The Way to the Father

John 14:1–14 (ESV)

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 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? 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. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 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.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 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.

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. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Today we are going to be thinking about the exclusivity of Jesus. What do I mean when I say “The exclusivity of Jesus?”

It means a lot of things. In today’s passage, it means that we have to answer the question, “Is Jesus exclusively THE ONLY way to the Father?”

Jesus, as we have learned, made a lot of statements that offended people, especially religious people who thought that they had it all figured out.

C.S. Lewis says that when you hear Jesus make statements like this, you have only 3 options for response

He was a liar

He was a lunatic

Or He really was God, exactly who He said He was

Now as much as I respect C.S. Lewis, I would have to say that I disagree with him a little bit about this.

Because, we in our brilliance, have managed to come up with a 4th response.

And this is actually a very dangerous 4th response and has tripped many people up.

4. We try to come up with a new way redefine who Jesus was and what He meant when He spoke.

Basically, we redefine everything that we have been traditionally taught about who God is, what Scripture is, and who Jesus is.

And we don’t make it about the Glory of God and His sovereign plan, we make it about us and what makes sense to us and what feels good to us.

And that way, when you hear Jesus making a statement that seems to leave people out, like Jesus does today, it gives us the option of saying, “Well, that’s not what Jesus meant, because that’s not very loving. What He really meant was....” And you can fill in the blank

And you don’t have to call Jesus a liar or a lunatic

but you also don’t have to accept what He says. Works out pretty well, huh?

And this is what many people are doing today.

Brian McClaren is one of these people.

They call him a theologian which I guess he is. He does study a lot about God, but he comes out in a very different place than where I would, and hopefully you would.

He’s written tons of books with titles like:

A New Kind of Christian

A New Kind of Christianity

The Great Spiritual Migration

A Generous Orthodoxy

Why Did Jesus, Moses, The Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?

Brian testifies that he grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home and when he was a young man, he rebelled against his strict Christian upbringing

Until sometime later when a new way of interpreting the Scripture was revealed to him.

And in his new way of looking at things, God is love. And because God is love He cannot possibly do things like:

Punish sin

say who’s in and who’s out of His eternal plan (everyone’s in, btw)

destroy the earth with fire at a great final judgement.

If you would come to guys like Brian McClaren and say, “But look what Jesus said here.”, Brian would say, “But do you think that’s what He really meant?”

And then he will try to put your question into his own words and answer it, whether that’s what you meant or not.

Looking at our passage today:

The key verse in this passage, the one that we have known since we were little shavers.

One of the foundational questions to the Christian faith is, “Is Jesus the only way”?

And guys like Brian would respond, “Only way to what? Only way to enlightenment? Only way to knowledge? Only way to train a horse?”

What are we talking about?

And then before you have a chance to ask what you are really thinking, he would say, “Ah, you are asking, is Jesus the only way to keep from burning forever in hell fire?”

And then he will try to answer this question from the viewpoint that God is altogether love and that because He is altogether love, He cannot possibly send people to conscious torment simply because they didn’t believe in the right thing.

So it must be Ok for Muslim to follow Mohammed and for Buddhists to follow Buddha and for Hindus to worship their 33 million gods. God wouldn’t punish them in eternal torment for that, would He?

Jesus must have meant something else

And certainly, when you ask the question like that, it brings to mind pictures of a dangerous and angry God. These are pictures that we naturally shy away from and want to explain away.

The reason that I am bringing this up is because if you are out and about much, you will run into people like this.

In fact, chances are that you are personally acquainted with, or related to people who would do this and who believe like this.

But I believe that this is the wrong question to ask, although I think it’s understandable that guy like McClaren treat Christianity like that.

Because many conservative Christians have really done the same thing: treated Christianity like a “get out of hell free card”.

When Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, He is not saying, “I am the way to stay out of hell”, although that is a part of the puzzle.

See, the biggest problem that we have is not, “How do I stay out of hell?”

What we really need, the deepest longing of our hearts, I believe, is wrapped up in this question: “How can I be reconciled with my Father?” How can I be in fellowship again with my Creator?

How can I regain that intimacy that was there in the Garden of Eden? That intimacy that my heart longs for?

Because as I understand it, this is the message of the Bible. This is why we see in the very first chapters of Scripture, intimacy being broken as Adam and Eve take their own way.

We call this sin.

And because God is completely holy and sinless, sin cannot have a place in fellowship with Him.

So intimacy, relationship is broken

But then we see God putting a plan into place to bring mankind back into fellowship with Him.

He calls out a people that will be His people.

He establishes a covenant with His people—an eternal covenant

And He calls them to be holy and set apart for His purpose

And through the kingly line of David, He promises the Messiah

And then Jesus, who is God in the flesh comes on the scene.

And He does what is required for us, sinful people, to be back in right relationship with our Creator.

And in Revelation, we see the story complete as the New Jerusalem comes down to the new earth

And the dwelling place of God is once again with man. He will live among them and they will be His people.

This is the story of Scripture! God working to restore intimacy with His people that He has created.

So when you ask this question, “How can I be reconciled with the Father?” suddenly Jesus’ statement takes on a different light.

If God’s plan all along was to be in intimate fellowship with mankind, His creation,

Then He must have had a specific plan and not just some willy-nilly idea that if people are sincere enough in their beliefs and treat people right and say their prayers at night that things would be Ok in the end.

In Scripture we see His plan unfolding in a very specific way.

He had one chosen people. He had one kingly line. He had one Messiah,

one mediator between God and man. (1 Tim. 2:5)

Jesus is absolutely exclusive, despite what guys like McClaren and many other people will say

In our passage today, Jesus is speaking words of comfort to His disciples.

Remember at the end of Chapter 13, he announces that He is going away and that they cannot follow Him.

And Peter expresses the anguish that is on all of their hearts

“Lord, why can’t I follow you wherever you are going? I would lay down my life for you!”

Their hearts are in turmoil

And Jesus begins speaking to them words of comfort

“Do not let your hearts be troubled”

ταρασσω: Tarasso

to agitate, trouble (a thing, by the movement of its parts to and fro)

to cause one inward commotion, take away his calmness of mind, disturb his equanimity

to disquiet, make restless

to stir up

to trouble

to strike one's spirit with fear and dread

to render anxious or distressed

to perplex the mind of one by suggesting scruples or doubts

Tarasso

This is the same feeling that Herod heard when the wise men came and said that they were seeking a King who had been born. Herod was tarasso and all Jerusalem with him

This is how the disciples felt when they saw Jesus walking on the water

And this is how Jesus Himself felt only moments earlier, after He finished washing His disciple’s feet.

Maybe you recognize this feeling. Your heart being troubled, agitated and conflicted.

I certainly do.

I know this feeling far too well.

It’s the fear of the unknown, wondering what the future holds

It’s wondering if people like me or really want me around

It’s wondering if I’ve done the right thing or not

It’s feeling like I’m in an impossible situation and don’t know how to fix it.

Tarasso

What would happen to this feeling of agitation if somehow I could know, really know and experience being in intimate and close fellowship with my Creator, my God?

Jesus, whose heart was agitated because of the betrayal of a friend, says to His disciples, “I know that you are sad at my words, but don’t let your heart be agitated and tormented”

And the reason that Jesus gives for telling His disciples not to be tormented is the promise of reconciliation with God

There is a place being prepared for them (and us)

This is an illusion to the Temple

Remember in John 2, when He cleansed the temple, He said, “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade!”

This place, His Father’s House, has many rooms

It has ample room for all

We know the way to this place

We have the map to get there.

Its not a secret, like the path to enlightenment

It’s not something that we just kind of find by accident

Some people would say, “Yeah, I have the road map”. It’s my Bible

There an old song called “I’m using my Bible for a Road Map”

I'm using my Bible for a roadmap The Ten Commandments they tell me what to do The twelve disciples are my road signs And Jesus will take me safely through

I'm using my Bible for a roadmap The children of Israel used it too They crossed the Red Sea of destruction For God was there to see them through

There'll be no detours in heaven No rough roads along the way I'm using my Bible for a roadmap My last stop is heaven some sweet day

Jesus is the way

He is the way

He is the Truth

He is the Life

He said in John 5:39–40 (ESV) 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.