This is the eighty-first lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
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What about the issue of whether Jesus is the only way to God? This is a point of agitated conflict between Christians and non-Christians. Some would say that it is pure arrogance to say that Jesus is the only way to God. Others would say it just sounds confusing, because it would seem only fair to say that there are many different ways to God.
It should be pointed out first of all that most religions are exclusive in their claims. What troubles me about these debates is that the premises are very often misunderstood. As a Christian I believe Jesus is the way to God. And when you say that, yes, you are saying something exclusive–but not excluding. There is a huge difference.
Christians do not say that Jesus is the way to God for the purpose of being exclusive, and certainly not excluding. Any time a Christian has an attitude that wants to exclude, he or she is violating the very spirit of the message of Christ.
It’s no wonder the rhetoric of Christian believers sometimes sounds strange. It sounds like someone saying: “I am in a privileged position. I take pride in drawing a boundary between you and me. My belief is dependent upon your exclusion. I am against you.”
When someone says to me, “do you really believe that Jesus is the only way to God?,” my response is something like this: I do believe that Jesus is the way to God. I believe that Jesus did something utterly unique in the human race and for the human race. He died a death that was not merely martyrdom, but atonement, the payment for the penalty of my sin. No one else has ever claimed to do that. The reason why the value of his death rises so far beyond martyrdom, is because of who he is. I believe Jesus is the Son of God, co-creator of the world with God the Father, and that he existed before he came into the world in the family of a carpenter 2,000 years ago. I believe that only human beings should have solved the problem of their guilt, but only God could. That explains why the Son of God became a real person. Only God could provide the forgiving grace, and only God can change me from the inside out. Therefore I believe that Jesus is, as he himself said, the way to God. And because what he did was so completely unique in all of human history, yes, he is the only way to God. I don’t believe this in order to exclude anybody, but because my heart and mind have been taken captive by the love and power of God shown so convincingly in Christ’s great work of rescue. And I’m thrilled that Jesus himself extended his mercy and truth to anybody and everybody in the world.
Let’s use a comparison here. Imagine you’re at work in the your office in a modern skyscraper. Suddenly the building is filled with smoke from a fire in some unseen part of the building. Though you thought you knew this building well, in the dense smoke you are disoriented, and you wander about for an exit, bumping into furniture and walls. Suddenly a figure emerges from the smoke wearing heavy dark clothing with fluorescent yellow stripes. By the boots and helmet and that tank on his back you recognize that it is a fireman. With an ax in one hand and a flashlight beaming from his helmet he holds out his hand to you and shouts, “Let me get you out of here!” Now at that moment the most important reality of your life is that your rescuer has come. Because of who he is and what he is able to do he knows far better than you how to get out of that building. You do not stand there and debate whether there are other ways out. You just follow him. You follow as closely as you can, not letting those florescent yellow stripes out of your sight for a moment. And he does get you out.
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is, as he called himself, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (which is another way of saying that he made it possible for us to be truly and fully forgiven). He is not a lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he is not one of the lambs of God who takes away the sins of the world, he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Bible says that God designed this rescue plan long before we were even born or had our first major failure in life. And it is up to us whether we look at God and say, “Thank you, I believe,” or say “I dare not believe that absolutely because it may appear that I am saying that somebody else is wrong.”
This is not a philosophical debate over who can say they’re right and who can say they’re wrong. It is about rescue. The world is burning. We are all living in this world. There are some days that are bright and clear, and other days when we feel like we’re groping our way through smoke-filled hallways.
What did Jesus mean when he said “I am the way”? Isn’t it simply this? “Follow me and you will be safe. Follow me and you will be healthy. Follow me and you will find God and you will find yourself, the true self God designed you to be.”
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Mel Lawrenz (@MelLawrenz) trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s minister at large. He has a PhD in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel is the author of 18 books, including How to Understand the Bible—A Simple Guide and Spiritual Influence: the Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.
The post How to Live the Bible — Getting Rescued appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
