[Podcast] I Am The Way, The Truth, And The Life

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We are all wired to get home.  It is deep within us to long for home.  But when Jesus started talking about going home, the disciples became confused.  Is it possible to be a disciple and not know the way home?

Lifegroup Discussion Questions are next!

Before you begin, be sure everyone opens this page on their mobile device. Take turns asking questions, reading verses, and talking together.

Before you start, make sure everyone knows about the upcoming “Family Day” on November 6.  This is going to be a BIG deal! DO you know your number?  Click below for more info.

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Okay, with the holidays coming up pretty soon, here is a quick look at one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite holiday movies..

In this comedy classic, Steve Martin spends the entire movie desperately trying to get home for Thanksgiving, and John Candy spends the movie inadvertently sabotaging all of his plans.  It. Is. Awesome.

Can you identify with Steve Martin’s desire to get home?  When do you most want to get home?  How does it feel when you finally arrive after an extended time away?

John 14:1-5 NLT
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.” 

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 

Why do you think it seems so easy for us to understand what Jesus it talking about here, yet it seems so hard for the disciples to understand?

John 14:6 NLT
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

On Sunday, I said this was an astonishingly arrogant statement in our culture of relativism and permissiveness.  What can seem arrogant about it?

Acts 4:12 NLT
There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

So, everybody wants to “get home.” The way I described it on Sunday was to be able to rest in the “most authentic version of yourself.”  In our culture today, people don’t seem concerned with heaven and/or hell, yet they still have that need to “get home.”  So, if not “heaven,” what does that look like for people outside the faith? In other words, if my neighbor doesn’t care about “heaven,” how can I approach him with a conversation about “getting home?”

Jesus is the Way

What are ways people outside the faith attempt to “get home?”

How has the church become permissive of “other” ways to find peace, love, joy, etc outside of Jesus?

If the words of Jesus are true, what is the result of our permissiveness?

Jesus is the Truth

When you read Matthew 5:22-44, Jesus is taking the “Law” up a notch to the “truth about the law” in me.

So, when you read Jesus’ description of how the law works out in me, what is the picture you get?  Can you “get home” by fulfilling the Law?

Should you take comfort in the Law? Why do Christians seem so concerned with displaying the 10 Commandments?

What does Jesus say about this in the following verse?

Matthew 5:17 ESV
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Contrast “abolish” and “fulfill.”  What is the difference, and why is it important?

What is Jesus saying about himself and the truth here?

Jesus is the Life

John 10:17-18 ESV
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

John 14:19 ESV
Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

How can we more faithfully live the life that Jesus intended for us?