I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: John 14:6

John 14–16 [show]John 14–16 “Let not your hearts be trou­bled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2]In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to pre­pare a place for you? [3]And if I go and pre­pare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4]And you know the way to where I am going.” [5]Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6]Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7]If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.“ [8]Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” [9]Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? [10]Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own author­ity, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. [11]Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works them­selves. [12]“Truly, truly, I say to you, who­ever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. [13]Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glo­ri­fied in the Son. [14]If you ask me any­thing in my name, I will do it. [15]“If you love me, you will keep my com­mand­ments. [16]And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for­ever, [17]even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can­not receive, because it nei­ther sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. [18]“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19]Yet a lit­tle while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20]In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21]Whoever has my com­mand­ments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and man­i­fest myself to him.” [22]Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will man­i­fest your­self to us, and not to the world?” [23]Jesus answered him, “If any­one loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. [24]Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. [25]“These things I have spo­ken to you while I am still with you. [26]But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remem­brance all that I have said to you. [27]Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be trou­bled, nei­ther let them be afraid. [28]You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. [29]And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. [30]I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is com­ing. He has no claim on me, [31]but I do as the Father has com­manded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine­dresser. [2]Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. [3]Already you are clean because of the word that I have spo­ken to you. [4]Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can­not bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, nei­ther can you, unless you abide in me. [5]I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do noth­ing. [6]If any­one does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and with­ers; and the branches are gath­ered, thrown into the fire, and burned. [7]If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask what­ever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8]By this my Father is glo­ri­fied, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my dis­ci­ples. [9]As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. [10]If you keep my com­mand­ments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s com­mand­ments and abide in his love. [11]These things I have spo­ken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. [12]“This is my com­mand­ment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13]Greater love has no one than this, that some­one lay down his life for his friends. [14]You are my friends if you do what I com­mand you. [15]No longer do I call you ser­vants, for the ser­vant does not know what his mas­ter is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16]You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that what­ever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17]These things I com­mand you, so that you will love one another. [18]“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19]If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, there­fore the world hates you. [20]Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A ser­vant is not greater than his mas­ter.’ If they per­se­cuted me, they will also per­se­cute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21]But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. [22]If I had not come and spo­ken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. [23]Whoever hates me hates my Father also. [24]If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. [25]But the word that is writ­ten in their Law must be ful­filled: ‘They hated me with­out a cause.‘ [26]“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who pro­ceeds from the Father, he will bear wit­ness about me. [27]And you also will bear wit­ness, because you have been with me from the begin­ning. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. [2]They will put you out of the syn­a­gogues. Indeed, the hour is com­ing when who­ever kills you will think he is offer­ing ser­vice to God. [3]And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. [4]But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remem­ber that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the begin­ning, because I was with you. [5]But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ [6]But because I have said these things to you, sor­row has filled your heart. [7]Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advan­tage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. [8]And when he comes, he will con­vict the world con­cern­ing sin and right­eous­ness and judg­ment: [9]concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10]concerning right­eous­ness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; [11]concerning judg­ment, because the ruler of this world is judged. [12]“I still have many things to say to you, but you can­not bear them now. [13]When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own author­ity, but what­ever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. [14]He will glo­rify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [15]All that the Father has is mine; there­fore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [16]“A lit­tle while, and you will see me no longer; and again a lit­tle while, and you will see me.” [17]So some of his dis­ci­ples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A lit­tle while, and you will not see me, and again a lit­tle while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” [18]So they were say­ing, “What does he mean by ‘a lit­tle while’? We do not know what he is talk­ing about.” [19]Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are ask­ing your­selves, what I meant by say­ing, ‘A lit­tle while and you will not see me, and again a lit­tle while and you will see me’? [20]Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sor­row­ful, but your sor­row will turn into joy. [21]When a woman is giv­ing birth, she has sor­row because her hour has come, but when she has deliv­ered the baby, she no longer remem­bers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. [22]So also you have sor­row now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. [23]In that day you will ask noth­ing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, what­ever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. [24]Until now you have asked noth­ing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. [25]“I have said these things to you in fig­ures of speech. The hour is com­ing when I will no longer speak to you in fig­ures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. [26]In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; [27]for the Father him­self loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. [28]I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leav­ing the world and going to the Father.“ [29]His dis­ci­ples said, “Ah, now you are speak­ing plainly and not using fig­u­ra­tive speech! [30]Now we know that you know all things and do not need any­one to ques­tion you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” [31]Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? [32]Behold, the hour is com­ing, indeed it has come, when you will be scat­tered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. [33]I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribu­la­tion. But take heart; I have over­come the world.” (ESV)
is a major dia­log between Jesus and His dis­ci­ples. There are so many truths con­tained within the pas­sage it would be dif­fi­cult to have a sin­gle blog about them although Jesus seems to have summed them all up in His sim­ple state­ment, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” However, it’s Monday and we are here to dis­cuss and respond to Sunday’s ser­mon, which for­tu­nately, was on John 14:6 [show]John 14:6 [6]Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)
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 I was feel­ing rather ill dur­ing the ser­vice so I most likely missed some­thing but to me, Pastor Bart preached a fairly tight ser­mon. Its focus was to answer the ques­tion, “What makes you happy?” He said we are often led astray in our pur­suit of happiness.

We can have a suc­cess­ful pur­suit of hap­pi­ness by

1. Following in the foot­steps of Jesus — He is the Way
2. Following Jesus in obe­di­ence — He is the Truth
3. Allowing Jesus to trans­form our lives — He is the Life 

When we fol­low in the foot­steps of Jesus, we see in John 14 [show]John 14 “Let not your hearts be trou­bled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2]In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to pre­pare a place for you? [3]And if I go and pre­pare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4]And you know the way to where I am going.” [5]Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6]Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7]If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.“ [8]Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” [9]Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? [10]Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own author­ity, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. [11]Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works them­selves. [12]“Truly, truly, I say to you, who­ever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. [13]Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glo­ri­fied in the Son. [14]If you ask me any­thing in my name, I will do it. [15]“If you love me, you will keep my com­mand­ments. [16]And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for­ever, [17]even the Spirit of truth, whom the world can­not receive, because it nei­ther sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. [18]“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19]Yet a lit­tle while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20]In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21]Whoever has my com­mand­ments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and man­i­fest myself to him.” [22]Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will man­i­fest your­self to us, and not to the world?” [23]Jesus answered him, “If any­one loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. [24]Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. [25]“These things I have spo­ken to you while I am still with you. [26]But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remem­brance all that I have said to you. [27]Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be trou­bled, nei­ther let them be afraid. [28]You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. [29]And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. [30]I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is com­ing. He has no claim on me, [31]but I do as the Father has com­manded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. (ESV)
that not only can we do the same things that Jesus did, but we can do even greater things. This is a rather pow­er­ful state­ment. After all, Jesus gave sight to the blind, cured lep­rosy, walked on water, and raised sev­eral peo­ple from the dead (as we saw last week in the story of Lazarus). 

I feel that most of us have very lit­tle belief in what Jesus said. Hmm, read that again. Yeah, thats what I thought I said. We who believe in Jesus often do not really believe what He said. If we don’t believe what He said, no won­der we don’t then live a life that fol­lows His foot­steps. Lord, I do believe, help me in my unbelief.

When we fol­low Jesus in obe­di­ence, we will find our­selves often at odds with the world. It wants us to smell, look, feel, be one thing. Christ calls us to be some­thing else, peo­ple set apart from the world.

The world’s idea of a proper pur­suit of hap­pi­ness is one that is futile. It never results in hap­pi­ness. Having the right tooth­paste, weight, cloth­ing, car, house, food and drink will lead pos­si­bly to a brief time of hap­pi­ness but ulti­mately, it is named cor­rectly, a pur­suit. If we fol­low what the world would have us do, we can only purse hap­pi­ness but never gain it. We are like Wile E Coyote chas­ing the Roadrunner. We never get it.

When we fol­low Christ in obe­di­ence, we have already obtained hap­pi­ness. The pur­suit is over! Ok, sure, there is still going to be nas­ti­ness that comes along. But in Christ, we are con­tent no mat­ter what comes our way.

It all comes down to life in Christ for He is Life. If we allow God to trans­form our lives from what the world defines to what Jesus defines, we will find hap­pi­ness. Not only will we find hap­pi­ness, we will bring through Christ hap­pi­ness to others.

So our chal­lenge this week is to dis­cover where we are purs­ing hap­pi­ness that is accord­ing to the stan­dards of the world but not of God. If we can find those areas and elim­i­nate them — stop purs­ing them, we will in turn find that which we are purs­ing, happiness.