THE WAY FOR ALL Part 2 of "The" Series

John 14:4-7 (New Century Version)

⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going."

⁵ Thomas said to Jesus, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. So how can we know the way?"

⁶ Jesus answered, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.

⁷ If you really knew me, you would know my Father, too. But now you do know him, and you have seen him."

Are you directionally challenged? I am (sheepish slant of the head). I wished I had the exploration ability and skill of Lewis and Clark, Sacajawea, Columbus, Commodore Perry and many others. I can get to places I have memorized the route to, but unless a GPS accompanies me to someplace strange, forget it. How often I have been turned around and can't seem to figure out the right way when its staring at me! Likewise, how often do I hear someone rattle off directions and I am just as lost in the wise babbling as if I were already physically. Its an embarrassing thing physically to be lost because we don't know the way to go, but spiritually its a different matter. Different in the fact that we all have lost our way from God, in fact, we never were at any point since birth on the right track whatsoever. The physical and the spiritual share similarities and that's the topic of this series of blog postings I have entitled "The..."

Last month around Christmas time, I wrote to you about Jesus Christ being The Reason for everything we do at Christmas whether we realize it or not. This month we will look at Jesus Christ being The Way we all must go whether we realize it or not. The key condition in all of this is our awareness of our need of Him. When we are aware of Him, things aren't so confused, in fact, our eyes are opened wider and we see things that the world finds foolish. For example, do you see from last month why Christmas lights are put out? We don't put them out in such extravagance in August! There is a deeper reason that the world doesn't know. They think they are decorating just to keep up with a trend, but they don't know why they use lights in place of sticks. Only to the Christian do we understand that the tradition of lights stemmed from our Saviour, the Light of the World, who came to shed light into darkness.

Now we press on to the Way. Did you know that the Bible writers and folks for centuries did not call Christianity for its name? They simply called Christianity, "The Way." The title was never in dispute because those who knew Christ also knew that salvation cannot be given another title. Our text verse is a very simple yet profound and well known one. We have memorized it in Sunday School. But do we understand it full impact? This verse is arguably the point of dissension and hatred that man have toward the Gospel. Men like the idea somewhat of Jesus being Saviour and in times past even calling Him Lord, but to focus so narrowly on this point that only His Way can save a soul is such a bitter draft to drink that mankind makes havoc for those who propose and believer it.

So we ask three questions...

1. Why can't I have eternal life on my terms?

2. Why isn't my religion accepted by Christians as a valid way to Heaven?

3. Why must I come to Christ by faith when I cannot see Him versus having my own spiritual experience with gods I can see?

The first answer:

People have been engrossed for so long in a carnalistic culture that purports ownership and control. When God says we are overseers of what we "own" we don't really take it literally because we have a bank title, a deed, a receipt, etc that proves to the world we own or control what we go after. No one considers in all reality, until the last days of life, that all we thought we had is only ours temporarily as the Bible says. Likewise, our own mortal lives are not at our command. Sure we can take our own life by suicide although in some instances it fails. But none of us can control any facet of our lives (i.e. no hospital for me today, no car accidents, no loss of job, etc.) So if this temporary physical life is not to be had on our terms why would we think a life we cannot comprehend would be either? We are not in control here or there. You can never negotiate a loan completely on your own terms, borrow 5 million, pay off a penny a day! Likewise we cannot negotiate on our own terms with God, we have too high a debt and no resources to pay it off with, that, even if we could in time pay, He's not interested in them in the first place. We forget that we are enemies of God in our natural state. An enemy defeated as we are has no bargaining room, its either accept the terms or be annihilated, there is no threat to God that we could leverage some point with.

Another way of seeing the answer to this question is, "how are we going to make ourselves fit for Heaven?" Can we be good enough? Can someone else unction God for us? Is there something we possesses that God must recognize? Simply the answers are No, No and No. God says in His law that if any of His original 12 commandments are broken than all is broken forever. Some religions teach we can have an earthly priest pray us or buy us out of punishment. I have always found it interesting that since one blind man can't help another, why should one sinner buy for another? Then too, there is no good quality anywhere within us that God sees as fit to pay for our sins. He tells us our own righteousness is like a filthy rag (Isaiah 54:6) and there is none good not even one ( Romans 3:10). It make us look good when we can negotiate, but therein is part of the problem, salvation is not of us as Paul reminds in Ephesians 2:9. Sin has to be removed to allow entrance into a place where sin does not exist. Therefore it must be paid for by someone who doesn't have sin and that lets out every human being. Therefore we cannot come to God on our own terms no matter how honorable we deem them to be because we are not pure before His eyes, only His Son Jesus Christ can do such for us . And isn't it so grand not to have too worry about being good enough or getting it altogether without losing one vital piece or slipping up in any way? Thanks be to God we CANNOT come to Him on our own, we'd never make it.

The Second Answer:

Having worked through our own deficiencies we turn now to "divine" methods for our help. Since there has been sin, since the Fall in the Garden, there has been religions...other roads to find the same destination. It is important to note here that you, if you know Christ as Saviour, that you should never call Christianity a religion. Here is why. Religion proper works its way to God by the penance of man, Christianity paid its way to God by the blood of God's Son. Now in all seriousness, even humanly speaking, who would you given a "choice" receive from, some stranger who blasphemes you or your own dearest Son in whom you are well pleased? That ends the answer there, but I won't. Mankind is used to choices. Choices of food entrees, cars, jobs, gadgets, clothes, houses, schools, etc. Naturally the unredeemed mind thinks its okay to choose ways to God. Abraham Lincoln once said that in any great contest both sides pray to God...both may be, but one must be wrong. But when you say that you cause great offense. Man is proud of his or her religion...why...because there works within it make them feel good or important. To say that your works are no good or your belief system is flawed is like a man burning down your house after 50 years of work and stuff put into it. Any religion teaches that God can be approached in many forms, but personal work is behind it all. Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost. He is the One that seeks simply because He is the One who knows the WAY. People who are lost don't know the way home, that's why they're lost.

Another reason why religions won't carry you into the arms of God is because they make things more complicated by their own rules. This is why we say they are not from God, because they don't stick to His Word. The Jews were good examples of this. The Jews had the Law of God, but they added their own to it. God must be a stand alone God from all other gods or He is No God! When we mix worldly and humanistic ideas in the soup of God's Word the result is bitter to both us and Him. Pride, its pride that tries to establish their own way. We don't want to humble ourselves to admit the obvious sin condition, so we try to make ourselves look good enough through liturgy or poverty, or good deeds to pacify our minds we are really going to be okay before a Holy God. That thought ends when we are aflame in Hell, never to return.

Don't be trapped in the web of religions no matter how sincere they may be. The equation is simply Faith in Jesus Saving Power + Nothing = Eternal Life. Christians can't accept another way because the other ways are nothing more than figments of man's twisted imagination. They no more exist than do little green men from Mars.

The Third Answer:

Now that we strip away the personal terms and the religious side of our desperation, all we are left with is Faith. Faith is a hard thing, of this there can be no doubt. The Apostle Paul in Hebrews 11:1 tells us plainly that what we have in, we hope for because it is not seen yet. Christ Himself said that He would be a stumbling block to mankind. Not that He wanted to make things difficult, but man has to grasp this concept of Faith if he or she is to be saved. It is true the disciples SAW and believed on Christ, but Jesus told Thomas how blessed are those who believe but have not seen me as you have. Faith also is a spiritual weeding out process. For a person to come to Christ they must trust Him by Faith, if they do not accept this, they perish. So when Jesus said in Matthew 7:14, "strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it," He is saying that not all men will come to Him because it is a hard way and not broad and easy as men like it. The whole point of Faith is that you cannot see yet you believe. This point will knit you closer to the heart of God and genuinely identify you with His service. You really have to be committed to something that you have never seen and Christ knows that, its His way of separating the faithful from faithless. Now let me pause and say that many people believe in what they do not see....this is the next point in the answer.

Pagan worshippers have NEVER seen their gods because they do not exist. But this differs from Christianity in that a pagan worships a representation (idol, painting, etc) AS IF IT WERE god. In other words, that statue or whatever becomes god literally. Thus they seem to comfort themselves in that they see, yet they are not comforted because their god is as wishy washy as man is, thus their god is never figured out. Their minds are blinded. They don't realize that sin causes a lack of crops in the drought, not the dissatisfaction of their god. They don't realize its Jehovah God who sends rain, not because of doing a fertility rite correctly.

One last thing about Faith is its object. The word "faith" is used too loosely. People pacify themselves in proclaiming they have faith. They don't understand the sentence they spoke was never completed. Faith must have an object. Faith alone is worthless. Likewise as James tells us, without works it is dead. The whole idea is that Faith in Jesus is the real thing, and if we have faith in Jesus our natural response will be to evidence that faith by our works, but NOT because we work to have Faith or be saved by works. Check what you put faith in. Make the step to have faith in the WAY, the only Way to Life Eternal.

The Way, is simple, its almost too simple and that's why the worldly minded person misses the route. Thanks be to God that He gave us His Word who is The Way that leads to what we need most, Himself as a payment for our sins we naturally have by Adam's fall. Are you trusting in the Way today? Does Christ in your life come coupled with a few other charms or talisman's to "ensure" your entrance to Heaven? He's the only Way, He needs no other help. If you're struggling with this, please write me, jonbrowning@suddenlink.net and mention this article, or send me a message via Facebook. I would be glad to help if I can. Christian, may this help to combat some argument you may have come across in witnessing. Please pass it on to others either in print or e-mail

Father in Heaven, You're Son is the only Way. There is none else, there will be none else. We need no other Saviour for Christ has done it all freely to us but at great cost to You and Him. May we tell others of this life changing truth and help us to be followers of the Way as we encourage others to come with us. Thank You for it all. In Your Name we ask, Amen.