ROAD BLOCKS

04.20.08

Jesus said, A I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.@ John 14:6. This is what we believe. We believe this because it was straight from Jesus' lips. It= s not what we have said, or what we have made up, but what Jesus said. He is the only person who, claiming to be God, actually proved it by coming back to life from after being totally dead, dead, dead. Not just mostly dead like the guy from Princess Bride. He put not only His money where his mouth was but put His Body in the grave to prove what He said was true.

I= m bringing this up because we live in a society of religious diversity now and often we are confronted with, A Who do you think you are?@

Are we really this arrogant to think that we as Christians are the only ones to have a corner on the truth? Can we be right and every other religion is wrong? This reality offends our sense of tolerance, which has become the byword of our culture. Live and let live kind of thing. Everyone can believe what they want, who are we to say that they are wrong? I think every Christian has had to deal with this question in one form or another. So how do we respond? People all around us are waiting for an answer.

At one of the funerals I did last winter, one of the lady= s sons came up to me after and said how much he enjoyed the service and how his mom would have been very happy. I thanked him and told him his mom was indeed very happy, as she was safe in the arms of Jesus right now, she is in a better place. He said, A I= m an atheist.@ I just put my hand on his shoulder and looked him straight in the eye and said, A I hope for your sake you are right, eternity is a long time to be wrong.@ His whole demeanor changed. I think he was expecting an argument, and I responded with compassion. We need to keep this in mind when dealing with people who feel threatened by the exclusive claims of Christianity to be the only way to Heaven. Most of the time when we are confronted with the question of, A who do you think you are?@ People have been attacked or offended by the, > I= m right and you= re wrong= attitude that so many people have. They might have had a bad experience at the hands of the religious organization, or it could also be just a pride thing. Some think that society has progressed beyond the Old Rugged Cross, that these are antiquated ideas, that we no longer need a suffering Jesus, that we've evolved beyond that. Now, unfortunately, we are left to deal with the effects of these bad experiences, and the bad press from past generations.

We all want to be right. Not just Christians, but Buddhists and Muslims, Jehovah Witnesses, Hindus, Mormons, everybody, I don= t care who you are. Maybe we can say it= s just human nature to want to be right. Especially if it is something that you have devoted your whole life to. And it= s as important as your eternal destiny. But we all can't be right. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and the only way to gain admittance to Heaven; or He is a liar. It can only be one or the other.

So how do we approach this touchy subject? One thing we do know for sure, God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. So this arrogant attitude of, A I have the truth, and if you don= t agree with me you must be stupid,@ is kind of the wrong approach. No, I take that back, not kind of, it is all the way the wrong approach. But still we are left with this burning question of how to convey the fact that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. Our text for today is found in Acts 4:12, page 773 in your pew Bibles. This passage also tells us, salvation is found in no one else.

Acts 4:12, A Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no name under Heaven given by which we must be saved.@

Peter is addressing the Sanhedrin here, which is the ruling body of Israel. They have the power to make his life miserable. These are the same guys that had Jesus killed. But instead of being frightened into silence or compromise, he stands up and tells it like it is. He starts by putting the Sanhedrin on the defensive. This is one approach. Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, has some direction here, and so do we. We might ask, for which good works are you putting down Christianity? Is it because we believe everyone is precious in His sight and everyone has worth, or because we feel a social responsibility to be Jesus= hands and feet reaching out to those who are less fortunate? Or maybe it= s because we have a passion for people= s eternal destiny. If we didn't care where people were going to spend eternity, it wouldn't matter which religion they chose. Still, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by whom we must be saved. Jesus is the source of our spiritual healing. In Him and only Him can we have the devastating effects of sin removed.

We want to believe in a flexible Jesus. You guys remember Gumby? We try to make Jesus like this, twisting Him into a pretzel so as not offend anyone. We try to bend Him and tweak him so as to make Him acceptable to everybody. This is simpler than asking ourselves, how can we be acceptable to Him? People tell us we need to be open minded. I think it was Mark Twain that said, "When we are too open minded we are in danger of letting our brains fall out.@ We know there is only one way, but how do we convey this without sounding arrogant and judgmental?

Paul was a great example for us when we are dealing with people of different faiths. When he addressed the crowd in Athens he appealed to what they had in common. Acts 17:16 tells us he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. It was upsetting because he knew where these precious souls would be spending eternity if they didn't get the truth. But we read, just a short time later, when he addresses the crowd in verse 22, A Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription, > To an unknown God= .@ Paul didn't tell them they were wrong, he built on what they had in common. He had to go way back, to simply a common belief in God. Then he went on to explain to them the mysteries of God. About the Resurrection of the dead and the promise we all have of eternal life. With some people we may need to go back to the A Big Bang@ . As Christians we too believe in the A Big Bang@ ; God spoke and BANG, it was!

Jesus said, A I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, but through me.@ He didn't say every other religion is wrong. He just stated that if you want to get to the top of the mountain of God, get on my back. Other religions contain some truth. In fact in Romans we read that men are without excuse because God has revealed himself in creation. When we have this mindset we are free to believe that all religions can have some element of truth and we have some common ground. Not all the truth, but some truth. If Satan were to deliberately try to create a false religion, not that he would ever try to do anything dastardly like that, but if he did he would want to incorporate enough truth to make it believable. Just like if we were going to make counterfeit money we would not make it purple, oh wait we might have purple money now? But you would want to make it as close to the original as you could. But would that make it real? Not hardly. But you get my point, even false religions may contain some elements of truth so when we are dealing with Jehovah Witness, Muslims, or New Agers, it is most effective when we create a commonality with them. Focus on the things we have in common. Rather than put up road blocks for them.

But before you run me out on town as a heretic just let me say, just like when you are doing a puzzle maze, there can only be one right path, and all the others end up in a road block before you get to the end. Remember doing these as a kid? You came to a point of decision where you had to chose which way to go and you would look ahead as far as you could, because you only wanted one line, no backtracking, and it would look like you were going the right direction and, augh, it turned out to be a dead end. Or when you are doing a math problem there can only be one right answer. There are a jillion answers to 2+2 but only one right answer. Some of the mistakes are close to right, but wrong none the less, there can be only one right way. It is only through the blood of Christ that any of us will ever gain access to Heaven. I feel sorry for these people who devote themselves fully into this smorgasbord of religions, taking a little of this one and a little of that one trying to climb to Heaven. They spend all this time trying to get to the top of their ladder, on their way to know God and gain eternal life, and then when it= s too late they realize they leaned the ladder against the wrong wall.

The different religions are not but pathways up the same mountain to God. Salvation is found in Jesus Christ and none other. Did you know Satanist sincerely believe salvation is found in Satan? He= s the arch enemy of God! This can= t possibly be a pathway to the same place. When you examine all the other religions of the world, they will all stress if you live a certain way, if you do certain things you will be deemed worthy, and you will be saved. Christianity states that the work has already been done for you, because none of us are in and of ourselves good enough. Instead of saying A do this@ , Christianity says A believe, it has already been done for you.@ Only Christianity offers the assurance of salvation because it is not based on any human endeavors but on Jesus Christ= s work on the cross. This is the good news, this is liberating.

We live in a tricky time of life. A time when Christianity is just another one of the dozens of options out there for those who are seeking to know God. Many reject Christianity because they grew up under a system where Christianity was just a religious system, and a personal relationship was never stressed. I went down to Fremont this week to our annual meeting, and the newly ordained ministers gave their testimonies. What really struck me as odd was that many of these kids grew up in churches and had still never heard the gospel message. It wasn't until collage or later that they finally heard the good news, that Jesus saved us because he loves us, not because we are such great people. For them growing up, church was just something you did before lunch on Sunday. People are searching and we can share with them our experience. We all have our own faith story, how we got to this point, and hopefully they will see the compassion and be drawn to explore the Jesus of Christianity. Our case for Christ has to be done with sensitivity and humility, actually wanting what= s best for the other person. You might say our case for Christ must be made in love. Jesus is probably up there smiling at this turn of events. I= ve said before that no one is ever debated into the kingdom of God, but rather loved in. We can have all the right arguments and responses to their questions. But still, it is not how much you know, but how much you care and when it comes to spiritual truth we can have only one right answer still.

We've had it easy for so long that maybe we've gotten a little lazy. We took it for granted when we were the dominate religion in America. If you go with what the Barna Group discovered, that only 8% fit into the group they call evangelicals, we've somehow become the minority. Times are a changing.

It= s harder in a sense for us now, in the age of litigation. We can argue our way out of a lot of stuff. Hire a hot shot lawyer and you can even get away with murder. You get a speeding ticket, you can chose to pay it or try and argue your way out of it. Laws can be debated and changed. So we have a tendency to group all laws together and say there is no absolutes anymore, all law are changeable. But there is a different set of laws which cannot be debated or changed. If I was to jump off this step the law of gravity says I will end up on the floor. That= s the law of gravity, not very flexible. Unless you were shot out into space where the law doesn't apply, what goes up must come down. It= s the same with spiritual laws. They are not up for debate either. We can= t have it both ways If you believe that spiritual truth does exist and that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and salvation is found in none other, it= s either a yes or a no. Black and white on this. Jesus says He is the way, and no one gets to the Father but through Him. It= s not me or you saying this, Jesus said it. We must remember that when we are confronted with the A who do you think you are?@ person. This person might have some deep scars from a past religious experience, or it could be just the same age old problem. The same one that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the garden. They wanted to be God too. Can the clay say to the potter make me into this or that? Not hardly. It= s the same for us, who do we think we are, to write our own rules for this game of life?

How many of you watch Oprah? She has really kind of stepped in it, you might say. Of course I don= t know her personally, but she seems like a very nice lady, and has done a lot of great stuff. But, and there= s always seems to be, a > but= . She is leading millions down one of those blocked paths. Just like there are many choices in a maze, only one gets you out. Only one path gets us into Heaven. The good news is it= s available to everyone who will take the time to ask. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and the only way to the Father. The really cool thing is this, everyone is invited to come. Isn't that great? That= s a pretty large guest list if you ask me. And really it= s the opposite of narrow and exclusive. It= s not hard to find, we don= t need to reinvent the wheel on this one. We don= t need to spend a lifetime trying to find our way to God. Instead, we can spend our time developing a relationship with Him. He already revealed Himself to us in Jesus.

He is such a loving God though, He will not force Himself on anyone, but just stands outside and knocks, just waiting for us to let him in. Don= t get sucked into the idea that we can pick and chose what we want the rules to be, and get drawn into the god creating business. Creating for ourselves a god of our liking. God is who He is, and who He will always be. He is not one who will bow to our will, no matter how large our viewing audience might be. And I just pray the Oprah will find the truth before she does anymore damage. I= m not saying she is playing right into Satan= s hand, but if I were going to recruit a spokesperson to start a new religion, or actually revive an old one, a well spoken lady with a heart of gold, and lots of money, and a large viewing audience, would be too good to be true. Satan must be giddy over this latest turn of events. But God will not be mocked. Jesus is still the only way, and the rest of the paths end up in a road block.

We read a great story of courage under attack in men= s group this week. Kefa Sempangi was the pastor of the Redeemed Church of Uganda. The church had 14,000 members. This was in 1973 when Idi Amin, the Muslim dictator was in power. On Easter 1973 after ministering all day, Kefa pushed his way through the crowd to go to the place he was staying. When he arrived in his room several men followed him in. They pushed a rifle in his face and said they were sent to kill him. They asked did he have any last words. Kefa said fear and shock griped him, but then he regained his composure, and it had to have been under divine inspiration he said, A I do not need to plead my own cause. I am a dead man already. My life is dead and hidden in Christ. It is you who are in danger. You are dead in your sins. I will pray to God that after you have killed me, He will spare you from eternal destruction.@ The leader directed the group to drop their rifles and asked Kefa if he would pray for them right then. These men became believers and later helped Pastor Kefa escape from Uganda.

Remember Pastor Kefa when one of these people who claim to be > enlightened New Agers= , who claim that there are lots of ways to the same God, and when they demand of us, > who do you think you are?= , when they are sticking their AK47= s in your face, which is what they are doing in their own way, just put your hand on their shoulder and look them straight in the eye and say, A I pray for your sake you are right, because eternity is a long time to be wrong. I'll pray for you.@ It= s a huge challenge to convince people they are sinners in need of a Savior when they think they are basically good people. There is no x-ray or test to confirm the diagnosis. So instead to trying to tell them they are wrong, and sick in need of a cure, show them what love looks like. Our job is to actually model love to them, show them the love and compassion of Jesus Christ our Lord. We don= t have to go to Africa of South America to be a missionary anymore, we can do it right here in our town. Because right here we have Atheists, and Agnostics, we have New Agers, we have Wiccans, and Muslims, and Buddhists, and Jehovah Witness, and Satanists. We have those who worship Mother Earth, and the ancient Native American gods. So many paths in the maze, but only one gets us to Heaven.

Let= s pray. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, I thank you for the privilege of being called your child. May we miss the rebellious teenage years that seem to plague so many. We are happy and proud to be called Christians and we are honored to be associated with you, dear Jesus. May we live lives that glorify you and bring honor to your name. Lord, I just pray that if anyone here today has not opened their heart and let you in they may do it now. Forgiveness and healing are only a prayer away. Thank you Lord Jesus for making a way when here was no other way, we are forever yours. And in your precious name we pray, Amen.