The Exclusive Claims of the Inclusive Jesus
John 14:1-11
INTRODUCTION: You know that I teach OT and NT at our local college. Being in that setting enables me to encounter a lot of different people and to get a sense of the way people inside as well as outside the church think.
One of the things I’ve noticed recently is that MOST people believe that truth (and morality based on that truth) is relative and not absolute. Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about:
Recently I was talking with some about morals and in the course of our conversation I asserted that all claims to truth are NOT equally valid. I went on to maintain that there exists an external, absolute truth by which we measure all other claims to truth. So just because someone maintains that an idea about God is true or that a moral decision is truly good DOES NOT mean that this is actually the case.
Immediately someone objected: "You’re being so JUDGMENTAL! What are you to say that one claim to truth is superior to another? What’s true for me is true for me and what’s true for you is true for you." This is the argument we hear all the time and it is called "relativism". Relativism maintains that there is NO SUCH THING as an ABSOLUTE, IMMUTABLE TRUTH that is the same for all persons, everywhere and at all times.
What really was disturbing these folks and what disturbs a lot of people is the claim that some things are EXCLUSIVELY TRUE. (In fact the word "truth" has no meaning unless there is the possibility of something being false in comparison.) We’ve seen this kind of reasoning a lot lately in the public discourse as our President tries to avoid the truth by relativizing and deconstructing language. The view that truth is relative is a cornerstone of popular culture today. Pollster George Barna indicates that nearly 75% of Americans do NOT believe in an absolute truth.
I want to assert that this presuppostion is possibly one of the most dangerous qualities of our postmodern world. It is dangerous because if we let it go unchallenged then there is NO REASON to evangelize because all other truth claims made by other religions are equally true!
Furthermore, all moral action is based on what people believe to be true. The world we live in says that morality is RELATIVE and the it is SUBJECTIVE, with each individual person choosing right and wrong based on their own inner desires and preferences.
We have been talking in recent weeks about the all-inclusive love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ invites all humanity into the family of God. No one is excluded from this invitation to relationship. Now God won’t force us into a relationship w/ him, but he has never excluded anyone. Jesus shows this inclusive love in John 6:37b -- Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
But in spite of the world’s claim that truth and morality are relative there is A REALITY we confront in the PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST who maintains that there are absolutes of morality and truth. This same inclusive Jesus makes some exclusive claims.
I. John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
A. THE WAY: Jesus is the moral absolute. The way implies action. Actions consistent with the Truth are moral acts.
B. THE TRUTH: Truth is a person we can know and embrace, not some abstract philosophical concept fit only for the minds of choicest scholars.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 18:37b "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
Since truth is wrapped up in the VERY CHARACTER OF GOD, an ATTRIBUTE OF GOD, it is:
1. OBJECTIVE: Exists outside of me. God is real and exists independently of me. Not just something in my head.
2. REVEALED: God reveals himself perfectly in Jesus Christ. God wants us to know him and thus God wants us to know the truth.
3. IMMUTABLE: The truth revealed in Jesus Christ is absolutely trustworthy and unchanging. As Hebrews says: Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
C. THE LIFE: Without centering your life in Jesus Christ you are living a false, empty existence. Like drinking seawater when dying of thirst, drinking from the fountain of falsehood speeds our destruction.
II. The consequence of rejecting the TRUTH that is Jesus Christ is that you forfeit any relationship with God. Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
John 14:6b No one comes to the Father except through me.
III. People prefer the lie to the truth because it suits the sinful human impulse to live a life that is divorced from God.
Rom 1:22-25 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
Specific objections and their counter arguments.
A. The argument: "Truth and morality are merely the construct of culture. Different cultures have different morals. All are equally valid as they work in those cultures. Just because we abhor a certain practice doesn’t mean its absolutely wrong. It’s just wrong in our cultural setting. It may be perfectly normal and good in another culture."
Well, if that’s true then the culture of the racist, segregationist South should have never been challenged. But thank God, the Rev. Dr. King and others could not stand to see such evil rule a culture and they pulled down that Satanic stronghold one brick at a time from lunch counters in Greensboro to the streets of Birmingham.
If culture sets morality then Corrie Ten Boom was acting IMMORALLY when she acted contrary to the Nazi culture by helping Jews escape.
B. Then there is the argument that runs: "Who are you to push YOUR morality, YOUR truth on ME???" These are often the same people who refuse to believe in God because they say, "I can’t accept the existence of God when there is so much evil in the world!"
In the first case, they’ve just maintained that the notion of good and evil are totally internal... don’t be forcing some "external" view of morality on me, they say. But then they want to maintain that good and evil are absolute realities when they look at the world around them.
In the second case, why are they PUSHING THEIR MORALITY ON GOD!!! They won’t give God the same privilege they reserve for themselves, i.e. to arbitrarily concoct morality and act on it.
If you are going to maintain that morals are relative then you must deny that ANYTHING is evil.
C. Let’s carry these arguments further: "You shouldn’t push you morality on me." How do we counter this argument? Simple, just ask, "Why NOT?"
They cannot tell you a reason you should not exhort moral behavior without making a moral appeal themselves!
Say someone objected to my moral judgements. I ask, "What’s wrong with that?" He says, "It’s not right to be judgmental." "If it’s not right to be judgmental, then why are you judging me for being judgmental???
They respond, "Okay, judging is all right as long as you don’t push your morality on me." Just ask, "Is that your moral position? Then why are you pushing it on me!?"
D. Ultimately, God created us to live in relationship with him. God is the absolute source for truth and moral action. Therefore we are created to live in the truth and morality. That’s why arguments against morality are self-defeating. The universe God made only makes sense when we acknowledge the truth about God.
CONCLUSION: Exclusive claims to truth do not mean we demonstrate an exclusive spirit.
"Without the undergirding of love, the possessor of any conviction becomes obnoxious, and the dogma believed becomes repulsive to the one who disagrees with it. The early church also lived in an intensely pluralistic culture in which it had to deliver an exclusivistic message, but the believers were distinguished and recognized by their love. Our Lord Himself proclaimed truth in exclusive terms, terms in which there was no compromise, but He demonstrated that truth by the embodiment of a perfect love. Being possessed of a conviction is a necessary part of following God, but doing so with love and patience are the necessary handmaidens." --Ravi Zacharias, Deliver Us From Evil, Word Publishing, 1997, p. 83.
