The Passion of Christ
John 14:6
How do you get to Columbus? Depending on whom you ask you could get very different directions! While some may tell you to get in your car and drive south on interstate 71 someone else may suggest you take the scenic route on state highway 3. Then someone else may tell you to get on a plane in Cleveland, fly to Atlanta, rent a car and take interstate 185 south!
How do you get to heaven? How can you be admitted into God’s presence? Guess what depending upon who you ask you can get a lot of different answers!
• John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (NIV)
Bold statement for Jesus to make wouldn’t you say? Many things Jesus said “rubbed people the wrong way.”
• Lose your life to save it.
• The first will be last.
• If you want to be the greatest, be the servant of all.
• The meek will inherit the earth.
• Rejoice in persecution.
• Love your enemies, and pray for those who mistreat you.
Yet what Jesus says in John 14:6 is extremely hard for people to swallow. It is arrogant and narrow minded. Jesus’ statement was not politically correct when He said it, and His words are still contrary to popular thinking today.
What makes Jesus’ statement so controversial? Why does it get under their skin?
People today have some misconceptions about religion. Specifically people don’t understand the Christian faith. According to George Barna 85% of people in America today call themselves Christians; only 8% of Americans consider themselves to be an agnostic or atheist and just 7% of Americans are associated with another faith.
Now I’m here to tell you that if 85% of people in the US are really Christians then things would be very different in our nation today. Here’s the problem according to Barna, “the findings suggest that many Americans have developed a form of faith that is comforting but only vaguely Bible-related while the stereotypical, Bible-based Christian faith is more of an anomaly than it is typical.” Put simply most so called Christians don’t believe the Bible!
Barna classifies American Christians in three groups. Only 9% make up the evangelical group which could be described as Biblical Christianity; that’s less than 1 in 10 so called American Christians. Yet of this group of evangelical Christians only 68% base their moral decisions on the Bible or religious teaching and only 58% believe in absolute moral truth opposed to believing moral choices are relative to the individual and the circumstances
As a pastor it makes me wonder about the real spiritual condition of the people who make up our church. What do you folks really believe about Jesus Christ? What do you believe about the Bible? How does what you believe affect the way you live? Jesus put it like this:
• Matthew 7:21 Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ’Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. (NLT)
If I may be so blunt, I want us to have our “Christian heads examined.” I want us to look inside our heads and see if we are carrying around some mistaken beliefs. Have we made the mistake of believing one of the three popular myths about religion in America today?
3 MYTHS ABOUT RELIGION:
1. ALL RELIGIONS LEAD YOU TO GOD.
• Dorothy was told how to find her way to Oz. “Follow the yellow brick road.” Dorothy was not given different options. “Look Dorothy if you don’t like yellow then follow the road of your choice: red, green, blue. You pick the road and it will take you where you want to go.”
People may agree world religions have some fundamental difference from each other, but when you strip them down to the basics all religions will lead you to God. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter which religion you follow as long as you are sincere about what you believe.
• In other words, regardless of what spiritual path you may take, each path leads you up the same mountain. Upon reaching the summit (also known as heaven) we will all discover the “universal fatherhood of God” accepting all his children regardless of the path they chose to climb the mountain.
Jesus said, “I AM THE WAY.” He did not claim to be “a way,” but “the way.”
When you compare world religions you will find many similarities especially concerning some basic values and moral issues. But with one statement Jesus puts Christianity in a class by itself. The uniqueness of the Christian faith is based in the uniqueness of Jesus.
Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I will show you the way of salvation.” Jesus says, “I am the way to eternal life.”
Others will say, “Follow me and I will nourish your soul.” Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”
Others say, “Follow me and I will show you truth.” Jesus says, “I am truth.”
Others say, “Follow me and you will be enlightened.” Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”
Others say, “Follow me and I will show you many doors to God.” Jesus says, “I am the door.”
Jesus clearly states who He is, “I am. . . I am. . . I am.” Then He says, “Now follow me!”
Either Jesus was out of touch with reality, or He knew something we needed to know. If Jesus was mistaken then we can ignore what He says. However, if what Jesus said is true, then His words are the single most important words spoken on the planet earth. And Jesus words are of the greatest importance to you and me personally as well.
Do you see the difference? The difference between Christianity and other religions is JESUS!
Other religious beliefs are based upon man’s best attempt to reach God. If you meet certain requirements, then God will be obligated to accept you into heaven. If you give enough alms to the poor, if you say daily prayers in the right way, if you make a pilgrimage to the holy city, if you eat the right foods, if you go through a series of reincarnations, if your good karma outweighs your bad karma, or whatever else you might try to do to earn God’s favor, then you will be saved. In a word other religions are spelled: D-O, do.
Christianity is God reaching out to man through His son Jesus Christ. It is not what we can do for ourselves, but what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus died in our place! In a word the Christian faith is spelled: D-O-N-E, done.
Does anyone know the way? Jesus said, “I am the way.” Buddha claims to know the way to God. Mohammad says he found the path into God’s presence. Other religious leaders have claimed to be able to give us directions to find God.
• Now let’s just ask a simple question: “Does God know the way?”. If God was in fact speaking through all these different so called prophets, then why did they all say you could get to God in different ways? Would God tell one group of people, “This is how to be reconciled with me,” and then tell another group of people “Here’s another way to find me,” and then tell a third, “No, don’t do any of those things do this instead.” God is not schizophrenic.
God is not going to “talk out of both sides of His mouth.” God will speak clearly and has done so through His son Jesus Christ. All other would be prophets are liars.
The difference between the Christian faith and other religions is demonstrated by comparing a story told by Jesus and a similar story told by Buddhists. In both stories a rebellious son leaves home only to later find the error of his ways. Jesus starts the story like this:
• Luke 15:11-16 There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ’Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ "So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. (MsgB)
The difference comes at the end of the story. Most of you know how Jesus story ends right? The younger son returns home to ask his father for forgiveness hoping his father will take him in as one of his servants. But before he got to the house his father saw him and ran down the road to welcome his son home. The Father didn’t want another servant. He wanted his son back, so he gave the boy shoes for his feet, put a ring on his finger and threw a big party to rejoice because his son was home.
The Buddhist story ends all together differently. The errant son is required to work off the penalty of his misdeeds in years of servitude.
• Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (NIV) There’s a way that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. (MsgB)
Jesus said, “I am the way.” You cannot earn your way into heaven. Other religions may claim to show you how to find God, but Jesus will bring you into God’s presence.
2. ALL RELIGIONS TEACH TRUTH.
Who is to say what truth is? Truth is relative; who is to say your truth is any better than my truth?
How can someone say, “Truth is relative,” or “There is no such thing as absolute truth.” Can I ask a silly question, isn’t such a truth an absolute statement contradicting itself?
• We recognize absolute truth in every area of our lives except religion! For some of us it has been awhile since you took a test at school. Try telling your math teacher truth is relative when you miss an answer on a test. Try telling your history teacher they graded your test wrong because you are living in a different time period. See if you can convince your English teacher you have a different perspective on the use of language. What will your Science teacher tell you if you believe you can make water out of chlorine bleach and baking soda?
You’re free to make what ever claims you would like to about truth, but you should be ready to back it up. By definition truth should be observable; it should be able to be demonstrated so others can know truth.
Jesus did more than just claim to know truth. JESUS SAID I AM THE TRUTH.
If Jesus is the truth, then everything Jesus said must be true. Because Jesus is truth everything Jesus says must be true, because truth is a part of who Jesus says He is. Now Jesus said some pretty incredible things about Himself. Other things said about Jesus were equally remarkable.
Jesus said He is the truth, so let’s see if He can back up what He said about Himself.
• Luke 18:31-33 31Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. 33On the third day he will rise again." (NIV)
Before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem He told his disciples what was going to happen to Him. It’s one thing to say you’re going to die. It’s an all together different thing to say you will rise again. You might be able to plot your own death, but how can you arrange to come back to life?
• Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of Christ” portrayed the events that took place in the final 12 hours of Jesus’ life. Jesus had told his disciples that one of them would betray Him. Judas delivered Jesus into the hands of His enemies just as Jesus had said. After being arrested Jesus was mocked, insulted, spit upon and beaten just as He said He would be. Then Pontius Pilate conceded to the demands of the crowd and ordered Jesus’ execution. Roman soldiers took Jesus outside the city and crucified Him on a hill called Golgotha. Jesus life came to an end just as He said it would.
But the movie doesn’t end there, and neither does the story of Jesus. Gibson shows the stone rolled over the door to Christ’s tomb. The screen goes black. Then the grave clothes Jesus had been wrapped in are shown going down like someone slowly letting the air out of a balloon. The film ends with Jesus walking out of the grave on the third day.
Jesus rose from the dead just as He said He would. Roman soldiers had been standing guard outside Christ’s tomb to prevent His disciples from stealing the body. Jesus’ enemies wanted Him to stay dead; they understood Jesus had made claims about rising from the dead. Unfortunately, Roman soldiers were no match for the risen Christ.
Throughout the Bible prophetic statements were made about the Messiah. Jesus said “everything written by the prophets” about Him would be fulfilled. It would be a mathematical impossibility for all the prophecies written about Christ to have happened . . . unless Jesus really is the Son of God-the way, the truth and the life.
Look with me at just a few of the prophetic statements made hundreds, even thousands of years concerning the events leading up to Jesus’ death.
• Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (NIV)
Fulfilled in Matthew 21:1-5
• Psalm 2:1-2 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? [2] The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. (NIV)
Fulfilled in Luke 23:12 and Acts 4:27
• Psalm 41:9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. (NIV)
Fulfilled in John 13:18, 21
• Zechariah 11:12-13 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter. (NIV)
Fulfilled in Matthew 26:15 and 27:7
• Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. (NIV)
Fulfilled in Matthew 26:63 and 27:12-14
• Psalm 16:10 . . . you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. (NIV)
Fulfilled in Luke 26:6, 31, 34
These are just five prophecies concerning Christ of hundreds found in the Old Testament which were fulfilled through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The words Jesus spoke of Himself were fulfilled just as He said. The prophecies made concerning Jesus likewise happened.
Jesus said He was the truth. The events of His life prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Jesus is indeed who He says He is.
3. ALL RELIGIONS ARE EQUAL
This myth is a summation of the first two. If you believe all religions lead to God and all religions teach truth, then all religions are equal. Differences between religions can be easily resolved because fundamentally all religious faith is the same.
In philosophy it is not possible for “a” to be “not a.” In mathematics 2x = 6 is only true if “x” is equal to 3; any other number “x” when multiplied by 2 will not equal 6. Likewise world religions are not equal because of their fundamental differences.
Christianity believes God has reconciled creation to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. Both Christianity and Judaism believe in One Eternal God who is the creator of heaven and earth, but Judaism does not acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah and savior of the world. Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is monotheistic believing in only one God. However Islam denies Jesus was the Son of God and rejects Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. Hinduism believes everything is God, you and I are God, the chairs you are sitting on are God, the trees are God, you’ve got the picture-everything! Mormonism believes in many Gods; Jesus is not the only begotten Son of God. Jesus was just a God.
1 John 4:2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. (NIV)
Don’t be fooled. All religions are not the same. In our pluralistic society we must stand and tell our world about Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life!
1 John 2:22-23 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son. [23] No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (NIV)
Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” Jesus is the way to the Father. Jesus is truth. Jesus is life. Only Jesus can transform our lives and make us new.
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, [2] in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. [3] All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. [4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. (NIV)
