Disciples Show the Way
Notes
Transcript
Disciples on the Way? Disciples in the Way?
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light. He is the only way to God. The world will pitch us a hundred other ways, from sin and depravity to legalism and nationalism. These are false gospels, lies and more lies, and broad is the path to destruction. Narrow is the Way, the Truth and the Life... and his name is Jesus.
Fourth of July
Fourth of July
Today is the 250th anniversary, as we count it from the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
That’s awesome.
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Great American Experiment.
If you HAD to boil down what America is all about to one word… what would it be?
Freedom
Freedom
Liberty, Freedom… two words, both about what I get to do. The privileges I get, the choices before me, the choices that no one else gets to make for me or force me into. My rights.
No King gets to tell me who and how to worship. There’s a whole list of freedoms, rights, my speech, my voice, my vote, my property, limits on what the government or anyone else can force me to do.
And this is a beautiful gift of God. I am so thankful to be born in a country, in a time, where we have these freedoms, all these choices. This is a thing to be deeply and profoundly thankful for.
I love having choices. I love having options.
Out of Options
Out of Options
So there is something deep within us, as Americans, that rebels when someone says you are out of choices. Out of options. That you have to do it this way. That’s real.
So today, on the actual 4th of July, Independence Day… what if Jesus said “well… in some things, you don’t have choices. You don’t have options. There’s only one way this works.”
I recognize, there is something in my American spirit that rebels.
But it’s Jesus… so let’s at least hear him out. Remember, this is Jesus’ last night with his disciples before the cross.
Jesus’ Going Away Party
Jesus’ Going Away Party
Jesus had just said he was going away:
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
and the disciples were concerned. Peter speaks up, but I be they all were.
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
So right after setting the stage for Peter’s restoration, Jesus reassures them all.
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
That’s a good word right there.
“be troubled” - tarasso - the same feeling Jesus was/is feeling regarding Judas. Jesus knows that’s what his disciples are also feeling at the thought of being left behind, abandoned by Jesus.
But “believe” in God. Faith - same word. The verb form. “Faith in me.”
“Also” is a bit strong in translation, it’s just the word for “and”.
The “and believe in me” is not in distinction between him and God. I could say “believe in the Mackintosh family, and believe in me…” and I am part, an aspect, an intrinsic Mackintosh, not distinct from in any way.
He is encouraging them to believe, to have faith, in him, in God, in him as God, that’s going to be more explicit in just a second.
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?
This is a cultural metaphor, the “Father’s house” - BetAb - has a long Hebrew tradition. But note that the picture used of heaven is NOT everyone with their own mansion, but the Father’s house with many rooms. It is the togetherness of family, the protection, provision and mantle of the Father.
With room for “many.” How good when all the family is gathered together under one roof, under Dad’s roof… that’s the image of eternity here.
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.
Ooooh, the relief that must be to hear. I am coming back for you…
4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
Jesus is coming to take them there… do they need to know the way there? Is this an aside or do they need to know???
Thomas asks:
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Thomas gets a bad rap as “doubting Thomas.” I like him as “honest Thomas” better. I bet others in the room had the question, he is brave and brings it to Jesus. That’s the right place, best place to bring your question.
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
From now on… we do???
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
The disciples taking turns to ask the questions. Love it.
9 Jesus 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’?
10 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Jesus is planting seeds that will grow into the understanding of the Trinity. It is no accident that his next words are about the giving of the Holy Spirit. This has always been the work of Father, Son and Spirit… but they don’t get that yet. Hence:
“just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me… or just look at the works, judge by the fruit if this is God at work.”
Believe. Faith me, faith God.
Didn’t we hear that before? Right at the top. He started this discourse that way, it ends that way.
Chiasm?
Chiasm?
There’s a fun pattern here, not sure if it is a formal chiastic structure, but check this out.
Believe in God; believe also in me
Thomas’ question
“I am the way, the truth, and the life!”
Philip’s question
Believe me and the Father, believe in the works.
In chiastic structure, very important in Hebrew literature, shows up all over the Bible… the climax, the most important bit is not in the end, the way we usually structure things in Western/Greek discourse. The most important bit is in the middle.
And here is one of Jesus 7 “I Am” statements, the first two words alone echoing the very name of God “YHWH”, which we understand to be something like “I Am who I Am.”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
There is a lifetime of contemplation, meditation, wisdom… gospel to understand here.
We won’t scratch the edge of it.
Listen to the radical claim of it.
The Way
The Way
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
He is that way.
When early Christians called themselves “Followers of the Way”, do you think they had this in mind?
Jesus is the way. The Way to God. The Way to Salvation. The Way to Live.
How do we know?
The Truth
The Truth
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Truth. The Word (Logos).
There is no truth (little t) that does not proceed from Him… not if the world was created through him and for him… “all things were made through him, and without him was not any thing that was made” (John 1:3).
He is the Truth. A thing is only true if it is in Jesus. There is no truth outside of him. It is true to the extent it is found in him, rooted in him, connected to him. It is true to the extent it reflects him, points to him.
Jesus is the truth.
The Life
The Life
Jesus has said this before:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Not just life in resurrection, but life better today:
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
and John started with this:
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The source of it, the spark of it… maybe even the idea for it? He is life.
There is no life apart from him. What life we have now is in him, from him… Jesus is the life.
Jesus made it about Jesus
Jesus made it about Jesus
People love to claim that all religions are the same. And there are superficial similarities you can point to. “Be nice.” “Be good.” That kind of stuff.
But Jesus makes it all about him. Personally. Emphatically. It is not about his teaching, his advice for a good life, his life tips, or even pointing to God. Jesus made it about him.
Buddha didn’t do that. Muhammed didn’t do that. Abraham didn’t do that. Hindus don’t, Norsemen don’t, Greek, Roman mythologies… none of them do.
Jesus does. He says “it’s all about me.” “I am the way, the truth and the life.” That is a WILD claim!
And he leaves no other options on the table.
The One And Only
The One And Only
But hear the emphasis Jesus puts on it. He doesn’t say “a way”, “a truth” or “a life.” There is an explicit and definite article… and he follows it up to be SUPER clear:
“no one comes to the Father except through me.”
One Way. One Truth. One source and substance of life: good, eternal or altogether.
It’s no accident Jesus stresses this in this moment. He just sent Judas out to “do what you are going to do.” aka, betray him to execution. He has just revealed to Peter that he will deny him. By sunrise he will be judged and condemned, by noon the next day he will hang on a cross, and by 3pm he will take on the sins of the world and die for all humanity.
When he finishes this teaching, this evening… it will feel long to us because we will take it in pieces, but it is one sermon, a short walk, and then the Garden of Gethsemane. He will pray:
39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
“If there is any other way!!!… not as I will, but as you will”
If there were another way, Jesus asked for it. Prayed for it. Begged for it. But there was no other way.
Strapped to the only option
Strapped to the only option
The desire for liberty and freedom rebels against that. Looks for other options. Other choices. Other ways, other truths, other lives.
But I have had times in my life where I had no other option.
In 2006, for my friend Ryan’s 25th birthday, I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane 6000 feet in the air. And I didn’t have a parachute strapped to me.
Crazy right.
From the moment I jumped out of the airplane, I was dead. 6000 feet above San Diego. Beautiful view. Stunning. Wind tearing past my face, awesome… but I was dead.
And I didn’t have a parachute.
But I was strapped to a guy, connected by a rock solid carabiner, by steel clip, to a guy who did have a parachute.
Let’s call him Steve. I should remember, right? But I don’t. Steve.
From that moment, he was my only option. He pulls the chute. He is the expert, the guy with the knowledge, the wisdom… and the power to save me. He has the parachute.
I can like it or not like it. I can wish I had other options.
HE can wish he had other options.
But my only hope of salvation. The only way I have. The absolute truth. My one chance at life… is Steve. Connected to Steve, I lived. He pulled the chute, he coasted to a beautiful and safe landing… and connected to Steve so did I.
So good.
Jesus is the Way to Salvation, the only Truth, and the only Life now and forever.
I believe that Jesus is who said he is BECAUSE he predicted his own death and resurrection… and then did it. And that is one of the most attested and sure events in all history, not to mention my own experiences with the resurrected Jesus since.
Jesus is the Way to Salvation, the only Truth, and the only Life now and forever.
Disciples Show
Disciples Show
Here is Jesus, the Master, showing his disciples the Way, the Truth and the Life.
This is the very heart of discipling.
It is not loving to leave folks confused here. If you saw a friend about to jump out of an airplane and they WEREN’T connected to a Steve??? Would you just shut up and mind your business?
You can’t make them choose Jesus.
But you can be clear about who Jesus said he was. He said he was the only way, the only truth, and the only life. He said it… then willingly died… then rose from the dead and said “See… I told you! That’s how you do it!”
Disciples of Jesus know he is the way, the truth and the life. And in all things, they point disciples to the next step on the Way, to walk in His Truth, and so live life abundant and forever.
