“I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” – Jesus Revealed Part XI

Sermon Title: “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life:” This is the Way

Good News Statement: Jesus leads us to his truth and life

Preached: Sunday, March 26, 2022 at Dogwood Prairie UMC & Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.              

 

Scripture (NRSV): John 14:1-7 Today’s scripture comes from the Gospel of John chapter fourteen verses one thru seven. In this particular passage, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” and invites us to search for a path of faith through him.

 

Jesus the Way to the Father

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

 

Introduction:

After a very long and boring sermon the parishioners filed out of the church saying nothing to the preacher. Towards the end of the line was a thoughtful person who always commented on the sermons. “Pastor, today your sermon reminded me of the peace and love of God!” The pastor was thrilled. “No-one has ever said anything like that about my preaching before. Tell me why.” “Well – it reminded me of the Peace of God because it passed all understanding and the Love of God because it endured forever!”

I will admit that some of my sermons have allowed peace to fall upon each of you and that some of them have been known to endure forever. But I will tell you, that not everything that I write gets said; so I could truly talk for forever! Unlike some of my sermons, though, Jesus, after stating that he is the light of the world (John 8), that he is the bread of life (John 6), and that he is the good shepherd (John 10), proclaims to his disciples something that is to the point and rather alarming. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If you don’t accept the way of Christ, you won’t be able to get to the Father. If you don’t accept the truth of Christ’s words, you won’t be able to get to the Father. If you don’t accept that life in Christ is “to live in Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), you won’t be able to get to the Father.

Unlike some of sermons, Jesus is clear about what he seeks from each of us. He seeks for each of us to love him with our whole heart, mind, body, and soul as we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we are willing do that, to love the way he loves us, we will forever live in the way, truth, and life that Christ has assigned to each of us. By accepting that he is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, we will know Jesus and we will come to know the Father. Once we accept that we can take to heart what Jesus said in John 14:13-14, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it” then following Jesus becomes clearer.

This particular “I Am” statement offered by Jesus is rather daunting and alarming because there is not a lot of room for error or mistakes or mishaps. However, Jesus knows that we aren’t perfect, that we will mess up, that we will endure hardships, be tempted, be challenged, feel overwhelmed and stressed, and at some point “backslide,” as John Wesley would say it, away from God. Knowing this, though, Jesus offers us hope, and the opportunity to find his way, embrace his truth, and live his life. But we must be willing to do that today and not wait until tomorrow. Jesus leads us towards the Father by showing us the way, giving us the truth, and encouraging our life.

 

Body:

At first glance this particular passage resembles sort of a farewell address offered by Jesus: it offers a sense of solace and peace. It’s no surprise why this text is so often read at funerals to offer comfort to the living left to grieve a loved one. Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me?” (John 14:1-2, 6). It seems comforting, doesn’t it? Jesus invites the disciples to be at peace, to know that they will one day be with God, one day “dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” as the Psalmist wrote in the twenty-third Psalm, and that Jesus will be there to welcome them home. It sounds peaceful. It sounds comforting. But Jesus is sounding the alarm. The time has come to seek the way, the truth, and life himself so that we may come to know and see God. This is the way: the way to eternal life and it won’t always be peaceful or comforting.

To show that this text from John is not as daunting or fearful as some may say, I encourage you to journey with me through the realm of board games as we seek the way, truth and life of Christ in our own life. The board game “Chutes and Ladders” reminds us that to seek the way of Christ will not be easy: there will be moments when we can climb to the top of the ladder, but there will also be moments when we slide down the slide, seeking ways to get back to the top. The board game, “Trivia Pursuit” teaches us that revealing the truth will get us farther into the kingdom of God than making up false answers will. Finally, the board game, “The Game of Life” suggests that in living like Christ we will endure life changes, get lost, endure surprises, but will one day retire in the house of the Lord. The idea of using board games to describe Jesus’ statement came from thinking about my nieces, who always want to play board games, but only in ways that allow them to win.

First, “I Am The Way.” Jesus didn’t just teach people how to live good moral lives. Jesus came to teach us how we could be in a relationship with God, his Father, just as he was in relationship with the Father, and how God would work in our lives, giving us the power to change our lives. This relationship cannot be restored by following a particular teaching; rather this relationship can only be restored in one way, through another person, through Jesus, God’s Son.

Jesus is not just another road sign among many pointing us in the right direction to God, he isn’t just a compass or GPS to direct our path, Jesus is the path connecting us to God. Jesus said he would go to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house so that we might be with the Father, and one day he will return to bring us to be with God. We do not find the way to the Father, to heaven, by just following particular teachings, but by following a person, Jesus, by trusting in faith that he is in God the Father, and the Father is in him, and that Jesus died and resurrected for us, so that he might come live in us, and we in him (John 15:4; 17:7). The way of Jesus is more than simply reading scripture, praying every day, seeking ways to be involved in the church, and developing methods to maintain a church that is here tomorrow. The way of Jesus is about putting our faith into action, even when we find ourselves sliding down to the darkest of valleys.

The premise of the game Chutes and Ladders (by Hasbro) is to get your character to square marked 100 as quickly as you can, but it’s not so easy to get there. If you land on a good deed, you can shimmy up a ladder, but land on the wrong spot and you’ll shoot down a chute or slide! Following the way of Christ is not always easy. There are moments during our own life that cause us to slide down the chute, to be at ground zero, to be in a valley. On the flip side, there are moments in which we fill we can climb any ladder to win the race. Needless to say, sometimes in life we climb the ladder—everything is going well—but then something unexpected happens and we fall—we go down the chute; we lose sight of Christ. We get off the path that Jesus has laid before us. And to get back on this path, to one day climb the ladder, we must have faith, we must have trust, and we must do our best to overcome the chutes in our life—those things that drag us down and cause us to stray away from Christ—so that we can keep going, so that we can continue on the path that leads to the Father; so that we can have a relationship with Christ.

The truth of the matter is that a relationship with God is only possible through the forgiveness we receive through God’s Son. Jesus is the way to the Father because he is in the Father and the Father is in him. Jesus even said to Philip, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9). Jesus is the only one, the only way, who is able to go prepare a place for us with the Father because he is God, and the only person who has ever lived a truly righteous or sinless life (Heb. 4:15). His way is encouraging but not easy; uplifting but daunting; and promising but challenging. His way is filled with love, and he is waiting for you to be willing to climb the ladder to get to mark 100 which is an abundant relationship with him. Needless to say, we must be willing to follow his way and walk is path with a trusting heart.

Second, “I am the Truth.” King Solomon, the author of three-thousand proverbs and one-thousand and five songs (1 Kings 4:32-34), declares in the third chapter of Proverbs, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Many people in today’s society are skeptical about the truth: some accept the truth, some ignore the truth, and some even bend the truth. So when it comes to the truth about Jesus, you can see that society struggles as well: our society either accepts, contemplates, or ignores what Jesus is telling and offering them. For some, they choose not to believe.

People are responding to Jesus’ claim, the same way Pilate did when Jesus revealed he was the King, and he had come to testify to the truth, and that anyone who really loves the truth will recognize the truth in Jesus’ words. Pilate’s response was, “What is truth?” A lot of people today are like Pilate, they ignore Jesus’ words because they do not believe there is an absolute truth: they don’t know that Jesus is the only truth they need in life to get to the Father. So they ask “What is truth? Who is Jesus?” In some regard, they feel as if Jack Nicholson’s famous-line from the movie A Few Good Men is true. Jack Nicholson, playing the character of Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, screams, with intensive anger, “You can’t handle the truth.” And those same people haven’t heard the prayer of the father with the demon-possessed child, who prayed, “I believe; help my unbelief, [O, Lord]” (Mark 9:24). They are far from his straight paths, far from the truth. Are you one of those people?

Twenty-six times in John’s gospel Jesus says, “I tell you the truth.” During most of those occasions Jesus told people about himself, about his relationship with God, or how we need him to have a relationship with God. With Jesus, trusting him with our whole heart is what we need to keep moving forward. Speaking of moving forward, telling the truth and knowing the facts is how you win the game Trivia Pursuit. Trivia Pursuit (by Hasbro) contains 2,400 questions dispersed within six categories: Geography, Entertainment, History, Art and Literature, Science and Nature, and Sports and Leisure. Players move around the board answering questions. When a player lands on a category space, they’ll earn the corresponding colored wedge if they answer the question correctly—the fact or truth. The first player to collect six different colored wedges and answer a final question correctly wins!

Every day we are asked questions by Jesus: “Who do you say I Am?”, “Do you believe?”, “Why are you so afraid?”, “Do you still not see or understand?”, “What is it you want me to do for you?”, “Where is your faith?”, and “Do you love me?” Each of these questions as well as the other 297 questions that Jesus asks in the Gospels calls us to answer with truth, with sincerity, faith, and love. By answering these questions truthfully, we gain another piece and are able to move forward toward Christ. The truth that lies within the divinity of Jesus is the truth we need to keep moving forward; and this truth—this hope, love, and grace—is what lives within us. This truth cannot be struck down nor destroyed because it is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:8-10): it overcame the temptations of Satan, conquered death, and walked out of the tomb. We need this truth; we need Jesus to face tomorrow.

When we accept this truth, we deny ourselves, carry our cross, and confess that we are powerless: that we need Jesus to keep moving forward. 1 John 5:20 states, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” Jesus is the only truth that grants us eternal life, the only truth that we need to keep moving forward, and the only truth that gives hope to believe, not perish, and walk on straight paths of righteousness. The question for us remains, are we going to believe Jesus’ words are the truth even if they are difficult for us to accept? Are we going to choose to follow him exclusively, believing as his disciples did that Jesus has the words of eternal life, and that he is the Holy One of God (John 6:68-69)? Are we willing to do what we can to receive the colored wedge of truth?

Finally, Jesus says, “I Am the Life.” Without believing Jesus is the way and the truth, we cannot experience life. Jesus said, “I am the life.” The very first words of John’s gospel teach us that Jesus was the co-Creator of life with his Father: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of people” (John 1:1-4). Jesus was the author of life with his Father at the beginning of time. He helped breathe life into the very first inhabitants of our planet and still breathes life into you each and every day. However, Jesus told us that in order to experience eternal life with God in heaven and an abundant life right now on this earth we must trust in him, we must believe him, and we must have faith in him.

When I think about life in relation to board games, I think about the Hasbro game called The Game of Life. In The Game of Life, players can make their own exciting choices as they move through the twists and turns of life. They can choose a career, pick a salary, buy a car, experience unexpected surprises, get married and have a family, go on vacations, and choose to go to college all while leading up to that special day of retirement. Once everyone reaches the end of the game at retirement, everyone pays their debts and adds up their wealth. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins! No matter how many times I play this game with my nieces, I always end up getting the lowest salary, living in the cheapest house, and paying for everything. In the words of singer and song writer Frank Sinatra, “That’s life.”

In life, we take chances, we experience unexpected surprises, take risks, go on adventures, feel overwhelmed, and find ourselves sitting on a beach somewhere—praying not to get pelted by the blowing sand. Truth be told, we never know what God has planned for our life: one day it’s peaceful, the next day it’s chaotic, and then the next day we can’t even remember what we did five minutes ago. “That’s life,” and life is unpredictable. However, a life with Jesus, although is never easy, is a guaranteed promise that we have someone to lean on, something to aim for. When Jesus says he is the life, the one and only life, he is proclaiming to you and to me that he is the light unto our path and the lamp unto our feet that will one day lead us home. He is the life that will save you. He is the life that will rescue you. He is the life that will turn your unbelief into belief. He is the life that will restore your faith. He is the life that will continually put a spark in your heart and motivation in our church. He is the life that leads us to the Father, who promises us eternal life in Him. He is the life upon which we seek. He is our everlasting life. “That’s life.” That’s life in Christ.

We may play the game of life, but Jesus is the creator of that game. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, and the way, and the life. He is the true God and eternal life, the creator of who we are, what we do, and where we go. And we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven whether we win or lose at any board game.

 

Conclusion:

The next time you find yourself zoning out during one of my sermons that endures forever, use that time to think about how the board games you play help you better understand that Jesus is the only way, truth, and life that will get you to the end. Jesus is the way by which leads us to the Father. Jesus is the truth that fills our heart with love and guides us to building a trusting relationship with him as we move forward. And Jesus is the life, the eternal life, which saves us, rescues us, restores us, and grants us an abundant amount of faith and grace. When Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” he is making a promise to you that lasts for eternity. He is inviting you on this new path called life eternal. He is letting you know that the time has come to become the disciple and church that he has called you and us to be. What does the way, the truth, and the life of Christ look like in your own life? Together, let’s find ways to share this great news with others and help them experience the way, the truth, and the life of Christ. The space marked 100 has your name written all over it.  Let it be so, Amen.

 

Closing Prayer:

Let us Prayer: Dear Jesus, you are the way and the truth and the life that we seek each and every day. Guide us on the way, help us understand your truth, and nurture our life so that we may live and act like you. Lead us, O Jesus, to the Father. Amen.

 

Benediction:

Whisper to yourself, “Jesus, help me find your way. Jesus, help me trust you more. Jesus, fill my spirit with your life.” May the way, truth, and life of Jesus Christ nurture you and strengthen you each and every day. May Jesus bless you and keep you safe as you seek to move yourself closer to the Father. Go, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit as you become the disciple and church that God needs you to be. And all God’s people said, “Amen.” Amen. Amen.