URBAN LEGENDS:
Many Paths
Good morning. Well here we are again and we’re going to spend some time today back in the series that we’ve been going through. We’ve been talking about Urban Legends and more specifically we’ve been talking about Spiritual Legends.
But before we get too far along. I was told last week that I needed to tell a story of something that occurred in my life. I asked last week if any of you had ever heard of the legend of Bloody Mary. Well, it goes something like this. If you wait until it’s dark and you stand in front of mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times and turn around that her spirit will appear in the mirror.
When I was very young about second or third grade, I had this friend named Timmy Rayford. We used to spend the night at each other’s houses, as kids tend to do. Well, one night Timmy and I decided we wanted to see a ghost and we’d been hearing the legend of Bloody Mary at school. So it was late and we were at his parents’ house. We snuck into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. “Bloody Mary,” we said timidly. Then we got a little braver. “Bloody Mary.” Our excitement and fear must have gotten the best of us because we were probably a little loud as we repeated it the third time. “Bloody Mary.” We closed our eyes, like you’re supposed to do and turned around. When we got all the way around we opened our eyes.
There standing in the mirror was something that sent fear down both our spines. It was Timmy’s mother. She looked at us and said, “What do you boys think you’re doing?”
We both screamed and went running for his room. Never again did we try that.
Well, today I’d like to share another Spiritual Legend with you. And maybe you have heard this legend before. It goes something like this.
I don’t need a relationship with Jesus to get to God.
And sometimes it says something like, I don’t need a relationship with God or Jesus to get to heaven.
Honestly, it’s a very common thought process. And so over the last few years I’ve had this great opportunity to get to know quite a few different people.
In particular we’ve been talking about my friend Mark. And Mark believes that there isn’t a God. He and I spoke recently and he doesn’t believe that there is a heaven or a hell either. So at the end of his life he just expects there to be a blackness and the inside of a coffin which he won’t be getting out of.
I’ve got another friend named Keith. And Keith, like Mark, grew up in a Christian home. But somewhere along the way some difficult times hit Keith and he no longer believes in God or Jesus. He looks at Christianity like it’s just a crutch. Instead, he believes in Karma. So he thinks that the good things that happen to him happen because somewhere along the way he’s done something good and the bad things that happen to him happen because he has done something bad. At this point he’s hoping that at the end of his life the good things will outweigh the bad things and that will get him into heaven.
I have this other friend named Shiva and Shiva is a practicing Muslim. Now he’s not one of those vigilanty types. He doesn’t think that he needs to go out and start some kind of Jyhad or something. Instead, he believes that the things he does will get him closer to Allah. And so Shiva prays five times a day facing Mecca and he follows many of the other teachings of the Koran.
I have another person I’ve got the pleasure of associating with in recent years and he’s head of a Hindu sect here in the area. Now the Hindu beliefs are kind of odd. They think along the lines of you start out as part of this greater being called the Atman Brahman. (Please don’t send me emails if I don’t quite get all of this. I’m trying to simplify it all.) And you can be recreated over and over and over again as your existences continue. The ultimate goal is that you will come back eventually to the point where you can go and join this great being or existence.
The sad part about the beliefs of this individual is that despite being a head in the sect he is currently with he doesn’t believe that is going to happen for him this time. When I asked him why, he told me that he hadn’t yet attained that level of his religion yet.
So here’s the real legend that we’re going to be looking at today. It says this: I don’t need a relationship with Jesus to get to God.
Sometimes it might sound like this: I don’t need God or Jesus to get to heaven.
Maybe you know quite a few people that think like this. There’s no need for me to have a relationship with God because I’m going to get to heaven just based on my own actions.
The truth is that there is only one way to get to God and only one way to get to Heaven and that is through Jesus Christ. That’s it. There is no other way to get there.
Now there are a lot people out there that take offense to this kind of thinking.
In fact I came across one just this week. I was watching a video on my computer entitled “A Case For Faith.” It’s by this guy named Lee Strobel. And Lee at one point in his life was an atheist and some things changed. He set out to prove that Jesus was a fake and failing that set out to prove that the resurrection never happened. (Now we talked about some of these legends during the last few weeks. So we’ve already debunked them.) The same thing occurs in Lee’s life. He finds out that God and Jesus are real and he comes to have this personal relationship with God.
So in this video is this guy named Charles Templeton. Charles Templeton was boarding a plane headed for Europe back in the late 1940s. At his side was a young evangelist named Billy Graham. And these two young men were both working for an organization called Youth For Christ at the time. It was said at the time that Charles was going to be one of the greatest evangelists of that time period. (We all know many of the things Billy Graham accomplished during his lifetime.)
But upon returning to the United States and Canada a strange thing began to happen. Charles Templeton began to lose a grip on the very Christ he was leading people to. It eventually came to the point where he gave up the ministry and went into the business world. He even gave up the God that he believed so strongly in at one point during his life.
One of his final interviews was with Lee Strobel. And he began telling Lee about all the reasons that he had given up Christianity. He talked of how he didn’t have the theological background at the time to really help him remain strong in the faith. At one point during the interview he even became agitated. He pointed a finger at Lee and asked, “Why is it that Christians have the odacity to believe that they have the only way to heaven?”
Keep in mind here that this is a serious question. He has a very good point. There are about 1500 religions in the world right now and about 350,000 known deities. So why is it that Christians believe that they have the only way to heaven and a relationship with God?
Well, we’ve already talked about the resurrection here a couple of weeks ago. Christians are the only religion that makes the claim that the leader of their religion, Jesus Christ, rose from the grave. There is no other religion out there that makes that claim. Not a single one. In fact, if you were to go looking for the leaders of some of the other religions that exist you will still find them in their graves. They haven’t ascended or anything like that. The bodies are still there.
Secondly, and this is the major point that I want to make today, only Christ ever claimed to be the Son of God and the Son of Man. Now here’s the thing. One of the reasons that Muslims believe that Jesus was only a prophet is that they can’t possibly believe that God would become a man and dwell among people. I mean he couldn’t have possibly have been born as a baby. He wouldn’t have brought himself to stoop that low.
In fact, Christ makes a few claims throughout the gospels that he is the Son of God. He even claims to be the only way to have a relationship with God.
No place is it more prevalent than in John 14:1 – 6.
Here’s what it says:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God, trust in me also. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you with me to be where I am. You know the way to 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, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Now there’s a lot going on in this part of John. And we’ve already talked about how when the Bible was translated it was broken down into chapters and verses so it makes it easier for us to understand and get from one place to another in the Bible.
So here’s what we see in a couple off previous chapters. Jesus has very recently predicted his death again. Then he does something that no Rabbi would have done during that time period. He gets down on his hands and knees and he begins to wash his disciples’ feet. Next he predicts that one of his own followers is going to betray him. Finally he predicts that Peter, who has been with him this whole time, is going to deny him three times before dawn the next day.
So it’s a little understandable that these disciples are upset. This is a lot of change in a very short time period. This is huge in their eyes.
And then Jesus begins to comfort them. He doesn’t say anything like, “I was just kidding about all this stuff.”
No, he says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Don’t worry about this. “You trust in God. Trust me too.”
Then he does something amazing. He does something that was a tradition during this time period. He offers a kind of wedding proposal.
During this time period it was a tradition for the groom to leave his home and travel to the bride’s families city. This is during the time of betrothal and he would propose either to the woman or to her family. So he would show up and he would say something very similar to what Jesus tells his disciples.
“In the city my father is from there are many houses. I’m going back there. I’m going to set up a house for us. But don’t worry. Because if I do this, I will come back for you. And when I come back I’m going to take you home with me.”
Jesus is proposing to his bride. He’s promising the very same thing to his disciples. He even goes so far that he tells them they already know the way there.
But here comes Thomas. And so many people are just like Thomas. “Hey… Not to doubt you or anything… But we don’t have any idea where you’re going. So how can we possibly know how to get there?”
And Jesus has this great reply, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Here’s what he’s saying. “Guys, there is only one way to get to God. You have to know me. It’s the only way to life in heaven. I’m it.”
Now some of you here are going, “Tim, I hear what you’re saying but I don’t know how to get to what Jesus is talking about. How do I get to that point?”
It’s not easy but it is at the same time. So for the last little bit I want to tell you how to get there. Because I want to see you there.
(The remainder of this message follows the Christian Denomination standards.)
First you have to hear the Good News. In church world we often refer to this as the Gospel. You have to have heard the good news that Jesus Christ came to the earth as a man. He died on a cross for your sins, for all the things that you have done wrong in your lifetime. And not just for you but for every other person who has and will ever live on the face of the earth. Then three days after his death he rose again from the grave.
In fact, the Apostle Paul had this to say, “For what I received I passed on to you as of the first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” -- 1 Corinthians 15:3 – 4
Here’s the thing. If you’ve never heard this message about Jesus, you will never have heard the good news. So you’re hearing it today.
Secondly, you must have faith. Faith is the acceptance of what Christ has done for you. Let me repeat that one, faith is the acceptance of what Christ has done for you. I love the way the Message Bible puts this, “By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us – set us right with Him, make us fit for Him – we have it all together because of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -- Romans 5:1.
So you have to put your faith in Christ Jesus in order for you to be saved from your sins. You have to believe in Him for you to be accepted by God. This is exactly what Jesus was talking about back in John when he told his disciples, “You believe in God. Believe in me also.”
Next, you must ask God for forgiveness. Remember that thing we just called sin. You have to ask God to forgive you of all the things that you’ve done wrong in your life. Now in church world we call this repentance.
Here’s what it means. You have to confess with your words that you are a sinner. You have to say, “God I need to ask forgiveness of all the wrong things I did today, and yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and for every day that I’ve been alive.”
Over in Romans 10:9 – 10 it says this, “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
It’s really that easy.
But it takes more than that.
It doesn’t just end there. That’s only the beginning off the adventure.
Here at Walnut View Christian Church we believe you have to be baptized. It’s not a requirement of salvation but it a requirement that Jesus set up for you. In fact over in Matthew he told his disciples, “Go and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
Over in Acts 2:38 we find Peter’s words, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Now that word “for” means “because of.” So here’s the way this works. Because you have repented of your sins. You need to be baptized.
Now I need to make this one clear, because we had some questions last week. You only need to be baptized once. That’s it. When you become a Christian you need to be baptized.
I believe that Scripture teaches that baptism is by immersion. That means that you need to be dunked.
Finally I want you to know this isn’t a once in a lifetime decision. This is a daily decision to follow Jesus. Every day you have to get up and say, “Today I’m going to follow Christ.”
Romans 12:1 some of you may be familiar with. It’s says your to be a living sacrifice. But I really like the way the Message Bible puts it. “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you. Take you everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, your eating, going to work, and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”
Your every day life. Every day. You have to choose him.
Today some of you have come to the point where you know you want to have that kind of life where you will know God personally. You’ve decided you want to follow Christ. I’m here to talk and help you along the path to Christ.
Others of you may want to become members of this church. I will be here to talk to you about that too.
Come just as you are. Jesus is the only way.
