Good morning! Please open your Bibles to John 14. We are seven weeks into our series on Jesus’ I AM statements in the gospel of John. Week one we talked about how God revealed Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush as “I AM.” That’s God’s personal name.. Jehovah, or Yahweh as it’s often translated. But it’s I AM that I AM. Or I will be what I will be.
Then we talked about when Jesus said
• I AM the bread of Life.
• I AM the light of the world.
• I AM the door for the sheep.
• I AM the good shepherd.
So today, we come to our fifth I Am statement, “I am the way the truth and the life.” If you are studying them in the order they appear in John, this one is actually the 6th of the seven I am statements. But we are going to skip the one in John 11--“I am the resurrection and the life” and circle back to it for next week’s Palm Sunday service.
Introduction
Trish and I bought our house in 2015. At that time, our neighborhood had one entrance and one exit. And that was a big selling point. Statistically, there is less crime in neighborhoods with one entrance and one exit. Now that has changed in the last nine years. Now there are three ways in or out of our neighborhood, and there is about to be a fourth.
But it is true that people favor limited access neighborhoods. And even within neighborhoods, the most desirable streets are cul de sacs. The Holy Grail for a lot of people would be a gated community (although not everybody. Lots of people’s comments on my facebook poll said they wouldn’t. There were some like Jeff Williams who said they didn’t want a gate. Then there were some like Ryan Denham who said they didn’t want a community. Just give me a hundred acres
What’s the appeal of a gated community, or neighborhoods that have only one way in and one way out? Because there is security in knowing that people aren’t using your neighborhood like a shortcut on their way to somewhere else. You feel safer letting your kids play outside, knowing that someone isn’t speeding through your neighborhood as a shortcut.
So why does it bother us so much that Christianity claims it is the only way to heaven?
John 14 is where Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.” And this is one of the most controversial, if not THE most controversial of all the I AM statements. It may not seem that way to you, because you’ve grown up in church. You come from a Christian family. There’s a good chance that if you have any of the I AM statements memorized, it is John 14:6. You don’t even blink an eye at Jesus’ statement that no one comes to the Father except through Him.
But think about this claim to exclusivism as someone from outside the church hears it:
• “How arrogant do you have to be to claim that your way is the only way? Are you saying that people from other religions are morally bankrupt and can’t be good people?”
• How fair would it be to claim that God is just going to hurl people into hell simply because they’ve never heard the name of Jesus?
• Doesn’t the Bible contradict itself with this? If no one gets to heaven except through Jesus, then what about all those people in the Old Testament? Are you saying that Abraham, David, Elijah, Elisha, Moses, Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Joseph, Joshua—are you saying they missed heaven because they were born before Jesus ever came to erarth?
• What about children who die before learning about Jesus. Are you seriously saying they don’t get to go to heaven?
These are all good questions. And hear me say: You OWE it to the non Christians in your life to take their questions seriously. Listen: the worst thing you can do is say to your unbelieving friend “Well, that’s a good question. Let me ask my pastor about that one, and I’ll get back to you.” Phooey. That tells your unbelieving friend that you haven’t struggled with this yourself, and that you haven’t examined what you say you believe.
So this morning, I want us to look at Jesus’ claim to exclusivity, and examine some of these tough, fair, valid questions. Let’s look at the first eleven verses of John 14:
[READ JOHN 14:1-11]
This is God’s Word. Let’s thank him for it. Pray with me… [PRAY]
Before talk about Jesus’ statement here, or Christianity’s claim to be the only way, let’s look at the context. John 13:1 tells us it was just before the Passover festival. Specifically, this is the Thursday night of Holy week. That gives us the chronos time—the Greek word used for chronological time. But it also tells us Jesus knew “that the hour had come for Him to leave the world and go to the Father.” So at this point, Jesus has less than 24 hours to live. In a couple of hours, Jesus will go with his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he will be betrayed, arrested, and led away.
So think about this for a second: 25% of the gospel of John- chapters 13-17, covers just a couple of hours of Jesus’ 33 year life. And John considered what Jesus said and did in those two hours to be so important that John dedicated five chapters out of the 21 chapters in his gospel to it!
A LOT of things happen in chapter 13. Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. Then there is the implication that they share a meal together, even though the text doesn’t specifically say that. He predicts Judas’ betrayal, and then Judas leaves, probably to hook up with the temple guards that are going to arrest Jesus.
He gives them a new commandment to love one another. (By the way, if you’ve ever wondered what in the world “Maundy Thursday means, its because of the new commandment. In Latin, commandment is maundatum, where we get the word mandate).
In verse 33, Jesus tells the disciples that where He is going, they can’t come. Peter says, “Well where are you going?” Jesus responds, “Where I’m going you can’t follow, but later on you’ll follow me. And, oh yeah, before tomorrow morning you’re going to deny three times that you even know me.
So in chapter 13, there’s confusion, anxiety, fear, sadness—all the feels.
So chapter 14 begins with Jesus saying, “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe in me.”
And Jesus’ response is not an explanation or answer; it’s simply reassurance. He has just said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, chill.”
Don’t be troubled. “believe in God; believe also in me. This may be the essence of the entire Gospel message. Instead of having to explain, or define, or argue, or prove anything, maybe all God wants is our trust. It’s how Jesus said it here: “Trust God; trust me.”
I know this is a lot, but you don’t have to have it all figured out. Believe in God, Believe also in me.
Then He goes on: “In my house there are many rooms. Do you think I would have said this to you if it wasn’t true? And I am going there to prepare a place for you. And one day, I’m going to come back and take you there.”
We’ve talked about this before—Jesus doesn’t say “mansions.” That was a poor translation from Greek to Latin to English. There’s the father’s house (oikos) and then within that house are many places to stay (mo-NAY) The word translated “rooms” here is monai, from meno, which means “stay.”
So the idea is not of specific rooms, but places to stay, or abiding places.
For now, understand that for Jesus, the focus isn’t on the description of heaven, but the relationship with the Father. Rather, he is talking about a place of intimacy with the Father; the Father’s family, or the Father’s house.
And it’s a big, big house.
Don’t get me wrong. Heaven is a real, physical, tangible place where we are going to have physical bodies. John, the writer of this gospel, would go on to write Revelation, where he described the new heaven and the new earth in chapter 21. And then he went on to describe the new Jerusalem.
You can read this for yourself in Revelation 21:16. In the vision, John is invited to measure the length, width, and height of the city, and he finds it is 12,000 stadia—about 1,500 miles—in each direction.
That’s 2.25 million square miles, a city 15,000 times the size of London, England.
A scientist named Henry Morris put pen to paper, and he said a city that size with those dimensions could safely take on 20 billion inhabitants. And that's only designating 25% of the city for dwelling places. If you took the square mileage that I just gave to you, that would safely and easily allow 20 billion people to live occupying only 25% of it allowing 75% for, streets, parks, fields, whatever. And that would give each of the 20 billion inhabitants of that city a cubicle block 75 acres on each side. That's how big it would be.
That is two and a half times the number of people that live on the earth right now.
And that’s just the capital city! That is just the New Jerusalem. Maybe you prefer the country. Ok. There’s still the rest of the new heaven and the new earth.
Jesus says that He is going to prepare a place for us. I always thought that meant when he went back home to heaven he would start working on my dwelling place. And then at the second coming, he would come get me and take me there. I remember an old contemporary Christian song called “I Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven:’
Oh I can’t wait to get to heaven,
when you wipe away all my tears
In six days you created everything
But You’ve been working on heaven two thousand years.
But there’s another possibility that a teacher named Skip Heitzing brought out in a sermon I listened to this weekend. Think about the fact that by three in the afternoon tomorrow, Jesus is going to be dead. Remember how John 13 began—Jesus knew the hour had come to depart from this world.
So when He says, He is going to prepare a place for us, he isn’t talking about the ascension and the second coming, he is talking about the crucifixion and the resurrection.
by allowing you to go there by Me going to the cross and being the sacrifice. to allow you to get to heaven. He could simply mean that. Or He could mean I'm personally going to make something for you, or it could all be what He means by that. But that is what He'll show, I go to prepare a place for you.
Then, He says something remarkable: “And you know the way I am going.”
Thomas—of course it’s Thomas!—speaks up, and he’s like, “Hey Jesus, you say we already know the way. I doubt that.” He says, “Lord, we don’t even know where you’re going. So how are we supposed to know the way to get there?’ Remember, Peter has already asked Jesus the same question, and all he got was a riddle. “Well, you can’t come. Or at least, not now. But later.
You can hear the frustration in Thomas’s voice. This is not a request for information; it’s almost an accusation. “You haven’t told us. You haven’t given us enough information.”
Thomas says, “we don’t know the way. How are we supposed to get to this big big house of yours?”
And here is the I Am statement:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It’s like Jesus is saying, “Listen, you don’t need to understand all this. You simply need to trust me. Don’t look for a ‘way’ apart from me. Don’t look for a route or destination—some concept or philosophy or belief system or discipline that is separate from me. I’m not going to give you information or instructions so you no longer need me and can instead depend on the information or instructions.
The seven word gospel: Believe in God, believe also in me. No, just trust me. Everything you need is in me. I will bring you to my Father’s abiding place. ‘The way’ or ‘the truth’ or ‘the life’ aren’t things separate from me. I am these things, so you’ll find them in me! Whether or not you know what I’ve been talking about, if you know me, you know the Father, you know the way, you know the truth, you know the life.”
So let’s put it all together: Jesus went to the cross to prepare a place for us. He arose three days later so that where He is, we can be also. And this is why we can have such confidence that Jesus is the way. And by following Jesus, we have an eternal home that is big enough for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived or ever will live on planet earth?
Are you still bothered by the “exclusivity” of Christianity? God has prepared a place for that is big enough for every man, woman, and child that has ever lived to be with him forever!
Yes, there is only one way to be saved, and that is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. But that salvation is free and available to absolutely everyone. 2 Peter 3:9 says that
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Conclusion
Yes, Jesus made it clear that salvation from our sins can only be found in a relationship with Him. And we know that there is an eternal reward for following Jesus. We get to go to heaven when we die. And Revelation tells us it will be amazing. [riff on this—no more tears, leaves on the trees are for the healing of the nations, etc].
HOWEVER… Jesus does not say in John 14:6 that no one gets to heaven except through Jesus. Now, before you run me out of the church for being a heretic, hear me out. Look at your Scripture. John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to THE FATHER except through Jesus.
You say, “Well, it’s the same thing.” No it isn’t. Heaven is a place. God is a person. Think about this: Picture the house you grew up in. Maybe you’ve moved to Prattville from somewhere else, or maybe you and your family moved when you were still a kid. My family moved from Garland Texas to Stone Mountain Georgia when I was five years old. Now, I have great memories of both of those places. I loved my neighborhood. I loved our house!
But let’s say I’m driving through the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. I’ve got some time to kill, and I say, Trish, let me show you the house we lived in when I was born. So I set my GPS to 717 Colgate Circle in Garland, and we drive past the house.
Do I get out of the car and walk up to the door and say to whoever is living there now and say, “Hi—I’m James, and this is my wife Trish… and this is home! Can we just move in here?” First, that’s creepy. Second, 717 Colgate Circle is just a house for me. It’s not my home.
So if you are all wrapped up in the idea of Jesus being the only way to heaven, you are missing the point. Jesus is the only way to God the Father.
And just like we’ve said almost every week since we started this series, you don’t have to wait for heaven to have a relationship with God the Father. You can find your home in him now.
Let’s pray together.
