Way, truth, life – coming to the Father in Jesus

The goal is the Father Heart of God. That is our home. That is whe­re our hap­pi­ness lies. This father-heart and hap­pi­ness can only be found in Jesus Christ. If you don’t have him, the path is blo­cked. Christ shows the way, pro­vi­des ori­en­ta­ti­on and is life.

Our mot­to for the year is about reco­g­nis­ing God. The first key­word is «simp­le». It real­ly is simple:

«Jesus said to him: «I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have reco­g­nis­ed who I am, then you have also reco­g­nis­ed who my Father is» (John 14:6–7 NLB).

Nine words shi­ne like the sun into the dark­ness of today’s world, which is cha­rac­te­ri­sed by the oppo­si­te: ins­tead of path -> dis­ori­en­ta­ti­on, ins­tead of truth -> lies and uncer­tain­ty and ins­tead of life -> war and death. This sun, this light has a name: Jesus Christ.

The father

And this Jesus Christ also leads us to God, who is a Father in a very spe­cial qua­li­ty: «We have rea­li­sed how much God loves us and we belie­ve in his love. God is love, and tho­se who live in love live in God and God lives in them» (1 John 4:16 NLB).

Way, truth, life, love – the key to this is Jesus Christ!

So if we want to reco­g­ni­se God, we need Jesus. We must reco­g­ni­se, accept and wel­co­me Jesus if we want to pene­tra­te this loving Father’s heart, in which the iden­ti­ty of our life lies. Becau­se: We come from this Father, we are images of this Father, he is our true fami­ly. When we return to the Father, our heart finds rest and peace.

The­re we are at home. That is whe­re the Father falls on our necks, whe­re we are kissed, whe­re a feast is cele­bra­ted for us, whe­re we beco­me heirs and recei­ve the best robe. (see Luke 15, 20–23)

No one comes to this Father except through Jesus Christ. Or as Peter says in court: «In him alo­ne the­re is sal­va­ti­on! In all hea­ven the­re is no other name that men can call upon to be saved» (Acts 4:12 NLB).

Have you recei­ved Jesus Christ as your per­so­nal Lord and Saviour? Are you recon­ci­led with God through Jesus Christ? Have you accept­ed for­gi­ve­ness through the sub­sti­tu­tio­na­ry sacri­fice of Jesus Christ for your guilt, for your mista­kes? If not, you can­not reach the Father’s heart and remain in the dark­ness of this world.

Path – Truth – Life

How does this Jesus show hims­elf in our text? He is the way, the truth and the life:

The way

The Greek word used here first descri­bes a jour­ney. It refers to the jour­ney of life. How you want to orga­ni­se your life, whe­re you want to go. When Jesus says: I am the way… he is say­ing: I show you which paths you should take and how you can live.

So whoe­ver wants to accept Jesus lea­ves the lea­der­ship of life to Jesus, allows him to deter­mi­ne the path… Is that the case with you and me? Is your honest dai­ly pray­er: Show me your way?

The truth

Here too, the Greek word explains what it is all about: truth here means that we recei­ve things explai­ned and label­led as they are. But it also impli­es that what is shown is relia­ble and trust­wor­t­hy. We are shown things cor­rect­ly (as oppo­sed to fal­se­ly) and real (as oppo­sed to decep­ti­on – fake news). Jesus explains things to us as they are and in such a way that we can build our lives on the fact that we can trust him – not blind­ly, but with sight. Father and Son are always transparent.

We can reco­g­ni­se this truth, for exam­p­le, in the Word of God, in the Bible. The Bible shows this trans­pa­ren­cy – not­hing is swept under the car­pet. In the com­mandments of love, we reco­g­ni­se our sel­fi­sh­ness and our guilt. But we also find for­gi­ve­ness. Father and Son explain to us how the world was made, what makes it tick, whe­re it ends and how it will be rema­de. Abo­ve all, the Bible explains to us who we are. Whe­re we go if we remain sepa­ra­ted from God and whe­re our desti­ny actual­ly lies: living tog­e­ther with the Son and the Father.

«The­re are many flats in my Father’s house, and I am going ahead to prepa­re a place for you. If it were not so, would I have told you so? Then when ever­y­thing is rea­dy, I will come and get you so that you will always be with me whe­re I am» (John 14:2–3 NLB).

Life

In the New Tes­ta­ment, the­re are two Greek terms for «life». «bios» (from which, for exam­p­le, the word «bio­lo­gy» is deri­ved) and «zoe». Bios means mere exis­tence. A tree exists, an ani­mal exists, a human being exists. Plants, ani­mals and humans are imbued with the mys­tery of life. But that is not our actu­al voca­ti­on: we are cal­led to «zoe». A life that is per­me­a­ted by the spi­rit of God and does not just mean exis­tence – but a life with full­ness, peace, mea­ning and con­tent. A life from and with God.

«Then the LORD God for­med man from the earth and brea­thed into his nostrils the breath of life. And man came to life» (Gene­sis 2:7 NLB). Wit­hout God’s breath, we are just earth. Jesus Christ wants to give us more than just instinc­ti­ve exis­tence. He wants to give us life.

If you are recon­ci­led with God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ, Christ lives in you through his Spi­rit. Then you have the way, the truth and the life and are the­r­e­fo­re very clo­se to the Father’s heart.

Possible questions for the small group

Read the Bible text: John 14:6–7

1. Accor­ding to John 14:6, what is the real goal? Is that your goal too?
2. What does it mean to you to have God as your father? What cha­rac­te­ri­ses his fat­her­ly heart?
3. What signi­fi­can­ce does Jesus have in pene­t­ra­ting this Father heart? What does this mean for all people?
4. What is real life as oppo­sed to mere bio­lo­gi­cal existence?