I am the truth, there is objective truth. That should mean something to us, it means the way we consume knowledge should be done with care and thought, not everything is true. Some ideas should be seen as harmful and are worth being dismissed.

If we are christ followers we should be ones who love truth, who seek after what is true, because truth comes from above. God is the one who gives us ultimate truth. so we should order our lives in a way that reflects actual truth.

Again, this is going to be offensive to the world we live in, because, if there is absolute truth, then that means not all ideas can be true.

look at what is going on in the world with gender. you can be or not be any gender you want, and that is your truth. but if we just believe that there is objective truth, we see that gender is a biological fact, not something we can just make up or change.

we should be able to discern what is true and what is not true as christ followers. So when you consume media, when you take in things people say, be critical of what is being said, try to hear what is going on, truth matters. There is only on ultimate truth that is Christ.

One Life

Let’s keep going, lets look at the last claim.

I am the life. what does this mean for Christ to be the life?

First off christ is the only one who can give life.

Think about sin, we are sinful creatures, without christ we are dead. Sin is death, the effects of sin is death, everything about us is dying, and sin is killing us. But with Christ he gives life. Christ is the the life. so what does that mean?

If christ is the example for us, then there is a certain way our lives must be ordered. IF he is the life, then how we live matters.

Imagine if there were no rules for driving on the road? How would your driving experience be different? Probably a couple of you not that different, we will miss you. but like, One, the death rate would be astronomical, like probably half of us wouldn’t be here, myself included. Even if there were no speed limits, half of us would be dead. It would be chaos.

But the world we are living in, is moving in to that direction, do what makes you happy.

So Think of this in terms of human flourishing.

God has an ordered way for us to live, and living in that manner creates the best environment for human flourishing.

Imagine the divorce rate if people treated marriage the way it is treated in scripture, if husbands loved their wives like christ loves the church. There would be no abortion if people took serious God’s design for sex. Imagine the political landscape if people treated others the like themselves.

God has a certain order for us to live by. How we live matters.

and what we do with our lives matter. God has brought us in as son’s and daughter’s to join in our father’s work of redemption and restoration. Are we truly living our lives in a way that reflects that. have we ordered our lives in a way that shows Christ is the life worth living. A life following after Christ is the only life that can bring ultimate life.

P2Christ

So what do we do with this?

Jesus in this passage is making three pretty big claims, Way, Truth, Life. very big deals.

but so what, lots of people have said these things through out history. lots of people have claimed these things, what makes Jesus different?

You need to answer this question. IF jesus is making these claims, why should i care. Answer to yourself this question. Did Jesus rise from the grave?

Simple question, but has huge ramifications to your life.

Because if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead you don’t have to take serious these claims. If jesus didn’t rise from the dead then don’t worry about what he is saying here, he is dead. all of the other people who have made the same claims as jesus are dead. So if jesus didn’t rise from the dead and he is still in the grave, then you are wasting your time being here, all of us are.

But if Jesus did rise from the grave, that changes things. Because then, you have to take serious what her is claiming. If jesus rose from the grave then he is actually God.

The way you answer the question defines your entire reality. So answer that questions to yourself.

Did Jesus rise from the grave. If he didn’t, life is ultimately meaningless, live it up while you are here, this is all you get.

But if he did, how we order our life matters, how we exist in this world matters. What we do matters, how we think matters, how we love each other matters.

So if you believe he did rise from the grave take a look at your life, is it being lived like you actually believe he is risen, or is being lived with out a thought to how Christ would order your life.

Think about it, because a lot of us live this way, we say we are christians, we say we believe christ is risen, but our lives are lived as functional atheists.

Take inventory of how your life is ordered. Take inventory of how you think, and live.

If you have answered that question for the first time that Jesus did rise from the dead, come talk to me. If you need to reorder your life to live like christ is actually risen, come talk to one of us.

Christ is the way the truth and the life.

Come see Christ as lord, come see Christ as king.