Urban Legends Part 1
There are many ways to God
Acts 4:12, John 18:38, 14:6, 8:46, 10:30, Matthew 16:13-18
A. Today we are going to start a new sermon series, called ‘Urban Legends.’ We have done many sermon series, but I would say of all the sermon series this one has the potential to be the most important sermon series we have ever done here at VCC. Legends are sometimes hard to figure out whether they are true or false? Okay here is one, you tell me if this is true or false.
B. The American Atheist organization started by Madelyn Murray O’Hair is petitioning the FCC to take religious broadcasting such as Joel Olsten, Joyce Myer, Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah, and others, and religious music off the radio. A petition number is mentioned, RM-2493, and people are encouraged to call or write the FCC to protest the petition and urge the FCC to reject it True or False?
C. True and False: There was a petition #2493 back 1975, two guys, felt churches and religious organizations should not able to operate so many frequencies classed ‘educational.’ They asked FCC freeze any new applications. This prompted a PUBLIC OUTCRY, and the FCC ruled in favor of churches. That ended petition #2493 thirty four years ago. But the legend lives on and so far has produced 30 million letters and 10 million emails. This year the FCC will receive about 200 a month. It is almost a FT job just responding to this legend.
D. One of the reasons this FCC rumor is so believable is that Madelyn Murray O’Hair shocked the nation more than four decades ago by participating in legal action that resulted in the United States Supreme Court decision pulling prayer and Bible reading out of the classrooms in public schools in 1963.
E. Sometimes legends are just too good to ever die, they sound true and people accept them without looking into them. In the future if you get an email warning before pass it on check online for the truth of it, look at snopes.com or truthorfiction.com.
F. Just like there are urban legends that just seem to never die and are passed around and believed by many, there are many urban legends that are believed about God, Jesus and Christianity. They seem to live on even though they are not true. Before passing them along it would be good to check into them to see if they are true.
There are many ways to God Acts 4:12
A. Today we will look at the urban legend, “There are many ways to God.” I chose this as my first urban legend because it is one of the most dangerous urban legends that affects our eternity. This legend about God is spread all over the world, on nightly TV, talk shows, in many colleges, and even in some churches. It is one of the most common religious urban legends around.
B. Here is the urban legend we are going to look at today. “There are many different ways to God.” In our very politically correct world that we now live in this legend is very acceptable. People will say, “When you boil all the religions down they are all saying basically the same thing.” “All religions teach the same thing, treat your brother with respect.” Is this a legend or is it truth? This is partly true in that all religions teach that we are to treat our fellow man with respect but do all religions teach the same way to get to heaven? This is the part of the legend we want to look at today. ‘Do all roads lead to God?”
Our culture has become much more open today, when it comes to talking about God. This is different than years back; it was not acceptable to mention God in public. But now people feel free talking about God everywhere. We see it on TV talk shows, all sorts of popular books available about God, radio talk shows, music, etc. Usually though this legend is quoted. Here is a quote from Oprah Winfrey, I like her, not attacking her just want you to get a feel for how strong the belief in this legend really is, “One of the biggest mistakes a person can make is to believe that there is only one way to God, There are many different paths leading to God.” This legend has widespread acceptance. Many in our culture, and even in churches today would say this as well. Am I right?
C. Maybe you have had this thought: “Who am I to say that my religion is the only way.”Maybe you think it is sort of arrogant or narrow minded to think that everyone else must be wrong if they are not following Jesus. Anyone ever have that thought? I know I have had to deal with that. Or maybe you have thought, “Jesus works for me, but He might not work for everyone.” Or maybe when you hear people say, “There are many ways to God,” you almost wish there were. Maybe we hesitate to say that Jesus is the only way, because you know that people will tend to write you off as narrow minded, very judgmental and very close minded if you believe this.
D. Let’s see what Bible has to say about this urban legend.
Let’s look at the claims of Jesus Himself. John 14:6, John 10:30
A. Nobody debates the existence of Jesus. Even atheist will admit that Jesus at least existed. Most people will even say that they like His teachings. I have never met anyone who said they didn’t like the Sermon on the Mount, or His stories that He told. How can they? His teachings are incredible. The teach us to love one another, to forgive each other, to help people who are in need even if they are different than us and so on.
B. People don’t debate that He ever existed. People don’t debate His great teachings, but what people reject is Jesus exclusive claim to be the only way to God. Let’s take a look at what Jesus had to say about Himself.
C. John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am way, truth, life. No one comes to God BUT BY ME.” This is pretty clear. He is saying there is only ONE way to God and that is through HIM. Whether you agree with Him or not, anyone reading this in whatever language you read it, will come to only one conclusion. Jesus at least thought He was the only way, and He told people He was the only way to heaven. There just is no other way to read this. This is not the only time Jesus said this. He said this often and this is what eventually caused Him to be put to death.
D. It is these claims of Jesus that freaks people out. Now Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, or the Dalai Lama, never made these claims. No one ever would unless they were insane or they really were God! This is what separates Jesus from all the rest of the holy men who ever lived. This is what offends so many people.
E. Why is it that no other holy man claimed to be the ONLY way to heaven? Because that puts pressure on you. You have to perform. It is a whole lot easier to say, “You are one of many ways to heaven.” So that gives you some leeway. But Jesus closed every other door, when He said, “He was the ONLY way to heaven.”
F. Deciding on the answer to this urban legend or issue is one of the most important things a person will ever do in their entire life. This is very, very important and needs to be resolved by each person individually at some point in their lives. Our eternal destination hinges on how we answer this. ‘Are there many ways to God, or is Jesus the only way?” If Jesus is who He said He was, the ONLY way to heaven. If this is true then we should surrender the rest of our lives to follow Him. If on the other hand this is not true, then you should never come back here again! You should not waste your time in a Christian church, because we are just wasting our time. This is a big joke/farce.
Let’s test Jesus character and lifestyle. John 8:46
A. Let’s put Jesus to the test and test a few things. Put Him to the credibility test. How credible was He? A lot of times when you really get to know someone you are less impressed with them. From a distance someone may look impressive. People look at a sports hero or music icon or Hollywood actor and from a distance they are impressive but as you find out more about them they become less impressive. Let’s look at some things about Jesus and let’s test His credibility.
B. Was Jesus a man of God? Was He a man of integrity? Was He morally upright, fair in how He treated people?
C. John 8:46, Jesus says, “Can any of you prove that I have done anything wrong?” Go ahead and point it out. “If I am telling the truth why don’t you believe me?” Try this, the next time you think you are the Son of God, go ask someone, if they find any faults in you at all, ask your wife, your friends, and your enemies. They might respond, “Do you want the whole list or just top 100!” Everyone of us has some dark secrets, things we have done that we are ashamed of. Reminds me of a story about a British author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the well-known character Sherlock Holmes. Let me tell you something he did one time to show you just how powerful guilt really is. He wrote an anonymous telegram to 12 of his best friends. It was a practical joke. In the telegram he wrote, "Flee at once, all has been discovered." In 24 hours, all 12 left the country. What if you asked “What have I ever done wrong?” What if you said you were the ONLY way to God and to prove your point you said to people, “Go ahead and point out anything that I have ever done wrong?” Would people have anything to say? Yes they would.
D. Yet here no one can accuse Jesus of anything. That was their chance. They could have said, “Yeah last week, when you lost your temper, or when you forgot to do what promised, etc.” But no one could say anything. His character matched His claims.
E. When it comes to character of Jesus only have one of three options:
1. We could assume that Jesus was a liar. Like us, we all lie and if we are sitting there thinking we don’t lie we are probably lying right now! But we could assume that Jesus was a liar and He was really good. He was so good, He convinced these 12 guys to leave everything, their careers/jobs and follow Him for three years. If He was lying at some point He would have to break, he would have to stop, like when they were beating him, or whipping Him, or nailing Him to the cross, he would have broken. Everyone has a breaking point and then they fess up. But Jesus never broke, nor did His disciples. They all died for this. At some point He would have said, “Okay, I was just messing with you. I made this all up. I was bored, I mean a carpenter’s life is boring, wood on Monday, wood on Tuesday, Wed, Thur, Friday, I just made it up for some excitement.” We can’t say He was a GOOD man, if He said He was ONLY way to God and He wasn’t. Makes Him a liar, and should totally reject Him.
2. We could assume that Jesus was just totally crazy. He was a lunatic that should be locked up and put into a hospital, going around telling people that He was God, crazy people do that. I remember once when I was hitch hiking across the country one summer I met all sorts of people, but I remember meeting a guy who was insane couldn’t hold a conversation, kept mumbling to himself, his clothes were filthy and his hair was all matted and we were sitting on a highway ramp hitchhiking and he came up and starting babbling about something, then he looked at us and said, “I am Jesus Christ” and he turned and walked away. He was insane! Maybe Jesus was totally crazy. Think about David Koresh, Jim Jones, others like them, who had the “messiah complex” They believed they were the Messiah. They all had a history of disturbing behavior, immoral activity, burst of uncontrollable anger, lust for money, etc. They were crazy. Think about Jesus the most loving, generous, forgiving perfect person who ever lived on this earth. Even great leaders of our day, or great leaders of the past, as you look into their lives you find out they had some faults, extra marital affairs or involvement in some illegal business deal. Sometimes it comes out while they are still alive and sometimes it comes out after they are dead, but it does come out. We have had 2,000 years of research on this man Jesus, nothing uncovered, no scandals, and no bad behaviors. He was consistent in what He taught and what He did. In Acts 10:38 we read the summary of Jesus life, “He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil.” That is not the behavior of an insane person!
3. We can conclude that He was who He said He was. The Son of God, God in the flesh, the savior of the world, the only way to the Father in heaven. I chose this. It is only one that makes any sense.
Let’s look at what others said about Him John 18:38, Matt 27:54
A. What did others say about Jesus? Not just his fans, or disciples but let’s look at a couple of people who had reason to not like Jesus. Looking at what people say about a person gives credibility or destroys credibility. The first one is Pilate.
B. Let’s read John 18:38. Now Pilate was the governor who was under a tremendous amount of pressure from the Jews to crucify Jesus. He was looking for any fault, any excuse at all so that he could give in to the crowd. He was looking for anything that he could use to justify crucifying Jesus. He examined Jesus and said, “I cannot find any fault in Him!” Nothing he could pin on Jesus, nothing he could accuse Jesus of that would have any basis to it. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Pilate who was looking to see if he could find anything that Jesus did wrong, and could not find anything. “I find no fault in Him.” It is one thing when your friends speak well of you, but you’re your enemies can’t find fault with you, that says a lot. The only accusations they were finally able to come up with were:
1. Accused Him of Blasphemy because He called self God. Yes He did do that, but it wasn’t blasphemy.
2. He said He would destroy the Temple, and raise it up in three days. Yes He did, but was not referring to the Temple Building but was prophecying of His body resurrecting in three days.
3. WOW, that is it! He did everything right nothing to accuse Him of.
C. In Matt 27:54, even the hardened soldiers who were at the crucifixion of Jesus said, “Surely He was the Son of God” They were frightened, hardened Roman soldiers! What frightened them? The earthquake and the dark skies. But what really convinced them? I believe it was the way Jesus faced death. He showed love and forgiveness, even prayed for those who crucified Him. The way a person faces death says a lot about who they are and what they believe. Even these hardened soldiers were convinced there was something special about Jesus. Jesus passes the credibility test.
D. Urban legend: There are many ways to God. In our politically correct world that just feels right. It is non offensive, all inclusive and safe. It is open to everyone. But if you are a follower of Jesus, then you have to deal with His exclusive claim, that there is no other way to the Father than by Him. Test His credibility and see if He could make this claim.
What do you believe about Him? Matthew 16:15-16
A. Jesus was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Some say “John Baptist, one of OT prophets” But Jesus says, “Who do YOU say that I am?’
B. This is the question that each of us must answer. We will all answer it, either now in this life or after we die, but we will all have to answer this. If we answer correctly we get to go to heaven, if we don’t answer correctly we don’t go to heaven. It is that simple.
C. Who do you say He is, not just with your lips, but with your life? What does your lifestyle say? Does it say, Jesus is My Lord? For some there is a big gap between what they say with their mouth and what their lives say, with their action. We are not talking about saying, ‘yeah I believe Jesus existed, or I believe Jesus was a good man, or Jesus was a good teacher.” We are talking about recognizing that He was the ‘Christ” which means the savior, the one who came from God to save us from our sins, and who is the Lord of all. If we looked at just the last seven days of your life, what would your actions say about your belief in Jesus? Who do your actions say that He is? If you really believe that He is the Christ and the Lord, then this is what we would see in your life,
D. So you can take the easy and popular way to life, to blend in today and go along with the crowd, “yeah there are many ways to God.” Or you can live dangerously, after you have thought this through, to say, “Jesus is the only way to God in heaven. There is no other way.
Summary
A. Urban legends are hard to put to rest. For some reason they seem to live on even after they have been proved as false. What about this legend.
B. One of the most urban legends about God is the legend that “There are many ways to God.” Every one of us has to come to grips with this and decide whether we believe this legend as true or recognize it as false.
C. I have come to grips with this, I believe it is FALSE. I believe that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven. I am in agreement with His early followers who said, “There is no other name under heaven whereby man can be saved.” Acts 4:12. This means there are NO EXCEPTIONS.
D. Jesus clearly claimed to be the only way. His character and lifestyle were in agreement with this claim, even others recognized that He was different and could not bring any accusations against Him. The question is what do you believe?
