Manifested Love, Pt 10: WayTruthLife
John 14:5-7 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really know me; you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
The Way
In our human thinking when we think of the ‘way’ to something or someplace we think in terms of procedure or direction. The way to the grocery store is this street then that other one and then another. It is not that way with Jesus. We are not saved by a principle or precept; the ‘force’ is not with us. We are saved through relationship with the person Jesus Christ. Throughout his ministry on earth, Jesus has devoted himself to living, and being, and exemplifying God with flesh on. Jesus is God in an earth-suit. We must not think that because Jesus uses those tools to teach about God that there is some other non-Christ method of getting there. No, absolutely not. Jesus is the one and only way. So everything Jesus did, every thought, every deed, every emotion is Jesus expressing God to man.
5For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1Timothy 2:5-6)
Further, Jesus is a two-way street: He represents God to man. He shows all that is righteous and holy and all the grace, mercy, and blessing from the Father flow through the Son to man. And Jesus reconciles man to God. All our sin is washed away; all our attitudes are redirected to the Father, and all our impulses are made pure.
The Truth
One of the great lies of Satan and one most of the world has accepted as correct is that truth is situational. This falsehood says that what is true for one person need not be true for another because their life experiences have been different and unique. This is a lie because situational truth doesn’t work. If there isn’t a central standard that applies to all situations at all times, then there is no standard at all. Humans accept Universal Truth all the time; for example we accept that people are mortal or that the molecular formula for water is H2O. The reason some people don’t accept ‘The Father and the Son are one’ as Universal Truth (for instance) is because their pride, or tradition, or world view is in the way and they refuse to think outside the box.
Jesus is truth. Jesus lived his life in a way that was true to God in all respects. When the woman was caught in adultery he rebuked the hypocrites ready to stone her, but lifted her up and told her to, “go and sin no more.” When Jesus saw that his beloved friend Lazarus had died, he wept. When he contemplated the coming death through crucifixion the stress brought drops of blood, yet he obeyed his Father. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, even those of his betrayer. Jesus is the true God; it is not some cinematic character who throws lightening bolts around or who can jump tall buildings.
The Life
When we accept Jesus as our Savior having come to Him in redemptive sorrow we receive new life. We are freed from the consequence of sin, we are washed clean of the stain of our sin, and are set free from the bondage to sin. We are, in fact, given new life.
1So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (Romans 8:1-2)
God, through Christ, created everything we see and everything we can’t see. It is through Jesus that all life exists, so it is also true that we have new life through Jesus. But it is also true that new life is accessible only through accepting Jesus as our Savior.
15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
Except through Me
We live in a time in which the conventional wisdom is that everyone is somehow saved whether or not they actually accept Jesus as their Savior. This is called universalism. Western culture wants to say that the exclusivity spoken of in the Gospel is unfair and intolerant. But the Gospel allows no other interpretation. The only way to salvation is to accept Jesus as one’s personal Savior. But how is it that Jesus is the only way? No other religion makes the claim that its founder has actually seen God. But Jesus goes even further: He says that He and the Father are one. No other leader has ever made God known to human beings as Jesus has, and no one has dealt so effectively and permanently with the barrier of sin between God and man. Because of Jesus, sinful humans now have access to a holy God. It is hard for frail human beings to understand how the Father and the Son can be one God and yet separate. Yet nonetheless it is true. Jesus in fact is so aligned with the Father that everything he has ever said or done reflects the Father.
What about me?
What about me indeed. Shall I continue to live my life with my head in the sand? Shall I continue to believe that different rules apply to me than to everyone else? Shall I continue in my pride and refuse to accept that Jesus Christ might have a better life ready for me? Fellow child of God, maybe you are so new to Jesus that you are unsure about what happens next. Or maybe you haven’t accepted Christ as Savior yet. In either case, life with Jesus as Savior is a life with great and glorious days. Yes, but there are troublesome days also. The thing is though, that those troublesome days don’t have to be traversed alone. Jesus is here and available to help. There will be many, many questions, but as you continue or begin your life with him remember two things: Talk to him about everything (he knows it anyway), and quietly wait for his answer. You will find it well worth the effort.