The Exclusivity of Christ

We are going to continue exploring the “I am” statements of Christ this morning by turning to John chapter 14.

This is going to be a bit of an intense question, but if you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you say? If you knew you were spending your last day on planet earth, you would probably choose your words very wisely. Perhaps you would try to figure out how to dispense as much wisdom as possible to those you love. Perhaps you have never thought about this, or perhaps you have. These are not pleasant things to think about, but this is the context of the next two I am statements Jesus makes.

Jesus and his disciples have gathered for a Passover meal on the night that he will be betrayed, arrested, and executed the next day. They meet for what we call the Last Supper and Jesus washes their feet. This is a very intimate moment. He has predicted his death, burial, and resurrection, and now he knows it is about to happen. He predicts his betrayal one more time and announces that he is about to leave and where he is going, they cannot come. This opens to chapter 14, where we will pick up and read.

John 14:1–4 NASB95

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. “And you know the way where I am going.”

Many of us have heard these words several times. Jesus is continuing the conversation from the previous chapter by offering some comfort for his disciples. They were concerned about this idea that the master they had been following for three years was about to be gone, to a place they could not follow. The first verse could also read, “You believe in God,” which is a statement of what is already true. The disciples already believe in God. Not just his existence, but have believed what God has said, particularly about Christ. Because that is true, the command to believe Christ also follows. “Believe also in me.” Because you already trust God, trust me as well.

The disciples already had all the pieces of the puzzle. They just hadn’t put them together yet. And they wouldn’t until after Jesus rises from the dead. For now, they are troubled by the fact that their master is about to be gone. They are fixated on that, and don’t see the big picture.

The next two verses tell us where Jesus is going (his Father’s house), what he is going to do (prepare a place for his disciples) and gives us a promise (that we will be with him upon his return). This uses imagery of ancient Jewish wedding customs where two fathers would get together and agree that their children should marry each other. When an agreement was made, a ceremony took place, which began the engagement period. This period lasted about a year. During that time, the groom was busy building an added room onto his father’s house. Upon completion of the room and inspection, it was time for the groom to go get his bride. This language Jesus is using is speaking of this type of scenario, which most, if not all the disciples may have gone through themselves.

At the end of it he says, “And you know the way where I am going.”

John 14:5–7 NASB95

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

Thomas is confused. He hasn’t quite figured it out yet. If he doesn’t know where Jesus is going, how is e supposed to know how to get there? Are they going to meet up later? How does he know where to go?

How many of you remember old travel maps? We used to drive with these huge maps folded up in our glove boxes. Technology has replaced these things and now many of your cars have them. Every smartphone comes with one. They are commonplace these days. It’s simple. You tell it where you want to go, and it will chart a course for you, then help you navigate to your destination.

If God is the destination, Jesus is the path.

If you could open a navigation app on your phone, type in God as the destination, that app would tell you Jesus is the path. The world tells us that all religions are just different roads to God and that there is no one way to get to him. Jesus tells us quite the opposite. Jesus is THE way. The word way in that sentence means “road” or “path.” If you want to get to God, you have to go the right direction. Jesus is saying that he is that direction.

You don’t have to study world religions very long to discover that all gods are not equal. Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, or Christianity are not all teaching the same thing. Not even close. The God of the Bible can’t claim he is the only God and the Hindu gods all exist at the same time. Those are two competing truth claims. You can’t have polytheism (multiple gods exist) and monotheism (only one God exists) both be true at the same time. Even if you look at just the claims from Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, the three religions that claim come from the same God, it is clear that we are not actually talking about the same God. So there is no way that all religions can lead to the same destination. If God is the destination you are seeking, Jesus is the only path to get you there.

Either Christianity is true, or something else is. Either Jesus is telling the truth or he is a liar. There is no path in which Jesus and Krishna and Buddha are all correct.

Truth and Life are rooted in God himself.

Everything has to have a source. Nothing is eternal. The only exception to that statement would be God, but he is not a created thing. He is an eternal being, the only uncaused cause. As such, everything that is true is rooted in him. God is the essence of truth. He does not invent truth in the sense that something was not true before God said it so. Rather, what is true has been true since God has existed, which is forever.

In language, we have what are called definite and indefinite articles. Now, I don’t want to bore you to death, so rather than explain them to you, I want to show you an example. The sentence “I saw a monkey in the river” has both an indefinite and definite article in it. A monkey is indefinite in that it refers to monkey in the general sense. It implies the observer saw a singular monkey, but there could be others. The word river is preceded by the, a definite article, implying that the observer was speaking about a specific river. It is obvious that more than one river exists, but the observer knows which river he or she saw a monkey in. When Jesus makes this I am statement, he uses definite articles for all three nouns. He is the way, the life, and the truth. This implies exclusivity. Jesus is not suggesting in any way that he is one of a multitude of options. He is the only option.

Remember, if Christianity is true, the God of the Bible is the only one that exists, which means all truth and all life flow from him as their source. While we may have relative experiences with the truth, the truth is objective and absolute for all people. Either Jesus is the only way to God or something else is, but there is no way that he can be the source of truth and life if he is not.

Next, it is Philip’s turn to speak up:

John 14:8–11 NASB95

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? “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 initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.

Philip has all the pieces, but he hasn’t put it all together yet. By the way, if you haven’t got this Christianity thing all figured out, don’t be too hard on yourself. The disciples walked with Jesus and still hadn’t figured it out. So cut yourself a little slack. Philip just wants to see the Father. He grew up in Judaism. He just wants to experience the presence of God. This is a noble request! Jesus is saying, “Philip, don’t you see? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father!” Jesus and the Father are one in the same. To see Jesus is to see God.

Because Jesus is God, we can have full assurance that we will have everything we need.

This is why he says this in verse 12:

John 14:12–14 NASB95

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

Some people take this to mean that the works believers will do will be miracles like Jesus did. Some use this for the basis of faith healing ministries. But surely Jesus didn’t mean that we, his disciples, would do greater miracles than that of Lazarus rising from the dead. Rather, what Jesus means is that the work of advancing the kingdom of heaven will increase through the work of his followers. We see it in Acts 2 when 3,000 people come to faith in Christ, and the church keeps expanding and expanding. Jesus continues to have reach through empowering his church to fulfill the mission.

Then he talks about prayer. Again, some have taken these verses to mean that we can ask anything of God, and with enough faith, he will give it. This lends to the erroneous belief that we can coerce God into action. No, it is rather that our prayer life is centered around the will of God, and when we learn to pray within the will of God, it will change what we pray about, and and he will give us the things that are within is will for us to receive. Just because you say, “In Jesus’ name, Amen” doesn’t mean God will do it. But he will give you everything you need to accomplish his purposes for your life.

As we close, I want to offer you a few points of application.

APPLICATION

Where are you on the path God has set before you? If you can’t answer that question, you have drifted off course. The first step to getting back on track is to realize where you are. The second step is to look to Jesus as the guide who can take you to your destination. Where does God want you to go? How has he gifted you to impact the world around you?

Have you accepted the exclusivity of Christ? If you are thinking Jesus is a way and not the way, you must realize and embrace the exclusivity of Christ. Either he is the way or he is no way at all. If he is a way, then he lied about being the way. But we know he is the way through eyewitness testimony, his own testimony, the miracles he performed while on earth, and rising from the dead. Do you know what FAITH stands for? Forsaking All I Trust Him. Do you need to trust in Jesus as the way today?

Grappling with the exclusivity of Christ should cause our burden for evangelism to rise to the top of our priority list. But maybe we don’t actually believe people will die and go to hell, do we? If we truly did and truly cared, nobody would ever have to convince someone else to learn how to share the gospel. Yet most Christians don’t do it. We are going to hold evangelism training twice a year going forward. I strongly encourage you to participate and practice regularly. We can’t reap a harvest if we don’t sow any seed. Is there an attitude regarding evangelism you need to repent from?

Ask the Lord to reveal his will for you today and respond to what he is calling you to do.