John 14 (Four) The Way to Be

Good day to you

We are currently discussing John 14:6-7: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Jesus is the way we should go.

Does that mean that we only need to accept Jesus and would then get right to the Father? If this was true, the Bible could have been only one page and it would have been sufficient. The Bible, however, is packed with teaching to guide us in our discovering of the Way. We need to discover the way Jesus does things, the way He relates to us and to Father. We also need to discover Father’s ways. I have found the Old Testament excellent for that purpose. We learn their way by reading about it in the Bible and applying the principles in our own lives. Experiencing their response in our spirit and circumstances confirms to us whether we were right about our understanding of what they are like.

Say for example as a result of our background we believe God is a nasty judge, sitting in heaven just waiting for us to make a mistake so He can zap us. As we study the Bible though, we discover His love and forgiveness. We find that when we make a mistake and ask God’s forgiveness, peace fills our heart. We don’t even feel guilty about our mistake. When we forgive others we feel we’ve done the right thing; in fact a strange freedom and joy enter our heart. We also notice that people forgive us our sins and their love towards us brings joy. What has happened? We have discovered a way of the Lord, which we were unable to comprehend by just reading about it. In the same time we came a bit closer to the Lord, since we have experienced some of His character which we hadn’t known before.

Jesus is the truth we should live.

Into all individuals are programmed the urge to follow some direction, leading to a point in their life that will bring meaning and fulfilment. Many people, however, float around purposeless, desperately seeking for some meaning in life. They are usually frustrated, lonely and desperate.

Spiritually there are many directions to follow. Buddhism, Islam, New Age, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many other directions of thought make it their business to direct the minds of seeking individuals to some “meaningful” life and purpose. These religions, however, are instruments of the devil designed to deceive, leading to destruction. Each of these religions proclaims something they hold as truth. There can, however, only be one truth.

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31, 32). Free from what? Free from the burden of hopelessness, lack of peace, purposelessness and fear. The truth contained in Jesus and His teachings has the answer to every issue that life presents. It is important, however, to stick to the truth and to do the truth.

Jesus said in other words that He is the truth and no one gets to the Father except through the truth. It's no use we try to please the Father through our own ways of worship and service. It will bring us nowhere. No, we must “worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth,” (John 4:23, 24). This means we must know the truth presented by Jesus, and through realising this truth under guidance of the Holy Spirit we worship the Father through our spirit.

I'm reminded of Gideon in Judges 7:15: "As soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped." He saw the Lord in action and realised a truth about Him. He then couldn't but worship him. When we acknowledge something great about somebody, such as an entertainment star, we express worship to such a person. 

This kind of expressing worship to God is different from singing songs in church. This awe comes from our hearts. Then, according to John 4:23 we are true worshipers and will enter Father’s presence through the Truth, namely Jesus. Singing songs is a way of worship, a way of expressing our love for the Lord, but true worship is pleasing the Lord through faith-based obedience to the truth, in submission to and under guidance of the Holy Spirit. Following human guidance in religious activity is therefore not necessarily true worship, even if the songs are powerful and the atmosphere is electrified. One needs to ensure that the Holy Spirit is in control, which is why we received the gift to discern spirits.

Lord, show me your way and truth.