I was tossing up about preaching from Philippians or Ephesians in the morning. Early this week I was still tossing it up. I asked myself the usual questions, What does God want me to say to these people from these passages. Then I stumbled across a quote that has become quite popular. What would Jesus do? It stopped me a bit short. What does God want me to say? Full stop. Not necessarily from these passages, but in general. The question I had to ask was what would Jesus say to these people? The thought processes travelled a bit to How would Jesus say it? – In a parable, in an object lesson, plainly, evenly bluntly. He’d make it make sense. He’d make it digestible to our situation. So I started to look at some of what Jesus said. So, I am not preaching from Philippians or Ephesians, that will be for another time. This series we will be looking at is what would Jesus say and how He would say it to us. I think the Holy Spirit has worked this week to guide and lead our services for the next little while. Which is pretty exciting isn’t it. Anyway, I will look at some parables, statements, sermons and prayers over the next little while. So here we go. Our placing of who Jesus is will depend on how important we place the words that He said. Usually, we interpret Jesus words by what other people have said. Past preachers, Sundays School teachers, Youth Group leaders, Historical theologians, Authors, the apostle Paul. What, Paul? Yeh, quite often we interpret what Jesus said through Paul, and mostly that is ok. But really we need to give the words of Jesus credibility. Let them first speak for themselves, actually, let Jesus speak for Himself first, the let Him and His words interpret Paul. After all we are called Christians not Paulines. Our traditional conservative evangelical hermeneutics is a bit backwards. So we need to change it to - Let Jesus have the first word, after all He’ll have the last. It is Jesus who defines Christianity. And let me say that it is Jesus that defines us. As a church and as individuals. Our primary relationship with God is through the mediation of Jesus. He remains the central person in Christian conscious. Thus we should never remove Jesus from the foremost and primary place in our thinking and actions. Dietrich Bonhoeffer has got some good press lately. Even politicians make good comment on him. Bonhoeffer puts it this way. “Discipleship means adherence to Christ and, because Christ is the object of that adherence, it must take the form of discipleship. An abstract theology, a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge of the subject of grace or the forgiveness of sine render discipleship superfluous, and in fact exclude any idea of discipleship whatsoever…….Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship and Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” Who Jesus is to us is vital to understand how seriously we take what He says. Look with me at John 14:6 JN 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Where do we place this statement? We sink or swim with our understanding of this statement.
Jesus made this statement knowing He was the One. The Anointed one, the Messiah, the saviour of the world, yet He never displayed an arrogance with it. Have you ever thought of the tone of voice He used to say it.
WE don’t get much insight into vocal tone from the bible words but lets try a few different ways.
JN 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. JN 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. JN 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
We could go on but you see what I mean. What did Jesus emphasizes?
Lets look at the context.
It is just after the prophecy by Jesus that Peter would deny Him and he’d know by the sound of the roosters crowing. (Ch 13)
It comes after Jesus saying not to let their hearts be troubled.
JN 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. 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.”
It comes after one of Thomas questions
JN 14:5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
And it is response to that. How can we know the way?
Jesus reply is not to give him a map but to give him a relationship with Himself.
I am the way. Does that mean He is in place of a map or a set of directions.
Kind of.
Jesus’ reply is the ultimate foundation for a satisfactory philosophy of life.
First, it is personal. He did not claim merely to know the way, the truth, and the life as a formula he could impart to the ignorant; but he actually claimed to be the answer to human problems. That is, Jesus’ solution to perplexity is not a recipe; it is a relationship with him.
Second, Jesus responded with an authoritative assertion as the master of life. He is the way to the Father because only he has an intimate knowledge of God, unmarred by sin. He is the truth because he has the perfect power of making life one coherent experience irrespective of its ups and downs. He is the life because he was not subject to death but made it subject to him. He died to demonstrate the power and continuity of his life. Because he is the way, the truth, and the life, he is the only means of reaching the Father Jesus is the only authorized revelation of God in human form, and he is the only authorized representative of humanity to God. Hey this is pretty amazing stuff. And let’s keep it in its context, Jesus is responding to an enquiry from Thomas. If you want to know the way – I’m it -that is what He says. Relate to me and you will get the way forward. For us personally we need to put ourselves in Thomas’s position. John Armstrong said to him, “Lord, I don’t know where you are going, so how can I know the way?”
The answer is the same. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Direction in life is determined by Jesus, understanding of truth and justice is determined by Jesus, fulfillment in life is determined by Jesus.
Isn’t it appropriate that we are having communion this morning. Why? Because the communion ceremony shows us the way Jesus provided.
Because of what Jesus did, we have a way forward, we have a future. Jesus demonstrated by His death and resurrection that He was the Way the truth and the life. Our response to that is our knowing the way. The way forward isn’t a structure or a program but a Christ centred existence. Today, let communion be for you a recommitment of your Christ centredness.
Maybe the question is now, Lord, I don’t know where I are going, but you do so, please come with me.
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