Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Theme for the week: The Truth about God and Ourselves
Sunday is a feast day, the day we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection that points to our future. Sundays are not counted in the forty days of Lent because they are not a day of fasting. I will use Sundays to introduce the devotional themes of the week. This week’s theme is The Truth about God and Ourselves.
A few years ago I was talking with a friend of mine about how much more passionate his Sunday worship had become. Going to church was a life-long habit. His parents had raised him going to church as he had raised his own family. Yet attending church had not saved his first marriage. As well-intentioned as it was, it had not really made a difference. But after struggling in his second marriage for a few years, now things were different. His relationship with Jesus was deep and intimate and exciting. Worship had a renewed and expanding importance for him. It was easily observable. He moved his family from sitting in the back of the congregation to up front! I could see the expression on his face. He and his wife glowed with excitement, wonder, and joy. He was even raising his hands as we sang hymns and songs of praise. One could not help but notice this amazing change, not only in worship but in the life of his family.
A few days later at a high school football game, sitting next to another friend, I found the conversation turning to worship again. He told me how he grew as a Christian at a men’s retreat. When he came home he changed his language from talking about God to talking about Jesus. What happened to these two men? Their eyes had been open to truth. Both men had an encounter with the Holy Spirit that changed their lives and removed vague language and ideas about God to speaking the intimate name of Jesus.
At a luncheon for a Christian non-profit, one of the pastors of the founding churches of this ministry gave the invocation without praying in the name of Jesus. The featured speaker gave a clever and humorous talk but never mentioned the name of Jesus. I left deeply unsatisfied that the name of Jesus had not been spoken. Here we were at a Christian gathering and the pastor and speaker spoke as though we could have been a gathering of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Unitarians who might be offended at the mention of Jesus’ name! Back at church my co-worker and luncheon table mate said to me, “Why wasn’t Jesus’ name mentioned?” I was happy that I wasn’t alone in feeling that luncheon was not all that it could have been.
Eleven years ago I was preparing a sermon in my office when a member of my congregation came in to ask me a question. “You say the name Jesus a lot in your sermons,” she asserted. “Most of the other preachers say God or Christ. Why do you say Jesus so much? You kind of sound like a Baptist!” “Thanks for the compliment,” I responded and proceeded to tell her why.
What I said to her was something like this: I call my father “dad” because I have an intimate relationship with him. If I were to call him “father” it would be too formal. If I were to call him by his first name, that would be ridiculous. Only my siblings and I call him “dad.” Likewise, I have an intimate relationship with God and know him as Jesus. Yes, I can call him “God” because Jesus is God, but God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus. Yes, I can call him “Christ” because Jesus is the Christ, but that is a formal title and not a name. Wouldn’t you rather I call you by your first name? The bottom line: I’m on a first name basis with God, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
In Jesus God reveals the truth about himself. In order to be a passionate follower of Jesus, it is crucial to know the truth of this revelation. I have heard many a Christian say they are not interested in theology or doctrine. However, whenever we say anything about God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit and how we understand the One God, we are making doctrinal statements. Here are a few we say:
· God is love
· Jesus died for our sins
· I am filled by the Holy Spirit
These are simple statements of truth. I teach these truths to our children. But isn’t there more? Yes and no. No, because truth is truth and absolute. Yes, because absolute truth is deep and disciplined and delightful to the follower of Jesus. This kind of truth leads us into worship, fellowship, and God’s glory. It is this kind of truth that took my friend into deeper worship and a better marriage. It is this kind of truth my other friend realized at the men’s retreat. It is this kind of truth that stirs my soul when I speak and hear the name of Jesus because in Jesus I meet and see and experience the God who is love, Savior, and Comforter.
Genesis begins with the assumption that God exists. He is the creator of all things in the heavens and the earth. The Gospel of John elaborates, declaring that Jesus was with God in the beginning (and therefore not created by God but co-existent with God) and that all things were made through him and nothing was made without him (John 1:3). Perhaps you are thinking, “But God is the creator, not Jesus! Jesus is the Savior who died for our sins. Let’s not confuse the two.” The two are not confused. They are the same God. From God to Jesus we see the same God. Jesus states, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus acts for God the Father and with God the Father and as God the Father. In this we must come to the conclusion that Jesus is God.
After the Last Supper and before Jesus left Jerusalem for the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus spoke these words in John 17:1-5:
Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do. And now Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
The New Testament makes clear that the relationship between God the Father and Jesus the Son is so intimate that not only can Jesus say that eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son, but that they share the same glory and exist to glorify one another. Elsewhere in John’s gospel Jesus makes similar statements:
· For God so loved the word that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (3:16)
· Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (5:24)
· For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (6:40)
· My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (10:27-30)
To sum up: Belief in Jesus brings eternal life as believers pass from death to life. They will be resurrected on the last day and can never lose this eternal life. John’s Gospel reveals this truth about God and Jesus and ourselves.
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