REFLECTIVE - John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
In his book, Theology for the Community of God, Stan Grenz asks: What is God’s purpose for creation? He says, “God’s intention in history is an outworking of his own eternal nature. His goal for humankind is that we be the image of God, that is, the reflection of the very nature of the Creator” (TCG, 489). As those who are being renewed by God in Christ, we are to be a reflection of our Savior and Lord. For Jesus who said that He is the light of the world also said that we are the light of the world. He said, “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Mission requires us to be reflective – to show the world the Light of the world.
CONVINCED - In the John 14 passage that we read, we heard Jesus tell His disciples that He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place them. Jesus said (4-6) “You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This is one of the most radical statements ever uttered. In it, Jesus redefines life, truth and religion itself.
Jesus redefines life. Life is not what you make of it; life is found in Jesus. Life is not simply getting by, but knowing Christ; life is not, as Shakespeare’s MacBeth states, a “brief candle … but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more …a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” life is Christ – life finds meaning and purpose in Christ. Christ is Life.
Jesus redefines truth. Truth is not something that we make up. This, however, runs contrary postmodernism’s patron saint, Friedrich Nietzsche (whose thought is extremely influential in our current cultural climate). Nietzsche wrote, “What, then, is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms - in short a sum of human relations, which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people; truths are illusions of which one has forgotten that this is what they are: metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.” Truth is an illusion according to Nietzsche – something we construct ourselves. Though Jesus might agree with Nietzsche that people often make up their own truths and attempt to force others to follow them (that is what Jesus condemned the Pharisees of) Jesus would disagree with Nietzsche’s overall definition of truth because Jesus redefines truth. Jesus is not simply true or the bearer of truths , He IS THE TRUTH. He is the ultimate purpose; He is the beginning and end – all things are held together in Him.
And Jesus redefines religion. Jesus said, “I am the Way.” Unlike Buddha who claimed to have discovered the way through the four noble truths, the noble eight-fold path and the middle way; unlike Mohammed who claimed to receive the right way through a series of angelic revelations, Jesus did not say, “Here is a way,” He said, “I am the way”. Jesus did not give us a religious philosophy; He did not set out religious rules to follow so as to earn our way to God. Jesus gave Himself as the atoning sacrifice for human sin and through faith in Him alone we are saved. Salvation is had IN CHRIST – by coming to Him and believing in Him. Walking the way is not doing things to earn God’s favor, walking the way is following Christ – receiving and responding to God’s grace to us in Jesus.
The way to God is through Christ alone. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Is this exclusive? Yes. There is only one way of salvation and that is Christ. Is it exclusivist? No. For salvation through Christ is available to all who call upon the Lord.
Jesus is not one among many; He is the Only. He is unique. He is not a way or a truth or a lifestyle option, He is THE way, THE truth and THE Life. He is the Only.
If we are to follow Christ as disciples and to make disciples of others, we must be convinced of this. If we are not convinced of that fact, we cannot make disciples because we cannot be disciples. Discipleship comes from looking to Jesus and being convinced that He is who He says He is.
Now when we are convinced of who Jesus is, we will reflect His love and character because we are CONNECTED to Him. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Because Jesus has gone to the Father and we are in Jesus, all things are possible. We can pray to the One who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine and expect Him to act. Jesus said, “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.” Because we are in Christ, we are being made like Christ and we are empowered to continue the ministry Christ – the Kingdom of God. We will do even greater things – not that what we, as the Church, will do would ever exceed what Christ has done in content, but it may exceed in scope – in that through the Church, Jesus’ ministry (what He has accomplished) is taken to the whole world.
When we are convinced that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, we are connected to Him and therefore can reflect Him to the world. When we are convinced that Jesus is the Light of the world and connected to Him, we become the light of the world.
And as that happens,
ð Missions becomes a priority for us. It is not just something we write a check for, but something we are concerned about and invested in.
ð Fervency for mission grows in us. We will long to see God’s Kingdom advance and our friends and neighbors, our colleagues and co-workers – even those we don’t like very much - to know the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
ð And we become vulnerable enough to go out in mission.
Jesus is the Light of the world; He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Therefore, brothers and sisters – let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV). Let’s be part of Christ’s mission!
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