Big House

There was this song I loved to belt out with my youth back in the day.  I remember being at the Jesus Northwest Festival with over 27000 youth as they called out and asked youth pastors to come to the stage and sing with the band...surreal!  The song was Big House by Audio Adrenaline.  I would have that same opportunity again years later at Canada's Wonderland as Matt Courtney and I were called to the stage to belt it out with Mark Stuart, the lead singer of the band

I don't know where you lay your head
Or where you call your home
I don't know where you eat your meals
Or where you talk on the phone
I don't know if you got a cook
A butler or a maid
I don't know if you got a yard
With a hammock in the shade

I don't know if you got some shelter
Say a place to hide
I don't know if you live with friends
In whom you can confide
I don't know if you got a family
Say a mom or dad
I don't know if you feel love at all
But I bet you wish you had

Come and go with me
To my Father's house
Come and go with me
To my Father's house

It's a big big house
With lots and lots a room
A big big table
With lots and lots of food
A big big yard
Where we can play football
A big big house
Its my Father's house

Why this song, well because it really fits my thoughts as we dive into John 14.

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

This Life Is Not The Story, It’s Only A Chapter

Here is the real assurance here especially for Peter and all fragile saints who follow Jesus imperfectly, don’t let your mind race over this, don’t be overcome with turmoil in your heart.  You child of God have a place and you have a space.  You are part of God’s household of faith when you placed your trust in Him.

 “To as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the children of God” (John 1:12).

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

Here is how the way has been prepared for us to be with Jesus

Sin has not been atoned for. Jesus is the Lamb of God about to be slain (John 1:29, 36). The wrath of God, the condemnation, the curse of God, is still unsatisfied, and Jesus is about to become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) and bear our condemnation (Romans 8:3) and endure the bruising of the Father (Isaiah 53:10). Death is yet to be defeated and Jesus is about to give his life and take it back again from the jaws of death (John 10:18).  John Piper

This Present Life Is Most Fulfilled In Jesus

John 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

It is pretty clear that life apart from Jesus is a journey towards unfufillment, and for the most part life will feel like you are getting ripped off.  In the words of the great philosopher Mick Jagger, “I can’t get no satisfaction;”  However, Jesus is proclaiming that there is a way to a most fulfilled life here and now and that He is at the very center of it.

Jesus came to deal with the things that keep us from enjoying life to the full.  He takes all our guilt and regret over misplaced pathways that we thought would lead us to fulfillment.

We need to realize that heaven is as much a person as it is a place.

How does Jesus give us life to the full?  He brings meaning, purpose and contentment in life, He is our peace in the storm.

The Scandel of Christianity

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:6 has been referred to as the “Scandel of Christianity”

One of the most politically incorrect statements to make in our culture is, ‘Jesus Christ is the only way to God.’   You will be called a bigot, insensitive, narrow-minded, arrogant and hateful to name a few if you hold to this truth in public. 

Jesus just doesn’t proclaim that He is a way.  There is a definite article there and it’s the word “the”  Jesus isn’t just telling He’s the way to the Father, God, He’s saying I’m the only way.  He basically is setting Himself up against any other way that you might have thought was the way to the God of Heaven. 

Jesus Christ Is The Way

And guess what, that’s not popular out there on the street.  It just isn’t tolerant of other views and that’s what we’ve been indoctrinated with in our culture…tolerance.  It’s so much easier to say, ‘well Jesus is my way, that’s what works for me.’

You might ask well, what about the rest of the testimony of Scripture.  Peter states  in Acts 4:12 that salvation is found in no one else.  1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. 

The expression “the way, and the truth, and the life” was a common expression that was used by the religious teachers in Jesus’ day to describe the Law.  They would refer to the Torah as the way, the truth and the life.  It contained everything one needed to know about life, about God and eternity.  So, Jesus intentionally used these words to put Himself in the place of the Law.  He is everything we need for life, for eternity and the way to the Father.

Jesus Christ is The Truth

Here are some really important FACTS to discover when it comes to Jesus’ stand and position in light of every other faith and religion.

Jesus claimed to be God. No religious figure in history has made such a claim. Not Mohammed, Buddha, or Confucius. Not even Abraham or Moses, who are accepted as prophets and great men by all three major world religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity) ever claimed to be God. Many have claimed to know the way to God, or have tried to show the way to God, but none have claimed to be the one and only way to God.

Jesus never sinned. He never withdrew or modified any statement He ever made. He never apologized. He never needed to ask anyone to pray for Him. He never succumbed to any temptation. Jesus was and is God! As humanly impressive as many religious leaders have been, none of them are without sin.

Jesus came do die. The mission of Jesus was to die on the cross for humankind. This was His passion; his entire life was pointed toward the cross. No other religious leader ever sought to die a death of crucifixion for his or her followers. Jesus was the ultimate example of a selfless, sacrificial servant leader.

Jesus rose from the dead. After spending the better part of three days in a tomb, Jesus rose from the dead demonstrating that He was God (cf. Rom 1:4). Those who have attempted to disprove Christianity have done so by attempting to disprove the resurrection. But many of these people have instead become convinced that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead! There are countless testimonies of changed lives that have occurred by coming to grips with Christ’s resurrection. This is why the resurrection of Christ is one of the cardinal doctrines of Christianity. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, let’s eat, drink, and be merry (1 Cor 15).

Gary M. Burge, The Gospel of John. NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 392.

Jesus Christ Is The Life

Jesus is the lens through which we see God.

He is the lens through which we see the world.

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.  C.S. Lewis

He is my life.  I remember so well at 17 having made the decision to go to Bible College and then wondering what have I done??  I started reading the book of Matthew and arriving at 6:19-21

¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

I knew in that moment that I wanted to invest my life in what matters for eternity and I knew that was people.  I realized that the only real treasure we that take are the lives we influence for His glory, His kingdom!

The Takeaway

The only three responses that we can have to His statements are as Josh McDowell wrote on:

He is a LIAR

He is a LUNATIC

OR  He is LORD  and must be worshipped as such!