I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

This morning I heard a wonderful sermon preached by Mark Schlabach. In it he presented a great diagram in his discussion of John 14:6, ” Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

The insights he gave on this verse were wonderful. He said that he heard Val Yoder present a message about this verse and had some doubts about the validity of his interpretation. But, after some study, he came to agree with Val and became very excited about what he received. Here is my summarization of the message with some additions of my own at the end.

There are three windows through which we know God. They are the way, the truth, and the life.

The way is the way we walk. It is right living. It is doing right things.

The truth is doctrine. It is right beliefs. It is believing the right things.

The life is experience. It is experiencing God. It is being on fire for God.

Many churches tend to focus on one or two of these to the exclusion of the rest. Many Mennonites focus on right living and doing the right thing. As long as you do good things you have attained. Many Baptists and some Mennonites focus on believing right things. If you believe the right stuff, you are fine. Many Pentecostals focus on the experience. If you have had a charismatic experience you know God.

The problem is that we all tend to simplify things and we get hung up on our little window of God and think that is the only thing to see. It is only when we have begun to look into all the windows equally that we begin to see who God really is. We are called to believe right, live right, and be filled with the fire that comes from our relationship with God and the filling of His Spirit. The difficulty is finding a balance in all these things.

The solution to the difficulty is found in the first part of the verse from John 14. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The synthesis of the three is found in the person of Jesus Christ. When we focus on Jesus Christ we will see the Father perfectly. “He who has seen me has seen the father.” John 14:9

Greatest Commandments

I have recently been thoroughly fascinated by a story told in Matthew 22 and Mark 12.

The Sadducees have been trying to trap Jesus, all day as I imagine it, and have been finally silenced. This Jesus guy has turned out to be a tough customer. So, the Pharisees, who of course think themselves superior, step up to the challenge of confounding this dirty, street-preaching carpenter. I have always imagined that they sent a young lawyer, one who had recently joined their group. He would appear more innocent as he asked that simple question whose mistated answer could prove so disastrous. After some final whispered council from his elders, I see the young lawyer walking over to Jesus and saying, “Rabbi, what is the greatest commandment?” I imagine Jesus quickly tensing with frustration at this constant harassment and then quickly suppressing the temptation to get angry. Then I see Him stroking his beard and looking the young man in the eye. With a slight smile I see him speaking into the very heart of that lawyer the most profound condensation of the Gospel ever spoken. “Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as your self.” and completely in my own words, “This is the essence of and reason for of all the revelations of God combined. This is what it is all about.” There you have it. Utterly profound. Absolutely brilliant. If Jesus had not spoken it to all, the lawyer may have been tempted to take the statement and publish it as his own. It certainly would have won him incredible academic prestige. Such depth of understanding, such insight, such connection to the heart and core of truth.

All Who Live Godly Will Suffer

James,

I am writing you this letter to express my extreme disapproval of your behavior at my dinner last night. What a disgrace to have my brother cause such a scene. I serve shrimp and champagne and caviar and invite very distinguished and influential guests to a formal dinner. And then you show up act so despicably. To have you act and speak in so rude and dogmatic a fashion to the condemnation and embarrassment of others, was enough, let alone have you speak such foolishness with so much overbearing pomposity. You sounded like one of those hypocritical, Bible-thumping, TV preachers.

It all started when you had to go and tell our brother’s boyfriend that you did not think that it was natural and instinctive for some people to be gay. You may defend yourself by saying that they asked you directly, but don’t try that with me. I was raised in the same house you were, and I know that our mother taught us that it is certainly not wrong to tell a white lie to save the dignity of another at a social occasion.

Then, when they were discussing the war in Iraq, you had to loudly support it by saying that the Bible, the Bible of all the distasteful references to bring up, gives the authority to punish evil with the sword, to the government. When you were asked why you don’t go fight, you acted like a dastardly coward and said that as a Christian you do not use physical force to change the world. What a miserable thing to say after all your big talk about the government punishing people with war. Of course, you had to go on to say that you are part of a “different Kingdom”. This sounds like something from a fairy tale or a kid’s imagination, part of a different Kingdom. The only kingdom you should be part of is one with locked doors, padded walls, and safe rooms. And talking about being part of another Kingdom with Professor Kingsley present, James, I shrink with shame at the thought.

Now that I have clearly explained my problem, I will tell you my solution. You have been forward, rude, and embarrassing. Because of this horrendous behavior, I refuse to invite you to anything again. If you wish to spend time with people, go spend it with members of your own kingdom. I know I invited you to Amy’s engagement party on Tuesday, but Tom’s parents are going to be there and I do not want them to think that their son is marrying into a family of lunatics. I also withdraw the invitation to her wedding.

Your mortified sister,

Elaina

 

 

My dear sister,

I am deeply sorry for any wrongdoing on my part and for the embarrassment that you felt. I beg your forgiveness for any undo forwardness or pomposity I may have held.

I will say that I am not sorry for answering honest, direct questions about my personal beliefs. I hold these beliefs to be true and have been commanded to speak them whenever I am asked and sometimes when I am not. At your parties I have spoken them only when asked out of consideration for you. But when I am directly asked, I refuse to lie.

I believe that you can rest your fears about your guests finding me to be foolish or offensive. I quietly stated my belief about gays and then said that I would only discuss it more in private. I also said that I disagree with the anti-gay, conservatives’ ways of addressing the issue. I had a deep, private conversation with Professor Kingsley after desert and not only did he think that I was not crazy, but he agreed to come to a Bible study with me in two weeks.

My dear, I ask that you not pin the fears of your pride on me. Do not throw me out because you hate what I believe and are embarrassed by it. I have done only what I know to be right and have sought to do it in only the most meek and humble of attitudes.

I will do all that I can in the future to avoid troubling you. I want to continue visiting you and spending time with your family. I would be deeply grieved to miss Amy’s wedding. I ask that you reconsider your withdrawal the invitation given to me. I love you and your family and seek for this to continue this.

Your loving brother,

James

 

Matthew 5:11 (KJV)

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

 

Matthew 5:11-12 (The Message) “Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

The World Shimmers With the Presence of God

God is concerned with the world, and the world is full of His glory. His beauty and glory are amazing, wonder and diversity are everywhere. From the rigid and logical laws that govern electronics to the random waves of chills that ripple down my body, from the predictable shape of salt’s crystals to the swirl of ocean waves, from the dark and dreary beauty of a rainy Celtic coast to the bright and sunny lushness of a South Sea volcanic mountain, God is there. Instead of you taking time to read a long post, I want you take the time that you would have spent doing that and instead look at two things. Look at the floor upon which your weight is resting. Nice or ugly, look at the material. Look at the laws of nature which hold it together in a specific pattern. Consider the God who is at this very moment holding it in existence (Col. 1:17). Now go to the window or go outside and look at one specific thing: a mountain, a leaf, a stream, a mud puddle, a field of alfalfa, a handful of snow, a grain of sand, a lonely little cloud, a drop of rain, an ant hill, the darkness of the night, the brilliant patterned surface of the moon, or a mirage on the road. Feel the wind, smell a flower, sense that indesribable feeling of knowing that God is there if we notice Him (Rom. 1:20).

This is optional (like the previous is not…): A passage from Malcom Muggeridge’s Jesus Rediscovered that struck me as unique for Muggeridge’s observation of God’s presences in creation: “When Christ came to John the Baptist for baptism, John recognised him at once as this Lord whose path he was to make straight. Then the wild anchorite, in his raiment of camel’s hair, drew back before the young teacher from Nazareth and bowed his head. Christ, he said, must baptise him; not the other way round. When Christ gently insisted, he gave way, and with the utmost humility poured the water of baptism over Christ’s head. At that moment a bird flew across the blue sky, indicating God’s joy in what had happened. Only in the natural may we see the supernatural, and vice versa. A bird could not exist without God, and through its existence proclaims God’s. Not even a sparrow, we are told, can fall to the ground without causing God concern; all the material universe is, as it were, a message in code from God, wich mystics, artists and scientists strive to crack, sometimes with a measure of success, but to which Christ provides the key.”

Here are some pictures that inspired me.

Thoughts on Independence Day

Since the beginning of the Church, Christians have struggled with the relationship between the Church and the state. As an Anabaptist, I too struggle with how to view the government and my relationship to my country. I am very grateful for the freedom in this country. I am delighted that I may practice my faith virtually uninhibited. I believe that the government has the God-given task of punishing evil-doers with the sword. I am grateful that the government is working to foil the plans of men bent on killing others. I am delighted that this country is a place of freedom and I believe that democracy and free market are the best systems of their kinds in the world.

Still, I am non-resistant. I would rather be persecuted for my faith than offer any direct endorsement to war. I personally would rather live in a dictatorship than have one more person killed in Iraq. I hate that the government has to kill to do its job. I would rather live in a communist country than have anyone be killed keeping our country as it is.

Man is evil and God has ordained the kingdoms of this world to punish evildoers with the evil of war and death. I feel torn between enjoying and being grateful for the results of this and being horrified and turned off by the result.

A Relativist’s Blessing

May things go for you as you wish,

Unless you don’t want them to

In which case I hope that they don’t.

Unless, of course you don’t want me to,

Then I most certainly won’t.

Music: Listening Carefully, Hearing Beauty, Rejecting Falsehood

I have come to some conclusion. Some songs, particularly from some groups that I really like i.e. Enya and the Beatles, are incredibly beautiful, but are also filled with falsehood. As a Christian, I am convinced that God is the source of everything that is good, true, and beautiful. Therefore, although these songs are communicating falsehood, they really are full of beauty. The devil is smart enough to cloak falsehood in incredible beauty for the deception of the world. I therefore have concluded some things for myself. Those songs which, after I have listened to them carefully and determined that they are beautiful but chocked with falsehood, will only be listened to very minimally and, as much as possible, only when I am able to consentrate in listening and again reject their falsehood. Some songs will be skipped altogether because they put messages in my mind that I certainly do not want there. I do not feel compelled to throw out all songs that are not “Christian” whatever that means, but I am determined as much as possible to avoid asbsentminded listening to those songs which are not filled with a spirit of seeking after truth, beauty, and goodness. I seek to have the Spirit of the Lord to guide me into all truth, beauty, and goodness from the music I listen to. (John 16:13)

Verses that Amaze Me

There are some verse in the Bible that are really incredible if you stop and think about them.

First is Matthew 6:10 “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” The first phrase of that verse is an incredible statement. Jesus is telling us to ask that God’s Kingdom come to earth. Many times we make this verse to be a prayer for the Lord’s return. I think this is a copout. It goes along with saying that the Gospel is just about having our sins forgiven and going to heaven. That is not only what the Gospel is about and Jesus coming back is not when Jesus Kingdom is going to begin coming to earth. The Kingdom of God has already come to earth. The King came and established the Kingdom and gave the keys to the Apostle Peter. We the Church are the Kingdom on earth and we are the Kingdom now. When Jesus told us to pray “Thy kingdom come”, He was telling us to pray for the Kingdom to come fully here and now. We are to pray for the Kingdom to come in force at this very moment. The Kingdom is here and it is moving. May the Kingdom com.

Another verse is Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Think about this for a little bit. I am not even going to comment, this verse is too shocking for words. I will note that there are other Biblical stipulations on asking and receiving, but ask/receive, seek/find, knock/enter. Amazing…

Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” I do not like to think about what this means for so many of the world’s people.

Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” I don’t know what to do with this verse, sometimes I worry, sometimes I don’t care, sometimes I am at peace… Go ahead, say that it is all symbolic or that it was just for the early church or the apostles. Maybe your right, but I still wonder.

Your thoughts or comments on any of these verses would be delightful. I hope you have been blessed or inspired by my thoughts. Allow me to be blessed you your thoughts or shocking verses.