What a church believes about Jesus is the most important distinction that can be made. This is all the more true as new beliefs continue to present themselves. Amongst all of these competing ideologies, what is true? Many today wonder if such a thing as objective truth even exists.
Jesus said that He is “the way, the truth and life” and that no one comes to the Father except through Him (Jn. 14:6). Considering His unprecedented ministry of signs and wonders, His intensely relevant teaching for life and most importantly, His resurrection three days after his death and burial, we at New Life Vineyard are inclined to take Jesus at His word.
That Jesus is the way means that He is the gateway to our relationship with God, our Creator. Our faith is not just in a set of ideas or principles, but in a person. It is only through relationship with Jesus that we can find life, forgiveness, restoration, wholeness and our ultimate purpose. We all know that we have broken places in our lives. We all remember times when we have simply done the wrong thing (Rom 3:23). This is a tendency that everyone has and it only leads to hurt and our separation from God (Is. 59:2). Jesus being the way means that when we surrender leadership of our lives to Him, He will forgive our wrongs, heal our broken places and bring us into a healthy relationship with God (1 Jn 1:9).
That Jesus is the truth means that He shows us everything we need to know about ourselves and everything we need to know about God. In fact, the most important thing we can believe about Jesus is that He is God. Speaking about Jesus, John wrote that in the beginning, He was with God and that He was God and that all things were created through Him (Jn 1:1-3). The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians that “all things were created by Him and for Him…by Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). Jesus is at the center of it all. Paul begins that passage in Colossians by saying that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). This means that He came to show us what God looks like. Jesus said, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9). The most wonderful thing about this is that the image of God we see in Jesus is one of ultimate life and love.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life of God because He is God. 2000 years ago, He became a human being and stepped into our history books so that we can have a meaningful, life-giving relationship with our Creator (Phil. 2:6-11). Without Him, our sin – our choices to live as the masters of our own lives in God’s place – would bring us to an end of misery and eternity in hell (Rom. 6:23). With Him, we can live a life of peace and fulfillment now while looking forward to eternal life as part of a Kingdom with no death, grief or pain (Rev. 21:3-4).
If you would like to know this life-giving relationship with God through Jesus, you only need to ask. He hears you when you pray and will let you know how much He loves you. Tell Him that you’re willing to let Him start calling the shots in your life and then do your best to follow where He leads. It isn’t always easy – sometimes it can actually be pretty hard – but it is that simple.