I AM THE WAY.
I AM THE TRUTH.
I AM THE LIFE.
December 2, 2007
with Matt Johnson
Intro:
I am Matt Johnson.
I am a brother, a son, a grandson.
I am a nephew.
I am a third generation Cubs fan.
I am a Packers Fan.
I am a Compassion International advocate.
I am developing a heart for missions.
I am an animal lover.
I am an aspiring author.
I am a lover of fermented grapes.
I am an artist.
I am a photographer.
I am a graphic designer.
I am fallen but redeemed.
I am a husband.
I am a defender of the weak.
I am learning to love Jesus.
I am a lineman.
I am an oops baby.
I am a teacher at heart.
I am a Johnny Cash fan.
The best way to get to know someone is to spend time with them. It’s actually pretty hard to get to know someone if you’re never around them, never hear them speak, never take the time to listen to what they have to say. I mean really, think about the relationships that you are in – friends, family, spouse, classmates, etc… how well do you really know the people that you don’t spend time with? Sure, you say “Hi” to your mail man, but do you really know him? Really understand him? Really have any idea at all who he is?
On the other hand, you get to know someone really well when you spend a lot of time with them. There are guys that I spent four years of college with in a small, confined dorm with a total of four shower heads that I know WAY too well. After living with Ashley for the last three and a half years, I know a great deal more about her than when we got married because I have spent a great deal of time with her. I have listened to her. I have heard her soul speak. We have communicated.
AW Tozer says “God’s presence is not easily obtained, but is met only by much effort of a long and loving interaction”. Tozer got that if we’re going to really know God, we’ve got to spend time with Him. He can’t just be an acquaintance. A friend you see occasionally and have some small talk and then go on your way. NO – to know God is to interact with him regularly, consistently, lovingly. To hear Him speak and to listen. To hear His soul and to allow yours to communicate with it.
Sadly though, I think that all too often we Christians don’t really know all that well the Jesus that we claim. We are willing to stake our eternal future on a relationship that we’re not fully committed to pursuing? It doesn’t make a lot of sense really. If I’m going to claim Christ, I want to know him. Really know him. I want to hear his words. I want to hear his soul. I want to KNOW him, not know of him. This sermon series is about exactly that. Hearing the words of Jesus and getting to know Him. What is His heart? What’s he say about Himself? What’s important to Him? Who is this Jesus guy?
As we look at the passage, it’s important that we get some context from the surrounding passages. We are in the Gospel of John – the fourth Gospel, and the one that is the most different from the others. John writes with a very specific purpose of trying to explain well who Jesus is. He answers this question by shaping his letter around seven “I AM” statements that Jesus makes about himself. We pick up here at the sixth of the seven statements. Jesus is at Passover with his disciples. By this time he’s done many, many miracles and has a very large following. The tides are about to turn though. Jesus has just been welcomed into the city of Jerusalem with a hero’s welcome known now as Palm Sunday. The people were ready for their king to come in with force and overtake the city. Jesus is their guy, so they think. Jesus has other thoughts though, and he is headed straight for the cross, not the throne. He’s in the borrowed upper room of a home in the city with only his twelve disciples. He takes the time to wash their feet, to serve them. As they eat has a confrontation with Judas and announces that he will be betrayed. As Judas leaves, he begins to speak to the other disciples and he tells Peter that he’ll deny him three times. Jesus has got a lot on his mind. His heart is no doubt heavy with a burden of both the recent and upcoming events. Scripture actually says that his heart was deeply troubled. It’s here that we pick up the story in John 14:1-7.
Read John 14:1-7The care and the heart of Jesus amazes me. He is trying so hard to give the disciples a few last bits of the really important things that he wants them to really understand. This is the last time he’ll be able to spend time with them before his death. He could be so caught up in what is happening to him and not be concerned with the disciples, but he isn’t. His soul is deeply troubled, yet he comforts the disciples “don’t be troubled – you trust God, now trust me…” He gives a vision of heaven and a second coming. Thomas, the practical one, responds with sincerity. Thomas gets a bad rap. He’s always known as Doubting Thomas. It’s not a very fair title though. A few chapters earlier when Jesus is headed to heal Lazarus, Thomas is ready to go and die for Christ. Thomas just wanted to make sure that he understood before he followed. It’s actually anything but a negative trait. This world needs more Thomas’s – people who ask questions and seek answers and then believe and follow with all that they have once they have an accurate understanding.
Thomas here asks the practical question. How are we supposed to get there if we don’t know where you’re going. Jesus doesn’t rebuke him for doubt, he honors his question by providing additional insight and an honest answer. It is also one of the most theologically loaded passages of scripture. Jesus’ response is simple – “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” He says to Thomas - You want to know how to get there? ME.
He says, “I am the way” –Hearing these words as a Jew in Jesus’ time would have a different flare than our reading here today in 2007 America. The “Way” was a fairly common term in the Jewish writings now known as the Old Testament to describe the nature and character and the expectations of God.
God said to Moses, “You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in the all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you” – Deut. 5:32-33
Moses said to the people, “I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you.” - Deut. 31:29
Isaiah said, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it…” - Isaiah 30:21
Isaiah said, “In the brave new world there would be a highway called ‘the Way of Holiness’ and in it the wayfaring man, even though a simple soul, would not go lost.” - Isaiah 35:8
It’s with these things in their mind that they hear Jesus say “I am the Way”. He claimed to be the embodiment of God’s Nature, His Character, His expected lifestyle. Jesus wasn’t just a good example of the way, he was the way!
He says, “I am the truth”-
The truth was a common way to describe the teachings of the Jewish leaders at the time. They brought truth to the people, telling them how to live and interpreting God’s moral teaching for them to understand. The teaching of truth, of morality and it’s implications for life, are very different than any other kind of teaching. Teaching math or language or science does not require the teacher to be upheld to a moral standard. It is merely a transference of information from teacher to student. Teaching the truth though, has much higher standards. No one is going to listen to an adulterer teach about the sanctity of marriage. Not too many people are going to be moved to action by a wealthy miser preaching about giving to the poor.
Jesus however, doesn’t just claim to teach truth, he claims to be truth. He doesn’t just say you should do this and that, he says watch me as I live it out for you. Jesus is the embodiment of truth. He is truth come to life – living, breathing, bringing morality and truth as an example lived out among the people, not just taught from the alter. Many men can claim to teach truth, and many can even do it pretty well. Jesus, however, is the only man who can claim to actually be truth. It’s more than just a statement of moral perfection, it’s moral perfection found to be realized in the life of Jesus.
He says, “I am the life”-I love the duality of this statement. Jesus is not only life as we know it, but also eternal life. He is as much responsible for the beating of our hearts at this very moment as he is for the dwelling of our souls thousands of years forward in heaven. John is very intentional in starting his Gospel to make sure that we understand that Jesus is in God, and God in Jesus. They are one in the same, and yet embody two individuals. John says that the world was made through Christ. He is life. He is the breath in our lungs. He is the circulation of blood in our heart. He is the firing of synapses in our brain. Without Christ, there would be no life of any kind – earthly or eternal.
Jesus paints it in pretty clear colors – if you want to get to God, he’s the path. The ONLY path. It is absolute statements such as these that bring us to a decision making point. As Adam said last week, with Jesus, there’s not a lot of room for gray. Either you believe him or you don’t. Either He’s the savior that he claims to be or he’s some loony from thousands of years ago who was crazy enough to get a bunch of people to follow him and write a book about him.
The world will tell you a lot of things about who Jesus is and what he says and how you should live because of that… but Jesus doesn’t really care about what the rest of the world says. He cares what you say.
Jesus approaches his disciples one day and asks them who people say that he is. They respond, some say Elijah, others a great profit… but Jesus asked them, “Who do you say that I am?”
It can be easy to ride on the faith of others. To hold on to your parent’s faith and never really claim it as your own. To hold on to some form of societal morality and believe that it’s enough… At some point though, you’ve gotta answer the question. Either now or at the day of Judgment, you’ll have to answer: Who do you say that he is? Is he the savior or is he the crazy guy?
Most of us have made some form of a public statement claiming that we believe that he is the savior. The problem is, our actions and thoughts often don’t follow suite. I think it’s because we don’t know Jesus very well. We haven’t spent the time with him to gain more than his acquaintance. We have not allowed our soul to interact with His on a regular basis. We haven’t taken the time to hear him speak, to listen to his words, to hear his heart.
If we’re going to stake our eternity on a relationship with Jesus, lets take the time to get to know him the way we should. When Jesus asks who we say he is, may we answer with the faith and knowledge of a trusted friend.
Prayer:
Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me”. The question is, what do we do with that, here, now, in 2007. What’s the significance? What’s the application? Where do we go from here?
The first thing I think is simple – believe Him. Let his words soak deeply into your heart and soul. Let his claims about himself become the foundation of your faith as you build it.
Second, find Peace in his words. So many times this passage is preached as an evangelistic hellfire and brimstone sermon. That doesn’t seem to fit though. There is no condemnation in the words of Christ. He’s speaking to the 11, the closest friends he has on this earth. The ones that he is going to rely on to start the church. He’s not trying to convert them or scare them into believe - No, this is a passage of encouragement and promise. A passage of peace. You have trusted in God, now trust also in Jesus. He is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. He will get you to God.
Third, take the time to remember that this was not free. It comes at a great cost for Christ. He is the way, yet his way is directly to the cross. He is the truth, yet it is deception that will sentence him to death. He is the life, yet in order for this to happen he must lose his own.
It is no mistake that in the upper room of Passover as Jesus tries to comfort and encourage his Disciples to face the things that are about to happen, that he shares a very intimate meal with them. One that we as followers and as friends now also have the opportunity to share with him. Communion is a time of celebration, a time of encouragement and peace, a time of remembrance. It is a proclamation even today that Jesus is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. As you take the bread and the cup, remember his body and his blood, and hear his words. Let your soul interact with the very heart of Christ as you take the time to remember the sacrifice of a friend.
"I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD"
