The Disciple Jesus Loved Tells All!

Studies in the Gospel of John

Show Me The Way!

John 13:31-14:14

Last week our family made an annual trek back to the hills of West Virginia for the 20^th Annual Ross Family Reunion. Usually when we leave for trips back home, we leave in the late evening, around 8 or 9 pm, and we arrive at my parents home at about 6 the next morning. This year, we wanted to get an earlier start, get in shortly after midnight, and have more of the first day to spend with family. So we decided to leave at 2:00 in the afternoon, and get in about midnight or one oclock.

But leaving at 2:00 would put us in Chicago right in the middle of rush hour, so we got out the map, and decided that we would take a different route home, by passing Chicago, Toledo and Cleveland, by going south to Bloomington, Illinois, then straight East through Indianapolis, Columbus OH, and then on to West Virginia. It looked a little longer, but with the time saved around Chicago, it should all even out.

We made great time – no traffic at all. But the distance was a lot more than we expected – it took four more hours than usual – and we ended up arriving at my parents at 5:30 in the morning! 

My point is this…There are lots of ways to get to a destination when you are driving. When Highways 28 and 175 were closed last summer and earlier this year, I found all sorts of interesting and scenic routes between Mayville and Fond du Lac. Some were real time-savers, some were not. Obviously, there are lots of ways to get from here to my home in West Virginia. There’s the direct route, which takes about 10 hours, the indirect route, which took 14, and the scenic route, north through Canada, around the Great Lakes, back into the US at Niagara Falls, then south west to home – that one took three days! There are lots of ways to get to most destinations, but today we are going to look at a claim that Jesus made that is quite disturbing to many people. He claims, in our text today, to be the only way to God!

Let me give you the setting for this bold claim of Jesus. It is the night before He was betrayed by one of his followers and handed over to the religious and political leaders. He knows that this will be the last supper with his closest friends, and he knows that one of them has conspired against Him. He has eaten the meal with them. He has washed their feet to show them His humility and His love. He has spoken openly of His death, using broken bread and a cup of wine to demonstrate his broken body and poured out blood. He has dismissed Judas, the conspirator, to go about his treachery. In John’s memoirs of his life with Jesus, we pick up the story at chapter 13, verse 31.

John 13:31 – 14:6

31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

36 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." 37 Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake." 38 Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." 5 Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

One of the things I love about John’s memoirs is that He doesn’t sugar-coat events or people. He lets us see everyone as they were. We have seen places where he and the other disciples were clueless as to what Jesus was doing, and Jesus had to set them straight. He has said, more than once, “We didn’t understand this at the time, but after Jesus died and was resurrected, it all became clear.” He shows the stubbornness of the disciples unwilling to serve each other, the weakness of Peter, the petty arguments and pessimism that they sometimes had as a group.

In this passage, I particularly appreciate John’s inclusion of the confusion the disciples felt. Peter, Philip and Thomas are all confused and disturbed by what Jesus has said. Thomas says in verse 5, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”

There are many in our world who feel the same way today. They don’t know where Jesus is, or what He taught – so they don’t know the way. They want to know – but they feel confused. In 1990 the group Styx released a song that expressed the same sentiment that Thomas asked Jesus. The confusion in the composer’s head, however was caused by the hypocrisy and failures he had witnessed in the church and our culture. Please pay attention to the lyrics of this song as we hear it now.

[Play Show Me The Way by Styx]

That song is the cry of an entire generation that feels they have no one or nothing to show them the way through life’s maze. 

In planning a trip across town or across the nation, we have lots of options, but a journey to heaven can only follow one path – a path that has been established by God Himself – and that path is Jesus. He is the "way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through him." You might be thinking, “Bob, this is Sunday School stuff! don’t we all believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven?” Apparently not. I can tell you without hesitation that a pastor of a church in this city believes that there are many ways to the Father. And he’s not alone. A couple of years ago, the Southern Baptist Convention voted on a resolution that stated that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. One of their pastors stood and gave this opinion:

"In regard to the resolution, I understand God to be a gracious, life-giving mystery who, for me, is most clearly encountered in the human Jesus, the Christ. Therefore, I am a Christian. I assume that there are other lights, other understandings of God’s movement of love and justice in our world. To judge with certainty another person’s relationship to God is for me the height of arrogance.” (SBC Annual Meeting June, 1994)

That was a pastor of a Southern Baptist Church saying that he believed that there had to be other ways to heaven than just Jesus! Folks, if a Baptist pastor believes that, then I think I am safe to assume that there are people in the seats of Baptist churches – maybe people in this church – who do not believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation.

For that reason, we need to deal with this question: “Is Jesus the only way to heaven?”

To that question, I answer without apology, YES! “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved.”

But aren’t there many good religions out there, and aren’t there good intentioned people who are a part of those religions or who were brought up in those religions. What about them? Is Christianity the only religion that is true?

Or are all other religions describing the same God in different ways? Is there really any difference between us and, say, Islam, or Buddhism, or Judaism? In the days following September 11, and the war on terror, many people claim that all of these religions are valid. The great theologian Oprah Winfrey proclaimed at the New York City Memorial Service at Yankee Stadium that, “we all worship the same God.” But often those who claim that all religions are valid and true have not really looked closely at the truth claims involved. Because when you look closer, you will find that often these different religions contradict Christianity in important ways. And it becomes clear that both of them cannot be true - one has to be right and the other wrong.

For example, Buddhism teaches that the ultimate goal is Nirvana where all pain and suffering exist no more. And the way to reach this Nirvana is by following the 8-Fold Path to Enlightenment, and then you reach that place of total nothingness. In Hinduism, the ultimate goal also is also Nirvana, but their Nirvana is different. Instead of being snuffed out like a candle, Nirvana for a Hindu is being reunited with Brahm, the all-pervading force of the universe. And the way to achieve this union with Brahm, this Nirvana, is through reincarnation. How you live this life determines whether you move up or down on the path in the next life. In Islam, heaven is a paradise of wine, women, and song. And the way to achieve this blissful paradise is to, ironically, abstain from these things in this world. In addition, a Muslim must follow the Five Pillars of Islam to achieve paradise. And, of course, Judaism denies that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is through the following of the Law that one obtains eternal life. They believe that Jesus was merely a human teacher or prophet at best. But he is not the Messiah.

So you see, these ways to God, or paradise are completely contradicting to Christianity.

Let me simplify this, let me wrap this all up by painting a picture that I believe offers the stark contrast between Christianity and all other religions. Picture a Father and his 3 year old daughter. The daughter wants his father to pick her up, to embrace her, to carry her, to hold her close. That’s all the daughter wants is to be in her Father’s arms. And so the little girl lifts her hands up to her father and desperately reaches for her father’s neck, so that she can be lifted up. She reaches and reaches, and urges her father to pick her up. But she’s never quite able to reach up high enough to reach his arms on her own. That is a picture of the desperation many have in trying to reach up to God, but never quite reaching high enough. I have said it before, and I will say it again: If your good works impresses your god, then your god is too small. I know humans that would not be impressed by your good works – are they more holy than your god? You more than anyone know how week and pathetic you are in your life. We all slip up! We all make mistakes, we are all selfish, prideful, angry or bitter at one time or another. 

But now picture a Father and this same 3 year old child. The child reaches up to her father to be lifted up and held in his arms. But instead of just looking down at his child, expecting her to climb up to him, he lovingly reaches down to where the child is, and with compassion and strength lifts the child up into his arms and draws the child close to himself. Which do you think is a more accurate picture of God? One who is impressed by the efforts of week humans, or one who is strong enough to look beyond those flaws and reach down in love to them? That is what makes Christianity different than all other religions. God came down to us in the form of Jesus Christ, and made a way for us to be lifted up into the arms of God. Jesus is the way to be in the arms of God. He came here to us, so we could come to him.

Maybe there is a part of you today that resonates with the lyrics to that song we heard earlier from Styx. You’ve watched political and religious leaders come and go. You’ve trusted people to be faithful guides along the path, but they have failed you. You desperately want someone to show you the way. Let me give you this warning, and this invitation: Don’t put your faith in any human being to get you to heaven! Your pastor, your parents, your youth leader, your spouse can’t get you to heaven, no matter how sincere and spiritual they are. They will fail you. They will hurt you, they will let you down. Don’t put your faith in some religion, either. Religion will ultimately call you to put your faith in their religious rituals, ceremonies and rules. You will find yourself desperately reaching for your Father, and not making it on your own.

Here’s the invitation. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Trust in Jesus. He is right now reaching down to you. Place your faith in Him – trust Him to bring you to the Father. He will not only show you the way – He is the way!

Please join me in prayer.

It may be that today you are here and you want to know the way to the Father. Your soul has been longing for direction. You’ve been disappointed and hurt by those who claimed to know the way, and now you want the real thing. You want to follow Jesus – not a pastor, not a church, but Jesus. If that’s the case, just pray words something like this, right now, in the silence of your own heart, “Lord Jesus, I need to come to the Father. I have been searching and reaching for you for so long, and I can’t do it on my own. I need you to reach down to me, and embrace me, and bring me to the Father. Please forgive me for my sins and make me a child of God. Thank you for being the only way to the Father.”

Lord Jesus, we live in a world that has so many conflicting options, and it can be confusing and frustrating. There is a part within us that wants to know you, to fellowship with you, and yet we don’t see the way. Lord, today you have burst through the fog, and clearly stated that you are not just a way to God, but the only way. In this moment, by your Holy Spirit, speak to us, call us to place our faith fully in you. 

Dennis DeYoung
 

Every night I say a prayer in the hope that there's a heaven
And every day I'm more confused as the saints turn into sinners
All the heroes and legends I knew as a child have fallen to idols of clay
And I feel this empty place inside so afraid that I've lost my faith

Show me the way, show me the way
Take me tonight to the river
And wash my illusions away
Show me the way

And as I slowly drift to sleep, for a moment dreams are sacred
I close my eyes and know there's peace in a world so filled with hatred
Then I wake up each morning and turn on the news to find we've so far to go
And I keep on hoping for a sign, so afraid that I just won't know

Show me the way, Show me the way
Take me tonight to the mountain
And take my confusion away

And show me the way

And if I see a light, should I believe?
Tell me how will I know?

Show me the way, show me the way
Take me tonight to the river
And wash my illusions away
Show me the way, show me the way
Give me the strength and the courage
To believe that I'll get there someday
And please show me the way

Every night I say a prayer
In the hope that there's a heaven...