The Way, the Truth, and the Life

“‘And you know the way to where I am going.’  Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on your do know him and have seen him.’”  John 14:4-7

Thomas didn’t get it.  Jesus told his disciples that he was going away so that he might prepare a place for them in the Father’s house.  He promised that he would come again and take them to himself.  Yet Thomas didn’t get it.  “Lord, we do not know where you are going.”  The disciples were often slow to understand the words of Jesus.  We find this surprising as the introductory words of this discourse couldn’t be clearer.  Yet Jesus becomes even more lucid in verse 6:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  In his Upper Room Discourse, Jesus is always directing his disciples to himself.  Even when he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, he says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). 

This statement about Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life, is one of the many “I am” statements in John’s gospel.  “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).  “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).  “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).  “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).  “I am the vine” (John 15:5).  Such statements teach us who Jesus is and what he is able to do for us. 

In this verse, Jesus is telling us that he is the only way to God the Father.  Jesus’ words highlight his uniqueness and exclusivity.  He is the only way, truth, and life.  “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  There are not many paths to God.  There is one and only one way to God, and his name is Jesus.  We cannot find our way to God with good works because we cannot be good enough to satisfy the demands of a holy God.  We cannot find our way to God with philosophy because we have not known the mind of God and are not wise enough to be his counselor.  We cannot find our way to God with our own man-made religion because God demands that we come to him on his terms, not our own.  And God tells us that Jesus, and Jesus only, is the way to truth and life.  Apart from Jesus, then, we are lost, deceived, and dead.  How shall we find our way?  Jesus.  How shall we know the truth?  Jesus.  How shall we live life to the fullest?  Jesus. 

Jesus explains why this is true about himself.  “If you had know me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  Jesus and the Father have something in common: divine nature.  To see the Son is to see the Father because they share in the single and undivided divine essence.  Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and God “manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16).  If we want to know God the Father, then we can only know him through God the Son, Jesus. 

Jesus is not teaching in this passage that he and his Father are the same person, but he is saying that he and the Father share the same divine essence.  This distinction is important lest we obscure the distinction of persons within the holy Trinity.  Yet Thomas didn’t get this.  We know that he eventually came around after the resurrection (John 20:24-29).  He did eventually confess, “My Lord and my God!”  How does this apply to us today?  Are we seeking to find our way apart from Jesus?  Are we seeking the truth apart from Jesus?  Are we longing for life apart from Jesus?  Without Jesus we have lost our way.  Without Jesus we don’t know the truth.  Without Jesus we are dead.  “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b).  We are meant to know this abundant life today.  We find it by continually drawing near to God the Father through God the Son.          

God Chose

 "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'" 
1 Corinthians 1:26-31

The church in Corinth is an illustration of God’s unconditional election.  The saints in Corinth were not wise, powerful, or noble, but God chose them as his own in spite of who they were in this world.  The text emphasizes God’s unconditional choice of them by the repetition of the phrase, “God chose,” in verses 27 and 28.  Wisdom, power, and nobility were the immaterial idols of the Gentile world.  The Greeks wanted to be wise; so they studied philosophy.  They wanted to be powerful; so they studied politics.  They wanted to be noble; so they pursued riches.  The unbelieving world seeks significance in the things of this world, and when it obtains them, it boasts.  “Look at how wise I am!  Look at how powerful I have become!  Look at how noble I am!” 

But God shows us the unconditional character of his love in that he has not chosen the wise, the powerful, and the noble.  God’s choice of people is not like the world.  God does not choose people because of who they are, but God chooses people in spite of who they are.  God stands to gain nothing by his selection of the world’s losers.  It is only by his grace that they become recipients of his salvation!  We are told in this passage about God’s reason for making his election unconditional: “…so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (v. 29).  In verse 31, he quotes Jeremiah, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”  Unconditional election is another window into salvation by God’s grace alone.  Since we are saved by grace, not by works, we have no reason to boast in our efforts. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  One reason why people seek significance in the world’s goods (wisdom, power, and nobility) is because they desire the world’s praise.  We desire others to praise us for what we have accomplished.  We want to boast in the presence of others that we have made something great of ourselves.  But God here reminds us that he did not set his love on us because of who we are in this life.  He set his love on us so that we might see that we are favored unconditionally and undeservingly. 

We need to remind ourselves daily of our unconditional election and effectual calling.  “For consider your calling, brothers” (v. 26).  We need to remember that God effectively summoned us into his presence because he loved us in spite of ourselves.  So why are we seeking greater significance by working for something in this world?  We may be working to achieve many things in this life because we want to boast in what we have accomplished.  We want to save ourselves from a life of worldly insignificance.  We want to be chosen in this life because of our accomplishments in school or work or community or home.  Yet God comes to us and says that he is not concerned with such things.  This should change our perspective about what is really important in life and about who is truly significant.  The world’s nobodies are God’s somebodies.  God sees us from the vantage point of grace, not human achievement.  He receives praise for who we are in Christ, not who we are in ourselves.  Believer, let these words shape your understanding of your identity: “God chose me.”  We may want to know why.  What did I do?  But the answer is always surprising: nothing.       

I Will Come Again

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  John 14:3

          Martin Luther once said that every Christian should live as if Jesus died yesterday, rose again today, and is coming again tomorrow.  Luther’s statement does not intend to detract from the historicity of those events but to make more vivid in our minds the realities of the gospel.  Jesus tells us, “I will come again.”  Those four words give Christians hope because they mean that we shall be reunited with our loving Lord.  Do you know Jesus as Lord?  Have you repented of your sins and trusted him alone for your right standing with God?  Now is the time!  He shall return!  Are you ready for him?  Jesus adds to this promise: “I will come again and will take you to myself.”  Charles Spurgeon famously said, “Heaven is wherever Jesus is.”  The rooms that Jesus has prepared for us are meant for meeting with Jesus.  Without Jesus all the rooms of heaven would be drab and dull.  Christians should long for heaven because we long to be with Jesus.  Jesus is what makes heaven, heaven.  Do you want to go to heaven in order to be with Jesus?  That is a good test to see if there is saving grace in your heart.  Those who have truly been born from above long to be in the arms of their Savior.  We should long for our Lord’s embrace and to hear his gracious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  What a joy it will be to be in the presence of the King!  “One day the trumpet will sound for his coming, one day the skies with his glories will shine; wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing; glorious Saviour, this Jesus is mine!”  Jesus has promised us that he will come again.  We should mark well the words of the living God about the Second Advent of his Son.  “For as the lightening comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27).  “This Jesus, who was taken up from you in heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).  “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.  Even so.  Amen” (Revelation 1:7).  Believe the promise!  Look for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Live your life today in light of the fact of the return of our Lord.  What really matters?  Are you ready?  Soon we all shall see the King!       

A Place for You

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”  John 14:2

When our hearts are troubled by the thought of the evil in us and in the world, Jesus tells us to believe in God and to believe also in him (v. 1).  He then encourages us with the promise of a place prepared for us in heaven.  The hope of a place in heaven is meant to be a source of continual encouragement and refreshment for troubled Christians.  This life is not the end of our story.  For the Christian this life is only the beginning of what God has in store for us.  We cannot fully comprehend the glories that await us in the life to come.  Yet it is amazing how much we learn about heaven from this single verse in the Upper Room Discourse of Jesus. 

          We learn here that heaven is a place.  Many people think of heaven as a state of mind.  They do not believe that heaven is an actual place.  The Bible presents heaven as a place that is as real as China.  The Bible speaks of heaven as a new earth, new temple, and new city (Revelation 21-22).  All three designations speak of place.  Heaven is a place defined by the presence of God.  It is where the Father is, and since the ascension of Jesus, it is where Jesus is sitting at his right hand.  God may dwell everywhere because he is omnipresent and not limited by the constraints of time and space, but heaven is where God chooses to dwell and manifest the fullness of his blessed existence.  Heaven is the place where the presence of God is not interrupted by the miseries of sin and evil.  There is no sadness, sickness, or death in heaven (Revelation 21:4).  Heaven is so inexpressibly wonderful that no eye has seen or ear heard or the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9), but God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 2:10).  We do not have a full description of heaven in the Bible, but we have enough to ponder our future with our sanctified imagination.  Jesus emphasizes the fact that heaven is a place in this verse.  He says that his Father’s house has many rooms.  There is plenty of room in heaven for the followers of Jesus.  There was room for the disciples and room enough for us today.  I have seen many beautiful homes in this life, but none can compare with our Father’s home.  Heaven is our home.  It is our place.  Let us never forget that our earthly accommodations are but layovers on our flight to heaven.  We are pilgrims who seek the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14). 

          We also learn from these verses that heaven is a prepared place.  Jesus ascends to prepare a place for his followers.  As if it were not enough to be told that we have a place in the Father’s mansion!  We are told here that Jesus himself has prepared a special place for his followers.  Who knows us better than Jesus?  Who knows our needs better?  Who knows our wants better?  Who knows our personality better?  No one!  “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  Let us trust Jesus to prepare a place for us in heaven that is exactly what we need and desire.  Because Jesus is God and knows all about us, he is perfectly suited to this task.  What does he have in store for you? 

          We learn here that Jesus has not only prepared a place for us in heaven but that he has promised us a place in heaven.  We should underline the fact that Jesus has not promised a place to everyone.  He has promised a place to those who believe in God and believe also in him.  If we believe in God and in his Son Jesus, then Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven.  But this is a promise.  Jesus says, “If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”  No!  Jesus does not lie.  He always tells the truth.  He is the Truth and speaks the truth.  Heaven is not a fairy tale for weak minds.  Heaven is real.  It is real because the One who died and rose again tells us that he goes to prepare a place for us.  It is not just a good idea or wishful thinking or a hope that will give you a positive attitude but is not actually true.  No, heaven is true because Jesus our Lord has made a promise of a place prepared for each one of us who believe.  Christians do not believe in heaven because they have watched a documentary on TV about the afterlife.  Christians do not believe in heaven because they read a book about a boy who died and went to heaven and allegedly returned to talk about it.  Christians do not believe in heaven for philosophical reasons about the immortality of the soul.  Christians believe in heaven because of the words of Jesus.  Our faith is based in the words of Jesus, not in the reason or wit or science of men.  We believe that we have a place prepared for us by Jesus in the Father’s house because Jesus told us.  And would he have told us if this were not so?  Let us believe his words!

Hope for the Troubled Heart

“Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.”  John 14:1

With these words Jesus begins his Upper Room Discourse.  Jesus commences speaking to his disciples in John 14:1 and continues to John 16:33.  In John 17:1 he begins his High Priestly Prayer.  The words of Jesus in the Upper Room Discourse encourage disciples who are troubled in heart.  We should turn to them to receive our Lord’s instruction (John 14-16) and to hear our Lord’s prayer in our behalf (John 17).  With these words Jesus prepares his apostles for his departure (the Ascension) and the promise of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost).  If we read them slowly and prayerfully, these words will lift our hearts today. 

Jesus begins his great discourse by saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”  Why were the disciples troubled?  Jesus had told his disciples three things that would have troubled their hearts.  First, he told them that he was going to die.  Second, he told them that one of them (Judas) was going to betray him.  Third, he told Peter that he would deny him three times before the cock crowed.  These were troubling words for the disciples to hear as they shook their confidence in themselves and in their Lord.  Would they really betray him?  Would they really deny him?  Would the life of the man they believed to be the Messiah end in death by crucifixion?  They were troubled indeed.

          But Jesus speaks words into their troubled hearts that are meant to bring peace.  Only the words of Jesus can bring true peace to troubled hearts.  When we behold the evil in ourselves and in the world that is opposed to Jesus, we too become troubled of heart.  Yet Jesus comes to us and says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”  How can we be anything but troubled when we observe the evil of our own hearts (the betrayal and denial) and the evil against Jesus? 

          Jesus says, “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  The first line, “Believe in God,” is ambiguous in the original Greek.  Grammatically, it may be translated as an indicative, “You believe in God,” or an imperative, “Believe in God.”  The ESV chooses the imperative for the text and footnotes the indicative as a possibility.  The difference in meaning is only slight in this context.  Jesus may be saying that his disciples need to do two things: believe in God and believe in him.  Or Jesus may be assuming that the disciples believe in God and calling upon them to believe in him as they already believe in God.  Either way, Jesus is telling them to place their trust in God and in him.  Jesus makes himself an object of faith along with God.  No ordinary human being could say, “Believe in God.  Believe also in me.”  Jesus is more than a mere human being.  He is the fully divine Son of God and object of our faith. 

          What is the connection between not letting our hearts be troubled and believing in God and Jesus?  The connection is that the way that we find peace when our hearts are troubled is by believing in God and in Jesus.  The disciples did not yet fully understand how all this evil (the crucifixion of their leader, their betrayal, desertion, and denial of Jesus) was for their good.  Jesus simply says, “Trust God.  Trust me.”  Now we have a different vantage point than the disciples.  We know how this story ends.  We know that all these evils things had to happen because they were part of God’s plan to fulfill the Scriptures and to save us from sin.  God had a plan for the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter.  So, in one sense, we have greater reason to trust these words than the original disciples. 

But they apply to the evil that we face today.  Sometimes we look around us at the world and see much evil.  We see people opposing God everywhere we turn.  In our day and age we are able to see evil daily on the evening news.  It can be overwhelming and can trouble the heart deeply. 

It gets worse.  As we look at all this evil outside us in the world, we come to realize that much of that evil also resonates with evil inside us.  We see that we are evil.  Peter might have been inclined to judge the one who was to betray Christ until Christ looked him in the eyes and told him that he would deny him three times.  Peter might have been troubled that one of the disciples would have betrayed Christ and other evil men would kill him.  But I imagine that nothing troubled Peter more than the thought that the evil was in him.  That he would deny his Lord.  That he was capable of that.  Do you get discouraged by your own evil?  Is your heart troubled by the way that you betray, deny, and crucify Christ?  Is there is any hope?  Is there any peace?

          Jesus says, “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  We are meant to look away from others and from ourselves.  We will only find disappointment and discouragement by looking there.  We must look to God and to his Son Jesus.  In Jesus we find peace and hope.  In Jesus our hearts can be delivered from trouble.  Peace does not come from within.  It comes from without.  It comes from Jesus.  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15).

The Harvest

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."  Matthew 9:35-38

The Love of Jesus for Lost Souls

Jesus has a deep love for unsaved souls.  In another place, Mark tells us that when Jesus looked at the rich man who sought salvation by his good works, Jesus loved him (Mark 10:21).  Jesus loved him in spite of his greed, misunderstandings about salvation, and lost condition!  In this passage we see the compassion that Jesus has for the unsaved crowds that gathered around him during his earthly ministry.  He looked upon them with pity as they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (v. 36).  Lost sinners need a shepherd, and Jesus is the only Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:11) and calls them by name (John 10:3).  A key part of following Jesus as our Shepherd means that we begin to love what he loves.  This means that we learn to love unsaved men and women as he loves them.  We begin to see them as those who are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.  We look at them in their dead (Ephesians 2:1), lost (Luke 19:10), blind (2 Corinthians 4:4), and bound (John 8:34) condition of sin and misery and long for them to be delivered by the grace of Jesus.  We remember when we were lost in sin.  Do we have a love for lost sinners?  Do we see them and have compassion on them as Jesus does?  Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to give us a love for the unsaved!

The Harvest

The metaphor shifts from sheep in v. 36 to a harvest in v. 37.  Jesus speaks of lost souls in need of salvation as a great harvest.  He tells his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful.”  Jesus wants us to know that there are many people who are ripe for the gospel.  In another place, Jesus says, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’?  Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35).  One of the reasons that we do not speak to unsaved souls about Jesus is because we do not believe what Jesus tells us about the world.  We do not really believe that “the harvest is plentiful” and that “the fields are white for harvest.”  We falsely assume that the harvest is scarce and that the fields are bare.  We do not share the good news of Jesus with others because we assume that they will respond negatively.  Nevertheless, Christians who share the gospel with others often discover that unsaved friends and family do not respond in the way that we expected.  We expected them to get angry, but, instead, they are interested.  We expected them to make fun, but they ask questions.  Of course, this is not always the case, but we find it to be the case more often than not.  Jesus tells us that people are ready for the gospel.  The fields are ripe.  Do you believe him? 

The Laborers are Few

Jesus also reminds us that “the laborers are few” (v. 37).  Unfortunately, there are few people who love souls so much that they are willing to labor for them in the harvest.  Labor implies effort and hard work.  True evangelism is not an easy task.  It requires persistence and prayer.  Rarely do we lead another sinner to Christ after one conversation.  It normally takes years and years of faithful explanation, love, care, and prayer.  Harvesting souls is not for the faint of heart or the lazy.  We must be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might (Ephesians 6:10) and remember that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).

Pray!

Jesus tells us to pray for more laborers (v. 38).  Obviously, this means that we must first be laboring in the harvest ourselves lest we become hypocrites.  How can we pray for God to send laborers into the harvest if we are not willing to lift a finger in the service of our Master?  So we must be active in the harvest of souls.  Jesus tells us to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest.  We cannot be lifeless and dead in this endeavor.  This must be a frequent and fervent prayer on the lips of God’s people.  And we are to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out more laborers.  God is sovereign here.  He sends the laborers.  “And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:15).  God sent the apostles.  God sends missionaries, evangelists, and preachers today.  And God sends us to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).  Are we loving souls and laboring in the harvest?  Are we praying for God to send other laborers to help us?  Let us unite our hearts in passionate prayer for unsaved family, friends, and neighbors!  “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5-6).    

Every Need Supplied

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:19

Paul’s letter to the Philippians is a thank you note for their financial gift in support of his ministry.  He opens the letter by thanking them for their “partnership in the gospel” (1:5) and closes by thanking them for their “full payment, and more” (4:18).  He commends their gifts, which he describes as “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (4:18).  In order to remind them that God blesses such generosity, he assures them that God will provide for all their needs out of his abundant riches in Christ Jesus (4:19).  Our God is willing and able to provide everything that we need in order to serve Jesus. 

Sometimes we have trouble distinguishing between what we want and what we need.  Living in our prosperous society, we have the bad habit of speaking about our wants as if they were needs.  We speak of needing cars, cell phones, televisions, and many other things that are not needs in the truest sense of the term.  Sometimes we may use Matthew 6:33 as proof text for our confusion.  Jesus promised us that he will provide for “all these things” as we seek first his kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33), but we must remember that in context “all these things” refers to food and clothing (Matthew 6:25), not anything and everything we want.  The Apostle Paul would later write, “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Timothy 6:8).  Of course, we all hunger for far more than the bare necessities; yet we should remember how God in his Word defines a true need: something that is necessary for a life of service to Jesus. 

God does not promise to provide for all our wants, but he does promise to provide for our needs in Christ Jesus.  One of the things that we learn form this is that Jesus Christ is really all that we need.  This may seem like some super-spiritual platitude, but it really is the gospel truth.  Our sufficiency is found in Christ alone, not earthly privileges and possessions.  We have been “filled in him” (Colossians 2:10) and need nothing besides him.  God reminds us in Psalm 84:11, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor.  No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”  This is an important verse.  Unbelief begins with human experience and reads it into the Bible’s promises.  Unbelief says, “My experience teaches me that it is a good thing for me to have this blessing.  Therefore, God has promised this blessing to me.”  However, this is not the way of faith.  Faith does not begin with human experience and read it into the Bible’s promises; faith begins with the Bible’s promises and reads human experiences in light of them.  Faith says, “My Bible promises me that God will not withhold any good thing from the one who walks uprightly.  If I do not receive the blessing of what I think is good, then it must not be good.”  Faith says, “If I do not have it, then I do not need it.” 

Here’s the lesson.  God defines our needs.  God defines what is good for us.  We must learn to trust him for what he thinks we need and for what he thinks is best for us.  His timing may not be our timing.  His provision may not be according to our liking.  Yet he is wise, powerful, and good, and we can never go astray as long as we trust him.  Is there something in your life that you think that you need?  Is there something in your life that you think would be good for you?  Let me encourage you to do two things.  First, trust God to supply your need.  Second, let God define your need.  If you need it, then he will supply it.  If you do not receive it, then you never needed it.  Get busy serving Jesus and trust God to give you what you need to honor him!