The deacons and I have decided to “shake things up” a little in how we preach.  We are going to start coordinating our homilies into series, so while we will each still have to prepare our own homilies, they will all be on the same theme or topic.  There will be one message for the week. Over the next five weeks we will be preaching a series called “Half Truths.” We will look at some popular beliefs in our society that are only half-truths.  A half-truth is a statement that contains some element of the truth, but in leaving out the rest of the truth it brings about a deception. The half-truth often leads us to embrace the whole lie.

    Here is the half-truth: “there are many ways to God. It doesn’t matter what you believe because there are many ways to God.”  It is true that there are many different ways in which we can experience God. However, the full truth is that there is only one way to have a relationship with God, and that is through Jesus Christ.  We are not saying that WE are superior when we say that Jesus is the only way to God. Rather we are saying that JESUS is superior, because he is the Son of God.

    Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one goes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Jesus didn’t say that he was one way to God, but that he is the only way.  That is why he tells his Apostles before ascending into heaven, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).  Jesus gives them -- and now all of us -- the mission to spread the Good News because there is only one way back into a relationship with God. To emphasize how important this is, Jesus continues, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not will be condemned.”  That might be hard to hear in our pluralistic culture today, but it is the WHOLE truth.

    To understand and appreciate the Gospel -- the Good News -- we have to keep in mind the bad news, namely that something went wrong with the world.  The evil in the world: wars, poverty, hunger, broken relationships, murder, disasters comes as a result of sin and our broken relationship with God. We have all sinned by trying to put anything and everything to be number one in our lives instead of God.  Sin doesn’t just make us bad; it makes us dead.

How do we get back into a relationship with God?  How do we get saved? Every religion tries to answer those questions, and most have founders who were teachers that show the way to salvation, and it always involves a performance.  Be good, according to their definition of what good is, and God will save you.

Jesus is completely different.  Jesus didn’t claim to know the way of salvation but to be salvation himself.  Other religions operate on the principle that if “I obey God and strive to be good so God will accept me.”  The Good News of the Gospel is that you and I are accepted by God, not because of our efforts or what we have done, but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. The Good News is that even though we are deeply flawed and messed up individuals, God loves us so much that he sent his Son to die for us. The Good News of the Gospel is that I don’t have to be good enough to be accepted by God, but that as I accept what Jesus did for me on the cross, God will make me good, which is one of the greatest desires for your heart.  

We really do not understand what Jesus did for us on the Cross if we think there are many different ways to God.  Why would God send His only-begotten Son into the world to suffer like that and show his great love for us if there were other ways back to Him?  Jesus suffered and died for us because it was the only way we could be put back into the right relationship with our heavenly Father.

The assumption about there being many ways to God is this: it assumes that we make the roads to God. It assumes that the way to God or right relationship with God is something we do. If that was true, it would be very arrogant for us to say that there is only one way to God. But God made the road back to him and he has only given us one road: the person of Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you why it matters that we embrace this truth. First of all it matters, because until we really believe Jesus is our only way back to God, our only hope to be healed and made whole – our faith will only be a category. When we believe we desperately need a relationship with Jesus Christ to get back in a relationship with God, Church and prayer and spiritual disciplines will not be something we do in our leisure time, but become very, very personal.

Second, this matters because when we understand there is only one way back to God, only one way to be made whole, it should intensify our commitment to connect friends, family members, and coworkers to the person of Jesus Christ. If there are many ways to God, then it is ok if they go their own way. It is ok that they don’t have a relationship with Jesus. But if Jesus is THE Way back to God, if Jesus is the way back to being made whole, and having our sins forgiven, then out of love for the people around us, it is vital that we introduce people to the person of Jesus Christ.

If you had the cure for cancer or another major disease, you wouldn’t feel arrogant in telling other people about the cure. It wouldn’t be arrogant, it would be loving and serving others to share the cure. We know the cure to what most ails the human heart.

There is only one way to God, it is through the person of Jesus Christ. So here is what I want you to do this week. Would you pray that verse from John 14:6? Every day tell Jesus, “Jesus, you are the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through you.” For some of you, it will be the first time you ever confessed that and it will make a change in your relationship with God. You will pray that this week and it will be a breakthrough in your relationship with God.

If you already believe that, I want you to pray that prayer for someone this week who does not know Jesus Christ. Pray that God will use you to bring them into a relationship with him.