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The Way, the Truth, & the Life

John 14:5-9

If you were to ask average Southern Californians about why Jesus was born, what do you think they would say?

• I don’t know. Did he really live?
• To show us how to live – to teach us to be good people and act peaceably.
• To spread a message of peace and good will to all
• To save us… from something. Maybe for some church goers -- “to die to forgive our sins”

This Christmas season, we are asking Jesus to answer that question himself and today we get his most basic answer. Here it is: Jesus said he came to give us a personal knowledge of God.

The heart of our Christian faith is a personal knowledge of God – a deep, genuine, honest, transparent and growing knowing of God. Everything else is secondary to that. Everything else in our lives flows out of that. Jesus says it is what each one of us needs more than anything else in this world. But, it’s not what most of us think we want. Today, we going to see a couple of men in Jesus’ inner circle who wanted Jesus to give them something else – to meet their needs, to give them political liberation, to give success, or to provide an incredible experience. They were just like we are. We – like they -- are so obsessed with our personal needs, our problems, our experiences, and our success that we don’t even realize that those things cannot give us anything that lasts. As Jesus spoke with these men in John 13-14, he cuts through their fixation on temporary things and keeps saying, “What you need to do is to know God. I have come to bring you into a personal relationship with God. Look at his words:

Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. John 14:5-9a

#1: Why is this so important?

Let me give you the Bible’s answer to this question: Human beings have been created for relationship because we’re made in God’s image. The one God of the Bible has never been isolated or lonely. He has always existed as three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When God created people in his image, he created us to have deep and healthy relationships. Read Genesis 1-2 and you’ll see that the first thing that was not yet good in God’s creation was this: “It is not good for the man to be alone.” So, God created the woman from the man’s side showing that she was one just like him – also made in God’s image and also made for relationship. Anything else in creation could be alone and things could be good – but not a creature made in the image of a relational God.

And, the one relationship that was and is essential for any other relationship to be good is the human relationship to God. God walked and talked with the people in Genesis 2. When he did, they were at peace personally – no shame or guilt. Their relationship with one another was good and their relationship to the rest of creation was good. But when the people rebelled against God, they hid from him. They felt shame inside. They begin fighting with one another. And, things began to go wrong with the rest of creation too.

But, God promised to do something that would eventually make everything right. And, at the end of the Bible, we read that God will again dwell with his people. When God is at the center of our lives, then everything else begins to be right. How will this happen? Jesus said, “That’s why I came. I am the way to God. If you know me, you will know the Father for we are one.”

Do you see what this means? It means that when anything is wrong in your life, the first step you need to take is to know God more deeply. Everything good starts in our lives when we place God back into the center of our lives. That’s what Jesus is saying.

Let’s look at what happened in our text. Jesus expressed dismay at the fact that Philip did not know him: “Philip, I’ve been with you so long and you still don’t know me!” So, it’s clear that we can be with Jesus a lot, go to hear sermons and sing songs a lot, and even be involved in serving the church and doing good, and still not know God. Do you believe that?

Philip was an insider. He had been with Jesus, fed the hungry, prayed for the sick, and even proclaimed the gospel but he still had missed the whole point. Philip did things with Jesus and for Jesus but all his activity did not mean that he had experienced the main thing. It becomes very clear to me we can have all sorts of knowledge about a person in our heads but still not know someone personally. Years ago, I heard a sermon in Cambridge, England in which the pastor made it clear that there is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone.

Any relationship begins with basic knowledge. We find out a person’s name, upbringing, career, etc. And that’s important. A true relationship has to be based on true information about a person. I could say, “I’m Greg. I’m a white male, a pastor, and from a small town in West Virginia.” What kind of relationship could we have if you said, “I don’t care what you say. I’m going to relate to you as a woman of color, a rich investment banker, and from Paris.” No, good relationships begin with getting right information. And, that’s why we’ve been letting Jesus tell us who he is this December. Again and again, Jesus has said, “I am… one with the Father, the light of the world, the good shepherd…”

But, eventually in a relationship, a line is crossed when it moves from information into a personal knowledge. When a relationship gets personal, it affects how you live. We open up our inner beings to one another. We talk about our values, our hopes and our struggles. We become friends.

So, you can know about a person without knowing a person. But note this: you cannot know a person without knowing about that person. And that’s why knowing what the Bible teaches about Jesus is so essential. I contend you can know everything about the Bible without knowing God – but you cannot know God without knowing what he’s said about himself in the Bible. Listen Jesus’ words in John 17:3: This is eternal life: that people know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Jesus is teaching us that only when we know God personally – and get into a relationship in which our knowledge grows deeper and deeper – does anything else hold together. All the things in our world and all the things in our lives begin to have coherence when we enter into a personal knowledge of God.

Let me try to illustrate this. Over the past 3-4 years, classical composer and conductor Eric Whitacre has led a virtual choir project that has become a youtube phenomenon. It started with a young girl from Long Island named Britlin Losee who sent in a fan video of her singing a’capella one of his pieces named Lux Arumque. This inspired Whitacre to put together a project in which many people could do the same and the submissions could be edited into a virtual choir. In the latest edition of this, 3,746 people from 73 nations sent in videos. See the video about this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NENlXsW4pM.

As amazing as this is, do you see how someone was needed to pull all these voices together? One person had to determine the melody to be sung and the rhythm and pace to sing. One person had to set the key and make sure it was tuned to the A440 tuning reference. That person had to find an editing master to mix and a tech master to assemble the videos. If 3,746 sent in random videos of them singing any melody at any rhythm in any key and in any pitch, it would have been as disastrous as a world in which everyone thinks they can make something beautiful when they live however they want. Beauty comes into and out of our lives when our lives are shaped around God. We are made to have him as the Lord and God of our lives. Then, our lives begin to be what God created them to be. And as countless people around the world tune their lives to the rule of God, what Jesus called “the kingdom of God”, then all will be beautiful. When God is done with his project, all will be made new. You can read about it in Revelation 21-22. That’s what Jesus came to bring about, i.e., a personal knowledge of God available to all people everywhere.

#2: Why is this personal knowledge so hard for us?

I think most of us, even church going people like many of us, find it hard to go much beyond the “knowing about” phase to a point of truly knowing and being shaped by God. Why do so many turn away from God altogether and many others stay at such a surface level rather than entering into a deep relationship with him? Let me suggest several things and see if any of them may be true of you?

Problem 1:Continuous Partial Attention (CPA)

CPA is the process of paying simultaneous attention to a number of sources of incoming information, but at a superficial level. It’s not the same as multi-tasking, a long-time way that Mom’s have learned to work to get a lot accomplished. In fact, it’s not motivated by productivity at all. It’s motivated by wanting to be connected. Sociologist Steven Johnson says “it usually involves skimming the surface of the incoming data, picking out the relevant details, and moving on to the next stream. You're paying attention, but only partially.” What this has led to is a lot of surface relationships but few deep ones. Four friends may be sitting at a coffee shop but they all may be seen texting, receiving Twitter feeds or FB messages.

MIT professor Sherry Turkle has written a profound book about this called Alone Together: Why We Expect More from technology and Less from Each Other. She says these hundreds or thousands of connections via technology leave people feeling they have found companionship but, Turkle says, the evidence shows it has led to a new kind of solitude. People long for deep and intimate relationship but have developed a way of life that makes it impossible. As technology ramps up, our emotional lives ramp down. For all the talk of convenience and connection derived from texting, e-mailing, and social networking, Turkle reaffirms that what humans still instinctively need is deep personal relationship. What was meant to be a way to facilitate communications has pushed people closer to their machines and further away from each other.

Can you relate to that? Do you long for personal and high touch relationship – and maybe have over 1,000 FB friends – but know that true relationship is missing. Then you may understand the message of God’s Word that says that true fulfillment is found in deep relationships and that the relationship that is foundational to all healthy relationships is to be right with God. As long as you fill up your life with a constant barrage of messages, you may never take the time to hear the still soft voice of God.

Problem 2: Hiddenness

Deep relationship can only happen when we can open up every part of our lives to the other person. In Genesis 2, people knew God and were known by God and, the Bible says, “there was no shame.” But, as soon as the people rebelled, they had to hide in the bushes from God. We’ve been hiding like that ever since. We hide things we feel guilty about or ashamed of from our families, spouses and friends. That can only lead to shallowness and dishonest relationships. When any of that hidden stuff comes out, it breaks trust.

The beauty of the Bible’s message is that God knows everything about you and me and he is ready to accept us. He is ready to forgive our pasts and start all over with us. But, it’s only when we admit all that stuff and bring it to God that we can begin to go deep with him. And, when we get that relationship with God right, then we can begin to get the hidden parts of our other relationships right too. But, it starts with God, the one who says, “If you confess your sins, I will forgive your sins and cleanse you… (1 Jn 1:9).

Problem 3: Self-Entrenchment

I said that God made you to know him personally. But God is God – the all-powerful and all-holy maker of the universe. When we’re in relationship with him, only one of us can be in control. You see, there is a big difference in dealing with a powerful thing and a powerful person. If we have a powerful bomb in our office, we have to find a way to disarm it. But, when God enters our lives, he disarms us! And, that’s what many people don’t want.

Some people want a “god” who will meet their needs, or heal their brokenness or give them success. God always says, “Those are important things and they matter to me but they are secondary things. First, you must know me as your God and then those things will be addressable.” We want to ask, “What will happen if I follow Jesus?” And the Bible keeps saying, “Any answer I give you will make no sense until you first know God through faith in Jesus.

In John 14, Peter wanted success – not Jesus’ death for him. Thomas had intellectual problems that he wanted answered. And, Philip wanted a life-changing experience. To each of them, Jesus gave the same answer – first know me and then you will be ready for those things. Pastor Carol Kenyon said, “It’s amazing how consistent Jesus’ answer is no matter the objection. Jesus keeps saying the same thing”:

• To Peter: “Trust me. You believe in God – trust me. If you know God, you know you can trust me.”
• To Thomas: “I am the way to God. You come to God through me.”
• To Philip: “If you know me, you know God. If you see me you see God.”

You see, the Christian faith is not primarily a philosophy but a person. Put that person first in your life and other things begin to fit together. First things first. As George MacDonald wrote, “When first things are put first, second things are not diminished but enhanced.”

So, you may not be able to go deep with God because you don’t want to give up control. You think, “God might ask me to change the way I handle my money – or the way I exercise my sexuality – or…” I tell you that he will make you rethink all those things. But know this: The way to find real life is to give up your life to God.

Problem 4: You Haven’t Heard This Before

If you have thought always about Jesus only as a good man who came to bring peace and good will, then all this is new to you. But, I hope the words of Jesus have been clear today. Jesus says, "I am the way to God. You’ve been made to know God and I am the way. I am the truth so what I ask of you must take precedence over all things. But, living in obedience to Jesus does not ruin your life. It is the way to life. So, Jesus says plainly, “I am the way to life – to the life you long for deep down – to the life God made you for.

#3: What Should You do?

• Seek God – Give this matter your full attention.

Turn off the non-stop flow of information for a while and ask God to make himself real to you. Have you noticed that you are most fully alive when you are in a close relationship? If so, ask if it’s possible that you would be even more alive if you begin to have a close personal relationship to God. I tell you: If you seek the Lord with your whole heart, he will make himself known to you.

• Be honest – Open up what is hidden in your heart and mind to God

Thank him for the beautiful things in your life. But, confess those things you know are not right. Name those things clearly. Truth sets free. Tell him, “This is what I’ve done. This is what I’m becoming. I know forgiveness for my past is need. And I know I need to change for the future.”

• Turn around – Whatever is in God’s place needs to be replaced by God.

Where there is sin in your life, turn away from it and turn it over to God. Whatever has become the 1^st thing in your life – including yourself – needs to move to second place. Nothing and no one can be in God’s place. The first command is, “Nothing in the place of God. “ The greatest command, according to Jesus, is to love God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength.

• Trust Jesus – Follow him and live in ways consistent with his teaching and life.

Tell him you believe in him and want him to lead you day by day to know God better.

• Keep going deeper – Don’t grow stagnant but begin the adventure of knowing God better.

Last week, I suggested starting this month to read through the first four books of the New Testament. The first times through, don’t stop too often. Read all the way through – and then start all over again. Get an overview. You’ll see what Jesus taught, how he lived, how he made decisions, and how he dealt with people. You will see what God is like.

John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time except God the one and only Son, the one closest to the Father. He has made him known.” Jesus says, “That’s why I’ve come – to give you a personal knowledge of God.” Jesus says the same thing to us that he said to these men a long time ago: When you know me you know God. When you see me you see God. I am Emmanuel – God with you. I am – I am the way to God.

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor