ONE WAY
John 14:6 (p764) June 3, 2012
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever heard the expression…”It’s My Way or the Highway!
My Dad use to say it a little differently….”The one who owns the house makes the rules for the house!
Rules are different than Opinions.
Let me give you an example.
It’s my opinion that it’s better to put 1 sock on and then 1 shoe…and then the other sock on and the other shoe…
You say, that’s stupid…put both socks on, then put both shoes on…that’s a much better method in my opinion.
Now we can argue about opinions…I’ll tell you with one shoe and sock on I can hop around if it’s wet…keeping dry…If I get interrupted with a fire…you say two socks keep your feet warm…both feet warm…”
We can argue….but it’s just an opinion.
Rules are different…
Imagine a little league baseball team of six and seven-year olds learning how to play the game. Having once been a six year-old eager to play the game and having coached little league, I know that many six and seven-year olds would rather just play the game than learn how.
Now can you picture one imaginative player who thinks he has found a better way to play the game? This little guy stands at the plate and manages to get the bat to hit the ball. Immediately he jumps on home plate and yells “Home run! Home run!”
Meanwhile the fielder throws the ball to first base and the umpire calls the imaginative player out. The little guy bravely stands up to the umpire and says, “I’m not out, I got on home base before they did. I got a home run.”
The umpire says, “I’m sorry slugger, but you have to run all the bases to get a home run. The rules say “you’re out.”
“That’s what they told me, the imaginative player responds, but I decided it’s too hard that way. My way I get a home run every time and never get out!”
Unfortunately every generation of little leaguers must learn to play the game BY THE RULES. Now if that’s how it works in baseball, what makes us think it would be any different making our way to our eternal home in heaven? Just like baseball players must run the bases to get home, God has established a specific path we all must follow.
Kair and I went to Chicago a few weeks ago, via Indianapolis…we had an awesome time together…and before we went we ran a MapQuest…it gave us 3 options to get to Chicago...”the shortest, the quickest, and the most scenic.”
We chose the shortest…but we could have picked one of the other two routes. They were options…opinions. Life is filled with options…opinions (1 sock 1 shoe people driving the scenic route and 2 sock people choosing the quickest)
But something’s aren’t opinions…and unlike a trip down the road to Chicago, our journey to heaven has only one road…One Way. As Jeff shared last week…every other way is a “Dead End” even if it seems right to the one who’s chosen it.
Let me share with you the unmistakable “One Way” claims of Jesus concerning the road to heaven.
I I AM THE WAY (ROAD)
Earlier Jesus painted a picture of the destination…and I think this is absolutely essential for us…If you don’t know where you’re going…or if you really want to go there…then the trip is useless.
I had to go to the doctor’s office the other day…I knew where it was and I knew how to get there, but I wasn’t really excited about the destination…”All right…I can’t wait to have that MRI!”
But when Kari and I went on the cruise for our 30th anniversary…I knew where we were headed…I knew who I got to be with and I was “pumped” I couldn’t wait to get there with her ( or take the trip with her!).
Jesus never mentions the word heaven…but calls it “My Father’s House” and the given word translated “rooms” or “Mansions” means “abide” or “Roman” …it’s a permanent residence…not a temporary shelter…It’s your home…not a hotel.
It’s an invitation to something secure and very good…. The disciples have just heard Jesus tell them good-bye….In absolutely somber tones he’s said “I’m leaving…and where I’m going you cannot come, at least for now…you’ll follow me later.
Peter…. (Oh, Peter) jumps into this somber goodbye with….”Lord, why can’t I follow you….I’d die for you!”
Jesus says, “Really Peter…before tomorrow is welcomed when the rooter’s crow you’ll deny that you even know me 3 times.
[Folks I’ve been in many rooms where the doctor announces cancer…where the air is sucked out of the conversation and things get serious and quite…]
The upper room’s serious and quiet…and then Jesus says…”don’t let this throw you. You trust God don’t you? Trust me…There’s plenty of room for you in my Father’s house. If that weren’t so I would have told you…I’m leaving now to get your rooms ready…and then I’ll come back and get you so we can live there together…and you already know the road I’m taking.”
And Thomas is like…”Road?” Teacher…What Road?!! We have no idea where you’re going. How can you expect us to know the road?
This is where Jesus says….”I am the Road”. I’m glad Thomas asked what all the others must have been thinking…basically…. “Lord, we’re lost…how can we make it through this?”
Remember…life is a journey for us all…Jesus has shown his followers how to live life, so the one we’ve bring you to heaven “The Father’s House.”
But right now Thomas and the others are stumbling…they cannot imagine how this could be the right road.
[I’ve been there…haven’t you?? Even when you have faith and are trying to walk in it…even when you trust God…you trust Jesus…you heart is still troubled…and you stand at this place of trouble and pain wondering…what road should I take?}
Satan wants to offer you dead ends…temporary rabbit trails of false hope…they look easier….but the unseen is still the same for us as it was for Thomas…Jesus says…when your lost, troubled and broken and don’t know what road to take…. I am The Way “Take Me”
For these disciples things would get darker before the Sun came up….Jesus arrested in the garden, 2 trails and false witnesses, Pilot, Herod…back to Pilot, Barrabbas chosen over Jesus…Peter in the courtyard…the others scattered and hiding…then Jesus broken and crucified… and quickly buried before the Sabbath in a borrowed man’s tomb…those were dark dark days…Friday and Saturday….lost, afraid, discouraged, depressed, hiding from the world.. Satan’s lies….”I won…It’s over…this will last forever!”
But…
II THE TRUTH ALWAYS SETS US FREE
Jesus had always told his followers the truth…he’d even prepared them…even if they hadn’t always listened or understood…just like me.
Shortly before this upper room discussion…Here’s what Jesus did as they approached Jerusalem…
Matt 20: 17-19 (p 697)
It seems like Jesus predicted his death, burial and resurrection at least 6 times to this followers and the majority as they get closer to Jerusalem and the Passover.
…this is a trial they don’t’ want to hear…
Earlier in his ministry in Caesarea Philippi Jesus had some alone time with the disciples and asked them about people’s opinions of him…the answer, “some say your John the Baptist, or a prophet…Elijah, Jeremiah like them. But what about you…and we know Peter says, “You are the anointed chosen one…the Messiah…the Son of God” but listen to what happens next
Matt. 16- 21-28 (p 694)
He’s explaining to them God’s plan…He’s trying to prepare them with the truth…but God’s plan doesn’t seem to fit with Peters or the others…Here’s a big truth…
GOD’S PLAN IS BETTER.
We don’t always want to hear the truth…maybe if we ignore it…it will go away.
[If I pretend it’s not cancer…if I ignore the debt collectors…if I overlook those text messages…some truth is easier ignored….or at least we think it is…
And the disciples do not want to hear…rejected, delivered over, beaten, crucified…and even raise from the dead.
But the truth, even for death was able to set his followers free….remember Lazarus… remember Lazarus came forth…and wrapped in grave clothes he emerged…TRUTH is found in the words of Jesus.
“I AM THE RESSURECTION AND THE LIFE HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL LIVE, EVEN THOUGH HE DIES. AND WHOEVER LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER DIE… (John 11:25,26)
TRUTH…Ready everyone…”all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23.
And Romans 6:23 says “the wages of Sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
How could God punish sin (our sin) and provide an answer for its consequence, death…listen
Romans 3:24 -26 (p p797)
This is the truth…The cross and Jesus resurrection are God’s answer….His perfect answer to the Justice He required…and the Grace He would offer.
There are only two responses to God’s offer…His gift…His truth…godly sorrow that leads to repentance…or worldly sorrow that leads to regret.
The Best object lesson in the New Testament of the two different response to truth in scripture are Judas and Peter…both were in this room with Jesus…both experienced his ministry and predicted death, burial and resurrection.
Both were traitors…both filled with regret and sorrow…one repented and was restored...one hung himself.
The Apostle Paul had to spank the church at Corinth…sin, disunity, selfishness…He wrote to them in his first letter and said, Hear the truth…repent…be sorrowful enough to change….and what happen…Here’s his 2nd letter after the fact.
2 Cor. 7: 8-11 (p819)
This how’ll conclude
III LIFE IS FOUND ON THE ROAD OF SALVATION
Eternal life doesn’t start when we reach “the Father’s house with Jesus”…Eternal life begins the moment I die to sin and I’m raised in Christ…and not just eternal life…but abundant life…that’s why Jesus says…
“The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10)
One of my favorite actors is Nami Shia Laboeouf. He was in my 2nd favorite movie “the Greatest Game Ever Played.” The story of Frances Quintet winning the U.S. golf championship in 1921….
He’s been in transformers 1 and 2….Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade…and here’s an interview he did…with GQ
God does not exist a gnawing emptiness and an aching void will be experienced inside.
Why wouldn’t we be plagued by insecurities if we are living estranged from God? The primary insecurity underlying all the other insecurities of life is the inner yearning of a heart that’s designed to enjoy a secure relationship with God.
The God-sized hole LeBeouf so poignantly described can never be filled by all the things this world offers. The hole can only be filled by God.
