WELCOME
Good Morning. Welcome to church! Whether you are listening online or you’re here in person; we’re glad you’ve connected with us!
If you have your Bible with you this morning, turn to John 14, and let’s read verse 6 together [Read John 14:6]. This verse is a difficult pill to swallow for many people today because in it Jesus makes an absolute claim; and absolutes are not too popular in today’s culture. People like options and alternatives.
INTRODUCTION: BLIND MEN AND AN ELEPHANT
Before we work our way further into this verse, allow me to tell you a story about a group of blind men who come across an elephant for the first time in their life. They each began to describe what they were touching. One touched the tusk and said it was a spear; another the ear and said it was a fan; another the belly and said it was a wall, and so on.
This story has been used to describe world religions; we’re all touching some aspect of the same truth. People believe it makes no difference whether you subscribe to Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, or any other -ism; they all lead to the same place. This is one of the reasons why it has become cool to say that all religions have something good to offer and that “All roads lead to heaven.” This type of spirituality – and I’m using the term pretty loosely here – is called Universalism.
But the truth is that the spiritualities of today are not different paths up the same mountain; they are highways that lead people into darkness, confusion, skepticism, and eventually into total disbelief. All roads do not lead to heaven; they lead people to a place called, “I’m Totally Lost.”
THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
Another popular spirituality of today is the New Age Movement (NAM). According to Pew Research Center (2017), which is a nonpartisan American Think Tank based in Washington D.C., roughly six-in-ten American adults believe in at least one of the following New Age beliefs: (1) a spiritual energy exists within physical objects (i.e. mountains and trees), and they believe in (2) psychics, (3) reincarnation, and (4) astrology.
I’ve noticed that often when people learn that I’m a pastor, their conversation about spirituality will include something about (1) the universe is speaking, or (2) a healing energy pulsates through physical objects.
These ideas are among the “doctrines” of the New Age Movement (NAM) and they are widely promoted through celebrities like Oprah and the Oprah Winfrey Show, as well as through blockbuster movies like Star Wars (the Force), Avatar (the Tree of Souls), and the Avengers (Infinity Stones)—all of which are hugely popular, but they disseminate ideas about new age spiritualities.
Another trait of New Age spiritualities is that they disassociate themselves from organized religion. So, you might hear your friends say things like,
• “I’m spiritual, not religious”
• “I don’t need to go to church, I have my own spiritual relationship with a Higher Power…with Something Beyond Me”
• “Let me channel good vibes to you.”
[Use a personal story here] A friend of mine told me of an encounter she had with a group of friends at a Beauty Pageant. Right before the contestants went on stage my friend asked if all the contestants could pray together. She opened in a word of prayer,
“Dear God, we thank you for this opportunity and we ask you to calm our nerves and have your hand of blessing upon us this afternoon…”
Then the girl next to her prayed,
“Dear Higher Power, wherever you are, give us your energy…”
My friend was in shock. She didn’t know what to think.
New Agers are also not bound to any particular religious text. Instead, their doctrines are a conglomeration of multiple religions because they believe that no single religion or religious figure can make absolute claims. Truth is relative and subjective and that’s why according to the New Age Movement, “all roads lead to heaven.”
TRUTH CANNOT BE RELATIVE
How, then, should we begin to share our faith with those who subscribe to Universalism or are in the New Age Movements?
I think the conversation has to begin with a discussion on truth. At first glance, the claim that “truth is relative” comes across as open-minded and tolerant; two words that are paraded in culture. But truth cannot be relative. And proclaiming that there is an absolute truth is neither prejudice nor intolerant. Truth is objective; it cannot by its very nature be subjective.
People aren’t free to make up their own truth. Allow me to illustrate:
Suppose someone has it in their mind that according to their truth, anyone who eats a steady diet of hamburgers, french fries, and diet cokes will live a long and prosperous life. That is absurd, right? The truth is that people who eat a consistent diet of fast food will develop diabetes and heart disease.
Or suppose, a young person decides that the way to live to be a hundred is to drink an arsenic cocktail each morning for breakfast. That’s asinine, right? The truth is that arsenic is a poison; and drinking poison is a sure way to end life.
People can’t say they’re married and in the next breath say they’re not married. The truth is they are either married or not married.
I can’t say that “I am the father of three boys” and in my next sentence say that I don’t have children.
Objective truth does exist, and people live with that reality every day of their life. Social customs and personal opinions do not create truth. Truth is not relative; it is not up for interpretation.
STRIKING A CONVERSATION ABOUT JESUS
How then can we respond to a claim like, “Jesus might be true for you but not for me.”
People who respond like this are either (1) hurt, (2) misinformed, or (3) preoccupied with other things in life. That’s why I’d ask a follow-up question, “What do you mean?” or “Could you elaborate a little further on why Jesus is not right for you?”
This creates an opening for a conversation and room for wounds to be healed, misinformation can be replaced by facts, and for those who have been preoccupied with life, it creates a pause and allows them to reevaluate what really matters.
THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS
C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century, said that when it comes to the person of Jesus, there are two possible conclusions people can make: Jesus was either a (1) lunatic or (2) the Devil. He went on to write, in Mere Christianity (1952) that,
“You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God”
So, we are left with two alternatives. Jesus was either a crazed lunatic or He was exactly who he said: The Son of God.
If we read the account of Jesus’ life, he sure didn’t exhibit any signs of a madman. Jesus wasn’t confused, irritable, or sad. He didn’t suffer from extreme mood swings. He didn’t worry, in fact, in one of his most famous sermons, he taught others not to worry. He was not filled with anxiety or fear; on the contrary, he was filled with love, joy, and peace. He wasn’t socially withdrawn; he engaged the multitudes. He wasn’t an angry person; he was full of compassion. So, it seems obvious that Jesus was not a lunatic.
MAKING SENSE OF THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE
We are then, left with the reality that Jesus was and is exactly who he said: The Son of the Living God. One of the clearest claims about the true identity of is recorded in John 14. It comes as a response to a question Thomas asked Jesus. Thomas told Jesus,
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:5-6).
The question Thomas asked Jesus was sincere and totally honest. His question reveals a man who was confused by what he heard;
“Lord, we don’t know where you’re going...” (John 14:5)
Three years earlier, Thomas—who most of us know as Doubting Thomas (maybe because he thought things through)—had made a life-altering decision to follow Jesus. He left everything he knew. Put all his eggs in one basket and committed his life to follow the Rabbi. And it was an incredible ride. Thomas saw the miracles Jesus performed, he listened to every word Jesus spoke, and now Jesus had told Thomas and his 11 closest friends, ‘I’m leaving, but listen…
“You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:4)
When Thomas heard that, he was like,
“Wait. Wait. Wait a minute! If I’m totally honest, which I am…I’m not entirely sure I actually know where you’re going.”
The response Jesus gives the disciples is one of the most fundamental passages in all of Scripture. Jesus says,
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
The answer Jesus gave is distinctive and authoritative:
1. DISTINCTIVE
First, the answer Jesus gave was distinct. Jesus did not claim to have uncovered the formula for life. He did not say that he’d discovered the way, the truth, and the life; He actually claimed to be the answer to humanity’s problems:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
His answer was not a matter of doing quantum physics or cracking some other mind-bending formula to unlock the abundant life; it is simply a relationship with him.
2. AUTHORITATIVE
Second, Jesus didn’t answer Thomas by citing one of the Prophets or quoting a famous Scripture. Jesus responded with an authoritative declaration about himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”
He is the only way to the Father because as God, he has an intimate knowledge of God.
He is the truth because only Jesus has the power to bring clarity and coherence into life.
He is the life because Jesus was the only one who was not subject to death but made it subject to him. For Jesus, death was not the ultimate end; he conquered death, and through it demonstrated his divine power.
Jesus was not being narrow-minded or arrogant in making this claim. It was simply the only possible conclusion he could make based on the fact that He, the Son of God, was and is the only means by which anyone can access the Father. The Apostle John put it like this:
“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18).
God is invisible, not because he is unreal, but because no human eye is capable of seeing his essence. But through Jesus, who is both God and the unique Son of God, God revealed his nature and essence in a way that could be seen and touched. And in Jesus, God became a man, (1) lived on this earth, and (2) revealed to us the way, the truth, and the life.
CONCLUSION
Whenever you are traveling to a new location, it’s really helpful to have a GPS device. But before GPS, Smartphones, and Google Maps, believe it or not, there was a time when people had to use actual paperback, spiral-bound maps known as Thomas Guides to help them find where they were going.
Whether you’re using Google Maps’, or maybe you’ve got your trusty Thomas Guide in the glove box, no one assumes that all roads lead to the same destination, right? Likewise, all roads cannot lead to heaven. To assume so is like placing someone in the middle of Los Angeles and telling them.
“Take any road you like, because they all lead to Disneyland.”
All roads do not lead to heaven. Even though our culture tends to promote the idea that we can use whatever “map” we want, there is only one way to heaven. But there are multiple ways to get lost. Jesus put it like this in the Gospel of Matthew:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
This doesn’t mean that it is difficult to become a Christian, but that there is only one way to heaven. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Promoting the truth about Jesus may not be popular, but it is the truth. Jesus is the only one who qualifies to be the All-Sufficient Savior because he died on the cross for our sins and three days later, he walked out of the grave. Thank God we don’t need to try and find a way to heaven; the way has been paved and it is through Jesus. Let’s pray.
PRAYER POINTS:
• Engage in meaningful conversations with our friends and neighbors.
• Articulate a response for why Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life.
• Empower us by the Holy Spirit to give a clear reason for the hope we have in Jesus.
• Lead people into a relationship with Jesus.
