How Will You Get There?

June 09, 2019
Pastor Clint Ziemer

Audio of the sermon preached on June 9, 2019, at Cable Community Church, Sherrard, IL

Episode Notes

How Will You Get There?



John 14: 1-14


Anyone here remember life before G.P.S.?


Consider the weary traveler who sought directions to a certain address by stopping a pedestrian on the street.  Considering the address, the pedestrian said, "That's on the other side of town."  When asked how to get there the pedestrian rattled off an array of alternatives.  "When I leave home I take the interstate and then the 5th Street exit."  Then he scratched his head.  However, when I leave work I can get there by taking the by pass road and come to it straight down the lane."  Before the traveler could say anything else he gave yet another alternative.  "When I leave my mother's house, I take the freeway.  It's a straight shot, just one turn."  The traveler interrupted and said "But how do I get there from here?"  The pedestrian scratched his head, "From here?  I'm sorry, but I don't have the slightest idea!"  There are many today who give life directions from their own perspective. The best directions usually come from persons who are familiar with where you are and know where you are trying to go.


There are many who are trying to find the way to a Godly life.  They are reading life's street signs, but have no idea which way to go.  Many have decided to simply drive through life, hoping they will stumble upon the Godly life.  Some have asked directions from those who have steered them in circles and left them confused.  Some have stopped looking altogether.


As Christians, we rejoice that we have found the directions to heaven.  Jesus, who has been there and lived here, has shown us the way.  With Christ as our guide we know exactly how to get there from here.  That's why we follow him and take no chance of getting lost.


In one of His final conversations with His disciples, Jesus' thoughts turned toward heaven.  He told His followers that He was going away, but that He would be back for them and that He would not leave them all alone.  He would send another.  The disciples were confused by Jesus saying He was going away. “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”  In today's text, Jesus tells them, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. "


By that He means to say :

He is THE WAY to the Father

He is THE TRUTH about the Father,  and 

He is THE LIFE with the Father. READ  JOHN 14:1-14

  1. Body
    1. Jesus is THE WAY to the Father
      1. I go to (my Father's house) to prepare a place for you
        1. many mansions (rooms, dwelling places)
        2. For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  (2 Cor. 5:1)
        3. Disciples:  "Hold on, Jesus.  We don't know where you're going!"
      2. I will come again and receive you to Myself
        1. For Christ, the road between here and heaven is well traveled
          1. He came from heaven
          2. He goes back there
          3. He comes again for us
        2. He's coming back to receive us to Himself
          1. receive = to take with one's self
          2. or to join one's self with
      3. Where I am, there you may be also
        1. Our being (place of residence or location) will be with Him
        2. Jesus is the only way
        3. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.  (Acts 4:12)
      4. He is the TRUTH and LIFE about the WAY to the Father
        1. In John 14:6, we find a figure of speak in the Greek.  But, this doesn’t translate into English very well.  Earlier I read this passage from the New King James version.  This passage read: “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.  However, other English versions read “I am the way AND the truth and the life.”  In English, the extra AND doesn’t seem to add anything.  It seems redundant.  However, this is not the case in the Greek.  There is an expression in Greek which involved this phrase.  The way, truth and life are not coequal terms.  Instead, truth and life describe what the way is.  The Concordia Study Bible said it this way “I am the way [to the father] in that I am the truth and the life.”   The difference is subtle, but it is there all the same.
    2. Jesus is THE TRUTH about the Father


      1. if it were not so, I would have told you.
        1. In other words, I'm telling the truth
        2. Jesus' words are truth
      2. Disciples:  "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
        1. If you don't have faith based on His words, look at His works
        2. His life and deeds are intended to inspire faith
      3. He who has seen Me has seen the Father
        1. As the Father's representative, Jesus tells us about Him
        2. As the obedient Servant, Jesus only does what God wants
        3. As the Son, Jesus shows us what the Father is like
      4. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form  (Col. 2:9)
      5. Jesus and the Father are of one purpose because they are both God. They both are one.  Jesus came here to show us the way to the Father. There are many ways we can choose in life.  But, Jesus was the one and only way.  He tried to make this clear when he said “no one comes to the father, except through me.”  He tried to make it clear because of the choices that surround us.  God’s greatest gift was the gift of free choice.  Without it, we would be mindless robots.  Instead, God allowed us to accept his way apart from our own.
      6. We could choose to be followers of Buddha.  They lead moral lives and do not want to harm any living creature.  They look for peace without Jesus.
      7. We could choose to follow John Smith and the Mormon church.  They lead pure lives and put Jesus on a plateau with many gods.  Instead of following Jesus as true God, they choose to make themselves gods of their own private worlds.  They relegate Jesus to the status of equal brother rather than Lord of all.
      8. We could choose to follow the Jews with their tradition that Jesus was just a man or even the Bhai faith that treats all religions as equally valid. 
      9. Each of these religions believes that Jesus lived.  They don’t reject his existence.  However, none of these follow what Jesus taught.  Instead, they either ignore the teachings of Jesus, or twist his word to their teaching.
      10. There are many good men and women who will not share in the Father’s house because only through following the way of Jesus, can we share in the kingdom to come.  It is not our own efforts that make us stand out and justify our reward.  It is the sacrifice of Jesus and the grace that God has bestowed on us that allows us to share in the prize.  Those who choose to go another route will not be allowed through the door.
    1. Jesus is THE LIFE with the Father



      1. Eternal Life:  "I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
      2. This Life
        1. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; 
          1. works:  undertaking, business, acts, things done
          2. that is to say, as Jesus was about the Father's business, so will be those who believe in Him.
        2. and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.
          1. greater:  in frequency and quantity
          2. example:  on Pentecost 3000 were saved in one day.
        3. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
          1. in My name:  with His authority, according to His purposes
          2. the proper goal:  that the Father may be glorified in the Son



  1. Conclusion



    1. A story is told of a missionary traveling to a remote village to train leaders of the local church.  A guide was selected to take him to the village because the only way to reach this remote place was to walk through the jungle.  The journey started out without much of a problem; the path was good and easy to follow. 
    2. Soon, however, the path literally disappeared as the guide cut away at the overgrown jungle with his machete.  The missionary grew concerned and asked, “Where is the path?”  The guide smiled; looking back he told the missionary, “I am the path.”
    3. Such is the way of following Jesus.  He says, "I am the way..."  Our challenge is to believe Him in that.
    4. If you struggle with that fact, then do as Jesus said.  Look into His life.  Examine how He lived.  Read what He said.  Investigate the things He did.   All of those were written, as the apostle John says, "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

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