Have You Ever Been Lost?

John 14:6

Have you ever been lost?

In 2005 an Earth quake rocked this world hitting Pakistan and the surrounding countries,causing untold grief to millions of people leaving them displaced. Whole familes were torn in two losing loved ones... One true story which brought joy to my heart was in Pakistan, where a French rescue team with specialist equipment were able to locate a small child 18 feet underneath the rubble, trapped in an air pocket. The news coverage on the BBC conveyed the Father waiting anxiously for his son who was lost being unearthed and presented into his Father arms once more,his son who was lost was found.

A more profound lostness is found in our own personal lives, its a spirtual lostness: We might not be physically trapped in the rubble of an earthquake this afternoon but a more profound truth is that many people are lost and trapped. Lost in a meaningless existence and trapped in the lie that materialism brings fulfillment

LOST

People are lost in that they don’t know where their lives are going. As somebody once aptly put it: Were just rats in the rat race.

Just look around at our pop icons and the Hollywood icons for instance.... David Byrne from the Band Talking Heads says in one of his songs entitled, "Were on the road to Nowhere." It really epitomizes the mindset of the 21st century.

Often we see a profound lostness in the hearts of people we would consider to have it all together. Thats why it makes a refreshing change to hear a voice say " I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE!" We see that Jesus is the one who offers clear direction through lifes maze.

Are you trapped in the search for fulfillment?

You know the picture of the donkey trying to reach the dangling carrot, it never quite reaches.Or the child at Christmas who rips his presents open but is never satisfied and ends up playing with the box.

People endeavor to fill their lives with what the world offers from money to possessions from power to fame: from pleasures to relationships, but if were honest with ourselves these things never truly satisfy. lets face it we’ve all got the T-shirt and done it if were honest were trapped in a cycle.

In 2003 Mike Tyson was declared bankrupt he owed a stretch limo firm $309,000. A year earlier he had spent $174,,000 on a white gold necklace with 80 carats of diamonds. He once splashed out $140,000 on two white Bengal tigers and $1.5 million on four Bentleys in one afternoon.

The staff at Versace in Ceasers Mall in Las Vegas will never forget the time Tyson and his entourage left the shop with $250,000 worth of gear. In 2005 he currently owes creditors $30 million dollars.

In an interview after his final defeat against journeyman Kevin McBride, he said, who am I? What am I? I dont even know. Im just a dumb child whose been abused and robbed by lawyers, Im Just a fool who thinks hes someone."

The good news is that although we might be lost and trapped spiritual we can be rescued and find real fulfillment in the one who said, I am the way the truth and the life!

I AM THE WAY.

Here we have an exclusive statement but also one, which is also fully inclusive, in that it is open to everybody to receive. Its a statement, which goes against the grain in this pluralistic country of United Kingdom.

We claim to be tolerant society yet though we claim to be a free pluralistic society, in fact people are increasingly being forced into the mould of secular-humanist-consumer-capitalism. Of course the coercion applied is not that of a police state. The workings of political correctness are far more subtle than that but nevertheless very potent.

Which way?

I suppose there are three directions we can go firstly we can go down the road of Religious Pluralism a pick and mix. We have such diversity of religions living in close proximity to one another, lets all share this common interest in God, we see it growing for instance in Leicester. Lets face it we live in confusing times and it easy to be lost. That’s the way of religion.

But at the moment we are seeing a growth in another world religion at the moment in the west one of the greatest, is that of secular humanisim this is the 2nd way.

The atheistic world says I’ll do it my way!

There is no God, there is no meaning to life, your just a bunch of Chemicals coming through the Ghew to the zoo right through to you. Going no where

Voltaire once exclaimed that men are "tormented atoms in a bit of mud, devoured by death, a mockery of fate. This world, this theatre of pride and wrong, swarms with sick fools who talk of happiness."