What’s in a name?- The Way, the Truth, the Life
What’s in a name?
The third chapter of Exodus records Moses’s encounter with God at the burning bush. After hearing that God has chosen him to demand Pharoah liberate the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt Moses is pretty startled and tries really hard to get out of this job. First he asks, “Who am I to be chosen for such a job as this?” God says, I will be with you and I make you this promise. When the slaves are free God will lead them back to the very same mountain Moses stands on now and they will worship him there.
Moses’s second attempt to get out of this job is to ask, “okay, so let’s just suppose I do go tell the people that the God of their ancestors has sent me to them and suppose they ask, What is his name? What should I tell them?”
God answers, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites – I AM has sent me to you.
I AM is the name God calls himself. I am who I am. I am that I am. It is a name that communicates that God is faithful and dependable. It communicates that God desires nothing more than the trust of the people who follow him.
Flash forward ____ years. (John 8:58 and 59) The Jewish authorities are grilling Jesus. They ask him directly if he is demon possessed, a charge which he flatly denies. Jesus also makes a claim that Abraham has seen him. The authorities think this is crazy talk and react as we might expect- with loud protest. Jesus responds, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM.” The Jews were incensed and prepared to stone him. Remember, God told Moses that his name is I AM. In the eyes of the Jewish authorities Jesus had just committed blasphemy. In the way he answered he said clearly – “I am God. “
John gives a much more complete account of all the things that took place and all the things that were discussed in the upper room on the night of the last supper. Jesus is rather plainly telling the disciples that he is going to be with the Father in the Father’s house, but they aren’t getting it. Thomas, whom we remember as being a doubter, is really a very brave soul. For Thomas alone has the courage to voice what all of them were thinking: “We don’t understand what you’re saying. We don’t know where you are going. If we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”
Thomas’s honesty opens the door for one of the greatest I AM sayings of Jesus: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
God is truth and life. Jesus is the way—the way to the Father. The way to truth and life. And Jesus IS truth and life – God incarnate. God made flesh.
It’s not rocket science. And when it comes right down to it, there’s not a whole lot more to say.
It’s not politically correct and by today’s standards it may seem intolerant, but Jesus clearly says “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except through me.”
Jesus did not say I am A way; A truth and A life.
Jesus did not say I am ONE OF THE ways; ONE OF THE truths and ONE OF THE lives.
Jesus said, I am THE way.
If you practice the religion of ISLAM (622 CE) you call God Allah. Muslim’s (those who practice Islam) you believe that Islam is the true universal and complete faith revealed in many times and places and by many persons, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus. But all these messages have been changed and corrupted over time. The truest and most perfect revelation of God is that recorded in the Quran by the prophet Muhammad (born 570 AD). Muhammed is the last messenger-prophet of God and the one who restores the faith of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Islam is the 2nd largest religion in the world (after Christianity) and the fastest growing. 32% of the world population is Christian with that number dropping. 22% of the world population is Muslim with that number growing.
Jesus said, “I AM the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE.”
If you practiced the religion of Hinduism, you would be practicing the third largest religion in the world with 14% of the world population. It is also believed to be the oldest religion, dating back to “thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BCE.” There is no single person to whom the founding is Hinduism is attributed. There is no single theological system. There is no single concept of diety. There is no single holy text or single system of morality. There are a wide variety of Hindu traditions with freedom of belief and practice being one of the greatest hallmarks of the Hindu religion.
Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic (polytheistic) religions. They recognize a single deity, and view other Gods and Goddesses as manifestations or aspects of that supreme God.
Jesus said, “I AM the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE.”
According to one chart I viewed this week, the ‘Non-religious” actually make up the third largest group in the world with Hinduism coming in as the fourth largest. I believe many of us will relate more to this group of people than we do to Hinduism, so I want to spend some time on this as well.
The non-religious include atheist, agnostics and those who may claim to believe in God but do not practice religion or do not belong to a religious community. Into this group also falls the secular humanists. According to the website of the Council for Secular Humanism they go “Beyond atheism, Beyond Agnosticism”. A central tenet of secular humanism is that dogma, ideology and tradition – be it religious, political or social – must be weighed and tested by each individual, no simply accepted on faith. They are committed to critical reasoning, factual evidence and scientific method in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important questions of humanity. They are typical non-theist, that is, they describe themselves as non-religious persons who do not depend on god’s or other supernatural forces to solve their problems or provide guidance for their conduct.
Secular Humanism is a comprehensive life stance that focuses on the way human beings can lead happy and functional lives by exercising the individual’s power of reasoning and ethical decision making.
Jesus said, I AM the way, the truth, the life.
But wait…. Don’t all paths lead to God? Isn’t each religion just another way of expressing the same longing of humanity to connect with something or Someone greater than ourselves.
The idea that all religious paths are holy and righteous and lead to God is called universalism. It is in direct contradiction to the words of Jesus himself when he said,
I am the way, the truth, the life.
Now I’m sure some of you have been very uncomfortable with this message. It is not politically correct. It goes against the grain of what many of us want to believe or have come to believe. It makes our lives more challenging because it means we might actually have to take the idea of evangelism seriously.
So here’s the bottom line:
I asked at the beginning of this message “What’s in a name?” the fact is…
We are not Muslims. We are not Hindus. We may be deeply influenced by the secular humanism that has become so entrenched in our society, but the fact remains that we call ourselves CHRISTIAN and that means something.
We have been named and claimed by God through baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that means something.
Other religions may claim to offer the way to peace, the way to become enlightened, the way to human fulfillment. But Jesus Christ is THE WAY. He is God in skin. And that skin was beaten, bloodied, nailed to a cross so that we might be freed from the power of sin to new and eternal life with God. And that means something.
No one else in this world is proclaiming that message. They don’t teach it in school. It’s not appropriate for discussions in the workplace. It won’t get you elected to office.
So, if we who have taken the name of Christ as our own don’t proclaim it, then who will………………….
Who will?
If you will pledge and commit yourself right here and right now to telling the good news that is the unique gospel of Jesus Christ at every opportunity, stand up. Just stand where you are.
Pray with me (repeat) : Most merciful God/ forgive us for our lukewarm faith./ Here and now/ I pledge my faithfulness to you/ here and now/I make my promise/to love you with my whole heart/ and to tell the good news / of Jesus Christ my Lord / with my lips/ and by my example/ God being my help. /Amen.
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