5 MINUTE VIDEO: Is Jesus The Only Way To Heaven?

What did Jesus mean when he said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me"?

Does that mean Jesus is the only way to Heaven? What if that's not what Jesus is talking about at all?

A better question might be: "Is the Gospel that Jesus preached all about saying a prayer so you can go to Heaven when you die?"

Take 5 minutes and listen as Keith explains why Jesus's statement: "no one comes to the Father except by me" isn't about going to Heaven when you die, but something totally more amazing than that.

What does it mean to "come to the Father"?

In what way is Jesus "The Way, the Truth and the Life"?

What is the overall context of Jesus' conversation in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John?

What is the Gospel really all about, anyway?

You'll know the answers to these questions in about 5 minutes.

WHAT WE KNOW WITH OUR HANDS

There are things we know with our heads and hearts that we are still in the process of learning with our hands and our feet.

For example, we may know that God loves us, but we’ve yet to really live as people who are so dearly loved.

Or we may know in our heads that Jesus wants us to trust Him with everything and surrender all that we own to Him, but we are still holding on to a few things that we’re not comfortable letting go of yet.

The good news is that Jesus knows this already. He remembers that we are made of dust. He knows that our flesh is willing but our spirits are weak.

Jesus had mercy on the man who said to him, “I believe Lord, help my unbelief” and didn’t withhold the miracle but showed him mercy in spite of his lack of faith.

One of the most common phrases that Jesus used to refer to his disciples was “you of little faith”, because he was painfully aware that they were less-than perfect.

Just like us.

Jesus knows our hearts. He knows that we struggle sometimes to put our faith into practice, and he has incredible grace for us in those moments of weakness.

But I do believe that he is looking at our hearts and that he is looking for a “want to” somewhere within us. Whether or not we successfully live out the things we know in our heads, we should at least have a desire to do so.

In other words, we should be trying to put His words into practice, even if we fail. When we fall short, we are disappointed. We resolve not to fail in the same way again. We hope for another opportunity to do the right thing the next time we are called upon to live out our faith.

Our aim, our posture, is to lean towards obedience to Christ, not away from it.

So, until we fully know these things with our hands and our feet, we have not yet fully known them as He intends for us to.

That means we have to continually put His words into practice in our daily life until one day we know these things inside, and out.

-kg

AS I LIVE AND BREATHE

What if I were to spend most of my time seeking out the boundaries of my savior’s love? What if I were to focus my energies on plumbing the depths of the heart of Jesus? What if it were my supreme passion to know Him better today than I did the day before?

There are times when I find my heart beating faster as I begin to realize how close the Almighty creator of the Universe is to my own heart. Like swimming in the ocean and suddenly turning to realize that there is a massive whale swimming just outside your reach and you find you can barely breathe.

These realities escape us for the most part. We take such grandeur and majesty for granted, or deny it outright in the mundane sameness of our daily routine.

Think of this: The same Jesus who walked on water is alive right now within you. The same Messiah who calmed the storm with a word is listening to your heart beat this very moment. He knows your thoughts right now. He knows your pain, your fears, your doubts, and your insecurities. He longs for you to cast your cares upon him because he cares for you – yes, you.

More than this, Jesus WANTS to be found. He wants you and I to seek His face. He longs to reveal more of Himself to those who are hungry and thirsty for His presence.

You could talk to Jesus right now. He will listen. You could grow closer to Jesus – and allow him to grow closer to you – with simply a whisper of a prayer under your breath and a few minutes of silence as you drive to your next appointment.

Our imaginations are so dull. For example, we take no thrill in the fullness of the thought that we will be alive two hundred thousand years from now; just as alive – even more alive – than we are right now.

Today I am trying to remember that every breath I breathe today is taken in harmony with Christ. Every beat of my heart belongs completely to him alone.

“Lord Jesus, come live and breathe in me today. Help me to hear your voice, to see your face, and to experience your presence more and more.”

Amen.
-kg

WHY I HATE GOING TO CHURCH

It would be very easy to post a very long list of reasons why I hate going to church, but the main reason is that “going to Church” is a sad excuse for “being the Church” and those who follow Christ are called to be the Church, not to attend one.

In other words, “going to Church” involves having a meeting about Jesus. Whereas “being the Church” involves meeting with Jesus and allowing Him to do the speaking, the teaching, the leading and the directing.

Going to Church is about assigning people specific functions, and often involves compensating them financially to do so, while the majority of people sit and observe them.

Being the Church involves every single person using the gifts that God has provided them with to serve one another, where no one person is considered greater or smarter or more spiritual than anyone else. In fact, we’re all equally miserable apart from Christ, so our desire to meet with Him and to hear from Him is magnified because we understand that without Him leading us, and teaching us, and speaking to us, we are completely hopeless.

Jesus did not die for an organization or a business model. Jesus died for a people (ekklesia) that He could call His own. He wants relationship. He wants love. He wants to be known. Most of us can relate to that.

God made us with the ability to know Him, and even placed a craving within us to seek Him out. He is not far away. He wants us to find Him.

This is exactly what the New Covenant was all about – “I will be their God and they will be my people.” [Hebrews 8:10]

What people need most today is not religion. They do not need another Church. They need Jesus. They need to meet the God who would rather die than live without them.

Forget going to Church. Go to Jesus. Be the Church. Embrace your identity as the Bride that Jesus died to redeem. 

Learn to hear His voice. He wants to speak to you. He wants you to experience the kind of life you could only dream about. That life is found only through knowing Jesus.

-kg

THE GOSPEL: FEAR OR FULFILLMENT?

I can hardly believe it, but there are Christians today who are not convinced that preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ is as effective as preaching a gospel of fear, and fire, and eternal suffering.

If I hadn’t heard it myself, I wouldn’t believe it, but when a Christian brother responded to my assertion that the Gospel is “Good News” and that it’s about finding fulfillment in the marvelous person of Jesus by arguing that no one really needs Jesus today because they have great jobs and nice cars, I was flabbergasted.

Now, when I say that the Gospel is about discovering real life in Christ, I’m not talking about health and wealth or money in the bank. The life that Jesus came to give us was His own life. In fact, the life He gives us is the only real, actual “Life” in the universe. What we call “Life” today is simply existence and temporary breath. So, to say that those without Christ do not “need Christ” because they have “great jobs and nice cars” is to miss the point entirely.

Not only is it wrong for a Christian to miss the real hunger and desperation that every human soul experiences without Christ, it’s especially sad to think that we Christians might miss the extravagant treasures of Christ ourselves and settle for a God who is distant and two dimensional.

Never mind that most of us have come into Christianity by way of a Gospel that dealt mainly with our selfish desires to escape eternal torment, and that emphasizes the transactional elements of the atonement rather than the relational experience of knowing and loving Jesus with all of your heart, and all of your soul, and all of your mind.

Or, maybe we shouldn’t disregard that? I think that Christianity in America suffers from a serious misunderstanding of the Gospel message that Jesus himself came and died to preach. That Gospel was not about saying a prayer so that you could go to heaven when you die. No. The Gospel that Jesus preached and that the disciples preached was about the Kingdom of God which was wide open to anyone and everyone here and now.  It was a Gospel for the living, not only for the day after you die.

On New Year’s Eve I spent some time sharing this with a brother in Christ who affirmed my convictions about the glorious riches of Christ. As someone who has spent some time dealing with his own issues, and has found Jesus at work in the recovery community, he agreed that people without Christ are desperate for all the things that are found only in Him. “Instead of trying to scare people into submission to Jesus, we should offer people the only true source of peace, of love, of life, and of hope," he said. "Those are the things people are dying for today. They need those things right now, not later on after they’re dead.”

Amen? Is Jesus the best thing in your life? Are you constantly in awe of His goodness? His faithfulness? His astounding love? If so, then share that same “Good News” with everyone around you who has yet to discover this marvelous, vibrant, extraordinary person we know as “Jesus”.

“Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” – (Eph.3:8)

Let's not reduce Jesus into a one-dimensional tool for escaping hell. He's so much greater than this. He is our example, our friend, our Good Shepherd, our daily bread, our High Priest, our Intercessor, our brother, and our Lord. We are compelled by scripture to love Him, to serve Him, to seek Him, to know Him, to obey Him, to follow Him, and to declare His excellent greatness to every creature.


-kg