How often do you stop to think seriously about the ultimates of your human existence?
That's a heavy question, isn't it? This week I have been pondering that
question myself. I have to conclude that although I am a very reflective
person, I do not often strip life down to its ultimate questions.
Why not? I don't because I am usually caught up in the demands of the
urgent. And when I am not caught up in the demands of the urgent, I am
usually seeking diversion from those urgent matters that so preoccupy my
thoughts.
This is not to minimize or trivialize the urgent. My urgent is important!
And so is yours! But how often do we shut our systems down long enough to
set priorities by asking ourselves some though questions?
In August, I ask the church for 3 days off, as part of my vacation, and the
church said yes. That's a dangerous thing to do. Why? Because I was
freed from any externally imposed deadlines. I was in complete control of
how I would use my time.
During those days off Louise & I just spent the time alone. There was
plenty of time for aloneness, no demands of the urgent, and stimulation of
ideas that were not utilitarian in nature. In that environment, life gets
stripped down quickly to its essentials. Everything becomes reexamined.
That's the luxury and the danger of time off.
Another environment enables this to happen. It is the environment of
death. Jesus consecrates it for us. The night before He was crucified,
He stripped matters down to essentials in a way we can all find helpful.
If you know that you were going to die in the next few hours, you would do
this too, wouldn't you? You would think and talk seriously about the
ultimates, both for your own sake as to your own future, and for the sake
of your loved ones as to their futures.
Jesus did this. he talked about His life & death & that which is of most
importance to others. He talked in terms of 4 priorities. He talked
about the way to live & die. He talked about the TRUTH about living &
dying. He talked about the WAY to live LIFE, spelled with a capital L.
And He talked about how to have a healthy CONNECT with God.
Would you agree that these are the most important topics? Don't all 4 of
these embody the ultimates of your human existence. He made this
statement about all 4; Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except thru me" (John 14:6). All 4 of
these are important to me. How about you?
I. I NEED AND WANT TO KNOW THE WAY.
I have discovered in my 53 years that for me the best way is not always my
way. There are times in which I could sing along with Frank Sinatra, "I
did it my way." The results were not always the best. A lot of people
have messed things up doing it their way. How about you?
Jesus said, "I am the way." He didn't say "A WAY". There was a finality
with which He spoke. There was an absolute to His expression. I need to
decide if it will be my way of if it will be His WAY. His is the way away
from sin & guilt. His is the way toward restoration of all I was created
to be. His is a narrow way; it is not an easy way. Jesus made that clear
when he stated, "Enter thru the narrow gate. For wide is the gate &
narrow is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter thru it. But
small is the gate & narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find
it" (Matt.7:13-14)
This week I have been browsing thru that classic work by John Bunyan
titled, THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. It is a story of a man named Christian
who determined that life in the City of Destruction was not the best
existence. With the help & guidance of the Evangelist, he headed out on a
journey, fraught with many perils, to the Celestial City. It describes
the struggles of the Christian life. The way is not easy.
I commend this book to you as must reading for anyone who wants to get a
handle on the way. God's way, thru this life to heaven. Take the time to
think this thru. You have only one opportunity. Don't lose it. Don't
let the demands of the urgent strip you of your freedom to decide to go
God's way.
I need and way to know the way. I have decided irrevocably to take Jesus
at His word & believe that He is the way. How about you? That's one
ultimate you & I can commit ourselves to now!
II. I NEED & WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH.
I have discovered the hard way that the truth is not derived from my own
most creative thinking. My own creative thinking helps me assess the
various competing claims for truth. But ultimately, if I rely on my own
philosophical quest to bring me to ultimate truth, I will never cease that
quest. For there is no end to knowing and the search for meaning. I am
committed to a continuing dynamic, thoughtful, intellectual existence.
But I must do that within the context of confronting what Jesus said. He
put it on the line when He stated: "I am the truth."
The options as I see them are quite clear.
Option one for me is that of coming to some set of philosophical truths,
independent of biblical revelation, truths upon which I will build my
life. There are many competing truth systems that want my allegiance.
Each of them has something quite creative & helpful, as ling as I do not
absolutize them. It's at that moment at which I absolutize that I fall
prey to the error in those systems.
Capitalism provides an economic understanding of human endeavor. To
neglect the truths of such creative thinkers as Adam Smith & others is to
deny some very important economic & psychological facts of life. But to
sell my soul to Capitalism is to miss another whole dimension of human
existence.
Karl Marx had some very important insights. He was not all wrong. So I
can study Marxism & extract some truths about human existence. But to
sell my soul to the whole system will commit me to error. Some of those
who have made that commitment are only now beginning to realize the
horrendous errors of their system.
I am vulnerable to falsehood. I am susceptible to myths, some myths that
are true & some that are false. Some myths have the ambiguous mix of both
truthhood & falsehood that lead me in the wrong direction.
Option 2 for me is the option of relativism. This is such a temptation for
so many today. We live in a relativistic age. Allan Bloom analyzes this
in his controversial, yet perceptive, work, THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN
MIND. For many, truth is a matter of opinion. Morality is a matter of
personal choice. Not all issues are clear-cut. I must learn to live with
ambiguity.
However, I am watching people I love self-destruct as they buy into this
notion that truth is a matter of opinion & morality a matter of personal
choice. I see men and women leaving spouses & children, listening to the
siren song that promises a better life. They say, "I have the right to be
me", only to find themselves tossed about in the waves of relativism to
final shipwreck.
They are persons who are determined to have their one chance at life at the
price of nurturing. Career & pleasure become more important than
commitments made. And God only knows what the ultimate result will be.
What is truth, the professor asks. His pregnant pause is followed by an
answer to his own rhetorical question. Truth is truth for me. How subtly
seductive is that statement.
Option 3 is that Jesus is the embodiment of truth. I must make a choice
thru my own reasoning. I have made some wrong assumptions in life based
on my own notions about truth, & I no longer am prepared to trust my own
philosophical musings when it comes to ultimate truth. I understand the
relativity of some matters. Yet I am not about to be tossed to & fro by
whatever notion happens to be popular at the time, only to find myself
shipwrecked.
I have made my choice. I'll trust Jesus to be the truth, my absolute
referent for life. He is the One who tells me where I came from, why I am
here, where I am going, and how I can live the most creative existence in
the now. He gives me His Handbook for living, the Bible, to alert me to
right and wrong, the best ways of handling situations, and relating to
myself & others and to Him. I am privileged to live in a dynamic tension,
enabled by the Holy Spirit, on those matters in which there are no easy
answers.
Either Jesus Christ is the Keystone that holds the arch of all human
existence together or He is not. If He is & I do not worship Him as such,
everything then crumbles, either with me in error or into ethical &
personal relativity. If His scenario is correct, then I am privileged to
be part of a positive, creative existence in a cosmic scheme much larger
than myself but of which I am a very important part.
I need & want to know the truth. I have decided irrevocably to take Jesus
at His word & believe He is the truth. How about you? That's one
ultimate you & I can commit ourselves to now.
III. I NEED & WANT TO EXPERIENCE "LIFE" WITH A CAPITAL "L".
I have discovered that doing my own thing, fleshing out an animal existence
based on pleasure, doesn't bring ultimate fulfillment. Certainly Steve
Garvey, Wade Boggs, & Pete Rose are finding this out.
I get thing beautifully structured for myself. I hedge all my bets by
careful, calculated living. Then some catastrophe hits, or more subtly
things start leaking around the edges. My best plans for life can't
guarantee the health & the safety of the people I love. Haven't you found
it to be the same? Those of us who are the most organized often end up
the most frustrated because we can only organize a part of our lives. Our
best-written scenarios don't turn out the way we'd always like.
You see, there is no way I can hedge my bet, guaranteeing for my loved
ones, for myself the kind of life I would plan. At the moment I least
expect it, the ball takes a crazy bounce. My best plans are no guarantee
of my own existence here.
Jesus said, "I am the life." He is the absolute embodiment of life with a
capital "L".
You see, His life puts purpose behind the inexplicable. I can't make any
sense of a child being abducted, raped & murdered. I can't make any sense
of a beautiful mother being killed by a drunken driver. I can't make any
sense of a plane filled with people being blown to pieces a few days
before Christmas. I can't make any sense out of malignant cells stripping
life from the people I love.
But Jesus sees the overall pattern. He didn't create evil. He doesn't
like disease.
But He has a way of taking the worst tragedies & enabling us to survive, &
to be more than survivors. We can trust Him with the lives of our loved
ones. We can trust Him with our own lives because He has made provision
for us.
His life turns our insignificance into significance. Jesus says that you
have worth, that you are not an accident. The greatest of difficulties
need not conquer you. He gives you His creative energy to handle whatever
comes your way.
His life equips you for life beyond this human existence.
That's what makes a funeral service for one who died in Christ a joyous
occasion. Yes, there are tears for ourselves, those of us who remain.
It's at this point that the resurrection message impacts us in all of its
creative promise for we realize life does not end with death. The Apostle
Paul wrote:
"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in
your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If
only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than
all men.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those
who have fallen asleep." (I Cor.15:16-21)
He has equipped us for eternity. He has prepared a place for us. He will
take us to be with Himself. Life in heaven with Jesus is the perfect
existence. This is the promise of God's Word.
I need and want to experience the life with a capital "L". I have decided
irrevocably to take Jesus at His word & believe that He is life. How
about you? That's one ultimate you & I can commit ourselves to now!
IV. I NEED & WANT TO KNOW HOW TO HAVE A "CONNECT" WITH GOD.
I have discovered that I cannot produce that for myself. It only comes
thru Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the
Father except thru me" (John 14:6) In John 10:30, He states, "I and the
Father are one," and in John 14:9-10, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father. How can you say, 'Show me the Father?' Don't you believe that I
am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?"
I realize what I am saying here is an offensive notion to some living in
this relativistic world. most of us, myself included, would like the very
best for everyone. That altruistic motivation, as healthful & good as it
is, can lead us to the relativistic concept that all roads are leading in
the same direction.
God loves us enough to tell it like it is. He articulates claims that are
exclusive. It is impossible for anyone to be at peace with God, it is
impossible for anyone to have right relationship with the Father, unless
it is thru Jesus Christ. His atoning work on the cross was designed for
all humankind. There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ.
This sounds like the stuff of the Ayatollah Khomeini, doesn't it? It does
until you stop to realize that this Jesus is not some kind of megalomaniac
who is demanding the power & is determined to crush those who don't fall
in line with His militaristic declarations. Far from it. This Jesus is
the ultimate peace maker. This Jesus is the One who has borne upon
Himself our brokenness, our sin, our alienation. This Jesus is the One
thru whose death & resurrection you & I are set free to be restored to
right relationship with God, right relationship with ourselves, & right
relationship with each other.
This Jesus rose from the dead. Ours is a resurrection faith. And the
message of the church thru 2,000 years is that declared by the Apostle
Peter in Acts 4:12: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved." Jesus
Christ is the embodiment of all salvation. He gives us direct access to
the Father.
John Griffith grew up in Oklahoma with the dream of traveling to faraway
places to see exotic sights. That dream crashed with the stock market in
1929, the Great Depression, & the Oklahoma "dust bowl." He packed up his
wife & tiny baby boy & their few meager belongings in a old car & drove to
the edge of the Mississippi River where he got a job caring for one of
those great railway bridges that crossed the Mighty Mississippi. This is
a true story & it took place in 1937.
For the first time, John Griffith brought his then 8 year old son, Greg, to
work with him to see what Daddy did. The boy was wide-eyed with
excitement to see how the huge bridge went up at the beck & call of his
mighty father. He watched with wonderment as the huge boats steamed down
the Mississippi.
At 12 o'clock his father put up the bridge. There were no trains due for a
while. Then they went out together a couple of hundred feet on the
catwalk to the observation deck & sat down. They opened the brown bag &
began to eat their lunch. The father told his boy about some of the
strange, far-away lands that some of these ships were going to visit. The
boy was entranced. The time whirled by.
Suddenly they were drawn back instantly into reality by the shrieking of a
distant train whistle. John Griffith quickly looked at his watch. He saw
that it was time for the 107, the Memphis Express with 400 passengers, to
be rushing across that bridge in just a couple of minutes. He knew he
just had time. So without panic but with alacrity he told his son to stay
where he was. He leapt to his feet, jumped the catwalk, ran back, climbed
the ladder to the control room, went in, put his hand on the huge lever
that controlled the bridge. He looked up the river & down to see if any
boats were coming, then to see if there were any beneath the bridge.
Suddenly he saw a sight which froze his blood. His boy had tried to follow
him to the control room & had fallen into the huge box that housed the
monstrous gears that operated the massive draw-bridge. His son's left leg
was caught between the 2 main gears. The father knew that if he pushed
that lever his son would be ground in the midst of tons of winding,
grinding steel. His eyes filled with tears of panic. His mind whirled.
What could he do?
He saw a rope there in the control room. He could rush down the ladder to
the catwalk, tie off the rope, lower himself down, extricate his son,
climb back up the rope, run back into the control room, & lower the
bridge. No sooner had his mind done that exercise than he knew there
wasn't time. He would never make it. There were 400 people on that
train. He heard the whistle again. This time it was startlingly closer.
He could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels on the track.
What could he do? There were 400 people on the train. But this was his
son. This was his only son. He was a father. He knew what he had to do.
So he buried his head in his arms and pushed the gear forward. The great
bridge slowly lowered into place just as the express train roared across.
He lifted his tear-smeared face & looked straight into the flashing windows
of that train as it flashed by. He saw men reading the afternoon paper, a
conductor in uniform looking at a large vest pocketwatch, ladies sipping
tea out of tea cups & little children pushing long spoons thru scoops of
ice cream. Nobody looked into the control room. Nobody looked at his
tears. Nobody looked into the great gear box.
In heart-wrenching agony, he beat against the window of the control room &
said, "What's wrong with you people? Don't you care? I gave my son, I
sacrificed my son for you!" But nobody looked. Nobody heard. Nobody
heeded. And the train disappeared across the river.
The Triune God, the Father, saw our human predicament. He had to make the
choice to let us plunge headlong into disaster as a human race, as
individuals. He chose to take human form in the very person of His Son &
to be crushed by the grinding gears of our sin, our hurts, our rebellion.
Thru His death on the cross & His resurrection, you & I are offered
meaning, forgiveness, strength for both this life & the next. No one who
is saved, however much or little they know about the cost of that
salvation, is saved by anyone other than Jesus Christ, the Crucified &
Risen Savior & Lord.
I need & want to know this Salvation & how to have this connect, peace with
God. I have decided irrevocably to take Jesus at His Word & believe that
no one comes to the Father except thru Him. How about you? That's one
ultimate you & I can commit ourselves to now!
I invite you to commit yourself for the first time or anew to the Jesus
Christ who declares, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me."
