The Way Of Jesus Series

God has an amazing life of adventure and purpose waiting for us all. But very few people find it. A lot of people think “I tried the God thing, but it didn't work.” The problem is that the promises of God don't happen without the practices of Jesus. AND Most people aren't taught what those practices are. OR how to live them out in a busy life in the real world. Good News! Jesus promised, “I am the Way.”

In other words, if we learn to do what Jesus did, we’ll discover the pathway to purpose THAT God has for all of us. This Lent season we will explore the practices of Jesus to help you grow spiritually. Religion doesn’t lead to real life– following Jesus does. This is “The Way” is our series leading up to Easter

The followers of Jesus for the first 100 years were known as the followers of The Way - The way of Jesus. The pre-christian label was a by-product of Jesus' famous statement from John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”

The problem is many people don’t understand what this means. Jesus tried to let us know how difficult it will be to stay focused in his most famous teaching when he said Matt 7:13-14.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it

This week I’d like to unpack - The Way of Jesus - by going a little old school and diving into John 14.

Early in the service, we heard about Moses' encounter with God on a mountain. It is there He tells Moses to call himself, “I AM.” Or as we like to sing, The Great I Am. Little did anyone know then that God would use the same words to identify himself when He decided to come from heaven to earth in the person of Jesus.

The scene is set. Jesus has once again shared with his disciples that He’s going to be killed in Jerusalem. A truth they are having a hard time fathoming. You can read it in John 13. Let’s pick up the scriptures in John 14:1

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

As Jesus patiently teaches His disciples, He speaks more and more directly about heaven, describing the place He was going to prepare for them (John 14:2–3). Then Jesus said, “You know the way to the place where I am going” (verse 4). It’s clear from John 13 where Peter asks about the next phase of the mission and now Thomas, that the disciples were still not getting the full implications of what was about to take place. It was in the answer to Thomas' question that Jesus uttered another of the famous “I am” statements.

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Let’s unpack Jesus’ words

“I am” in the Greek is a very intense way of referring to oneself. In the Gospels, we find Jesus using these words to reference his claim that he is God incarnate - god in the flesh.

In Matthew 22:32 Jesus quotes Exodus 3:6, where God uses the same intensive form to say, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

In John 8:58, Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.” The Jews clearly understood Jesus to be calling Himself God because they took up stones to stone Him for committing blasphemy in equating Himself with God.

In Matthew 28:20, as Jesus gave the Great Commission, He gave it emphasis by saying, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In John 18:4-6, When the soldiers came seeking Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion, He told them, “I am he,” and His words were so powerful that the soldiers fell to the ground.