So one of Jesus most controversial statements is also one of his most quoted statements, in fact, if you're not a Christian or not from our religious tradition or maybe a different religious tradition, you've heard this before, even though maybe not a... I guess you knew that Jesus said it, but even if you don't agree with it. It's so well known. Most people have heard this before. And we touched on this last time. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And that's a lot, but by itself, it's a little bit vague... Right? I'm the way to what? I'm the way to where? And how can a person I he says, I how can a person be the truth and how can a person be the life. And if he'd stopped there, it would be a little bit odd, but it certainly wouldn't be controversial, but he didn't stop there, he went on to claim, as you know, who he was on or who he was the way to. Now, unfortunately, and this may disturb you a little bit, if you grew up in church like me, and that's okay, it's okay to be disturbed, unfortunately, what follows after this, and many of us can quote this, what follows after this is usually interpreted as very exclusive, in fact maybe one of the reasons you're not a Christian is what Jesus says next.
It's like it's just too exclusive, it's too small, it's too limiting, and that's understandable, and unfortunately, the way this passage has been interpreted, often times it makes it sound that way and attempt to exclude people. But if you read the Gospels, or if you follow Jesus through the Book of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, you cannot walk away from the Gospel for the impression that Jesus was trying to be exclusive or limiting. In fact, it was the very opposite. That was not Jesus intent. He was not drawing a smaller circle, I mean that's what the first century religious leaders did, they drew a small circle. Our 4. And no more, actually, it was our 12, the 12 tribes of Israel, and no more. And not even all the 12 tribes of Israel, only the law abiding. And in some cases, only the law-abiding men, the women were kind of on the edge, there were some doubt as to whether or not women would even be a part of God's future kingdom.
It was very strange, and Jesus wasn't coming to draw a smaller circle, he came to expand the circle the other, the verse we've all heard For God so loved the world. Yeah, the whole thing, right? So he wasn't being exclusive, what he says next is actually inclusive, which is great news for everybody that God's covenant with Israel, that we talk about from kind of time, it was exclusive on purpose, for a purpose, and it was perfect for the reason it was given, but Jesus new covenant was the way for the rest of us. For the world. And so he continues, "I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me." Or put another way, you could say this in a positive way. And this was his point, read the Gospels, "Everybody has access to the Father through me." His point and what these guys heard, because this is important, they were gathered for their Passover meal, so they're celebrating this extraordinary event that happened in the history of the Jewish people.
So when he said this, this is... And for us. It's like, "Yeah, we're Christians, we get it." This was a major paradigm shift. This was so disruptive. Essentially, Jesus was saying, the old way is no longer the way, the old way was you had to be born a son or perhaps a daughter of Abraham to be part of God's righteous tribe and God's righteous acceptable group. And Jesus is saying, no, that was the old way. And it's over, I'm introducing something brand new, and in this new way, you're not born into it, you can't birth your way, you can't obey your way, you can't sacrifice your way in, you can't serve your way in, you can't even pray your way to the Father. But there is a way to the Father, He said. They're looking at him. This was so difficult for them. He said, "I am the way." Everyone can come to the Father. Everyone can come to the Father by means of me. I am the way in.
In fact, if you have any doubts about this, if you're thinking "Oh, Andy I think you're kind of messing with this popular text." Just remember this, and if you grew up in church like me, you know this, and if you didn't grow up in church, gosh, I wish you knew this. At the end of Jesus ministry, after he rose from the dead and He gathers with His guys and the men and women in the group, you remember this is such a famous saying, what he said to them, he said, "I want you... " This was, his message was so inclusive, he said, "I want you to take what I've taught you and what you have seen to the entire world." And our English text says To all nations, which some of them were thinking, "Oh, you mean all neighborhoods like from Judea to Galilee, and maybe we'll skirt around the Samaritans, 'cause we know they're kind of off?" And Jesus is like, "No, this isn't a Jewish message. This is a message for the entire world, I'm drawing a circle larger than you ever thought imaginable, because I have come to reveal the will of the Father for every single person in every single nation, for every single generation." That this was a message for sinners like me, the sinners like your husband or your wife.
Just kidding, for sinners like all of us. For your middle schoolers and your high school students, this was a message for all people, so when the shepherds were out in the fields watching over their flock by night, and the angel of the Lord shown round about them. And they were so afraid. You know the story, the Christmas story, the angels are correct. When they said, "We have good news of great joy for all people. Today in the City of David, a savior has been born to you. The doors have been thrown wide open and everybody is invited." So on Christmas, we celebrate the arrival of that way, the way, the truth and the life, we celebrate the way in a Manger.
If you weren't with us last time, we're in part two of this series entitled The Way In A Manger, where we're talking about this extraordinary thing that Jesus said. In this extraordinary thing that Jesus demonstrated throughout his ministry. Now, understandably, when Jesus made this statement, I am the way, the truth and life, no one comes to Father except through me. The guys in the room, because this is the very night He's arrested, so there's a lot going on, there's a lot of emotion, Judas slip out, so they don't know where he's going.
A lot is about to happen. They didn't understand this the way he meant it, I mean they. In fact, if you read the passage, they ask so many questions, they're so confused, and it did not become clear to them honestly until after the resurrection. In fact, the night that he said this, they're thinking by the end of that night, they're thinking, "Yeah, you're the way, alright, you're the way to a short-lived life, you're the way to an early execution, you're a way to get arrested, I mean, everything about your way is bad." Because that's why they ran off when he was arrested, but after the resurrection, this becomes clear to them, in fact, it was so clear, some of you know this, the early Christian movement was called the way. This was so central. They named their movement after this idea that Jesus is the way, so they just called their movement. We just called it. They didn't call it the church, they called it the way, Jesus was in fact, they discovered who he claimed to be, the way to the Father, but more than that, as we talked about last time, Jesus actions and his reactions to everyone he met reflected not just the way to the Father, but the ways of the father.
And this is why he says, "I'm the truth and I'm the life, I'm the truth of how the world works and what's best for you, and I am the life you must live, and I'm a reflection of the life that has been given to you. And I'm a reflection of the life you have been called to live if you're gonna be my follower." So his invitation. This is so powerful. We talk about it all the time. His invitation didn't begin or end with believe something or believe in me, his invitation began then, and it begins with each of us with this invitation, I want you to follow me, I want you to follow me. He was more than simply a way to life, He was the way of life, and He taught and He modeled and illustrated this different way of life, a different way of living, And your heavenly Father sent his son into the world, not simply to be the way to the Father, but to show us and demonstrates the ways of the father, the way that leads to a full life, a fulfilling life, on one occasion, Jesus called it an abundant life. But this is challenging for us, because this way of Jesus, it requires something of us, but it's like a good parent requiring something of their children.
Sometimes we require things of our children, they may resist but we know, Son, if you'll just trust me, if you'll just do this, if you'll just practice this. If you'll just do what I'm saying in a few years, you're gonna look back and you're gonna be so glad that you did, and so the Father sent the Son with that same sense of urgency, because simply believing, believes simply believing doesn't require a way of life, if we're just gonna be believers, all that requires is a box, of beliefs and a box of beliefs hasn't ever changed anything, in fact, you know, in fact, if you're not a Christian, you get this because you're not a Christian and you know some Christians, and they're like the worst people you've ever met. And they lead with their beliefs, they are so quick to tell you what they believe, here's what we believe, here's what Christians believe, here's what the people in our church believe, and you say to yourself, or maybe you say to them, and we deserve it. It's like, "Yeah, that's what you say you believe. I don't see it." I mean, I don't know you. You may say, I've never read the whole Bible, but I know enough about Jesus. To know you ain't him. Okay, there's not very much I see in you that reminds me of anything I've read about Jesus.
That's what happens when our faith is just a box of beliefs and we lead with our beliefs rather than leading with the way that Jesus has called us to live and modelled us to live the way of life that He came to demonstrate for us. Jesus did not leave us with the option of living with a box and a list of beliefs. Later, in fact, and this is really convicting. Okay, so I'm with you, I'm sitting with you in the audience on this one. Alright? Later in that same conversation where Jesus, says "I'm the way, the truth and the life. Nobody gets to the father except through me." In that same conversation, he smiles and he says that these guys who've been with him for three or three and a half years, he says, and the guys, if you love me, [chuckle] to which. When we read this, we think, "What do you mean if we love you? Of course, we love you. I mean, you died on the cross for our sins, you paved the way to God. We can live with a clear conscience; we can live with hope that we're gonna see loved ones again. I mean, what do you mean? If we love you, we have peace with God, there's no if about it. I mean, Jesus, it's Christmas, this is why we celebrate your birth because we love you." For which I would imagine, I don't know that Jesus is very grateful that we celebrate his birthday. But you'll notice he didn't finish it this way, If you love me, you will celebrate my birthday.
Right? Do you know what He said? This isn't as famous a verse, but it's in the same conversation, if you love me, this is the good father speaking through his son, you keep my commandments. In other words, if you trust me, if you really believe I'm who I say I am, then you will keep my commands because you'll know as the later. Another author says, Because my commands are not burdensome. Because my way, as Jesus would say, I'm the good shepherd and I'm leading you in a good way, and yes, there's some bumps, and yes, it's gonna be difficult, and yes, there are challenges, but trust me, if you love me, you will keep my commands. Believers, Christians who just wanna be Believers, it's like, "Woo woo woo I thought we were done with commands, I thought this was just about loving Jesus. Can't we just celebrate your birthday and be done with it. Can we make it that simple, again." Jesus doesn't leave us that option. In fact again, I'm putting words in the mouth of Jesus, so don't take this too seriously, but I think Jesus would respond to that, "Hey, if you gotta choose one or the other, I would prefer you embrace the way I live over celebrating the day I was born.
Celebrating the day I was born doesn't mean you love me, it just means you're grateful for what I've done for you, but if you love me, I want you to follow me. The Way In A Manger came to show us the way we were created to live, that's why he came as one of us to live among us.
And then as we're gonna see in the next 10 minutes, he looks at us who have said, "We love you."And he says, "If you love me, you'll keep my commands." "Okay, what are your commands?" "Well, let me give you the big one because this is kind of the overarching one. I want you to respond and treat people the way that God, that I have treated you through my son and you've seen how He has treated you. And specifically, I want you to begin by reconciling with each other, because I have reconciled with you." He's commanded us to reconcile with each other because God through Christ has allowed us and given us the opportunity to reconcile with Him.
And our tendency, I get this, this is how I was raised. Our tendency is to go, "Wow, thank you for allowing me to have a relationship with you. We're good to go." And Jesus is like, "No. We're not done there. Now, I want you to turn around and do for your brother and your sister and your enemy what I have done for you." And Jesus says, "If you love me, you will. And if you love me, you'll trust me." And trust me, he would say, "This is how you were designed and created to live." You were created to live a life of reconciling relationship, you were not created to live with anger, you were not created to live with bitterness you were not created to live with resentment, you were not created to live with unresolved conflict with people, and though you can't control how they respond to you, you are created to open the door to a relationship to them, just like my father opened the door of relationship to you.
That reconciliation was the purpose of The Way In The Manger to begin with, to reconcile with God to his rebel race. And those of us who have experienced that reconciliation, that fix, that peace with God that we long for and desire. We have been called to extend that same reconciliation to the people around us were to do for others, what God through Christ did for us. As God, and this is hard okay, as God took the initiative, for God so loved the world, he's like, I'm sending my son in, as God took the initiative to reconcile with us, we as Jesus followers are to take the initiative to reconcile with our brothers and our sisters and our friends and the broken relationships, and even the people that have no desire to reconcile with us, just as God. And this is so important, Just as God removed obstacles, we are as well, the reconciler. Here's kind of the bottom line, if you have to leave early, the reconciled should be reconcilers. This is the way of Jesus, and if we love him, this will become our way as well. Now, to just show you what a big deal this is, perhaps in my opinion, as I read the gospels, perhaps in fact, I think this is that Jesus most. I would say inconvenient application of anything he taught has to do with reconciling with other people, I mean, the thing that I think when Jesus said what I'm about to read. When Jesus said this, I think everybody in the audience was like, "Oh, we're not doing that."
I mean, this was so extreme, but because it's so cultural, we read it, we read right through it. But I'm at the end of the message today, I'm gonna try to bring this back around and kinda wrap a little more modern application, but here's what he said, he said, If you go to Jerusalem. And if they didn't live in Jerusalem, and you decide to go to the alter to make a sacrifice, if you're offering your gift at the altar, and again, if you lived in Jerusalem, this took maybe a quarter of the day, depending on how long the line was, if you lived outside Jerusalem, this could take days to travel to Jerusalem, spend the night on your way, especially if you lived in Galilee and you got an offering, either purchase it there in Jerusalem or the temple, or you bring it with you and you're going to make a peace offering with God, you're going to sacrifice for some sin, you committed again, you're there to clear your conscience, so you and God are on good terms.
He says, if you get there and you are in line and there's three people ahead of you, and you're doing that thing where it's like three, two, oh, she is so slow, like the grocery line, like, oh my goodness, I got in the wrong line. Can I come up there and get... Because there were multiple lines to make sacrifices at the altar at the temple, he says, if you're offering your gift and you remember that your brother or sister, and this could be literal or figurative, a son or daughter of Abraham, you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, they're angry with you either because of something you did or maybe something they did, and the relationship is strained. It's broken. You hope you don't see each other in the marketplace. Leave your gift there in front of the altar. But I, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is why they were like, we're not doing that. It took me days to get here. I've been in line for hours. He says, I know. I want you to take your little cage of pigeons that you were going to sacrifice. I want you to set 'em in the shade. I want you to tie your lamb up. I want you to look to the people behind you and say, Hey, can you take care of this? I have something to do.
He says, first, before you clear your conscience with God or before you make this sacrifice to be right with God, first, of first importance, first in sequence, before you do business with God. This is what just, I mean, this was completely backwards from everything they've been taught, backwards from everything I was taught. He says, first you go be reconciled, there's our word, to the brother or sister, the employer, the ex that you've left things hanging loose with. And you know there's more to be done. You know there's another conversation to be had. You know there's restitution to be made. You know there's apology, that's an apology that's hanging out there. You first go be reconciled with them, then you come offer your gift. And I'm telling you when he said this, the audience is like, that's crazy. Wait, wait, wait. You want me to prioritize my relationship with my brother-in-law over making peace with God?
To which when you read the teaching of Jesus, Jesus would say, well, see, you can't have peace with God until you make peace with your brother-in-law. Because you are to be a reconciler. Because you have been reconciled the way of Jesus, the way of Jesus is the way of reconciliation. With God, yes, but with the people around us as well. And when possible, your enemy, your enemy, I mean the same sermon that he told this story, he is like, yeah, and love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. You know what prayer for, you know why we pray for those who persecute us, praying for those who persecutes us, you know what it does? It brings the temperature down in our heart so we can begin to see little baby steps we could take toward reconciliation. The reconcile. This is the message of Jesus. This is the way of Jesus. This is what we're called to. For those of you who aren't Christians, you might be one if we've gotten this right. The reconciled should be the reconcilers.
So let me just ask this question. Is this really that big a deal? Yes. Here's how big a deal it is. What is the number one complaint right now about our nation? We're so... Yeah, some of you said it. We're so divided. And what is the antidote for division? It's not agreement. You don't have to agree with someone to reconcile a relationship with someone. The antidote, the solution isn't agreement, it's reconciliation.
Just a thought. If the Christians in our country, 'cause there's so many of us, there's so many people who claim to be Christians. If the Christians in our country adopted this posture, and this isn't extra credit, this is central to what it means to follow Jesus. If the Christians in our nation adopted this posture, we could fix that. If we decided collectively, we're not going to listen to and we're not going to celebrate the dividers, things would change. See, this isn't complicated, but it's really difficult. It's not complicated. And it's really hard. And some of you are listening today and you're, I know what you're thinking and I get it. I would be thinking the same thing. You're like, Andy, you need to hear my story first. I understand that. And I would never stand up here and make these blanket statements if Jesus hadn't.
But it's just, it's not complicated, it's just hard because I'm a divider by nature. And most of you are dividers by nature because you're sinners. And sin always divides, the very first sin divided the human race from God, the very first sin divided the first man from the first woman. Sin always divides. Selfishness divides. Selfishness says, I want what's coming to me. And I want a little bit of what's coming to you too. 'Cause I think it's actually coming to me. And if I don't get what's coming to me, then I can't have anything to do with you and we're divided. Fear divides. Pride divides. But if the spirit of God lives in you, if the spirit of God lives in me, sin is not the boss of me, my savior is. So, initiate.
Be the first to apologize whether they deserve it or not. You didn't deserve it. But be quick to forgive. Don't sit on it. Don't have those imaginary conversations where you come out looking good and they look awful. In my imaginary conversations, there's always a crowd and I have a great one liner and drop the mic and walk off and everybody's like, "Ooh, Andy's amazing. The other guy's a loser." That's just me. I know you never do that. You never have imaginary conversations. And what do those imaginary conversations do? They do nothing but rob you of energy. And your savior who love you says, I don't want you to live this way. You are not created to live that way. You will rot from the inside out. How many examples do you need to see that? So make that call you've been putting off. Write that note you've been putting off. Refuse. Come on. Refuse to return evil for evil. Do what Jesus did and return good for evil.
Again, I'm going to put words in Jesus's mouth for just a second. Maybe if he were here preaching this sermon, he would end it like this. He might say, so if you're on your way to the Christmas Eve celebration at church, and suddenly you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, and it may be your fault and it may be their fault and it's probably everybody's fault, perhaps he would say to us first, first, before you come celebrate what I've done for you and before singing to me about how much you love me, how about you prove it by keeping my commandment? Go be, first go and be reconciled to them. Then go celebrate my birthday. So inconvenient, no guaranteed outcome. In some cases, it's risky 'cause you're putting yourself out there. Maybe you've tried before, but the cross was inconvenient. And when Jesus died for your sin, there was no guarantee you would respond. But he left heaven and he came to dwell on earth as one of us anyway.
The way of Jesus is the way of reconciliation. The reconciled, we're called and we're commanded to be the reconcilers. And if we love him, we will. If we love him, we'll try. If we love him, we'll begin removing even the smallest obstacles between us and that other person, because our heavenly Father removed all the obstacles between himself and us. And that's why we celebrate the birth of our savior and our king. And we will pick it up right there next time as we conclude our series The Way in a Manger.
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