November 30, 2003

Service Theme – "Our God Is Truth"

John 14:1-7

"I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – Centuries ago theologian Thomas a Kempis wrote, Thou art the way, the truth and the life. Without the way, there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. Without the life, there is no living (as cited on PreachingToday.com).
    2. Context – Today we’re going to figure out, just as a Kempis did that Jesus is indeed our way, our truth, and our life. So let’s read John 14:1-7, and I’m reading from the New Living.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. John 14:1-7 (from the New Living) – (NEW SLIDE) "Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. (NEW SLIDE) 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know where I am going and how to get there." 5 "No, we don’t know, Lord," Thomas said. "We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (NEW SLIDE) 6 Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him and have seen him!"
  1. The Way and the Truth
    1. So often in our lives it’s easy to get confused about how those of us who have a personal love relationship with Jesus Christ are supposed to live out our lives. And then we get down on ourselves because we feel stupid for not understanding something that we think should be easy. But we have good company – Jesus’ disciples. They lived with Jesus for three years, saw everything He did, heard everything He said, saw His character up close and personal, and THEY STILL DIDN’T GET IT! Thomas spoke up for all of them, "We don’t have a clue!" Then Jesus spelled it out for them. He said, "I am the way to the Father, I am all of the truth of God rolled into a person, and I am the source of life both now and for eternity."
    2. In some respects, verse six is a no-brainer. I mean, we can look at it and say, "Yeah, this is what Jesus is saying." But it’s another thing to read this verse and allow God to build such a passion in our hearts that we actually do something about it. And to do that, we have to understand what God wants us to do about the fact that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. We’ve already taken a look at Jesus as our life in previous weeks, so we’ll focus on Jesus as the way and the truth this week.
    3. Our world has a lopsided view of truth. It’s called postmodernism, and whether or not you believe in it, it has impacted your life. (NEW SLIDE) What postmodernism means is that truth is relative to experience. In other words, if I haven’t experienced it, it’s not truth for me. Everything in life has to be viewed through the lens of my experience. (NEW SLIDE) And that leads to moral relativism, which means that what’s true for you is only true for you and not for me. I have my own definition of truth, and you have to let me live by that. As I said, we may not agree with these views, but they color everything we say and do and experience in our world, because that’s the viewpoint the world is looking from. And that’s also where we run into conflict with people who are not Christians.
    4. Jesus claimed to be the truth, and proved it by His life, death and resurrection. And if you want more proof about His existence and divinity, come to the Case for Christmas simulcast next Sunday from 4-6. (NEW SLIDE) Jesus used Scripture as the standard for His life and ministry. He constantly used Scripture as the basis for His teachings, and affirmed that His disciples should do the same. So why should we care? Because Jesus expects the same of us – that Scripture will be our absolute standard of truth as the written revelation of Jesus Christ. And if we live truth as Jesus lived it, then that puts us in direct conflict with our culture. So what do we do about it?
    5. Jesus lived the truth of the Bible. After His death and resurrection His disciples lived the truth of the Bible. So that means that those of us who have a personal love relationship with Jesus Christ are supposed to live the truth of the Bible. But how? I can think of lots of times in my life when I tried to do just that, to live the truth of the Bible, and fell flat on my face so many times that I thought I’d never getting it right! I still have times when I do that! It wasn’t until I realized that I had to allow Jesus to live His truth in me by the power of the Holy Spirit that I started making some progress in actually living the truth of the Bible. That’s what non-believers are looking for in us! They are looking to see God’s impact on our hearts and lives! They are looking to see if we actually live what we believe. And if there are any folks in this room who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that is the standard we expect you to hold us to.
    6. So what do we have to do to allow Jesus to live His truth in us by the power of the Holy Spirit? What do we have to do in order to live the truth of the Bible? We’ve talked about these things quite a bit, so I’m only going to briefly mention them. (NEW SLIDE) First, we have to spend daily quality time in prayer. Five minutes here and there is okay, but if that’s all we do we’re in trouble. We have to intentionally set aside time to pray every day, to ask, to listen, to allow the Holy Spirit to change our hearts as we cry out to Him. (NEW SLIDE) Second, we have to spend daily time in the Bible. How can we live the truth if we don’t know it? How can we open the door for the Holy Spirit’s working if we don’t have the key? How can our spiritual motor get going if we don’t take the time to put gas in the tank? That’s what prayer and Bible reading do for us. They are vehicles God uses to build Himself into our lives. (NEW SLIDE) Third, we have to be accountable to a group of believers. We have to meet with them regularly and give them permission to ask us the tough questions about our devotional life, how we’re living our faith, and what our private life and thought life are like. Tough, but all three are necessary and extremely beneficial. I don’t like getting up to meet with guys from this church at 5:30 on Wednesday mornings to answer those tough questions, but I shudder to think where I’d be spiritually without them! Prayer, Bible reading and accountability are how God’s truth is built into our hearts and lives.
    7. But what about Jesus as the way to God? If we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we already know that’s true, so what are we supposed to do about it? We’re supposed to do exactly what the disciples did after Jesus was raised from the grave and the Holy Spirit came on them – we’re supposed to share the truth that Jesus is the way with all those who don’t know Him. How do we do that? After all, we can’t just stand on street corners and yell out the truth and expect people to come to Him in droves. Remember, our culture is based on postmodernism and moral relativism. So that means we have to enter into their world. We have to come to them carefully and prayerfully and build relationships with them. Why? Because we love them with the love of Jesus Christ and so we want to get to know them and share His love? Yes, but also because we’ve got the best news the world has ever heard, and it’s time they heard about it!
    8. "Okay, Hawes, that’s great and wonderful and we all agree, but what do we do about it?" Here are seven specific and sequential steps that work and that any one of us can do to help people come to know Jesus. And I’d like to thank Dee Duke for sharing these thoughts with me and with other pastors in our area. Remember, it takes an average of 7.1 invitations or contacts to get someone to come to an event, so this gives us those seven. Please follow along in your bulletin insert and fill it in.
    9. (NEW SLIDE) First, write down the names of unchurched folks you know. In fact, do that right now on the slip in the bulletin that we’ve prepared for that purpose. I’ll give you a few minutes right now. Write the same names on both sides, please. And if you can’t write down at least seven names, then get involved in the community somehow to build relationships with folks who don’t know Jesus.
    10. (NEW SLIDE) Second, pray for the folks whose names you’ve written down at least once a week. Daily is nice, but pray for them at least once a week. Pray that their hearts will be softened and that they will be open to receive Jesus when the opportunity arises. Pray for them at least once a week.
    11. (NEW SLIDE) Third, do something with the folks whose names you’ve written down socially. Invite them over for dessert or a meal. Or meet them at a restaurant. Or have a game night and invite them over. Go to a ball game, or shopping or something else purely as a social event. Do something with them socially.
    12. (NEW SLIDE) Fourth, raise the flag – in some offhand way, mention church. Don’t make a conversation of it, just mention it in the midst of a conversation. Like if they ask on Monday what you did yesterday, you can answer, "Went to church, watched the Cowboys game, then took a nap. What did you do?" Mention church casually, but mention church.
    13. (NEW SLIDE) Fifth, meet a need in their life. For example, if Randy was talking with one of his coworkers and they mentioned that their car needed an oil change, Randy could say, "Why don’t I drop by after work tomorrow and take care of that for you? Buy the oil and filter and I’ll change them for you." Or if they need a ride someplace and you can take them, do it. After all, that’s what people who care about each other do for each other, and if we care about them as people as well as about their souls, we will meet a need in their life.
    14. (NEW SLIDE) Sixth, ask if you can pray for a specific need in their life and then do it diligently. For example, say one of Mark’s log truck drivers mentions that a member of his family is sick. Mark could say, "Can I pray for you and your family about that?" And if they say yes, pray for them each and every day until God answers the prayer. God will answer prayers in order to bring unsaved people to Himself. And then when you see them each day, you can ask how their need is and remind them that you are still praying for them. And if the prayer has been answered, you can say something like, "I’m glad that God cares about us enough to answer our prayers." That may open even more doors of prayer for you, and if it does, take advantage of the opportunity to pray and let them know you are. Ask if you can pray for a specific need and then do it diligently.
    15. (NEW SLIDE) Seventh, invite them to a special event at church. Something like Harvest Fest, or a special simulcast, or a special service, or any other special event we might have. The point is that if you truly care for them as people as well as caring for their souls, and if you’ve taken the time to show them that you care, then they are much more likely to see church as a place of caring, friendly people and they are much more likely to come. Praying pointedly and specifically for those folks whose names you have written down will grease the spiritual gears and begin the process of bringing them to Jesus Christ. Invite them to a special event at church.
    16. Illustration – S. D. Gordon, in Quiet Talks on Prayer, writes, The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. The great people of earth are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray (as cited on SermonCentral.com). The greatest thing we can do to fully experience Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, and to help others to do so too, is to pray. It’s not the only thing, but it’s the greatest thing. If we do nothing but pray, our efforts are futile. But if we do everything but pray, our efforts are worthless.
    17. People are dying and going to hell because they don’t know Jesus as their way, their truth, and their life. We as Christians are dying inside because we don’t know Jesus as our way, our truth, and our life. Right now, folks, let’s choose the life and truth and way of Jesus Christ. And let’s share Jesus with our world.
  1. Communion
    1. This morning we’re celebrating communion, a reminder of the sacrifice that Jesus gave for the world. And we’re going to give back to Him. Please take one side of the paper that has the list of names, and tear it off. Remember, you need to keep one side to pray for, and we need to other side so that we can pray with you during our ten days of prayer for our Christmas outreaches. Then (NEW SLIDE) spend some time in prayer asking God to give you a special love for those folks and a supernatural ability to reach them for Him.
    2. When you’re ready, come forward and take the bread and the juice and kneel at the altars. Partake of the bread and juice at the altar when you’re ready, and leave the list on the altar as an offering of yourself and your willingness to help these folks to come to know and follow Him. Then you can go back to your seat. These instructions will be on the screen if you need them, but let’s begin our time of prayer and communion right now.
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